Birthday celebration part 3

And the celebration goes on!

A couple of Saturdays ago, I celebrated my birthday with my college friends and group-mates – Mitch, Anna, Mike, and Gary and Winnie. Mitch was sick the week leading up to it, and with her 2nd son Rory being just a few months old she isn’t very mobile just yet. So we decided to just have the party at her place and I would just bring all the food.

Because she was sick, we decided to meet up earlier in the day, which is kinda unique coz when we meet up, it usually is for dinner. We got there at around 4-ish, and so I just brought palabok, chicken empanada, and the new Marjolaine cake from Red Ribbon (is it obvious where I stopped over on my way to Mitch’s place? =)), as well as the partially eaten 96% fat-free ice cream from my celebration with office friends a week before. It was still merienda time, so I thought that I could just bring merienda food first, and if we stayed around til dinner then I could just have food delivered.

We also got there right in time for Game 2 of the UAAP finals. Gary was the only one who was really and truly into it, having gone to Ateneo for grade school and high school. Unfortunately for him, right before the game could actually start (we caught the junior game before that I think as well as the awarding ceremonies where the Adamson guy – apparently I am not all that into the UAAP – won MVP), Aidan came in with Fergus and wanted to watch Ice Age 2. Obviously a 5 year old will trump a thirtysomething when it comes to TV-watching, so we all ended up congregated over the dining table while Aidan took over the entertainment system. Of course, once Ice Age was over, Game 2 was deep in the third quarter with UST having a sizable lead. Ateneo managed to get to within 5 points and the momentum seemed to be theirs but I guess UST managed to take control back. Needless to say Gary was not happy with the result.

It isn’t really often that the 6 of us get to spend time with each other (at least not as a group, and obviously I do get to see Mitch and Anna quite a bit more than the rest of them) so obviously it was great fun. Winnie is expected to give birth a few months from now and so she was getting lots of pointers from Mitch. And that isn’t the only change going on in their lives as she and Gary are in the process of renovating the townhouse that they are going to be moving to. We were also quite surprised to find out how nationalistic Mike felt after some discussion involving someone we know who seems to really feel that returning to the Philippines would make him more miserable, even after going through a lot of truckload of horrific experiences that would make Lemony Snickets’ unfortunate series of events look like a lovely stroll in the park. Of course, the discussion invariably led to reminiscing about college days, where we recounted the good, the bad, and the ugly. Well okay, actually it was mainly the good and the funny.

We were having so much fun that we ended up extending ‘til dinner. We were trying to order from Shakey’s because Mitch had a free pizza for every pizza purchase, but it seems that the Shakey’s 77777 number was congested or was still down due to the typhoon. So we ended up ordering from Domino’s (which is probably my favorite delivery pizza). Mike had to leave by 7 though, but the rest of us ended up leaving around 930 I think.

So we’re halfway there. A few more installments and my birthday this year will officially be over. =)

Ramblings

Have you ever played the computer version of ‘Hearts’? I only recently actually started playing it when I bought my very own personal laptop. The way the computer game goes is that once one of the players reaches 100, the game is over and the person with the least points wins. My initial best score was 4. Shortly after that, I managed to shave off a couple of points and get a personal best score of 2. I then recently managed to get it down to 1. And well, yesterday, I finally got a perfect 0! I was so happy hahaha of course it’s such a lame thing to be happy about but well I’m very easily pleased so it’s all good. =)

I also went to the gym yesterday, and I have to say that I’m pleased that I’ve been disciplined enough to keep going to the gym three times a week for the last 2 1/2 months already. I was actually really pleased that yesterday I got to increase the weight I am lifting. The downside is that I did super-sets and my body is still really sore today (it’s been more than 24 hours and arms are still hurting). The upsetting thing too (well okay not that upsetting…) is that I haven’t lost any weight. Then again, if I think about the food I’ve been eating recently I guess it kinda makes sense that I am not losing weight. I really need to cut down on desserts. But well I don’t want to hahaha so I guess staying at my current weight is acceptable. =)

I’ve cut down as well on my tennis. But not because I don’t want to play anymore. The problem is that rainy season seems to have moved down a few months and now I am unable to play in the uncovered tennis courts that I normally play in. What I have realized though is that reducing the number of times I work hard physically each week seems to be allowing my muscles to recover better. Maybe by the time the rainy season’s over, I’m more used to exercising a lot and I’d be better equipped to handle both the tennis and the gym workouts.

I was also watching the Amazing Race 10 yesterday. Someone noted that this season seems particularly inclined towards diversity – Korean duo, Muslim pair, Indian couple, African-American women, and gay guys, along with your requisite model guys and beauty queens. Interestingly enough, half the ‘diverse’ groups are now gone, and in fact the Muslims and Indians were both gone in the first episode after an interesting mid-show elimination left the Muslims as well as all the other contestants shocked. What I realized too is that there have been lots of male gay couples in the past (most notable are previous winners Reichen and Chip) but I don’t seem to recall any female gay couple. Not sure why that is. Is the public still not ready for a female gay couple on TV? Or maybe it’s just that the Amazing Race don’t get enough lesbian pairs applying for a shot at a million dollars?

Anyway, to close this message I have decided to put a joke I got from a friend of mine a while back that really cracked me up. It’s in Filipino and I’m not sure it’ll be as funny when translated so to all my readers (yeah like I have that many haha) who can’t speak in Filipino, better find someone who can translate this for you:

Nakatakas si Erap, FVR, at GMA sa mga terorista at nagtago sa mga sako sa isang farm.

Terrorist 1: Anong nakikita mo diyan?
Terrorist 2: Mga sako lang.
Terrorist 1: Tingnan mo ang laman!

Sinipa ng terorista ang sako. “Meow!” sabi ni GMA.

Terrorist 2: Pusa!

Sinipa ang isa pang sako. “Aw aw!” sabi ni FVR!

Terrorist 2: Aso!

Sinipa ang isa pang sako ngunit walang tunog kaya sinipa niya ito ng sinipa. Nasasaktan na si Erap kaya sabi niya…

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PATATAS AKO KAY WALA AKONG SOUND!


Haha have a good day folks!

Twenty

Years ago, local diva Regine Velasquez had a concert series in OnStage (the concert was entitled “Regine at the Movies” where she sings movie theme songs or music from original soundtracks) and my friends (Mitch and Anna) and I thought it would be great to watch this concert. We all really enjoyed it and all of a sudden it became a more-or-less annual thing for the three of us to catch Regine’s shows. Since that first time several years ago, we’ve caught three more of her concerts – one where she sings songs that she has sung and released, another where she covers Barbra Streisand classics, and a duet-concert with Ogie Alcasid.

However, some time ago Regine lashed out at interviewers on a local showbiz talkshow when they asked her about supposedly being upstaged by an up-and-coming divette. Mitch and I didn’t see the show, but Anna did, and ever since then Anna didn’t really feel like watching Regine’s concerts anymore.

Which meant that last Friday night, it was only Mitch and I who went to Araneta Coliseum to watch Regine’s ‘Twenty’ concert, appropriately entitled because it was her twentieth anniversary in showbiz.

And as usual, Regine came up with the goods.

There were actually quite a bit of miscues throughout the concert (like when she forgot that the dancers were supposed to take her gown off to reveal another one underneath and when the mic of one of the Promil kids - the one on cello I think – didn’t work). And well her outfits were a bit outrageous (her opening outfit – this pink/red/fuchsia ensemble made her look like a gigantic pink Pekingese to quote Mitch). So the concert could certainly have been cleaner from a production point of view.

But when you watch Regine perform, you aren’t really after production value or stage performance. You are after her powerful voice and incredible vocal capability. I guess she knows that her fans love her for her incredible power and her unparalleled ability to hit those unbelievable high notes. So during her concert she put everything out on stage with her amazing renditions of “I don’t wanna miss a thing” and “Sana maulit muli”. She also sang the songs that she popularized and that people love her for, like “Shine” and “Dadalhin”. And with her movie career proving to be quite successful, Regine certainly had to perform songs from the movies she has starred in, like “You are my song”, “Pangako”, and “Kailangan ko’y ikaw”.

My favorite performance of hers that night, which actually got her a standing ovation (and has gotten her a standing ovation each time I’ve seen her perform it), was her version of “What kind of fool am I”. Most people presume that Regine is simply a ‘biritera’ who keeps shrieking out high notes and has nothing else going for her. So what’s great about her version of this song (which she said was arranged by Louie Ocampo) is that she delivers the first two-thirds of the song with incredible control and intense passion. That is, until she gets into climax of the song where she does what she does better than anyone else – hit those incredibly high notes and hold them for a lot longer than most people can. The best showcase of her control is when she sing an emotionally soft note, holds it, and throughout the course of this note she gradually increases volume. Not a lot of people can do that, or at least not nearly as well as she does.

Of course, this being a celebration of her twentieth year in showbiz, she naturally had to pay tribute to the songs that paved the way for her immense success. She sang a special arrangement (done by Gerard Salonga) of “Love me again”, which I think was the first single she ever released. After her opening medley, she dazzled the audience with “Narito ako” which is arguably the record that catapulted her to stardom. She was also quite emotional right before she sang “Bakit ako mahihiya”, which she used to perform during singing contests in towns and barrios before making it onto the big stage, and she dedicated this song to both of her parents. And of course she did a medley of songs that she won awards for, both locally and internationally, starting off with “In your eyes” for which she won Bagong Kampeon and then singing “And I’m telling you” and “You’ll never walk alone” both of which she sang at the 1989 Asia Pacific Song Festival where she emerged grand champion.

All in all, a great concert which was tailored to display Regine’s strengths as well as cater to her throngs of fans.

