Gone Too Soon - MJ

I was about 15 years old when my Mom bought our very first home theatre and I still remember the free gift was a VCD of Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album. I immediately went to the nearby market and look for “song hits” because I want to memorize the lyrics of the song “Man In The Mirror” because I played it repeatedly for days once I started playing it. This was by far, my first memorable encounter with the King of Pop.

I was in Baguio and having my university degree when Michael Jackson visited Manila. One of my friends then who happened to be studying in La Salle got a free ticket to MJ’s concert courtesy of her schoolmate’s Dad. To make it short, she asked me to join her group. I maybe unlucky tho when the concert date was on the same day as one of my school activities, that of course, made me unavailable. Due to this unfortunate event, I went to Session Road (still in Baguio) and bought Michael Jackson’s poster instead and posted it in my room in our house in Baguio. He became my favorite artist (at least during those days). Although I missed the chance to see him in person.

As time goes by, new pop artists have conquered international market (Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Ordinary Love has turned me away from MJ, The Cardigan also got my attention when they came up with a single called Love Me), and not to mention the local talents that also captured my interest, one of them was then my ultimate crush - Agot Isidro. It only means that my likeness to MJ has been diverted to many other names in the music industry. And life goes on …..

I incidentally learned (about 8 years ago) that MJ and me have the same birth date, August 29 that is. (No wonder I am also talented in dancing especially to the tune of Apologize by OneRepublic).

I am not an avid fan, in fact I don’t even have a single song of him in my mp3 (as far as I can recall) player because I find him very 80’s. But now that he is not with us anymore, it made me realized that there are a lot of meaningful songs he produced like Heal The World and You Are Not Alone to name a few. I maybe too late a fan, but I would probably give him the proper respect he deserves as one of the persons with a huge contribution to the very meaning of “beautiful song”.

Hey Girl and Don't Trust Me

My month's favorite. Umiindayog na naman ang umaga ko!

Don't Trust Me!

Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen

Ok naman ang movie na to. As usual, impressive ang robotic actions and transforming from cars to robots ng mga wonder irons. Very crunchy. Pero mas gusto ko ang Terminator Salvation.

Taking of Pelham 123

Makapigil hininga ang action sa movie na to.

Isang simpleng tao lang na tahimik na nagtatrabaho, hindi nya ine-expect na mababago ang buhay nya sa isang simpleng call from hostage taker. Ganon naman yata talaga ang buhay, ang dami kong nakakasalubong sa karsada, sa mrt, sa bus ... kung titignan ko sila, para lang silang mga ordinary people na pupunta sa work, pero behind that, may wall na nagtatago kung sino ba talaga ang mga taong ito. Pwedeng isa sa kanila ang parang pinagtakluban ng langit at lupa, pero tuloy pa din ang lakad ng buhay. Sino ba sa mga kasalubong ko sa umaga ang mag-aakala na may malaki akong problema? Wala din naman :)

Wala lang, nai-relate ko lang ang sarili ko sa pagiging simple, ordinaryong tao, pero may mga naghihintay sa paligid na pwedeng makapagbago sa buhay. May sense kaya ako?

Movie

June 18, 2009 - Thursday.

My Desk

Stayed quite late in office today and so I got the chance to capture the image of my desk. I am using two machines, one for corporate and another one for surfing alone which uses a dedicated modem.

The white box under my table is the paper bag I just collected this afternoon from a visiting friend from Cabanatuan which contains fudgee barr. My seasonal favorite.

Bayanihan Dance Company at Esplanade

When Cindy sent email that she has an extra complementary ticket for the Bayanihan Dance Company show at Esplanade, I didn’t waste time and immediately grabbed one for me. First, it was a $100 worth of ticket, secondly, it will be my first encounter with the Bayanihan dance troupe. I reached Esplanade at 7:15PM (show starts at 7:45PM), collected my ticket from Cindy while they are having a bite at Mrs. Field’s, and ran in the concert hall (atat). I was so surprised to find out that our ticket was actually allocated for the VIP (how cool was that?) which was 3rd row from the stage, made me more felt like a real VIP when the host announced that S R Nathan, President of Singapore, will be the night’s guest of honor. And so the President entered the hall with his entourage and he sits behind me! I thought I That was really cool!

The Bayanihan started with the Palayok dance which made everyone in the audience stressful cos of the adrenalin combination of music and moves. But the dancers show the expert way of balancing the 8-layered palayok on top of one of the ladies head while dancing still in all grace. They danced what I expected them to dance and I was actually satisfied by the performance. Mabuhay!

