Our Hero(es) for 2009

While many people are still engrossed in Pacquiao mania, Efren Peñaflorida single-highhandedly showed the greatness within the Filipino. We're more than proud to say, we helped/voted for him - cue in Susan Roces -"...not once, but twice..." and that's just in a single week. The works of the finalists for the CNN Hero of the Year award were all great - each making a tremendous difference in their own little way. On the other hand, there could only be one winner of the award so our allegiance, of course, went to the man who valued education and espoused belief that everyone has the capability to rise above and beyond what is presented to them.
However, we would like to highlight the works of an equally admirable man, Jorge Munoz(left). He started the program Angel in Queens. In it his whole family pitches in to feed homeless people around New York; selfless, wouldn't you say? He is not rich, he just does it - just because it is the right thing to do.
So why don't we see this kind of people in Naga City. Is everyone busier than Peñaflorida and Munoz that they can't do anything else than write cheques for the church. And wouldn't it be nice if priests and nuns went around the city directly helping the needy? Just to show the way - cause somehow prayers don't quell hunger.
Anyway, congratulations to all of them! If only we have leaders who could walk in their shadows.

It's in the air

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Among the many signs, the most glaring are the Christmas lights courtesy of Casureco - with houses, appliance as bulbs.

Yup in, probably, the greatest spectacle of lights this side of the city - the heavens must have a good view of the on and off electrical lights synchronised by Casureco. This view as we notice is most evident in the Magsaysay area.
And we are surprised - with such organized electrical wires, how come?

Oh well, enjoy the show. This one's perennial.

Phoned for comments, we got this from Casureco's office: "we'll be faxing our statement to you, eh, igwa bang kuryente d'yan?"

Inanod from Manila

We were wasting away time (again!) over kinda cheap & good coffee - unlike those in most coffee shops, EXACT opposite - and we were talking about the day, we all had. Some were amusing, some were boring but one that did stood out was this one.
Here's the first person perspective:
While one of our friend is having his hair cut. Another guy walked in and asked the price of a trim (in Tagalog no less!) well that wasn't really the problem, you should really ought to know the cost of what you're gonna have/do and some of us do still speak in Tagalog (first language is hard to kick out) so that's not it.
So to speed things along, there were small talks, then casual flirting (not us or our friend - but, that's still not it though, they can touch 2nd base for all we care) but what set me off is this part, "taga-Daet ka?" asked the other person and the guy who walked in a few minutes ago replied "hindi ah! sa Manila ako"
What the *&ck! I thought, What's wrong with Daet? Are we being discriminated in our own place? Well, I'm not really even from Daet but I felt insulted - but thankfully, another person had quick wits to much my rising temper.
But that got us talking. How often do we judge people based on their hometown? We mean we're not saints, we do joke around about each others' places but we never take any of the banter seriously. Growing in the city or in the province has little bearing on who a person is or what he becomes.
The Promdi mentality is just stupid! Thank God, there are not that many people like him.

P.S. We'd finish the story (the rest was kinda amusing!) but we thought the point was made. But if anyone wants to know what happened, you gotta treat us to a cup (the kinda cheap & good ones!)

Trick and Treat

A brief bout with cold and the outgoing typhoon, proved no problem when we decided to get together before Undas. And having weaned ourselves to the sugar-laced liquid dubbed “coffee” in Beanbag, we decided to let one slip at their branch in SM (plus there was a sale—again– at the mall, and we thought we could grab some cheap pants).
Anyway, to our, umm... minor, surprise we saw kids in costume at the mall.
Now, Trick or Treats is not a new thing—well, maybe in Naga. But it is a uniquely honed western tradition and one we see aped poorly in posh villages in Manila (not that this one is any better).

It was never an irritating sight, though. Let kids have fun, right? Plus, the change is always welcome. It was, as PDI, pointed a way for kids to deal with the inevitable and the unnatural—a huge step, from using ghouls as ways to keep kids at home and behaved.

Plus, whatever sugar rush they had will be quelled by the somber celebrations in cemeteries the day after.
Whichever, way you celebrated Halloween, Undas, All Souls day. We hoped it was memorable—Cheers.

(P.S. Now’s the time to set the Christmas Trees—right?)

Erap's running (again)

we don't always agree with Erap, but we took it to heart when he said in his inaugural address:

"Huwag n'yo 'kong subukan (ulit)"

amen, that's duly noted. Although, we're hoping the Supreme court wakes us up before this nightmare begins.

Sharing GMA's headache for one night

Political butterflies are a reality in Philippine politics, but we wouldn't have cared if not for one ruined evening care of the Nacionalista Party's mass pirating err...oath taking last night. We were waiting for some people yesterday night to join us for dinner. At around 8:30, the group said they're in Pili coming from Legaspi. We said, yey! let's order pizza so that when they arrive our orders would be done. But lo and behold, an hour has passed and they're nowhere. The pizza is starting to droop so what do we do - we called our guest. They said they're stuck in a massive oathtaking ceremony in Pili.
So to make the story short, what was planned as a night of hot, crispy shared pizza turned out to be huge packs of doggy bags. We waited for an hour and a half; asked the foods to be packed and met them in another place a half hour later. Yup, they spent more than two hours in traffic. We would have applauded if it was genuine political demonstration, picket lines and that sort of things.
But thousand of people (60,000 - MB estimates) in orange colored shirts just stinks choreographed.
The timing for that ceremony gave a bad rep to the Nacionalista's - which we hope gave their PR men headaches and we don't like the Lakas Party (the party L-Ray bolted) either, but for that night we must have shared the same sentiments for our pizza as GMA has thought of her lost party mates - Sayang!

P.S. The pictures came from BicolMail. We would have shown a picture of the actual oath taking but let's leave the PR machine to the pro's. :-)

As we said, One down!

what's missing in this picture? yup, signs.
If you still frequent or if you did frequent Centro (remember where that is? all the SM mall rats out there) you'd remember that this is the building KFC used to occupy. What's missing is Col. Sanders face, the KFC logo and the huge FOR RENT sign displayed just last week - plus the Dibidi sellers below (but that's another matter all together)
If there's still doubt SM Naga will have some consequence in Naga's simple economy this is prima facie evidence that is has. What puzzles us, as we bought nuts from the vendor just across the old SM building is that the small vendors doesn't seem to be affected.
It seems that those who are catering to the middle and upper middle class are the only ones affected.
That made our plans of opening Starbucks, BurgerKing or just even Wendy's a very, very hollow dream. I guess it's just back to opening a bar in the metro. (P.S. We like ClubM8 but something just ain't running right in that place) We're thinkin' neon lights, music, booze, ventilated air, and lots of umm free protection and bouncers to screen people based purely on their superficial aspects....hehe
Anyway, did you guys see that empty space between Coby's and Bigg's. What used to be Red Ribbon turned to be the model of every franchise who do not up their game. It might seem that we fuss over very little things - such as shops closing down. But, who doesn't fear the whole centro down sizing or moving to CBD. We're just saying, we see the cracks.