Another typhoon: panic time
11/29/2006 by Connie Veneracion · Filed under The Mommy Journals
Typhoon Reming is expected to hit Metro Manila and surrounding areas tomorrow and classes in all levels have been suspended. My kids greeted the news with glee. Their computers and YMs were turned on within a minute of finding out that they can stay up late tonight. And Friday having been declared a holiday a few days ago, we have a long weekend ahead of us.
The question is what kind of a weekend is it going to be? Will we have electricity? Will we have water? Will the telephone line and DSL die on us? Memories of typhoon Milenyo are still too fresh — waterless days, the added expense of staying in a hotel after the disaster in Antipolo.
One cheering thought is that I have three new paperbacks from the last trip to the bookstore. Apart from that, I dread the next few days. I told the househelp to replenish the stored water and to check supplies — mosquito coils, candles, matches. I checked the kitchen cabinets and I have to go out in a while — no canned goods. Well, of course, that’s to be expected since we hardly buy canned goods, just the occasional can of corn kernels and stewed tomatoes. We won’t survive on that if power goes out for days again like the last time. It’s a good thing though that the freezer is almost empty. No need to worry about spoiled meat and fish.
I think I’ll finally buy a new Scrabble set. Long overdue. The old set has too many missing tiles. Yeah, what better time to get a new Scrabble set. It should be useful if power goes out again.
Are you prepared for typhoon Reming?
Update @ 7.34 p.m.
While I was writing the above entry, I asked my kids to draw up their own lists of supplies they will need in case power goes out in the wake of typhoon Reming. So, they drew up their lists.
Sam’s list :
Milo cereals
NEW cellphone
1000 load
ball pensss (yes, with so many s’s for emphasis)
madami pang tali sa buhok na sobrang KULAY
ICE CREAM
CANDIES
Alex’s list :
Milk
Koko crunch
Yakisoba
pancit canton
nissin thingy
Sony Ericsson ko!!! (you have to read this to know what she means)
cake
tuna
bread
corned beef
DVD - thunderbirds
chichirya plsss…
comics
colored pencils na maganda
a new mechanical pencil
Those are emergency supplies? 
noemi on Wed, 29th Nov 2006 8:44 pm
I don’t have a problem with grocery because Butch stocks up all the time. Sobra pa nga eh. The batteries for the radio are ready. The scrabble set is a great idea. I hope to buy soon. I am on my way to pick the 2 girls in their dorm. They are just glad to be back and eat home cooked food. hehe.
Connie on Wed, 29th Nov 2006 10:57 pm
Oh right better now than tomorrow when the typhoon might make driving dangerous. My typhoon horror stories have begun. Shopwise credit card system was down. We had cartful of groceries but we went home with two loaves of bread.
Tess on Wed, 29th Nov 2006 11:56 pm
I hope it wouldn’t be anything like what happened during Milenyo.
No problem with groceries because my parents likes stocking up with canned goods. And I do hope broadband wouldn’t be down too. I have to laugh, though, at your daughters’ lists of emergency supplies. Ice cream?! Hehe. Definitely. 
Connie on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 12:04 am
lupit, ano? taking precautions against a blackout and she wants ice cream. may tali pa sa buhok. yung bunso may DVD pa.
karen on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 4:46 am
miss sassy, your daughters are funny –in a cute way. my favourites on their list:
“madami pang tali sa buhok na sobrang KULAY
NEW cellphone
colored pencils na maganda”
poppycock on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 5:19 am
connie, your kids are so cute. may mga order pang cellphone, ha ha
yes, scrabble is a great idea. but do you ever play ‘boggle’? it’s a great word game, even more fun than scrabble, i think.
anyway, i really hope there’ll be no more billboard disasters this time, considering they were never really gone after milenyo. keep safe.
rina on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 8:57 am
and i haven’t even replaced the umbrella that was destroyed by milenyo. if they can afford to think of stuff like “tali sa buhok” and “colored pencils na maganda,” i dare say your kids are much better prepared to face the typhoon than most people
Mike Landfair on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 9:10 am
Connie, I will be checking back from time to time to get the latest from you about the storm. Stay safe and keep us informed.
Connie on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 1:33 pm
karen, it was a surprise that Sam had such a short list. normally, she makes kilometric lists.
poppycock, is that the one that you shake and the cubed letters fall into slots? we had that. i remember bringing it when we moved here to antipolo. hmmm… wonder where it is now. this really means we have to do some general claening soon LOL to make some space for the Christmas tree too. you keep safe, too. you\’re nearer billboard country than we are.
rina, i think kids bounce back faster than most adults do. at least in that sense. in the first place, we tried to make it as easy and confortable for them during milenyo. whereas, it was as adults who were problematic over water, floods, etc.
Thanks, Mike, it\’s cloudy right now but no rains nor winds yet.
Tess on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 8:04 pm
One thing I don’t like about the coming typhoon Reming is that I can’t go to the gym
Connie on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 8:37 pm
You’re in Bulacan, right, Tess? Is it raining there now? It isn’t raining here although the winds have gotten stronger just before nightfall. I hear the typhoon veered and the area expected to get lashed in Quezon province.
Tess on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 9:35 pm
Not so much rain yet but there’s a bit of strong wind already. Hmmm…sana hindi masyado malakas ang ulan so I could still go to the gym tomorrow without worrying that I might get stranded
Connie on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 11:29 pm
PAG-ASA says don’t go out of the house tomorrow hehehe
Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Philippines: Another Typhoon Heading Towards Manila on Fri, 1st Dec 2006 11:55 am
[...] Connie Veneracion is preparing for typhoon Reming that is expected to hit Manila tomorrow. Her children draw up an interesting list of emergency supplies that they might need. Preetam Rai [...]