Having read sweetie's recent entry, I all of a sudden remembered why my folks would always nag my sibs and I about food intake, sugar intake, exercise, and sleep. I guess it does make sense when they say that you feel the effects of neglect like this when you get older. Not that I'm saying that I feel old like a frail senior citizen, but I appreciate the concern upon my current primacy.

For those who know me well, they've known that I've been underweight for the greater part of my life. That is, until last year. I finally hit the 150 mark.. at the time, rather, I hit 170, which is my ideal weight. When I got sick sometime towards the end of the year, I thought my weight loss was alarming, but thanks to my younger bro introducing me to Body Mass Index I found that I was still normal weight. In fact, I can be 190 and still be fine. Am currently 160-something (think Allen Iverson's stats except not in the build), and I'm still pushing to be a healthy 170-180.

It's great knowing that my entire family (well, most of it) has made a resolve to be healthy. I'm happy that my older bro is losing significant weight (and fat) and finally looks younger than 40.. hopefully he'll look 27 soon. I personally, am back to 4packs from 2.. well, none, actually. It was 5 once.

Mom, being very health sent me an email once, and this part of it made sense as to why some people don't feel too productive during a regular day, and why rest is important:

Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to "schedule."
Because:

Evening at 9 - 11pm : is the time for eliminating unnecessary/toxic chemicals (detoxification) from the antibody system (lymph nodes). This time duration should be spent by relaxing or listening to music. If during this time a housewife is still in an unrelaxed state such as washing the dishes or monitoring children doing their homework, this will have a negative impact on health.

Evening at 11pm - 1am : is the detoxification process in the liver, and ideally should be done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 1 - 3am: detoxification process in the gall, also ideally done in a deep sleep state.

Early morning 3 - 5am : detoxification in the lungs. Therefore there will sometimes be a severe cough for cough sufferers during this time. Since the detoxification process had reached the respiratory tract, there is no need to take cough medicine so as not to interfere with toxin removal process.

Morning 5 - 7am: detoxification in the colon, you should empty your bowel.

Morning 7 - 9am : absorption of nutrients in the small intestine, you should be having breakfast at this time. Breakfast should be earlier, before 6:30am, for those who are sick. Breakfast before 7:30am is very beneficial to those wanting to stay fit. Those who always skip breakfast, they should change their habits, and it is still better to eat breakfast late until 9 - 10am rather than no meal at all.

Sleeping so late and waking up too late will disrupt the process of removing unnecessary chemicals. Aside from that, midnight to 4:00 am is the time when the bone marrow produces blood."

But most of all, the one reason why I truly appreciate my folks reminding me to stay healthy - "BECAUSE YOU OWE IT TO YOUR FUTURE KIDS". Since I know I'm gonna have my own family pretty soon, I do strive to stay healthy and eventually be in good health for my future family's sake.

Thank you, mom and dad. I do promise to take care of my health even more. 

Sweetie was awesome in finding this place, it's pretty cool! You can add sooo many details about weddings in this place, so we really recommend it! Of course, we're still updating it as we speak. ;P

Please, please, please drop a line here, alright? It's at this website:

http://raphloren.weddingannouncer.com 

GO CHECK IT OUT! :D 

For those of you who are interested in seeing this nostalgic song, you can view it here.

Since I've been generally busy and given that now is the only time I've had to blog, plus the excitement of sharing to people some updates on our wedding plans, I've been contemplating the creation of another blog to document our wedding plans all the way to the I Do's, the drunk guests and so on. Please stay tuned for that. Remind me about it, too.

This here, folks, is the PTA Tent Clamshell 2. In its barest form. It's huge. Capacity is about 900 people, sitting. The advantage of a place like this is that you have enough freedom to do what you want with the place. Sounds good, but then when you say freedom, you also have to say "decorate". For us, 200-250 would only take up a portion of it. But with proper decorating, 250 will be just right.

The downside? Decorating is a lot of money. And unless you have that included in the budget, it's gonna come out more expensive than other places. And there is also a lot of work to be done in the place. Floor painting, railing fixing, and so on. So now you know why Lorena mentioned our moms' feelings towards it.

Thankfully, as Lorena mentioned, came this place:

Forbes Pavillion. With the strings that we got to pull, we've been able to reserve this beautiful place. It comes out much cheaper than Clamshell as well. The place is near a playground amidst greens, so in terms of surroundings, it is very much a cleaner place to work with. We got the option of putting the caterer's buffet outside by the front steps, which will allow for the guests to fit nicely inside. :)

Here's the interior. The place had just finished a family reunion. The place claims to fit about 300 people, plus it's got halogen lights which gives it an overall museum effect. It's really nice! We got really sold on this place. Plus, it's much nearer to Guadalupe Church than Clamshell. And easier to map out, too! ;P

So there, new updates from our wedding plans. Coming soon would be my own separate wedding blog page (yes, I'll be the one updating it). ;P 

To the guys from the squad: Sorry if Lorena and I couldn't follow to Pyro and afterwards. Well, something happened and let's just say it ruined a lot of things. If you guys are patient enough to read it, gracias.

DISCLAIMER: Those who know me well enough know that I rarely get angry. And if I get pissed, I don't stay pissed, or I don't get overly pissed. It's like one of those rarities in my personality that's not quite documented by people outside of my family. This instance, however, might be closest to what I mean.

So today started of quite great, actually. Lorena and I got to visit her parish priest, who gave us a great amount of advice for our married life to come. And it was truly great, he affirmed us for being greatly in love, supportive of each other, and our service keeps us closer to each other. Lorena was able to get her fitting done for her bridesmaid gown for Tinka's wedding, which meant that everything in that is progressing smoothly. After lunch, we took a quick trip to the Manila area to check out our second option for a reception (and we did find one.. note to self: push through with separate blog for wedding plans). Of course, our day was not to be complete without some of our favorite street foods: steamed corn for Lorena, 20bucks worth of fishballs for me. :)

You'd think after what I had just mentioned that it would be smooth sailing for the rest of the night.. right? Well, that was all about to change. Lorena had another fitting to go to right before dinner. The bride is another friend of hers who happens to be getting married on March 24. Now, this friend of hers hired a wedding coordinator highly recommended by another friend. And this wedding coordinator/planner lady assured her that she'd get more than her money's worth with the quality of her work. But alas, months went by and turns out.. wedding coordinator was a huge mess. A huge failure. This pissed Lorena's friend a lot to the point that she relegated her to just designing the gowns. Sounds like an easy task, right? Let's see.. color motiff? they agreed on what. Measurements of those with clothes from her? got done. Design ideas from the wearers? Check. That should be more than enough and should merit a good job.

Anyway, 7pm was our meeting time. We arrived as well as the other bridesmaids and secondary sponsors. The agreement with the lady was 7pm. 30 minutes went by.. no clue where she was. Turns out she was in EDSA, the worst main road to be in during a weekend, coz it gets traffic fast. Though Lorena's friend had already told us that she'd be late, ok lang din, since we were all tired and hungry. An hour has passed.. she's in NORTH EDSA. We already told her where to pass, and she still gets stuck in traffic. What time did she arrive? friggin 9pm. Jeez, that's so stupid!

