Meeting My College Crush....again....please wipe this grin off my face :)

"I had a crush on you when I was in college!" says I to actor Baron Geisler. Aaaahhh, a really good example of verbal diarrhea, jesusmaryandjoseph. Yesterday was the second time that I've been introduced to him but it's as well be the first because he was probably too hammered to remember the last time that we met. Not that it was a surprise, when I told him about our first meeting he doesn't have any recollection hehe. I got to Pen Pens Restaurant yesterday and he was already there with Ping Medina, my friend, whose father I love, and the owner of the restaurant. Baron was wearing a floral polo and a jacket. Wow, he actually dressed up for this shoot and interview. He was very pleasant, very amiable, and cute. He was a bit conscious while talking to me, for reasons unknown, I wasn't at any way intimidating. I could probably pass as a stupid giggly girl for what I was doing at that time....being stupid and giggling. Anyway, I interviewed him and did a quick shoot for the mag and it only took about an hour and the kulitan portion took longer.The interview will come out in UNO really soon, it's quite good.

Hello! I'm still alive.

Wow! I knew this would happen.Like all the other blogs that I've opened and neglected, this one is no different. Anyhu, how are you, reader? How's life? Mine has been the same, it has been swallowed by work and occasional social get-togethers. I really don't have that much to share other than the fact that I sometimes envy the lives of others. How on Earth that some people have the luxury to just travel almost every month as if they're born to do it? I want that life! I NEED THAT LIFE! I want to travel and also have the luxury not to think about if I'd still have a job to come back to or.. or.. or.. have enough money to just stay wherever the heck I want. How can I have that life? Can somebody just tell me?

It's terrible to be me sometimes. I don't seem to feel contented easily recently. I'm secretly afraid of so many things. There are days that I just don't want to get up from my bed because...just because. I'm not depressed. I don't have valid reasons to be depressed. I have a job, a family, friends and a few others aspects that should make me happy. So what is this emptiness that I've been feeling? Hhhhmmm....

I'm blabbering.

Everything will be fine.

I'm Reading Again

For a "journalist" I'm not really a heavy reader. I have a short attention span, like the male species. But recently, thank God for my Samsung Galaxy tab, I'm reading once again. I'm reading these

I'm juggling to read all 3 books. The Scott Pilgrim is somewhat of a break from Hunger Games and Game of Thrones. I lack patience when I read, when I get bored I discontinue reading and just drop the book but so far, I'm making progress with my chosen reading materials. I'm enjoying The Hunger Games more now since I already saw the Game of Thrones series although I've always been intrigued with books that are turned into movies or series since I'd like to figure out for myself the level of difference of the book from what it's being shown on screen.

I'm really happy that I won that Galaxy tab. It's so convenient and there's really no excuse for me not to read now, well until I drain the battery of course. I have at least 15 book in this Galaxy tab. Just imagine carrying both Hunger Games, Game of Thrones and Scott Pilgrim books with me everyday, that would be the death of my left arm. I still like the feel of a real book but for now I'm after the convenience rather than the experience.

Dear God, Can I Be An Octopus?

I have so many things to do, seriously! I actually need an additional brain rather than hands. You know when you just stare at nothing because you've got so many things to do and you just can't figure out which is more important that you have to start it first? Yes, that's been happening to me a lot lately. Oh well, like what I always say, having something to do is far better than being bored. I'm blessed to have a job, not the most perfect one but at least I have one. Sometime that's all that matters.

So, how are you people?

Oh, look at what I bought a while ago :)

It's a bottle of Kaya spread. I got it at BreadTalk in ATC. I'm on a diet but I miss tasting Kaya. When I was in Singapore a few weeks ago, I didn't even eat kaya toast. It's not a must to do it when you're there but I don't know, I just missed it. Anyway, since my sister and my brother-in-law like it so much, I bought it for all of us. I lost around 5 pounds by doing my no rice diet for breakfast and lunch, so I'm happy. I also bought pants in Levi's and found out that I'm now down to 2 sizes...yes!!! :) How cool! I still don't feel lighter but just to feel healthier would be fine by me.

I haven't been blogging much have I?

That's the problem with me having a new blog, I would always forget to post, that, or I just intentionally neglect the thing. Like what I am exactly doing to this blog right here...

