Are you a non-working spouse of an SSS member?

Yes?  Do you want to be an SSS member?  You should, think of it as a small way of providing some monies in your old age. And it comes with a government guarantee!

This is very easy.  Simply apply as a non-working spouse.  Your spouse must be a contributing SSS member.

Simply fill up the Non-Working Spouse Record  (NW-1)
Click here to download NW-1 form to accomplish manually
Click here to encode form prior to printing. it is editable

This is how the form looks like

This is how the form looks like

Reminders can be found on page 2 of this form, herewith reproduced

This is the back view of the form

 Once accepted you can check the box before Non-Working Spouse of the RS-5

click here for the regular printable RS-5
Click here to download the editable RS-5

and here is the form image




Should your spouse leave his employment, you can still continue your membership by changing into a voluntary payor.   Questions?  Comment.

An Anime Post - Bleach, Ichigo Kurosaki

i was watching Bleach, S4 - and looking at Ichigo, the main protagonist

he has quite the character.  moral, faithful, and dedicated - and will protect who he deems need protection.
amazing really.  and he always saves the day.  of course, i dont exactly like the Aizen  season, but then, neither did i like the one with the floppy midgets.

but he's amazing and somehow i like his orange hair, and his hollowification. 
looking forward to watching it tonight

A little thought about the PERA

i mentioned this in the short post about the SSS announcement of a supplementary savings option.
i urge everyone who is qualified to participate.  however, in the interest of fairness, this is something about PERA and here is the link for a lawyer's take on it. 

Click here for the jlp-law.com "a primer-on-the-personal-equity-and-retirement-account-pera-act"


remember one of the salient differences is the tax break on the PERA account.  Still, if the SSS optional savings account is declared a PERA vehicle - and i dont know about the chances of that happening, it will have all the PERA features.  as it is now, it has most of the features already.

Quote about my library

My library is an archive of longings. 

Susan Sontag
The author of On Photography was born on this day in 1933.

Sayans teachers - see if you identified them correctly

Were you able to match the Sayans teachers with the earlier post (see 2 Jan 2013 post on Sayans teachers)

Do you know who is the National Artist in the group? yes, Rio Alma - Virgilio Almario
Danny Yanga is a dean in UP, physics i think.
Cesar Brillante is now in Australia. Ask Joyce Lindaya-Zonaga if you want to know where exactly
Hermes Fabio is now Fr. Minch - ask Fr. Ces Magsino, batch75, if you want to meet up with Mr. Minch
Ed Sol is now EVP-Investments in SSS
Agnes Vea lives in Xavierville.  I like her home.  She looks the same as always - hasnt aged a day
Helen Ladera still lives in UP Village
Evaline Gerochi and Rosita Sta. Maria head a Sayans school - i do not remember where

and as far as i know
Mr. Marcial Belleza (+)
Mrs. Victoriana Ligan (+)
Ms. Lorna Santos (+)
Mrs. Maura Llaguno (+)

First Batch of Pics

2nd Batch

Need a medical? SSS will be establishing clinics

SSS has announced the opening of many medical clinics nationwide to better serve its members.

The rationale behind this is to put the clinics where the members are, so that members do not have to travel far for their medical claims, as these claims require checkups.  These  clinics will also serve the SSS employees and their dependents.

The move also allows more privacy to members since the clinics are or will be established in areas away from the main transacting area, so that members can discuss their medical condition without embarrassment

The locations of the clinics are as below:

NCR - Diliman, Novaliches, Pasig-Shaw, Kalookan, Marikina, Antipolo, Manila, Makati-Gil Puyat, Makati-JP Rizal, Pasay-Roxas, Alabang, Taguig, and Mandaluyong.


LUZON - Baguio, La Union, Tuguegarao, Laoag, Olongapo, Malolos, Pampanga, Cabanatuan, Tarlac, Dagupan, Calamba, Binan, Bacoor, San Pablo - Laguna, Lipa, Lucena, Puerto Princesa, Calapan, Naga, and Legaspi

 VISAYAS and MINDANAO -  Cebu, Lapulapu, Tacloban, Ormoc, Calbayog, Maasin, Bohol, Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Valencia, Butuan, Surigao, Davao, Kidapawan, Tagum,  General Santos (GenSan), Dipolog, and Zamboanga

Also Corruption - reaction, on Conrado de Quiros post

I invite people to express their own opinion on this.
Are you in shock? 


