~* RANDOM RULES *~

Ok, I got this blog post idea from sillypipedreams who also referred to this site wherein "The A.V. Club asks its favorite rockers, writers, comics, or whatevers to set their MP3 players to shuffle and comment on the first few tracks that come up—no cheating or skipping embarrassing tracks allowed."

It's a cool way to take a peek into someone's music collection. So shall I say, "tell me what's on your player and I'll tell you who you are?" ;-)

Here's mine...

THIS WAY (JEWEL)

Oh wow, I didn't even know it was there! It's not really a memorable nor a fave song from Jewel so umm, I'd rather listen to Hands, Foolish Games or You Were Meant For Me the next time I'm in a Jewel-y mood.

IN DA CLUB [REMIX] (50 CENT feat. 702)

I sooo love this trippy happy remix of In Da Club. The cheerful bouncy melody and feminine touch of 702 makes it better than the original version.

LOVE ME STILL (CHAKA KHAN)

I think this started my obsession with TV show soundtracks. This nice dramatic song is from the 90s tv drama Party of 5 (remember Matthew Fox a.k.a Jack from Lost? I think he was Charlie in Party of 5.) Luckily, I was a practicum trainee in Studio 23 back in college. Party of Five was being aired by Studio 23 back then and at the end of our practicum, our boss gave us a Party of Five soundtrack CD as a token. See, I was really lucky back then...

BLIND (LIFEHOUSE)

I totally dig Lifehouse's sappy love songs and this is one of them. I love it so much that I actually have three versions of it on my PC. One album version and two different live/acoustic versions. I am a sucker for hot band guys with gravelly singing voice. Jason Wade, will you marry me?

GONE [N'SYNC COVER] (JOHN MAYER)

Now this one's really funny! John Mayer takes a jab on the boyband craze. The mp3 starts off with John Mayer doing some funny adlib and then proceeding with a storytelling interspersed with Gone verses. Really cute of John to do that. I love his humor. I've seen this concert DVD of his and his commentaries were really goofy-funny :-)

LET ME HOLD YOU (BOW WOW feat. OMARION)

Nice collab between Bow Wow and Omario but uhh, since I'm not a big fan, I don't know who's singing what in the track. But I love the melody of this one. I am having visuals of Bow Wow/Omarion doing that let-me-hold-you part in the video...

IT DON'T MATTER TO THE SUN (ROSIE THOMAS)

Not a big playlist mainstay but it's a pretty decent song. It's from one of the Grey's Anatomy episodes. Umm, I can't remember which one though.

INSENSITIVE [ACOUSTIC] (JANN ARDEN)

Haven't you noticed that I keep acoustic versions of songs? I'm a sucker for acoustic versions and this is one of those songs which sound nicer in its acoustic version. Did this come from a Julia Roberts movie? I forget. Or maybe I'm just too sleepy to recall. Anyway, this is the classic "I'm pining away here, can't you see that I'm in love with you, you jerk?!?" kind of song.

EWAN [APO HIKING SOCIETY COVER] (IMAGO)

Hey don't get me wrong, I really think Aia is a wonderful vocalist and I like most of Imago's songs (esp. Taning and Akap. But I could never ever like Taralets...) but I am really annoyed with the way she sings "mahal kita, mahal kita hindi to bohhhl-lahh" part. The really arte way she says "bola" is driving me nuts! Which brings me to the thought that I should probably delete this annoying song on my PC...

BREATHE ME (SIA)

This has got to be one of the most amazing song discoveries I've had in my channel surfing history! I LOVE THIS SONG! I don't really watch Six Feet Under on HBO but I just happened to channel surf my way there one night and apparently, the finale of the series was airing. This girl was driving along the highway while vignettes in between were showing how each cast member dies over the years. This was the background music during that long final scene. I didn't know the title nor the artist of the song back then so I searched for "Six Feet Under final episode soundtrack" on Multiply. And voila! Thank you my dear Multiply!

