Oplan Fixer Strike!
Today I went to the National Bureau of Investigation office in Manila to pick up my clearance papers. I don't know why my parents wanted me to get them in the first place, but anyway. On our way up, my brother Mike and I were accosted by a man, who muttered "NBI clearance? Kaya kong pabilisan. 30 minutes lang." ("NBI clearance? I can get it faster for you. 30 minutes only.")
We said no and proceeded to the main office. There were numerous pictures of arrested "fixers" on the walls, and big signs saying "Do not deal with fixers." Being the good and upright citizens that we are (hah!), Mike and I approached the nearest official-looking guy and told him about the thirty-minute clearance guy. We thought that was it, but then the detective called over even more detectives and made us repeat our story and give a description of the guy.
Mike and I were getting pretty worried, so we said goodbye and that we hoped they'd catch him soon. One of the detectives looked thoughtful for a minute, and then he said: "Why don't you guys work for us? We need you to be undercover agents. We'll give you the marked money right now, and we'll be right behind you to swoop down on the guy once he takes it."
(Operative words: undercover agents, marked money, swoop down.)
We were asked to be UNDERCOVER AGENTS!!! Loser-type one-time undercover agents, but still. Mike and I would have done it, except he'd just had his wisdom tooth pulled and I still needed to get my papers done. Plus I was getting pretty paranoid. What if he had a knife? I don't think coming home on a stretcher and sporting multiple stab wounds would make for a very happy Christmas.
So we said no, I still didn't get my papers ($&^#%$*& DOST for not updating the clearance list), and I took the train back home.
I took the new LRT line today alone for the very first time. I'm not afraid of being alone, but I'd never gone alone either. It was a great day to do that, actually, despite the holiday rush. All the station workers were smiling - the guard who gave the OK signal to the engineer, the guy sweeping the station floor, and the people in the customer service booth. I felt like a sardine in a electric mobile tin can, but the people around me made sure that everyone and their bags were safe, and that no one fell when the train stopped or accelerated.
I made it to Ayala station in about 30 minutes. I walked around for a bit and ended up buying some Edward Gorey at Goodwill Bookstore. I also bought Pat the perfect Christmas gift (in my opinion), but he'll never guess what it is.
And just now I found an mp3 of one of my favorite Christmas carols of all time.
So yeah, I've had a pretty good day.
We said no and proceeded to the main office. There were numerous pictures of arrested "fixers" on the walls, and big signs saying "Do not deal with fixers." Being the good and upright citizens that we are (hah!), Mike and I approached the nearest official-looking guy and told him about the thirty-minute clearance guy. We thought that was it, but then the detective called over even more detectives and made us repeat our story and give a description of the guy.
Mike and I were getting pretty worried, so we said goodbye and that we hoped they'd catch him soon. One of the detectives looked thoughtful for a minute, and then he said: "Why don't you guys work for us? We need you to be undercover agents. We'll give you the marked money right now, and we'll be right behind you to swoop down on the guy once he takes it."
(Operative words: undercover agents, marked money, swoop down.)
We were asked to be UNDERCOVER AGENTS!!! Loser-type one-time undercover agents, but still. Mike and I would have done it, except he'd just had his wisdom tooth pulled and I still needed to get my papers done. Plus I was getting pretty paranoid. What if he had a knife? I don't think coming home on a stretcher and sporting multiple stab wounds would make for a very happy Christmas.
So we said no, I still didn't get my papers ($&^#%$*& DOST for not updating the clearance list), and I took the train back home.
I took the new LRT line today alone for the very first time. I'm not afraid of being alone, but I'd never gone alone either. It was a great day to do that, actually, despite the holiday rush. All the station workers were smiling - the guard who gave the OK signal to the engineer, the guy sweeping the station floor, and the people in the customer service booth. I felt like a sardine in a electric mobile tin can, but the people around me made sure that everyone and their bags were safe, and that no one fell when the train stopped or accelerated.
I made it to Ayala station in about 30 minutes. I walked around for a bit and ended up buying some Edward Gorey at Goodwill Bookstore. I also bought Pat the perfect Christmas gift (in my opinion), but he'll never guess what it is.
And just now I found an mp3 of one of my favorite Christmas carols of all time.
So yeah, I've had a pretty good day.