I’m attaching a couple of videos I found in youtube. One of them is for her version of “Kailangan kita”. The end of the video gets screwed up a bit (at around the around 3:30 onwards), but for the most part, the video quality is decent enough. I personally think her take on this song makes both Gary V and Piolo sound like amateurs (no offense to either of them of course). And check out the note she holds for 14 seconds at around the 2:32 mark. The other video I am attaching is her version of “What kind of fool am I?” which she sang way back in a concert of hers in 1993. It's kinda cuts into the last third of the song though so you'll just be hearing all the 'screechy' parts but hey, you won't really find a lot of people who can hit those notes (oh and that really hight note at the end? She actually holds it for a little more than 12 seconds).

Kailangan kita

What kind of fool am I?

The Wedding Singer

Recently, I attended the wedding of Che’s sister, Jen. Che asked me if I could sing during the reception, and naturally I said yes. As per request, I was supposed to perform Michael Buble’s “Come fly with me” (well I don’t think that is originally by Buble but I don’t know who sang it originally and I’m too lazy right now to go search it up).

The reception was actually supposed to start at 7 or 8pm in the ballroom of the Manila Hotel, but I got there at 530 because I was supposed to sing with the strings (and not with a minus one tape or CD as I usually do). I didn’t really know what the program was and I found out that I would actually be singing during the cake cutting ceremony (which meant that I wouldn’t need to sing the whole song, I’d only have to sing a couple of minutes of it a la American Idol).

The program was really good and well put-together. The flow was very smooth, clean, and coordinated, and the host did a great job of keeping the audience entertained and ensuring that things were moving forward. There were actually a couple of other song numbers – one from Che’s niece, a harmonica number from Che and Jen's dad, and a couple from Olive, who is Jen’s close friend and bridesmaid. The food was pretty good too – you gotta love these Chinese lauriats! =) And I learned a new word – lumiachi! None of us on the table knew what it was, but when the waiters brought it out, it seemed to be like buchi but without the sesame seeds.

Anyway, this got me thinking – whose weddings have I sang for as well? I decided to list down the ones I can actually recall:

• Raych and Nick – “You” (Martin Nievera version of the Carpenters original) and “What matters most”
• Gosh and Letlet – “You” (again, but this was a group song with the rest of the clan)
• Mitch and Fergus – “On the wings of love” and “When you say nothing at all”
• Duncan and Amy – “I’ll be”
• Paul and Les – “The Promise” (Martin’s version again)
• Nats and Dennis – “The way you look tonight” and “There for me”
• Mark and Sharon – “You are so beautiful”
• Erika – “On the wings of Love”
• Alelie – “Forever” (duet with Karen)
• Lanie and Carlo - "The Promise" (again) and "The Promise of love" (also by Martin Nievera)
• Ray and Joy – I actually sang quite a few songs here. I sang in church (I actually sang U2’s “All I want is you’ while Joy walked down the aisle!) and my band performed at the end of the reception.
• Dino and Dennese - "The way you look tonight" impromptu!
• Jed and Ods – “Angels brought me here” and “Cruisin’” (duet with Vanessa)
• Joh and Raffa – “Angels brought me here” and “Bless the broken road”
• Gi and Pau – “All the way” and “Unforgettable”
• Aries and Audrey - "Flying without wings"
• Nanay and Tatay – “The way you look tonight”

I may be singing in a couple of upcoming weddings, which leads me to think that maybe I can try doing this on the side. I wonder how much a wedding singer earns per wedding (and I wonder where I can apply for this sideline hehehe).

It's not easy travelling to and from Latin America

(I promised a year ago in this blog post that I would write about this so despite the delay, I'm still a man of my word...)

What is it with me and trips to Latin America during Thanksgiving weekend?

In 2004, I went to Mexico for a week and a half to attend the wedding of my friends Amy and John (personal trip; thank God for frequent flyer miles!) which was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The trip there was pretty decent, but the trip back to Manila was the worst. Well, my Brazil trip in 2005 also brought me to Latin America for the week of Thanksgiving. And fancy that, another bad flying experience. Ugh!

Trip to Mexico

My flight back to Manila was on a Monday, and I was supposed to arrive in Manila on a Wednesday evening. Itinerary: Cancun-Mexico City-Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur-Manila. The Mexico City-Manila portion was on KLM, but I was taking Mexicana for the the Cancun-Mexico City leg.

I had it all mapped out – I would get a massage on Monday morning to get me relaxed (Amy and John gave all their wedding guests a free massage voucher), take it a step further with a couple of Amaretto Sours, then have a huge lunch before leaving the hotel in time to get to the airport more than 2 hours before my flight. Cool right?

Unfortunately, this is how it went:

• I got to the Cancun airport and the line was unbelievably long
• I got to the ticket counter only to be told I was bumped off my flight because it was overbooked. So instead of leaving Mexico City around 4pm I would now be leaving at 530pm. I told them my connecting flight to Amsterdam was at 9pm and that if I arrived at the Mexico City airport at 730 I would be hard-pressed to make my connection. Didn’t get me squat.
• My 530pm flight was delayed 45 minutes. That meant I arrived at the Mexico City airport at 815.
• About 50% of the people on my flight had a connecting flight to Los Angeles so they got off-boarded onto some airport transport before everyone else.
• I get out of the plane at 840pm and without picking up my check-in luggage, I rush madly to the terminal where my connection was.
• I get there at 845pm and, despite all the pleading and begging, I’m told I cannot board the plane anymore.
• I go to the Mexicana counter and tell them my predicament. I am told to head to some other place four – I repeat, FOUR, times. Without any escort.
• I finally get to the right counter and am told that the earliest flight I can get is the same time the next day, which meant that I would lose one whole day.
• I ask them to help me get my luggage since I didn’t claim it. It took them more than an hour to help me out, and it required me to head back and forth from one place to another multiple times to get my bag.
• They tell me they would get me a hotel for the night that came with a dinner and a breakfast voucher. Of course, my flight the next day was at 9pm so I demanded a lunch voucher as well. At least they gave it to me.
• Then I ask them if I can use a phone to call home. They ask me to give me one number I should call. I have to keep from screaming, and in the calmest voice I can muster I tell them that they screw me over by over-booking and won’t even give me a call to the office and a call to my home. They still refuse to give me two calls.
• They tell me to go back the next day at 2pm. I tell them my flight is at 9pm so why should I be at the airport at 2pm? They say I have to be there at that time to sort out my flight to Manila.
• I finally get to the hotel, have some dinner, and then head to my crappy room (must’ve been a two-star hotel – lovely)
• The next day I head to the airport at 2pm only to find out that the KLM ticket counter only opens at 4pm.
• I then ask them if I can stay in the Mexicana business lounge. I’m told I can’t. So I am brought to this restaurant. I am told that I can order up to 100 Mexican Pesos worth of food on Mexicana but I can’t order any drinks. Which is great coz I just had a heavy lunch at the hotel and didn’t need more food, but I did need to drink at some point during that afternoon.
• I am then picked up at 4pm at the restaurant by someone from Mexicana and I’m told that now they CAN pay for the drinks I ordered. Wow, isn’t that great, they tell me that when I am about to leave? Too late the hero, ey?
• Then I have to wait 5 hours in the airport for my flight. Thank God I had a Worldperks Gold card that allowed me to get into the KLM business lounge.

Well, that's the last time I'm flying Mexicana. Boo them!

Trip to Brazil

Nothing’ll ever compare to that horror story. However, my trip to Brazil wasn’t the most pleasant either.

• Company trips, if longer than 4 hours, are supposed to be on business class. However, because I was booking flights a bit late, I couldn’t get a business class flight from Paris to Brazil. So that 12-hour leg of my flight to Brazil was on economy.
• Which isn’t all that bad really if it was a personal trip where I was gonna chill the moment I got to Brazil. But no, I was arriving in Sao Paulo at 730pm and I had to be in important meetings beginning 9am on Monday.
• The reason I couldn’t get a business class flight was because I was booking late. Which was because I was supposed to take two days off and fly to Brazil a couple of days earlier and swing by Rio. Unfortunately, work happened (again, ugh). And so my leaves disappeared. Which also meant bye-bye Rio.
• And because I wasn’t on business class from Paris to Sao Paulo, I couldn’t get into the business lounge. I tried my Worldperks gold card which does say on it that it gets me a free pass to any partner airline lounge, but it seems I didn’t read the fine print somewhere and it turns out that for Air France, you need to have a Worldperks Platinum card to get in. Tough.
• I also didn’t realize I would end up being exposed to the zero-degree November chills in France so I didn’t bring any jacket or sweater even. I figured I would just be inside the airport, but it turns out that I had to move from one terminal to another via a bus that wasn’t really heated. And we had to wait for the bus while standing outside. I’m pretty good dealing with cold actually, and at that time, I didn’t feel like I was freezing. But then the moment I got to Sao Paulo I realized that I was feeling sick already. So much for thinking I was Superman…
• When I got to Sao Paulo on Sunday night at 730pm, the line at immigration is incredibly long. So long in fact that it took an hour an a half for me to get my passport stamped.
• And then I find out that my luggage is missing. It turns out that it wasn’t picked up in Singapore because I flew Manila-Singapore on PAL and Singapore-Paris-Sao Paulo on Air France. This despite the fact that I was told specifically by PAL that my luggage would be checked all the way through to Sao Paulo.
• I didn’t get any updates as well from Air France on the location of my luggage so I was piss-in-my-pants worried my first two days there that my luggage would never get to me. Good thing that it finally arrived on Wednesday. Better thing as well is the fact that I am such a boy scout that I actually had my first day’s worth of clothes and enough underwear and socks to tide me over ‘til I finally got my suitcase.

So what’s worse than flying from Manila to Sao Paulo for 36 hours? Well, it is flying back in 41 hours. I had a 12 hour layover in Paris this time, but at least now I was fully on business class, so I spent the entire time in the lounge and even took a hot shower. However, I did spend about 6 of those 12 hours working on the presentation I had to give at 9am the day after I arrive. And what’s even nicer is that I actually arrived in Manila at 11pm and I get home past midnight. Factor in the unpacking and the settling I have to do and it’s not surprising that I fell asleep at around 3am. So after a 41 hour trip, I get to sleep 3 hours, drive through 2 hours of traffic, and give training to a big group of people.

