ala Ladder 49

last sunday (jan. 20th) was just like my usual weekend. bumming at home, watching dvd. at about 5 in the afternoon, when i was about to take a shower, i smelled something like a candle burning. so i went to the kitchen and asked alex (he was cooking our dinner) if he lighted a candle or something. he said no. i went to check the heater in our living room to see if it tripped or if something there was burning, but none. so i shrugged it off and went to take a shower. within minutes after getting inside the bathroom, alex was knocking asking me to go out of the bathroom first as there is something burning in the building!! damn! i was taking a dump and now i have to hurriedly get dressed to get out of the building alive! so i quickly finished up, grabbed my jeans, put on a pair of socks (have to because it's freezing outside) while nervously thinking of what to bring with me. should i bring the laptop? no, that's company issued so no prob. should i bring my sounddock? no, that is not important. i just grabbed my ipod (hahaha), wallet, apartment key and the key card for the building entrance (what?! ninerbyos ako eh!). half-way through, the chinese security guards are already banging on our unit's door while shouting something in chinese. i quickly grabbed my jacket then went out the door with alex. the hall was already full of smoke as we went down the stairs (our unit is at the 7th floor). my knees were shaking as we continue down, this is the first time that something like this happened to me. as we were on the 3rd floor, alex stopped and asked if we could check where the smoke was coming from because the rest of the building was clear and quiet starting from the 5th floor. as we were about to go back up, we saw one of the chinese guards signalling that it's already safe to go back. we were on the 6th floor when we noticed that the tenant there had a can with burning paper on it. aparently that was where all the smoke came from. the chinese believe that when somebody dies, they should burn "hell notes" (fake money) as an offering to their ancestors or loved ones who passed away.

that whole scenario was really nerve-wracking and hilarious! hilarious because i could just imagine how we looked while hurrying down the stairwell, we were wearing the red winter jacket that was given by our company. we looked like firemen who were running away from the fire! hahahha

after that scary insident, i realized that material things are not that important...evrything can just disappear in a flash. so, i've decided to get a nikon d40x dslr so i can take pictures of the things that i want and be able to blog it (memories, memories). hahahah