Bababa ba?

I was in the isaw stand near Law with Josie this afternoon when a kid came up to us asking for some spare change. But Josie and I, rather than giving kids spare change, always made it a point to give food instead. Yes sometimes it can be more expensive to buy street kids some food but there is much much more impact than just simply brushing them off by giving them coins which they could use for who knows what.

Anyways, Josie offered to buy the kid some ice cream, an invitation which he readily accepted. As we went towards the ice cream dude three more kids tagged along. Of course, we also had to buy them ice cream.

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I had a wonderful morning today. The sun was shining, Globe sent me P75 free load, I loved this morning’s Mass readings, there was no traffic on the way home, a friend texted that she was no longer depressed, etc etc.

I pray that the rest of the day would be much much better and happier. :)

Magandang umaga. :) Tila kay ganda ng umaga ngayon.

I have this habit of waking up early on a school day, just to go straight to our computer after doing the morning stuff (y’know, eating, bathing, stuff).

Sometimes I just feel the need to check if some people made pahabol in their blogs, comments, or in their e-mails. Sometimes, just like now, to write.

I guess it’s just the “free-est” time I have. In the afternoons and evenings, there are just too many distractions (plus, acad work)

Right now, as I am writing this, I feel that I have been neglecting my blog. Back then, in my peak blogging times, I would write about anything and everything around 3 times a day. Now I would just write about nonsensical stuff around once every 3 days.

Burn-out, I say.

But other upper-classmen say that the burn-out in the upper years are worse than what I am experiencing today. Mine was just heightened by the fact that I am an applicant at the UP Statistical Society (I still have 8 tambay hours, 60 signatures, 4 costume week days, the apps’ night, the formal interview, and hopefully, the challenge day.) Midterms, too, are fast approaching.

Well, good luck na lang, hahaha. Pero malalampasan din ang mga ito, diba?

Pero natatawa na lang ako. Naaalaala ko kasi nung highschool ko. Akala ko ambigat na ng mga ginagawa noon. Hindi pala. :p

It feels good having written SOMETHING here. After the new year, I haven’t written much. Hahaha. Miss y’all.

My sister, Mox, was rushed to St. Luke’s Medical Center at 1am this morning. They brought her to the operating room at around 5:30am.

By 7am she gave birth…
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Oo, Jingo, ikaw. Hahaha.

We all know that he’s weird, abnormal even, but yes, he can be very kuya-like when he feels like it.

The night before getting my license, I asked Jingo if he would let me drive his car for a while around the village, so I could “review” before the actual LTO practical test. Well, after having read/heard what happened to Vince, I felt that I would need to get some practice before the practical exam. He thought about it for a while, and with a worried look on his face (and after the deal that if I scratch his car, Mom would buy him a new one :p), he agreed.

We dropped off his mother-in-law in her house in a village along Congressional Avenue. After dropping her off, he put me behind the wheel. He gave me a lecture on how to start the car, how to get it moving, and how to keep it moving.

Since I was new to driving a gasoline powered car (I drove a diesel powered car in driving school) I was very nervous. I started the car, shifted to gear 1, and alas, the car stalled. :p

He gave me another lecture on how to get the car moving. He explained that driving a gasoline powered car would be very different compared to driving a diesel powered car.

So I started the car, got it going, and was able to keep it going. ^_^

He took over the wheel when we reached the gates. :p

After doing some errands in Philcoa, Jingo brought the car to CP Garcia Avenue and we exchanged seats. He made me drive from the lengths of CP Garcia, up to Maginhawa Street, giving me lectures and tips on the way.

The next day, Mom and I went to Jingo’s house, because we needed his car for the actual driving practical examination (the LTO people won’t let us use their sedan!!! Grr.). He drove us to LTO. By the second gate in LTO, we exchanged seats, and I started to drive.

With him in the passenger seat, I was less nervous. Even if I was already taking the practical examination, he was giving me tips and lectures. Actually if he wasn’t there I could’ve flunked the exam. :p Thanks to him, I passed the exam! ^_^

That evening, after the anticipated Simbang Gabi, he let me drive again. He kept on giving me tips and making kulit as we drove along Mayaman and Maginhawa Streets.

If it wasn’t for him, the succeeding photo would be non-existent.