On the bright side, this trip brought a lot of firsts with it – first time to go to Brazil, first time to travel to the Southern Hemisphere, first time for me to fly coach on a 12-hour long flight for a business trip, first time take a shower in the lounge, first time standing outside in zero-degree temperature without winter clothing.

So, two years in a row that I am in Latin America for Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s gonna happen this year but well at least I can say I won’t have another horrific plane ride.

Back in business

And here I thought my band was dead. =)

As I have mentioned many times in the past, my band Still Oz hasn’t really gotten to play a lot in the last year because our guitarist Bunky was on night shift, and for his first six months at work, his weekend was Wednesday and Thursday. With our drummer Cholo working in Sta. Rosa, having gigs on weekdays didn’t seem feasible.

So a few months ago, Bunky’s weekend got moved to the ‘normal’ weekend of Saturday and Sunday. So now we could officially work on getting gigs again as long as they were scheduled on Saturday.

After a few months of virtually no movement (we did have that one gig in Bulacan a couple of months ago), we all of a sudden have a jam-packed schedule for the next 2 months! In fact, our first of 8-or-9 gigs in a row was last Saturday, where we played 2 extended sets in Bistro 110. Oz was out of town that weekend and the news of that gig came in short notice, so we didn’t have a violin in our first gig. We also didn’t get any practice. And despite having technical difficulties with the sound system for the entire 1st set, I actually thought we pulled off a pretty decent job.

What I was really pleased about as well was the fact that we got to play two new covers for the first time. We played the Goo Goo Dolls’ ‘Black Balloon’ which we loved playing and which the crowd sang along to. Then we always played the Smashing Pumpkins’ version of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’ which is truly a beautiful song so I was so glad we played it.

We clearly need some more practice to get to the level we were before, but the important thing is that we are playing again and that the audience continues to respond to our song selection and the way that we play.

Anyway, here's one of our performances from last year that we caught on video and which John V. felt like putting up online.



This isn't the best performance of #41 that we've done and I don't really like my stage presence and performance here, but all in all it's pretty decent.

Elliott Yamin and Chris Daughtry sing 'Savin me'

I know that prior to the tour there was talk about some interesting duets. Apparently, this is one of them. Elliott and Chris actually pull it off quite well.



Also, I just read (in Rickey.org and in the Yaminions site that Elliott just yesterday had a concert at the Virginia State Fair. Lots of media (hi-res videos and audio) can be downloaded in the Yaminions site. But here's an excerpt from TimesDispatch.com about it:

Elliott Yamin tightly hugged his willowy girlfriend, Jamie, clapped brother Scott on the back and took a swig from a bottle of diet Mountain Dew. His band - actually Taylor Hicks’ Little Memphis Blues Orchestra - had just cruised onstage to ear-splitting screams, easing into the seductive strains of Bill Withers’ “Use Me.” Yamin peeked at the crowd of about 4,200, already on its feet awaiting his grand entrance, flashed his trademark grin and casually ambled out to his homecoming.

Here's hoping Elliott comes out with a CD sooner rather than later!

Birthday celebration part 2

So for part two of my birthday celebration, I spent my entire birthday weekend with my family.

On Saturday, I was with my mom and nephew CJ (my other nephew Ciera was with my sister-in-law that day) and we were headed home from Makati at around dinner time so we decided to have some dinner. CJ says that he wants to have crab, and I knew that neither Superbowl nor Northpark had crab in the menu. I then figured that there must be some resto in Edsa Shangri-La Mall that had crab in the menu. True enough, there was Red Crab and Gloria Maris. I guessed that Gloria Maris had a wider selection of food so I decided that we would eat there. We ordered steamed garlic crab (CJ ate practically the entire crab because both my mom and I are allergic), siomai, shrimp hakaw, yang chow, and beef with broccoli. I have to say that their yang chow rice has to be one of the best I’ve ever had (the waitress did say it was their best seller), as was their beef with broccoli I had never eaten in Gloria Maris before so I was glad did. It is now in my list of restaurants to visit once again.

On Sunday, my family and I went out again so that I could take them to my place where my nephews could go swimming. I figured that Tomas Morato would be a good place for us to have lunch, and as we were driving along thinking of where to eat, I see 'Little Asia'. I had eaten there once and no one else in my family had, so we decided to have my birthday lunch there.

I can’t recall the exact names of the food we ordered, but we once again had Yang Chow rice, salt and pepper squid (I think), Korean beef stew, one of the Chow Meins they had in the menu, the lemon almond chicken, and something else that I can’t recall. Once again, the food was fantastic. My personal favorites were the Salt and Pepper squid and the Korean Beef Stew. And yes, I certainly wouldn't mind eating there again.

After lunch, we head over to my place where we eat this Apple Rhum cake which my mom ordered (it was really good and addictive in a subtle way – I say this because I would take a decent-sized slice and gobble it up fairly quickly, then each time I did that I would take another smaller slice because well for me the first decent-sized slice was just not enough). I then take my nephews swimming while my mom went shopping and my grandparents and my brother decide to just watch DVDs. They first watched ‘The Mummy’ which my grandpa thought was okay, then they watched “Spider-man 2” (which my grandpa really liked).

We all head back home at around 830pm. We were all still full from the heavy lunch, cake and 96% fat-free ice cream we had during the day that we no longer stopped for dinner. Both my nephews were wiped out from the couple of hours or so we spent I the pool. All in all another fantastic weekend. And of course the great thing about this whole thing is that my birthday celebration is still not over…

Milenyo

If you ask me the scariest driving experience I have ever had, I have my very own top three list:

- Driving through snow and very slippery roads for the first time in my life in Belgium
- Driving through extremely thick fog and heavy rains in Tagaytay on my way to Calaruega for Omar’s wedding
- Driving to PGH and back during Typhoon Milenyo last Thursday

I’m sure you can ask anyone in Luzon about their experiences when Typhoon Milenyo hit the Philippines. I’ve seen a lot of bad typhoons in my life wherein cars and houses in Manila end up submerged under floodwater. But as far as I can recall, this has to have been the worst storm I have ever witnessed in terms of the destruction of trees, walls, houses, vehicles, billboards, and lamp posts.

Watching the news later that day (I was lucky to have had power and cable when most of the city was blacked out), I felt incredibly fortunate. Accounts of billboards, trees, and lamp posts falling on cars made the news. Lots of people were taken to hospitals, but not everyone was lucky enough to make it as Milenyo resulted in scores of fatalities.

So how did I end up driving on a day like this?

I actually had a meeting scheduled in the PGH with the chief resident of the pediatric wards. We were supposed to discuss setting up an art therapy program (one of Bukas Sarili’s members, Elsa Ortega, is taking up an art therapy course in France and, after finishing her first of two terms, was very excited in setting it up here as well). That morning, Elsa asked me if the meeting was going to push through. Her text woke me up, and, not realizing that signal # 3 had been hoisted over Metro Manila, I text her back saying that it was pushing through. When I finally got up, I found out what was going on and I ask Elsa if she wanted to reschedule because I know how difficult it is to drive to Manila (with its propensity to be submerged under floods during heavy rains) but it seems Elsa had already decided to head to PGH and she asked me to reassure her that I would be heading there myself. I guess I felt I couldn’t leave her there alone and I guessed (incorrectly, as it turns out) that the doctors in PGH would probably have to be there because they can’t really close PGH down even during bad weather. As such, I ended up in my car braving through the insane weather.

So how did my day turn out?

- I decide to take the Buendia -> South Super Highway -> Quirino -> Taft route. Along the way, I see a piece of those yero-type sheets of metal get blown by the wind and almost hit the car right in front of me.
- When I get to Buendia-South Super Highway intersection, I see that there is car-hood-deep water. So I turn back, deciding instead to take the Edsa -> Roxas Boulevard route. (This was around 1030 so the winds had already started to pick up). Along the way, I have a branch fall on my hood.
- Upon getting to Roxas Blvd, I see a whole lot of toppled lamp posts and a lot of other debris. I pray that nothing falls on my car.
- I get to PGH at 1130 upon which I find out that the doctor we were supposed to meet was not there. And Elsa's umbrella was stolen when she got to PGH.
- We then decide to head to Robinson's Ermita so she could get an umbrella and so that we both could have lunch. That way, we would at least have a bit more energy when we braved the rains and floods again.
- Upon getting to the parking lot of Robinson's, I realize I have a flat tire. So with the help of a security guard, we replace my flat tire (thank God my spare was ok)
- While eating in Mexicali, we realize that droves of people were gathered around the exit of the mall, with gravely concerned looks on their faces. We look out and we notice that the winds were blowing like I had never seen them do so before, and we had horizontal rain!
- The mall starts closing and we decide to try and head home for fear that it would get worse. But when we got to the parking lot, the guard there says that we should stay put because a lot of other cars that left the parking lot ended up coming back in because there was too much debris flying around.
- We walk from one end of the mall to the other, and then start walking back. By that time, the worst of the winds was over. So we decide to head home.
- I drop Elsa off at the LRT station because she thought she saw that it was open. As it turns out, it wasn't but she told me later on that a taxi had been kind (and courageous) enough to drive her home.
- I take the Quirino Ave -> South Super Highway -> Edsa route. My plan was to go around the Magallanes interchange to get to Edsa. But the problem was that a huge billboard frame had dropped onto the particular flyover that would have taken me across Edsa from one side of South Super Highway to the other. Thus, the only way I could go was underneath the interchange and back onto South Super Highway, this time heading to Buendia.
- I try taking the Don Bosco route but that area is flooded (and cars that attempted to go through the flood decided to turn back upon hitting Pasay Road, leading me to think that cars had gotten stuck in the water in that area)
- I try taking the Buendia route but it was the same. So I figure, take a U-turn, head to Bicutan, take another "U-turn" there, and take the C-5 route and hope that it is not flooded there.
- Upon crossing the Magallanes interchange the second time though, I take a look at the damage to the flyovers, and notice that the flyover from northbound SLEX leading into Edsa is okay. So I then decide to take a U-turn at the Villamor area and then head back to Edsa.

