Category Archives: Raves

age plus one

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I’m not really a big birthday fan.  At least, when it comes to my own.  It only reminds me of a phrase I heard a long time ago which goes, “when we were young, we wished we were old; and now that we’re old, we’re wishing we are young again.”  Or something like that.  I guess part of my attitudinal paradox is that I am very happy when a friend or family member has a birthday, but I don’t look forward to my own.

But when those greetings start coming in from family and friends alike, it makes me feel a lot better.  Probably because they truly remember, or in these days, see one friend write a greeting on my Facebook wall and follow suit.  Nonetheless, however it’s conveyed, it truly warms my heart.  I actually am still getting greetings via Facebook as I write this.

I guess part of why I don’t look forward to my own birthday is that I cannot do whatever I want despite having all the right to do so (and I do mean whatever I want).  Or maybe because I haven’t received a real birthday gift in almost a decade or more (yes, gift-wrapped with all the trimmings).  Or maybe have that one kick-ass, all-out, swingin’ birthday party; or being thrown a surprise party of that nature for that matter.  Not that I don’t enjoy the simple parties I’ve had at home throughout the years, but one could wish for something different once in a while, right?

But who am I kidding?  Those kind of parties won’t be happening to me.  Not unless I either have super rich friends who could throw that surprise bash, or I win the lottery.  Still, it ain’t a crime to dream, right?  Those two are up there on wishful thinking lane together with me wanting to be a radio DJ.

But nonetheless, a birthday’s a birthday.  And I go back to family and friends who are true to me and sincerely remember when to greet me.  I’m a lessened-expectations kind of guy, so to receive those greetings is truly enough for me to get through that day with a smile on my face and a thankful feeling in my heart.  So to all of you (you know who you are), I say a heartfelt thank you for your birthday greetings.  You have no idea how I appreciate it so much.  May good karma come your way and be blessed a thousand-fold.  You are included in my prayer of thanks as I end the day.  Thank you.  Thank you.

Oh, did I hear asking for my age?  It’s for me to know and you to find out.  Hahaha!

A passion re-launched

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It’s never easy when a hobby is based on creativity.  You can only do so much and will run out of ideas sooner or later.  But if you’re passionate about that hobby, you will find a way to keep it going.  I have been blogging for eight years now.  I may have had stretches of being “quiet,” but never did I consider giving up on blogging completely.  After all, being a Gemini means that you crave communication; and what better way to make myself heard and to express it how I want it than this particular avenue which started out of an idea of wanting to keep my thoughts and ideas organized.  And it turned out to be one of the most significant things I’ve done in my life.

The decision to transfer to a new blog provider was born out of necessity.  I.ph sent me an email in March saying that their closing their free blog services later this month and asked me to register–if I wanted–to keep the blog active for two years at $14.00.  Honestly speaking, I don’t quite get the idea of spending close to a thousand pesos to maintain a blog site with limited customization possibilities, not to mention technical support capabilities for two years.  So I passed on their offer and started the painstaking task of archiving all of my blog entries since 2004.  But I still had to choose where to have my new home.  After creating accounts in LiveJournal, Blogger, and WordPress, and navigating through their individual dashboards, I settled here.  Yet, in fairness to I.ph, they did send me instructions on how to transfer all my entries (including comments) to WordPress.  This happened while I was already halfway in manually copying and pasting all of my entries (I was about a week in).  At least they saved me more time and helped move up re-launching my blog.

I suppose this was also what I needed to revive my passion for blogging.  Doing a manual copy and paste of entries made me read most of them and made me realize why I started blogging in the first place.  In person, I may not speak much, but when I write, ideas seem to flow like water on a river going downstream.  Yes, I may have had attempts to get myself writing again before, but I guess maybe a transfer of homes is just what the doctor ordered.  I thought of re-launching this yesterday, but I felt it’ll be better to have it today, the start of my birth month.

So, welcome to my new home.  Hopefully this will be the final transfer I’ll be making.  I suppose with WordPress, it should be.  I hope that my regular readers (thank you for your continued support) would continue to visit, as well as entice new readers to take a stab my entries in hopes of making them regular followers.  Make yourselves at home, and like I always say, feel free to comment on what I write.  Don’t be shy.

Scorching hot outside, ain’t it?

striking the code

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it’s clearly one of the best movies i’ve seen. rebounding from a mediocre posiedon movie from last week, the da vinci code clearly was worth the hype, negative or otherwise. now i really don’t know what the fuss is about, or what caused catholic conservatists to call for an outright boycott or banning of this film. does it contain sensitive information about the history of catholicism? maybe, but is there current, real proof about this here in the real world? no one has come forward with it, or claims to have one. so what’s their basis of labeling the film as blasphemous? it’s entertainment, pure and simple. two hours of entertainment that may strike chords with pure catholics, but again, there is no actual–and factual–basis for it to be taken seriously.

it’s as every bit as thrilling as the search for the holy grail in indiana jones and the last crusade, or the search for relics and other artifacts in the tomb raider series, yet the difference in the da vinci code is the use of real locations and real items. the highest point in the story is when sir ian mckellen is explaining what the cover up is, starting with the striking line, “what if the greatest story ever told was a lie?” his potrayal of an obsessed templar researcher fits him to a T (unlike his character as magneto in the x-men series, but that’s another story–and that’s next week as well). he’s convincing, yet dark character exhudes that of a person seeking for the real truth, not just based on what he has learned and so far, but concrete evidence of where the holy grail, or it’s representation, exists.

