Tuesday, September 29, 2009

In and Out of the Rain

It has been a rainy and dredging weekend. Our area here has never encountered flooding even during those super typhoons. I can still remember Milenyo when rooftops of some of our neighbors would fly in the air due to strong winds. The sound of the wind lashing on our window panes. But even though, it never flooded here although a creek is just nearby. Until Ondoy...

It has been raining on Friday night till Saturday. It was on Saturday afternoon, at about 2PM that when my grandmother look out at the streets that we have realized that there's flood. I went outside too to witness the scene that my grandmother was too surprised to see. When I looked down the street, I was shocked to see that right below the building people are standing knee-deep in flood waters. Cars has stopped from going on and just turned to re-route. Even big trucks are hesitant to go through the flood because even though it is only knee-deep right below the building, it is waist-deep out on the corner. The entire 7 to 8 streets of never flooding area has now been submerged to flood. The creek near our building has already overflowed. It has already been almost like a lake. A scene I will always remember.

It was this time that I cannot fail to notice that floating on flood waters are bags and bags of plastic, full of garbage, wood planks, and whatnots. Then, I understood. The never flooding area which I have been residing my entire life, was full of garbages. It is also the reason that I can think of why it has flooded here. The creek alone serves as trash can of the people residing near it and plastic bags of any colors that you can think of has decorated the creek's surface.

Now, I am not an expert, nor am I an environmentalist. But I know that these garbage, especially plastic bags are one of the main reasons why it flooded here for the first time. If only people would observe the proper way of disposal, it might not have happened here, or in any least, it may not be as bad as it had been. I am not being a hypocrite but I am proud to say that I have never spit on the street not even once. I have developed the habit of looking for trash cans to throw away candy wrappers, or if not one is in sight, I simply tuck it away on a tissue paper before putting it in my jean's pocket or bag and throwing it in a trash can later on. I believe through these simple ways of disposing your garbages properly, you can contribute to the environment's wellness. Imagine, out of thousands of people living in our area, if everybody has been disposing properly, how much plastic bags would have not ended up on creeks, and on the streets. It might not have took revenge and in turn found their way to the houses. That weekend, nobody might have gone through what they experienced. It might have been rainy but not lake-like streets.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

From Princesses to Murderers

I am a book lover. I prefer buying books and reading it while in bed, in coffee shops, instead of listening to it. What with audio books or podcasts everywhere. I love turning pages of read-worthy books. Kind of books that will certainly take your breath away, making you ache to know the next thing that will happen, those that will make you keep your hands clutch tightly on the book as events unfold.

I have been reading quite a lot of books since I was in Elementary. It ranges from Sweet Valleys to those book report types. But, as much as a book lover that I am, I never had a favorite author. Even though every time I fill up a friend's slum book, I always write Francine Pascal as my favorite author. Growing up, my love for book reading did not at all, ceased. But it has lessen. What with textbooks and textbooks that school teachers require us to read. I just do not have time for leisure reading anymore. It is when I am about to graduate in college that I started the habit of reading again. I have read a variety of books but I have discovered that chic-lit books are what I mostly opt for. It is because of the fact that my life is already stressful that I want something that could lift my spirits or make me laugh at the very least instead of cry a river thing. Well, sometimes though I read those tear-jerker books like Nicolas Sparks' A Walk to Remember. Anyway, in my search of beautifully crafted chic-lit books, I found Princess Diaries. Of course, with the help of cable channels showing Mia Thermopolis' transformation. I dived into the royal world of Mia. But, I did not however, finish all the published installment. I guess, I have grown away from it.

Last year, I have scanned my stacks of magazines and tried to search for books featured on these mags to add to my collection. I am aching to read again but I want those fun, light ones, so that it won't add to the heaviness of my emotional baggage. It was then that I came across "Size 14 Is Not Fat Either". At first, I did not realize the author. I mean, I just wrote down the title, the author, and then head to Nat'l Bookstore to purchase it. But then, the book was a little over my budget at that time so I did not buy is as planned. It was only last month that I saw it again, with much a lower price than the first time I saw it. So, naturally, I bought it. The 1st and the 2nd installment. I left the 3rd installment behind thinking that I will buy it after the first two installment. Well, honestly, to "test the waters". If I will like the story or not.

So now, I just finished the 2nd installment of Heather's Mysteries, she is the Mia in this series I am blabbering about. She is the heroine of Meg's crime novel. And now that I have finished reading the 2nd installment, I am really disappointed of myself that I did not buy the 3rd installment. It is really a magnificent novel. Meg Cabot do not only know royalty and grandeur. She also know murders, stories I mean, and executes it perfectly. I sooo love this Heather Wells' Mysteries series. Meg wrote the story not only thrillingly but also comically. Okay, you may not be convinced on the greatness of the outcome of this combination. But, it is real awesome. You should try reading this to see for yourself. I know you will be addicted to it. You will be actively thinking with Heather, trying to solve the puzzle yourself. But this kind of thinking you wouldn't mind doing. You would laugh on the hysteria of Heather's bouncy life. You would be frustrated on Heather's love life.

Meg Cabot is simply a chic-lit novelist alright. A princess of her own field as I can say.
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Critique-ally Speaking by Shiela Briol is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License.