new home!

i decide to move my blog to wordpress so i can consolidate this with my other blog..

so follow me: givemepennies.wordpress.com

will most likely delete this blog by end of the month!

argh!!!

i think i accidentally deleted all my pictures in picasa when i was syncing google with my phone and other accounts :( :( :(

i'll try to see if i can reupload the pics but might take some time :(

nkotbsb in manila

when i first heard that nkotb was getting back together in 200... i was prolly one of the few of actually rejoiced. i loved their new album, even though it was modern, the style was still very nkotb-ish, and they collaborated with lots of artists such as ne-yo for "single", lady gaga for "big boy" and pcd for "grown man".

then in 2010 to everyone's surprise and delight, nkotbsb was the closing act for the 2010 american music awards. i even blogged about it. two of my favorite boy bands from my childhood. never did i dream that i would have a chance to see them perform, much less together.

last april, i found out that lady gaga will be staging a concert on may 21. i used to like her songs in her first album when she was simply making music and very little gimmick. then she became popular and starting wearing outrageous outfits and singing songs that didn't really make sense (to me that is), i lost interest, though i still respected her as an artist and as a performer. i knew her concert was going to be expensive so i was thinking if i really wanted to watch her concert or not. then two days later, i heard news that nkotbsb was also staging a concert in manila on june 3. omg. i quickly dropped plans to watch lady gaga and knew that i was going to watch nkotbsb no matter what. i called my bff / concert buddy N and was happy that she wanted to watch nkotbsb with me.

by may 1, i already bought our tickets. unfortunately the tix were quite expensive, so i only bought upper box.

a week before the concert, my friend had to undergo major surgery :( so i asked my brother instead if he wanted to go with me. i saw the look in his eyes that he was interested, but he turned me down because he was kinda embarrassed to be seen watching a boyband concert so i offered the tix to my sis in law and she happily agreed to go with me.

last night, R and I were parked at the sm arena carpark by 7pm and we were shocked at the crazy long queue that snaked from the carpark to the sm arena. since the show was starting at 8pm we decided to walk around moa for half an hour. by 7.30, we were back at the arena and even though the queue was shorter, i could still see a lot of people coming from different directions. upper box was located at the 4th floor and since sm arena was insanely huge, way bigger than araneta coliseum, our seats suddenly felt like gen admission tix.. imagine how the real gen admission tix people felt like! they were so way up the arena i'll be surprised if they can even see anything!

by 8pm, the first front act, a local boyband came out to sing a couple of songs from their album. when they finished, everyone was screaming when donnie came out to say hi to everyone, and introduced the next acts, jay-r and roscoe umali. they both sang a few more songs. all the while R and i were scanning the arena, the vip/patron and basically the entire ground floor was still half empty and we were thinking maybe they were trying to fill the place first before the show can start. (later, i saw jon knight's tweetpic that they had dinner from 5-8pm and that they really planned to start the show at 9).

the show finally started and the crowd just went wild. the kids and the boys looked soooo good!!!! they crackled with so much energy, they just kept dancing and singing and saying hi to everyone. it was mostly donnie and nick who were all over the place -- donnie kept running, jumping around and saying "Manila" "Mahal Kita" and all those standard phrases you say to the crowd and we would happily scream with joy.

i got the below set list from manilaconcertscene.blogspot.com: - i will make a comment on each of the performance and will post some pics and vids of the concert. i do have to make a huge apology to everyone... i forgot to bring my camera (i know really dumb of me) so i ended up bringing my 2 htc android phones and 2 sd cards to record the concert. the first couple of videos are absolutely crappy because i didn't realize that it was not set at 720p and my hands were shaking while dancing and singing along to every single song that night. the last couple of vids were set at 720p but still looked awful because i was so far away and had to zoom so that you can actually see the video better. oh and i will never confirm that it was me who was singing and screaming along in the video *hides face*

i also ended up recording more nkotb performances than bsb. even though i love them both, i was just more of a diehard blockhead than a bsb fan. i recorded nkotb songs then i used the bsb songs to rest my throat and hands. also, i dont remember which instance i took the pics so i just inserted the pics wherever there's no video. and pics are quite small so if you see 5 guys - nkotb, 4 guys - bsb.

NKOTBSB: Medley "Single" / "The One" (contains elements of "Viva la Vida"): cool remix of viva la vida, didn't even realized that single and viva la vida sounded similar.

New Kids on the Block: "Summertime Remix"

Backstreet Boys: "The Call"

New Kids on the Block: "Dirty Dancing"

Backstreet Boys: "Get Down (You're the One for Me)": one of the first bsb songs i loved. 

