Barack Obama and Me

I just discovered that Barack Obama, like me, majored in Political Science with a specialization in International Relations.

Not with the same school though. . . . (wishful thinking..!)

Thanks to wikipedia.

6 Happy Things

Tagged by Mam Daye.

This is called the "6 Things That Make Me Happy Tag." According to the rules, the things should be unimportant.

Here are the rules:* Mention the person who tagged you.* List 6 unimportant things that make you happy.* Tag 6 blogs, state the rules and notify them with a teeny comment on their blog.

1. Manga and anime release of Naruto. Usually, Kishi (author) would release the much awaited manga every Friday.That's also the time when the anime version is being shown in Japan.

2. BookSale and National Bookstore for all the discoveries that i made about books and other interesting reading articles or materials.

3. Night-sleep. The one that i crave so much because i was, and still is (until Arpil 13) , deprived of it for more than a year now.

4. Strawberry Shake. Can't get over it whether summer or not.

5. Movies.

6. Walking. Our apartment is located somewhere in Libis and it is just a walk away to Marikina's Riverpark.

By the way, the things listed above are important to me but they may be unimportant to others. And so far, i can only tag 1 person that has not been tagged by Mam Daye.

Cause of Outrage

The article below was written by Tsao in his column for HK Magazine. It was published on March 27, 2009.

'The War at Home' by Chip Tsao

The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen onboard. We can live with that-—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That's no big problem-—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on-—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: There are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as HK$3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don't flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell everyone of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her Government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

Oh yes. The Government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout 'China, Madam/Sir' loudly whenever they hear the word "Spratly". They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, "Long live Chairman Mao!" at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that's going a bit too far, at least for the time being.

5 Seconds

i got a very kind customer who, out of the blue, just asked me if i go to church.

i was stunned.not only she initiated a converstation but more importantly, i was not prepared for such kind of question.i thought it was a strange thing to ask coming from a person on the other side of the globe.

(and usually, in building rapport, we, as agents are the ones to open up a discussion to avoid placing the customers on hold or on mute and to build trust and confidence as well especially if we are going to pitch for a sale or to do any modification in the account. It's one in a million if its the other way around)

after about 5 seconds of silence, i reluctantly answered,"yes, i do".

her reply was followed by another question, "then you know Jesus Christ?".That seems illogical, i thought.all church goers are definitely aware of Him. Perhaps she was not convinced that i really am going to church.

i suddenly realized that it was my voice and the way i delivered my response! That was very easy to determine.Even i was not sure of it.

feeling the need to reassure her, i immediately said, "of course".

******************************

i felt guilty after that call because i lied. i lied to avoid inconvenience. i lied because of the personal urge to end the call asap. and it took me only 5 seconds to do that.

i was guilty. and it's 2 counts of lying.

First, I do not go to church.

Second, i do not really know Him. ONLY by name. and i guess knowing Him by name alone does not give me any clue as to who He really is.

************************************

But then again, who among us does not lie for our own convenience?or for others' sake?

Perhaps this is not a valid excuse for not telling the truth but this is ONE piece of reality that we can't just negate easily. In fact, this reasoning is becoming a truth in itself.

The Long (?) Wait

Now is the 22nd of the month.
Our payday is still on the 28th.
5 more days in-between.
The wait is very far from over.

5 days.

My friend told me it isn't such a long wait after all.
I responded, "Not if what you are waiting is your salary."

I feel like its been more than a month now since i got my last pay for the hard work that i suffered even if we just had our last pay day on the 13th.

For Younger Generation

"It takes a great deal of courage to follow another person's lead."

-Bill Hybels

Cowardly Lion

"i have always thought myself very big and terrible. Yet such little things as flowers came near killing me, and such small animals as mice have saved my life. How strange it all is!..."

-The Cowardly Lion from Lyman Frank Baun's The Wizard of Oz.

Such a great literary piece! This is a must-read for everyone.