Going blind… (on one eye)

Well, God willing, it will be only temporary albeit for a few months.

I recently consulted a General Physician due to some black spots that I’ve been seeing for about a week now. Apparently, I got it while driving without my sunnies on. The after image was gone about after five minutes right after I unintentionally looked at the sun’s reflection in another car. The following day, the after image appeared again and I was having a hard time reading or writing as my vision is impaired. So, I consulted the GP, who referred me to an ophthalmologist after finding no apparent abnormality.

The ophthalmologist’s examined my right eye and said that I have a Central serous retinopathy (CSR), also known as central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Everybody has it for no reason at all, the doctor said. But as I’ve read, it only happens with male aged between 20 to 50 and likely with “type A personality.” The usual attributed causes of CSR is stress.

Indeed, I’m in a bit of stress these past few days trying to catch up with various writing deadlines that I’ve almost slipped out of my regular “stress-relieving activity”–blogging. Anyway, I still hope that this will only be temporary but one thing is certain now, driving at night will be harder than usual. Although, one way I manage my CSR is by winking more often so to freshen up my right eye–though I don’t do it while walking lest I get a slap from women or men that I come across. 🙂

By the way, fruityoaty‘s back and she’s made it in the semi-finals round of this year’s Philippine Web Awards, blog category along with other heavy weights-Yuga, etc. :). So, register and nominate her or Yuga if you will 🙂

Quick to the terror, slow to the accident

Philippine National Police Chief Avelino Razon recently confirmed that their American and Australian counterparts ruled out bomb blast in the Glorietta 2 blast this October.

I didn’t blog about the event but I do feel for all those who were directly and indirectly affected by this accident. However, the careless comments from various Philippine authorities led to a number of confusion, which led the media to a roller coaster ride–one time the headline said that it was confirmed that it was a terrorist attack, another time it was possibly an accident and so on. This happened after the bribery of several local government executives and before the eventual pardon and release of Erap. So, was this incident intentional and that there was a big deal of motive for the government to sponsor it?

Only in the Philippines

Barely two months since Joseph Estrada was convicted of plunder, elements of the government moved swiftly to work out an easy way out for the disgraced leader. There were still some pride from Erap and his lawyers but apparently the overwhelming evidence or their belief that Philippine justice is just inefficient–changed their mind and they opted to forward a plea for pardon.

My Workplace (Another Tag Game)

Got tagged by Chuckie a few weeks ago (pasensya na Chuckie). Took me a while to answer back as I keep forgetting my my camera. Well, as most of you have read in Chuck’s entry, this tag game is quite simple, just post a photo of your work place and that’s it. However, for me it took me a while, as aside from the forgetfulness alibi, I still don’t have a permanent work place at the Uni.

So, in short, not only did I need to address our being NPAs but I also have to settle my permanent work place. Anyway, here are photos of my work place, the trailer trash!

When media “dictates” the story

The Philippine Daily Inquirer recently made a major blooper bannering a headline that President Arroyo was present during an alleged bribery of several politicians. The news was also carried on Inquirer.net. Apparently the error was discovered only before the daily deadline for the day’s stories, which is at 3pm.

Lao Plot and Burma action

A few months back, one story on Bangkok Post caught my eye. As one wire agency reporter described it, the plot was just like a classic spy novel. The plot costs around US$28million and though it will be led by a leading Hmong activist in the US, it will mainly be supported by ex-CIA agents, which number barely about a size of a platoon. The US took the plan seriously (well, it was serious that money and other logistics were allegedly ready) and charged those behind the possibly deadly revolutionary plan.

This case shows that the US is full of irony. Here’s a noble plan, albeit deadly, to overthrow a tyrant government and yet they threw the books at the plotters. When they planned to attack Afghanistan and Iraq they were relying on their belief that it was their moral authority to lead the war on terror regardless whether it will be sanctioned by the United Nations or not (remember the lines of Judge Dredd, I AM the LAW!!!). 🙂

Now, Burma (Myanmar) is making some noise for change. More than a decade ago, Myanmar also faced the same turmoil, wherein people trooped to the street to demand change but they the government responded with a hail of bullet. However, the best help that Myanmar got were a series of economic sanctions from various countries, which didn’t work. Every country just stood to see the people of Myanmar suffer.

