Niñal: That’s the way aha aha I like it
TWO weeks ago, I mentioned something about me being a frustrated boxer. That’s true.
But what I failed to mention was that when I wasn’t being beaten to a pulp by my friends in backyard boxing matches in my hometown of Pinamungajan, I was disco-dancing in any barangay that was...
Niñal: It’s our English, not your English lellls!
WHAT’S amazing about today’s teenagers is how they understand each other despite – or maybe because of – what they are doing to the English language. Take this Twitter conversation for example:
@GirlA: Lelllls! – @GirlB: ayt! Lelllls. He rily, rily, rily thnk his gwapo pffft! – @GirlA:...
Niñal: Reflections of a frustrated boxer
I LOVE boxing. One of my sweetest childhood memories is of a nine-year-old me being sent to the ground by a left hook delivered by a neighbor in a supposedly friendly match at the back of our house in my hometown of Pinamungajan, located approximately 20 years from Cebu City.
Niñal: LOL but not really
I CAN'T find any reason behind this Justin Bieber craze among today’s kids other than to confuse their parents about what is actually happening to them right now.
A parent would ask, “What is actually happening to our kids right now?” And before another parent could answer, “Dafuq we know...
Niñal: Quitting Facebook in 140 characters
I NEVER had an idea of the scope of influence social networking sites wielded in today’s society until I recently bumped into a classmate of mine who I hadn’t seen in years.
He said, “I thought you were dead.” I said, “Why?” He said, “Because I haven’t seen you in Facebook.” I said, “Oh...
Niñal: Google parenthood
IT IS difficult to raise a child when you don’t have your own parents around to teach you about baby stuff, such as what to do when the wife is out working and a hungry baby who refuses to be bottle-fed starts staring at your nipples.
Seriously, what would you do if your baby stares at...
Niñal: How I’ll spend Holy Week with Judy Ann
HOLY Week is that time of the year when you are forced to regret all the money you spent on beer while you are drinking beer at the same time. What I mean is that the week that’s supposed to be holy is also a week off from work. And what’s vacation without beer?
Niñal: Maid of honor
AS I sat down to write this column, my little boy’s new yaya just turned on the radio, which was now playing Jovit Baldivino’s version of “Too Much Love Will Kill You.” I was supposed to write an article of extreme national importance, like “The Effects of the Corona Impeachment on the Evolution...
Niñal: Lapulapu, have mercy on us
ONE thing that’s bothering me lately is my inability to see the image of Jesus Christ in places where people are supposed to see them these days, like in a lapulapu fish.
This is something serious because it involves the fish used for many of my favorite local dishes, like sinugba,...
Niñal: D for dengue
WHEN our 11-month-old boy failed to wake us up at 6 a.m. last Tuesday for his daily dose of Sesame Street, we knew something was wrong. Instead of yelling “Eeeeeiiimmyyooo,” which we had taken to mean “Elmo,” he emitted a groan that sounded like “nummnumooo.”
At first we thought it was a...
Niñal: Radio gaga
I GREW up with the transistor radio as my best friend. I was the loner type, which means that while the other kids in the neighborhood were beating the hell out of each other in imitation of a wrestling match they just saw on TV, I stayed home glued to the radio set, crying over the story of a...
Niñal: The flunkers
A COLUMNIST is most sincere when he writes about something he knows from experience.
That’s why early morning yesterday, before I sat down to write this column, I went outside the house, lay face down on the ground, placed my palms flat against my sides and had the wife take photographs...
Niñal: ‘Tuko’
I GREW up in a town where people considered the tuko, or Tokay Gecko, as part of the family. We considered a house blessed if a tuko lived there. We respected the tuko not because it rid the house of pests. We respected the tuko the way we respected the objects of faith inside the house: with a...
Niñal: You’re staring at my baby’s lunch
PRESIDENT Noynoy Aquino disappointed me yesterday by not mentioning something of great national importance: breastfeeding. I don’t mind him talking about corruption and wang-wang issues, but I expected him to at least open his Sona by saying, “Wala nang hihigit pa sa gatas ng ina.” Or, “Salamat...
Niñal: How to lose a fight with a 3-month old baby
THIS is a Father’s Day article, so forgive me if sound extremely sentimental today.
You can’t write about fatherhood without tears welling up your eyes. I consumed 30 rolls of tissue paper before I could even start a word. So here we go.
Niñal: This duckface generation
BEFORE we start, I would like to ask you to press your lips together, got it? Push your mouth out like a pout or pucker and suck in your cheeks, got it? Raise your eyebrows, with one slightly higher than the other, got it? Set your cell phone camera ready and point it at your face at an...
Niñal: Sinugbang Sugbo
TWO news stories caught my attention last month because they involved two of my favorite funny Cebuanos, Esteban Escudero, who is Provincial Board Member Julian Daan when he tries to be serious, and Max Surban. Of course we know Max Surban. He popularized the song “Billionaire” written by Bruno...
Niñal: A skin shorter now
FOR once, let’s get serious here.
There’s crisis everywhere, earthquakes, tsunamis, Joavan Fernandez. In fact the Lord was almost forced to return for the Second Coming last May 21 because of our wicked ways. We would be remiss in our duty as citizens of the world if we keep making fun of...
Niñal: Not your end-of-the-world column
TO MY readers who were just too happy to have not seen this column for the past three consecutive weeks, I’m sorry to tell you that I’m back. I’ve been too busy attending lousy pre-Jordan seminars to remember that I have an obligation to ruin your Tuesdays.
And when I say lousy pre-...
Niñal: How I spent my Holy Week vacation
HOLY Week is about taking stock of your spiritual life in the light of Christ’s Passion and Death, so that you will realize what an idiot you’ve been the whole year complaining about the high prices of gasoline while the greatest Man who ever lived had to ride a dumb ass on his way to be ganged...
Niñal: Our God is (not) an online God
THIS column is different from the other ones I’ve written because this is Holy Week, and for once let us be serious about ourselves and our purpose here on earth. Therefore, before you read further, I would like to invite you people to pause for a moment, bow your heads in reflection and put...
Niñal: The alien has landed
AFTER our baby was born at 8:09 p.m. last April 3, Sunday, I now think pregnancy is overrated. So, that was it? Nine months of anticipation, fear, excitement, mood swings, baby blogging and high-folate, low-fat milk, and the baby pops out just like that?
Niñal: The final month: Are we there yet?
WE'RE getting bored of being pregnant now. When you’re nine months on the way, you start to wonder if all this would ever end. I heard stories about women who were weeks past their due dates. There’s this story I read about a mother who was so many weeks overdue that when the baby finally came...
Niñal: Surviving acid rain when you’re pregnant
IF you’ve been following this column the past weeks, you will notice this little Tuesday space we have here has become a sort of repository of my experiences as an expectant father. I didn’t know that until last Sunday, when I bumped into fellow Sun.Star Cebu columnist Mayette Tabada at the mall...
Niñal: Don’t panic, it’s organic
A NEWS article written by Sun.Star staff reporter Rebelander S. Basilan last Sunday sent me running to the Department of Education (DepEd) 7’s Ecotech Center in Sudlon, Lahug yesterday morning. It was raining, which would have been enough reason for me to stay in bed and to hell with Basilan’s...
