Monday, October 29, 2007

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?

I am looking forward to the holidays. The red Starbucks cups with hot mocha lattes (damn you Starbucks), the Christmas decorations, the festive music, the snowflakes, shopping, and oh, not having class! And mmmm food. A holiday is not a holiday without lots of food. And the people you sit with as you all stuff your faces with ham and pasta and cake and more ham...

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in the winter wonderland.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Lazy Sundays

One day I will manage to wake up early on a Sunday morning, sit down in my sweats and pajamas as the day begins and the sun is rising higher in the sky, with a hearty breakfast and strong, hot coffee and read the 5-lb mass that is the NYTimes Sunday edition and my magazine subscriptions. One day.

For now, it's:
1) take a long hot shower while no one else on my dorm floor needs to use the big stall;
2) have a McDonalds breakfast (not that that's not hearty, but it's also heart-attacky [puns! you'd have to have seen the SNL parody of Sex & The City for that to have been funny, otherwise it'd just have been stupid]);
3) buy toiletries from Target because it's cheap (I freaking LOVE that place);
4) go back to my dorm even though the weather is GORGEOUS and there's a CultureFest at the park literally blocks away and it's free and I haven't enjoyed the freaking sun or outdoors in ages becauseee I have a midterm to do;
5) spend 5 hours on that midterm when it should have been done in half that time but Facebook is too damn addicting; and
6) write this blog because I need a break from school work and I don't want to do anymore work dammit.

At least the semester is halfway done. I already have a countdown.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Proud to Be Pinay

I feel so out of touch with a lot of things because I'm either at work, school, or terribly failing at catching up on sleep. (This whole working and school at the same time is hard! Nothing but praise for anyone who's gotten through it sane).

But apparently, the Desperate Housewives season premiere has caused a stir, especially among the Filipino community.

Here's a clip of what Susan said to her gynecologist:



Well.

Did any of the writers do any research before writing this? Or step foot in a hospital? ANY hospital in the United States? Because I can assure you that you cannot walk a floor in a hospital without coming across a Filipino medical professional, be it a nurse, medical technician, or doctor.

The Philippines is on the verge of a brain drain because guess which country is recruiting millions of professionals and granting them immigrant status? Filipinos make up the second largest immigrant group in America right now. Second only to Mexicans because they can literally walk over here. And according to census information, the Filipino immigrant group is made up of highly educated people and is one of the few immigrant groups with middle- to high-income households (I would assume because medical professionals get paid well). So really, that little quip, is not just offensive because it was prejudiced, it was also offensive because it was IGNORANT, of the sacrifices and hard work that people have done. The hard work these people put into their careers is not a joke. But maybe the fact that America relies on them so much is. Do some damn research.

A petition went around, was signed by thousands, and ABC issued a weak apology.

And another issue that is not receiving as much coverage is the insulting comments made by an H&M employee to a Filipina-American nurse in Illinois. It's disgusting how narrow-minded some people still are. Get out a little more.

H&M has neither apologized nor fired the employee and is still investigating this issue. (Does this mean I have to find cheap clothing elsewhere now?...Anyway...)

What is sickening about these events is not the ignorance behind the mockery, but the lack of zeal that Filipinos seem to have in defending themselves. Yes, the Philippines is not without scandal in its educational system (or every other system in that country), but that should not detract from the tremendous contributions that generations of Filipinos have made to the healthcare industry all over the world; internationally we are nannies, but also nurses, doctors, lawyers, writers, artists, etc. We may still be a minority, but that does not give anyone reason to belittle us.

Wake up, Filipinos. No one will respect you until you first respect yourselves. Have some pride. And that goes beyond subscribing to TFC or going to some pop star's concert in Atlantic City or bragging about Adobo or going to some parade once a year waving a flag you put no significance behind anyway.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Mango in SoHo

I'm getting out of the subway at Prince St. and what do I see as I walk up the steps? Ads covering the storefront of what will sooooon be a Mango store! To be honest, I don't remember buying much from that store in Spain, except for a pair of jeans in a size 2 that to my surprise fit me (gotta love the smaller European sizes). So yay!

That's all really.