Living in the City

Am I real? What if I was just a character In a computer game Of some child genius from the distant future? Give me an idea of my program I will try to decode it. What is my role in this game? Who are the rest of the characters? It was a mistake To assume I was the lead character Can you please debug I am kinda getting out of sync. The synapses are beginning to numb What do I have in between my glial cells I wish I were Sophia Or maybe Elon? It is good to have noble intentions And have altruistic plans But my programmer needs to do a fast forward. Help me out please?  

 Sketches I did way before Covid. Using them to update my blogs.

 Recalling what happened.. The Covid pandemic struck. And  yes we have since moved to a much  smaller place in another city. My Mom died in 2019. It is something I refuse to remember.  I am trying to  feel but could not.  My granddaughter surprisingly commented that our new place is "liit" or small. I guess she was just being honest. I remember her telling me in a begging like manner to not leave our old place in a subdivision. I can't blame her cause at that instance,  I realize she probably thought  there's no way she can bike in this tiny, new place. Yay! But  the many challenges we have to take on and squarely face started when we got this place. For the life of me, I can't even begin to enumerate them.  Somehow,  another hurdle over. And I am still here.

Regardless of what his detractors say about him, President Duterte remains someone I truly admire. No,  he does not know me or know anyone I know,  but deep in my heart and whatever's  left of my aging brain,  I believe he truly  cares about  the ordinary Filipino.  

 There should be. Otherwise, what can we look forward to? According to experts, we need to vaccinate70 percent of the world's population to achieve herd immunity.  As of March 16, 2021, 90M people had been fully vaccinated with 390M doses administered. Slow roll out according to experts. And does vaccination ensure we can all go back to our normal lives? Maybe yes, maybe not. Because vaccines do not guarantee  we are safe. Some scientists declare that vaccines might not even prevent transmission. Further, that immunity might not last forever. Good luck then to us humans.

This blog note I posted in my LEARNING blog which I never got to continue developing as I was occupied with developing several other content I was trying to do at that time - 2013.  So timely because today all students are online. And I was on it way, way back. I was almost retired at that time but because I wanted to continue learning I found  out that I could continue learning through MOOCS.    So what are MOOCs? MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses are free online courses asynchronously accessible through the Web. These  courses are offered by educational institutions like Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and other big league schools in the United States. MOOCs do not give university degrees but taking these courses could supplement college studies or refresh everything you have learned upon retirement or whenever there is an opportunity.  At the time, MOOCs were provided FREE. Full audit and can participate in the exams. They also gave out  Statements ...

 I was taking the "Live! A History of Arts for Artists, Animators and Gamers!" offered over at Coursera under Jeannene Przybliski, Phd. way back in 2013. The guts.. It is now 2021. I am  living in a world full of doubt and insecurity due to the pandemic. At that time I was full of doubt. Whatever I felt then with the following statements, I have already recovered.  'But whatever gave me the idea that I could mingle with what could be a MOOC class full of talented artists? After all, I am not one and I know I will never be. That is just it. I don't think there's anything wrong about aspiring to become an artist. Having said that, I will be bold enough to declare, I am going to have fun, learn and take what I can from the course and from my fellow MOOC mates; be inspired by the teacher, and most importantly, admire and get astonished with the awesome art works from the best. I dare not be intimidated. Wish me luck.' Because I found out that I could draw, I could...

I published this post on  April 16, 2015 in one of the numerous blogs I wanted to develop at that time.  This was written as a required narrative for one of my MOO classes I was taking at that time. Since I was unable to continue developing that blog now at this pandemic times I am choosing  to share as this is close to my reality as  a city dweller. A piece of fictional narrative  submitted to a MOO class in 2013 entitled C'est la Vie. "That's life. It was a phrase I often repeated after becoming an unwed mother. It was for the best because abortion could have been worse. Life changed.  As soon as the father of my child refused to marry me, and disappeared. At 22, the stigma of life alone, with a child,and without a husband was too much to bear. Call me stupid but poor me, how could I have been irresponsible? Worse, the values of honor and respectability sacredly  honored by my family were all violated, by me.  Epictetus, the Greek sage and stoic...