Click here to read the full post of Conrado de Quiros's on opinion.inquirer.net - corruption-too

Silence is Golden

One of Goodreads quote of the day ....
You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.



Khalil Gibran
The author of The Prophet was born on this day in 1883.

SSS will establish a provident fund this year

SSS will establish a Provident Fund this 2013 for all members aged below 55, with a maximum SSS contribution of 1,560 under the present situation (15,000 is the current maximum MSC, with a rate of 104 pesos/1000 MSC.  If the SSS proposal gets approved, this will change to Maximum MSC 20,000, with 110/1000).  

Maximum contribution to the Provident Fund is 100,000 per year, with a minimum contribution of 1,000 per year, and payments can increase/decrease in multiples of 100.  Payments to the Provident Fund, like the OFW Flexifund must be over and above the maximum contribution to the SSS. 

The funds will be earmarked as 65% for retirement, 25% for medical, and 10% personal.  Withdrawals within the 5-year retention period will be subject to charges and penalties.  why, you ask? because it defeats the purpose.

Interest will be computed on this basis:

retirement and disability portion (65%) - guaranteed earnings based on the 5-year Treasury bond rate

the remaining 35% will be guaranteed earnings based on the 364-day Treasury bill rate

Retirees may opt to withdraw the savings in full or as a monthly pension.

This will work similarly to the PERA (Personal Equity and Retirement Account), only SSS Style. As you can see limitations are similar, although SSS cannot make the promise of tax benefits - only the Government can do that.

well, i recommend that non-financial savvy persons got for this.  Actually, even if you are financially savvy, it would be nice to have something like this that does not require constant monitoring - makes for a less stressful life.

remember, climate change is real and you need real savings for the future.  why climate change? you may need upgrades to your home because of environmental changes by the time you are retired so this might be a little (emphasis on the little) nest egg you can use.

How many books have you read?

If you were asked how many books have you read, would you be able to answer?  with what degree of accuracy?

would you be able to list them down?  books should be differentiated from magazines or newspapers because their format and content differ, and particularly, the reasons for reading them.

i tend to read by authors, once i have discovered that i like an author's certain style.
for example, in grade school, i read all the fairy tales i could find, even if some of them were grim.  The Little Mermaid of Hans Christian Andersen fame is not a sweet or cute story.  The Little Mermaid dies, only to be born as one of the Daughters of the Air ... or the Little Match Girl, she too dies in the end.  The Disney story of the little mermaid is, of course, very upbeat, but not true to the book.  For example, i've read almost all of Neil Gaiman's books (that i can find, even his graphic novels) .... even philosophy books (St. Augustine, Descartes....)

whether good or bad, i can sometimes be a purist as i tend to prefer the original versions than revised ones.
you can read my post entitled "on a diet of books".

at any rate, when i tried listing the books i've read ... it is about a 1000 now although it is badly understated.  it doesnt cover the manuals i have read, textbooks i've read, or simply books whose titles i cant remember. i dont even remember the titles of some of the children's books i've read lately.

no adult should stop reading children's books because these books have a flavor all their own.

at any rate, see how 30,000 books look like ....

Click here to see Colossal's tower-of-babel-built-with-30000-books/

To lose a dog

Only someone who has lost a beloved dog will understand what Neil Gaiman had to say in his 12 January 2013 post about Cabal, his big white dog.  In this particular blog post, he remembers the day he picked up Cabal in his mini, and til his death last Saturday.  Read about this blog in the link below

 The post ends this way and i quote:

I'm so glad I knew him. I'm so glad we found each other. I don't imagine I'll ever have another bond like that in my life. I wish dogs lived longer.

Kipling said it best :

THERE is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day; 
And when we are certain of sorrow in store, 
Why do we always arrange for more? 
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

We can beware all we like. But the poem is called the Power of a Dog, and it is a very real power, and it is, as Kipling knew, a good thing.

He was the best dog in the universe and I'm going to miss him so much.

Neil Gaiman wrote about the Endless in his Sandman series - this would be Dream (also the Sandman), Death, Destruction,  Destiny, Desire, Delirium, and Despair); my favorite being Dream.  The Graveyard Book, Coraline, Neverwhere, Good Omens (with Pratchett), American Gods, Stardust, and a lot more.  Anansi Boys, for some reason, is slow reading for me.  But my favorite book remains about the cat - have the book in glorious illustration..... i digress again. I like his illustrated books.  they have a sense of wonder all their own....