So off the bat, she's already messed-up. But furthermore, we were hoping that despite her busy schedule, and just flying in recently from Boracay for another wedding, she had something nice to show us. And so, she started puling out the gowns.. Which had the wrong shade of the main color. How wrong? Too dark and saturated. In artist terms, 100cyan 100magenta 20black, when it was supposed to be more of 100cyan 50 magenta. I know, right? the fabric color was wrong! To make things worse, she didn't have Lorena's dress!!! Along with 2-3 other dresses!! STupid Shit! And you know what sucks about it? The lady made us wait for 2 hours, and not only does she get the colors wrong, but she forgot to bring the others. And get this? She doesn't remember if all of the dresses are there na in her bags. And she gives a stupid answer pa. Example: "So where's Lorena's dress?" Her: "Lorena?..." (after making her remember as much as that she sketched the dress design) Her: "Uhm... I don't think it's in the bag eh.." That's so friggin UNPROFESSIONAL!!!

Stupid lady, you are the most inconsiderate, unprofessional wedding planner/coordinator/dress maker in the world. By significant leaps and bounds. You wasted a person's money for moving slow from the very start. Around this time may be the most pressuring time for people getting married, but instead of getting things done, you're making it worse. Have you no shame, that you arrive at your meetings late by 1-2 hours? Don't you have any shame that one of the girls at the fitting commuted all the way from QC to Makati, then had plans of meeting with friends at Ortigas, forced herself to cancel it, only to find that her gown isn't there?!? Have you no attention to detail to see that the color of the fabric, which happens to be a certain shade of blue and is the primary color in the motiff, is absolutely wrong? You have the friggin swatch!!! And then what, you are told that you aren't doing a good job, and after leaving the venue, you turn off/block your phone from receiving texts? AND MOST OF ALL, DO YOU REALIZE THAT YOU ARE MOST INCONSIDERATE AND MOST AWFUL FOR WASTING EVERYBODY'S TIME?!? PRACTICALLY EVERYONE WHO WAS THERE TONIGHT HAD THEIR OWN LAKADS AND THEN YOU MAKE THEM WAIT FOR 2 LONG HOURS FOR NOTHING?!? IN VAIN?!?! It would've been okay if you were doing well, but no eh. You pissed a lot of people of.

I warn you, the bride and the groom that I'm talking about are religious practioners of the martial arts. And given the amazing powers of the Internet, just the mere mention of your name will make you lose so much credibility that no one will want to hire na. And although I don't know you personally, I find what you did is absolutely crap. Given the past 2 sentences, you should darn well know that you can lose your services just by a flick of the hand contianing your entire name and all. You have destroyed the evening of not just one person, but everyone else concerned. You overcommitted yourself, it seems, and you dare not apologize for forgetting such major details. Shame on you, absolutely shame on you.

RANT MODE OFF. Alright, just needed to let that out. Anyways, more meaningful things to talk about in the next  entries to come.

The new year has been off to quite a great start for me. Guess Oinky's gonna be spared from becoming breakfast food.

This weekend was one instance. The highlight was yesterday evening, where Lorena and I had to undergo one of the more crucial, slightly nervewracking (initially, of course) and more formal undertakings. It's a Filipino tradition wherein the engaged couple's families come together to talk about the engagement, wedding plans, and so on.

Ladies and Gents, this of course is called the Pamanhikan *plays traditional Pinoy guitar music*

Thankfully the pamanhikan has evolved through the years. Gone are the days when the family would bring a dowry or token of to symbolize the groom's promise to take care of the bride. Gone also was the totally formal practice of the parents asking the the bride's parents for the daughter's hand. It has become more of an informal dinner and getting-to-know-yous evening.

And despite much apprehension in Lorena and I (actually, even my Dad, who didn't know what to expect), it went really well. It was nice seeing the moms and dads talking to each other and relating well. Laughs all around and interesting storytelling was all around. The whole time that our parents were chatting about anything and everything, Lorena and I were holding hands and smiling. We were glad to know that our parents really got along well. We saw our parents enjoying and liking the cheerful and respectful demeanor of each other's. And if anything, it very much showed that we were raised well by our parents. :)

The food was pretty good, by the way. Lorena's mom made Chicken Pastel while dad brought his famous Boneless Bangus (milkfish), both of which were pretty much a hit all night.  ;P

Lorena and I were at a high last night, even hours after the dinner. It was a nice plus to have been able to introduce my family to her other relatives, who were just as accommodating to us. Guess that's one other sign that symbolizes that things are gonna continue to be well as we prepare for the big day. :)

Sweetie, we did great! :) 

=============================

In other news: 

Lately I've come to appreciate the U.S. edition of Adult Swim. I've had my healthy fix of Metalocalypse and Robot Chicken, and now I've started watching The Boondocks (taken from the Filipino word "Bundok", which means mountain.. which, in the given derivation, means someone from the "rural" places.. and in the States, that could means the hood or the subs). This series was inspired from the comic strip, and shares a lot of Eastern influence art-wise. The main characters are brothers Huey (the guy in the afro, who's an intellectual) and Riley (the guy in the cornrows, who's a stereotypical thug) Freeman who are brought to live with their Grandad from the hood to a less violent setting.

Witty humor all around, with long-standing issues and topics being focal points for episodes, from R. Kelly's child molestation issues to Oprah Winfrey, and even the biggest fear of the masculine race when going to jail ("Why did you drop the soap?!? Pick it up!!", "Waaaah!!!"). There are even intentional references to Mr. Dubya himself. The Boondocks also features the voice of the original Bad Mofo himself, Mr. Samuel L. Jackson (who's also in works for an anime entitled Afro Samurai).

Lines are as witty and funny they come, and delivered in an intelligible way and modern-jive flair. Likes this, for instance:

Grandad: Why can't you two be more refined and more disciplined and stuff (he rants on and on)
Riley: Hey, what does he mean by "refined"
Huey: He means, don't act like a nigga
Grandad: What did I tell you.. you don't use the n-word around this house
Huey: But Grandad, you used the word nigga 46 times yesterday. I counted..
Grandad: Nigga, hush!

Stuff like that.

Aaah, now I have an even healthier fix of Pop Culture, Hip-hop and of course.. METAL!

If only [adult swim] in the Philippines had better shows like these. :) 

First of all, I'm hoping everyone enjoyed their holidays. Very nice? I hope so!

I'm most especially thankful that my stomach survived, in spite of a variety of mouth-watering food and tons of booze. Yay, no gastro-pains this year! Well, to early to speak for that. There's still the Baguio on the New Year's weekend. I wonder if our "great" government will declare a holiday on the 2nd.. not likely. Oh well.

Abundance of young ones this year. Fun moments all around.

- Amelie, my baby niece on my dad's side, cooing and giggling through the evening. Not to mention her hunger fit appeased with an "Mmmm" all in one second.

- Josh, my nephew on my dad's extended kin(picture to follow, Kiara upload it na!). This boy is a rockstar in the making. He sings "Papuri sa Diyos" (Praise to God) like an angel.. but wow, his rendition of "Breaking Free" takes the Murderface cake (sige, to follow na rin the video of him singing it). "We're sooooariiing.. FLAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNN!!!" aaah, beautiful. A growl na lang to make it complete. Of course, this wouldn't be complete without the most metal answers during interviews:

ME: Josh, what's the color of my shirt?
JOSH: Blue!!! (don't worry, this is a normal answer for now)
ME: What's the color of the Christmas light?
JOSH: (dramatic pause) BLLLLAAAAACKKKK!!!!
ME: What's the color of your hair?
JOSH: (dramatic pause) BLLLLAAAAACKKKK!!!!
ME: What's the color of your skin?
JOSH: (dramatic pause) BLLLLAAAAACKKKK!!!!

