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'.

Finally!

I finally got around to renewing my license last week. Line in Makati LTO wasn't too long (definitely not like QC LTO), and since it was just license renewal, it didn't take that long (one hour only, including the drug test and the physical). It's the first time, too, that my license picture is pretty decent. So yeah, that's one thing to cross out of my to do list. Stress level slightly lower now. Thank God.

Food that fights back

Several years ago, I had a horrible allergy that left me with a nasty rash all over my body. So nasty in fact that even a day after I still had the rash, so I figured I would go consult an allergologist. She told me I had to go on an elimination diet to 'eliminate' any possible allergens from my body. A week (and five less pounds) later, I went back to my allergologist so that she could administer a skin test to see what I am allergic to. During the skin test, the doc exposes a portion of your skin to a variety of allergens. You are then instructed to wait for about 15 minutes and to NOT touch your arm at all.

As I sat outside her office while she talked to another patient, I started that section of my arm turn red. Not a good sign. Even worse, when I went back into my doc's office and showed her my arm, she had a look of concern and asked me if I scratched my arm. Of course I did not, but upon hearing her say that I knew I was in trouble.

Turns out I am allergic to the following: most non-fish seafood (like shrimps, crabs, lobsters, squid, clams, and mussels), anchovies, another type of fish, chicken, eggs, mangoes, mango trees, acacia trees, and talahib, among a lot of others. The doctor then gave me a list of all my allergies and for the next several weeks, I stayed away from all those.

However, I wasn't always allergic (I don't ever recall reacting negatively to mangoes for instance). So after a while I started trying out small amounts of each of those items, and at some point I realized I 'lost' my allergies. So at that point I no longer stayed away from anything. I did notice, however, that since then, I would always end up having rashes if I ingested shrimp heads (yeah I know, only the head, weird), crabs, and bagoong.

Now recently, I think that for some reason my allergy to seafood has come back. I was in Singapore recently and had some chili and white pepper crab, and that night, I had a bit of a rash, and the next day I had a small rash on my upper lip that stayed on for a couple of days til it caused my lip to get busted. Shortly after that, I had some kare-kare with bagoong, and almost as soon as I ate the bagoong I could feel my lips starting to swell. And just yesterday, I had some seafood pasta and a clam from seafood chowder, and I got the same reaction I got from the bagoong.

I recall my allergologist telling me that it is possible to have allergies that only appear during certain times of your life, and it may be brought about by a variety of things. Now over the last several months, my stress level has been higher than I have ever recalled it to be, due to so many things happening on so many areas of my life. I am guessing that the stress may be partly to blame for the return of my allergies.

So not only do the tough exoskeletons of these seafoods coz some level of grief when eating them, but now they even leave a rash and even some swelling. Great. Oh well, I guess maybe when I am no longer as stressed as I am now, my allergy may decide to go on another indefinitely long hibernation period. Just hope that happens sooner rather than later.

Oh and yeah, I never ever thought I would use the word 'exoskeleton' in a blog post.

A memorable encounter with a giant jellyfish!

(This blog post is a waaaay overdue but [1] it is still worth writing about and [2] I did promise to write about it. To refresh your memory, see the following related posts: going around the country and rafting in Cagayan de Oro.)

Last August 2 2005, my friend Ben and I headed over to Coron. I had never been to Coron and I thought that a stop in Palawan would be make Ben’s tour of the country more complete.


Even before Ben got to the Philippines, I had already warned him that it was rainy season and that a lot of his plans may end up getting washed out by rain but he didn’t seem too concerned. So when we arrived at Divelink in Coron at 11am that Tuesday and it was raining, his mood didn’t seem to dampen.

There were two other groups there with us – a Filipino family of three and a Spanish couple. We all arrived at the same time and welcomed by the Divelink folks. They told us that the plan for Tuesday was that at 2pm we would go snorkeling in one of the Siete Picados islands (not sure if I remember the name correctly) then hanging out in the Maquinit hot springs. We were served an early lunch before we all headed out to our respective cottages.

