The 24-hour line

This is a map of the queue when it was halted some twenty four hours before the doors of St. Peter's Basilica are actually closed for public viewing of the remains of Pope John Paul II.

Things I've learned today:

• The conclave to elect the new pope will begin on Monday, April 18, 2005.
• The pope's last will is seventeen pages long, written in Polish, and written on various stages of his pontificate. It will be published Thursday (Rome Time).
• Jaime Cardinal Sin, archbishop emeritus of Manila, won't be able to attend the conclave due to health problems.

Procession

This is what I was watching last night up until about 12:30 a.m. local time. I dub what I'm doing as televigil. Monday night is usually comedy night for me with Star World's Friends, King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Fraser. Not last night. I mourn the pope's death. I also did a televigil (CNNi, Fox News, BBC World) last Saturday in solidarity with those in St. Peter's Square praying for the pope up until 12 midnight. Tonight, perhaps I'll spend my televigil with EWTN.

Things I learned last night

• The pope's funeral will be on Friday, April 8, 2005, with services starting at 8 a.m. GMT.
• The royal wedding scheduled on Friday is postponed by one day.
• Books by and about the pope is selling like hotcakes.

I mourn the passing of Pope John Paul II, a man whom I greatly admire. Why, you might ask. For one thing, it's because I am Catholic. For another, it's because I choose it so. Some people mourn the loss of a movie star. I choose to mourn the loss of a religious leader and philosopher.

Pope John Paul II is dead.

The beloved pope died Saturday, April 2, 2005, at 9:37 PM GMT+2 (Apr 3, 3:37 AM Philippine Time). Reasons for death are septic shock and cardiocirculatory collapse. He was 84.

Farewell, Pope John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II is dying.

I really thought he would be able to visit the Philippines one last time before his death. It is not going to be so.

HSX: I should trust my instincts

Two weeks ago, I lost the opportunity to make some serious play money by not trusting my instinct to short Robots. Last weekend I missed another opportunity by buying Ring 2 long, instead of shorting it, which was my original plan. Ring 2 adjusted low. But I'm a newbie in this stock exchange simulation game, so mistakes are inevitable. Still, a lost opportunity is a lost opportunity. I should trust my instincts more.

Note:
HSX is an online stock exchange emulation game. Joining is free. After joining you'll be given two million Hollywood dollars to invest. Instead of company shares that are traded in a real stock exchange, MovieStocks and StarBonds are traded here. It's a very nice, mind-engaging online game.

A thousand teardrops (I'll cry with you)

This is a poem I wrote awhile back (I couldn't remember exactly when) after I stumbled upon a website called Strong Verse. The tsunami disaster of December 26, 2004, in South Asia is still fresh on my mind when I wrote this. This is nothing special, of course, I'm not an accomplished poet, or even a poet if it comes to that. I meant this to be a private poem, but I also want to record some things in my mind. And a blog is a way to do it. This is better than a traditional pen and paper journal. And it's not like there are actually people reading my blog. I think I'm the only one who knows of this blog. So in a way it's private.

Should I count the teardrops?
They might number into thousands.
If not I will, I would make it so.
One for each soul awash.
Will each lessen the grief of the survivors?
One more teardrop for me.
One less for the lonely orphan.
One less child to be accompanied by Pan.
One less for a mother who now has none.
Not enough.
You'll continue crying I think.
I'll cry with you.

Sarah Brightman

I'm currently listening to some songs by Sarah Brightman. One song is All I Ask Of You featured in the Phantom of the Opera movie. I'm sorry to say, but the deficiency of that latest movie adaptation is clearly highlighted by her rendition. I wonder why she wasn't cast in the movie. Maybe she's too old for the role, which is unfortunate for her, for the movie, and the movie-going public.

empty

On my way from lunch I was walking on a concrete pavement, but I felt like walking in a barren dessert. Birds chirping reminded me that I'm not, but they made me feel like walking in a desserted forest instead.

Unfortunate events

The second movie I saw tonight is Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's pretty good actually, though it's movies like this that reminds us why Peter Pan is a classic. I like the movie, and I actually care for the orphans, but I'm too sleepy to fully blog about it. Maybe on monday and not on a cellphone.

Phantom of the Opera

I just saw two movies tonight. The first one is Phantom of the Opera. You know what? Another movie on, a taxi ride, and now I am home blogging about it on my cellphone, and I cant remember any song. I mean I can recall some tune and a few words but I cant pinpoint exactly where they were sang and the context of which they were sang. I feel that I have just wasted over two hours of my time. I don't know. Maybe the lyrics were not that good, or maybe the singers were not that great, or maybe because I'm not a native English speaker that I found it hard to understand the story thru the songs, and thus found it hard to care for any single character in the movie. I have the book, though, from which it was adapted from, but I've decided early on that Id see the movie first before reading it. It seemed like a bad decision.