One weird day....

May 18, 2005

Last time I looked, Friday the 13th was five days ago, yet yesterday was just one of those weird days wherein you encounter one snafu and then another. While the early part of the day was pretty uneventful, things started getting all twilight zone during lunch.

I was finishing my halo-halo over at Iceberg's at Metrowalk, along with Jay, May and Ning. My cellphone suddenly rings, and I hear this frantic female voice asking me where I was, and that she needed my help, since she had a flat tire. Trouble was, her number wasn't listed on my phone contacts, and I didn't have the presence of mind to ask her who she was. For all I know, it could have been a wrong number, and I didn't even know this woman. Unable to bring myself to ask her who she was, I gingerly tapped the red button on my phone, abruptly ending the call. This bought me some time while I gathered my thoughts, much to the amusement of my companions, and probably to the consternation of the caller. The phone rang again, and I finally managed to interrupt her frantic ramblings enough to squeeze in the question: "Teka lang, sino ka muna?"

It turns out it was Jen, a colleague of mine from work, who didn't even bother to introduce herself before she started blathering. She had two cellphone lines, only one was listed on my phone. By some coincidence, she, along with another colleague Argie, was also at Metrowalk, and my lunchmates and I proceeded to her location to see what help we can provide. While trading tirades and non-helpful punchlines, ("Flat ka? Tulak natin! O kaya pa-tow ka na lang!") we managed to change her flat tire, and send her on her way. It wasn't a pretty sight, us changing the tire. Jay even managed to ruin Jen's folding lug wrench. He stepped on it, using his body weight to generate torque to loosen the lug nuts. He failed to lock the wrench before stepping on it though, causing it to deform. But at least we got the job done. :-) End of story. I wish.

After going back to Jay's minivan, it turns out he left the lights on. So that's why there was a buzzer sounding when we left the van. It was the headlight warning buzzer. Result? Dead battery. So what do we do? The minivan had an automatic transmission, so we can't push start it. We call Jen and ask her to come back, hoping we could jumpstart the engine. She does come back, only to realize that Jay didn't have a jumper cable. Ok, no problem, we'll just swap the batteries. Oops. George didn't have any wrenches to loosen the battery connections with. They ended up hitching a ride to the office with Jen, while I made my way back myself. I didn't fit. :-) End of story. I wish.

Well actually, yes, that was the end of the bit with the dead battery. But when it rains, it pours. Literally. At around 6:30 PM, with heavy rain pouring down in the Pasig area, I stepped into an elevator for a 90 second trip down to the ground floor from the 19th floor. The trip lasted 15 minutes. The heavy rain apparently caused a power fluctuation, making the elevator behave erratically. It jerked to a stop halfway, then proceeded to go down, one floor at a time, stopping momentarily on each floor, while the doors failed to open. Eventually, we got to ground level, but the elevator still refused to open its doors. We climbed up again, at the same slow and steady pace, reach the 16th floor or so, and the elevator again suddenly jerks to a stop, and we go down...again. Some of the lady passengers were getting tense, while we were cracking jokes to lighten up the situation. Eventually we got down to the ground floor, and the elevator was forcibly opened by a security guard using a special key.

It was raining cats and dogs when I went out of the building. Harder than it ever did for the past several months now. A good thing I was able to hitch a ride home with Jay. Yeah, Jay. I saw his van parked out in front. It seems that it was only in the evening that he managed to get back to his vehicle, start the engine, and get it back to the office.

Moral lessons of the story? Never be embarrassed to ask a person who calls you who they are if their numbers aren't listed on your phone. Lock a collapsible lug wrench before putting your weight on it. Never leave your headlights on in a parked vehicle. Keep tools and a jumper cable in your vehicle in case you need them. And don't ride an elevator in a thunderstorm. :-)

Weird day. Well, you know what they say, "Into each life, a little rain must fall." :-)