It's almost lunch now and I am waiting for my mom to get back home with lunch. It's been a while since somebody actually prepared food for me. I mean that's one of the disadvantage with working away from home: no mom to actually prepare the table for you. Funny, you'd never even mind hearing your mom's nagging. You'd even thought that you actually kind of miss that.

That and the never-ending fight/bantering of my younger bro and sis, a box full of my mom's Korean DVDs, FM statics's Tonight playing in the background from my older bro's battered looking guitar and the smell of my oldest bro's body mist body spray. Perfect signs that yes I am really finally home.

This is my 3rd day back here. So that makes it my 2nd to the last day of short-live vacation. That sounds sad but just like what they say, better than never. I never had a plan of going home this month but it's my younger bro's graduation so yeah, you can say that I'm trying to play the good-ole-sister-role and all. Sounds grand but yeah, I'd like to think that I really am.

It's been good so far. I met up with my gang last Sunday which was really great. Yeah, we do get updates from Facebook and Twitter and emails but of course talking and chatting physically is still the best. I miss those girls a lot. They make things easier to assess. All you need to do is to say a word or two like Cheese and Astroboy and they'd know exactly what to say next. Not to mention that they too can be brutally frank. They are like my left-tackle: always protecting my blind side.

Then I spent the next day watching movies with my siblings at home and also went out to watch How to Train your Dragon, then some dinner and desserts with family and my best friend. Too many things to do, Too little time. One can't help but to feel that way. But then you try not to think about that too much. You try to live with now and cherish it. But yeah, maybe I am just feeling a little melodramatic today.

I've said time and again that I love staying in Cebu and I love my job and work is pretty much the only thing that keeps me going on back there. And that the only downside is me again living away and alone from my family. Can you count that as an occupational hazard? Haha. Probably. Too much independence can bring depression and there by can hazardous for your brain's health. Maybe I must ask my boss for a raise. =p

But right now I am home. Camping in my brother's room and there's really nothing much to ask for. Maybe an extension? Or can I stay here again for good? =)

Haha. Not now of course. Maybe soon.

Maybe that'll be part of all this New Book thing. But then again: Chances are only what we make them. Nothing lasts forever. No matter how it feels today.

And today, I am contented. And happy. A little sad. But still more of happy nonetheless.

And all that's all I need .

I am really not good with video editing so this is the best that I can do. =p

Me and some of my office friends are scheduled to perform for our monthly Birthday Bash celebration in the office. Theme is graduation so we opted for Nikki Gil's Glowing Inside (Vaseline Jingle). lol

It was fun.

Here's a video of our recent practice. The guitarists are on foot. The pianist was wearing shorts and the vocalist is the cameraman as well? Errr---- just see for yourself.XD

So see yah there! Food food food.^_^

I had always been a great fan of Nicholas Sparks. I've read most (if not all) of his novels. I could say, I could blame him for most of my hopeless romantic ideas.

I will not claim that I like all of his works. Sometimes, when you had already read a lot of books from the same author, you get to realize that he is following a certain pattern and in a way that makes the story predictable and down right boring. As with Sparks' case, I usually find his works easy to read (like I could most of the time finish it in one sitting) and always, almost, most of the time the story involves a tragedy or more often than not --- death. And in Three Weeks with my Brothers his readers will get to realize why. Why death as a topic is usually part of the plot of his story. And that even a best seller writer like him, do needs inspiration as well.

When I was a kid, I had always had this notion that all authors are dead. I don't know where the heck did I got that idea. Maybe because I was introduced first with the likes of Rizal which of course is pretty much part of history. And I usually think of them as old, always wearing reading glasses, writing over a small desk with the aid of a little lamp as source of light and a chicken feather and a bottle of ink as writing materials. Those early perception of course changed cause of "growing up" and modern times.

Nicholas Sparks of course is very much alive, young and after reading this book, I get to realize one thing: he is the only New York Best Selling author that had read every volume of Encyclopedia Britannica --- twice. Cool!

But seriously, after reading this book, I missed my siblings even more (and my mom and dad of course). If only time would only allow us to spend quality time with each other again. But like what Nick's mom would usually tell her kids: What you want and what you get are usually two entirely different things.

From the title itself, this book is a story of brotherhood. The only difference is, the main character is the author himself. This is the story of Nicholas Sparks and Micah Sparks (his brother) and their trip around the world. But more than that, Nick get to share with us his own struggle as a child, as a brother, as a husband, as a father, and as a writer. This is a moving tale of familial solidarity, a voyage not only across continents but also across time, a journey back to faith, of success, and a brotherhood tested through time.

