My top 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee words:

Triticale
Abseil
Cyanophycean
Grognard
Fauchard
Oberek
Rognon
Serrafine Serrefine


Word.

Shame



Shame is a documentary about Mukhtaran Mai, a Pakistani woman publicly gang-raped by order of a tribal council, in retribution for an alleged relationship between her 12-year-old brother and a girl from a prominent family in the village of Meerwala. This is a common occurrence in her village, but she was the first woman to take her case all the way to the Supreme Court. As her story became known throughout the world, donations starting pouring in. Yet she refused to leave her village and instead put up, first, a girls' school, and then later on, a boys' school. Even when the money stopped coming, she continued to support the schools and her village, and continued to speak out against inhumane practices by her society. The government, which initially supported her, tried to keep her quiet by refusing to give her a visa to leave the country. There is an almost comical scene in the film where Mukhtaran Mai and a government official are holding a press conference together, and they are simulataneously stating contradictions: the official that Mukhtaran Mai was never kidnapped, and Mukhtaran Mai that she was, in fact, being held against her will. The film was very inspiring, and after the screening, which was part of the Tribeca Film Festival, Mukhtaran Mai herself answered questions from the audience. I was captivated by her quiet strength and self-assurance and lack of self-promotion. The director, Mohammed Naqvi, aptly concluded the meet-and-greet by explaining that he called the film "Shame", because of the many connotations of the word - the shame felt by Mukhtaran Mai and her brother, the shame inflicted by the tribal council and the rapists, the shame that the Pakistani government felt Mukhtaran Mai brought to her country, and so on.

I don't give a...

The thing about Houston is that everything is so far away. Spent half of the week-end driving, rather riding, on the freeway at 90 mph, clinging to my seatbelt, checking the rearview mirror for cops.

My cousin's wedding was beautiful. The ceremony itself was so touching. Another cousin said if everybody heard what the pastor said, the divorce rate would be much, much lower. Basically he said that when you get married, everything else becomes second priority to your spouse, except God. Your main concern is to make sure that your spouse is happy. Most marital problems stem from self-centeredness, he said. If couples would put their spouse first, then the marriage would be relatively wrinkle-free.

That's why I really can't tolerate infidelity in a marriage. For me, it's just such a serious commitment. If you were going to mess it up, then why even get into it in the first place. You shouldn't have gotten married if you're going to go behind your wife's back taking a girl half your age to seedy motels. I have even less to say to girls who go out with married men. I think that's the lowest of the low you can do, besides murder. Who do you think you are, taking this man away from his wife and kids. I know it's really judgmental of me, but I just can't stand liars and adulterers. When I'm married, even if I get attracted to other people, I hope I have the strength and decency to look away and remain true, because I promised to. Well, hopefully I've made sure before then that I'm married to the only person I want to be married to.

Yay! I must say, the decision to finally trade in my maaad old nokia 6610 was difficult (we've been together 4 years) but totally necessary, since it's so obsolete that I can't do much with it and the paint is so chipped it doesn't even look white anymore. So, tadah! I'm typing this from my new red blackberry pearl which is so great that I was so ready to go all hardcore on some poor customer service rep just because I lost online access for two days. But now it's back and everything is okay again. I think I am secretly disappointed that I didn't get to bitch at anyone, though.

Spent a week-end in Boston traipsing around in ducks and trolleys. Ducks are these military vehicles that go on both land and water. Very exciting. Also the tour guide was very knowledgeable about the city and its history and made it very funny and interesting. We got goBoston cards, which came up to just over 30 bucks for the aquarium, the trolley, the harbor cruise and the duck tours. Whew.

A botanical adventure

Today I went to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx for The Orchid Show. Everything was lovely. We were amazed at how similar the plant life in South America is to the Philippines. In one of the exhibits, there was a green-colored vine prominently featured hanging from the ceiling which was supposedly from the Philippines, but which I have never before seen in my life. It was called the jade vine and had a fascinating tinge, kind of like the fake dye they spray on roses at the flower shop to make it "green".

Anyway, the afternoon was well spent and quite enjoyable until we found ourselves at The Shop where you could purchase various botanical things and sundry, and now I am googling VENUS FLY TRAP CARE at 2 am. No matter. Apparently, you only have to feed these suckers insects, preferrably live, about four times a year. And although they are capable of digesting human flesh, I really won't have to deal with that until it's at least 14 inches long.

Tried and true

I don't know. This blogger/gmail thing confuses me. Has it occurred to anyone how dependent we are on passwords and pin numbers? At work alone, I have to memorize four passwords to get through the day. And then I have one for my yahoo, my blogger, my netflix, my friendster. And the list goes on.

I am going to be very busy this year (this I realized three months into the new year, on the first day of spring, no less). If all goes well, next year I will have learned to drive, be a US citizen, be in business school, and be in Europe for spring break. Sounds fabulous, doesn't it? If only I could get my act together.

I did manage to take the TOEFL two weeks ago. It went well, besides the fact that I was too impatient, was the second person to walk out, and as a result have no idea whatsoever what range my score is in . It was very distracting having everyone around you trying to speak clearly into their microphones while you're trying to listen with the non-noise-blocking headphones. While I was in the middle of writing an essay, my keyboard decided to get stuck and I had to summon a proctor who had to summon somebody else, while my time was running out. Also, I had bought Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils for the occasion but didn't get to use them as only pencils provided by the testing center were allowed. The test center was awful, by the way; their system consisted of a person calling out room numbers, which we were supposed to locate on a hand-written list posted on a wall somewhere. It was all very confusing.

Anyhow, as evident in my non-presence on the internet, I have been kept busy by other things such as weekly trips to Costco, outlet shopping, laundry, magazine recycling and the like, and will probably continue to be if I everything goes as planned and I get ahold of Shaun T's Hip Hop Abs video. In other words, I have been gaining weight like crazy (hello bacon and eggs everyday) and in dire need of an activity that doesn't involve typing.

This makes me giggle every time.

The Flea

MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is ;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two ;
And this, alas ! is more than we would do.

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,
And cloister'd in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
'Tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.

- John Donne

Ah, life was so much simpler back then.