These days people want to just act. To get it on. To just do it. To take the plunge. They say that if you don’t do it then you’ll never stop wondering what could have been. But on the other hand, if you indeed do it and fail then you end up wondering what could have been had you done it some other way. And you wish you could have done it this other way. But it’s already done and, worse, probably it’s irreversible. So I say, before you do it, say something, send that email, send that SMS, think hard and think twice. Take a look before you take that leap.
I coup, you coup, we all coup
Just when the economy was riding higher and you get another coup scare. Both the peso and the markets fell sharply upon the rumors of a coup and the subsequent declaration of martial law state of national emergency. Luckily when things sort of stabilized, both also recovered sharply.
Sometimes you wonder if someone is playing around with the government for market manipulation and profiteering purposes. You probably only need to spend just a little to shake up the fragile government a bit. But for sure, such unpredictability cannot be good for the economy in general.
Maybe what we should do is bulldoze down the EDSA Shrine and the People’s Power Monument. Maybe that will make people forget about EDSA 1 (and 2 and 3) and prevent people from exploiting it to promote instability. At the very least that should get rid of the horrible traffic whenever the EDSA 1 anniversary comes around. I mean, what’s been done’s been done. And when you think about it did things really really change?
War of the Worlds
The no-longer-so-recent brouhaha over some cartoons shows no sign of letting up. If anything, it is spreading. What started off as an event that was pretty insignificant was used by rabble rousers to foment unrest.
In Libya, the police cracked down on the rowdy mob who burned down the Italian consulate, killing several. But the police was later disciplined for engaging in acts “beyond the the duties of the police”. Uh what is the duty of the police? It’s not the police who needed disciplining, it’s the mob!
In Nigeria, mobs burned churches and beating up people, often to death. I wonder, will we be seeing protests from the rest of the world because of these burnings and beatings? Somehow I don’t think so. The rest of the world is just too polite, civilized, and tolerant for burnings, beatings, heck even ethnocide.
All this unrest only brings wider attention to the issue which is taken as an opportunity by more rabble rousers to forment even more unrest. And the vicious cycle goes on. Pretty soon, the original issue would be forgotten and what will be left will be the animosity, a fuse to a bomb just waiting to be lit. And guess who will be lighting it? Definitely not the polite, civilized, and tolerant.
Another Weekend [Almost] Gone
Another weekend is almost gone and I haven’t even completely recovered from the week that was. I wouldn’t have thought that things could be that mentally draining. Meetings, classes, papers, studying… they all take just a wee bit and then… BAM!… you’re tired.
Good thing I have nothing much to do during weekends. Or more accurately, I can get away with putting off many things that I should be doing during weekends. So rest I did in between reading Principles of Corporate Finance and watching Firefly. I feel I need more. The problem now is fitting it into the rest of the day.
Rainy Road Days
This week was full of rain with the heaviest rains falling yesterday. It rained so hard the SLEX got flooded and a lot of motorists were stranded. Now normally I like rain, it cleanses the earth that humans seem so ready to pollute. And it offers reprieve from the opressive heat of the sun. But when you’re on the road, it also means slooow moving traffic. For what exact reason I don’t know. Perhaps the flood-prone nature of the streets is a major contributor. Times like these, you actually appreciate the effort of traffic controllers (when they are there). They may not be capable of capable of totally decongesting traffic but they can at least keep things from getting into a gridlock.
to the traffic controller (and others like him) who stuck it out at his post at F. Ortigas cor J. Vargas despite the heavy rain doing what he can to keep traffic flowing. I know some of these guys have reputations for being corrupt and inept (or both) but that doesn’t mean all of them are and the dedication of some, including this guy, is admirable.
to the impatient driver who was shouting out the window like the idiot that he is because he can’t wait his turn at the intersection.