Occasional Ramblings

Dinagyang Festival. Photo by JVTaiza via Flickr (with permission) Dinagyang Festival 2025 is finally winding down, marking the end of three exhilarating days of celebration in Iloilo City, Philippines. Running from January 24 to 26, 2025, this vibrant festival, held on the fourth weekend of January, showcases the rich cultural heritage of the region. With events like the ILOmination and Parade of Lights, the Kasadyahan Festival, and the energetic Ati Tribe Competition, Dinagyang is a feast for the senses and a heartfelt homage to the island's history. It is difficult to talk about Dinagyang without also mentioning Kalibo's Ati-Atihan since Dinagyang was first conceptualized as Iloilo's Ati-Atihan and was later renamed to its present moniker by an Ilonggo broadcaster and writer in 1977 to create its own identity. Although significant and is more based on myth than facts, the roots of the Ati-Atihan Festival and its numerous derivatives date way back to the Barter of Pana...

Statues of the Sto. Niño in indigenous garb for Dinagyang 2025

Statues of the Sto. Niño in Indigenous garb for Dinagyang 2025. Photo by Jep c/o Flickr. With the Dinagyang 2025 festival fast approaching in Iloilo City, Philippines, displays such as this are common at shopping malls and other areas with heavy foot traffic.

Giving mother earth a helping hand

Earth Day Bakawan Planting Originally uploaded by Jepster In celebration of Earth Day yesterday, some people from work went out to the shoreline nearby to plant mangrove propagules and seedlings. OK I admit I did not plant a single mangrove that afternoon since I was the self proclaimed official photographer of the activity and I did not want to get mud and seawater on my camera and gear. I actually had more fun than I thought I would. There is something about walking at the beach (even if it was a muddy beach and my shoes kept getting sucked into the mud) at low-tide and simply observing the various sea critters and plant-life. There were small pools where you can see small fish and crabs scurrying about. Hermit crabs dragging along their barnacle encrusted homes across the mud. Clusters of bi-valves clinging to rocks. Shy fiddler crabs ready to dart inside the safety of their burrows at the slightest sign of threat. I managed to trap a fiddler crab out in the open by closing its...

New Year Resolutions (2025 edition)

It's the start of a brand-new year and it's the perfect time to take a bit of a pause and reflect on what to do for the rest of the year. Now is the best time to do this while you're feeling all fresh and optimistic, ready to conquer all obstacles that come your way. You've got big dreams, grand plans, and maybe even a few resolutions floating around. But here's the thing: without a plan, those dreams are just going to be blurry, unfocused images in your mind. Think of it like trying to build a house without a proper construction plan – you might end up with something suitable for basic shelter, but it won't be the grand masterpiece you envisioned. Planning is like giving your dreams a solid foundation. Plus, you get the added benefit of having something on paper to share with family or friends so that they can also provide insights and give their two cents. Now, I know, I know, planning can feel like a chore, and you might think why bother. But trust me, it...

Duolingo quietly got rid of community discussions on individual exercises

A green owl holding a knife while gesturing to be quiet by holding a finger to his mouth. Image generated with the assistance of Dall-E3. In a Reddit announcement posted about 3 months ago, Duolingo announced that they are dropping the community discussions on individual exercises. I admit that this was only brought to my attention recently and not while using the app but in a totally random algorithmically recommended video by Evan Edinger I stumbled upon while I was browsing through YouTube. I have been an obsessive Duolingo learner for about 4 and a half years now and am currently proud of my 1,470-day streak. I am a big fan of gamifying any learning experience and I think this method of having leaderboards, experience points, gem rewards that can be exchanged for cosmetic improvements, and login streaks are just brilliant. I have used the community discussion feature a few times. I have to admit however that I could think of fewer than 10 occasions th...

Saving up for the new year

Piggy Series Originally uploaded by Jepster It's a fresh new year and I'm still trying to pay off the expenses I incurred during the holidays. That is why for this year, I have resolved to be more budget conscious (no more impulse buying *sob*) and hopefully finish the projects I have started last year that I was not able to complete because of lack of funds. The biggest of these projects is of course my flat which after more than 2 years since moving in still looks like a storage space with a small clearing for the bed and a small table. Things that I should spend less on: * Eating out -- I used to cook often but lately I have been eating out a lot. I hope to change that this year. The downside is that I tend to get fatter when I do my own cooking :p * Buying overpriced coffee -- Ok I admit it, I have probably spend a whole lot of money on coffee than I should have just for the months of November, December and January. All because of a lousy planner that I have just...

Some very sad news...

Originally uploaded by bratkun . Brat, our cute and loveable Persian cat, died of pneumonia last December 14 after staying at an animal hospital for 2 days. He will surely be missed most especially by my brother who was his constant companion for almost 10 years. My brother and I enjoyed his company on our drive to our hometown. We left him with our parents since we were taking the plane going back. He was almost a part of our family and it's not the same without him around. My parents buried him beside a mulberry tree at the back of our house. One thing that was unusual about Brat is that he is afraid to go out into wide open spaces. He's so used to living inside the house that when we tried bringing him out to the lawn he climbed on top of my brother (claws clinging to his clothes) and perched on top of his shoulders glaring at him reproachfully. My brother once made a comment that probably Brat doesn't even know that he's a cat. He lived with humans all hi...

Pinoy Baiting

An image that is meant to represent "Pinoy Baiting" - image was generated with the assistance of Dall-E3. Over several years, we have seen the popularity of so-called Pinoy-baiting videos. It may start innocently enough, in which certain social media influences would just happen to feature something Philippines-related in their videos and they would be surprised by the sudden surge in the number of views in their video. They would go back to their standard content type and would see that it would not perform as well as that one video so they try it again and see a similar result. In this world where social media is the way of life for a lot of people and where massive views equate to online clout (and in certain cases monetizable), I can understand why some would choose to relentlessly pursue those viral moments in their content (I attribute this phenomenon to the strange fascination of my fellow Filipinos of wanting to see or listen about stuff about ourselves, especially...

Not much photos

Candles by Jep via Flickr A friend pointed out that I haven't posted any new photos on this site. I have to agree with her. All the photos that you see here are in fact recycled. Most are available in my other online photo gallery. The truth is that I haven't used my camera for a very long time. I thought starting this photo blog (yes my original idea for this site was for a photo blog) would somehow encourage me to start taking pictures again. I'm looking forward to having a new digicam. That should do the trick. Hmm... perhaps I should change the title to "Random Ramblings and Occasional Photos".

Mildew Attack!

It has been raining intermittently for the past few weeks and our house feels a little damp. There's an unvarnished bookshelf in the living room and I noticed it has a slightly greenish hue. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be molds of some kind. Yuck. About half a can of disinfectant later I was busy cleaning the rest of the house hunting for signs of fungal growth. I also bought a can of wax-based furniture polish so hopefully, the treated wood won't absorb as much moisture. I was wearing a dust mask hoping fervently that the fungal spores doesn't end up in my lungs. Yikes! I don't even sit on the sofa anymore. Our sofa is dark green and it's very hard to tell if the dark green patch you are sitting on is part of the design or some fungal culture. I also bought some dust mite spray and fumigated the sofa and the throw pillows. Did I mention that I hate dust mites as much as fungus? *shudder* I just hope that I won't have this kind of problem in my new ...

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