Finished watching Top Chef Masters. Great first season! The finale was exciting and memorable, would have loved to try all the dishes! We’ve become fans of Rick Bayless, Hubert Keller and Michael Chiarello. Thrilled that Bayless won. Missed Padma Lakshmi though from the regular series.

Iniwanan ka pala ng ‘yong boypren/ kasi ayaw nya ang bago mong buhok/ mahal ka ba nya talaga?

On the road home from makati via mrt. The folks tryng to get a ride home are getting rowdier every station northbound. D mrt is packed. I hope i get home before the rain gets crazy

happy birthday mamayette!

happy birthday mamayette! i love you! i didnt forget to call this time hehehe (because last monday on your wedding anniversary, i got too busy with the flood hehe) mwah

 

salvaged photos and other stories

photographs salvaged from the debris of the flood were left out to dry on clothes hangers.  this collage welcomed us as we made our way into the house of my aunt in cainta on wednesday afternoon.  my cousins and i came to cheer up the residents with cake and palabok, also since it was tito rene’s birthday.  and there, fresh from a scrub of zonrox we stayed in the house eating and listening to stories of that trying saturday night when tita nida thought she’d be meeting God if the waters reached the ceiling.

earlier on tuesday i was texting tita nida in cainta if they needed help, supplies or what ever else i could bring to them.  we werent sure if their phones were low on battery, if there was electricity in their area or if the flood waters have receded and we would have access to get there.  got a reply middle of the afternoon, saying yes they were fine, theyd like off lotion, rubbing alcohol, energy drinks, coke if pwede.  i said ok ill get supplies and will commute to their place.

after buying a few more stuff (garbage bags, toiletries, canned goods, alcohol, sanitary napkins, laundry detergent and other items), i took the jeep to cainta. passed by a lot of establishments on marcos highway en route to the junction cleaning out their houses of mud and items damaged by the flood.  many of these items, including tv sets and motorcycles for sale were caked with mud.  the roads have since dried up but it was dusty, and you could see the mud lines on the walls marking how high the waters rose that saturday.

tita nida, always on high spirits, maintained her optimism over things but her eyes were sad, tired and worried.  even tito rene talked lengthily on how they had to perch on chairs placed on top of the kitchen sink just to keep off the freezing water in the dark. they couldnt find their candles and lost all the matches. the flashlight batteries later conked out and they stared into the dark, battling the cold and the roaches who wanted to share space to save themselves.  they sang praise songs to comfort them throughout the night, even those they havent memorized they were able to sing complete.

nobody expected the flood and nobody was prepared. they sent off macky and denden to stay with tito’s sister’s family on the 2nd floor of a vacant apartment in the next block. the current was strong and chest high, walking through it against the current was a challenge and left tito rene shaken.  his sister’s chowchow was placed on a basin and ferried across the street to the aparment. there they stayed the night, dry and safe.

back in the house, tito rene and tita nida decided to stay and keep their things out of the rising waters. every time the flood level rose, theyd rearrange some stuff just to save it. currently the computer, tv and other important items were stashed on macky’s double decker bed. the refrigerator, they said, should have been tied as it started to float and spill all its contents. even the huge wooden cabinets filled with heavy crockery started to float. the furniture made of cheap malaysian compressed boards bloated as it got soaked and later had to be thrown out, including the bed, mattresses and cabinets in the kids’ rooms.

packets of love letters during their courtship survived the storm

the experience, tito rene explains, is humbling. you realize you never needed all those items youve collected over the years. the pirated dvds just took space in their small house, all those plates they never use would probably need to go as well. everything else are really just excesses.  they were willing to be stripped down to the basics: table, chair, food, clothes.  and in the end, all you really needed was your family and God.

that evening i got emotional listening to tito rene and tita nida.  aside from wanting to hear it from them, they needed to talk about it, too and let it out.  i understood the dynamics of needing a release of all this grief.  the experience not only changed the victims with lessons of a lifetime, i learned my lessons here as well.

