Only in da Pilipins....not!

Had lunch today at the Jollibee branch on Tully Road. As we were heading back to our car afterwards, I noticed that the Benz parked right next to us had the following, shall we say, amusing embellishments:

Just goes to show that you can take the Filipino out of the Philippines but you can never take the Philippines out of the Filipino!

X & Y

My favorite song at the moment is Coldplay's X&Y:

Trying hard to speak
And fighting with my weak hand
Driven to distraction
So part of the plan

When something is broken
And you try to fix it
Trying to repair it
Any way you can

I dive in at the deep end
You become my best friend
I wanna love you but I don't know if I can

I know something is broken
and I'm trying to fix it
Trying to repair it anyway I can

Oooohh, oooohh
Oooohh, oooohh

You and me are floating on a tidal wave... together
You and me are drifting into outer space... and singing

Oooohh, oooohh

You and me are floating on a tidal wave... together
You and me are drifting into outer space

You and me are floating on a tidal wave... together
You and me are drifting into outer space... and singing

Oooohh, oooohh
Oooohh, oooohh

The lyrics speak of the doubt and uncertainty that we all experience in life. Life throws curveballs at us. Either we swing the bat or we dont, knowing that our actions may have repercussions that we have to deal with.

But then, when you hear the music, you get imbued with such a sense of calm and serenity. When Chris Martin sings 'You and me are drifting into outer space' I really feel as if I am floating above the earth, free from mundane thoughts and worries. As if saying that life can be harsh I know, but that doensn't bother me one bit...

X & Y indeed.

Hello, Goodbye

My weekend was one of hellos and goodbyes...

Had lunch on Saturday with friends and we 'welcomed' the newest addition to the Tiamzon family. Topher and Emma showed the ultrasound pics of their baby, which they learned the day before was going to be a boy. Congrats, Topher and Ems! Joaquin sounds like a really good name :)

Went all the way to Hercules today for Adele's despedida. She'll be going back to the Philippines indefinitely so we had a small get together to bid her goodbye. There's no better way to send someone off than on a full stomach and we made sure that we stuffed Adele (and ourselves) silly. John grilled inihaw, John's dad created his killer kaldereta and George made crab and garlic noodles.

Safe flight, Adele, and good luck with your new life back home! I'll always remember your kick ass rendition of 'Total Eclipse of The Heart' :) Kitakits!

Chelsea on PPV

Its been 3 weeks now since the EPL started and, for the third consecutive week, Chelsea's match was only available on pay-per-view (PPV). I missed out on watching their first match of the season against Wigan and the match against Arsenal because of this. I told myself I wasn't going to miss Chelsea play 3 times in a row and I decided I was going to order Chelsea's match against Tottenham. I figured since it was just a regular EPL match, albeit one featuring league champs Chelsea, it will probably cost only as much as a standard movie on PPV ($4.99 to $9.99).

Since the match was on live at 7am here in the West Coast, I had to wake up real early. Which was hard since I got to bed at around 1am last night. So, anyways, I woke up this morning at around 6:30 and went straight to the TV to make my PPV purchase. I turn the TV to ch 799, where the match was going to be shown, and it freaking says the match was available for the cost of $19.99. WTF?!! What a freaking rip off! But since I already psyched myself into watching the match and since I made the effort to wake up early, I said to myself what the hell, I'm buying it.

Well that turned out to be a mistake. The match was disappointing, to say the least. Sure, Chelsea won 2-0 but the level of play was not what you would expect from a team whose entire starting XI is made up of world class players. Sure, there were flashes of brilliance, but mostly Chelsea played on cruise control. Especially when Spurs went down to ten men. The level of play certainly wasn't worth Chelsea's combined 200 million pound payroll. And it sure as heck wasn't worth my $19.99!

missed opportunity

Driving down I-280 this afternoon I couldn't help but gaze at the scenery along the road and think how much these two friends of mine would've enjoyed it. You see, they were supposed to visit me here in San Jose this September. Alas, that plan went down the drain when my friend's application for a U.S. Visa was denied last Tuesday. Sayang, that would have been the ultimate adventure sana. I would have loved to have shown them around and share with them all the neat things that I have experienced here. I even created an itinerary of all the things we'll be doing and all the places we'll be visiting.

