Favorite Pinoy Movies

In no particular Order, and doesn't include indie movies

1. Mano Po
2. Magnifico
3. Tanging Ina - The best talaga yung sinampal sa bilyaran scene
4. Booba - the best yung sinong nanay mo scene
5. Masikip sa Dibdib - the best yung english speaking scene plus its a dark comedy, something I haven't seen in local cinema
6. Got to Believe
7. Starzan 1
8. Elvis And James 1
9. Karnal
10. Ganito kami noon, paano kayo ngayon (Tama ba title?)
11. Tinimbang ngunit kulang
12. Buddy and Sol The movie
13. Yung unang movie ni Michael V (forgot the title)
14. Deathrow
15. Toro
16. Jologs the movie (salamat sa nagkorek)
17. Shake Rattle and Roll 1 .. nung bata ako di ako makalapit sa ref magisa at makatulog malapit sa bintana after I saw the movie.
18. Feng Shui
19. Rizal .. after the movie I told my friends who haven't watched it.."Wag nyo na panoorin..patay si Rizal sa ending" ..wala lang.
20. Pare ko
21. Bagets 1
22. Puto
23. Tanging Yaman
24. Ang pagbabalik ni pedro penduko
25. Maging sino ka man (eh nakakatawa si bino don eh, walang pakialamanan)
26. Tuklaw (Tnx Fanifan) - eto yung badtrip si Richard Gomez at natalo sya sa Best Actor dito
27. Lovingly Yours Helen - Julie Vega scene (Tnx Fanifan)

.... isip pa ako ng iba.

freakin love stories

I've been avoiding love stories and any form of mushy stuff while single. So I got home and saw a dvd , The shadowless sword. Nothing like a good old fashion kungfu movie to watch on a slow saturday evening. Its a guy thing, women watch Meg Ryan and other romantic Comedies when they watch alone, Guys watch wrestling, kungfu movies, gangster movies or porn. I even explained to my female friends that wrestling is a Guys telenovela, we know its fake but we watch it the same reason that women know telenovelas are fake. Could you imagine the acting needed falling off a 20ft ladder, and also unknown to ladies wrestling have plots and subplots , kung sa telenovela nagsasampalan, sa wrestling sampalan ng steel chair sa mukha , same thing right?!
Ok , going back to my rants over the weekend, bwiset na kungfu movie na yan, me subplot na love story pa.. bad trip! Tapos the next day I saw Xmen 3, Astig na movie, galing! Badtrip lang me lovestory angle nanaman haaay. Mabuti na lang me wrestling and other Jack TV shows on cable. Anyway ok na rin love story subplot kaysa may subplots about grand parents dying and stuff sa movie, sobrang badtrip yon,. If theres anything worst than watching a movie alone then feeling lonely, its watching a movie alone then crying . I cry whenever theres topics about grandparents lalo na mga Lola . badtrip yang si Gloria Romero lalo na sa Tanging Yaman at Magnifico, mamula mula ang mata ko sa kaiiyak. My Grandma died kasi with Alzei, Alzhei, Ahlzeim... nagulynanin kaya weakness ko mga ganon story. Anyway stick to wrestling , kungfu, action movies na lang muna ako, and I'll probably watch love stories for special reasons na lang(a.k.a Nudity).

Thought for the Day

Pag Nagpa ID Picture ba, kailangan naka ID ?

Times when you wish you weren't single

Putex, sobrang pagod today. Did a lot of regular IT stuff, has successive meetings and audits and crammed for audits. Ended the day so freaking tired. I could feel my forehead was a bit warm, probably overheating from stress. Finally called it a day with still a lot to do. Got out of the office then remembered I had to meet a group of friends to discuss a project, on the way to greenbelt felt how tired I was and wished I had a GF that time , someone to just walk up to and hug. One tight hug to wash all the days hardships away. Have someone to look at and then tell myself she is the reason why I do all this stuff. Anyway sabi nga ni Eminem, snap back to reality ,whoa there goes gravity. Im not in a hurry to find her, it just on special moments where in my spirit breaks where I wish she would come sooner rather than later. eniweiz...

Adventures in Photography - MAP

Thanks to photography , I'm able to enter different circles , groups, organizations , affairs , families even.

Today I was on a volunteer assignment, Took pictures of donors and the board members. I even had the chance to take a picture with Don Jaime Ayala, one of the richest guys around... Fafa sya hehehe. Yayain ko sana sya sa Saguijo eh, baka gusto nya manood ng Sugar Free. Sabihin ko sana sa kanya "pre! Don J! kitakits sa friday anniv ng Guijo!" , I imagine he would reply "Bien Bien! Miscall kita pag malapit nako, hindi ko nga na alam ang magapunta sa mga club na iyan". Wala lang.

