Various

This morning, I accompanied my son to Citibank Savings where he opened an account. It was an individual account, I couldn't be an and/or co-depositor with him because I have no primary IDs to present, that is, government-issued IDs like GSIS, SSS, Postal ID, Voter's ID, TIN card, etc. So, if and when I win millions in the lotto, expect to find my money under my bed, rather than at Citibank Savings. Silly no?

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Last weekend, my husband and I went to Sheridan in Shangrila for some pillow shams. As we veered to the right side of the store, the balding sales clerk said, "Dito ho," pointing to the left side. He explained himself thus: "Yung sa right pang teenager." Aray. We teased him saying, "wow, ang tanda na pala namin." Taste wise, however, the choices he pointed to for the old weren't at all to my liking. They were mostly browns or large prints. I preferred the checks and bright colors for teens. We ended up buying one set of local shams, 50% cotton, 50% polyester for the cushion on my wheelchair. He said if I have allergies, I need pure cotton pillow shams. But one piece in Sheridan which was on sale cost P527. So I said I'd check prices out in Rustan's. There I found 2 pieces of shams made of pure cotton with 200 thread count selling for P500 plus, and those with 300 thread count selling for P895. They were locally made besides, so I got the stuff from Rustan's. From now on, if the quality of the product is ok, I'll go Filipino made.

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My son wanted to drive to Makati by himself, I won't elaborate why. This was at 9 in the evening after a long day for him. At 8 in the morning, he taught in a public school, after which he had lunch, proceeded to sing with a choir at a wedding at 2:30, played the guitar at a reception, and then to Makati. Initially his plan was to pick up a girl in Makati, drive off with her to a party in Quezon City and bring her back to Makati after the party. I figuratively put my foot down. For one he had a very long day and the Saguisags had just met a vehicular accident. For another, he isn't beyond falling asleep while driving. For yet another, he isn't too experienced a driver yet to drive alone to Makati.

In the end, he agreed not to go to the party but wanted to go to Makati. Fine. He had a male friend with him. Fine too. But we drove behind them all the time, just to be sure. My husband has been stopped twice by MMDA officers in EDSA on the way to Makati for beating the red light/crossing the line for buses before he should have. Didn't want our son to be alone just in case it happened to him. So we trailed him, with his knowledge. What a harrowing experience! The buses in EDSA are such bullies. I was perpetually praying as I saw him deal with them. It was awful. He managed with the help of angels, I'm sure. Going home, he said he'd go ahead. we let him be as he was still with his male friend. We got home ahead of us and when I tracked him, I got the message from Globe, "Cannot be determined." So, of course, I worried. As we waited for the maid to open the gate, I saw a car slow down our street. It was our son. Rather than EDSA, he went through C-5 because he veered to the side of the overpass that compelled him to go C-5. He asked his father which way he should have taken. Lessons learned. He also decided going C-5 was the safer alternative as along C-5 there aren't any bullies, er, buses. One particular bus that was so abrasive was GASAT. For a while I memorized his number, just in case. I have since forgotten what it was.

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Yet another bombing, this time in Batasang Pambansa. This time, government was quick to concede it was an IED (improvised explosive device). For a while there I thought they'd say it was a methane-triggered explosion like in Glorietta. If they had said that, wow, that means FIlipinos produce a lot of gas! From eating camote? Corny. Though not too many people believed them re Glorietta, that's for sure.