Getting my groove back

I’ve had the opportunity to read blogs just now. With all the postvacation matters I attend to, I’m now starting to get back into the normal course of my life. The hangover is still there, but I realize I have to get back to my regular stuff (like assisting Wendy in her schoolwork, going to work in order to fill the huge hoile in my bank account, searching for the perfect weight loss product, and, of course, blogging!).

I just hope that my sleep also goes back to normal…I now sleep at around 2-3 am instead of the normal 9-10 pm. And I have been sleep deprived for the past few days. I have felt like I have been floating for the past days.

Not that I’m over the excitement, but now that I’m slowly beginning to get my groove back, expect more posts…expecially on my recent trip!

Wish I could look through the crystal ball

“Financial crisis: markets slide around the world”

“European Union tested by world economic crisis”

“IMF: World economy to slow sharply, led by US”

These headlines really got me bothered. The American economic crisis is sending ripples around the world…and we may be (and most probably will be) hit. I admit that I am not yet feeling the effect, but I worry for the long-term. Will the effects be huge or detrimental to us? What will happen to our economy? To the stock market? To futures trading? To the job market?

On a personal note, will the company I work for, which is a US-based company, still hold for the years (or months) to come? Or worse, will I lose my job? Uncertainty has filled the air.

I know that, most of the time, I have disregarded my job and have not given it the appreciation it deserves. I might have spent more time whining about it than actually thanking God for it. But, as my friend (and officemate) and I have discussed, we are lucky to have our [great] jobs, and we will do all we can to keep them. After all, in these times, keeping a job might actually be easier than looking for one.

Definitely an eye-opener!

Walking free?

One need not watch TV from a high-tech home theater furniture to know that convicted murderer Claudio Teehankee Jr has been pardoned by President Gloria Macapaga-Arroyo. And this has elicited mixed reactions, but moslty violent ones. The Philippines is in an uproar.

I was a young student then at CSA, also in Dasmarinas Village, when the murders happened. It had a young mind then, but I can recall hearing the name Maureen Hultman and the words killed and murdured. I remember feeling shocked, but that was all there is to it. There was no deeper emotion, not deeper reaction. Now that I have read the case and conviction, as well as the pardon that came after and the regret that Teehankee has expressed (don’t know if it’s sincere, I don’t even know how to react), mixed emotions have surfaced.

I feel sorry for the victims’ families, and I can only imagine the anguish they must be feeling now that the person who took their loved ones away will now be walking free. Talk about injustice and life being unfair. Teehankee was supposed to be in prison for the rest of his life, paying for the crimes he did!

On the other hand, I also believe in second chances, and there are a number of people who have turned their lives around in prison. Considering that the person has truly repented and changed, are we to hinder the growth of this person? Imagine if people do not learn to forgive; we will be living in a world full of hatred.

This is a tricky situation because there are always two sides to a coin. Imagine yourself being on one side, and then the other. Hard diba? But one thing is certain, Teehankee will not “walk free” because he will carry the murders on his shoulders for the rest of his life. He may be truly sorry, but the mind does not forget that easily…and, unless he will suffer from amnesia, that memory will keep him chained for the rest of his life.