Rage Against The Regime (Mubarak's, & Winter)

It's amazing how history repeats itself in other countries, and how current events sometimes manifests itself symbolically in ordinary things like a comic strip, such as in today's Non Sequitur (one of my favorite comic strips) calendar comic which innocently talks about winter. Really, the heat from the girl's "hissy fit" can very well represent the Egypt uprising, and "winter" is the Mubarak Regime that the Egyptians have successfully overthrown today. But unlike the comic, the "winter" didn't take as long as the vernal equinox...the "melting" occurred in about a couple of weeks (18 days to be exact), not months.

Filipinos can't help but see the EDSA Revolution mirrored in the Egyptian Revolution, but in the latter, the weapon of the people was computers through social media networking sites (Facebook and Twitter). The hashtag "#jan25" will definitely go down on Egypt's history books! Imagine a revolution that took to the streets as well as tweets!

I followed the events casually on CNN, and tweeted my reactions to it. I literally felt goosebumps when I saw Egyptian Vice President Suleiman announce on television that Mubarak has officially resigned around 11AM EST.

The Pharaoh has fallen, the people have spoken.

Egyptians have a reason to smile as wide as the River Nile!

Snowed-In

It's been blizzard after blizzard for us here in the Northeastern United States. This mailbox was photographed before the recent ice storm we had.

Icy daggers hanging from our gutters.

I prefer snow over ice/sleet/freezing rain, because the latter is just too darn dangerous. Common injuries during this sort of weather are slips and falls.

Our driveway was virtually a skating rink because of the slippery sheet of ice that formed on it. We had to de-ice it and sprinkle lots of salt.

Here's a wintry scene from a lake in our neighborhood:

On Groundhog Day, they said we have 6 more weeks of winter, which means an "earlier" Spring. How many more snowstorms, though?

Hot In The City

It was hot in the "Windy City" last month that these kids took the liberty of showering at the granite fountain in Navy Pier's Gateway Park. The fountain is powered by computerized jetstreams. This kid is just happy to be wet!

When you can't go to a water park, just head down here! But only kids get to do it. I don't think ATV racing is allowed in the Navy Pier vicinities, being that there's a Children's Museum in the area as well.

Crocus-Pocus, Kitty-Catabra

It's the first day of Spring! And my cat Siomai couldn't care less! This is her in paperweight mode, by the way. Newspaperweight mode, to be exact.

It's been sunny for a few days now that people are actually out and about in t-shirts and shorts! It actually feels more like summer! A summer mirage in March! But the warmth is real!

The lake near our house has been crowded with sun worshippers eager to use their walking shoes and not their winter boots. I don't know if any of them take HGH supplements, but that's their business. I'm just happy I can stuff my puffy jackets away at last!

And as scheduled, our wee little crocus flowers have bloomed, just as they did around the same time last year!

Dude, Where's My Ark?

This used to be a parking lot. A hospital parking lot. The hospital is on the left. The parking lot is located right next to a river that had overflowed due to this weekend's non-stop Nor'Easter rains. Nearby towns have been flooded as well, forcing road closures and detours. Thank God we live on a hill. A beloved umbrella has been seriously injured by Friday's strong winds.

Spring has sprung...with a splash.

The sign reads "Parking Violators Will Be Immobilized." It should be re-written to say "Will Drown."

Stairway to the Sea of Gali-Lake.

Litratong Pinoy #77:Kalikasan (Nature)

Mother Nature is still bundled up in a down jacket and gloves in my part of Jersey. She really put the "F" in February for Freezing and Frosty when we had two days of non-stop snow last week! Our backyard looked like it had more snow than the Winter Olympics in Vancouver!

Anyone for Alpine Skiing or Bobsledding?

Shrubs weighed down by heavy accumulation of snow.

This is a photo I took of my Christmas pajamas with myself in knee-deep snow!

Si Inang Kalikasan ay nakikipaglaro pa kay Frosty the Snowman sa aming bakuran.

Come Hell Or High Snowfall

Can you spot where our mailbox is? It's right where the USPS vehicle is. This was from last week's snowstorm, the one that shut down airports in New York City and Newark and closed all schools and most businesses in the areas affected.

