Back in Manila March '09 - Day Three

March 27, 2009: Another slow start of the day for me... That's two in a row...

It was a bit worried because it started to rain. I tried to look for an umbrella, but of the four umbrellas I found in the house, only one was in working order. And I don't want to use it since my dad might need it later. So I just waited for it to drizzle down a bit, dashed for the bus/jeepney stop, and hoped really really really hard that it will not rain while I'm out there.

Hopping onto the bus, I reached the Makati area in less than 30 minutes. So anyway, first thing's first, I need a new umbrella. I decided to buy the Groscher Schatten automatic umbrella -- the one with activated with one push of a button, and is very small when folded, that it would fit inside a small bag. A bit pricey but it would serve my dad well much better than the other umbrellas. Oh yeah, I'm not buying this for myself; it's for my dad. :)

Since the frontdesk in my old company said that I can get my clearance form between 11AM and 12NN there, I decided to be there by 11:30 AM, which to me seems reasonable enough. I waited there for while.. then a while longer... then a whole lot more... Later, my old colleague came out and was surprised to see me there; she was surprised that I had resigned for almost two years and it is only now that I am finishing my clearance. We talked for a while and she shared news about what was happening to my old team there. Some good, some bad... As expected in a company, I guess. It's about 1:00 PM but still no clearance form. She decided that she will take care of it for me so that I wouldn't have to go to the next stop. With that, the rest of my afternoon was freed up. I really owe her bigtime. Maybe a couple or more Starbucks should do it. :) Yeah, she's one of those Starbucks junkies out there :))

With the rest of the afternoon free, I went back to Glorietta and tried to explore around. But first, I need lunch. So cross out another one of my to-eat hitlist: Jollibee's chicken joy. I actually ordered an extra Jolly Hotdog, but I was already full so I just stashed it away.

Intermission: my friend who was taking care of my clearance texted me and said that she just received my clearance form -- it was already 5PM. If I waited for it myself, I would have been sitting on my ass wasting away the whole afternoon. How slow! Glad she's taking care of it for me. I think I need to double my Starbucks treat for her for this one. :)

Didn't know that they closed off parts of Glorietta 1 and 2. I was looking for Booksale to get those back-issues of Yummy magazines at half the price. Too bad Booksale is not there anymore. :( I tried the other books and maganzine stores and stands, but I was only able to get the March issue. The April issue is expected by next week. Other than that, nada. Note to self, try booksale in SM Bicutan and SM MOA (if there is one there).

By 3:30, I met with a couple of my old friends back in the company -- Betsi and Joan. They're off by 3:00 PM so they were able to meet me much earlier -- which means the malls are not as tight when we met than if we met about 2 to 3 hours later. Since I'm the balikbayan, I treated them to Sbarro. We ordered a couple slices of mushroom pizza, one stuffed pizza, and a half-plate of carbonara. I was actually a bit full already since it's been barely an hour when I ate lunch. So less time eating, more time talking and listening. Apparently, so much has changed and happened since I last went there about a year ago. In case you haven't heard, I like stories alot. So I had a full stomach and full with stories I've heard.

Anyway, after we had our fill, we explored a bit around the Glorietta and Greenbelt areas. Since they still have to go to the office tomorrow by 7AM, we decided to part ways by 7-7:30PM. Since I'm commuting and it's a Friday night, I expected it to be long ride home so better go home early as well.

I hopped, this time, onto one of the well-known transit buses which actually stops directly in front of our subdivision. I forgot that they actually have E-Pass and have some *ahem* traffic privileges *wink* *wink* -- let me put it this way, they can go where no other transit buses are allowed before or since.

Surprisingly, I was back in our subdivision before 8PM. Quite fast, actually. So I just decided to go to the nearest supermarket, Shopwise, to buy some stuff as well as scout some of the potential family lunchout the following day. For some reason, all of the restaurants in Shopwise closed down -- Gerry's Grill, Tsokonut, and one Japanese restaurant -- forgot the name. I guess the restaurants in Santana Grove across the street killed them.