So I finally make it to Edsa and get home. It took me about 2 hours though, but nothing really bad happened to me. A flat tire and a branch falling on my hood, but that's it. So I do feel very fortunate. What have I learned from this? Try to avoid driving under similar circumstances in the future. :)

John Tucker wears Prada

Actually, John Tucker didn’t wear Prada. Instead, he wore a red g-string. But I am getting ahead of myself.

(Spoiler alert! Stop reading now if you don’t want to get any spoilers from either of these two movies…)

I watched “John Tucker must die” a few days ago. I wouldn’t really have been interested in watching it if it weren’t for the fact that Sophia Bush was in it, and as a big One Tree Hill fan, I felt that it would be nice for me to give her some support by watching a movie she was in. Especially after her divorce with Chad Michael Murray, who ended up getting engaged a few months after the two of them broke up. Of course, she probably won’t get to feel this support I am giving her, but then again, maybe that was just my excuse to watch another check-your-brain-in-the-door movie, which seems to be my favorite type of film to watch nowadays.

I was told that “John Tucker…” was supposed to be this year’s “Mean girls” and although the stories don’t really match completely, I could see quite a few similarities – three girls who get a fourth innocent/naïve girl to join their forces, a lot of plotting and deception, the nice girl turning into a bad girl and then finally becoming good again, a final speech/confession in front of the entire student body, and reconciliations flying all around in the end. So another happy ending which makes for fun viewing, at least to me.

The highlight? I guess it has to be the kissing scene between Sophia and Brittany Snow. It’s not exactly Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair in “Cruel Intentions” but, well, let’s just say I would mind getting my hands on the DVD when it comes out hehehe. (And for you ladies out there, as I mentioned, John Tucker played by Jesse Metcalfe from Desperate Housewives fame does actually appear on screen wearing just a red thong. So I guess this movie has something for everyone.)

Would I recommend this movie to other people? Probably not unless you really enjoy these kinds of formulaic chick flicks. And for most people, I think this is a film you can choose to catch on HBO. On the other hand, a movie that I would recommend people see (although well it’s a bit too late coz it’s no longer showing) is “The Devil wears Prada”. I saw this movie about a month and a half ago with Kathy and her friend Krisette. I actually think I caught it during an advanced screening because we watched it on a Tuesday (normally movies start showing on Wednesday, right?) and I was pretty sure that it wasn’t showing yet the week before that. Anyway, I was just supposed to have dinner with Kathy but she said that she and Krisette were watching “The Devil Wears Prada” after dinner and so she asked me whether I was interested in joining them. I have always been a huge Meryl Streep fan, and I think Anne Hathaway is pretty hot, so I decided to join them.

Suffice it to say that this movie has to be one of my favorites movie this year (I don’t know when “Proof”, the one starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jake Gyllenhaal, came out, but I did see it on VCD a couple of months back and that is probably my favorite movie that I watched this year. Back let’s get back to “The Devil…”). The humor in this movie was sharp, quick, and very witty. And I love how it evolves slowly from a comedy at the start, focusing on the laughable side of fashion and the shallow entertaining aspect of people’s personalities, into a drama, delving into deeper issues related to the politics of getting ahead in one’s career and methodically unveiling the different layers of its initially-depicted-as-one-dimensional characters. This change in tone happens so seamlessly that you don’t actually realize that the tempo of the film has changed. You just notice towards the end of the movie that the emotions being stirred in you aren’t the ones that make you chuckle and laugh anymore. In any case, I liked this movie so much that I recommended this movie to so many other people who ended up watching and enjoying it just as much as I did. I actually watched it again with Anne, Tricia and Jan, and once the show was over, Tricia remarked to me that she now understood why I said I wouldn’t mind watching it again.

The movie does a great job of making you appreciate the fashion industry and the volumes of work that go on behind the scenes to bring new styles and trends to the world without necessarily being brainwashed into thinking that you have to follow fashion more closely and adhere to its "rules". It’s funny too that similar to her character in “The Princess Diaries”, Anne Hathaway once again goes through a makeover. Of course, this time around she starts off looking pretty decent (not like in “The Princess Diaries” where she really looked quite bad before her metamorphosis), but just with no fashion sense, or at least none when you have her stand against all those model-esque women. But then she starts putting on Chanel and Jimmy Choo, and in no time she's sizzlin'. In fact, one of the more memorable scenes in the movie is a kind of montage where Anne is making her way to work and she is shown in several different awesome outfits.

The cast in this film really did a great job, with special mention going out to Stanley Tucci who I have never seen play a gay role before. But few could argue that this movie doesn’t belong to Meryl Streep. From the moment she makes her first appearance to the very last word she utters (“Go!”), she takes command of the screen, amazing the audience with her uncanny performance and having them eagerly anticipating her next scathing remark. You see her playing this character and you really do think that she IS an ice-queen bitch editor of the biggest fashion magazine. What I really found interesting is how she created and defined her character. Most of the traditional bitch women we see in TV and movies are tough, strong-willed women with a propensity to raise their voices along with their eyebrows. Not Meryl. Throughout the movie, she keeps her voice soft and calm, leading to a chilling effect (amazing to think that not once in this movie did she actually scream or shout). You do see her raise her eyebrow every now and then but more often than not, it’s a dismissive look she gives (sometimes she doesn’t even make eye contact with the people she talks to) that makes the people around her feel worthless and inadequate. Those combined simply make her bitchiness even more effective. In another memorable scene, Meryl systematically rips Anne apart with her tirade on Anne’s cerulean blue sweater. You watch that scene and you can practically feel demeaned and degraded right alongside Anne. Simply put, Meryl puts in another fantastic performance, and I would be surprised if she doesn’t get another Oscar nomination.

I was surprised that the movie was still showing in the cinemas a week and a half ago (it must’ve been its fifth week), but then again maybe not. It does have great appeal to a lot of different people on a lot of different levels. You can watch it to see all the great fashion, or to see beautiful women in beautiful outfits, or to see Meryl at her finest, or to simply watch what I think is a well-written and well-made film.

(Oh and since I’m kinda recommending movies to watch here, if you can get a hold of a ‘Proof’ DVD or VCD, I suggest that you do.)

Birthday celebration part 1

I just turned 31. And surprisingly enough (or well maybe not really), I still don’t feel the same, er, despair that other people feel when they hit this age. After all, as some people say, next year, my age will no longer be in the calendar (unless maybe you follow a different calendar and not the one where each month has only 31 days at most. But I digress…)

The celebration has once again been one that is spread out over several days, and in fact it isn’t over yet. It began last Saturday when my “office” barkada (of course we are all now spread out over different companies, hence the quotes around office) treated me to dinner in Zigurrat. I was actually late for dinner because I was cleaning my place (we were going to head there after dinner to play poker) and when I got to the resto, most of the folks were comfortably seated on the floor with their shoes off to the side and the food had already been served – Pia (who organized the event), Joh, Raffa, Chris, Che, Hannah, and Tim (who was actually on a call when I arrived and he hadn’t eaten so I guess for all intents and purposes I got there before he did. Not that it matters). A few minutes later, Meann arrived so the only person (among those of us still here in Manila) who was missing was Peegee, who had a prior engagement. I’m not really a fan of eating while sitting on the floor, mainly because I can’t sit still for very long and sitting on the floor makes me fidget a lot. The good thing though was that I found a cylindrical pillow that doubled as a stool, so I ended up eating fairly comfortably without having to stretch and re-stretch my legs every so often. The food was good, but it was quite expensive (not that it was a surprise since (1) most Indian and Persian-type restaurants are quite expensive and (2) Pia did download the . And since our tradition is that the birthday celebrator gets treated for dinner and everyone else pays, I actually felt awkward when I found out that everyone had to shell out almost P800 each!!!

So I easily agreed when the gang asked me to buy them dessert, which ended up being 94% fat-free Selecta ice cream which we just took to my pad. I had to ask both Hannah and Joh the ice cream would have that fat-free taste (i.e. not very good), and they both said that it wouldn’t so I agreed with our choice. But after trying it, I have decided that unless I go on a diet, I am steering clear of fat-free foods (except Coke light and Diet Pepsi).

When we got to my place, we ended up playing several rounds of no-limit Texas hold 'em (for those of you who don't get sportsplus, that's poker). Hannah was tired and just snuggled up in bed and had one half-asleep eye on the poker game and the other half-asleep eye on the TV. Everyone else was in the game. We decided before starting that we wouldn’t put any money in the game. Which essentially meant that people ended up being thoroughly aggressive with their betting. We had people throwing inordinate amounts of money, if not going all in even when they had awful cards, but that made for a more interesting game coz you couldn’t really tell what was gonna happen. First one out was Chris, followed by Pia. Che got pulled into an issue in the middle of the game so Chris subbed for her after he was eliminated, and after a few more rounds he got eliminated once again. By then it was quite late by our standards, and so the remaining people – me, Meann, Joh, Raffa, and Tim – decided to play one last round. I was the short stack, and when I went all in, everyone else decided to call to make it a fun final round. I was lucky to get two pairs (aces and deuces) and so I ended up one of the big winners along with Joh (we never really counted the chips we had so we don’t know who had the most “money” at the end of the game).

So that was part 1 of my celebration. The rest will follow in separate blog posts…

Canadians rule. At least in Rockstar.

