It’s just quarter before noon, and yet I’m already swearing to the heavens for how the day is turning out.
I just had caught Bus 139 when I suddenly remembered not blowing off the candle on my shelf beside the bed. Since the candle was above a stack of books, the mental image of the lit candle toppling over and burning the books then the curtains, then the bed, then our unit, then the whole condo flashed before my eyes (and consequently me being thrown to prison… flashes of Flor Contemplacion followed), so I hurriedly alighted at the next bus stop, which, thankfully, was just before the flyover. Running to the condo, I swore my very heavy backpack and my incapacity to not pack too much stuff for rowing this evening.
When I got to the condo, lo and behold, I couldn’t open the frigging gate because my housemates had already left, and of course, locked the gate. I had to lend the gate key to my roommate because I was going home late tonight (because of rowing), and we hadn’t duplicated the key (ang mahal kasi. Imagine, $12 for a frigging piece of metal…). By this time, my positively heeeeeaaaaaaavy backpack has positively worn me out.
To spare myself from the ire of my housemates (from having left the candle burning and not having the key copied, and possibly having burned the condo down), I called up my roommate so that I can meet her and get the gate key. But first, I had to inform my Project Manager that I couldn’t make it to the office this morning. Off I went to Paya Lebar MRT station and the saga to my roommate’s office began. Her office was somewhere near the
The only saving grace of this whole brouhaha was the very nice cabbie who didn’t complain when I gave hazy directions and who didn’t charge another flag-down when I asked him to go back to the Paya Lebar MRT station after picking up the key from my roommate. He was even willing to listen to my story, and told me that going back was the right thing to do.
At the MRT station, I faintly heard a siren going off and my heart skipped a lot of beats (no, not just A beat). From the MRT platform, I saw that the siren came from an ambulance, and not a fire truck, passing by. (Me and my imagination. Paya Lebar is sooooo far from my condo. Surely there had to be another fire station near our place). Still, I couldn’t keep myself from fretting unnecessarily (which is also hereditary).
When I finally alighted at my bus stop, I checked the sky for dark smoke coming from a burning building. There was none. But still, I ran, heavy backpack and all. I got to our unit. No smoke was emanating from the crack between the door and the floor. Not even a whiff. I opened my bedroom door.
The freakin’ candle wasn’t even lighted.
I was sooooooooo relieved, yet irked at the same time. Relieved that I didn’t burn the condo down, hence sparing myself from doing a Flor-Contemplation-story, and irked (at myself) that the memory of blowing off the candle escaped me (again, this is hereditary). Having caught my breath and calmed down, I wanted to bawl over and bang my very stupid head on the floor.
The day isn’t even half done yet and I’m already sooo freakin tired…
Moral for the day: don’t light stupid scented candles in the morning when you’re hurrying to the office. You wouldn’t notice the scent anyway, and even if you did, it wouldn’t take away the stress of the early morning rush.
OR have the key duplicated already.
OR go see a shrink.