Sad day for the Pakarazzi

I never thought it would happen, but the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Lakers 100 - 92 today. Game 5 of the series was played at the Lakers' home court. I saw the game's 1st and 2nd quarters at home and the Spurs led as much as 14 points. I left the house during half-time and I was feeling good about the game because they had a big lead when I left. When I got to the office, I was shocked to see that the Lakers were 4 pts ahead of the Spurs with around 10 minutes left in the game. What happened to the Spurs lead?! The clock eventually ran out and so has the Spur's hope of representing the Western Conference in this year's championship.

I hope Brent Barry still plays for the Spurs next year. He proved that he can step up when the game is on the line. Makes you wonder why the Spurs traded him to Seattle in the first place. Good thing he was waived and the Spurs got him back.

I'm sure Tim, Manu, Bruce and Tony will be back. Udoka was also great and I hope they bring him back too, as well as Micheal Finley. They need a good center that can support Duncan in the paint. Though Thomas, Horry and Oberto usually rotates in that position fairly well, they still need an effective big man with a good inside game.

Haay naku, I don't want to dwell on it anymore. I'm sure that the Spurs team next year will be as solid as ever.

Much Ado About Blogging

I found this blog from my friend Ted Reyes' website. It talks about how Emily Gould, a blogging celebrity, was given 10 pages to blog about her life by the NY TIMES on their website . Ted entitled his blog as "A Record of One's Existence".

Ted's blog reminded me of two movies that I recently saw on HBO: 300 and Meet Joe Black. Both movies, as you know involves death (the death of the 299 Spartans in 300 and the death of Bill Parish played by Anthony Hopkins in Meet Joe Black). In both movies, the lead characters, knowing their impending deaths, wanted to leave a legacy to the people that they will be leaving behind. King Leonidas sent Dilio, one of his warriors, back to Sparta so that he could tell the story of the 300 (299 because Dilio lived to tell the tale) who willingly sacrificed their lives for their countrymen. Bill Parish who is a media mogul, changed his mind with a merger that his board was working on because he wanted to leave a legacy behind.

I've actually thought of blogging because I wanted to share my thoughts to people who are willing to listen. I also thought to myself "what would Sophie say if she read my blog years from now?". Of course, I want her to read my blog so that she'll know how I felt at a particular moment of my life. Its kind of eerie to talk about but I also think that blogging is one way of leaving a legacy behind for the people who know you and for other people who are just there to listen to your story.

I've been thinking about the word "legacy" since I read (some parts) of the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. In the beginning book, the author said "begin with the end in mind". This means that you have to have a perception of your own life; how you would like to be remembered; how people will describe you in your eulogy. This in itself is a legacy. The way people remember you is a testament to the life that you have lived. I always have that in mind whenever I interact with people, be it personal, business or whatever.

Blogging takes the word "legacy" to a different level. People who know you will not be the only ones who'll remember you, potentially, the whole world will get to know you, long after you're gone. People who you don't even know will know you as a person inside and out. Its very difficult to put your heart on your sleeve. That's one of the reasons why I started blogging this late. I always thought about it, but I never came to grips with it 'till now. That's why I admire people who blog. Bloggers are brave enough to say "this is who I am" to everyone.

Everyone wants their story to be heard. Everyone wants to leave a mark in the world. Everyone wants to be remembered. Blogging is our way of telling the world that we exist.

Wouldn't it be cool to know what John Lennon was thinking about when he wrote a particular song? It would've been possible if blogging was available back then. We wouldn't have to read it on a book or some magazine that interviewed him. We would have heard it (or read) from the horse's mouth.

*** Thanks for the nice read Ted. It inspired me to write this blog.Just putting in my 2 cents worth :-)

Jump Start

Since starting this blog, I've felt a lot better and more energetic. Maybe its because now, I am able to express myself more freely than before. I've haven't felt like this in a long while. Getting feedback from people about the things I write about is so cool. Sometimes I get sms messages, emails, ym / meebo messages and some people even talk to me about my blog. THANKS FOR READING BOYS AND GIRLS!

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As part of this "jump start" feeling, I've been listening to a lot of music lately. I find myself watching MTV. I actually played the guitar at the house, which I haven't touched in a long, long time. There was this one night when I came home late and there was a power interruption. Sophie was still awake so I decided to play with my kid. She wasn't really in the mood to play 'coz it was dark and a bit warm inside the house. Rather than agitate her and make her cry (which she often does whenever I suddenly grab her and smother her with kisses hehe) I grabbed the guitar and played some chords. Now, Sophie has seen the guitar in the house but I don't know if she knows the sound that it could make. So when I started playing, she laughed and went near me. She wanted to strum the guitar so she can also make the sounds. Of course I told her not to because the guitar was a bit dirty since I haven't used it in a long while.

As I was playing the guitar, a thought entered my mind. I had this urge to play a song that I would never, ever would have played even if it was a matter of life and death. I wanted to play Barney's song "I love you, you love me . . . " for Sophie. I didn't know the chords of the song but due to the daily dose of Barney (who I still hate by the way) shows that I get because of my little princes, the melody and the lyrics stuck to my mind. So I started "widowing" the chords until I've had (to my mind) the right chords for the song. I sang the song to Sophie while playing the guitar and she laughed and started hugging me. Haaaayy the things you do for your kid.

