The history of the pakarazzi blog

I've always been intrigued about blogging. It takes a very brave person to write something that the whole world would potentially read. I always wanted to write, eversince I was young, I've always kept a journal or some notebook to write whatever is on my mind. Of course, those jounals / noteboks are kept where someone can't find them. I've forgotten about writing for a while but the journals are still with me. They look old and dity now and no one would every think that something private was written in it.

Over the years, technology has taken over everyone's lives and the internet, through blogging, has become a medium for people who want to share their thoughts to anyone who would listen. People will find that a lot of people share their views and have the same experiences. Suddenly, people discovered that they are not alone.

I became aware of blogging a few years back and I've read quite a few. I wouldn't call it regular reading but I do encounter some from time to time. A few weeks ago, I read this blog that I saw on while browsing my friendster account. Its a blog written by a batch mate from elementary. I was so amused and entertained that I started reading on a regular basis. Vayie and I were never classmates but I remember her because my section was next to mine during grade 6. I told my wife (who's also a batch mate during elementary) about Vayie's blog and she said that she knows her and they were part of the same theater group.

2 weeks ago, when I was stuck in bed because of my dental operation (impacted or impacto wisdom tooth . . . freaking hurts!) I saw that Vayie was on-line. I decided to say hi and introduce myself. She was surprised to know that a fellow batch mate was reading her blog (aside from her cousin Margarita a.k.a.Garet who was a classmate of mine in grade 5, I think, and has a nice blog site by the way). I told her that I've been thinking about creating my own blog site. You see, the reason why I liked her blog is because I felt that what she wrote was real, no pretensions and with the intention of just writing whatever she feels. She said that sometimes she has misgivings about what she writes that's why its a bit tame. But I told her that its ok and I think she's a good writer. Finally she encouraged me to create my own blog and so here we are (thanks Vayie!).

So I decided to write whatever I felt like writing, and I hope YOU would like it. If not, its ok, we're all entitled to our own opinions. But I do sincerely hope that YOU keep on reading!

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This morning, being the marketing person that I am (ehem, ehem), I promoted my blog to my friends via SMS and Friendster (pakapalan na ng mukha 'to hehe) I mean what's the point of creating a blog if no one's reading it, right?

To my who visited my blog today, I would like to say thank you and I hope you enjoyed it. I'll try my best to churn out new stuff as often as I can. To those who will visit my blog in the next days, months and years to come, I would like to thank you also. The more readers, the manyier! hehe

The Pakarazzi in action . . . nakatayo lang habang kinakalabit ang bass guitar

Mga Kaltok Moments sa buhay ng Pakarazzi . . .

My wife and I have been married for more than 2 years now. We had a relationship for nine years before we got married. Over this span of time, we've discovered a lot of things about ourselves and we're still discovering a lot of things up to know. Me and my wife have a unique and wonderful relationship. Masaya kami pag kami ang nag-aasaran at kulitan. Si Sophie madalas na rin mang-asar. Mana sa amin hehe.

I think all relationships, hindi lang married life ay ganito. You discover many things about friends as time goes by. Alam mo na kung sino ang mang-iiwan sa ere, maasahan at malakas sa kainan (lalo na pag libre!). The longer you know somebody, the more open you become. Bale-wala na yung asran and inside jokes.

They say that familiarity breeds contempt so here I am presenting my "kaltok moments": moments when gusto mo kaltokan yung kausap mo because sa mga hirit na corny, tactless or just plain funny, na kailangan mo lang mangaltok sa sobrang tuwa. All of these are true stories . . . (copyrighted pa!)

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Highschool Days . . .

There was this one time when someone farted during class. One classmate who was seated in front of me suddenly looked at us at the back row kasi naamoy nya.

Classmate (forgot na kung sino): "sino umutot sa inyo"

Bam!: "Uy hindi ako a . . "

Classmate: "E dyan nang-galing e. Kayo lang naman nandyan Baka ikaw"

Oscar (my seatmate na tropa, speaking as-a-matter-of-factly): "Hindi sya ang umutot . . . alam ko amoy ng utot nya, lagi umuuto yan e. Iba umutot".

