The worst flood in years

26 September 2009     •     14 Comments
Daily Dose



IMG_3198, originally uploaded by kutitots.

Pardon the awful formatting, I’m blogging through Flickr. My dad have just turned off our circuit breaker, I’m just using PLDT WeRoam on my netbook. It’s very slow, especially at this awful weather, but it’s allowing me to connect and upload some photos at least.

I don’t normally blog immediately about calamities like this, but this flood is the worst I’ve ever experienced in my lifetime. I’ve lived along Katipunan Avenue in Blue Ridge since the day I was born, so I never really experienced flooding (Blue Ridge is pretty high up, it’s on top of a hill). First time ever for my family — flood reached inside our home.

You can see more photos I took on my Flickr Photostream. Watermarks are pretty crudely done, sorry for that. It’s not easy to work with diminishing power on a small netbook. I’ll probably edit this post and fix the formatting when everything settles.

Stay safe guys!

Thank you for your support!

23 September 2008     •     5 Comments
Daily Dose

I‘ll keep this short and simple. I’m still rejuvenating lost time and energy the past week planning the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards Night and sorting out event problems from hell. But then again, I only have a few things to say anyway.

THANK YOU.

Thank you to our judges for taking the time to go through the numerous entries. I’ve been a judge last year and I know how tedious and time-consuming this is. And yet, they still found the time to do so, regardless of the fact that they’re very busy people.

I can’t thank the volunteers enough. Without you guys, life would have been extremely hard for us organizers. Thank you sooooo much! 🙂

And of course, our sponsors. Thank you very much for making it possible for us to have an Awards Night 🙂

Thanks everyone for your continued support. A more detailed post coming soon. I just need to rest a bit for now, still need to compensate lost sleep from such a stressful week! Hope you guys enjoyed the evening. Till next year!!!

Congrats to the winners!

So this is what’s it like to live in the suburbs

23 May 2008     •     7 Comments
Daily Dose

Even before the construction of our home was completed, my family and I had to move in already in our new home here in Antipolo. It hadn’t been easy, but we managed somehow. Amidst all the clangs and bangs of construction work, we somehow lived through the stressful two months—we’re just glad it’s over.

I guess when the construction noise and dust were gone, it was only then that I actually had the feel of what’s it like living “away from the city.” Now, I know what it means to live in the “suburbs.”

Morning view from our bedroom window

That’s the view Marc and I wake up to every morning. The tree you see is a fruit-bearing Indian mango tree. Pretty, isn’t it? Read more

“Living by Water” by Ferdz Decena

12 May 2008     •     2 Comments
Daily Dose

Just because Ferdz totally lost his power of speech (literally) in the presence of Marimar star Marian Rivera, he’s going to get a free, straight-from-the-heart plug from me! Hehehe 😀

“Living by Water” would be Ferdz’s first one-man monochrome photo exhibit, which will be held at the Filipinas Heritage Library from May 12 (that’s today!) to May 27. Do drop by if you have time! I’ll definitely check it out myself one of these days.

Exhibit/ Gallery Schedule:
– May 12 (Opening Night) 6-8 pm
– Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 9am – 6pm
– May 23 9am – 4pm only

Just a few stuff about the exhibit (from Ferdz’s entry)…

Read more

The pain and shame of hangovers

1 September 2007     •     7 Comments
Daily Dose Tech Things

Sixteen days of no blogging? Ah. Just a little bit more and I’ll be blogging as sporadic as Markku! 😛 I know the excuse is getting old, but really, I’ve never been this busy since two years ago, when I had to work triple time in order to help my dad pay for my sister’s expensive hospitalization bills and medicines at the psych ward of Medical City. Good thing my being busy is for a much happier reason this time around.