I could go on, really.

- Gaby, my niece from my mom's side. Lukatdat girl. She got makeup this year. And she loves it like anything. And at the tender age of 3, she's already mastered the walk with the handbag. Her mom would be proud. I'm just glad she's more welcoming this year.

-  The twin nephews, Joaquin (left) and Jaime, also from my mom's side. Tell me these two won't make you melt like anything. Joaquin was slightly under the weather that night, but his hair was so long that we had to clip it. Fortunately, both were in high spirits. Blowing candles, running to their mom and dad, eating peanuts.. spitting out chewed peanuts. Mind not their dispositions here in the pics, despite their "tipsy" looks, they don't drink.

Of course, I would like to point out that this would have to be the last holiday I'm celebrating as a single man. Coz guaranteed that by the next one, I'll be a married man. Swee, doesn't that sound so nice? :) And as my Dad said, "Two years from now, you'll be having your own kids" <--- This translates to "I want grandchildren already!". Gotta love my dad.

Other notable mentions would be me being the proud fiance for teaching Lorena how to play Tekken (and scaring Rio during gametime), tattoo jokes with my cousins on dad's side, and yes.. playing the most metal prank on a certain Dan Torres. sexy31 misses him. ;P

Good times, as always. So til the next update (New Year, probably), may you all have fun during these post-holidays and a happy, Happy New Year to all! :)

I'm home, scrambling to get everything together. Last minute purchase at the mall? Check. Prints? Check. Splashed on some cologne, change of clothes, brushed my teeth. Put everything into the Red Corolla and I was off.On the road, I recounted everything that ran through my head earlier in the day. Also wondering why my heart kept beating fast. And it kept getting faster. Relaxed myself by listening to good tunes on the radio. Exited Sucat and kept going. So far so good.

I guess I spoke too soon. Entering into President's Road, my car temperature went beyond half. And down again. Then up again. Shit. Oh no. Saw the nearest car shop. We opened the radiator cap. A beautiful fountain comes out. It's a bit hot, some went on to my head. Oh dear, we're in trouble. Called Karl to tell him I got held up coz of the car.

Called my folks, too. Fortunately they were in the area. They dropped by. We checked the car to see what was wrong. In a move which makes me appreciate my parents for always being there for me, they yielded their car to me and brought mine home. I love my parents. They're great.

Karl thought I got lost and was surprised that I didn't have a hard time with his directions. Took a short breather and a glass of water as Karl took a smoke first. Talked a bit about Marvel Ultimate Alliance as well as great comic book stories. After a short trip to Ruins to pick up a gift, we headed to the airport.Nervous levels? Tremendously high. Prayers to make it on time? A bombardment of them. Heartbeats? Like the Kentucky Derby. Excitement? Beyond peak levels. My heart seemed to want to get out. 

6pm, we just parked. Karl's remix of "Save Room" by John Legend in my head (remix meaning every line ends with TITE). Ran to the main office. Contact took a while to get down. Didn't mind, Karl and I relaxed on the airplane chairs. Chicken or fish jokes are the shite. Contact arrives, gives us our IDs. We walk to the arrival area to rehearse. A short run through to make sure everything went smooth until.. she texted. They had just landed! They arrived too early! Places, everyone! People started coming in and wondering why this guy holding flowers is flanked by two guys with posters?

And there she was. She saw me. She became red as a tomato. And then hid behind her friends, who dragged her to me. I hugged her. I missed my girl sooo much. I looked at her with a smile on my face. As I spoke to her, words came out of my mouth, I felt my heart beating even faster. I was a nervous wreck trying to keep it together. I said everything that my heart wanted me to say. Everything about her. How wonderful she was, how great she's been in my life.. how everything about her has made me a better person.. how I thought I had lost her a long time ago, only to find that I'd still have her, and I'd never let go. She's my everything, and no other guy could love her more than I can. That'd be impossible. And there I was, telling her I love her, and then.. taking a knee. And as I popped open the box, and said my heart stopped that very moment when I said these words.

"Lorena Alto.. Will you marry me?"

The world stops, even with everyone else giggling in the background.

My life ended that instance. My world stopped. I was dead for a few seconds. And then I came back to life..

"YES"

I am the happiest man alive, and she's the most wonderful girl in the entire world. I love you, Lorena. You make this life worth living, you make the hell phase worth going through every time. For you, it will always be worth it.

I LOVE YOU. :) 

2 Casualties?

Let me present to you Exhibit A and Exhibit B:

Well, Exhibit A didn't really bother me that much, coz I knew it could only have a few moments left in them. Exhibit B? That's a different story. First of all, red happens to be my favorite color, and I treasure anything that I may have that's crimson in nature. I dubbed them my lucky shoes, coz they fit just right (tight in above the ankles, snug comfort in the entire shoe), and it helps on spin moves and quick turns. It kinda made me feel invincible, and believe me, it did. When I first got it, I and/or my team never lost. Then of course, I accumulated losses on the way, but as I recall I had winning history with them. The last game I played with them was a win, but I couldn't finish the game coz it just died on me. Wah, sucksmuch.

Oh well, as I've said, I'm gonna Phoenix-Down them soon. :)

----------------------------------------

The weekend was great for Lorena and I. Of course, as she mentioned, my cousin Audrey press-conferenced us Saturday night and stuff. Earlier in the day, she texted me saying that "there was some news that I was gonna tell them" (them being my cousins). Of course, sweetie did sorta freak out, but I calmed her down by telling her what Audrey was referring to. So when I got home that afternoon:

Me: Dad, may kinuwento ka no?

Dad: Eh?

Me: You told some of our relatives about mine and Lorena's plans.

Dad: Er.. yeah, I did. To the point that Lola was like "Hindi ko masagot yung mga tanong ng mga pinsan ni Raphy"

Me: And how did the word spread?

Dad: Your Tita Terry.

I would like to say that my dad isn't a braggard, he just has a thing with being discreet. ;P

So come that evening, I told them calmly what we were planning and all, though unofficial, planning. I guess it was sorta amusing to see their WTF reactions ("Where was i?!?" and so on). But of course, they were all supportive. :)

I guess it kinda made sweetie conscious during the weekend. So I gave her that added assurance that we shouldn't let the pressure get to us, and that we shouldn't have the worry get to us. Planning something as momentous as a wedding and marriage is a happy thing to do, and that God would lead us through it. Everything would be and will be aiyt. :)

Needless to say, the weekend ended great. Lorena and I spent Sunday afternoon just having fun. :)

You made the weekend great, sweetie. Uber-thanks.

------------------------------------------

Before I go, I just wanna say that in reference to this coming weekend, it's time, once again to say the immortal words of one STEWIE GRIFFITH:

I THINK IT'S TIME FOR A SEXY PARTEEEEEEEE!!!!!

This I got from Sweetie, Pia and Jamie's blogs. Since the Sportsfest practice hasn't started yet, off we go:

WHAT KIND OF SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
- An oversized, longsleeved, pale green polo shirt. From Izod, which dad dropped on my bed this morning.

