The Pharmacy(TM)

‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, this life
Trying to make ends meet
You’re a slave to money then you die
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah

- The Verve

Time flies.

At this exact moment it isn’t really fall where I live. Unless you mean rainfall. It’s a gloomy Saturday morning—probably the best time for me to even think about writing anything. I happen to like this song by The Verve, so I’ll dedicate my next series of posts to this song. Very apt.

It just occurred to me that it has been quite a while since I last wrote anything. The punctuation mark to that thought happened just a few days ago when I greeted a colleague one morning on the office elevator.

“Morning.”

I was half glancing at her and half at my hair, which was growing, in ungainly fashion, way past my ears. It was way past time for a haircut.

“You don’t update your blog anymore.” She said with a slight “morning” smile.

I also noticed at that point that in her hands was what was probably a nice, steaming hot cup of Starbucks designer coffee, which considering my then disheveled mental state, was more than just slightly desireable.

“Oh. You read it.” Too many thoughts, but at a loss for words.

She nodded slightly at which point the elevator took its cue to open at her floor.

“See ya, Doc.”

“Thanks. I’ll update it now that you mentioned.”

Elevator closes.

So time flies. It’s 2007 and no one knows where you are. It’s almost a catchy slogan—something the DSWD might (not) consider using. Talking about that government agency, I suppose it isn’t giving too much away to say that in the “dark ages” since my last post, I had a quaint encounter with them. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Also some lively characters I’ve met since my last stint in the Pharmacy are:

• A Lebanese allegedly an undercover agent for the NBI, on a quest to get his children’s passports.
• An IT operator who’s allergic to his own medicine.
• Wives of OFWs (umm… yup).
• A family experiencing a pattern of abuse

And a whole lot more! Time really flies you see. But given the time constraints I’ll have to break this story into itty-bitty pieces. Easier to swallow that way.

Interestingly, going back to my elevator chat I described earlier, I did check my profile that same day and found out that my dear colleague isn’t even in my list of friends—something that I will correct in short order.

Besides, that doesn’t even remotely address the heretofore unknown number of other folks who have checked this place out and find (to their slight disappointment) it unupdated. I’m not making any promises here, but perhaps given the time that has passed I just simply have some more stories to tell.

Incidentally, I’ve even had a haircut since that “fateful” elevator banter.

I don’t like it.

<to be continued>