You heard/watched it in the news. You even have your own story. I just want to share ours.

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Last Saturday, I was awaken by an SMS from my mom. She was asking me how far we are from the creek in our area. Apparently, she and my dad are tuned in to a local radio station announcing of a possible overflow of that creek.

I thought to myself, hmmm, it wasn’t raining so hard, although it had been non stop since Friday. So I replied saying that yes, the creek is just right in front of our house. Well, actually, it is behind the houses in front of ours.

I got up and realized that indeed it was raining hard. Rainwater had started to come out where it wasn’t supposed to. Geez. That got me worried.

During lunch only did we see the flood in our street! It was waist deep! People are literally swimming in the floods, which scared my daughter so much. The current was actually scary. EVERYTHING WAS SCARY. Neighbors trooped to the store in front, all wet and immersed up to their waist waiting for the waters to recede. Different things floated by. HUsband said he saw a mini refrigerator, several pairs of shoes and breeches streaming down our street.

We had to shut down the main power switch for safety. And later on, Meralco had cut off electricity for probably the same reasons.

Then I thought to myself, if the floods were this high in our area, what more damage it could be on lower areas like Marikina. True enough, when we check on TV the next day, Sunday, the floods in that area were two stories high! Nobody was spared! Even the rich ones who live on that area had to be rescued from their rooftops.

Nothing like this has happened in the last 42 years! It was really shocking. The good news is amidst the calamity, everyone else is ready to give a helping hand, share a dry blanket and donate. I just hope that this country stay strong.

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Donate home cooked or ready-to-eat foods, clothes, blankets, medicines and water. Drop-off points are:
- the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) center at the Batasan complex in Quezon City
- the DSWD National Capital Region (NCR) Office in Quiapo, Manila
- the DSWD National Resource Operations Center in Pasay City
- Ateneo, at the lobby of Manuel V. Pangilinan Leadership Center, the University Dormitory lobby, or the Cervini Hall lobby.

~

Those who want to help the Philippine Red Cross reach out to more victims can do so via their mobile phones. Facebook users posted on their status messages that people just have to key in RED AMOUNT and send to 2899 for Globe users or 4483 for Smart users. Amounts that can be donated are P25, P50, and P100.

My youngest brother gave my mom this MP3 player that you can hook to the car’s cigarette lighter. Unfortunately (and quite expectedly because it was cheap), it wasn’t working anymore after a month. So my mom intended to buy a better, likely more expensive replacement during our Hong Kong shopping.

I remember reading in one forum that one should be careful when buying electronics and car accessories along Nathan Road. Too bad I forgot about it. My mom ended up buying a USB port that can be hook to the car’s cigarette lighter with no MP3 player. She got swayed and confused. Tricky tricky tricky. Tsk tsk.

…when you’re staying in Tsim Sha Tsui, or commonly called TST. Why did I say TST? Because this is the most favored area of first timers.

First off, Nathan Road. This is one long stretch. You can find Mongkok, and Jordan along the way. Some adventurous ones walk from TST to Mongkok just strolling along Nathan Road. There are night markets in Mongkok and Jordan. But be forewarned. Most stuff you can find cheaper in Greenhills or Divisoria.

If you are looking for Giordano and Bossini, yes they are much cheaper in Hong Kong than in Manila. They are side by side in Peking Road. (Actually, you’d see these two shops more often than you’d expect)

For Lacoste, you can find it in Park Lane. In front of Park Lane is the Miramar shopping mall that has agnes b. (Do we have agnes b. here in Manila?) and Vivienne Westwood shops, both on ground floor, by the way.

Sorry but I can’t remember where we were when I saw Long Champ, but I suspect we were at Sogo (Salisbury area).

If you are looking for something affordable, check H&M. There’s one in front of the Harbour City, a little to the right across the big Gucci store.

And if you plan on going to Disneyland, you are likely to ride the MTR and go down the sunny bay station. Why not skip it first and go straight to next, which is the Tung Chung station where you’d find the Citygate outlet mall. Here, you’d find Mango, Nike, Adidas, Puma, Burberry, RL, Coach and Samsonite. I’m telling this because since it’s an outlet, most are marked down. My only observation: Mango items are priced pretty much the same during sales here in Manila, PLUS our items are much better.

What I forgot to check (and shop for) is makeups and anti wrinkle creams. Even bottles of perfume, I didn’t quite check if they are cheaper in Hong Kong or not.

I wish I could share where to buy toys and children’s wear. Most of the kids’ wear were winter clothes (even in H&M). Some shops still have summer line, but colors or cut of which weren’t cute enough.

Hope this helps

Can you relate to the rather odd love story of Jack Skellington and Sally on the Tim Burton Movie “Nightmare before Christmas”? Probably not, or you’d definitely give me the creeps.

I found the said movie amusing. In fact, I found Jack amusing, too amusing, I am close to collecting Jack Skellington glow-in-the-dark merchandise being sold at Disney souvenir shops. This October, I am hoping to have my pictures taken at Disney alongside Jack Skellington and Sally (individually, I guess), and with the Pumpkin Men. It would really be one cool Halloween!

Buy your Disney World Tickets too! Hurry! You wouldn’t want to miss the fun, right?

I remember someone telling me that she noticed something about Beyonce’s music videos. Apparently, most of the new ones, she has two back-up dancers. She said, it’s like Beyonce still can’t get over her Destiny’s Child days.

Anyway, I was watching TV while Mikee was playing right outside our room. Then she heard Beyonce singing “Sweet Dreams”. Without looking at the TV, she started singing “uh-oh… uh-oh… uh-oh!” She thought Beyonce’s new song is just the same with “Crazy in Love”

Enough said.

My sister asked me, uhm, well, more of accused me of editing my photos to make my skin look fairer. She was looking at a set of photos that I did not edit. I guess the lighting was good.

Yes, I do edit my photos. Why not? When one of the advantages of digital cameras is the freedom to edit your photos right after you download them?

But lately, I’ve chosen to limit modifications, especially for the skin color/tone. I just thought, the reason I want photos so much is to preserve memories, if I want my daughter (and future grandkids) to really know me (and Mikee, their mother), I’d better not deceive them

I’d rather have the photos tell our real story, zits and all.

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Notice how I did not mention the husband. I’d be lucky to have one decent picture of him busy with something. He sometimes pose for group photos, though. But he doesn’t like stolen shots, which I am very fond of.

I just received good news from my sister. She’s joining me and my mom in our Hong Kong trip on the 14th! Hihihi. I’ve been worrying lately how to entertain myself while my mom and aunt do their 50-plus-year-old-women stuff.

For one, I plan on checking another hotel for our October trip (with my in-laws). I need to check how big a standard room is, if there are walk in tubs and if there’s free wifi. ^-^

Well, we plan on going to Macau but I bet the ladies won’t be able to appreciate the place. Although my mom might decide to play in the casino. I sure hope so.

Oh, and I plan on meeting Caryl too! We agreed on probably having coffee, and do some photoshoots together.

Now that my sister is coming, I’d definitely have a night life in Hong Kong!