Here's the song. Sana ma-LSS din kayo like me. Torture! hehehe

After that, I was even started my widowing for Barney's song "Mr. Sun" (please click) but Jan came home and to save me the embarrassment and another kaltok moment, I stopped.

Now every time I sing the song to Sophie, she runs towards me and hugs me. Sweet!

By the way, the chords for "I Love You", just in case you have the urge to play it, is: D - Dm/Dm7 - G - Em (1st line) D - Dm - A - G - D (2nd line). At least yan yung na-kapa ko nung brown-out samin :-)

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Nowadays, I'm finding myself watching MYX and MTV more often than before. I have a TV set in my office that I use to monitor our competitor and during afternoons, I tune in to these music channels. I've found out that I've missed a lot since I haven't been listening to the radio for a quite a while now. Now I watch new local and foreign bands play on TV and I have to say some of them are quite talented. I also listen to www.odysseylive.net so I can stream music while working.

Some of the local bands that I listen to are:

1) Urban Dub
2) 6 Cycle Mind
3) Sinosikat?
4) Kamikaze
5) Kiko Machine
6) Imago
7) Kala
8) Join the Club
9) Chicosci
10) Sandwhich
11) Parokya ni Edgar
12) Callalily
13) Session Road
14) Narda
15) Sugarfree

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One basketball team that needs a jump start is the San Antonio Spurs who fell to the Lakers 89 - 85. They were leading all through out the game when Kobe took over and led a scoring rally. The Spurs turnovers also led to the Laker's rally and they couldn't make crucial shots that they normally make. Oh well, its a 7 game series and I'm sure they'll find a way to bounce back.

Manu Ginobli reading about their game loss to the Lakers

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Oh yeah, by the way, David Cook won in American Idol which will surely jump start his career to rockstardom just like fellow rockers Chris Daughtry (who's coming to Manila in July) and Bob Bice (who sounds a lot like The Black Crowes). I actually thought that David A may win because of Simon's comments to Cook but fortunately his fans rallied together and voted for the Idol rocker. I myself wasn't crazy about Cook's performance during the final performance night but I think his previous performances was enough to make him the American Idol this year.

DAVID COOK

CHRIS DAUGHTRY

BO BICE

AI rockers ROCK! hehe :-)

Concerted Effort

San Antonio won over the New Orleans Hornets 31-82! I never doubted for a second! This is the first in the series that I saw them play like a good basketball team in New Orleans. The Hornets were playing well in the first and second quarter but their lack of playoff experience showed on the third quarter when the Spurs led as much as 17 points. Watching them play was like listening to an AC/DC song. Solid rhythm with spectacular riffs.


The Spurs will face the LA Lakers on Thursday (Philippine time) on the Laker's home court. Another classic match in the making. In my opinion, as long as the Spurs' big men keep Gasol in check, they'll come out of this series as the western conference champs. Kobe will always be Kobe and he will always find ways to score. Its the other contributing players they should be concerned about. Put Bowen on Kobe to make it harder for the reigning MVP to score.

Duncan and Gasol can be a good match-up also. It will be a battle of the Forward-Centers. I think Gasol can be faster than Timmy, but I know that Timmy has more aces up his sleeve. Odom can be a problem too but I'm sure the Pop will have a good player rotation this series. With Tim, Manu, Toni, Bowen an the rest of the guys playing like the defending champions that they are, I expect the Spurs come out of this series as the victors.

Man! I'm looking forward to the next game!

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The James Blunt concert was ok. I only know one of his songs so I wasn't really expecting anything. His lyrics were heavy and deep. Jan commented that his concert was just like attending a poetry reading plus the background music. As for the music, I found some of the songs to be so sad, that if I were loaded with ganja, I would have cried.



The band was ok. I thought the guitarist was great. As for the other members, they were pretty solid too. He's a good performer also. There was a time that he jumped from the stage and ran through the crowd. The show started at around 8:45pm and was over by around 10pm.

His music caters to the thinking, intelligent crowd. But I bet some of the fans were there because of his looks, and the song "You're Beautiful", the only song I know. I'm actually glad that I went to the concert, because I'm always open to any kind of music.

*** I'll upload the video of "You're Beautiful" once I've transferred it already :-)

Concert Tonight

I'm watching the James Blunt concert with Jan tonight. Actually, I only know one of his songs, but since I haven't seen that many international concerts, I'd like to see this one.


I'll tell you all about it tomorrow :-)

Oooh Yeah!

Its Friday and what better way to spend it than celebrating the Spurs victory over the Hornets 99-80. I saw the first 3 quarters at home and they were leading all through out. Game 7 will be at the Hornets home court so the San Antonio boys better be ready. This will be a test of who wants to win more. The veteran Spurs will surely show their championship experience and the young Hornets will show that they're hungry to reach the top. Game 7 will surely be a classic match.

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I was planning to bring Sophie to Luneta tomorrow because I want to take pictures of her in this historic sight but with today's weather, I don't think that will be possible. The last time I was there was (really there and not just passing by) was years ago and I've wanted to visit it again just because I feel proud of this historic land mark. Watching the Living Asia Channel opened my eyes on how beautiful the Philippines is, and I'd like to visit a lot more places in the country to experience it first hand.