We covered the programme after, It turns out it was a membership meeting for MAP(Managers Association of the Philippines) . Its like an organization for Top Executives of top companies, heck our own company president wasn't even there. I guess it was like the creme de la creme of Chairman's and company presidents. More than half of the countries economy was probably decided by those guys..and there I was covering the event . I didnt wake up this morning and thought I would end up there. It was like, 95% of the population would never have had the chance to be in that event and there I was by chance just walking around the whole function shooting pictures. Pretty cool. I wonder where I would end up next.

My surefire supply of strength

Man I was so tired today. I wasnt able to get much sleep and I was so tired the day before. I need to finish a lot of work today including tomorrows tasks , as I have to do some volunteer work the next day. I was running low in fuel, I wanted to go home and just sleep, but I know I can't and I also can't skip my volunteer work... so what do I do? I thought about it, and had this wonderful Idea. Coffee wouldnt work as I already had a lot today, instead I texted my mom. Told her I was tired but I needed to finish my stuff coz of the volunteer work. She texted me back "Galingan mo". Pucha that was all I needed. Ever gotten your mom or dad to cheer for you, parang kahit di mo kaya pipilitin mo kasi sabi ng nanay mo eh. I mean ever gotten into a nightout , gotten wasted terribly then in the morning your mom asks you to drive her somewhere.. ok tayo ka na lang and drive . Kahit ng bata ka, sabihan ka ng mom or dad mo Sige anak kaya mo yan, hala hataw ka naman bahala na si batman. I can always rely on my mom to give that extra boost.

Love yah mama.

Silent Killer

Naalala mo pa ba yung classic joke nung kolehiyalang nautot sa jeep? Parang nangyari sa akin..naalala ko lang bigla kasi nautot ako habang nagcecellphone. Well the story goes .. may magandang kolehiyala and nakasakay sya sa jeep, tapos nauutot sya. Nahihiya sya umutot so ginawa nya isasabay nya sa sounds ng jeep tuwing me bass na malakas kasi nga todo sounds ang jeep. So ayon, Thump thump poooot thump thump... ANG LAKAS nung utot tapos tingin sya sa tabi ..dedma lahat ...Ayos timing! sabi nya. naulit yon ng 3 times pa, sinasabay nya sa sounds. Bawat isa todo bigay sya kasi nga di naman mahahalata. Pagbaba nya ng jeep bigla syang tinawag nung isang pasahero ..MISS eto na ang earphones mo nahulog o! buti na lang bumaba ka na angbaho na eh. (naka earphones pala sya ,yon ang sinasabayan nya ng timing).

Well, putex nangyari sa akin yon!! Magisa ako sa overseas assignment, tapos naka earphones habang nagproprogram, pagkautot ko minuscle control ko pa para di maingay..kasi feeling ko naman di maingay ng maisip ko SYET naka earphones ako, malay ko ba kung ano sound. Pagtingin ko sa tabi ko dedma lahat..Parang yung kwento. Until this day di ko lam kung ano talaga nangyari.

Short Term Memory Loss

I've been having memory problems lately. I takes me a long while to remember stuff, and if you introduce someone now, in a few minutes I would forget that persons name. I tried taking vitamins for it, dont think it worked. I talked to my friend about it, he told me its because of stress and lack of sleep. I now totally agree, work stress is getting to me , and this stuff worsened since I got promoted. Some people get pimples, highblood pressure, hair fall, I get memory loss. A few minutes ago I figured out how to cure my stress problem ... now if I can only #@$@#$! remember what it was.

Blood is Thicker than Principle

I had a chat with a friend, we were talking of our brother's on how both of them had more than 1 GF at a time during their college days. My friend didn't like the idea as it was morally wrong, I didn't like the idea as well and I also think it is wrong. But , this is where we had differences in opinion, I would not tell on my brother and would cover up for him if he wished me to, as in my opinion blood is thicker than principle in some cases. My brother was wrong in doing so but I would still take his side out of love. My opinion lang.

Tag Ulan, my favorite season

For some reason, my lovelife seems to be on the downside on summer and picks up during the rainy season. Either I got officially hooked or met my previous girlfriends during the rainy season or just in general , things seems to come more better or lighter during the rainy season.
Actually this is the 2nd time Im attempting to write this post, 1st time for some reason I lost it after I clicked on spell check. Hell I definitely need to run spell check, after college my grammar, spelling and even my arithmetic has started to degrade, but because of what happened I wont be running spell check anytime soon.