Today, it seems that it will be the same old story and it might probably be that the Myanmar Military Junta might go down to the books as the longest serving military dictators of all time (counting to around 40 years now).

My friend from Myanmar was able to return to Perth but he wasn’t able to join any of the protest action (just send me a personal message if you want to know why). However, I noticed that he is a changed man. He is a man burning with passion and anger against the government. He confirmed that there is possibly more than 200 that were killed in the military dispersal of the Buddhist monk-led protest rally in Yangon.

“I am very angry with my government,” he told me. “They killed the monks right at the most sacred place of our religion, Shwedagon Pagoda,” he explained. He said that hundreds are missing without a trace after the government crackdown. Everybody’s being arrested, according to him, whether they participated or not. It was worse for those living in proximity to the temple. Some of them were arrested even if they haven’t participated in any protest action. He also said that the jails in Yangon are filled to the brim.

The US Ambassador Shari Villarosa recently held a high level meeting with the government. My friend told me that she was allegedly shown the monks that were arrested and Villarosa was made to believe that the monks were treated fairly. However, my friend believes otherwise. “They are killing everybody,” he said. Allegedly, all the monks that were arrested were marked for “substitution.” “The monks were killed as they were replaced by soldiers posing as monks. They shaved their heads to make her (Villarosa) believe that they are still alive. How could she possibly know that they are legitimately the monks when she can’t speak or can’t understand Burmese language,” he explained.

As of this writing, all the hyped talks at the international (UN) and regional level (ASEAN) are on going however, all are just talks and no definitive action (except for further economic sanctions) are being planned. As always, it’s all just talk despite the large number of people killed.

So what’s with Myanmar, Rwanda, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia among others that each are treated in a different way by the international community especially the all powerful US??? You make your guess, I rest my fingers for now…

In the service of the Filipino

I was surprised to see that Blogbastic stats for today shot up more than 10 folds and I haven’t updated regularly!??? When I inspected, I thought, what’s with the day? It turns out that it was the Pacquiao-Barrera fight. Most Filipinos who don’t have access of live video feed tried to rely on live radio feed to be updated by the fight.

Salamat po sa pagbisita.

Glad to be of service,

Blogbastic!

Reminiscent of Mendiola

I have yet to hear from my friend from Myanmar. He was supposed to return last night. I saw a video clip of what happened in Yangon over Mizzima News. When I saw it, it reminded me of Mendiola Massacre–I just couldn’t take the brutality of the situation.

A friend of mine was in the front line of the protesting peasant farmers. Her colleague was hit by a bullet in the face. She survived and so did her colleague. I saw the event on TV and it became one of historical events on TV that I’ll never forget aside from the assassination of Ninoy.

It was reported that the Military Junta had cut off the internet connection in the country to avoid any leakage of any documentation of the military action against the protesters and hold a clip on the nation’s blogger informants. The military had previously cracked down on protesters in 1988 when thousands were killed. They are still defiant again despite increasing international pressure including from its strongest ally, China. If they continue their defiance at this stage, will they have the guts to annihilate more than 10,000 people at one go? Will the international community, again, just watch and contribute to the rhetoric of diplomatic scolding and spanking (economic sanction) of this country? It’s everybody’s guess and I hope that the video clip at Missima News will be the last image of that kind that I will see from Yangon.

Burma in crisis

As I’m writing this, a colleague of mine is still in Yangon (Rangoon). He called yesterday to assure us that he’s fine. Well, we all know of the news about this poor country. What followed was unprecedented. To think that all the monks wanted was just an apology. Things got worse today.

My colleague is having second thoughts of leaving Yangon. He has an obligation to finish his study here in Perth but he would be leaving his family behind with his country deteriorating day after day. He’s arriving tomorrow… maybe.

To find out more about the Burma crisis click here.

Almost a month

I thought I’ll never get out of this nightmare but I’m glad I’m sitting down again (did I ever stood up???) in front of the computer and trying to relax my almost burnt out mind….

There’s just too many stress that came just as my blog turned 1. Tonight I’m close to finishing one consultancy report and there’s another one on the line, which should not be a problem (hmm… am I sensing procrastination there?? naaah… I’m well aware so I will not wear. 🙂 ).