Before 8pm last night, I heard several firetruck sirens while working from home. At first, I thought the main road was just congested so they opted to pass by our street. Then husband (who was working from home as well) told me there’s a really BIG fire near our house. Only then that the sirens registered to my mind. So, the explosion I heard earlier was from the fire. I thought they were just fireworks from a nearby wedding reception venue.

We went down and out the streets. We can see the fire and smoke from our place. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that more than a dozen firetrucks had passed our street. (According to the news, there were about 50 firetrucks who came because each truck ran out of water, not enough to extinguish the big fire.)

Expectedly, the main road eventually got congested from all the firetrucks, ambulances and news crews. Adding more to this, one SUV broke down in the middle of the street blocking other vehicles (which I suspect are homeowners going home from work only to find that their compound was on fire). Good thing roadside assistance was there to help the SUV, making the road passable again. There was a bit of panic in our street, not from us living in the “safe” street but from people walking/passing by on their way home.

Honestly, it made me really nervous seeing the fire so near. But I said to myself, I’ll only start to panic if the people in the far end of the street do. But my BIG fear was the fire might make its way to the gas station. Thank God it didn’t, and nobody died from the fire. Sadly though, 1000 families lost their home.

The first automated election in the Philippines happened last Monday. I watched the coverage switching back and forth between the two major local channels. Gone are the days that lives are in danger in protecting metal boxes (of ballots) before they arrive one of those metal buildings for the audit.

What interests me is the big turnout of voters this time. All the campaign to vote, including those “my vote rocks” or “cool to vote” ads worked so much wonder that all the first-time voters were so proud and felt kind of cool to have voted. Then it got me to thinking, were we also “psyched” into voting the new president? Did we rely so much on his “possibilities”? Hmmm, well, he got 6 years to prove he’s worth each vote.

While browsing, I saw some testosterone booster reviews which reminded me so much of Manny Pacquiao who is being suspected of using such by the camp of Mayweather Jr. While others are saying that the camp of Pacquiao had been doing “negotiations” before any testing done, I honestly think this is just their delaying tactics, that they just want Mayweather to have more time for training.

Well, that’s just me.,

Have you seen it? You probably have. But I’m posting anyway, obviously from Perez Hilton.

Yes, drool… and get impatient.

I must admit I didn’t read the books. I saw the first movie and I can’t wait to watch the next. You watch and you just can’t help but fall madly in love again.

I don’t get to watch the news at night, but I’ve been seeing/reading comments about Chip Tsai. Everyone I know is so mad about it. I didn’t want to get stressed so I have refused to read the article. But then an officemate shared the article. And yes, I was mad, and also was hurt. Not only for my fellow Filipinos but also for his “domestic assistant” who probably takes all the cr*p just to send money to her poor family at her home country.

On my way to the office, I heard that he said he was sorry. That’s it? Sorry? Will it be easy for us to forgive someone who wrote this?

The War at Home
By Chip Tsao

The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen onboard. We can live with that-—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem-—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on-—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: There are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as US$3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell everyone of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her Government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

Oh yes. The Government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout ‘China, Madam/Sir’ loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly”. They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being.

Sad, isn’t it?

There’s another upcoming earth hour on March 28, 8:30-9:30 pm local time. That’s 8:30-9:30 AM EST. I think it’s cool that everybody participates in conserving energy. I remember our entire street supporting the earth hour drive last time. I hope there will be more participants this time. And I’m glad to know that the company I’m working with will be participating too.

Read more about it here, while I continue my research on the most affordable means of rv camping. Hope you’ll participate too. Let’s turn the lights OFF for Earth Hour!