Sunday Madness

I attended the 5:3o PM chruch service. Headed to the shopping malls in Orchard and ended up in a male shoe section. I decided to get a daily shoe that I can wear in office. Took me a while to try couple of shoes and finally chosen the best among the rest. Here is the pair of shoe I got.

I had dinner at Crystal Jade with Joe, Roman and So. Grabeng busog dinner na naman ang inabot ko. Joe, famous to be so matakaw, ordered the food kaya naman para kaming nag-buffet. Hindi ako kuntento sa dinner kasi walang dessert, so I asked the boys to walked with me while I look for dessert. Grabe ang Singapore Sale, pati ang cheesecakes may promo. Ang ending, kumakain ako ng cheesecake habang tinitipak ko ang blog ko.

Saturday Glutton

Started my Saturday with a lunch with Joe where we had bounty of nice local foods. Sobrang busog na lunch to.

After awhile, I accompany my housemate to IT Show where he wanted to buy a 10-inch notebook. Just before we reached the venue, we stopped at New York New York where we had a very masarap na meryenda and I ordered these stuff na mukang dinagdagan na naman ako ng timbang.

After the shopping of noteboook and iPod, we watched this movie with some other friends. Pang may mga jowa naman to, hindi bagay saken. Pero maganda na din, somehow eye opener sa mga taong hindi marunong gumamit ng puso.
After ng movie, hindi nagpa-awat ang batalyon at humirit pa ng hapunan. Halos hindi ako makahinga na umuwi ng bahay sa dami ng kinain ko sa maghapong ito.

Friday Movie

Watched the 9:10 PM show of Blood - The Last Vampire. I didn't quite liked it, few shots are so fake. A little scary at times and shocking, but it was just below my expectation. Nagmamagaling ako!

Canon Digital Ixus 100 iS

Well, I did research for several nights (finding ways convincing myself to buy the bloody red camera), so I thought it wasn't bad after all even if I brought home my desiring camera. Yes, I went straight to IT Show after work and immediately looked for Canon booth, played with for few minutes, and there it goes ........ I used Canon G10 to capture this image below, placing it on top of my bed. The little wonder is amazing, it is so small and slim that it can fit into my shirt's pocket. To be exact, it has the same size as of the credit cards. Really, Canon - delighting you always!

While having my dinner at McDonald's, I tried to test the capability of my wonder gadget by capturing an image of my watch. And I got the output below. Not bad, isang maliit na camera, namumula pa, pero kayang kumuha ng ganito kaganda. May masaya na naman ....
And another image. Wala akong hilig sa mga sauce.

May Nagpaparamdam

Bakit ganito, nangangati na naman ang kamay ko na bumili ng gadget. Gastos na naman to. Kagabi, kinausap ko na ang sarili ko na tama na muna ang bili kasi kakabili ko lang ng high rated camera last month. Nakinig naman ang sarili ko sa sarili ko. Pero everytime na mapapadaan ako sa electronic shops, talagang may tumatawag sakin ng “Ray, Ray …….. bring me home, please, please I am begging you!” Nagtatakip na lang ako ng tenga habang tumatakbo papalayo sa shop ……

Kanina, sinubukan kong lapitan yung device na tumatawag sakin, nagulat ako kasi isa pala syang camera. Canon digital camera sya na eto ang highlight na hindi ko sya maiwan-iwan --- kulay PULA sya. Nagmumura sa kapulahan. Of course, hard to get ako kaya hindi ko sya inuwi. Pero, pero, pero sa kabila ng pag-alis ko sa shop, kung magpa-flash lahat ng camera sa lahat ng taong malungkot na makikita nila …. malamang na magliwanag ang buong shopping mall sa dami ng flashes na tatama saken.

Pag balik ko sa desk ko, I checked my yahoo mail ……. laking gulat ko sa content ng email ……. May parating na naman na IT show from June 11-14, 2009 and that is going to be tomorrow. Oo, tama, bukas na sya!! Isa ba itong premonition? Isang napakalaking sign ba ito na puntahan ko ang IT show at tuluyan nang iuwi ang namumulang camera na pakiramdam ko lalo syang namumula pag tinititigan ko? Ang hirap ng sitwasyon ko. Litong-lito na ko.

Sa Orchard at Somerset

8 June 2009, Monday – After my work, I went to visit Orchard cos the shopping mall in front of SingTel has opened its gate to the public. It is not 100% operational yet and it still looks like a huge chunk of construction site. I walked to the Robinson’s which is just across the road and revisited my previous haircutting place. They are having promotion going on for only $20, and so I grabbed the chance to have my haircut with just a $20 damage.

