Saturday night fever?

I'll let you ponder this picture.

"Liberty" is moving

During our whole stay in Brazil, we were always assigned a bodyguard to always be there wherever we go during our performances and mini town tours. I never got to know this particular man, but he was always the one that was with us, even when we were on our way back to Porto Alegre (about 2 hours away from Nova Prata) he was on the bus to accompany us. So whoever you are, thank you for keeping us safe.

Capoeira

During one of the rare nights that we didn't have to perform, we got to watch some of the local groups go up on stage and do their "thing". When the capoeira group came on, they asked that each country from the festival send a representative up on stage. Kuya Rudi chose Christian and he didn't disappoint. He represented the "pinoys" and did us all proud by busting a few good moves reminiscent of the old breaking days

Loiterers

Passing time while we wait for performance time.

Fishing

Me, Bing and Ewa looking for fish in the lake at Serrafina Correia.

Wai Mar Lau (2)

Check out OJ at the end. I think he was on the verge of falling off his chair. It looks like Randy wants to hurl too. hahaha

Wai Mar Lau (Drunk)...enough said

This is pretty much what we did at each and every Nations night party. No complaints (until the 9 am rehearsal call came around)

Headlines

This was the picture that was plastered on the front of every newspaper in Nova Prata. Upon seeing this, is when I realized how big the festival really was for this small southern Brazillian town.

Brazilian Surprise

No one had a clue that (except Christian, 'cause he was the one that got replaced) that Kuya Rudi wanted to dance Paseo. It was funny 'cause i didn't even realize that it wasn't Christian dancing until I heard the stomping and I knew that it wasn't Chris doing it. (I wasn't paying attention to the dancers, I was just listening to the music and watching my fingers on the fretboard.)

My dream garage...part 2

Has a very nice rear end..

.................I'm talking about the car now, get your head out of the gutter. HAH

BRRRRRR

The boys posing for a quick pix on a very cold day in Cotipura, Brazil.

My Dream Garage........(Sigh)

Ridin' in style. (This one's for the donger)

Hi-Tek in the Barrio.

China

I know a lot of people didn't quite get along with them, but here are some of them. I think they were cool, except for their lead musician. He was arrogant.

Brazil

Since OJ and Gary are posting pictures from Brazil let me show one from when we were eating ice cream at the town plaza.

Go Sharkies...Go Sharkies

Sharks on a 5 game win streak since trading for Super Joe Thornton...Double Woo-Hoo

Go Warriors

Warriors beat the Sonics. 110-107 in OT. Woo-Hoo!!!!

Fun times

Yesterday I decided to be a good ninong and skipped my x-mas party to take my god daughter to watch Narnia at AMC bay st. in Emeryville. The movie was long (over 2 hours) but I liked it and was written well. Not your typical disney film where some things are not even remotely believable, this one was, in my opinion, is similar to that of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Sunday, after practice, we had a little get together at the SFO pizzeria for a little ending of the season/x-mas party. It was nice to have dinner with everyone from the company and it's good to see that everyone had a good time this year. Hopefully we can carry the momentum for next year as it will be busy again.

Lastly, for anyone that wants to put up house x-mas ligths, check out this link video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8933241944346625063

UPSerr

As the title implies, that's who I am and it's x-mas season. Meaning I'm hella busy at work and has nothing to blog about, except 12 more days of madness and it will be over. nuff said Peace out

Warriors Beat up the Kings

Double yay. Best team in NorCal!!

Warriors win over the Hornets

'nuff said.

Thanksgiving Holiday.

Thursday, a lot of my relatives came over the house for a late lunch. It was really nice to see some of my cousins as we all are living in different places now (SoCal and NoCal). It was especially nice to see my niece/god daughter Alexa (yeah I have 3 god daughters and 2 of them are named Alexa) She was so cute, albeit a little grumpy in the beginning as she just woke up from her nap ride in the car.

Friday I get a phone call from Ledge at 3:45 AM!!!!! Asking me if I wanted to go shopping with them in Roseville, WTF!!! I don't even wake up that early to go fishing. So I politely declined and aptly went back to bed. I did get up at 5:30 to try and go to Target to get a couple of things that I was eyeing. I got lucky, since I wasn't there to clean out the store I managed to be in and out within 15 minutes. The rest of the day I just lounged at home, even took a 4 hour nap. Finally some rest.

Saturday I hooked up with the David's and went to the outlet stores in Vacaville, where I ended up buying a shirt and running pants from Nike (like I run). And a pair of shoes from Rockport. Afterwards we headed back to Vallejo and just relaxed.

Since there was no practice, I decided to continue my holiday shopping, this time heading out to the Napa store outlets, with the David's and the Laxa's and a couple of other friends. I did some damage on this day as I bought 2 pairs of shoes from Cole Haan, a couple of sweaters from BR and a travel wallet and some shoe care products. Then I went to Old Navy and bought outfits for my nieces and nephews so at least I got them out of the way. All I have left now are the god children. Afterwards we had some good old fashioned rib eye at the David's residence. Good eating with good friends equals good times. Now my stomach hurts...uugghh.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. (US only)

Racing

I went gokart racing with some of the guys tonight after work. I was really tired before I even got there and in fact got there late that I missed the first session. So I had to wait until for the second session before I can even race. But it was all good and fun. I had fun with the guys and will do it again. It actually felt good to race again since I haven't done in a long while.
Afterwards some of us went to Steelhead Brewery for some food and drinks. It was alright, but the stroganoff I ordered was a little too salty and it "jacked up" my stomach after. I think it was the cream sauce. Hmm..I guess I'm not ordering that again.

Fraktis

I started my day today by meeting up with the Donger for good ole breakfast at the home of the chicken and waffles in Oakland.
Man it was grubbin' and they give you a lot. The sweet potato pie was good, and the chicken was cooked just right. Good thing I loaded up because during practice we (the musicians) played non-stop for the whole duration of practice, and we even had to do a dance routine. Now a lot of dancers might say, "how can you be tired when all you did was sit and play music" well, I would counter by saying that I would like to see them beat down on the gansa with your bare hands for a good hour and a half and see how you feel after. I mean my hands were so beat up that they were bloddy red by time we stopped playing. Only to realize that we had to go out and do dance of the seven gongs. Man I was so tired at the end that I was glad that no one wanted to hang out and I just went straight home and just chilled. Hopefully the blister that popped under my feet will not be a cause for concern tomorrow at work.

I just found out that our good friends the Reyes' might be having their baby tonight. Congrats to them and I would like to welcome a new member to the family.

Movie review

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Good movie, jumped around a lot (if you read the book, you'd know what I mean). Overall it was good decently filmed movie. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars (out of five)

no love

Last saturday, my buddy Phil called me up and said that he was on his way towards my side of the bay to bring the boat for service over in Dixon. Seeing as that I don't have any plans, I decided to go with him as I wanted to fix some of my fishing gear that was stored with the boat. After dropping off the boat at the dealer, we decided to make a little side trip to Cache Creek Casino.
At first it was good, as I was waiting for him to get out of the washroom, I proceeded to win $45 at a slot machine nearby. We then proceeded to the breakfast buffet and indulged ourselves with some longanisa, tocino, garlic fried rice and of course some eggs, and other yummy stuff.

Afterwards, my luck changed, I played the video poker machine in the high limit section and proceeded to lose money after about 45 mins. Then I decided to play blackjack and the dealer cleaned me out after a while. I then went on to check on Phil and he was up and down. So I played some more and donated more money to the establishment. When I finally met up with Phil he got cleaned out as well. So we decided to call it a day and went home.

On the way home I forgot that my phone was off, so when I turned it on, I had 2 voicemails, one was from drama queen, asking, oddly enough, directions to the casino because her parents were in town and they wanted to go. It was pretty funny how we filipinos are attracted to gambling on the weekends.

Sunday was rehearsal and it went well. Even 7 gongs wasn't as tiring as it was in previous weeks, but man, those short guys need to move 'cause one step from me equals to 1 1/2 for them and there were times where I almost ran over manok who was in front of me. It also caught me off guard when Kuya Rudi pulled Tadek out of the blue, I had to scramble through my memory to figure out the beat as we haven't done it before and I heard the music back in 2001. Talk about coming up with something on the spot.

After rehearsal some of us went to Hahn's Hibachi in Jack London Square, man was it grubbin'. I especially liked the flaming peaches dessert, where you can still taste the brandy....yum-yum.

This wednesday I'm going to the Sharks game against the Canucks, with Tina, Ed, and Ernie. We better win 'cause if we don't Tina-maan will never let me hear the end of it (being that we are the only two that really follow hockey over here). Go Sharks!!!!!!!!!!

Is this still on?

Okay, so I haven't been blogging lately, and I apologize for all who kept checking to see and find no updates were up. I just haven't been in the mood to write anything, add the fact that we are short staffed at work and everyone had to pick up the slack just hasn't made things any easier.

So anyways, this past weekend was eventful, we had a fundraiser at PUSOD in Berkeley, there was a good turnout and it was nice to see some of my batchmates there. It sure is tough to get the batch of '92 for a little get together as everyone is busy with families and careers. Heck some of them I've lost contact with already and don't even know where to begin to look for them.