I've been to Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Cebu, Iloilo, Guimaras, Bacolod, Baguio, Zambales, Bicol, Quezon, Batangas, Mindoro, Boracay and Laguna and it feels good to see these different places. I told my wife that when Sophie grows up, I'd like to spend at least 1 summer visiting the different places in our 7,100 islands (high-tide and low-tide). I want my daughter to see how beautiful her country is before she develops colonial mentality like most Filipinos have. Its a shame how a lot of Pinoys think that anything imported is better than locally made products. What they don't know is most of these imported products are made locally, sent abroad and then sold here for an arm and a leg.

Mt. Apo Davao. Beautiful!

Boracay!


Iloilo!

Guimaras Costa Aguada

Guimaras

Puerto Galera on peak season!

Baguio ages ago: Mama, insan Nainah, bro Ian, Me, insan Mel and Tita Chit. When we were younger, we were there almost every year

The beauty of the Philippines, is shining through . . .(PAL jingle . . . if you can remember. click to re-live the commercial). My regret is I never had good pics of the places that I've been too. Maybe now its time to start taking them :-)

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Its a rainy weekend and its time to relax, spend time with the family and maybe read a good book.

Happy weekend everyone!

Banda Rito, Banda Roon

I've always been a music lover and in our family, it was natural for me and my brothers to learn an instrument. My Dad used to play in a band, singing and playing the guitar. My two aunts on my father's side are into music and singing and may aunts in my mom's side all know how to play the piano. I learned how to play the guitar when I was in high school. Although I didn't have one, I was able to borrow a friend's guitar. I didn't ask my dad to teach me. I learned by studying guitar chord in songhits mags. I remember the first song I learned: The Horse With No Name by America (click to see video). It only had 2 chords: DM7 and Em. It was so easy to play.

At that time, a lot of my friends were learning how to play the guitar. Being someone who wanted to find a niche for himself, I shifted to Bass guitar. Of course, another reason is my friend Mart was getting so good at playing lead guitar and I couldn't keep up. I learned to play Bass one night when me and my friends were drinking with our neighbor Mr. Tamundong. He used to be in a band also and knows how to play a lot of instruments. He taught me the basic chords using the guitar and then I went from there.

Bam and Buto

I got my first Bass guitar during college. I bought it for around Php 2K. It was a Fender Jazz Bass copy from Raon. My Dad gave me the money to buy it. My friend Olan named my Bass "Buto" because the strings were so stiff, only I can play it. Anyone who attempted would have blisters on their fingers the next day. Buto means Bone in Tagalog and Penis in Bicolano hehe.

We formed a band during college. We called ourselves "Flow" and initially, we played Nirvana, U2, Greenday and covers songs of local bands like The Youth, Philippine Violators, etc. Flow was composed of Winston Eguerra (who's now a lawyer) on vocals, Olan Agudo (now a video editor) on drums, Nino Bolofer (I don't know where he is) on guitars, and myself on Bass. I recruited Marte (who's now into real estate, and also my kumpare) in the band I a few months since we thought we needed a good lead guitarist so. After some unfortunate events / misunderstanding between Nino and myself, Nino left the band we were suddenly without a rhythm guitarist. We had a couple of auditions but we never had chemistry so the band was always the four of us.

Flow- Bottom from left: Winston and Marte; Top: Me and Olan

Our repertoire included cover songs from Jimi Hendrix, Pearl Jam, U2, Juan De La Cruz, Live, Offspring, Black Sabbath, Cream, Cry of Love, Black Crowes and other foreign acts. We also had our own compositions that we also play at gigs. We played at UST, Club Dread and other small rock bars. We used to practice in Cubao and this small studio near España. We were so tight that we could just jam one song for 10 minutes, just feeling each other's groove. I always thought that music should be felt and our jam sessions were usually so intense that there wasn't a need to have time boundaries for each song that we played. We played each song the way we felt like playing it. Sometimes we extend a song so much that I can't play the same song today the way I played it the other day. We were jam based and for me, it was how music's meant to be. The song that we played the longest was Red House(click to see video) by Jimi Hendrix. Winston would go out and smoke after singing his part and when he got back, we weren't done playing the song! The three of us, Olan, Marte and myself would play our instruments to the hilt.

After college, we sort of went our separate ways, doing our own thing to become productive members of society.
We jammed occasionally and we're even scheduling a jam session this month.

A few years ago, I was invited by Mon (who also jammed with Flow from time to time) to audition in for this band he met at church. They need a bass player and a keyboard player. Having nothing to do and wanting to test my brand new bass, I agreed and went with Mon. It was funny because Barry a.k.a. Rev, one of the kids in our neighborhood where I lived before was a member of the band. I think I was 4 years older than him. We enjoyed the band and we were officially in that same day. The band was called Devout.

we played our own songs, most of which were composed by Diane (our vocalist) and RC our lead guitarist. Our drummer was Gie, Barry was our rhythm guitarist and Mon was on keyboards. We played cover songs from Evanesence, Plumb, Lenny Kravitz, and other artists as well. We concentrated in our originals which in my opinion were good. We were tight musically, though most of the time we were more scientific and methodical rather than the "feel" thing that I was used to. It was ok too because I learned how to be disciplined in terms of rehearsing and I learned a lot. But we also cut-loose in jamming doing our own things for a particular song from time to time.