WOULD YOU KISS ANYONE ON YOUR FRIEND'S LIST?
- I'll kiss Lorena again and again and again and again. :)

DO YOU HAVE "A THING" FOR ANYONE ON YOUR FRIENDS list?
- I only have eyes for Lorena. :)

HOW MANY PEOPLE ON YOUR LIST DO YOU KNOW IN REAL LIFE?
- All of them. :)

HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT TO HAVE?
- Three or four would be good. I'm sure there'll be twins. I'd be aliw if it were 2 sets of twins. :)

DO YOU HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH BOTH YOUR PARENTS?
- Yup, and I couldn't ask for any other parents to be my parents. :)

WHAT NAME WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE BESIDES THE ONE YOU HAVE?
- Though I like my names, I'd wonder if I could really pass for a Jake, or a Jeff or something. ;P

WOULD YOU EVER MAKE OUT WITH SOMEONE OF THE SAME SEX?
- I will literally shoot myself in the head if I did, even if I was forced into it. I'd die.

WHAT DID YOU DO FOR YOUR LAST B-DAY?
- I actually hung out with Lorena as I along with a friend of ours helped her in fixing her computer. Later on we had dinner at CPK, watched a movie, ate at BIZU. :)

WHAT'S YOUR CURRENT RINGTONE ON YOUR PHONE?
- The "Push It by Technotronics" portion of "Nasty Girl" by Destiny's Child as a default message tone, then Bridge of "Everything" by Lifehouse for Lorena (which is also my ringtone). For general calls, it's "Place Your Hands On" by Reef. :)

WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP TODAY?
- 5. Then 5:15. Then 5:55. 6. Then finally, 8. That's my body clock, folks. ;P

WHAT WERE YOU DOING AT MIDNIGHT TWO NIGHTS AGO?
- Talking with Lorena on the phone telling her about my day and how I was touched with what happened on Rockstar Supernova that night. :)

DO YOU LIKE HAVING YOUR HAIR PULLED?
- Nope, not at all. That comes with free Yakuza Kick, btw.

NAME SOMETHING YOU CAN'T WAIT TO DO?
- Tali with the Punksquad, The Sistersquad, and especially my Lorena. Oh, and of course, wedding plans with Lorena. :)

LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR MOM?
- This morning, before she left for her lakad.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WISH YOU COULD CHANGE ABOUT YOURSELF?
- Nothing. In spite of my flaws, I wouldn't wanna change myself one bit. I'm proud of who I am. :)

IF YOU HAD 300,000 DOLLARS... WHAT 5 THINGS WOULD YOU DO WITH IT??
- Buy a house and a car, put up a good investment. Then charity, then I'll save the rest of it. :)

HAVE YOU EVER TALKED TO TOM?
- Who the F is Tom?!

WHAT COLOR UNDERWEAR ARE YOU WEARING?
- Dark Blue. :)

LAST THING YOU ATE?
- BBQ Chicken Burger from KFC. All the chicken burger glory you can have for 25 bucks. :)

WHATS YOUR FAVORITE MONTH?
- November, coz it's the month of my birthday. :)

YOUR LEAST FAVORITE MONTH?
- June. I guess it has something to do with the start of the schoolyear. And even if I had long been finished with schooling, somehow I dread June. ;P

WHAT'S THE LAST PIECE OF CLOTHING YOU BORROWED FROM ANYONE?
- My brother Rocky's shirt.

WHO IS GETTING ON YOUR NERVES RIGHT NOW?
- The EEeeeeevieeeeeeylll Woman (Sweetie, you know who this is).

MOST VISITED WEBPAGE?
- My friends' blogs, Multiply, DA, Penny-Arcade, WWE.com, ESPN.com, Weddinginthesky.com.. I need a lotta sites to look at, folks. :)

LAST PERSON YOU TEXT MESSAGED?
- Lorena. :)

FAVORITE KIND OF DRINK(S)?
- A soda that's been bastardized by some alcoholic product. :)

HAVE YOU BEEN TO EUROPE?
- Nope, I haven't. Wah.

IF SOMEONE YOU HATED DIED, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
- I'd pray for that person's soul, that maybe God would pardon that person if I find myself never doing so.

HAVE YOU KISSED SOMEONE IN THE PAST WEEK?
- Lorena. A lot. :)

IF YOU COULD TELL YOUR LAST EX SOMETHING WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?
- Congrats on your engagement. That's probably it.

HOW MANY PIERCINGS DO YOU HAVE?
- 1 on my left ear. I hope to get another one there soon.

TATTOOS?
- None. I actually intend to donate blood in the future when needed.

IF YOU COULD GET PIERCED ANYWHERE WHERE WOULD YOU GET IT DONE?
- Again, my left ear. At the top of the ear. Maybe my eyebrow.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST SCARED OF?
- Losing Lorena. I worked so damn hard to be with her, and if I lost her.. I'd die.

DO YOU LIKE BEING ON STAGE WITH A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WATCHING YOU?
- Yes! Definitely. I love the feeling of feeding off their energy and channeling it into something awesome. :)

WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU WENT TO THE MALL?
- I'm always at a mall. It's right outside my fricking office. A world to discover.. Robinsons Malls. Hahaha. ;P

For Karl and Tycel.. Well, and everyone else:

They're back. And trust me, this is hilarious!

As I await my turn in printing 5 very simple posters (which would mean I'd take a while seeing as my office just has a knack for requesting posters for even the smallest of things - I hope it doesn't get to the point that they'd need posters to declare "watch out for the opening of a new bathroom" or something, coz if they did, they oughta just paint over it), I ponder the most interesting of things.

Yes, despite my tornado and hardworking disposition, and of course the absolute excitement of coming home to relax to my newly-repaired PS2 (which is handy for my gaming reviews) and quality time with my darling lifesong, I am still in the office waiting for my turn to print 5 posters which will be rendered useless after a week or 2. A month, if lucky.

My consolation goes to a water leak in the office beside mine which has transformed the bills department into a huge Zen Garden. It works, though, I was able to detoxify via urination 5 times in a row. Hahaha!

--------

Anyhoo, I'm actually happy to know that the Azurri won the World Cup. Yay! Great job, Italy. I was absolutely happy to know that the Italians' knack for reverting to a 4-man defense transitioned to a relentless counterattack yielded only one real, genuinely authentic goal scored against them. Not two, one. They will still get credit under their goalscoring number even for the own goal. ;P

But wait, there's more:

And another:

I think it's a shame that cooler heads couldn't prevail, especially for Mr. Zinedine Zidane. Man, and now the speculations keep coming up. Some people say that he got frustrated with how the game was favoring the Italians, others say that Marco Materazzi taunted him and thus received a chest-full of Les Bleus. But at the end of the day, no matter how you look at it, the deed was done: Zidane headbutted someone, the ref saw it, and red carded him out of his final game EVER.

Saving grace for getting a player of the tournament award. :)

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My Lola Cit and Uncle David are coming to town this week. Wow, that's gonna be fun, I haven't seen them since I was 18.

Lola Cit is the only person I know who completely refuses to call me Raphy because it makes me sound like a dog (Hahaha! God bless her). She calls me Ralf tuloy.

Uncle David is the coolest. I remember enjoying having him around 6 years ago and it was like chilling with the oldest teenager I've ever met. I'd have to say that if there was anyone I could compare to a Tito Boy figure by virtue of personality alone (and not by the birds and the bees and steeping on inverted floor runners), it would be this guy. It's gonna be awesome.

