"Yung SERIAL NUMBER ng PANSIT, kailangan din niyo?"

after last week's ultra-absurd Starbucks Incident
at the Shang Cineplex,

i thought i would be safe, at least for this week, from the inanities
of over-eager security officers in my beloved metropolis.

I. WAS. WRONG.

I was entering the DEPARTMENT of TOURISM building
this afternoon when I was politely stopped by
a female guard with what I thought was a very odd request:

"Sir, paki-iwan po ang Serial Number ng laptop niyo."


HUH??!?!?!?



1st,
I have no idea what my laptop's serial number is.
Nor where to find it.


2nd,
I'd been regularly attending meetings at the DOT since 2004,
and all of a sudden,
they need my laptop's frickin' serial number?!?!?


3rd,
as you can see from the picture above,
my laptop is like a beloved 12-year old pet dog:
it's obviously getting along in years,
it's not as beautiful as it once was,
and it's surely getting a lot slower,
but I love it anyway.


4th,
aside from my laptop,
i was carrying a steaming bilao of pansit for the merienda meeting.


5th,
after an awkward couple of minutes of looking for the gaddem serial number,
the security officer and I finally guesstimated

that one of the series of numbers
at the bottom of my laptop was The. Serial. Number.


6th.
I was already getting sore and irritated from the delay,
and then I was told that I still had to fill out a freakin' form.
WTF!!!


and finally,


7th.
And so, as I was finally allowed to proceed to my meeting,
I could not resist muttering:
"YUNG SERIAL NUMBER NG PANSIT, KAILANGAN DIN NIYO???"

This is the wonderful CHA MISUA from My Favorite Luncheonette,
TERRY'S along Bambang in Santa Cruz, Manila.

Overloaded with Quail Eggs and Peanuts,
it's what I call the "Arthritis Special",
or the RAYUMA GAYUMA!