Sunday was a full house at practice, thank god for the huge studio space, otherwise it would feel like were sardines in a can.
Ading Liza and John and Msteen decided to come back , it was good to see them again. Oh and then Kuya rudi yells out "seven gongs" oh you should've heard the collective sighs from the musicians (ok, just from me) and we proceeded to go over it like 50 million times, I think a few of us developed blisters under our feet. But today at work, my legs weren't sore at all and the blisters didn't really bother me, so it was a good day.

I'm still tired so I'll cut this short.

Shopping

Today I decided to not go to rehearsal since I'm not performing for next week and I wanted to just hang out and relax and do some errands. So I took my truck for an oil change in the morning (actually late morning, since I didn't go to bed 'til 3 am and I woke up at 10:30) Afterwards I updated some drivers on my laptop so that I can start using my burner once again.

I then hooked up with Damomoo at around 2 and we went to the Vacaville outlet stores.
I ended up picking a pair of golf shoes at the adidas store for $20 and another pair of shoes from Nike. Damomoo extended his shopping spree for his "metro-sexual" outfits for work. He ended up getting a pair of pants, 2 pairs of shirts, a tie, and a pair of Nike leather flip flops. He actually outspent me this time, but it's all good, I didn't have money to spend anyways.

We then proceeded to Baldo's to get some food for us and Laurie as whe was in Vallejo waiting for us. We got some Carne Asada fries, quesadillas, and a California Burrito. Suffice to say that quelched my hunger.

It is now 7:30 and we are waiting for Ledge to get ready as we are going to watch the 9:40 showing of Doom. He is still coming up from L.A.

Oh well, I guess I can go to Target to pass the time.

Laters

"started with nothing, and still has most of it"-anonymous

Kaarawan ni titser Ed

Nung byernes ng gabi, pumunta ako sa Fremont para iselebra ang kaarawan ni ginoong Edward Cruz, at para magpraktis ng rondalla para sa gaganapin na sayawan para sa mga matatanda na nakatira sa isang convalescent home sa Walnut Creek.

Masaya naman ang aming pagselebra at hanggang hating gabi na usapan ang nangyari nang matapos na ang pagtugtog namin.
Inabot kami ng halos apat na put limang minutos para lang maalala yung isang pangalan ng tindahan sa Emeryville na kung tawagin ay "Headlines" . Nag usap kasi kami ng mga iba't ibang tindahan na pinagbilhan namin ng mga kadamitan nung bata pa kami. Si John kasi ang nagsimula ng pagdiskusyon nito.

Ito lang ang susulatin ko at sumasakit na ang ulo ko at wala na akong maisip na isulat na tagalog. Walang praktis kasi.

"Started with nothing and still has most of it"

Busy weekend

So Friday, I missed a great party, at least it sounds like. My parents decided to pass by California on their way home from Europe, and Friday was their last night here so I decided to go out with them and eat dinner at Outbacks here in Pinole. Afterwards, I felt lazy to do anything else after eating their scrumptous ribeye steak. So I decided to just stay home with them.

Saturday, my dad and I ran some last minute errands in the morning as they were leaving that night. We went to Fry's in Concord and a couple of other stores in the area. Afterwards, they spent the rest of the time with my grandmother as i proceeded to fix a few kinks iut of my laptop (pc based). then on to the airport where there was a million filipinos at the terminal. I have a question, why is it that when someone is leaving for P.I., there's like 30 people that go to the airport to see them off? Is it a filipino tradition to do this? Anyways I was there 'till 11 pm as the flight was delayed, but it was all good.

Sunday was our first practice at the new studio, as most of you already know, it is H-U-G-E. I mean it's at least 5x bigger than John Sims studio 3. It's also a lot closer to my house AND I don't have to cross the bridge. I mean it's enough that I cross it mon-fri already.

Monday, work was just Blah. Nothing exciting like friday where a co-worker of mine aprehended a shmuck who was stupid enough to run into the UPS truck and try to steal something, WHILE my co-worker was inside. So when he tried to run away with his backpack and a package, my co-worker punched him from behind and slammed his head against the windshield, cracking it.
then he threw the shmuck unto the street and told him to get lost. Word to the wise, Don't FUCK with the UPS guy.

Chillin' like a villain.

Busy weekend

So this weekend was busy as heck.

Saturday we had a show in livermore for some association (can't remember which one though) We had to put on an hour show and so we did. The day started at 12 noon which was the time that we are suppose to show up. My carpools (Mur and Ledge) and I arrived at about 12:50, so we were right on time HAH. The show went well, with a few "hiccups" along the way, like a glass falling from someone's head, and people not having the presence of mind to PICK IT UP. One rondalla player looking lost on certain pieces and not even trying to fake it off. But overall the music was on, especially mountain, OJ didn't have to endure the "stare" from Ed and I during his drum solo (unlike during practice). Afterwards some of us went to Armadillo Willy's for some good ole fashion BBQ.

Sunday was a marathon of b-day parties. first off I went to Vallejo for my god daughter Alexa's birhtday. Lots of food, but then again, this is Ledge we're talking about, he will never have a shortage of food at his parties. Next up was Natalie's b-day, ading Liza's youngest. again more food and more good company. the last one was my little cousin Camille's b-day. I passed by for only an hour because it was getting late and I had to get up early for work the next day. Whew, what a weekend. Fun but tiring.

PS you can now comment even if you don't have a blogger account. Just leave your name pls.

I guess I'm not as observant as I thought I was.

C

You tend to notice the big things in life... But the details aren't exactly your forte

How Observant Are You?

I'm Back

I'm back from vancouver.

Congrats to Jeanette and Rodney on a very beautiful wedding. The settings were nice and the weather was gorgeous. I am truly honored that they asked me to be part of their very special day.

I had a lot of fun.

will update more, gotta catch up on sleep now.

Oh Canada

Well, Ledge and I arrived here thursday at 5:30 pm. We had to rush quickly from the disembarking the plane, through customs and then meet up with the Correia's and head straight to the church for the wedding rehearsal. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare, thank god that traffic was not bad.

After the rehearsal, we went to Victoria's for dinner. It was good food and it was good to catch up with some people at my table. After dinner, I was arm-twisted into joing the rest of the guys for some "community ballet". It was a little tamer than what I'm used to,but then again, Vegas can make a lot of places look tamer. When the show was over, we all ended up heading out to River Rock Casino, where everyone, excluding myself, donated money to the River Rock Foundation. I walked away with $100 extra in my pocket. Not bad for a half hour play.

Friday, we all woke up late and proceeded to have lunch at Shabu San restaurant. Yum, it was all you can eat sushi, which is what we always love. Afterwards we went up to Grouse mountain and rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain. We watched the lumberjack show which was like the competition you see on ESPN but with humor and just 3 people involved. In fact tiny bubbles Sam even wanted to take one of the lumberjacks home as a souvenir. HAH. I then went to Cactus club with the groom, bestman and a groomsman to further hang out with other people and see our friend Mark R. who was the manager over there. We ended up eating and drinking for free (we did a lot of drinking) Thanks Mark, I am sure that Nick is thanking you too.

Gotta go, will let you know how the wedding went. Ciao Bella.

off to YVR

Well, I will be going to Vancouver tomorrow for the next 4 days. I will be attending my friends wedding. It'll be nice to see everyone up there again. I shall update after I get back as to how it went...eh.

see ya.

Weekend happenings

Last friday we had our last official rondalla practice at the Chateau in SSF. It went well, although the attendance was a little low. It was as usual the rondalla proper group (sans Herna) who was present. But a lot of the newbies weren't there. Hmm I wonder if any of them are still interested in playing.

Saturday, we played for the APAture festival at the South of Market Arts centre. We finally debuted the yet untitled Jota that Maestro B wrote. It was received well by the "book Fair-esque" crowd (The Brazil crew knows what I'm talking about).
After playing 3 musical pieces, Prof., Rockstar, Ms. Luzon and I proceeded to go to the SSF municipal bldg. where Likha was scheduled to perform asik and sinkil. Let's just say that performance deserves to be forgotten and be erased from all existence.
That's all I'm going to say about that.

Sunday we had our rehearsal at our temporary place for the remainder of the season. It's at the KSW office on Capp st. in S.F.
Parking was a bitch and there was homeless people everywhere. Oh well, at least it's only temporary. but the inside of the place is nice and I'm sure that once all the renovation is down, it will be a really nice office space.

Oh well, time to finish off a report for my work.
4 more sleeps 'til I go to Vancouver...woo hoo...... 4 day weekend

Trippin

To all you people that have called me a blog slacker (ok just Bev). The only reason why a post just came on today was the fact that blogger.com has been going cuckoo lately. For whatever reason, I couldn't published (or save for that matter) any entry for the last 4 days. So there ;p

anyways, last saturday, i went fishing and man was it tough. i caught a total of 2 bass. I mean we were marking them but they were lockjawed. Oh well, at least I had fun.

Last sunday, we had practice at Bev's parent's garage and Ed and I were commenting about how it feels so "barangay-ish".
You see, Ed and I used to be part of the Barangay dance troupe and we used to practice in people's garages back then. I guess you get spoiled after practicing in a studio for the last 13 years or so. Oh well, we found an interim studio 'til the end of the year. What a relief.