Well, well, well. Last week, the second season of Rockstar Supernova came to an end, with what was to me a surprising result. Lukas Rossi was selected to front the band. I figured that either Dilana or Toby would take top honors. Dilana has been incredibly strong throughout the competition (from a performance standpoint at least) and her intensity on stage and unique vocal identity made her a shoo-in for the top two (she did land there of course), but her emotional breakdowns due to the negative portrayal she received on the show put question marks on what I thought was a sure thing. And of course there always is that question as to whether the band would really pick a female to front them. Toby Rand was an early frontrunner before turning in a couple of lackluster performances in the middle of the season. But he pulled a few killer performances out of the hat towards the end of the season and came up with an amazing original. And the fact that he is a chick magnet and has a musical style that is well suited to Supernova’s made me think he may just prove to be the upset of the season.

The upset did come of course (at least to me it was an upset) but not in the form I was expecting. I knew Magni wouldn’t make the top 3 (in fact, I felt that the only reason he made it this far was so that the show would rake in massive voting revenues in Europe, particularly in Iceland). But if I had to put money into it, I would have bet that Supernova would end up choosing between Dilana and Toby. Good thing I didn’t.

Interestingly enough, the winners of the two seasons of the Rockstar, er, “franchise” came from Canada - JD Fortune who now fronts INXS and now Lukas. With JD, I feel the selection was made mainly because his style of music matched that of INXS more than anyone else in that season. With Lukas, however, I feel the decision was made for two reasons - because he was consistent throughout the season (Supernova could count on him putting in one solid show after another), he wouldn’t breakdown emotionally like Dilana (or at least he hasn’t shown any signs of it), and he was never in the bottom three at the end of voting (which meant he had a very strong following which could translate to more sales for the band later on). Of course, I still agree with Jason – Lukas’ singing sounds too constricted, and in fact in a lot of cases I don’t actually understand the words coming out of Lukas’ mouth which means I personally don’t think his performances were all that solid. But well I guess it’s all a matter of preference. To each his or her own, as they say.

All in all, a pretty great season with a lot of great talent. My favorite of the season has to be Ryan Star, who I believe was eliminated prematurely (my favorite performance of the season has to be his ‘Losing my religion’ coz prior to that I actually thought he wasn’t good at all and then all of a sudden, just like that, I turned into a fan. I put the video below...). So it was cool that he ended up being a fan favorite and won for himself a car. Dilana is naturally up there, probably my second fave. And for someone who hates singers with pitch problems, I am quite surprised that I actually really enjoyed watching Zayra (or well okay maybe I enjoyed watching her and not listening to her).

I wonder whether there will be another season of Rockstar. And if there will be one, will it be for another band that, together, has never come up with an album prior to the show. I guess the band is a bit lucky that they have the popularity of reality TV to ride on because I really think that their originals are not too good. Ryan, Storm, and Toby all had originals that are so much cooler and edgier. Good luck to everyone on the show. I hope they all got the jumpstart to their careers that they all would have wanted.

Oh, and for those of you who don’t know who I am talking about, here are some videos for your enjoyment:

Ryan Star performing REM’s ‘Losing my religion’



Dilana performing Nirvana’s ‘Lithium’



Zayra performing Tommy Tutone's '8675309 Jenny'

What a difference a year makes

About a year ago, I was arguably in the best physical shape of my life. This was due mainly to the amount and to the frequency of exercise I was doing at the time. Gym three times a week, tennis three times a week, and a long distance run on the weekend meant I had a pretty intense level of athletic activity every day of the week.

With my schedule getting freed up quite a bit recently, I decided to replicate that exercise schedule. So I started hitting the gym again, with three workouts every week. I alternated that with tennis lessons twice a week. Then I would play badminton during the weekend. So not as intense as last year’s regimen, but it definitely isn’t a sedentary lifestyle.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that my fitness level is anywhere near where it was last year. It seems that the frequency of my physical activity now leaves my muscles feeling sore most of the time. If I had to guess, I would say that this can mainly be attributed to the fact that my body is not repairing itself as quickly as it used to and I end up exercising even if my muscles still haven’t recovered 100% . I’ve started to feel better much more quickly now than about a month ago, but I do wish I didn’t feel sore as often as I do.

Of course, it could also be due to the fact that my tennis lessons are tougher now. Which is good because it would seem to indicate that I have marginally improved. Something must have clicked in my brain too (or with my coordination), because my backhand is now stronger, more accurate, and more consistent. I can’t say the same about my forehand though. Hopefully I can get that to change soon enough.

Then again, my gym workouts aren’t as hard as they were last year. Or at least I don’t think they are. I am probably bench-pressing about 70% of what I bench-pressed last year. Maybe I had bad form last year (although I did have a trainer so I am guessing that wasn’t the case). Or maybe the stress I experienced at work led me to lose muscle mass and strength.

I could spend a lot more time trying to come up with a lot of theories as to what’s going on. But at the end of the day, I wouldn’t arrive at any useful conclusion. In truth, I shouldn’t dwell too much on the difference between where I am now and where I was before. I should just focus on trying to be as fit as I can.

I have decided though that I should already start training for next year’s marathon. The plan: run 5km on a treadmill (which I did last week) and increase that each week by one kilometer. If I can keep this up, then by the time we get to next year’s Milo marathon, I should be in fairly decent shape. Or at least hopefully in better shape than I was last July.

No pain, no gain

Whoa!! I forgot how much it hurts after the first day!

I’m talking about going to the gym of course. The last time I worked out (and when I say work out, I mean not just running on the treadmill) was almost a year ago. I decided to start doing weights again, mainly coz I still have that goal of building up my upper body. And of course hitting the gym makes for a much healthier lifestyle.

I switched gyms though, mainly due to location. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a personal trainer in my new gym is about 25% cheaper than in Gold’s. Helps me save up a bit. =) Since my tennis lessons had to stop due to some construction going in the courts where I play, I figured that now was as good a time as any to start training again.

So I had my first session last Monday. It felt really good at the time; the burn in my muscles, as anyone else who has done weights will know, felt great. But see that was while I was working out. I knew from previous experience that the “real” pain would come the next day. My trainer also made sure I was aware of this, warning me that I shouldn’t be surprised if my body hurt like hell when I got up the next morning.

And so I wake up on Tuesday and true enough, I was horribly sore. The main source of pain were my left triceps (I guess being right handed and playing all that tennis, badminton, and bowling made sure that my right arm was a LOT more developed than my left). And the unfortunate thing here is that when I had my second work-out session on Wednesday, the pain wasn’t completely gone, making it a whole lot more difficult. My upper body hurts a helluva lot more today than it did the other day. I just hope it gets better soon.

Hopefully I can keep this going regularly. I’m targeting to lose about 5-10 lbs and maintain that weight for myself. Of course, getting a six-pack would be awesome, too. =)

Steffi Graf vs Martina Hingis

One of Steffi's best Grand Slam wins was her last one, the 1999 French Open, where she defeated Martina Hingis in three hard fought sets. When I was watching the match at the time, I couldn't focus on how high the quality of tennis from both players was. But after Graf finally won, I was able to watch it again (I got a taped copy), this time a lot more calmly, and I realized that this definitely was a superbly high-quality match, and was fitting for the final.

One of the best rallies in the match was one that involved 32 shots (for those of you who aren't tennis fans, 32 shots in one rally is a LOT - try watching any match and see how many of the rallies actually last more than 10 or even 15 shots). Graf won the point with a cross-court topspin backhand passing shot, and I believe this shot gave her the confidence to keep fighting back (Hingis was up 6-4, 5-4 and serving for the match) and eventually take contro. Steffi proceeded to win the game, as well as next five after that to give her what turned out to be an insurmountable lead. Hingis could not come back after that. This gave Graf her 22nd Grand slam title (second only behind Margaret Court) and her 6th French Open (2nd only behind Chris Evert).



It's quite amazing really. The shot-making precision of both players as well as their ability to keep getting balls back even at full stretch made for such a great match. This final was actually voted by tennis fans as the best women's match of all time. The journalists choice was the Monica Seles-Steffi Graf French Open final of 1992. That Seles-Graf nailbiter that ended 10-8 in the 3rd set would probably get my vote too except for the fact that Steffi lost, and I don't really want the best match of all time to have my favorite player on the losing end. =)

Hangin' out

It hasn’t been often enough in recent history that my band, Still Oz, gets together to play gigs. Mainly because our guitarist, Bunky, works a 9pm-6am shift from Mondays to Fridays (well, Monday evenings to Saturday mornings, to be more precise). But last week, our saxophonist, John V, was in town for a business trip (he’s based in Singapore now), and we figured it might be a good time for an audition or even a gig.

So we got ourselves an audition in BG’s last Thursday. We were supposed to play one set at 8pm so that we would finish before 9pm and allow Bunky to get to work. Unfortunately, Bunky didn’t show up, and he wasn’t even picking up his phone. Needless to say, the band was not too pleased. Luckily, our original manager Mike, who is currently in Manila for a couple of months, convinced our keyboard sessionist John Q to swing by at 1030pm and play with us. It was cool too coz we had a few friends in the audience: Anne, Jay Gat, Bam, Mike, and Tricia. John V also brought a colleague, Roch, to watch us and she did stay til about 11pm which was a lot later than she had intended to stay so it was cool that she did.

John Q had to play main melody in lieu of the missing guitar, and since he hadn’t played nor practiced with us for several months, we struggled quite a bit throughout the gig. We did get to play our arrangement of ‘Iris’ once again and I thought that was one of the best songs we played that night. It was kinda good too that John Q was able to swing by, mainly coz he is leaving for the US on August 1 and at least we got to play with him (albeit badly) one more time before he left. Of course, it still sucks that we played 2 1/2 hours after we were supposed to start, and not very well at that, which I would assume essentially means we lost that gig. Ah well. Such is life.

