Life, Day by Day

The Christmas season is here again and with it comes the year's most excessive consumerism ever. The buying frenzy begins on Black Friday (for those in the U.S.A) and continues all season long.  It's also the time for racking up credit card debt and getting all stressed up with decorating, parties, shopping, spending etc,. etc., etc...Arghhhh! Christmas isn't about presents ...Jesus was born in a manger bereft of even the most essential physical comfort, so why has the celebration of His birth turned into so much materialism, and the gift-giving and decorating part have become so important that the essence of Christmas becomes secondary?  Last year, my family and I have decided to cut back on our Christmas decorations.  We did not put up our big tree, instead I got a table top tree which we decorated with LED lights which uses less electricity.  It was enough to put a fascinated smile on our little girl's face.  We will use it again this year adding ribbon...

For people looking out for great food this holiday season, watch out for COMER.CIO , a 3-day food market slated to open on December 16 to 18, 2011 at the Central District right besides Robinson's Mall. The team behind the bazaar is a group of young entrepreneurs with a vision of promoting and showcasing Bacolod's finest food products that gives a young, fun and fresh appeal. The name COMER.CIO is an interplay of words, inspired by the Spanish word comer, meaning "to eat" yet when taken as a whole word, it translates to "commerce" which means intellectual exchange or social interaction. This is one of the aims of the bazaar-to establish social dealings between and among lovers of food. Interested parties who would like to showcase their products may email comercio.bacolod@yahoo.com for inquiries.  Deadline for submission of application is on December 8, 2011. 

(Before I begin, a disclosure: the owner and I share a common ancestor, making her a cousin of sorts, although we were made aware of this only about 2 or 3 years ago)  The newest kid in the food market is Ceres Pasalubong . I first saw their outlet at their old north terminal several months ago, and I was very surprised...I mean the name Ceres is always equated with the bus line and never with food. So, out of curiosity and because someone told me that their hopia was really good (my family is hopia crazy), one day driving home to Silay, instead of going up the flyover, I went under it to pass by the Ceres north terminal and parked where their pasalubong tent was. I of course headed straight for the hopia. Wow...their hopia was triple the size of those in other stores! Unfortunately, they had no mongo (my personal favorite) at that time so I settled for the onion filling.  I also bought their other goodies like the caramel tart which looked just the right color (...

As I try to put more order in my life the first thing I need to do is to clean up my room and give my clutter away.  I confess I am a bonafide, certified, professional pack rat. I am a keeper aka collector of things I like (translation: I overbuy) like books for example, so much so that there is hardly anymore space in my room for storage. My books are from wall to wall, old clothes in plastic bins one on top of the other, and paper...lots of it.  It's embarassing but I get sentimental over things I feel is part of my memory, so I keep them. I also have this habit of keeping old stuff which includes school notes, researches etc...just in case I, or someone in the family may need them for reference in the future.  Bottom line, I really do not know how to throw away anything. But now, as I go through another life changing experience, I finally realize that all these holding on to stuff accumulated through the years are actually proof that part of me still lives in...

It is just a few more weeks till Christmas and without a regular salary, this holiday season will be a little different from last year's celebration.  But this is not the first time that our family will have a simple Christmas...we experienced this in the late 70's when my brother had his accident and we were financially drained. However, just like then, we will not be any less festive or joyous because the essence of Christmas is love ...and we have plenty of that to give around and to share.  We will be putting up our Christmas decorations starting tomorrow and our Advent wreath will be ready too. The only thing we will be missing out on is the requisite gift-giving...which is really unessential and can be dispensed with in relation to the true meaning of Christmas.  Besides, our family practice is to give each other meaningful tokens on special occasions...nothing big but something that is well thought of and not given for giving's sake.  For needs, they can get ...

If there is one thing I learned about secrets is that life always finds a way of revealing them sooner or later.  Well, this one is the later kind.  But before I begin, I want to say that this is not my story, however reading John Silva's 2008 article "Lost and Found " in Starweek ( also found here ) about being reunited with a lost sister, I felt inspired and thought, why not?  This story, like John's has a happy ending  too. Of course, no real names will be mentioned to protect the privacy of the family.  This story began in the 50's when a young woman while taking further studies in the States met a young widower who was then doing the same thing.  They fell in love and planned to get married.  But the young woman's family was vehemently against her relationship with the widower who already had young children.  The couple in spite of family opposition, continued to see each other and the inevitable happened...the woman became pregnant.  A...

During the Masskara weekend last October 15, the Negros Bloggers were invited to attend the Globe sponsored OPUS Black Party at the L'Fisher Chalet . One of the fun moments was having ourselves "tattooed" at the Globe booth.  Globe's "I Choose Tattoo" Facebook Promo was launched nationwide in the Philippines only last September 21 and will end on November 17, 2011. To join, one needs to like the Tattoo Facebook page and then read the mechanics. Follow the instructions carefully and participants will get a chance to be the next billboard celebrity by having his or her picture literally seen on an LED billboard along EDSA, Paragon, Lawton and Katipunan. In addition to that, there other prizes like a Samsung Galaxy Tab and a Tattoo MyFi Stick and cash prizes galore. Remember, the promo ends one week from now, on the 17th of November , so join na! Be Different, Be You....Choose Tattoo