I Am Alive

"There's something wrong", she said
Of course there is.
"You're still alive", she said.
Do I deserve to be?
Is that the question
And if so,
If so,
Who answers?
Who answers?

Yes, fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it) I am still alive. I have been sick for almost a week. Literally and figuratively, that is. Pardon me if you can't make sense of what I'm saying. I am once again confusing myself. Time of the season, baby.

Anyhoo -- I am waaaaaaaaaayyyy behind in my blog posts. Aside from the fact that I got sick and was too lazy to move or do anything, my crappy laptop has been replaced by a new one and haven't yet installed the programs that will enable me to upload my photos. My blog post will not be the same without those photos, so I guess we all just have to wait until I have the time to actually install everything again.

On the plus side, my laptop now has wireless connection. Yey!

And it's way lighter than the previous one. No more aching left shoulder for me. Hehe.

So there.


Friends (Only When) In Need

Last night I got into a discussion with MXRR about people who are only your friends when they need something. Otherwise, they won't even call or text. Worse, even if you call or text them, they won't even bother to reply. Nor do they have the decency to return the call granting that they really did miss it.

Actually, we were talking about just one person.

But I'm sure there are others just like him.

Fortunately for me, he's the only one I know who's like this. I guess I'm pretty lucky all my other friends are way too decent than that.

I dunno... I personally am not comfortable ignoring people's calls (especially if they're from my friends). And when I do miss a call, I make sure to return it. There are only three things that will stop me from replying to a call or a text:

1. I am asleep (which is rare, since I never sleep)
2. I have dead batteries
3. There is no signal and I am not receiving any calls or text

Oh well... to each his own, I guess. It just ticks me sometimes when people just call you when you're needed. It sure feels great to be needed once in a while, but it sure is much better if people remember you even when they don't need anything from you.

Sleepless At Crowne Plaza

Yes, I have been awake for over 24 hours.

Not because the place is not homey.

It is. Too homey in fact that I feel as if I'm in my own room, spending my usual sleepless nights. The only difference is, this room is not messy, it's cold, and I have internet 24/7.

Yeah, blame my sleepless nights on the internet. Haha. Downloading is so much fun! Not to mention, chatting too.

Oh yeah... blame it on this too:




Uh-huh. Certified Bookword addict. That's me.

Anyhoo---I'm feeling a bit sad that I'll be checking out by tomorrow. Back to reality for me. Sigh. But before I go back to the real world, let me give you a look of what I had for breakfast this morning (or should I say, yesterday morning).





Yum!

Was supposed to take more photos of the food selection but I felt kinda weird taking them. I mean, what will people think of me? Of course I cannot go and explain to each and every person there that the photos I'm taking are for my blog. Oh well... let's see if I can muster up enough courage to take 'em photos later. See, I'm looking forward to breakfast again in a few hours. Hehe.

I wish I could still fit in my gown (for Weng's wedding).

Speaking of Weng's wedding, finally got Anna's and Ricio's voice greeting this morning! Yahoo! Yeah, thanks to Yahoo Voice, I was able to capture their greetings. Thanks to MXRR for editing it. It wouldn't have sounded as perfect as it does, if not for you. Haha! Sabagay, that's what you do for a living, so dapat lang talaga na maganda.

Oh man, in less than 12 hours, I'm outta here. Waaaaah.

I wish I were rich and I'd live here in Crowne Plaza.

Ho-hum.

Life Is Good Beautiful

For three days and two nights, I have booked myself at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria. I couldn't stand the heat at home (summer is most definitely here!). And besides, I have a free stay GC, so I might as well use it. Also, I need to write a ton of stuff and I figured a change of atmosphere would help.

I love my room. I feel like a tourist on business while I'm here. Hehe. Look!















Pardon the mess (on the table), I feel homey already even though I have been here for only a couple of hours.

I wonder if I could get any work done.

Dennis on Drums

Finally!

Was able to find a host for my videos. Thanks Mo for introducing me to YouTube! =) May silbi ka pala! Hehehe. JOKE! =)



Enjoy! =)

Masarap sa labas ng Bahay ni Kuya, pero pinaka-Astig sa loob ng Bahay ni Mang Bert!

The other night, we had another BMG reunion. Ate Alma came home from Canada because her mother died (yeah, it's sad =<).

Anyhoo---although I missed the wake and the burial because of my schedule at work, I made it a point to go to the reunion dinner Monday night.

I was on my way to Metrowalk (where we were supposed to meet) when I called Mario and he told me that Trec and Ate Alma went to Shangri-La to fetch Jojo. Since my office is near Shangri-La, I figured I'd have them pass by for me. So I called Trec and true enough, they were about to turn to San Miguel Avenue, so I just asked her if she could pass through Pearl Drive instead.

