routine is the enemy.

so we should break it... break it, break it the best way we can. I think I'll go hibernate for a while, be detached from the outside world altogether. The past few days, I realized that if you get away from the media for a while, you get to focus more on the personal aspects of your life. I know that Manny Pacquiao won but I didn't feel it. I was away from it. I wasn't reading the papers or watching the news days before the fight so I wasn't 'excited' by it the way the media intended to the Filipino people. I also didn't follow through on the news, I just heard about it from some people. Didn't see any post-match interviews, commentaries or whatever. So now I'm stuck in my own little world, minding my own business, listening to the music I love or watching stuff on youtube, reading a book (which gets me lost again in a different world altogether). I listen to people talk about current affairs, Boxing, the Gucci Gang, or Amy Whinehouse, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears on the otherside of the world and find myself rather disinterested or disengaged. What the hell. I haven't been to perezhilton or tmz.com for like a month now. Wow, this is new.

I have to admit that I did keep track of F1 over the weekend. Heck, that's the first race of the season.

This morning, my colleagues told me that Andrea Del Rosario and some other celebrities got to hang out with Maroon 5 at the after party. In another space and time, I would've died of envy. But I'm so over it now, I don't care. The music goes on and on and on.

stellar

I thought I lost my love for Incubus already... but when I first heard the riffs, it all came back to me. hello. you had me at hello!!! Ethereal...

Late post, I know, but still can't get over it! Haha... Looking back, I think I enjoyed the Incubus concert here more than I did Maroon 5. Well, I mean, Maroon 5 was really good (as you may have read from my previous post) but I was in a perpetual state of trance the whole time... I was there but I wasn't really 'there'. Incubus is really better seen live - the energy, the people. Whereas Adam amused the crowd with his counting in Filipino, saying mahal kita and all that, Incubus didn't even exert the effort to make themselves endearing to the crowd (no Filipino words learned whatsoever), they just were. No talkies here. They just went from song to song to song to song...

And in comparison, Brandon Boyd really can sing! Adam Levine sounds effeminate now and I wonder why I hadn't noticed before that he sounded weird. Highlights of the concert for me (aside from when Brandon took his shirt and then his undershirt off) were when the crowd went wild with Megalomaniac (the floor vibrated because everyone jumped), when they did Oil and Water (one of my faves from Light Grenades), of course, the classics Dirve, Nice to Know You, Vitamin (my ring tone forever!), and Wish You Were Here... we also enjoyed the jam on Sick Sad Little World, Circles

My favorite part was Stellar (beginning of the encore). The stadium was dark (duh) and the lights projected stars onto the audience, the roof... everywhere. It was like a rock song on prom night. I wasn't able to take photos or videos when they were doing that song... we just kept quiet and took it all in. Lurve.

I actually resent that they didn't play some of the hits like Pardon Me and A Certain Shade of Green (reminiscent of my angsty highschool life), Are You In (trippin' in college. no dude, not that kind of 'trip') and Dig (the song that brought me back to them in 2006 so to speak hehe).


But they did sing my favorite Incubus sing-along song - Talk Shows on Mute! Uploaded the video capture, see below. Mems.

Come one, come all... into 1984. If you haven't heard it, suggest you listen to it and read between the lines. Look up the lyrics in Google.





Wish You Were Here

I dig my toes into the sand

The ocean looks like a thousand diamonds

Strewn across a blue blanket

I lean against the wind

Pretend that I am weightless

And in this moment I am happy...happy

Muuuuuuuuusic

There's something more to live acts than just merely seeing foreign artists perform right before your eyes. There's some kind of natural high - you're actually looking at the very people behind the songs that you grew up with, songs that define phases of your life, or music that you wished you would have created yourself. I like bands more than solo acts because most bands create their own music. They write the lyrics and lay out the tunes, unlike some solo acts who have composers and all the other people who do the whole shebang for them and their only role is to perform. And just by the songs they sing, you get to have a feel of how these people live their lives, what they go through and the emotions they feel and when you can to relate, you know that you're not alone. There's someone out there, probably in a parallel universe, who's going through exactly what your going through right now. Some lyrics may be a bit obscure, but somehow, you just know - that's you.

Thank God for all the Adam Levines, Brandon Boyds (Maroon 5s and Incbuses) who somehow make us feel a bit better about life.

Below is a playlist with some of the Incubus songs that I love:

Dig - it's about having someone who helps you see things through. If you go astray, you can always count on someone who would 'dig you up from under what is covering' the better part of you. I also like how this song was sung... obviously it could be very difficult to pull off, especially live. I wanna see this covered in American Idol (make or break!).

