Happy Halloween indeed!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
My October Playlist (most heavily played)
I love Itunes. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get an Ipod soon (I have the money to buy one, pero I'm stalling for reasons I don't know). Here's my top ten playlist.
1. Craig David - Just Let Her Go
2. ChiliTees - Ex
3. Nerina Pallot - Sophia
4. Kala - Jeepney
5. Regina Spektor - Fidelity
6. Anna Nalick - In The Rough
7. Corrine Bailey Rae - Trouble Sleeping
8. Kings Of Convenience - Failure
9. Damien Jurado - What Were The Chances
10. Mano Mano - Bigay Na Bigay
Guilty Pleasure of the month: Yeng Constantino - Hawak Kamay
Cool Person of the month: Auntie Fely
A woman who just opened up a conversation with me on the Antipolo Shuttle going to Ayala. She also forced me to use my hidden english speaking skills. How cool is that? Total strangers whose only thing in common is a ride going to work. She's not a total stranger actually, but she's one of the people I usually bump with during the morning ride. It's just weird that she started talking. Come to think of it, there are some people na nakakasabay ko that I also want to strike up a conversation with - it's just tough for a guy to start the conversation (especially if you want to talk to a woman, fear of being rejected siguro). I wish women would initiate the conversations, tutal, guys are obliged to listen naman. Para mas madali 'di ba? Auntie Fely is in her 40s to 50s I think, one rule of conversations is not to ask the age lalo na kung first time niyo pa lang mag-usap.
Today is also Trick or Treat day at Harrison and my son and his cousin went to the office! My little boy is happy with his Superman costume. Ang kulit ni Rohan grabe.
1. Craig David - Just Let Her Go
2. ChiliTees - Ex
3. Nerina Pallot - Sophia
4. Kala - Jeepney
5. Regina Spektor - Fidelity
6. Anna Nalick - In The Rough
7. Corrine Bailey Rae - Trouble Sleeping
8. Kings Of Convenience - Failure
9. Damien Jurado - What Were The Chances
10. Mano Mano - Bigay Na Bigay
Guilty Pleasure of the month: Yeng Constantino - Hawak Kamay
Cool Person of the month: Auntie Fely
A woman who just opened up a conversation with me on the Antipolo Shuttle going to Ayala. She also forced me to use my hidden english speaking skills. How cool is that? Total strangers whose only thing in common is a ride going to work. She's not a total stranger actually, but she's one of the people I usually bump with during the morning ride. It's just weird that she started talking. Come to think of it, there are some people na nakakasabay ko that I also want to strike up a conversation with - it's just tough for a guy to start the conversation (especially if you want to talk to a woman, fear of being rejected siguro). I wish women would initiate the conversations, tutal, guys are obliged to listen naman. Para mas madali 'di ba? Auntie Fely is in her 40s to 50s I think, one rule of conversations is not to ask the age lalo na kung first time niyo pa lang mag-usap.
Today is also Trick or Treat day at Harrison and my son and his cousin went to the office! My little boy is happy with his Superman costume. Ang kulit ni Rohan grabe.
Friday, October 06, 2006
AmiSTUD sa Cainta!
Just when I thought that walking far distances and going through the eye of the needle just to get home is over… comes another epic adventure in the life of Reinard Santos!
October 2, 2006 started just like any ordinary office day for me. Sunny sky… slightly traffic morning, doing the usual work and petiks. Morning at the office was filled with Milenyo stories and how some of my officemates still have no electricity and water.
October 2, 2006 ended with a twist. The rain in Makati was not that strong (honestly I wouldn’t have noticed it since I was busy and did not even bother looking at the window). 8:00 PM, time to go home. I always catch a ride at the Antipolo-Ayala FX terminal in front of LKG tower. On the way there, I already noticed the long queue on the Ayala-ValleyGolf terminal. I was about to reach the Antipolo-Ayala terminal, when I bumped into some Antipolonians (tama ba?) who told me that no more Antipolo bound vehicles will arrive due to the heavy flood in the Cainta area. With my previous adventure, I already know what that means – DO NOT GO INTO THAT AREA! Since my alternate route ValleyGolf still has that long queue, my officemates and me decided to eat at Jollibee first and waste some time.
