Driving travails 2

So I was driving home from work last Thursday and I thought of more travails...
1. You're wasting my gas.
Don't you abhor that car (or row of cars) in front of you that run at 20kph-40kph even if there is no one in front of them? Maybe it's just me but it really takes its toll on my gas tank when I'm stuck behind a vehicle like that. The worst ones are those on the fast lane of the highway :P
2. Please use your turn signals because I am not a mind-reader.
World peace could probably be achieved if people were considerate enough to use their turn signals when driving. How many near accidents have you had because the car in front of you decided to turn left or right without giving you notice? How hard is it to flick your turn signal on? It's easier than trying to parallel park, hang on an incline, or talk on your phone while driving.
3. Being at the front of the line at the intersection stoplight comes with great responsibility.
This is excruciating for me. I get the feeling that people at the start of the line at an intersection stoplight have to be 101% alert to the light changes. Slow reflexes at the point that the light turns green leads to a backlog and missed opportunity for the rest of us. I don't know about you but if I'm at the front of the line, I am conscious of the yellow light before my lane gets the green one. I'm also in gear before it turns green. Maybe I'm just OC ;)

Anyway, that is hopefully all I will have to say on the subject. Drive safely!

Driving travails

I made a strong brew of coffee at the office today...am kinda wired now :O

Anyway, I used to LOVE driving. My motto used to be, "Will drive, as long as I have gasoline in the tank." Now I just love it. Having to deal with everything and everyone out there on a daily basis takes the fun out of it. To amuse myself, I've begun to label/process the people I encounter on the road. Well, I mostly have thought bubbles that I keep to myself. My top five at present are:

1. You probably don't have an e-pass.

How do I describe it? It's that little device you place on you car windshield or dashboard with pre-loaded toll fees so you just whiz through the toll booth when you enter or exit the highway. In the US it's called a Fastrak (?). I can't remember what they call it in Australia. This label is for people who insist on staying on the e-pass lane then swerve at the last minute to the cash/coupon lane. Sometimes, you can tell just by the model and condition of the car in front of you whether or not it has an e-pass. Then again, some wrecks (such as my own) may surprise you.

2. If you can't read the signs on the road, you shouldn't be driving at all.

This is connected to #1. I feel that if drivers were more attentive to the signs at the toll plaza, #1 would be avoided altogether. This also goes for people who stay on the left turn/right turn only lane and then decided to go straight. Can you imagine how many accidents or bottlenecks could be avoided if everyone just stayed in the proper lane?

3. You're probably not from my village.

Our village used to charge us Php150 every January for an annual resident's sticker that allowed you access to all the roads within. Outsiders were charged Php1000 annually. Our City Mayor decided to destroy this SOP by opening our village to EVERYONE. Now traffic sucks along the 3km. stretch I drive from my home to the next village en route to work, the mall, the club, etc. Hence, every mental driver/cyclist/whatever I encounter within the village earns this label hands down.

4. Rear / Bumper Car stickers = Reckless / Dangerous Driver
I'm dying to put this theory through an actual pysch test. I have noticed that the cars with a number of stickers on the back/bumper/trunk have drivers who just make your life a driving hell. There must be some behavioral correlation between people who like to place a lot of stickers on their cars and people who are not defensive drivers. It's even more interesting to note that the most annoying ones are those with a plethora of religious stickers. Something about God taking care you while you drive like a maniac? Maybe it's just me but I invite you to observe the amount of stickers on the next few cars that push your buttons this weekend.
5. All's fair in friendship and driving ;)
You could be a dear friend but I'm sorry it's every one for himself/herself on the road.
Let's just say you'll hit a nerve if you do something under #1-3 on this list.

* Motorcyclists are also beginning to drive me nuts (pardon the pun). They really should decide how they want to be treated. If they abide by the rules of automobiles, they should just stay in the lane and speed up when necessary. Quit all this overtaking on the side then cutting you off when they're blocked by another vehicle or running out of open road.

Hmmm, not a very bright and chipper entry. I'm not generalizing because there are exceptions to every item. It's just such a bummer to enjoy a drive from the home to anywhere lately. Grrr!