----------

And speaking of awesome, Rockstar Supernova is finally here!! Man, I'm back on Reality TV mode again. Already I'm hooked on The Ultimate Fighter, then The Contender's coming as well. But nothing gets my blood rushing like a lacerated limb from a Japanese Samurai movie than watching a reality TV/music competition like Rockstar. Dunno about the Punktrees/Right Before Your Eyes readers, but something about loud, unadulterated raw noise and awesome stage performances on powerful voices gets to me like I was actually at the venue. Tommy Lee, Gilby Clarke and Jason Newsted are hardcore music lovers just giddy about having someone front them and rock to their new sound.

There are a lot of really good talent there. Watch out for Toby, Josh, Dailina (basta that super scary girl who sang Lithium who headbutted the bassist), Storm and so many more.

It's gonna be a great season. :)

Oh, tama na, I'm heading out shortly. :) 

Or request.. okay fine, suggestion. ;P

Here is the recorded version of the Tito Boy moment. He sorta sounds Jamaican, but I tried to make it sound a bit the same as the original.

I give you my Tito Boy moment, in full audio.

Enjoy. 

Didn't want to let the week go by without being able to put something down in writing. Ergo, I'm here. Hello to all of Punktrees' readers. Hahaha, that sentence makes me wonder if there's a fanbase popping around somewhere. Kinda like a bunch of Punksprouts. Hahaha, amusing if there were.

Yes, I only got as far as the 1st prelim judging of Idol. But hey, that was fun. I wonder if the mini-segment they took of me wil be on-air. Oh, and Sexy Party: House of Whacks was hella fun, too. I have made a note to myself to tinker with Eloisa's Magic Sing to turn the Cowell-esque scoring into Paula Abdul.

As my sweetie mentioned over her blog, I'm totally digging Salsa Nights. Awesome, awesome. It's like, while you dance, you're like letting sparks fly all around you and moments later, every Ricky Martin-like hip shake could set the floor en fuego.

I was actually explaining to my mom last night as to how it'll help my Capo as well. See, Capoeira requires a sense of Mailicia (cleverness) and it's visible in their Jogo (game) when they throw in some Malandragem. So I figured, doing Ginga can be transitioned into the Mambo steps for that. How will I do that, you wonder? Hah! Wait til next Thursday (I've meeting up with someone from SFC tonight.. CFC rather).

So there, Salsa and Capo. Absolutely En Fuego.

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Pardon to those who felt teh glimpse of the football gibberish, sorry about that. World Cup will be starting in a couple of days. That's gonna be great. Nothing beats the spectacle of the World Cup. It's like the Superbowl, the NBA Finals (which starts tomorrow as well), Wrestlemania. And what's worse, every game lives and dies on each kick of the ball. The pressure!!!

I'm routing for overrated England, the darling orange of Netherlands, the relentless Italians.. and Ronaldinho. I didn't necessarily say Brazil, but Ronaldinho is roxxors. And yeah, them Germans are defensive demons.

So which country's gonna win it all and carry home that phallic-shaped trophy? We'll soon find out. For now, I practice and let the World Cup fever build up on my PS2. :)

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Sweetie, I love you. No matter how you've been feeling lately, I promised to take care of you always, and I'm gonna make sure to help you through all of it. Mwah! :) 

Hello to all those who read my blog. How's it going? There wasn't really much to update on lately, and the fact that I'm still pretty swamped at work doesn't really give much inspiration to blog anyways. So I'll give a quick recap from last week..end:

- Friday: Typhoon Caloy went nuts and tried to thwart off what later became Sexy Party 3 in Canyon Woods. Eitherway, I chose not to go anymore coz Lorena got really sick and I decided to stay in to take care of her. I did, however, bring Rally and Nugget to Peanuts' house to hang out with the rest of the Squad and the girls. This was a prelude to an absolutely fun weekend for them, and a great one for me, as I got to spend it with Sweetie.

Swee, if you're reading this, hope the instant noodles keep you warm. :)

I do believe Eloisa and CPK summed up what was their weekend at Canyon Woods, so no need to elaborate.

- Saturday: As mentioned, I spent the afternoon taking care of Lorena. I kept her company, gave her a massage (particularly on her right side, which hurts a lot for her), gave her chocolates and instant noodles to heal her body. I really do enjoy taking care of her and helping her get herself back to full strength. :)

Spent the evening at Monica and Dennis' house to prepare the songs of their wedding this Thursday. Practically all the songs have been prepared, just have to work on them even more. Had a blast watching their kids run around and giggle non-stop. Swee, ain't that something to look forward to. :)

- Sunday: Mother's Day! I love my mom. She's the coolest. After mass, they headed to my lola's house in BF, while I prepped myself up for another day at SIGA. Gave the talk about Moms. Went well naman. I even played driver to the boys coz they were scared of getting beaten up by their kaaways in the area. Haaay, kids talaga. :P

Bought my mom her favorite Chowking Halohalo Espesyal. I remember that it was something my dad always got her in appreciation for her hardwork, so I figured I'd do the same. Little did I know that I'd get shown up unintentionally by Rocky with a cake. Boo. Oh well, mom ate mine first. Ha!

Good weekend all the same, made even better with those little events that make the whole thing awesome. :) Almost made awful by the brownout of Saturday. Boo.

OTHER THINGS THAT HAPPENED DURING THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS:

- I've been practicing ways on how to make this Panda awesome.

- Got myself a Motorola L6. Yay! New phone, cooler features. Slimness is a plus. I'm looking forward to fully-optimizing it's features. Thanks to Fish for the tip in where to buy it. :)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Got this from Fish, looks interesting:

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn't make sense. NO CHEATING!
4. Tag 10 people to play this game too.


How are you feeling today?
Hanging by a Moment - Lifehouse

Will you get far in life?
We're Forgiven - The Calling

How do your friends see you?
Shiver - Maroon 5

will you get married?
Time After Time (From my Starbucks collection)

What is your best friend's theme song?
Stupefied - Disturbed

What is the story of your life?
Smoke Two Joints - Richard Cheese's version

What was high school like?
More Human Than Human - Richard Cheese's version

How can you get ahead in life?
This is How We Overcome - Hillsong Australia

What is the best thing about your friends?
Rise To The Challenge - Asian Dub Foundation

What is today going to be like?
Sumthin Sumthin - Maxwell

What is in store for this weekend?
Engine Number 9 - Deftones

What song Describes you?
Human Nature - Boyz II Men's Version

To describe your grandparents?
Consequence - Incubus

How is your life going?
So Long Sweet Summer - Dashboard Confessionals

What song will they play at your funeral?
Tangled - Maroon 5

How does the world see you?
Relax - Richard Cheese's Version

Will you have a happy life?
Leave (Get Out) - Jojo

What do your friends really think of you?
Black - Ephesus

Do people secretly lust after you?
Steal My Kisses - Ben Harper

How can I make myself happy?
La Vie Boheme - RENT

What should you do with your life?
I Alone - Live

Will you ever have children?
Anything - 3T

I'm now perplexed. James, this is weird. Funny weird, hahaha. 

Exactly a week later after my last entry, I've decided to write a quick one for those who read my blog (for the life of me, I have no idea how many people that'd be).

HIGHLIGHTS OF LAST WEEK:

- Great session of Capo: Yup, I had a great time at Capoeira, having been able to take part in the Roda again. Nuggets and I took to the center again (without fear of jumping in immediately after the higher-belters). Nice play between him and I, with lots of ducks, spins, rolls and kicks (one instance was me brushing his face with a gust of wind). I did, however, do a quick-spinning handstand, and a short windmill. Fantasma didn't scold me naman, and I was glad he mentioned this: "Keep playing, you won't expect what your opponent's game would be everytime you play". Which brings me to the next highlight.