Click here to go to Neil Gaiman's blog

I have lost 2 dogs that i have loved very much, one was Princess, a Peke who developed paralysis of the rear legs and was suddenly cured, then died in her sleep a few years after; she was about 15 years old.  The other one was Yoda, a toy terrier who slept in bed - my bed, and ate human foot (yes, he loved meat and he certainly looked like the Jedi Master) who died at age 17.  I no longer have any pets - also, i am now a KT person and i avoid stuff that may trigger allergies and the like.  My cats live outside the house (they frequent the terrazo and the garage), and i feed them cat food.  It was actually a sibling who encouraged the cats, they were ...... "dayo" and because we fed them, they - and their generations - stayed.

will post pictures after i have them scanned

Goodreads quote for Sunday

I first read Carl Sandburg in Grade School (that was Holy Spirit, when it was located along Mendiola, very near the seat of government).  It was a poem that was full of echoes, but i cannot remember the title, i can only remember the feelings it evoked......
 

Time is the coin of your life. You spend it. 
Do not allow others to spend it for you.


Carl Sandburg

Goodreads quote for the weekend

Memories warm you up from the inside. 
But they also tear you apart.


Haruki Murakami
The author of Kafka on the Shore was born on this day in 1949.

SSS and DILG ink a MOA

the SSS and the DILG have inked a Memorandum of Agreement that pertains to the issuance of business permits.  the aim is to make the issuance of business permit easier, without prejudicing the SSS contributions employees of business concerns who are negligent in paying such.....

will write in greater detail if there is an interest in this.
express your interest in this topic via comments

HTT's Manila Standard Post on "Forced into Poverty"

HTT's post on catastrophes and how people already living in poverty are thrust into even greater poverty, if there is such a term.  poverty is poverty, and there can be no more greater poverty than what is currently being experienced. Poverty has forced them into becoming non-contributing to any pension plan, living in a day-to-day hand-to-mouth existence.  Thus, when their fruitful labor times have passed, they have no fallback positions at all.

In the same post, HTT discusses the recent forced ranking imposed by the GCGG and the DBM.  He said, and i quote:

The “forced ranking” method is an example. Jack Welch of General Electric popularized it using a 20-70-10 percent forced distribution. Done well, it rewards generously the most productive 20 percent and identifies from the bottom 10 percent the undesirables who must be weeded out. Implemented improperly, it brings down employee morale and results in quick employee turn-overs. It promotes individualism but erodes teamwork.


But it was required by the Governance Commission for Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations and the Department of Budget and Management as the basis for the grant of a performance-based bonus to all government employees in 2012.

All employees had to be ranked from highest to lowest.  They were then forced into a 10-60-20-10 percent grouping distribution and categorized as having “Exceeded Expectations (Best)”, “Met All Expectations (Better)”, “Met Most Expectations (Good)” and for performing “Below Expectations (Below Satisfactory)”.

For those employed by profitable corporations, the “Best” were entitled to a bonus of 2.5 times their salary, the “Better” 1.5 times, and the “Good” 1.25 times. By design, 10 percent of 1.4 million public servants were to get nothing.

For those who were ranked high enough, the bonus was released just in time for Christmas expenditures, and much appreciated by their ecstatic dependents.

But for those who honestly toiled in the bureaucracy but still ended up in the bottom 10 percent it was a calamity before Christmastime. They may have met their work targets and thought that they have earned their bonus but nobody told them that others who performed better would instead get it.
They performed tasks of the highest quality of service, the type that endears government to our people. Their outputs, non-quantifiable perhaps, supported the performances of the team’s “Best”. Unfortunately, their supervisors had to put names in the bottom of the performance list.

Now they worry being labeled as a “Below Satisfactory” performer, dreading dismissal, which is the companion of the forced ranking method. After all, it is also called the “rank-and-yank” evaluation system. Does the government have the guts to yank out these 140,000 workers and force them into poverty?

i thanked HTT for tackling one of the more difficult topics - but it was short.

