Let me shout, too.

In the same way that I put off writing about typhoon Ondoy (I eventually did, I couldn't help it), I have also tried to put aside saying anything about the Maguindanao massacre. And this, for reasons difficult to put a finger on; though I will definitely make an attempt to make sense of it in this post.

I did try, you see. Tried to be my usual, clammed-up, indifferent self--a side of me which only the people closest to me understand, or tolerate--who would much rather stay in one corner and watch while everybody else scrambles for something. It's a sorry state to be in, most people would say. But it does have its advantages, which might seem selfish, but to those who understand the human psyche and its workings, and how the clamming up is a result of some trauma or another, it would make sense.

But, moving on, I could only stay quiet for so long. Not that it matters if I could, in any way, influence those reading this blog--which is not to say that I fancy this blog to have a host of readers because I am fully aware that it doesn't; but if I could provide some faint glimmer of rhetoric to you, dear reader reading this now, then I would be content. And as for the self that is trying to make sense of this whole thing, let it be spelled out that this is for you, so that you could gather whatever pieces of it you may and, in the process, perhaps emerge the least bit enlightened, for whatever it may be worth.

I realize that this may be the only time that I get to vent about it, so now is definitely not the time to hold back. Excuse the lack of understatement. It is not called for, at this time, nor will it be until the perpetrators pay—and pay what they owe—for the deed they have done.

So, the massacre. Massacre. The word itself is chilling, and for it to be actualized is nothing short of horrifying. Horror should be reserved for the movies, not real life. That this atrocity even happened is stupefying.

What evil, allegorical worm could be bad enough as to plant itself in someone’s mind, which must be narrow enough, small enough for the worm to be incubated and for it to grow to a size unwarranted by such a brain, so that it would, at some point in time, break loose into an act so violent, so full of hate, so blood-curdling?

I did feel my blood acerbate the first time I saw it in the news. How dare these people think that they could kill and violate and tamper with life and get away with it, too? It’s the proverbial glutton wanting to have his cake and eat it. Or, the severely misguided charlatan who was given a hand and now wants to take the whole arm.

It is an assault to the Filipino, this barbarity; a crime against humanity and its animus.

I am fuming as I type this. One can only shake one’s head and wait for what happens next. And the Filipino—even this Filipino--will wait. Woe to him who underestimates our capacity to think, and feel.

At the end of the day, though, is the question of what will happen next: so we have expressed outrage at what happened; so we have talked about it, discussed the details in detail, shaken our heads at the unreality of it all; so some of us, especially those in positions of power, have vowed--in front of millions, in front of the press, making our words seep through the television screens and the airwaves--to follow this affront through and ensure that justice sees daylight.

The question, then, is: where does this all end?

Here is a prayer that the archives get to record the event to its last; and may it be written in the last page:

RESOLUTION: JUSTICE.

Mercury Retrogrades... Again

It being a stormy day and all, life in the office was all sunshine-y today. In some random way, things seemed to be falling into place--I, the people around me, the things around me. Some sort of realignment was taking place and I was happy to find myself in harmony with the rest of the planets--er, world, I mean.

And then I came across this site, from which I read that today, May 7th, Mercury retrogrades for the second time this year. I knew, of course, that this meant heavy rains of the usual system breakdowns falling on us all for the rest of the month (Mercury "turns direct" May 30th) but was puzzled by this particular part of the write-up, which made me look back at, and reassess, how my day really went:

"When Mercury retrogrades, we find that many parts of our life are being revised. Often these revisions can be a surprise or throw us back a step. However, these revisions which occur during a Mercury retrograde, are a "course correction" and provide a stop gap measure until we can review situations. During this time of revision, change is compounded and confusion is created by our reactions to the ever-changing situations. Thus anything started during this time will ultimately be taken back or even revised further, making for a high-frustration time. This will be especially true with changing our minds, reviewing new ideas and our communication being improved and honed so not to be misunderstood.

The best mode to be in during a Mercury retrograde is one of "non-reaction", and with air signs being impacted, things will be changing continually during a Mercury retrograde. Treat the time period as a time of gathering information, yet because the information will be in constant change it would be like trying to comb your hair in a wind storm. Best to wait until the changes stop before attempting to make things orderly. Therefore, just let the winds of situations blow around you without reacting. Once Mercury turns direct, take a look at the information that is still around at that time and go about putting everything in order, while maintaining the fine art of flexibility."

Call me superstitious. Because I am.
=)

Could it be Mercury Retrograde?

PCs in the office have been going bonkers, with people complaining about system issues coming up more frequently than before. I'd usually shrug it off and say "must be Mercury Retrograde. Restart and if it doesn't work, call IT and use a different PC in the meantime."

And they'd usually go, like, "Mercury what?"

As per Dictionary.com, the word "retrograde," in astrology, means: a. moving in an orbit in the direction opposite to that of the earth in its revolution around the sun; or b. appearing to move on the celestial sphere in the direction opposite to the natural order of the signs of the zodiac, or from east to west.

