Astrud and Joao

My definition of beauty at the age of 10 was shaped by the voices of these two.

I was in 5th grade, then. Mama and papa came home from Cebu and I remember waking up at dawn and seeing them in the kitchen sitting in front of each other and talking while playing the cassette they just bought. The first song I heard was sung by a girl with a strong foreign accent, and was of a different kind of music. A little weird at that time since it was around 1995, a year when children of all ages thought ‘Macarena’ was the best song ever created.

I have to admit; at first I didn’t appreciate the songs that much. They were so melancholy, sort of ponderous, and, I’d have to say, strange. It was easy for me to disregard them then because in school, it seemed no one knew of a song entitled ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ or ‘Dindi.’ Another thing, I remember the effort I gave just to not be ostracized. It was hard enough being a sissy that I had to be able to relate to the rest of my classmates’ interests. But then again, it was inevitable. I found out that I couldn’t fit in. No matter how funny my jokes and stunts were, and no matter how current my interests were; I was still an outsider.

As a result, I found comfort in sitting alone while appreciating nature. I most especially loved trees with their leaves dancing, I still do. I’m sure this scene has been put in writing and has been painted many times before but it was just different for me. Maybe it’s because I’d have to think and believe that this pair of eyes, I have, saw something in them that only someone suffering from the kind of pain I felt could only see. That feeling made me comfortable being alone. So, with a new-found love for solitude, I, one day, stayed home and played some music (which I have come to prefer over playing games with children in the neighborhood.) I found that cassette again, the one which had a picture of a girl who seemed afraid of the camera. I took it out of it’s case, inserted it to the player, and hit the ‘play’ button.

It was perfect, I thought. What better company in solitude than good, melancholy music. For you to know what I mean, I suggest you try sitting beside the window alone in the afternoon while watching the air outside making friends with the drizzle, then have Astrud’s ‘A Certain Sadness’ on the background. You have to be alone to fully appreciate it.

There’s a male voice in that cassette which I haven’t paid much attention to until after college. What happened was; my mama has long stopped buying her wants. She may have bought some cassette tapes from time to time but her work, family, and, according to her, her age seems to have sucked out her zest for her own interests. So, as soon I got out of the house and found a job, I did the rediscovering of Jazz Masters for her. With the internet and bootlegged cds sold on the sidewalk, it wasn’t hard putting a smile on mom’s face every time I got home. Imagine how happy she was when I brought home a copy of Astrud Gilberto on a cd with an American Flag print, sold for Php20 on a sidewalk. Mama and papa both smiled, with eyes all round in amazement.

They played the cd. We noticed the last track was different from the others. It was a Portuguese version of ‘Desafinado’ sung by a guy with a light voice, a beautiful one. Upon listening, I wondered why the sound of his voice was familiar. It did not take long for me to recognize that he was the same guy who sang the Portuguese parts in ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ and ‘Corcovado.’ I didn’t realize how much I loved that voice until it was left alone to do magic with the instruments that accompanied it. That voice was Joao Gilberto’s.

His cds are hard to find in the Philippines since he sings in Portuguese. I am still yet to find out if he ever released an album in English (does anyone of you here, know?)

Astrud and Joao, introduced me to the music called Bossa Nova (Brazilian Jazz,) a music genre which holds a very special place in my heart.

***

Let me share a few of the many songs i love from these two:

From Astrud:

A Certain Sadness

Wanting Things

The Dreamer

Corcovado

From Joao:

Vivo Sonhando

Desafinado

So Danco Samba

A Very Gay Weekend (Part 2)

Smiles in the rain

The day after our night out, we woke up in the afternoon, at about 2 o’ clock. Four of us slept in one room like sardines. I don’t know about the others but for me, sleeping wasn’t hard even if we were overpopulated since the wind coming from our room’s window was kind enough to accompany us. 'Though from time to time it woke me up when it blew the red curtain too much away from the window. It caused some sunshine to hit my face, which annoyed the half asleep me, for a bit.

Oh what happened to Rich? lol

Anyway, just a few minutes after we all woke up and had a chat about the things that happened the night before, the friendly wind was replaced by the pouring rain. And that's when we decided to act like children and went outside.

Dandie no longer waited for the camera to shoot the freakin' photo. Got scared of the lightning.

Here's Kim Posing for Vogue Banawa

A Very Gay Weekend (Part 1)

It’s been a long time since I was on a night- out with friends. I spent most of my time facing my laptop for the last couple of weeks. I made a life out of it. Outside cyberspace, this life of mine consisted only of eating, working, chatting with my officemates during lunch, and then sleeping, as a routine.

I used to go to the gym but recently, for some reason, I've been giving myself a lot of excuses not to go. As a result, those fats I got rid of, came back to reside in my belly and- I hate this- cheeks, again. 

No I'm not gonna talk about my weight issues on this post.

So last Saturday, August 20^th, eve of Rich’s birthday, we decided to have a gays' night- out. We had fun.  So much fun that we decided to make it a very gay weekend instead.

First stop, The Azkals bar. It’s among the new ones here in Cebu. If you wanna know where it's located, just hit "like" on this facebook page.  