By 2pm it was still raining quite hard and I was ready to just lie in bed and rest (I had zero sleep the night before since I worked in the office until 430am to complete everything I needed to get done that week before taking a few days off). But at 2pm Ben was raring to head out. I am quite easy to convince, and I just came to the realization that I had never had a holiday that was completely rained out. So I figured it would be a cool experience to be snorkeling and island hopping with bad weather. The interesting thing was that the rest of the people there all headed out shortly after we did (I’m not sure if it had anything to do with the fact that they saw me and Ben head out excitedly toward the pier despite the rain; maybe they all figured they were there for just a few days so they might as well try and experience as much of Coron as possible, awful weather be damned).

So we got to the first snorkeling spot. Visibility wasn’t very good but we could still see enough of the marine life (the most interesting thing I saw was a seahorse which I would otherwise have missed had Ben not pointed it out to me).

We were then brought over to the hot springs. Our boat actually had to drop anchor a couple hundred meters away from the shore because the tide was low. We had to get on kayaks and navigate our way through rocks that almost jutted out of the water for us to get to the hot springs. It was quite an experience though – the water was quite hot, almost too hot, in fact, the moment you first sit down in it. But you quickly get accustomed to the heat and all of a sudden it feels absolutely calming and therapeutic, especially considering that it was cool what with the rain falling on you while most of your body was submerged under the hot water. We hung out there for quite a while before heading back to Divelink.

We had dinner before heading back to our room (no nightlife on Divelink itself, I figure if you stay in another resort in the town itself I would think you can find some local hangout). Earlier that day, Ben spotted a mahjong set and he asked me if I could teach him to play it. So after dinner, we borrowed the mahjong set and I taught Ben how to play. We didn’t really get to play proper mahjong as that requires four players, but I managed to teach him the basics and we played several rounds of modified mahjong i.e. for two players only.

Ben also told me that he wanted to teach me this card game that his family played every Christmas. It’s called crib and it’s a bit too complicated for me to explain it here. Anyway, we went through a test run before delving into the actual game. We had one set (i.e. race to 120 points) where I managed to score something like 24 points from my ‘box’. (Yeah, I know, you don’t know what that means exactly, but suffice it to say that Ben told me he couldn’t recall ever seeing a score like that from the ‘box’. Chalk it up to beginner’s luck.)

The next day was jam-packed. We headed out at around 9am to what is called the Skeleton wreck. There are a lot of wreck sites in Coron, but this was the only one that you can see without having to scuba dive. It was a bit surreal, almost creepy, the moment you pick it out in the water (it was still raining so visibility wasn’t as good which meant spotting the wreck in the water wasn’t all that easy).

But the most frightening experience I had was when this huge (and I really do mean HUGE) jellyfish ran, er, swam after me! It was so big that it was larger than my head! The guide said that those jellyfish don’t really have painful stings (it only causes itching apparently), and so I got into the water and looked at it closely in utter awe (seriously, it must’ve been like a foot and a half in diameter). I was tremendously calm up until I realized that it had come to within a couple of feet of me and I couldn’t get back into the boat. When it hit me, I freaked out then started scrambling in the water and headed to the boat balancer thingie. I don’t think I have ever panicked like that in the water! The funny thing was that the jellyfish seemed to change direction and started moving to where I had gone! (And please note that it wasn’t just my paranoia, even Ben told me later on that it did seem that the jellyfish was actually moving after me). In any case I got back into the boat and waited ‘til the jellyfish had gone before heading back into the water, and even then I kept looking around making sure that it wasn’t back.

We then headed to a small island where we had lunch while on the boat. I had never had lunch on a small banca before, so that was another first. I then got on a kayak and started paddling around before Ben joined me. We checked out the island where there wasn’t really anything to see apart from a kitten (I have no idea how that got there).

After lunch, we went to the hidden lagoon. I am not really sure what that place is called, but essentially you have to go there only at a certain time of the day to get the full experience. What happens is that there is a, hmm, “tunnel” that leads to the lagoon. At the time that we got there, the water level was nearly hitting the top of this tunnel. So to get to the lagoon, you have to swim underneath this tunnel. As I have mentioned before, I don’t know to swim, but I had a life vest, a snorkel, and fins on so I was had no issues being in the water. Again, the experience was quite unique. As you swim along, you keep hitting patches of the water with different temperatures – from cool to warm to cool again. And whenever you are passing through these changes in temperature, the water gets so incredibly murky that you almost can’t see where you are going, and you just blindly swim forward and wait ‘til the temperature evens out and you can see again.

