a welcome weekend

Shuumatsu ha dou deshitaka? (Musta ang weekend?)

I had a good one.

Friday night found me, Khen, Rose, Pita, Tibo-san, Mam Ken, Jon, Von, Peejay, and Tid at Tid's new crib, seven floors above and more than twice bigger than her previous residence. Tibo-san provided the junk food and drinks; everything else--guitars, songbook, playstation, violin, the couch, spectacular nighttime view of Katipunan Ave.--was courtesy of our gracious host.

Upon getting ourselves settled, the drinks were prepared, a tekken tournament was initiated, and the first song in the mellow rock songbook was played. As there were hundreds of songs, and since we were going through the songs one by one--yes, page by page, skipping only the overly boring ones--our night didn't end until 4:30. Our competitive spirits also didn't help to shorten the night, for the tekken fights stretched out until everyone was ready to admit that Pita was the best among us.

I tried tekken too, but against Peejay, Von, and Tid and not Pita because he'd gone home already and he'd already built up his mean reputation that I didn't dare play against him for fear of some major butt-kicking.

A lot of times I can be found strumming one of the guitars, but mostly what I did for the night was lots of singing (surprised? hehe). I also tried my hand at creating decent music with the violin. But alas, I realized that decent violin music are not created by first time violin players. The violin was such fun, though, and I don't mind learning it at all.

When everybody has left, I remained behind and crashed on Tid's couch only to be woken up with barely an hour of shut-eye. My dad was calling and urgently needed me back at home because he just got into a car accident (again!) and he'll be needing two vehicles so he could still go around while the damaged one is being fixed.

So *right away*--which surprised my dad--go home I did, and then continued my interrupted rest, and then learn, when I woke at around 4pm, that I'd nearly missed another day! But what a restful sleep that was...

The rest of my Saturday afternoon I revisited the piano, and tried Pachelbel's Canon in D. Oh, how frustrating it is to play the piano when one's not good at it at all! But I love Canon in D so much I just know, with tons of practice, someday I'll be able to play it. It'll be my latest piano masterpiece -- mwahahaha! (Tin, you're probably laughing up your sleeve at me right now!)

Then, a short while later I arrived late for choir practice. It seems I've been terribly oblivious (for this was supposedly going on for three montsh already) that Saturday choir rehearsals have moved its starting schedule one hour earlier. So, I was an hour late. (Too bad, I would've been just right on time by the old schedule!)

After choir practice was another rehearsal, this time for the band for tomorrow's praise and worship. I was supposed to be the drummer, but ended up as guitarist because nobody else was available. Hmm... I probably have already sensed this all along, because I didn't go through my usual practice session at home and actually forgot to bring my drumsticks with me. Good thing I had some sort of practice from the previous night's songbook session.

I got home around 9 with the house still almost empty. So with almost nobody to bother with very loud music, I hit the drums.

So that was my Saturday.

Sunday morning found me unusually early at church because we were supposed to do some last minute rehearsals, this time with the drummer, Carlo. But the keyboard person, Tin, and the leader, Ate Darlene, were late, so Carlo and I practiced on our own first. When the band finally got its members all present, it was almost time for sunday school. So after going through a few of the songs, Carlo and Ate Darlene were off to their groups. Since my sunday school leader and classmates were all still in Europe, I spent the next 30 minutes in fun conversation with Tin.

So the morning proceeded with church activities. After lunch, Carlo, Moti, my Mom and I tried out the still-untouched Monopoly game board that I bought two weeks ago. We had a great time, although we had to end the game after only one hour of playing because my brothers and I had to go to the usual Sunday choir practice.

I went home right away after choir practice, but only to find out that I had been locked out of the house. I was alone and hungry. But I had transportation and good thing Tin hasn't yet left the church and was still jamming with Ate Bhoom. So I went back there to pick her up. But before we left I can't resist but to jam with them some first (the guitar was already locked away, and Ate Bhoom was already happily seated on the drum throne, so I was left with taking over Tin's other role as the singer! Hehe, no choice.) Afterwards, Tin and I went to starbucks and, over coffee and ham and cheese croissant (yum!--I always remember a certain person whenever I order this) continued our morning chat. I learned a lot about Tin, but despite her saying afterwards that I had been a good listener, I still think I blabbed more about myself than listened. I just hoped she enjoyed our little yack fest as much as I did. ^_^

After dropping Tin off at Bayan, I went home for a quick dinner and headed to the cinema to watch Madagascar. It was a fun movie, and had its hilarous moments, but the story was so plain. The moviehouse, though, is still the place to watch it because one would surely be missing the outstanding graphics if watched at home through the constricted frame of a TV.

