Tuesday, May 16, 2006

[Blog Entry] Lost in Manila

Lost in Manila


Had to do an ocular for a future shoot in Pulp Magazine and it was going well so far until we landed in the mythical Divisoria. Suffice to say, it's my first time being there, and I didn't have an inkling how to get back to civilization. When in doubt, hail a taxi, but no taxi was in sight.

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Sunday, May 14, 2006

[Blog Entry] The End of Summer

The End of Summer


Just like that, summer seems to have ended. A few days ago, people were complaining about the hit. And then Friday comes, a typhoon hits us, and it changes the weekend in ways you never expected.

Right now I still hear the winds blowing through trees, and the weather is anything but hot. Most importantly though is what happened during the weekend: blackouts in various parts of the Metro.

I live in what is essentially the border to four cities (apparently not three that I previously assumed): San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pasig, and Quezon City. From the time I woke up on Saturday morning until I left the house (which was after lunch), the house had no electricity. And then I go to St. Luke's where my friends hang out (no, we're not morbid med freaks), and there's still no electricity. We quickly relocate to Robinsons Galleria, where there still isn't electricity. In the evening, we go to a friend's house in Pasig, which was okay for quite some time before the electricity gets disrupted. Apparently an energy-sapping monster was trailing me.

Aside from that, I'm sure there are disasters in various parts of the country that usually follow these kinds of natural disasters. I just wonder why Filipinos never learn though. I mean while this particular typhoon was probably unexpected, typhoons in general are not. It's like all safety precautions go down the drain at the end of the year.

And then, of course, there's the almighty traffic to contend with. It's always been taught to us that it's a fallacy to claim that there's traffic because of rain. Which in a way is correct. Filipinos make the mental leap to conclude that the rain floods the streets, the flood impairs the judgments of many Filipino drivers, which then causes the traffic.

Speaking of traffic, beware of this coming weekend. Robinsons Galleria will be having its regular 3-day sale, and that spells traffic doom for those in the Ortigas area.

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