I BET YOU LOOK GOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR (ARCTIC MONKEYS)

I've been hearing the buzz on Arctic Monkeys so I got curious about their music... and so I downloaded this coz it was the most prevalent track over at Sharezaa back then. Nothing spectacular but it sounds cool when I want some energetic music going on.

OBLIVION (30 SECONDS TO MARS)

I think this is from their first album? The self-titled one. Not a memorable 30STM song for me but rockin' enough anyway.

Ok I'm really sleepy na so I'll stop. Nitey-nite!

~* DRAMARAMA: THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE LIGHT *~

So I've been pretty much depressed lately and I'm making a wild guess that it's coz my birthday is coming up again. Ahh, another year. One step closer to the edge of the calendar days. And still freaking single. Fudge.

I remember the last time Abbie, Tin and I went out drinking (Charo, we missed you that night!)... we were supposed to watch Music & Lyrics but we were so bummed out with our personal dramas that we decided to just drink and talk the night away. After that, I resolved that I might as well start saving up and hope to be filthy rich when I'm older so that I can at least be artificially happy with an obscenely expensive vacation or whatever uneconomical material thing money can buy. I will always go back to that Dogbert mantra : "The key to happiness is self-delusion. Don't think of yourself as an organic pain collector racing toward oblivion." Can you smell the pessimism in the air?

Well anyway, I think the positive effect that my freaking-out-about-turning-29 has brought upon me was that I've learned to be *super* financially-conscious. I've read these two bestselling locally-authored books (one was by Francisco Colayco and the other by Efren Cruz) that teach one how to be financially prepared and be responsible in terms of handling moolah. Sorta like a Rich Dad, Poor Dad kind of thing (though I haven't read this book yet). Last year, I was done with paying off a pre-need plan (a term life insurance which has a lump sum amount at its maturity date which I can opt to just let them keep for my future pension plan). This month, I applied for a life insurance with endowment and dividend payouts which I can also just opt to accumulate til I'm retired from work. And then I re-evaluated my liquidity as well as net worth and have done some measures to save up some more moolah on the bank and also some investment on mutual fund stocks. Basically, I'm trying to make compounding interest work for me. I have also religiously listed down my expenses and have come up with a monthly budget. Not a strict budget though coz I just blew some money buying new office pants and this cute bandeau for summer. Arghh. Got. to. fight. the. shopping. spirit.

Now back to turning 29 and still not *categorically* moving on...

It just sucks how some people just pop up out of nowhere when you think you are almost there at the finish line where it says "Congratulations, you have *finally* moved on!". Whatever popped up last 02.16 is still in my freaking inbox. Why did I not delete it?! (I am scolding myself and I'm figuratively banging my head on the desk in disgrace.) And whatever THAT was disappeared into thin air the same way as it came -- quicker than the brown fox that jumped over the lazy dog.

I remember hearing Chico and Delamar talking about viewing someone in a negative light in order to let them go. (The topic was the Top 10 Break-up Lyrics...) Yeah. I think I did that already. I remember being *very* pissed to the point of feeling animosity towards a person. And boy, look at me now! Gee, that sure worked *rolls eyes*.

Anyway, I was multiply'ing and saw this post from a friend of a friend: "The sadness you will feel once someone is taken away from you is directly proportional to how happy you were when you were with that person."

So do I still have a long way to go? Dammit, where the heck is that friggin' finish line?!?

~* IPOD WHEEL OF FORTUNE *~

Abbie and Tin have done this already so now that I'm in a blogging mood, here goes...

HOW THE IPOD GAME GOES:
1. Put your iPod/music player in shuffle mode.
2. Answer the questions below through the song being played.
3. Click the forward button as you move along the questions.


