sumasabay yung kampanya namin kay milenyo.

update: random notes on the storm

sumasabay nga yung kampanya namin kay milenyo, tinangay naman niya yung mga elements ng kampanya namin. he/she/it, the strongest direct hit to manila in over a decade, ripped our beautiful east avenue billboard into shreds, and prompted our vp to order the rest of the billboards slashed before they could cause damage to passersby.

milenyo also flung away most of the 35 individual character banners installed on the perimeter walls of our building, much to the glee of the tricycle drivers who now have resplendent, mucha-inspired new seat covers. ika nga ng boss ko, “oh well. at least roving collaterals na sila.”

finally, milenyo also hurled the luzon into darkness — the lights have yet to come on in most of metro manila — effectively rendering our kick-ass tv promo spots useless. “bakit pa natin ‘to ginagawa?” grumbled charlie as we put together a series of daily countdown spots. “wala namang makakapanood e!”

random thought: who thought of the name milenyo anyway? talk about names predestining outcomes — ang lakas kasi ng dating eh. maybe if it had had a meek name — like, i don’t know, malou or miming — the storm would have come and gone without a whimper.

utterly clueless

i woke late thursday morning, fully intending to take my sweet time primping (an excellent stress reliever, i’ve found) and show up at work around lunchtime. although i heard wind and rain outside, i didn’t realize the full extent of the storm as i languidly blowdried, yes, blowdried my hair and stepped into my favorite black heels. mali. maling-mali!

getting to the office was an adventure, to say the least. great gusts of wind blew rain into the jeep i was riding, which stopped a few meters short of its terminus when two bolts of lightning blew up two condo transformers. the mrt shut down, and i took a bus for the first time since college. on the way to work, i lost count of all the fallen trees littering edsa. some of them were twined with downed power lines, others entangled with twisted lampposts or broken signs. apocalypse na kaya ito? i thought idly as the bus oozed down edsa, the konduktor opening its doors to shout things like “gago, liliparin ka na!” to random, determined pedestrians.

i briefly wondered why i was even attempting to make it to work, but i realized i could not resist the siren call of uninterrupted electricity (tv! cable! internet! aircon! hot shower!) when a blackout was sure to follow.

sanctuary! sanctuary!

ayon. pagdating ko sa office, kulot na ako. not to mention i was nearly slipping out of my heels, my legs were so wet. my formidable global sources payong was bent entirely on one side, and the wind practically hurled me into the gates of gma. “ah eh — ok ka lang?” said a startled janice de belen, who happened to be the first person i saw.

i spent the night at the office, with a host of other “refugees”. it was actually fun. i spent a lot of time online and slept on the giant cushions in our floor’s receiving area. plus, my hair had dried into a surprisingly pleasing configuration — tousled bedhead curls (“dapat lagi kang binabagyo!” enthused a gay officemate). i didn’t know what to be more grateful for: my wonderful office (we’re literally a beacon of light in the area — it’s totally unreal to look out the windows at night and see absolutely nothing), that my family and i were safe and sound, or that i was actually having a good hair day.

since i haven’t worked in the makati cbd for over a year, i totally forgot how it frenetic can get during over there. especially when you’re competing with a legion of irate, impatient, makati-fied yuppies for that impossibly elusive prize — a taxi during rush hour.

absolutely vicious! (and don’t even get me started on the taxi drivers themselves.)

the rare weekday trek to makati was on account of a rehearsal for mozart’s requiem at union church, which is on rada street in legaspi village. i took the mrt to ayala, then battled it out with the yuppies at the glorietta 4 driveway. timog and environs, with its surfeit of cabs, has spoiled me. hindi ko kinaya ang agawan!

consider this:

a cab drives up to the entrance and is instantly besieged by any number of would-be passengers. a near-scuffle ensues for the passenger-side door handle, with the objective of pulling the door open to blurt out one’s destination for the driver’s consideration — all this as the poor passenger inside the cab fumbles for change. the driver either gives a lazy nod or (this i hate) simply pulls away in response, upon which the remaining participants of the scuffle must then chase after the taxi to blurt out their destinations — fingers crossed for that all-important nod.

vicious! absolutely vicious!

after what seemed like ages and ages of this urban violence, i finally cornered a cab with three other hopefuls. one of my competitors had already wedged the front door open as the passenger in the back seat, an utterly bewildered japanese businessman, fled in terror.

competitor #1: guadalupe!”
cabbie: *waves away competitor #1*
competitor #2: “bf homes!”
me, to myself: asa ka pa!
cabbie: *makes gesture as if preparing to drive off*
me: legaspi village, sa may likod lang ng greenbelt!
cabbie: *hesitates, then nods*

i felt rather pleased with myself as we whizzed off down ayala avenue.

cabbie: pa-south na kasi ako…
me: ah, sa rada street lang naman ako eh.
cabbie: oo nga eh, kaya nga pinili kita kasi malapit. pero —
me: pero kuya, malapit lang naman eh. (attempting winsome tone)
cabbie: oo nga, pero ikaw ang pinili ko kasi bukod sa malapit ka, maganda
ka pa.

kaya mo?

me: ano ka ba, kuya, nambola ka pa!
cabbie: walang bola ‘yun ah! may kamukha ka ngang artista, eh.
me: *braces self for inevitable comparison to yasmien kurdi*
cabbie: si natalie portman!

sosyal!

makati… iba ka talaga!