7/31/2021 ‒
Another first day of no dining in

I know I could've taken a much more, uh, enigmatic photo.

"Hindi ko po alam kung mag-o-open pa rin kami sa August 6," the lady behind the counter tells me.

Read more »

7/30/2021 ‒
Another last day of dining in

It's been so long since I've taken out-of-nowhere photos like these.

I was at the mall this afternoon. It was time for my monthly trips to the barber, one that I inadvertently scheduled at the right time - just minutes before government announced, as expected, that we'll go through the whole lockdown-not-lockdown shebang again.

Read more »

7/26/2021 ‒
GGWP

Considering that we're in the midst of a pandemic that we haven't fully gotten to grips with almost a year and a half in, weirdly, we were either looking back to the past, or looking forward to a hypothetical future.

On the streets outside the Batasang Pambansa, progressive groups were, as you'd expect, protesting, railing against the atrocities of the Duterte regime. But at the same time, the air was somewhat festive. This is the president's last State of the Nation Address, which means he'll be out of power soon, at least under ideal circumstances. Just a little more, and it's goodbye to the tyrant, goodbye to the dictator who squashed down rights and swiped away freedoms, all for the sake of saying things have changed.

Inside the Batasang Pambansa, as both houses of the legislature gathered for a joint session, the president was feeling sentimental. On what is - again, ideally - his last State of the Nation Address, he was in a mood to look back at just how successful he was. Look at all the reforms he managed to implement. Look at all the radical changes he brought forth, never mind if they were unpopular, never mind if he had to put his political capital on the line. Look, no more drugs, no more criminality, no more corruption. Am I great or what?

Read more »

7/20/2021 ‒
Addendum

It might be obvious, but I write my columns days before they are published. They appear every two weeks, so that means roughly a week and a half trying to put things together in my head, followed by one hour of cramming it all before sending it off to my editor on the Friday before publication.

I'd like to say I submit that close to deadline so that what I'm writing remains timely, unless I made extra sure what I wrote about is evergreen. (That doesn't always happen.)

Yesterday my latest column was published, and once again, I find myself writing about something just days before it hits the headlines.

Read more »

7/12/2021 ‒
...is still on the line

My sister and I had this roundabout way of remind me of things I shouldn't forget.

"Kim, remind me," I would say, before telling her whatever it is that I should be reminded of. And then, at the end, there's a qualifier. "This is that kind of reminder," I'd tell her.

That means I don't really want her to remind me. It's really more so I would remember it myself. The act of telling someone else would, should, imprint things deeper in my head, help my recall, that sort of thing. It isn't perfect, but it's worked most of the time. And when it doesn't, she would remember. Should remember.

Read more »