The “tubod” of NBI clearances

Government offices have been good to me lately. Earlier, I had myself registered for Comelec in less than hour. So was yesterday with my NBI clearance. Yes, I’m starting to perform my citizenly duties.

The NBI Cebu City office is currently a jungle, a place where one can devour another once he cut the line. You have to be there the whole day for what? For another schedule, and surely a long queue. That is crazy shit. But off to a town called Tuburan, 96.7kms from the city proper, and you can acquire your NBI clearance fast and easy — just like what our local fastfood chains offer —  and eat a scrumptious dinuguan-and-liempo-meal at the nearby carenderia for lunch.

Tuburan is a good 2-hour drive from Cebu City. But it would take around 3 hours for a bus or v-hire en route to the said town. Travel time is longer than the actual NBI clearance processing but it’s better than standing under the scorching sun when you’re in the city. Plus, it’s good to see such greens along the way — a breather from the city’s hustle and bustle.

Tuburan can be reached via Transcentral Highway (in red line) for those who want to try cliff-edge driving, or via Naga (in blue) for the boring ones.

Google Pays Tribute to Master Puppeteer Jim Henson

Jim Henson Google Doodle

Today, September 24, 2011, Google‘s puppet doodle is featured to pay tribute to Jim Henson in his would have been 75th birthday.

Born on 1936, Henson introduced us to the wonderful world of puppetry. He created The Muppets and made Sesame Street possible. Big Bird, Elmo, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the colorful, fluffy gang have become a significant part of many children’s lives for generations. And of course, who would ever forget Kermit the Frog voiced by Henson himself.

And to celebrate decades of pure family entertainment and today’s advanced puppetry — thanks to Henson, Google collaborated with The Jim Henson Company to let browsers experience Henson Digital Puppet Studio, the software that is used in some of today’s children’s shows such as Sid the Science Kid.

Visit Google homepage and be a puppeteer yourself. The Jim Henson Doodle features six original Muppet characters suggesting the Google logo.

Go ahead! Click on them and make a skit! You never know, there might be a surprise coming at you.

And yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JIM HENSON! 

It’s a Smurfin’ Day!

Wednesday is the finest day of the week — less people at the mall, shorter lines at the grocery, and more available tables in restaurants. It is also the man’s day off so we have all the time in the world to play Angry Birds, watch yet another 3D animation movie, or just be plain lazy at home.

It’s the time of the month when the hub and I go out for our monthly movie and dine-out. Sounds wholesome, right? Or strange, perhaps? But gone are the days when we would drop by The Outpost thrice a week or any liquor store at the corner and get wasted along the gutter. For two people who were best beer-guzzling buddies for years, the idea of spending the night watching cartoon movies, without any drink in hand, sounds weird. We, too, find it strange. It’s the obligatory and ever compelling justification of when you have a child, expect great changes in your lifestyle that encompasses this new habit. I won’t even break it down as you might fall into the labyrinth of mundane domestication.

So, where were we? Ah, the Wednesday plus the payday.

Smurf it while it's out

The great thing about watching a kiddie movie on its first day of showing is that you don’t have to fight for seats. It’s a weekday — kids are in school, parents are under corporate slavery, and nannies are busy flirting with the gardener while the house is empty. We plan to watch Ang Babae sa Septic Tank but opted for The Smurfs when we saw it at the lobby. People who were there to watch The Smurfs were mostly in their late 20′s and early-to-mid 30′s who grew up watching the series in the 80′s (exclude me, my age is quite complicated). And there we were, two “kids” in 3D glasses, watching the movie, reaching out their hands to catch the smurfs’ smurfin’ blue smurfs.

After smurfin, and doing some groceries, Abuhan Dos was the next stop for some smurfilicious dinner, and we smurf’d out… nah, sorry, movie hangover.

Abuhan's pochero is the smurf!

Full and sleepy, we decided to call it a day. Instead of walking to our next destination, which was downtown for a jeepney ride home, we opted for the taxi because the hub couldn’t wait to give to the kid his new toy, and we already missed our little Bukikoy. Coffee, milk, Sky Flakes, and Madagascar Escape 2 Africa, another 3D animation movie, ended the night.

Yes, this is our domesticity.

Simple. Blissful. Eccentric. Comical.