holy cow
Manila, 1 February—Oh wow, look at January go. How’s it looking so far on your end of the stream? I just ended January and started February with seniors from Magdalena, Laguna, where we held the first Smart Millenniors sessions for 2019. We recently capped our 2018 run with our second Silver Anvil Award on Wednesday—I do believe working with the elderly has brought us all sorts of luck! Happy to be back on the road teaming up with young volunteers and teaching tech to the elderly.
Anyway, I have figured out a sure-fire way to reduce face size in selfies, and that is to just include half of my face—crosswise. Hahaha.
That said, I truly enjoyed leading the sessions with this batch of seniors, composed of retired principals and teachers, as well as farmers from Magdalena. They were such a joy to talk with; the retired teachers, in particular, reminded me of my own lolas who were retired teachers as well. Totally worth the three-to-four-hour drive over from Makati.
Also: Magdalena had a very beautiful old church near our session venue. Constructed in the 1820s, it survived an 1880 earthquake, was rebuilt, and even served as a refuge for the wounded Emilio Jacinto in 1898.
More photos of the Magdalena Church here.
Meanwhile:
Harry Roque has officially withdrawn from the 2019 senatorial race, citing health reasons.
This was surprising for me, because Roque even attended a recent senatorial debate, which was also attended by fellow aspirants Raffy Alunan, Neri Colmenares, Samira Gutoc, Florin Hilbay, Mar Roxas, and Erin Tañada. Here’s an overview of their stands on death penalty for drug-related crimes, the President’s medical bulletins, the state of press freedom in the country, BOL, divorce, and medical marijuana.
Speaking of BOL: Heartbroken at the deaths in the Jolo Cathedral bombing and the Zamboanga bombing, which occurred within days of each other. Some say it’s laying the ground for nationwide martial law; others, that it’s to derail the 2nd BOL plebiscite set for Feb. 6. I’m getting MOA-AD flashbacks.
This week’s recs:
Great New York Times explainer on the current 5G race between China and US, and why Huawei’s trapped in the middle of it all.
Via Harvard Business Review: Time for Happiness. So, are you the Willing to sacrifice time to have more money-type or the Willing to sacrifice money to have more time-type?
Magdalena Dairy Chocomilk, the parting gift of our partners at the Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Training Institute who helped us gather participants for the Millenniors sessions. Mindblowingly good.
… and one more highlight:
There was a free concert in the neighborhood park tonight because of a nearby school’s 17th anniversary, and guess who was the finale:
This free concert had Up Dharma Down, She’s Only Sixteen, Reese Lansangan and Autotelic on its line-up. I’ve seen much more expensive concerts with less impressive rosters haha.
xo,
K.