The Killers in Manila 2010 + the good ‘ol times

Posted by pat on Dec 3, 2009 in Art Music Culture, Simple Highs | 6 comments

I’m probably one of the last to blog about this but what the heck. I love The Killers! I was pretty psyched when I saw a facebook post last week from World Wide Womb asking about a survey on who would want to the Killers to come to Manila. I guess the response was overwhelming because they are coming here to manila 31 January 2010!

Click here for the World Wide Womb Facebook page to get updates and more info..

I got this from the World Wide Womb facebook page:

TheKILLERS Limited Premium Tickets now available at WWW & Saga Offices
call 384-0239. First Come First Serve (No Reservations) . Other ticket
prices will be out Dec 4 at all Ticketnet & TIcketworld outlets.

Click here to go to Ticketnet for ticket reservations

And December 4 is… tomorrow. The premium tickets are probably all gone already. Now will I buy the regular tickets? Maybe. If what my friend promised is so… no, no need to buy tickets. Let’s wait and see. (Keeping my fingers crossed).

Its a given that I like their music but what puts them high on my list are some good times that I associate with some of their songs. My favorite of these good time are two events which happened at a rave and while clubbing with the same group of people in two different countries. One in Malaysia, the other in the Philippines. One in 2006. Another in 2009.

Mr. Brightside

That’s my good friend Alex and I. We were with a bunch of  our other good friends back in Dec 2006 at “Velocity”, at rave held at Sunway Lagoon at Sunway City.  The DJ who mixed for that event was Judge Jules. I don’t remember most of the stuff he played but I do rememeber the last song of the night – Mr. Brightside.

“I’m coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine…”

I think we all went wild – me, friends, and 1000+ other people there at Sunway. That was awesome awesome night.

I was in Kuala Lumpur for a 3month training program with Marcus Evans, the first company I worked for (3 of the best months of my life) and that night was one of the highlights of my stay.

All These Things That I’ve Done

2009. I went to KL last May (’09) to attend a friend’s wedding and visit the KL peeps. Alex, Vik (Vik took the picture back in 2006), and two of their of their other friends – Prem and Imran – flew back with me so they can visit and see the Philippines. On their second to the last night here, I took them to Embassy (now known as Encore!) because the boys wanted t0 try the clubbing here in Manila. It was pretty happening night as it always it on a Saturday.

So there we were with our drinks, dancing, and having a great time…when towards the end of the night, the DJ played a mix of All These Things That I’ve Done. That did it for me. I was already hyper to begin with but  the song turned turned it up notch higher.  What sealed that moment in my mind, despite me having a buzz that night was this – in the midst of dancing, out of the blue, someone (won’t name who! hahaha) started singing in a quite… un-animated voice  -

“I’ve got soul but I’ve got a soldier, I’ve got soul but I’m not  a soldier…”

I stopped for a moment there, looked at the guy, shook my head and laughed out loud. I have to tell you, he may sounded like he could’ve used more soul there but I knew he was full of it. I knew he was having a blast but let’s just say,  some people are not meant to sing certain songs.  It was so hilarious that it was really cute.

(You know who you are, in case you read this, I don’t think I would’ve fared any better if I attempted to sing those lines as well!)

The only thing I didn’t like was that the night ended in an anti-climactic manner. In the midst of the music, the pumping bass, and the partying, the lights just suddenly went coupled with DJ saying his “thanks Manila” speech. Not to mentioned the bouncers herding us out of the club.

Nevertheless, it was a good night. We ended it with a late night after clubbing snack at Mcdonald’s. I the guys could join me this Jan 2010 to watch The Killers concert.

Ok, playing the songs on my laptop now….

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Last Week’s Highs

Posted by pat on Sep 13, 2009 in Simple Highs | 0 comments

Finally, I get to post!! I can’t believe how busy I have been. Either that or I’m just a slow poke (the hassles of being semi dyslexic!! – slow reader, slow writer, slow worker, bad with numbers, and easily distracted = busy)

In our busy crazy lives, it can be quite easy to forget to stop and smell the flowers along the way. That’s for me at least. I have the tendency to get quite consumed by what i do. I can quite intense though I just don’t show it (or do i?). The intensity is fed by a desire to reach certain goals (especially the goals that I have now… you have no idea how much i want to make them happen).

