SOLAR PANELS OF OYR MINDS (Breaking Out of Phnom Penh)

Pursat is the Middle Kingdom of 10 solar panels that was redacted in the minutes of the Monday meetings.

From the silhouette of its Kravanh Mountains, boiled leaves were harvested by Khmer Rouge stragglers that were marinated in Pursat's version of the prahok ktis and served as a unique wild cardamom soup with a fish roe garnish that hinted of Monday's pangat na hito and per diem resolution. 

Kampong Chhnang is the New Kingdom with only 6 solar panels, the manifestations of a digital rights review and a sustainable housing discussion.

A day before, huge pots of Khor Bourguignon adorned its pavements where fair finance was debated as either an attrition against credit card debts or topping up three bank accounts while in a nearby canopy, a committee of nubiles carried stacks of potted eel stew and 9 cans of beer on their nimble heads.   

Battambang is the Old Kingdom with 18 solar panels granted from Mao Tse Tung Boulevard where the Ironman of Bakal 2 chaired a caucus.

There, cows graze in flooded ricefields before being herded by a lost stick into plates of delicate Khmer steak and crispy fresh corn, antecedants to a famous bowl of savory yellow pork noodles that transformed into a Khmer-style spicy papaya salad and omelette at a tropical garden near the pumping station. 

Muddy and rugged were the the roads to the solar panels of Cambodia, somber as the monologue of a commune chief and the daily ritual for morning alms, poignant as the children bathing and catching fish in the irrigation ditches, and seductive like a pasenger of PR 2621 flashing the outline of her underwear beneath flimsy white pants to steal the thunder from the shine of the new Techo International Airport and a classy hotel transfer.

The long rip back to Phnom Penh was punctuated by roadside snack of grilled fish paste and boiled rice noodles in lieu of a doubtful farewell dinner.

Instead, the Russian Market laid out a curbside feast of crabs, shrimp, squid, salmon fins, and sea snails while the Grab driver waits somewhere.  

PR 2262 was on time but did not serve wine.

Back in Manila, the blessings of Our Ladies of Remedies in Malate and of the Holy Rosary of La Naval de Manila were implored for the day's nasoendoscopy after an early morning reunion at the Salcedo Saturday Market... 

THE BANGKOK CLIMATE ACTION WEEK

Hot gasses must be banished to save the world from hell.

So I came, I spoke, I moderated after 3.5 months of self-imposed seclusion at home that was long enough to render a pre-boarding sleepless night in Bakal 2 and a diarrheic episode at Panay Avenue.

"We must elevate justice principles and community voices in transboundary energy transition financing," I told the Monday meetings at the airport, adding that "We need to strengthen the alignment of financial institutions with climate commitments".

What I did not tell them is beer will be the liquid rice accompaniment to Aree Seafood's grilled salted tilapia and Soi Polo's Michelin-listed fried chichen, and to perk up a boring networking cocktail reception at the Conrad Hotel.  

In Bangkok, the inbox opens every morning and in each episode, complicated procurements were slowly untangled, a report was polished for review and sign-off, and another flight booked, among others, before engaging the running track of of the Benchakitti Forest Park for the benefit of climate justice, for the last bowl of Tomyum Noodle Soup before the Ploenchit Market closes down at 2 pm, and for the first serving of crispy prok belly as the stalls opened at the Rangnam Market at 5 pm.

A digital arrival card was unexpected but the makeshift kitchens in the streets of Bangkok look and smell the same where hawkers scurry in preparing an 8-course Thai welcome dinner for the horde at Baan Glom Gig who were being prepped for the execution of a 2026 Flagship Activities Masterplan. 

Rangnam turned out to be a fluke, some place at the Victory Monument BTS Station where I used to buy crispy pork, sticky rice, and sweet Thai coffee for breakfast.

The Isan food stall in front of the gas station that is being demolished is gone, so are the pork rib noodles and dancing shrimp vendors. 

Free airconditioned air and wifi wafted from a King Power Duty Free Shop but I did not pass through 6 BTS stations for that. 

I should have taken the train to Yaowarat or walked to Silom.

But the Grab driver already dropped me at a self check-in kiosk that opened the E-gates of Suvarnabhumi Airport. 

A ligtning alert took the duration of a Conclave but there was enough time to catch a first class bus to Bakal 2 where the remaining credit card and phone bill payments wre finally transacted...

THE SPECIALISTS

The CARDIOLOGIST confirmed the itinerary to Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, and  Battambang before elevating to the 11th floor: "The walkie-talkie is back in Angeles City so my support role is done. The first payment though got stuck in Phnom Penh but you can continue with your prescriptions from the Heart of Jesus".

The ONCOLOGIST observed a diminished and  abbreviated Monday meeting while arranging donation cans: "Indeed, the chief planning officer is benign so I will cancel the next-generation sequencing since the donation from California has been transacted. You will have your 4th scan after 3 months".  

