What makes the long hours worth it

Media is known for ungodly work hours, stress of epic proportions, and politicking that can top corrupt governance.

Despite all that, I choose this industry because of the perks...

 Meeting the young Felix Roco was a happy little perk I got to enjoy on my 2nd day on the "new" job. We're kicking off the 3rd Q of 2011 with a new show and he's part of the cast. Never mind that Oyo (who's now married and expecting his first child) is the lead of the show. Never mind that Bangis is the first HIGANTE-SERYE to hit Philippine Free TV. Never mind that Yul Servo was also in the same presscon. Never mind that I looked like a total fool while being introduce to the young man (...was too giddy for my own good...). Never mind that I've never even seen the boy act, for cryin' out loud... I still crush him.

Okay... enough of this foolishness. Back to work.

Quick note: Rowena called dibs on his twin. Yes, there are two of those (*points up*) roaming the world today. Drool.

Clash Of The Titans (2010)

- Not as innacurate as I'd originally anticipated. Although my source's reliability is a bit questionable... seriously, Wikipedia, how true are you?

- Explosive action, ergo highly entertaining. There were a few gory scenes I wish I was pre-warned about but that may be just me and my weak stomach.

- Will be well used as Greek Mythology reference, much as Troy is used for everything Homerian.

- Overall, I liked it. Good small screen choice but I am kinda looking forward to Wrath Of The Titans (2012) and to Sam Worthington's comeback on the silverscreen.

- Downloading the original 1981 version for archival purposes. Popcorn will be a-ready!

Love 'em Shoes

If I were filthy rich, I'd have a shoe collection larger than Imelda's.

I love shoes. Since I quit that other vice my parents can never know I ever had in the first place, shoes are now my one and only addiction. Family have lost me in department stores because of them. I've gotten into fights over them. Thankfully I haven't lost anyone truly dear to them yet.

This pair you see on the left is by Lanvin. I stumbled over these patent pink pretties when Mau, my co-shoe-addict, shared the net-a-porter site on her YM status, declaring all out love / drool for a pair of Jimmy Choos.

The Choos were the classic black sleek heels ladies should never be without, but I was more attracted to the pink pumps in the picture. Today, I visit the site again and discover they're on sale. Thirty frikkin' off!

Days like these make me wish someone else was paying for my credit card bill... Dagnabit.

The Discipline of Cleaning

I'm thankful that I've thus far lived a life of comfort. My family is lucky to have always had help on doing the basic chores, to cook and clean for us, to wash our laundry, etc. etc... its a real easy privilege to take for granted and likely I have in the past.

But I try my best to stay grounded and do, in my own small way, my own contribution to keeping an organized household. There are just some things I'd prefer to do myself. Unfortunately making my own bed ain't one of them.

I know my weekend chores are but a pinch to everything our helpers do on a daily basis but I still get a hint of satisfaction whenever I do them. Take bathing Belle for instance. I've done it religiously since the day she came home with us from the kennel, except for the few Sundays that I was away from home. I can't imagine anyone else scrubbing her ass clean because I'm the only person who'd literally dare do that. Of course, she resents me whenever I do but who else will meticulously pick off the crap stuck on her backside's hair other than me? Nasty details aside, I enjoy knowing that fact that my dog is soaped and groomed well on a weekly basis and that only I can soap and groom her right.

My other chore is cleaning my fish tank. Now this is one task I don't really like to do, but someone's gotta bite the bullet every few weeks and its no one else but me. Although I never really did ask for my own aquarium, Papa just assigned me one when he and Achi decided to revive all three tanks at the same time. What was a girl to do but sigh, "Okay." Scrubbing the glass clean is one thing, but its the cleaning out of the filter that can be a real headache.

Have you ever cleaned out the filter of an aquarium filled with 7 goldfish and 5 angels? They can produce muck like a school of sardines! But, after the ordeal, I always sit in front of my tank and watch my fish revel in the new clean. I swear, after every cleaning, they swim faster. I guess the freshly oxygenated water really liven them up.

I know not everyone can live the way my family and I are used to, and I try in my own way to be reminded of that. There's a certain discipline in doing chores no one asked of you to do: one learns of levels of responsibility and independence that no book or teacher can ever impart.

Wonder what sort of thing I can clean this fine Sunday afternoon...

THE BET with Palawan Budz

On Lunes, I start my life anew with media. And I swore to myself that this time will be forever... or at least five (5) years.

