Saturday, December 6, 2008

Go for the Extra Mile

I stayed late at the office last night, and as a reward I got myself a complete Greenwich Dinner stuffed with spaghetti and garlic cheese pizza with a large drink of ice-cold pineapple juice. I also rewarded myself with hot White Chocolate Mocha as I waited for my ride home.

Upon arriving at home, I briefly played with Harvey, patted myself for surviving a very demading schedule for the past few days, cleaned up and tucked myself in my comforting bed with a promise of a wonderful dream and a pleasant morning. A few minutes before my supposed take on my "eternal slumber" I was really looking forward to a relaxing, spontaneous, sleep-hoarding weekend, teaching Harvey new tricks and ocassionally fixing my bookshelf and minor details for my looming party.

When at around 7 AM sharp a loud ring snatched me from my comfort, as I fumbled to see that it was a FOREIGN number (Literally foreign!) DAMN it! I answered. Somehow I knew the bottom of it.

It was my American team mate asking me if I could cover the emergency month end run this weekend. Naturally, since I'm the only one managing this data warehouse in Manila, I didn't say NO even if I couldn't utter a strong reply of "YES." Blast it...all my dreams for this weekend...gone. My sleep...destroyed, my itinerary...crashed and me...pressured to get there and settle what needs to be settled. Just like a doctor or an IT professional, welcome to my world.

But before anything else, I have to get one thing crossed out on my list. HARVEY'S VET VISIT.

I got dressed, took Harvey, bathed him and made a couple of phone calls and text messages to those people whom I'm supposed to meet for today. I got Harvey's papers, my things and quickly drove to Mitch's house for him to accompany me. Good thing, when we arrived at Harvey's Vet clinic, we were next in line after an operated Persian cat. AFter Harvey's 2 vaccines, I was the extremely proud 'parent.' He was nowhere SUTIL. He didn't cry. He didn't whine. He didn't much try to bite the nurse. He just looked at me, reacted a bit on the needle, but just literally looked at me. People were amused by his bravery and he reminded me of myself when I was a kid. I only needed a reward to shut my chords out. With Harvey, constant attention and slices of apples will do. I also shared his show of bravery to my mother and and sister when I got home, they were extremely proud as well.


After Harvey's vet visit, I went to Mitch's house as Harvey said his hellos to Mitch's mom and Mitch's dog Rocky. Again, I was in constant touch with my Florida-counterpart, so I entertained a couple of phone calls in between while Harvey tried his best to piss ROcky off, sending waves of paranoia on Mitch. By 12 I got home and after a quick consultation with my sister on my liquor orders from her friend, Mitch picked me up and we drove to Makati.

NOW I'm here, in the cold office alone, with only the light of my computer illuminating the floor. I could scare myself to death, for what? I'll just tire myself with the effort. I'd probably should just take a quick peek at the Salcedo Park Fair or have a crepe in Rockwell, anywhere but here.

What an unfortunate fool. It's a weekend and the vacant floor echoes my situation of "unwanted isolation." While Mitch is having his photo shoot near the area, I am here stuck in my computer and monitoring data from different parts of the globe. That's how interesting my work is. That's how bad it is all the same. Thinking about it, there is such convenience in "remote access," but weighing it against its cons, it's more advantageous to stay out of the mobile-connectivity category. At least for right now, I could still have an excuse to NOT make my weekends "work-ends", it all depends on the situation or how I'm willing to sacrifice. Today was a very lucky day. Today, let's just say I was extremely kind.

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