Click here to read in full the manilastandardtoday "forced-into-poverty" article

Colossal's images of nude dancers

Do you know what nude dancers look like in photographs?
Right. they do look beautiful.  take a quick look at these beautiful pictures

Click here to find out what dancing nudes look like

Kasambahay Bill almost into Law

as soon as this bill is passed into law, and implementing guidelines released, householders will now have to follow minimum wage requirements.  3K for MetroManila, certainly, 2K for cities of a certain population and of course, they have to be provided with health care (PhilHealth) and SSS.

If the househelp does not have an ID, he or she would have to apply for an ID. For SSS, the total payment would be 104/1000 x 3000 = 312.00, 100 of which is the helper's part.  The householder pays 212.00

As household employers, SSS will be issuing a separate employer number for you.  SSS used to accept the household employer's own SSS number but not anymore.

Click on the relevant label on left side of this post for related posts

A GoodReads quote for Tuesday

Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.


Baltasar Gracián
The author of The Art of Worldly Wisdom was born on this day in 1601.

i found the quote perfectly apt for today's living although he was born in another era

Requesting for Data Changes for a Pensioner

this is the form to be used to request for changes in Pensioner Data.
Will add details/procedures later.... please return to this post

Call Center of SSS now 24/5 from 16/5

The SSS Call Center is now live 24/5   instead of 16/7
thus, it is open from 7 Monday mornings to 7 Saturday mornings. 
It is closed after 7 Saturday mornings to before 7 Monday mornings.  Also closed on Holidays.

The Help Desk hours has increased by 40 hours so that more members can call in to ask for help

Click on sss-telnos on the left side of the blog so that all posts pertaining to SSS telephone numbers will be displayed.

Get SSS Information on YouTube

are you a youtube watcher?

SSS is now on youtube:   Click here to access the SSS youtube channel

watch, and get information on the Social Security benefits and procedures

New Bedroom Look

in blues...........
religious icons and images, a tiny picture of me,  and my pooh blanket, and my calvin & hobbes book 1 on the bed, my tablet, my cps, and my tens stuff

A day to see friends

Saturday, 5 January turned out to be a day to see friends


Lunch time - i met up with my Stat classmates .....

Leorey Marquez, who is based in Australia - and here to visit his mom as well as present to the College of Engineering disaster models - particularly those to do with dams, and thus flooding.  too bad i cant attend as it falls on a workday.

Mel Bernardo with his wife Miriam. Mel works at Metrobank with Joan - and i found out that 55 was the mandatory retirement age for Metrobank! 

 

Mel, Leorey (looking off camera), and me.....

 

with Miriam, the wife of Mel

and for dinner, Ofelia Martin Templo invited us - Emily and Chito Ferrer, Hermie, and Ging de la Paz, and me to dinner at .... King Bee - right across St. Peter (Hermie could actually walk to the place!).  

I had told Ofie that i could not drive so she offered to pick me up.  I told her i lived too far but she said ok lang so then i agreed.  i wanted a chance to see and talk with her again.  I told her it was difficult to go to the corner to get a cab and i needed advanced warning (a day or 2 at least) to arrange a driver so she asked me how i went to work.  i told her i had a service - have someone pick me up and bring me home.  weekends, i have someone get me a taxi if i need to go anywhere - as i have someone come in during weekends but last weekend, my assistant had the flu and couldnt make it to the house.  

my car has very low mileage - and it has traveled to Pagodpod way up there in Ilocos, Ligao in Bicol, Baguio - where we almost had the head-on collision due to a stupid driver going up to Baguio who overtook on a blind curve.  oops, i digress.

Ging couldnt make it to dinner as they were having a special event at their house.  

we had a very good time.  Ofie showed the pictures of her grandkids and Junjun's (or Jutes in his business cards - he owns Gino's, a pizza joint named after his son, located near Merriam College) daughter is just the cutest!  *sigh*

Ofie kindly brought me home and i was very glad Bernard (the youngest son of HTT and Ofie) texted his mom if she could fetch him at Centris.  At least, Centris wasnt too far off from the house.

It was very good to see Ofie, and i was really very happy to see pictures of her grandkids.  they are just the cutest.

Chito and Emily (accidentally hidden behind me), Herms, Ofie

here's a better picture of us, particular Mamu (Emily Ferrer)

At least my gladiator braces cant be seen in any of the pictures.  i call that successful dressing!