Do you know the pre-rain atmosphere? I love that feeling. Imagine a normal afternoon, then it starts to get cloudy, the bright sunlight turns gold yellow then things turn gray. The air becomes twice as humid, then cotton sheets becomes more softer, the humid air gives the sheets a more silky feeling. Ang sarap maghihiga pag ganon. For me its the perfect cuddle weather , my definition of a lazy afternoon.

Sometimes If I get caught in the rain , I try not to run for cover, It feels good to lookup and feel the rain fall on my face. Its relaxing, cleansing. before I would go to the rooftop of our kitchen and sit there when it rains, just to feel it pouring on me. I feel so small under a huge downpour, its relaxing for me , gives me a very peaceful feeling, though I havent been able to do so lately. But just last summer, I went to boracay with some friends and a sudden downpour went in. I ran at the beach feeling the drops pour down. I touched the sand as the fresh water covered everything. I felt all the stress of the last months washed away, it was this years moment of zen for me. Cant wait for the season to fully come in, hopefully it still brings a new beginning for me.

Weird/Trivial/Surreal Things That happened to me

I've been forgetting stuff a lot this past few months, my short term memory is not as good, so before I start forgetting, I'd be listing some of the weird, surreal, trivial stuff na nangyari sa akin . Yung mga wooooh , coool , pambangka sa kwentuhan stuff na nangyari. In no particular order...at higit sa lahat, hindi plinano.

1. Photographer for the winner of the L'oreal Color Trophy.
2. Won 2 liters of oil, P500 of gas, dirty danced 2 models in a contest for FHM and got my picture on next months issue, ang kulit ko kasi naghahanap sila ng contestant sa crowd, nagsisigaw at nagtatalon ako. ayon nasali ako.
3. You know sa mga bars yung me girls na sisigawan ng take it off, well me and my friends ended up sa isang gimik with a bunch of girls na biglang nag ganon. Tapos sayaw pa kami ng sayaw 2 girls front and back ko , pareho DD , no steer, it was on a blind group date, never knew it would turn out that way.
4. Drove 200miles just to take a picture at Bruce Lee's tomb.
5. Went to a sort of like fait healing session, A young guy supposedly getting visions from the Virgin Mary, sinama kami ng friend namin who is in to these things..pero sa L.A. hindi sa probinsya. Meron palang ganon kahit sa US.
6. Had my picture taken with my first GF and my other Ex , not as a group shot but for the reason that we had something in common. It happend during a friends wedding.
7. Got interviewed on TV for the NU 107 Rock Awards.
8. Attended a Wish Granting by the Make a wish foundation, grabe ang preparation talaga pala non, It probably took weeks of planning. Ang galing non grabe.
9. Na flashligt sa kotse for making out.
10. Did the deed near sa sakayan ng jeep! pucha long story.
11. Was in a bar during e-heads night when former e-heads guy Raymund Marasigan suddenly Jammed.
12. Helped out taking orphans to go wall climbing and ended up running around rockwell taking care of 3.
13. Went to a Boatmans party sa cebu. Uncle ng friend ko owns a lot of jetskis, and he had a party for all his staff, there where probably 40 burly boatmen and 4 girls na mukhang ininvite pa sa beerhouse ng kabilang barrio. Sayaw sayaw ako magisa , tapos yung ibang boatman nag grind grind pa ... di pa uso brokeback non. Mga kasama ko di sumama... pero cool naman masaya.
14. In Paris, I watched the Mrs. Vismin 2000 competition. It was held in one of the civic centers, daming pinoy, nakinood ako, ang talent portion me mga nag lip sync ng broadway songs, parang something out of GMA supershow, parang pang probinsya, tapos almost 20 awards fro 7 contestants.
15. isip pa ako... my memory is failing me again.

Just an Idea

It was hell day yesterday at work... I was unbelievably busy. I got so stressed to the point of thinking man I wish I wasnt doing this. I though sana comedian nalang ako. I find myself witty, I would earn a job making people happy, funny guys get the girls, theyre always cool... and they dont have to workout 10hrs at the gym to stay cool and attractive. Kailangan lang basta cute at witty..hottie na. I mean.. si Piolo at Jericho, di na sila pwedeng maging hunks pag lumaki tyan nila, pero si Vic, si Michael V, si Joey Marquez... indi issue. siguro palusot ko na rin to para hwag magdiet.

L'oreal Color Trophy

Grabe, until now I'm amazed of the places where my photography has taken me. Before I thought it would be just parties, weddings and landscapes. I am amazed of the places I end up in.