After the movie, I went straight back home, and after only half a chapter of The Dawn Treader -- quite an interesting read, if only I wasn't so tired -- was off in dreamland.

decisions...

I'm sitting here, still at the office, but doing nothing in particular. I'm in a state of confusion, and have been the whole day, trying to decide on what I'm going to do this evening, tomorrow, and the future. And although I've somewhat reached a conclusion, I still can't say that I'm fully convinced of the choice I made.

See, I've decided to skip tomorrow's climb to Mt. Daguldol. Because of that, I don't need to go anywhere tonight to buy food and gear as part of preparing for tomorrow. And also because of that, my budget for the climb is now free to be spent on something else, like a pair of new rubber shoes, which is not an urgent need in at least four months but will only be available in its ultra super low priced form (that's a 70% slash) for just four days (and that's today until the end of this month!)

But a part of me still wants to go. I haven't actually told those who'll climb that I'm in, so I have nothing and no one to back out from. But mentally, I've been preparing for this climb. Now I feel like I'm backing out from myself, like I'm leaving an eager and expectant part of me in the air, leaving that part of me dissapointed and crushed.

And why the change of heart? Why, the rain mostly. The daily afternoon rains has been making me lethargic. And today its full effect was upon me. I can't even think straight.

But I've made my decision. I'm not going anywhere tomorrow. Now, I hope I can decide on where to go for dinner tonight.

Pangasinan behind the scenes

Yes, I know, this post is about something that happened ages ago. But somehow, despite being happily in draft form for almost a month now, this entry didn't want to stay like so forever. So here it is, better late than... Oh yeah, there's a reason it was hidden. It's boring.

As you can see, it's actually just more pictures from the Pangasinan trip. But not the usual ones. Just pics of trip's photographers caught on still camera while doing their jobs. OK, now I think it's a bit interesting. I just noticed that there was always somebody who manages to take behind the scenes shots of other people taking pictures of other people. Mostly it was PJ, who took the first photo, capturing me photographing other people. I also remember myself doing it once during the trip: shooting peejay while he was shooting... me (shooting him. That should count!) But there's one more person, I'm just not sure who, who caught PJ taking a picture of other people (me again, actually). Pics 3 and 4 illustrate.

Bolinao

Second day of the Pangasinan weekend was Bolinao day. 14 beach lovers in four vehicles headed out from a hotel which fronts the Hundred Islands in Alaminos, to Patar Beach, a long strech of almost-white sand which fronts coral-rich sea.

After waking up Sunday morning with far from enough shuteye (with the activities of the day past and the activities still ahead, three hours is never enough), I, with the rest of the gang, packed, checked-out, made a stop at McDonald's Alaminos for our packed lunches, set the plan to go to Patar Beach (ah yes, the actual destination was not known until right before we stepped onto the highway to Bolinao!), and then drove for more than an hour and a half through long straight roads and climbing zigzag roads, and then through a seemingly endless stretch of patience-testing dirt road to finally reach... China, er, Bolinao's Patar Beach.

The beach, though, was well worth the troubles. The place was a nice long and wide stretch of fine clean sand expansive enough for us--and many others, if them others had wanted to--to play frisbee and football. Sand also stretched way into the water, offering our feet soft ground to lazily wade on. And after just going a little deeper into the sea, the sand is soon replaced by lovely corals.

And the water. Cold but not too cold to make you shiver, the water had just the perfect temperature to give the perfect refreshment under the burning hot sun. Also it didn't burn my eyes much. Somehow, it wasn't as salty as ordinary seawater.

We enjoyed Bolinao till almost late in the afternoon, then it was time to go home... already. We were just happily playing and eating and relaxing and soaking up the sun and then it was time for the six hour drive back to Quezon City... already! I haven't had a decent night's sleep--not even a decent amount of daytime shuteye--in three straight days and yet I have to be driving--again!