how are you feeling today?
Doo-wop (That Thing) ~ Lauryn Hill

will you get far in life?
Love and Affection ~ Nelson Brothers

how do your friends see you?
Again ~ Lenny Kravitz

will you get married?
Just Take My Heart (acoustic) ~ Mr. Big

what is your best friend's theme song?
Tattooed on my Mind ~ D'Sound

what is the story of your life?
Volcano ('97 demo) ~ Damien Rice

what was high school like?
I Remember You ~ Skid Row

how can you get ahead in life?
Opposite Direction ~ Union of Knives

what is the best thing about your friends?
She Runs Away (acoustic) ~ Duncan Sheik

what is today going to be like?
Every Rose Has It's Thorn ~ Poison

what is in store for this weekend?
Last Request (piano acoustic) ~ Paolo Nutini

what song describes you?
Liar - 8mm ===> {to my dear iPod:} ugghh! you traitor! :p

to describe your grandparents?
Bend ~ Stonefree

how is your life going?
The Scientist (KCRW live session) ~ Coldplay

what song will they play at your funeral?
In Bloom ~ Nirvana ==> wow, totally done in rock chick fashion. this is feasible ;-)

how does the world see you?
Karma Police (Radiohead cover) ~ Tori Amos ===> I'd have to agree on this one!

will you have a happy life?
You Turn Me Around ~ Aqualung

what do your friends really think of you?
In Repair ~ John Mayer

do people secretly lust after you?
Take Away ~ Missy Elliot feat. Ginuwine & Tweet

how can I make myself happy?
Somedays ~ Regina Spektor

what should you do with your life?
When I Look into Your Eyes ~ Firehouse

will you ever have children?
Say it Right ~ Nelly Furtado

~* SHOPPING & GREY'S ANATOMY *~

My calves hurt. As in. When I woke up today, I felt the muscle ache on my calves. Reminds me of the saying "shop til you drop"...

My Saturday started early coz my college friends Rose, She and I had planned to go shopping at 168 Shopping Mall. I met up with She at Sucat at 6:45am, then we picked up Rose at Las Piñas and then we drove to Divisoria, arriving at exactly 8:01am at 168. We ate breakfast at the nearby Chowking and then started to comb through the 168 stalls around 9am. We went through each and every frigging pasilyo alphabet on all three floors! I spent a total of Php1,700 and took home all these: 1 black office bag, 2 puff-sleeved plain colored shirts, 3 lace-trimmed tank tops, 1 chocolate brown asymmetrical blouse, 1 puff-sleeved office blouse, 1 pink & brown plaid clamdiggers, 1 basketball shorts (for my nephew) and 1 plain cotton shirt (for our househelp).

It was my first time to go to 168 and I was thrilled with all that good bargain! You'll definitely get a lot more bang for your buck when you shop there. Anyway, here are some tips which I learned from my friend Rose who is a seasoned 168 shopper (plus some of my own input):

1. Bring cash. Everything is on cash basis transaction so leave your credit cards at home.
2. Spread your cash. Don't keep everything in one place. I had some money on my wallet which was in my bag, some on my left pants pocket, some on my pants' tiny right pocket.
3. Don't bring your ATM card. If you want to be on a strict budget, leave your ATM card at home so you won't be tempted to withdraw more money just to buy some more unplanned stuff.
4. Dress simply. No bling-blings, no expensive watch. Avoid looking hmm *rich* so you can be believable when you make barat/tawad to the tindera.
5. Wear comfy footwear. Your feet are your friend in this journey to retail therapy!
6. If you must bring a bag, go for a body bag or belt bag. Don't bring shoulder bags that tend to dangle on your shoulders and become very accessible to pickpockets. Hold your bag closely and keep it in front (not even on your side) where you can see it.
7. Avoid flashing around your gadgets. Expensive celfones, iPods, PDAs or whathaveyous may tempt the pickpockets. Better be safe than sorry!
8. Always try to make tawad. Don't just buy at quoted price. Haggle and negotiate first for a really big discount. The vendor will usually disagree with your quoted price and will make a higher-priced counter-offer. Haggle some more until you reach a middle ground. It helps if you chika the tindera and talk nicely. If they don't give you your tawad, sometimes it helps if you feign losing interest and start walking away from the stall. More often than not, they call you back in and concede to your bargain price ;-)
9. Bring one huge sturdy bag. Put every item you buy inside this huge bag so that you won't have to struggle in lugging around a lot of plastic bags from the different stalls you buy from.
10. If you're bringing a car, strive to be at 168 by 8am (or even way earlier during peak season like Christmas time) so you can still get a good parking space.

