THINGS will never be the same.
To the people of Taal in particular, of Batangas in general. Converting square kilometers of ash and dust into green grass and glens will take more than money, time, smarts. The world has become an evacuation center, a prison without walls, only partitions.
To my friend Joya Gonzalez, who lost her beloved Petunia, a pig as black as sin. When she passed away at the ripe old age of six, Petunia garnered a record number of bereavement messages sent to her owner, more than some human beings would have had a right to expect. Petunia the Pig, it must be pointed out, chose her departure to time it with the exit of the Year of the Boar that ended a zodiac cycle of 12 years.
Change has come to Sunshine Place, the euphemistic name for an activity hub for seniors, may they live long and healthy, sunny lives. ‘Tis music to hear that classical melodies played by non-seniors will mark Sunshine Place’s 2020 calendar starting tomorrow. German-trained concert pianist Mariel Ilusorio, an advocate of chamber music, hosts the concert series every last Wednesday of the month for music lovers of all ages. But as the venue is and always will be a hangout for seniors, the concerts will start early, like a children’s birthday party, at 2 p.m. and end at 3 p.m. Tomorrow’s event features Mariel, who’s not quite 40, playing a four-hand program with Taiwanese Chi-Ying Hung.
The day will come, or has it already, that you have to pay the bank for taking your money. For example, some banks charge a service fee for moving your funds between its own branches; likewise a fee is imposed on ATM withdrawals unless your bank has its own array of machines. What old-fashioned depositors fearful of hackers dread is the looming switch to paperless transactions.
I’m no Napoleon Bonaparte, but in warfare, the important thing is to win without losing your soldiers. As recent events have shown, like how a top-ranked Iranian general was targeted by US forces in Iraq, the trend is toward using drones. This development, according to cineastes, is another example of life imitating art, as the last century’s fantasy action movies have shown.
