The phrase "as unpredictable as the weather" is so very true. Literally.


April definitely was a hot month, but weather analysts or meteorologists warned of an even warmer and more humid temperature this month. That the 42 degrees (the hottest this year) feverish heat recorded the previous week in Tuguegarao is far from being a record holder. Let's all sweat, wait and see if it gets hotter than that.


It’s almost a blissful experience taking a shower in the morning. Before, I am done after a 30-minute shower-rinse-shampoo-rinse-soap-rinse again-conditioner-10 minutes wait-then rinse bathroom marathon. Now, I can barely finish this ritual in an hour. Don’t you just love to get soaked perpetually under the showerhead? This extended showers resulted to me barely beating the 9:05 AM tardiness cut-off.


HR Dept. in the office is thankfully cooperating, not with latecomers but with the hot weather. I mean they were so strict before with the ‘corporate attire’ requirement – slacks, long sleeves shirt and tie. Now, wearing a slack and short-sleeved shirt won’t make you a candidate for an office memo. Good thing, because I can’t imagine myself almost covered from head to toe on a hot, summer day. Not that I religiously comply with this so-called dress code but the policy modification had given us some license to dress more comfortably.


Yesterday, I wore my most comfortable and summer friendly short-sleeved shirt, not even bothering to wear an undershirt or sando because of the heat. It was scorching most of the day as expected. But later the day, as I was about to go home, it rained.


It rained as in heavy rainfalls, with thunderstorms and lightning to boot. Good thing our office is very near to SM Megamall that I was not as rain-soaked as I can be had I left the office five minutes later. If I had, 'Complicated Dude in his dripping, rain-soaked, nipples-revealing, wet shirt' would have been the most embarrassing moment of my life.


It seemed like its gonna rain for hours, so I decided to have an unplanned purchase of umbrella in anticipation of the worst. Its not so surprising that I was a little disappointed when the rain suddenly stopped as I made my way outside the mall and to the FX terminal. So much for the umbrella, but then again, they say that an umbrella is always handy – rain or shine. I decided to always bring my unused umbrella with me starting today. Now knowing how unpredictable the weather is, I’m not taking my chances.