of honesty and the right thing to do

I nearly became 30,000 pesos richer today had I not been honest with the bank teller. She could have been on her way to not having three months' worth of salaries because of the simple error she made earlier. I deposited 11 thousand in my bank account and I don't know why she saw it as 30,000 or something. I double-checked my receipt and was amazed at the extra amount, so I checked my ATM outside to double-check again. Then I went in and called her on her mistake, which she was ever so grateful for my pointing it out.

Well, had I been a cheat, I would have walked away with that cash without batting an eyelash. But I guess I have a bigger conscience than what I expected. But I did that not to point out her error but it was the right thing to do. We should always go by what the right thing to do is, right?

Oh, I forgot, I'm in the Philippines. That doesn't happen everyday here. Look at the government.

I was just reading the news earlier about the proclaimed partylist winners, and one of them made Mikey Arroyo a congressman again. That really sucks. The rest of the winners will be proclaimed soon, and I wonder how many cheats got away with supposedly representing a marginalized sector of society in order to get a government seat in congress. Now that really sucks.

Hay, what's new, Philippines? Where do we go from here, pray tell? When our so-called "president-apparent" calls on showbiz host Boy Abunda to serve as his Secretary for the Department of Tourism... ay, mygash, methinks it's time to tour the world... or migrate.

We've been forgetting that most of them out there voted for a descendant of a rich oligarch. How will he fight for us? Nakup, Orapronobis, isdatchu? Sure, I love his mommy and I admire his daddy but I don't admire or love him. Sorry. Hay... let's see na lang nga. Bahala na bukas.

***

I am a bit sad about something today but I can't reveal what it is. But I can tell you that it still touches upon things we thought we are already handling well in certain sectors of society, things like gender discrimination and anti-gay sentiments. Hay, we really have a long way to go, baby.

On the other hand, I am happy about a new engagement that directly deals with countering this thing that saddened me. It's a small effort, I know, but every effort counts. Sabi nga nila, isang patak ng tubig, kapag marami, nagiging isang makamandag na buhos. Sige, abangan natin iyan.

For now, magpalamig na lang muna tayo sa ibang larangan.

***

I decided to reorient one of my earlier experiments with wordpress. I actually have four horcruxes there, mga leaflens offshoots. The one that's not going to be tinkered with is Takilya ni Leaflens, my film review blog and Karinderya ni Leaflens, my attempt at a food blog. I decided to collapse the other two, the literary blog and the media-oriented blog. I renamed it Culture Popper Leaflens for reasons you will see when you visit the site. Aside from film and food, I will be dumping there my thoughts on media and pop culture. I'm trying to segregate my writings so that they'll be easier to track, follow and gather. So there.

I'm actually psyched about the Culture Popper site, for some strange reason. Check it out. I also post pictures there, and you're welcome to comment as always.

Well, I'll try to turn in early tonight. Tomorrow's a big day -- the opening of the French Film Festival. They have an early brunch thing with press people, and I was invited. Kewl. Para maiba naman. Puro Instituto Cervantes invite gigs kasi ang napupuntahan ko lately e hehe. So ayun.

Sige, stay honest, folks. Don't be cheats.