Are we ever 100% ready?

"How often I have found out where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else."
- R. Buckminster Fuller -

I guess maybe the idea is to first, set out.

God I hope I am a sophomore, but I am not really sure

A good friend of mine once introduced the idea of the “University of Real Life” [社会大学], a place where there is no course duration, no syllabus, unlikely and unbeknownst teachers, and no guarantee of passing with honest study.

Two years ago, I made an “enrolment” of sorts into such an institution. I applied all my pre-requisites, watched and learned, and here are some takeaways I have so far:

- We are all alone, yet no man is an island
- Talk is cheap, yet information is power
- There are no perpetual friends and enemies, but relationships go a long way
- No news may or may not mean good news
- You may not agree with the rules of the game, but to be honest - winning is fun
- Go with the flow, but all is lost if you are not true to yourself

I’d like to say that 2+2=4, and I still believe that it does, but My Goodness, sometimes so many invisible forces need to come together to make that unsuspecting equation happen, and depending on who you are, who you know, what deliberately / inadvertently happens, it just may not add up despite best efforts.

I suspect that in the end, only I can define flying colors for myself. Until then, I'm just doing up the homework and waiting for the next lesson to unfold.

Life As We Know It

Work took me to the slums of Malabon last week - this particular one was called "Vegetable", a community of makeshift huts built on a haphazard network of cement slabs and planks, elevated above trash and stagnant water below. Yet, life goes on every day as it does anywhere else.

Pouch pack everything: shampoo, cooking oil, washing powder, you name it. Small packs mean affordable prices for the low income groups.

How perfect Creation is: Flowers bloom, and children are beautiful no matter where.

Pedicab drivers: These guys were blaring a Tagalog version of "Nobody-nobody-but-you clap clap clap clap" (it is The song to play now for the upcoming elections).

Hardware store on wheels: Torches, batteries, mobile phone chargers and other bits and bobs.

These little convenience stores or "sari-sari" are everywhere - usually the store is at the front, and the family lives at the back. Salted eggs are painted red.

Resident dogs - these friendly guys looked like they'd been here a while, maybe seen a couple of things in their time.