Insightful, Hopeful

Fallin' with Teri de Sario

I have always been a fan of the song, Fallin'. This song was originally sung in the musical production of "They're Playing our Song" and the original singer was Robert Klein, whose version is also very popular. But the female version is just as popular and is getting more airplay in local sentimental-centric radio stations like 94.7 Mellow Touch and 96.3 W-Rock.
I was happy to find out that Ms. Teri de Sario, the singer of the female version, recorded the song again in a special album released just in the Philippines. This was to promote her concert with Joe Pizzulo. Unfortunately, I was not able to watch the said event, though some of my friends were able to watch it at the Araneta Coliseum. They were even able to sit slightly closer to the stage as their ticket of General Admission was converted to Upper Box B.
The new album consists of 5 songs. 4 of the songs are old hits of Ms. de Sario while the 5th song, "I'll Always Love You", is a new song dedicated to her husband. The album is such a delight to listen to. The new Fallin' version reveals a more mature voice of Ms. de Sario, but the same power of her voice, and magic of the song is there. My mom became an instant of fan of Teri de Sario, as she listens to the album before retiring to bed.

For sentimental reasons, I am including the lyrics of the song :

Fallin'

I'm afraid to fly
And I don't know why
I'm jealous of the people who
are not afraid to die

It's just that I recall
Back when I was small
Someone promised that they'd catch me
and then they let me fall

And now I'm fallin'
fallin' fast again
Why do I always take a fall
when I fall in love

You'd think by now I'd learned
Play with fire you get burned
But fire can be also warm
that's why I return

Turn and walk away
That's what I should do
My head says go and find the door
My heart says I found you

And now I'm fallin'
fallin' fast again
Why do I always take a fall
when I fall in love

It always turns out the same
Loving someone losing myself
Only got me to blame

Help me, I'm fallin', fallin'
catch me if you can
Maybe this time I'll have it all
Maybe I'll make it after all
maybe this time i won't fall
when i fall in love ...oooh...ooh

(Note: picture of the album taken from Ebay)

Related to my previous post, I would also like to commend the Vietnam team who has really improved. I remembered that in the previous SEA Games (in the 1990s), their team was not included in the Top 3 rankings. But now, their athletes are doing well and Vietnam is currently ranked number 2, next to the Philippines. In the 2003, they even ranked higher than the Philippines. I know that the Vietnamese are really hardworking and doing their best to rebuild their nation. I even have admire one Vietnamese whose blog I frequently read. I admire his dedication to his work, and to his Vietnamese roots as he is active in events related to their culture, even if he grew up in the US. He also wrote a book on Visual Studio .NET entitled "Visual Studio .NET Tips and Tricks".

I wish that the Filipinos too would be more pro-active in nation building. Despite all the problems in politics, we can help our nation by helping ourselves change for the better. And be more active in socio-civic activities to alleviate the status of our less fortunate countrymen.

Last night, I went home early hoping I could sleep earlier than usual because I was not feeling well. But I was drawn to the television set having chanced upon the telecast of the 23th SEA Games on ABC 5 and IBC 13. I was ecstatic to find that the Philippine Team is doing a great job and winning in most of the events. As of last night, Philippines got 37 gold medals and is number 1 in the medal tally.

Go team Philippines! You sure make us, Filipinos proud. The continued success of Filipinos from Manny Pacquiao in boxing, 2005 Miss World Precious Lara Quigaman, and now the truimph of our athletes in the SEA Games is a breath of fresh air from all the political turmoil that is happening in the country. I do hope that the Philippine contingent continues to soar high and win more medals.

After watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I had some bonding moments with my nephews and niece. I played Playstation 2 with Jonel. He had a varied collection of games, but I wanted to play a 2-player game. I especially enjoyed playing ESPN 2K5 with him and I beat him several times hehe. It was maybe because it required no combination moves unlike in fight games like Tekken. I also had some strategy, honed perhaps by my fondest of watching PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) when I was younger.

I also became a babysitter to my cute and cheerful 7-month old nephew, James. He laughs and lot these days. But it is hard to get him to sleep. As with my niece, we colored a coloring book together. It is nice to be with kids once in a while. Helps me remember the times when life was just about having fun, no worries, no complications.

As I have posted in my blog, I am trying to re-learn Nihonggo. I have been listening to the Primsleur cds I bought in the past. Good thing I found notes that go with the CDs on the internet on the MP3 Japan site. This site also contains Nihonggo lessons from NHK radio which can be downloaded in mp3 format.
I also helped my mom in cleaning our common room and I found a notebook I have misplaced. This contains URLs on sites I found interesting. I wrote in this notebook since my college days, when I was just discovering the internet. I did not know the bookmark function of IE back then hehe. But it did prove helpful as it served as a hard copy of my bookmarks.
I will be posting some interesting websites I have visited through the years. But first I will post some links about Nihonggo especially resources for the wannabe Nihonggo speakers or anime fans like me who just want to learn Nihonggo for fun. Hope the links help.

