Hands of (these) Time(s)

Finally, the September-October biodiversity issue of the UP Forum is out (out! hehe!). Download the issue [here], and if you have the luxury of time, please read the article "Agrobiodiversity and Monoculture Homogenization in Agri/Culture" from the pdf file and tell me what you think. Shared lo-reso versions of the published artworks in this blog entry. Above is "Shoot from a Bullet Wound," for "A Sacrifice for Future Generations: The Plight of Environment Conservationists in the Philippine," a feature article about slain taxonomist Leonard Co. He was not like those scientists who limit their studies in classrooms and laboratories, unlike so-called scholars who are nothing more than carreerists. To have a peek of how great a scientist (without having to acquire a PhD) he is, please [read one of bulatlat's articles] about the scientist of the people, another of the increasing number of deaths that have not been granted justice yet. [The previous blog entry] was all misery and nostalgia, so, let me reminisce a dead dream, then, if I may:

I remember how I could have been studying under UPLB's MS Environmental Science under a scholarship, had I chosen to pursue the sciences. Nope, no delusions of becoming a Leonard Co, as it is too late for me but maybe I can do things the way he did it, but I don't think I have enough courage of all-out serving the people--something way way way better than that laughable "all-out justice" the Palace is-- anyway. Besides considering factors such as time for artsy things, I was also worried about the consequences, had I chosen to pursue EnviSci and failed to finish the degree in two years time: I'd have to pay (re-pay? payback?) them back the same cost that they've spent on my studies, which means I'd do a sort of a downtrodden Philippines, by debt servicing for the rest of what is left of my life--

--given the situation in the university, where students compete for slots in large lecture classes that makes learning more difficult, given the fact that I had a bachelor's degree in the arts, so, I'd have to take undergrad biology courses, I thought my chances of finishing the MS in two years seem slimmer. So, again, risking sounding like a dick, I've passed the screening for the scholarship but I have to refuse the sciences, as I am worried of the risks, again, just as before: I've shifted from my BS Computer Science degree into a BA degree waaay back. And here I am, writing and drawing about technology and stuff. The irony. (Above is "Constructing Biodiversity" for the article "A Brief Survey of the Past, Present and Future of Biodiversity Research in the Philippine")

And, right after shifting courses, one of the first subjects I've successfully enrolled in--that, say, turned me into this and into the, say, niche I believe I am somehow getting into, getting the hang of--was HUM 160: Science and Technology in Literature, where the first poem I have submitted was in another language, in the C programming language--something that never found the light of publication, and I kinda think I know why--it kinda sucked in a way. Anyway, fortunately, we were required to read Einstein's Dreams, which is one of the probable reasons why I am here, in an attempt to mishmash themes of time, biology, machines and, I dont know, entropy, destruction, and all that.

Time is something twisted. Or, insane. Or, inconsistent, or messed up, or broken, maybe (just like this top blog thing that doesn't display the updated ranking, for chrissakes). Maybe, which is why I've been fascinated by The Invisibles, and Transmetropolitan, and futurism and alternate history, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and immortality and the tarot, and magic and robots and steampunk and cyberpunk and Dr. Who and science fiction and, ugh, enough cataloguing, as, I just want to say that (btw, above is "AgriCultural Imperialsim 000," the artwork for my article in UP Forum.)--

--if I were to return to my past--neither the past as it may be a future or a present to somebody else nor the past that has gay implications of having feelings and hopping with h-h-w-w romance as thought catalog puts it--I will spend less time with sleep (or maybe take drugs so I could spend no time with sleep! Kidding!) and other relaxing activities and more time with the sciences, and obliterate Ghost in the Shell into insignificance, then oblivion. Wishful thinking, I know. And, why the title "Hands of (these) Time(s)"? Oh, hours ago, I've scored Umberto Eco's collection of essays, "Turning Back the Clock: Hot Wars and Media Populism," hardcover, for 170php, and another poetry anthology of "american negros," hey, that is what the title says, "american negro poetry." Those (and 1910! and 1969!) are enough compensations from the misfortune and unproductivity of the previous week, and, hopefully a good start of another, sigh, long weekend.

PS! all three of my Umberto Eco books are interestingly nonfiction. The first essay in Turning Back the Clock felt kinda sad. An analysis / backtrack re: worldwide world wars, paleowars and neowars alike, between Xtians and Muslims, which are, needless to say, not really a holy, or a religuous, or a cultural war, but one that is rooted on economics, and, that, my friends, ends this blabber, as, again, a lot of unchecked boxes in the to-do list, still, god, kill me, please. Kidding. Kill me after, at most, 7 years, and it shall be fine with me. I need caffeine. Now.