Friday, April 29, 2005
The man with two novels, and the scientist
My curiosity was piqued when Aissa posted about her baby Chase's upcoming first birthday, since it seems just like yesterday when it all happened. It made me think about how I'll soon have a high school friend who already has a one-year old, and then I remembered that another high school buddy, Karl, already had a little girl who has to be more than a year old now.I finally did get my mind wrapped around those facts, and earlier today I tried going over entries in my, ahem, secret online journal to find out when Chase was born, thinking that maybe I had made an entry about him and his mother then.
(I didn't find an entry about them, but I was able to find through our group mailing list archive that Chase was born last June.)
Anyway, I found another interesting entry exactly a year ago from that journal:
National artist Nick Joaquin passed away earlier this morning at the age 87. Aside from his work, Nick Joaquin was also famous for his beer drinking. It just made perfect sense that before his death, his niece said, "He was drinking beer and writing."
His most enduring work was The Summer Solstice, which was later adapted into the movie Tatarin.
...it is May Day Eve tomorrow night, perfect time to lock yourself in a room with a mirror with no light other than a single candle. If you go by Nick Joaquin's story, you'll see your future husband/wife in the mirror... if everything goes right. If something went wrong, you might end up seeing the devil or a witch instead.
Almost a year later, we hear news of the tragic death of former Phivolcs chief Raymundo Punongbayan. Paolo Manalo put it best:
For most of us who were ignorant and didn't think it was possible to be a scientist in this country, Punongbayan showed us that it was possible, and that it was worthwhile to serve the country using science.