Speaking of John Q leaving for the US, we had a despedida for him last Saturday. It started off at 5:45pm, with Che, Meann, Raffa, Joh, John Q and myself watching ‘The Breakup’ which I really liked it (it was funny and real, and Jennifer Aniston looked really hot). Afterwards, Mike, Tim, and Pia met up with us for dinner. Pia then suggested that we have dessert in 'Crepes n Cream'. I had never eaten there (I think among all of us, it was only Pia who had eaten there previously). I've heard mixed reviews about it so I wasn’t completely sure how it would be, but since it's cool to try new things out, we decided to have dessert there anyway. Which was such a good idea coz we al ended up really enjoying it! John Q decided to treat us (well okay, only after a lot of prodding from the rest of us =)) but since we were still quite full from the huge dinner we just had, John Q just got 4 crepes: chocolate, strawberry, mango, and banana. I’m not a banana fan, so I didn’t try that particular one, but I enjoyed everything else. And it’s definitely quite a large serving for the price (we got the basic ones which only cost about ~P100) so I will definitely be visiting this place again.

Prior to this gimmick, Meann came from Tagaytay with her team, and so she had a poker set, Taboo, and Guesstures with her. We thought it might be cool for us to play poker or something, so we all decided to swing by my place. Tim had to leave, Mike had to go to a wake, Joh and Raffa couldn’t stay too late, and Pia was riding with them, so at the end of it, it was just me, Meann, Che, and John Q. We played four rounds of bridge before Che had to leave (and consequently everyone else).

This was actually the second night in a row where I had visitors in my place. The night before (Friday), I met up with my college friends Anna and Lala. We had dinner and dessert first (are you seeing a pattern here about me and dinners and desserts? =)) before heading to my place where we just hung out and talked. I haven’t really seen Lala in a while so it was nice catching up with her. We are also planning to have a wine appreciation night in my place (where everyone brings a bottle of wine and we cook our own food) in maybe the next 3-4 weeks, and I'm sure that will be a lot of fun.

After hanging out with Anna and Lala, Tricia (who had just watched my gig a couple of days ago) called me and says that Mike was in the Fort, and asked me if I wanted to swing by there to meet up with him. It was still early enough on a Friday night and I still had quite a lot of energy, so I picked Tricia up and we headed to the Fort. Upon getting there, though, it turns out Mike was heading out to a party in Wack-wack. Tricia and I didn’t know the person having the party and neither of us felt like crashing, so we just spent the night chatting away in Café Puccini, where I saw my HP friends Gabby, Tonette, Tim (again) and Anne. At around 2am, Tricia gets a text from Mike saying his car batt is dead so I give him a call asking him if he needs a jump-start. He didn’t, but when he was on his way home, he asked me and Tricia if we could convoy with him to make sure he got home safely without his car batt dying on him again. So we do that, and when we get to his house, we decided to talk a bit more (a ‘bit’ = an hour so maybe that's not really a bit) before Mike announced he wanted to hit the sack.

Going back to Saturday night, after the folks had left my place, I get a text from Mike saying that Marga, fresh from her Spanish classes in Madrid, was hanging out in Mati. I hadn’t seen her in months, and so I figured I would swing by so I could catch up with her. Marga was with her friends when I got there, but they all had to leave by around 1am so by the end of the night, it was just me, Marga, and Mike. Because I was on meds the last week and a half, I couldn’t have any alcoholic beverages. That Saturday night however, I was finally off my meds so I had a few beers. Needless to say the beers tasted great.

So that’s how my week last week ended. It was also the first time in a long time that I had three night-outs in a row where I went home way past midnight on each of those nights. And I got to meet up with a lot of different sets of friends and catch up with a few who I haven’t seen in a while. Not bad. I should do this more often.

Tennis 101

I decided to start taking tennis lessons again. It’s probably been about a year since my last game, but I am hoping that I’ll get my form back after a few shots. And hopefully this time I can play and train enough to be fairly decent at the end of it all.

I was supposed to play last Monday actually, but then it was storming heavily so I had to postpone my first lesson. Was supposed to have it yesterday but then my trainer texted me and said that the shell court we were gonna play on was still wet. So the plan now is for me to hit my first shot later today. And I’m really excited about it.

Speaking of tennis, I’m really pleased about the Wimbledon results. The men’s final was an awesome display of high caliber tennis from the best two tennis players in the world right now – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. It didn’t go the full distance of 5 sets, and after the first set I think people thought it would be a whitewash. But as we all know, the next three sets were really tough with lots of magnificent rallies and brilliant shot-making from both sides of the net. In the end, Roger took home his 4th Wimbledon title in a row (Borg is the only man to win more in a row than that) and his 8th Grand Slam, putting him alongside legends like Lendl, Connors, and Agassi.

In the women’s side, Amelie Mauresmo lived up to her #1 ranking and seeding by taking the Wimbledon trophy for the first time, besting Justine Henin-Hardenne in three sets. JHH outclassed Mauresmo in the first set by playing more aggressively, retrieving better, and hitting out more. But things turned around in the 2nd set. Mauresmo essentially served her way to the title, by winning almost 30 points with service winners and aces. That is a scary stat if you are on the receiving end of those booming serves. This proves that her Australian Open title earlier in the year was no fluke.

To cap it all off, the Bryan twins won the men’s doubles while the women’s doubles title went to an all-Chinese pair (I can’t recall which pair). This essentially meant that all the people I was rooting for won the title. Well, apart from Bob Bryan and Venus Williams, who fell short in the mixed-doubles final (I didn’t care too much for that loss, though so it doesn’t really count).

One interesting little stat. It seems that Steffi Graf has the best win-loss percentage at Wimbledon. I would’ve thought that this distinction would be held by Martina Navratilova who has won more singles matches on Wimbledon than anyone. Anyway, it was cool to hear the commentators mention this little piece of trivia. Too bad though that Agassi is retiring after this year. I won’t get to see Steffi in the stands anymore.

5:07

5 hours and 7 minutes. That’s how long it took me to complete my marathon last July 16. Not quite as fast as my previous three runs, all of which were under 5 hours. But I did finish, and I managed to raise more than P40K for charity, too. So when all’s been said and done, it was another great run.

Wasn’t easy though. I keep saying this, but this year is definitely the most poorly trained I’ve ever been for a 42k run. The first time I ran, I had been running regularly for 5 months leading up to it – lots of 5-10k runs for the first three months then fairly regular long runs (15-20+ km) for two. The second time I did it, I trained for about 1.5 months, which isn’t ideal but I did manage to go from 8k the first week to 16k the second week to 21k the third week to 28k the fourth week. And in between that I had a lot of shorter runs to make sure my stamina was up. Last year, I didn’t train distance-wise, but I was the lightest I’ve been in the last 10 years, and my regular trips to the gym combined with tennis allowed me to be the fittest I had ever been in years.

This year though, I knew during my training runs that I was in over my head. After each training run I felt a lot more spent than in previous years. I ran 20km twice and 15km 2-3 times during the last month, but one of those 20k runs was supposed to be 25, but I just ran out of energy and had to cut it short. Oh and this is also the heaviest I’ve ever been during a marathon and the extra 5-10lbs certainly didn’t make it any easier.

The good news is that it didn’t storm during the run (I was worried coz there was a typhoon during the days leading up to July 16). The bad news though was that it was so incredibly hot and humid! Even as I was doing my warm-up at 4am I was already sweating. I ended up with what I think was heat exhaustion or something coz I fell asleep for 5 hours after my run and even after that 5 hour rest, my heart rate was still up and my skin still felt hot. I ended up getting sick for several days after that too, which is a lesson to me to make sure I spend at least 3 months in training for my next marathon.

One more downside. It was the 30th anniversary of the Milo marathon, so to make it special, Milo decided to award a medal to everyone that finishes in the regulation time of 5 hours. And since I missed that by 7 minutes, I end up with no medal. Damn! Why couldn’t the 30th anniversary have been last year?!?! Hehe oh well. Such is life.

Anyway, thanks again to all those who helped out and those who donated. Hopefully next year I can once again break my personal best.

Too bad England didn't get this far

Italy and France in the World Cup final. Whodda thunk?

It’s quite interesting really how things have panned out in this World Cup. Probably the most surprising (for me) is that I actually haven’t seen one entire game yet (the only game I sorta saw live was Argentina’s demolition of Serbia and Montenegro, and that was because I was with Anna and Joyce in Mitch’s house and Ferg had pre-paid WC coverage). I think the amount of stuff going on in my life combined with the lateness of the games and the fact that you either go to a bar at 3am or you pay P6000 to watch the games at the comfort of your own home contributed to my semi-aloofness this WC season. Which is a pity really since there have been a lot of interesting results.

I haven’t been following football for a long time. In fact, my interest in this beautiful sport began only in 2001 when I went to the UK and watched from a sports pub the England-Albania WC 2002 qualifying match with my English friend David and his fiancé-then-wife-now Emma. So I don’t know how things have been panning out in WC history But if memory serves me correctly, Brazil have gotten to the finals in the last 3 WCs (is that right?). So to have four Western Europe countries in the semifinals (Portugal, Germany, Italy, and France) must be an occurrence that doesn’t always happen.

Will I watch the final? Dunno. Maybe. I figure I should but considering that I have a planed 30-km training run on Monday, maybe I should get as much sleep as I can on Sunday night instead. I’ll probably just stick to watching the Wimbledon final.

Elliott Yamin on the Glenn Beck show

Let's see if this works (it does! =))

Running for a good cause

My marathon training has officially begun.

I will be running my 4th marathon-for-a-cause on July 16, and once again I am attempting to run the full distance in under 5 hours to raise money for the Bukas Sarili Foundation.

Ideally, marathon training should be done over a period of about 6 months. So it is clear that I am really pushing it by only starting my training about two weeks ago. So far, I've gone from 4.5km to 6.5km to 10km to 12km to 15km in this period. My goal is that by the end of this week, I'm at 20km, then at 25km on July 2, and at 30km by July 8. Yeah, I know, kinda aggressive. But if I can manage to run 30km before the actual marathon, I think I will gain enough confident to finish the race in under 5 hours even after my not-so-good training. Hay, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed...

