BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

How’s everyone? I hope you’ve all had a great weekend.

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Let me begin with a shoutout to a good friend from Cebu, Yvette, who just delivered a boy last August 17. A 9.4 pounder, did you say? Imagine carrying that weight around for something like 3-4 / 9 months. Wow!

Here’s another shoutout to Mike of the Mango Farm. He’s been complaining lately about his “cook” serving him nothing but nilaga (pork with cabbage and potatoes) for over a month now. Last night, he was asking for tips on how to gently say, “You are sooo fired!” My co-editor, Mahrose, suggested he take tips from Viva films where the amo knows exactly what to do (insert clips here of Sharon Cuneta – Pasan Ko Ang Daigdig, remember?) No, I don’t want to enumerate them here because I have a high regard for kasambahays. It’s still a job, after all.
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So much has been said about losing Pluto to the asteroids. The fact that we used to hold dear – that Pluto is part of our solar system – has now crossed into the realm of fiction. How many more facts will become fiction in our lifetime?
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Mom’s finally graduating from her SPED class. I hope she had fun even if the classes are only held on weekends. She’d be doing practicum starting September by tutoring special children. After that, she’d be doing a bit of work again with her former office but only limited to Samar. I bet she’s excited to travel again as she hasn’t done so since January, when she got sick again.
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I attended the recent OTOP (One Town One Product Philippines) held last weekend in Megamall’s Megatrade Hall. Featured were products from Northern Luzon. Needless to say, I was dead bored with the whole thing. There weren’t enough exciting products worth exporting. What’s new with cornick, jams, and basket weaves anyway? We’ve been doing cottage industries for decades! It’s so 30 years ago. The furniture weren’t as exciting as those made in Cebu. I ended up buying several place mats made of weaved bamboo skin (I just had to give in) to replace the banig ones bought from Samar last year, and two packs of frankfurters (with cheese) and Hungarian sausages. Also, I ordered a barong tagalog made of “piña cocoon” from this Laguna-based shop. It will be mailed to me in two weeks. They call it piña cocoon because the texture is similar to the piña fabric, which is rough to the touch, but it actually uses silk threads made by silkworms, a relatively new industry in the Philippines so the cost is just ¼ of the real thing. Not bad. I can't wait to see the final product.
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The hottest topic in the workplace these days is about opening dollar accounts to take advantage of the buying price while it is still cheap. I read in Inq7 Money that DBS of Singapore thinks it will test the waters at PHP 50 later this year until early next year because of the expected surge in remittances. Sounds like good news to some but definitely not to OFW families.
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By the way, I have an impending meeting (sounds like a doomsday scenario) with Ruby of When Excrement Hits the Ventilation, and I am utterly horrified at the prospect of meeting a co-blogger since I always have had a fear of EBs. The only co-blogger I’ve seen was Carlos Celdran of Walk This Way; although i didn’t muster enough courage to say hi. It doesn’t help too that Ruby’s reputation precedes her. To begin with, I wouldn’t wish to be flagging the same cab as her for fear of having to be humiliated infront of the cab driver (she can have it). What to do, what to do, what to do? Bahala na si Batman! Will email you ASAP, Ruby! :-)