Then a slight change of plans from some of my passengers. My brother and his friends, who travelled with us going to Bolinao and were going to ride with me again going home, weren't ready yet and needed at least a couple of hours more. (Some were so not ready they were postponing their departure until two days later.)

Turned out I could snatch a few hours of badly needed slumber before hauling through the highways again. And I actually got 5--just enough.

What a great day!

Hundred Islands

Ah, hundred islands--where the Astra gang spent its Saturday during its weekend expedition to Pangasinan last week.

After going around the islands, with Khen's friend the boatman bringing us from island to island and introducing each one to us (apparently, every tiny island has a name), we finally made our home on Scout island, a nice little patch of land with a mini cave and, more importantly, trees to shade our camp from the scorching sun.

But our tiny little island had more to offer, we soon discovered. Aside from its stone canopy that provided us shade while wading and swimming near the shore, its small patch of cream colored sand, we were delighted to learn and play with, was of the fine fine kind.

Beach bound

Well, it looks like I could be trusted to drive with the rest of the 16-wheeler trailer trucks and mountain-bound buses of the north luzon express way and the national highways of Pangasinan after all.

When I asked my dad again last tuesday night, he didn't say OK. But instead he just said the tires needed some checking first. Then, that's it. He said nothing much, and it was my turn to speak already. The way my dad was talking, it was like it's already set: I'm good, i.e. I can leave with his 2.5-L AUV and drive 600 plus km without his guidance. After that I remember telling him more details about the trip, like how many people have confirmed their participation (14 beach hungry guys and gals), and then the time we plan to leave (around 8pm). But it was like he didn't even had to hear them. After our short conversation, I was convinced he was convinced I can handle it. Cool!

So the gang's all set now. Pangasinan here we come!

Pangasinan plans

The office is abuzz today with talk about the coming trip to Pangasinan. The trip's this weekend already, and the plan is to go to Hundred Islands, then to Bolinao. Ades and Khen are cooking up the menus already. Pita's new snorkeling gear is on standby. BJ's new 7.1 megapixel camera is waiting to take fresh jumpshots. The hotel's been reserved, too.

The only thing that remains to be ironed out is the transportation, because my dad hasn't yet actually given me the full go signal to use his crosswind. He's about halfway to consenting: he said I can use the vehicle only if I'm not going to be driving at night. But we're scheduled to leave on Friday night.

Some persuasion is at hand. Gotta make full use of what remains of my safe and defensive driver image. Wish me luck.

Puerto pics

Took this after doing some shopping on my third day at white beach in puerto galera last week. Went there this time with the whole office (on a trip where everything was paid by the office--yey!) This was the most colorful sunset during my stay there. Must be the on-and-off rain during that day, which only finally stopped falling just before the sun began to set.

Here's me with some officemates who are about to go snorkeling. I was only able to go the following day, because as of the moment this picture was taken, I was still having my period. Yep, the timing couldn't have been any lousier.

Ah, so what to do when the rest of them are happily checking out the corals and you're left alone with a friend who's not really into following fishes around but has a brand new digital camera and would gladly put the said camera into good use? You got it: snap away!

Sometimes, I just love it when somebody else is doing the picture taking. And in this trip, there were four others who brought their cameras along. Yey!

But behind the lens is a nice place too.

the view from halfway up mt. malasimbo

from my puerto galera weekend with my mountain climbing buddies last April 2-3

hut chairs flowers sky

Talipanan beach, Puerto Galera

Amos Lee

Heard his songs for the first time today. I only got to listen to three of them, but instantly liked them. I liked his laid back, jazzy sound. The lyrics are good too. Now I want to hear the rest of the album.

Pag mura ang songhits na nabili mo...

Got this from a yahoo group of mine, and boy, did it made me laugh!!
Let's start singin'... :)

I decided long ago, never to walk in edu
manzano...
(I decided long ago,
never to walk in anyone's shadow)

Cry by Mandy Moore - A walk to remember... it was
late afternoon!
(I'll always remember, it was late afternoon)

All My Life by K-ci and Jojo - supposed to be
you're like my mother,supposed to be you're like my sister
(close to me you're like my
mother... close to me you're like my sister)

Where's the Love - People killing, people flying,
children hurt an living,
crying...
(People killing, people dying; children
hurt and you hear them crying)

Leaving on a jet plane - so kiss me and SMAFFLE
me...
(so kiss me and smile for me...)