Well, here's to a hassle-free drive today!

Post-Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire

So I left my office at 6:00pm on the dot last 16 Nov 2005 to make it to the mall early enough to freshen up, grab a quick dinner, and start my vigil in front of the cinema for the 9:30pm Harry Potter showing. Alas, traffic was HELL on ALL roads to the mall, inconceivable! I ended up parking my car at a hotel that was maybe a kilometer or more from the mall and WALKED to the mall with my bag, my chips (Jack & Jill Chiz Curls) , and a book (The Dark Tower V by Stephen King).

I forget how long that trek took but I managed to reach the mall, enjoy a cigarette (or two), claim a free drink at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (filled up my drink card), do office errands, freshen up, and start my vigil in front of the cinema (at around 8:15pm). Am I a fan, or what? Incidentally, the book was for the pre-movie wait while the chips were for the movie proper. I had a good place in line (ground level with the cinema instead of at the bottom of the steps or, even worse, outside the mall entrance). Note to selves: Must take a photo of a winding movie line sometime.

The cinema opened its doors at 9:00pm and I'm pleased to say that I was able to get good seats (I watched with my sis in center seats #16-17, seventh row from the back...highly recommended). Well, I wanted us to be comfortable since the movie was said to be 157 minutes long.

Post-movie thoughts:

I cannot believe that the movie made me cry.
It's not like I didn't know what was going to happen.

I guess the audio-visual treat that it was just moved me.

I can't wait to watch it again (and, maybe, again?)

I therefore conclude that Daniel Radcliffe is a much better actor than...

Orlando Bloom

and probably a plethora of Filipino actors ;)

Hahaha!

Happy weekend, keep smiling and God bless!

On Reading, Writers, and Sanity...

From www.jeanettewinterson.com

...Reading, unlike movies and theatre or dance or even looking at pictures in a gallery, is a one to one experience. It is a whispered conversation. The book and the reader are bound together far more closely than the reader and the writer can ever be. The writer hardly matters. The book matters very much. And yet, and yet, we still seek out the reader-writer experience, the living forms that embody the whispered conversation...

...Sanity is found in so many inconsequential things, the small and sustaining pleasures of life, like kids and dogs and a walk and a steaming cup of coffee in the back yard, and a poem you want to learn, and picking up twigs for the fire, and spending all day cooking for your friends, and letting your mind play and swim and leap and jump, instead of forcing it endlessly down the same routes...

Happy midweek ;)

P.S. HP&tGoF opens today in Manila, yay!

Where did my week go?!?

What? It's the 14th already? Pros: five months in the company today and it's payday tomorrow :) Cons: a week without a blog post, tsk-tsk! :O We had a Global Meeting in the office last week with visitors from the US, Europe, and South America i.e. Hell Week. I was the local headless chicken in heels and a dress attending to almost everyone's needs. I must say it was quite an experience though...I'm actually more confident now about making a pot of coffee (my Waterloo) ;) I also reinforced my self-analysis of being a Jill of all trades by entertaining our guests with my one-liners in French, Spanish, and Portuguese (mais ne passant pas sauver mon vie, or something to that effect). Highlights of my week: got buzzed on half a glass of San Miguel Pale Pilsen at the table of the Chairman/CEO during cocktails, indulged in a bubble bath in the company's complimentary hotel room, and escaped to the beach over the weekend (my mantra all week, especially during cigarette breaks, actually was My kingdom for a beach). My Mum, my uncle, and I visited Punta Fuego Peninsula, Terrazas, and Tali in Batangas City. Here are some photos of the Punta Fuego clubhouse, the Terrazas beachfront, and the Tali beach house of a family friend. Anyway, the administrative storm has passed and it's back to sunny days for the moment. Have a great week, keep smiling, and God bless :D

World, meet Layla

Moving donw...This is Layla Andrea, my niece. She was born on 29 October 2005 at 3:12 pm. She was 7 lbs. 9 oz. and 47 cm. at birth. Not to mention 100% Cutie ;)