A Wusthof Gourmet Knife Block Set means serious business in the kitchen.
(I wanted to get Japanese blades, i.e., Global–the brand used by my favorite chefs, Giada de Laurentiis and Jamie Oliver, but I thought they were not available locally, until I stumbled on them in Rustan’s. Global is very expensive, so in the end I opted to get Wusthof, which is less expensive ;p. I also looked at Henckels, but when I handled them they seemed very light, while the Wusthof knives felt just right.)
Thank God for the dappled light
that streamed through the window
softly, slowly to rest gently upon your cheeks.
And you–Golden, godlike, ever
handsome,
youthful,
smiling.
I shall remember you always in that instant
when the light shone upon your face.
Heartbreakingly.
As if you were a beautiful present
just waiting to be loved.
I have an entire day before I begin to work on what I like to call the “Book Project from Hell.” In my years of working for this publishing firm, I think I’ve only encountered one such other project, which shall remain unnamed, of course. So, with this current project, my “hellish project(s)” score is now up to TWO. Not bad you might say, but then again you have not survived going through page after page of seemingly endless, badly written prose—grammatically incorrect, unclear and wordy, with direct quotes galore—or months of consultations with authors who can’t seem to make up their minds as far as the content of their manuscripts is concerned (like what happened with Book Project from Hell No. 1, where editing stretched from three to four months because the author kept changing his/her [well, this is a blind item, after all] mind that I almost self-induced a coma). My first experience was enough to scare me away from taking on similar projects, but what can one do when one is a sucker? P asked why I won’t start writing again, at least, I would be responsible only on making me look and sound good and not making other people sound, well, less stupid, but I will have to see if I can still churn out writing that is publishable.
Well, I have an entire day to do as I please: blog, watch DVDs, organize my computer, clean the ref (Ugh! The peril of adulthood!), cook sinigang na beef, or play Wii. I say, thank God for small reprieves.
***
Speaking of perfect time wasters, I think it’s time I stop watching the Michael Jackson coverage on various TV channels. God, I’m hypnotized. I can’t seem to get enough details of his death, of his life, of his music, and his videos. I can’t say that I’m a diehard fan, but I do love some of his works. I was born in the mid-’70s and I think that the people of my generation–we feel more strongly that Michael belonged to us. I loved his Jackson 5 albums, I loved how he looked as a young, black man–before all the surgeries–that in recent years it has become painful for me to even look at him when on TV or in magazines. It depresses me to dwell on the fact that he’s really gone forever, but then his music lives on.
Here’s one of my favorite MJ music videos (“You Rock My World”) from his album Invincible (gosh, his crotch grabbing and gyrating here is just the best ever!):
Read Neal Cruz’s May 31st article in PDI about some South Korean businesspeople allegedly engaged in illegally carting off bags and bags of black sands from the shores of different Cagayan municipalities to be shipped off to their country and used (well, the magnetite in the sands) as an ingredient in transforming iron ore to steal (this on top of other news that some South Koreans also succeeded in building a high-rise in the middle of a Philippine forest cover and had intended to build a hotel and spa right at the foot of Taal Volcano before townspeople rose in indignant protest to thwart them).
People in Cagayan also rose in protest because the removal of large quantities of sand from the beaches (besides making them unsightly) will cause seawater to seep into farmlands, making them unproductive. One mayor, Ignacio Taruc, refused to issue these greedy businesspeople permit to dig up the beach in his municipality, but someone else, also a government official, overturned his decision and has allegedly had a hand in bullying the good mayor out of his office beginning March of this year.
Last April, a cease-and-desist order was issued by the DENR and this had put a stop to the mining activities, but irreparable damage has already been done.
If you have not read Cruz’s article, you may scroll down this entry and read it in its entirety here.
If you have blogs, please copy and paste Neal Cruz’s article in your blogs for the benefit of your readers who may not have read the write-up, yet, and denounce this dastardly crime against our environment. We live in a country where authorities are easily persuaded to commit acts that run against the best interests of the nation, but if we rally together to condemn illegal activities, such as the degradation of our natural resources, one of God’s greatest and most beautiful gifts to us, followed only by our (generally) beautiful character as a people, then we send a message to the world that it is not OK to take advantage of our country, it is not OK to corrupt us with money, then dump wastes or cart off precious resources just to suit certain people’s selfish, greedy, and nefarious intentions.
——-
As I See It
South Koreans illegally mining beaches
By Neal Cruz
You have already heard what the South Koreans have done in our country, in particular at the Subic Bay Free Trade Zone and on Volcano Island in Taal, Batangas. They built a high-rise residential condominium in the middle of a forest and tried to raze a mini-forest along the pier area to build a hotel-casino in Subic. They succeeded in the forest but were blocked in the second by a Filipino architect trying to save our environment. In Taal, they almost succeeded in putting up a hot springs spa at the foot of Taal volcano itself, with the approval of the mayor but without an Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). They had almost finished construction when the people woke up to what they were doing and protested. So the national government stepped in and construction was stopped.
