They've installed new window blinds at my desk over at the Desk. Unfortunately, they've replaced the vertical track / slat blinds with a solid rolling blind (the one that looks like a projection screen). I loved the old blinds because you can shutter it to keep out the sun but still can move the slats a bit to see the world outside. With the new blinds, it's either you see it or not. I would've preferred horizontal track / slat blinds but the decision was made without consulting us.
I feel utterly exposed with the new blinds. It will take a while to get used to this.
* * * *
Mother's Day was a wet one indeed with typhoon Bebeng beginning to unleash its fury just as the family was headed up to Tagaytay.
We caught the tail-end of the mass at my old alma mater, Colegio San Agustin-Biñan, before hitting the route to Tagaytay via Governors Drive and Emilio Aguinaldo. I think I mentioned this route before as an alternative. Well, it's not really an alternative as a lot of people still traverse it but private motorists rarely use it as people have gotten used to using the Sta. Rosa - Silang - Tagaytay route. However, with Nuvali and Paseo de Sta. Rosa causing a massive traffic headache, I've used this older, the original route, to Tagaytay more. It's longer but definitely less stressful.
By the time we reached Dencio's, it was already raining steadily. We had a good lunch, a Mother's Day treat to the two mothers in our company -- my mother, and my wife, Elvie. Unfortunately, Taal Volcano was hidden under heavy clouds much to the disappointment of little Ikai who wanted to see the volcano. As lunch winded down, the clouds cleared a little to allow us a blurry glimpse of Taal Lake and the volcano.
Rain continued its steady pace as we hit the road again bound for Bag of Beans. The place has been steadily building up a reputation as a good place for food and coffee, but also a more notorious reputation for causing traffic. Because most tourists to Tagaytay eventually ended up at BoB, there's always a traffic jam in the area. Blame it on the lack of parking space as well. BoB did increase their dining space but not their parking space. It was with good fortune we found a space to squeeze in a few meters away from the entrance.
This was my second visit to BoB and this time around I ordered their houseblend which was good. The last time I was here with Elvie and her officemates, I got their Barako. Next time, I'll probably try out their cappucino, macchiato, or mocha. Little Ikai had their white mocha which might not have been a good idea as she was "hyper" when we got home.
Because of the rain, we postponed the trip to Caleruega to "next time". We instead decided to go to SM Sta. Rosa and this time, reasoning people were still in Tagaytay, we took the Sta. Rosa-Silang-Tagaytay route.
When we emerged from SM Sta. Rosa an hour or so later. The weather had turned for worse. The rain was heavier now that I had to turn the wiper from every-now-and-then to every-few-seconds-or-so. Traversing the national highway, the downpour worsened even further. From the wiper doing its thing every few seconds, I had to crank it so that it was now wiping frantically. Visibility along the highway was reduced to just a few meters so I had to slow down considerably (much to the relief of many of my passengers, I'm sure).
I deliberately avoided passing through Pacita Complex on the way to our subdivision as the place had turned notorious in late recent years for flooding. With the rain pouring heavily the past few hours, there was no doubt that portions of Pacita Avenue were already submerged. We instead chose the Elvinda path (the shortest route to Pacita 2B if you're coming from Manila via San Pedro - Bayan) and while it was also flooded, it was not as notorious as the flooding in Pacita.
Everyone in the big red car (except the kids) held their breaths when I nudged the vehicle through the floodwaters of Sibulo and Elvinda. My father mentioned that the worse part of the flooding in the area was right after the railroad tracks. As the car made its way up the railroad tracks and down again to the floodwaters, Ikai remarked, "Para lang boat o!". The innocent remark, coupled with her excitement of racing through the floodwaters, eased everyone's tension.
After a few more minutes of slow-driving through the waters, the street re-emerged and we got home safe and sound.
* * * *
Last Saturday, while waiting for the ladies finish their respective businesses at the parlor, I roamed around Centro Pacita and eventually ended up inside Pandayan Bookstore. Little did I know that the trip would end up with me scoring what I think is a good find -- Naermyth by Karen Francisco.
Published by Visprint, Naermyth (a play on "never myth) is a tale set in a dystopia Philippines where the once legends of myth -- aswangs, diwatas, duwendes, batibats and other creatures of folk lore -- have sprang from the books of legends into real life and waged war on humans and made the latter a critical species. I got sold on the blurb:
"The world ended. It was not because of a comet, prophecy, natural disaster or whatever garbage foretold on the internet, but because every myth ever written turned out to be an account of historical fact. These monsters we've read about as children waged a war that lead to humanity's downfall. And the unluck who survived are hunted down or, worse, tortured.
In these dark times, people could only turn to the Shepherd for help. I am one such Shepherd and I thought my only taks was to protect the few humans who still thrive on this desolate world. But when I rescued Dorian from dwende captivity, I discovered that not only is he the most dangerous thing to have around, but he could be our one hope for redemption. I now find myself protecting a born killer, but in doing so, I'm turning my back on everything human."
I bought this book instead of the Edith Hamilton's Mythology (another book I've been hunting for eons) because of the premise. While stories abound about dwendes and diwatas, I've never read anything longer than a short story and Francisco's novel about a war between humans and myth-creatures of the Filipino kind promised something refreshing.
I'm now half-way into the book (it's a rather short read at 303 pages so expect a book review probably this weekend or next.
* * * *
We're temporarily holing in my folks' home in San Pedro (well, it's also my home as it's where I grew up) while my sister, Wheng, is still around. Wheng's flight back to Dubai is tomorrow so things will be back to normal come Thursday when we go back to our little apartment in Makati.
Elvie and I have decided to commute to work. Good traffic conditions and the financial costs have led to this decision. Like this morning, even with the fairly rainy temperament, the bus ride only took about 25 minutes to Makati and Elvie made it in time for her 7am shift with about 10 minutes to spare (and the bus didn't even used the Skyway at that). Computing the cost was also a no-brainer as commuting meant no parking fees to worry about and no need to gas up.
It's like commuting back in the late 90s.
