After more than five years of being on the night shift, it was both a welcoming and startling start to be on day shift. Normalcy does have its price, but one that I believe - wholeheartedly, at least for now - is well worth it.
I started the day early, leaving the house at 6 am, confident I have plenty of time to get at the office well before the appointed time of 8:30. Alas, I realized it was Monday morning and 99% of commuters are the "normal" people rushing to work or someplace equally important.
The bus I usually take didn't even bother to stop when I hailed it, as it was already bursting at the seams with passengers. So I took the long way of taking a jeep to Crossing and then a bus, which had to stop every two meters from Crossing to Mayapa. The SLEX was - thank God - not as congested as I feared; it only slowed down near the Alabang exit. However the trip from Metropolis to South Station took almost 30 minutes!
The blinding sunshine was also a shock for this former nocturnal commuter, as was the melting heat heralding the early arrival of summer. It didn't help much that we were asked to dress up a bit so we weren't dressed in our comfy jeans and shirts when we forayed into our first day shift commute. I sat next to a pant-suited lady catching some last minutes snooze and a sabungero in silver Havaianas hugging his cock, er, rooster. Yez.
The hours did kind of whiz by. Thank God to years of reading anything from trashy novels to Jehova's Witness pamphlets, I plowed through the endless online material with aplomb. More! (Of course, I did sneak some gawk time at People.com and latimes.com for some Oscar Red Carpet coverage. Loved Sandy in "The Blind Side" but am not too crazy about her vintage frock. Loved Demi's ruffles!)
It was an experience to actually have lunch at the real lunch hour of 12 noon, and have a morning and afternoon break, instead of "first" and "second" breaks. When the day ended at 5:30, did a quick stop at Festival Mall with Leni and Danica to pick up some sunblock and a maillot for me and goggles and sand castle-making toys for Ging.
Slept a little on the way home, although I spent a great deal of it wrinkling my nose at how horrible I probably smell already and wanting to take a bath after a hot, sweaty, dusty day. Ew. Also gloated to Perry and Angel (former teammate and boss, respectively) through texts about my uber "normal" day and some holiday perks (paid leave on Holy Week YEY!!!).
Went home to a cranky daughter ("Mommy you're late!) and unloaded some first day blahs to my sister and her hubby. Took a refreshing bath that felt so gooooooood - only to be rushed by my mother.
Now going to sleep... after I put on some night cream. Goodnight, world. See you tomorrow.