This is why I admire the USPS. Come hell or high snowfall (we had about a foot), they still deliver mail. More especially so if you purchased insurance online for the stuff you mailed. I usually ship via their online shipping service--saves me gas and you don't even have to change from your pajamas.

Litratong Pinoy #75: Iyo (Yours)

Snow. So pretty to photograph.

So perilous to drive on. Welcome to the Tundra, right here in New Jersey. This blizzard we're having this Wednesday has proven to be both picturesque and problematic. Most schools, businesses and airports affected in New Jersey and New York have closed because of it.

These kids are sitting on a pile of snow in the middle of the street. A police car just told them to be careful. For them, it's winter wonderland!

There's a car in there somewhere.

You want snow? It's all yours! We're buried in about a foot of it now, with more falling until midnight tonight. If I told you how hard it is to shovel off and plow through the snow, you probably might rethink my offer. Even Miss Iggy's not so sure.

Gusto mo ng snow? Eto...iyong-iyo na!

Orange You Glad You Don't Get Snow?

Have I ever told you that my favorite part in any newspaper is the Comics page? I especially love reading the Sunday funnies when everything is in full color.

My new favorite comic strip is "Rhymes With Orange" by Hilary B. Price. What attracted me the most is the wit behind the imaginative drawings...and of course, the fact that she's a female cartoonist! We need more like her in the industry to stimulate our funny bones (and grey matter, for that matter)!

And speaking of snow, we're supposed to experience a "Snowpocalypse"/"Snowmageddon" of sorts today. It already hit Washington, D.C. so bad yesterday and has even claimed the lives of a father and son in Virginia.

Forecast says my area will get between 4-8 inches of snow later today. Fasten your snow boots, my northeastern brethren! Shovels and snow throwers at the ready!

I'm hoping nobody in our household complains of winter-related body aches that will have me consulting www.reliefarthritis.net for remedies. I just want it to be a hot chocolate kind of snowed-in Saturday!

Driving By Woods On A Snowy Morning

When you live in the Northeast like I do, that means you get to experience what is known as a "Nor'easter," or that snowstorm that sweeps across said region including Atlantic Canada. Simply put, it's Mother Nature's wintry wrath, burying everything in snow along its path. It's Mother Nature's other persona during this cold season: the Blizzard Wizard.

So this weather factor becomes important when choosing the right car to buy when you're anywhere near my zip code. Right now I drive the family van, which is not a big contender when navigating the snowy, slippery roads. It becomes even more complicated when the streets become an inclined slope, as our area basically consists of hills that wind at varying degrees.

This got me into browsing for cars online, just out of curiosity. Personally, I'm more inclined towards Asian brands, since it's been a reliable choice for us since our Philippine driving days. I therefore checked out some Honda Fit pics to see if it fits the bill as a potential road warrior that will not surrender to the snow, because some cars only perform and look well during the summer.

The Honda Element specs reveal that it's a roomy choice for long road trips, as well as packed with safety features. I like that! After all, isn't safety supposed to be the number one concern when shopping for vehicles?

Another brand that boasts its safety features as well as fuel-efficiency is Chevy. Between the Chevy Colorado and the Chevy Tahoe, I think I'll pick the latter. I've decided that I'm more of an SUV-type of girl.

Wet N' Wild

I was so underdressed for Thursday's wet snow shocker. We met our German friends for a Japanese Seafood buffet lunch, and then it just started snowing...all day! The chunky kind of snowflakes that melt on the ground. It was so cold that my bare legs yearned for boots. I was wearing ballet flats. The snow left icy layers on cars.

Snow in mid-October. Oktobersnowfest. Mother Nature is exhibiting some scary symptoms, and humankind is suffering from it.

This Lio comic calendar I have from yesterday seems to be right on point. What's even more uncanny about it is that the movie "Where The Wild Things Are" started showing on the same date.

When Nature Becomes Life's OST

Sharing some flowers from our summer garden while it's still technically summer. These were actually photographed back in July.

What I really want to talk about is how my weekend has been strangely in synch with the weather. Ever notice in movies how there's a scene with a haunted house in some dark forest, then thunder and lightning suddenly break the eerie silence, then a wolf wails in the distance?

