A Superferry Passenger’s slow descent to Madness

08:00pm 03/14/12
- North Harbour; Manila Pier

When was the last time you’ve taken a boat?
Mine was during the mid 90′s, when cabin boat rides were considered a luxury and
a novel part of a trip when going to the provinces. Before the advent of speedy air transits, the 24 hours or so that people spent in boats and liners were of relative comfort. Now in the age where information is at your fingertips, postcards are called snail mail and relationships are severed in seconds using texts. I took it upon myself as a writer and traveler to ask the question: “Will an outdated mode of transport such as boat rides still seem enjoyable?”

11:00pm 03/14/12
- South Harbour; Manila Pier
Status: Boarded// Gate 4

My SuperFerry Vessel was supposed to depart at 8:30pm but due to repairs it was to be delayed to 8:00am 03/15/12, a full 12 hours from now. Due to public outrage, we were allowed to board the ship so the passengers can get settled and sleep on their prospective cabins. I couldn’t care less, I didn’t know how Titanic started and whether the brevity of sailing with a bandaged ship sounds prudent. But on the other hand. I saw on my ticket that i had a 75kilo baggage allowance. Even Mabuhay Class passengers on PAL only get 35kilos.

06:20am 03/15/12
Past the waters of Manila Bay

According to the hearsay of fellow passengers, our boat managed to depart at 4:00am. I wasn’t asleep at that time but i was roaming the cabins and fixed a little issue. I wanted to upgrade and stayed at a quieter part of the boat and in doing so, had to pay a certain amount. In spite of my bunk being unreasonably frigid i liked it. The bottom bunk was empty so i put my stuff in it, A blanket and a pillow case were available free and the people staying there are quiet. Some of the passengers are an Iranian couple with a little kid, a lesbian couple with a young daughter, a few odd solo male travelers and a few older Filipino couples. Part of the price every one paid is 3 meals, at this time they’ve started serving breakfast and i tried it on more because of curiosity rather than real hunger.

09:45am 03/15/12
The Mindoro Strait Vicinity

A shipwreck could be scene from our vessel’s deck. An earlier accident publicized in the news before my departure. No casualties were reported but they’re trying to get the boat out to prevent an oil spill. Meanwhile watch read 09:45 and i have quite a few more hours to spend here even if i already ran out of things to do. Inside the boat there’s a salon, a mini grocery store, an annoying karaoke corner in the cafeteria called an “entertainment center.” It’s how i lost my appetite for lunch and settled for reading Kurt Vonnegut.

01:12pm 03/15/12
Perhaps between Cuyo and Roxas Islands

I did skip lunch and over an hour prior to this note, I lost my mobile phone signal effectively shutting me off from the rest of the word (meaning: Facebook) I don’t mind it at all even with all the nagging boredom in this slow moving metal tin can. I’ve roved and gone around numerous times already and i don’t think I’ve missed a corner except for the starboard side of the boat. So i went and looked over to the sea by the ship’s deck. And at the farthest sign i saw a caution sign that begs to raise a lot of questions.

03:32pm 03/15/12
Sailing above an Imaginary Atlantis

Now can’t exactly document my train of thought with accuracy during these moments, nor could i even remember it with definitive clarity. My thoughts were strung together forming a weird blur and took me to another place, away from the steel monotony of the ship.

They say the mind has an ability to create an alternate reality.
Today’s menu indicated a trip to Amansinaya Resort. Fields so green the foliage drops coconuts on people’s heads.

It was a welcome reprieve from my absolute boredom.

05:55pm 03/15/12
Nowhere. Off the grid. Lost in plain sight.

Time is moving irreparably slow. Tick tock tick tock an imaginary minute hand defies gravity slowly by rising up from the 6th hour and i can’t slow it down nor make it move at a bearable pace. What is it that is worth changing if not how we live the time that is loaned to us.

The greatest gift that society left us is the option to not turn our son’s world in to dystopia.

Does it even matter anymore?
We will all have an end but not an ending.

Sweet potato Jesus i left the microwave on again.

The spinning plate inside going around and around but the food never really goes out of place, even if unseen to the naked eye its molecules are in a rapid chaos. Unstable and caustic.

So it’s the quiet ones we should be wary of. The seemingly normals…

Those who are most capable of murder would never speak of it.

Not if they don’t want anyone to ruin their plans.

Nothing beats tracking down the poor souls of innocent children in a Saturday night. Battalia Royale.
Gained notoriety in the local scene for being gritty. hands on.
In your face. Sweat. Red blood. Kids reeking of hormones.
I’d do it all again if i could.

My body didn’t feel like my own. I am in the middle of the sea.

Enclosed in a thousand metric tonnes of steel.

Somehow my feet managed to get wet.

99:00. A.A.D.
Disconnected from the Universe. Entangled in a Paradigm Shift

I woke up from my cabin berth feeling cold and sedated. From my peripheral view i could see my little neighbor. Doing God-knows-what.

I looked at my wristwatch. It was wrung too tightly and left marks on my wrist. It read 4:40pm. Only an hour passed before my last waking consciousness.

Turned over in my blanket and tried to sleep again.