Sayang talaga.

Pag nanalo ako sa lotto ano kayang gagawin ko?

The Mega Millions jackpot is now up to an unreal 97 million so Jody, Topher, Con and I pooled our money together to get $20 worth of lotto tickets. With the thought of winning all that money in our minds the question of what you would do with it inevitably came up. One thing we all agreed on was goodbye day time job! No more sense slaving for chump change hehe.

As for long term plans...I'm a pretty simple guy so I don't really need the fancy cars or the fancy houses. I'm a lazy bum too. So if I can get away with not working and if the money I win can sustain me, then I'm all set. What would be great is if I can open up a cafe by the beach. Then I can just spend my time overseeing operations in the cafe and mingling with the customers. And it would be flexible enough that I can slip out of the cafe anytime and do whatever I feel like doing. Of course, since my business would be at the beach then I should get a house by the beach as well, with a spectacular view of the ocean and I'd build the house such that that my bedroom would be facing the water. That would be the life!

What would you do with if you win the lotto?

Balling

Yesterday afternoon, after work, I headed over to Jody's place and played 2 on 2 with Rino, Jody and Jody's cousin, Dino. I haven't played basketball in over 8 months and, boy, did it show! I was panting already after just the first play. Obviously I'm unfit, but back when I was still playing regular ball back in Manila with my officemates and with my friends, it was never this bad. Good thing my jumper was falling because there was no way I was getting any points near the basket. Too slow to drive by Dino and too tiring too post him up (Props to Dino also on the tenacious D).

Hopefully this becomes a weekly thing para ma-ensayo ulit!

Coldplay @ Shoreline

Topher, Jody, Joey and I saw Coldplay perform at Shoreline last friday. We stayed at the lawn area at the farthest end of the amphiteatre so we coudn't really see the stage that well. The concert still rocked, all the same. Biggest band in the planet? Coldplay surely has a strong case for it.

Funny anecdote: there was this one lady to our left who spent almost the entire concert solving crossword puzzles! I kid you not. She even had a flashlight in hand so that she can better see what she was doing. We were joking that she probably wanted to break the Guinness world record for most crossword puzzles solved while watching a Coldplay concert hehe.

da boys

Pads and Jody go to Dave Matthews Band (a.k.a this is one long ass post)

I have seen my fair share of concerts during my assignment here in the states and one constant in most of the concerts that I've attended (especially the rock concerts) is the sporadic smell of weed smoke that pervades the air. I'd be rocking out, having a good time and suddenly the sweet smell of da ganja would invade my nostrils. I'd think to myself or comment to the persons I'm with that someone was enjoying the show for sure, or something to that effect. And then I'd wonder what would it be like to watch a concert while I'm high on THC myself.

Well the opportunity finally presented itself when I saw DMB play last Aug 13 with my friend Jody. Jody tokes so I knew that he would be cool with smoking pot while watching the concert. More importantly he'd have weed available for us to smoke. So all was well and good right? Well...not exactly...

If you've seen the film 'Harold and Kumar go to White Castle' you'd know that some pretty funny $h!t can happen when weed is involved. Our quest similarly took us thru some pretty funny turns.

First of all, it turned out that him having weed available was not entirely true. I was bugging him to get some fresh supply every day of the week leading up to the concert. Alas his contact didnt come through for us and come the day of the concert we still havent gotten hooked up with any. So we ended up having to content ourselves with whatever stash he had left. The amount was so small though that it wasnt even enough for one joint. So we had to bring a pipe with us (which we have since christened Mondo Geico) which complicated matters a bit since a pipe was harder to conceal. Furthermore, technically the stash wasnt his but his brother's. And his bro was out on the road and we didnt have a way to contact him. So we said bahala na, maiintindihan naman nya siguro if we take it with us.

