it's the ending that matters

i woke up earlier than usual, washed my clothes, took a bath and dressed up. at 12:30, i was all set for my 2 pm shift. i didn't know what happened with time. the next time i checked my phone, it was already 1:30. i rushed out of the house in my dark blue jeans and plaid shirt and ran under the rain to the hi-way. the manong jeepney driver drove around 20 km/hour and i wanted to strangle him. when i got off the central market, i sprinted to the office and was able to reach the biometrics at 1354. right! 4 minutes late! i made my reports for my first two classes and checked the system. i put on a happy face to greet my students at 1519. i expected only 1 student in the room but i was greeted by 3. well, it was fine. when 1540 came, i was surprised by 10 kids! wonderful! they took my breath away...they were good kids. i just wasn't prepared for them and i let them sip all my energy. i was so drained after an hour in the office that i even entertained the thought of going home. plus, when everyone saw me, they were all so shocked and asked why i was dressed that way...i suddenly felt small. waaah!!! they said, they were used to seeing me in dresses and they're always looking forward to what i will be wearing. well, i surely didn't want to disappoint them...dinner time! i didn't bring food from home so i went along with my groupmates when they went out to buy some food. i bought "kare-kare" with "bagoong". i didn't bring utensils. waaahhh! i felt like a "pulubi" eating on a plastic and with a borrowed fork from vonne. the "kare-kare" was disappointing. the meat was like a chewing gum. good thing there were some vegetables in it. so i just ate the veggies with my rice. i must have been an "interesting" person on a friday because aside from getting comments from everyone about my clothes, they stood around me while i was eating. ugh! enough for the shrinking feeling. after dinner, i put on what little confidence that i have and went on with my classes. i stayed hidden in my cube and did some reading until the end of the shift. i was looking forward for a walk with andy and whoever else who wants to join us. as we were close to our usual friday tambayan, rhea asked if we'd still drop by chowking. we didn't plan on eating out that night because we didn't have money. so rhea caught up with her jeep. but andy, sissy quel and i were so drawn to chow. i, for one, wanted to re-claim my day. andy just wanted to hang out. and quel...she was torn between joining us and going home. with two votes against one, we finally decided to have budget meals in chow. yehey! my soul was happier than my body when i started eating my chow fan with chili sauce. we talked about quel's love adventures and andy read marriage quotes. the talking went on from love to childhood. we were so boisterous talking about the games that we played when we were kids. ahh! those free and innocent days when all we worried about was playing! with the laughter that we shared early saturday morning, i finally re-claimed my friday! chowking atrium is my new comfort zone on a friday night.