Fingerprints on a Dusty Shelf

I’ve had a lot of ideas floating around in my head and I’ve been meaning to really sit down and write about them, giving each the right amount of attention. Unfortunately, one must bow to the time constraints in one’s life. So right off the top of my head, in a sheer attempt to preserve if but just bits of them, like fingerprints on a dusty shelf:

1. Last Tuesday, we had Tots Guillermo (one of the best saxophone and jazz artists of our country) play for us. He has been learning the shakahachi, a Japanese variation of the flute. He played us a piece called the “Mating of the Cranes”. We all noticed the silences between notes. I dismissed it thinking that the music was really that slow. But Sir Tots later explained that those silences meant something. The Japanese call it the ma or the universe speaking. Silence is a part of the music and is filled with meaning. One Japanese musician took out his koto and strummed his fingers over it but never touching it, and therefore no note was played. This whole thing happened at a concert. Western music is some what terrified of silences. We may have breaks here and there but never the long, drawn out quiet of Japanese music. It brings to mind the verse “Be still and know that I am God.”
2. In my excitement in writing the previous post, I neglected to mention that my cousins from Singapore are here. They’re in the province right now. The Flores family will be staying here in the Philies until Sunday and on Saturday we will be doing something like “Before Sunrise”. I have an exam from 1-5pm so I’ll only be able meet them after that. Omar has an exam also so he’ll be catching a bus from Baguio to Manila around 4pm. So I guess we’ll be staying up on Saturday night just so we can all spend time together.
3. I might be going back to ballet class after all. Might. Am still praying for it and for the needed funding. If anyone can spare P1,600 (about $30) a month, here’s one lady who would love to be a recipient of your generosity. :) Really now, if you know a somebody who needs private tutoring, do let me know. Thanks!
4. I have this programming subject this semester (Stat 124) and it’s nasty. I hate all these flowcharts and pseudocodes. I am so thankful that I told my mom I didn’t want to major in Computer Science, a course that was in demand at the time of my high school graduation. This is the [stupid] exam that is going to steal me away for four hours from the family reunion on Saturday.
5. So Noli De Castro has [finally] spoken. He’s still on GMA’s side and said that it was premature to withdraw support from the President. I got to owe it to the guy, he’s been wise in his movements during these times.
6. Do you know that Canada legalized gay marriage? Hope to write more on this in the distant future.
7. Yesterday, I took my Stat 131 (Parametric Inferential Statistics) first exam. I can only say that the there is a 90% probability that I will get an utterly low score and that I am taking that kind of result very hard. Imagine me knocking head on wall repeatedly. It wouldn’t be too far from the truth.
8. Still not down on my splits but there has been a tiny improvement. One must celebrate tiny victories.
9. I just want to explain the Pillow Book section in the sidebar. I’ve been reading Liza Dalby’s The Tale of Murasaki and learning some more interesting stuff about ancient Japan. A pillow book is what ladies called any book or notebook they slept beside. They would sleep next to them so that if they ever got some inspiration to write a waka (precursor of the haiku), they could just roll over, grab their brushes and write. In my case though, I read.
10. I’ve been hearing much griping over the latest installment of Harry Potter. Does anyone have a precious copy that I can borrow so I can gripe along with the rest of the world?
11. Oh, I got a copy of "Sex and the Supremacy of Christ" in my e-mail inbox. I've read through the introduction and I'm hooked. I'll be doing a review on it sometime soon so stay around for that, please.