I wanted to blog this sooner, but during my free time last week, I had been indisposed. Really, really indisposed. That was a three-day hangover I nursed, dude! Nothing but a very embarrassing jolt (not to mention a pounding headache) can remind me that alcohol can make a workaholic unproductive. For three days, I’ve moaned and groaned at how painful my head was. Of course, I couldn’t work properly, how could I? And now, I have another load of backlog, not to mention the planned load of impending deadlines this coming week. Read more

Back from my hiatus (but not quite), PTB anniversary, and the Timbuk2 Blogger Bag Launch

5 August 2007     •     7 Comments
Daily Dose Tech Things

This has got to be a record. 14 days of no blogging since I’ve started blogging regularly. I’m getting worse. But, of all my hiatuses, I think this was the most worth it.

I’ve been sick the past few weeks 🙁 And I’m telling you, getting sick in the middle of a stressful workload won’t really help you get well when you need it. I’ve been perpetually bone-tired the past days, but it’s hard to complain when you’ve got a lot of responsibilities to think about—work and family. Work stress, I’m used to it. The thing I didn’t expect to get is another butt-load of family stress.

You see, my sister’s psychiatrist tried out a new medication for my sis in the hopes of lowering down her blood sugar—the old one, albeit effective, has high sugar content. But as it turned out, it wasn’t for her, so we had to endure her bouts of craziness the past month 😛 I guess that’s the thing that attributed a lot to my stress—you really can’t relax when you’re on the edge, keeping an ear out just in case another tantrum is in the works.

Now that my sister’s back to drinking her old medicine, we’re able to relax a bit. Funny. It’s just like in Harry Potter, where “the wand chooses the wizard.” In her case, the medicine chooses the drinker 😛 Forgive my corny remarks, I’m just trying to see the best in all of this. Read more

How neat or messy is your desktop?

21 July 2007     •     12 Comments
Daily Dose

Yeah, I know it’s been so long before my last entry. The “I’ve been busy” excuse is a bit overused already, really, that’s how I’ve been. But this time, it’s more on the personal stuff—other than losing precious PC parts, Marc and I have been helping my dad with my younger sister (yup, Lauren, the “dwende laugh” is lessening).

Gail’s organized desktop

Anyhow, my first question after my one-week hiatus borders geekiness: how neat or messy is your desktop? Read more

Six weird things about me

18 May 2007     •     4 Comments
Daily Dose

I’m really not one to take part in memes, but here I am, on to my second one (the first was disclosing non-public knowledge stuff). There are actually better things I’d prefer to be blogging about, but my schedule had been so hectic lately that I can’t think properly of better things to say. Besides, it’s been such a stressful week that I think now is the perfect time to blog about something “light.”

Thanks for the tag, Rico—it came at the right moment.

Let’s get to it then, shall we? Here are the 6 weird things about me… Read more

We’re all going to die!!!

4 February 2007     •     5 Comments
Daily Dose

Oh, nice. I’m blogging regularly again. I gave Marc a motivation to blog, and now I think I’ve given myself one too. No, I’m not depriving myself of love-making if I don’t blog (unlike him hehe). But I have just found another pretty good reason to blog on a regular basis.

I’m starting to get these nasty thoughts of Doomsday.

For those of you who have already met me personally, you know I can be a little ray of sunshine when I wanted to be (or a nasty, swearing biatch when not in the mood). I live each day as it comes—thinking about depressing thoughts like the End of the World just isn’t my cup of tea.

But lately, I seem to notice more and more that I haven’t been using much of my sundresses. And it’s just a few weeks before summer.

The weather is freaking, that’s what it is. I don’t know about you, but the weather is just way too weird. It’s February already, and it’s freaking cold! Usually by now, I’d be frequently in a bad mood because of the heat. But I’m not. I’m still shivering under blankets like as if it’s December.

It doesn’t help either that my Dad just bought a DVD of The Day After Tomorrow and lent it to me.

Miriam College (formerly Maryknoll College), where I took grade school and high school, was a breeding ground for environmentalists. Maybe that’s where I got my love for animals, who knows? Anyway, that school was actually all about saving the environment during my time. So I learned a lot about Global Warming.

