Wet season

On my way home from graduate school, I had to wade through ankle-deep brackish water at Buendia to get to the bus that seemed to be waiting wearily for passengers to make their way through the concrete jungle under seige by natural forces.

Needless to say, the wet season is back with a vengeance with matching eerie lightning and loud thunderclaps to boot. And what happened to me seems to be only a preview of the days to come under the rainy season. And this time, may the Ondoy tragedy not happen again.

Sudden downpour

As soon as I got off the bus at Global City, it rained cats and dogs.

Though armed with my umbrella, I was drenched to the bone thigh down because the strong wind blew water in all directions. In spite of the seemingly cold impression a rain brings, the air was actually warm because all the heat from the ground began creeping up. The atmosphere was a weird mix of hot air, cold water and an unpleasant smell of drenched soil.

I couldn't hail a cab because the ones passing by all carried passengers already so I had to settle for a jeepney, otherwise I'd end up taking a shower on the streets.

When the jeepney came to a halt at the entrance to our condo village, the rain has stopped. I tried not to think of the walk from the gate to our unit's building which now seems lengthier and more dreadful than ever because it was a Friday and I just came from work. By then, I was already tired and sleepy. What I hated the most about the last stretch of my journey home was I had to walk with wet feet and squishy shoes. It was a very, very, very unpleasant feeling.

When I reached the condo unit, I actually cried after closing the door behind me while I was removing my shoes and putting down my bags. The fact that I have school tomorrow and that I'll be staying up late all night to finish requirements isn't exactly my recipe for a good start for the weekend. What a way to end the month.

So help me, God.

Say what?

Today, I woke up quite abruptly upon hugging a cold soaking wet pillow that I retrieved from the floor after half-consciously becoming aware that it landed there sometime during the wee hours of the morning. After rubbing away the sleep from my eyes, it dawned on me that the tiled floor in my and my sister's room was covered with water that flowed from outside through the very thin space under the door. For the first time since typhoon Ondoy [Ketsana] and Pepeng [Parma], the strong winds drove tons of heavy rainfall to the second floor of our house (composed of just our room), which couldn't be kept at bay by cloth rags.

Oh well. What's a few wet things (clothes, a sofa, pillow, blanket, etc.) and mopping the floor? There were much more terrible aftermaths of typhoon Santi [Mirinae] in many parts of the Southern Tagalog region.

To end the month on a happier note, though, I am excited to find out the words most often used in my blog as of today. Thanks, Wordle. :D

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

"...For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

- Matthew 12:34

Sink or swim

The weather has been very gloomy these past few days and disasters have struck the land.

In Taft Avenue, Manila, classes have been suspended at De La Salle University because two cases of the A(H1N1) virus have already been noted and confirmed.

In Quezon City, houses and other properties have been destroyed because of extremely strong winds with a speed of 200 km/h reported to be a tornado equivalent to a signal number 4 typhoon. Similar incidents include flooding at the Camanava area, injuries and damages at the Mall of Asia concert grounds, and suspension of classes in Manila due to heavy rain and flood.

Sure enough, the monsoon season is here. However, weather isn't the only major issue the country is facing today - there are so much more. Join me in praying for the Philippines' resilience in the face of crises and calamities. 

Fortunately for me, my dad was here and he drove me to work this morning on his way to get his medical exam. By twelve noon, I called him and told him I'll be going home early because the center's afternoon session was already cancelled and the HR officer advised us to go home already. We met at Market! Market! and I joined him for lunch.

My afternoon was spent mostly catching up on reading (books, e-mails, articles, blog posts, etc.), organizing my computer files and updating my Google Desktop. Nothing special. I was also chatting with some friends.

During dinner with Papa, I heard thunder rumbling outside. A few moments later, torrents of rain came pouring down. What a wonderful time to go to sleep and bury myself under pillows and blankets.

Right now, I am still debating on what to do tomorrow and this weekend... to go or not to go... I better make up my mind - fast.

multiCOLORed

The weather has been chaotic these past few days. We've been experiencing scattered rainshowers and sunny conditions alternatingly within the day here in Lipa City. I've been waking up to a cloudy morning for a couple of days now. It's a bit sad. I miss the sun in the morning. There are fewer birds greeting me with their lively tweets and chirps, too.

Oh well. To amuse myself, I came up with a few rain chants from the original chant kids say when the rain suddenly pours down as they play outside.

Rain, rain, go away,

come again another day

but please, not tomorrow, this I pray.

Rain, rain, go away,

or else I'll find myself

just sleeping the whole day.

Rain, rain, go away,

though I'd love for you to stay,

now is just not the day.

Rain, rain, go away...

I don't know what else to say.

Don't get me wrong - I love rain. It's just that the whole rain-shine-rain-shine in a single day is driving me crazy.