incessant rambling

Very few understand that Misa de Gallo is a fairly recent tradition celebrated by Filipino Catholics during Christmas Advent Season. Literally translated into Rooster's Mass, it is also used interchangeably with "misa de aguinaldo" and the local term "simbang gabi". Added to this, there is confusion in terms of the actual time it is celebrated as simbang gabi is often referred to as the vigil mass done a few hours before the eve of Christmas. On the other hand, other people refer to simbang gabi as the masses held at dawn, nine days before Christmas day and starts from December 16 to 24. So which is which? A little web sleuthing revealed that Misa de Gallo started its roots when the Philippine Catholic Church applied for a special indult from Rome to hold novena masses during the season of Advent in 1953. A novena is a Roman Catholic devotion of prayers done for nine consecutive days which explains why Misa de Gallo starts on December 16. Special per...

in the philippines, enough food is consumed during Christmas Season to feed Ethiopia for a year. While that is oooobviously an exaggeration, the reality is that on average everyone gains a pound over the holidays. make that another pound, and another one, heck, make that a lot of pounds. it doesn't help that i get invited to christmas parties, potlucks, snacks, merienda, breakfast, lunch and dinner. add to that fiestas, midnight meals on the eve of christmas and new year and the never ending boxes of fruit cakes that gets delivered to the office. dong juan - sour dough burger so what does one do? make up a long list of excuses to avoid going to parties, drip oil all over the gym, huff and puff through hours of aerobics classes, steam yourself to a dumpling in the sauna and go on a calorie restricted diet of oatmeal for breakfast and dinner. the upside? my meals cost less than Php 20 a serving. don merto, classic burger the downside? oatmeal tastes like paper at one po...

songstress. scribe. master of ceremonies. totally clueless. insensitively discriminatory. introducing natasha cang. she used the first three to describe herself. you can also add the last two to her resume after she hosted the company 2010 year end party. towards the end of the show, she announced the best dressed male and female awards. and sounding like a TV sales channel, she said.. "but wait! I said we are awarding three best dressed awards for tonight, we have an award for the in-between..." dead silence. "maybe i should call this CREATURE on stage." ooohhh... i can hear the kitty claws popping out. some high profile officers beside me literally cringed when natasha said those words. the company i work for has a very strong policy regarding racial, religious, political and gender discrimination. to have a host refer to an employee as an in-between and a creature is plain stupidity and shows an utter lack of sensitivity. at the very least, she coul...