Now listen to what the South Koreans are doing in the northernmost tip of Cagayan, home province of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
Six coastal municipalities of Cagayan have miles and miles of beaches that attract tourists. Foreign and domestic tourists like the beaches because of their color. No, they are not white like that of Boracay but the opposite color: black.
Although the sands are not white, they are more valuable than the snow-white sands of Boracay. It is because the black sand is 70 percent composed of magnetite, a mineral used in the smelting of iron ore into steel. It is what the South Koreans are lusting after, the newly industrialized country being hungry for steel. They have been digging up the beaches and shipping away the black sand. They have already made a wasteland of the beaches of five municipalities. Without a beachfront to hold back the sea, salt water has invaded the farms and made them unproductive. They have started mining the beach of a sixth municipality, Buguey, at Barangay Minanga Este, but the mayor, Ignacio M. Taruc, and the municipal council stopped them.
Koreans and their agents made many visits to Mayor Taruc to ask for a mining permit but the latter refused. The municipal government vigorously opposed any form of mining on its beaches as it would mar its pristine beauty and pose a danger to its farmlands. The council passed a resolution “vehemently objecting to the mining of black sand and other minerals along the coastal areas of Buguey as we believe that this is destructive not only to the environment but also poses a danger to the safety and security of the people and the loss of their livelihood due to the entry of seawater into their farms.”
Apparently, the governor, Alvaro T. Antonio, was not able to resist the “persuasive powers” of the Koreans. In spite of the opposition of the people of Buguey, he issued a permit to mine its beaches of black sand, but it was in the name of a political ally, one Renato Alariao, a former member of the municipal council, although it was being used by the Korean company, Jisan Mining Corp.
Mayor Taruc wrote to the governor objecting to the mining operation as it would openly violate the Mining Law as well as the Provincial Environment Code which prohibits “the gathering, extraction, and/or removal of beach resources, pebbles, sand and gravel and boulders for whatever purpose.”
Governor Antonio did not reply even as Mayor Taruc refused to issue a mayor’s permit. Instead, the governor directed the mining operation to proceed with the assistance of armed men.
Taruc brought the case to Environment Secretary Lito Atienza who, on recommendation of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau which found the operation illegal, issued a cease-and-desist order on April 22, 2009.
The order stopped further degradation of the environment but not before the beach and protective bunkers were ruined.
The people of Buguey formed human barricades to prevent the shipping away of thousands of bags of black sand but the governor allegedly sent 100 policemen from different municipalities to act as guards of the miners.
The governor also resurrected an old invalid administrative case filed by the mayor’s political opponent against Taruc and immediately suspended him from office for 60 days last March 4. When the 60-day suspension expired last May 4, the provincial council rushed its decision on the case, convicted Mayor Taruc of simple misconduct but imposed the maximum six-month suspension.
Worse, the suspension was immediately carried out despite Taruc’s timely motion for reconsideration. More than 100 policemen from the different towns were sent by the governor to the Buguey town hall, surrounded it and ejected Mayor Taruc despite his and his supporters’ protestations that the council decision was not yet final and executory. Electric power and water supply of the town hall were cut off. Taruc’s opponent, Vice Mayor Licerio Antiporda III, assumed the mayorship, but town hall employees still went to Mayor Taruc’s home were he held office.
The suspension order of Taruc is on appeal and a complaint for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act has been filed against Governor Antonio with the Office of the Ombudsman, praying that the governor be preventively suspended.
Apart from the charges filed against Governor Antonio and the dummies of the Korean mining company, shouldn’t charges of illegal mining be filed against the Koreans and their accomplices? Shouldn’t the Department of Interior and Local Government step in to prevent abuses by the provincial government? And shouldn’t the Department of Foreign Affairs summon the Korean ambassador and denounce the abuses of Korean business firms in the country?
Been feeling royally pooped since returning from an out-of-town trip with P (had been so upbeat and happy but a week ago, returned to find so many things have changed that I feel like I’ve been thrown into a giant blender. P feels as conflicted as I do, maybe more, of course more! Do we say thank you for being blessed with the status quo? Do we say fuck you for our friends? Argh!). Suddenly found myself with a gazillion things to do (including a book project from J, but, hey, we must never scoff at work, so hooray for work!) that I’m already tired before I’ve even begun. On top of it all is this wet, muggy weather (33-35 deg. C in the South, not exactly what one would expect in June). Ugh! What have we done to the planet, people?!
Ang bango, bango . . . ang saya, saya!
Hay, would rather be playing with phone apps. if you ask me. Apps. make me so f*cking happy!
Here's a hairstyle app.
P and I, cartoon style.
P and I, first rendered in Vampire World, then in Cinematic Color, then opened in Sticki Pici for the final rendering in "Purikura."
If only life were as easy to manipulate and manage as a phone app.