-I was on TV for about 10seconds in one segment: GMA7 was there to shoot the session last week, and Fantasma told us we'd be on at 9:30 (which was perplexing, since it's a bevy of telenovelas around that time). Turns out, we were shown on QTV's news program. The Roda was shown, and some training sequences. I'm quite visible having been the only one with a blue "UMA" band. LOL

- Yes, as mentioned, my promotion. Blessing indeed.

- Dad celebrated his 54th birthday last Saturday. Dad's the coolest (actually, both my parents are the coolest). We had lunch at Dampa sa Libis. Yarrrrr!!! All the seafood you can eat, and 100% fresh even. The salmon and tuna sashimi along with the crab and squid were awesome. I ate a lot, and was so surprised that I didn't feel full. Man, seafood rocks! I can eat in bunches and not get full. ;P

- Lorena and I spent time with the SIGA teens in their annual SIGALYMPICS last Sunday at the Marikina Sports Complex. It was the first time for either of us to attend this activity, and am happy to say that the teens we represent did good! Gold medal for Badminton (Men's and Mixed Doubles) and a Bronze in Volleyball. Not bad! Nice job, kids! Great job, sweetie!

- Started preparing the songs for Monica and Dennis' wedding. Excited for that one.

QUOTE OF LAST WEEK:

"Yup, my sons have their regular service during weekends for GK. One serves out-of-school kids, the other with out-of-school youth. It may be a hard thing for them that it's one day from their weekends, but at the end of the day, they feel fulfilled and content."

- Dad, to my cousin JB, when the latter asked why we weren't around for the Galera weekend of my cousins and that Sunday. :)

WHAT'S ON THIS WEEK: 

- Very exhausting schedule: Had two meetings already for the community, plus CLP on Thursday. Yes, that means I'm missing Capo for this week (again). Oh well, service. :)

- Exciting 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs. My money's on the Mavs, who will finally end the dominance of the Spurs; The Cavs, who will be strong enough to give the Pistons a run for their money every single game; The Suns, to run so fast that they forget how many times they defeat the Clips; I'll probably be happy eitherway on who will win the Nets-Heat series.

- Sexy Party 3, Canyon Woods: I'm looking forward to the weekend. Out of town trips are always welcome additions to my summer, especially when I get to spend it with friends.. and with Lorena. :)

- American Idol's Fina Four, and my thoughts: Contrary to what most think, I really see it as each person has a 25% chance of winning. It could go for any of them. Chris needs a consistent performance, Taylor as entertaining and vocally-great, Katherine as a great performance, and my bet Elliott to bring the house down with something reminiscent of what Bo Bice and Fantasia Barrino did in their time. If one of them doesn't fulfill it, say bye-bye.

Yes folks, I chose Elliott. Why? Coz he's the best singer in the group. Also, I like the fact that his selling point in getting far would be coz he got there with hardwork. And for me, nothing could be better than seeing someone who works hard achieving great things. I am a firm believer in that. :)

Til next update then. :) 

Er, I'm sorry about the whole "WTF is that title, Raph?" thought you may have gotten after reading the header of this entry. But I just had to find a way to express my excitement on this one.

Seriously, I just wanted to say that I've had a lot of bad and good things happen to me, though this time around, it's part of the AWESOME things that happened to me. If you wanna know an example of the AWESOME, see "I got together with Lorena" :D

Anyhoo, here I was in my desk, helping one of the IT peeps in laying out the new banners for the website, when the Director started making announcements in the office. Now, since the Director is positioned with the Ad & Promo Dept, I naturally assumed that it was just for them. So I went on helping Mr. IT dude. Moments later, I heard my name being called, and a round of applause.

"eh? What's that all about? What did I do?"

One of the Corporate Sponsorship Officers decided to fill me in on the news, since she saw that I was preoccupied. But man, when the news hit me, it felt like my cold was gonna disappear and fireworks shaped like Fantasma flipping like no tomorrow:

I GOT A PROMOTION!

WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!!!AIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
ZIPADEEEEEEEDOOOODAHHHHLEEEEEYYYYYYYY!!!!

Seriously, this is the first time I've gotten a promotion, and it feels so awesome. It goes to show those tiring days that I had to go through for a year and a half (not to mention the previous jobs) really pays off. Also, that the people in my office know how good I am and how hard I work for the betterment of our office's operations. :)

I'd like to take this time to thank the people who helped me get there: God, my wonderful and supportive family, my bosses who saw my capabilities, my officemates who share the same trials and tribulations that I went through, to the Squad for continuously fueling me with laughter and creative juices. But most of all, for the reason I work my darndest every single day. The person whose inspiration makes me more motivated and focused each day - Lorena. Sweetie, this one's for us. For our future. Mwah! :)

So there, I will not be a Senior Artist (and subequently, Copywriter) - or SA/C or SGA/C anymore.

I am now an Art Supervisor. An AS/C. Please.

Excuse me while my mind does carthweels in the sky. Thanks again, everyone. :D

Disclaimer: This entry is, in no way or form, intended to insult, badger, let down or attack the subject involved. Neither is this supportive or encouraging in any tone or manner. This is a purely (hopefully) neutral stand based on observation, research (courtesy of Wikipedia) and historical remembrance of the said subject. Comments of all sorts are freely invited, so as long as we all remember that this is not meant to choose sides nor attack, for as always, we are all entitled to our own opinion. Enjoy.

For those who know me well, they know that my taste in music is quite eclectic. By eclectic (God, I hope my choice of word was appropriate), it means that I enjoy listening to all types of music. From classic, to techno, to EMO, alternative, R&B, 2-Step, UK Garage and so on, with anything and everything in between. In this entry, however, and as stated in the title above, I will not necessarily be tackling the general genre of the subject involved, but instead on the phenomena that has swept through a decade, anteceded by earlier generations, and even attempted comebacks or continuity in this century.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children, teeners, tweeners and adults of all ages; I present the subject of this matter: BOY BANDS. Yes, folks. Those group of boys bunched together, created in bunches, and a staple of the 90's music scene. The quintisssential Pop genre machine, and a moneymaker for probably any recording company in that century.

For starters, I would like to give a short history of this "revolution". While most people would think that the first group to have come from this was Maurice Starr's brainchild New Kids On The Block (which he had patterned after his teenage R&B group New Edition, except that he wanted to target the Pop market, and take note that they weren't labeled a boy band yet), history has detailed us with earlier connotations of this through acts such as Menudo ("If You're Not Here"), The Beach Boys ("Wouldn't It Be Nice") and the Monkees that the concept of a boy band has been implanted in music history a long time ago. Only by the commercialization of this concept in the 90's has the "boy band" label been materialized to how we know it to this day. I'd also like point out that the most prominent countries that have churned out boy bands are the US and the UK.

Let's face it, no matter what stand you may have on them, the "boy band revolution" has been engraved into our lives as we speak. Though there is no currently dominant faction of this in our current billboard charts, it's practically in our state of mind. Take, for instance, if you see 4 guys walking together, all of which uniquely dressed and quite fashionable (let's not forget the different hairstyles), what could be the first words that you might utter? "Wow, parang boy band". Or, for another instance, you hear a group of guys, singing in harmony. What do you say? "Wow, you guys sound like a boy band" ;P See? It's that deep into our culture.