Global Warming (and the nasty effects it had as shown in the movie) used to be something I consider an event that would only happen in the very distant future. I just never really thought its effects could start this soon. And in my lifetime.

I’m getting a bit scared. Really. But for some reason, knowing this has somehow given me more reason to make the most out of my life. I guess that pretty much happens when you feel like the End’s getting near.

“…After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”
(Professor Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, page 297)

My needle experience: Beginning to conquer the fear!

5 November 2006     •     9 Comments
Daily Dose

I got my teeth replacements from the dentist yesterday before Marc and I met with Abe and Jayvee in the evening. They’re mighty uncomfortable, but after the pain I went through last week, this is nothing. Having them on made me realize that I really ought to give myself a pat on the back for being able to go through that shit with my dentist.

As I have been telling Abe yesterday, it wasn’t the pain after the extractions that bothered me—it was the process of getting anesthesia shots that really, really freaked me out. Although my dentist numbed the parts where he stuck the needle to, the thought of a needle poking my gums made me want to faint on the dental chair. My dad had to cover my eyes so I won’t accidentally see the needle near me—or they would probably have to tie me to the dental chair to keep me from running.

I’m not kidding, I’m that freaked at syringes.

Ok, so maybe my dentist did his best not to show me the syringe and made sure I had my eyes covered before he poked my gums with it, but hey. You have no idea how much of an improvement it is for me not to have four nurses pin me down in order for a doctor to stab me with a syringe.

My most recent encounter with a syringe was about two years ago when I needed to have an allergy shot. Marc had to hold me in the emergency room while the doctor gave me the shot. A nurse was on my other side to hold me down, because every time the needle came a few inches from my skin, I tried to stand up and run. Well, in that instance it was just one nurse plus Marc. My encounters with a syringe before that really required at least four nurses and my dad in order for a doctor to give me a shot.

I didn’t used to be this scared of syringes. I was actually very brave about getting shots when I was a kid. It was after I was bitten by a stray cat during my fourth year in high school that this fear of syringes started.

Since it was a stray cat that bit me (for all you know, the cat could have been feeding off on rats and trash), my parents had me get anti-rabies shots. My dad didn’t want me to go through the pain of the traditional anti-rabies shots on the spine and stomach, so he paid more than triple the amount for me to have the least traumatic treatment possible. At that time, there was this new medicine that only required three sessions of treatment and didn’t need for it to be injected through the spine and stomach. This medicine needed to be injected on my arm and the wound itself. It didn’t sound too bad, so I wasn’t really that scared when I entered the room where I would be having the shots. I didn’t think it would be painful.

I was wrong. It was very painful. It was so painful that up to know I still can’t think of any other experience which will measure up to the physical pain I felt at that time.

Just think of it this way. Imagine a substance as thick as gelatin being injected on you. Your flesh would feel as if it’s getting pushed inside you. The pain is enough for your arm to be immobile for about an hour. Can you just imagine how painful it was when they injected it through the open wounds on my forearm and finger? “Excruciating pain” was the best way to describe it.

I’ve had an irrational fear of syringes since that happened. My first few encounters with needles after the ordeal were a bit, uhmm, violent 😛 It really did take four nurses and my dad to subdue me. I may not be a huge girl, but I was trained in martial arts and had some experiences with grappling (my dad wanted me to know how to protect myself). So yeah, I really did give those nurses a hard time just for one measly shot 😀

My encounter with the syringe last week clearly showed that my fear of syringes greatly improved. That’s why I’m so proud of me! Hehe. Seriously though, I really think this is noteworthy. From four nurses and my dad, I now only need my dad to subdue me. Hopefully, I won’t need subduing the next time I needed a shot. I don’t think I’ll already be brave enough to face syringes if I ever get into the Fear Factor TV show, but it’s a start.

Forgive me for sounding like a self-centered brat, but really, I’m so proud of me for this! 🙂

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