Usher & Alicia's My Boo - It started when we were
younger you were
NINE...
(It started when we were younger you were mine)

Eto pa: ...and you were my BEYBLADE... it started
when were younger
you
were FINE... hehehe....

(eto isa sa mga naging favorites, hehehe...)
If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys - "some people
want
TAMBOURINES.."
(diamond rings)

Britney's Baby One More Time - My ONLY NEST is
killing me... and I........
(My loneliness....)

Thumbthumping (Chumbawumba) - I get knocked down
by an elephant, my
mommas's gonna bring me down...
(I get knocked down, but I get up again...)

Crush by Jennifer Paige - "i-splash, a little
crush.."
("it's just.. a little crush..")

Red Hot's Californication - "Viva
Californication...."
(Dream of Californication...)

No scrubs, TLC - "A scrub is a guy who thinks he's
fine but is also known
as a BUS STOP"
(buster)

Waterfalls by TLC: Don't go JASON waterfalls...
(Chasin')

John Mayer - You're ALICE IN WONDERLAND... You're
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
I'll use my hands
(Body is a wonderland)

Baa Baa Black Sheep: "Baa baa black sheep, heavy
on the road..."

With A Smile by Eraserheads: "lift ur HAND.. baby
dont be scared..
of the things that could go wrong along the way..
(HEAD!!!)

Wag Na Wag Mong Sasabihin by Kitchie Nadal:
maaaaaaaaaag... ,
magdamag
mong
sasabihin........

two-trick pony by sandwich - i have been waiting
for you all night
under
the glow of INSECENT LIGHT
(...under the glow of YOUR SATELLITE)

On Bended Knees by Boyz II Men: Oh God give me the
reason, I'M DOWN...
ABANDON ME...
(I'm down on bended knee)

Red Hot's Zephyr Song: Fly away on my
CELLPHONE...I feel it more
than ever
(Fly away on my zephyr, I feel it more than ever)


ETO ANG "THE BEST!"

Nothing's gonna change my love for you... you know
NAMAN MY LOVE
how
much I
love you...

awful afternoon

Drove for two freakin' long hours going home! The traffic was horrendous! And the drive was longer, too--51 kilometers!

I took a different route. Instead of using C-5, I went through Edsa. What a mistake. It wasn't only longer, but the traffic, as my experienced dad, who everyday goes to and from Laguna, belatedly warned me about, was worse.

morning cruising

Had a nice long 40-km drive this morning going to Alabang, where I'm attending training. Didn't encounter heavy traffic! Amazing! And the few places where the traffic was a bit slow were at points where I actually wanted the traffic to slow down--you see, the better for me to do some multi-tasking. Like dig in my bag to get my brush and then comb my hair, blithely ignoring the curious stares of two men at the jeepney in front of my car; get my shades from my bag and wear them; grope for and snatch my sandwich from the passenger seat and have it for breakfast; and grope again inside my bag for my phone and text some. (Children, don't do this at home--I mean, in your car.)

The rest of the ride, I was cruisin'. Nice.

ear plugged

Been wanting to play the drums since the start of this holy week vacation but I didn't want to risk having ringing ears again. It's freaky, having to hear phone rings after every nice little drum roll!

Finally, I was able to buy me a pair of nifty earplugs yesterday from JB (no discount, coz it's less than 100 bucks--hehe, sayang), and tested them this morning. Mwahaha! No more ringing. And the snare and cymbals sounded much better too.

Too bad I don't have earplugs for the whole family. Hopefully, they're better at tolerating the crashin' and bangin'. :D

Norah Jones in Manila

It's been almost two weeks, I can't believe I haven't found the time to blog about Norah Jones' fantastic concert last March 12. I'm blaming work, hehe.

But since today's the first of a four-day weekend, surely I could squeeze some minutes to write about the Norah Jones' totally fabulous Manila concert.

So, here goes. To better recall the concert, I'm listening right now to the tape that I recorded during the show. Uh-huh, I managed to sneak in a tape recorder! Haha! So now, I'm listening to the concert again. Trying to relive that nice experience, even if only through a Maxell tape, a casette recorder, and headphones.