Gaaaahhh, so much to say, so much to say but the thing is I already said it to people that it's tiring to post it here now. So, kamusta? Kamusta ang buhay mo? Me? Ayos lang naman. Ganun parin. Work still consumes me. I think I may never marry (as I want to) or even find somebody who would take care of me because of my work. Working for a magazine just sounds glamorous. Sure if you go to parties or what have you but I've never been a party goer. I've always been the person that's never invited to parties because I don't really go anyway. Sometimes I just want to tell my life...Life! Why won't you party? Go out! Have fun! Meet new people. Who knows, you might meet the man of your dreams...but at a party? hhhhhmmmm wait, I don't think so. I want to meet a guy at a super market, preferably at a shampoo or soap section so I would know that he takes a bath or how he would smell like after taking a bath :) That or at the fresh vegetables section, there's something about guys holding a bunch of kangkong or a cabbage head that I really, really like.

Anyway, enough about my man blues, I just got back a week ago from Singapore to watch Two Door Cinema Club.

  Here I am with the band.

They're a bunch of sweethearts, I wanted to hug them all but I didn't know how to start asking for it. All I got were handshakes but meeeehhh, beggars can't be choosers :). The show was way better than their show in Jakarta, and they sounded much better at the Esplanade given that of course the acoustics at the concert hall is really high class. The thing that I didn't want to constantly remind myself was that I got free ticket to the concert but I only found out the day of the show and I already bought my ticket since June. I only asked TDCC's management for a pass to be allowed to shoot at the Esplanade since I know how strict they are there but I didn't know that the band's management will also give me a complimentary ticket. 

 My backstage pass

 

My complimentary ticket for the concert

My friend Carl just kept telling me to think of it as an upgrade, oh well. I love the band too much, I was just happy to be able to watch them live the 2nd time and to be able to meet them the 2nd time as well. 

What else? What else? 

Ah, I might be handling another magazine where I'll be the editor-in-chief. It's still on the works so I can't post it here, if I have confirmation that it's a hundred percent go, then it's on (to the break of dawn...god, I suck.).

I'm also started to manage a band. They're called The ButcherCons. I'm bad at genres and describing how bands sound like but I like they're music. They're loud, their dance-punk, and they're really entertaining. The bassist was my bandmate, his name is Paolo Bernaldo. He also plays bass for Moonstar 88. The drummer for the The ButcherCons is Bobby Padilla, also the drummer for Hilera. You, who is in the Philippines, should go check them out :) They'll be big, soon! 

I guess that's all for now, the Conan O' Brien documentary that I'm downloading is nearly finished. Time to get a move on! Later days!

Off to Singapore

I just finished packing for my trip to Singapore. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning. It's been years since my last trip there and I'm excited. It's a good thing that I kept my map to complete my very "touristy" effect ;).
I'll be watching Two Door Cinema Club again, and their concert will be on Thursday at the Esplanade. The first and last time that I saw them was Indonesia for the Love Garage event. I was able to meet and interview them, nice boys. I'm hoping that I'll be able to say Hi to them again and give them copies of the UNO issue where they were featured (again hehe). I will be given a photo pass to take pictures for our website and for Junk Online. Prolifica lads are so nice too ;).
I'll be meeting a few friends there and also my sister and brother-in-law. WOW! Looks like my days in Singapore are already filled. Oh and I'll also visit the Universal Studios at Sentosa :'). I'm excited about that as well.
Will be checking in tomorrow and by that time I'd probably be on my corner at the hostel. Later, kids!

Love,
D

To You Who Don't Know Me That Well

Don't believe in other people's opinions about me. They don't fully know me. If they're trying to unknowingly convince you to hate me, don't believe them. Those are just words. Words that have nothing to do with who I am and what I've been doing. Mema...memasabi na lang yung ilan. I'm not saying that I'm the nicest woman out there, for the love of all cute puppies no! All I'm saying is that I hope before you even believe people who are saying not so nice things about me, have the time to get to know me first.

I'm the easiest person to get along with. I laugh about the oddest things. I just recently cried while watching the latest Harry Potter movie so it means that I'm a bit compassionate and melodramatic. I get irritated at the simplest things but I believe in the possibility that one can redeem him or herself through the power of a free lunch or dinner. I do say a lot of not so nice things about some people but most of the time these are justifiable by their actions (or somebody else's stories). And if I'm at fault, I apologize. It's not good to judge, I tell that to myself all the time. Don't easily judge people if you don't want to be easily judged yourself.

