Monday, August 19, 2013

My uncle

I just learned last that my uncle died. He was fairly close to me since he's the one we are with the most when we lived in Caloocan. He was the one who made the renovations, wiring etc in our house. 

But that's not what this entry is about...

He died because he got sick. I think he overworked himself and he was over drinking. Maybe all his internal organs failed and so he died. However, the details of his death weren't laid out to me that much because my mother told me of "another" reason why he died. 

They said that he died because he rejected an "aswang". This aswang offered him to become one of them and because my uncle said 'no' he died. 

These things are common stories in the province so I am not surprised anymore. Honestly, I do like to think that he died like that since that would be so cool. Other people might find it offensive and would say that we are insulting his death but it's not like that. People seriously believe this. 

Oh well.. I wasn't there when he died so who knows. I wonder... will I get in trouble if I post something like this? Oh well. 

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Taxi

I decided to write in this blog today because I haven't written anything for the past few weeks (or was it a month already). I have a few things I want to write I got lazy so now I'm going to make a quick impromptu blog entry.

Maybe I should begin by telling you what happened today. I slept late and woke up late so I decided to take a taxi to work. That's what I usually do when I'm really really late. >o<  

So before hailing a taxi I bought coffee in can and cookies. I was so hungry that I ate the cookies while still waiting for a taxi, when the taxi arrived I continued eating inside. I finished eating and drinking before we even got to the main road and there I realized that it's Friday. Friday night's traffic usually goes from moderate to heavy because of people going out or people going home. There were cars everywhere and I never liked that... I mean... this is why I chose to work at night!  

Anyway, so during the traffic I got a little sleepy and ultimately fell asleep. I woke up and realized I slept throughout the traffic of EDSA. I checked the clock and that was a good 3 minutes or so. 

Ok so I have heard and read horror stories about various modus operandi inside a taxi usually it's either hold up or rape or both or more. I read about some gas inside the taxi that a passenger could inhale so they could fall asleep. I also read about taxi drivers that would let some random guy inside the taxi and then he and his friends could rob you. I had read about those stories and of course I knew those stories were true. 

So I slept even with that knowledge inside my head. This was not my first time sleeping inside a taxi. Before I used to ride a taxi for the sole purpose of taking a nap during the trip. So far nothing wrong ever happened to me I got safely to where I wanted to go each and every time. Sure, I got cheated by a driver and I paid him more than normal but I couldn't count that since it's not life threatening. There were also a few occasions where someone I didn't know rode a taxi with me (I was never alone when this happened don't worry) and that other person was the one inconvenienced while I paid the right amount.

I guess you could say I'm lucky. But rather than luck I believe in the kindness of people.

Now a normal person would always be alert and realistic but I was never really a normal person. I usually let my guard down and imagine scenarios that I sort of want to happen but I knew that I couldn't do it because I'm a wuss or because it was just impossible to begin with. This time while inside the taxi I held on to the empty coffee can in my hand. I thought that at the first sign of something weird I would scream and attack the driver like some wild child. I would then try to jam the coffee can inside the driver's eye socket until everything was inside... again like some wild child. Thinking about it excited me and somehow woke me up a bit. I looked at the driver beside me and actually tried to estimate if the coffee can could actually fit in his eye socket. Oh well... it didn't really matter for me if it would fit... I would still jam it in to the best of my abilities.

Then I thought, what if he had a gun? 

Then I would still try to jam it in like a wild child even as I was shot. Maybe I'll try to speak some random gibberish in my dying breath so I could leave something for him to think about. I would absolutely love it if he thought he was cursed or something.. maybe he would change his ways and never harm any of his passengers again. I guess won't really care about it after I die but it would be a nice parting gift. 

Yes I know that it's not a good thing to just accept these awful things happening but somehow imagining these things calm me down. It's my way of being "alert" without being "paranoid". 

Being alert and being on your toes is good and all but I don't think there is ever such a thing as a "safe" place. Nowhere is safe; there are dangers lurking around even at the comforts of your own bedroom. So if you say that, "I won't ride a taxi ever because I have a friend who was hold upped there" then also please consider the amount of crimes happening everyday inside buses, trains, etc... so in the end will you just walk to work? But then again you could get hold up or raped in the street... so better not go outside? But there are also cases where people are murdered inside their houses... 

...so would you just rather die? Trying to get away is futile so rather than trying to escape we just have to face it and try to live another day. Safety is a fragile little thing and as long as you are alive you won't really be safe. 

So in the end I was a little bit disappointed since I didn't go wild child mode. As I looked at the empty coffee can I could still imagine jamming it inside the driver's eye socket hoping that blood would squirt out like it did in the movies. It was not my time again, and I was glad. 

The world is still a nice place to live in.