Work sucks

I have been working like crazy these past 2 weeks and I tell ya, 10 hour days will take its toll on you, especially if you commute like I do. Maybe it's time to relocate, or at least win the lotto (I like the latter)

On a lighter note, my parents are in town, albeit for only 3 days. They are on their way to their tour of Europe and they decided to pass by and visit my grandmother before going there. It's good to see them.

Moving stuff out

So today we had a window of time to move our stuff out of our storage/studio place. Since the landlord added a lot of additions to the bldg. and didn't bother to have it checked up to the proper fire codes, that the city decided to shut it down 'til further notice. So in essence we don't have a practice place, so we all got our stuff out of there and decided to store it temporarily at Manning's apt. bldg in the city. So it was good to see a lot of people help out with the move, although there were a lot of missing people too (shame on you, you know who you are.) We got it all done within a couple of hours and mangaed to get over and unload at Manning's place by 3:30. Then we had Pizza and watched the rest of the niner game which they won...WOOHOO.

So I guess we wait until we figure out where we are going to practice from now on. Oh well, I guess I'll go practice on my octavina at home for the time being.

On another note, my parents are going to pass by this weekend on the way to Europe. they are going to spend about 4 days here before they go on to italy and France. Hmm, maybe I can get them to do a little recconassiance for me and figure out which places have good deals on restaurants, hotels and the like.

Peace out

Three day weekend

Well I hope everyone is having a nice three day weekend here in the U.S. It's been kind of hectic for me.
Last saturday I went fishing up in Clearlake, man it so beautiful up there. It was really sunny but with a little breeze was blowing to keep you cool. It's days like that where you tend to forget everything and just live in that moment, as it just you and the fish you are trying to get.

Sunday we had a pseudo rehearsal at the "club chateau" because of a problem with our studio. i won't go into the boring details, but I think we are going to terminate our contract with the landlord as we feel that she is not capable of handling and taking care of our needs. With so many tours and shows planned already, we do not need to have problems with our practice studio. So now we are on the hunt for a new one. Hopefully we can find one soon.

That nite we had a performance for a wedding in San Rafael. It was a small wedding and man they were running late. We were supposed to go on at 7:30 and we didn't go on until almost 8:30. Talk about delays. The coordinator didn't even really tell us what was going on, Kuya Rudi was so mad that he ended up cutting the program by one dance. The dance he cut ended up being the dance that the bride requested especially for her wedding. I felt bad for her when I found out about this after we've just had performed. Oh well, I'm sure thats far from her mind not too long after the performance. I then drove the professor to American Canyon to meet up with the wife. Not a bad drive from san Rafael.

Well, gotta get ready for a BBQ today. Peace out.

Can't resist another one.

You Know You're Filipino When....

Your middle name is your mother's maiden name. Your parents call each other "Mommy" and "Daddy." You have uncles and aunts named "Boy," "Girlie," or "Baby." I DO. You have relatives whose nicknames consist of repeated syllables like "Jun-Jun," "Ling-Ling," and "Mon-Mon." Mine by the way was "Che-Che." You call the parents of your friends and your own parents' friends "Tito" and "Tita." YUP YUP You have four or five names. UMM NOT SURE IF I DO. You greet your elders by touching their hands to your forehead. I STILL DO. You always kiss your relatives on the cheek whenever you enter or leave the room. You follow your parents' house rules even if you are over 18. NOT You live with your parents until and at times even after you're married. You decorate your dining room wall with a picture of the "Last Supper." You keep your furniture wrapped in plastic or covered with blankets. You have a Sto. Nino shrine in your living room. You have a piano that no one plays. You keep a tabo in your bathroom. You use Vicks Vapor rub as an insect repellant. You eat with your hands. You eat more than three times a day. You think a meal is not a meal without rice. You think sandwiches are snacks, not meals. Your dining table has a merry-go-round (lazy Susan) in the middle. You bring baon to work everyday. Your pantry is never without Spam, Vienna sausage, corned beef, and sardines. You love to eat daing or tuyo. ALONG WITH CHAMPORADO! You prop up one knee while eating. ou eat your meal with patis, toyo, suka, banana catsup, or bagoong. Your tablecloths are stained with toyo circles. You love sticky desserts and salty snacks. You eat fried Spam and hot dogs with rice. You eat mangoes with rice--with great GUSTO! EEWWW YUCK You love "dirty" ice cream. You love to eat, yet often manage to stay slim. You put hot dogs in your spaghetti. Everything you eat is sauted in garlic, onion, and tomatoes. You order a "soft drink" instead of soda. You hang a rosary on your car's rear view mirror. You get together with family at a cemetery on All Saint's Day to eat, drink, and tell stories by your loved ones' graves. You play cards or mahjong and drink beer at funeral wakes. You think Christmas season begins in October and ends in January. Your second piece of luggage is a balikbayan box. You've mastered the art of packing a suitcase to double capacity. You collect items from airlines, hotels, and restaurants as "souvenirs." You feel obligated to give pasalubong to all your friends and relatives each time you return from a trip. You use paper foot outlines when buying shoes for friends and relatives. You're a fashion victim. You can convey 30 messages with your facial expression. You hold your palms together in front of you and say "excuse, excuse" when you pass in between people or in front of the TV. You ask for the bill at a restaurant by making a rectangle in the air. You cover your mouth when you laugh. You respond to a "Hoy!" or a "Pssst!" in a crowd. You'll answer "Malapit lang!"--no matter the distance--when asked how far away a place is located. Goldilocks is more than a fairy tale character to you. You refer to power interruptions as "brownouts." You love to use the following acronyms: CR for comfort room, DI for dance instructor, DOM for dirty old man, TNT for tago nang tago, KJ for kill joy, KSP for kulang sa pansin, OA for over-acting, TL for true love, BF for boyfriend and GF for girlfriend. You say "rubber shoes" instead of sneakers, "ball pen" instead of pen, "stockings" instead of pantyhose, "pampers" instead of diapers, "ref" or "prijider" instead of refrigerator, "Colgate" instead of toothpaste, "canteen" instead of cafeteria, and "open" or "close" instead of turn on or turn off (as in the lights). You use an umbrella for shade on hot summer days. You like everything imported or "state-side." You love ballroom dancing, bowling, pusoy, mah jong, billiards, and karaoke. You have a relative who is a nurse. When you're in a restaurant, you wipe your plate and utensils before using them. You can squeeze 15 passengers into your five seater car without a second thought. You wave a pom-pom on a stick around the food to keep the flies away. You always ring a doorbell twice, assuming that the first ring was not heard. You let the phone ring twice before answering, lest you appear overly eager. Your other piece of luggage is a balikbayan box. You use a rock to scrub yourself in the bath or shower. You're proud to be Filipino - and you pass these jokes on to all your Filipino friends!

Get Your Own "You Know You're" Meme Here



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old friends

Today i attended a Likha coco end of summer party over in Martinez. It was hosted by a good longtime friend of mine that I haven't seen in about 8 years or so. It was good to see her and her family and it was nice to catch up a bit on what has been going on. The Laxa's were also there and it was good to see the boys since I haven't seen them since before I left for Brazil.

Afterwards I headed out to Fry's to buy another external hard drive. It's a good thing I did cause they had a good sale for a 160gb hard drive that would cost $119.00 after all the rebates are done.

Last friday we had rondalla rehearsal again. It felt good, but then we were playing a lot in Brazil so the ones that went were conditioned to play a lot of songs and not get any finger cramps. Overall it was good. Randy and Beverly even tried duplicating the chocolate strawberry pizza that we had tried over in Nova Prata. It turned out pretty good, close to the real thing, if we can only match the dough that was used for the pizza.

Another quiz, courtesy of Ms Pernia

I know Maestro can relate to this one.

You Know You're Addicted to Star Wars When...