The lagoon was quite deep, I reckon maybe 40-60 feet. And since I don’t move well in the water, I was several meters behind everyone else who had gone into the lagoon (there was another group of folks there at the same time). So I am unable to confirm whether I really did see what I think I saw through the murky water – some kind of brown ray (sting ray maybe? Definitely not a manta). Our guide said there weren’t any rays inside that lagoon, so I can’t be sure of what I saw. But if you ask me to put money on it, I would say that it really was a brown ray. Ah, if only the other folks weren’t much faster than me in the water, I could’ve pointed it out to them.

Our next stop that day was a trip to Barracuda Lake. To get here, you have to walk carefully over some craggy rock formations. Once you head into the water, you move a few feet and all of a sudden you see a sheer drop – from wading depth to several meters deep. And it gets even deeper than that. It feels freaky! I have snorkeled in really deep waters before and never felt my heart race, but here, I didn’t want to move away from the edge of the water (Barracuda Lake is completely surrounded by tall rock formations that start from under water and jut straight out of the water to the heavens, and I stayed close to this “rock wall”) I think what makes it freaky is the fact that the water is so murky that you actually can’t see the ocean floor. We stayed in the lake for a bit, mainly because the freakiness of it all made it interesting to remain in the water. But I guess not seeing anything gets a bit boring after some time, so when the novelty of the whole thing wore off, we decided to head back out (or well actually I think the novelty didn’t wear off, but we were running out of time and there was still another lake to visit).

Our last stop that day was Cayangan Lake. This time, no crags to climb over but a long, fairly steep dirt path from the shore to the lake. The lake itself I think is not all that interesting (I mean you do see some interesting fish but you can see a lot more of t hem when you are snorkeling in the sea), but the journey you take to get there, plus the stark contrast between this and the previous lake, make the whole experience pretty darn cool. A vacation to Coron (in better weather of course) is definitely something I would recommend to anyone.

Toss up

American Idol 5 is underway and for the first time in a while, I don't have a clear favorite. This is so unlike last year season when I was rooting for Bo, or the season before that when I was rooting for Fantasia.

So now I have four favorites - Paris, Mandisa, Katharine, and Taylor. I'd love for them all to reach the top 4 but I don't think that'll happen, so I will settle for all four of them making it to the top 6 (I'm pretty sure all four of them are a lock to get into the top 12). I'm kinda liking Elliott too, but I'll find out tonight if I am going to be rooting for any of the other men because I really haven't seen a lot of AI recently and I don't know who has great pipes among them.

Fearless forecast (based on what I've heard and what I've read):

• top 6 girls - Katharine, Paris, Mandisa, Lisa, Kellie, Ayla (or heck it could be Brenna just because the producers want to keep a contravida around for the people to cheer against
• top 6 guys - Taylor, David, Ace, Chris, Sway (mainly coz he'll be carried to the top 12 by the Filipino block vote. He's okay but he's not one of my faves, so I don't think I would vote for him if I was in the US), then either Will or Elliott but I want Elliott to get through.

So well good luck to my fave 4! If they all make it to the top 4 it would be fantastic, but I'd settle for one of them winning.

Jinx

Just when I congratulate Liverpool for beating both Man U and Arsenal, I find out that Liverpool lost their Champions League match against Benfica in Portugal 0-1. This means that for Liverpool to get through, they have to beat Benfica by at least two goals, or beat them 1-0 then win the penalty shoot out. A win by 1 goal that is not 1-0 will result in Benfica moving on due to the away goals rule. Oh well, that's football for you.

Of crosses and free kicks

If you haven't seen the movie 'Goal' then you need to go see it ASAP before its run ends. And this applies whether you are a football fan or not. Of course, if you follow the English Premiere League and international football to some degree, your appreciation for the movie will increase. Especially when you see Alan Shearer, Keiron Dyer, Steven Gerrard, Milan Baros, Igor Biscan, Frank Lampard, and Joe Cole play actual football on the pitch - the fact that you have real international players playing the game definitely gives more legitimacy to the film. But even if you can't pick out who the players are and are completely uninterested by the athletes who are part of the cast, it doesn't really matter. The story is universal - live the dream and work hard to achieve your goals.