New Kids on the Block: "You Got It (The Right Stuff)": absolute classic favorite. i can never get tired of hearing this song.

i ran out of SD space by then and i didn't know how to switch to internal storage so i had to change my phone to the other one.

Backstreet Boys: "Larger Than Life": i guess people were just late coz when r and i looked down, the seats were almost filled up by people.. amazing two boy bands who are not as popular as they were before but their music transcends time and they can still fill a whole arena 15-20 years after their prime and they still sound and look as if they were still at the height of their careers.

New Kids on the Block: "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)"
New Kids on the Block: "Valentine Girl"
these are 2 of my favorite love songs from nkotb so i was really screaming when i heard them sing these 2 songs.. especially valentine girl coz they rarely sing this.

New Kids on the Block: "If You Go Away"

New Kids on the Block: "Please Don't Go Girl"
i was worried that i would ran out of storage again since it wasn't even halfway so i decided to use the voice recording app to record the audio but it came out poorly. when i was recording some songs during jason mraz's concert last year, even though i was singing along, i never heard my voice so i was kinda cringing while replaying the audio recording i took that my voice was captured.. maybe my voice last night was soo loud? so decided not to post the audio recordings to save everyone from having a nightmare :)

Backstreet Boys: "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely"
Backstreet Boys: "10,000 Promises"

Backstreet Boys: "I'll Never Break Your Heart": this is the part where the boys chose 4 girls to go up the stage. there was one girl seated somewhere in front who had a huge sign that had a pic of howie and "pick me". good thing howie did see it and he immediately chose her. nick was pretty funny, he went down and shook hands with the crowd and when the call me maybe chorus came on, he would dance really silly. he ended up choosing the prettiest girl and he was really working it (turns out the girl was actually a model). his face was like 1 inch away from the girl and even placed his head on her lap. im not a nick fan but r and i were swooning when we saw him. we couldn't believe the girl didn't take advantage and caress his face. haha. i normally dont like aj but it was sweet when he went down on his knees.

Backstreet Boys: "Drowning"
Backstreet Boys: "Incomplete"
this set was also a great romantic medley from the boys. i loved all the songs. i wanted to record them, esp drowning and incomplete but i decided not to and just sing along with the boys and the crowd.

New Kids on the Block: "Step By Step": one of the songs i was waiting to hear live for years...and i finally did. really really love jordan and i dreamed of being able to sing the steps 1-5 part. they even inserted a small mix of push it and it was oh so 80s

New Kids on the Block: "Cover Girl": wild donnie was working the crowd and to the girls's delight, he took off his shirt and starting running around the catwalk.. ahhh... i love you detective reagan.. (hehehe)

New Kids on the Block: "My Favorite Girl"
another 2 of oldies but goodies. i was able to record audio for cover girl and rested during my favorite girl.

New Kids on the Block: "Games" - this was the song i felt changed nkotb because they suddenly became harder and i dont think the fans loved the new sound. i personally dont really like this song much but last night the remix was quite good that i was singing along.

New Kids on the Block: "Tonight" - lalalalalala.. tonight... ahh yes another favorite. i starting recording the video but my phone's battery is now dangerously low so the video recording automatically stopped. i had to switch to audio recording for the rest of the song. [insert video and audio]

Backstreet Boys: "Shape of My Heart"
Backstreet Boys: "As Long As You Love Me"
by this time i realized i haven't recorded much of bsb but i had a dilemma, the phone with the 8gb is lowbatt while the phone with the 4gb had empty storage but lots of battery. so i used this time to exchange the sd cards so that i can continue recording.

Backstreet Boys: "All I Have to Give": finally got my phone video to work again

Backstreet Boys: "We've Got It Goin' On": wow, haven't heard this song in years and i can't believe i still knew the lyrics

Backstreet Boys: "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)": gah.. the sexy music video of them singing in the rain, how can i forget?

New Kids on the Block: "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" - okay i was waiting for this song for the entire night.. and i really made sure i take a good video of this.. the downside is.. i was so in love with this song for years back in elementary that when jordan started singing, i couldn't help but sing along. so the video has my voice in it (really really sorry!!!). replaying it though i thought now, i felt like i was singing a duet with him (haha). [i will post the video next week]

Backstreet Boys: "I Want It That Way" - this is my all time favorite bsb song. i suddenly missed kevin when i heard aj sang his part. [i will post the video next week]

NKOTBSB: "Don't Turn Out the Lights" - this is the new song that they both sang together, quite nice to see them all in sync in dancing and singing.. i laughed when someone commented, "now i get it.. they are like the white super junior" haha. didn't the girl realize that nkotbsb has been around for more than 20 years now?

ENCORE:
Backstreet Boys: "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" - the song that made bsb famous.. with the fancy vampire/werewolf and old castle and frankenstein dance.