The pledges have started coming in as well, and with a few weeks left before my run (assuming I finish the marathon), I am at around P15K. Hopefully, more pledges still come in. I never manage to collect the entire amount that is pledged (normally I end up collecting about 80-90%), but still, that is a lot of money that will go a long way in providing charity patients of the Philippine General Hospital with much-needed medical assistance.

Hopefully, the next time I blog about my training, I will already be in good shape both mentally and physically. And maybe I will manage to raise more money than I did last year. Wish me luck!

French Open recap

The French Open, tennis' 2nd Grand Slam of the year, concluded last week. Congratulations go out to Rafael Nadal who proved his utter dominance on clay by wiping out world #1 Roger Federer in the final. Congratulations also go out to Justine Henin-Hardenne, who was just as convincing in her title win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. It was an awesome fortnight of tennis. Would've been better though if the people I was rooting for won. I was hoping that Federer, Kuznetsova (or Clijsters), and the Bryan brothers would all win. Tough for me, I guess.

My favorite moment of the tournament though had nothing to do with the tennis being played. During the men's doubles final between the Bryan brothers and Jonas Bjorkmann and Max Mirnyi, the camera shot towards a large banner way up in the stands that said in big bold letters: "We miss you Steffi." And I just really realized how much I do miss watching Graf play. Time to pull out my Steffi tapes and relive the glory days then, I guess. =)

My grandarents' 50th wedding anniversary

Not often that we get to see couples, even married ones, last very long. So it's always special when you see two people celebrating their Golden wedding anniversary. And it's even more special when those people are your grandparents.

It was held on a Tuesday night, in a church somewhere in Manila (I drove there with my family so they just gave me instructions on how to get there while I was driving, but I never really got the name of the church). Apparently, this is the same church where my grandparents got married, so it was kinda cool for their 50th anniversary to be held there again.

The church ceremony started around 6pm. I was the best man, so I marched first. It was good too because my two nephews marched right after me, and since there was no rehearsal or anything, I just told both of them to walk like me (which they did, and I was mighty proud of them for that! =))

From church we headed down the road to the Old Swiss Inn in Manila (didn't realize there was one there) for the reception. Most of the invitees were relatives, taking up about three-quarters of the area and so it was like a family reunion. The food was pretty good, and since there weren't that many people, the lines at the buffet never got too long.

The main part of the program was supposed to consist of a few speeches - from my grandfather, his brother, his sister, and my grandma's friend. There was a slideshow of pictures as well. Also, my mom performed a really awesome dance number with a dance instructor that was very very well received (she performed it at work during one of their events), before I took the mic to sing 'The way you look tonight' (I was thinking of singing something less gasgas but everyone suggested that I sing something that's more popular so that the folks won't get too bored. One of my grand-aunties said I sang very well and my grandma and my mom told me that she must have really liked it because my grand-auntie apparently doesn't just give out praise like that. Cool for me, then. =)

The program ended up being extended since my grandfather and all his siblings can play the piano, the violin, or both, and a lot of folks sing pretty well too. Then once the program itself was over, it was hanging out with everyone and catching up and playing with my nephews and lots of picture taking (sorry, Tita Gail, I promised to send you pictures but the night was so hectic that I wasn't able to take any. Tita Jill said she'd send Nanay and Tatay a CD with all the pics she took, and once she does that I can put them up online).

All in all a fantastic celebration, and everyone, especially my grandparents, were very happy. The ceremony itself was simple but for the fact that so many people stayed late into the night in party mode on a weeknight, this wedding has to be one of the best ones I've ever attended.

Congratulations

...to Romy Garduce, who successfully scaled Mt. Everest last Friday. He is only the third Filipino to accomplish this feat. I know this has been a long time goal of his, and not everyone who attempts the climb gets to the top so it's amazing that he managed this. I also heard that he just got off the plane, so I guess that means he is safe and sound. Which is great because stats seem to show that of all climbers who reach the summit, 20% of them die (scary stat actually, and I don't know where it is from)

...to Liverpool for winning the FA cup a couple of weekends ago. At least they ended the season with silverware, the second year in a row that they did this.

...to Martina Hingis for winning her first tournament since her comeback early this year. Granted, she didn't have to play against any of the top players. But she did beat long time rival Venus Williams along the way, as well as Dinara Safina (who I think is in the top 30 or sth). Seems that she has now reestablished herself as a solid contender, even after only a few months into her comeback after a 3-year retirement.

...to Taylor Hicks for winning American Idol. Now we have to wait half a year for the next season. Of course, there's Philippine Idol coming up. I wonder how that'll pan out.

Bad day

AI results this week are out. Elliott has been eliminated. 'Nuff said.

The Fog

No, this is not about the horror flick that was shown in cinemas a couple of months ago.

Last Saturday, I attended Omar and Van's wedding, which was held in the Chapel on the Hill in Calaruega (in Batangas). This seems to be in the 'in' place to be wed nowadays; this year, a couple of my other friends got married there too (although I have to admit that I missed one of them and only attended the reception of the other one, so this was my first trip there).

It really is a nice, intimate location, and it's supposed to have a great view. I say supposed to because I didn't get to see it. That was because last Saturday it was storming in Southern Luzon, and the Tagaytay/Batangas area had a horribly thick fog that visibility was limited to several meters at most.

I took the Sta. Rosa / Tagaytay route to their wedding, and upon reaching Tagaytay I was met with the thickest fog I have ever seen in my life. I have driven through snow before, and that was scary, but I guess my driving experience last Saturday has just topped that on the my-heart-is-pounding-for-fear-of-my-safety scale.

What I was glad to see though (which Omar and Van pointed out and which compensated for the bad weather) was that despite the rains and fog and wind, a lot of people still came to the wedding. The chapel was full and majority of the seats at the reception in Taal Vista were occupied.

I was kinda glad that Jason and Yeth were there too. At least I had someone to convoy with on my way home (or well at least heading out of Tagaytay).

Top 3 baby, yeah!

Elliott is safe! Elliott is safe! Oh man, I am so pleased!

Even after his great performances last night, I still wasn't sure what would happen. I was hoping for the best but ready for the worst. And finally, after all this time, Elliott manages to snag a crucial top 2 spot with only 4 remaining.

In a shocking twist, frontrunner Chris Daughtry, who was hailed as this season's chosen one, was knocked out of the competition, leaving Elliott to battle it out with Katharine and Taylor next week for a berth in the finale.

Elliott has now outlasted Mandisa, Ace, Kellie, Paris, and now Chris. I'm not expecting that Elliott should make it to the finale now, because anything can happen. But I am hoping that the little E-train that could manages to sneak into the top 2 and defy the odds again.

3 songs from Elliott next week. Can't wait.

Band Rage 6

Well, well, who would’ve thought that my band, Still Oz, would ever place 2nd in some battle of the bands competition?

Last Friday, my band joined one of the elimination legs in Band Rage 6. We haven’t played in maybe 2 months, and have barely practiced in that same period of time. However, because Bunky (our guitarist) is working night shift, it’s impossible for us to get full gigs now, and we’ve simply done lots of pro-bono, multiple band night gigs over the last few months just to allow us to do what we love doing. This battle of the bands thing, while not exactly our cup of tea, was another opportunity for us to play our music together.

So placing 2nd considering the circumstances was awesome!

Okay, okay, there’s a P.S. to this.

There were only two bands competing. Hehehe. It was still a lot of fun, though. Hope our guitarist sorts out his schedule soon so we can start getting full gigs again.

Another close call

Elliott was once again in the bottom 2, as was Paris. And although I think Paris is the 2nd best vocalist in the top 5, I am greatly relieved that Elliott made it to the top 4.

I don't think he's gonna last much longer though. The pimpfest for Chris and Katharine continues, and Taylor still remains the fan favorite (check out how much airtime Chris, Kat, and Taylor had in the group song, as compared to Paris and Elliott).

Well, even if Elliott goes, we know that he has made some significant mark in the lives of some people. After mentioning his desire to bring Donnie Hathaway's music back to the forefront, sales of Donnie's CD in Amazon.com spiked from an obscure rank of #4000+ to a high of #23. The ranking has gone down again since last week to about 300+ now, but it was interesting to see the impact a brief mention that Elliott made about a singer that a whole lot of people didn't know existed.

Even better than that, Elliott's fans have started a campaign to raise funds for the American Diabetes Association. As of today, only after a few days I think of this campaign being started, about $6000 has already been raised.

I believe that when he finds out about all this money being raised to fight the debilitating disease that caused him and his mother so much difficulty in their lives, his heart would soar. Assuming that he doesn't win AI5, that would be a good enough consolation prize.

Visiting the dentist

Way back in college, I joined an ice cream eating contest. The ice cream came straight out of the freezer and was rock hard. So hard in fact that I broke a chunk out of one of my molars. Pasta was put over it and up until this year I never had any problems with that tooth.

That is, until I broke off part of the pasta and a few days later my tooth started hurting a bit.

I got worried that maybe the pasta got a bit loose over the years and my tooth started decaying without me realizing. And now without the pasta to cover any exposed nerve, it started hurting again.

So I went to see a dentist to have that tooth looked at. And well it seems I had a few of problems going on. Replacing the pasta ONLY was no longer a good alternative, and a crown had to be put on it. This meant that a couple of millimeters had to be 'shaved off' all around my tooth so the dentist could put a crown on it. And since the hole in my tooth was already below the gumline, some minor surgery had to be done in order to cut off some of the excess gum. Which would require anesthesia, and I am NOT a fan of needles. And to top it all off, if after a month, my tooth started to hurt like hell, then I would most likely need a root canal.

