signal no. 1

"you have turned my whole life around
thank you, thank you."

i had an amazing day today. i learned a lot of good stuff in just a span of a few hours. it's been awhile since i last had that kind of overwhelmingly pleasant and bountiful learning experience and i am very, very thankful. i'm talking about stuff that have to do with human relationships, basic life principles, and financial prosperity.

then, too, today is also amazing because of my first hand experience of this supposedly signal no.1 typhoon in metro manila and nearby areas -- a typhoon named ondoy (international code: ketsana) -- which, despite not being a super typhoon, poured so much water and caused massive flooding.

road travel from alabang to where i live in batangas would normally take 45 minutes to an hour via the south luzon expressway (SLEX). today, however, it took us 6 hours to reach batangas. some parts of SLEX had waist-deep floodwater and deemed not safe anymore. we had to resort to the roads less traveled -- most of which were slightly flooded, too. navigating those water-filled roads on a van was akin to a combined jungle log jam and rio grande rapids experience.

because of our unusual travel route, i personally saw for myself some of the swollen and raging rivers and flooded parts of the laguna and batangas (laguna border) areas. they're disturbing sights.

based on radio reports, with ondoy, metro manila experienced flooding it has not experienced in a long while -- 20 years? in some areas, people had to climb all the way to their roofs just to get away from the rising, raging floodwaters which make rescue plans and attempts very daunting.

my newswriter friends will have to pardon me for saying this but, this time, the news bureaus' articles that i've read so far regarding typhoon ondoy are not telling it like it really is. the online pictures/videos, the minute-after-minute, area-after-area radio feeds, and my friends' updates are.

earlier today, as floodwater crept and rose, even the mass media people and rescuers couldn't get to those affected places -- too much water, too much rain, wind too strong/visibility too bad to fly helicopters. the available videos, photos and news bits are from people who are already in the affected areas.