It's been somewhat like that for me recently. No, not the horror kind of elemental manifestations, but the uncanny way nature has been cuing itself at the right time, as if I'm in a disaster movie and there's a production crew hiding somewhere in the background.

We've been having thunderstorms. I left the house one day and it was still sunny, and as I drove back, the wind started to shake off the leaves from the trees, forming invisible little funnels in front of me. The sky had darkened and raindrops started to fall. Science dictates the process why rain occurs, but I know that heaven was crying that time.

You know what the song was on the radio just moments before this storm broke? The one that goes, "There's a calm before the storm...." I kid you not.

I also had the rare chance to see a rainbow in the sky at 7:30PM while driving. The strange thing here in the States is how light it can still be at such a late hour, even when you consider the Daylight Saving Time factor. Rainbows are said to be a lucky omen, a sign of renewed hope. It was a remarkable sight against the grey sky, a contrast of colors and circumstances.

Then, in the wee hours after midnight, thunder shook our house as it made contact somewhere in the distance. It was a long crack of thunder, like somebody dropped a bomb.

Somebody did drop a bomb. Well, not literally.

Try it sometime. I mean, observing nature. Don't just stop and smell the roses. Listen to the little cricket, look at the bird that flew by. If you look hard enough, you'll notice that it's telling you something, or is at least empathizing with you.

oktobersnowfest!

this morning started out rainy but around 11:30am, devil domo was shocked to see the rain turn into wet snow! the kind of snow that looks like shaved ice that encrusts your freezer's interior walls. the kind of snow that turns the roads into a slushy mess.

slushy=slipppery=road accidents.

it's the first time i've ever seen snowfall before halloween. the rest of northern new jersey, new york and certain parts of pennsylvania are also shocked that it's buried in this blanket of snow at this time of the year. i mean, the leaves aren't even done falling on the ground and here we are with this unexpected onslaught of icy weather.

i tried to capture the snow as it fell in our backyard with my digicam. here's a short clip of that from this morning:

notice how it sounds like rain because it IS a mixture of rain and snow. there's also freezing winds which made it even more frightful. jack frost decided to come early this year.

p.s. domo is the official halloween mascot for target.

under my umbrella

summer is creeping into new york city, with temperatures predicted to soar to the 90's this coming week. not too long ago, mornings in the city were drenched with some leftover rain of the departing spring season.

these sassy umbrellas caught my eye at one of the streets intersecting with times square. the designs on them feature the new york skyline. now that's a new york souvenir you can actually use! umbrellas are one of my favorite things.

start spreading the views!

shopping in the snow

my sister and i were among the crazy few who drove through the slippery, slushy snow to shop at the nearly deserted mall tonight. it's during inclement weather like this that you won't have to weave your way through the holiday crowd (because they're all home trying to stay warm), and you also needn't worry about finding a good parking spot because there's plenty--the only thing that'll be a challenge is getting a spot that's not piled with chunks of ice.

well, we made sure the roads were at least plowed and salted before we decided to dash through the snow.

this was the snowy scene outside macy's tonight:


it had snowed, then hailed this morning...forcing our office to close at around noontime so everyone can drive home while the snow was still bearable for our cars to wade through.

inside the mall, a lot of stores were closed. only a handful chose to stay open for business. i do feel sorry for the mall employees who have to work at this kind of weather. their hourly rate is usually not enough to compensate for the trouble driving in the snow and back.

meanwhile, this crazy shopper (me) was armed with discount coupons to buy "ratatouille" and "shrek the 3rd" dvds at only $14.99 each, and neil gaiman's "anansi boys" book at an extra 30% off. since i'm done shopping for everyone on my list, i'm now shopping for myself!