Thanks Oscar. Di ko alam kung nakatulong ka sakin. Pa-kaltok na lang! hehe

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Me and my wife were having dinner.

Jan: "Kailangan mo na mag reduce. Ang taba mo na!"

Bam!: "E ano magagawa ko, masarap mag luto ang asawa ko"

Jan: "Gago. Seryoso dapat di ka na mag-PORK. Talagang nakakataba yan"

Bam!: "Wag mag PORK? E ano lang gagamitin ko sa pag-kain . . . SFOON lang? Mahirap yata yun!"

Guess kung sino ang nakaltukan sa eksenang 'to.

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Naglalambing kay esmi . . .

Bam!: "Honey . . . wala ang mga bata . . ." (wink, wink)

Jan: "Anong mga bata, isa pa lang anak mo!" Sabay kaltok

Isa pa . . .

Bam!: "Honey . . ." (wink wink uli)

Jan!: "Gabi na, inaantok na ko. Maaga pa tayo bukas . . ."

Bam!: "Don't worry, matulog ka na . . . ako na lang bahala . . ."

Isang MALUTONG na kaltok! Ako parati nasa receiving end a. Halata 'nyo?

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Remember the Penshoppe Mandy Moore TVC? The one with the song "Cry" by Mandy Moore.

We saw the commercial once on TV . . . .

Bam!: "Uy, ok yung commercial o. Kantahin mo nga yang kanta ni Mandy Moore bagay sa'yo"

Jan:"At bakit??"

Bam!: "Ka-boses mo si Brad Turvy hehe! (wala sa tono kumanta)"

POK! Aray ko!

Bam!: "Bakit? Magaling ka naman kumanta a! Ka-boses mo nga si Aga Mulach e!"

POK uli!

More kaltok moments to come!

The "Kaltoker" and the "Kaltokee". It's hard to imagine but yes . . . abot nya ulo ko pag gusto nya 'ko kaltukan hehe!

2008 Cable Show Exprerience

I've been at the PCTA (Phil Cable Tv Association) cable show for the past 3 days. I've been to seven or eight of them for the last 10 years. Ang tagal ko na rin sa cable industry. I'm use to seeing the same old people in the industry. Some people ar now employed in different companies but still a part of the industry. I swear, this year is like the Ad Congress last year where there a lot of "pirating" activities . An indication of a lot of movement in the industry this year.

How do I know? hhmmm . . . :D

Anyway, I thought this year would be the same as the previous years. We invited two Viva Hotbabes: Hazel Cabrera (who asked my opinion about some of her guy issues while smoking in Bar 1) and Zara Lopez (to whom I suggested to create issues para maging mas lalong matunog name nya hehe) to grace our booth.

Hazel Cabrera

Zara Lopez

We always invite members of the VHB to our booth to help promote our channel. For the fellowship night, we were asked to invite ladies who will liven-up the party by inviting the delegates to dance. We invited seven girls, much to the enjoyment of the male dominated crowd at the party. These girls even made the oldest guy in the party dance like a 19 year old!

As part of our exhibitor's agreement with the PCTA, we invited a band to perform 2 sets at the party. The band's name is Wodo Tribe fronted by one of my elementary batchmates Jaq Regino. I haven't seen her since 1989 and it was really good to see her again. I saw their video in youtube and I was impressed so I invited them to perform.

Wodo Tribe

They were so darn good (even with Jaq nursing a fever) that the president of the convention said to me " Stephen . . . your the man! Viva's the man!" (the president of the convention is Taiwanese and if you heard him say that, you can't help but giggle a little). He was so impressed that he gave the band a tip. I saw how much the tip was and it was a very good tip!

A lot of the officers of the organization enjoyed their performance. There were a lot of people in the dance floor on both sets. This was, I think, the first time I've seen people dance to two sets at a fellowship night. People usually skip the second set of the performing band. Thanks Jaq and Wodo Tribe for the wonderful performance. Hindi kami napahiya, as in! :D

Jaq and I had a chance to catch up on things and I learned that she got married last month . . . to a fellow batchmate. Just like me and my wife. I don't know if there are other batchmates who are now . . . uhmm . . . "mates" hehe. I don't think that Jaq's husband and I were ever classmates but his name was a bit familiar. I was amused that there's another "Romnick and Harlene" story sa batch 89 hehe.

