transposable element

dammit. one week before our trip and the country is breaking apart. ironic that, 20 years after, the same dates that gained the philippines international attention in 1986 again puts the country on international news. just that this year, it’s nothing to be proud about. damn.

in about 10 days, i’ll be on the other side of the earth, basking in the heat and humidity of the tropics. if time and the coffers permit, i might be able to see more than laguna, manila and pampanga this time: a trip to bicolandia is in the offing and a cousin in davao is inviting.

ahhh, bliss! but until then, here i am, still basking in the bliss of… paperwork. articles to finish, term papers that jack up my aspirin consumption and written exams that adds wrinkles to my forehead and knots to my eyebrows. i’ve always loved teaching. it’s the teacher’s “homework” that i hate. arrrgh!!!

but even that is done. over. finito. marks are made and sent. so what next?

a book chapter to edit, laundry to iron, pasalubongs to buy, another job interview to prepare for, jan’s fasching costume, jan’s play-dates, kindergarten cleaning duties, post-dated blogs to write, yada, yada, yada…

a lot of things on my plate. life is good.

i’ve never been a fan of such shows as american idol, and it’s german counterpart for the search, deutschland sucht den superstar. not even that time when there was a half-pinay on the finalists. but a few weeks ago, i caught this guy singing everything i do (i do it for you).

oh. my. god. talk about weak knees.

i’m loving gmail more and more. now they’ve incorporated a chat function into gmail, and with just one click, you’re ready to chat. it’s a basic version of the google talk, without the cam, conference and stealth features. i don’t like it that i can’t be “invisible”, but for a quick chat, gmail-chat is great!

want to try gmail? give me an email ad where i can send you an invitation; i’ve 98 left.

let me tell you ’bout the birds and the bees
and the flowers and the trees
and the moon up above
and the thing called loooooove….

the german version. it’s a children’s book, and you might want to enlist the help of babelfish or google-translate, if the cartoon illustrations are not, er, graphic enough.

last week, i found out that i have been instrumental in two people landing new jobs. actually, all i did was forward them a couple of links that i had already been mulling on for a while. the first was a freelance writing job which i felt wasn’t really up my alley; i felt i wasn’t qualified, even if i was offered the job by the boss himself. eventually, a friend took on the job and i can’t think of any other person i’d rather do it than her.

the second is a job i passed along with more than a tinge of regret. it was a job announcement that has been recurring several times over the past year, sometimes even making it into my inbox by way of old subscriptions to science job search engines. like a tempting vixen, it was calling, luring me to submit my resume. after a brief discussion with hubby, though, i decided to defer deciding for later, and passed the opportunity instead to someone else. now she’s got the job, and i’m truly happy for her, too.

but, ouch. i’m as green as the grass in may. sometime soon, i really have to decide what i want to do with (the dregs of) my career.

a few weeks ago, i thought i had carpal tunnel syndrome. pain coursing from the fingers all the way to about midway to the elbow, partiucularly at the wrist. i thought it was a combination of age, winter, having slept on it, and… too much time on the computer.

well, according to a harvard university study (and who dares challenge harvard, eh?), i may as well dismiss blogging as a culprit.

According to them, even as much as seven hours a day of tapping on a computer keyboard won’t increase your risk of this disabling disorder.

pain relievers won’t work against it, from your common ibuprofen to vioxx. but short of steroid injection and surgery, there’s one non-invasive therapy that might work: yoga.

so, repeat after me: ohhhhmmmmmm……. (mind the cupped hand. that’s probably how it’s supposed to work!)

as with any other occassion, men are always hard to find gifts for. but lucky me, i know exactly what to get hubby this time. he’s been restless the last few days, and all because the latest iron maiden dvd has been released yesterday. so i volunteered to get it for him, and i might as well get some good earplugs for myself. luckily, our oma and opa neighbors don’t need any. judging by the volume of their tv’s, they probably take off their hearing aids when at home.

so! seven days to go! what are you getting your significant other? junnie’s got unique ideas: strange-looking cuff links, projection alarm clock that’s hard to miss, and a kama sutra bedside box. seriously, though, i like his suggestion of role reversal. maybe i’ll soften the impact of my gift and send some valentine flowers along with eddie above.

what are you getting him (if you’re a he, what are you hoping to get?)?

have you ever met someone who seems to embody everything you DON’T want to be? i have. this one person has managed to annoy me like no one ever had, it’s bordeline amazing! and daily om confirms what i already suspected for some time:

When you see traits in others that evoke feelings of anger, annoyance, or hatred, you may be seeing reflected back at you those parts of yourself that you have disowned or do not like.

Because we are all mirrors for each other, looking at the people in your life can tell you a lot about yourself. Who you are can be laid bare to you through what you see in others. It is easy to see the traits you do not like in others. It is much more difficult to realize that you possess those same traits. Often, the habits, attitudes, and behaviors of others are closely linked to our unconscious and unresolved issues.

ahhh, well then, i ought to thank this –*shudders*–”mirror of myself”. because out of my annoyance, i have consciously forced myself to behave the exact opposite of this human benchmark. which must mean that i have been unconsciously striving to make a better version of myself, eh?

how about you? think of one trait that annoys you. do you see that trait in yourself?

hah! i was ready to replace this template, but finally, on a last attempt to remove that icon image that shows up on the tab, i finally stumbled on a solution: i created my own favicon!

cool, eh? go make yourself one and show me how it looks like!

now if only stock option trading is just as easy to figure out… then i’d invest $10 and come out a million richer by the end of the day… and then i’d never have to figure out how to tweak codes just to remove a darn icon… and then i’d probably be able to actually pay someone to tailor a template just for me, complete with a personalised masthead and so on… so i can channel my efforts into other productive endeavors than template tweaking… heck productive? what can be more productive than being able to turn in a million from a $10 investment?

oh, ruth, wake up. it’s stocks, not disneyland.