So in the last month, I've been to the dentist 3 times, and I have to go back there next week again. Minor surgery has already been done, and the fact that my tooth has been reduced means that I have experienced some sensitivity in that tooth. The only good thing is that my tooth hasn't really hurt too much and too frequently over the last 3 weeks, which means that I may not need to undergo a root canal. Thank God for small mercies!

Hopefully next week, all the work on my tooth will be done. Of course my dentist thinks that another molar on the other side of my mouth may need a crown too. Which kinda scares me, another month of dental work.

Maybe after this I can go get my teeth whitened. Or have braces put on (my lower teeth are really crooked). Ever seen a guy already in their 30s with braces? No? I figured as much. I think I'll pass on the braces part then. =)

What's it gonna take?

Last week, Elliott put in what I thought was the only legitimately good performance of the night. His rendition of ‘A song for you’ got mad raves from the judges and is being touted as one of the best AI performances this season and maybe even in AI history. His amazing performance got Randy commending his voice, Paula shedding tears (although she honestly did seem to be on something that night), and Simon revisiting and re-emphasizoing his comment earlier in the season that Elliott is potentially the best male vocalist in AI history. But even looking past the vocal aspect of his performance, Elliott, for the first time this season, seemed to be more at ease and have more confidence than he's ever had. And on that night, he exuded better stage presence than any of the other contestants – Katharine smiled a sweet smile half the time while delivering ‘I have nothing’, Paris didn't seem to connect all that much with her song, Chris was singing about wooing women while looking more angry or amped then romantic, and neither Kellie nor Taylor ever looked like they knew what they were doing there.

So I guess I have to say that I was quite disappointed that Elliott didn’t manage to snag a top 2 spot. He’s safe, yes. And I guess I have to be happy that he’s not out or in the bottom 2 considering he’s been there in the past. But on a night when he put in a fantastic performance and everyone else either sucked or was mediocre, it makes me wonder what he has to do or what has to happen for him to move up the ladder and possibly get to the finale. The way things are going now, unless the judges and producers drop Kat and Chris as their chosen ones, I don’t see how Elliott can outlast either of those two, or even Taylor.

I guess I am obsessing over this so much because I think Elliott needs a top two finish more than anyone else left to gain some success. Kat is young and pretty and will surely get offers (Kellie, too). There also has been talk that the band ‘Fuel’ is interested in signing up Chris to be their lead vocalist, and even if that doesn't happen, his band can still pick him up after AI (ala Constantine) and sell their own album. Taylor has already released a CD and will surely release another one even if he doesn’t make it to the finale. And apparently Beyonce’s father is interested in signing Paris. But Elliott doesn’t seem to have anything in the cards for him if he doesn’t have a top 2 finish. And I guess I will be really sad if Elliott never comes out with an album. Coz a voice like his has to be heard, and with everything he’s gone through in his life, I think he deserves a bit of a break.

Makes me wish now that I was a big Hollywood producer. Assuming that Elliott does lose before the finale, I’d snag him as soon as his contract allows and get him an album (and market is aggressively). Haha man, I am crazily obsessed! Oh well.

Go Elliott!

A wonderful blue-eyed soul voice

To say I am pleased that Elliott Yamin is finally out of the bottom 3 in American Idol is an understatement. I didn't think he deserved to be in the bottom 2 the week Mandisa was eliminated, and he sure as hell shouldn't have been anywhere near the bottom spot last week after his amazing rendition of Queen's "Somebody to love!"

So I'm really glad that he was safe tonight. And now he's made it to the top 6 which is an amazing achievement in that he is truly the talented underdog of the competition. What is great too is that as the weeks progress, he keeps getting more comfortable on stage (he still needs improvement on his stage presence but has gotten a lot better and he doesn't seem as awkward or nervous as he used to be, and he is looking and smiling at the camera a lot more. Obviously the vocals are still there, fantastic as always).

Let me step back a bit...

My first post about AI this season was at the Top 24 stage when I said my top 4 were Taylor, Mandisa, Paris, and Katharine. I didn't really get to see Elliott at all prior to this, mainly coz I didn't watch most of the Hollywood elimination episodes. But on that first day, he made me notice with his solid cover of Stevie Wonder's "If you really love me" and I figured this was a voice I could end up rooting for too.

The week after that made me an Elliott convert - his "Moody's Mood for Love" was absolutely, jaw-droppingly amazing. After that week, he became one of my faves (it was also in that week that I threw Chris into my faves list and so now I had my fave 6).

Thing was, virtually everyone in my fave 6 had become quite inconsistent. Taylor's 'Easy' was ho-hum and his 'Don't fade away' left me thinking, "What the hell was that?" I thought Paris was off-pitch for most of 'How do I live' and her 'Conga' performance was lackluster. Mandisa made me cringe with her scream-ridden delivery of 'Praise you', and she was sub-par and uninteresting while singing 'Any man of mine' during country week. Katharine looked like a bad impersonator when she took on Christina's 'The Voice Within', and her high notes in 'All is fair in love' were horrendous. Also during Queen week, Chris shouted most of 'Innuendo' being unable to remain pitch perfect for most of the latter half of the song, and singing 'What a wonderful world' last night exposed his lack of vocal control (with his voice breaking up too much in the wrong places) and his tendency to go out of tune.

Elliott however has remained consistent. None of his performances, even his 'worst' ones (like 'Teach me tonight' and 'If Tomorrow Never Comes') were bad. And he always manages to arrange the song in such a way that it works with his voice and style.

After a few rounds of the finals stages, I ended up becoming an Elliott advocate. I still was (and remain to be) a fan of the rest of my fave 6, but let me put it this way - if I was in the US now, I'd be voting for Elliott for the entire two hours after the show.

I think the pimp-fest they threw Elliott's way last week when Ryan Seacrest blatantly asked America after his results show performance if that was a guy who should be voted off, and when word got out of his diabetes and the rest of his ailments in life (possibly getting him pity votes along the way) helped keep Elliott safe this week, and may have finally garnered Elliott a few more voters. Picking a song this week that people were familiar with helped too.

Next week, the theme is the Greatest Love Songs of all time. That seems right up Elliott's alley. And it seems all contestants get to sing two songs. Man, I hope he manages to put in one or two of the best performances of the season that week and manage to get to the top 5 (or maybe even further...)

I think that Elliott winning is highly unlikely, what with Taylor and Kellie seeming to have majority of the votes and with the judges and producers seeming to favor the much more marketable Chris and Kat. However, I will continue to hope each week that more voters turn to Elliott and give him their support. I also hope that Elliott eventually gets signed by a producer. If you listen to mp3s of his performance (which you can download online if you have enough time in your hands to search for them), you will realize his voice is so easy on the ears and you will love listening to him sing over and over again. I really can't wait for him to come out with a CD. To quote Rod Stewart, "Elliott has a wonderful blue-eyed soul voice."

Good luck, Elliott!!!

CD fiasco

The other day, I was in Music One in Greenbelt when I decided to look for CDs. I wanted to see if any hard-to-find CDs from my wish-list were available. It was during this search that I stumbled upon an 80’s new wave collection that included “Take on me”, “Every time I see you”, “Ghost in you”, and my favorite new wave song, When in Rome’s “The Promise”. I guess it didn’t really matter how much the CD was, because it would certainly worth it. So imagine my surprise when I flipped it over and saw it cost only P275. Whoa! That was a find!

I guess on some level, alarm bells should have gone off in my head when I saw that it had about 20 songs in it, and cost only that much. Unfortunately, I remained oblivious to this clear indicator that something was not right.

So here I am, all excited about listening to this new CD I got. Upon loading it in my car stereo, well yeah you must have guessed it by now, imagine my sheer disappointment when I realized that all the songs were NOT the original artist’s versions! Ugh. This had to have been the worst CD purchase I have ever made in my life. Or well, okay, maybe in recent history.

One thing I have learned from this though is that when I find one of those inexpensive compilations lying around in a music store, I better check first if it contains the original versions.

Shocker

Ah, the rollercoaster ride that is American Idol. It rarely ever goes the way that we expect it to go with respect to who gets booted out each week.

Probably the most interesting and memorable moments in AI history, apart from the best performances by the best contestants, are those times when someone completely undeserving gets voted off or when someone undeserving remains in the competition. In season one, Tamyra Gray got voted out after her only slightly bad performance of the season. This, after everyone expected her to get to the finale with Kelly Clarkson. Of course, season 3 had two of the biggest ‘upsets’ in AI history. The first one was halfway through the season when eventual winner Fantasia Barrino, Latoya London, and Jennifer Hudson all ended in the bottom 3 after spectacular performances, with Jennifer Hudson being voted off. I still say that the person who had the best performance in the week they got voted out was Jennifer Hudson (with her powerful rendition of Barry Mannilow’s ‘Weekend in New England’). Then later on in the season, Latoya got voted off while Jasmine Trias remained in the competition, causing the often-high Paula Abdul to bawl her eyes out as Latoya sang her last song of the competition.

It took a couple of expected eliminations (I never really liked Lisa Tucker and always felt she was overrated) before we finally got our first taste of real drama (Katharine McPhee's bottom 2 showing doesn't count) - Mandisa got voted off. Mandisa was definitely one of the strongest vocalists this season, but on country night, she put in a sub-par performance. The thing about great vocalists like her (and Latoya and Anwar Robinson from last season) is that their votes seem to come from people who vote based on performance, and this group rarely forms a solid fanbase. Which means that when a contestant puts in one performance that isn't as good as what they normally churn out, the votes for them tend to thin out (even just a little bit) and as such, they end up in trouble or even get booted out.

This means that one of my fave 6 has gone. There’s a chance that Ace and Bucky will disappear in the next two weeks. The only problem I have is that Kellie Pickler is one of only three people who have never been in the bottom 3, and I get this feeling she may make it terribly deep in this competition. I just hope that this week’s theme - Queen songs - will clearly display her lack of vocal capability (maybe Ace too). Too bad Mandisa isn’t in anymore. It would have been really interesting to see her attempt 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.