We finished shopping and left the mall around 4pm. Wow. Imagine that! Virtually 7 freaking hours of walking! No wonder my calves hurt now :-(

After bonding with my college friends through shopping, I spent some q-time with my dear high school friends Abbie, Tin and Charo who went over to our house around 9pm last night. We scheduled a Grey's Anatomy "DVDthon" and watched the first 5 eps of season 3 in my room. We ate some junk food (No crumbs on my bed! I give them 5 stars!) while watching McDreamy, McSteamy and annoyingly pa-cute Ellen Pompeo [Meredith].

Tin had a grand time copying some of my mp3s into her portable hard drive. I heard her exclaiming over finding Jeremy Jordan, Wilson Philips and Tiffany songs in my PC :D On the other hand, Abbie "checked out" (yeah, I have a log book for anything borrowed from me, hehe! I'm OC with my possessions!) some of my CDs so she can OC-ly rip them at hmm 320kbps? ;-)

We were supposed to finish all 7 eps of GA on the DVD but we were too sleepy na by 3am so they all headed home. We'll just have to schedule another DVDthon for the rest of the 3rd season eps! ;-)

~* WHILE I WAS iTUNING... *~

I have been sooo remiss with my blogging duties... So here goes one big update!


I GOT MYSELF AN iPOD NANO. Yeah so basically this is the reason why I've been neglecting my blog. I was supposed to buy a Sony Ericsson Walkman fone W850i but got turned off when I examined an actual unit in the store so I ended up buying a pink iPod Nano instead. I have been OC'ing over putting album artworks and fixing the ID3 tags on my 2,999 mp3s worth 11.5GB. And I am still not freaking done. I haven't even organized the genre tags. Arghhh. And about a hundred mp3s still don't have their respective album artwork. OCness does give you carpal tunnel syndrome. Ouch.


I LOVE THE HOLIDAY! Saw this movie with Abbie & Charo last V-day. I love this movie! Jude Law and those dreamy eyes *sigh* I didn't feel any chemistry between Cameron Diaz (Amanda) and Jude Law (Graham) but I liked the pairing of Jack Black (Miles) and Kate Winslet (Iris). It's refreshing to see Kate act goofy and to see Jack as a romantic male lead. The lines in this movie are such quotable quotes, I love it... especially the lines of Kate's character. Here are some of my favorites:

Amanda: You know Graham, I just broke up with someone and considering you just showed up and you're insanely good-looking and probably won't remember me anyway... I'm thinking we should have sex... If you want.
Graham: Is that a trick question?

******
Iris: You're supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for God's sake!

******
Iris: I like corny. I'm looking for corny in my life.

******

Iris: ... And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmas', the worst Birthday's, New Years Eve's brought in by tears and valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms.

******

Iris: It doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends... you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. and how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new. and you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little peices of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.

******
Hannah: My god, I've just noticed how pathetic you are.
Iris: Really? I'm *sooo* aware of it.

******


WE HAD A YUMMY FAMILY LUNCH AT KAMAYAN SA PALAISDAAN. My Tito Boyet from the States was in town for a short visit so we treated him and my Lola Pura out for lunch at Bay, Los Baños (Laguna) last Saturday. I love the ambiance of the place... the type where you can have a very relaxed lunch and just enjoy the "countryside" appeal of the place. {more pictures on my Multiply}






WE WATCHED AN URBANDUB & DICTA LICENSE GIG. Another Sonic Boom event was held in San Mig, ATC last Saturday so Tin and I grabbed this chance to see Urbandub and Dicta License perform live. Typecast, The Ambassadors and Airport Drama also played. Hilera wasn't able to come coz they were still in Fairview. Got a little bitin on the Urbandub set coz they didn't do an encore :( Gabby looked pretty tired already. But they did a kick-ass set anyway so it's all good. Pochoy (Dicta License) looked *hot* as usual. He is just *so* cute in white shirt (ooh, a new version of the Faspitch shirt in white!). Dicta License played last so the crowd pretty much thinned out when it was time for them to play. Good for me though coz I managed to stay right beside the stage on Boogie's side. Really -- this band is so damn good looking (pogi rock alert!)... every single band member is cute in their own way. But that's not to underestimate the intensity of their songs. Pochoy sings with so much passion about socially-relevant themes that is meant to wake up the youth of today. Now THAT's extra pogi points ;-)

~* NOW PLAYING: The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars *~

Found this nice acoustic version of The Kill which was performed by 30STM at AOL Sessions...