You can recite *all* the dialogue from the trilogy. You watch the entire trilogy at least once a month. You wonder why the SW theme never makes it into those "classical collections." Any time you pick up a walkie-talkie or two-way radio, the first thing you say is "TK-421, why aren't you at your post?" Whenever you went anywhere outside with your friends, you always walked single file, to hide your numbers. You've written several letters to the President recommending that he dissolve the council, put power in the hands of the regional governors, and let fear keep the local systems in line. In college, after several hours of poker, you got thrown our of the game for suggesting, "How about some sabacc?" When trying unsuccessfully to snare that last Cheerio floating in your cereal bowl, you remarked, "the Force is strong with this one." On Halloween, you would never dress as: Luke, Han Solo, Leia, Vader, Chewie, Threepio, Artoo However, you would dress as: Wedge, Porkins, Crix Madine, that spider droid from Jabba's palace that fat dancer from Jabba's palace, Sy Snootles, the Cantina bartender. The monster in the trash compactor, Boba Fett, An Imperial probe droid You've been pulled over by a policeman, and when asked to see your driver's license you replied, "You don't need to see my identification." And when he asks about your two friends in the back "They're for sale, if you want them." You have physically threatened anyone who referred to "Hans Solo" or "Dark Vader", confused Star Wars with Star Trek, or spellied Wookiee with only one "e." You have held up an onion ring and said, "Look sir...droids!" You've referred to Wedge Antilles or Boba Fett as "The Man." You've bought a white Isuzu Trooper, strictly because of the name. While sitting on the couch with your girlfriend, she comments about being cold. So, naturally, you slice open the side of the cushion and stuff her in. You insist on spelling Pizza Hut "Pizza Hutt." You dropped your religion and now live the way Yoda taught you. You recorded all the new Star Wars comercials. You frequently experience insomnia and, to counter this, begin counting nerfs. You answer the phone "Die wanna wanga?" Whenever you buy a new appliance, you make sure to get one that speaks Bacchi. You call your aunt and uncle Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. Whenever you catch sight of cars behind yours, you say "Fighters, coming in, point three five." Someone else in your car says "What about that tower?" You respond, "You worry about those fighters, I'll worry about the tower", and moments later your car slams into the water tower the passenger was referring to. When a cop catches you speeding, you floor it, saying "I've outrun Imperial starships, and not the local bulk cruisers..." When someone apologizes to you, you choke him and tell him that you accept his apology. You ride your motorbike through the forest at top speed, and survive after throwing yourself off just before it hits a tree. You've 'wielded' a flashlight and made humming sounds. You wave your hand purposefully and 'use the force' to open and close automatic doors or elevator doors. You go over to a friends, go to his refrigerator, and crawl in throwing food and stuff over your shoulder and grunting. You walk into an optometrist's office and shout: You will PAY for your lack of vision! You have a Yoda figurine replacing the brand symbol on the hood of your car. When accelerating your car to enter the freeway, you tell your passengers to strap in and prepare for light speed. Your significant other dumps you because everytime she/he says, "I love you" you always respond, "I know." You quote Yoda to defend your political beliefs. You have so many SW Trilogy GIF's, JPG's, MIDI's, AVI's, WAV's, MPG's, icons and text files that you're rapidly running out of disk space and have to buy a bigger hard drive just to hold them all. You have so many SW posters that you can't see your ceiling or floor, either. You have so many SW toys that you can't see your SW posters anyway. When leaving a restaurant, you can't resist signing Boba Fett or Darth Vader in the guestbook. You went through a state of depression when Chewie died. You look at "big hairy carpets" with more respect than before. You speak Rodian. You punch out trekkies who say "Death star my ass, I'd like to see those losers take out DS9." With a blue-tinted plastic tube, a flashlight, two hours of a Saturday night, and 4 rolls of blue electrical tape, you finally complete your own working "Light-saber" You listen for Obi-Wan while attempting to parallel park 1Your father asks you how fast your car is, and you reply, "Fast enough for you, old man!" You could have sworn you saw bantha tracks during your trip to the grand canyon. Every time somebody sneezes, you say, "May the force be with you." The cinnamon buns in your hair start to grow mold. You call your friend who is a midget Wicket. You refer to money as credits without trying to. You respond to any mention of the legality of something with "I will make it legal." You start reliving the speeder bike chase on your motorbike. Someone tells you your car is old and beat-up, you reply "She'll do .5 past light speed..." You refer to getting off the freeway as coming out of hyperspace. You are POSITIVE you are force-sensitive and only lack the proper training. Someone says they will try to do something you automatically respond "Do or do not. There is no try." By intense study you have actually figured out the location of every gun implacement on a star destroyer. Your house robe is brown and extra large. You type in the terms for a search engine as if entering coordinates, then shout "Punch it, Chewie!" as you click on search. You argue about whether Star Wars is space fantasy or space opera. You're out looking for a Wookie for your school's wrestling team. You nickname your car the Millennium Falcon. The last time a cute guy tried to hug you, your hands were dirty. When your mom asks you to clean your room, you say "Leave that to me." Your friends share recipes for cooking Ewok. You have a long braid in you hair like Obi-Wan in E1. You call your boss/teacher "Master" You went to the nearest recruiting center and asked to be assigned to the 121st TIE squadren When asked if you want to be buried or creamated you say "I'll just vanish like the rest of the Jedi" You have a bad feeling about everything. While partying with friends, you do your Darth Vader impression. You try to get your car up to .5 beyond lightspeed, in a parking lot. You call your girlfriend, "your Highness." You keep calling your boyfriend, "Luke," "Han," or "Lando" by mistake. You believe John Williams is the best composer ever (which, of course, he is!), and George Lucas is a god (which, too, is pretty much true!) While listening to the soundtrack without knowing the name of the song you are listening to, you know exactly what's happening while it's playing. In foreign language class, you tell the teacher, "Hey! If I'm fluent in over six million forms of communication, then how come I'm getting such a bad grade in this class?" When your friends confide in you and tell you their deepest, darkest secrets, you say, "You are far too trusting." When your dad says, "I am your father," you begin to scream uncontrollably and shout, "NOOOO! It's not true!" at the top of your lungs. You have ever thought the world would be a better place if it were like the Rebel Alliance/New Republic. You now want to become an astronaut to see if there really is a Lando system. Obiwan Kenobi and Yoda come to you in your dreams and give you advice about tough situations you're dealing with. Yoda's little sayings have had a profound impact on your life, and you abide by them religiously. You've created lyrics to the songs in Star Wars. Instead of saving for college, you save up for Star Wars stuff you plan to buy. Anyone who doesn't like Star Wars you proclaim is an Imperial. When you are ticked off at somebody, you send bounty hunters all over the place to find them and then you encase him in carbonite for a new wall decoration. When your alarm clock goes off in the morning, your reply is, "Unexpected this is... and unfortunate!" When riding your bike, you look behind you and accelerate wildly by pressing down on the petal with your right toe. You've kept the "good" action figures stored separately from the "bad" ones. As a child, whenever you had broken something, your response was always, "It must've had a self-destruct mechanism. I didn't hit it that hard." You've refused to enter a cave/cavern/tunnel without a handgun and a large stick. When you waited for a friend to catch up with you, you told him to hurry up or he'd be a permanent resident. You've ever found yourself in a chat room, training Jedi. You've ever told your younger brother at the dinner table, "Use the fork, Luke." You've ever roped off your Star Wars Action Figure collection, claiming it to be an independent nation. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends who are addicted to Star Wars.

Get Your Own Addicted Meme Here



More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

Brazilian Name

This is supposedly my sexy brazilian name (this is what the quiz generated when I inputed my full name)

Your Sexy Brazilian Name Is

Antônio Tavares

What's Your Sexy Brazilian Name?

My Blogging Personality.

This one came out for me. .............What the......?........me...?

Your Blogging Type is Cutting Edge and Amusing

You're a legendary storyteller, and you amuse many with your anecdotes. In fact, you can turn the dullest part of your day into a colorful event. You're also up on what's new and cool - from fashions, to links, to gadgets. You're the perfect combo: down to earth, funny, and a little mischievous.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

More things about Brazil

The hot dogs at the crafts fair.

Coffee that tasted like kapeng barako from back home.

Nation's night was pretty cool, although the time frame sucked.

The really large pizzas you get from "Paradiso", including the chocolate strawberry dessert pizza....yummy

Not following the "no toilet paper in the toilet" rule.....Guilty

The guys taking "shifts" at night to make sure one of us is in the bathroom while our girls took their shower.

Finding out that the last shower stall has NO hot water.

Having everyone stare at you as you walk around town.

The all black uniform going there......who died?....looked like a funeral scene.

Seeing everyone that slept on the bus with their mouths open.

Ana "Banana"-nicest guide ever.

Ed and Paulino's playful banters in the bedroom......or was it?

Christian falling out of the top bunk and landing on Randy's leg, which made Randy scream like a girl....haha

A couple of people (no names) needing help getting back to their respective rooms after drinking on the last nite of the festival.

The huge massive ants that we found in the courtyard.

That's it for now.

Last day

Well, today is my official last day of vacations. I've tapped out for the year, which means that I will be working from here on out. uugghh, but hey the bills has got to be paid.

I am grateful though that I didn't get sick like the rest of the group. I guess that's one more good thing.

I think I'm going to watch the Great Raid tonight with the Laxa's before I start the work week.

Have a good week everyone, and here's to hoping for a fast full recovery to those that did get sick.

Random things

Who would've thought that it would take over 30 hours to get to Nova Prata from San Francisco.

The extreme weather change from sunny and hot to rain and extremely cold overnite.

The "rockstar" attention that the people of Nova Prata were extending to all the performers.

The truly international "feel" of the festival where the "Easter Island Group" were made up of people from that region and not by filipina-americans.

The Rondalla playing on the edge of the stage at Serafina Correa after the power outage, in order to keep the crowd entertained.

Churrascaria food-nuff said

Not once did I ever shell out money for food and lodging. (except for ice cream and cookies, they don't count as real food)

The uphill trek from the book fair back to the hostel, while carrying instruments on your back.

Staying in the same room with 10 other guys for two weeks, that's a lot of testosterone.

kj- incessant meddling with everything and anything. (wink wink Bry)

Thinking about Ernie while Randy and I scarf down on some very good tasting meat.

The 9 am rehearsal call everyday....uuugghhh

Bar Tupi-Raise the Glass.

$1.50 cigarette packs

Christian's capoeira moment on stage-way to represent brutha.

10 minute limit on the one and only internet computer.

The Lithuanian girls-NICE!

The Thai girls-NICE!