May 15 , a friend of mine asked to cover the event their group was competing in. My Friend, Angelo who I met at a photo workshop, owns an upscale Hair Salon in Las Pinas. 2 Of his hairdressers entries made it to the finals. I was running late cause of traffic so I didnt get a chance to change into something more casual, I had no idea what the event was. Turns out, parang The Big thing in hairdressing yung event. If I got it right the event happens every 2 years like the Hairdressing Olympics of the Philippines and all the bignames Salons where there.

Everyone was garbed in great retro outfits, its was the place to be for hairstylists. Well I think I got more than I bargained for. I was shooting with some of the top event photographers and all the equipment I had was the new lens and flash I bought from ebay. Anyway I think I pulled off a few decent shots. I was really at awe at the event, and best thing is that my friend one , both entries won, so I ended up with the exclusive shots of the winners. Cool. Since I am an IT person I had absolutely no idea who the guys around me where, I must have been taking pictures of fashion demi-gods and I had no idea. If I had a friend whose in to these things, that friend would have been swooning to get in, and there I was, just walked in took pictures. Parang, super big deal sa nakakaalam.. habang ako.. basta parang naligaw na lang don at front row seats pa... I guess add this one to the trivial / odd staff that has happened to me.

Words of Wisdom for today 051606

- Its never the wrong day to pamper and enjoy the fruits of your labor, pwera lang pag byernes santo.

Things I gotta do at least once in my life

I was chatting with a friend and we talked about things that we'd like to do at least once in our lives...this is mine, I dont plan to finish it, but it would be cool to tick some off. Oh and I didnt put in stuff like be successful or help the needy, just the trivial stuff.

1. Drive a Ferrari or Porche
2. Have an Affair or sleep with a celbrity
3. Bunjee Jump
4. Go to 6 Flags and ride all the rollercoaster - Done
5. Be part of a Guiness Book of World Record
6. Eat Kobe Beef
7. Visit New York - Done
8. Visit Hollywood - Done
9. Have a Caucasian Girlfriend
10. Go To Boracay - Done
11. Go To Palawan - Done
12. Learn to Play an Instrument
13. Have a Threesome - Done
14. Save someones life - not sure if crossing roads is counted
15. Sing in front of a crowd - Done
16. Learn to bake a cake
17. Visit the Louvre - Done
18. Visit Musee d'Orsay (favorite degas paintings) - Done
19. Have sex in high risk area(public) - Done
20. Have sex in open area (nature)
21. Ski - not sure if a bobsled is counted.
22. Shoot an M16
23. Get my picture in FHM - Done
24. Drive 120mph - almost 110 mph
25. Go to a bar and have most of the guys looking at you in envy. - Done
26. Get a photo I took published in a magazine- done ,
27. Watch U2 Live- Done
28. Watch Madonna Live... in concert ok.
29. Stage Dive
30. Appear in International TV..kahit extra lang
31. Have a picture with Vic and Joey, ndi si Tito no yuck.
32. Go to major asian cities. (KL , Tokyo, Taipei, Singapore Done) , Bangkok , seoul, jakarta sana.
33. Palawan
34. Phuket
35. Win a major raffle.
36. Get a crowd to cheer my name.
37. Kiss Passionately in the middle of a public area under the rain, has to be a spur of the moment thing. (tnx ghia for the suggestion)


.. still thinking of other stuff

Soulmate

How would you define or know who it is. I go with this description which some of my other friends also say. You will just know when you have met your soulmate.

Carmel , a friend of mine told me that she met this girl that she felt really at eased with instantly. She just knew, and she was pretty convinced that that person was her soulmate. I think soulmates should not always have a romantic inclination to one another.

I wonder if thinking a person is just a state of mind. I thought or maybe I have found my soulmate a few years before, she was that one person where everything fits and everything was so natural around her. She acknowledged this as well. We would sometimes be thinking of the same thing, or would be thinking about one another and would respond . Like a weird link, I started to call it "Spider sensed". I would bring food to her and it would be exactly what she would like on the menu. When she felt down or in need , I would coincidentally be trying to call or text her. It was freaking weird at first then I started to accept it. We were riding on the car then I asked her where she would like to eat. Out of the 200 places in QC, I blurted out the exact one she was thinking off.

I was thinking of what snack to buy for a friend while I was in the supermarket, I passed by the chocolate section then started to stare at a specific brand, then I had the "Thats the one" feeling. I thought.. cool this knowing feeling is transferable to friends who you spend a lot of time with and may not be a soulmate thing. Well I was wrong, I asked my friend what snack would she want and it wasn't chocolate. So to confirm the feeling, I asked my soulmate if she liked that brand of chocolate. It was her favorite.