Oil and Water - two people who are exact opposites but they continue co-exist because they share something greater than what they can comprehend. They continue to disagree (wouldn't be the first time, wouldn't be the last time), but what the heck. This is love. (hehe)

Drive - Finding your place in the world.

Megalomaniac - a bit political. You could say that this is my call to resignation (for the current administration, yes you, Ms. President).

Just click on a song and hit the Play button.

flavor of the month

'Cause you keep me coming back for more and I feel a little better than I did before...

- If I Never See Your Face Again

From It Won't Be Soon Before Long

Here's Maroon 5's own rendition of The Police's So Lonely ocassionally injected with Akon's Don't Matter and a dash of R. Kelly's Ignition. I don't know how he does it but everything he touches is gold! Adam Levine is love.

A few days to go and Happy Birthday to me!

massive hang over

Tap on my window, knock on my door

The Maroon 5 concert here was surreal! About two years ago, I remember watching the M5 concert on TV with colleagues in a hotel room in Hong Kong and the three of us totally went nuts. We were screaming our lungs out inside the room and covering our faces with pillows so the entire floor wouldn't hear. And now that we actually got to see them live here... shit! I can't even begin to explain. It was just... bliss! happiness. Sulit! I've been digging this band since college. I like all the songs and I know the lyrics of most of them.

One of the highlights of the night was when they did the hottest, sexiest version of She Will Be Loved and it's crazy crazy crazy! There's a part there when in the middle of the song, the band stopped playing and all the lights went off except for a spotlight on Adam and he was just standing there staring at the crowd as if he was taking it all in... he looks up, closes his eyes, smiles, opens his eyes again and slowly looks at the crowd from left to right. Heart attack!!! Love love love!

The whole thing was like a roller coaster ride -- that part when the coaster slowly climbs to the highest point and makes a complete stop right before it drops... that very moment! Only this one lasted for almost two hours.

It's been 24 hours since the concert and here I am, wide awake. I was actually smiling all day, still giddy from the night before. After I posted all the photos (not so good, though) and the video on multiply, I still feel it. I feel it! I hope when I go to sleep in a while, I'd wake up and find that it's Wednesday morning still, March 5, so I can go through it all over again. Oh I'm such a fan girl!

I can't focus on anything else right now, Adam, and this is all your fault! you you you.

On Sunday, it will be Incubus. Let's see what Brandon Boyd can do. to me. haha! Insanity. Good thing we've had enough of the Beyonce/Akon/Ne-Yo type. Bring in more of the cool ones! M5 and Incubus are a good start. I wish to see Dave Matthews, Coldplay, Matchbox Twenty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and of course, OASIS (although I doubt it) in Manila!

{Basket Case} I am one of those melodramatic fools

Disclaimer: This post is completely hormonal.

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
I hate it when 'this' hits me (and I don't even know exactly what 'this' is). Today is one of those particulars days when I just feel that my life sucks. Well, not totally. Just kind of. It's one of those days that couldn't have been salvaged by alcohol. It just feels so awful. I get thoughts in my head driving me to do things and make decisions hastily and I know that I'll regret these later on. I've been in this situation one too many times and the sad thing is that realizations always come in the end -- when I realize that I could've handled things better. The good thing, though, is I've learned to deal with it. I'm proud to say that I've successfully convinced myself not to act on impulse. I had the urge to finally decide once and for all to free myself from whatever, and imagined myself spending long days just watching TV, going out, doing absolutely nothing for the next six to twelve months. Or I can pass time learning to play the violin or some weird non-mainstream instrument, help out with a NGO, learn a new sport or something. teach in a pre-school... I don't know.

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
I just want something new in my life now because I kinda feel that I'm doing things without a purpose, with no real reason and no real motivation. What's in it for me anyway? The sorry part is the more I'm becoming entrenched, the more I realize that this isn't what I want to do. I don't know what I want to do exactly but this doesn't feel like 'it'. This serves me well at the present perhaps because of the fact that I CAN do it and if I choose to, I can excel. If I'm right for this then why do I feel so restless and not so into it? Or could it be that I've become so comfortable and now I want to leave my comfort zone?


It all keeps adding up. I think I'm crackin' up
This blog was locked for a time until I cleared everything I wrote from the last time I posted in December. It's just not for public consumption and I don't want people to come across it and misinterpret everything. Moreso, I don't want to be so vocal about what I'm going through because I don't want to rub it off on the those around me. BUT those people shouldn't be fooled because beneath the exterior, I'm just someone who hasn't got a clue. Oh yes, yes, yes. I'm overrated and I know it. haha

(Am I just paranoid?) I'm just stoned.
Still and all, this is just one of 'em days. I know one day soon I'll wake up and feel perfectly fine. It's all just a cycle.

