日曜日

A dark, gloomy, lazy day in this part of the world. These days, it takes even more out of me to do things I need to do. がんばります！

水

It’s a glass of water. But it’s also the first time I’ve posted in a while. I’ve missed this.

地震

I’m glued to a news website or channel on the television. And every time they show footage of what’s going on, I can only watch in shock. Just a year ago, I was walking the streets of Tokyo, fulfilling a childhood dream. These same streets, the same people I may have walked past in Shinjuku, ogled goods with at Radio Kaikan in Akihabara, or queued with at the oden stands in Ueno Park, are now facing some of the hardest times of their lives.

My first brush with a natural disaster was when I was on a Philippine holiday in 1991, when I saw the ash from Mount Pinatubo blanket our street like snowfall without the winter chill. And then when I moved back here, it was the almost annual brushes with the problems brought about by typhoons. I was caught during the troubles brought by Typhoon Ketsana, and my apartment building was little refuge from all the water that poured in. I survived, and prevailed. I even took the time to help with relief efforts when I could, in between digging our apartment’s basement out of the silt that accumulated there just so we could restore water to the building.

None of these experiences compared to what the Japanese people are facing now.

日本のみんなさん、がんばってください。全部の世界の祈りはみんなさんと。

あほ！

hi there, sorry for not having posted in a while. i’m actually busy updating the other blog, about my weight loss journey using the methods described in Tim Ferriss’ The Four Body.

i just wanted to post today on the utter stupidity of an incident on the train lines that service Manila.  two commuter trains hit each other.  you would think that was impossible but it actually happened.  as one train was using a switch junction to head onto the other track it was clipped by the other train, who was:

• not stopped at the designated waiting area for switchovers
• moving too fast
• on his celphone

idiot.  that’s all i can say.  and this is conclusive proof that one should never use their mobile phones while operating any vehicle.

新しいの事件

the news came in over twitter from a friend who was nearby and was struggling to get out of Makati, the country’s business and financial district.  there was an explosion on a passenger bus that was travelling on EDSA, one of Metro Manila’s main thoroughfares.  as of this morning 5 people have died; two call centre agents going home from their shifts, a student, and a cab driver (which i’m guessing wasn’t even on the bus when it happened.)

this as much has been made clear by the authorities.  it was an IED (improvised explosive device) planted under a seat in the middle of the bus. it was strong enough to blow out a large hole on the side where the bomb was planted.  other passengers were injured by shrapnel.  the conductor and the driver noticed two men board the bus, and then leave.

of course, the armchair conspiracy theorists are having a field day, saying that the blast is merely a ploy to deflect attention on another plague that has been afflicting the Metro: a rash of brutal carnapping/murder cases, where the victims of the theft are subsequently shot, burned, and disposed of in provincial areas.

it seems that everywhere i look, i see examples of how this country’s internal security forces are not up to the task of protecting the citizenry.  is it funding? equipment? trustworthy people?  corruption within the ranks?

i still ask myself why this has happened.  and the only thing i could answer is that terrorists don’t need a reason to do anything, and that the more inexplicable an act of violence is, the more terrifying it becomes.

１週間あとで

i’ll post my thoughts on the process in a later entry, but as i promised, here are the results of the first week, which included an early cheat day because of the weird start:

current TI: 183.5

net weight loss, 3.5kgs.

oh yeah!

四時間

i didn’t jump on the bandwagon when The Four Hour Workweek came out.  I mean, like, come on, how could one seriously pull off a four hour workweek within the confines of the corporate structure.  i had other things to worry about, which is why when his second book came out, i grabbed it as soon as i can. (obviously there are things more important to me than worrying about my job.)

after a few days of using the methods described in the Four Hour Body however, one thing really struck me is that fact that this stuff works.  and so now, i’m reading his first book.  and i’m now asking myself a lot of questions.

this is good.