one fine saturday

As I write this blog entry today, I am in front of an NTC monitor inside an internet cafe in Walter Mart - Sta. Rosa, Laguna, whiling the hours away as I wait for my wife to finish with her company event in the nearby Enchanted Kingdom.

Rather than going home to my parents in San Pedro and coming back here three hours later to fetch my wife, I just decided to waste the hours away with some time-consuming yet totally unproductive activities. What better way to describe how to waste time by doing it in chronological sequence from the minute I woke this morning:

6:30: Woke up half-heartedly after less than 5 hours of sleep at the sound of my wife's cellphone alarm. Went back to sleep one minute later.

6:50: Finally shook awake by Elvie and grudgingly proceeded to the shower to take a bath.

7:30: Left the house with Enchanted Kingdom as a destination. This after getting careful instructions from my parents on how to get to the blasted place.

8:00: Still cruising on a jeep bound for Balibago Complex where we'll switch rides and take a tricycle to the amusement park. The call time for the even was 8:00am but knowing the Lhuilliers, there's bound to be latecomers for sure.

8:25: Finally arrived at Balibago Complex and after asking directions hopped on a tricycle for a P50-peso ride to EK.

8:35: Arrived at the gates of EK and Elvie had to rush to the entrance as she had no idea if the program had already started. I, on the other hand, started my leisurely walk back to the bungad (the main entryway) where I had espied Walter Mart.

8:55: After a brisk 20-minute walk, I find that Walter Mart is still closed including the McDonald's branch where I had hoped to have breakfast at. Crossed the street to the gas station where a Jollibee branch was located.

9:00 - 9:45: Ordered two breakfast meals to satisfy my hunger -- a longganisa meal and a pancake sausage meal with pineapple juice and hot choco as drinks. Took 45 minutes to finish both meals as I was leisurely eating them in between pages of the David Eddings book I bought as the ultimate time-consumer (NOTE: good thing I am a voracious reader as a book is the best way for me to wait and exercise patience. A comfortable place where I won't be shooed away and a good book will make the hours disappear rapidly).

9:46: As Jollibee started to get crowded, I made my way back to Walter Mart in slow, measured steps and proceeded to withdraw some money from the ATM. After which, with Walter Mart still closed (opening time was 10am), I ducked into McDonald's (opened at 9:30) and ordered a sundae and a soda. Took up my book again to read more pages.

10:15: With Walter Mart now fully opened, I ventured into the mall and was disappointed that there wasn't much to it. No name shops dotted the mini-mall with just a few familiar names interspersed -- Bench, Japan Home, Abenson, Greenwich, Watson. I was hoping there was a full Electroworld branch (I saw a salesperson wearing an EW shirt before the mall opened) but alas, the EW was no more than a booth inside Abenson. In under 10 minutes I had finished my round of the mall. I made my way to the bargain section of the mall and I found stalls selling DVDs but since I wasn't in the mood for some piracy looting, I just "window-shopped".

10:35: After acquiring a couple of small PC applications from a vendor inside the bargain center, I took a quick trip to the little boys' room for a Mother Nature call. Before going out of Walter Mart, I passed by the small Booksale shop to see if there was anything interesting. None.

10:45: I end up inside this cafe and started this blog entry. At this point, I already wasted 1 hour recounting my story this morning :P One more hour's wait and I'll be going to EK anew to rendezvous with my wife.