>Thank God it's Christmas.

I feel blessed to be with my family every Christmas. The allure of big time Christmas parties in Boracay or where have you are always tempting, but I never really give them a second thought because being with my family has how it's always been, and it'll always be way better than any party anywhere in the country, or in the world.

This, however, has to be THE most blessed Christmas for me yet. Or maybe it just gets better every year! And I can't just say that 2003 was a pivotal year because everyday is a pivotal day. I wake up each morning and walk straight to the bathroom to splash freezing water on my face, and I look into the mirror and tell myself to live, no matter what. But this holiday season, my eyes were opened again, not by a cool splash but by family and friends who did unexpected things for me. And when I asked them why, I realized that it's just because they loved me. Yeah, love rules!

So to all my close friends, whom I hardly even see, thanks for always hugging me as if I was a balikbayan who just came home for the holidays. You are all gifts and I love you.

To GamePlan and Probe Productions and my best friend Buko Pie, thank you for always being there for me and for putting up with my mood swings (The ones people don't even think I'm ever capable of having.). Our experiences with each other will always make me feel richer than the richest people I know. FOR VANDOLPH FOREVAH!!!

And to my family, thank you so much for making life so grand. Mama, you're the best OC and Monk-ish mom anyone could ever have. Carla and Bianca, you're the best cartoon and film and art and music addicts to have as sisters (Yes, even if I hate your ringtones, Bianca!). And Max, well, what can I say? You're the only dog I know who tries to talk as if you're human, so thanks for always running around me when I walk in the house.



This is a photo that Mama took of us back in 1992, New Year's Eve (God, I was 12 and I weighed 89lbs! Can you believe?!) She submitted this photo, along with an article, to the Inquirer for this writing contest about family traditions. The darn newspaper hasn't given her a call back and she's worried that she didn't win, but I think that's it's one of the best pieces ever written about family and Christmas. It has to be! I mean she's my famous English Major Mum! Who else would put up with a bakya daughter who used to say "let's ride the escalculator" and "I'll get some fried kitchen from the chiken"? Anyway, here's the article that she wrote. I hope you enjoy it as much as my sisters and I did. :)

Merry Christmas, everybody! And I love you, Mama! You rock!

HOLIDAY CHEFS
by Madeleine da Silva-Vargas

Every year, for the last 23 years, at exactly 3 p. m. on the 24th of December, our kitchen is the venue of a major production...to be more specific, a major production line...

It all started when my three daughters were toddlers and insisted on helping their Papa prepare a Christmas Eve dinner of roast turkey. The eldest, Carla, was assigned the task of rubbing the turkey with salt, followed by fresh lemons, and generous amounts of butter. She proudly showed off her butter-laced fingers after the chore. Number 2, Bianca, busied herself with chopping ingredients that went into the bread stuffing; while the youngest, Alia, waited her turn to mix the stuffing with eggs. Getting her hands all sticky made her feel she was doing as good a job as her siblings.

Thus began not only their appreciation for what many consider a tasteless bird, but also a family tradition. Somehow, their participation in the preparation made the dish rather sumptuous, and made them look forward to the same activity—with the same assignments--year after year.

A few days before the 24th would find them discussing how to improve the stuffing, or how to keep the meat juicy, or what herbs to add to enhance flavor and aroma. Last year, they decided to insert fresh rosemary between the turkey’s skin and meat, and we enjoyed both flavor and aroma! In the past, there were near disasters, too, as when Alia misunderstood her sisters and poured the remaining liquid (from the salt and lemon and butter) into the stuffing mix instead of on the turkey!

The fact that they continue the production line only on Christmas Eve has made them christen themselves “Holiday Chefs.”

It warms my heart to see all three cheerfully preparing dinner when only a few months back they may have been yelling at each other or exchanging harsh words--just like sisters are wont to do every now and then. This revered kitchen activity seems to wash away all the negatives that may have crossed their paths within the year...even bringing me visions of little grandchildren joining the production line...

And as we thank the Lord for the meal before us, I also quietly thank Him because this mother, who cannot even cook rice properly, has been blessed with daughters who can cook—even if only during the holidays!