New Kids on the Block: "Hangin’ Tough" (contains excerpts from "We Will Rock You") - when i heard this song and donnie came out, i couldn't help but scream, "whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh.. hanging tough...hanging tough" then they mixed it with queen's we will rock you..

NKOTBSB: Medley "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" / "Hangin’ Tough" (Reprise) - this was the best and finale song..

i am so glad they chose manila to be their last stop. it was an incredible night. i loved every single minute of it. there were not a single dull moment, because 2.5 hours for 2 bands were enough for them to sing all their best hits. i did wished nkotb sang baby i believe in you and call it what you want, but it's okay. this was truly a childhood dream come true and will remember this forever!!!

honesty

finally stopped something i should have done months ago.
now i feel better. like nothing is holding me down.
no need to feel guilty. no one is hurt.
life is just easier when everyone is being honest!

happy wednesday!

the misadventures of an adventurous girl

I've been looking forward to my friend M's wedding since last year. She was one of my staff back in my previous job and we worked together for 2 busy seasons. She is very nice and hard working and felt like she was a younger sister. So when i got the invitation a month ago, i was so happy for her and her future husband C. They have been together for 6 years and so sweet. I saw that the church was at santuario de san jose which is good since i live a couple of minutes away. But when i saw that the reception was at glass garden i kind of hesitated because i've never been there, it's way further in pasig (almost sm marikina) and i dont know how to go there. But i wanted to go for M so the adventurer in me thought, "i will just wing it. I can just use a map."

 My friend C was also invited and she is a good navigator so she was supposed to ride with me and lead the way. But she finally had a confirmed travel date to cleveland and left the country last month. Then another friend came back to manila for good and i found out he is also invited because he is a friend of a groom. Perfect i can just hitch a ride with him! Alas, turns out the wedding was at the same time as a convention that he had to attend. So here i am 2 days before the wedding with no date or companion and no clue how to go there. Finally i remembered another close former staff C was attending. So i called her and turns out she is going and does not have a ride. I offered that she ride with me and i can take her home since she lives near me. She doesn't know where the place is either but oh well i was fine as long as i had someone with me.

So last Saturday, i attended the wedding in greenhills and i met up with C. I have semi-memorized the way using google maps and the very simple sketch that was included in the invite, though i have doubts since based from experience, maps are not reliable -- they dont really take into account one way streets and while maps looks simple, the reality is that there are so many small streets that are not included. I was tempted to ask my former boss if i have "convoy" with him but since he's going via edsa, i wasn't so sure because again based from experience, i have been lost a couple of times in edsa because if you're not familiar with edsa, chances are you will miss the correct exit and it will be a long time before you can make a u-turn.

from greenhills, i know the way going to eastwood. i just went back to ortigas ave until i crossed robinsons galleria, the medical city, greenmeadows and turned left to e. rodriguez ave. based from the map, i'll just go straight until there's a dead end and i would need to turn right to marikina (turning left would be going to qc since i was hitched a ride with my friend before to go to ferndale qc). so far so good. when we reached the end of eastwood i turned right as expected and that's where it all started going downhill (as i expected from the start hehe).

you see, from the map, it shows that i need to go to the diosdado macapagal bridge then turn right to evangelista. i was thinking that plan b if i ever miss the hiway, i will take fvr road and just find a way to go back to evangelista. boy, i was so wrong! note that i have never been to this place so reading the map -- it didn't make sense to me at the time.

when i read the map, i could see that it's near sm marikina and lrt santolan, so with that in mind, while i knew that i had to take the bridge, i got confused because the sign going to the bridge says, robinsons metro east while the sign going to fvr road says sm marikina. and since it was a hiway, i couldnt slow down and i have missed going up the bridge so i ended up heading straight to fvr road. from there it was just a long and seemingly endless dark highway. my friend C couldn't help me either coz the maps in my phone was so slow to load we didn't know where we were until we reached riverbanks mall (!!) (looking back i realized my first mistake was not realizing that the address says pasig, not marikina, so even if it was near sm marikina, i shouldn't have followed the direction to marikina) and further down a. bonifacio. we stopped and asked a guard where evangelista is and he pointed us to a direction which we later realized was totally wrong and had we known i could have made a u turn earlier (ended up wasting a lot of time going back because of traffic).

