Roy Tang

Note: This was written 2020-11-01, as yet another “supertyphoon” is battering the country. I realized I didn’t have notes on what happened to me during Ondoy, one of the worst typhoons to hit Metro Manila during my lifetime. So this entry is backdated to the day after Ondoy, but is written from the perspective and imperfect recollection of 2020 me.

It was a Saturday. Back then we still had half-day Saturday work, and the storm had yet to hit, so I was at the office in the morning. On Saturdays, I usually came in really early (like 7-ish), so I could leave by 10, especially if there was a Magic tournament to be attended. And there was!

After work, I went to a nearby Magic store to play in the Zendikar prerelease. The store was along Shaw Boulevard, it’s gone now in 2020. I believe the prerelease started after lunch, and by that time, the skies were already dark and the wind was picking up and light rains had started. By late afternoon, the rains were pouring hard. There were probably 24ish of us there in the small shop (typical prerelease pod size, plus some staff). I went 1-3 at the prerelease.

So I spent most of the day indoors playing Magic. By dinner time, I considered trying to go somewhere to eat, but when I went downstairs to survey the situation things were bleak. The winds and rains were very strong. I had an umbrella but waters were ankle-to-knee high outside the building, so going anywhere seemed unlikely. There was a Shakey’s and a ministop at the bottom of the building, I think I had dinner at the Shakey’s and got some snacks at the ministop.

It was only around 8-9pm when the rains and winds settled down a bit and people started considering braving the weather to get home. I was a commuter then (still am), and getting a taxi at Shaw seemed impossible, so I wasn’t sure what to do. Luckily, one of the other players was driving to Katipunan, so I hitched a ride with him. He dropped me off at a gas station near what would in the future be the UP Town Center. I called home to let them know where I was, and then went about trying to find a taxi to get me the rest of the way. It took me around 30ish minutes to get one, I think, which was not unreasonable for that hour and that weather.

I finally got home a bit past 10pm.

In hindsight, I was really fortunate, compared to other people. I wasn’t affected too much and I was indoors for most of the day. In even more hindsight, it might have been foolish to still go to the prerelease at that time!