Barry had to go to the Middle East to work and we were left without a rhythm guitarist. I recruited Marte again to be our rhythm guitarist.

Devout: The Pakarazzi (doing his pakrazzing to Mon), RC, Diane, Gie, Marte and Mon (sitting down)

We played some gigs and the best cover song that we did (for me) was Green Tinted Sixties Mind by Mr. Big (click to see video). It was a great song performed by a band with all-star members.

Rc and Bam jamming Green Tinted Sixties Mind

Devout in action: Load 'Em Up concert at Claret. We played with Sandwich, Sugar Free and and other bands

Bam and Marte at the Claret gig

Devout eventually disbanded because of various reasons and Marte, Gie and myself found ourselves jamming on weekends. We called ourselves The Monay Blues Jam because we jammed mostly blues based riffs. It was a situation I was comfortable with and all we did was have fun jamming. We were very informal and we enjoyed every minute of it.

The Monay Blues Jam: Me, Gie on drums and Marte on Guitars

The Monay Blues Jam formed another band called Reptile, composed of the three of us, Mon on rhythm guitar and my officemate and kumpare Willy on vocals. We played songs from The Cult, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Jimmy Hendrix, U2, Beatles, Black Crowes and whatever rock song we can jam. It was a good anti-stress mechanism for all of us. All of us, with the exception of Willy, already played music with each other and because of this, we didn't have any need to adjust to each other's style. After I got married, the band went into hibernation.

I never wanted to be a rockstar although sometimes I feel like one when playing on stage. All I wanted was to play good music and feel good about it. All of the people that I have played with were talented and I believe that had we decided to pursue music as a career, we would have made it.

I remember this one time when Flow was invited to guest (take note hehe), not compete, in a local battle of the bands competition, the host said: "Wag po tayo mag taka kung makita natin sa TV 'tong mga 'to sa mga darating na araw . . .". It was very flattering. Hearing those words was so fulfilling for me.

Music is so wonderful, that I'd rather be blind than deaf. (but I'd rather not be blind nor deaf at all hehe)

:-)

Crap! Crap! Crap!

Spurs lost Game 5! CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAPP!!!! Now they should win against the Hornets twice to advance to the third round. Good thing that the next game will be at San Antonio. The Hornets held Duncan to 10 points. David West had 38. I saw the first half of the game and the Spurs were still leading at the half. When I got to the office, I checked the net and I saw the horrible, horrible news. NOH 101 - SAS 79. Oh my gulay!! 22 points! Say it ain't so!

Parker vs Melvin Ely (who was in the Spurs championship roster last year)

I still believe that the Spurs will advance to the next round. They always play good under pressure and they're the damn reigning NBA champs for Pete's sake!.

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In local crap . . .

Gas prices are going high, electricity charges are soaring and everyone's forgotten about the ZTE scandal! What the hell is happening? I remember a time when I was in High School when the jeepney fare from Bicutan to Sucat was 75 centavos. Now its P7.50. Someone please tell me what our leaders are doing after all the grandstanding on TV. More action and less talk please!

Its no wonder why a lot of Pinoys opt to go out of the country just so they can have a better life. Government accepts brain drain for their own gain. The corrupt people are getting richer and richer by the minute. What the hell are they going to do with all that money anyway? You don't need that much to eat three times a day!

It's very scary now to raise a family here. Personally I wouldn't want to leave the country simply because I believe that people can also be successful here. God has been good to me and my family and we always have food on the table 3 times a day. But now, with all of these going on, I'm starting to have second thoughts. Its very sad to know that people who are supposed to be our leaders are taking advantage of us. They are treated like kings while they should be our servants. They're sitting on their ivory towers looking down and laughing while counting their money.

Sometimes I'm comforted with the thought that they'll have their own rooms in hell when they die. With their own personal demon to torment and punish them for all eternity.

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In international crap . . .

Thousands or people dead in China and Myanmar because of natural calamities. Those idiots in Myanmar's government are not doing anything about it, even turning away international aide.STUPID IDIOTS! I've seen the news and it was really depressing.

Chinese rescuers

The international community has offered support to both countries and it's a good thing that China accepted. Food, clothing and manpower are now there or in transit to help all the victims. If this happened here, the food and clothing would be divided by the government officials first before they're given to the victims.

Last night in the news they said that 12k people were dead in China. In Myanmar, the count is 34K dead and 27K missing.

I'm offering a moment of silence for the people in China, but I want to shout my lungs off to the government of Myanmar.

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In my own crap . . .

I'm finding it hard to take a crap for the last few days. Maybe I need to drink more water. Maybe that's why I feel so crappy. :-)

The Pakarazzi TOP ANYTHING: Rock Bands

Just wanted to share my list of fave bands:


MORE than 10 Top Foreign Bands (in no particular order):

1.) Black Crowes - (I love their first album, especially the song "She Talks To Angels")

2.) Pearl Jam - What can I say. . . they're awesome. I like listening to "State of Love and Trust"

3.) Cream - "Born Under a Bad Sign" (I've been down since I began to crawl . . .)

4.) AC/DC - "Thunderstruck" (Asteeeg!)

5) Dave Matthews Band - "Satellite" (Cool song. Cool band)

6) U2 - "All I Want Is You" (Need I say more?)