To motivate me further, Palawan Budz made a bet with me. If I resign from TV5 before JUNE 27 2016, or be disconnected with TV5 prior to said date in any way, I am to book her a round-trip flight to any destination of her choice as consequence. She is allowed to invite the rest of the Korakcha crew, at their own expense, but I will NOT to be permitted to join them. Kamusta naman ang "gastos mo na, di ka pa kasama" consequence...

So, FIVE YEARS! Palawan Budz, just so you know, the 5-year plan is part of my bucket list... Yes! Keep 'em comin', carrot sticks! Haha!

BRING IT ON, KAPATID!

The brilliant mind, yet again says it all...

... and says it all so well.

"Worry all you want, but if it gets in the way of your art or starts changing your mission, it's probably a mistake."

-Seth Godin

Genius, I tell you. Read more here. :)

Not In The Business Of Asking

This post was triggered by an entry of Chris Guillebeau a few days ago. The point of his entry was asking questions, seeking other people's opinions or approval only add more steps to the action process, ergo why not skip the asking-part all-together.

It got me thinking... when have I ever asked for anyone else's opinion?

I've never really been big at pleasing people (besides my parents) (and I didn't even do a damn-good job on that). Back in high school, I didn't really consult with anybody when I decided to take up International Studies for college. I just like the idea of working outside the country. After getting my degree, I didn't really ask other people what they thought about pursuing a career in something as arbitrary as marketing. I just thought its the field that gets to boss the most number of people around, and makes the most money. It was a very no-brainer deal.

Five, six, seven or so years down the line; more-jobs-than-most-in-their-lifetime later; I look back now and say I still haven't done much asking. If I probably asked for my boss' opinion back in ye'ole training days, I'd probably still be stuck in that dead-end job. If I cared about what people thought about my job-jumping, I probably would've resisted the idea of going back and being reunited with the media industry. If I worried about people thought about my being single-til-now situation, I probably wouldn't have been able to date as many people as I have now. Heck, if I let society stop me, I probably would've never dated a dude eleven years my senior.

*Dear Lord, please don't ever let my dad read this post.*

*Quick note though: I did learn a lot of things about self in that short stint. :) *

I may not be exactly proud of all the decisions I've made in the past few years, but I am proud to say they've all been mine. If I've failed, its by no mistake besides my own. All finger-pointing, if necessary, points to me. Then again, same goes when a "hurrah!" is hit head-on. I love to bask in the limelight of my own making.

Call it an innate sense of over-confidence, or a natural brand of arrogance, I don't care. All I know is I'm not in the business of seeking another's approval. It's just never been my issue, thank goodness, and I pray it never will.

If you are... then read Chris' thoughts on the idea. If mine weren't enough to turn you around, maybe his will.

Not Into Noise

There's a certain kind of noise that is acceptable as creative license in the workplace.

Yes FM and hammer-pounding are not.

Feel free to call me a silence-is-golden whore or simply a hag. I couldn't care less. I just want my piece of quiet today.

Guess where I found it? In the staircase outside the office doors.

Wonder if I can I set-up shop here...

Insights from the movies

Tallahasee rocks.

I <3 you Erik Lehnsherr. I will kiss away your pain.

Sometime I wish I could be as flexibly fat as Po...

Eywa watches over us.

The Second Time Around

The Da Vinci Code [the book] isn't as fun as Avatar [the movie] the second time around.

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The first time I read The Da Vinci Code, I lapped it up like a dog starved of water for a week. I could not put it down because it was my first ever encounter with concept of the Sacred Feminine. Though it did not dent my faith in any way (who am I to say Kuya Jess had no right to sex?), the book did introduce the oh-so-real concept that, in tangent to His divinity, Christ was also very human.

Those made for a very fascinating read, not just to the youngling of 21 that I was, but also to my mom and dad. Soon after I was done, they "borrowed" my copy and lapped it up just as fast... if not faster.

Then, I lost my book. Someone borrowed it and "forgot" to give it back. I vowed never to lend out my collectibles ever again. So years and books sales and movie releases pass, and I haven't had the urge to buy myself another copy, 'til recently. I was scouring the shelves of a Book Sale branch for coffee table books to give as a gift for a wedding shower I was attending and I stumbled across this neat-o copy of The Da Vinci Code (and a neat-o copy of Angels & Demons too, but we're not talking about that...). Imagine my happiness: I was adding a classic, a must-have, nay a requirement to my collection, and I was getting it for less than a hundred bucks! I started my re-read that evening.