SPOILER ALERT! If you don't want me to give the movie away, please refrain from reading any further.

Goal is now my current favorite movie. You know, like 'The Incredibles' and 'Episode 3' were when they both came out. I am absolutely raving about Goal, and I am trying to get more people to see it. It is now my official favorite sporting movie and my favorite underdog movie too. I am a sucker for underdog movies, but only if on some level it is believable. And it is only believable to me if (1) the lead character has enough charisma for you to root for him and believe that he is that skilled, and (2) if you see him put in the hard work necessary to succeed. The lead character Santiago Munez (played by Mexican actor Kuno Becker) manages to do this. You can't help but root for him in this film.

So now you have this poor kid who hasn't had much opportunities in life but who is unbelievably talented. Then you see him go through so many struggles in his life, and each time he falls he stands up and tries again. And he fights hard. That in itself is great to see. Then add in a supporting cast of people who help him each time he stumbles - his grandma giving him what he needs to fly to the UK, a talent scout who, without really knowing him, fights for him to be given enough opportunities to show everyone he is more than worth their time, and a teammate who pleads his case to ensure he remains in the team. So not only do you have a man with great skill, self-belief, integrity, determination, and heart, but you also see people around him who help open doors for him. It thus makes it far more believable that this guy with no professional training and who only kicks a ball around in the playground ends up on top of the world. And in a reality where you see so much despair and failure, watching a film where you see karmic justice being brought to fruition just makes your heart soar.

Some favorite scenes:

1. When Santiago's father accidentally sees him play on TV, especially when Santiago takes his jacket off and displays his father's last name "Munez" for the world to see, and mutters "that's my son." That moment when he realizes how far his son has gotten, and that he was wrong and his son was right and he embraced it fully. Man, just thinking about that scene is giving me goose pimples.
2. When his talent scout Glen Foy tells Barry Rankin that Santiago had signed with him and he was now Santiago's manager. I was scared for a second that the allure of money and fame would make Santiago sign with Barry and forget about Glen who had stuck his neck our for him. So finding out that Santiago had remained true and loyal was a triumph in itself.
3. When Santiago gets pissed off that he didn't make the reserve team or even the reserve bench, only to find out that he was now playing for the first team.
4. When he also finally admits to having asthma, and when his asthma is accepted as something that can be handled. I could feel for him that such a huge strain had been lifted off his back. And now he had more freedom to shoot for his dreams.
5. When Santiago's grandma gives him the bus, train and plane tickets he needs to go to London. It was not clear what sacrifice his grandma made, but watching it you knew that she made one, and to see her make it so that she could give Santiago a chance to chase hi dreams was so heartwarming.
6. And of course, the last 15 minutes of the movie. It was Santiago's brilliant run and his perfect cross that got Newcastle the equalizer they needed, and his final free kick that got Newcastle the win they needed to make it to Europe. Instant hero in only his second outing with the first team. The crowd were chanting his name. His grandma and his brother see him in his moment of glory. And they all find out that his father had indeed forgiven him for leaving, and that he eventually, after all those years, saw Santiago play. Awesome moment of triumph. And you just sit back and feel blessed to have been part of that journey. Even if it was just a movie. =)

Seriously, there are a truckload of great scenes in the movie. And me writing and raving about it now is making me want to see it again. And I'm pretty sure I will. I also love the fact that this is part of a trilogy and that the next two installments will be about the Champions League then the World Cup, and I can't wait til those movies come out. The DVD is out on March 6 apparently, but I am not sure if it will also be out here at the same time since it just started showing here on Feb 16 (I hope it does though).

Was there a downside to the movie? Yeah, Newcastle beat Liverpool in the final game of the season and make it to Europe while Liverpool don't. But okay, that is forgivable. =)

*****

In the real world, I love the fact that Liverpool have won their last two matches - they beat Arsenal in the league 1-0, then they eliminated Man U from the FA Cup also with a 1-0 win. Go Liverpool!