The THORACIC SURGEON reviewed then endorsed a policy brief from Kuala Lumpur: "Your lungs were inflamed. We are thankful for your good progress, our answered prayers, and the evolving case studies. Today is Padre Pio's feast day. I will check on you again after 3 months".

At the 2nd floor chapel, she communed with the images of Padre Pio and Our Lady of Gudalupe who kept her company in the ICU.

She gazed at the rising sun from the balcony of 17E in Tower 1, grateful for a new day and perplexed why Monday's happy lechon spoiled so quickly.

 

The OTOLARYNGOLOGIST responded to a network request before completing the confederation's one program report for Asia: "We need to perform a rhinoscopy in October to secure a hotel booking and a session plan in Bangkok".

The HEMATOLOGIST smelled of high precision blood works from San Jose City: "You (to Bulan) drove through the rain but we can only determine thalassemia after 3 months.    

Chapter 4 of an inequality report was listed as either a burger breakfast, braised beef noodle soup and dimsum, classic pancake, a cheesy patty, or menudo.

The Phantom Biker sneaked a quickie to the alterator before Cigna's denial of "own travel" and accommodation costs in lieu of the Thursday Group's interpretations of the lechon as a sashimi and chicken inasal from an Entered Apprentice.

DAYS OF THE MENDING

The Bangkok and Phnom Penh meetings were locked in. 

Climate finance commitments will be aligned with the stars to reconfigure three meetings, a field vist, and a team dinner.

A side hustle in Kuala Lumpur between two more Thai engagements is taking shape.  

One final glimpse of the Canberra reports exposed the signed guidelines and a committed support package for Jakarta.

Monday's shuffle progressed into Saturday's steady strides.

Black Velvet celebrated an employment eligibility.

A petite eye doctor threw pink shoes at managed healthcare.

Near beer, pizza, and chicharon fell an ancient molar.

Absence monitoring, workforce management, and a single source solution are the Signs of Change.

Case researches were elevated into an inclusive nexus for just energy transition that was explored and probed in Manila.

Payment was requested for cleansing electronic folders and organizing vistual boxes during the Monday meetings.

The troika of the Ironman, the Chef, and the Caregiver prays as the Phantom Biker for the complete mending of a Braveheart...

BRAVEHEART

The Grim Reaper hovered to sqeeze her soul.

It was almost over but her heart, reinforced with prayers and aided by the spirits of her father and brother, fought back with great courage and determination.

Not yet, and thus was how the intubated who lived and the comatose who woke up broke free from a feeding tube and the shackles of a urinary catheter and an intercostal drain to liberate free air from the suffocation of a venturi mask and regain composure from the beeping noise of a multiparameter monitor; strong and valiant in the face of danger and adversity that rendered a central line, a sequential compression device, and incontinence pads moot and academic.

He wanted to but why can't he cry hard enough? 

Perhaps it was the stone hearted pragmatism that, throughout the ordeal, delivered a communications work plan to nudge a Dutch email account, resolve the remaining financial agreement, and secured slots for Jakarta at Bangkok's Climate Action Week and Kuala Lumpur's Energy-Business Forum, provisions that justified the launch of a multi-country program practitioners guide and the first engagement with a digital economy framework agreement. 

He remained level-headed in the Monday meetings, tranquil and collected in responding to Manila's proposed presentation, drafting an agenda for Phnom Penh, and DocuSigning requests for payment. 

But resoluteness is just a facade, a survival mechanism, his heart's pleadings and gratitude known only to the deities, his most sincere and vulnerable moments exposed only in heaven's portkeys.

Like on Friday morning at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. 

Their eldest might have missed the surgical staple extraction and spyrometer exercise in Room 6200 but his daily post-ICU hustles from Tower 2 (10L) and Tower 3 (22V) revealed a steady and reliable heart that kept the refrigerated ginisang monggo and nilagang baboy from Bakal 2 warm and delectable. 

On Friday afternoon, the last of a phalanx of doctors signed the discharge papers at a cost of P17,640.20 in lieu of P2,603,453.40.

We have relieved happy hearts, grateful for her brave heart that pulled us through: she had a face-off with a flatline and prevailed.

Somewhere up there, the deities heeded our prayers and smiled kindly on us. 

Back in Bakal 2, the Samara Suntrust skyline faded into flavors of near beers paired with litsong manok and sinigang na ulo ng salmon, and a smorgasbord of dinakdakan, pocorns, luncheon meet, tinumis, bopis and the first of early morning walk exercises...

ANATOMY OF A NIGHTMARE

Moday's forecast was the sun will shine like ramen eggs bathing in a bowl of Tantanmen amidst a myriad of readiness appraissals and a consultancy roll out, sterile like hallways of antiseptic baths for the morning parade to the operating theater and an annual work planning workshop until Tueday's declaration of a touch-and-go situation evicted a comatose procession from Room 2002 to a dark uncertain night.