It just suddenly hit me.

Or maybe I was just really felling sappy since yesterday. Or maybe it was just because of the dream I had. More often, we are told that our dream usually is part of our subconscious mind --- it shows us the things we don't want to happen and would like to happen. On my part --- it's the latter.

It's pretty crazy. I made a declaration to myself that I have no time for love. Which of course is not really a good line to say especially if you've read the book: The Secret and you know enough that the Universe works under one law: Law of Attraction. So declaring that line to yourself is like wishing over to a genie and the genie's answer is always: "Yes, your wish is my command." --- And so love will indeed have no time for you.

But then, maybe the declaration was with no conviction at all. It was just something I'd like myself to believe in. An escape from reality. That's why I haven't written anything about it. That's why I haven't written something that would reveal my inner most thoughts---inner most feelings. That's why I've only been writing movie reviews for the last couple of weeks.

That's why I haven't written anything about you.

Cause I know the moment I will start writing about you (again) would be the day I'd finally accept that yes I still do.

And that yes, I am still not over you.

Now that my first choice from this season's American Idol did not make it to the top 12 I have another contestant to look forward to: Siobhan Magnus.




Her Performance tonight is just Wow. Killer! Best of the night. The rest are boring. =p

Tim Urban's performance was huh? Alex should have been in his position right now. Sorry, just got to add that. There's always a Sanjaya in every season. Sheesh.

Anyway, here's Siobhan's performance tonight! 1:45 is sick.



Brilliant! Amazing! Magnificent! Siobhan FTW!

It's been 3 nights since the last elimination and the time when the Top 12 for this season's American Idol was announced. But I can't still get over it. More like an over-extended hangover of the shocking results. It was shocking because of one, those who made a total fool of themselves from their last performances made it and two, Alex Lambert got voted off the competition. I was confident that he will definitely make it. After all, his performance garnered high ratings and good reviews. But apparently America don't know how to recognize talent when they see one. Alex Lambert definitely is one talented young man. And the announcement of him not making it to the top 12 was definitely unexpected. What a shocker.

I'm not trying to be a racist here. But then again, it's the people living in America who can vote for who's staying and who's not. Pardon me then for generalizing it. I just think that it's such a shame that they voted off someone who is definitely more talented than most of the contestants that made it to the top 12. It's sad, depressing when such talent will be left unrecognized. Such a waste. Let me quote my friend Julius' post in twitter: It's disheartening to see talented people like Alex Lambert and Lilly Scott get eliminated in a TALENT SHOW like American Idol.

But as usual, there's the it's not yet your time, when God closes a door he opens a window and God has better plans for you pep talks that we can use as words of comforts. There's nothing wrong about those statements of course. But if there's something that we should be in talk right now, that would be for us to Vote for Alex to be back on the show. He's the excellent choice for a wild card entry! If only there's one like last year. =( #BringAlexBack (Trending topic in Twitter)

We want Alex Back.

And to Alex, though your AI days might already be over, your talent is greatly recognize. You got a fan right here from half-way around the world.

so sad.T_T

but keep on smiling.^_^

aw. so cute.^_^

The movie seemed to be promising. My friend Tots gave me a link for this movie's trailer and first impression was good basing on the trailer --- looked like a not so typical Pinoy flick. Yeah, I know, I am all for the "support your own kind" (tangkilikin ang sariling atin) but to be honest about it I am not really in to Filipino films. I can only name a few Filipino movies that I am truly impressed with or a fan thereof: Mista, Magnifico, Till there was you and all John Lloyd Cruz films.

The Red Shoes was produced by Unitel productions and was based on one of the entries for Cinemalaya Film Festival. I must admit that the idea of a boy stealing a pair of shoes among the 3,000 pairs of shoes of the former first Lady Imelda Marcus in the peak of the Edsa Revolution and gave it to the first girl he had ever love sounds romantic. But I don't know. It was definitely not a bad movie. It's actually good but then I really can't say that it's a great one. Maybe I expected to much from it. The actors are great though. It was the story itself that I find disappointing. Maybe again, I just don't like any cheating scenario. I just find it shallow. I mean that scene when Marvin cheated and he and Nikki had a confrontation after wards it was grrrrrr....I don't like Marvin's character at all cause of that. Hmmmm...Maybe the storyline is effective then since I am frustrated over it.

But all in all I can definitely say that Filipino minds with regard to film making had indeed gone a long way. I think the creators of this film are planning to have this movie shown outside the country especially that the story transitions in between and the title itself is in English.