The peeps-OK Lang

The Brazilians-very friendly

The South Africans-very musical and somewhat rowdy

The Chinese-never mind

But the one thing I will take from this experience is the fact that everyone complemented our group, saying it was the best of the festival and the friendships, old and new that came out of this trip. I'm honored to be able to participate in this and for that I'm truly grateful.

I'm Back

Well, I'm back from Brazil, I was the last one to get home from group that left monday afternoon. I arrived last nite at 8:45 pm a mere 34 hours after we left Nova Prata. Never take American airlines, they're always delayed and they lose your luggage. As I was collecting my baggages from the carousel, I noticed that there was a lot of bags with a yellow ribbon on them (we all put a yellow ribbing on our bags so that we can identify them quickly) so I decided to check oout the name tags, and sure enough it belongs to my fellow likhettes, and there was at least 10 that I saw by the time I left. The thing was, I was the only one from likha that was on that flight. The rest of the group arrived a mere 5 hours earlier than me. So a word to the wise, never ever fly American Airlines, they are by far the worst and most unorganized airline in the U.S.

So the festival went well, as I'm sure my fellow bloggers have already started writing about it. There was a lot of performances that we had to do, but the people were so receptive and hospitable and that made it worthwhile. The cities that we performed in were, Nova Prata, Serrafina Correa, and Cotipura. Every town we went to we got treated like rock stars, I mean we had to go meet the mayor of the town, then we go on a small tour of the town, while getting fed every couple of hours (at least it seemed that way) and getting mobbed by children asking for autographs and trying to exchange brazillian coins for phillipine coins. I tell ya the experience was awesome and eventhough it was tiring, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything else.

I'm still tired so I will make my list of memorable moments from the festival at another time.

See ya

Alright folks, it's 1 day 'til d-day (departure day) and I just finish packing my suitcase. No matter how much I've thought about it, I still feel that I'm forgetting something, yet I'm also thinking that I'm overpacking myself. UUGGHH, you would think that for someone who has travelled extensively that this should be a piece of cake. But since it's my first time to South America, I don't really know what to expect, therefore I cannot plan accordingly. Oh well, if I forget something, I think I can just buy it over there.

Well, this will be my last post until I get back in 2 1/2 weeks. TTYL everyone.

Wish me luck.

signing off (for now)

Brazilian Real

Anyone know where one can buy Brazilian real?

more stuff

So I still ended up shopping last nite (target again) and today at Circuit City. I wanted to buy a travel alarm clock and I knew that they had a lot of good little ones. While there I ended up buying a travel hair dryer with dual voltage, and the movie xxx state of the union. I guess this means that I will definitely have to use the bigger suitcase as my "stuff" are ever so increasing.

Well tomorrow is the final rondalla rehearsal for Brazil, it will also be a send off party to everyone that is going on tour. It will be at the chateau, as usual.

Sucks, that my Ipod stopped working. It just wouldn't turn back on. It doesn't matter where I plug it in, it just won't turn on. I should've known that Ipods tend to not last that long. I beter check into getting an Iriver instead. Oh well, at least I have a PSP that I can use during the flight.

Brazil shopping

I went to Target today to get some necessesities for the upcoming trip. I'm debating if I should use the same suitcase I used for the Vancouver trip or use a smaller suitcase. i don't really have that much to carry, and i don't think I'll be soing that much shopping over there. Hmmm dilemnas. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to cross that bridge when I get there.

Does anyone know if we have laundry capabilities over at where we are staying at? I need to know whether to bring detergent or just bring 2 weeks worth of clothes.

anyways, I'm getting excited to go since this will be my first time going to South America. Should be fun and exciting.

Tired

It's about one more week 'til we leave for La Republica de Brasil. So we had to be at studio today at 9:30 am, as in very very am, and we didn't end practice 'til about 5:30. Man am I so beat up, and hungry, so a few of us went to Sinugba to eat dinner afterwards. You can't beat the 'silogs man. It was always yummy. But I had to leave early since Mur wanted to drop off something to her cousin in the city and we had to catch them before they left for dinner.

Saturday, I was just a lounge chair bum all day. I took my car to be checked for fluids at the local oil changer place and then I went home and stayed home. I ended up watching 2 movies, Man of the House, starring Tommy Lee Jones; funny and entertaining, plus for all you guys out there, the five cheerleaders are a bonus. Then I watch 7 seconds starring Wesley Snipes. It's alright, not one of his better movies, but the action is not too bad, and the plot twist is pretty good too. But then it's a british production and the english are pretty ass tight when it comes to making movies, vey dry humor.

Friday, we had our usual rondalla fraktis, man we went through 3 bottles of wine and fraktis was pretty good. I am still flubbing the bass part for Manilena, but it's all good. I have time to learn it. Oh well, better go through my checklist and make sure I have everything I need for La Brasillia.

Kam dom (T'boli for thank you)

bored

Here I am at home, watching TFC, while taking care of my grandmother, the programs they have right now is called wowowee and it's kind of dumb, at least for me personally. I never do enjoy watching gameshows (except jeopardy) and this one doesn't appeal to me at all. So I decided to do a little blogging.

I got lazy today, so I asked my supervisor if I can go home early, luckily he was in a good mood and said yes. So I decided to get my car serviced. Then I took a nap. I say it was a productive non productive day (did that make sense?)

Anyways, it's time for pera or bayong, this is usually funny, trying to see if they can win the million pesos.

Later peeps

Geek

I finished the latest edition of the Harry Potter series. Yeah, I'm a geek.

Line of the Day

Who's your daddy?........What does he do?

Happenin's

Saturday was Isaac's giddyup b-day party. Everyone was suppose to come in their cowboy outfit, but not me, I really don't have any cowboy outfit, and I wasn't going to buy one, even though it's for Isaac's party. Sorry.

It was fun nontheless, I especially liked Almar's puppeteering abilities with the Woody the cowboy pinata. That was hilarious. We had some good eats and good company. For the second weekend in a row...good times.

I saw Fantastic Four. I liked it, there was some slow parts, but overall I liked it. I don't know why the reviews are bad, what were they expecting, some movie that will change the courts of public opinion on world events? It's based on a comic book from Marvel. Geez these critics need to lighten up, or at least pull the stick out of their collective asses.
BTW, Jessica Alba was HOT.

Practice today for Brazil was a little more intense. Maybe it's because we are two weeks away from leaving. I just realized that we are BAREBONE when it comes to musicians. we are barely making it with 5 and Kuya Rudi decides to pull Bryan and make him dance. I'm gonna have to talk to him because he is making our livesdifficult by having 3 principal musicians and 1 guest musician handle the percussion music. Not gonna happen, even if it means that Warren has to wear a bahag and dance Tachok and Uyauy. I won't let the musicians get taxed like that.

After practice we went over to a little pizzeria near the studio and decided to have dinner to celebrate Isaac's real birthday, which was today. Happy B-day Isaac!!

Oh well, back to finishing my laundry and soon I'm gonna go to bed.

Have a good week everyone.

Forced Day off

So I went in to work today and I was supposed to finish my 3rd quarter analysis safety plan. As I was just starting to work on it. We received the dreaded phone call. We are having the Keter auditors in our bldg by noon. Keter is an outside firm hired by UPS to do surprise sudits of their facilities all over the nation. They audit each bldg for Health and Safety standards. I mean they go through each bldg. like John and Ledge would go through a buffet (j/k). Anyways, my division manager didn't want my center to get audited, so she told me that I had to "disappear" from the bldg. So at around 11:30, after I did what I could to "clean" up my center, I proceeded to disappear from work.


So with all this unexpected time on my hands, I ended up meeting two of my supervisors for lunch (one of them was celebrating his b-day today) and I proceeded to "prep" them for their potential interview with the auditors. Then I proceeded to go home, but on the way decided that I was going to watch a movie.

I ended up watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It's actually pretty entertaining. Oh and Angelina Jolie=FINE. I love her lips. Oh the gunfight scenes was cool, although it could've been better.

After I got home, I proceeded to play Rumble Roses on the PS2. This game rocks, if you like wrestling and are a guy, you should get this game.

Weekend Happenings

This 3-day weekend has been one of the more hectic ones I've ever had in a long time.

Friday-had rondalla fraktis, since Donger was down in San Diego, and I forgot to bring the BII binder, I played bass for half the time. I think I did ok, as I'm still learning how to play the bass. But I can tell you this, nothing beats the feeling of excitement one gets when you play a new instrument and actually get through a song that you actually played right. Hopefully I can continue getting more practice time with it.

Saturday was Anotnio's 3rd b-day. It was held at a park in Benicia. It was hot but windy. As usual, since it a party thrown by Ledge, there's hella food. I can tell you that if you ever go to his parties, you will never go hungry. That same night they held a house blessing for their new home. It was really nice for them to have family and friends there. Those David's are really hospitable and I feel lucky to be treated like family.

Sunday was a BBQ get together at the Laxa's in the double v. Can you say HOT. I mean geez, there was no breeze to keep you cooled down. So we all pretty much stayed inside the house until it was about 5 pm when it cooled down a bit. Then we went to the garage to listen to Randy mess around with the turntables and dribble Vince's basketball up and down the street. It felt really nice to just sit around the table and talk about everything and anything likha related with my fellow likhettes.
It's also amazing how much energy the kids have, I left about 15 after midnight and the kids were still wide awake and still playing.

