Young Underpaid Professionals

Happy Holidays

There's nothing like drinking eggnog - or ice-cold beer, whichever you prefer - and eating food that will probably add more lbs and elevate your cholesterol level and blood pressure as you stare at your well-lit tree on a chilly Christmas night. Cheers for the holidays, ladies and gents!

A smile…and a toy for Paskong Pambata

I was rummaging through my 14-year-old nephew’s stuff when I saw some of his toys. His scooter sitting on the one side of the house is a “gift from Santa Claus” when he was 7 years old. The huge remote control car is again, a reward from Santa when he was 5. I cannot remember when was the time...

Trip to Alay ng Puso (Missionaries of Charity)

We went to Alay ng Puso and I didn't pick up a single toddler and treated him like he was my pamangkin or cousin. Or as someone who'd infallibly affect my life in some way. Alay ng Puso Kids' Conference But I guess I was wrong. I'm here writing about this. How it all began Anamer's birthday...

Why hate Facebook?

I’ve met a couple of rare species who do not heart Facebook. With all the hype that this social networking site created, there are still some people who a) do not believe in it, b) feel that mainstreaming is too lowly for their taste, or c) just don’t care. I heart FB. I think that in everything,...

Elections 2010: Comelec denies Ang Ladlad,...

Caveat: To be able to read and appreciate this essay, you should be armed with the prerequisite knowledge of sarcasm and irony, the ability to acknowledge the absurdity of our government, and have a good set of balls and a backbone. This morning, I had barely wiped the drool off my face when...

Facebook: Of Whines and Passive-Aggressiveness

Facebook invaded the interwebs on February 2004 (and started eating its competition alive); it all started with a [then] Harvard sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg. The Philippines caught the Facebook bug only relatively recently, since Friendster Mad Cow was then the preferred spawn pool/watering hole/troll...

Give Hope

When the person I’m reporting to in the NGO I just joined told me we were going to visit the relocation site of typhoon victims in Laguna, I had mixed feelings. I was a bit apprehensive because I heard the atmosphere was depressing…and I try to stay away from anything that would damage my spirit...

noose

i never really knew her. she was just one of my many faceless classmates. all of our conversations were limited to heys and nods, except for that one time when i stayed in school to work on something for design class long after everybody else went home. she was a member of the volleyball varsity....

Stories from Tatay: Go Fish

My dad is an amazing fount of interesting stories. Honestly, I'd hear much more if I had more patience to just sit and listen. The extra helping of patience is needed to hear some stories told over and over. Plus, dad is in the habit of bringing me coffee, sitting down, and start telling stories - regardless...

Yuppie Reports: Banned Books Week

Tomorrow marks the end of Banned Books Week, a yearly celebration that started back in 1982 to counter calls for censorship. There have been several challenges to written works for any number of reasons like anti-ethnicism, sexual content, different political and religious viewpoints, violence, offensive...

Teka lang muna please

Umuulan nanaman. Parang may inang humahagulgol para sa mga nawala nyang anak. Malakas, maingay, at hindi matahan. Kung tutuusin, kung iiyakan ng Inang Kalikasan ang kanyang mga anak na puno, siguro kinain na ng dagat ng Pilipinas. Hindi napapakiusapan ang ulan. Hindi napapakiusapan ang bagyo....

Yuppie Reports: Typhoon Ondoy, aka Ketsana

Ketsana, locally known as Typhoon Ondoy, was detected as early as last Wednesday, September 23. I don't know meteorological jargon, but as far as I know, this one was supposed to be weak. In comparison to the two typhoons I remember, Milenyo (a Category 4 typhoon back in 2006, with lashing windspeeds...