7) Cry of Love - "Pretty as You Please"(Yeah Baby!)

8) Metallica "Of Wolf and Man" (Shape shiiift!!)

9) Mr. Big - "Green Tinted Sixties Mind" (loved it, played it, still loving it!)

10) Poison - "Unskinny Bop!" (blew me away!)

11) RHCP - "My Friends" (Flea!)

12) Black Sabbath - "War Pigs" (Oh lord yeah!)

13) Linkin Park - "Crawling" (English for "gapang" hehe)

14) Guns and Roses - " November Rain" (everyone felt this song . . )

15) Live - "When Dolphin's Cry" (Kick ass!)

16) Beatles - "Eleanor Rigby" (all the lonely people . . .)

18) The Darkness - "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (Me too . . hehe)

19) Warrant - "Heaven" (theme song of love struck teens in my day . . .)

20) Led Zeppelin - "Kashmir" (I think I hear Godzilla)

I've got a lot more favorite bands, but I'm afraid my page might hang. I like Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Matchbox Twenty, Smashing Pumpkins and a whole lot more. I didn't include "Solo" performers like Jimi Hendrix, Santana and Eric Clapton (though he's part of Cream) because I wanted to post about bands per se.

Just click the links to view the videos.

I hope you enjoy the videos! More TOP ANYTHING to come!

Mother's Day

Today’s Mother’s Day. For most families, Mother’s Day’s a very big deal. I grew up with 5 brothers and, being boys, we were not really into whatever special occasion, except for Valentines Day, the day when most men would go through the gauntlet just to ask his special someone out. So to me, Mother’s day is just like any other day. I greet my Mom whenever I remember, but there are times when I forget. I remember there were times when my Dad would remind us, being the romantic person that he is.

I never appreciated this day until the day I my daughter was born. I saw my wife transformed (not like the autobot/decepticon kind of transformation) from being a wife to a mother. There is a big difference. Any father would know this. I realized that being a mom was really, really hard. Starting from pregnancy and for the rest of her life, a mother’s job is never done.

I’ve experienced a lot of things from being a father but the person who made the most sacrifices is my wife. From waking up almost every hour to breast feed our baby, changing diapers, doing a lot of research about how to raise a baby, what vaccines to give, etc, etc. It’s a miracle how my wife wakes up in the morning to go to work. I often complain that I often times find it hard to sleep because my daughter always wakes up in the middle of the night to transfer to our bed, but by wife’s always the one who puts her to sleep, long after I’ve slept already. My watching Barney (who I hate to the very core of my being) with my daughter pales in comparison to all the things that Jan has done in taking care of Sophie. She’s been having back pains as a result of her giving birth. We go to therapy every weekend to at least lessen the pain, but it still hurts every day.

Mommy and Sophia

Lola with Sophia

Seeing all of the things my wife has done for our daughter made me appreciate my Mom more. Sure there are times when she can be makulit but at the end of the day, she only wants the best for me and my brothers. I try to call my mom at least twice a week just to see how she’s doing. Sometimes we even chat on YM (groovy!).

With our daughter growing up, I know that we will be going through a lot of things and Jan will always be in the front lines. She might get tired, get angry, get frustrated and she may even think that she would give up but like all moms all over the world, she’ll still be there.

A toast to my wife, the mother of my child, my mom and to all the mothers out there! We all love you for always being there for us and we pray that God gives all of you the strength, wisdom and courage to overcome all the trials that you will ever face. Thank you for all the patience and understanding that you have given us. Your love and sacrifices will always be an inspiration to us, no matter what.

Outwitted, Outplayed and Outlasted

One thing that I have learned in the reality show SURVIVOR is never, ever, EVER give your immunity idol or necklace to ANYONE! I mean, only a stupid person would do that! In a game full of back-stabbing and blind siding, who would want to take that risk? The answer to that question is Eric, the latest jury member of Survivor: Micronesia. Its stupid enough to be complacent (e.g. Ozzy) in the game, as history will tell you, most of the people who will vote you is the same people that you had alliances with. Eric was coaxed to give his immunity necklace to Natalie, one of the remaining 5 survivors.

OUTWITTED!

The funny thing is, Eric is a self-proclaimed Survivor geek, who knows by heart everything that happened in the all of the seasons of the show. He showed it when he won in the last reward challenge wherein questions about previous seasons were asked. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Outwitted and Outlasted. I can't say Outplayed since Eric had been winning challenges. That's how he survived this long.

I was actually rooting for him because I used to be a Survivor geek myself. Now I'm rooting for Amanda who outwitted everybody last week by getting the secret immunity necklace,thereby negating all the votes for her during tribal council.

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The 3 remaining American Idol wanabees OUTPLAYED Jason Castro. Finally, finally, finally! It should have happened weeks and weeks ago! America made the right choice this time!

I don't think he could have pulled it off even if he did the Eric Clapton version

Mr. Tamborine Man shot the Sheriff!

It think its David vs David! I like Mr. Cook cuz we both have the same style hehe!

Another performance like this will leave David A in Teenage Wasteland!

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Toni, Toni, Toni!