I also met one of my old AdAsia 97 Country Desk an Foreign Delegates group mate Eira. She's now a head-hunter looking for people with the same industry background as I have for a big media company. I recognized her and I think she remembered who I was. I haven't seen her since '97 and I was so surprised to see her there. We were introduced by a friend (who was asking if I was looking for other opportunities) and when I recognized her name and face and I asked her if she was in AdAsia 97 and she said she was. It was funny because her company called me about a month ago and invited me for an interview for a certain post in this big media company. Turns out I couldn't be hired by this company because my wife is connected to its biggest rival (if you know where my wife is connected then you could understand why).

Eira told me that her boss was really considering me kaya sayang daw. Kilala pa rin ako ng mga tao in her office because I was a perfect fit for the position that they're looking for.

"Oks lang" I said, "Ganyan talaga e, hehe." At least interested sila sa akin hehe!

Anyway she asked if I knew people who are open to opportunities, and even asked if my wife would be interested. I told her that I'll ask around and help her out.

Di'ba, naging head hunter na rin ako, hehe :D

The highlight of the cable show for me was meeting the original "Macho Guapito" Rico J!

Bam: "Boss!"

Rico J: "Boss!"

Bam: "Pa-picture, idol"

Rico J: "Sige, boss" now looking at our marketing assistant "Eto pala boss mo, e"

Click!

Bam: "Thank you Idol!"

Dalawang macho guwapito!

Pucha, may picture na kami ng idol ko! Hehe


During the FICAP Cable show last month (we have 2 cable shows in our industry a year), I had a pic with Rey Valera. I often sing his songs sa mga videoke. I remember inuman sessions with my dabarkads while listening to his songs about love, heartache and panliligaw blues. Any male teenager can relate to this.

I phoned Jan when Rey Valera started to sing:

Bam: "Hulaan mo kung sino 'to" then I held my phone towards the speakers

Jan: "Sino yan?"

Bam: "Basta! Hulaan mo! " again pointing my phone towards the speakers

"O, ano? Si Rey Valera tumutugtog dito! Woohoo!"

Jan: "Nye. Ano ngayon, lagi naman sya dito sa office."

Bam: "A basta . . . andito si Rey Valera! Woohoo!"

I called her at least 3 times jus so she'll hear the songs. Ibang klase talaga hehe.

May asungot na sumingit samin ni idol . . .

His children are in a band and they actually performed with him. They're quite good and I gave them my business card so they can send me a copy of their video. A few days later, I received a package from Rey Valera containing a dvd of "Salingkit" the name of his children's band.


Grabe, sinulatan ako ni Rey Valera hehe. I'm keeping the envelope :D

I have pics with two of my idols from two cable shows this year . . . not bad!

Summer quota at iba pa!

I've reached my summer out quota as I've been out of town thrice: Caliraya (with Jan, Sophie, my sister in law Joy and his son Keene), Blue Coral Resort, Laiya Batangas (with my officemates for a 2 day business planning) and Pansol Laguna (overnight with my side of the family).

We weren't able to go anywhere last year because Sophie was still about 4-5 months old. Kaya I feel na medyo oks na ang summer na to.

Pansol Pics







Cliraya Pics

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Tomorrow's the PCTA Cable Convention. All the big players in the cable industry including programmers like us (PBO - Pinoy Box Office, Paborito ng Bayan!, HBO, AXN, STAR TV, ETC, BTV . . .) will be there. I've been attending this annual convention for 7 times now in my almost 10 years in the industry.

Makes me feel a little old. But I still find the yearly event exciting so oks lang! :D

Kung ano ano lang . . .

People do things for a reason. Jun Lozada spilled the beans because he felt his life was in danger. Chavit Sison knew that he was on Erap's hit list so he revealed who the biggest gambling lord in the country was. These people on one time or another were revered as heroes. Now I'm not the one to judge, but how can you call someone a hero if he / she did'nt do his her heroic deed with the purest of intentions? Life preservation, maybe, but for love of country? I seriously doubt it. While I believe that we people can change . . . I also believe that it's hard to teach old dogs new tricks. Old dogs will do their tricks again and again and again . . .

