Insightful, Hopeful

I would like to take time to greet some people who are celebrating their birthdays this August. I would also give a little trivia about them, and include my greetings as well.

15th - MIKE
Mike is the friend of my classmate in college, and we were introduced via ICQ (a popular instant messenger way back late 1990s to 2002). Turns out he is the brother of one of my classmates in Grade 3. As he said, it was classic friendster example even before friendster came to be. :)
Most of the time, he is my chat buddy in YM especially during the wee hours of the morning. Or more exactly from midnight till about 1 or 2 am. He's one of the best listeners out there. Perhaps it's also that we just have these things in common - we just like to talk about life, we love watching tv (I'll wait for those Grey's Anatomy episodes ;)), love tech stuff, and we have various interests.
So Mike thanks for listening and sharing too. My chat life has become more colorful indeed hehe. Goodluck on the stuff you want to do, and your business/entrepreneurial endeavors. On your lovelife, may it be uncomplicated. Enjoy life.

19th - SARAH
Sarah is my friend from Pre-com (1st and 2nd year of college). Though some people did not like her during those days because she seemed "maarte", she proved them wrong by just being herself and winning the friendship of most. We had fun moments during those years, as our classes were only half-day so we had time to go to the mall hehe. We both love Pierce Brosnan especially in those James Bond movies. :D
She has been an achiever, in the past and in the present. She had been into debating in college, and a student council officer. Now she is a CPA, and I admire her coz she has achieved her goals career-wise. Goodluck on your lovelife girl, may you find him or perhaps you have. ;)

24th - J
J is my best friend's sweetie :)
I met him many times before because he always kinda appeared out of nowhere during those early days (just kidding :P)
He is a true music lover, and was kind enough to share some of his collections via his server. He is also an award-winning web designer and graphic artist.
Too bad I wasn't able to attend his party. I heard their band (Spelling Contest) played some of their original songs. Goodluck on your music and your work. Hopefully, you'll be able to play in the mainstream and be included in one of those tribute albums. You're one of the few people I know who followed their passion for art and succeeded. As for you and your sweetie (my cutie friend :)), may you have happiness and love that will last a lifetime.

28th - Janella aka Babes
My one and only niece. She is now 8 years old, and I'm happy that she's growing up to be a smart kid. Before, I thought I wouldn't get so close to her coz she did not live with us unlike my nephew Jonel. But at times I see myself in herself, especially her moodiness (I was like that as a child).
She also loves music, she likes those songs in Lea's "I am but a Small Voice" album. And she's getting to like books, which is really good.
Her other talents include dancing (her Chopetta dance is the best), and her ability to compute (a budding Math wizard).
To my dear niece, may you develop your talents and use it for greater good. May you be successful in what you choose to do. Enjoy your childhood, I know you do :)

After missing the succeeding episodes after the first one, I was finally able to watch Idol again. I was glad that choosing the final 24 was not over yet. I thought it was last week.
Like American Idol, the contestants were grouped into three. Some groups had some conflict, but unlike their American counterparts, I did not see any walkouts or mumbling of bad words. I saw some familiar faces, those that previously joined other singing contests: Marinel Santos and OJ Mariano (from Star in a Million 1st and 2nd season, both 2nd placers) and Jason Velasquez (from Search for a Star where Sarah Geronimo won). I was also surprised to see Divo, a local singer.
Anyway, after the room elimination, (where contestants were asked to stay in a room and only 2 out of 4 rooms would make it to the next round), the singing contest finalists and Divo were eliminated. Only 40 remained. My guess is that the judges of course expected more from these contestants who had previous contest experience. Divo was bitter, after being eliminated saying "Maraming hindi magaling" (many of the other contestants are not good). The grandson of Dolphy, was also not included.
The 40 contestants were further trimmed to 24. The contestants had to sing solo choosing one of pre-selected songs. Next Saturday is the first performance night, and people get to vote :)
My dad, however, pointed out that Smart (the cell network) was the sponsor. And no way could we use our Globe sim  :(  But I told him a PLDT number would sure be available. Or I was thinking, I could buy a Smart sim card :)
I have some favorites - Freddie (who reminds me of Luke Mijares), Joseph Astor (has an angle where he looks like Sam Milby though Sam still looks more cute), Erika (if I'm not mistaken, she's the girl with the hearing impairment. If all goes well for her, she could be our local Elliot Yamin), Pau (because she's true to herself) and Maureen (just saw her in the Top 40 and she was good).