Well, we can say that this film is imeldific as a whole. But to put it straight, I am not that into it.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Miracle --- as defined by my hand-pocket Webster dictionary is a thing that contradicts scientific laws --- it is a remarkable thing.

In real life, there had been a lot of testimonials of how one let's say recover from a particular disease that is said to be incurable. The most famous would be cancer of course. One story vary from another. There were those who trusted everything in faith alone. There were those who believe in constant medication. But mostly of course trusted both medical science and faith. And John Crowley was no different man.

This is an extraordinary story of how a father did extraordinary measures to save his son and daughter's lives. John Crowley was a father of 3 and 2 of them suffered from pompe disease---an inherited disorder caused by the buildup of a complex sugar in the body's cells and was considered incurable and a child won't live any longer than 9 years of age. With his daughter celebrating her 8th birthday, John knew he has little time left to spend with his daughter. But would he go and chase after miracles or would he just accept fate and let it be?

What's heart-warming about this movie is the thought that this is based from a true-life-story. A book was actually written about the family that was portrayed from the movie. It's entitled The Cure: How A Father, John Crowley, Raised $100 Million--and Bucked the Medical Establishment--in a Quest to Save His Children By Geeta Anan. That gives us more hope, especially for the living that all things can be done and science and miracle can be no two different things.

Definitely a tear-jerker. A tribute to all fathers.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Whenever I'd hear/think of Alice in Wonderland the first thing that comes to mind is a little girl who fell down the rabbit hole. Second thing would be a rabbit with a clock. When I was still a kid and comprehension was still out of the picture, all I know is that this is a story of a girl who is chasing a rabbit. Why did that girl chase the rabbit? That I did not know and neither did I care.

It was only when I "grew up" and read the book did I know and cared and got the real picture. And I must say Lewis Carroll is one weird/eccentric writer (in a good way). It is always a wonder how a writer can create and make us believe that such place can exist.

We can say that Carroll's work is a satire after all the world that he had created was full of ironies. Absurd, surreal and insane logic are the norms of this so called Wonderland. With the ruling queen who's favorite line includes: "Off with his head!", that indeed is such a wonder.

Well I was half expecting that the movie adaptation will be weird as well (again in a good way). After all, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's combination usually gives us more or less something like that. Take for instance Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd. Weird. Weird. Weird duo.

But oh well, if I am purist I could have said all bad things about the movie. I could start with changing the title to Alice Returns to Wonderland instead. The book I read would tell me that Alice was a seven years old girl not a teenager who was set-up for an engagement. And I honestly never thought of Alice much of a fighter.

But it was an interesting take of the story. How the Mad Hatter's role was given much importance. And it's not all the time you'd get to see Johnny Depp dancing.^_^ And Alan Rickman and Helena Carter were in the movie as well! Snape and Bellatrix together again. lol.

It was definitely a visual treat. I wish I too could fall down a rabbit hole and find my own Wonderland. And I wouldn't mind meeting a hookah-smoking caterpillar, a Cheshire cat and a mad-hatter along the way.


Rating: ★★★★☆

I wanted to watch this movie mainly because there's John Lloyd of course and it's been a while since his last movie with Bea. Their on-screen-love-team is one of the best in the industry if I may say so and they had proven that time and again. And of course I am a fan.

I phoned a college friend so I won't be able to watch it alone. After-all I was on the "resurrection-of-social-life" mood and all. =p So watching it alone would be non-resurrecting at all. Good thing he agreed. He wanted to watch Wolfman but I won of course. =p Here's an amusing, I-find-it-funny-scene. We were lining up so we can buy our tickets then there's this old man (possibly on his early 50's) who wanted to buy a Wolfman ticket. Unfortunately Wolfman is only good for one viewing and the next viewing is like an hour away. The ticketing agent advised him to watch Miss You Like Crazy instead. lol. We just find that amusing. "Unya pa ang Wolfman Sir, Miss you like crazy na lang pud". =p

Anyway, going back to the movie, story wise, let's say I am not that totally impress. Most likely because I am not really into topics/stories that involves cheating --- nonetheless --- making it look romantic in the end. Yah, I get the point of the "we have the right love at the wrong time" love story. And of course that definitely happens in real life. But that should not be an excuse. I mean let's say you are already in a relationship like bf/gf, husband/wife and yes let's also say you are no longer happy with him/her. And then you met this other boy/girl that makes you happy and all. You must go and end your failing relationship first before you go lovey-dovey with that other person. Cause no matter how you reason it out that you are no longer happy with your current relationship and that this person knows you better or makes you happy, at the end of the day it will still be called cheating. And nobody likes to be cheated. And personally I'd rather get dumped than be cheated.