According to astrologyweekly.com, Mercury goes retrograde 3 times a year, with each event lasting for 3 weeks; one such event is happening now, from from January 11, 2009 to February 1, 2009. The site further has this to say about the phenomenon:

"Mercury rules over the mind's processes, studying, communication, businesses, travels and the like. When Mercury reverses its direction, all these areas are affected as well.

The mind turns naturally inwards and people tend to analyze more the own thoughts and follow the common thinking patterns, rather then be curious and eager of new intellectual experiences or challenges. This helps the meditation or the thorough lonely long-term study of a specific matter, but it affects the study of new subjects, the communication with the others, the attention oriented outwards.

Businesses, travels and communications tend to experience delays and different problems. Computers and other processes that work with information may experience crashes, unexpected failures.

Don't enroll to courses, don't buy expensive Mercurian items (books, cars, mobile phones etc.), don't sign important contracts and do not marry."

Cool.

Except that things have been happening lately that made me think twice about this "phenomenon" (is it the real thing?). Aside from the unusually slow PCs in the work place, a friend's PS2 recently conked out on him. My Dad mentioned that their PC at home isn't working. Plus, it's been especially difficult to turn my mind toward positive thinking (not that this is new, though, but the level of difficulty has noticeably gone up, and I am not pleased).

Be warned, then. Should either your phone or your significant other start going berserk, don't be surprised.

It's Mercury Retrograde.

Check out: NACION

OBAMA IS PRESIDENT.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Let's help spread the word. We just might save a life.
graphic from pinkforoctober.org.

postscript on an altogether different topic: I edited the post below. I felt that it needed a little touch-up. Thanks to my editor for pointing out the slips.

Enjoy!

Another bank follows suit

And it happens again.

Washington Mutual finds itself taken over by JP Morgan Chase in what seems to be an endless series of gigantic banking losses.

Click here to learn more.

(Reuters photo)

Suddenly Homesick

My dad called me earlier to remind me that it was fiesta at home. I was shocked to realize that I had completely forgotten all about it.

I must have been that busy with work and that caught up with my issues.

Oh, but I want so badly to go home.

When I said "fiesta at home," I meant the Peñafrancia festival of Bicolandia.

From THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENT TRAVEL CONFEDERATION:
Peñafrancia Fiesta
A triumphant, water-borne procession carrying a statue of the Virgin is the highlight of Naga City's biggest annual celebration, the Peñafrancia Fiesta. An image of the Blessed Virgin of Peñafrancia travels back to her Basilica on the Bicol River from the Metropolitan Cathedral. The procession is a phenomenal spectacle - the statue bobbing on the decorated boat is surrounded by her devotees and cheered by hundreds of locals. The week preceding the celebration features parades, a sports festival, exhibitions, a regatta and a beauty pageant.


For pictures, click here and here.
For the festival's history, click here.
To find out just how famous this festival is, click here.

It's been ages since I was home for the festivities and I must say that I miss it sorely. Talking to my dad this morning made me feel homesick all of a sudden, wishing badly that I could be back in Naga if only for a few days, re-living my childhood and High School days, when my most serious predicament would be the anxiety that every Math exam brings.

But, hey, I'm digressing. There are no exams during Peñafrancia.

What I will be missing are: the processions and the parades, the food, the food, the food (Daddy said my brother was grilling pork ribs as we were talking), the joyous frenzy shared by the Bicolanos, the expressions of devotion to the Virgin of Peñafrancia, the fairs.

Most of all, I shall miss the sense of belonging and the comforts of home, because every Peñafrancia festival is a reunion between friends and family, a reaffirmation of one's roots, a reminder that one is loved and protected.

Happy Fiesta to my fellow Bicolanos.

Sign of the times

And this is where it all began...

Cartoon depicting Uncle Sam's present financial crisis, so glaringly magnified by the downslide of such Wall Street giants as Lehman, Merrill Lynch and Co. and AIG.

David Foster Wallace Dies at 46

A good friend and fellow blogger is devastated at the news of this incredibly talented writer's demise.

I, myself, know how much of a loss this is to the Literary World.

For details, click on this link.

I do have a question, one which I posed to my friend after having heard the sad news. To all the David Foster Wallace fans out there, after having read his works, do you think the cause of his death was illogical?

This, perhaps, is one of the grim sides of being an artist.

What everybody's talking about

For bits on The Eraserheads' concert, click on this and this.
For the KC Concepcion/Richard Gutierrez flick, click on this and this.

I would have wanted to write about both, except that I've seen neither.
Enjoy!

Just breezing by to say...

that I'm celebrating my blog's first anniversary this month!

Here's to more (and, hopefully, better) entries and more time to write them!

Arrggh!

And, yes, more bloggers to stalk!

Yey!

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."

Conspicuously Juxtaposed:

In the May 12th issue of a prestigious international periodical, a Louis Vuitton spread sat smugly alongside an article on the skyrocketing price of oil and the sad, mad socio-economic implications of the crisis.

And on the page at the end of the article, a Patek Philippe ad grinned unashamedly.

Ah, the ironies that surround us everyday.
You do the math.