So the concert. It was wonderful. Norah and the superb Handsome band performed around 20 songs, nicely filling my tape's 90 minute capacity to the brim (the last song was actually cut halfway).

She started with Turn me On. And the audience was turned on. After the audience's screamin and clappin, she thanked the crowd by saying, "Salamat" (in a Filipino accent), which made the audience clap and scream some more. Then she said, "Hope I said it right."

Haha! She also laughed at that.

She followed with Those Sweet Words. I noticed the drummer used a percussion box-drum for this song. He looked a bit awkward stooped so low tapping his box near its bottom. But that's just my observation and it doesn't matter. What matters is the band sounded great. They even added a touch of mandolin (or whatever that small guitar is called) for a fine folk effect. Nice.

Nightingale was next, and the guitar man (Adam Levy?) did a great job making his guitar cry on this one.

After this song, a guy from the audience yelled, "Turn me on!" Norah made sure she heard him right (replying "What did you say?"). But the man screamed again, requesting, "Turn Me On!"

But Turn Me On was the first song, so she replied, "Turn me on? We already played it. (laughs) I already turned you on!" She then added, "You musta hit traffic on the way. (laughs) Sorry."

Hahaha!

And then at this point a guy from far back in the audience cried out, "I love you Noraah!"

"Oh, salamat."

The audience cheered, and the band starts the music for the next song. But the guy from far back wasn't finished yet, and screamed again, this time hoarser (probably from having his throat already damaged from shouting from the far end of Araneta Coliseum).

Loved Norah's reply. She said, "Don't hurt yourself, man," (and got me laughing--haha!) and then she proceeded with the first line of her next song--one of my faves!--What Am I To You.

The Painter Song--with a great mandolin solo--was next. Then it was I've Got To See You Again with a delightfully different flavor. It was more playful and almost danceable, with an extended piano intro and Andy Borger providing playful drums to Adam Levy's ripping guitar riffs.

Next she played a Gram Parsons cover entitled She. It had a melancholy ring to it, but it was really nice. I didn't know how the song originally sounded but this one had Norah written all over it. As American Idol's Paula used to say, she owned it.

After taking the seat behind the electric keyboard and introducing that the next song was written by Adam Levy, she went on to In the Morning, which gave me a happy surprise. The drummer Andy Borger went crazy! With his playful and passionate improvisation, he really shined on this one. The audience loved it too. With a shower of applause and cheers, they were quick to acknowledge his brilliant drumming.

Then Norah moved again to the grand piano (as part of what Moti and I called her choreography for the night, i.e. moving between her two keyboards! Well, later, she'll prove us wrong.) Anyway, before starting her next song, she remarked about the big projector screens beside the stage. "Can't stop looking at that. It's creeping me out."

Hahaha!

Then, she raised her arms chest level and waved them in front of her while checking herself on one of the big screens. Seeing her making fun of herself, it was really funny.

"It's very distracting," she said as she laughed with the audience.

Next, she charmed the audience with Carnival Town. Daru Oda, her backup singer (and friend since 15, Norah later told), added a touch of flute, making the song lovelier.

Now for the next one, Norah was going to be solo for the first time--just her and the piano. But just as she was about to mouth the song's first words, she paused, apparently distracted by something pesky flying about her and so instead said, "A mosquito..."

The audience can only laugh. Hehe.

So Norah just said, "This is for the mosquito." The song was The Nearness of You.

The mosquito must have really bugged her, because at another time during the song, she just paused and appeared to be distracted. But she kept on with it, giving a performance full of emotion, singing with a heartfelt voice that just tugs at the heartstrings!

Then next were songs without her playing the piano: the slow but beautifully sung Humble Me; Long Way Home, which got the audience clapping to the beat; and Don't Know Why versions 1 and 2. The first version was the one we all know too well, but the second one, well, it was the first time I heard it.

Norah said she sang that one on Sesame Street with Elmo. Turned out it's got a bit of a history:

"I've got a date, though, with the letter 'Y'," she began. "But he stood me up... "

A big sigh from the audience.

"Yeah, he didn't show. No show..."

Another sigh.

Then Norah said, "Did you say why? Why? He was hanging out with his X!"

Hahaha!

"That's a stupid joke. That's a bad joke," Norah just added.

Hehe.