But then again, John Lloyd is a great actor as usual. I have a couple of favorite scenes. I especially like that scene when he and Bea met again after 2 years. His reaction, the way he said "Hi" was just too perfect. I could imagine myself doing the same thing if put in the same situation. ^_^

All in all the movie was good. Makes me want to ride the next Ferry trip. =p Maybe that trip under the Mactan bridge. lol.

I just love Lloydi.♥ ♥ ♥

Rating: ★★★★☆

I watched this movie for the sole reason that this is the last movie Heath Ledger had done before he passed away and actually he died before he was able to finish this movie which explains the weird ending but all in all the movie was good. It's not all the time you'd get to see Heath Ledger, Johnny Deep, Jude Law and Collin Farell in one movie after all.

One office friend said that he doesn't understand the movie. Hmmmm...it's actually pretty understandable. There's this monk (Doctor Parnassus played by Christopher Plummer) who made a bet with a devil. The devil gave Parnassus the ability to enter people's mind through his imaginarium. Their bet involved convincing a person to take a side. For Parnassus of course it's the "right" path while the devil of course was there to tempt the person to go the other way. The first bet was for Parnassus immortality --- he won --- only to find out that the Devil had let him win cause the Devil knows that immortality will only make him a lonely man due to changing times. Parnassus fell in love with a young woman and since he's already old he knows there's no way for her to fall for him. For him to restore his youth, he once again made a pact with the devil and later on, he found him self making a wager with the devil one more time, this time around, his daughter's life is at stake.

It's almost the end of the movie when the story line just started falling apart which of course in general was mostly because of Heath's absence. I miss Heath. T_T

But again, the movie was good all in all. A movie about choices. True, there will be people who will try to show us "the way" but at the end of the day it will still be us who will get to decide which way to go. And this serves as a reminder, never put a wager with the Devil.

Rating: ★★★★☆

It's still early to root for someone from American Idol Season 9 but basing on tonight's top 10 performance among the boys I would go for this guy.




Love his version of Everybody Knows by John Legend.

Hmmm...We will see if he is my new Kris Allen. Haha. nah. Kris Allen is my one and only of course. =p

But this guy is not bad at all. Hmmm.. Just so my type again: guitar-playing dude. XD

Someday my prince will come.

No. That line did not come from the movie but it's still relevant to the theme of this movie --- well somehow.

Well in a way it's another fairytale what most of us are familiar with especially if you're a girl of course. Some quotations were even based from the story of the frog prince like sometimes you got to kiss a lot of frog before you meet your prince or that sometimes no matter how many times you'd kiss a lot of frogs you'd never find your prince cause your prince turned out to be an ogre. Nah, I just made them out but the point here is we all know the story --- a girl kissed a frog and the frog turned out to be a handsome young prince and they live happily-ever-after-the-end.

Yes, we all know that part of the story but personally I don't even know why the prince was cursed in to a frog. I just assumed it's because of arrogance just like Beast from Beauty and the Beast. Well one thing good about this fairytale is it took the risk of deviating a little from the usual. Well, there's the obvious of course, our princess this time is black instead of the conventional white-barbie-like-princess. Let's say in a way our princess this time is not at all waiting fro a prince charming to save her much more waiting to kiss a frog. That is definitely far from her dreams. Our princess here only thinks of work in order to save and get her dream restaurant that she and her father had dreamt. so that should go out to all modenrn-career-oriented-working-single-women. And besides our prince here is literally broke. So castles and white horses are definitely out of the picture.

I especially like the story of the firefly who fell in love with the star. It's sad pathetic but hopeful at the same time. I don't know but in real life that actually could be true. ^_^

The Princess and The Frog. You don't need to be a little girl again to appreciate and love the story.

Rating: ★★★★☆

I had a very good long sleep yesterday. My schedule was changed so it was my day off yesterday and today. I've been having trouble sleeping for the last days and yesterday was treat in itself. I feel rejuvenated. =)

I woke up at dawn, famished and fortunately I still had a can of Pringles and a pouch of M&Ms. To tell you the truth, I am not much of a healthy eater. And lately I am in to junkies and sweets and whenever I go out and "dine" out, burgers, fries and pizza are always first on my list. Good thing it's not showing off my weight.^_^

I just thought of jogging all of the sudden. When I was still in school, both for high school and college days, I always find time to jog in the morning once in a while. And it's been a while since the last time I've jogged. And that was one lazy afternoon with some of my office friends. With my line of job, of course jogging in the morning is close to impossible and so I thought why not grab the chance now that I actually have one? Good timing. Good mood. Good morning. Beautiful Day. And so I read some few chapters off the book I was reading (Three Weeks with my Brother by Nicholas Sparks) and then prepared my running shoes at 6. And then I was off to jog.