As much as I don't want it to get to me, it's just that there are some who make it a habit to be mean. No grace whatsoever. Thinking like they're god's gift to mankind and can say just the most hurtful things unimaginable. I have been guilty of such things when I was younger but I'd like to think that as I've grown older, it's not that I've become wiser, it's the fact that I don't care that much anymore. But words sting, it gets you thinking sometimes if I'm really that kind of person? A monster. Evil. A person so crude that people vomit before they even talk to me. But if I were those things, why do I still have the nicest group of friends? Why do I still have a family who cares for me? Why do I still feel that I'm important at work? Yes, I may not have that special someone who would fight for me to the death but I can and will fight my own battles.

So you see, I cannot convince you to be my friend, but the least that you can do is to not easily believe hearsay. Anyway, I'm just a comment away should you need to clarify on things. I wish you good health and have a nice life.

Thank you for reading,

Denise

Once You Go Black Mamba....

Just this Wednesday, LA Lakers' Kobe Bryant was here. I'm not really a huge basketball fan ( I was when it was during the Bulls' era) but seeing Kobe in the flesh was pretty exciting.

I was with my Associate Editor France when we saw him first at his presscon in the Manila Peninsula. There were tons of press there asking him all sorts of questions from the NBA lockout (which was a bit inappropriate since it concerns money and politics in their industry meeehhh...but Kobe answered anyway) to his injured knee, from the food that he tasted here to the secret of his success ("practice, practice, practice" he said). France asked something about his dad being a coach for another basketball league which he answered really nicely saying that he's absolutely excited about the fact that his dad is coaching since he's a huge role model for him. Me, being a non-practicing basketball fan asked him about how was is working with Kanye West (yes, he worked with Kanye, Bruce Willis and a few other guest stars for this Black Mamba ad directed by Robert Rodriguez). I got his reply on video (actually we had the entire presscon on video, I'll be posting clips of it here soon) but basically he said that it was nice working with Kanye since they've been friends for years. He even visited him in his studio while he was working on his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album.

Every time Kobe would look our way, the giddy woman in me would just wave at him and being the nice celebrity athlete that he is, he would just smile and wave back (I had about 3 smiles and 3 waves from him hahaha yes, I counted!).
After the presscon, we headed to the Fort where he visited the Nike store and had a really short program just to say hello to his fans.

Immediately after, we went straight to the Araneta Coliseum where there was an exhibition gave by the UAAP all stars vs the Smart Gilas. Kobe was just watching at first but when the 20 min game was over he approached a few people who were at the panel and asked to have an 8 min game with him playing with the UAAP all stars. The hosts said that he has never done this before so much to the delight of everybody it was ooonnnn!!! He wore an FEU jersey (yellow jersey = LA Laker...yep! bastaaaa...) and just did a heck of a job playing with everyone at the court.

But amidst the dunks and the 3 points, Smart Gilas still won but of course the highlight of everybody's night there was the fact Kobe did play. He sure did entertained the heck out of me.

I don't know how to write that good but I like Kobe Bryant! MJ, you'll always be in my heart, but Kobe will do for now ;)

Read or Write?

What shall I do this Sunday?

I really, really want to read today. I have a few books in my Galaxy tab that I want to start reading but I couldn't find the time. Now that I have today, maybe I should try and read something. Although there's a few articles that are due really soon that I must start on. Jesus Christ, what a dilemma I'm making this out to be...

Baaahhh, I'll decide late. Anyway, here's a new cover that I did yesterday.

Got This Money (Childish Gambino original) by denise

Friday night.

And I'm here at home....There's nothing new with that really :| Time to use my tab and read Game of Thrones.

Those are my ugly feet (you'll be seeing a lot of them here in this blog....fair warning!) and my record player Stoermer :)

To Absorb the Arctic Monkeys ASAP

My deadline for coming up with questions for Arctic Monkeys is today. I set it myself so I still have until tonight to do it. To be honest I haven't listened to their new album Suck It and See enough to say anything good and bad about it. I would probably do so on my way home.

 

As far as my ears are concerned, most of their songs in the new album are more "mellow" with a late 60s and early 70s Rolling Stones-y vibe to it. Oh dear AM fans who are reading this blog, do not kill me for saying so, it's my ears' observation so blame them not my fingers. At least I think my ears are pleased with it. Alex Turner has a knack for really writing good lyrics. What a talented man. I just want to hug him and never let him go. Anyway, I can't say a lot because I'm saving all my opinions in my article/feature on them since I (think) have been given a chance to interview the lads or any one of them, whoever is less busy or seriously bored to answer my email interview.  