Posted 2:45 AM by alia

>Mano Po!

Well, not exactly mano po. Mr. Ed Dames just sent me a message that the the first Mano-Mano K-1 Challenge will be held this December 27. The tourny will feature different fighters representing various combat disciplines like Kung Fu, Karate, Muay Thai, Kuntaw, Kickboxing, Taekwondo, Boxing, and YawYan from Luz-Vi-min. If you're interested, get your tickets at all outlets of Ticket World and catch the violence in the Philsports Arena. Hmm, I think that's in the Ultra. Basta! It's where the PBA plays. I think. Man, I'm so bad. How embarrassing. And I work in a sports show? Yeesh!

***
>Poetry for the Buko Man!

buko pie is at par
buko pie is unlike any other
buko pie is therefore a novelty
buko pie is the best lemon scented body product
buko pie is quite perishable
buko pie is now a stopover for motorists plying the route going to antique as well as customers from the city and province of iloilo
buko pie is great
buko pie is made of slices of coconut

Hehe! Relive the fun and google your name with googlism! :)

Posted 8:58 PM by alia

>Movin' into the Top 5!

Most of you who visit my blog (Or at least used to. Halina at makihalubilo muli sa aking mundo!) know about my Top 5 list of accidents on the upper left. Well, there has been a change. You see, an officemate and close friend of mine got married this year and is very preggy, so we smokers always have to move away from her preggy section. One day, we were eating dinner in Paprika, and what we usually do is put the fan on high gear and point it to her direction, so that none of our smoke gets close to her. I turned the fan on and she felt a little chilly, so I put my left hand behind the fan to tilt it up and BANG! I jumped and the owner's mom said, "What was that?" I was just as confused as everybody else, until this burning pain travelled into the tip of my pinky finger. Yes, folks! I stuck my pinky in the fan! So smart, no?

Luckily, the fan blades just banged and brushed my finger. I've two little blade cuts now, but they're not that deep. They're just really funny to look at. Haha! Istufida!

So what used to be car accident on south super highway is now stuck her pinky in the electric fan. Welcome to the Top 5, Leftee Pinky!

Posted 11:17 PM by alia

>My sisters are so gonna love this quiz! :)


What Finding Nemo Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yeah, I'm Crush! I rock!!!

***
Wow, I'm on a blogger roll! Well, I've just been home so much coz I'm injured. So I guess having an injury has its perks, too, eh?

Posted 10:53 PM by alia

>It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

You know that Christmas is just around the corner when your calendar’s filled with Christmas dinners, parties and reunions. Yesterday was the ACC Gators Swimming Team Reunion in Alabang and my sisters and I were all set to go. I had a 2pm pictorial for the CADS Concert, so I figured that driving back and forth wouldn’t be such a problem. But last Wednesday, Robert arrived from a CLP shoot (They went on a cruise with a killer IT!) and told me that he was going to give a talk in Murder by Design on Saturday. I asked him what it was about and apparently, the talk’s pretty poster had been on the company bulletin board for weeks and I never stopped to take a look at it. Different people who mastered graphic design and motion graphics and what have you were going to give talks, so I thought that it would be an interesting event to attend. It was somewhere in Shaw Blvd., though, so bahala na si Batman.

The CADS pictorial was fun as usual. It’s always great to be with dancers who just love movement and music. While waiting for the others, the photographer took fun pictures of us, including one where I’m doing a handstand on one arm (my good arm because the other one’s injured right now) when I was actually leaning on a white wall. Hehe, daya. Then we pretended that Randy was a paparazzi taking photos of Maradee in a beauty contest (I’m dying to post the picture, but she won’t let me. :).

Me with the Cono Sanman origs Maradee, Jem and Maan.

Posing with half our cast: Juli, me, Maradee, Jem, and Kat.