True enough, after eating, the long line at the ValleyGolf terminal is gone and I was able catch a ride. The driver was listening to AM radio – on the news is a blow by blow update of the Cainta Flashflood and Antipolo Landslide. The news also told motorists to stay away from that area or suffer the wrath of… heavy non-moving traffic. I thought that our FX driver has the smarts and went through all these shortcuts avoiding traffic, thanks to the radio updates. But NOOOOOO… wasn’t he listening to the radio (tagalog naman yung balita, madaling maintindihan)? He went to the Ortigas extension in the last minute and got caught in superdupercalitraffic. STOOPID!!! He should’ve taken the Floodway route to avoid the flood and all.
After almost an hour inside the FX, I decided to call it quits, and I walked from EVER Ortigas to Brookside. I could’ve walked all the way to Antipolo – except for one problem… from Brookside going to Valleygolf is a waist deep ocean, impassable if you have an ordinary car, FX, or jeep. The buses (which saved me from the last time) are jam-packed, and there are more cars who just decided to camp near the flood and wait for it to subside. I grabbed myself 2 bottles of C2 at the nearest 7-11 – ready for another epic battle. I would’ve walked that flood, except that I’m wearing my funky white adidas shoes. My only hope lies on hitching a ride at the back of trucks. What truck should I choose? The SanMiguel Beer Truck? Cement truck? Hmmm… an Elf Truck without any gravel and a few hitchers at the back. 
My instincts tell me to go for the Elf Truck. The back of the truck is about 5 feet high, and I have no problems climbing over it (thank my athlete foot). Other people saw what I did, and decided to hop on the truck. Next thing I know, I was helping women, men, and children of all ages and sizes aboard the truck. Heck, I even saw one of my “morning motivations” who was stranded, but I still feel helpless because I’m already on top of the truck and it was full of people (+ I don’t know her name). Anong gagawin ko? Sisigaw ako ng ANTIPOLO GIIRLLL!!! Or MISS IMPERIAL FXXXX!!! The Elf truck (which now feels like Amistad) easily breezed through the waist deep flood. The experience of hitching a ride at the back of the truck is priceless. Once a vehicle goes past the flood – it’s a smooth ride from thereon. I was lucky that the truck was Antipolo bound. 
I love the rush of wind and soft drizzle running in my face – at the back of the truck, everything was so simple. There was power outage at some parts of my route and everything is quiet. I am shoulder to shoulder with people I don’t know, and I believe we have something in common – the feeling of coming home safe despite the odds. When the truck reached Antipolo, there are a few people onboard. I was able to get down from the truck easily… and found myself helping women of all ages and sizes get down. It was weird, I’m not that buff or tall, or strong – but at that moment, I can carry a 200+ pound woman with ease. Adrenaline? Or just that feeling again – that nothing is impossible.
I got home 2:00 AM.
Kissed my wife and kid.
My adidas still white.
October 2, 2006 started just like any ordinary office day for me. Sunny sky… slightly traffic morning, doing the usual work and petiks. Morning at the office was filled with Milenyo stories and how some of my officemates still have no electricity and water.
October 2, 2006 ended with a twist. The rain in Makati was not that strong (honestly I wouldn’t have noticed it since I was busy and did not even bother looking at the window). 8:00 PM, time to go home. I always catch a ride at the Antipolo-Ayala FX terminal in front of LKG tower. On the way there, I already noticed the long queue on the Ayala-ValleyGolf terminal. I was about to reach the Antipolo-Ayala terminal, when I bumped into some Antipolonians (tama ba?) who told me that no more Antipolo bound vehicles will arrive due to the heavy flood in the Cainta area. With my previous adventure, I already know what that means – DO NOT GO INTO THAT AREA! Since my alternate route ValleyGolf still has that long queue, my officemates and me decided to eat at Jollibee first and waste some time.
