Merry Christmas

...to all of humanity, may each person celebrate Christmas the genuine way because it is, simply, the birth of Jesus.

Maligayang Pasko (as we say it in the Philippines).

Charice goes jingle bell rockin'

It's only a few days to go before Christmas Day. And here's a wonderful Christmas song (one of my favorites) from wonderful singer Charice, when she graced the recent Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center in New York, USA. (from Raytatlo's Youtube channel)

How to rob a footbridge!

If this almost a year-and-a-half footbridge can talk, it will scream "I've been robbed!" But it can't talk and can't say who took out its lights (and all things attached to the lights) that illuminate its path on dark nights when people use it, especially students from a nearby school. Streetlights near the bridge aren't always functioning at night thus people tend to still cross busy Mindanao Avenue on street level than risk meeting someone with dark motives up there on the dark and dreary footbridge. The footbridge stands on Mindanao Avenue near corner Road 3, in Project 6, Quezon City, Philippines.

Did anyone love this dog before?

I've come to call him "Brownie, the Dog Wanderer" because since late last year, I've always seen him wandering around our neighborhood, usually around the intersection of Corrina Avenue and Aramis Street in Pasong Tamo, Tandang Sora district, Quezon City, Philippines. And he's always been sleeping--rain or shine, if not walking around--rain or shine, on the sidewalk in front of the gate of a house there. Thus I suppose that Brownie used to live there. Maybe his human, his dog parent, in that house used to love him, and Brownie loved him or her back. That is, until maybe Brownie's dog parent kicked him out because he or she couldn't stand anymore or didn't want to do something about his wounds and nasty smell. Just a thought.

But if Brownie's not sleeping on that sidewalk, he just walks around the vicinity of the said streets, silently eyeing passersby and looking at vehicles zooming by. Having taken pity on Brownie, I would take some leftover food with me if I knew I will be passing by the area where I usually see him (I live nearby where his territory is). He has come to recognize me (or maybe my "smell" since, I think, he can barely see now) whenever I approach him, waiting for me to give him something to eat. Sometimes, he follows me even several meters away, looking at me with his pitiful eyes, if I pass by him and I don't happen to have food with me to give him. But there've been instances, too, that I bring him food, but I don't find him in his usual place. That's the time he's off wandering somewhere. Perhaps looking for food and water. Or, perhaps following another neighbor who's taken to dropping Brownie some food, too, as he or she passes by this friendly-looking dog. Brownie still had brown fur when I first saw him wandering around (late last year). And I was able to take his photograph in December 2009. Now, he's lost much of his hair, exposing his gray scalp (if that's what's it's called in a dog), and has more wounds. But I still call him "Brownie." And...he responds to that name, too! Or, maybe he just smells the food am carrying for him, that's why he stands up when I call him Brownie. Or, maybe, he just didn't have a name at all and has come to like being called Brownie. I took more photographs of Brownie just the other day. And he gamely posed. I've not seen him since then. I hope he's okay. Sometimes, I can't but wonder about Brownie, the wanderer.

CHARICE on GLEE

My fellow Filipino "Charice," a great singer, conquers GLEE, a famous TV show airing from the USA. Charice plays a foreign exchange student named "Sunshine Corazon" from sunny (except when there are typhoons, of course, which we get plenty of) Philippines! Showing starting today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcWhiu3D5Mw

thanks to Journey4AP9 for the video.

The police officer's "jealousy"

Last night on TV news, a Filipino police officer was interviewed about a gang that had broken into an establishment, carting away valuables in the dead of the night. Describing how the gang entered the place it robbed, he said something like “Nakapasok sila dahil tinanggal nila yong jealousy (They were able to enter because they removed the jealousy).” Mr. Police Officer (Mr. PO) was referring of course to “jalousie,” which, according to dictionary.com is “a window made of glass slats or louvers of a similar nature.” Well, jealousy and jalousie do sound alike, and I indeed have heard in the past a few other people interchanging using those words, including my late grandmother. But when I heard Mr. PO say “jealousy” and not “jalousie” on TV news, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud (LOL!) because he said the word in all seriousness and conviction. And to think that it was police officer interchanging those two words, he who would have had some experience writing a police report involving perhaps a similar crime in the past. Especially because this sort of crime has become a staple already in the news (e.g., the “Akyat-Bahay Gang is always in the news—that band of thieves that is able to enter homes to rob using seemingly unimaginable methods and at unimaginable hours). Well, I hope Mr. PO's superiors saw his glorious interview last night and have by now inspired him to turn his jealousy into jalousie.

Mayor Herbert Bautista, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, Councilor Winnie Castelo of Quezon City--three weeks!

It's been a little over three weeks now since the time that I had called up the office of Mayor Bautista of Quezon City to report that the campaign streamers used by him,Vice Mayor Belmonte, and Councilor Castelo (they all belong to the same political party) during the May 2010 elections in the Philippines are still hanging about on Himlayan Road near corner Aramis Street in Quezon City. The tattered remains of the streamers cling on wooden frames hanging precariously on some aerial cables, just waiting to fall on unsuspecting passersby or vehicles.

The lady who answered my two calls to Bautista's office told me that she will report and had reported already the matter to some "EPWD" section of the Mayor's office, and they should already be going to the place to remove 'em streamers. I also told her that their people should clean up the drainage in those roads because some already fallen parts of the streamers had clogged up the canals, and mosquitoes were feasting on the stagnant water (which is really quite dangerous since dengue fever is still rampant in the city).

Well, lucky me, three weeks hence and still no action from the Mayor's EPWD. Not even the local barangay (village) Chair Marivic Co-Pilar (Barangay Pasong Tamo) seemed to have the time to go around this part of her territory and noticed the junk up above and on the street level, not to mention the poor condition of the street itself which is traversed by hundreds of vehicles everyday. Or maybe she's busy preparing for the next village elections scheduled sometime this year. Well, good luck!!!

Belmonte and Bautista photo below from philstar.com