We ended late, though. It was already 4pm (Murder by Design was from 4 to 10pm.) and I offered Maradee a ride home, and Kat 86 (She’s back to 86 pounds! My God!) a lift to the MRT Station in Shaw Blvd. We drove through McDo Katipunan for some merienda, and it was a good idea because the traffic to Maradee’s place was horrible. Then Kat and I had to deal with Edsa, and that side road where you turn right into Shaw was hell. Anyway, she got down and I was left all alone looking for Nueve de Pebrero St., and I ended up near the West Bridge (?) and there was a detour thing going on there. So I had to go into this one-way street and ask a jeepney conductor for directions. And yes, I had passed the street. I was so far off, I had second thoughts of going home! Pero sige. Sayang lang, nandito na rin ako.

It was a tough drive to Nueve de Pebrero St., which didn’t even say “Neuve de Pebrero”. It was “9 de Pebrero”. Yeesh! I finally spotted the Murder by Design banner at the corner, and the talk was in this restaurant called Pintu Gila. The restaurant had no sign anywhere, so that pissed me off; and parking was a little difficult. I had already passed the restaurant, so I backed up and saw Lyle Sacris who was hanging out with friends outside. I knew that he probably didn’t remember me, but I called out to him anyway and introduced myself, “I’m Alia? ...Friend of Ramon and Quark?” Jahe. Anyway, he spotted a space near the corner, so I backed up some more and parked my car and got out to stretch my poor legs.


A picture with tokwa lover Ninoy and Joel of 25*8.

It was already 730 and I missed Robert’s talk, but I did meet Avid Liongoren, kumpare Ninoy and Joel of 25by8, AJ and Ian of Electronica Manila, Carlo and Edsel of Furball, and Dave and Dindo of K2 Interactive. Wow, such talented people, and the place was filled with graphics wizards and wannabe wizards. The speakers' works were impressive, but I learned more about how to deal with clients than how to make designs as cool as theirs. I was looking for Ate Cyn, but Ninoy joked that she was too busy preparing for her wedding, and that her site had turned into a wedding site (Haha! We were just kidding, Ate Cyn. You know we love you. :). I saw Naz there, but he didn’t remember me. Plus he gave a talk about programming I think, so I stepped outside to smoke (Sorry, but programming is just beyond me.). The place was also a little too crowded for claustrophobic me, so I took my free beer (You get 5 for the P350 ticket, so sinulit ko talaga) and mingled with the smokers.

At around 930, my sister called and told me to get my ass to the reunion asap. So I drove as fast as I could from Mandaluyong to Alabang and when I got there, my sisters were already leaving the place. I stayed anyway and it was a very nostalgic evening. I used to be the team captain and the little kids who used to bicker with each other and scream “Alia! Alia” with wee voices were already college students who spoke in low tones and sat like grownups. I met Coach Anthony’s 4-year old daughter Kiona for the first time, and I was told that they raffled out prizes earlier. My sisters won prizes for “oldest gators”, but there was no prize for “the gator who drove from the farthest place”. Shucks.

I didn’t smoke because it breaks my coach’s heart to see me smoke, but I did have a bottle of beer. And I smoked when he left. Heehee. I asked Joseph to keep me company outside, and eventually everyone came out and we all reminisced about the old times and the tsismis that broke many ties in the team.

My Saturday was spent meeting new people and reuniting with those who made my athletic life so worthwhile. As busy as everyone is, the Christmas season has always been a great time to play catch up and plan for the future. For example, the Gators are planning to form a water polo league, so I’m really looking forward to that. Oh yes I am, because the athlete in me hopes to make a huge comeback in 2004. Snicker. But I guess we’ll just have to see, right?

Oh! ANd hey! My blog wants to make a comeback, too! Nyaharhar! But seriously, expect new things in 2004. It sounds like a nice even number. :)



Me with Coach Anthony and the famous Kiona.


The Gator girls! Alex, Gabi and Tanya.


And zee Gator boys! Nico behind Sacho, Kenelm and Paul.


Me and Joseph, the former captains.
Yeah, we had fun power tripping.

Posted 8:26 PM by alia

>Messy advertising.

