Right now, I am:

1. Writing on my blog and alternately reading Alice Munro's short story in The New Yorker website.
2. Listening to U2's "The Fly" on my ipod.

3. Regretting not having waken up on time to catch the early morning practice of John's World's Pep Squad. On Monday, I'm really gonna get it from our trainer. Oh, boy.
4. Trying to think of the best excuse to give on Monday when I get interrogated for having missed practice.
5. Wondering if I should have another cup of coffee.
6. Looking at a square patch of blue (called "the sky") from the window beside where I'm typing this entry.
7. Listening to The Philippine Madrigal Singers on my ipod. They're singing "Light of a Million Mornings."
8. Relieved that a spectacularly harrowing week at work is over.
9. Wondering what to type next.
10. Happy.

The Eternal Scapegoat

A guy gets dumped by his girlfriend and someone says "that's Karma." The man from next-door gets killed in a car crash and the neighbors say "it's Karma." China gets hit by a high-intensity earthquake and someone (like, um, Sharon Stone) says it was brought on by Karma.

I mean, come on.

If this Karma were a person, he'd be the most battered, most abused fall guy by now, and he'd have gone ahead and hung himself to death (a long, long time ago). So let's just give him a break.

Him, her, it, whatever.

It's easy to find someone--or something--to put the blame on when something unpleasant (from poverty to natural calamities to tragedy) rears its ugly head. Let's face it, shit happens and will continue to happen. The fact remains that there are and will always be things beyond our control that it would be futile to look for someone/something to point a finger on.

In the first place, do we even have to?

Bottom-line is: Nature will always be one force impossible to contend with and people will always make mistakes. We make "bad" decisions, give in to our "human" weaknesses, choose the "wrong" paths. And when the consequences of our actions come barging in for all the world to see, the world would say that it's Karma and that we deserve it, which is an outright misconception. But one that would be difficult to counter because we, being human, could be judgmental to a fault.

Until the world gets to understand the complexity of the human brain, until our scientists discover a way to halt the next earthquake or storm, until we all develop the power to see what will happen tomorrow, until we evolve into perfect beings, if perfect means faultless--it would be so much easier to point at something that would make sense to things that don't seem to make sense.

Hence, the ubiquitous line: "it's Karma."

The trouble with meeting so many people

(This little ditty is for my friends from Mortgage and Auto-Finance with whom I shared 24 fun hours in the Tagaytay Strat Plan)


There is no name that will suit this kinship

because truth is,
later at 7 a.m.
we all will have lost the nerve to:

sing like long-time pals
(who got drunk)
or laugh at our clumsy ping-pong
or outdo each other at poker
or laugh over small talk

or remember each others' names.

*This is so stupid! Anyway, what I really wanted to say is that I had a great time. c")
Looking forward to next year's!

"We like to think of our beliefs, and disbeliefs, as founded on reason and close, thoughtful observation. Only in theory do we begin to suspect the power of aesthetics to shape our lives."

-Tobias Wolff, "Winter Light"-