Juls' day just wasn't Pia's day

November 17, 2007. The day of Juls and Sir Mike's wedding, and the day Murphy's Law decided to mess with Pia.

10:00AM: Pia arrives at the beauty salon late for our 9:30 appointment.

10:00-12:00NN: While getting her hair and makeup done, Pia makes countless phone calls and sends countless text messages arranging for a last-minute flight booking for an office staff member who's joining their company trip to Boracay the following morning. The staff member is not answering her phone and not replying to texts.

12:00NN-12:10PM: Rushing from the salon to my house to get dressed, we pass by 2 BPI ATMs so that Pia can withdraw money. The 1st won't take her card. The 2nd didn't dispense any cash.

12:30-12:40PM: We're all dressed and ready to get in Pia's car to wait for Yang and Angelo to arrive. Pia can't find her cell phone. After frantically searching inside the car, she rushes back inside our house to look for it. Returning empty-handed, she finds it on the floor of the car.

12:40-12:50PM: Pia and I are sitting in her car waiting. The Quimsons get held up for 10 whole minutes at our village gate thanks to a dump truck and our overly thorough security guards.

1:00-2:00PM: We get stuck in monstrous traffic along EDSA. Pia, who's supposed to be the reader for the 1st reading, misses her part in the wedding.

2:30PM: The super strong sea winds whipping from outside the church ruins Pia's hairdo.

3:00PM: Thanks to her unresponsive staff member, Pia's cell phone battery is about to die. So are all of us, from hunger. No one has had lunch yet.

3:10PM: We discover Pia's car is running low on gas. We head to Blue Wave to grab a super late lunch at Kimono Ken, and for Pia to charge her cell phone.

4:00PM: Pia gets a headache. Biogesic doesn't help.

5:30PM: We arrive at Sofitel Philippine Plaza for the reception. Pia is delighted to spot a BPI ATM inside. Upon drawing closer, she sees the "Offline" sign taped to the screen.

6:00PM: While we are posing for pix beside Sofitel's pool, a kid jumps in and splashes water on Pia's dress.

6:30PM: Pia's digicam's battery decides to go empty. She has to run to the parking lot to retrieve her spare battery from her car.

8:30PM: The reception hasn't gotten under way, and Pia has to catch a 5AM flight to Bora the next morning. And she lives in Valenzuela.

10:50PM: We stop for gas at a Petron station across from Blue Wave. Pia's supposed to use her company credit card to pay. Petron's credit card payment facilities are out of service. We get P100 worth of gas just to get us to the next station.

11:00PM: We get ensnared in traffic (yes, at 11:00PM) in the stretch of road from the Mall of Asia leading to EDSA.

11:05PM: Pia finds out her staff member has decided not to join them to Bora after all. Pia places an irate call to a colleague to rant.

11:10-11:20PM: We stop at a Shell along EDSA to get more gas. Pia gives the attendant very specific instructions to issue the OR to her company. The attendant issues the wrong OR... twice.

11:30PM: Upon descending the Ortigas flyover leading to San Juan, we encounter more traffic from LSGH all the way to Connecticut (yes, at 11:30PM).

11:45PM: We stop at a BPI ATM on Connecticut so Pia can finally make a withdrawal. This time the ATM dispenses the cash... all in P100 bills.

12:10MN: On her way home, Pia calls me to report that her parents have just scolded her for not being home yet. They refuse to believe that the reception started late. Apparently, Pia's streak of bad luck didn't break at the stroke of midnight. Poor Pia girl.