I don't write that good but I like the Arctic Monkeys and will interview them soon :)

My Love for Chowder!

For the past weeks, from 10pm up to 12mn my TV is tuned in to Cartoon Network. Jesus freakin' Christ I love Chowder.

I am so addicted with this cartoon like a heroin addict loves his fix. Too bad I heard they already canceled the show :( . I specifically like Chowder's voice which is actually done by a kid named Nick Jones. It's not like in the Simpsons where Bart is voiced by a woman and Lisa also by a grown woman, sorry to burst your bubble Simpsons newbies...if there's still any 'cause that cartoon has been running for ages! Anyway, call me brutal but I love it every time Chowder cries (or should I say weep), it's cute!

 

Adorable! So OK, it's already 10:30pm, time for The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.

The Strokes and How Their Music Defuses all the Annoying Things in My World Right Now

I've been playing my entire collection of The Strokes songs in my iPod here in the office. It's on shuffle so sometimes "You Only Live Once" would play and then another version of the same song would play immediately after. The entire collection have been playing for almost 3 hours straight and it's close to being in its 4th hour, yes, I do have a lot of Strokes songs but I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Yesterday, it was Kylie Minogue and Mariah Carey day here at the office. No we didn't go to work wearing Kylie and Mariah inspired clothes which would be really skimpy for my own sake and for the rest of the people here,  instead I played Kylie and Mariah songs. I downloaded something online that said Kylie Minogue Hits, and true to its name, the songs in the .rar file were all her hits, or at least the songs that I'm familiar with. Too bad "Especially for You" wasn't in it but "Kids" (featuring Robbie Williams) was. I love that song. Kylie day was triggered because me and my Associate Editor France Pinzon weren't able to watch her concert which I heard was one of the gayest things that hit this soil! Shit! I would have loved to be there and watched Kylie straddle Pegasus! Huhuhuhu. I'm still very sad actually but not as sad as when I wasn't able to watch John Legend (that, my friends, is a totally different story but let's just say that I've been melancholic for about a week).

Anyway, after at least 3 rounds of the Kylie hits, I got tired of singing  Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-naaaa, then France asked "wala ka bang Mariah?" HA! It's a trick question obviously! How dare her ask me if I have any Mariah songs in my iPod? THE NERDDD!!! (I know, that it's "the nerve"). So Mariah she wanted, Mariah she got. You guys should have heard us, if banshees were hunted at this day and age, France and I would have been staked already. Complete with the Mumamariah hand gestures, our awful versions of her high pitch punchlines, damn we were amazingly horrendous. Our families would have disowned us if they heard us singing HONEEEYYY, I CAN'T DESCRIBE, HOW GOOD IT FEELS INSIIIDEEEE (honeeeyyyeaahhh). It was fun though.

Wait, this post  was supposed to be about The Strokes, right? So going back to that, this office is not what you can say the most uhhhmmm feasible and sensible place to write. There are just a lot of things going on; a lot of unwanted noise. But for some strange reason though, I can write (or attempt to) even though The Strokes are blasting in my background and it just magically defuses all the annoying little things that I don't want to hear. From time to time though I catch myself making a weird face every time Julian (Casablancas) would croak or reach that weird high note (insert France saying "Julian, ano na? What's happening?"). I also had my "Let me listen to their solo projects" phase. I listened to Julian's Phrazes for the Young (I think France took a liking to "11th Dimension," I caught her humming it a few times), Fab's Little Joy, and Albert's Yours to Keep and Como te Llama. I skipped Nikolai's album, I don't like his singing voice (I'm sorry, Niko...but I just can't) but I keep coming back to The Strokes. Their song "Soma" is now playing and it's almost 6pm, I would love to continue this love story with The Strokes but there's always tomorrow.

I don't know how to write that good but I love listening to The Strokes, Kylie and Mariah.

Hi! My name is Denise.

....and I don't know how to write that good :( But I really want to learn by practicing hence this blog. If you decide to follow me, thank you and I'll try not to disappoint you. I am but sure that my posts will live up to its blog title. Should you not wish to follow, it's OK, I'd probably do the same thing anyway ;)

I hope you all have a nice day. Less stress but hopefully very productive :)

Here's a picture for you that I took when I was in Punta Fuego.