The Ocean of My Being

It's been exactly a week since part of the Philippines was hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda (International Name: Haiyan ). Here in Marawi City , we had strong winds and rain. And, along with these strong winds and rain came photos and videos of other parts of the country. We watched in horror as photo after photo and video after video made clear to us how strong a Storm Category 5 was and what a storm surge could do to places. Through the news coverage and social media, we watched Yolanda pummel a huge part of Eastern Visayas to the ground! The whole Philippines (or at least the parts that weren't as badly hit by the storm) and the whole world watched whole cities and towns crumble piece by piece in a matter of hours. It was like watching an apocalyptic movie! And, it was heartbreaking! Sadly though, in the midst of this misfortune, there are those who make the situation worse. People who continually make careless, offensive comments about the calamity. There's the self...

And, I'm back again! :-) My mom and I just got back from Manila . We were there for a week. As any trip to Manila I've ever had since I came home to MSU for good back in '06, I spent happy and precious time with friends. I made sure I got to meet with some of them. Thing is, except for a few, my closest friends are in Manila . So, it's always been a must that I get to meet with some of them every time I get a chance to. Voltext Gurls in Manila I got to meet with Papay , Ibtisam , and Leelah ( Hadja Khadeejah ). We set our date on Monday and we met at the Shangri-La Plaza and had a sumptuous meal at Maple , where the food was great! It was Papay 's birthday last Saturday, so our date was a belated celebration of her day as well as welcome home party for Leelah , who just arrived from Hajj a few days earlier. And also, I got to have my first taste of croughnuts as promised by Papay and Dean , though he didn't really make it to our group date! Oh...