typhoon ondoy

there was non-stop rain friday to saturday.  now i don't really watch TV (i've turned my TV on only three to four times so far this year) nor listen to the radio.  i thought it was just one of those heavy rains.

saturday noon i requested an officemate to have pizza delivered at my place.  (i don't have a landline.)  after calling the delivery hotline, she told me all deliveries are cancelled because the streets are flooded.  huh?!  really?!  hmmmm...

now pizza hut is actually so near my place, i said i'll just drive over.  i hopped in the car but, leaving the village, the guard warned me not to go out unless really necessary as i could get stuck in traffic since the surrounding thoroughfares are flooded.  what?!  gee, this must be some serious rainshowers we're having.  i decided therefore to just pick up some bread and cheese at the 24-hour convenience store just across the village entrance.

then afternoon my friend called.  she told me floodwater in their house (!) was waist-deep.  huh?!  first time ever it happened in the years that they've been living there.  they were currently at the second floor and from the terrace she could see cars and dogs wet, soaked and floating in the waters.

i called another friend and he said at their place flood was chest-deep.  whoa!  good thing he lived on the third floor.

i was sooo thankful my parents' place and mine don't really get flooded.  (well, ok, my bedroom does ->  june 25, 2009 blog.)

earlier in the day, i've been posting trivial status updates to facebook just through my phone.  i don't really explore around when i'm doing mobile internet.  then my phone batteries went empty.  i have two phones, both of them, battery empty  : }  i forgot my chargers in one of the bags i left at the office when i changed bags last thursday.  ( i now have five bags (black, beige, white, denim, fatigue) on the counter behind my desk.  i change my bag and just leave the previous on the countertop  : } )

nighttime therefore i went online using my laptop instead of just my phone.  guess what, i was shocked at the posts i saw  ->  floodwaters so deep, stretches of roads submerged.  yikes!  we're talking serious calamity here, damage not just to property but to life.  i really pray that everyone will be able to survive this one well.  this, too, shall pass.  God bless us all...

basketball injury

when he was younger, my brother used to have a basketball injury every year. his arm would be in a cast, his hand, his leg.  well, now there's another one, the most serious so far:  torn tendon of achilles.  he was operated on last saturday.   his surgeon was one of his cycling buddies whose specialization is really orthopedics.  at least we knew that he would be well taken care of.

day of the operation i visited him and was so heartbroken at the sight that greeted me.  a blanket covered a big part of his face and his eyes were closed.  he was unconscious, looking sooo weak and in so much pain.  i had my camera with me and i couldn't get myself to take a picture of him.  all i could do was take a picture of his cast-enclosed foot with his visitors in the background  : }

on his second day at the hospital, he was much better.  his face was a little swollen, but at least he could already talk.

day three, well, he could already pose, smiling, raising his leg and making a thumbs up for the camera.

therapy / rehabilitation is expected to last three to four months.  he won't be going to the office, he has to walk with crutches, he won't be able to drive, he won't be able to bike.  (a total lifestyle change:  he is such an outdoor guy and a really avid biker.)  i'm the one picking up and dropping off my sister until he is able to drive again.  five times this week i dined at my parents' place.  this will be going on while my sister is riding with me.  i'll be saving money and gaining weight  : }

the meaning of silence

my officemate and i were looking at a couple of pictures.

she goes, 'he looks better than (blank).'

i counter, 'no... (blank) looks better...'

she teases me, 'uuuy, she still loves him...'

'huh?!  i simply said he's better-looking.'

'do you still love him?'

i don't reply.

she says, 'see, you still love him, you can't reply.'

huh?!  hmmmm...

in its time

there's someone whose calls i've long been thinking of not taking. not really stop, but just not take on certain days. but for two consecutive nights now, his calls have been coming in while my phone was right in my hand.

the other night, i was going to reply to my sister-in-law's text when his call came in.

last night, i was about to read my officemate's text when again he called.

hmmm... celestine prophecy again? (august 19, 2009 blog)

ok, ok, i'll just take the calls whenever he rings and just let it stop in its own time.

public links

someone was telling me that he's been looking at my pics.  i asked which one he liked best.

he said picture ninety-something from this particular album.

me:  huh?!  what album is that?

he says it's from this particular set of pics.

whaaat?!  what on earth are you doing looking at those pics?

he said he looked at everything, even my dad's pics.  eh?!

i have all these links to different sets of pics in my facebook account because i have different sets of friends in facebook.  i'm thinking if you're family, you'd click the links to family pics.  if you're friend, you'd click the friend links.  if officemate, the officemate links.  if schoolmate, the schoolmate links.  i was not really thinking anyone would bother to check my whole circle, even reaching ninety-somethingth pic of a particular album containing pics of people he doesn't really know.  there are thousands of pics in those sites!

geez... this is not the first time i was surprised by the pics others look at.  yup, i guess if you put them on the web, someone, somewhere would be checking them out.  hmmm... oh, well...