Most of us in the media business live on advertisers and their ad placements, but I hope that this letter from John Silva, a Senior Consultant of the National Museum of the Philippines, gives them something to think about. Actually, I hope that it gives all of us something to think about.

NETWORK BUSY. DIRTYING THE COUNTRY. By John L. Silva The 18th Philippine Ad Congress, held recently in Baguio, gave most of the participants who drove up a chance to see along the way what their advertising colleagues do to earn their keep, reap awards and industry accolades. Banners, proclaiming the "Addict(ive)" and "Simply Amazing" aspects of Smart cell phones, were nailed on every tree, posted on every telephone pole, on both sides of the street, from the border of Tarlac, through Pangasinan on both MacArthur Highway and short cut roads. Banners were planted at intervals along Kennon Road and Marcos Highway, reaching all the way to Baguio, hanged on any vacant wall or gates, and hammered to the last remaining pine trees. It would be FCB's (Smart's advertising agency's) tour de force tactic. Wipe out the competition by leaving no place to hang their banners. "Simply Amazing?" How about "Simply Revolting!" Globe managed to sneak in some banner advertising, but had to resign themselves by finding empty billboard structures and hanging as many banners as possible. It looked like garbage in the air but they seemed to think otherwise. In the recent past, 16" x 20" vinyl ads for fertilizer, pig feed, and children's candies were wrapped on old acacia trees around Pangasinan. By the time you got to the boulders on Kennon Road, graffiti proclaiming past political candidates and juvenile love messages took over. This time, it's the cell phone giants with gargantuan ad budgets stopping at nothing to create the longest, dirtiest, ugliest highway and countryside all to induce you to buy their cell phone services. What I find appalling are the gentlemen or gentlewomen who run both the advertising and the cell phone companies. They're urbane, highly educated and well traveled. They're aware of advertising studies that show cluttered billboards lose their effectivity. They read industry reports about billboards causing road accidents, elevating blood pressure and increasing stress levels. They're clued into info about American states like Hawaii, Alaska, Maine and Vermont, European countries like Norway and tens of thousands of smaller towns and cities around the world that have banned billboards outright and seen dramatic increases in tourism and investments. They certainly are in the know that billboards deflate real estate prices. And if they had a chance at driving anywhere in the world, they would motor through the billboard-free sceneries of Provence and Tuscany. Yet, in their own country, they're absolutely clueless, seemingly oblivious to all the research findings, let alone good taste, and continue wiping out the remaining visual heritage and precious sights of our country. When you reach Luisita, Tarlac you can barely discern, and even less appreciate the giant statue of falling hero Benigno Aquino, which is assaulted by ads everywhere. The gleaming rice fields of Pangasinan can't be gushed over what with fluttering cell phone banners planted every 50 feet. Any hope of grand majestic sights of the China Sea and the Cordillera ranges as you ascend Marcos Highway or Kennon are near futile. Instead, Smart's banners assault you with the sub-message "Screw the view. Load your phone." You thought there'd be a respite up in the city of pines. The cell phone giants have not only tainted Session Road and the other main streets but peaceful, charming, old Baguio roads like South Drive have been smeared with the Smart ADDICT signs. A word on ADDICT signs. It's a poor word choice to smother the country with it considering we have a serious drug problem. Billboards are already identified to addiction with cigarette and liquor companies being one of its largest ad users. Last Holy Week in sunny Boracay, ADDICT banners were hammered on every coconut tree on that white stretch of sand. Tourists and travel photographers were unable to get a pristine shot without ADDICT signs getting in the way. Sub-message? Screw tourism. It's not as profitable as cell phone addicts paying to hear their fave bold stars' heavy breathing. Many of us commiserate with Department of Tourism Secretary Dick Gordon who has to sell the country given the bombings, the coups and the kidnappings. But those things happen too in England and Spain and they still get tens of millions of tourists. Why, because there are no banners and billboards blocking the views of their castles and mountains. Dick's headaches are actually coup plotters in Makati Ad agencies who get their jollies seeing the country wrapped in vinyl. Take a look at these pictures of molested trees and mosaics of banners erected by petty hoodlums with no taste. Does this really look like a country you'd invite your Balikbayan cousins to visit? No way: Polled Americans (that includes Fil-Ams) hate billboards. Europeans aren't too far behind either and they'll flee to Bali faster than you can say Mabuhay. How do we get back at these corporations who make us look like one big Smokey Mountain? Fortunately for them, consumer advocacy is still in its infancy in these parts. But it starts with the first step of calling, faxing, e-mailing them and confronting the corporate presidents and giving them a piece of our mind. The next step is to fight for strict laws and enforcement with teeth accompanied by punitive fines. There's also consumer choice. Between the two big cell phone companies, Smart has been the most offensive in dirtying up the countryside. That should give you a hint and fair warning to Globe or Sun not to get sucked into polluting the country as well. As for the ad agencies who seduce the companies into thinking blanket advertising makes sense, start a revolt in your neighborhood like the barrio captains and concerned citizens of Laguna who decided that plastic Tanduay posters wrapped around their old trees were abominable and had them removed. Let's take it one more step by mailing or dropping these posters at the ad agency's front doors. See if they like garbage on their premises. The cell phone companies may have achieved brand name recall, spending hundreds of millions of advertising pesos. Unfortunately there's one brand name that's completely lost all recall thanks to these hucksters. That brand name is called the Philippines. She was a knockout of a product once, with tag lines like "Pearl of the Orient." She had a jingle which started "Bayang magiliw." It was so catchy, it became a national anthem. Brand loyalty was so high, that some even died for her! Imagine that! Give the cell phone companies and their advertisers your choicest words! Get exercised, tear down their posters and dump them in their offices! Reclaim "Eden del Mar," Jose Rizal's final poetic tagline for our now filthy looking country. Please tell these people what you think and cc me for my files. jsilva79@hotmail.com Many thanks. I doubt if this piece will ever see print considering how newspapers and magazines are dependent on their advertising. So, let us use the internet and send this piece to everyone in your directory.

