Painting, commuting, shooting, and other -ing endings

I tried painting over the weekend.

I finally had the courage to take it up, something I had been wanting to do for the longest time. I don't have any formal training, so Youtube was the best resource I had.  I did my first painting Sunday afternoon, 29th of January, and  finished my second painting at thirty past twelve midnight of the next day. I was so engrossed that I lost track of time. I was forgetting that I had to be up for work in a few hours.

A good first try, I think.

 I was beaming with pride for my creations. They are not exactly museum quality, but they deserve a place in my small abode. I have yet to learn how to blend colors and many other things. The flower painting is too dark while the mountain scenery is too light. Nevertheless, I am happy with my work. I shouldn't be too hard on myself. Besides, it's my first attempt to use oil.

With only few hours of sleep and with fingers smudged with paint, I was off to work by seven, to make it in time for the flag raising ceremony that Monday morning. I started panicking when vehicles were moving at a snail-paced along MIA road. I don't ever recall experiencing heavy traffic in this area even on a Monday morning. I surmised something was wrong, an accident maybe, ahead of us.

After a thirty-minute agony, I survived the heavy traffic, arriving at the office just in nick of time. I learned there was a film shooting in Buendia. A bus was made to appear to be falling off the flyover. "Ah, Bourne Legacy!" The mention of the film's title made everyone forgive the inconvenience it brought to all motorists and commuters. Who wouldn't be? The movie will certainly help promote the country, and we are too happy to have Hollywood stars come over here.

 Few minutes after I arrived, I saw the traffic along Roxas Boulevard the shooting created. While one side (south-bound) of the street had few cars, the other appeared like an extension of the parking lot to its right.

Tuesday morning, I learned from the morning show, Unang Hirit that the Buendia flyover shooting was for GMA 7's new soap. Upon hearing the news, I told myself, "ok" and hoped not to experience the same inconvenience again.

Rush hour

Today you leave the house minutes after your usual time. You pray that a jeep welcomes you as you head to the street. But there is none. Then, suddenly there is, but a filled one. You glance at your watch and it says twenty-five minutes until reporting time. You begin to panic as you cannot afford to be late. Just as you are contemplating on taking a cab, an almost empty jeep makes its way for you. You hop on it and give a sigh of relief. The jeep suddenly takes a u-turn for the nearest gas station. You tell yourself  "this will just take a few minutes."The driver fills his tank, and gets the jeep back to its lane. He now stops at every sight of a  possible passenger.  Passengers take their sweet time to get on the jeep. The driver sees there are three more seats left. He makes the long stretch his loading area; at every intersection and corner he stops. You begin to be annoyed and  create a list of invectives in your head. "This cannot be happening," you tell yourself. You are looking for coins in your wallet to pay the remaining seats when all of a sudden the jeep stops.  A cop asks the driver to pull over. You are now made aware of the time because your boss is calling you on the phone.

I'll end the story there.

This has happened to me a lot times.What I don't like about it is the pressure and stress these experiences give me.  To start a day with a stressful morning makes one cranky and irritated the whole day.

The list of bad experiences doesn't end there.

Have you ever experienced getting off the jeep because the driver requests you to transfer because the driver claims to have had a flat tire or some other reasons which are incomprehensible to a passenger who just wants to get to his/her destination?  Ok, a flat tire is understandable, but when you see that the driver simply doesn't want to drive all the way to the end because of the heavy traffic or rain, you would feel duped!

Pretty much like the traffic in Manila streets

Alright, I'll stop here. Recalling all  those irks me already. I'll think of a happier post next time.

The roads aren't the same once they hold a sale.

Crime Seen

The driver turned off his engine; he finally gave up. The FX was not to move in the next five minutes or so. Passengers were anxious of what was going on; some were fanning themselves; others were trying to see the cause of the traffic. One lady looked very impatient, pissed. Her long face, however, got shorter when the FX moved a measly two meters. There was hope. The next twenty meters took ten minutes. Slowly, they saw the cause of the problem. An accident. Heads turned to see the wreckage. As the FX was maneuvering into the small space left for moving vehicles, the passengers, particularly the males transformed from being irritated passengers into crime scene investigators. " Kasalanan ng pula," referring to the smashed car said one. "Siguradong patay yan," concluded one person. "Nakainom 'yan, " added another. It was interesting to note how these people spoke with authority and certainty in spite of the less-than-minute view of the scene. Some tried to take a second look eventhough the FX was meters away.

Two minutes  after seeing the mishap, the passengers cease their CSI persona to return to their passenger roles. I, instead, would like to pray and thank God that it wasn't me nor my loved-ones whom my co-passengers were pronouncing dead. Amen.

Traffic

Slow-moving traffic is nothing but part of the Metropolitan Manila life! I think both patience and impatience are developed in this everyday commuting ordeal. To pass time, commuters do the following:

a. they listen to the in-house music which the driver has carefully chosen for his and his passengers' listening pleasure
b. those who don't want the driver's selection or those who don't want silence, listen to their own music
c. some chat with companions and even with strangers; the topic of discussion can even be a source of entertainment and irritation to the rest of the passengers. this brings me to letter d:
d. they eavesdrop, a Filipino pastime
e. cellphones keep most of the commuters company
f. they engage in people or passenger watching
g. they do sight-seeing of similar landscapes and scenes
h. those who are new or unfamiliar in the area watch with eagle eyes for landmarks and street signs in hopes of not missing their destination
i. some remain in silence and are usually in deep thought
j. a favorite of many: they sleep
k. students harm their eyes by reading their notes
l. lovers engage in 'loverly activities'
m. the unlucky ones become victims of robbery and sexual harrassment

There are other behaviors exhibited by commuters that are observable at anytime in a trip. Another observation worth looking into is the relief seen when the road opens for an uninterrupted journey after a long halt. When that happens, it's road heaven!