by wednesday afternoon when i went back with manang dindin, kuya guy, denise and carlo, i would hear the stories again and somehow, in that fellowship of family, the sharing was more comforting and affirming.  life goes on and despite the impending storm, we brace ourselves and say, life will go on.

mygas! i was too preoccupied with the storm and its victims, i forgot to greet my parents on their wedding anniversary last monday! my bad. happy anniversary papayong and mamayette! i love you!

waterworld

it’s a crazy time to be living.  the freak flooding that happened in metro manila only happens in emmerich’s disaster movies, scenes played out for all the world to see. crazy crazy.  the networks get their news from facebook and twitter, their video footage from youtube.  this is the age of technology and alarming climate changes.

last saturday we were in a shoot on location new manila when it started to rain all day.  ondoy was at work.  titatems started calling me about the flooding in the metro.  fortunately we werent being encroached by rising waters so we continued to shoot in what would become an island.  vans could not get into or out of the area we were in.  by merienda time, the staff could only serve cup noodles because the caterers’ kitchen in makati got flooded, plus the roads have become impossible to traverse through.

i was worried for the dogs at home and none of our neighbors were responding to texts. communication started to lag or waver and we eventually lost electricity in the shoot area. good thing we were running on generator.  apparently, carlo’s family were affected by loss of power too and a bit of flooding in their house in montalban, rizal.  his grandmother’s backwall collapsed and the floodwaters started to pour in her yard.  my aunt and her family in cainta is currently in waist deep waters and has practically lost everything.  my colleague lolafer’s house in pasig was also filling up with waist deep waters while we were shooting.  his neighbors broke down the door and tried to bring up his stuff to the 2nd floor in his apartment.  most were saved, including his 3 dogs, except for his electric organ and the refrigerator. he left the shoot early so he could tend to the house. was texting him way into midnight and he only been having coffee since there was no food to be had.

we’re fortunate to be living in an area in katipunan that was not affected by the rising flood. electricity, water, phone and even cable tv and internet were unaffected. carlo and i got home around 11pm saturday and found the dogs extremely hungry though.  we slept troubled but well enough to prepare for the 2nd day of shoot the next day.  the production decided to go on with the shoot since everybody else was practically stranded in that house location. there was no way the equipment could leave anyway.  even the talents that were packed up at 10am had to stick it out until the next day in the house, otherwise theyd just be stuck immobile on the road home.

it’s heartbreaking to realize thousands of people losing a lot in the flood.  and i cant even begin to comprehend how much damage has already been done. personal belongings, clothes, houses, cars, pets, family members. as i stay here dry and comfortable, im compelled to do something and reach out.  this afternoon carlo and i decided to go get food and cook them for distribution.  we couldnt afford to get sacks of rice and boxes of canned goods. but we strived to have cooked food for the victims and so we sent tuyo, boiled egg and steamed rice to akbayan, food you can easily eat off your hand even while standing up.  also packed our old clothes and shoes and sent those off.

tomorrow’s another day and we’re expecting two more storms coming our way.  like in cagayan de oro when the city got flooded again 1 week after the first flooding early january this year, im sure when it starts to rain again, the flooding in metro manila will get worse. the earth’s climate is really haywire and we’re suffering.  i dont know if any of this is repairable. how can you fix that hole in the ozone layer? the warming of the earth’s atmosphere? the melting of antartica and the snow caps, the shift of ocean currents and the mercury retrograde?

dear Lord, only you can save us from all this. Lord, help. love, ben.

images pulled out from the internet. no copyright infringement intended.

bought food at the grocery to add to the relief goods for akbayan. tuyo, boiled egg and steamed rice, easy to eat standing up. not much but every little bit of help would count. will raid our closet next for clothing

Lord we pray you look over everybody affected by the flood. we need your help

a single man

oh wow. A Single Man is tom ford’s first film and based on the trailer, this film looks delish! the production design of a 60s, erwin olaf-esque milieu is beautiful, it’s practically a dream. and you know i just love the 60s (see my set for butiki). julianne moore looks fabulous here and the first few images of colin firth is heartwrenching.  i wouldnt normally blog about a movie trailer but every shot was just gorgeous, i had to write about it!