i haven’t read the book, and after seeing the film, i intend not to. i know the book has much more to tell, but after being satisfied, completely satisfied on how the film turned out, i might just be disappointed if there were events or things in the book not included in the film. it’s the same approach i did with the lord of the rings trilogy, and i could very well say that not reading that book has served me well.

so there was silent hill, mi:3, poseidon, and the da vinci code. four films in four weeks. and it’s not over yet. there’s x-men 3, scary movie 4, superman returns, cars, and the fast and the furious: tokyo drift to name a few. whew! what a thrill ride it has been so far! and i’m enjoying every minute of it.

monsterized once more (and starstruck, too)

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it’s been a while since i went out and had a good time. more than that, it’s been a while since i went out at all. last friday night, i got to do both. it was monster radio rx 93.1’s 22nd anniversary party that night. for weeks, i had planned on attending that event, not just because i want to, but being a member of the rx-talk mailing list for six years made me felt the need to go. after all, joining the mailing list changed my life forever. somehow, someway, i had to be there. i had to celebrate with them and be thankful for being a part of their family–at least in the smallest way possible.

ever since getting in the call center industry, my attendance to rx events dwindled. when i joined the mailing list on the summer of 1999 and became an active “lister,” i often became one of the people in charge of organizing, coordinating, and the point person for the mailing list whenever there are eb’s, parties, movie premieres and other activities the station had. heck, i would even skip work just to attend them. whenever there are those events, if there are tickets involved, i usually get them for the listers and distribute them to those who are able to attend. those were the days. partying almost every month, watching movie premieres, or just hanging out and socializing with fellow listers on eb’s–all of them i still have vivid and fond memories whenever i look back. the last party i attended before last friday night was, if i’m not mistaken, also an rx anniversary party at the podium on the same month two years ago. missing the feel of an rx event, i thought to myself, “man, i have to be there.”

weeks before the party, i got in touch with the head lister, raffy b and asked if there will be party tickets for the listers. he said to wait for the annoucement on the list, but there definitely will be. i told him that i wouldn’t miss the party for anything, so i definitely will be there. when i learned of the date of the party, i immediately filed for vacation leave from work. soon enough, tickets for the party were offered on a first email, first serve basis. i immediately followed raffy’s instructions and shot him an email. days later, he posted an email with the list of people who will be having tickets. each lister was given two tickets. before i even had to read raffy’s email, i called one of the closest friends and listers i ever have and asked her to come to the party with me since i asked for tickets. cher and i were excited since both of us haven’t attended rx parties in a long time. a few days before the party, i dropped by the station to get the tickets alloted for me. the only concern i had at that time is how to get to the venue. the party was to be staged at dish, near abs-cbn. it was unfamiliar territory for me. cher told me that she’ll be asking directions to dish so that we won’t be having a hard time finding it.

i still had work on that friday morning, but all i could think about was the party later that night. upon getting home that afternoon, i called cher up, finalized our meeting place, and got some sleep for an hour and a half. i met cher and another lister, charlyn at glorietta and we went on our way. all of us were giddy at the thought of seeing old friends and listers (although there were only quite a handful of listers i know on raffy’s list that’ll be attending the party) and being at an rx event itself. cher’s directions to the venue were easy to understand and we got to dish without much difficulty. upon getting there, we went around the compound and saw some movie stars like francine prieto (man, that woman is huge, not just vertically, but i mean “huge!”), bernard palanca, dennis padilla, janice and gelli de belen, and carmina villaroel (who i had a major, major crush back in high school). we then got to see fellow listers daphne, chill, gio, jong, tin, and rizza and at dish’s entrance there was a sea of partygoers lining up to get in. tickets were only honored until 11pm and the venue was quite small so the people outside were really anxious to get in. we decided to hang outside for a while and find a way to get in. sugar free was playing onstage at that time and it was close to 10:30pm.

suddenly, one of the dj’s, fran went out. apparently, chill or jong contacted her about us being outside and was hoping she could let us in. and we did! man, it felt good to be inside, thanks to fran (who i still have a big, big crush on). we then got to pay homage to the big boss himself, raffy and exchanged pleasantries. by then, south border was playing and i already had a beer in hand. good thing cher brought her camera and soon after, pictures were being shot left and right. we also had photo ops with the dj’s and i had a pic with fran! i’ll be posting it on my friendster profile as soon as i get it from cher. we also got to see hale and barbie almalbis perform. although we were standing all the while when we were inside, i had a really great time. having that picture with fran was the highlight of the night for me (thanks to you, jong!) we left at around past 1am and went to starbucks to rest and of course, have coffee. jong and i continued talking and doing catch up since it’s been a long time since we really got together. seems like he also is busy and rarely gets to attend rx events. at about 2:30am, we decided to call it a night. i got home at 3am and immediately fell asleep, ending one of the more memorable nights and parties i had in recent memory.

as i end this entry, i would like to thank, first and foremost, the head honcho, the man himself, the one and only, raffy b for the tickets to the year’s biggest party i’ve attended. as always, you never fail to amaze the mailing list. looking forward to that “listers’ table” at the next party! and of course, to cher, charlyn, jong, tin, gio, rizza, chinggay, tom alvarez, boom gonzales, and of course, the loveliest person that evening, francesca for making that night very, very memorable. as always, rx throws the best parties ever and here’s to another 22 years for you guys!

to blog readers who want to join the mailing list, please visit http://www.rx931.com. =)