Bad, bad traffic day

I hate being stuck in traffic. But when you live in Manila, it's one of the things you learn to deal with. You come to know where in the city, and at which times during the day, the traffic is bad and how long it will take to get from one place to another during these bad traffic moments. I still get pissed off when stuck in traffic every now and then, but I can kinda let it roll off my back for the most part.

The sucky thing really is when you are not expecting any traffic at all and it hits you squarely in the face. And that's exactly what happened to me yesterday.

I was heading to Manila for band practice at 3pm. I left my place at 2:15pm, fully expecting to be at the studio in time for band practice. But at 245pm, I realized that I had been stuck at the same stretch of road for about 15 minutes already and had barely moved. I thought it was just something going on at the stoplight and text my bandmates that I will be late. But as I cross the stoplight, I realize the traffic is still horribly bad. At the worst point of the jam, it actually took me about half an hour to move 500 meters!! I honestly don't recall the last time I was stuck in a traffic jam that bad.

I decide to get off the road I'm on and take a different route. It turns out the traffic on that road is just as bad. I was now half an hour late for band practice and nowhere near the studio yet. If I had run from my place to the studio, I would probably have gotten there already!!

As it turns out, there was some anti-drug rally in Roxas Boulevard and it caused the traffic horror in Manila that day. It took me almost 3 hours (2:45) to get to the studio. We spent three hours practicing before heading home (during which time the traffic had lifted but there were still a couple of bad spots). But at least we got to practice a few songs - including three new ones that we plan to do in our next gig.

I was supposed to head to dinner afterwards. Kathy was throwing a surprise birthday party for John. While driving home, I was still fully planning to head there. However, I had to head home first. Thing is, when I got home, it hit me that I was totally exhausted and couldn't muster the energy anymore to head out. I gave Kathy and John a call to apologize and they were very nice about it. I do hope I get to meet up with them some time this week for dinner since I missed the party.