Sunday, June 29, 2008

Dr Pepper! --

While buying water at Robinson's Supermarket, we found a stack of Dr Pepper Light.

Yay! ^_^

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Fun Quiz -- Your Personality Type: The Reliable Realist

My personality type: the reliable realist

Reliable Realists are down-to-earth and responsible-minded. They are precise, reserved and demanding. Their most prominent quality is reliability and they will always make every effort to keep any promise given. Reliable Realists are more quiet and serious persons, they do not talk a lot but they are good listeners. They sometimes seem reserved and distant to outsiders although they often have a great deal of wit and esprit. Their strong points are thoroughness, a marked sense of justice, doggedness bordering on pigheadedness and a pragmatic, vigorous and purposeful manner. Reliable Realists do not dither about if something has to be done. They do what is necessary without wasting words.

This personality type not only expects a lot of himself but also of others. Once Reliable Realists have set their mind on something, it is difficult to persuade them otherwise. They do not like to leave anything to chance. Planning means safety to Reliable Realists, as well as order and discipline. They have no problem respecting authorities and hierarchies but do not like to delegate tasks. They are certain that others would not deal with them as conscientiously as they do. In management positions, they are very task-oriented - they make sure that things are well done; however, they do not have a great deal of interest in personal contacts at work.

In relationships too, Reliable Realists are reliability itself. As partners, they are faithful and consistent, well-balanced and sensible. Security and stability are very important to them. They have little time for extravagances and flightiness. Whoever has them as friend or partner can rely on them for a lifetime. However, it takes quite a while for Reliable Realists to enter into a relationship or friendship. They have little need for social contacts; they therefore take great care when choosing partners and friends and limit themselves to a small but exclusive circle which meets their high demands. They tend to show their closeness to people who are important to them by deeds - their partner should rather not expect romantic declarations of love.

Adjectives which describe your type
introverted, practical, logical, planning, tradition-conscious, organised, persistent, objective, tidy, conscientious, cautious, loyal, peace-loving, sensible, down-to-earth, responsible-minded, reserved, careful, independent, punctual, precise, demanding, ability to concentrate, trustworthy, pedantic, reliable, persevering

These subjects could interest you
literature, technical activities (model-making), voluntary work, music, trekking, camping, hiking, cooking, drawing/painting, handicraft work, writing, strategy games, politics

My personality type: the reliable realist

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Force Majeure Part 2 --

Day 2 --


The plan: Get water and supplies. ASAP.

We checked our freezers and packed everything into styrofoam boxes and ice. We made a mental note to buy canned food because it would last longer. My main priority was Seth's things -- Virlix for his allergies and milk.

We knew which supermarkets opened the earliest so we decided to go to those places first.

On our way to Atrium (Iloilo Supermarket, General Luna branch), our driver asked if we could take a detour and take a look at the nearby subdivisions -- Puerto Real and Ledesco. We had been hearing news about how Ledesco was already submerged in water. So we went inside Puerto Real. While they are next to each other, they are topographically different. Puerto Real is about 3 meters higher than Ledesco. We went to the boundary and we could see parts of the wall destroyed by the flood. Over the wall, you could see the watermark left by the flood the day before.

At the supermarket, we went directly to where they stocked the water. There were no more big bottles available, we had to buy the 500ml bottles. At the checkout, we saw many people buying litros of soda instead. Other items being bought were: candles, batteries, pails and bread.

*** An amusing side story
Our car wouldn't start. The driver suspects that it is because of the cold/damp/wet. So we had to push -- me, my sister and Johann. Seth and his yaya were in the car with the driver.

That was a first for all of us. ^_^

* * *

We had bought snacks for the workers and helpers so we distributed these when we got home.

Over the radio, we listened to the announcers list the places which were the worst hit. We listened to them estimate the number of casualties and the amount of damage to the city.

We received several good news:

We called my aunt and were relieved to hear that my cousin and his family had been rescued and are now warm and dry in my aunt's house.

PECO (our electric company) announced that they were already in the process of restoring electricity to the city. (We were all crossing our fingers, hoping that our area would get electricity back soon.)

The rest of the day was spent checking in on friends -- a lot of my parents friends had called from overseas, asking them to visit their families here in Iloilo. Our helpers and workers were busy preparing "care packages" of rice, noodles and Milo/coffee.

At 7 (the time PECO announced we would get our electricity back), we still didn't have electricity so we prepared for another night of candles and fading emergency lights.

