Is it wrong to ever wish we didn’t have what we have now? The talents, the intelligence, the blessings. If only because there is something satisfactory about not having to deal with pressure and big hopes and dreams. And maybe opting for the simpler life, absent expectations, the pressure, and the big dreams that only set us up for a big fall when we don’t reach it, maybe the simpler life is the better life.
Well, it’s not like we had the option to choose anyway.
It’s been a week since I got back. And I’m sick. In my more than 1 year in the US, or almost 2.5 years if we are to ignore the month or two I flew back home for a short vacation, I have never fallen ill. So my family, I joked: I don’t belong here. And I truly refuse to believe otherwise. It was probably something so shallow as the better weather or so deep as the exhilirating experience of being alone, of independence, which from the moment I entered the national airport in January of 07 for my first ever trip alone has already provided that feeling. Somehow, I feel that this isn’t my place. Or have I simply changed?
Months after my last post, I was inspired to ponder on this, yet again, after reading a friend’s blog. This apparently is not the first time I have thought about it; my friend Belle can attest to the incessant ranting I’ve done, which I think in itself is a sign of my difficulty coming to terms with the fact that my old life awaits me. From my friend’s post, I picked up she did not completely feel settled despite having lived in Europe for around 2 years. With that, I once again thought, why does it seem like those who don’t want it as much as I do get them, while I don’t? Or is it only that I have not experienced exactly what they have that makes it impossible for me to conclude the same?
In 2 weeks’ time, I am scheduled to fly back to the Philippines. Apart from leaving the place I got used to, it is also the little things that would make leaving more difficult. It’s not completely horrible, but I suppose there are things that just completely set my life here apart from my life back home.
Tennis would probably be more amenable.Seeing that this post was started on May 3, and now it is the 24th, I figured it might be better leaving this post unfinished. Just as I believe, unrealistic as it may be, that I don’t have to get used to another kind of life – the old ways of my life. It is only a matter of time before I find what I’m truly looking for.
From Huffington Post comes What Do a Rabbit, Colored Eggs, and Candy Have to Do With Jesus? The History of Easter Revealed by Kari Henley:
It turns out the celebrations of modern Easter’s egg-toting-rabbit evolves from a mythic German goddess named Ostara, (Oestre / Eastre) who was the Germanic Goddess of Springtime. According to the Encycolopedia Mythica:
“In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse then she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly colored eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived.”
All other European words for “Easter” derive from the Hebrew word “pasah,” to pass over, thus reflecting the Christian holiday’s Biblical connection with the Jewish Passover. I find it ironic the holiest day in the Christian faith, dedicated to celebrating the Son of God, is named after a goddess.
According to www.godchecker.com: Ostara was very popular with the Anglo-Saxon people, who worshiped her under the name Eostre.
At least now I have a bit of a better understanding of this whole Easter-Risen Christ-bunny-egg hunt connection. The writer was right; at times, I wondered about the whole connection but never really bothered to find the connection.
After all these years
After all these tears between us
Still I couldn’t find
Someone half as right as you
And each time I stop to think
What it is I really need
Heres what I conclude
All I really need is you
Just say what you want to say
You don’t have a chance in the world
Can I, knowing how I’ve tried
Still come close to losing you when you are my world
Have I spent so many nights
Trying but in vain to tell you
Don’t you know it’s true
All I really need is you
——————
Ah, this sucks. YOU have no idea.
Found something interesting about the Earth Hour on March 28th, observed in hundreds of cities around the world. This event began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia as a way to vote against global warming. Turning off the lights for an hour could serve as one’s vote, whether a tourist spot or simply a household, for the earth. Further info from the official website:
Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.
In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.
See the many cities that observed Earth Hour: H-E-R-E. Click the photos and have javascript enabled to see the effects.
For everyone who uses Gmail, they are probably aware of the little icon on the upper right linking to gmail labs, where one can see the add-on features developed by the Gmail peeps. Some of the things found there are good, some are just not as useful. However, with the time I spend on Twitter lately, I found one “tweet” about this Gmail feature that I thought was genius. I’m not sure how useful it’s gonna be, but when I found out about it I was impressed.
A pair of polar bears were born in Rhenen, Netherlands yesterday and they’re adorable. 
Taking some photos from the Telegraph web, see them after the jump. (I didn’t want to shrink the photos just to fit the narrow space on this page). Read the rest of this entry »
I stumbled upon this article from the New York Times through someone in Twitter. I don’t know whether to think it as funny or ridiculous. How can it not be either if we’re talking about hiking in the nude? In the Alps… All they wear are their hiking boots and some sun screen. Location: Appenzell, Switzerland. Some are obviously bothered bumping into people who go all bare but the city cannot criminalize them because one, there is no law against hiking in the nude and two, “[s]imply being naked without any sexual connotation is no longer illegal,” say Daniel Kettiger, a legal expert who wrote a piece called: “The Bare Facts: On the Criminal Prosecution of Nude Hiking”.
But the city’s justice minister claimed he can draft something that would penalize these people and it could cost them up to $170.