A few minutes later, we found ourselves at Metrowalk and there waiting for us were Mario, Grace, Sancho (yey! Sanch was there!), Grace E, Ate Yets, Carol and Kuya Mars. Aileen and Rey arrived soon after and we all had dinner at Bacolod Chicken. In between bites, we all launched into a barrage of okrayans, reminiscing and loads of other stuff. At around 9pm, the oldies (hehe) went ahead and those of us who were left transferred to Starbucks for the usual coffee. We even bumped into Louie Cano outside of Bacolod Chicken. Kewl! Hehe.

At Starbucks, we continued our mala-teleserye kuwentuhan, which made us realize that our lives in BMG back then was like a teleserye. There was comedy, loads of drama, even a bit of action and some other stuff that's not rated PG, if ya know what I mean. Haha. At one point, Trec, Ate Alma, Aileen and Rey talked about me while I was talking to Jojo , Mario and Grace, which prompted me to say "Okay lang yan... at least harapan nyo ko pag-usapan!". Haha. Enough said.

We stayed there until 2am, and yet we felt that we haven't covered all of the kwentos yet. I wonder when we could get together again... maybe if some other former Mang Bert baby comes home. Maybe Nej? I heard she's coming home from Thailand some time soon.

Some of my happiest moments was indeed inside Mang Bert's home. Why Mang Bert? Well, I don't remember who coined that term... I think it was Jojo, but I may be wrong. Anyways, BMG stands for Bertelsmann Music Group and whenever we had promo tours back then and we'd have dinner outside, we all say "Sagot ba to ni Mang Bert?". And since then, we called BMG Mang Bert.

As my post's title says, I am happier now that I'm out of Bahay Ni Kuya, but I sure wish I can go back inside Bahay Ni Mang Bert. That is, if the same people were still there.

A Little Bit of This... A Little Bit of That...

The past week passed by like a blur. I barely sat on my chair here in the office what with all the promo stuff for Pamahiin. I barely slept too, which explains why my eyes are puffy and even more "chinky" than ever.

Excerpts of my week gone by:


Dennis Trillo drives the crowd crazy




Dennis up close


Marian and Dennis at the mall show in SM Pampanga


The crowd go wild as Dennis approaches them


Dennis plays drums (again) at Unang Hirit


He obviously missed playing the drums... Awww

Note: For those who do not know, Dennis used to play drums for Moyg.




At the story conference of White Lady, the new movie we're doing


The reluctant (reluctant daw o! haha) rock star Diego Mapa, horsing around in front of the camera after the story conference

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Saw Heart Evangelista last night.

In fairness to her, she remembered me and was even the first one to say hi.

Naks!

Haha.

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I absolutely have high respect for people who get to spell my name right. Recently, I met someone who was able to get the correct spelling of my name, without even asking me how it was spelled. Liked him instantly! Hehe.

My name gets "murdered" most of the time. Usually, it's Jaime. Sometimes Jaimee or Jaimie. Other times Jaymee. There was even one time, it was spelled Jayme. Egad!

I know it's really something trivial, but man, it sure sucks when people don't ever get the spelling of your name right.

Hard Habit(s) To Break

Lately I have been picking up bad weird uhm... plain (for lack of a better description) habits that are indeed hard to break.

One is literally singing to the song "Hard Habit To Break" by Chicago. It started around two or three Sundays ago when Kuya Arnold and I were driving along C5 from Market Market, when he decided to play his Best of Chicago CD. Like Wayne and his ever trusty friend Garth in Wayne's World, Kuya Arnold and I sang like crazy. Difference is, it wasn't a head-banging song. 'Twas funny coz although I am a rakista at heart, I have a senti side too. And yeah, my senti side involves listening and singing along to Chicago. As I always say, "Toothpick in the liver".

The other is pigging out. And when I say pig-out, I mean major gluttony man! Wahahaha. We discovered kse this Dampa-like place in Ortigas called Seaside. It's at the back of Metrowalk and Ortigas Home Depot. Actually, we've seen it a couple of times before and we swore we would try it out but never had the chance. One day last week, we found ourselves there. According to Kuya Arnold, it was my bad mood that brought us (Kuya Arnold, Marlone, Alexi and me) there. I don't know if he's thankful I had a bad mood or otherwise.

Anyways, I have never eaten as much in my life. I swear. Even when we used to go to Dampa, I don't think I ate as much as I did at Seaside. Grabe.

For those who are not aware what Dampa is, it's this place near the airport (original one) where you go to the market and buy fresh seafood, pork, meat, chicken, veggies, etc. and then you choose a paluto place and have them cook whatever you bought. You decide how you want your food cooked -- grilled, steamed, fried, however you want it. I strongly recommend Buttered Shrimp and Buttered Crab. Yum!

Anyhoo---we told ourselves we wouldn't go back until, say mid-year. Pigging out is a bad thing, especially if you do it often. So we said, we'll only go back if there's a special occasion, or maybe if one of us got a high-paying raket.

Lo and behold! The next day we found ourselves back there again. Haha.

And this time, we discovered another possible errr... threat of a habit. I'd rather not post what it is here. Let's just say we don't have to go to Quiapo anymore. ::wink, wink::