Who gets to use the bathroom first?

he arrived early morning of the 23rd. his footsteps at the staircase, unlike his little brother's, did not wake me.
When I got up at 6:am, we hardly had the time to do our kamustahans as he was busy attending to his call center employees. all he was able to ask me was how i was doing in my 'new' job. "NATCCO Cubao" was how he called it (as opposed to NATCCO Congress). He was also keen on asking what the 'facts' were in the rice crisis. He said he was pretty skeptical about the news they receive there at Chicago, "there are always distortions in the headlines." he said.

All I said was that things haven't changed that much since he left two months ago. People still blame pretty much everything on Gloria. For example, in a forum I attended on the rice crisis the Friday before he arrived, a reactor said that since "this administration" could not do anything to arrest the rising prices of prime commodities (rice, in particular), then it has no business staying in its "puder." The truth in the syllogism eluded me... (it does still)

"Right!" I said, "Off with her head and goodbye to institutions and structures of governance." Back to the good old days when life was nasty, solitary, brutish and short. "Rar! Rar! Rar!"

He laughed. Obviously amused by my sarcasm.

That was the time when I picked up my coffee mug and brought it with me straight to the bathroom. Thirty minutes after I was out the door and off to work. His last remarks were of his observations on how the apartment has been "girlified." I said, "I haven't even done my thing yet." The place just smells nicer, I thought to myself. haha! :)

Evening arrived and I came home to an empty apartment. "He must be in a meeting." I thought. As I went through my evening chores, tidying up the office, cooking dinner and washing the plates, I thought about my stay in their place. His arrival signaled the nearing of my departure from that place. Hmmm... "What's next for me kaya?" I thought. Then...

"Open up!" he shouted by the window. That was the end of my mini muni-muni session.
"Dinner ka na?" I asked while walking towards the door. "Yeah." he answered. "I'm going to fix the wires here. The connections are getting too cluttered." I just smiled, "Good luck!" I said.

While he was at it, he told me more about his stay abroad-how wonderful seeing the turning of the seasons were... from winter to spring, "You could really hear the birds chirping and see patches of grass on the ground. Wow!" I just listened to his story.

I like listening to this fellow. Conversations with him always carry a thrill because of the ideas he has and the manner that he relates them. I always look forward to our talks.

When his call center agents arrived, he turned his attention to them. And I was left to tinker with his lime green Asus Eee PC. "I'll text Eric to get you one." he promised.

Morning of the 24th started out pretty much like the day before... save for the fact that we had more time to talk. He sat at across the table as he had his coffee... "Oh, ano na?" That was how the two-hour long talk began. We were able to cover subjects such as blue ocean strategies and how it may apply to the growing BPO industry in the country, delivering information on health micro finance (contents for which are already uploaded in youtube) to sectors such as cooperatives with the Internet and mobile communications (cellphones) as the primary vehicle.

Our not-so small talk revolved around addressing the question of how to make people believe that sharing information and learning could be coursed through these channels effectively. "If people can connect on a 'feeling level' and carry out conversations, even ligawans and full length fights with their spouses over their cellphones, then how come the prospect of using the devise as a tool for learning seem unnatural to most?" he said. To my mind, even if the possibility of this being deployed was not removed from reality, the receptiveness of people to such methods might affect its efficacy as a tool to manage knowledge delivery.

Of course we were lost in all the talk... when we glanced upon our cellphones we both smirked. He turned to me and then said, "of course the real issue is... who gets to use the bathroom first?"

:)

thrown off

if you were asked to recall a certain phone call you received in your entire life... what what would your story be?
for me this may probably be it...

... 6:10 in the am and i'm still resisting the thought that its the beginning of another work week as i put my phone into another 10-minute-tawad snooze mode.

so the phone went silent for a good two seconds when Edwin's call came. As i saw the picture of a penguin flash in my screen, I said to myself, "Figures." Maybe he went off to Cavite early morning. .
"Good morning Michelle. Sorry. Did I wake you?" the calm voice on the other line said.
"It's okay. Kamusta?" I said.
"Um, do you have the PAC hotline number?"
PAC (Philippine Auto Club) is the Emergency Roadside Assistance Provider for all of the Soriano's vehicles.
"I met an accident."
okay... this was when i went on my nanay-panikera mode, "WHAT?!? WHAT HAPPENED?!? ARE YOU OKAY?!?" And I was running scenarios in my head as he was trying to say that he was okay.

"I'm okay. I just need the towing assistance right now. Do you have their number?"
"No. I don't." And i was actually about to run to the PC to boot it so i can google the number. Classic Michelle. Classic.
Cutting the long story short, I ended up giving him the number of PAC's Operations Manager, Roger. I'm sure he could assist him better.

As i went down the staircase--no suklay and all, I went on suspended animation as i read the note that Edwin left for me at the dining table. "Thanks so much, Michelle."

I was thinking, 'damn, he was in an accident. Anong nangyari?
What if it went terribly wrong and writing that note was one of his last acts on earth?'
I was thinking pa why the note only said "thank you" and did not contain the customary, "see you."

SHUCKS!!! I had to consciously force myself to snap out of it. he's okay and promised to give me updates later. so, just wait. and... be thankful of that 6:10 shocking yet reassuring wake up call.

ang eberet

"it was a good car." -edwin
"indeed." -ek

[...sighs]