Pounding The Keyboard

        Yesterday I received a Messenger message selling some books (paperback and hardbound and at bargain prices). I looked at the titles/authors and none really interested me. There’s a book by David Leviathan and some by Paulo Coelho but they weren’t in hardbound. But I was too shy not to buy so I picked one, Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which was in paperback, too. I chose it because I remembered seeing it on an Instagram account I was following.   There’s this photo where the pretty Instagram account owner, wearing a black negligee, wait, was it a negligee? Well, I don’t know much about female clothing but it’s a sleeveless black dress, yes, with some see-through parts (chest and tummy) and it was partnered with tight black pants, and… where was I? A, okay, ahem, well, she was holding the book upright, showing the cover, with her hands. So yes, that photo made me choose Marina , and when I was handed the book, that black dress crossed my mind ...

       Meanwhile, in the Philippines, a bill that penalizes ghosting has been filed at the Lower House. Google describes ghosting as someone cutting off all kinds of communication with someone else without an explanation , but in the proposed bill, it is defined as someone leaving a partner in a dating (boyfriend-girlfriend) or live-in relationship without explanation, thus inflicting an emotional abuse .      Two persons regularly chatting or dating but aren’t in a relationship will not benefit from the bill.   Or those who think someone is their jowa without the supposed jowa knowing it.      Once the bill becomes a law, you wonder what “exciting” other laws they will create. Lol. Are they going to penalize those paasa (those who regularly chat you or text you good morning, good night or kumain ka na ba ? and tell you you’re a cutie or heart react all your posts on Facebook or encourage you to chase t...

       Psychological reactance or reactance bias is the urge to do the opposite of what you’re being told to do because you feel that your freedom to choose or do what you want is being constrained. I was reminded of this term this morning while I was biking around our neighborhood and saw this boy and a dog pissing side by side on a wall where a huge graffiti could be read: BAWAL UMIHI DITO!      The dog, I thought, was even trying to piss on the graffiti itself, so there was a strong reactance there on the part of the dog.      So when your mother tells you not to have an itsy-bitsy tattoo on your arm and you feel the urge to have your whole body covered with tattoos including your eyes and your private parts, that’s psychological reactance, and that is quite a strong reactance, stronger than the dog's motivation to piss on the graffiti.       And it's really not a good trait.

       Almost two months ago, while there’s a thunderstorm, our cable box died but I put off calling for a repair because I knew I’d just be met with machine voices when I call for one. Press 1 if you’re still alive, Press 2 if you want to die that kind of thing. I have been a bit traumatized by automated responses, so I stuck with just Netflix and YouTube in the meantime. (I really don't watch cable TV nowadays.) Last time I tried to call for a WiFi repair, I was already waiting for around fourteen hours on the phone for a technician to talk to and I just put the phone down to attend to something, and when I got back, the line is already dead. When I called again and finally got in contact with a human being, I was told that the previous call was cut because no one was on our phone—and I left the phone for only one minute.      Automated voices or responses, for me, are cold and cruel, it’s like those who put this thing up don’t care ab...

       Twenty years after they broke up and cancelled their engagement, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez reconciled and got married. JLo posted a photo of her in bed, sans makeup and apparently naked under the sheets, and there was no doubt that it was a very happy Mr. Affleck who took the photo. “Love is beautiful, love is kind. It turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” Miss Lopez said.      Another highly-infectious virus, Marburg, is threatening to sidetrack the world again. Marburg, with its 88% fatality ratio, is deadlier than COVID-19 and its symptoms are fever, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. You’d be exposed once you have a direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected. It already has killed two in Ghana.      So there’s a Bee Gees song called “Closer Than Close?” I first heard this phrase years ago from a friend referring to his situation with his colleague while he amused me with stories of h...