To save or not to save

So many people lost their loved ones, their homes, their cars, and their other prized possesions during the recent floods brought about by Tropical Storm Ketsana, referred to locally -- and already used as an adjective and verb -- as Ondoy. Rich or poor, everyone in the metro was affected, either directly or through loved ones, friends, and/or workmate.

Surveying the damage and the losses right after the worst of the flood was the most painful... or so one might think. It has actually been a series of pain and torture. My home was spared, but I had so much stuff at my parents' house, I had even just a fraction of an idea of what they felt. First, devastation, then helplessness, then the overwhelmed sense you get when you are faced with a to-do list so long and a time table so tight. Then you learn to let go, take a deep breath, then begin the process of cleaning up and rebuilding. All throughout picking up a lesson or two.

One thing Typhoon Ketsana has taught me is that when faced with a few minutes before disaster strikes, what can I save?

my missing-in-action passion

I can't actually say it's totally gone. It still shows itself every now and then.

My visual of it would be the spurts of water that escape an over-filled tea pot when it boils, causing the tea pot to emit what would sound almost like a choking gurgle, instead of a whistle.

Passion in life. Passion for life. Passion. Just passion. Where could it have dwindled into? It took me here where I am today, yet I could swear I am just floating through every day, in the general sense.

I get a few minutes of bravery every now and then, when I would have enough courage to ask myself what I am still passionate about. Where is my passion? Top five answers my over-analytical or over-worked, or even over-rationalizing got me:

my sniffle remedies

Driving home after our New Year's Eve celebration at my parents' was like going through some horror movie scene. Near-zero visibility. The way the street lights shone through the dense smog was really eerie. I hope this is the peak of the season's allergy triggers, because I'm getting tired of my allergies.

Itchy, teary eyes, congested sinuses, incessant sneezing, sniffing, headaches. I've had them since childhood, you'd think I'd be used to them by now. I first realized it wasn't normal when a classmate in Grade School once asked why my cousin and I had a cold every morning. Those pesky allergies... we react to what -- morning? To absolutely anything from dust to perfume, fresh paint, varnish, something about rain about to fall, mold, and the 'ber months. Many times they lead to an actual head cold, fever, and cough.

I used to take good old antihistamines but decided I don't want to live an anti-histamined life, so I've learned to rely on these top 5:

surviving the pre-Holiday rush

I have never been adept at thriving in a stressful environment. I used to break down at some point, so I've developed survival techniques that have been handy since my pre-teen years, when I was already given serious responsibilities at home. They don't include my last-resorts like smoking or going somewhere private to scream, but they have been helpful, thank God, especially during the pre-Holiday hustle and bustle.

Hey, c'mon, it's Christmas, guys!

It's officially nine days to go before Christmas. It should start to get merrier. I just missed the first Christmas party lined up this year and I really wanted to attend it. Why the heck does it all have to get bad?!

In my own little tribe in my little circle, these are the top 5 dramas that upstage the joys of Christmas:

The juggler fumbles

It has been an exhausting seven days. I have been through a roller-coaster of emotions and, as much as I attempted to stay positive, I buckled down a couple of times.

All throughout, I yearned for some quiet time, and I did finally get some at night, but there was just so much in my mind, it was hardly quiet up there!

So just to clear my mind and lighten the load on my chest, I am giving myself the benefit of these random top 5's in my mind at the moment:

Robert's Coffee Journal

When you take a sip of your favorite brew, do you actually think about what different elements came together to bring it into that delectable liquid you are consuming? Not really, huh? What do most of us know about this side of coffee anyway?

I have declared coffee as one of my passions, and it has spurned -- apart from coffee-infused blood in my veins -- a couple of blogs, which have helped keep me sane. A friend of mine from college, though, has made his passion for coffee his work, and now, through an ambitious but enviably successful project, something worth bragging about.

He is the very same coffee expert I had quoted in previous blog entries and reviews (in my "other" blogsite), recently launched a fabulous coffee table book on -- tah-dah! -- coffee!

Short of being 007

There's this new TV ad for a sound system where Daniel Craig's James Bond is standing, cool as usual, and he'd have a gun shot, an explosion, and falling debris, if I remember right, coming at him from all sides. After glancing at where he got hit, checking out the explosion behind him, pausing a bit to regain his balance, he would just keep standing there with this determined and pointed sexy but powerful glare and 007-poise, battered and all.



He reminds me of the Energizer bunny that just keeps going on and on and on. When it does stop, it's just to pause for a change of batteries, then on it goes again.

I wish I could be James Bond and the Energizer Bunny. But there are days when I believe with all my heart that it's all nice and admirable, but not happening in real life. Then I wake up and it's another day, and I have no choice but to go on again.