The whole article HERE.
Presenting the latest addition to the iPod family- the latest, and smallest, iPod shuffle and MP3 player.
I went to the 12mn showing of Watchmen last night. And I was happy with my decision to not read the last chapter of the novel because the ending of the film made up a big part of the reason why I loved the movie.
I shall return to the book to finish reading later but for now, here’s my review: Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, AIG reported the biggest loss in America’s corporate history (just a few days after RBS similarly reported the UK’s biggest corporate history- a staggering, but nevertheless still smaller £24.1bn). With a loss of $61bn, the insurance firm again ran to the government to seek for more aid, which they got in the amount of $30bn in exchange of majority ownership in two of their money-makers: American Insurance Association (AIA), its business in Asia and American Life Insurance Corporation (ALICO). Remember that the firm entered this pit after they decided to issue billions of dollars worth of credit default swaps, the instrument which had it share of the spotlight after other firms, notably Lehmann Brothers, fell victim to the failure to manage risks associated with CDS. The trouble of the firm is further compounded by the news that former CEO Hank Greenberg will be filing a lawsuit against the company for allegedly being misled to buy inflated prices of the AIG stock. As the firm’s biggest shareholder, Greenberg’s wealth is without a doubt wiped out by what has happened.
(A brief update)
Lately, I have been lurking around just two places on the web: twitter (username: blueblooded) and Paul Kedrosky’s blog (paul.kedrosky.com). Twitter has unexpectedly been… entertaining. It’s perhaps one of the easiest ways of receiving various information from various people about various subjects. Not to forget it’s the quickest way to blog. Quite a convenience for people like me who tend to be lazy bloggers most of the time.
Paul Kedrosky is a regular on CNBC. A very smart man who enthusiastically gives me and thousands more our daily dose of interesting readings. He is a research consultant for Ten Asset Management and a senior fellow at Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
I’ve also been busy reviewing for the CFA (just about to move to the 5th book, just after 2 months and 3 more left for the 2 remaining books and review), but the pace at which I’m going, fast as it may be, is enough to scare me. I may be reaching the 250-hour minimum suggested review time but it doesn’t quite bode well for me that I’m finishing a book, on average, in less than 2 weeks when each should at least take three. The current book I’m on, I began reading just exactly a week ago. And now I’m down to reviewing the last chapter and I’m ready to move on. It’s one thing to understand the concepts, it’s another to retain them along with the eerie collection of formulae that are slapped to everyone studying for the exam. Somehow. I take comfort knowing that I did understand pretty much everything I’ve read and I have enough time to review and master everything. I hope to be very well prepared come June. Let that be my gift to myself.
——————————— Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t have a problem with big bonuses. Excessive as the bankers’ bonuses may be, a management that runs a rather profitable business has the right to have its share of financial reward. The way businesses run is this: labor is compensated on a generally fixed rate and any outstanding result is typically greeted by bonuses. These bonuses are apparently contingent on how profitable the firm has been for a period. The clamour for a cut on the compensation of bank executives who dared take excessive risk on derivatives, only for those actions to backfire and drag their firms, the global economy, and the populace down a deep abyss is completely understandable. When they see executives spend million of dollars renovating their offices, which are probably more than conducive for work to begin with, while they get laid off and lose their source of income just triggers an emotional outburst. Read the rest of this entry »
As we grow up, our definition of what heroes are or who they are in our lives is modified. Some look up to their dads, some to their partners, and some even to political and socially-figures in their countries as life heroes. Meanwhile, there are those who take a more social definition of it and look at firefighters, at times the cops, and more importantly the soldiers fighting in wars to be members of the same group. But have a trip down memory lane, from 10-15 years ago and none of what has been said above would apply.
As kids, our world revolved around skilled, powerful, and masked men- ginormous or regular-sized, who wore jumpsuits of different colors. Thanks to the Japanese, we managed to find more than a simple pasttime but more reasons to shout out loud at home as our favorite characters transformed from being humans just like us. And thanks to my friend Niq’s post on her blog about MMPR, nostalgia got me digging up the past and scouring all over the net for photos most familiar to us and would easily remind us how much we loved these shows.
I’m sure it’s not just me.
As I watched the millions of people in Times Square count down the remaining moments of 2008 on New Year’s Eve, I felt a sense of excitement just like they did too. Just like I did last year. And the year before…and the year before that. It wouldn’t be insane to think that it is innate for people to feel a sense of new hope as one year draws to a close, every single year. Whether it is with fireworks or in a bar with friends or just staying home being accompanied by Carson Daly as the world counts down with New York, we choose to be optimistic. Of course it is no guarantee that the optimism would come realized, but between being positive and negative it just makes perfect sense to choose the former. Whatever our hopes are, we always look forward to a better year or even just a good one particularly when what we just had revolved around broken dreams, shattered hearts, and quiet and uneventful moments. It is human nature to seek for more. More money, more friends, more luck in love; better job, better relationships, better life. I’m sure there were so much more hopes and prayers sent out to the winds with the departing 2008.
Mark Sanchez, USC QB, lifts the trophy.
