So I Voted.

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So I voted yesterday. The process was a bit faster than I expected, but the lack of a well-organized system would have been maddening had I not known my precinct before hand. Here’s how voting in the Philippines works…

1. Go to the voting center, usually a school. This entails fighting your way through a horde of kids and workers paid to distribute sample ballots outside — and sometimes even inside — the voting center.

2. Inside, go to the Voter Assistance Desk and find your name in the printed Voter’s List. This is quite possibly the most tedious part of the process, because the list is divided into several small alphabetical sublists by precinct, and you have to go pore over the pages for EACH precinct looking for your name. My district probably had about twenty precincts, divided not by location or by date of registration, but by pure arbitrariness. Fortunately, Mom had found my name already, and texted me in advance to let me know what my precinct was.

3. Go to the desk for your precinct and leave your signature and right thumbmark on the registration form. Then get your ballot.

4. Bring the ballot to the voting “booth.” Actually, it’s just a schooldesk with a folder propped up for “privacy.” Sweep the inch-thick layer of sample ballots and campaign materials off the table and sit down to fill in your ballot. Positions to fill in: Senators, Congressman, Mayor, Vice-Mayor, and Councilors. I voted straight party ticket, PPC for all positions, except Congressman, where I abstained. (Between Ronny Zamora the Crony and Jose Mari Gonzales the Slapper, there isn’t much of a choice, is there?)

5. Drop the ballot in the ballot box and get your finger marked with “indelible” ink. That way, if you try to vote again, they can look at your finger and say you voted already. But the ink is alcohol-soluble.

That’s it. I spent the rest of day at home with the family, watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (wow!), playing with the dog, and generally being lazy.

Local Elections!

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Local Elections! Today we vote for our senators, congressmen, mayors, councilors, and other lower government officials. I’m voting by party, straight PPC 13-0. Off to the San Juan precints!

Hurrying Jesus

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It’s another gloomy, windy morning, with angry gray clouds racing across a dark sky, pelting the city with rain.

I read the book of Isaiah this morning, and came across this verse: “Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, to those who say, ‘Let God hurry, let him hasten his work, so we may see it. Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it.’ “ – Isaiah 5:18-19

Interesting words, especially beside the New Testament call, “Come Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20) Certainly, we should be eager and prepared for the coming of our Savior, but it is quite another thing to demand that God hurry, so that we may know his will.

I remember once reading a Chick comic about the “evils” of the Catholic Church, where the characters in the comic learned about the “black pope,” the “New World Order” to be brought about by Vatican II, and other sensationalized “evils” of Rome. But I’m not writing this to bash Catholicism. Rather, as I went over that passage in Isaiah, a line in the comic came to my head, uttered by one of the characters in response to these “revelations” about the Catholic Church:

“Come quickly, Lord! Hurry!”

It is tempting, isn’t it, in this time of strife and division, to pray to the Lord, “Hurry, Lord God, come and bring your plans to fruition, that your triumph and power will be known!” But that is the Lord’s prerogative, not ours. It is our place to await His coming in readiness, not to demand that He come quickly to end our own troubles. He will do so in His own time, and when He does, it will be gloriously, perfectly timed.

Hmmm. The blog column in Index 6 continues to misalign whenever italicized text hits the margin. I’ll have to fix that.

Psalms 14 and 53

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Here’s an interesting Old Testament oddity in the book of Psalms. Take a look at Psalm 14, then at Psalm 53; but for a few phrases towards the end, they are practically the same, almost to the verse!

Nonetheless, the message is clear in both. And before you, Christian, condemn the “fool” for saying there is no God, remember that we were once “fools and evildoers,” and that we ourselves were no better, having at some point, like all humankind, turned away from Him who made us.

But you and I know it doesn’t end there, for the Lord is our refuge, and our salvation has indeed come.

More notes from John Gill’s Exposition.

Avoid Impact

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If you’re in Manila and looking for a good dialup ISP, avoid Impact like the plague. For the past two weeks I have been suffering from busy signals, rejected passwords, DNS errors, unbearably slow connection speeds, and frequent timeouts within ten minutes of login.

I should be asleep. Instead, I have been trying to upload index 15 for the past hour. (Can you say “0.09 kbps?”) But enough, enough. I’m on the computer altogether too much these days, and it’s almost 1am. Way past my bedtime. G’night.

Commentary from Benign0

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I work in Makati. I am a victim of “marketing and promotions genius, underlain with strategies that capitalise primarily on what is undoubtedly the most debilitating colonial mentality in the Third World.”

I have chastised the poor for their damn political stupidity, but the truth is that I am probably stupider than all of them combined.

Get Real, Philippines. Biting socio-political commentary. You may get hurt, and you will be offended. But only because most of it is true.

Update (2004): I must point out that I’ve evolved a slightly less inflammatory world view since then, one less subject to pejorative randroidism.

Update (2005): Well, looks like someone’s on to his game: benign0. Heh.

Graphic Grace

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Dani has a funny little story to tell you. It just goes to show that God does surf the internet. Graphic grace and divine providence at its all-time virtual best.

A strong gale blew all night, and I woke up to a dark, blustery morning, spotted with bursts of rain and gusty winds. Delightful. Don’t ask me why, but I love gloomy, dreary weather. Maybe because we’re coming from two and a half months of scorching sun and 45-degree heat. Well, looks like the rainy season has come a little early this year. Lovely, lovely.

Wait, now I know why I feel so good. The wind blew away the dank, brown layer of pollution that usually settles on Manila early in the morning. Today the air is clear, and a burden of lethargy and malaise has been lifted from my demeanor. I feel so bright and vibrant, despite not having had any coffee! Is this how people feel in cities with clean air? Man, I have to migrate. And soon.