Of course, there are a couple of things that you may have noticed about boy bands. These are what I call the "Make or Break" moments for them. Take note, that our of perception and observation, I feel as if most boy bands have most, if not all, of these moments in their history. Let us elaborate:

They have at least one song that is practically cheesy, yet sells. Who could forget LFO's contagious ditty entitled "Summer Girls", where a bevy of cliches are belted out at disposal? Or maybe even A1's "Everytime", which plagued the radio for months. Oh, let's not forget "Freaky Time" by Point Break (a group which didn't wanna be labeled as such since none of their songs contain the word "love" in it.. and I will just add that they very much remind me of the wrestling faction once known as "3 Count"). They have that song that, after deep observation you'd think to yourself: "What the hell?" Maybe it's the words, or maybe the way it was arranged, the cheesy song puts them on the map, regardless of location or meaning. Nice way to get attention. Conan O'Brien's parody "Dudez-A-Plentee" made one called "Baby I Wish You Were My Bab".

For a bunch of pretty boys, there's always a heartthrob. Yes, there's always the perennial eye candy. The one who gets the most screaming fans because he's like, the most handsome thing you'll ever see. Now, apparently, this label gets often linked to the youngest or the "baby" of the group. This works as a plus for them, coz they're the ones who elevates their personal growth as a musician, should they decide to go solo afterwards (see: Justin Timberlake, NSYNC; Nick Carter, Backstreet Boys; Ashley Parker Angel, O-Town). Sadly, it also works to his disadvantage, as he becomes the most publicized and most ridiculed. That means he gets all the weird rumors, mostly the ones that involve him being gay. (See: Nick Carter (again); Stephen Gately, Boyzone - of whom I'll be mentioning again later)

They are assembled. Regardless how, they are assembled. See, this goes both ways: either the group gets assembled on their own by way of friends, siblings or acquaintances, or a record company just plain decides to do a nationwide search to make their boy band. Eitherway, these guys spend time on the road together, sometimes bunking in one room. Yes, there is a Brokeback reference. Now, I'm not saying that this automatically make one of them gay, but for the ones who actually are, it hides it from people, adding more to the respect (though Stephen Gately's case isn't subject to that, I guess. Oh, I almost forgot: Neil from Code Red applies to this, too). 98 Degrees represents that natural assembling, while bands like O-Town are examples of manufactured. See Dudez-A-Plentee, again.

The campy dance steps. Yes, folks. They will have at least 1 song with a choreographed routine which makes Napoleon Dynamite look more like Usher. These will vary from movement containing variations of pelvic thrusts, jumping around like monkeys (See: NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" routine or A1's "Same Old Brand New You" steps), acrobatic displays (See: Youngtown, 911), kick poses (See: 5ive's "Get on Up" and "When the Lights Go Out", Boyzone's "So Good"), and yes, my all-time breaker of a dance step which will be in people's heads forever for thus bastardizing the song (See: Code Red's "What Good Is A Heart.. now I dare you to tell me that you've never seen this dance before! :P). Let's not forget that they have innovative "dances" (BSB's Chair Dance and Hat Dance) that I'm sure we had all dared to imitate, be it with in soberness or not.

The members embody a certain stereotype for band members. Yes, there are a lot of these. You have the "tough guy", "eldest", "youngest", "the sensitive one", "the pure mucisian", "eye candy", "the one who doesn't get much applause", "the little brother", "the buff one" and so on. Yes, even if they are united under one name, they are too unique that they get these labels on them. It also helps so that people can tell each member apart from the other. And of course, one stereotype I'd like to touch base on would be..

They have at least one junkie. Yes, this is amusingly true. Sad maybe, but true. For some reason, be it succumbing to a flaw in popularity or plain coping mechanism, one member often turns to drugs. A friend of mine once said this of one boy band member who ended up turning to drugs: "oh, the edgy one? maybe coz he realized that he's not black" Hahaha, brilliant. But it's cool, coz they end up being even edgier after they get out of rehab.

The music videos are either dumbfoundingly expensive, or strangely cheap. What's it with these guys? Some of them have like, multi-million budgetted videos that skyrocket them to MTV fame, or they tone it down, keep it simple with them just standing around and waving their hands, pointing to the camera while singing their song. Man, there's always that scene, by the way! They have to have that group shot where they're all looking at the camera and singing, tapos pointing to their chest, or to the camera. Ay, let's not forget the rain shot! That's the money for them, where girls get to see their bods as they make pa-gwapo to everyone (98 Degrees' "Invisible Man", Take That's "Back For Good", Backstreet Boys' "Quit Playing Games With My Heart"). Oh oh oh!! My all-time worst music video for a boy band goes to Natural, for "Put Your Arms Around Me". You have the singing to the girls, the love angle.. and then the change scene with the wireframe background as their instruments fly away and then the dance number with the lightning and thunder background! Plus the dance steps get interrupted by the Matrix-like still-frame-with-moving camera sequence! Hahahaha! (Sorry, I'll return my composure again). :P

They have costumes that are either color or theme-coordinated. Every time! The baggy jeans or the shiny jackets. Whether they be in concerts or just when they do autograph sessions. This is why it's hard to for guys in groups to walk around all-dressed up, coz they know that somewhere out there, someone's gonna say that they look like a boy band.

They like having a factor that differentiates them from other groups. Plus One, for instance. They say that they're a Christian boy band. Which is quite convincing in their songs, but then their looks don't really take the part (they look like a bunch of thugs or a rock group to me). They will say stuff like that so that they can be separated from the rest of the boy bands. Again, Natural is in this category, being the "rock band" boy band.. I swear, that music video invaded my head again. :P

They pay respect to artists of the past by covering their songs. Yes, they covered at least one old song. This is not only for added marketability, but apparently it helps in bringing them to a larger audience. If they're able to sing an old song, make it a hit, and perform it to their fanbase, they even help out the original singer. Though Boyzone and Westlife kinda overdid it. Coz looking back, how many songs did they have that weren't covers? :P

But ironically, in spite of all the above, they actually have nice songs. Yes, ironically "What Good Is A Heart" by Code Red is actually a good song. That goes for most of their songs. Like Youngtown's "Now That I Found You", that's another really good song. Taking credit for this would be the direction given by their producers. Sadly, these aren't the songs you'd hear from them. They use the cheesy, or upbeat, or quick-catching song to make peopel listen to them. :P

And finally, because they have a chance to learn from their mistakes, as they evolve, they become better musicians.. I think. A1 gets this award because they ALMOST pulled off what I had hoped they'd do, and that was become an actual band. These guys can play instruments, so they had the best potential. Oh well, anyone know what happened to them? Oh, as I had mentioned, there are the ones who become solo acts? They're successful now. Not just in music, but on TV, theatre, and even politics (yes, Justin Jeffries of 98 Degrees became a senator).

So there, just a bunch of stuff about the boy bands. Makes you think of what you miss, not miss, or just plain agree upon with regards to these qualities.

Sorry, I hoped for more things to say or elaborate upon, but these things are quite a hodgepodge. Feel free to comment! :P 

My girlfriend's in Cagayan De Oro right now, and I'm missing her dearly. 

New breakfast of champions, folks: Instant coffee mixed cold with macaroons.

I think I need it. My body's aching all over. Thank God for having my martial arts focus to numben the pain, and the beer from last night. Elaboration, I hear? Surely.

