Ebola, E-heads, & Everything Else
Today, they started work on getting rid of about 6000 pigs infected by the Ebola Reston Virus in a farm in Pandi, Bulacan. They targeted to stun and then burn about 500 pigs today but only managed 300. It’s being done to prevent the spread of the virus to other pig farms in the region, but more importantly, to prevent human transmission. One farm worker has already tested positive for antibodies for the virus, indicating that he had contracted the virus some time ago. He is healthy though, which probably reinforces the message that the virus is not deadly to humans.
I pity the farm owners, surely they are losing so much of their livelihood because of this outbreak. I wonder if the government will be able to help them out in some way?
All this talk about Ebola found in pork is not stopping Alfred from eating a lot of pork, or so his mom says. Hehe. They had invited me for lunch, and so from work I took the MRT (something I hadn’t done on my own in a long time) from Quezon Avenue, all the way to the last station at Taft. Alfred met me at the station and we walked over to their house where a hefty lunch was waiting. I had a bit of a chat with Alfred’s mom before we left.
I have slept a total of two hours since last night. Haha. I figured I’d sleep at night for a change, so I’d probably turn in some time after midnight. I only have one day off then it’s back to work Monday night. Not something I was forced to do, mind you. I had asked for this so I could take another night off on Saturday, to see the Eraserheads concert. Yes, you read that right, I am finally going to see them at what possibly would be their last big gig! Alfred let me persuade him to it and I bought the tickets online this afternoon.
I’ve been singing along to their songs from grade school all the way through college. The last time I probably saw them perform was at a UP Fair, but I’m not so sure anymore. In highschool, Pare Ko was the first ever song my kuya taught me to play on the guitar (I’m sure I’ve mentioned that at least once in this blog before).
When the Eheads tribute album came out a few years after they disbanded, I got my hands on that too! When I missed the first reunion concert in August, I was super disappointed. Last week, I was frustrated that I had no one who would go with me to the final set. Today, I am so happy because I know that I will be going. And I know I will have fun. Even if I dread the transportation nightmare we probably will encounter after the show, I am not letting that ruin the evening. Haha. 🙂
You know, sometimes when I think about concerts, I remember the ones I went to with my friends at UP. Concert tickets that don’t cost an arm and a leg. There was always something interesting to see. And sometimes I think about not being a part of organizations who sponsored such concerts, not having experienced helping put one together, you know? I don’t regret it really, I just sometimes think about what experiences like that give you. I’ve always found it exhilarating to organize trainings, specially back when we were doing it in our YP office at the ECPAT office’s aquarium, and then later when I was working at Asia ACTs. There’s just something about figuring out the logistics, getting in touch with people, mobilizing participants, making sure you’ll have everything you need. Finding venues, haggling over prices, heck, even budgeting and tallying the accounts after the event! Sounds crazy, but I miss doing stuff like that too.
Sometimes when I am reminded of my University days, I also think about the many twists of fate that have happened since. I took up a BA in Psychology. At some point it was intended as a pre-law course, until I realized I did not want to stay up to read all the materials they are required to finish in a day. Then I also thought about pursuing a career in Psychology or maybe special education. The idea of combining my passion then as a child rights advocate and what I was studying was very exciting. I had imagined being involved in healing and reintegrating child victim/survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. I had seen myself helping out in educating (or even just entertaining) children with special abilities. I thought about being part of case conferences for a child living with cerebral palsy or a survivor of abuse. Because really, whether they have a developmental condition, or they lived in vulnerable/difficult circumstances, these children deserve extra special care.
But you know what, remiscing about these things is just that – a nice trip down memory lane. Even if my life is a lot different from what I thought it would be like back then, there are no regrets. So okay, maybe I really wish I had taken business courses, or maybe computer graphics/web design classes. Haha. But even those I could take now, so there. I had lived a full life, and I’m going through some stuff now that do make me think if I’m still in the right career, still I don’t ever regret having done this you know? It may mean that I have some serious thinking to do and then make a choice – to hunker down and commit to love my job and give it my all, or to drop it and find something I can be more passionate about for the long term. I can’t drop this and do something that I’m gonna get tired of again in the next three years. Ugh. But where has this post taken me to? Talk about big time rambling…