Spotted

When the punishment fits the crime, there's no reason you can't celebrate your sentence in style.

Microserfs

Microserfs
By Douglas Coupland



When you're a tech geek working for the world's biggest software company, it's already understood that you don't have a life... or at least in this book. What really matters, the author says, is your brains. Never mind that your hair grew wayward, that your working outfit consists of the usual khaki slacks, company branded shirts, white socks and Birkenstocks, as long as you're a think tank that never runs out of bright ideas. One of the philosophies presented in the book is this: If you can't make yourself worthwhile to society, then that's your problem, not society's. People are personally responsible for making themselves relevant. I agree in a sense that you really have to make an effort to make yourself useful at home, in the workplace, to your friends... otherwise, you'll become redundant such that people will begin to forget you. That's the basic principle of mutualism -- give and take.



Geeks graduate from college, get hired at Microsoft or Apple or any similar company for that matter, work their asses off and think that relationships will happen naturally. Next thing they know, they wake up at thirty and realize that they've never been kissed.



This is a really fascinating (and sometimes funny) read about a fictional bunch of geeks who worked at Microsoft, obsessed about Bill Gates, and eventually decided to leave the comforts of having the coolest, high-paying jobs in search for what they call a 'life'. Although written in 1995, it remains relevant today except for the technologies mentioned (if you're expecting iPods and the like, well, it didn't even talk about Windows XP, to say the least). The book was written in first person, a journal where the day-to-day undertakings of the characters were recorded. Most of the journal entries were just observations but it was through these that we get to pick up a lesson or two about life.



For example, it is said in the book that work is providing us with a comforting sense of normalcy. Simply grinding away at something makes life feel stable even though the external particulars of life are, at best, random. Quarter-life crisis, is that you?



There's no major issue or event in the book that needed a resolution -- it's just filled with thought-provoking statements, almost a collection of musings, aphorisms and reflections about technology, work, work-life balance, families and relationships, that paint a picture of what some of us are probably going through, or went through in life.

Dedication

Dedication

by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

I just needed something to do while having my hair treated at the salon and so I bought this book on a whim. The cover gave the impression that it's a light read and it was.

In a nutshell, it tells of a girl who fell in love in highschool. The man of her dreams left her without any explanation on prom night and went on to become a super popular rockstar. All the songs this guy wrote were about her - their experiences together, her mother... One day, the guy went back to their hometown to shoot a special segment for MTV and the woman scorned took this as an opportunity to make him regret his existence, and to achieve some kind of closure for herself as well.

It's a bit something like "if you had a second chance with the one that got away," only the ending of this novel seemed more realistic than the usual happily ever after conclusions. And while the plot was interesting, the mode of storytelling was a bit lackluster and after a while, I got tired of their issues and wished they'd just drop it already. I still read through it (without cheating) just to see if it turns out the way I thought it would. It's nothing like The Nanny Diaries by the same authors. The chapters alternated between timelines from way back when they were in highschool to the present (in their 30s) and it really got me wondering if the characters ever matured at all.

I'm feeling a little restless lately

and I believe this has got to do with hormonal imbalance. It's just weird that it occurs at certain times of the year and for the past couple of years, I'm like in a quarter-life crisis every first quarter of the year (and I'm only approaching quarterlife... still not there). This is the time when with the trusty SMBs are ever so useful... but this is also the time when I don't feel like going out at all. I just want to be all by myself in my room soundtripping or reading whatever I can get my hands on... watch tv and tearjerker movies like Armageddon, I am Sam, Deep Impact. I don't want to text or talk on the phone or anything. I want alone time.

The reality is that I can never have too much of alone time. I still need to go out, go to work, interact with people... aaaargh. Maybe I need a new environment talaga. Sometimes I just wanna go away from the workaday world and hie off to the woods. I imagine a log cabin and me eating marshmallows by the fireplace, book in hand, earphones on, a bunch of pillows, a comforter and cold weather. Baguio is that you?

So now it's Saturday night and I'm at home watching episodes of Gossip Girl in between other things. I opted to stay-in to give my hardworking liver a well-deserved break. My Dad just got home from playing Golf (and the after-game weekly gulp with his friends) with two orders of Salmon Sashimi. It's been drizzling all day and now it's raining hard. There's something about the rain that relaxes. I don't know if it's the smell or the sound. I just love it when it rains.

Wala lang. Random post... the first for 2008. Thank you.