A brief interlude

a few more arrests yesterday here in manila. one of those arrested at the international women's day rallies was a female representative of a party-list group who was violently dragged and carried away to a waiting police vehicle. footage of the rallies aired on a prime time television news program last night showed in one scene a police officer assuring a group of women that his dispersal unit were not there to arrest them. the grateful women applauded these gentlemanly words. but then the police officer quickly added that women should be at home and not making all those disturbances in the streets. the footage abruptly ended at that point, catching just a few boos and scowls from the dumbfounded protesters. government got a break today from a major daily which headlined the results of initial investigations into this tragic television game show stampede instead of the long-running exchange on 1017. there's an article in the business section saying that government economic planners are worried over the continuing appreciation of the peso. it seems exporters are having a hard time adjusting to the changes. there has been another rollback in the prices of cooking gas. my good friend, one of those few avid readers, has reprinted some of my recent postings here in random thoughts. another summer fast approaching, perhaps bringing with it another dreaded separation. i've been doing some mental workouts in-between these brainless activities here at my station -- digesting Nietzsche's musings on the Apollonian-Dionysian unity in Greek tragedy, and reflecting on what this could mean to recent political events in the Philippines. beyond our blue cloudy sky, mars is as rusty as ever, still prophetic in its dusty bareness.