9 June 2009, Tuesday – Lunch time. My colleague asked me to join him for lunch at Lucky Plaza. Since I have not been eating rice for weeks, so I decided to accompany him to be reunited too with pinoy dishes which I have been missing for quite awhile already. When in Lucky Plaza, one of the waiters told me (the not so complementing words I want to hear) “Kamuka nyo po si Hayden Koh” … (WTF! Ano akala mo sakin maniac, sana noon mo sinabi yan nung wala pang eskandalo) For few seconds, I became speechless and lost of reaction. My colleague seconded by saying ….. “Pero hindi sya yung partner ni Katrina sa video, sya yung partner ni Belo, hahaha!!”.

Wala akong nagawa kundi i-enjoy na lang ang giniling at gulay na order ko.

Sunday Movie

Maganda ang review sa movie na to kaya pinanood ko kanina. Mahina ang loob ko sa mga ghosts movie, pero sa tingin ko kaya ko to kasi hindi naman mga multo, but evils and monsters, na hindi ko kinakatakutan. Based sa mga reviews, nakakatawa daw ang DMTH, kaya mas lalong lumakas ang loob ko na panoorin.

And indeed, talaga namang malakas ang mga tawa ko sa sinehan. Masarap pala ang feeling ng natatawa and at the same time natatakot. Mixed emotions ang movie na to. Pero over all score, it is a must see movie. Nakakatakot, nakakagulat, nakakatawa, may kadiri element din, pero enjoyable naman.

Saturday Lunch Buffet

Started my day rushing to the Royal Plaza on Scotts. Doc C organized a buffet lunch cos she can subsidized half of the price from her prestige science company. This lunch must have been one of the most filling lunches I have ever had. I immediately started with crabs, lobster and all that seafoods on the table. With so much variety of foods to choose from, I was really so busy walking and lurking around the many buffet tables. I did very very good cos I know that I have accumulated the amount of buffet vs the amount of foods I ate, so not bad after all. Desserts are also fabulous, I finished two big plates of desserts which include tiramisu, creme brulee, meruenge, chocolate cakes, cheese cakes and many others which I lost count and names at the same time.

It was JC's (my youngest brother) birthday and so we gave him a toast as we had our hot tea. And of course, all the cheese I took was dedicated to him.

After lunch, I watched Terminator Salvation with Joe and his cousin from USA. I liked this movie so much, that melanie oliveiro from channel news asia really sucks as she doesn't know how to rate movies at all. She gaved this movie a 3 popcorn only, where in fact everyone in the movie house enjoyed the movie as much as I did.

Sale Sale Sale

It is the SALE season again in Singapore and I have to admit that it is really very very very very tempting outside. For people who are sick and doesn't have the strength to battle the will to shop, I guess Singapore is the hell place cos it will really make you broke in all aspects.

Just right after my work, I went to AMK Hub to just walked around and lazed before heading home and I bumped into G2000 which is on 30%-40% off promotions, and I was victimized by that promotion cos I went home with gray pants. Something that I can wear in office anyway, that at least made me less guilty for spending money in the midst of global crisis.

Can somebody please close all the shopping malls???

Good News

I had a dream last night about my deseased grandfather, it was the reason that made me call home, I just wanted to asked my Mom when was my grandpa's death anniversay or birthday cos he visited me in my dreams.

In the midst of the conversation with my Mom, my sister arrived from school (sinundo ang pamangkin ko). Nagsisisigaw sya sa tuwa. Then I talked to her kung bakit sya tuwang-tuwa. After ko sya marinig, ako naman ang nagsisigaw!!! Finally, dumating na din ang halos ilang taon na naming dinadasal. Sobrang saya ko kasi ilang taon ko ding hindi narinig na tumawa si Ate. Sa dami ng hirap na pinag-daanan nya sa loob ng napakaraming taon, finally malapit na ding matuldukan ang lahat. Hindi na namin makukuha lahat ng nawala sa amin, hindi na din maiibalik lahat ng luha ni Ate, luha ni Mama, luha ni Papa, luha ko ...... pero ngayon, masaya na kaming lahat sa pagbukas ni Lord ng bintana para makahinga kaming lahat ng maluwag. Thanks be to God!

Weekend Movie

May 31, 2009 - Sunday. I have to watch this movie as graded by Channel News Asia with 5 starrate. Now, I have concluded that this news anchor isn't reliable at all. Yes, it is a good movie but it cannot be 5 stars. The most will be 4 stars.

Finished the movie at 9PM, friends were still in the area but I doesn't have the power to join them further cos my head was under attacked again. Poor me :(