<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: large;">A seven-year itch of
writing</b><br>
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<div class="MsoNormal">Since this year, I am resolved to write 10 pieces of
literary outputs, quitting on the seventh year when they might be widely shared.
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<div class="MsoNormal">The image of the "seven-year itch" comes from a
movie where the psychological insight that the passion on anything,
particularly in marriage, wanes after the seventh year. This would be a psycho-interest span akin to
the attention span we use in classrooms.
Statisticians point out that the current mean time for marital divorces
hover at the 7.2 to 7.4 years. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">While used here as a metaphor, it is also going to be looked
at as a chronological marker. At the
start of 2014, I started the venture of memoir writing, the first being a
bio-profile draft for my grandchildren in case they wish to know more about
their "other grandpa" when they grow older. Though very limited in circulation, I have
gotten word of caution about the use of actual names since the
"letting-all-hang-out" tone of the narrative does not fit well with
those who wish to keep their privacy away from reach to those who might
consider possible abuse and harm.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">However, it gives me a time frame of when I will definitely
desist from laying my fingers on the laptop's keyboard, and say, "I'm
done." To date, there really had
not been anything "missional" about our wordsmithing. Good friend Jun at BoE once commented that
the reason Jaime writes the way he does is so that BoE members are encouraged
to use their dictionaries more often.
That was a good cover for the deficiencies in our syntactical and
vocabulary tableaus. It also means,
however, that though we think we are serious, we should be taken with a fizz of
seltzer!</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">The Torah
has Ten Commandments, 10 being a convenient number and tool to recall anything,
there being (usually) ten digits on one's hands and feet. On my Seven-Year Itch, I aim to write in some
format of writing-made-easy so others can do likewise. My bio-profile got the ball rolling. Here's a targeted list:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I <b><i>'S<u>ang Pinoy</u></i></b><i><u> </u></i><u>tatak
ordinaryo<i> <b>j'aime la vie</b> </i></u>for my grandchildren on my 86 years of existence;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">II <b><i><u>Pinoy sa Puso</u></i> </b>is on the affairs of the heart and other places, a TY "to
all the girls I've known before";</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">III<i> <b><u>Pinoy Saipan</u></b></i> chronicles life with the United Methodist
Church in Saipan, being part of STaRPO (Saipan, Tinian and Rota Parent
Organization), our writing stint in the Opinion section of the <i>Saipan Tribune </i>and 10-years of lounging with
an imaginal beer by Saipan's lagoon;<i></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">IV<i> <b><u>Pinoy SVES</u></b> </i>is a journey through the art &
discipline of pedagogical maintenance (no relations to <i>Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance</i>) with PSS and San Vicente
Elementary School;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">V<i> <b><u>Pinoy Chinoy</u></b> </i>recalls<i> </i>travels to Sichuan, Chung Qing, Manzhouli, Yanji, Lhasa, and
Urmuqi, the last place two places still on hold being a foreigner not allowed
in those places until the foreign affairs office feels that political stability
is restored;<i></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">VI <b><i><u>WangZhimu</u>,</i></b><i> </i>James V in Zhonghua, is the imaginal
Journey on the famed trail of Santiago de Compostela, once a distinct physical
possibility but now, kept only as a fertile romp in the mind;<i></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">VII<i> <b><u>La Liga Ekumenika</u> </b></i>details my participation in church
renewal post-Vatican II before the institutions of Christendom kicked the
bucket, along with my tepid efforts in the field of human development and
spirit life, EI/ICA/O:E version (Ecumenical Institute, Institute of Cultural
Affairs, Order:Ecumenical);</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">VIII<i> <b><u>Pinoy Hemingwei</u> </b></i>is<b><i> </i></b>a personal journey of meaning and
oblivion, a womb-to-tomb introspection reminiscent of but not patterned after Ernest's
"the old man and the sea";</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">IX<i> <b><u>Pinoy englisCHe</u> </b></i>is<b><i> </i></b>oral English pedagogy with CH as
"Chinese characteristics" issued as an expanding notebook for anyone
wishing to improve their spoken English; and finally,<i></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">X<i> <b><u>Pinoy
Journal</u> </b></i>collects 366 quotes for 366 days (written on and for a leap
year) with 366 world-wise and street-smart reflections.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">Obviously,
the above list is a projection subject to change in the next seven years. If you can bear with our literary neuroses
and idiosyncrasies, it will be fun to journey together. You might consider getting out that tablet
and start hacking your own, in words and/or pictures, one-page, one-year at a
time.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">One can
begin this week with how one processes the news of the downed MH17 in
Ukraine. My first response was, why was
it flying off course, and why do the media keep referring to it being downed
near the Russian border when it was clearly downed in Ukraine? One can use this as a practice run on
describing the facticity of the event, my emotional response to it, the
cognitive conclusions my intelligence arrived at, and the decisions I made as a
consequence.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">I made
this reflection in the eerie atmosphere of flying from Calgary, Canada to China
on the weekend via Air Canada and Air China, just as typhoon <i>Rammosun</i> (Glenda in the Philippines)
raged in the Philippines and ravaged in unprepared Hainan and Guangdong. Still around to keep writing.</div>
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<br>
<div style="clear:both"><i>j'aime la vie</i><br>
<a href="mailto:pinoypanda2031@aol.com">pinoypanda2031@aol.com</a><br>
<div><i>yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!</i></div>
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