Christmas Nostalgia on a Sunday Morning

I was online looking for Chirstmas songs for my mom when I came across some rare gems in YouTube that surely brought out the child in me on Christmas day. When I was a young boy, my dad would play his favorite vinyl Christmas albums on all weekends of December leading to Christmas day. The usual suspects: Ray Conniff "A Very Merry Christmas Album", "Pamasko ng mga Bituin" and the "Mabuhay Singers Christmas Album".

Your ears would bleed every weekend listening to these songs over and over. But my dad would just sit by the record player and gently tap the chair to the melody of the Christmas carols. Simple joys when cassette players were the hottest thing in music. But my dad said that the quality of vinyl records were way better than those of cassettes (of which I totally agree).

Okay, I'm not that old to actually be part of the era when this Ray Conniff video was made. I'm a child of the 80's and 90's. Its just this video took me back to a time when Christmases were much more simple and meaningful. I used to sing along with my dad on some of these songs; truly priceless memories.

Christmas nostalgia is in the air on this gloomy Sunday. May the spirit of the season haunt you as well, in a good way of course. I've thrown in some Boney M Christmas music as well for your viewing pleasure. I find the video creepy and if you have problems sleeping at night, refrain from viewing this video. Pump up the volume, listen to the song in the background and sing along if you want. Happy Holidays everyone!

The New Generation Philippine Banknotes

Its been a while since our beloved Peso had a makeover, and yes, it sure is a welcome change. The new designs were very well received by the public. The changes were striking and it sure brought the Peso at par with other world currencies in terms of design and security features. The colors were much better as well. I'm not really sure if they would be of the same size (dimensions) with the old bills, but I sure hope that they would be similar to that of the Australian and Hongkong dollar.

There were notable changes on the bills. The reverse side of the notes now feature some of our most beautiful tourist spots and unique Philippine fauna. I especially love the tarsier and blue-naped parrot on the 200 and 500 Peso bills. However, there were some geographical errors on the notes. There were some issues in the accuracy of the location of the Puerto Princesa Subterranean Park and of the Tubbataha Reef on the 1000 and 500 Peso bills. Also, Batanes seems to have been cut off from the Philippine map on the reverse side of all the new bills.

The Bangko Sentral has also decided to let go of some of the more important historical depictions in the new designs. Gone is the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo oath taking image on the 200 Peso note and images of the EDSA People Power I on the reverse side of the 500 Peso note.

I am very excited to get my hands on these new bank notes. And yes, I'd also start keeping some of the old notes for posterity. To our Central Bank, just one small wish: please start producing more paper money and less of the coins currently in circulation. Also, please reintroduce the 1, 5 and 10 Peso bills into the market. I'm pretty sure you'd be doing the Filipino nation a big favor.

For complete details on these new designs, do check the official Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas website: http://www.bsp.gov.ph/publications/media.asp?id=2471

theuglykidproject Christmas tree

I spent most of the weekend decorating our house for Christmas. With so many rooms to decorate, I told my mom that we are limiting the decorations to just two: the living room and the study. But then mom had her way in decorating the kitchen as well. This year, my major holiday project was the Christmas tree. I want a tree that reflected my personality. A tree with balls! Blue balls! LOL. So thats what my family got. A tree dominated by blue ornaments. The official uglykidproject Christmas tree!

Next project: photos of the Metropolis this Christmas. From Alabang to Makati, I'd be taking pictures of how Christmas is shaping up this season.  Time to fill up the gas tank and get the camera ready... I'm going on Christmas road trip!

Christmas becomes theuglykidproject

There is no escaping Christmas! Its (counting with my fingers) 23 days left before one of the most awaited holidays all over the world. The metropolis is now glowing as Christmas lights adorn every tree, house and building facade. The Yuletide spirit is definitely in the air.

On that note, I'm decking the uglykidproject halls with boughs of Christmas holly (fa la la la la, la la la la). Because this indeed is the season to be jolly (fa la la la la, la la la la).

Enjoy the festivities! Let the season of fun begin!

The Morning Rush and the "Marinduque" incident

Okay, I guess the people in the office now thinks I'm looney; thanks to the "Morning Rush" podcasts which I have been listening for the past week at work. After missing almost 3 weeks worth of Chico and Delle's morning radio show (I was away on Java Training for most of last month), I pretty much made up for it by listening to the podcasts nonstop since Tuesday. True to TMR (The Morning Rush) fashion, the episodes last month were hilarious! I was trying my best not to laugh out loudly. What started as chuckles, led to louder snickers (with matching bobbing shoulders)- then bursting out in laughter in an otherwise deathly silent workplace.

In a TMR episode about the "Top Ten Tourism Slogans for the Philippines (a province or a city)", some entries presented really witty slogans (this was after the "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" brouhaha):

“More Asia, Than Malaysia.”
“Boom Boom Mayon! Bye Bye Albay.”
“San Juan, Juan-derful!”
“Pinas, Ganda Mo Teh!”
“Sa Pandacan, Big Time Ka!”
“Thanks For Coming, Camiguin!”
“We Fly High In Capiz!”
“Tata Tete Titi Toto Tutuban!”
“Better Leyte Than Never!”
“Boracay, You Sexy Beach!”
“El Nido. It’s Everybody’s Milk!”
“EoW pFouHWz, pHFiLiPPeEnZZ!” (jejejeje)

And to cap off the list: my favorite entry (which made me laugh out the hardest):
“Sa Marinduque, Malalaki Ang Pu…(so).”

This almost made me faint! I thought Chico was going to blurt out "Pu**" (hahaha). And thanks to Delle, an alternative filler was given: "Pu**y" (the English equivalent of pu**) which she said on air! (I want to believe this was an honest slip-up) hehehe. OMG, this made may day. I had to run out of the office to laugh in an empty hallway.

For a complete list of all the entries for this episode, visit Chico Garcia's blog (Strange Fruit): http://chicogarcia.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/the-top-ten-tourism-slogans-for-the-philippines-or-a-province-or-a-city/. This is a truly great blog with lots of really interesting stories and amazing photographs taken by Chico himself.

I want to think Chico and Delamar's morning radio show (which airs 6AM-10AM daily over at RX 93.1) is what keeps me sane in the workplace. But after today's incident, I'm willing to reconsider. LOL.