For a new year's day

As far as I know, I'm the only one here in the office with a coin bank on the desk. It comes pretty handy actually, what with a load of coins in your pocket given as change from the many stores visited during the day.

I was delightfully surprised to learn that Cruise also has a coin bank on his table. And his is nice! When you reach a certain level, you get to know approximately how much is already in the "bank". I thought it was a cool blog topic and decided to post mine too. Thanks for the idea, Cruise!

Mine looks like a mailbox. You insert the coins in the slot supposedly for the letters. So in there goes my 5- and ten-peso coins.

And what to do with the coins I've saved? Nope, it's not for a rainy day. It's for New Year's Day!

We have this fun custom that at the strike of twelve, everybody would gather at the living room, waiting in excited anticipation. our Nanay would show up shortly and throw coins into the living room, and then into the rooms of the house. It's a mad scramble for the coins! Sometimes we would pick up paper bills as well. What fun! We'd ignore the 25-centavo and lower coins and go for the 5's and 10's.

I have some photos of this event. I will post it in a future article.

Until then, happy weekend everyone!

Morning musings

So there I was, inside a Kia taxi along Buendia. Traffic was at its peak. Thank goodness the airconditioning was better than most, and kept me quite comfortable at the back seat.

I have a million things to do at work but I can't think properly. Yes, I am a late night person, plus add the fact that I have just arrived a couple of hours ago from Baguio City.

How long was it since I felt the cold Baguio air? Just twenty-four hours ago, I woke up to home-cooked breakfast, played a bit with baby Jo-Lo who seems to be getting bigger and boisterious by the day. Then I dressed up and made my rounds in the city for Jo-Lo's first birthday preparations. And I still had time to browse for furnitures, meet my wife after work, stroll in the mall and watch a movie, and play with Jo-Lo some more.

And there I was, back in Manila, in the middle of traffic, and as I glanced at the time on my phone I was surprised that it was already past 9. Late again. Time flies so fast in the metropolis.

The Dennis Conspiracy

What a strange coincidence it was when we went to Davao. I call it, the Dennis Conspiracy!

Is there a higher being that makes coincidences extra strange? Or I've watched too many Twilight Zone episodes? Or is it the durian effect?

The Support Engineer who went with us to Davao was Dennis. Nothing out of the ordinary actually, until we had dinner at Em's house. We learned that her older brother's name is Dennis.

Why, my older brother's name is Dennis too. Hold on ... Chu's older brother is also a Dennis!


Had any strange name coincidences lately?
(twilight zone background music fading in the distance)
Happy weekend everyone!