Things I learned this week

- Intense midday heat + midnight cold + exhaustion - willingness to sleep = sickness.

- Driving can cure a recurring headache and fever.

- Planning to get an NBI clearance certificate? Bring a fan, water, spare shirts and lots of patience.

- Oh, and make sure you’ve eaten. You don’t want to faint while in line, trust me...and the NBI Carriedo center has long ones.

- In the Philippines at least there is a world of difference between government offices and private ones. Requesting and paying for a certification in DLSU took no more than 15 minutes. Doing the same for an NBI clearance meant 2 hours in oppressive heat and very long lines.

- When thinking of commuting death sentences to life imprisonment, first think of just how crowded (ergo potentially unhealthy) our country’s jails are.

- Laughter really is the best medicine. I was laughing at the antics of WWE WrestleMania 22 last night and my confused temperature actually dropped 0.3 degrees Celsius.

- Everything really is better in the morning.
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This Holy Week was a lot more special than all that preceded it because I was in the company of my friends in the choir.

It’s easy to brush off Holy Week as an expensive irrelevance where the Church can strut its stuff when you don’t participate in all the celebration. Whether it was getting lost driving to seven churches or singing in the Easter vigil, this time around I was immersed in everything and for once, Easter felt definitive and very real.
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I should cut down on my diet. I’m not getting any thinner and frankly I feel a little stupid these days.