Dear mouse,

We got a stormy weather yesterday. Except for strong wind that made the leaves of the trees dance the jive and rain that hardly wet our terrace, there was not much signs of the bad weather in our place. So I was suprised when I saw in the news that some places are already flooded.(in one area, the reporter showed that water was five feet, cars were stranded and street signs were hardly visible, people were being evacuated). These were the low lying areas in Maryland and Virginia. Today, although coastal flood warning is cancelled in some areas, the flood warning due to overflow of river basin is still enforced.

But there was much “flooding” inside my home after Charice Pempengco sang. (see my previous post).

The phone rang while I was watching a cute 2 and a half little girl (one of the World’s Smartest in OPRAH) demonstrated her talent. By this time the “flood has subsided”. She was pointing the countries in a big map as Oprah said the name of the country. She would also clap and laugh when the audience burst into applause.There is this young boy who plays the piano by simply listening. He said that he can memorize a song after hearing it in two minutes. Sus, ako, maraming taon hindi ko pa mamemorize ang Bayan Ko. (translation: I can’t even memorize the song Ang Bayan ko).
Not all these kids were presented in the live audience however except for Charice, a boy dancer, the map whiz kid and … excuse me while I pick up the phone.

The mother of the boy and girl from hell. I thought she is going to tell me to watch OPRAH but I remember, she is in a different time zone.

Mother of B and G: I got the cards of B and G for the quarter. I can say that education here in the States is better than the Philippines. When I was in this age, I did not take up these “courses” in the subjects.

Me: Mmmmm (I know this is going to be a justification of not sending the children to the Philippines) She started reading to me the grades of the girl.

Mother of B and G: Math. Data Analysis and Probability 3; Patterns, Algebra and Finance, 3;
Geometry and Measurements; Civics and Government, World History 3, US history, 3; Economics, 3.

Me: Wait, wait, wait. ( Suddenly I CAN HEAR. ALLELUJAH. I interrupted her in reciting to me the subjects and the grades). Isn’t it your daughter is in Grade 1?

Mother of B and G: Yes. She did not go to nursery and prep.because I can not afford to send her to one.

Me: No I mean, these are her subjects in Grade 1? Data Analysis, Probability, Economics, whoaaa. And what do they teach and how do you assist in her assignments? (I do not mean to insult her but even I who taught Quantitative Analysis in the Graduate School, it took me several semesters in College and Graduate School to understand and love these terminologies).

Mother of B and G:I don’t know and I never assisted her in her assignments because all I saw were drawings. Like I saw her draw a circle, a triangle and a square.

Me: And did she use a slide rule or measure the sides of the triangle and the square to see if they are equal?

Mother of B and G: No, some drawings are already there and all they do is identify whether it is a square, a circle and other figures.

Me: Now I get it. That’s Data Analysis and Probabilty that the children can identify the drawings. hikhikhik. Some course titles that these educators use. What about Character Education?

Mother of B and G: CED, under CED, Caring, 4; Respect, 4; Fairness, 4; Responsibility, 4; Citizenship, 4.

Me: Wow, if I were the teacher, I could give her a medal of Most Behaved. But how come you can not discipline her while she behaves well in the class?
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Dear mouse,

There are only four dance pairs competing for the trophy. Tonight, the scores for the semi-finalists are as follow:

1. Kristi Yamaguch and Mark Ballas 57
2. Cristian dela Fuente and Cheryl Burke 56
3. Jason Taylor and Edytan Sliwinska 55
4. Marissa and Toni Dovolani 52

Cast your votes up to tomorrow noon.

The Ca t

Dear mouse,
The girl made me cry. Prssss. singhot. singhot. wait a second, i am going to get another box of kleenex.
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Dear mouse,

Our living room opens to a terrace. I don’t open the glass sliding door even during spring and summer especially if the A/C is on. When A/C is off, the door remains closed. The pollen gives me watery eyes, cough and stuffy nose. Yes, Virginia, that is one health issue that I acquired here in the US. In the Philippines, it is the dust that activates my ashtma.

Last Saturday, while I decided not to multitask and just watched a new detective series being rerun, I heard sounds. I’ve got bionic ears for sounds that can be heard only in certain levels according to my audiologist in my latest annual examination. I’ve complained that I’ve been hearing sounds which other people can’t hear like footsteps at 3:00 AM AND 3:00 PM and conversations which I could not make out where they’re coming from. Naah, it is not telling me to start a cult nor telling me that I can fly or have super powers. BWAHAHAHA.

Eniwey, I thought the noise that I heard that Saturday was coming from TV. So I muted the idiot box. I can still hear the irritating sound. It was coming from outside. The sound which is more of a noise was just too great that I could hear it even though the glass door was closed.
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Dear mouse,

Here in DC and Metropolitan Area, they call the railway transit , METRO while in San Francisco and the BAY AREA, it is popularly known as BART. Not Bart Simpson, silly. It is BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT.

With the surge in gas prices, it was reported in the newspapers that there was also a huge increase in number of passengers of the mass transit system.

Bayi, a friend in Malaysia sent this photo with the caption below.

In Japan, millions of people rely on the subway to get to work since the trains always run on time.

The number of people that ride them during rush hour is incredible, and the crowd is heaviest in the mornings.

To make things work, riders waste no time getting aboard, they fill the cars to capacity and even a little bit more. It’s the “little bit more” that could cause problems. If the doors can’t close, the train can’t leave on time.

To ensure the cars are full and the doors are closed, uniformed attendants cram the last few riders into the cars.
Think about an overstuffed suitcase you have to sit on to close and you’re just about ready to be a subway attendant.

It does not happen in SF where the train is also jampacked especially the one’s coming from the SF downtown during rush hour in the afternoon.

The most that the train will do is it will not close its door until someone who’s at the door which is causing it can no longer bear the “looks that could kill” by the other passengers steps out and wait for another train.
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