Brazil, Brazil!

(This trip was actually last November but I didn't have time to write about it until now.)

To say that I am fortunate that my company sent me to Brazil on business is an understatement. No one else in our office here in Manila (or at least from the IT department) has ever been sent to Brazil on business. And when I think about it, I don’t really know a lot of people who have been there. So when it was decided a couple of months ago that I would fly to Sao Paulo to kick off a project there, I was pleased and eager.

I guess part of the reason why I don’t know a lot of people who have been to the 5th largest country in the world is because it isn’t exactly the easiest country to go to, at least not from Manila. Of course, I had to navigate through 36 hours of flying time to get there and 41 hours going back home! I don’t have a US visa and there really wasn’t time to sort one out. Also, the flight that my travel agent got through Europe was cheaper than the one that went through the US. Of course, this meant I added almost 60,000 miles to my frequent flyer program (that’s a free trip to the US already) so at the end of the day, jetlag notwithstanding, it wasn’t all that bad.

(I will talk about the interesting little details of my flights to and from Brazil in another post. What I will focus on here is my experience in Sao Paulo. Summing it up – it was pretty darn cool.)

Sights

I arrived there Sunday night, at 730pm, but it took so long to get through immigration that I only got to my hotel room around 1015-1030pm. Much of the week was also spent just going to and from the office, so Leo, my Indonesian colleague who was on that same business trip, and I crammed all our sightseeing during the weekend (we both had evening flights on Sunday). Where did we go?

Parque de Ibirapuera (Ibirapuera Park)

Too bad the weather wasn’t very cooperative. Otherwise, we could’ve taken nicer pictures. Of course, we wouldn’t let rain stop us from enjoying so we still headed out to the park (without jackets or an umbrella, I might add) and enjoyed the scenery (check out the neat lake with the fountain centerpiece),


as well as the flora and fauna (there were a lot of birds there, and in fact I saw wild vultures for the first time in my life).

Considering the weather, there were actually quite a few people there: running, biking, rollerblading, or playing improvised football or volleyball. What was also cool was that in the horizon, beyond the treetops, you could see the skyscrapers of Sao Paulo which providing a neat, contrasting backdrop to the calm and serenity of the park.

Praca da Se

What I love about Sao Paulo is that there is a lot of greenery in the middle of the city, and nowhere else is this more evident that in Praca da Se.

You have this little square right smack in the middle of the city that is mostly asphalt and concrete. Here you can find palm trees reaching almost as high as the buildings next to them.

And it’s not very common to see a garden on the rooftop of the Mayor’s office, either.

Add to that a Theater patterned after the Opera House in Paris, as well as dramatic fountain that immediately draws attention, and you have a marvelous oasis right smack in the city center that you just can’t help but love.

MASP

This is short for Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo. It has a pretty good collection of paintings from all over the world, including originals from Renoir, Monet, Picasso, Chagall, and Van Gogh, to name a few. Too bad most of the Brazilian paintings were being restored (or maintained, whatever you call it) so we only saw a few paintings from a guy who is apparently one of the more famous and influential painters in Brazil.

Food

In Sao Paulo, the order of the day is buffet, buffet, buffet. Most restaurants serve buffet (which cost pretty much the same as an ala carte meal), and in fact I had only four meals in my entire 7 days and 7 nights in Brazil that wasn’t buffet. Japanese food is quite popular in Sao Paulo (mainly because you can find in Sao Paulo the largest community of Japanese people outside Japan), as is pizza, although during my entire stay I never had pizza and ate Japanese food only once. Personal highlight – the entire project team had dinner in Jardineira, where you not only have dinner buffet, but you have waiters who keep swinging by your table serving you more and more churrasco (or steak on a stick) – the waiters slice of pieces of churrasco onto your plate whenever they pass by (my favorite steak had to be the pinheira, or rump steak, with garlic). We all ate so much that the next day, none of us really ate much during breakfast and even lunch. Other interesting Brazilian food items I had when I was there: cheese bread, Chocottone, Fejoada (which is like different meats cooked in what is like a black soup which I think is made of refried bean paste), Guarana soda (which is made with the flavor of an indigenous Brazilian fruit), and Cachacas (a light alcoholic drink made from sugar cane).