True enough, after eating, the long line at the ValleyGolf terminal is gone and I was able catch a ride. The driver was listening to AM radio – on the news is a blow by blow update of the Cainta Flashflood and Antipolo Landslide. The news also told motorists to stay away from that area or suffer the wrath of… heavy non-moving traffic. I thought that our FX driver has the smarts and went through all these shortcuts avoiding traffic, thanks to the radio updates. But NOOOOOO… wasn’t he listening to the radio (tagalog naman yung balita, madaling maintindihan)? He went to the Ortigas extension in the last minute and got caught in superdupercalitraffic. STOOPID!!! He should’ve taken the Floodway route to avoid the flood and all.
After almost an hour inside the FX, I decided to call it quits, and I walked from EVER Ortigas to Brookside. I could’ve walked all the way to Antipolo – except for one problem… from Brookside going to Valleygolf is a waist deep ocean, impassable if you have an ordinary car, FX, or jeep. The buses (which saved me from the last time) are jam-packed, and there are more cars who just decided to camp near the flood and wait for it to subside. I grabbed myself 2 bottles of C2 at the nearest 7-11 – ready for another epic battle. I would’ve walked that flood, except that I’m wearing my funky white adidas shoes. My only hope lies on hitching a ride at the back of trucks. What truck should I choose? The SanMiguel Beer Truck? Cement truck? Hmmm… an Elf Truck without any gravel and a few hitchers at the back. 
My instincts tell me to go for the Elf Truck. The back of the truck is about 5 feet high, and I have no problems climbing over it (thank my athlete foot). Other people saw what I did, and decided to hop on the truck. Next thing I know, I was helping women, men, and children of all ages and sizes aboard the truck. Heck, I even saw one of my “morning motivations” who was stranded, but I still feel helpless because I’m already on top of the truck and it was full of people (+ I don’t know her name). Anong gagawin ko? Sisigaw ako ng ANTIPOLO GIIRLLL!!! Or MISS IMPERIAL FXXXX!!! The Elf truck (which now feels like Amistad) easily breezed through the waist deep flood. The experience of hitching a ride at the back of the truck is priceless. Once a vehicle goes past the flood – it’s a smooth ride from thereon. I was lucky that the truck was Antipolo bound. 
I love the rush of wind and soft drizzle running in my face – at the back of the truck, everything was so simple. There was power outage at some parts of my route and everything is quiet. I am shoulder to shoulder with people I don’t know, and I believe we have something in common – the feeling of coming home safe despite the odds. When the truck reached Antipolo, there are a few people onboard. I was able to get down from the truck easily… and found myself helping women of all ages and sizes get down. It was weird, I’m not that buff or tall, or strong – but at that moment, I can carry a 200+ pound woman with ease. Adrenaline? Or just that feeling again – that nothing is impossible.I got home 2:00 AM.
Kissed my wife and kid.
My adidas still white.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Not Bad At All!
You Are 50% Evil |
 You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side. Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination. |
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Adventures for the new Milenyo!
Whaaat a weeek!!! My will and determination to go home daily was tested to its limits. It’s tough to be a commuter – but during stormy days when flood covers the streets, I thank God I don’t have a car to worry about.
Reinard’s Milenyo Odyssey
September 27: it was already announced in the office emails that a storm will hit Metro Manila the next day. Classes on all levels are canceled and everyone was expected to bring rain gear – to anticipate the heavy downpour. It was also on this day, Alex asked me to do some sort of AVP (a compilation of Harrison’s work for 2006). I usually do my AVPs using Flash, but said program couldn’t handle mpeg videos, so I have to compose the thing on Imovie. Imovie is addictive – it’s like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro (yuck, geek software talk), but only easier. Since the AVP will also be presented to some higher-up regional executive ek-ek, I also have to add some English subtitles on some of our commercials. I had fun translating and adding subtitles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish it on that day. Guess I just have to brave the storm the next day.