When something has that tight a grip on me, I find it hard to relax and and to chill until I get to fulfill whatever it is I have to fulfill. And right now, there are a couple of things I’m pretty bent on making happen. Maybe when I get to fulfill at least the most major one, I can relax a little more. Very unhealthy, I know. That is why i treasure the moments where I to snap out of it, albeit briefly, and i stop to appreciate the little things around.

And this is what this post is about. The little highs I had this week.

1) Thursday’s Blue Skies

I love the rain. I makes me happy. But when it pours day in day out for a couple of days straight, the weather can really rain down mood. Specially if you are like me who takes public transport which involves a lot of walking, the rain really dampens things. The hassle, the irritation, the human traffic, the stuff I have to carry, plus the rain…. you’ll be cursing your way through.

Then Thursday came. It rained a little the morning but by the time I got out of the house, it stopped. On my way to work, it was slightly overcast and the breeze was nice and cool. When I got to Bonifacio Global City, the sun was beginning to come out and the air felt so clean. There was a lot of blue peering through the clouds. I couldn’t resist bring out my camera to take snap shots of this week’s little piece of peace.

I didn’t feel like stepping into the office just yet so I decided to walk around a little more. Who would want to be indoors during a morning like this? That’s what a lot of us miss when we’re in a rush in the morning to get to work…

I love how pretty Bonifacio Global City is.

2) Random Stuff in the office.

After having my fill of the morning, i enter the office I spot a newspaper from last week. Out of curiosity, i skimmed through the articles and I found this particularly funny…

HAHAHA!

I couldn’t get over this one. I just had to take a picture of it. I found it totally “punny”.

Next up… the boys’ (Carlos, Judd) Dingdong Dantes fantasy. Oh yeah… you’d think they’d search pictures of some hot chick but guess what they were looking up on last Friday..

Dreaming of Dingdong Dantes.

(Ok, I think they were actually researching for a picture of Dingdong to add to Judd’s proposal presentation)

3) Thursday laughs at SPIT night at Magnet Highstreet.

SPIT is short for -Silly People’s Improv Theater!! Think of “Who’s Line is It Anyway?” and that’s basically what SPIT does.

It ALMOST didn’t push through but thank god it did. I needed to unwind big time. I went with Thea and her two friends. We had some pre-spit chitchat, dinner, and of course, my Magnet staple, below zero beer. Mmmm. It ain’t a complete night at Magnet without the below zero beer. It so cold that the bottle is served covered with frost. Once you have some below zero, anything warmer just doesn’t make the cut.

SPIT night is always fun. Its your mid-week RX to stress. Laughs + good compay + good food + subzero beer = you’ll never go wrong.

Hilarious as it is, there were times though where I found myself sayin’ “huh?” but because the SPIT peeps are so candid, you’ll laugh anyway. You gotta hand it to them. To make improve comedy work, you gotta think fast and you gotta be witty.

If only it was easy to get home from High Street, I’d be at SPIT every Thursday night.

Thea and her lovlies. My below zero beer.

And because I wasn’t able to take pics of SPIT, I stole some pictures from Judd.

Here’s to simple highs.

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Simple pleasures – vanity and nerdiness

Posted by pat on Sep 1, 2009 in Life and Stuff, Simple Highs | 0 comments

I’ll cut myself some slack and admit, ok I have my vain moments (haha don’t we all?). And because I don’t really take the time to pamper myself, it a big deal for me to actually go to the salon and have someone fuss over me. And that’s what I did today – I got a hair trim, a manicure, pedicure. Its been a while. I forgot how good it feels to just sit there while someone cleans your nails and snips your hair.

For the girls, don’t you love how your hair is perfect when you step out of the salon? Just the right amoung of volume, body, and shine. Thats thanks to the blow-drying along with the hair sirum. Because I love how my hair looks at the moment, I’m posting it. I took a picture because I know once the blow dried effect fades, its waves, curls, and frizz galore again (unless I go get myself some Kerastase. But its just so expensive). I’m not going to shampoo tonight . Hopefully its still pretty tomorrow.

