02.16.09
Back in Los Angeles
Well, I’m back in chilly and wet Los Angeles. Yes, I realize that many other parts of the country are wetter and colder, but after being in the warm Philippines for a month, this feels rather cold, brrrrr. I’ve been told that we’ve been getting quite a bit of rain here in Los Angeles, which is a bit unusual for us. But interestingly, we also got a bit of rain in the Philippines, which is also unusual for them there at this time of year. While it did rain quite a bit there for the season, it was still nice and warm. No need to bundle up there (just wait in between the down pours to get to the next destination). Not sure what is causing the climate changes in both parts of the world, but what I know for here is that California is being placed on water rations. Or it’s being proposed. . . We are told that we need to cut down on our water consumption 15 or 20% from last year otherwise we will have stiff penalties. I still need to get the details on that one, but with that news I’m glad that we are getting lots of rain for now. No need to water the lawn, which with the new requirements we are only allowed to water our lawns on Mondays and Thursdays. Hmmm. So if we were being conservative last year, then it seems we are penalized more than those who were not conserving water last year since everyone is required to reduce their water consumption from last year. Ah, such is life. . . Perhaps all this rain will help to lift us out of this drought? Wishful thinking? Probably, but I’m trying to think on the bright side of it.
I’ve still got a few things to tie up here (you know laundry, groceries, and mail sort of thing), so will try to do a proper blog post later and share some of our experiences from the Pines this year. Amidst all these airplane mishaps on the news, I’m happy to say that we arrived safe and sound. Although I will say that this flight home was the most turbulent-filled flight I’ve ever had! The flight was about 12 hours non-stop from Manila to Los Angeles. We had literally “hours” of turbulence on the flight home, which for a time actually felt like we were riding on a bumpy dirt road somewhere in the country, ha! I kid you not. And it went like that for hours. Upon landing, we were all told to stay put as a medical team was boarding for some reason. Not sure if all that turbulence got someone in need of medical attention, but I wouldn’t be surprised since there was a good number of people in wheel chairs on that flight. Perhaps it was because it was such a large plane, but then again I don’t remember seeing that many wheelchairs for one flight before on similar sized planes. Nevertheless, I hope that person is okay now.
Okay, back to getting things back in order here in the Marlakins household. Also want to get back to what’s been going on here in the news. I got a little bit of news while in the Pines, which interestingly seemed to have quite a bit of news regarding the U.S. I did ask around as to what the consensus was regarding Obama, and it appears pretty clear that overall the Filipinos favored Obama and are glad that he was elected President of the U.S. They do seem cautious now, tho, and feel that now we “wait” to see what he will do. I did take a couple pics of some of the news there, so will see if I can post those later.
Toodles for now! Stay warm and wet! Oh, while checking my emails, I got a list from Patti regarding “Profound statements.” Heheheh. Some were quite humorous, but so far I think my favorite was #8 which read:
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor
people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
– Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
Ha! Now isn’t that the truth!
Marlakins