Monday I finally made it back home (haven't been home since friday night) and what did I do, catch up on some sleep. Then I hooked up with the David's again and we proceeded to go to Cache Creek. (same story as far as I'm concerned) It's amazing how much crab Ledge can eat. He's my hero when it comes to buffet eating. I can't keep up with him ;p luv ya like a bro.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend.

Ciao Bella

More practice

Tonight after work, I went to the golf range to practice my golf swing. It's been a little over two years since the last time I played golf, and boy did it show. I was hitting the toe of my clubs for at least the first half of my practice session. Luckily I managed to convince my friend Butch to come out and practice with me so that he can see what I'm doing wrong. After a few pointers from him, I started finding my swing again, but I started getting tired and my swing started getting "tight" again. Oh well, at least my last swing with my 3-wood went straight and far (about 280+ yards). I guess I beter keep practicing before I even decide to get on a golf course to play. I promise myself that I will not stop golfing for such a long time again. It just sucks to forget all the fundamentals and having to start all over again.

On a side note, I would like to congratulate the Cruz's (Ed, Tina and Isaac) on their announcement last nite, that they are expecting a second child. It's cool that Isaac will be a kuya. Congrats guys.

Another day.....

Today I continued training on my route. I'm training one of our recently hired drivers on how to do my route. I needed to train because UPS will need coverage when I go to Brazil and when I have to go to conferences and audits.

After work I went over to Fremont to meet up with some rondalla peeps. We were going to record Bryan's new composition for Kuya Rudi so that he can start planning on what type of choreography he will do for this brand new piece. We don't even have a name for it yet, but I can tell you this, it's hella nice, it's hella fast (some parts) and it's very castillian. I like it.

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna hit the driving range. It's been 2 years since I've played golf, and since it's getting too hot to fish, I think it's time I hit the links.

Pees owt!

No love

I went to Cache creek yesterday. No love, I ended up donating to their bldg. fund. Oh well, at least I got to hang with one of my friends that I haven't hanged out with for a long time.

Had practice today, but almost all the bading dancers weren't there because it was Pride day. Oh well, I just hope they know their dances 'cause we're off next weekend, which will leave us with about 3 or 4 practices before we leave.

Oh well, gotta get some grub.

Peace out.

Music and Me

After reading Prof ED's latest entry about his passion for music and how it started. It got me thinking as to how the heck did I end up having this passion for pilipino music. Growing up, I wasn't the least bit interested in anything that has something to do with the arts (at least not as passionately as I do now) In fact growing up, I didn't want to take piano lessons with my sister, my parents both can sing well, my dad plays the guitar, my younger brother played the banduria, my sister got the part of Maria in our High School district wide rendition of the West Side Story. But me, nada, I played basketball, football, and tennis. The closest I got to the high school band was when they would play during halftime at our football games. So what happened? Well here it goes.........(might be a long one, as I'm known to just ramble on and on)

Back in High school, my aunt (or adapted mom) was the adviser for the Fil-Am club, she was also my ride home, so when she has to teach folk dances I have to stay and watch until she's done. Well, there was a girl that I liked and it just so happen that she joined. Needless to say if I was to meet her, I have to start participating.
Thus began my folk dancing career at the ripe old age of 13. So I did this throughout high school. I even hooked up with Kulintang arts, when they were still starting out, because my aunt sponsored them to teach at my high school. I learned how to play basic beats on the drum and agong. But I didn't touch the kulintang because I didn't know how to read music and I suck at playing melodies.

After High School, I got involved with the Barangay dance company, where I met ED and Mur and other people that shared the passion of folk dancing with me. I also joined PACE the pilipino organization at SF State. They too have PCN's which featured folk dancing and so I stuck with it and participated as well. In fact it was through PACE that I ended up meeting Kuya Rudi.

Now you are probably asking, where is the musician part, well, I'm getting there.
After meeting up with him, he asked me if I could be the stage director for "Handog" which was a dance concert that his group, P.P.A. put together. This was the first time that I actually heard the Tan bros. play live music for the first time. And I thought that it was just magnificent. I still remember the songs they played from Chotis, to banga, to vinta. It was one of the most amazing sounds that I've ever heard and soon after that I told myself that I want to play exactly like them. Now I'm nowhere near how they play, in fact I think I'm an ok musician. I'll never be a Bayani or Ed or Bryan, because I'm too stubborn to learn how to read music properly. I usually just try to play it by ear. But I do know one thing. Music is a big part of my life and I don't think that I can go on without it. Just ask Laurie who keeps teasing me about my threats of "retirement", believe me I tried, but what it all boils down to is that I can't live without the music and walking away will just kill my spirit.

So to my fellow musicians both here and abroad. Thank you for the music and letting me be a part of it all.

Bad Karma

As I was working on some stuff for work on my computer, DjJohn calls me up and tells me to turn on the tv and watch the news. lo and behold, they are reporting that 3 people were found dead in a foyer on a third floor of a commercial across from the South San Francisco City Hall. WTF!!! that's where we practice and the foyer is exactly where we have to walk through to get to our studio space. Man, that place will forever bother me as 3 people met a very violent ending to their lives. (think the grudge). I hope we don't have to stay late nights over there. (hint hint Kuya Ruds)

Lending cars

So for the past 2 months, I've been lending out one of my cars to an aunt who doesn't have a car (until recently when she finally bought her own car). Now I'm not swapang or selfish and I don't mind helping out other people, especially family. But man, can you at least take care of my things. I lent her my truck this last 2 and half weeks and I don't know what she did, but when I got it back, there was this weird noise in the engine. Ya know, the kind that tells you its vibrating more than it should be. Well, to support my suspicion, I checked the oil level and it was downright empty. Now I know that my old truck has a slight oil leak, but in all the years that I've driven it, I've never and I mean never, have ran out of oil. I guess when it comes to driving styles, I'm a little anal about how one should drive my car. All I can say is, if you are going to borrow, treat it as if you've bought it. RESPECT...nuff said.

Venting done.
Signing off

Video showing

Last nite, I went to the Cruz's (2) and watched the video of the show we did up Vancouver. It was a fun night of pointing out mistakes and laughing about them. Praising the good performances. Being amazed at how Kuya Jun seems to keep impressing us with how he comes up with something to surprise us with every show.
But I think the highlight of the show will forever be the "dong" moment in Paseo. We had to rewind it so we can keep our laughter going. Good Times.

Now I'm just waiting for Ledge and Aileen so we can go and watch a movie. But that post will be for another time.

Still feelin' it, atbp.

Ever since I got back from Vancouver, I've been on some sort of a natural high. I still picture everything that happened, in my mind. I kept replaying the music in my head and on my ipod.

I was talking to Kuya Jun about the show when we were waiting for our luggage at SFO. I was telling him that this was probably the best show I've seen up there. He agreed with me in that it was a good show and that everyone from KP seemed to have really liked the lighting. Again, I wish I was in the audience to really see the show that way it should've been seen.

So Friday we are going to the Cruz's (2) to watch the bootleg of the show. Should be nice to have a copy (veejay...hint..hint)

So is it just me or our weather pattern has gone quirky. Monday was really nice and hot, today was just plain windy and the forecast calls for rain on friday. How weird is that, Rain in the middle of June. In fact, they are forecasting for snow up in Lake Tahoe for thursday nite.

Sayonara for now, sa susunod na kabanata muli tayong magkitakita. Babay

I'm Back from a weekend of Bliss

Well, I 'm back from Vancouver, as a lot of you already know, from doing a show with my KP family. I don't really know what else to say, since a lot of people have said it already. The show was great, from the lighting to the dancing and the music.
Let me just say that this is by far the best show KP have ever had and I've been to a few of them personally. Everything was on hit, even some of the miscues didn't put a damper on anything. The audience were great, they even clapped the musicians as we were walking to our stools playing "ang alibangbang". Hats off to KP for being great hosts and even greater artists. To you all...I Raise The Glass!!!!!!

Here's a summary of some of the memorable and funny things that went on during the show (I only played a limited amount of music, so I was able to observe, yeah I know, unheard of right)

The infamous "conjoined twins" incident during the friday show.

Ed falling off his broken stool and kept playing while going down gracefully.

Veejay's emotional speech during green room, made Warren do the crying game. HAH

The beat then move the gong prelude of the muslim suite (thank Randy for that one)

Ernie "Dong" Andrade's extra note for the fast part of Paseo.

Me and Bryan playing the wrong notes for Lapay and not caring about it.

Rodney's malong music except he played it for Sagayan (good recovery though)

The musicians getting scorched by Kuya Jun during sound check (I was in the sound booth the whole time)

Rodney not getting his stool because Cristina sat on his stool during alibangbang.

Jeanette's sinkil performance (my little princess is all grown up)

Ed writing the lineup on his fingers and hand, not even sure if it was necessary.

Christian "feeling" his Indarapatra dance, then I found out that he was having leg cramps during the dance.

Bev's seemingly dark cloud hanging over her on friday as she was involved with a string of bad luck, from the conjoined twins, too Ed falling dwon during her song, to her partner not making it out in time for Pandango. Hmmm............

Mak, missing his flight to Vancouver and almost missing his flight back to San Francisco. I think he should be banned from traveling. ;P

Me missing the hwy off ramp to Vancouver and making a huge "u-turn" involving 3 streets, two stop lights and a driveway. (Ask my passengers about it)

All dressed Ruffles, nuf said.