THE KILL

by: 30 Seconds to Mars

What if I wanted to break
Laugh it all off in your face
What would you do?
What if I fell to the floor?
Couldn’t take this anymore
What would you do, do, do?

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you

What if I wanted to fight
Beg for the rest of my life
What would you do? (do, do)
You say you wanted more
What are you waiting for?
I’m not running from you

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you
Look in my eyes
You’re killing me, killing me
All I wanted was you

I tried to be someone else
But nothing seemed to change
I know now, this is who I really am inside
Finally found myself
Fighting for a chance
I know now, this is who I really am

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you, you, you
Look in my eyes
You’re killing me, killing me
All I wanted was you

Come break me down
Break me down
Break me down

What if I wanted to break?

~* 30 SECONDS TO JARED LETO *~

Jared Leto: From My So-called Life to rockin' 30 Seconds To Mars

So I just found out that Jared Leto was actually the vocalist of 30 Seconds to Mars when I chanced upon an E! celebrity feature on Cameron Diaz early this January (he used to date Cameron). I was surprised to know that coz I've been digging 30STM since last year! And frankly, my only vivid memory of Jared Leto was from the Claire Danes TV series "My So Called Life" which I used to watch back in my highschool days. I don't even remember seeing him in Panic Room nor in Fight Club (must be too much Brad Pitt eyeballing)!

Anyway, I first got into 30 Seconds to Mars' music last year when I saw them as one of the nominees in the MTV Video Music Awards -- mentioned pretty much in the same breath as Panic! At The Disco whom I also love. And so, I can't believe how a Hollywood actor can actually rock! NOT a lame attempt at all! The band has enough street cred since their single "The Kill" rose up the charts. He can actually sing... I saw this one interview in youtube and he was fooling around & singing in a Sinatra kind of way-- so unlike the screamo vocals on A Beautiful Lie [album]. You know how screamo-alt-rock their music is? I was listening to their album in my Winamp at the office the other day and my boss actually asked me to tone down my music. Heh. Probably way too much of Jared's screamo-emo :p Favorite tracks from the album (aside from The Kill which was my first love): A Modern Myth [loved the violin tracks here!], Attack, From Yesterday, Hunter [a cool Bjork cover!], The Fantasy... Well actually the entire album rocks :-)

The band's drummer, by the way, happens to be Jared's brother Shannon. Their guitarist Tomo actually started out as a fan and then later auditioned as a replacement. (No interesting footnote about the bassist. Heh.)

the 35-year old eyeliner-wearing hottie as he appears in 'the kill' vid

I've been youtube'ing and I've seen funny interviews of the band and live performances. I love their acoustic performances... most of the performances were just with Tomo & Jared onstage and in those stripped down arrangements, it's amazing how Jared's voice is actually nice in a soothing, breathy, semi-gravelly kind of way. There are some Daily Download videos on youtube which had Jared & Tomo accompanied by this string section which resulted in a gorgeous version of The Kill. In the funny interviews, Jared's facial expression [when he amps up his humor] reminds me of Jim Carrey. And one interviewer actually introduced him as "singer/actor/hottie." And hottie indeed he is. He's got those pretty intense eyes and killer lashes, virtually perfect teeth and those lips that curl at the corners.

Been surfing up some bad press about him though... this thing about his fight with Elijah Wood and this blogger/press writer... his dating habits... etc. And do you remember that infamous pic of him kissing Scarlett Johansson wherein he was actually checking his phone WHILE kissing her?! But anyway, strictly talent-&-looks-dept. only, I would chalk him up beside Brandon Boyd of Incubus ;-)