We did have a brief romantic encounter, my soulmate and I , but as the saying goes soulmate doesnt always end up with one another. Now we struggle to maintain our good friends status.

I wonder if you can unlearn knowing you did find your soulmate... or have the same things you had with her with your true life partner, that the link you had with your soulmate isnt a weird Natural wonder but can be learned and nurtured true love and companionship. Ill write about it when I find out....

People I met: Doc Bill

Now Doc Bill, he is one of the coolest guys I know and has one of the hardest jobs. I met him thru a friend , Vanessa. Doc Bill is her Boss. I volunteered to take pictures of his Cancer Clinic. He specializes in alternative treatment for cancer. I went with him to PGH to visit his patient though I had no Idea why I had to go. I went in the ICU and saw his patient, had cancer in the mouth and he had cured him . Problem was where the cancer was before was now a big hole. You could see the insides of his mouth and he was in terrible pain. I saw Doc bill talk to him egging him on, telling him that they where Iron men or something , they never give up trying to boost his spirit. Well that seemed to workout well for a while then the patient wrote something on the notepad he uses to communicate...then the mood suddenly shifted from upbeat to downright gloomy. I could feel it even though I was standing from a distance. Vanessa was with me and we had no idea what to do. We wanted to crawl out of the ICU. Doc Bill waived at us to go out, a few minutes later he followed. It turns out his patient wrote something like "Why Are you doing this to me" , in anger . Blaming him for his suffering, Doc Bill replied "Because I wont Let you die", that didnt appease the patient though and he just told Doc Bill to get out. I mean what do you say or do to a situation like that. Doc Bill did eventually got the person better a few weeks after. But if day in day out you encounter those kind of situations , this guy was just generally a good guy. He said that he would not give up on his patient even if regular procedures didnt work and even if the patient himself was already mad at him. He told us he wanted to save him because his patient was a real good person, a good father and was worth all the effort to save. Ako sa office, I get emails "David have you sent the latest utilization report?" , this guy deals with really badass heavy stuff. Doc Bill is one of my idols. He really makes a difference .

People I met: Kritzia

Kritzia is one of the kindest souls I've met so far. She's terribly rich, yet according to her friend she gives all her allowance to charity and spends most of her weekends in the foundation she created. She frequents payatas, a local dumpsite to help the children there. She and her friends raised 200k from a concert to help her foundation. Oh and she is only 18 I think, and she started doing this while she was 16. Ako nung 16 ako iniisip ko non syet ok pala ang may classmates na babae.. daming sexy. Kritzia is on my coolest persons I've met ever. Idol.

Love found, lost and the getting over technques

*** additional stuff 05-14-06**
I remembered Item 10 on getting over techniques... but I dont recommend using it unless you have a good reason to.
10. Turn to hate. If the instances to cause you to get over a person was bad, use that and everything negtive the person has done in the past to hate the person. To practically convince yourself that you are better off. Use everything bad that person has done to completely wipe that person off you life. But dont be vengeful..just forget and move on.

Also on item 8, it really helps if your busy and preoccupied, it moves your attention and focus on more contructive things..BUT do not be too busy like what I experienced. I tried to get too busy but got over my head as work really was stressing me out..instead of just going home and falline asleep, at the end of the day I searched for comfort to ease my stress..ergo..back to feeling lonely.

****
Just recently got turned down. This is the 2nd time I got brokenhearted, although in different
settings, they felt he same so Im categorizing them as the same. When my Ex's and I broke up, either they , or We brokeup I didnt feel the same, the feeling was more of like a big vacuum , like ok what do I do now, there was no longing feeling for more that just got cut short. First time was during my first relationship, she went with another guy so that came as a suprise and took some months to get over it. Well the latest one is quite different. It was a love found , didnt recognize it as such..then lost it.