New SSS Salary Loan

Of course everyone is aware of the new salary loan scheme

it is very simple.

the maximum loan is 30,000 thousand pesos.  this is the grant when a member opts to loan two months and has been paying the maximum salary credit (current maximum is 15,000) for the last twelve months.

here's the actual computation.  the amount is twice the average monthly salary credit over .... the last 12 posted monthly contributions.  i have to clarify this statement as i already talked to several people with conflicting thoughts on this particular provision.  however, if you have been paying regularly, without skips, then just average it, multiply by 2 - that's your maximum.

examples:

(1)  you have contributions for jan-june 2012 with an MSC of 10,000 pesos, then transferred jobs and then you had contributions for MSC = 12,000 for july-dec 2012.  you intend to apply a loan this january. your average MSC = 11,000

so your maximum loan = 22,000.00

(2)  you have contributions for oct 2011-march 2012 at 12,000 MSC
then you transfer jobs, but there is a gap of 3 months
your contributions begin again july-dec 2012 at the maximum 15,000.

your AMSC for the last posted 12 months is then 13,500.  so the maximum than can be loaned would be
13,500 times 2 = 27,000.00

updated for the example

UPDATED FOR READERS WHO DO NOT READ ALL THE POSTS ON SALARY LOAN
ONLY THOSE WITH 72 CONTRIBUTIONS OR MORE CAN AVAIL OF 2 MONTHS LOAN

Reaction to HTT's Friday post on increasing the SSS pension

Click here to read HTT's pension-adjustments-in-2013/

no arguments on this one.  i do believe the current generation always pays for the sins of the previous...
remember the sins of the father????

also true for pensions.  our dear president must indeed bite the bullet, and approve.  they bit the bullet for the RH bill, didnt they?  although one of my dear friends have said it also involved big business.....*shrugs*
for me, like i mentioned in an earlier separate post, it is about choices, and the way we involve the God one believes in those choices.  sometimes it seems there are no choices...... 

but pensions. they do need to be adjusted. i just hope that when it is my turn to get my pension, they will be favorably adjusted as well.  in fact, the president of the SSS. Emilio S. de Quiros, brother of columnist Conrado de Quiros only proposed a 20K MSC limit (it is currently at 15K).  i always thought it should be at a minimum of 30K.  i prefer 50K but no one is listening to me on that point. The Actuarial people will object,  most assiduously.  can you imagine how much furor (not Fuhrer) that will raise?  *sigh*

on the other side of the coin.  i encourage people to contribute - and at higher levels.  Higher levels mean higher pensions - and todays limits are just the pits.  too low - in my personal opinion.  really too low. and your pension - SSS that is, will be about 40% of the just the pits MSC.

i encourage entrepreneurship.  knit! crochet! sell this abroad!  People need to have some retirement plan unless you are very financially savvy, it would be hard to survive on the SSS pension alone, and if you dont have any, welllllllll ..... it would even be harder, unless you are a GSIS pensioner with their no limit MSC, or if Daddy (or Mommy, for that mater) has oodles of money like Unca Scrooge of the Disney Ducks.

so pay your contributions, and dont complain too much about the increase. it will be in your favor when it is time for you to quit working ..... 

So, whatever happened to the PERA?  i keep waiting for HTT to tackle it but he says the time isnt ripe yet....

Financial Assistance from the SSS - due to Pablo

Last December SSS released financial assistance news for those who suffered from typhoon Pablo - that is those whose place of residence OR work are in the following areas => Region IV-B (Mimaropa), Region VII (Central Visayas), Region X (Northern Mindanao), Region XI (Davao Region), Region XIII (Caraga), and all other regions as declared by NDRRMC.

the assistance is in the form of an advanced 3month pension for pensioners and SLERP (Salary Loan Early Renewal Program) for actively paying members, and reduction of loan interest for house repair and improvement loan by 2%.

Availment period for Advance 3-month pension - 31 January 2013 ONLY

          note that only the SSS pension will be advanced for those receiving EC pensions also

Availment period for SLERP ---  until 31 March 2013 ONLY

Availment period for the reduction of interest rate for housing repair - 30 December 2013

Forms are the same.  click on loans to get info or comment for questions

wedding dress

so many Filipinas can crochet or knit (at least my mom and aunts could, i can - too but at an outstandingly crawly speed) and yet our wedding dresses are made mostly of pina and that sort of thing.

i remember one of my good friends - it was a classic East meets West wedding.  She was in a Maria Clara outfit (she's a Bicolana), and he wore tails.  i was down with the flu so i had to make do with pictures.

here's an alternative to our pina wedding gowns (but my, they are gorgeous..... but see here a wedding dress)
why cant our countrymen do etsy  ... or do ebay

click here to see wedding-elegant-long-crochet-women-dress?ref=usr_faveitems

Quote to start the day from Goodreads

 
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.