A few weeks later, and I'm still not done with the book! :((

No! I refuse to classify self as a loser, nor do I wish to classify book as mundane. I think I must simply accept the fact that Dan Brown's mystery-thriller loses its effectivity the 2nd time around. Reading The Da Vinci Code now is like reading a text book on the Holy Grail: semi-painful! Plus, the dialogue between Langdon and Teabing isn't nearly as offensive as Bartimaeus' footnotes.

Ergo, this second time around was a bit of a let-down. *shrug* What can a reader do but keep the plow on? And, yes I will still reread Angels & Demons after this... and likely The Lost Symbol, too. (Egads my eyes shall suffer the wrath of the computer monitor once again.)

But not all second-time-arounds are let-downs. Let us not fall prey to the mistake of generalization; as generalization leads to stereotypes, and stereotypes leads to ignorance, and ignorance leads to the dark side. (Don't believe me, ask Yoda.)

Take my second second-time-around: Catching Avatar on Star Movies last Sunday.

The first time I saw Avatar was in 3D, months after its initial release in cinemas, with three cousins, a brother and a mother. Yes, that'd be my younger brother and my only mother. Who else would they be?

Everyone was flocking to the movie houses to watch the "epic" film when it first came out in the Philippine cinema scene, therefore it was only reasonable for me to zag while everyone else zigged. Then again, apparently zagging is passed thru the blood because many of my immediate relatives also refused to get on the Avatar bandwagon. So when the hype died down, we made watching Avatar in 3D a family movie affair.

What didn't help with my viewing were the so-so reviews I was getting from all sides: "It's one giant Pocahontas story," "Yeah, the effects were nice," "Don't really get the name," "People died but no one cried." The bland critiques didn't make spending a thousand bucks to watch a movie in 3D any easier on the pocket (Abay ala nga namang ipagbayad ko ng ticket si Mama! Anong klaseng anak naman ako kung ginawa ko yon, noh?).

One could say I didn't really step in that theater with the right perspective. So I suppose it was only natural that when I stepped out, I wasn't raving about the entire film either.

Not to say I didn't enjoy the movie. It was nice. The reviews I got were all politically correct, though there was that one scary scene that no one cared to pre-warn me about. The one with the frikkin flyin' butiki! It made the entire 3D experience a nightmare (I yelped all by my lonesome self... I'm never watching another movie in 3D again).

Anyway, fast-forward to last week and Star Movies was airing trailers of their exclusive Asian premiere of Avatar. Strangely enough, I was (slightly) excited at the thought of possibly watching the movie again, and this time on the small screen so threat of flying butiki would be greatly diminished. I must say, Avatar the 2nd time around did not disappoint. I better appreciated James Cameron's ode to classic environmentalists like Tolkien, how he visually presented the probability that despite all the machines we put out and all the resources we destroy, Nature will always trump industry. Nature, the circle of life, Gaia, has been around for millennia; we are but ants she patiently allows to gnaw at her surface. The minute she wants to be rid of us, she simply has to shift her tectonic plates.

That insight is just one of the many I wasn't able to pick up in my first screening of Avatar. So I'm really glad I got this second time around. Actually, I don't think I'd even mind a third time.

Lesson learned: don't knock stuff off your peg just 'cause you've done them before. True, there will be those you'll wish you never revisited, but then there will be others that'll give up tidbits you missed in round one. Not everything in life should be done only once. Sometimes, you've got to give the 2nd time around a shot. :)

Selfless

Sometimes I wish my blog could be more selfless.

Yeah, yeah... blogs were made to be online journals of the wanton heart that yearns to be heard. That much is easy to get, but there are those miracle web logs that cater solely to an outward movement of good, like Chris, Seth, Dan, Gretchen (hirit lang po: Close ka, teh?)... and my best friend, Chaw.

(No, luv, you didn't tell me about this new blog of yours. I discovered it all by my stalking self.)

Chaw has been my constant since freshman year at MCHS and she's always been the giver; of the steady shoulder to cry on, of the listening ear, of the sound advice. Foolish friends like me (or maybe just foolish me alone) have been the lucky recipients. She's found joy in the empowerment of others, and now that she's got a solid foothold on the training industry, imparting skills for personal betterment has become a big part of her life.

I guess it was only a matter of time that she spread her love online, serving up insights and inspiration to a possible audience of billions.

