Filed under culture, personal stories, religion
Misa de Gallo or Simbang Gabi is a traditional evening mass in the Philippines, held at the crack of dawn from December 16 to December 24. It’s very much a part of the Christmas celebration of Filipinos that people make it a point to be there everyday for nine days. I’m not Catholic, though, so I never went to one growing up. I only read about it in books and heard about it from friends, and to me it sounded like a fun and colorful tradition.
So when my roommate announced that she was going to the Misa de Gallo this year, I volunteered to go with her. She had a laughing fit when I said that; she thought it was a big joke because I usually wake up at past nine, the earliest. The few times that she tried to wake me up earlier than that (sometimes I ask her to–I usually don’t hear my alarm clocks), she would fail, even if waking me up sometimes becomes a physical feat for her (wrist-grabbing, pinching–those stuff).
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Filed under blogging, events
Looks like the Cebu Bloggers Society is hamming it up. Everyone is so enthusiastic about coming up with activities that I can barely keep up with the group! (My presence borders on being an apparition of sorts.) I did make it to our first Christmas Party last Saturday at the Jardin de Busay Estate. One member was generous enough to let us hold the party at his family’s house, which was on top of a hill. Truly a garden in the sky.
I admit I was most excited about the promised dip in the swimming pool, but we ran out of time. I helped cook a Chinese dish instead, if wrapping meat into empanada-like rolls can be called helping at all. I’d rather not post photos of the party because I’m sure the photos would ruin my already tainted reputation. We do have a safe class pictures though:
Thanks, everyone! I had a fun night!
Filed under events, personal stories
I got converted to the Belle de Jour way when a friend in Manila sent me a Belle de Jour planner last year as a random gift. I loved it from the moment I lifted it from the package. It was not like the other planners or organizers that I’ve had. It had an expense tracker, a birthday tracker, a menstrual tracker, and a vacation tracker, to name few. There was a quote for the week every week, and every month there was a theme and tips for the season.
But the best part was that it came with 36 discount coupons to different boutiques and coffee shops!
So when I heard that Belle de Jour was soon releasing the 2009 power planner, I reserved mine right away. Here it is now!
It’s a lot better than the 2008 planner, although that one was already love. I especially likee the cover design. It has more discount coupons, too! It has 60!
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Filed under culture, family, people, rants
I am of the opinion that a parent should at some point be free of primary responsibility over a child. Say, when you are 18 freaking years old, you should already know how to feed yourself, do your own laundry, and wipe your own ass.
I know we Filipinos like bonding so much that we tend to keep several generations under one roof, but I don’t like it. To me, parents should already be enjoying the sunset of their lives when the children are grown. They should only be enjoying their lazy afternoons and dote on their grandchildren.
A child should move out of the family nest, if not upon reaching legal age, then upon getting married. That is the only way for the child to learn how to handle responsibilities. This might be hard to do in some circumstances, but don’t you think it is only fair that a child who still lives at home at least contribute to the family coffer and not totally depend on the aging parents? It’s not about the money, it is about the backbone. And although a grandparent can help watch over a grandchild, the parent still should have primary responsibility (especially the financial worries) over the grandchild.
I’ve been independent since I was 17, and financially independent since I was 21. I haven’t asked for a centavo ever since. I am not saying though that I am a model child. Far from it. I can’t cook decent meals for myself and I hate doing the laundry, but I don’t ask my mother either to do my chores for me.
What I am saying is that we should at least try to be self-reliant, to unburden our parents of the worries they had when they raised us and watched over us for several years.
You know why our country is so poor? I don’t think it’s because of the corruption in the government. I’d like to go back to the basic, and it starts in the family: so many of us do not have backbones.
Filed under blogging, events, technology
A couple of months ago, a lady in Germany sent me an e-mail and introduced me to the Girl Geek Dinner movement. She was coming to Cebu and needed help in setting up the first Girl Geek Dinner in Asia (in Asia!). She was scouting for girls in Cebu who were into technology and who could form the core of the group, and she chanced upon my ailing blog.
I must have been hibernating that much, because I hadn’t heard of it before. A quick search on the web told me that it is an international movement (or organization) of international fame where girl geeks meet and discuss developments in technology and new media. It was started in London and sprang from the umbrella group Geek Dinners, which included males. Geek groups are usually dominated by males, so a smart girl decided to form a group exclusive to girls. Now, there is usually a group in major cities, such as the Frankfurt Girl Geek Dinners, London Girl Geek Dinners, and the Seattle Girl Geek Dinners.
Cebu has come up with one, too! They had their first Cebu Girl Geek Dinner last night at Asiatown IT Park. It was proudly sponsored by Exist Global. I don’t really know who were there and I don’t have pictures to show, because… I wasn’t there. 
I was already set to watch Twilight with friends, and it was already on my calendar since last month. I committed to helping promote Cebu Girl Geek Dinners, though. I see that no one has written about it yet, so I’m hoping that this will be my share.
