the day i went out to buy a flourescent lamp and came home with a new television

it was a not-so-good thursday. as i was walking to the car, i accidentally stepped inside a MAJOR pothole at the mcdo parking lot at ATC and fell.

as in on-the-floor-a**-kissing-the-cement kind of fall. while there were several cars waiting for a parking slot. and several cars in the drive-thru. it was super embarrassing. and all i could do was silently yelp out "ouch." thank goodness there was a couple who helped me get up, asked if i was okay (i sort of was, although my ankle hurt terrible), and reminded me to rotate the ankle every so often (which i did).

i carefully limped to the car (thank goodness it was nearby) sat down for a bit and breathed.

i had several stuff planned, the most important of which was to stock up on food for the long weekend. but with the threat of ankle swelling up and being unable to drive home because of it, i decided to go home ASAP. at least if something were to happen, i'd be home and not stuck in my car in town center.

i woke up friday with zero food and a still-painful ankle. so i snacked on whatever i had in the ref. by 2:30 pm, the ankle was slightly better but my tummy wasn't. i had to get food soon or i'd go crazy.

so i thought, okay, maybe to make the drive for food worth it, i should run some errands too.

so i did.

i had two pairs of pants cut.

since i had to wait for an hour or so, i drove to kfc to have super late lunch. it's been a while.

i don't know if it was cost-cutting or something but it was relatively warm in kfc so i didn't want to stay too long. then i remembered i had to get replacement for the kitchen light so i went to robinson's handyman ...

... to buy this. i was supposed to buy akari but the lady said firefly (with german technology) is better. i don't know why but i believed her. i had visions that my light would be as fabulous as a german car, haha.

i was on my way down the escalator when i spied the appliance center and decided to check the goodies. there was this 29-inch flat screen (but not LCD, and not the type you can hang. i think they call it super slim or something) on sale at S&R the weekend before that i sort of wanted to get but didn't so i thought maybe i could check out the price at robinson's.

i'm a smart shopper like that (i'd like to think).

i was looking at the television sets on display when something caught my eye. S-A-L-E. from P34,990 to less P7,000 to only *drumroll* P21,990.

the guy approached me and said, "ma'am, dalawang pieces na lang, reserved na yung isa."

i panicked and immediately called tita mayu. she sort of panicked along with me. we've both been thinking of buying a nice flat screen tv so my excuse has always been i'll buy only after she bought hers.

but then, for some reason, i couldn't wait any longer.

yes, i've always wanted a flat screen. you see, the television i use we've had since i was in grade school. it was so embarrassingly old that in that facebook meme where one of the questions asked about my tv i simply said "dusty". it was so old that i can't read the news ticker at the bottom of the screen cause the picture won't fit the screen anymore. but it - for some magical reason and save for the abovementioned complaints - worked perfectly well, except that one weekend in law school where CSI turned green but was fine the following weekend when i went home again.

but i wasn't about to spend that much money on an impulse purchase. shoes, yes. bags, yes. but a television when the one i had at home was still serviceable? maybe not. so even if the guy kept pestering me to make a deposit, i didn't. i said, let me sit down and think about it some more.

thanks to the free wifi, i surfed the net and briefly acquainted myself with the merits of this television. although it was cheaper in indonesia (or malaysia?), the guy who did the review said the tv was 9/10.

i could live with 9/10.

then tita mayu told me something like "this is the reason why you work so hard. so you can enjoy the fruits of your labors. you've always wanted it. go for it."

and so i did.

the day i went out to eat, get pants cut, and buy a circular flourescent lamp, i came home with this.

and, yes, i agree. life IS good.

p.s. my ankle hurt big time but adrenalin allowed me to bring down the tv from the car by myself and set it up in my room. sad to say, the next two days, i'm not sure anymore whether what kept me home was my desire for my ankle to heal in time for work today or the happy new tv in my room.