But there's more. "So I looked sad. Elmo was worried about me," Norah said. "He said 'What's wrong?' I said, "I waited till I saw the sun, Elmo..." Then Norah sang, "Don't know 'Y' didn't come."

Ahahaha!

"Hey they wrote it, not me," was Norah's excuse. "I though we'd meet / and have some fun / Spelling words like yogurt and yum," she continued to sing.

Hahaha, more laughter from the crowd.

"That was fun / but he didn't come," she added. "That's OK, 'cause I hung out with Elmo. We had some beers..."

Haha, got me laughing out loud!

Then she went back to business, proceeding with the jolly country Creepin' In, where Daru stood in for Dolly Parton, and guitar man Robbie Mcintosh provided some mean guitar solos; and a powerfully played Above Ground.

Then it's back to the piano for Norah, giving out Sunrise and a lovely rendition of Come Away with Me. (Her most popular songs! The show must be nearing it's end. Noooo!)

And soon after, she was saying goodbye. She thanked the audience and said she hopes to spend more time here next time.

Then, her last song was up. It was a cover of Life is a Carnival by The Band. I really didn't know the song, but it was great. And it was cool because Norah did a bit of dancing, too.

She gave the audience about one minute to scream "Moooore!" and cheer and hoot, and then did not dissapoint by showing up again on stage.

"I hear a lot of high-pitched screams," she remarked. "That means a lot of ladies are here; they brought their boyfriends (laughs)."

Hehehe!

To close the night, she sang Seven Years, Lonestar, and a cover called Ooh Las Vegas, a song they only play for their "cool" audiences. Yeah!

Druing the concert, I sooo wanted to sing along with her. And actually at times caught myself doing so. But I'd stop as soon as I realized I was singing, because nobody else was. And anyway, it would just probably ruin the experience of listening to and feeling Norah's beautiful voice. So there, I restrained myself, but, still while wishing that a chunk of the audience would start singing already so we could all sing together! Well, it didn't happen. But it's OK. Norah was here, with her band, singing, and playing, and talking and joking around! It was an awesome night.

For the ears

Researched a bit about earplugs and earphones that protect the ears while drowning oneself in (self-induced) rocking, but ear-damaging, music. Found out the earphones are called "isolation earphones". I still don't know how much they are sold locally, but I hope they won't cost too much. I think they are a necessity for me right now, but as usual, I'm on a tight budget... so here's hoping my JB discount card will find itself useful again.

Sunset

Found this and many more lovely shots while clicking around looking for wallpaper photos.

Ahh, I love flickr.

Be prepared

One tiny lesson I learned this morning: Make sure that my hair is already perfect when I enter UP! Make sure the tangles from the morning bath are all straightened out already, that the hair is already perfectly parted somewhere above my left eye, and that the 'do is already straight and flowing and ready to be presented to the world, because you never know! I might stumble upon a v.cute guy, whom I know, and who probably still remembers me, and I have to be ready to exchange smiles, and some words with him again. But first, I have to be at least presentable, with my hair to have undergone at a minimum of two passes under the comb.

So it was just my bad luck that this morning I saw this guy, my crush from college. I had the perfect opportunity to talk to him. But my hair, it was still a mess; I wasn't near ready! Argh, too bad. Sayang.

Peeta's propitious pacing

After much prodding from Ades and I, Peeta finally agreed to set the pace for tonight's jog. Apparently, he set a good one, because the three of us were able to overcome the hot summer air, exhaustion, and four whole acad oval rounds in record time: 1 hour. Well, that's a rough estimate, because my watch went to blank mode again late last night, and we were only able to keep track of the time through per-round checks from Peeta's constant companion, his Ipod. But we monitored faithfully and one hour was what we got. Although this was only my second four-round jog, but with the first one at one hour and three minutes, tonight's run was way shorter. Therefore, my fastest four rounds ever! Record time.

Tonight's was more enjoyable too, because despite not having music plugged to my eardrums like my buddies, I found myself bored only once. (Yes, it happens and it's very distracting.) I felt it coming when we were on our second round while plodding the uphill stretch along palma hall annex. Fortunately, as soon as I rounded the corner stepping onto the flat road of vinzon's hall, it was poof. And more fortunately, it never came back! Well, that's what some lung-torturing pace boost will do! (Very close to what we did.)

Courtesy of Mistah Peeta.