Hopefully, that was just a start. I’ll surely be there on the second Cebu Girl Geek Dinner.
Filed under books, religion
I swear, LDS people are so queer that it is so easy to tell if someone is LDS. When David Archuleta and Brooke White sang their hearts out on American Idol Season 7, people suspected that they were LDS, even though the two did not talk about their beliefs on the show. The people were right.
I had the same wild guess about Stephanie Meyer while I was reading her books in the Twilight saga. Her profile said she got her writing degree from Brigham Young University. When someone goes to BYU, there is 90% probability that that person is LDS.
Second, her beliefs are all over her books. The vampire lover boy in the saga, Edward Cullen, insisted that he and Bella Swan marry before they make love, because, according to him, it is the right thing to do. In all the years that I’ve been reading novels, I haven’t come across a novel where the guy had to insist that.
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Filed under art, corporate shit, personal stories
I went mural-painting with some people from the company some Saturdays ago, and these were the fruit of our labor.
You can find those murals at the Guizo Elementary School in Mandaue City. 
We didn’t get to work on the mural for the stage because there were few of us volunteers and we ran out of time. It was dark by the time we finished the second wall. We are going back there one of these days. I am just waiting for the call.
If there’s one admirable thing about my employer, it is how it cares for the community. We have outreach programs many times a year. We have two adopted public schools and one adopted Gawad Kalinga site. I’ve dug dirt for the foundation of the houses at the GK site, weighed kids to see if they are properly nourished, and made a clown of myself at children’s parties, among others. My employer pays for all of that though, we only do the work.
Filed under blogging, rants
I’ve lost count of the number of times that my server was down, and customer support is almost always never available. I am pissed. At first, it was easy to brush off. But then when you can’t access your blog most of the day, and then it happens many times a week, then moving out is the only sensible decision. It’s affecting my already measly traffic.
A number of people have told me that they can’t access my blog, and it alarms me. How many visitors have the patience to wait for your blog to be okay, and how many of them are hooked enough to try to open the page again some other time?
It was bad service from the start. It took them awhile to set up my account. I lost several weeks of the one-year term that I bought. I had to make a long-distance call to follow up, and all I was told was that I should just wait, as if it was my mistake that I didn’t wait long enough. I know some webhosts can set up their clients’ accounts in 48 hours. Some even set up their clients’ sites; all the client does is log in and write away.
I didn’t get any help at all in setting up this blog. I didn’t really expect them to set it up for me, but some technical guidance would have been helpful. There was a time when I messed up my database configurations, so the blog was down for almost a week. I submitted a ticket, but I didn’t get any response at all. It didn’t surprise me.
I am moving to another webhost before the year ends. For now, I am scouting for a webhost that is stable and has excellent customer support. Any suggestions? This blog is currently hosted by Philhosting, so please forget it.
Filed under opinion, religion
If bothers me to see that its supporters are defaming our temple in Los Angeles. I was an activist, I know how ugly protests can get. The temple may not be special to them, but it is to us.
Marriage is sacred. I have my beliefs about marriage and how it should be done. But I am also pro-choice. I believe that people who do not share my religious beliefs should have the choice who to marry. We do not have the right to impose our moral standards on everyone. If I were there, I would probably have voted no and respected those who voted yes.
But the people of California have spoken, and majority said yes. They want same-sex marriage to be banned. I respect the will of the majority. That’s how things work in a democracy.
Many people seem to believe that the human right is boundless. It is not. Our rights end where the rights of another person begins. Simply put, we can swing our arms however we like, as long as we don’t hit anybody. Is it so hard to do that?
Filed under books
Gee, it is November already! It’s been a long time since something has kept me from the Internet this long. This time the culprit is a gorgeous vampire named Edward Cullen.
The truth is, I got caught up with work. But the rest of my time was spent reading the Twilight books and whatever else about it that I can find on the Internet–blogs, fan sites, and forums. I have become one of the shrieking loyal fans of the Twilight saga. In fact, I spent the Halloween weekend cooped up in my room, which I rarely do, because I always have to go out of the house on weekends. I didn’t even see my housemates for days!
I first heard about Twilight a long time ago, but I thought it was just another story. Now I regret not buying the books in Lexington, where the books are everywhere and are cheap. Bookstores in the Philippines are running out of stock. I had to buy my copies hardbound, which I also rarely do, because the paperback versions are sold out in a flash.
It is true that the series is overrated—-it is not fair to raise it to the level of the Harry Potter series, and to liken Stephanie Meyer with J.K. Rowling. I can find holes in the story here and there, some parts are dragging, and the voice shifts awkwardly sometimes. I also found six proofreading errors! Initially I thought I probably was just cross-eyed from lack of sleep, but now I’m sure I wasn’t. I searched Google and found that there are others who noticed, too. I hope the publishers realize it. I mean, Twilight is heaping awards; it can’t have proofreading errors!
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