AMERICAN IDOL 4

i just saw the the first episode of american idol season 4.

it was hilarious. if you missed it, i feel sad for you. this part of the show is the best one to see to be honest.

why?

it's a stress reliever. major! if you really wanna have a good laugh, you should never miss the ai auditions! haha! i remember how william hung drove me nuts with just laughing.

it's not that i love making fun of people without talent. but you know, i myself wouldn't have the guts to audition in a show like that. with those kind of judges? nah. not that i have talent. i am not a good singer and i know that. i mean, those contestants... those not-so-talented wannabes who 'wanna-be'.. i can't find the words to describe them.. whatever the judges think and say about them -- be it good or bad -- well, i think they asked for it by showing up and doing their 'stuff'. haha. some things are better off hidden, i guess. hehe. but at the same time, american idol would not be that big of a show if it weren't for people like them. really. it wouldn't be the same. at all. and having said that this is the best part of the show to watch, it's all because of them.

hands up!!! hats off!!!

by the way, this guy from a rock and roll band in new york.. constantine? he's a cutie. he got through but i don't expect he'll be staying that long in the competition so you gals better catch him while he's still in the show!

MUSIKERA

I’ve been playing in a band since 14. at 17, we’ve thought of auditioning in bars but then the members enrolled in different universities and it was impossible for us to push through, considering the adjustment we all have to undergo through entering college. Since then, using my hands I can count the times I have performed with a band in public. I played the guitar for a couple of class outings. I played drums for a friend’s debut party. And again played the guitar for the College of Science week when I was a senior.

It stopped there. I pushed my dream of being a rockstar aside. Upon graduation, I already belonged to the corporate world.

Or so I thought.

A year and a half later I got this text from a friend who needed a female lead guitarist for CHIMERA, an all-female alternative rock band. And from then on, my musical side was revived with unusual fervor. I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning just practicing scaling and finger speed. At some point though, we had to end chimera. Weeks after, I got a call from CACTUS KLANK, this time an all-female funk band. But I chose to play for CITRUS MARBLE, a reggae-punk-rock band, instead because I already knew the band members. (although I wish I could have checked out cactus klank first...) On the side I have played session for VALKYRIE, an all-female gothic metal band. And just a couple of weeks back, a friend asked me if I can play session for another all-female alternative band. Of course I said yes (session lang naman eh.hehe.) kahit na I’m committed right now to 3AM ONWARDS, another all-female band. This time we play acoustic mainstream. (see how versatile of a musikera I am? Hehe.)

When 3am onwards got this regular gig at a bar in tomas morato, my friends were like, “wow! Ang yaman mo na!”

People think I get to earn a lot from doing gigs. I do not. I repeat – I do not. There are bars with big budgets. There are bars with tight budgets. There are even bars with no budget at all. So on the average, what I earn from doing gigs is just right. Just right for grabbing coffee on the way home, or playing billiards or drinking with my guests right after a gig or buying a 24/7 call card. Sometimes I set some of it aside so that I can buy a new shirt, sneakers or guitar strings. And you thought it was easy making money out of music? That’s what you all think. Pero kung tutuusin, talo pa kami sa pagod. So why the hell do you think I’m still doing it?

Simply for the love if it baby.

For the freakin’ love of it.

Ang musikera, walang pera. But passion, not money, gets a musikera going. An album is not a requirement for a musikera to be labeled as a true blue musician. A musikera is not synonymous to fame and fortune. (but a successful one is! Hehe!)

As for me, I just want to play while I still can, with no pressure that I have to be this and that a number of years from now. After all, in this scene, you also have to be at the right place at the right time to get a break. Oh, I would love to sing and play my own songs and hear them over the radio! But if I don’t get to be in that position, it’ll still be all good.

Regardless...
I am proud to be a musikera.

PS: yesterday, I got to have a chat with Rada! I even shook her hand! Kakilala niya kase yun kabanda ko. Rada is sooo cool and makulet! Burn-babeh-burn!! stig!!!

MY BUDDY PINUGU

I was never good at holding back tears. This morning at the airport, around 4am, I bid goodbye to my very good friend pinugu. she's going to work in the states na kase. Her mom told lanee and I not to cry or else the one who’ll start the crying will have to treat the family to McDonalds. And these are the rare times that I admit instant defeat. naiyak talaga ako.

Bakit?
Love na love ko yun si pinugu. super tight kame nun.. I’m talking about over ten years here ah. Well, technically we witnessed each other grow up kase we were batchmates since kindergarten. Then it was just in high school that we have gotten really tight. And I don’t want to further talk about time here kase mabubuking ang age namen. Hehe.

