Flawed and brilliant
I had to cut my blog short yesterday because session was also abruptly suspended. It was also raining buckets and so i thought I’d go home as soon as possible because I didn’t bring my kayak with me and I didn’t feel like wading home. My P40 umbrella would not have been able to withstand the strong downpour either (note to self- buy a sturdier umbrella).
Last night I ended up watching episodes of the third season of House instead of, um, reading this book on international law which
I’ve been strongly advised to read. House is quite possibly the most amusing series I’ve ever come across — Hugh Laurie is such an amazing actor. Last night his character played the piano, something that Mr. Laurie himself does quite well in real life.
House is such an unadulterated bastard, and one is torn between liking him immensely and admiring him for being so intelligent and sharp and analytical, and wanting to strangle him with his own stethoscope for also being such a sunnavabitch.
I watch at least three episodes every night (yeah, am a couch potato), and when I”m done with the DVD, I’ll move on to the Monk DVD which comprises four seasons.
Why do we like flawed people?
We like them only when they’re also brilliant.
To be both flawed and brilliant is to be interesting. Which is not to say that to be both is not a heavy burden. (But then again, please Oh Named God, save us from being uninteresting, boring and ordinary).
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I like the premise of John Updike’s Claudius and Gertrude. It tells the story of what took place in the lives of the two adulterers before Hamlet Prince of Denmark came of age.
In the novel, more is known of both Claudius and Gertrude and what made them fall in love and commit adultery and betray the King (it will be recalled that Claudius assassinated the king by pouring a vial of poison into his ear canal, and after that the king’s ghost haunted Hamlet, imploring his son to avenge him). One ends up understanding why their did what they did, and though one doesn’t applaud or support their crimes, one does get new perspective.)
I don’t remember whom it was who said that there is nothing more interesting than human lives.
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Places I would rather be and things I’d rather be doing than being here, sitting here in Congress being alternately annoyed and bored:
1. Baguio, eating strawberries
2. At home, watching DVDs
3. Fleur de Lys, eating cake
4. UP Diliman, academic oval, running with my dog
5. Gateway Mall, watching Bourne Ultimatum and eating popcorn.
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The NCR Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board laid down a P12 wage increase for workers in Metro Manila. Salamat, ha? Napakalaking tulong niyan.
Since the Macapagal-Arroyo administration came to power,
minimum wages barely increased. In fact, based on data from the NWPC, from 2001
to 2006, the minimum wage as well as the cost of living allowance or COLA in
all regions decreased in real terms by 3.96%. In nominal terms, there was
increase of almost 23.66% in the minimum wage during the last six years, but
this was far from being enough to cover increasing costs of living.
In 2006, the average
daily minimum wage including the COLA for all regions was P229.35 ($4.74) which
falls short of the P447.98 needed to meet the estimated daily cost of living
(i.e. family living wage computed by the NWPC) for all regions pegged at
P677.33 ($14.02). The difference between the minimum wage and the cost of
living has greatly increased by 72.27% between 2001 and 2006. Every year the
gap widened by 11.60%.
Based on data from
the National Wages and Productivity Board, the living wage for a family of six
as of May 2007 is pegged at P786. The previous daily minimum wage in Metro Manila, was is not even half of it
at P350 (P300 basic plus P50 cost of
living allowance).
For the last seven years, workers have been demanding a
substantial nationwide, wage increase. Beyond being a measure that will give
immediate economic relief, a substantial wage increase is a matter of social
justice. This is what will clearly constitute ’social payback’ , coupled with
price controls, pro-poor and genuinely equitable tax measures and improved
budgetary allocations for education, health, housing and other services.