Learning Japanese forum at JapanToday.com
Japanese Vocabulary
Easy Japanese Yasashii Nihongo
Chiron's Survival Japanese Course
Japanese reference links


In line with learning languages, these are some site where you can buy products to learn a language of your choice:
World Language
A to Z Languages
Penton Overseas, Inc
Tagalog Learners Home

Incidentally, just recently, one of my favorite opinion columnist from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Michael Tan, wrote about how learning different languages can help a nation be globally competent. The title of the piece is Multilingual. Though his opinion might not be totally the same as mine, especially regarding Nihonggo, I do believe that people can all learn much by learning a language of another race because it tells much about their culture.

At work, I also encountered working with languages through the CultureInfo class included in the Microsoft .NET Framework. One could get the different names of languages, date formats and number formats used in different countries. I guess this makes Microsoft .NET truly innovative. Sorry to the non-techie readers, I can't explain this further hehe

Last but not the least, a site which I found very interesting with rich resources on anything about language. The site is called Unilang.

Enjoy. Hanggang sa muli (Til next time)

Continuing my previous post, Harry Potter 4 aka Goblet of Fire was such a delight to watch. This is one of my favorite HP books because it was action-packed and it is where the Ron-Hermione love angle started. I looked forward in seeing the ball scene where Ron was so jealous of Hermione and Viktor. But like most HP movies, some scenes and storylines where not clearly depicted. And the book, thick as it is, cannot fit into a 3-hour movie.

It was also nice to see that the cast are now adolescents. Hermione is beautiful in her ball gown, Ron has a muscular built, and Harry has turned from cute to hunk.

I am glad that Daniel Radcliffe is still playing the role of Harry Potter in the next feel. I hope the cast would not change until the last film.

Since my last blog entry about Sam Milby, here's another hunk on the loose. 

Just watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last Saturday with my pamangkins. Aside from the thrill of watching the movie, an added bonus was the hunky Cedric Diggory played by newbie actor Robert Pattinson. Too bad he won't appear on other HP movies coz (spoiler alert) Cedric died in the movie. Well I do hope he gets to appear in more movies, though British movies don't usually reach Philippine shores. Perhaps I'll just buy the HP-GoF DVD and watch it over and over.

And so there were 7. Sam Milby was booted off the Pinoy Big Brother house last November 5, Saturday. Jason got more votes through a slim percentage of 53.8 against Sam's 46.2.
I admit, I too have a crush on this Fil-am. Who wouldn't with that Close-up smile? :)
Right now this new "Crush ng Bayan" is getting all screams from fans in his recent tv guestings. Add to his charisma is his list of musical talents: guitar-playing, singing and composing. While it seems that he is lost for words with all that is happening, I do hope he learns to speak Tagalog and not be like other Fil-Am who still speak slang Tagalog after having been here for several years.
Still, our "colonial mentality" strikes again, as we Filipinos scream our hearts out for someone who seems to be fit for Hollywood. But at least he's got Filipino blood this time.
Goodluck Sam Milby. May your Close-up smile shine bright in Philippine showbiz.

(Sam's photo courtesy of the Pinoy Big Brother website)

I enjoy wearing my new sandals. I was looking for brown sandals because the one I had a long time ago already had a very thin sole. I saw this at a sale in Manels one time. It fitted me well because my fingers don't protude that much when I'm wearing it. Though I did not have cash at that time, I was thankful I had my credit card with me. But I still don't recommend buying through credit coz it is very tempting hehe. I like how the sandals let my feet breath, and how it looks ancient - almost biblical. Here is a pic of it. Toffee wanted to include his foot as well in the pic.

This week, a new officemate came in, Toffee, and he is also my new seatmate. Good
thing he's not hard to relate to, and easily became a friend of me and Lian (my other seatmate). It also helps that he is also from UST (University of Santo Tomas), my alma mater. And he took the same course as mine, though his bachelor's degree is different from mine since in my time, the course was in the College of Commerce, and was transferred to the College of Science. Now, it is in the College of Engineering. Yes, complicated I know, but it's the best I can do to explain it. One time we were able to talk about the campus, the professors, the perks of college life and the like. It was nice to talk to someone who saw the campus the way I did, or if not exactly similar, at least somewhat similar. I also did not have much news about my school since most of my officemates are from PUP. Sometimes they would share stories about certain professor or what happened in this place etc. At times I wanted to tell college stories too, but it would be different than having been there yourself.

Then one day last week, I also saw one of my classmate from UST. I have not seen him for quite some time and it was a coincidence just seeing people in a frame of time that came from a particular place or time in your life. Like the time some months ago, when in one week I saw people from high school. It's just amazing and refreshing and nostalgic all the same time. It gives to time to think back and remember times when life was not so complicated and all that was frightening were final examinations. But times changes and people do. But in our hearts, most of us cherish and fondly remember our life in school.