Just this evening I saw this news feature on Gma 7 about a doctor who circumcised 640 children in one day for free. This is a world record and is officially in the books. When the doctor was interviewed, I got the impression that he was . . . gay. Not that I have anything against gay people. I have gay friends and being from the entertainment industry, I'm pretty used to them being around. But, I'm just not sure if this did it because he wanted to help these poor kids or . . . you know what I mean. Good thing I wasn't there or I would have laughed my socks off!

Wala lang . . .

Butterfly Kisses

Our first meeting . . . straight from mommy's tummy

I heard the song "Butterfly Kisses" (click to see video) by Bob Carlisle a while ago. This song's included in the Mp3 Cd that I bought years ago. It reminded me of Sophie's birthday celebration last January 19. I included this song in the cd (which I burned a few days before) that we were going to play at the party.

On the Sophie's actual birthday (Jan 16), I played the cd to check if the songs were copied properly. When I listened to the song, it hit me that my baby's turning one and in a few years, she'll be riding her bike on her own, going to school, making new friends, grow older and older . . . you know where this is going . . .

I almost cried. I carried Sophie, hugged and kissed her and said with tears waiting to flow out of my eyes "Please don't grow up too fast, 'wag mo muna iiwanan si daddy, ha?"

"Sira ulo!" said my wife who was laughing at me.

Then I hugged my wife and then the tears did flow. "Shit . . . malaki na si Sophie"

" Ano ka ba?" she said while still laughing at me.

Then I said "Tapos, before we know it may mangliligaw na dyan, tapos mag de-date na yan . . . tang'na, makabili nga ng baril . ."

"Gago, kung ano ano iniisp mo, di pa nga makatakbo anak mo, tignan mo!"

"Pucha, bibili talaga ako ng baril" then I wiped the tears in my eye "baka tarantado maging boyfriend nito . . "

"Sira ulo!"

Then we sang happy birthday to Sophie who was wide awake already then she started laughing and dancing to our song and I thought "Shit, sumasayaw na, mapapaaga yata bili ko ng baril a".

Now I understand what a father feels when some guy visits and courts his daughter. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. Makita ko nga lang na kalaro nya yung lalaking baby sa kabilang unit, nanglalaki na mata ko e. There was even this one time when that baby boy, who's I think about 1 1/2 yrs old, stood in front of our door looking for Sophie.

I said "Psst . . ." and the baby boy looked at me.

I said " I'm watching you" pointing my two fingers back and forth from my eyes to his, then I did a raised my hand to my neck and made a slitting gesture.

"Don't mess with me" and then my wife, said "Ano ka ba?"

"Para lang malinaw, hehe"

I was kidding of course. Damn! I'm worried that I'll turn out to be as crazy as Robert De Niro in "Meet the Parents" and Meet the Fockers"



My wife told both stories to our relatives during the party and everyone was laughing at me. Ok lang, I'm proud to be a daddy and I love my daughter very much.

I copy-pasted this song to show why the lyrics really hit me.

Butterfly Kisses Lyrics

Bob Carlisle

There's two things I know for sure
She was sent here from Heaven
And she's daddy’s little girl
As I drop to my knees by her bed at night
She talks to Jesus and I close my eyes
And I thank God for all of the joy in my life
Oh but most of all

For butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer
Stickin little white flowers all up in her hair
Walk beside the pony daddy
It's my first ride
I know the cake looks funny daddy
But i sure tried
Oh with all that I've done wrong
I must have done something right
To deserve a hug every mornin
And butterfly kisses at night

Sweet 16 today
She's lookin like her mama
A little more every day
One part woman
The other part girl
To perfume and mke up
From ribbons and curls
Trying her wings out in a great big world
But I remember

Butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer
Stickin little white flowers all up in her hair
You know how much I love you daddy
But if you don't mind
I'm only gonna kiss you on the check this time
Oh with all that I've done wrong
I muct have done something right
To deserve her love every mornin
And butterfly kisses at night

All the precious time
Like the wind the years go by
Precious Butterfly
Spread your wings and fly

She'll change her name today
She'll make a promise and I'll give her aways
Standing in the bride room just starin at her
She asked me what I'm thinkin
And I said I'm not sure
I just feel like I'm loosin my baby girl
And she leaned over

