Things are a-changin

Took this picture of Venus about three days ago, when all of the remaining cloudiness from super typhoon Kristine has dissipated, leaving this dark bluish sky.  Just accompanied Samantha on her evening walk, but had to go back outside with my mobile phone to take some shots of this bright dot that is about to set behind the clump of trees in the southwestern horizon.  There were just a few dim stars around at that time, fewer in the vicinity of Gaia's sister planet that could be captured in the frame and provide additional reference points.  Some white clouds still visible though on the upper left corner of the picture.  Could simply imagine how early humans must have gazed up in awe and wonder at that point of light in the heavens, as they felt the cool night breeze on their skin and listened to the soft chirping of insects in the fields around them.  Still have to discover though how to adjust my phone camera's settings for such amateur astronomical photography.  And so, had to "cure" the photos with these automatic editing functions which offered quite a wide array of options, in terms of focus, brightness, colors, shades, etc., but still left much to be desired when it comes to capturing what the eyes are actually seeing at that moment.  May need to get a pair of binoculars.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the other side of Gaia, people of this country are deciding on who they want to lead them for the next four years - their current vice-president, a legal practitioner who if elected could become the first black woman president of their nation, or a former president, an unabashed millionaire, and white male bigot and demagogue who has lashed out at minorities, his own party mates who refused to support him, and his political opponents who he has labelled "enemies" of the state.  More at stake in this election this time around, as wars and destruction rage on in other parts of the planet, brought about by the same populist and authoritarian leaders who have brought out all that are dark, reprehensible, and inhuman among their populace.  Not to mention future global action on protecting the environment and addressing climate change, humanity's biggest existential threat at this point.  Thoughts of a grim future are what often drive this mind to imagine retreating somewhere far from other people.  Perhaps not so different from the bunker mentality of these survivalist groups in the U.S. who prepare for just about any chaotic event or emergency that could happen and end up in complete social chaos or breakdown.

At work, new people continue to come in as colleagues for the past several years have left or are about to exit in the next few days.  An old familiar face is coming back though, but with prospects of shifts in approaches, structures, and systems in view of the changed context.  Congressional investigations into the drug war, Chinese gambling operations, human trafficking and sexual offences of this religious cult leader who was a close ally of the former president, and the controversial and improperly accounted expenses (millions of Philippine pesos spent in eleven days) of that former president's daughter who is now the vice-president of the republic continue to hog the limelight in social media.  New people brought in to serve as resource persons, including the former president himself who rambled on and spewed vitriol in his responses to the senators' queries.  Definitely more movements in the coming months, up until the elections.