September28: there’s a heavy downpour in the morning. I usually leave the house at 8:30 am to get to work (because of the morning motivation). I brought with me my super-duper powerful heavy duty FILMEX umbrella (best Christmas gift ever) to protect me from the rain. The Van that took me to work that day left the FX station without filling all seats, one of the “morning motivations” was there – so all is fine. As my ride was cruising through the Taytay floodway shortcut, Budj, texted me that work was suspended that day. Can’t turn back now, it’s hard to catch a ride going back to Antipolo at that area. So I made up my mind to go to work and finish that AVP. The winds are getting stronger and I already saw some fallen trees on my way to the office. I was able to finish the AVP that day and I even learned how to make DVDs using iDVD (another cool program). All is well at the office – but the fun starts on the way home.
I left the office at 3:00pm. As I stepped out of the building, there are a lot of commuters trying to catch a cab, jeep, bus or fx. But there was none. Instead of waiting – I just decided to use the Ayala walkway to get to EDSA and hopefully, catch a bus there. As I was walking – I saw the damage wreaked by the storm – a lot of trees and debris littered the streets of Makati and there’s a total blackout. Some shops on the Ayala Mall area are closed – the only ones open I think are Landmark and SM Makati. After some few stopovers, I finally reached EDSA… lo and behold… there’s a heavy non-moving traffic. To sit on a car or bus or any vehicle would mean sore butts. The flow was so slow, walking would be faster. And walk down Edsa I did. I stopped by Select first and got me a box of Mentos fruits and C2 Green Tea (my power drink). The trek to the north of EDSA was difficult since it’s drizzling and there are a lot of uprooted trees and debris blocking the sidewalk. Otherwise, it was a fun walk – I got to share my big umbrella with some women whose umbrellas were destroyed by the strong winds. The biggest highlight of the EDSA walk is the fallen billboard along Estrella-EDSA. 
The billboard crushed a bus and some vehicles. I couldn’t get extremely close to the accident scene since there’s a rescue operation going on. Good thing my phone has a camera to capture the event. Once you get past Estrella, it’s smooth sailing – the only problem is, the buses who managed to pass through are already full. Luckily, there’s an empty bus who made a detour along Guadalupe and I was able to grab a seat. But the ordeal didn’t end there. I knew it would be hard to catch a ride at Crossing, so I decided to stop at Ortigas. The rain started to pour heavily again, and after 30 minutes, I was able to ride a bus. There was no traffic from Robinson’s Galleria Ortigas up to Junction, but things become hell beyond that. The stretch from Junction going to Valley Golf is flooded and small vehicles can’t pass – and those that can’t pass have to stay there, or turn back which caused heavy traffic. Since the bus is big enough – I just decided to stay there. It took almost 2 hours just for the bus I was riding to get through Tikling – and my bladder is killing me. There’s a nationwide blackout, so everything is in darkness – and even in Tikling, everyone is waiting for a ride to get to Antipolo. I decided not to go with the crowd and walked up a bit to Palmera II. There, I managed to catch a jeep and everything went smoothly from there. I got home 8:00 PM, with no power, no water, no food. I usually sleep a bit late and I need to play Super Collapse in the PC or watch DVD so I can rest easily. I slept around 1:00 am – just staring at the darkness… thinking …thinking… thinking that after this… I can do anything. Just when it seems impossible to come home, I managed to do it.
