Don't You Hate It When...

-Pedestrians cross the street when it says "Don't Walk", and they take their sweet time doing it like they're walking in the park. (Bostonians do that all the time!)

-After a long day, you're in the train and someone beside you is on the cellphone talking so loudly that the entire car can hear him/her?

-People wear backpacks, forget that they are and whack you when they carelessly turn in a crowded place?

-Going up the stairs, people ahead of you swing their arms when they're carrying an umbrella?

-People overtake you when walking and then slow down? This applies to driving too.

-You receive a complicated excel file which is not properly formatted with pre-set page breaks and you have to print it out in readable form?

-People touch your computer screen and leave their fingerprints on it?

-People throw things just anywhere without bothering to find a trash can?

-People toss their cigarettes (again, just anywhere) when they're done smoking without extinguishing it?

-People don't let you finish talking before they butt in?

Finally...

"Your application to remove your conditional status has been GRANTED."

That's what the letter from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said. I got it a couple of weeks ago after we got back from our vacation. I was quite surprised because I was still supposed to undergo one last interview. I even got a letter in July last year saying that they would soon be notifying me of my interview schedule. I am guessing that they took so long in processing my petition that they just probably decided to skip the interview and grant it. It took two years!

I know someone who applied to remove conditional status six months after me, got interviewed and granted permanent residency about six months later. He's from Scotland and I am from the Philippines. Hubby and I think that was probably a big factor, with the southern tip of the Philippines being a breeding ground for terrorists and all. I guess they can't be too careful. What do you think? :)

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I saw this news piece in the Today show about a mother calling 911 because her two daughters, a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, were fighting. She didn't want to step in because one of her daughters is supposedly bigger and stronger than her. The operator said, "And what do you want us to do, go over there and shoot her?" I was outraged. Not necessarily at the operator, although what he said was really unprofessional, but that the woman would use the emergency line because she had no control over her own kids. Police resources should be used for more urgent matters, not to settle family squabbles. It just reinforced my belief that when people are expecting a child, they should be made to undergo a seminar on child-rearing. I just see so many parents whose only qualification on being one is the ability to procreate, because you see how out-of-control their kids are. On the other hand, the government has also made it impossible for parents to enforce discipline on their kids because of their fear of being accused of child abuse. Therefore, you really can't blame the parents completely either. So who to call when your kids are out of control? The government -- 911.

Changing of the Guards

I am a witness to three "changing of the guards" in the Papacy. Two of them happened in short successions that there were three Popes in 1978. Paul VI died that year, succeeded by John Paul I, who succumbed to a heart attack a little more than a month later, and was succeeded by John Paul II. Studying in a Catholic school, we were made aware of the whole process. We were given lectures and educational comic books on how someone ascends to become the Supreme Pontiff.

First-
When Pope Paul I (Albino Luciani), was elected, he initially refused to sit on the Sedia Gestatoria (portable Papal Throne) until he was convinced that the faithful were offered a better view of him if he were on it. He was also the first to refuse the pomp and ceremony of the millennium-old traditional crowning ceremony. He was the reluctant Pope, who disliked pomp and emphasized humility. He was a reformist who gave an indication that there would be a few changes in the Catholic Church, one of them being the Church's position on contraception. Alas, 33 days later he died of heart failure. The one that he predicted would succeed him, did. He called him "the foreigner". His name was John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years.

Second-
Right after he was named Pope, our Religion teacher inundated us with literature on Pope John Paul II. The church's PR machine wasted no time in letting the faithful know who their vicar was. We studied his life from his childhood in Poland to his ascent to the supreme position in the Catholic Church. I think it was also done to prepare the Filipino nation for the scheduled Papal visit in 1980. One of his first stops was a big park called Quezon City Circle, a couple of miles from where I lived. My family made our way there to hear the papal address. I remember being perched on my Dad's shoulder waving to the Pope on stage, several feet away. I liked to imagine then that when he waved right back, it was to me, and not to the sea of people that were all around me. I no longer go to the Catholic Church for my spiritual feeding and I may have some views that are quite different from the Pope's, but I still have a a fondness and respect for him.

Third-
As many mourn, they also wait in bated breath for that white smoke to come out of that chimney. It signifies the election of a new pope. Whoever it turns out to be will have his work cut out for him. Karol Wojtyla seems like a tough act to follow.