The permanence of impermanence

My mom's older brother, Herodotus de Belen Acebedo Jr., Tito Junior for us his nephews and nieces, passed away at exactly 3 a.m. last Saturday, the 'hour of great mercy.' He and his widow Tita Alison have had a long held devotion to the Divine Mercy, so it was surely a beautiful and special way to go, leaving this temporal life at the exact time of the 3 o'clock habit.

I'm still trying to process things as the loss has begun to sink in. Just a sudden twist of fate. Only the Saturday before last Saturday, we were in Iloilo to celebrate the wedding of Tito Junior's son, my cousin JC. Two days later Tito slips into a coma.

My sisters who were left behind in Cebu because of work and school commitments found it weird that I had no Facebook posts on the reception. They said they were waiting for updates but none came. Aside from one photo taken at the church during the actual ceremony (a photo of my cousin JC, his wife Glory, and the priest), I had no real-time posts/photos during the reception, something they found uncharacteristic of me.

The only post I had throughout that evening, exactly one week before the Saturday when Tito Junior passed away, is one that said, "The permanence of impermanence." (Time-stamped 7:57 p.m., Saturday, March 1, 2014.)

Why? I don't know. It was an epiphany that came to me during the reception, like a premonition of sorts. Not that I had foreseen my uncle's death, no, but that at some point during what was undeniably a beautiful evening celebrating love and togetherness, I was overcome by a strange feeling, a stark realization that nothing is ever permanent in this world.  Eerily, with the turn of events, indeed the only thing permanent is impermanence.

It is oft said that the only thing that is constant is change. Time is fleeting, and so is life, wholly governed by time — the king of all elements.

Tonight you're celebrating, in the morning you could be mourning. Truly, the cycle of life is composed of trials and tribulations, joys and triumphs. And no one knows for sure when they'll come, so we can only make the most of the lives we are given.

So cherish your loved ones, say sorry, laugh till your stomach hurts, and love, love like today's your last...because tomorrow, tomorrow is never promised.

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Are we too "selfie-ish?"

Counted as one, 'Makati and Pasig, Philippines' tops this TIME Magazine list as the "Selfiest City in the World" with 258 selfie takers for every 100,000 people.

Manhattan in New York ranks 2nd. Our Cebu is number 9.

Makati and Pasig also outranked Miami, Manchester, Anaheim, Tel Aviv, and Milan, among other world cities.

What does this make of us?

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On our Facebook friends:

I just recently confirmed that Facebook randomly deletes your friends when you've reached capacity (5,000 friends) and still try to add more people.

To make space, Facebook picks out contacts — especially those you've been friends with for awhile — and deletes them from your network. I don't know if infrequency of interaction makes them an easy candidate.

I hope Facebook gives a warning and allows you to choose whom to delete (if at all) and not take it upon itself to decide who gets the ax. This random deletion business can cause a lot of strain amongst friends, especially that we don't know who is deleted and it stays like that for a time, or until you visit your friend's timeline — shocked to see "Add as friend." Then you wonder if he/she deleted you and if you've said something to offend them and push them to click unfriend.

Oh boy, how Facebook controls and affects us and our relationships is nothing short of phenomenal. I won't be surprised if one of the cryptic verses in the Book of Revelation turns out to be a reference to Facebook or Mark Zuckerburg (the "Mark" of the Beast? Sh*t! Kidding. LOL).