7/29/2026 ‒
Elephant meat in a can

Watching random videos at night reminded me of this particular photo I have always found fascinating.

Somewhat inevitably I can't find it anymore, but I know where it came from. Back in my grandparents' old place there was a year's worth of National Geographic magazines. 1990? 1991? Early '90s. I flipped through them for no reason other than to look at things; I certainly didn't have the attention span to read the articles at age seven.

But one photo did catch my attention. It was in a feature about elephants. I always came back to that feature, which is probably why I also remember this series of photos where elephants found one of their own, dead, and flock around the body to seemingly mourn it.

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7/28/2026 ‒
The long term versus the right now, no, yesterday

Once again, I'm going to start with my now usual caveats, those very things that I'm sure will be taken as signs that I have no backbone and no principles.

I've been watching the State of the Nation Address every year for the last... good heavens, is it almost two decades? I have been writing reaction pieces to them since Noynoy Aquino was still president. And yes, I know how angry I was back then, and how a little more zen I am right now - and that very fact, I'm sure, will be taken as a sign that I have always been a Marcos apologist and therefore is one of those people destroying this country you so love.

Actually, again, I've been changing. I'm sure I've talked many times about how my experience working with (not for) the government has informed my perspective on things these days. But, one, working with the administrations you don't like does not make me a supporter of those administrations; I was never a fan of the Dutertes, and some of the more important things I have done with the government was under that presidency. (And may that presidency never be followed with another one.)

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7/19/2026 ‒
I haven't seen you in a while

I haven't seen you in a while.

The last time was two, maybe three months ago. I would've said hi, and I think I did try to say hi, but it was clearly your off day since you were wearing something else. There would be a next time, I thought, but months passed and I haven't seen you at all.

Did you move to a different store? I thought, knowing that happens quite commonly. All your other colleagues have moved to other branches. Some have told me, and some haven't, as is their right. All your colleagues also come from other branches, to the point that I could recognize them from somewhere else, and they could recognize me, and I would say, "this is actually my branch," although of course it isn't. But you know what I mean. I go here a lot to write, and I always catch you in the first shift.

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6/30/2026 ‒
True halfway point

I remember seeing some posts at the beginning of June about how we've reached the halfway point of the year.

It's obviously wrong, though. There are twelve months in a year, which means the beginning of the sixth month is not the halfway point, but rather, the ending. Meaning, today. Tonight. Or is it tomorrow? Midnight, the exact point when 30 June becomes 1 July?

I decided to look it up on Google. No, it's actually 2 July. The 183rd day of the year. Well, every year has 365 days, and half of that number is 182.5, so the halfway point actually happens at noon this coming Thursday.

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6/29/2026 ‒
And photosensitive and hypertensive

The fact that I have been taking maintenance medicine for various heart-related things means I have long conceded the fact that I am not getting any younger, and that my body can no longer deal with everything it was theoretically able to do a decade ago or so. I get tired easily. I can't endure long drives as much anymore. Attempts at adding a little more physical activity to my routine ends with me catching my breath for far longer than I planned.

But today is different. Today was a really stark reminder, and that's because I really didn't do anything differently.

Well, I don't usually do my grocery shopping on a weekday, but today had to be an exception, because I was out of town over the weekend, and I was too tired to even think of going somewhere after driving home for three hours straight. Even then, I did the same thing last week.

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