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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