As some of you might already know, I went home for the holiday break. There's plenty to share (from buying illegal DVDs to visiting new malls), so I thought a list would be a nice way to share it. The list of things good and bad.

1. In-Flight Entertainment. I was told that the Cathay Pacific flights had two really good things going on in coach: a. that each passenger got his own nice index card sized monitor; and, b. that there were some really good flicks (I, Robot, among others) and some good TV shows on tap (CSI, The Office, Without a Trace). So I didn't pack a book and took only one magazine and my mp3 player on board. As luck would have it, the monitor no aisle seat 31D was broken, and I suffered through a 15 hour flight with nothing to do but listen to my tunes and desperately trying to strike up a conversation with any of the flight attendants. Everybody's telling me I should write a complaint letter; I'll post it here when it's ready.

2. My mom's jaw-dropping Christmas village collection. At around 27 houses and features, the first lay-out was really impressive, complete with trees, rolling hills, snow, a carousel, and buildings lit from within. She has shops, a police station, a town hall, two churches (yes, it's an interdenominational Christmas village), and a pharmacy *and* an apothecary She's getting 20 more houses shipped to her over 2005 and -- Mael hold on to your butt -- a four-car Bachman train set. I wish I was home helping her set it all up for Christmas 2005.

3. Seeing friends and family, especially by surprise. Christmas reunions are always fun. Getting buzzed on the cheap in an 80's bar in Ortigas is pretty good too. But running into Titus and Terry at the Shangri-la Mall unplanned is even better. We had fun talking about other people from our Comm Arts program in UPLB, including a juicy story about a former classmate who swindled millions of pesos from one of the largest banks in the country (I'd paste a link if I could find one).

4. Buying fake DVD's in Greenhills. First, a sweaty little man (the only proper description, believe me) comes up to me and asks me below his breath the three-letter question: "DVD?" Man, the experience is like buying drugs. Ever since they got tossed out of Virra Mall for, you guessed it, selling pirated DVDs, finding them and purchasing their warez has the same nervous edge as a hostage exchange. Of course, I answered yes, and he produces a sweaty little list (again, the only proper descriptIon) of titles that he had. It read like the box office, Spiderman 2, Collateral, Harry Potter and the Prisioner of Azkhaban, and titles that were obviously shot by someone with a Super-8 tucked in his armpit. I said, I'd like to see this and a few others (I said I was looking for "The West Wing") and he before I knew it, he was leading me across the mall, ducking and weaving, into the hands of more of his colleagues and asking about "The West Wing". Then, suddenly they dispersed, because out came a Videogram agent, complete with walkie talkie, pin ID and polo barong. He started asking questions to the other guys in the crowd and all I kept thinking was "Save the user, jail the pusher. Save the user, jail the pusher."

Minutes later, after the agent left, another sweaty little man returned. With his back turned to me, he handed me a sweaty little plastic bag (it came from underneath his shirt) containing the DVDs I had asked for. Cool. He told me that the penalties for being caught dealing was up to a month in prison and a Php 10,000 fine. I couldn't leave without seeing a copy of Garden State. Plus, the guy kept asking me if I wanted "Dumaguete" or "La Salle". Gee...

5. Food! Pichi-pichi, chocolate covered marshmallows, chicken ham, deep-fried white cheese and pandesal, sisig, lechon kawali, liempo barbeque, laing, lumpiang shanghai, halo-halo, Letty's buko pie, Mer-nel's chocolate cake, Cunanan ensaymada, polvoron, carioca, ube, adobo, hotdog barbeque, Lapid's chicharon (the Rolls Royce of chicharon, pare), spa-kechup, guava ice cream sandwiches at the Museum Cafe, queso de bola, sarap kumain!

Coming Soon Numbers 6-10