Surreal but real

The title is not original - it comes from that Hugh Grant-Julia Roberts movie. It came to mind today while I was having lunch while the television at the pantry was on. The one million question on Game Ka Na Ba was what is paraskevidekatriaphobia and the contestant lost. Answer: fear of Friday the 13th. Is it just coincidence that they had to ask the question on a Friday, the 13th? Surreal. I don't know if it is surreal that the contestant could not decipher the gobbledygook. I mean, treskaidekaphobia, which I think is a more "popular" fear is the fear of the number 13. But well, what is more surreal that having someone like Kris Aquino on lunchtime TV hollering "may tama ka!!" with relish.

Other recent surreal events:

Last night on the way to school, I was driving along Zapote Street leisurely until I turned right on a side street towards Pasong Tamo. Since middle of this year, many of the side streets of Makati have been designated one-way streets for reasons only City Hall knows. But in fairness, the one-way signs are pretty visible and I guess there is some logic to be had, no matter how minimal, in such harebrained schemes. The side street I was on was one-way going to Pasong Tamo and it was not moving. The problem became obvious after a few minutes. There was this woman who was blocking the road going the opposite way. Naturally, since it is a narrow street, there was gridlock as the cars going towards Pasong Tamo have already occupied both lanes of the one-way lane (naturally, it was a one-way street after all!). The most logical solution would have been for that woman to go back to Pasong Tamo. But no, she adamantly refused to budge. She was on the phone as if seeking help from someone out there.

And when we were finally able to figure out a way to go around her car, there she was, with her windows down and hollering at us: mga dupang! I looked at her car's plate and noticed that she was covered by the color-coding scheme. In other words, she was violating two traffic rules: going against a one-way street, and being on a street when her car was covered by the color-coding scheme. Whew! I lowered my car when I passed her and couldnt resist telling her "Color coding ka pa, nasa one-way street ka pa!" She looked at me with a petulant expressiona and shouted "Eh ano, babae ako eh!" I shouted back "Boba!" and deeply regretted the fact that she probably did not hear me anymore because my car was already moving. Surreal!!

At lunch today, I was waiting in line for my turn at an ATM machine in Tektite. Being a Friday, the lines were expectedly long. But the line was moving unnecessarily slow like a snail with a terrible hangover. I was wondering why the people ahead of me in the line were not making a fuss. Ordinarily, people would make their annoyance felt by constantly peeping at the glass door of the ATM booth as if to say "ano ba, ang tagal mo naman!" The reason became clear when the door of the booth opened...and out came Andrea del Rosario and Katya Santos. Hmmmmmm. Surreal. They actually greeted us while standing there waiting for their service vehicle. And then someone asked to have her picture taken with the two sexy stars...she looked around for someone to take the picture and picked me. Surreal. Why would anyone lug a digital camera around?

And how was is your Friday the 13th?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Open Letter To Our Leaders

Farewell, Victor

A pathway towards better clarity of the issues on RH Bill