It was only today, that I was able to fully watch ASAP and SOP, the two Sunday variety shows on Philippine tv. During the last months, I just watched one or two segments because there was really nothing new to watch.

But today, I was excited because in ASAP, the album tribute for APO entitled "Kami nAPO muna", was featured. This album was similar to the Eraserheads Anthology album, wherein different bands and solo artists recorded their own rendition of the songs popularized by e-heads. Now, it's time to pay tribute to APO.

I've always liked APO's music. I was always contemplating on buying the Best of Apo album, but never did. Perhaps because I had mp3s of the ones I liked. My favorites are: Batang-bata Ka Pa, Paano and When I Met You.

When I saw them on tv awhile ago singing "Sa'n Na Nga Bang Barkada", I remembered my high school barkada because of our recent mini reunion (see previous post).

Some of the bands featured in the album played in ASAP. I was again disappointed why the resident talents of ASAP had to sing along the guests (SOP does this too). This affects the performance especially because the resident host/singer most of the time, fails to blend with the band.  Anyway, I still liked the renditions of some songs especially the one by Imago, Spongecola and Barbie. Kamikazee's Dobeedoo was really fun, the lead singer gave it his all. But he seemed drunk hehe.  I guess that's their style of music.

I thought of buying the album today, but they showed the other album which contains the cover versions and the original version on another cd but these will be in one package. I think I'll wait for that one which they said will be out next week.

While surfing, I found a good review of the album by J Panganiban, and an article on Inq7.  There's also a tribute concert with the same title on Aug. 22, and APO will have a concert on Sept. 2.

Some weeks ago, I also saw a link to Jim Paredes' blog. It was exciting to read the blog of someone famous, and who is admirable. In here, you can read Jim's own thoughts on the album, and his return to Manila. 

Meanwhile, on SOP, I found out that Jonalyn Viray and Brenan Espartinez won in the World Championships of the Performing Arts (WCOPA). This was the same contest where Jed Madella won last year. I'm really happy for these two singers especially for Jonalyn. I was rooting for her in the Pinoy Pop Superstar grand finals because I watched her as a contender, and liked her version of "Run to You". I knew her physical features are not the typical star-quality features that Filipino fans are looking for, that is why I was worried she wouldn't make it big. But because of these awards she got, she showed everyone that she is very talented.

The list of awards they won are in this article (note: the article is written in Tagalog).

I was also elated to know that the Cercado sisters, who were contestants in QTV11's FamJam, also won in the World Championships. I learned it from the article written by Ms. Armida Siguion-Reyna. This group of sisters were like professionals as they belted away songs like "Emotions" during their stay at FamJam. But unfortunately, they did not win the contest. Good thing, they were given opportunities like this, joining the World Championships, to showcase their extraordinary talent.

While surfing, I also came upon an article on South Border's US tour. It also told that one of their songs was being played in a radio station in the USA. The article was written early this year, on a site called Carousel Pinoy. I think this is one of the Filipino online newspapers based in the US. Well, the band is back in the Philippines because Vince and Jay celebrated their birthdays on SOP. I so admire Jay Durias because he's such a great songwriter.

Extra:

I was surprised to see that my blog was accessed through the femalenetwork website. Turns out, someone read my thoughts on Philippine Idol and posted a link to that entry. Too bad that entry was not even solely dedicated to Philippine Idol, and now people will be reading it. Oh well.

It's also unfortunate that I have not been able to watch the show recently because of my trip and today because I had some guests. Today was supposed to be the announcement of the 24 contestants. 