The power came back on at around 9 and the first thing we did was charge our cellphones, my laptop and the emergency lights.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Force Majeure Part 1 --

Day 1 --

It's a phrase I first encountered in real estate contracts and insurance policies. It's one of those sections that I skim over and take for granted.

Why?

Because I've always thought that such calamities listed under this clause were inconceivable.

And then Saturday and Sunday happened.

It started out like any typical rainy day in Iloilo -- with the street fronting our house flooding within a few hours of the rain. The power went off at around 6 in the morning. Neither of these were new to us -- we have always complained about the poor drainage system in our street and electrical service has never been reliable during these times.

And then the color of the water started turning brown and muddy. Our driver explained that this was no longer rain-flood water but water from the mountains. We watched the water rise up over the sidewalk and then to seep into the gate of our house.

Then the strong winds blew off several G.I. sheets off Papa's office warehouse. Such a thing has never happened before.

That's when it started to get a bit frightening. We called Papa on the cellphone and instructed the workers to cover the stuff in his office with tarpaulin.

For the people directly affected by the flood, they say it happened in a blink of an eye -- one minute, they were sitting down listening to the radio and the next minute, they were engulfed in waist-high/neck-high muddy waters.

Throughout the day, we received text messages and phone calls from people stranded and stuck on roofs -- asking to be rescued. We would call the radio stations who were in contact with rescue missions and give them the names and addresses of the people needing to be rescued.

But there were too many people and too few rescuers. As the afternoon progressed, the messages changed -- people were asking for food and water. By then, they had been stuck on their roofs for about 5 to 6 hours.

Outside of our house, we saw small motor boats loaded on trucks to be used for rescue. We saw people wearing life jackets wading through our street. Inside, over the radio, we listened to the mayor of one town crying -- overwhelmed at the damage in his town. Their hospital was flooded and all of their equipment destroyed. We listened to radio news reporters expressing frustration as they reported the events as they happened.

During the first night, I could feel my parents frustration and helplessness -- they had friends who had gone without food and water for the entire day. They actually tried to go to fetch their friends but they couldn't get past the flood -- not even with 4WD vehicles or a truck.

My cousin and his family were stranded in Pavia -- they had to evacuate their house and move to a makeshift nipa on higher ground. His brother tried to fetch them but couldn't get through either. They were eventually rescued early the next day, when the waters had subsided.

Over the radio, we heard that the Jaro Cathedral had been designated an evacuation area so my parents went out to get food and supplies for them. My mom had to beg the people from Makro to stay open for a little bit longer so she could buy noodles and other food for the evacuees.

That night, with the batteries of our cellphones slowly draining, we had to turn them off to conserve them for another day.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Some photos --

My last post didn't have any photos, so here they are --

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The Ouran goodies are so wonderful! We got magnets and buttons and notebooks and tote bags. ^_^

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<-- our jar of Jelly beans. ^_^

Friday, June 13, 2008

Book Binge report --

I'm a little disappointed with my Book Binge activity this year. In essence, I only finished reading 1 book and was midway through another.

In between, I was reading romance novels, comic books, online manga scanlations and really interesting information from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. (Did you know the average life span of a bra is only 180 days? ^_^)

I was very happy to have read Susan Vreeland's Life Studies and I am still haunted by Pisarro's story and how it deals with an artist's passion juxtaposed to religion and society.

I still have a ton of books on my backlog --
Christopher Buckley's Boomsday and Florence of Arabia
etc.

Unfortunately, I am not in book-reading mode right now. I've re-discovered anime and actually spent the past few weeks re-watching Karekano, Princess Mononoke, etc. We also picked up a copy of Gundam 00 (which Johann has declared to be his all-time favorite Gundam series), Appleseed Ex-Machina and Romeo x Juliet.

There are still remnants of Ouran in me and I still get giggly when I remember certain scenes from the anime.

* * *

A bit more on Ouran --

My bro recently sent us some Ouran goodies like buttons, tote bags, etc. I am a very happy fangirl. ^_^

* * *

Funny thing --

My other brother sent us a big jar of Jelly Beans. Last night, my sister actually sat down and sampled it. She was so cute -- she picked out jelly beans one at a time and would check which one it was. (The side of the jar had a picture guide to the flavors.)

It was amusing to hear her say, "WTF! This tastes like crap. What flavor is this?" After which, she would check the side again.

Now, this method would work nicely IF she remembered which flavors they were -- but after 8 or so flavors, you tend to forget the subtle differences between this yellow and that yellowish-whitish bean.

So, on and on it went -- with her sampling and re-discovering (tragically) crap flavors.

I love her. ^_^