24 November 2003
At least two of my
friends maintain blogs.
Catsudon
has always encouraged me to start mine. Some of my former students have
too. So here I am, bowing to peer pressure (as if!), hehehe!
I really don't know what
to write on this blog. I have an old-fashioned journal where I write
down notes and whatever else comes to mind but it is almost always
neglected. For the life of me, I can't imagine publishing online what I
write there. Perhaps there's still the fear of baring my soul to the
world.
In any case, for the
first blog entry, I'll start with the light stuff, something I already
have online. I wrote this down for my
Friendster profile (another
instance of bowing to peer pressure). Below the profile are two previous
entries which I didn't get to put online. The more neurotic stuff will
come later.
שּׁלוס
Movies: Casablanca;
Lawrence of Arabia; Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Wuthering Heights; Shoes of
the Fisherman; Song Without End; The Agony and the Ecstasy; The
Godfather I, II & III; Gandhi; Beauty and the Beast; Immortal Beloved;
Silence of the Lambs; Hamlet; Cinema Paradiso; Lorenzo’s Oil; Braveheart;
Bayani; Of Gods and Monsters; La Vita e Bella; Billy Elliot; La Lengua
de las Mariposas; Crouching Tiger; Hero; Jose Rizal; Michael Collins
Books: Michelangelo the
Florentine; The Agony and the Ecstasy; Shakespeare; Greek mythology;
Wuthering Heights; A Tale of Two Cities; Silas Marner; Les Miserables;
Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde; The Alienist; Angel of Darkness; Silence of
the Lambs; Hannibal; Sophie’s World; Vita Brevis; The Solitaire Mystery;
The Christmas Mystery; Gitanjali; The Godfather; Harry Potter; The
Little Prince
Interests: physical
exertions like walking, judo and more sedentary pursuits such as
reading, classical literature, archaeology and a bit of Theology,
tinkering with nuts and bolts, some computer know-how, crafts - such as
sewing, embroidery and tatting, cooking
Likes: Long moonlit
walks, conversations with friends, garden dinners under the stars, the
chirping of birds at daybreak, violin concertos, non-anime cartoons, the
smell of brand-new books and the morning fresh from the rain.
About Me: A friend once
told me I’m such a nutcracker (translation: obsessed with trying to
figure out people and what makes them tick). To that is a grain of truth
because I really like to know people as persons and have a glimpse of
their lives. Professionally, I chose the field of environmental policy
as my life-long career. However, I often daydream about teaching ancient
and classical literature. More often than not, I unwittingly get into
interesting situations, such as getting somewhat lost in the mountains
of Mindoro and ending up planting rice with the native Mangyans;
escorting a high-ranking Vatican official at a formal function while
dressed in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt (he immediately warmed up and told me
stories about the popes he served and the Vatican press corps and even
sent me a copy of his homily when he got back to Ireland); hitchhiking
through the war zone of Mindanao in the dead of night while two national
government agencies were frantically searching for me; attending a
meeting in Rome during the tourist season WITHOUT a hotel reservation
(but found an apartment a stone’s throw away from St. Peter’s Square,
right across the Castel Sant’ Angelo, and paid peanuts for rent); living
in a kibbutz near the Red Sea right about the time the bombings in Tel
Aviv started (note: Tel Aviv used to be relatively safe. Jerusalem was
the strife-torn area); and a lot of other (mis)adventures that have to
remain classified information. Perhaps I would make a good candidate for
a reality TV sitcom.
שּׁלוס
14 October 2003, 1.13 am
Only a few people know that I’m
a hopeless romantic who can get extremely mushy. On TV just a few
minutes ago, I saw the trailer of a movie about first love with the
accompanying heartbreak. Now I’m smiling like a silly schoolgirl who saw
her first crush, hehehe!
I am not ashamed to show this
side of me. Before I thought everyone saw this aspect of my personality
but it seems like it’s a well-kept secret, though it’s not supposed to
be one. Perhaps the serious, mature and more functional side is more
apparent. To a certain extent this is good because I still have my
privacy but on the other hand, I keep wondering if people have an
artificial and incomplete perception of who I am.
Just a few days ago a very close
friend commented that “it’s so not” me to be interested in a story of
star-crossed lovers. It’s not?!?! Another person asked sometime ago if I
have fallen in love at all! OF COURSE! I really don’t know where people
get all these ideas about me.
On the other hand, one guy told
me sometime back that I was “all mush” and I live in a cloud. Hmmm… not
sure about that.
So, who am I? I’m both but to
people who don’t know me very well, I guess I’m still in the process of
being defined. :-)
שּׁלוס
13 October 2003, 12.33 am
Despite all the things that I
need to do, I’m reading a book
Jesus’ Jewishness. The book is an
anthology of essays which make up the chapters that places Jesus in the
context of the time He walked the earth.
It just struck me how strange I
can be. Theological expositions are not exactly the usual weekend
reading for many people. But then, as Bea told me sometime ago, when did
the notion of “normal” ever apply to me? Of course there are times when
I’m still hoping to be part of the statistical norm, hehehe!
I guess sooner or later I also
have to deal with the fact that I’m not like most normal people, at
least when it comes to reading preferences. This made me peruse the
books lying around the apartment. These can be generally categorised
into ‘functional’ or books I use at work and the more personal
selections. The functional books range from policy to science books. The
personal selections are wide-ranging too – from the whimsical to the
more serious.
The more I look at them I think
that I must really be a very serious and boring person! Oh no! What have
I been reading lately? Aside from Harry Potter Book V, I
recently bought Harold Bloom’s
Shakespeare: The Invention of the
Human which is a commentary of Shakespeare’s plays and more! I
really had to get this book when I saw it on the shelf of a newly-opened
bookstore. This is a perfect companion for the complete works in the
one-volume Oxford edition I have and immensely enjoy.
Together with
Jesus’
Jewishness, I also got a volume of Karl Rahner’s prayers in
Prayers for a Lifetime. I guess this is another one of my attempts
to improve my prayer life. I am very much aware that among the three
elements of faith (doctrine, moral and worship), my weakest point is
worship. It takes a certain discipline of mind, heart and spirit to
nurture a good prayer life. Though I pray, I feel that much needs to be
improved.
שּׁלוס
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Shalom (peace) in Hebrew script
-שּׁלוס