I am still hyperventilating as I'm writing this.
I was on my way home tonight around 11:30 pm from a dinner out with friends. Less than a kilometer away from my house, I was at an intersection (tayuman and abad santos), waiting for the light to turn green. When it turned green, I went my way when from my left there was this black honda civic making an illegal left turn from abad santos. He was trying to beat me to the turn. I honked my horn loudly and he missed hitting my car by several inches. I rolled down my window and glared at the driver. I didnt scream at him/her. I couldnt even see inside of the car as it was heavily tinted. From then, the driver tailed me and kept flashing his lights, then he swerved and was beside me, inches away from me. When I stopped, he stopped. I kept going but I was already fuming. Then, he again swerved infront of me and drove very, very slowly for the next hundred meters or so, suddenly breaking several times. He was really goading me. By then I was boiling mad and I was ready to go down. When I opened my door, he again moved his car very slowly and then at the next intersection, stopped and flashed me a dirty finger. I did not move. I also gave him the finger and again he flashed me a dirty finger. He stopped his car, lit a cigarette and dangled his arm out of the window. He made it clear that he wasn't going anywhere. By that time, I couldn't think straight anymore and I went down and walked over to his car. I asked him "ano ba ang problema mo!" And there was this chinese /taiwanese immigrant guy with bad teeth, who couldn't even speak straight tagalog, who asked me "sino ka? mayaman ka ba?" I swear, all the blood rushed to my head! I berated him and called him gago and sira ulo. I dont even know if he understood half of what I was saying to him but I continued ranting . He was trying to answer back but I couldn't understand what he was trying to say. I also didn't know if he was drunk or what. After I have told him off, I went back to my car and drove off. I was watching if he was going to follow me. I was only about 50 meters away from my street, but I turned at the next street to be sure. I looked back and there he was, he stopped at the corner, but thank God he didnt follow me. I'm still shaken as of this minute.
Upon reaching home, I suddenly realized the foolishness of my actions. I was alone and although tayuman was not deserted at that time, i doubt if anybody would have helped me if the guy attacked me or whatever. I know I need to control my temper especially when I'm driving. I may be lucky this time because the guy did not make patol. Maybe he was surprised that I was not scared considering that I was alone. I practice defensive driving, trying to be as safe as I can be. Seldom speeds, stops at every red light and then some asshole tries to bully me on the road. From now on, I'll really, really try to be calm and level-headed when on the road. But considering the driving conditions in Metro Manila plus those idiotic, stupid drivers who think they own every single space their cars tires roll on, so help me God.