Reinard’s Milenyo Odyssey
September 27: it was already announced in the office emails that a storm will hit Metro Manila the next day. Classes on all levels are canceled and everyone was expected to bring rain gear – to anticipate the heavy downpour. It was also on this day, Alex asked me to do some sort of AVP (a compilation of Harrison’s work for 2006). I usually do my AVPs using Flash, but said program couldn’t handle mpeg videos, so I have to compose the thing on Imovie. Imovie is addictive – it’s like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro (yuck, geek software talk), but only easier. Since the AVP will also be presented to some higher-up regional executive ek-ek, I also have to add some English subtitles on some of our commercials. I had fun translating and adding subtitles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish it on that day. Guess I just have to brave the storm the next day.
September28: there’s a heavy downpour in the morning. I usually leave the house at 8:30 am to get to work (because of the morning motivation). I brought with me my super-duper powerful heavy duty FILMEX umbrella (best Christmas gift ever) to protect me from the rain. The Van that took me to work that day left the FX station without filling all seats, one of the “morning motivations” was there – so all is fine. As my ride was cruising through the Taytay floodway shortcut, Budj, texted me that work was suspended that day. Can’t turn back now, it’s hard to catch a ride going back to Antipolo at that area. So I made up my mind to go to work and finish that AVP. The winds are getting stronger and I already saw some fallen trees on my way to the office. I was able to finish the AVP that day and I even learned how to make DVDs using iDVD (another cool program). All is well at the office – but the fun starts on the way home.
I left the office at 3:00pm. As I stepped out of the building, there are a lot of commuters trying to catch a cab, jeep, bus or fx. But there was none. Instead of waiting – I just decided to use the Ayala walkway to get to EDSA and hopefully, catch a bus there. As I was walking – I saw the damage wreaked by the storm – a lot of trees and debris littered the streets of Makati and there’s a total blackout. Some shops on the Ayala Mall area are closed – the only ones open I think are Landmark and SM Makati. After some few stopovers, I finally reached EDSA… lo and behold… there’s a heavy non-moving traffic. To sit on a car or bus or any vehicle would mean sore butts. The flow was so slow, walking would be faster. And walk down Edsa I did. I stopped by Select first and got me a box of Mentos fruits and C2 Green Tea (my power drink). The trek to the north of EDSA was difficult since it’s drizzling and there are a lot of uprooted trees and debris blocking the sidewalk. Otherwise, it was a fun walk – I got to share my big umbrella with some women whose umbrellas were destroyed by the strong winds. The biggest highlight of the EDSA walk is the fallen billboard along Estrella-EDSA. 
The billboard crushed a bus and some vehicles. I couldn’t get extremely close to the accident scene since there’s a rescue operation going on. Good thing my phone has a camera to capture the event. Once you get past Estrella, it’s smooth sailing – the only problem is, the buses who managed to pass through are already full. Luckily, there’s an empty bus who made a detour along Guadalupe and I was able to grab a seat. But the ordeal didn’t end there. I knew it would be hard to catch a ride at Crossing, so I decided to stop at Ortigas. The rain started to pour heavily again, and after 30 minutes, I was able to ride a bus. There was no traffic from Robinson’s Galleria Ortigas up to Junction, but things become hell beyond that. The stretch from Junction going to Valley Golf is flooded and small vehicles can’t pass – and those that can’t pass have to stay there, or turn back which caused heavy traffic. Since the bus is big enough – I just decided to stay there. It took almost 2 hours just for the bus I was riding to get through Tikling – and my bladder is killing me. There’s a nationwide blackout, so everything is in darkness – and even in Tikling, everyone is waiting for a ride to get to Antipolo. I decided not to go with the crowd and walked up a bit to Palmera II. There, I managed to catch a jeep and everything went smoothly from there. I got home 8:00 PM, with no power, no water, no food. I usually sleep a bit late and I need to play Super Collapse in the PC or watch DVD so I can rest easily. I slept around 1:00 am – just staring at the darkness… thinking …thinking… thinking that after this… I can do anything. Just when it seems impossible to come home, I managed to do it.
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