The nice "sights" on Robson St. (ain't that right Randy, wink wink)

Me getting sick, because, I decided to smoke outside Boston Pizza with just a t-shirt on. DUMB

But the best memory I have is the one where I performed with everyone that is dear to me on stage. It has been an honor and privilege to share the stage and lights with you all, this is what drives me to better my craft as a musician wannabe and I hope that whatever little music I play, helps drive your passion for dancing.

Again Congrats to all involved and Let's keep doing it.

Headaches

I've been off from work since monday. What've I been doing you ask, well, besides packing my stuff and getting ready for Vancouver, I've been busy smoggin my Toyota so that I can give it to one of my aunts that needs a car. I just didn't think that it would take me 3 days to do it.

I took the car for a test at a test only center(translate=hella strict guidelines)
So I pass emissions and everything else, EXCEPT for a minor thing called the ignition timing belt function. When he tested it, he said that it was off by 6 degrees. So it's considered a fail and charges me $57. So I went to a mechanic to get it adjusted. Well when he adjusted it, he forgot to re-calibrate his timing gun so in essence it added an extra 10 degrees. Not knowing what the mechanic did I ended up re-testing and sure enough it failed again, now it's off by 18 degrees. Then he charges me $39 for the re-test. So I go back to my mechanic, he realizes his mistake and re-calibrated his timing gun and adjusted the timing. By that time I couldn't go back to the smog place because he doesn't have anymore openings until wednesday morning. So I went home. Tuesday, I decided to go around get stuff for the trip and then realized that the luggage I have is too small. My parents ended up taking my big suitcase when they went back to the Philippines. So I ent to Target and had to buy a bigger suitcase for the trip.

I then went to Ledge's house to visit him and the family. But everytime I go there I get allergy attacks. My right eye started drying up and my nose got clogged up. So after a while, I decided to go home.

Wednesday morning comes and I go for the third smog test on the car. Finally it passes since it's only off by 2 degrees. SO he then charges me $47. So basically this smog test cost me about $143, Dang dood, now I have to work overtime when I get back just to make it up. I'm telling ya, cars are bad investments. Get a good one and stick with just one. Don't have 3 like I do, it will just deplete your funds quickly.

So now I'm all packed up (I think) and i'm just going to head out to rondalla rehearsal tonite and then off we go in the early morning to YVR. But that's a different kind of headache (joke lang). 'til I get back. Headache one signing off.

The Longest Yard

This remake was a pretty good one, I like the action that was associated with the football game and Adam Sandler did a pretty good job acting. He has gone a long way from his Happy Gilmore/Billy Madison days.

3 more sleeps

3 more sleeps and it's off to YVR for me and my crew. It's gonna be a fun filled albeit very busy weekend. I can't wait to go home (that one is for Tina)

practice

Today, we had a dress rehearsal for our show up in Vancouver. It was a little tiring, but I think the musicians had a very good practice. The dancers....well, let's just say there's still room for improvement.

Although I've been up there many times, and I've been part of the the KP shows for the last ten years (can't believe it's been 10 years already!) I think I've been to more KP shows than some of their own alumnis. In fact one of the other alumni's pointed out that I'm not even considered a guest artist anymore. I'm just part of them now, albeit 1000 miles away. Anyways, I still get excited everytime I go up there, I guess you can say that it's my third home (P.I. and the U.S. being the other). I can't wait to go up there and hang out with everyone again. It seems like it's been ages since I went up there.

Well here's to good times and I shall post about the adventures up there when I get up. Ciao for now.

Rondalla fraktis

Last nite, we had our weekly rondalla rehearsal, it went pretty well. We are preparing for a show in canada with our sister company Kababayang Pilipino. Should be fun. 4 more days and we are there.

Right now I'm over here at Vacaville, visiting the Laxa's and just chilling out. I try to visit them since they moved so far out that I hardly get a chance to hang out with them. Unless there's a party going on down in the city.

1 more week.........

1 more week and we are off to Vancouver to perform as guest artist with our sister company KP of British Columbia. It should be a humorous, fun, stressfull, tiring, and emotionally exhausting/rewarding kind of show. But hey we all live for it, otherwise we wouldn't be performing. Here's to good times that will be had by all (in advance).

What I've been up to.

Every lunch break and any other break, I've been preoccupied with this. It ROCKS!!! nuff said

Memorial Weekend update

Well, let's see, last friday nite we had our usual rondalla rehearsal, but this time it was also a celebration of Manoks b-day. It was fun, albeit a little mellower than previous parties at the chateau. It was funny listening to the girls do their thang on the magic mike.

Saturday was the surprise b-day party for ading Liza. It was held at Zebulon, a restaurant that is co-owned by a few of our friends. It was nice to see a lot of friends from long ago, as well as some former Likha people. I still can't believe that the celebrant passed out from too much alcohol. Good Times.

today, I helped Ledge move some of the last furniture out of storage and into his new house. This time it was just me and him and I am TIRED! But at least it's all done now and no more furniture moving, at least for a while.

Tomorrow, we are going to hit the outlets in Vacaville and meet up with the Laxa's after lunch. I think I will take Alexa (god daughter of mine) and her brother Antonio to go watch Madagascar. Should be a fun filled day.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYBODY.

Movie Review

Star Wars episode III Revenge of the Sith

Awesome movie, definitely made up for the previous 2 episodes. Explained a lot of things. Definitely a must see movie.

Sucks that it's the last one. Hopefully George Lucas will have a change of heart and do more movies with it.

Since Bev called me a slacker.........

This past week has had a lot of things going on.
Last thursday we had a mini concert at the Asian Art Museum. It was ok, even with the "minor" glitch we had with one of the songs. Crisper came from Vancouver for the weekend and she was there to watch us (eventhough she was suppose to play and her name was even on the program.) (Hmmm she never did say what her excuse was for backing out). It was really nice to see her, too bad I never got the chance to hang out a lot more. Maybe next time.

Friday we had our usual rondalla practice and it was fun. We went over our usual warmups and some of the songs for the upcoming show in Vancouver, including the new Jota Nuevo that our friends from up north composed. It sounded pretty good, I think we'll get it down after a couple of rehearsals. (Bummer that I won'tget to play it though, because they want me to be their tech director for the show :( )

Saturday, I had to help Ledge move some of his furniture into his brand new house. Now the problem was that it was so DANG HOT, and there was only 3 of us doing the moving. You would think that for someone who has a bazillion things that he would hire movers. But I guess thats Ledge for ya. But it's all good, I'm always willing to help out a friend, even if it kills me physically (read: really tired) By the time we were finished moving, building furniture and stuff it was 10:45 pm and i was pooped.

Sunday was our usual practice, the dancers need to work out some more kinks to get ready for their performances. The musicians just needs to focus and stop screwing around a lot (ok, I meant, I need to stop screwing around a lot). Afterwards we all went to Sinugba for some good eating and a goodbye get together for Cris. It was good food and I can't believe that Ernie ate most of the chicharon bulaklak j/k.

Today work was just blah. Nothing special. Well it's time for the season finale of 24 so gotta go.

Later peeps.
(good enough for ya Bev? ;p)

Weekend Haps!

This past weekend the Likha rondalla played for the UC Davis PCN show. It was a very long weekend (each show was 4 hours long) but we all managed to keep ourselves entertained, from playing pusoy dos in between shows, to Ed's rendition of the dueling banjos (with the guitar player from the other "band") during one of the interludes, to me and Beverly critiquing the dancers.

Since the show was so far from our respected homes, we all camped out at the Chateau de Laxa. It was nice to spend a the weekend with everyone outside of practice. I think everyone had a pretty good time hanging out and just being ourselves.

Sunday I was the last one (as usual) to leave for home. Mainly because I was still tired from not getting enough sleep over the weekend. I even thinking of hitting the outlets before going home, but decided against it as it was raining and on the notion that the stores will be crowded. But I did ended up buying this on ebay before I left the Laxa's house.

When I got home, I crashed on my bed 'til 8:30 pm. Then I went to bed at 10:45 and when I woke up for work today, I was still exhausted. I guess the whole weekend took more out of me than I anticipated. But no worries, I'll just try and catch up on rest this week.

So for the rest of the rondalla peeps that was there this weekend.
Raise the glass!!! especially for the blazing speed rendition of Manilena and Panderetas.

Weekend happenings

Last Friday, a few of us from the Likha gang went out to support Bryan, and watched his opera debut in the Magic flute, and SF State University production. It went well, and as usual Bryan did well with his singing numbers in the show.
Congrats Bryan. For those that didn't get to watch, there's still a chance to watch it. They will be going on again on Friday and Saturday (May 6&7)

Saturday I went to go watch Sin City with John. Very violent movie, and lots of good looking women. Jessica Alba and Carla Gugino(?) looked Hot in this film.

Sunday was our turn to go to UC Davis to rehearse with them for their PCN. It was conducted outside and the weather was hot. My allergies started to attack me and as the day was going on, I was gettig irritated as my eyes were starting to dry up. Practice was going well, until we got to sinkil. Man, they couldn't figure out what they wanted to do and then when there's a cue for a music change or placement, they would tell us that we "missed" it, when in fact they didn't tell us anything so that's why it was missed. UGH, college students are irritating when they do PCNs.
You would think that a week before the show they know what it is that they will be doing. Well this group looked lost and that's just the dance aspect. Oh well, at least they are trying to be "culturalized". Can't blame them for trying.