"my baby's got a secret..."

if i would pick a theme song for this book of compiled postcards from anonymous senders displaying their deepest, but not necessarily darkest, secrets...it would be madonna's "secret." well, i admit, i'm a fan of hers. i always look for her songs when i flip through the videoke songbook. her songs are videoke singer-friendly. hehe.

the book i'm referring to is "postsecret : extraordinary confessions from ordinary lives" by frank warren. the contents are originally from the website (www.postsecret.blogspot.com) created by the author as a community art project where people can send in their secrets, no matter how taboo, perverted, or just downright silly in the form of a postcard. every week, the website is updated with about a dozen hand-made postcards. i've been visiting it more often since i stumbled upon a link to that website.

i got my copy of the book in the mail today. it's hardbound with a dustcover with a mail packaging shade of brown. it's cheaper when you order it through overstock.com than getting it at full price ($24.95) from your local bookstore.

amazing how creative and brutally honest a person can be on a small postcard. some revelations are funny, some are heart-breaking, some are wishes and desires, some are mundane...but all are genuinely interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i went to an orthopedic doctor last thursday for my injured shoulder. the good news is, my arm is healing fine, he said. he required me to wear the sling for three weeks, shorter than i had expected. he also carefully extended my arm and moved it a bit. it felt weird and sore, naturally. i winced at the slightest motion.

i am determined to move my right hand more so that my holding and writing muscles won't go idle.

it's still hard to sleep, because every now and then i'd feel sudden sparks of sharp pain on various parts of my upper right arm. the doctor has explained that it's the bruised ligaments and tissues healing themselves.

on a positive note, i've managed to utilize my left hand more, since i don't really have a choice. typing with it is manageable, but eating with a spoon is a little challenging, especially whenever rice is involved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

we are having a blizzard overnight. the forecast says we'll have around 12 inches of snow. maybe i'll make a one-armed snowman.

"gaelic" god

saw "the motorcycle diaries" and realized how handsome such a hottie gael garcia bernal is. que guapo! excuse the girly hormones talking.


dude, where's our bike?

i will admit that i know nothing about che guevara save for seeing his face with that notorious hat on lots of t-shirts and a vague awareness that his name is politically significant in south america.

now i know that che was an adventurous youth whose travels changed the way he looked at life and defined his destiny.

wish i had bought "y tu mama tambien" on DVD a long time ago while i was in manila. that way, i would have already known about gael even before "motorcycle diaries."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

and speaking of hot, it's really starting to get hot in new jersey. finally. temperatures reach the 80s. i was sweating today as i sat inside the car at the gas station waiting for that car to be inspected for road-worthiness, as required every two years. it's actually my first time to spend the summer months here in the states. the weird part about today though was that it started out as bright and sunny, and in the afternoon it got very windy and started raining--complete with thunder and lightning.

the other day at work, this lady was shopping for some clothes for her little boy to wear in the islands. she said she's taking him to the caribbean this summer. i asked her which part of the caribbean, and she said in trinidad, where she was originally from. my assistant manager had asked her what she's doing here in the states, which translates to "why leave such an exotic island in the caribbean for boring new jersey?" the trinidad woman replied that she likes the change of seasons here. in my mind i started singing, "winter spring summer or fall..."

hypothermic valentine's eve

and the jackass award of the day goes to ME!

during winter (and i'm fully aware it's STILL winter), it's important to keep warm both indoors and outdoors. it is coldest when it's about to snow or sleet. that's why winter clothing was invented, however fashionable you want to be, as long you wear enough layers of thick clothing, especially a good winter jacket. i pride myself for getting a new one on sale which is black, filled with nice, warm, insulating down feathers, and trimmed with faux fur on its hood. but today i chose not to wear it to church.

the jackass act consisted of wearing a mere cord jacket over a long-sleeved shirt. yes, today i chose to defy the fashion rules relative to the four seasons in this country, thinking i wouldn't get myself outside long enough save for a quick walk to the church and back to the car.

but oh, woe! we went to costco after mass to buy some grocery, and then my father disappeared into the vortex that lurks within the costco warehouse. so thinking he was already in the car, we pushed our cart of grocery only to find out he wasn't there. so i had to stay outside by the car, faithfully guarding our grocery, while my mother went back to look for him. ....for a good 20 minutes! i know i should've went back inside costco, but it was a long walk back there and it was just as cold by the door anyway.

when we got home, i was shivering. i hardly enjoyed my lunch because of my quivering fingers and chest. and then i incubated myself in my room afterwards--blanket, jammies, sweater and with my portable heater on. so this is what hypothermia feels like, i thought. and then i thought about dying from low body temperature because i chose to be a fashion rebel. what a way to die! and on valentine's eve too! how tragic! hahaha. how symbolic of my love life too! (bitter laughter here)

now i think this headache is part of the hypothermia aftershocks. so kids, don't ever try this at home! (or outdoors for that matter!)