Finally, the San Antonio Spurs OUTWITTED, OUTPLAYED and OUTLASTED the New Orleans Hornets, winning game 3 of the western conference semi-finals. No team has ever won a series at 3 -0 and the Spurs know this. Good thing Pop made the necessary adjustments, assigning Bowen to Peja who did a lot of damage in Games 1 and 2. Well played boys . . . well played.

GO SPURS!

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My thanks to Garet for teaching me how to up-load videos on my blog. I couldn't have done it without you, classmate!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Look at these kids . . .

Uso pa ba ang harana?

I saw this pic and I thought it was cute. I was serenading my future wife. If I'm not mistaken, this was taken back in 1999 in one of the parties of her friends. Yup, I play the guitar, and I can carry a tune too (ehem, ehem!). Man, this brings back a lot of memories. I've forgotten what I was playing in this pic, pero mukha namang natuwa si Jan (kaso nakatalikod, eh!).

Jan and I met during college at UST. We were batch mates during elementary but we were never classmates. In fact, she was the one who recognized me (no shit!). I was surprised but she said that she's been in St. Mary's long enough to recognize people who graduated there. I'd personally like to think that I was a heartthrob and she had a crush on me since elementary. But that's just me.

I'm the second guy from the left standing on the top, Jan's the second girl from the right at the bottom

I was the torpe type back in college and my "courtship" was on and off. But we did develop a friendship and in fact, I was one of her 18 roses during her Debut party. We used to go home together every night as our classes lasted till around 8-9pm.

Jan's Debut. Bam's grunge look

I left UST after our second year and our communication wasn't that regular. Until finally, I decided to ask her out. We met at Padi's Point Makati, the one that used to be in Greenbelt. I was with a couple of friends, and she was with her sister, Joy. After that, we went out more regularly than before. Just the two of us of course.

We were officially together on October 30, 1996. We were having dinner at Shakey's Greenbelt (near Tia Maria, the area is being occupied by Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf now) and I suddenly had the urge to tell her how I feel. Take note that at the time, we were close friends and courtship was really a gray area. We were always hanging out but nothing was really official.

I told her that I've been wanting to tell her something for a long time. But, just in case masupalpal ako, and being the torpe that I am, I tried to tell her the only way I knew how: acting funny. I actually wanted to tell her I wanted to court her by flipping a P2.00 coin! Crazy!

Bam!: "Kung heads, liligawan kita, kung tails, hindi."

I flipped the coin . . . .heads! Shit! What will I do next? My heart was beating fast and parang nanginig yata ako sa nerbyos!

Jan, I remember was speechless, but she was smiling.

Bam!: "Naku heads . . . pano ba yan? Teka, one more time para sure."

Jan: "Sige nga . . ."

I flipped the coin again . . . heads uli! Oh my gulay! Cupid was really working his magic that time! I mean 2 heads in a row? Wow! I am such a lucky dog!

Bam!:"Heads uli . . . so . . .paano . . . ligawan na kita?"

Jan: "Huwag na, tatagal lang . . ."

Bam!: "You mean, tayo na?"

Jan: "Ayaw mo?"

Bam!: "Gusto! Ano ba date ngayon . . . October 30?"

So that's how it happened. We were friends before we got together and it all started from there.Who would have thought that we'd get married after 8 years of being together?

We still have the P2.00 coin and we are planning to keep it.

Just a pic of a P2.00 coin. The one I'm talking about is at home. I'll post a pic :D

This pic was taken during one of our many trips to Puerto Galera

The Mighty Ducks

I'm writing this while watching THE MIGHTY DUCKS on the Disney channel. I love this movie. A story about a group of friends who had one thing in common: they sucked at playing hockey. It wouldn't have mattered if they weren't competing in a state competition. Enter Emilio Esteves, a lawyer turned reluctant hockey coach who used to be a star hockey player in the peewee hockey league.

The team had a rough start but after a rocky relationship, they eventually the true meaning of team work and won the championship. This movie was so good it had two more sequels.

I remeber that there was a time when me and my friends watched this before playing our baketball game in one of the summer leagues from where we were living before. Its a feel good movie. I don't remember if we won the game but what i remember is that after watching the movie, we felt like a team and we played like one.

I always feel good when I watch this movie. I always watch it when its on. No matter how many times I've seen it.

I think this movie and its sequels should be shown during team building sessions. It shows the reality that every person in the team is different with his / her own little quirks. It showa that chemistry is key to a good working relationship. More importantly, it shows that, whatever the goal is, teamwork is the best way to achieve it.

QUACK! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!

God knows the people in our government should watch it. It may give them the sense of fair play. Who am I kidding? Baka magkaroon lang sila ng team work magnakaw hehe!

A little bit of trivia: Joshua Jackson of DAWSON'S CREEK starred in the 3 Mighty Ducks movies.

Mental note: look for the DVDs to add to our collection. I want Sophie to watch all 3 movies too!

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We brought Sophie to the hospital today because she had a very high fever last night. The doctor said it was viral and its the season for childrens fever because of the weather. I hope she gets well soon. She's been a bit cranky because she's not feeling well. A good indication was we played a bit and she was laughing again.

Hope she gets better tomorrow.

Whatever . . .

I do not know why controversies follow this (please click) guy wherever he goes. Does he have the wrong set of friends? Are the people around him just using him? Can he make decisions for himself like a grown-up should? He went out of the country after a scandal and now he's making waves again with all these court cases (please click), new and old ones. If I were him, I would've just stayed in the States and live a peaceful life.

