From TIME Magazine: The Story of Barack Obama’s Mother

A white woman who married and divorced foreigners, had two bi-racial children from each marriage, yet went through life undeterred in a time when racial segregation was the norm. She even earned her Ph.D. in anthropology. What a role model!

This is hilarious! But so true.

Sort of Dunno Nothin’ is how teenagers speak. Don’t you just want to wring their necks sometimes? Hehehe!

The Business of Mud reminded me of the time we went to the Dead Sea. Indeed, mud from the “deepest hyper-saline lake in the world” is being mined for beauty products. It is a very controversial topic for Israeli and Palestinian environmentalists since the activities have supposedly led to over-extraction, meaning the drying up of the Dead Sea.

Read the related article Mud Moguls.

Sometime back, we were discussing in the office how the bulk of our salaries were spent on trying to make our official functions more efficient. I for one spend time and money at the Office Warehouse and National Bookstore almost every payday. I buy efficient and smooth pens (government-issue pens work for a week at most), special paper, gadgets and gizmos. I seldom have my purchases reimbursed because it simply is not worth the effort to complete the paperwork required. Besides, it takes months on end to reimburse a few hundred pesos.

Now and then, we realise that we need money to run projects not within the government’s framework. I should have remembered this from my previous government job. The difference then and now is that in a national line agency, we had many funding partners, both multilateral and private institutions. In a local government unit, there are few. Many agencies are also hostile to us.

Anyway, with that realisation, I recently asked our Provincial Legal Officer how long I had to remain married to get a good share of my supposed husband’s estate, assuming he was rich. I would then use the money to fund our projects. She said six months.

That’s just idle talk of course, sanity break so to speak but I remembered that conversation when I read Heather and Paul: $49 Million and Out.

Hmmm… hehehe!

Indeed!

I was just lamenting the other day that it’s already summer and I still don’t have any sunflowers. Last year, I had blooms planted from seeds - from the small dainty ones to the larger flowers.

Look at the quiz I chanced upon today.

News Release
January 27, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Reference: Rommel de Jesus
Provincial Information Office

Capitol rakes in P137 M, near exceeding NRDC collections
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Pampanga provincial government has collected a total of P136.488 million from June 29, 2007 up to Jan. 27, 2008, giving the capitol, seven sand-rich towns and 20 villages additional funds for social services to the people.

The revenues generated in the almost seven-month period is certain to surpass the P137.577 million that the Natural Resources Development Corp., the corporate arm of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, had collected for the provincial government in the whole of 2000.

The provincial government also collected nearly P300,000 in fines and penalties from 12 violators.

“The revenues we have generated in almost seven months indicate the vigilant efforts of the special committee Balas to stamp out irregularities in the field and remove any room for graft. It is also a strong sign that the holders of quarry permits have been really abiding with the law and are helping the government put in more income into the public coffers,” Gov. Eddie Panlilio said on Sunday.
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Oh yes, I’m a year older and not necessarily wiser. If I were, why would I be in this thankless, ego-bruising and pittance-paying job when I’ve been in one before. It is as if a lesson wasn’t learnt or as someone dear once said, I’m just a plain masochist. Or an obsessive-compulsive masochist. Oh well, let’s not go there, hehehe!

My darling friends, thank you for the birthday messages. It’s been a couple of weeks and I think I’ve only replied to some, if not none. Uh-oh. Thanks Catsie for the greeting. Next year we can celebrate it while you’re here. Let’s have a girls’ day out. Or a weekend out! Cross my fingers.
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Mild tremor at 12:27 p.m. I wonder where the epicentre is. We’ll probably know in a few minutes.

Yes, it must be the season for falling in love. The air is getting nippy and there’s just something that makes one stop and smell the flowers. Hmmm…

I don’t know what got me. Pico Iyer’s essay The Eloquent Sounds of Silence where the last sentence is:

In love, we are speechless; in awe, we say, words fail us.

Or could it be finding out after all these years, someone I fancied (and who fancied me, hopefully) is still single? He’s no longer boyish either, he’s manly. And according to a friend, he’s not cute, he’s beyond cute, he’s guapo! Well, ok, that helps.

But there must be something else. I don’t really know what it is. Could it be what Fr. Arrupe calls “falling in love in a quite absolute, final way” (related to this, read the column of Fr. Bernas) or finding the integrity of my existence?

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. What I know though, is that I am happy.

The haunting hasn’t happened for a very long time that I wish to experience it again. I don’t know what it is, but to a certain extent, it feels like an “intimation of transcendence”, as one of my Philosophy teachers quotes a thinker I don’t remember now.

I haven’t thought of angels for a very long time either but I do believe in them - with a passion! I believe that angels will not come surrounded by mist but in ‘native garb’ to make them blend with the surroundings. Well, angels do not necessarily have to be supernatural either. They can be anyone who help us have a glimpse of what is beyond our limits.

Could that be the reason why I am so haunted by those with intense gaze? They seem to be staring beyond what is apparent. When looking at me, they seem to be confronted by my soul. That should scare me, but it does not.

I wish for my angel to come see me. I’ll have a lot of questions.