I think I'm really bad at reading signs and stuff. Few years ago I got off a relationship then started courting this girl "H" from our office and was going quite well, we haven't really hit it off but seemed to be on the way too when H was sent on a business trip. I followed her on her business trip but it seemed that chance would not grant us time to be together as she was busy tih work. I took that as a sign , I went back and I started going on friendly dates , but still had constant communication with H . Then I met "G", G was single too and we were usually with each other until we started to hit it off and she became my girlfriend. My reasoning then , G is there and we seem to hit it off more than with H. We liked more things in commong, when H returned she wasnt too happy about it , later on G and I broke off after a year (mutually due to some differences, we stayed friends seriously). Well H eventually broke off with her boyfriend so we got a chance again to go out and stuff. We started dating though not as regular and I always told my friend that I dont find as much chemistry with H as I hoped though there was the attraction. I did date with other girls as did H. Then I met "C" thru a common friend. I had no idea we would hit it off , I mean we liked the same stuff and we just couldnt stop talking about anything . So there I was again... between 2 women and failed at the first time it happened. So what did I do, I pursued the relationship with H even though seemingly C and I hit it off better. I told myself a> I know H longer , b> I was given a 2nd chance at H, c> maybe when we become a couple things would pickup between me and H in the chemistry department. Well so it went then , H became my girlfriend , C had a boyfriend. After a year of trying H and I brokeoff mutually(story of my life 3rd time) . C had broken off with her boyfriend some time before as well.We went out again as friends but not as often as before. After spending the holidays with her and a friend, I decided to ask her if there was anychance that we could be a couple. She gave me an I dont know answer. Initially I took it as is, that she was still enjoying her single life , and she really didnt want to get into a relationship, and also she told me that she got hurt the first time we didnt got together and that she was able to accept our friendship status so that is how she sees things.

After a week of just being plain lost , I told myself to snap out of it , wakeup and admit that what she just did is what friends usually say to friends so not to hurt them. It was a big No , and I should move on ... told myself I've been in this predicament before, I know what to do to get over this. Suprisingly I didnt expect to get affected this much. My feelings for her just grew which prompted me to ask her and get things straightened out. I thought by getting to know how she felt I could react accordingly. I was dead wrong... I fell into the phase wherein It was her face I would see when I closed my eyes and her face I would wish would be when someone moves at side of your eyes. I was still in love and fallin even though she just told me to stop. It started to affect my work and I would fall into stupors whenever I get quiet time to think... I tols myself then to suck it in... snap out of it... These are what I did and still do to get over this feeling or at least get me thru the next day :
1. Stay with friends, and keep busy. I guess this is the most important part, If I dont have time to think , I wont be able to.
2. Find constant companions
3. Avoid lovesongs and stories... stay with comedies , action etc. Anyhting that will fuel the feeling is not good.
4. Do stuff you like.
5. I think this is the most important part, acceptance.
6. Avoid or lessen communication, during my first breakup I eliminated all communication with her, in this case we , well I am anyway(another story), still trying not to lose the friendship.
7. alcohol doesnt help, fun does.
8. Avoid getting idle.
9. The most effective thing is to find someone else. but this time im very apprehensive to find someone yet as I would be very weak and accepting during this period, dont want to be in a fallback relationship and just end up hurting someone .

I tell myself repeatedly that I guess its not yet my time, my destiny. I came to apoint that thinking , what if 10 yrs from now I would be spending a nice lazy afternoon with C, and I was very OK with that, so here I am now convincing myself If I can have this feeling for someone and its the 2nd time this happened, then It should happen again. Hopefully soon.. And hopefully sooner rather than later all this mind conditioning works, and my mind finally persuades my heart to snap out of it.

Wedding Pictures and Finding the one

Just finished a Pre-Nuptial pictorial for a new client. It always amazes me how 2 people getting married just can't hide their love for one another . The couple was past their 30's and I had the initial impression on the bride to be more on the cranky side. I met them in Paco park for the shoot, which was luckily a place they've never been before. I must admit I had my apprehensions on the shoot and took it as a challenge to make the shoot work. Well It was quite easy actually, I haven't met the groom prior to the shoot, it was the first time I would see them together or a better term would be in action. Ang coooool. They where always chatting and laughing, I'd catch them in moments of uncontrollable smile. This would be the 4th pre-nup shoot i'd be doing, and its always the same for each, their love for each other is simply outpouring. Right there ,I can definitely say , Yes this guys are really getting married and they are really the one's for each other. They have this own little world , like an unending supply of inside jokes. I'm sure not all couples are like that but I've been fortunate enough to get the chance to take photos of the one's that are. Plus they always had something special , like a sign or a signature move . One I shot always hold hands instinctively. Another one is the way the groom always takes care of the bride , "binibaby" , the latest one held hands but there hands where always intertwined and locked. I guess these things are developed unconsciously during the relationship.

