It's now 2007 in the countries on this side of the world, and will be 2007 in the US in about 45 minutes.

We (the collective we) stayed up until about 3:30 am. We did videoke, we drank and we did much carrying on. At midnight, my wife went up on the terrace and dumped small denominations of cash for all the children. Like 10 and 20 pesos (equivalent to 20 cents and 40 cents in US dollars respectively).

The noise-making device I mentioned in my Christmas eve post is called a "boga". It's a tubular plastic device, sprayed with denatured alcohol on the inside and then ignited from a small hole in the end (or an installed sparking trigger). They produce a large "boom" when ignited. Firecrackers and bogas, as well as other noise-making devices, were in wide use this year despited being banned to reduce injuries. Superstitious Filipinos believe that noisy New Year's celebrations, largely influenced by Chinese tradition, drive away evil and misfortune.

I haven't posted in a few days because of other commitments and because I've been teaching myself some new scripting techniques. Time really flies when you're busy.

To my American friends and family, Happy New Year! To my Filipino friends and family, Manigong Bagong Taon!