Pardon, I've been able to blog a lot more lately. I guess getting to work early has this plus of putting words into my blog. But I digress (Hah! I haven't heard or used that line in ages).

I think Fantasma was trying to scare the pants out of the students yesterday. And since it's Fantasma, his tip of the iceberg is the midst of the blizzard for nooblets. Lateral dodge into cartwheel? Easy. Lateral dodge into ground spin? Done. Lateral dodge into ground spin then carwheel? All good. Standing dodge into opposite single-hand cartwheel.. wait.. Standing dodge into opposite single-hand cartwheel?!? My God! I'm happy enough that I got to plant my hand as I threw my body into a side flip a couple of times. But no, Fantasma decides to have more fun by making us walk from a handstand.

I'm proud to say that I can walk 4 paces from handstand position.

I'm sorta proud to say that I fell safely to the ground after. Karl, we're alive!

I'm not completely proud (well, laughing, too) that I almost hit Tak in the balls. Damn!

No Roda (circle play) yesterday. I did, however enjoy the camaraderie in Capo, not just with the regulars, but with the newcomers. I even got a chance to help them do the techniques. I guess what my mom heard about Capo was true: that everyone becomes friends (or even sibs) in Capo. :) With nice stories and whole bunch of laughs, it's amazing. And it just brings a whole bunch of focus in the class. They make you want to do better. The motivation even makes me believe that I can do those 99-handstand spins Fantasma was doing last night. You won't see egos there, only smiles and friendly faces. :)

I happily insisted on my craving for Burger Machine last night, and we did get it. I swear, I love eating Burger Machine. Oooh, the ecoli. But damn, those burgers taste better and better each and every time. But sadly, they took out the Roast Beef sandwich from the menu. Boo.

Jamie's shark do rocks. Very Becks, mind you, oonly he'd shark you rather than kick you in the nuts and make you bend in direction in mid-air. Hahaha!

Headed to Dusit for some freshly-brewed beer. Man, when Jamie said that he's never had beer go down so smoothly in his entire life, I will gladly second the notion. It was nicely cold, smooth and damn good. So good you may have thought that it wasn't beer. Heck, I didn't know that I had drank a liter until I walked to my car! Kudos to Tycel for going red as Karl's beanie. And everyday is JC's birthday. Hahaha!

All in all, the beer helped numben the aches and bruises in my body. I really only realized that I had this uber-bruise on my knee when I got home. Oh, and the tights really helped, too. An ordinary leg pain would have given me trouble during Capo, but it didn't coz of the tights. That was soo worth the php150 I spent on it.

Anyhoo, it's finally the weekend. Wooooohoooooooo! God bless, y'all! 

Warning: This is gonna be quite the sentimental blog entry.

For those of you who know me, it comes as no surprise that most of my friends are younger than me, and that 3 groups of friends that I have are comprised of people younger, if not much younger, than me. Which explains what I had mentioned as the "kuya mode" in the last entry.

At some point, I don't see these people as just my friends. I see them as my brothers. For instance, Rio (Punkrally), though my cousin (nope, not regretfully, Hahaha!) along with Rex from the Barqs. I share a great deal of affinity with these two not just because of common interests, but because we've all seen each other through thick and thin. These are people (just like the rest of the squad and the Barqs) as the brothers I never had. Rex even declared me as something which, til this very day, touches me deeply as it shows how much I've been an influence to someone: The big brother he never had.

But with all the brothers I've never had in my life, one of which is someone I will be sharing about right now.

I've known Matt for a good 6 years now. Back then (I was around 18 and he had just turned 15 I think), he was this stringbean of a little boy in his teens, with a bald head, baggy clothes and a slight unibrow which Rio loves making fun of. This guy was the true essence of innocence. He barely touched a smoke or a bottle of beer in his life. Imagine my total and utter amusement when I'd see little Matt order iced tea or apple juice, and even shun hard drinks with Phallic names (see Blowjob).

Matt was, for a time, my bandmate. We formed the LYF Project with current GK Advocate Greg and OBS front man Carlos (of course, with the occasional cameos by Niño of OBS, Armi of Up Dharma Down and her fave drummer Ean). He was there in full support in the group, and is featured in my thesis' video "1:37 Remix" (which, coincidentally, was our collaboration). I still have the stills, the pics, the draft CD and the full-length videos of him (yes, people found him adorable when he was in the first scene asleep, waking up suddenly to look at the time on his cellphone).

I was there when he shared at a Youth Camp about his attempt to run away when his family was still based in Jakarta. And with stories like that, I also got to hear about his girl problems. I was there to hear, sing and perform a song he wrote for this girl he was all googly-eyed about ("Just Be Cool"), and even went on to help him compose a song for another girl ("Miracles/Paul's Song"). In the same video mentioned above, I directed and filmed Matt writing some girl's name on the beach sand as he watch that cold, cold wave drag the name away. And yes, I was there through each googly moment for one girl who he eventually got together with. I remember being one of the first few who got his uber-giddy text at 10am on a Sunday.

Then there was thing long period of time where, right before my own eyes, he started changing (ironic that I use this line, seeing as one of my blog sites is entitled so). His circle of friends kept growing, and he had gone on to try things such as smoking and drinking. By this time, he was very much pushing for his band to gain notoriety. And that was something he always enjoyed sharing to people. What did I mean by his band? LYF Project's members moved on to pursue different things musically (thus spawned his group Ephesus).

I could go on with that bit, but to sum it up, I felt that Matt and I were growing apart. He started to growing up, hanging out with his longtime friends as well as friends he had when he got to college.

This, of course, was human nature. We're all bound to grow apart from other people we're friends with. This was something I could truly understand, as I went through that, too. Which was probably why I couldn't be mad at him. Sure, my "little brother" was growing up, but it didn't stop me from being the brother that I am to him. And by that I meant calling to check up with him. Imagine my surprise hearing something like "Dude, I fell down a flight of stairs" and seeing my shock turn into amusement. And that's something I was proud of.. That I was in touch with him regardless of how the world passed.

Recently (wait.. last night, rather), I took time out from my busy schedule to check up on him. We decided to hang out last night with a friend of his. Arriving at his house at 9pm, I was a bit shocked.

I didn't see a stringbean of a little boy in his teens, with a bald head and baggy clothes. Not even someone with hair sprouting out of his head, in his emo outfit. This was a slightly different Matt, and I was praying that he wasn't a stranger anymore. Matt is now a bushy-haired emo boy, with eyebugs bigger than mine. He didn't move like a young teenager either.

There I was watching my "little brother" pour his heart out in his current dilemma. And believe me, my heart went out to him, as if we hadn't been gone from each other's lives for a long time. I was there listening to every cuss and every sob that came out of him. All the while I didn't wish to hear him sound different or act violently. And then I saw it, and realized it even more.

Matt didn't change completely. He was still the wacky person he is, except that he grew up, and never lost his morals for being a better person. He wanted to be and do the right thing in life.

The night may have comprised of an hour and a half of him spilling his guts(and about 25 minutes laughing at crazy stories over Red Horse), but 5 minutes worth of my 2 cents further stengthened something that I had declared him as for the entire history that I've known him.

"Matt Warren, you will always be the little brother I've never had. No matter what happens, whether the proverbial shit hits the fan, no matter if the eternal sunshine drains your very soul, be rest assured that I will always have your back no matter what."

Advanced Happy 21st birthday, bro. Let's fucking set the world ablaze and live life. God bless you, see you next month at the beach. :)