I saw the link to Francis M's blog on femalenetwork forum. 

Last Saturday, Cat and I went to Kathrina's house in Cainta for her 24th birthday. I was hoping there would be more of us from our barkada who would be able to come, but because of unforseen circumstances only three of us were able to attend. Well, it was more like four because Cat's brother, Ogie, was kind enough to accompany us to be our "bodyguard" hehe.

Our other friend who was able to attend was Jeanette, who lives very near the place. It was nice to see old friends again. We talked about our recent lives, our plans, and some legal issues we had in mind. This was because Kathrina (aka Cookie) is a law student, and we took advantage of her legal know-how while it's still free :P

Though we were not able to stay very long, I really enjoyed the time we had together.

More details from Cat's blog. Cat, I'll just be sending the photos through email. 

I saw this feature article from CNN. This lists 25 sites that are leading the way for the new face of the internet, or what others call Net 2.0.
I've seen Net 1.0, which was exciting at the time. It was new, but websites were not so good to look at, because one had to have a decent knowledge of HTML to create a nice-looking site. But because of blogs, and the user friendly interface, one can easily create his/her own space. There's also podcasting (which I haven't tried), social networking like Friendster, YouTube, Google and other sites. Check it out at CNN.

Two weeks ago, me and my sis watched the movie "High School Musical". I first heard this from Mimay, then I was surprised that my nephew Jonel asked me if I watched it. My sister and I were curious so we bought a DVD.

(warning: spoilers ahead)
It was a teenybopper movie, about a basketball captain ball who met a smart girl at a party, and they shared their love for singing on stage. They met again in school, the girl being a new student at the guy's school. The story evolved about the two of them auditioning for the school's musical. This created some conflict because the guy, being a basketball player, broke the stereotype by auditioning.
The movie was as expected, very light, but had some good lessons to share to youngsters. It tackles the pressure of being in high school, of belonging to a certain crowd. It encourage young people to be themselves, to pursue what they want despite of what other people say. This a lesson everyone should learn and apply.
My niece Janella also likes the film, and said she watches it when she comes home from school. My nephew and niece are movie freaks. If they like a certain film, they watch it over and over. The songs are good, adding to the appeal of the film. It is a Disney film, so the best is expected. I'm glad they have continued to create films for kids, which is their target audience, and for kids at heart as well.
I remembered in my time, their movies were cartoons with great soundtracks as well. My favorites of those being: Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Lion King.
My sis and I also knew the reason why my nephew liked the movie so much. Perhaps he can relate to it coz he likes basketball and singing. I do hope he would be able to do well in both, and enjoy it as much as Troy (the movie's leading role).
I love musicals in general, live musicals are quite expensive, good thing there are movie musicals I can watch over and over.

I've recently been to Camiguin!

Me and my officemates have planned since March, and we bought our tickets at a discounted price from Cebu Pacific. Before the trip, I had a terrible cold, and thought that I could not join them :(   Some of our supposed companions were not able to join too. 

I still had colds during the trip, but this was compensated by the beautiful sights. We went there via Cagayan de Oro then took a ferry boat somewhere in Misamis Oriental (I forgot the name of the town where the port is located).

We stayed in Camiguin Seaside Lodge, fronting the beach. The waves were powerful so we were not able to enjoy the beach. I was also quite disappointed because their sand was not white, unlike in Bohol.

But Camiguin is not all about the beach, there are other magnificent spots to go to. There are numerous springs, of various types: hot, cold and soda (tastes a bit like soda, as my friend said coz I can't tell what it tastes like because of my colds).

We also went to Katibawasan Falls, and the Walkaway to the Old Volcano where stations of the cross are located.  It was also refreshing to see the mountains (like Mt. Hibok-hibok) and the sea while touring the island. We were able to go around the island in a day.

I really thank God for allowing me to enjoy the vacation, and for not letting my sickness to worsen.

I've created a multiply account where I uploaded the pictures, and named it risadventures :)  Hopefully, I can give a more detailed description of the trip in there.