People

The people in Brazil are really hospitable and accommodating, very much like South East Asians when I think about it. On my first day in the office, Daniel brought me and Leo to a mall and helped me buy a couple of shirts (Air France lost my luggage, so I had to buy shirts to wear to the office the next couple of days). On Sunday, our colleague Guilherme took me and Leo around the city, bringing us to Praca da Se, MASP, and also to Sala Sao Paulo (which is kinda like a train station-cum-concert venue) and a nice little restaurant near Avenida Paulista.

And the evening before that, another colleague of mine, Tarcisio, with whom I had a 30-minute discussion during the week, heard that I was going to be in Sao Paulo during the weekend and asked me if I was interested to watch a dance musical called Milagrimas (which is a kind of like a play on words – it combines the Portuguese words for “a thousand tears” but then it also sounds like “Miracle”). I went to see it, and I really loved it. The dancing was amazing, and the music and lighting added depth and dimension to the program that left a very strong impression on me when I left. I got the CD after the show, and I have to say that a few of the songs there are so haunting that I hear them and I see the show all over the again in my head. It was amazing! But the most amazing thing about the show is that all the dancers are young men and women from underprivileged families. An NGO in Brazil, for which Tarcisio’s wife works, set up this program wherein underprivileged kids can express themselves in dance and hopefully give them the self-confidence and self-belief to succeed in life. Considering that these kids are not professionals, the quality of their performance is astounding. I am kinda kicking myself in the butt now for not getting the DVD.

So for the most part of the weekend, we had colleagues bringing us around Sao Paulo and helping us enjoy our stay there. But besides the clear effort from the Brazilians to make us feel welcome and comfortable, there also is subtle proof of the openness and friendliness and warmth of the Brazilians. By the end of the week, we had a pretty good bond with our colleagues there that when we said hello or goodbye, the handshake was firm and it came with a half-hug, and it was beso-beso with the women.

The only unfortunate thing now is that I don’t think I will be able to go to Brazil again, at least not on business. Oh well, maybe I can just use the miles I earned to go there on leisure. That way I can get to see more sights and cities (like Rio, the Amazon, and Iguacu falls). Cool little bit of trivia – Filipinos don’t need a visa to go to Brazil as tourists. Nice. =)

Happy new year everyone!

Ah finally! My first blog post for 2006!

There’s pretty much only one reason why my blog would not be updated for almost a month (you get three guesses). It really has been the most difficult Yuletide season and start of a new year that I’ve ever had in my entire life (or at least that I can recall). But I’m not really complaining since a lot of things have gone, and are still going, my way.

So before I write anything else this year, I will take a quick look back at the last year to celebrate the best of 2005:

Top five highlights

• Turning 30 (yeah I know, weird, but I really do think that it’s so cool that I’m 30 now
• Bringing my family to Ocean Adventure then spending a weekend in Oakwood
• Singing live on national TV (when my band performed in Breakfast)
• Running my 3rd marathon, breaking my previous record, and raising P200K
• My nephews getting into Community of Learners and beginning to enjoy school

Top five memorable gimmicks

• Hanging out with college friends at the pen lobby after Jed and Ods’ wedding
• Richie’s despedida
• IO with office barkada for Pia’s birthday
• Red box with the ‘Walang Kupas’ cast
• Bukas Sarili year-end celebration

Top five favorite performances of mine

• Ponti in January – our band’s original best-ever gig
• 90proof – officially our best gig ever
• Performing the role of “Roque” in the “Walang Kupas” zarzuela we staged for our company anniversary party
• Taking on the lead role “Kulayaw” in the “Walang Kupas” repeat performance
• Singing “Angels brought me here” in Ods and Jed’s wedding (was good enough for Joh and Raffa to notice it and ask me to sing it again in their wedding)

Top five favorite sporting moments

• Liverpool: European Champions!
• Liverpool getting into the Champions League this season even if they didn't make it to the top 4 of the premiership, and then proceeding to top their CL group which in fact had Chelsea in it
• Kim Clijsters winning the US Open
• Three Pinoy boxers (Manny Pacquiao, Brian Veloria and Boom-Boom Bautista) all winning in LA in the same night
• Romy Garduce achieving the record for highest altitude ever reached by a Filipino, and then breaking the record half a year later!

