Cold War

Have you ever found yourself in a tension-filled room where all your senses are heightened and there's an immense feeling of self-consciousness?

Have you ever caught yourself in the midst of speaking because you've just realized that you are no longer free to share what you're feeling?

Have you ever walked gingerly into a room in fear that you'll anger the other person if you make the teeniest noise?

If you have, then welcome to my world. This here, my friend, is what you call the state of cold war. You can feel the tension, you know something isn't right and you can't do anything about it. For the past 4 days I've been on a cold war with my roommate. It came out of the blue but I had to deal with it. As smart, polite individuals, we do not submit ourselves to the generic expression of anger --- we supress it instead and as a by product, you get an infallible silence. We're in the same room, we watch the same tv, we sleep on the same bed but we do not exchange a single word to each other. She didn't even open the door when I left my keys and I had to wait outside! Fortunately her friend dropped by and I was able to get in. I've reached the point wherein I loathed going home more than coming to work...

After 4 days, the Cold War has finally come to an end. I still don't know what brought it about but I'm glad it's over. All it took was one ridiculous phrase:
Pya said, 'Room8, gi-chicken pox bitaw ko..'
I said, 'Hala noh? Uli sa sa inyo kaw kay matakdan ko..'

Whew! The crazy things that people do to each other..