...at least to filipinos.

Groundhog Day. I wasn't even sure what groundhogs looked like back in the Philippines. Last February 2 my co-worker and I walked in our boss' office for our daily morning meeting to find her checking the results of what the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil had to say. If he saw his shadow that meant 6 more weeks of winter, if not, spring will be just around the cornner. Of course, everybody is praying for no shadow. Groundhog Day is big enough to be included in the tv news. Even my brother-in-law Mike coincides the distribution of his very amusing family newsletter on this date instead of Christmas.

So did Phil see his shadow or not? He did. "But 6 more weeks of winter doesn't sound too bad," I told my husband. Tom replied, "hon, that's just maybe around North Carolina not Chicago." Oh.

Here is a short history of Groundhog Day.

Superbowl. In the already sports-crazed america nothing beats football. Superbowl Sunday is like PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) with the Ginebra team finals night during the time of Jaworski (a basketball icon) then multiply it by the hundreds. It's an event that even an ultimate non-sporting fan like me will find hard remaining oblivious to.

It's said that 97 million viewers in the US tuned in for the game, 144 million worldwide. I was one of them - for about 15 to 20 minutes. After mass, our church (Catholic) hosted a Sunday dinner (free) for the occasion. At the basement there were 2 huge tvs and a long buffet table of chili, salad, hotdogs, desserts and sodas. So Tom and I joined in the fun and mingled with other parishioners. As we sat down to eat, Tom leaned to me and asked, "did you see those brownies? (his weakness aside from frozen yogurt)." "Don't worry, we can share it." So my husband had his first brownie in over a year - how's that for willpower?

Other people would usually watch Superbowl with friends, even have parties or a pool. Some in the pub. Another reason why the Superbowl is appealing to viewers are the high-budgeted commercials all shown for the first time.

Currently listening to: Rob Thomas "Ever The Same"
Currently reading: Tom Perrota's "Little Children"
Currently watching: American Idol