lovely lips

My best friend's mother said that I have lovely lips :)

Hazel's wedding

Today is the wedding of one of my dearest friends, Hazel.

personal finance

There is a good article on personal finance in Inq7 today. The title
is "New Year resolutions you can't afford to ignore".
(http://business.inquirer.net/money/personalfinance/view_article.php?article_id=40345)

sayong
12-27-06 6:10pm

pagbati ngayong kapaskuhan

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

 

sayong

12-25-06

Christmas Party 2006

French class 2007-2008
My boss verbally agreed tonight that I can attend the French
class next year. Now, the final decision is with the committee
handling trainings.

Agency Christmas Party
Lito Camo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lito_Camo) was the
guest performer in our agency's Christmas party tonight. He was okay.
But his performance wasn't as funny as those of Mitch Valdez (August
2006 and 2002), Arnel Ignacio (last year), and Nanette Inventor; or as
charged as Vina Morales. The most boring entertainer we had, in my
opinion, was Ate Glow. He punctuated almost every sentence he uttered
with "no?" until it became irritating. To his credit, he managed to
make our top bosses dance.

Christmas Raffle
My lucky streak for raffles continues this Christmas party,
but not as satisfactory as last anniversary celebration when I got a
Nike gift certificate. I only won a minor prize. Anyway, it's better
than nothing at all, which I used to experience two years ago and long
before that.

Simbang Gabi
I already attended 6 of the 9 days Simbang Gabi. And it's
getting harder and harder to wake up and get up :)

sayong
12-21-06

The Nativity Story and Voltes V

Not that these are in any way related, except as part of my Christmas remembrance this year.

I watched The Nativity Story tonight and it is a good follow-up on the dawn novena mass or Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo I attended today.

I can’t remember now how many times I have completed the 9-day Simbang Gabi. I know that I’ve been attending it since high school, though I couldn’t complete one then.

Christmas preparation is just not the same for me without going to these dawn masses. I wake up at 3:15am and am usually at the church before 4:00am so I can get a decent seat. The mass starts at 4:30am. I noticed though that there are not as many people attending the dawn masses in our church as compared to previous years. Perhaps, more people now prefer to attend the anticipated Simbang Gabi at around 9pm in other churches rather than wake up at the crack of dawn.

Anyway, today’s gospel is from Matthew 1:18-25. Our priest explained the character of St. Joseph, given his setting. How just he was.

In his days, there were three stages to marriage. Engagement, Betrothal and Marriage proper. During betrothal, the couple signed a contract binding them as husband and wife but they’d have to wait a year before they could live together. One reason for this, our priest said, is to test the purity of the woman.

Imagine what St. Joseph felt when he learned that Mary was pregnant during their betrothal.

But he didn’t want Mary to be stoned to death if he accused her publicly and she was tried.

Imagine that Mary knew that she would face death when the angel told her that she would be pregnant and she answered, “be it done unto me according thy word.”

“The Nativity Story” is a good backgrounder movie, that makes me appreciate more the sacrifices of Mary and Joseph from the first Christmas.

Anyway, I might not have many take home gifts today but my officemate and classmate in German, Tranqs, burned me a CD of Japanese animation theme songs. My favorite is Voltes V.

I was in kindergarten (around 1980) when then President Marcos stopped the showing of animations on TV, including Voltes V. GMA 7 showed it again for the first time since the 80’s in 1999. This time, I finally learned the ending. And it became even more of a favorite.

Anyway, I’d better get some sleep, before the next Simbang Gabi.


sayong
12-18-06 11pm

German class graduates

It feels so good to finally graduate :)
But it;s not the end of German language course for me of four other
classmates at the FSI. We will all pursue higher German courses at
the Goethe Institut in Makati next year.
At the same time, four of us were also accepted at FSI's French
language course. Could we be as good as we were in German? It
remains to be seen. I hope so :)

sayong
12-14-06

good haul

I had a good haul today.

When he arrived this morning, my boss brought us tamarind
candies, banana chips and arrow root.

In the afternoon, a former officemate gave us T-Shirts.

And a friend from another agency sent a bottle of
naturally-fermented coco nectar vinegar.

When I got to DFA for our practice for the presentation
tomorrow, there were simply so much food. A classmate who just
arrived from Cebu brought dried mangoes, otap, rosquillos, and
danggit. Bebot brought GoNuts Donut. Jacky also gave us Christmas
gifts.

As I was just telling my mother, I not only got danggit but
vinegar to dip it in :)

On top is the news that government workers will get 6,000
pesos as additional Christmas bonus not later than the 15th.

It feels very much like Christmas already :)

sayong
12-13-06 11:30pm

good haul

I had a good haul today.

When he arrived this morning, my boss brought us tamarind candies, banana chips and arrow root.

In the afternoon, a former officemate gave us T-Shirts.

And a friend from another agency sent a bottle of naturally-fermented coco nectar vinegar.

When I got to DFA for our practice for the presentation tomorrow, there were simply so much food. A classmate who just arrived from Cebu brought dried mangoes, otap, rosquillos, and danggit. Bebot brought GoNuts Donut. Jacky also gave us Christmas gifts.

As I was just telling my mother, I not only got danggit but vinegar to dip it in :)

On top is the news that government workers will get 6,000 pesos as additional Christmas bonus not later than the 15th.

It feels very much like Christmas already :)


sayong
12-13-06

Ilocano dishes

I still have a hangover of my report in German and took pictures of my dinner today. I had a true Ilocano fare tonight --- pinakbet with bagnet. And they rhyme, too :)


12-06-06-pinakbet


12-06-06-bagnet

As I don’t eat anything with bagoong, my mother uses patis (fish sauce) when she cooks pinakbet.

From time to time, my mother prepares her own bagnet. Although it’s also delicious, it just cannot compare to the bagnet bought in Ilocos. My sister said that a kilo costs 350 pesos nowadays. My mother’s version is like chicharon but better for one’s health. That is, it’s not saturated with salt.

After eating healthy pakbet and cholesterol-rich bagnet, I had fiber with melon.

12-06-06-melon

Life is simply delicious :) Burp...


sayong
12-06-06 10:35pm

12-06-06-pinakbet 

12-06-06-bagnet 

2006 Christmas gifts

My mother and I shopped for some more gifts today. Unlike last year,
it seems that not too many people are buying gifts at this time. Or
perhaps, they just prefer tiangges/bazaars or bought their gifts
earlier.

Still, I can't help thinking that though the economy is said to be on
the upswing, people are poorer than ever.

It makes me sad when people cannot even afford to give each other gifts.

sayong
12-02-06 11:40pm