Let us pray said the thoraic surgeon.

The portkeys of heaven at the Anglican Cathedral of St. Mary & St. John and St. Luke the Physician's Chapel were stormed with desperate pleas, sincere petitions for the deities' compassion who on Wednesday morning intervened through a faint wave of recognition to usher The Awakening from unintelligible scrawls and gestures to a familar script that on Thursday were liberated from the restraint of intravenous lines. 

In the aftermath of a 10-minute brush with near-death, a pair of  specters descended to secure ICU 2 and offered comfort that resuscitated neurons and nephrons to functional normalcy. 

This was the story told on Friday night and by Saturday morning, the dark nights of Tower 2 (19M, 27P, 17L) metamorphosed into hazy but brigther days in Tower 3 (24Z) with the taming of the hypotension and extubation from the breathing machine. 

A brave strong heart noted the cardiologist.

From relieved hearts, an outpouring of grateful prayers were coursed through heaven's portkeys by a gathering of Carmelians at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, an Episcopalian mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary & St. John, and four lighted candles for supplication at the Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno.

It was a nightmare with limited visistation hours (9-10 am, 6-8 pm) but faith in the deities, prayers from family and friends, and the welcome distraction of drafting a communications plan that was circulated as guidelines for partnership management pushed forward the first payments to Manila, Jakarta, and a consultant immensely helped us to pull through...

THE MATRIX (Bakal 2 Edition)

Ours is a digital rain of Yin and Yang forces.

Opposing yet complementary, like the eternal struggle between night and day.

A symbiosis of Kana characters and Latin symbols, like men and women. 

An endless loop of a death@71 and a birthday@62 in Cabanatuan...

In the CodeScene for the Phantom Biker, emails were responded to and remote meetings convened in Phnom Penh as dscussed in chat box conversations with Melbourne about a proposed assembly in Manila that will address matters related to a one-stop shop on first payments, the provisions of which, as indicated in a consultancy covenant transcribed in Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia, will ship a cybernaut instrument to Nairobi.

Year 4 is a work plan that executed the second submission of Year 3 reports to hopefully unlock Step 5 through leisurely rides in the wet roads of Bakal 1, Kukusim, Mapak-ol , Korokan, Purok 5, and Bakal 3.     

Outlook is now powering iPhone 16 ever since the news broke out that Millenum Harvest is being felled by bills payment.

That's when Ateng's Garden's green screen blinked with computer codes for tinumis and sisig, litsong manok and pinakbet, pork barbecue and popcorn, dinakdakan, and a makeover... 

INTO THE STORM, AGAIN (How We Scaled Senate Room 527)

Unfortunate maybe but not orphaned nor rejected. 

Thus was how a low pressure area morphed into Tropical Depression Isang as the prognosis of a recurrence marked "worrisome" was conveyed, bringing us back to Baguio during the time of of Typhoon Carina.

Just the same, we prayed for the intercession of Our Lady of the Abandoned (circa 1720), amplifying last year's pleadings to Our Lady of Atonement (circa 1920).

[This while a financing agreement and refund in Jakarta eased the slightly delayed subbmission of a narrative report to Melbourne that concluded the partnership agreement for Kuala Lumpur and resolved a foreign exchange loss in Manila because yogurt was served during a weekly catch up on images of a certain Diane from the past, a replacement for the dead motherboard and tired exhaust fan displayed at a bankteller's counter in Cabanatuan.]

Both baliwag Transit and Victory Liner skipped the mandatory checkpoint in Dau to call in an Admission Order after the last two remaining claims were settled to usher a new request for a Guarantee Letter.   

[The inbox was wiped clean despite a deluge of online correspondence on social protection under the sponsorship of Our Lady of the Orange Top, patron to those who partially pay credit card billing statements that were printed in a draft consultancy contract from Kathmandu, to them who initiated their first request for reimbursement, and to us who are required to aassess amd update the system.]

There were apples and popcorn, tokwa't baboy and fried tilapia, fake wine and beer, and the Phantom Buker's conquest of the Riverside in Bakal 2 via the Jose W. Diokno Bulevard in Pasay.

We got in through a portkey at the second floor security check of the GSIS Building, and were led from crowded elevators to Room 527 that is actually a cornucopia 6 huge ramen bowls of Tonkatsu, TanTanMen, Shio, Shoyu, Miso, and Soba that surprisingly tasted like grilled squid and tuna belly garnished with a selection of parfaits and sundaes.  

Despite an encounter with the wolf snake and a hurried funeral in Talavera, the impact of the impending second storm is somewhat subdued compared to last year's,  harsh still but subtle enough to justify a few sips of warm but real beer from a plastic cup in Bantug after the near beers were gone...