Posted 10:02 PM by alia

>Time’s still flying.

For the first time in months, I’m actually blog hopping. I mean I post things once in a while, but I haven’t really had the time to check on my friends’ sites. Plus I didn’t feel nostalgic while reading their entries. I felt more of lost I think. Like, where have I been? I’m definitely living up to my huli-sa-balita rep I guess.

It was also sad to see that my link had been taken out of many of the websites that I used to frequent, but what the hey. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I’ve missed out on a lot of things, so now that I’m kind of resting, I should try to find out what the rest of the world’s been up to.

Good news, though! I did go out a few Saturdays ago! Yesiree! I went the 2nd Anniversary Part of ADMIT ONE in Rock Radio Cafe (Lucky me the place was just in Alabang :) and I had a blast! I hadn’t seen most of those people in months (Some of them were actually high school friends that I hadn’t seen in YEARS!), and most of all, I hadn’t head bang-ed that much in ages! My God! What a relief. And I got some free beer, too! So much thanks goes to Kat and Jeff for making me a happy tipsy girl.

I also got to meet the ever-famous Kathy from the Ciudad mailing list. Yes, she is a celebrity to me, and I’m very thankful to her because she gave me Ciudad and Boldstar pins. Wahoo!!!

I missed the NU Rock Awards last week, though, because I was just so tired. But it was so nice to get an invite from Quark. I swear, just getting little texts from friends I hardly see (Or should I say never?!) just lights me up on a bad day.

Well it’s Christmas again and time just flies so fast. And yes, time is still flying, so that actually gives me hope. That even if I’ve chosen work over fun and, sad to say, family, I know that everything will lead to something good.

I did manage to go to a Bingo with my sister Bianca last month. We visited our high school’s 25th anniversary weekend and I almost won 10,000 bucks! And I missed it by one number! Dang! Then I said, “God never meant for me to win money.” I guess that’s why I’ve been working extra hard nowadays. Hay. Let go and let God, right? Sige, God. Bahala ka na. I trust you! Pero please lang, sana wala na akong injuries for years to come. :)

Posted 3:56 AM by alia