  There are days we feel lousy. That is fine. Life can never be perfect. The truth is: most often life sucks, so there is no point living peachy if it is not - even for a day, or maybe a week. What's important is we know how to get out of that lousy feeling. We can learn it because it is a skill.

Six hundred  thousand doses of the Sino Vac vaccines  arrived yesterday. Thank you for the donation China. Another 2.0M is expected to arrive next week from the WHO COVAX program. Thank you UK. Thank you WHO.  But true,  these number may seem not enough. But what is this I hear there's just a trickle getting listed to be vaccinated. Is it  the ordinary people's distrust for the donor country? These thoughts are bad. The complaining.. the distrust.. the blaming. Take a moment and do some thinking. These are negative thoughts. Release. It is making most of us tense. Why not flip around. Think: I am still alive. My body is working still. There's some food on the table a roof above my head.  Let go of the negative feelings. Yes easier than done. But what is the alternative?  Happy Thoughts! 

  Blurry Thoughts And Then  Naps Under Trees Angry Thoughts Imagine Breaths Of Fresh Air Swirling Indoor Air Just To Turn To Breaths Of Stale  Air TREES.  I Love You Tree.

It's been almost a year since the covid-19 virus descended upon the world. What happened between then and now? Lockdowns, RT PCR tests, face masks, face shields, social distancing, health protocols, businesses closed, online purchases, online classes,  online gaming, covid infections, isolation centers, quarantines, deaths, recoveries.. on and on and on AND  now vaccines. At last, we are looking at some hope to solve this health crisis. It's been quite a while since I updated this blog. Perhaps, it is time to  use it as a tool  to document my observations on what has been happening here and there.   Strictly from  what I can remember, I will try to share my experiences during the pandemic. I hope it makes sense.  So watch out for it. Thank you.   

A poem.. Ang kalimitan kaganapan sa mundo ay pera-pera lang. Konti na lang siguro Ang di nasisislaw sa pera sa panahon ngayon. Kasi mahirap walang pera. Di mo mababayaran utang mo. Di ka makakain ng tama at husto. Di ka makabibili ng gamot mo. Wala kang pera sa bangko. Mababa tingin sayo ng tao, kahit malapit sa buhay mo. Kailan ba ako nagluho? Di ko matandaan. Basta at may pera sila inaalala. Tulad ng nanay ko Di ko masyado pino-problema pera. Sana lang kung walang kailangan bayaran. Okey lang kahit walang personal assets, Pero pano pag dumating na si kamatayan. Ma-momoroblema pa sila. Paano ka ipalilibing? Walang ipon. Mangungutang pa sila? Ah sa SSS may 20,000 yata dun. Arkila na lang ng ataol. Pa-cremate para di pa magastos. Bahala na siguro sila. Patay ka na. Di ka na dapat mag problema.

Son in halloween costume

  It is a must that we curb our population growth Guesstimates peg that  Metro Manila's population has grown to almost 15million  today. In 1974 while doing my OJT at POPCOM, national rowth rate was 33% and Metro Manila's population at that time was 4 million.  Today it has bloated to almost 15 million after rate was said to have been  'reduced' to 32.1%. Not much improvement really. Metro Manila population has grown alarmingly fast.  We all know what this means. Living and  health  conditions deteriorate.  Poverty becomes the order of the day. If there are more than 15,000 individuals on a mere square kilometer, you can imagine  pollution, over crowding, resources dwindling and then disease not to mention managing flood disasters in the magnitude of Ondoy and Pepeng. Poor social and economic conditions prevail if not worsen. The Reproductive Health Bill has been approved.

"Charity degrades those who receive it, and hardens those who dispense it." "Money is not neutral; it changes everything, including the ability to neutrally judge what people will or will not do for you."

My art plan is to paint..and the journey begins with this  collage I did to remind myself  to pursue and realize my mantra  every step of the way.                            

"Daily patterns of creating, of working hard to  solve problems may lead overtime to breakthroughs for ourselves and others."

A Book About Wonderful and Amazingly Written Letters I found this link and it tells about a book about letters written from the heart. I specifically love this  one  written by a dying mother to her daughter. Check it out I guarantee that if you haven't written a snail mail in a long time, this will encourage you to write something again on paper and mail it through the Postal System.