Work Sucks

I played hooky today. i called in sick for I am so tired from working so long the last 3 days. I worked for a total of 31 hours from the last 3 days (I thought it was supposedly only a 40 hour week) Suffice to say, I woke up with my right arm sore and my back tweaking a little bit. So I called in in order to rest for a day. So what did I do??..you ask. Well I got an oil change for my car, I met up with Ledge for some business talks, then I went to go watch the movie Sahara.
It was ok, nothing spectacular, but I must say Penelope Cruz is HOT.

So tomorrow, I will go back to work and guess what with today's 8 hours paid for a sick day, I will have gotten 40 hours already. So basically whatever hours I work tomorrow will be paid at the overtime rate. Sweet time to get an Ipod or something.

Peace!

Back to Work

Alas my two week vacation has come to its end. Now I have to go back to the grind of working a 7:30-6:00 schedule. Oh well, at least I could lose the weight I gained from the last two weeks.

update

Well, let's see now. I'm on my last day of vacation (sucks).
My parents left to go home last nite (sucks).
My plans to go to Reno for this weekend got cancelled (sucks)
So this morning I'm going to Starbucks and drown my sorrows ;p

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Finally

I finally managed to go and visit the Laxa's new abode in Vacaville. My parents went to Reno for 2 days thus giving me time to be able to go out with John to do soem errands and then finally go to their new house. The house was nice and located in a nice neighborhood. But it's hecka far. It will take me about 30 minutes to get to their house from my house. That's a lot of driving.

We were joined by our friends Ledge and Edwin so we all decided to have dinner at Tahoe Joe's, good food and none of us finished our plates. I'm still full from that dinner.

HABEMUS PAPAM

A new pope was elected at the Vatican, Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany is now known as
Pope Benedict XVI.

Busy

Today was a busy day. I went to Ikea in the morning with the Laxa's and the David's and man was the place packed. Ikea was having a "no sales tax" sale and boy everyone came out of the woodwork for this sale. Madhouse is a very mild term.

Isaac got baptized today. Mur and I went over there after my trek from Ikea. It was funny to see most of the Likha musicians there (Herna being one of the ninangs) and none as in none came from practice. Then I found out that Kuya Rudi was sick and he didn't show up for practice. It must've been a dead practice. Especially since Warren was teaching, they probably just went through banga and that was it;P (j/K)

now I'm sitting here typing away and watching Gary V on TFC. He's not too bad. Oh well, time to switch over to baseball tonight.

Later peeps.

Random things

Soundmatters MAINstage Rocks!!

Icopy dvd2 w/ dvd43free is a moneysaver.

Driving from one shopping area to another with your parents is cool but tiring.

Tax season is cool for some, painful to others.

Ben Affleck can't act.

Paz Vega is HOT

Ebay rocks but it can drive you to bankruptcy.

Music my sister listens to:Dishwalla and Damien Rice...WHO the hell are these people?

Buying a new pair of shoes always make me feel good.

SO how's your day going?

Tired

As some of you know, my parents are in town and all we've been doing (I mean, they)
is shopping. I think I've been to the outlet stores anout 3 times within the last week and a half. Tomorrow I have to drive them to Macy's with my aunt who works for Macy's and get their 70% discount on stuff. Hmmm, maybe I can get a new shirt or two.

That's the reason that I haven't been blogging a whole lot lately. Anyways, I shall try and blog again tomorrow, or the next day or the next.......................

Ciao

Pope John Paul II

This past week, the beloved Pope John Paul II passed away. It's been a sad few days for the Catholic community and frankly the world community. He was one of the few spiritual leaders that actually reached out to the masses and tried to make things right, at least spiritually.

I was blessed and lucky to have seen him in person when came here to San Francisco back in 1987. My aunt and I hurried over to where the motorcade was going to pass by and was lucky enough to get there just as "Il Papa" was passing by. It was one of the most inspiring things I have ever witnessed. He really does have an aura around him.
He is a picture of HOPE that things can get better.

To the beloved papa, may you finally find peace and happiness up in the kingdom of the lord.

weekend update

This past weekend, I had to play the role of tour guide driver. As most of you know that my mom is in town, well one of my aunts from the Philippines was in town as well, and, just a little background on her, she is a promoter/music director. So she promotes a lot of concerts and composes music for a lot of filipino songers and groups. Well, she came by the house last saturday to visit my grandmother, she just happened to bring along Nora Aunor. I don't know if any of you out there know who she is, but from what I remember, she was one of the biggest stars back when I was a young -un. After their visit, they asked me if I could drive them to Cache Creek Casino. I really didn't want to, but when my mom said she wanted to go too, well, I just had to.
So off we went. We only spent about 3 hours over there (1 hour for eating) so on the way back we stopped by the Vacaville outlet stores, 'cause my mom needed to buy some baby blankets at Carter's for my brother new baby. Then we went home.

Sunday was practice at our new studio place in south city. It's bigger than our old studio and what's cool about it is that the storage space for all our costume, props and instrument is also in the same floor. So no more crossing the street to get something out of storage and we have 24 hour access to it. Parking sucks, but then again, this is not burger King, can't have it your way.

"He who has a stinky finger, has an itchy butthole"-unknown

Hot day

Today was HOT in San Francisco. It's been real nice having the sun back after all the rain we've been having. It almost as if I was in Seattle or Vancouver. Anyways I hope that it doesn't rain this saturday, I think I will take my mom out shopping again (no I'm not buying anything, with the 2 trips alone this year is really tapping me out) Don't know where to go though, Maybe the Napa outlets or the ones from Folsom.
Anyone got any suggestions?

Another thing, I finally bought my ticket, for Vancouver, today. Not bad got it for under $200 so I think I got a good deal. I guess constant vigilance pays off, considering that I checked how much the fare was yesterday and it was mid 300 dollars.

Now if we can only find a cheaper fare for Brazil.......

Hasta Pasta

Rain Rain and more rain

I hate the rain. It's pouring crazy right now and I just know that I'm gonna have a bad commute tomorrow morning. Oh well I better get to sleep early and just give myself a headstart.

I better get home soon.

Good eats....etc.

Well we had a BBQ at work today to celebrate our center for having a solid safety picture for the last quarter. We have reduced injuries by 60% compared to the same time last year and we have reduced accidents by 73%. I say that's a cause for a little celebration. So we had bbq'ed some some tri-tip steaks, prawns sauteed with garlic sauce, louisiana hot links, potato salad, green salad, blueberry and apple pies and chocolate cakes for dessert. I say it was a damn good BBQ dinner. I can't wait for the next one. I was thinking that if we would go six months without an accident and injury, I think either a day at SBC park for a giants game or Family day at Great America sounds nice. Which one do you think is better?

VJ from Vancouver also gave me a surprise phone call tonight. He was confirming if Ledge is actually going there in June. I said yes so he said that Ledge and I can stay at his beautiful house. WooHoo, I love staying with them, they are so hospitable and so kind. Plus Emily is so cute. I also told him that Mur and Laurie wanted to stay at his house and so they will (if they still want to).

Brazil update

Well, my mgr finally approved my vacations and I can now join the group for Brazil.
woo-hoo. Now to work some overtime hours to help pay for this endeavor.

It's been nice to spend some time with my mom. Although I'm working, it's cool to know that when I get home she will be there and she and I can talk about my nice and new nephew (for those that know my brother, he just had a baby boy). So now I have to drive my mom around so she can buy stuff for them. Maybe we'll head out to babies r'us and get some baby stuff.

It sucks that it's been raining a lot lately. It put a damper on our plans to have a massive BBQ for work. We have just achieved 1 month of no accident/injuries. I know it's only a month, but when you consider we put out about 80 drivers a day and they drive on the avg of 33 miles a day and handle about 300-700 pkgs a day, that's a big deal. Do congrats to my fellow Upsers, may the rain stop falling and the sun starts shining, and our bellies be filled with steaks and cranberries. Raise the glass (afterwork that is).

Peace out.

Brazil update

I just found out that I'm the cutoff guy for the second wave of the vacation bidding. Meaning there's 19 people ahead of me that can easily bump me off the weeks needed in aug. So keep your fingers and legs crossed and pray that I get 'em.

Peace out

Well, I'm happy to say that my mom is here. She arrived last sunday and will be staying here 'til april. So that's cool.

Well for my fellow likha performers, I just got my vacation bid sheet and judging by the schedule, there's a good chance that I just might get the weeks needed for the Brazil trip. It's not gonna be etched in stone until my manager signs off on it so keep your fingers crossed that I get it. Now if I can only find a way to pay for the trip.....

time to watch the Incredibles DVD. See ya.

Rondalla fraktis

well, it's friday and it's time for rondalla practice and here I am outside the chateau but I don't think anyone is home yet. so here I am blogging in my car.

This week has been so fraking HOT, I think we were in the high 80's all week long. It's been a nice change from all the rain that we've been having all winter long. It's good to have the sun back shining again. Time to bust out the shorts and tanktops.