Darn, missed it.

For the first time in my flying life, I have missed
a flight.

I misread the e-ticket and
thought my departure time from Singapore was my departure time from Manila. So
there I was, staring at the empty counters, while “Final Call” flashed on the
board for my flight. The helpful man at the information counter rang the gate to
see if they would still let me rush screaming pathetic apologies onto the plane,
but I was politely informed by the gateperson that no, sorry, it was simply too
late. I was told to go to the 4th floor, to the Singapore Airlines office, to
rebook my flight. It was easier than I thought it would be, although I did get
fined $50, which I thoroughly deserved for being so careless.

I stayed in the waiting area near the
boarding counters from 8:40 to around 11:30. I saw many babies in strollers and
strap-on carriers, and all of them were well-behaved, just like very cute pieces
of luggage. A chubby tween alternated playing with her hair and her NonStop Girl
play-computer. Beside her, another chubby tween sulked and chewed on her
security towel, which reminded me of
Luc.

Now I am at the Hariraya lounge, my
favorite place to be in NAIA. They let you smoke, they have good ramen, and the
nice waiters will buy a WiFi card for you from the lounge if you ask nicely.
They finally have Hermes fragrances downstairs at the Duty Free, and they have
back inventory of Un Jardin en Mediterranee, which is sold out in other Duty
Free shops I’ve been to this year. So that made me think, a little; but it is
quite strange to buying a fragrance on my way out of the country instead of the
other way around.

Connectivity rocks.
Being able to blog from the airport mitigates this overwhelming feeling of
stupidity.