nonstop rain

as of 9:30pm tonight august 7, 2012, it has been raining nonstop here in quezon city for the past 30 hours.  that is scary.  i don't remember anything like this happening when i was younger, or since we moved to this new place in tandangsora.

classes were suspended yesterday, so i was able to reach home at around 4pm.  they were still suspended today, so i just stayed home with my family.  for the record, the rains haven't stopped.... there were times during the day that it was very light, but it was still raining.  for the record, not a minute that no drop of rain was falling from the sky.  literally.

i'm trying to recall our ondoy experience... as far as i can remember, rains stopped around 7pm, making it only 12 hours total.  this is very different, and what's weird is that this is not even a typhoon or a low pressure area!!  this is simply hanging habagat!

our ondoy experience in 2009 forced us to leave our previous residence.  so far in these rains, we are very lucky because this house is located at the top of a street that slopes down to a creek.  heaven forbid, but the entire bottom of the creek area has to be submerged first before floodwaters even reach our doorstep.  the news has been quite depressing.  most of metro manila submerged.

if your house is comfortable enough, do not attempt to go out.  stay safe and dry indoors unless it's absolutely necessary.  please heed warnings of evacuation, especially those living around bodies of water; always be ready with an emergency bag.

we are all praying for each other's safety.

may 8 2012

after he stops crying, i cry

rands and i thought it a good idea to enrol aren in a summer program like a structured class in order to prepare him for preschool. having been born in january, his age is the cutoff for preschool requirements, such that he will either be the youngest in his class if we enrol him this school year and risk being academically behind, or he will be the oldest in his class if we enrol him next year, but he might have a better chance to be able to cope. we also wanted him to learn to socialize and improve his expressive speech.

in november, we signed him up for such a program, but it was too far from our house and aren got past the 1st session only -- it was always a crying bout for us to force him to even enter the classroom. we eventually stopped trying.

prior to 1st day in cdc, we visited the classroom twice in order to familiarize him with the atmosphere. on april 16, he entered the classroom but cried for the first few minutes. he warmed up to the teacher but did not participate very much in the activities. on the second day, he almost did not enter the classroom, but i coaxed him by mentioning that he will play in the slide later on. teacher let me take him inside the classroom but i left him there immediately. he cried for the first few minutes of free time.

on the third day, we entered together, but when i said goodbye to him, he started crying and teacher immediately took him away. on the 4th day, we entered the classroom together and teacher greeted him, he reached for her hand and went to look for activities inside. no tears! even the teacher was surprised and looked back to me smiling. i almost could not believe it either! my little boy has grown up.

(Teacher picked him as weather watcher for the day!)

throughout the session, i watched from the observation deck and saw that he has started to follow the actions of the songs, did the art projects by himself, wandered around the room exploring things. in time, he will integrate himself fully with his classmates and teachers. the day he stopped crying, it was my turn.

little star!

his own version of twinkle twinkle little star :) his words are not clear yet, but i'm proud of him just the same -- good job for someone who's not very musically-inclined :)

don't worry anak, we'll work on your expressive speech asap... no time to lose!

collection

i don't collect a lot of things. when i was younger, i was a sticker and stationery addict (like probably many of girls of my generation). in fact, some of them were very special that i still have them until now, unused.

as far as i remember, i didn't have any other collection, like say, barbie dolls, video games, hair clips, shoes, or bags. even in my adulthood and capable of buying my own stuff, i did not have the "mentality" of buying just to collect. i hardly wear makeup, i'm not into clothes fads, my feet are too big for designer shoes, i can be contented with cloth bags for my everyday use.

however, i do have one collection, that was not even from my own initiative of starting. presenting, my agatha christie paperbacks....



when i was in college, my sister's best friend lent her a book, which i borrowed later. i loved the plot so much that i started to get interested in murder mysteries, especially agatha christie. the book that started it all for me was "the body in the library." then i started borrowing from the... eherm, library. i love hercule poirot, her sleuth character! i'm learning about the art of deduction by reading them.

i did not buy my first personal copy until i was already working. and even then, i bought second hand ones only. after all, the author has long since been dead and never again published new works. her books were decades old. rands picked up my interest and slowly procured the books for me. he went through every booksale outlet, curio shop, art store, and just about any tiangge that sold second hand books, and bought all the agatha christies there! he would give them to me on special occasions as gifts; i wrote on the first page the date that i received them... as far as i know, the early dates were 2005.

i would read one book when i travelled to work. when i finished, i would immediately get another one from the pile. i would know that i had read that book through the bus ticket that i had inserted as marker. it also served as date when i finished reading it! i wanted to finish the entire collection asap!

unfortunately after i got married, i left my collection in our house when i moved out. i had forgotten about it all throughout my pregnancy and taking care of my baby. however, now that my son is already 3 years old, i suddenly craved for the habit of reading again. going through the books, many of them had no bus tickets inserted yet, or many still in plastic wrap... yup, it won't be long until you are all read, mon ami!