What I Have To Put Up With

So I'm back at my receptionist drone job. Thankfully I've gotten a more lenient schedule than last time - or rather, a more coherent, solid schedule. That doesn't mean I'm free of stress though. Especially when it comes to the single worst part of my day - the commute.

First I have to take the notoriously crowded Metro and Light Rail Transit. Yes, they're two different companies running the lines in this city and they're both losing money. But that's another rant. Anyway, there's the fact that they're not 100% reliable. If I'm really unlucky, sometimes I get delayed until I'm a record 45 minutes late for class. That was half the class I missed.

The waving guy in the center is a guard. Apparently I can't take pictures in LRT stations.

Then there's the walk from the arts building to the Hotel Management building. It's about 4-5 blocks and the walk takes under 10 minutes if I'm brisk. These days I don't even bring my sling bag most of the time. It'd be nice if I wasn't walking through urban Manila streets...and they're definitely not known for their cleanliness unless I was in a gated subdivision. Some of the places I walk through don't even have sidewalks. At least Manila traffic isn't that fast.

The route to work goes over this very bridge. That's the Arts Building that's reflected in its murky waters.

No respect for the crosswalk! The Hotel Management building's in the background.

I walk in the path of these all the time. At least this one was stationary...you don't want to be near one that's just starting to move.

Now, I don't have a car I can use for this period of time, and perhaps I should be thankful because commuting to school and work in a car would actually take longer than the train due to the traffic around the times I'd be doing so, and that's not counting the extra gas costs (and environmental damage, blah blah blah.) That doesn't mean I envy some of the people who can drive themselves to school in rides like these:

I've actually spotted fancier makes in front of the building. No super-exotics though, most of the kids who can afford college aren't that rich.

Then there's the commute home. I like to pass through a small mall attached to the Southbound side of the LRT station near college just to browse the latest video games. However the part of the mall that exits to the station has its own "smoker's alley." I've been told that the people here are slackers who are nearing their maximum residency periods in college.

You can't see the carbon-monoxide-laced death in the air.

I once read somewhere that each cigarette takes off 7 minutes from my lifetime. I wonder if I'll even live to see the end of college after walking through all of this 3 days a week (5 days including days without work), 45 weeks of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if these smokers outlive me, and I'm younger than them!

Still, that doesn't mean that whatever change I have left can't buy me a little something to ease the pain.

Slurpee. Does a body good.