Top five firsts

• First time to visit Coron (Palawan) and Cagayan de Oro
• Having a business trip in Sao Paulo (my first time there, and my first time to go to the Southern Hemisphere)
• Becoming president of a Charity Foundation (I am now president of Bukas Sarili, who would've thought?)
• Participating in the 3rd annual Gold’s Olympics
• Starting a blog (and maintaining it!)

Here’s looking forward to more of the same in 2006!

Twenty random facts about me

I actually owe this to Tanya who tagged me several weeks ago to do this. Anyway, here are 20 random facts about me.

1. I don't know how to swim. I can move in the water for a few to several meters maybe, but I am holding my breath the entire time so when I run out of air, I'm dead. =)

2. I once broke a tooth during an ice cream eating contest. The ice cream came straight out of the freezer and was rock-hard.

3. I am such a geek that I actually recall (from 2nd year HS biology) the scientific name of the following: rice, corn, dog, cat, lion, tiger, red tide, a certain blood fluke, a certain liver fluke, tapeworm in pigs, tapeworm in cows, gumamela, and makahiya. Yeah, I know, not really something to be proud of.

4. When I was in 4th grade, I co-hosted with June Kiethley for a couple of Children's hour episodes in Channel 4.

5. I drink too much caffeine. I down about 3-4 cups of coffee a day. That's not even counting the coke lights I have...

6. I have a big crush on Hilarie Burton a.k.a. Peyton Sawyer in One Tree Hill.

7. I am allergic to crab meat.

8. My most embarrassing moment happened when I was in college - I forgot the lyrics to the National Anthem while singing it in front of a fairly large crowd. The National Anthem! My God...

9. I have visited 16 countries so far in my life.

10. I actually started playing badminton more than a decade ago, when it wasn't popular yet. At the time, my friends and I were pretty much the best badminton players I knew. Now, I can name dozens upon dozens of people who can kick by butt. Can't believe I have now been left behind! hehehe

11. I am scared of heights and of spiders.

12. My record for number of pan pizza slices eaten at one time is thirteen. Happened during the Pizza Hut Eat-all-you-can days.

13. I have near-perfect vision.

14. When I was 10 years old, I managed to be an extra in a TV commercial. You couldn't really see me - I was in a crowd of kids. Got paid P700 for that short stint on TV. Back then, that was very good money.

15. I am planning to take Spanish and French lessons at some point in the next 1-3 years.

16. I do not know how to play any instrument (I barely got to Grade 1 on piano). And here I am, in an alternative rock band...

17. It's nearly impossible for me to fall asleep before midnight. That only happens when I wake up terribly early in the morning and am dead-tired by the end of the day.

18. You know how the person in a passenger seat of a car is supposed to talk the driver to keep the driver awake while driving? Well, you don't have to do that if I'm driving. Everyone in the car could be asleep for all I care. As long as I get to the play the car stereo, I'm fine.

19. I've done the Shooters in Cocomangas (you know, 15 and still standing) twice in my life already. No more plans to try it a 3rd time.

20. I can wiggle my ears.

Okay, now, who to tag? Dunno really. Maybe Iona, Ching, and well I am not really sure anyone else with a blog reads mine so I leave it at that. =)

Still alive

Yes folks. I haven't disappeared, and I haven't forgotten about my blog either. It's just been the latest in a series of massively hectic months that have all but completely disabled me from keeping people abreast of what I've been up to.

I am feeling kinda sucky that I haven't been able to keep my blog up to date about my recent business trip to Sao Paulo, about the recent rash of weddings and parties I've attended, about the latest set of problems regarding my soon-to-be new pad, about the Christmas gifts I have already received and opened (yeah, low EQ), and about things in general.

Ah well, such is life. I just hope that things get better real quick. I don't think I can remain on turbo-stressed mode for much longer. =)

Merry Christmas everyone!