J.R.R. Tolkien
The author of The Lord of the Rings was born on this day in 1892.

So, have you decided what to do with the time that is given to you?
Oft times we dont exactly know what to do.  i am very glad that this blog has given me the opportunity to do some of the things i want to do -

write, share stuff i know, and help - even in just SSS-related matters

Sayans teachers as presented in Batch 75 yearbook

 

 Do you remember who they are?

I'll leave you with the picture and get back and post later

Late reaction to HTT's post on Rizal, and the RH bill, and the Church

Click here for HTT's Rizals-Noli-characters-today

I remember being required to read the Noli Me Tangere and the El Filibusterismo at Sayans.  

If i remember right, our teacher was Mrs. Alfonso and we were supposed to read it in Pilipino, Mrs. Alfonso being the Filipino teacher in .... my first year. i was in Neptune and Mrs. Evaline Gerochi was our adviser.

i have not read both novels in its original form - Spanish.  i basically read the English version. Yes, i know - we were supposed to read it in Pilipino but if i had read it in Pilipino, it would have taken 3x as long to finish it as reading the English version and i figured, both were translations anyway.  It was the culture at the time, in grade school i was class monitor and a class monitor, if you didnt know it, was required to report classmates who spoke Pilipino.  it was an assigned thing, so i remember speaking Pilipino with another class monitor, as we would not report each other.  but i digress.

Padre Damaso. My dear male classmates  would snicker (do adult males still snicker the way they do in high school?) in recall of the person they associate with Damaso.  Damaso was a DOM although like Padre Salvi, he once was a young man.  And those Padres were certainly lusty ones, and rapists practically.

Rizal's portrayal of the Church was decadent and evil, a case of power corrupts and absolute power corrupts completely.

i am Catholic.  i practice my faith and live it as joyously as i can.  i have never believed that as an institution that it was perfect.  God is perfect but his servants are not although some come perilously close to it.  Man is fallible, God is not.  

HTT talks about the Church and its errors.  one of the errors, he states is that the Church tried to kill off the mandatory Rizal subject in high school and if the Church had been successful, the Filipino people would have been deprived of the knowledge that Rizal had tried to impart with his writings.  He repeats the thought in the recent RH bill voting and how the Church condemns its passing into law.

I have very good friends who stand fast in opposing views.  Diane and Kay, real sisters in the flesh and not just in spirit are both against the RH bill.  Just as steadfast are Amihan and Alice in the opposing stand.  and i?  i believe in choices - for as long as these are choices freely made - not stuffed down one's throat.  

Amihan's work deals with abused children.  she has seen directly what unwanted children can be forced to experience, to be sold for pleasure at a tender age.  she has seen wives get beaten is they do not lie with their husbands who take zero precautions and are macho in their prolific creation of children they do not support.  i would rather that these women not have to bear the burden of more children in addition to the lusty rampages of their erstwhile husbands.

so yes, you could say i am not against the RH bill.  my friend Dale reminds me that her objection is the big business that will be generated by the bill - as clinics hand anti-reproduction materials willy-nilly.

but i say - to each his own conscience.  and i hate censorship - in all its forms.

New Year - A Blessed 2013 to ALL

bread, coke, sparkling grape juice, mead, quezo de bola

the fruit salad, the cheese pimiento (queensland butter, quezo de bola, relish, pimiento), Santi's sweet ham, the Provident sliced ham, the NY quezo de bola, veg ham, embo

more of the same, plus the roast beef with potatoes, carrots, bellpeppers

with my soup - malagkit with tripe, luya, kasubha, young onions

Drinking, eating, and there's my turkey

New Year Noche Buena.  I was in bed reading until the clock struck 15 before midnight and then i opened all the lights (a tradition at home) and then  i set the table, and  ate and drunk.  Then i cleaned up.  Read some more until about 2am. went to sleep and then woke up, went thru my ablutions, then to mass.

A Blessed 2013