Kaya nga hindi ako nag artista e . . . . haay. hehe

I don't believe I'm even talking about this!

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Naks!

Someone's suing the Calayans for a botched penis enlargement procedure. Bwahaha! Wala lang . . .

Nakakatawa lang :D


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I've felt a little bored since Monday. I don't know why. I go through this once in a while and I'm looking for something to jump start my working days. I'm usually a workaholic and idleness was never my thing. I always go out of my way to find something to do.

This too shall pass . . .

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The Spurs are down 0 - 2 against the Hornets in the NBA's Western Conference semi-finals. I can't believe it. In the first game, the Hornets defensively checked Duncan. Today, they held Ginobli and Parker to low scores. Pop should do something about this. I hope that playing in their home court would help the Spurs. This could be their last shot for a championship. Most of their players are getting old: Horry, Barry, Finley, Soudamire, Bowen and Thomas. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli are relatively young but they'll need a solid supporting cast if they want to dominate their conference in the next few years. I wish the didn't trade Scola to the Rockets, who did pretty well this season.

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Sophie has a slight fever today and we're thinking that's because of a new tooth coming out. Hope she's gets well soon. It's so sad seeing children not feeling well. Specially if it's your kid.

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Everyone's raving about David Cook in American Idol. I liked his rendition of Always Be My Baby.
It was darn good. I never liked the song but now I can't get enough of it. I'm hoping to find a full version of the song with him singing it. I'm a rocker at heart and I know a good rocker when I see one. He can sing any genre too!

The way he sang Billy Jean, Eleanor Rigby and Day Tripper was just . . . uh . . . brilliant! And he's a pretty good guitar player too!

Btw, just press the link to go to the videos. Can someone please teach me how to freaking upload youtube videos here? Thanks!

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PLEASE VOTE ON MY POLL QUESTION! FEW DAYS LEFT! Hehe!

Long weekend = Long Blog

May 1 is always a holiday here in the Philippines and this year, it fell on a Thursday so I took my VL on Friday so I can have 4 straight days off. SARAP! So here's a chronicle of my 4 -day weekend:

May 1:

Went to Megamall to accompany Jan to her weekly back therapy. I also had my ankle therapy which hurt a little after our swimming in Laguna. It was a it swollen and the therapist taught me a few exercises to stengthen it since I told her that it my left ankle felt like it was missing some screws.

We met my brother Sym after the therapy. He called me earlier and asked me if I can help her GF's sister to promote the band she was handling. I told him to give me a copy of the band's mtv and I'll see if I van air it on our channel.

He gave me the DVD after our therapy. He also gave us a large TOBLERON bar and a bag of Hershey's kisses.

Bam!:"Ano tugutgan nila?

Sym: " New Wave tugtugan nila"

Suzanne (GF ni Sym): "Sila yung narinig nyo sa kotse nung papunta tayo sa Laguna na paulit ulit pinapatugtog ni Sym."

Bam!:"Ahh Ok, sige tignan natin. San kayo punta after nito?"

Sym: "Manonood kami ng Forbidden Kingdom"

Bam!: "Samin yan, may passes ako nyan e."

Sym: "Akin na lang!"

Bam!: "Di pwede ngayon kasi holiday. Di pwede gamitin hehe."

Sym: "Sus! San kayo punta ngayon?"

Bam!: "Paikot iko lang . . ."

Suzane: "Uwi na kayo?"

Bam!: "Hindi, date muna kami, minsan lang kami makalabas e. Mag-momotel muna kami hehe."

Suzzane: "Yuck! Ang tatanda nyo na!"

Jan: "Ano sabi mo?"

Bam!: "Sabi ko magmomotel muna tayo hehe."

Jan: "Gago!"

So after meeting them, we went around the mall and, wouldn't you know it? SALE sa buong mall! Oh, no . . . Oh, yes! I had mixed emotions because: 1) The day before was our pay day so I have a bit of moolah stashed 2) Im saving up for a root canal that's a bit expensive. But then I thought, who the hell saves for a root canal?

So off we went strolling in the mall. I bought some toys at Toy Kingdom: A Dieigo Maradon figure and a football referree figure. I don't watch or play football but they looked pretty cool. The most important thing was it cost about P69.00 each. Mura! I'll take two please.

Then we went to Powerbooks.

Jan:"Ano nga yung kulang natin na Lord Of The Rings?

Bam!: "The Return of the King."

Jan: "Sigurado ka?"

Bam:" Oo naman. Meron ako nung Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers e"

Jan: "Sige."

We bought the book and another one of Bob Ong's books: Bakit Baliktad Mag-Basa ang Mga Pilipino. We were eating a coffee bun that Jan bought while roaming around the bookstore. We didn't care. Gutom kami e hehe.

We went around again and we went to another toy store. We saw a lot of action figures on sale and I bagan rumaging through the Lord Of The Ring action ficures, looking for a cheap, good buy. I saw this figure of Elron (Arwen's father) priced at P199.00. I decided to buy it. I asked Jan if she was interested in buying one.

Jan:"Gusto ko Eowynn. May nakita ka ba na Eowynn?"