So what’s next for us, dear big brother? Ano susunod mong ituturo sa akin? Sayang hindi ko nagasgas kotse mo, hindi ka tuloy bibilhan ng bago.

Mom and I went to LTO at around 9 this morning to finally get my Non-Professional Driver’s License. We got out at around 4pm. Bleh. Ang tagal.

When we got to LTO’s gates, around 4 or 5 men rushe towards us and started telling us “where to go.”

Man 1: Student’s po? Dun po!
Man 2: Non-pro? Sa kabila po!
Man 3: Drug test? Tawid po muna tayo.
Man 4: Renewal po sa kabilang building!

Rather than being helpful, they were the cause of stress. We felt very harassed by their pagmamarunong. We knew where to go, pero nagmamarunong yung mga manong na akala nila alam nila kung saan kami pupunta, so, ayun, nainis kami.

People inside LTO were relatively friendly. Well, except for the examiners (both the written and practical examiners). Ang susungit!

Examiner: (In a very very loud voice) KUNG HINDI PA KAYO CONFIDENT NA PAPASA KAYO SA TEST NA ITO LUMABAS LANG MUNA KAYO AT MAGREVIEW! KUNG BUMAGSAK KAYO ONE MONTH KAYONG HINDI BIBIGYAN NG LISENSYA. KAYA LUMABAS NA KAYO, NGAYON NA!

And for the practical examiner…

Ako:(points to the red-plated blue sedan in the area)Boss, baka naman pwedeng yung kotseng yun na lang yung ipangtest niyo. Hindi rin naman po kasi ako magmamaneho ng owner-type. Mukhang matatagalan pa kasi yung kotse namin eh.

Si Manong:HINDI PWEDE! Yung kotseng ‘yan, PRIVATE yan, hindi pinangtetest. Yung owner kasi, GOVERNMENT-owned, kaya yun yung pinapagamit namin.

Hindi na ako umalma, kasi darating din naman yung kotse, so, pinabayaan ko na siya.

I chose not to drive the owner-type jeep dahil nabasa ko yung nangyari kay Vince.

Pero, ang bobo eh. Sabi niya yung sedan daw ay PRIVATE car. But red plates are GOVERNMENT cars!!! And the sedan was red plated! And yung jeep daw, GOVERNMENT-owned. Eh green plate siya eh!

So I texted Angelo, my brother, for help since he is the one who was to bring a car for me to drive. Sabi niya sa akin na mali raw yung sinasabi nung manong sa LTO. Ang dapat daw pinangte-test ay GOVERNMENT car, hindi yung PRIVATE. May kakilala raw siya sa LTO na nagsabi ng ganun. Kaya ayun nga, ang stupid.

So Mom and I went up to the examiner again to ask if I could just drive the sedan. Again he said NO, but this time giving a different reason.

Si Manong:HINDI PO TALAGA PWEDE! Kasi sa boss namin yung kotseng iyan, at wala sa akin yung susi.

Well that was weird. Kanino ba talaga yung kotse? Kaya ba niya tinawag na PRIVATE yung kotse dahil “privately” used ng boss niya? Parang last week lang pinange-exam nila ng mga magmamaneho yung kotseng yun ah (read Vince’s entry).

So we went to Jingo’s house to get the car. He drove us to LTO, and when we arrived by the second gate, the Manong said that I could start driving from there for my test.

I nailed it. Hahaha. That was, very very easy. :p

I passed the written and practical exam with flying colors. The next thing to do was to pay up and wait for my license.

It took like forever for them to call me to pay. It took them a longer time to “release” my license.

Babae sa bintana labing-apat: Balikan niyo na lang po bukas yung lisensya niyo. Magfo-four o clock na po kasi eh, patapos na ang office hours.

(Sa loob-loob ko: Patience, BA, patience.)

Pero… HASSLE!!! Nakakapagod din ang pabalik-balik. Una dahil naabutan namin yung lunch break nila, pinaalis muna kami tapos balik ng 1pm. Tapos ngayon pinaalis kami tapos ipapabalik pa sa susunod na araw. Oh well.

The experience was err, ewan. Nakakainis yung mga manong sa labas. The pilahan was bonding between me and Mom. :p The written exam was fun (I got to stand up and look at the symboooooools and siiiiiiigns). The practical examiner was nuts. The license release was… grrr. Oh well. Bahala na. At least pumasa talaga ako ng legal at walang daya.