Neatorama

For months now my favorite blog/site has been www.neatorama.com because it features so many, well, neat things -- new gadgets, games, art, animals, scientific and mathematic discoveries, etc. etc. A few days ago it featured Disapproving Rabbits, a photobook on rabbits and how they can express disapproval with the slightest twitch of their noses.
I miss Herbert whom I had for six years, and I wish I could get a new rabbit or even just hamsters. It's just too bad that Kim doesn't really like having pets in the house because he's freaked by fur and poo and pee and bacteria and all that. All he approves of is fish. Jeez. I prefer my pets furry; or at least pets I can touch and hold (like my turtle Enrique when he was still alive).
It's often frustrating being with someone who's often the exact opposite of me in terms of temperament. According to at least five EQ and IQ tests I've taken, I'm (average ito) 55% right-brained and 45% left-brained. I suppose if I didn't become tibak I'd've been more right-brained, so thank goodness again for the Kilusan for bringing some order and discipline into my life. For the most part, obviously, I use more of my right brain and what this implies for my day-to-day dealings with my scientist/mathematician of a husband is often explosive: we often argue and debate (his terms; I call it fighting) over the smallest things and preferences. We have yet to strike a happy medium, so for now we're both trying very, very hard to get there and survive each other. It's exhausting, it's frustrating, but when you love the person very much, you try and try again (the only alternative is to junk everything and find someone else whose more like you. Ang corny naman nun. Kim, for his part, is stubborn in his belief that adjustment takes years and what we're going through right now is pretty normal so he's calm about it. Ako, am often freaked but since he's patient, pwede na rin and am grateful).
Anyways, this definition of right-brain/left brain is the most apt I've found to describe how different Kim and I are: it's uncanny how exact it is:

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS (me)

uses feeling, "big picture" oriented, imagination rules, symbols and images,present and future, philosophy & religion, can "get it" (i.e. meaning), believes,appreciates, spatial perception, knows object function, fantasy based, presents possibilities, impetuous, risk taking.

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS (si Kim ito) uses logic, detail oriented, facts rule, words and language, present and past, math and science, can comprehend, knowing, acknowledges, order/pattern perception, knows object name, reality based, forms strategies, practical, safe.

Kim, I think, is 45% right brained, 55% left-brained, because he's also quite creative and appreciative of art, only he never lets his interest in it get him carried away. For instance, kung umuulan nang malakas at may super amazing art exhibit on, say, miniature models and he's really fascinated by them, hindi siya pupunta nevermind if the exhibit is only for that one day. Why? kasi umuulan at ayaw niyang mabasa at magkasipon. There. Ako, I'd run all the way to the exhibit and nevermind if I get drenched.

(One of my best experiences is walking in the rain all around Intramuros. There is always something so liberating in the feeling of rain on your bare skin, and the sky is  the color of bruises and it's cold but comforting because you are happily silent, happily minding your own business in your solitary walk, your solitary thoughts and the sky opens after the rain to soft pale yellow light).   

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Magco-comment pa ba ako sa aksidente si Ka Bel? Hwag na. What's important is that he's mending, and so's Ka Jim, and everything else is up to the lawyers. Am so relieved that nothing worse happened kahit na he hit his face. He's 74 years old and not as strong as he used to be, but he's a fighter so we expect him to get all better by Christmas time.

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Great lecture yesterday afternoon on the Writ of Amparo sponsored by the National Union of People's Lawyers! Justice Adolf Azcuna's lecture was interesting, and so was Atty. Neri Colmenares' sharing on the various kinds of Amparo writs in Latin America.

Seems to me that while the Supreme Court's Amparo is already a very important achievement when it comes to amending court processes and proceedings related to prosecuting cases of extralegal killings and disappearances, there's still  a lot of room for strengthening it further. Make it a more effective  instrument  that will enable victims and families to  get closer to just resolutions and solutions  -- the surfacing of their loved ones; finding the perpetrators and paving the way to the filing of strong criminal charges against them.

The Writ of Amparo will be tested when the Burgos families apply for it next week. Somehow I don't feel so enthusiastic about the chances of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and its agencies like the ISAFP being more cooperative.
Let's not even talk about AO 197 which carries the objective of protecting the military and doings from investigations. This AO was released on the very same day that the SC announced the Amparo writ finalized and ready for implementation.

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Resign resign resign! Gad, why doesn't she step down?! Hindi na talaga nahiya. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Argh! Wala.na.akong.masabi.!!! Aksyon na! Bakit ang tagal ng simbahan magpatawag ng People Power?! What is everyone waiting for?

 

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Ronaldo Puno is now saying that the money that was given to lawmakers last Thursday came from the office of House Speaker Jose de Venecia. Sec. Puno has also absolved Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of accountability for the bribery of solons.

Of course Sec. Puno is expected to defend Pres. Arroyo and then turn around to pin the blame on Speaker de Venecia. At this juncture, Sec. Puno really has no credibility to speak on what Malacanang is guilty or not guilty of doing – he himself hasn’t been cleared regarding the filing of the bogus impeachment complaint against the president two weeks ago. Speculations are still rife that Sec. Puno is one of the Malacanang insiders bent on getting Speaker de Venecia ousted for standing against Pres. Arroyo and the First Gentleman on the controversy over national broadband contract with China's ZTE Corp.

This will be the tack Malacanang will be using to answer accusations of bribery and financial opportunism – blame it on JDV who’s becoming more and more vocal in his criticism against corruption Macapagal-Arroyo style. Instead of pointing fingers, Malacanang and its various spokespersons should welcome independent investigations into the bribery allegations and cooperate with all efforts of the Philippine Senate to ferret out the truth. Sec. Puno may have absolve Pres. Arroyo from accountability, but the Filipino people haven’t. As far as the public is concerned, corruption in the government stems directly from the Office of the President.

In the meantime, it’s highly unlikely that the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) will yield any credible results. Not to disparage the PAGC, but the chances of the commission investigating the president and getting true and credible results are very slim. Malacanang is sacrosanct as far as the PAGC is concerned, and even if this were not the case, the results will go to Executive Sec. Ermita who will launder and sanitize the results so Pres. Arroyo will come out smelling like a rose when she actually stinks like three-week old garbage.

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Watched Mel Gibson's 'Apocalypto' last night on DVD. Am grateful I already ate dinner before I saw it.