so finally made sense for me to turn back and go back to the bridge. this time, i have forgotten that from the map, i should make a right as soon as i go down the bridge. i forgot to tell C to look out for a sign because at this time, she was also talking to someone already at the party for the directions. the girl who gave the directions was also very confusing, she said to take the bridge but go down not up (weh?? that's kinda contradictory right?) so when i went up the bridge and asking for the next step and by the time i went down the bridge, i took a right but i couldn't slow down because it was marcos hiway and there were so many cars. however, i did see the signs saying lrt santolan and i remembered the bride telling me it's near lrt and C, after speaking to the girl on the phone still didn't know where to go. i ended up driving straight but i knew something was wrong coz i know i should have turned right a little after the bridge. so again, i made a u-turn going back to the bridge for the second time.

now, the next mistake is totally my fault (hehe). when i made a u turn (it was a loooong stretch going back to eastwood!!!) i thought i was already back in eastwood when i thought i almost missed my turn so i immediately turned right and as soon as i did i knew i made another mistake. crap!! it was an early turn and i ended going to.. wait for it.. Qc!!! yehey!! *bangs head* had to look for another u turn slot until i found one near citibank libis so i did and for the second time, im back at eastwood where i was 40 mins ago (or even longer i presume!).

third time's the charm and after making so many u-turns i now knew where to go. so from eastwood, turn right then took the bridge then when i went down i focused my attention to the right and there it was! a sign that says, to glass garden. finally!!!! i turned right and went straight until i found the place!!! whew!!! i think i left the church a little over six and i reached the reception almost 8! i remember it was a little over 7pm when i made my second mistake and had i not gone to qc, i would have been back in less than 30mins. good thing was that i was with someone so even though i was lost, i was still calm because someone was with me. and another good thing is that there wasn't a lot of traffic. the place seemed too far but looking back, without the excessive u turns i made, it was actually quite fast to there because of the bridge and the hiway and less traffic.

funny thing, middle of the ceremony, C asked me if i will take her home, and i jokingly said, "after all that we've been through tonight, you think i will just leave you here? of course i'll take you home." :) and she replied, "oh well, let's just say we practiced how to go home that's why we were late!" hahaha!

so when we went home, it was quite easy coz we were there a couple of hours ago. i went back to eastwood then edsa then shaw blvd, dropped C off then finally went home. whew! what a misadventure! at least next time i have a party at glass garden, i know how to go!!!

here's a little souvenir from the party.. me and C! happy to reach our destination!

Kimchi Fried Rice

Second attempt..this time i added gochujang to make it spicier :)

ingredients:
cooked rice
garlic
kimchi
sesame oil

i'm pairing it with sliced chicken marinated overnight with garlic, pepper, gochujang, chili powder and soy sauce.

like a tadpole

today we celebrate philippine independence day. as always during holidays and weekends, my brother's family came over to my place for a late afternoon swim. when we arrived at the pool area, we were dismayed that it was closed off. the big pool was undergoing cleaning and since it was a holiday, there was no admin personnel available to do the cleaning. we were about to go down and just have dinner when my naughty nephew B ran towards the kiddie pool. my brother ran after him and discovered that the kiddie pool was clean! we looked for the guard to confirm that the pool was clean and that we can use it for the day. and so the two kids and me, my brother J and sister in law R decided to swim inside the kiddie pool. the pool was round and the water was about  3 feet deep.

i dont know how to swim so for the first half, i just stayed at the side while my J and R played with the kids. then they thought of teaching me to swim. the main reason i have never learned to swim is because i'm scared of going inside the water and the thought of not being able to touch anything but water. but since the pool water was shallow (i mean, 3ft deep, i would be the stupidest person to drown right?) and to the encouragement of J & R, i thought, what the heck, might as well listen to them.

at first, J was teaching me to how to breathe underwater. i tried a couple of times but i hate water going inside my nose.. it just hurts. then R thought of teaching me to stay straight with my face down and nose inside the water, but again i didn't want to put my face underwater so i was doing dog paddle. then my younger nephew took off his salbabida and an idea occurred to my brother. he told me to use the salbabida and see if i can practice swimming straight. after a few tries, i finally got the hang of it (but still using the salbabida). then R said why don't you try floating? my brother held me then told me to just keep calm, dont tense up and he will slowly let go. so i tried my best to relax until he let go.. and to my shock.. i was floating!!! omg! i couldn't believe it!! my ears were underwater and i couldn't hear a thing but a small buzzing sound.. i felt i was in another world. thats when the logic of how to float struck me. i went up and tried a couple of times and to everyone's delight, i was floating and i was getting more confident as i kept trying.

then i went back to the normal swimming position, face down and to my surprise, my body was straight and i now could put the face and nose underwater! my brother said that i should practice every other day so that i wont forget the feeling and continue to gain confidence. R also suggested for me to buy a kickboard to practice (in lieu of the salbabida) just until i can swim straight.

so today, it's not just philippine independence day, but it's also my independence... to finally take a step towards learning to swim and not being afraid of the water!