Woke up at 5:15am. Arggghhh! Hate taking the PAL flight to GenSan at 7am. It just screws up my body clock the whole day. Cols already went ahead yesterday. We're all going down to GenSan to celebrate her grandpa's 3rd year death anniversary. Technically, its really just been two years since he passed away, but they count the year of the death itself -- so that's 2006, 2007 and 2008 (or 3 years). And the 3rd year death anniversary is a big celebration for Chinese. It sorts of signal the end of the mourning period. And everyone can wear red again.
So anyway, the flight is about 2 hrs. But the Airbus was not full today so I think the the lighter plane was able to fly faster. I had the middle row all to myself. Actual flying time was only about 1.5 hrs. I watched my Sex and the City Movie download on our portable Sony DVD player. But because the first 15 mins or so of the plane's ascent (while the seatbelt fasten sign is on), you are not allowed to operate any electronic device, and also for the last 15 mins or so of the descent, I was really only able to watch about a little over an an hour's worth of the movie.
One thing I dislike about this portable player is it has no fast-forward on its control panel. You can only do fast-forward using the remote control unit. The remote control unit does not use standard AA or AAA batteries. Instead, it uses one of those round and flat battery typically used by watches. So we haven't gotten around to buying a battery for it and don't carry it around. So I guess I can only "resume" the movie when I get back to Manila and watch it on my regular Philips DVD 3455 Recorder/Player which I can fast-forward.
Since the plane arrived early, no one was around to fetch me at the airport. Waited for about 10 mins before Alvin arrived on the Starex. We headed over to Chester's house to rest and just pass the time. Time in the province is pretty slow. But I was able to resume my Doctor Who Season 3 marathon in the afternoon.
The big news today is Barack Obama winning the US presidency and making history as the first African-American to hold that position. It marked the end of 2 terms for the Repulicans under George W. Bush. Most people seem to think that John McCain was simply just too told to hold the position at 74 years old. While his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, charged up the troops, she was also belittled for her lack of experience in national and foreign policies. Some view Obama's win as good for the Philippines since he can sympathize better with other races being of mixed blood himself; others think that he will not be as supportive in fighting Abu Sayyaf and MILF insurgents in the south unlike the Republicans whose "no borders" mantra under Bush fully supported all forms of war against terrorism.
In other news, one of my favorite author, Michael Crichton, passed away. He became a household name with Jurassic Park and the tv series ER. I have several of his novels. I even have the last two, "State of Fear" and "Next", in hardcover. Its sad to see him go.
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