The car was banned from the road yesterday because of the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) aka number coding. Since I was attending my grand aunt’s funeral, I figured I’ll ride with James. But he turned out to be sick and couldn’t attend. So I had to borrow and drive his car which is a stick. It’s not that I don’t drive stick but it’s been quite long time since I have driven one. Interestingly, I’ve driven a whole bunch of other cars and they’re ALL sticks. The only auto I’ve ever driven was my car. But fortunately, it seems I haven’t forgotten the basics and I was able to drive around albeit with some jerkiness and quite a few engine stalls. At the end of the day, though my left leg was aching, I was glad I can still do manual mode.
My grand aunt passed away after a long battle with cancer. She was 80 years old. Although my knowledge of her life is far from comprehensive, from the eulogy of the Mother General, she has no doubt lived it to the fullest serving God. She was a nun for 56 years and, as my uncle said in his eulogy, was impeccably holy. That’s something many of us can only hope for come time to go.
And so just over a week after the day in the year when cemeteries become a crowded mess, I found myself in one. You wouldn’t have believed it had been crowded just a few days previously. It was reasonably clean and there was a quiet and peaceful atmosphere. The way it should be.
The funeral itself was a solemn occasion. Because of the wide dispersion of the family, there was only about a dozen of us representing but her sisters of the cloth were in force. Interestingly, they seemed to be used to these things. Everything was well planned and went along quite smoothly. It was as if it was just business as usual. And maybe it is. Maybe to them, passing away from this life is just going into another better life. And I do agree.
RIP Lola Danday. You’re in a better place.
C-Section Comics came up with this matrix of how smartphone users see each other. Pretty accurate if you ask me. Interesting to note that Nokia is not included. It seems it has lost relevance in the smartphone space.
Yesterday, I got reminded again how much I dislike Globe. I was trying to find a less expensive way of going online and I saw SUPERSURF 50. Unlimited Internet for a whole day for P50. I tried registering for it. Prepaid only. I tried the next one SUPERSURF 220, unlimited Internet for 5 days for P220. No luck, also prepaid only. Do I try SUPERSURF 1200, unlimited Internet for 1 month for P1200? No, I just need one day. Clearly there is an intentional discrimination against postpaid subscribers.
Almost to the day last year, I found out that roaming charges for prepaid is less than that for postpaid. At least that’s how I was charged. There are published rates for prepaid on their website, but there is none for postpaid. The CSR I talked to said it is dependent on the International partner. Some may have higher charges, and some may be lower. Still, prepaid would still depend on those same partners, don’t they?
It’s funny since Globe keeps insisting that they are leading in postpaid subscribers. Maybe right now it’s unclear who really is leading. But what is clear is that just a few years ago, Globe was definitely leading. Now it’s not so clear anymore. And the way Globe is doing things, it clearly won’t be.
Last night, I was driving home from work when I got into a collision. I was on the access road from the office, on the 3rd lane turning right towards the main street. I was already in the middle of the main street and halfway through my turn when I had to stop because of the congestion. Then out of nowhere, a red Toyota Vios came zooming along the street and clipped my left front corner.
The damage on my car were: damaged left fender, damaged bumper, broken left turn light, and others that I might not have noticed. The damage on the Vios were: damaged right fender, damaged bumper, a stuck right front door, and others that I might not have noticed.
It seemed obvious to me that she was the one moving since her fender was pushed back towards the door causing it to stick. Also my left turn light was pulled outward. I can only hope the investigator will agree with me.
Vioses always scare me. They’re usually driven by newbie female drivers. Double whammy! Next time I see a Vios, I’ll make sure to stay clear.
UPDATE: The investigator didn’t agree with me. Not that he really investigated in the real sense. He just took pictures and took down our narrative of events :(