missed encounters, malling, and sandalang house movie

"Balikan mo na. Ikaw lang mahihirapan niyan."

And with those emphatic words of advice, said for the nth time, we paid our fare, slammed the cab doors shut, entered the gate and burst into peals of laughter.

"Naluyag ka lang gid pro."
"Sa Tuesday pa ya kuno?! Kadugay pa sang Tuesday! Mercury retrograde gyapon sa Tuesday!"

Yes, it will still be Mercury retrograde on Tuesday, and every day of our lives until August 15, and if you haven't noticed it already, every day is miscommunication and missed-encounter day. :)

Which means, be patient. And try and try again until you succeed. It's not your fault, it's the stars ;))))! And your only obligation is to hold on to your temper, and try once more.

It was immediately clear when we got into the cab at the mall that the young driver was in a foul mood. He muttered something about his "sundo" not showing up, about making him wait, etc etc. I admonished him to keep his cool and drive safely because we were going by EDSA, and to me EDSA is the second worst place on earth, second only to the Quezon City Circle.

Then Priestess and I started making daldal, and didn't mind the driver who kept complaining until he got a call on his cellphone. It became more interesting to eavesdrop. "Sabi mo 6:30," he exclaimed angrily. "Overtime, overtime. Bumiyahe na ako, nag miss call na nga ako sa 'yo."

A little too much emotion involved for a standard taxi pick-up.

"Ano, maaantay mo ba ako? Nasa Cubao pa ako? ..."

Ahh. Suddenly it all clicked into place. "Love pala," Priestess and I wiggled our eyebrows meaningfully. Only love can get you so unearthly upset like that. He must have been sitting there in his cab, waiting with impatience, love and anxiety that something was happening that would put humiliate his love. Love, really.

"Ayaw magpasundo pag wala akong duty. Tapos kung may duty ako, magpapa-sundo. Distorbo pa sa biyahe," he whined. He called "sundo" on his cell again -- worrisome, we were making a turn-- and said, "Ano, malayo pa ako. Sa Tuesday na lang!"

That was when we jumped in. "Puntahan mo na!"

Yes, just do it. Nothing will change from today until Tuesday in terms of missed connections. You might as well try again instead of seething till Tuesday :).

WE sure hope he drove like hell back to behind-the-mall :D.

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Ah, the mall. I have missed the mall routine, the relaxing one, not the frantic mall routine or the over-commercialized mall routine. The one where you catch a good movie, walk a bit and admire the sales, try on a pair of shoes, not buy anything, drop by the good bookstore, get a good meal, drop by the booksale, stroll and buy a pretzel, and catch a ride home quickly with a lovelorn driver. Lol. And still have enough energy to try and figure out how to print pdf documents in colored print because your black cartridge has run out.

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Linti na langgam! Linti na lipstick!
(the case of ants in the pants, and the missing imported lipstuk)

Enjoyed Sandalang Bahay. Catch it somewhere, sometime.