Yellow Line Sunset

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Yellow Line Sunset

Sunset seen from the Yellow Line crossing into Virginia. The sun sets so early now.

Pighead

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Pighead

Head of a roasted pig at last night’s Ateneo Alumni DC Christmas party. Yum.

Bilin at Pasalubong

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Bilin: stuff your Filipino family and friends ask you to buy for them while you’re abroad. Also see pasalubong: things you bring home from a trip for friends or family. (They pay for bilin, but pasalubongs are free.)

Update: one more term I forgot — Padala: stuff to deliver from one member of the family abroad to another member of the family at home.

Typhoon Yoyong (Nanmadol)

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Snippets from an instant message from Mom yesterday:

[09:12] Here’s an addition to the bilin* list: KRISPY KREME DOUGHNUTS!!!

[09:12] We are expecting a super typhoon tonight.

The typhoon hit, as so many typhoons have before. I’ve never lived in a nipa hut — not for extended periods or through a typhoon, anyway. To us upper-class Filipinos living within the walls of gated subdivisions, typhoons just meant cancelled classes, a power outage, and wind and rain rattling the windows while we sat inside, eating arroz caldo and watching cartoons. (Except, perhaps, for that one time a Signal No. 3 storm flooded our swimming pool and had six year old me praying to the Mary statues at the family altar that the rising water would not flood our home and drown us all. I knew nothing about drainage and plumbing.) Within a day or two, things would be back to normal, and the scenes of destruction and loss would never touch us except as images from the nightly news.

From BBC, Talking Points on Typhoon Nanmadol/Yoyong, pictures, and more pictures. From Sassy Lawyer, her day with Typhoon Yoyong.

Tomato Notice

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Tomato Notice

Tomato ingredients served only on request.

reAnakin

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I didn’t think Lucas could do worse than having Greedo shoot first, but he did: Sebastian Shaw was replaced by prequel actor Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi spirit at the end of Return of the Jedi.

The rationalization I’ve been hearing is that a Jedi spirit is his “pure” manifestation, and that Anakin is being shown as he was before he became Darth Vader. But I’d argue that Vader managed to redeem himself by killing the Emperor and saving Luke, and even young Anakin in Attack of the Clones was beginning to show the angry, authoritarian tendencies which would later lead him to the Dark Side.

(Hmmm. It just occurred to me: now I know where Luke Skywalker inherited his whiny “going to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters!” voice.)

Holiday Weekend Recap

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I had an excellent extended holiday weekend, thanks to the warm and welcoming hospitality of Amy’s family. Activities were as follows:

  • Thursday: Thanksgiving service at Amy’s church, followed by turkey, stuffing, and pie at Amy’s grandma’s place somewhere in the hills of New Jersey. Also tried playing Halo 2 on the X-Box with Amy’s younger brother.
  • Friday: “Black Friday” excursion to South Street Seaport to sightsee and meet up with Riffola from Metafilter, then a daring plunge into the mad shopping crowd at the midtown Old Navy to get baby clothes for my nephew, capped off that night with watching the new DVD edition of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
  • Saturday: The Incredibles at a nearby theater. Excellent movie. Later, Amy learned how to use a wiki.
  • Sunday: Morning worship at Amy’s church, then a get-together with the young adults at her church for lasagna, Imaginiff, pool and air hockey. That night, after watching an episode of Enterprise, I headed home on a packed train.

Photos here. I hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving also had a pleasant holiday. Now, back to work.

Oh, and you Flickr users, be sure to caption me and Riffola.

Church Cornucopia

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Church Cornucopia

Pumpkins and flowers at the chancel for thanksgiving.