Bam!: "Wala e."

Jan:"Pag may Eowynn bibilhin ko."

Suddenly there's this guy who showed us the Eowynn figure.

Manong: "Eto Eowynn o."

Jan:"Ay! Si Eowynn."

Bam!: "Magnano?"

Jan: "P499"

Bam!: "Bibilhin mo?"

Jan:" Mahal e. Lokong mama yun a. Mukhang mapapasubo ako a!"

Bam!: " hehe. Bilhin mo na. Maganda naman e. Naka dress."

Jan:"E gusto ko yung naka-armor . . ."

LUSOT! In short, we didn't buy the Eowynn figure. Then we went to Filbars to buy X-Force issue 2. Unfortunately they were out but they had issue 3 already so I bought it.

Bam!: "Pare yung issue 2 ha, balikan ko sa sabado baka meron na."

Store Guy: "Sige sir, pag meron. Hanapan kita. Cable meron ka na? Maganda artwork, meron pa ko 1 & 2."

Bam!: "Sige nga patingin . . . ."

He was right. I liked it. I was sweating because this is become too expensive. One comic book cost P150. Buying 3 will cost around P450. What do I do?

Store Guy: "Sale kami ngayon. P135 lang. May libre pang backing board."

Shoot. That does it. You got me at SALE.

Bam!: "Sige, kunin ko pareho."

So now I remember why I stopped collecting. It was getting expensive. Now I think the addiction is coming back. Oh, What the hell.

After buying, we went to a few more stores. We bought Sophie's Promil and diapers and then headed home. When we went out to get a cab, it was raining pretty hard. Good thing we didn't bring Sophie along.

May 2:

Nothing special on this day. Aside from going out on a chore for a little while, I just stayed home. I did some checking on my email, posted a blog. Got a call from the office because of several problems to which my reply was: "Sa Monday na yan. Ayaw ko sumakit ulo ko ngayon." I wanted to enjoy my weekend. All the hassle from work can wait. I'd rather write a blog about our new bookshelf.

May 3:

Back to Megamall again. We were supposed to have another therapy session but we decided to skip it and watch the movie The Forbidden Kingdom. I had some passes so we can watch for free. I found myself bored and Jan was bored too. The pacing was slow and the scoring wasn't that great also. The basic premise of the movie was ok, but the screenplay was a bit anemic. Too bad. Its not everyday that you can get Jackie Chan and Jet Li in one movie.

I found myself in Filbars again. This time buying 2 more comic books (do the math). My gulay! I'm really back to the stuff! I also bought some books for Sophie. There was a Barney book and I knew she'd like it so I got that too. All in all I got 4 books for her and I have to make space for her books on our new bookshelf or buy a new one. Naaahh, we'll just make space for her books.

We also bought some DVDs in Astrovision and Video City: Little Miss Sunshine, What Dreams May Come, Shawshank Redemption, Polar Express and Tears From the Sun.

Bam!: "Remind me not to go to Megamall pag may sale."

Jan: " E ikaw dyan ang parang galit sa pera e."

She's right. So after buying the DVDs we went home.

May 4:

Sunday. I watched the Spurs vs Hornets game. I actually set the alarm on my phone to remind me. Spurs lost. Shit. Duncan wasn't playing his usual game. West and Paul were great. Manu and Tony did their usual thing and Bruce Bowen was being hammered every time he touched the ball in the paint. Watching NBA, with all the KFC ads, made me feel like I wanted to eat KFC. So I phoned for delivery. Damn that KFC for being so effective in their media buys. Pati ako napabili!

We went to church in the evening then went to the grocery to buy some stuff. I took some pictures of Sophie riding on the cart.

We didn't buy that pack of cookies in Sophie's mouth. Basa ng laway e hehe

Naku! Mahilig mag-dampot! Lagot ako pag laki nito!

My two beautiful chikababes!

Ang pogi ng Pakarazzi!! hehe Si Sophie walang pake! Sige anak, ngatngatin mo pa!

Then we bought some burger at BEN'S BURJER. The famous burger of Ben Abalos. Its a bit expensive compared to McDo and Jollibee but we decided to try it out.

Bam!: "Miss, ano ba talga? Burger or Burjer?"

Counter Girl:"Hehe, Kahit ano po!"

Bam!: "Ok, isang cheese BURJER and isang double cheese BURJER."

Malaki siguro "tongpats" sa mga burger kaya mahal hehe. They should have fries and other stuff that comes with a HamBURJER. Its still new so I guess they'll be adding more food on the menu as time goes by.

Walang meal with drinks and fries?

Double-double cheese-cheese, BURJER-BURJER please, please!

It wasn't fantastic but it was ok. I won't be buying again though. Mas gusto ko pa yung Burger Machine. We went home after buying and had dinner at home. I got to chat with some friends also. Chai and Ali. Ali is working in Japan and Chai's working the night shift at a call center. I'll tell you about them some other time.

I can't believe I spent 2 days of my 4 day weekend at a mall. A mall that I pass through every day on my way to work. I enjoyed it though. Me and Jan rarely go out anymore. Its nice to HHWW inside the mall hehe!

2 days in Megamall will leave your feet and wallet crying!

Oh man! Its 3:30am! Got to go to sleep.

PS: Please vote on my blog poll question. Thanks!