Me and my friends would be asking ourselves , How would you know if that persons is The One. Sounds like something out of the Matrix. Well I've had quite a few chat about this considering most of my friends have gotten married and I have to continually look for new circle of friends which are still single so this topic always comes up.
My opinion:
- Sometimes you just know, like this story of a friend of mine from portland, they said She and her husband met at a restaurant. They saw each other across the restaurant and said to themselves "I am going to marry him/her" (yes they both said it) , and it turns out they had common friends , they met and the rest was history.
- When you complete each other , some of my friends are great examples of this.. a friend of mine really great in PR, loves to mingle and party, his wife a bit more simpler, not as extrovert but definitely more organized. Like Woz and Jobs of Apple.
- When you have that special IT thing that you share. Like having an unending supply of inside jokes, having your own little world, sometimes just not running out of things to say and sometimes enjoying silence with that person .

Well these are my observations I saw from friends and from the Weddings I covered and attended. Sadly though I dont think I've met "The One", I thought I did but must be a miscalc...well just have to keeeeeep waitin and searchin.

Signs and How wonderful Things fall into place

*** 051006 ***
Yesterday I was having one of those helldays at work.. From the moment I sat down to the very last moment to rush to another meeting I was darn stressed and busy. I used to get hugs from a friend before to ease the stress, it kinda makes things alot better after. But I dont think she's available for hugs anymore. Anyway to add to all of it , it was an hours drive to my next meeting because of traffic , I was feeling terribly stressed, you know the feeling when you get lightheaded..and your neck tends to get sore , that was how stressed I was and realizing there where no more hugs to get me by I had no clue how to get my self to calm down. I looked up and asked a little prayer, "Lord a little help po" I said. I got into the meeting and put on my game face. My friend harold was there and some other guys we were meeting for this civic group I was joining. After the meeting I muffed my plan to get back to the office to finish more work and asked harold to get some beers. Chillout as I had a tough day, turns out so did he. We called 2 more friends to join us. We wanted to go to 6 underground to listen to some bands but it was closed. We ended up playing billiards and had a blast. Laugh Trip and 3 cold beers did the trick. Joanne my new gimik partner in crime turns out plays a mean game of billiards and was terribly lucky that night. We beat Harold and his friend Gumba 5-1 .

I started the day terribly busy but managed to end it on a lighter note. Prayer answered.

************ 050706 ***
As I grow older, I appreciate more and become more observant on how God makes things fall into place. Its like Super plans. I guess if you pray for something and if he thinks its worth it enough , things will happen . Of course its not gonna be anything supernatural like a burning bush , no dramatics, to borrow a wrestling monicker, excellence of execution. Disclaimer lang, I am no saint, Im not even a regular sunday church goer , but I would just like to share some stuff I fell witness too.

A bible passage which I liked but sadly couldnt remember word for word , I saw while watching the Movie The PAssion of Christ. It talked about that God will send a Mediator or was it an Angel to aid us whenever we are most in need..or something like that. The scene was when Jesus was being flogged and the pain was too much , then a roman guy came in to help him.

Few days after watching it, I met a new friend, she just came from a breakup and was feeling really down.. I did my best to cheer her up and assure her that everything is ok.. went with her and stuff ,not to say that I went with her just to cheer her up , I terribly enjoyed spending time with her so I guess I was the mediator for her and she was for me. We sort of like made things easier, well I hope I did.

I was in Church one time then I came into a realization that I was receiving a fair share of blessings and I should give back. Since I loved photography I promised to give back using my craft. Problem was I had no idea how to. I prayed for help on how to keep my promise. Sometime later I joined a workshop for Studio Lighting Techniques. I met with a model, Vanessa , we chatted and she asked me a favor to take a picture of her friend. Syempre ako, sige, sa loob loob ko makakatulong na ko makakafriend ko pa tong model at baka mapakilala pa nya ako sa other friends nya. After the shoot we chatted in the car and she mentioned she won a beauty contest and is involved in some outreach activities. I mentioned to her if the outreach activities needed a photographer I would gladly volunteer. Ayun na, she had a project sometime later and I was able to help out kahit papano. I was also regularly checking a egroups for photographers looking for cheap stuff, a guy posted he needed some help for a charity org, tapos nagreply ako...ayun nakatulong me. Amazing how things fall into place. Simple things , simple solutions for prayers. Naisip ko din na baka yung friend ko rin si Vanessa naghahanap ng mga tutulong for her projects and isa ako (hopefully) sa sumagot sa prayers nya. It just made me more optimistic and trusting in God , that things happen for a reason and if you put things to action he will provide the opportunity .

A friend of mine told me this as well, she had an aunt who was an old maid, one of the things they worry about her was that she did not have a family of her own and would be alone. She had a cousin then who became a single mom, she was struggling during her pregnancy and when she gave birth. But it was her aunt that helped her take care of the baby. Siguro it wasnt the plan for them to be a single mom and an old maid pero since andyan na, sila ang pinagmatch to help one another. The Aunt had somebody to take care of (well parang ganon), and the cousin had someone to help her.