And gave me butterfly kisses with her mama there
Stickin little white flowers all up in her hair
Walk me down the isle daddy
It's just about time
Does my wedding gown look pretty daddy?
Daddy don't cry
Oh with all that I've done wrong
I must have done something right
To deserve her love every mornin and butterfly kisses
I couldn't ask God for more than this is what love is
I know I've got to let her go but I'll always remember
Every hug in the mornin and butterfly kisses

This song really hit the spot

I pity the fool who'll mess with Sophie. She has 5 uncles who have bottles of beer beside them and they know how to use them, haha! Syet, parang takot ako sa Karma hehe!

Shit, naiiyak nanaman ako. Maka-uwi na nga!

Old hobbies die hard . . .

One thing that I have really missed is buying comic books. When I was in High School and College, I used to buy 5 titles of comic books per month: X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor and Generation X (I'm a mutie lover). Each comic book costs around P60 - P80. I only had P500 allowance every week and I spend it for food, transpo, yosi, band rehearsals and nightly inuman sessions with my buddies. So spending around P400 per month on comic books was pretty heavy. That's almost a weeks allowance! Anyway, I did get around it and I was able to buy regularly. Reading has always been a hobby of mine and reading comic books was something I truly enjoyed.

I had a lot of the collectible issues and I'm proud to say most of them are in good condition. I could sell them all and make money out of them. Some people say its nerdy but I don't care . . .
I stopped collecting when I started working for one reason or another although I bought a lot of comic books that are on sale. Luckily most of the titles on sale are the ones that I used to collect so I didn't miss out much. As time went by, I have totally forgotten about the whole thing and now I've missed a lot.

Lately, I've been checking out www.marvel.com and I found out that I've missed out on a lot of story lines so I decided to pass by FILBARS Megamall to check out the new stuff. Without batting an eyelash, I bought two titles: Young X-Men #1 and X-Force #1 (vol 2) which cost around P150 each (grabe na, sobrang mahal!). Luckily I found both first issues so I can start collecting without having to spend more on back issues.

When I got home, I felt like a school boy and was almost giggling while opening the books. Felt so good to see my old "friends": Cyclops, Wolverine, Warpath, Wolfsbane, Cannonball and the other X-posse wearing different costumes. Some of the heroes I knew are now villains and some of the villains are now heroes. I know I've missed out on a lot but I figured I can catch up thru the net. But I'm glad I bought them 'cuz now I'm back!

Hmm, now have to buy new containers for my new collection . . .

First Time

I'm a virgin. This is my first time. Like all "firsts" you tend to think about what you're going to do a million times before doing it. And, again like all "firsts", you'll just say "f**k it, lets just get it over with" and do it. This is my first time to blog and before doing this I've given a lot of thought about what to write. So I thought about it and I just decided to write whatever comes to mind. So . . . here it goes . . . .

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Today was my first day back in the office since having my dental operation (which still hurts, by the way) . First thing I did was check my e-mails. After a few minutes of waiting for my inbox to download my emails, a message box poped up informing me that my computer is not connected to the server.

I was anticipating a lot of e-mails and was very excited to read them because, after being at home resting for 5 days, I couldn't wait to go back to work. Of course I enjoyed staying at home even though the right side of my face was swollen and hurting because it gave me time to bond with my baby Sophie.

Our baby Sophia Gabrielle

" Shit . . .Nawala yung 1st day high . . "

MIS got me back on the server and so I go to check my e-mails.

One particular e-mail that amused me was from a viewer who asked where he can buy a DVD copy of "May Lamok sa Ilalim ng Kulambo" and its sequel "May Daga sa Labas ng Lungga" starring Eddie Garcia, Gloria Romero and Tomy Abuel (super bigote guy). I was amused because I loved these movies too and officemates would often laugh when I tell them that I love these movies.

May lamok!

I couldn't help but laugh. I'm sure a lot of people have seen these movies and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a fan. These are comedy classics. I love the way they throw their lines at each other, its so natural that it reminds me how I tease and make my wife laugh at home.

Idol ko si Manoy! hehe

Apparently, my wife's a big fan too!