I don’t know how we became close in the first place. She’s the tahimik type of student in class. Ako yun tipong maingay at magulo. nung nalaman kong team captain sha ng chess team ng batch namen, ako pa mismo naghamon sa kanya ng one-on-one. Pikon na pikon ako when she repeatedly beat me tapos sasabihin ko na lang, “tara, ligpit na natin to. dun nalang tayo sa tambayan!” Hehe.

Isa sa malupit na experience namin nito ni pinugu was when we were usherettes for the world youth ‘week’ in our school. super pa-cute lang kame sa mga foreign delegates. hehe! We were even in Luneta during the world youth day itself. Grabe yun. Ilang centimeters lang si Pope nun sa paningin namin dahil sa layo namin.

Every Saturdays punta lang kameng galleria or megamall. Tapos ang hilig naming magpa-photo me. minsan with our other kadings. Look.

Hahaha!!!! Bungisngis days!!! and papanget namen!! Look how far (and beautiful) we have grown! hehe!

ayun. Parati kaming updated sa love life ng isa’t isa kahit gaano naging busy and mga buhay namen when we started working. she worked as a nurse pala sa polymedic. my dad was once confined there due to appendicitis. and she took very good care of him then. eto tignan niyo yun kuha namen with lanee.. mukha kameng mga pasyente sa mental hospital.

by the way -- that's inside polymedic's recovery room and that's my dad on the background!! hehe!!

ayun.. so..

i'll be posting pictures from her despedida in the next few days. my mind doesn't seem to work right now.

i'm super sleepy na from airport to work and all...

kanta ko nga pala kay pinugu... KANDILA by Sugarfree..

Sana malaman mong magkailaw man madilim pa rin kung wala ka....

RESOLUTION LIST

I have refrained myself from making long New Year’s Resolution lists because they make me realize how naughty i have been. I also realize how hopeless I am since the ‘not doable’ things are always waaaay more than the ‘doable’ things.

Thus, my resolution list for 2005 is short. And I have made it a point that the ‘not doable’ things have the same number of ‘doable’ things. You ask what’s the use of listing down ‘not doable’ things when I am very much aware that they are not doable in the first place? Well at least through the list I can be constantly reminded that they are just ‘apparently-not-doable– but-very-doable’ things. Labo ko ba? Hehe.

1. I will try not to be late during Mondays anymore. Wish me luck with the 7a-4p work schedule adjustment. Hehe. thank God, it’ll only be til January 6. Try lang muna ha. Hehe.
2. I will carry out my diet. You see, I eat like a man and I’m starting to look like one because of my physique. Yyyyyyyuck! So I better do something before I get called ‘sir’ in a restaurant!
3. I will exercise at least twice a week. this is in connection with my losing weight. By doing so, I will also improve my immune system. Something I badly need right now, having cough and colds as I write.
4. I will refrain from going out on a weekday. If not for band practice, I might as well stay home.
5. I will attend Sunday mass as often as I can. And I will stop watching other people fall asleep during mass.
6. I will limit my monthly cellphone bill to only P800 a month.

So which are the ‘doable’ ones and the ‘not-doable’ ones? Hhmm.. Secret!!! Hehe.

SANA MAY PAGBABAGO

Bagong taon na!

unang bagong taon namin na hindi kame nagpaputok. usually kase sa mall lang kame bumibili. pero nung december 2003, sa friend ko. eh nung 2004 (kala mo naman napakatagal na ng 2004! hehe!) mejo late na ako nakipag-negotiate sa friend ko kaya hindi na nai-deliver sa bahay. gumising ako ng earlier than the usual nung december 31 para sabihin sa tatay ko na bibili na lang ako ng paputok sa megamall. sabi niya wag na lang daw.

hmm. kakaiba. na-weirduhan ako. ngayon lang kase talaga kame hindi nagkaron ng paputok sa talambuhay ko. actually hindi sila mga paputok. mga serenity fountains ek-ek. mga lumilipad sa ere tas puputok tas makulay sha and all. basta mga ganun. mejo nanibago nga ako eh. pero naisip ko. "wow. bago 'to. wala kameng paputok. baka may bago ding mangyayare sakin ngayong 2005."

duh. tama bang i-relate ko ang buhay ko sa paputok?

wala lang. bagong taon eh. sana marami ding pagbabago sa buhay ko. ang drama ba? hindi naman. hehe. wala ngang drama ang buhay ko eh. hehe! sana magbago na din ako! hehe! hindi lang ako. pati buhay nating lahat. pati ang buong pilipinas. naks. hehe.

bagong taon na! sana may pagbabago!

excited na ako!