I remembered writing about running. Let me quote my own self: I had always liked to run. A habit I had probably picked up from running for our Naval Citizenship Army Training back in high school. Back in those days, we were forced to run our school perimeter ten times. And we are suppose to that with in 30 minutes. I never complained. Aside from the fact that of course in a military set-up, it's suppose to be an "obey first before you complain" policy, I never complained because I like running a lot. And I also like those chants that we had while we were running. =) When I finished high school I had still manage to retain that willingness to run. Although I'm not competitive anymore and seldom timed my runs, running is one of the few times I could be alone with my thoughts. Running feels good to me. The blood rush. The wind against my face The strain on my feet and legs I love the sweat dripping on my skin...It almost feels like I could get use to it forever.

Those still hold true for me. Jogging in the morning was really a good way to start off my day. I mean after the junkies, at least I was doing something "healthy". =p The morning breeze, the wind against my face and hair, it feels good to actually sweat out. A stress reliever. And I like my jogging place. It's a military camp so there's really a lot of trees and the air smells good.

And I can't help singing a song from Michael Buble': Birds flying high. You know how I feel. Sun in the sky. You know how I feel. Reeds driftin' on by...You know how I feel. It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life. For me. And I'm feeling good.

Yeah I am feeling good.^_^

It's been pretty crazy these past days. With my sudden change of work responsibilities I had to do away with some personal things. I've been missing American Idol episodes and have to content my self with watching reruns every weekends. I haven't read the latest chapters of Naruto. Haven't twitted nor checked my facebook account. I even stopped blogging for a while. I just keep myself entertained when I read myself off to sleep or when I doodle over some notes when I thought of something worth while to blog but still unable to publish. Maybe time will come I'd finally mix them all up until such time they are worthy to be called blog entries.

I'm not complaining. I even think it's better this way. Maybe yes, I am taking my life seriously. Too seriously. I certainly am. I mean I am already 22, almost 23 now. And if I'd still play around, what is it there for me?

But I don' t want to think that I have a failing social life. Haha. Definitely not. Although if you're from the outside looking in to my life, it's just natural to think that my life is dull --- boring --- more or less almost lifeless. Work-sleep-work-eat-and-poop-in-between.=p Such bland combinations. There's definitely truth in all of those. I mean how hard is it to text or call someone so you'd be in a company? And why the heck am I not doing that?

However just like what I've said I think it's better this way. That's actually a lame excuse or sounds too defensive but I just think there are just people who are cut-out to be better off alone --- at least for quite some time.

Independence. That's what I value most right now. I value it too much that it tends to get pretty scary sometimes. You know when you are so used with doing everything on your own then all of the sudden another person comes in the picture? Yah definitely it's nice to be in a company but right now again I am so use with this set up that an immediate change is definitely a No-No. But I do realize I can't go on like this forever.

It just feels like I am trap in this bubble and I am just waiting for the time for me to get the courage to finally prick it open or better yet for someone to poke it so I could get out. Someone who could wear off the shield I've put up. Someone who could tumble down the walls I've built around me. Someone who could see beneath the surface. To see the sadness in my eyes despite my smile. To hear the loneliness in my voice despite my laughs. To know that my heart says different from the words that are coming out of my lips.

There's too much to say about the triumphs I had, about the griefs I had, about what I feel today, about what I am expecting tomorrow. That's very literal. I mean I haven't written a journal or blogged for a very long time now. I just got to take each day and step one at a time.

All I know is that these days are the same and different at the same time. And the lines from the song These Days from Rascal Flatts runs through my head..Yeah Life throws you curves but you've learned to swerve. Me, I swung and I missed and the next thing you know, I'm reminiscing...Dreaming old dreams, wishing old wishes, Like you would be back again. I wake up and tear drops, they fall down like rain, I put on that old song we danced to and then. I head off to my job, guess not much has changed. Punch the clock. Head for home. Check the phone (just in case). Go to bed. Dream of you. That's what I'm doing these days.

You.

But who are you? Who is you? I think I would want to be in love with you. I mean even just the thought of you. But I don't even know you or I don't even know if there's a you for me. Would you come in my life and add some life in it? What's taking you so long?

Haha. Just want to end this post in a lighter note. But yeah.