So off we go to the venue of the concert, SBC park, stopping at an In-N-Out along the way for some dinner. We get there at around 6:45 just in time to see Black Eyed Peas performing midway thru their set. Its still suprising that BEP would open up for DMB since they are quite a huge act in their own right. But, hey, all the better for us as we enjoyed two good shows for the price of one. BEP rocked, playing all their hit songs plus a few that I didnt recognize. They play with such great energy that you can't help but get infected. Pretty soon everyone was in a party mood and it was a good way to psyche yourself up for the main event.

BEP ended their show at around 7:30 and I knew from the previous night (yes, I saw DMB two nights in row, hey I'm a fan) that it would be around an hour before DMB comes out on stage. So we decided we'd wait till they start playing before we toke it up. That way we'd also have the cover of darkness to hide our deed as the sun would be setting by then. So there we were hanging out at our seats, waiting for DMB to come out, watching the people passing in front of us to while away the time.

Suddenly, when the hour was almost up, Jody suddenly blurted out 'Oh shit, dude, do you have a lighter?? I forgot to bring mine!'. Well, of course, I didn't bring any since I assumed since he had the weed he'd have the lighter as well. So we started thinking...maybe they sell cigarettes here at the ballpark, surely they sell lighters too. So I quickly made my way up to the concession stands. But my trip was for naught. Apparently, its against the law in California to sell cigarettes in stadiums.

We were not to be denied though! DMB started playing shortly afterwards and opened with a killer trio of #41, American Baby and Crash Into Me. By the time Crash was playing I knew we had to do it. So I looked around and I saw the girl directly behind us smoking a cigarette. So I ask her if we can borrow her lighter so we can start smoking our weed. Borrowing a lighter from a stranger so that you can smoke weed that you brought to a concert must be the lamest thing ever to do. Wala, pakapalan na lang ng mukha. Of course, since we borrowed her lighter we were then obliged to share the weed with her. The amount we had was so small though that we werent sure that it would be enough for us three.

Amazingly, just like the loaves of bread, our supply seemed not to run out. Our fears were unfounded and it was sufficient for us three. So there we were toking and passing the weed between the three of us when on the fifth pass I think I inhaled too much, too soon and I started coughing. And coughing. And coughing. Pretty soon the lady seated to my left, who was really nice, was patting my back. And then the guys in front of me turned around and were asking if I was alright. That was pretty embarassing. The lady then explained to them what was going on as I was still to busy coughing to answer for myself. They were pretty cool about it and said that it happens sometimes. Apparently, they've been smoking a few at the concert as well.

Well just like 'Harold and Kumar', our adventure had a happy ending. Pretty soon I was high as a kite. It was amazing. I was seeing and hearing DMB play with heightened senses. It was as if I was watching the concert in hi def. With 5.1 surround sound. And I felt so...happy! There I was rocking out and having a good time and no one and nothing was going to spoil my evening. All my inhibitions were stripped and I was singing and dancing with the lady who patted my back earlier. It was wonderful.

As for DMB? What can I say, they were amazing! And that statement would hold true even had I not been baked. They play with so much passion and energy and they look like they are having such a good time on stage. And I love it how dynamic their music is. You dont know what they're going to play and how they're going to play it. I don't think even they know and they just feed off each's others energy and vibe to determine how each song they play takes shape.

The setlist they had for that night consisted mainly of their old classic songs: crowd pleasers such as The Warehouse, Dancing Nannies, Two Step and What Would You Say. Needless to say that got the crowd really worked up. And what new songs they played, they were the ones that I liked. Playing Steady As We Go, a ballad about not giving up when times get rough, was perfect as an encore.

Good times indeed!