Trick-or-Treat!

As the crowd of trick-or-treaters peaked late in the afternoon (pre-Halloween Party), I was just a passive participant in the colorful party that zoomed by every building in the community where I live. While the lobby and hall's of every building were trimmed in what I would call gothic cheer, I gave in to the demands of the season by simply getting several plastics full of treats and giving them away.

I sat by the door and give them all away, to little kids and tweeners, mommies and daddies too, who were dressed either as witches, superheroes, monsters or some famous candy bar. That was enough then. But then, like yawning, the whole activity became contagious and pretty soon I was like sprucing up our own Halloween décor, a little bit more with each passing year. I remembered the hideous masks my younger brothers had as little boys, the same ones they, used to frighten and torment the help and relatives alike. At a certain point, you just plain outgrow it, the way you would outgrow thumb-sucking or drinking milk from a feeding bottle.

Last week I actually asked someone where I could get gourds — to display around — but me-who-loves-to-do-the-grocering (I would go every other day if I had the time and come home after each visit with just as much stuff as the first day!) found and bought the next best thing which I found in SM Bicutan — a big pumpkin! I followed the instructions how to cut the head at an angle so I can put it back on snugly like a lid and scooped out enough flesh and all of the pumpkin seeds inside to create a neat space.. well, it was not that neat though.

Who knows what will I add next year?

District 9 with Ondoy

The world can get crazy. The speed of events can run me to the ground. That’s how I sometimes feel at the end of the day. To make matters worse, there are times when the preoccupations of the last few hours stick in my mind and engage me almost ceaselessly long after they have transpired. Even in the privacy and solitude of my room, I am still in the thick of things. My mind won’t let go.

On the noon-time of Saturday, as floodwaters began to rise on the street, I started braving the knee to waist-high current to make it on my call time at work. Edsa Highway was in chaos with vehicles caught in heavy traffic as the water rose steadily and swiftly through the afternoon. It was like seeing “District 9″ (a movie we where forced to watch just so we have something to do in lieu of the cancelled Sagada trip due to a typhoon just weeks ago! *bitter mode*) coming into reality meaning mud and squalor. Despite the inconvenience and “what-might-have-beens, I’m still alive and made it on my duty (and my family I left home is safe and sound).

As I write this, radio and TV reports are filled with accounts of the flooding in different parts of the metropolis, Rizal Province and Central Luzon, with dramatic footage of rescues, frantic evacuations, and long nights spent cold, wet, hungry and desperately wondering how soon relief would come.

The very fact that the speed of our lives is faster than ever must all the more remind us to step on the brakes periodically in order to remain safe and sane. Tales of heroism and courage, tragedy and loss, and just plain survival will be told and re-told in the days to come. We have been tested by water and beseted by mud. But we have learned the really important lessons in life.