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

at work, we got these generic valentine cards from the store management. it's one of those printed from a greeting card software with a simple-looking heart on the cover. it said, "you may think you're just another person..."

"but to us you're SPECIAL! happy valen-freaking-tine's day!" (italized part truly non-existent on the card)

it was signed by the store manager, the human resources manager, and the big O.M. (operations manager). *sigh* so this is all i'm getting from him. something that every other employee in the store is getting. i'll tuck it under my pillow tonight. muhahaha, just kidding!

culinary urges

i love snow. i just do. i can also get very sentimental about winter.

last saturday's blizzard bonanza, however, inspired me to cook up a storm in the kitchen amidst the raging snowstorm outside. i felt this was sparked by my late night viewings of "iron chef" on the food network. in just one night, i made two dishes using the same ingredient, shrimp.

since it was cold, i wanted to make something to ward off the chills...something with a nice warm broth or soupy detail in the menu. and when i think of shrimp, "sinigang" is the first to pop into mind. and so i made that. despite the lack of kangkong leaves, spinach or any other alternative sinigang greenery in our fridge, i went on to cook it anyway.

second shrimp dish: ginataang hipon (shrimp with coconut milk). i followed the instructions in the filipino recipe book carefully and it tasted great, with all humility. hehe.

(kitchen geek!!!)

pneumonic plague

it's the fourth day of my terrible chest congestion coupled with cough and cold--the kind that makes it hard for you to breathe while sleeping, and hard for you to concentrate during your waking hours because of the mucus precipitation (AKA runny nose). because of this i called out sick from work last thursday, and then forced myself to work on saturday, just when the store hours are stretched to midnight. luckily my lungs withstood the prolonged work period, but it was not without a box of tissue in close proximity to my cash register. i spoke with a very nasal voice and my nose was already red from frequent blowing. rudolph the red-nosed saleslady.

i was happily orienting a seasonal employee who's tsinay (filipino-chinese) but looked so young i couldn't believe she was already 39 and with two teenager kids...then mr. OM came by my station to assist my other co-worker on a malfunctioning cash register. we were talking at the same time, that i had to stop talking to the seasonal girl. OM noticed this and said, "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt you." i like it when he looks straight into my eyes when he says my name. haha. anyway, i also apologized and that was the end of that brief encounter. back to retail reality.

today it snowed, the wet kind of snow. my parents and i attended this annual filipino christmas party preceded by a filipino mass in a school gym. families were told to bring potluck food and their own beverage of choice. we brought pecan pie and my father's special home-made fried chicken wings and legs. there was catering too. the downside to this party was that they couldn't unlock the heater box for the gym, so it was so damn cold the whole time. i couldn't take off my pea coat because i was wearing a skintight top thinking the venue would be warm enough to take off one's coat--without risking pneumonia on top of my cold. even if my immune system has succumbed to the cold virus, my appetite sure didn't dampen come eating time. oh wait, before all this there was a short rondalla music performance by a group of U.P. alumni. but at that point i was too hungry and at the same time being lulled to drowsiness by the antihistamine tablet i took to truly appreciate them. i did manage to take short video clips of the highlights of the party with my digicam, one was the rondalla performance, and the other was at the end, when everybody was dancing to the sexbomb dancers' "ispageti" song and the viva hot babes' "bulaklak" without shame.

one of the parents dressed up as santa claus and was escorted by a flock of lady elves to give out gifts to the little kids. the idea behind this was to have all gifts purchased by the kids' parents themselves, but the gifts would say they're from SANTA. santa read the names on each gift and gave it to them personally, photo op included. the funny part was when this one kid said, "i think santa is MY DAD." well, he sure was right! hehe. santa's beard fell off his face at one point. no velcro to the rescue.