New day

Woke up to a heavy downpour. It's half past five in the morning and power's out, and there's hardly any light outside that the trees swaying in the wind are giant silhouettes dancing to an eerie symphony of howling wands, rain bearing down on roofs, branches breaking, windows left unlocked slamming. The dance of the fallen, I thought. Nothing else is moving in the dim kitchen except me and the clock on the wall. I light a candle.

The 20th of September, 2014, the 13th typhoon of the year makes landfall. The neighbor's rooster crows a hopeful crow, the only reminder that this is still, despite the tempest, indeed a brand new day. You know, the first of the rest...

It is much brighter now, light finds a way through thick clouds. The porch is littered with leaves. Bamboos not strong enough to withstand the gusts, or flexible enough to bend in the wind, lay on the ground. I will clean up later when the rains slow down a bit.

But it is a new day. I've forgotten how fresh the air felt after a storm. The wind sweeps and the all that water washes away all that is yesterday's, and we're left with a clean slate. On this 41st year, a clean slate.

And there - today is, indeed, a good day and a good way to celebrate a birthday.  

Hula (or intuitive consultancy)

That's what I want to call what I do, really, she said to me when I asked her what method she uses as a "manghuhula," or fortune teller. Pick three cards, she asked me as she spread out a deck of tarot cards in front of me. I did. Don't you have any questions you want answers to? She asked. Hmmm, where do I start, but I decided to go for the one that I've really been wondering about:

What's it like for me for the rest of the year?

image from onepebblecab.blogspot.com

Drought's over, she said. Work's going to come pouring in, and these projects aren't going to be stressful, "easy" was the exact word she used. Money's going to come in.

Ahhh finally, I thought, hoping that, borrowing a line from the Indigo Girls, just because she said it that it's true.

At the end of that night's gig, I passed by an ATM machine to withdraw what ever little's there to buy something and I saw a P50.00 bill on the ground. I picked it up and looked around for someone who may have dropped it. Nobody. Finders-keepers.

The next day, a client for whom I wrote three articles 6 months ago and never heard from again suddenly emailed to let me know that he has deposited some money in my account. Not much, but hey, I wasn't expecting anything from that gig anymore.

Not, bad, Meng, not bad. I"m not going to spend that P50.00 bill and will just keep it in my wallet as a good luck charm.

Yeah, I believe in those.

If it's not on Facebook...

Bumped into someone who was involved with the protest against the expansion plan of SM City Baguio yesterday and he asked: "why did you leave our group?" What do you mean? I asked back. "Why did you stop?" Stop what? "Protesting against SM?"

So if it's not on Facebook, it doesn't exist? Or if you're not on Facebook, you're nowhere?

Nah, I never stopped believing that it's wrong to easily sacrifice the majority's welfare and future for the benefit of a few. I just stopped believing that ego-tripping, posting links and commenting on comments on Facebook will save the environment.