Chaw believes that every citizen of the Earth has the capacity to be extraordinary. True that only a tiny niche has the magic to affect the masses, and its mostly because only that bunch has the liquidity to do so. But passion hardly ever comes hand-in-hand with money, and I think that's what Chaw's blog stands for. Her writing comes from the passion to live the life less ordinary, and from the hope to inspire a drive in others.

Luv, you inspire me to live life to the fullest. It gives me great honor to call you my best friend. I look forward to reading more from your passionate plate.

>:D<

P.S.
So, when are we doing your life direction module? ;)

I will never...*

1. Read a romance fiction. Sorry Danielle, Judith and Nicholas, I ain’t your market.
2. Discover anything for math and/or science. Why in the first place would you want to pay ME for anything related to math or science? Well... truthfully, Animal Science I can deal with. But math?!?! Ugh. I hate math. Calculator is king.
3. Sing along to some made-up anthem for some lame-o club. Seriously. Made-up anthems make me cringe to the bone.
4. Even worse, COMPOSE some made-up anthem for some lame-o club. I’d choose death.
5. Sell something for a commission. I don’t do hard sell, sorry. I’m more of a take it or leave it kinda gal... Wait... I think I just figured out why I don’t have a boyfriend! Haha!
6. Dance in public. I’m shy eh.
7. Dance to hip hop in public because I have no plans of committing social suicide... ever.
8. Play competitive volleyball. Or competitive badminton. Or competitive any-sport. But especially no to volleyball.
9. End lists in the tenths. Just 'cause its funner to be uneven.

* Also known as the things-you'll-have-to-pay-me-DECENT**-to-do list.

** Decent by my standards. Rates***, however are negotiable. ;)

*** Let's talk about rates, bay-bie! Let's talk about you, and, me! Let's talk about... (I'm not dancing.)

Something New

I have a new motto... its never too late to teach an old dog new tricks... so long as you stick the right-sized carrot. :)
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My dad's company organized this street festival in Makati and they needed a cheap-o talent to do the event's voice over. It was held last Saturday, and I volunteered for the job only a few days beforehand.

I thought, heck why not. I was stuck in the city due to budgetary constraints anyway, so I might as well make a few extra bucks hanging around Makati and talking obnoxiously loud over a microphone. I mean, how hard can that be?

Hardy-har-har. Fat joke on me. "Voice overing" is H-A-R-D! Apparently, like any other talent supposedly in-born or developed over time, it takes skill! And a few days prior does not a voice-overer make. Plus, mad-ass patience is a prerequisite. My "calltime" (talent na talent lang, teh!) was 9:00 in the morning, but the organizers only gave me my script and actually talked to me to set expectations straight at half past 12. More than three hours of possible preptime down the drain!

Of course the unbearable wait only made me even more anxious to get the whole thing over and done with. Pressure was on for nervous li'l me, to be as un-tongue-tied as possible because sponsor names had to be spewed out right, lest they choose not to support the event next year due to mispronunciation.

Despite this extraordinarily outgoing persona I exude, in reality I'm extremely shy. No, not shy in the sweet, pa-cute way. I'm shy in the stage-fright-with-tummy-issues-when-under-the-spotlight way. Imagine my surprise when Organizer said "It's your responsibility to invite people to sit down in front of the stage and watch the show." Impakta me wanted to rebuttal with "Weren't the pre-event promos supposed to do that?" but I held my tongue. Being a brat wasn't going to help make the situation any better, and I volunteered for the job so I best suck it up.

So there I was, mic on hand, script read and re-read a thousand times over. And I start, "Welcome to the 7th Annual Tuklas Sining sa Reposo..."

Turns out, I'm not so bad! Things I learned in doing my something new are:

1. I suck at Tagalog read out loud. Let the gal read in straight English and she's fine. But throw in a "Sentro ng serbisyo, sentro ng asenso" tagline and she goes a trippin' all the way.
2. My spontaneous speech needs improvement, 'cause if it ain't written down, I can't blurt it out. For those impromptu read-outs, I had to write my own script in order to announce them right. A pro would've just made up something witty on the spot.
3. My tone isn't as modulated as most pros, but its got a youthful sound to it. You wouldn't think it was coming from someone pushing thirty.

All in all, the first ever voice-over experience was fun. Its a skill I think I can hone a bit more and probably do as a sideline. Plus, I'm loving the sense of accomplishment when the challenge of something new is hurdled.

If y'all are in search of a voice talent, look no further folks. Rates are negotiable. ;)