Im in recovery mode now sa lovelife ko and eventhough I feel sad , thinking of these things makes me more optimistic, na phase siguro to and I would recover. I feel blessed that my friends are there , minsan inaalala ako na sinasama ako sa gimik to help me cross this phase with as less sadness as possible.

The Return of Pinoy Rock

Just came from a concert last night, one of the mini concerts which is the trend these days. IT was pretty boring , got there late as My friend and I had to play cupid for another friend. We were able to catch up to the last few songs of Urbandub and the whole set for Pupil. Frankly I dont think Pupil deserves to be the last band, everyone started to go home when they played , I dont blame them even if the singer of Pupil is Ely Buendia. Pupil only has 1 hit song and in my opinion the best one in their album, the rest is so so. They did sing Alapaap , so that was 2 good songs for them. Shows my age...Old School.

I think I went thru 3 resurfacing of pinoy rock. The way I figure it Pinoy rock is the life blood of OPM, every time or decade it peaks, the foreign songs in radio take a backseat. I also observed a pattern in how things come about.
Step 1. Underground bands comeabout (ex. 80's The Dawn, Identity Crisis 90's The Youth Yano, 00' Slapshock, Mojofly)
Step 2 Coverbands Comeout , probably to ready the general public(non Rockers) and give everybody the notion that "In ang mga Banda" (ex. 80's Neocolours, 90' Side A, 00's MYMP etc)
Step 3. Rise of the Bands . Underground clubs would start to comeout again, Indie Labels become active, it would be in for college kids to be in bands, and #Hits would be coming from Alternative Bands. 80's The Dawn ,Identity Crisis became crowd drawers, 90's AfterImage, Rizal Underground, The Youth, Yano, Color it Red, Eheads, Parokya Ni Edgar 00's Siccyclemind, sugarfree, parokya ni edgar, sandwich etc and since we are still in the step 3, more and more to come.

Of course there are bands which are still kickin ass till today and have crossedover the decades, those are the bands that crossed the 1hit, 1-album wonder category and are true rock legends. Those are the bands that have been accepted in mainstream and pop music yet are still respected in the rock arena. Pucha yon ang mga astig ang mga di nagsesell out.

I almost forgot Step 4.

Step 4. New music or foreign music starts to kick in and indie bands get too much exposure. A lot of 1 hit wonders starts to disappear, Alternative goes back to being alternative and retreats to underground status. Rockers cash in and some sell out to pop and commercials. Rocker Chicks nagigint tweetums, mga me itsurang vocalists na dati naka tshirt na butas butas naka triple patong na porma with matching jacket kahit mainet na. Parang Pormang Pang ASAP. Then everything just goes into another cycle . Time again to ripen the other bands to sprouting from the underground scene.

Went Old School Trippin last week. I went with some good friends of mine to Saguijo. Told some of my younger friends that we should go to catch Imago , Orange and Lemmons, and Sandwich. Pero sa totoo ang number one na pinunta namin is AfterImage. Eh how cool ba naman ang setup.. a bands super popular during the 90's , kinakanta pa sa simbahan ang Habang may Buhay non, tapos nagbreakup...then suddenly without any big hooplah, sings as a band again in a little old Bar hidden somewhere in makati. Parang stuff of urban legends. Of course the other bands kicked ass as well. Pero since ka-era ko ang band na yon me softspot.
Three days after , as though I had no real work to do, we went to Saguijo again for E-Heads night, young new bands singing old E-head song plus their own. Double Loser kami... Kinabukasan pa pala ang EHeads Night! I even had the nerve to ask the band "Pare Ano ba tong Eheads Night" , the guitarist gave me a blank look.. KAYA PALA! In true rocker-yuppie form...Diretso kami sa IO.. sabay salang ng mga Alternative Songs with matching choreography, Pampaalis ng sama ng loob.

Next Day we still went , we reminsced as the eheads songs where done by the bands, found some new kickass bands . Every now and then we would say "Galing nito ah, Sisikat!" . But what really brought the housedown was when Urban Dub was singing then suddenly Raymund Marasigan came in from another gig and sang. To the crowds disapproval he went out..but when Shirley was being sang, true to his rocker sould, he went in , grabbed the drums and jammed with the band . Raymund really showed that he was a musician by heart , he changed temppo of the drums , then Urbandub played catchup. Classic jamming , impromptu variations ..It was surreal. Buti na lang ngayon me internet na, madali makahanap ng underground gigs. Dati sa radyo lang.