As for my little petite feet (feel free to scrutinize and criticize), I told myuself, oh what the heck. I’ll get a manicure. Its a desrved treat for my abused feet. They deserve some TLC and sass. After all, I walk around, I work hard and I’ll be kicking ass. Might as well do it with some class.

Nerdy pleasures

Its all because of Nuffnang. Everyday, we are heavily exposed to the internet along with the latest of updates in technology and software. I used to not have any patience for dealing with software applications. Simple “how-to’s” stressed me out and exploring the potential of a practicular online or software tool wasn’t exactly a hobby of mine. Now, I get giddy, yes, giddy, over things like the Flock browser, Google reader.. and my latest love – Google calendar which I synchronize with Mozilla Sunbird! (Is this me?!)

I used to be pro paper planners. Now my pretty red trusty Moleskin planner is about to become obsolete. I found something awesome – Google Calendar. I love how the lay out makes it easy to plan out events and tasks. Google has really poured brains in this one. It has so many cool features : world clock, weather report, calendar sharing, calendar alarm, etc. Organized properly, its like having a part time-assistant . Now if only I can sync my tasks with my Mozilla Sunbird, my life will be complete. Oh, and I get to save trees.

As for flock, call me a floc-aholic. If you have not yet heard about Flock, its the web browser designed to make your online life easier. Its ALMOST your one-stop-shop for all your social network needs.

Here’s a little vid on Flock for you: Flock!

Not everyone is crazy about it. Then again, different strokes for different folks. If you are like me: follows blogs, subscribes to RSS feeds for news here and there, facebooks a lot, uploads pictures a lot, needs to be constantly updated on the status of your email inbox, etc…. give it a try. It may not be as fast as Chrome but it definitely owns when it comes to organizing your online life.

I’m quite surprised at how I’m awed by all this. Its amazing how people come up with these ideas and how they execute such. They are on a different level. On my end, I’ll just stick on online marketing and advertising. haha!

I have not come to that point where I can be considered a techno freak. In the techno-nerd scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, I’m probably level 2 or 3? I have a long way to go. I’m not yet there but I may well be on my way.

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Sundays are Made of These

Posted by pat on Aug 25, 2009 in Life and Stuff, Simple Highs | 5 comments

I wake from my dad’s incessant knock on the door. I check the clock and see “7:30″. I grumble. 7:30 am on a Sunday morning? Its just too early for anything. After a night of partying hard, or watching DVDs, or reading (when on nerd mode), I just want to sleep in on a Sunday morning.

Yet over the years, week after week, I find myself getting up at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. Its not my parents’ knocking on the door that gets me on my feet. Its something else. Its something in the air, a scent that flows into my room after they give up on waking me…. the scent of Sunday breakfast.

For as long as I can remember, Sunday breakfast has been a ritual in this house. Its something I look forward to and greatly enjoy. Its not just the food but the conversation that comes with it. Its usually the time of the week when everyone is home and eager to talk about the affairs of the past week. When i say everyone, that my parents, me, and my SIX other siblings (yes, for those who don’t know, I’m the eldest of SEVEN kids). So you can imagine how noisy it gets. Everyone wants to tell his/her story. No, sorry. Everyone COMPETES to tell his/her story. I just shake my head and watch the fiasco.

Oh yes, Sundays are made of these.

The Sunday Menu.

This menu hasn’t changed much over the years. For as long as I can remember, its always been this.. with variations from time to time. Its so good that no one has any plans of changing it.

1) Pancakes made from scratch
2) Home mode bacon which we order from my parents’ friend
3) Pork and beans
4) fruit
5) brewed coffee or green tea.

Who wouldn’t get up at the smell of fresh pancakes, bacon, and coffee brewing? Heck even with a bad hangover, I’d get up for this. If I happened to sleep over a friend’s house because it was just too late to go home, I’d make it a point to be early enough to be home for this…. even if I slept at 5am. Insane I know.

The week just ain’t complete without this.

After breakfast, we do some random chilling. This past Sunday, the agenda was “play with the poopie dogs”

And that’s my sister showing of her number one talent : sleeping anywhere (also she partied too much the night before)

So tell me, what are your Sundays made of?

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