 After a few drops of Tanduay Ice which turned me a bit red, I thought I had a good time. I’m not really sure what I was thinking when this photo was taken, ‘though.

I haven’t taken in alcohol for a long time so it was as if my first time to drink again. 

Met some cool people there. 'Though right now I'm not sure if they were really cool or I was just tipsy. Definitely not drunk because if I were, I would not have been awake to let some of these pictures capture my smiles (No eye- rolling please. Thank you.)

It's a nice place. You’ll like this bar if you're like me, who's more into sitting down and chatting with friends without obliterating each others' eardrums.

The birthday celebrant, Rich (left) with his/ her uhm... best frenemy, Cris. lol

(Left to right) Me, Dandie, Cris, and Rich

Of course, we grabbed some boys to pose with us.

My face is all red on some of these photos. Good thing they're small. lol

My Resurrection

How are you, my friend?

Alright. I have risen. Not that I assume you all, who care to give a fart what I post here, are happy about it. It's just that I'm glad that earlier today, I felt alive enough to feel the need to post an update on this blog. And, right now,  I really don't have any sort of outward adventure to share so  expect the appearance of harnesses, leaves, mountains, and sometimes ridiculous looking versions of me and my friends on my upcoming posts to be minimal.

So I sort of died for a couple of weeks. Stayed away from Facebook and blogging although I was frequently on YouTube and other sites (Porn sites are of course included.) As of now, I'm not sure if I have fully recovered but at least I'm sure I am stronger. Strong enough to muster a smile and post stuff that will not make me appear as if I'm exhibiting my own agony. I used to post statuses on Facebook that reflected whatever negative feelings or things that, I must say, one can choose to neglect and not take seriously. But not regarding this one. This pain that caused me to temporarily stay away from people I used to happily exchange comments with on the web. So forgive me if I won't talk or give further information about it. Everyone has his problems and has things he worries about even if he never fails to light the room with his smiles. We all continue to walk around and live our everyday lives; deal with a lot of issues in our offices or schools from the mundane to the peculiar ones. We all do this as we try to appear strong and happy, even if deep inside, we are wounded.

Anyway, damn I didn't want this to be as dramatic as it became but I really want to blog again and post stuff again. Interacting with people on the web who you have similar interests with is just amazing. You learn a lot and others also learn from you. It's a wonderful world.

I'll post some stuff here that are close to my heart, even if they aren't about my travels. So while I and my Pronies are still waiting for our next adventure, let me share to you the things I discover and my thoughts on them, as my mind wanders.

Surigao

Let me share to you my short trip to another place I've never been.

It started with Nico’s “Hi Davey!” on Facebook chat, one lazy afternoon. That greeting led to a conversation that sent me to Surigao City, three days after, without paying for anything aside from the fare for the cab I took, on my way to Pier 1.

The trip from Cebu City to Surigao lasted for about 12 hours. Good thing the bed I got wasn’t near the TV or I wouldn’t have been able to sleep as well as I did.  

 When I woke up, the boat has already docked in Surigao City and I was greeted by these guys

Looks like a good substitute for a surfboard. Don’t you think?

I wonder how old that boy is.

I went there to sing at a wedding with the band, The Werners,  so I wasn’t able to see much of the place. I had fun with the company ‘though. Fun is doubled when there’s music. I know a lot of you would agree. <*winks*>

Some of the few colored photos I took. lol

I don't have photos of the wedding where we played some romantic songs. However, one of the band members' relatives are from there. That's where we went the day after our gig, where we continued playing some good music.

 And I made another movie! YAY! :)

Narcissism at The Ruins

Laziness still hasn’t left me, unfortunately, but I kinda like how I started with this page so I’m not gonna let it die only because I’m in one of the many melodramatic episodes of my life. 

Since I’m not yet done blogging about Negros Occidental, let me post something I created after I discovered how helpful Picasa is (I call it “my new toy.)

Here's a movie I made with Chris Botti's If I Could as background. It contains some photos of me mostly shot at the “off limits” part (insert evil grin here) of Bacolod’s, The Ruins.

Uhm... Do I Really Need a Title for This?

I got a little lazy during the last couple of days. Dang, this reminds me of most of my posts on my other blog, where I apologized a lot for waiting hundreds of years before adding new entries. Anyway, that site is more personal. Not a lot of people know that it exists, and the traffic counter there has reached a four digit number only because I access it from time to time to reread my posts and cringe at the sight of grammatical errors, misspelled words as well as events in my life I probably wrote during those times when my sanity went out of town.

I still don’t have enough energy to post a continuation of my Negros Occidental experience. I want to blog about it well since it will be about the Mambukal Resort and of course, The Ruins which is the main reason why I went there. 

Please allow me to make this post a “teaser.” I’m still not comfortable using that term but I’m using it the right way, I think. Feel free to correct me 'though you have to make sure you do it nicely… or there will be blood.

 

There were seven falls in Mambukal. This is the First Falls, where we could still afford to look like human beings for the camera.

This is where I had some photos of myself taken in a Harry Potter- y outfit (or costume?) Acting silly’s fun when you’re in a place where nobody knows you. lol

The “teaser” ends here.