An encounter with Sir Paul.
POSTED AT 01:45 AM in drinking Chuckie

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Paul Yap of Up Dharma Down

(photo courtesy of Mayee Azarcon Gonzales)

     

          A week ago, while checking on my fb account, I've read on the Up Dharma Down fb page that the band's going to bring original Bipolar Limited Edition copies to their gig. Fortunately, upon checking fb chat at that time, I'd learned that Sir Paul Yap (Up Dharma's bassist) was online. So I mustered all the guts I had and initiated a chat with Sir Paul. Below is the copied and pasted short conversation I had with him.

12:41pmFerdinand

sir

question

yung limited edition bipolar cd...

yun ba yung may short film documentary?

12:42pmPaul

yepyep

12:44pmFerdinand

in case I am not able to watch your gig tonight, whereelse can I get it?

12:44pmPaul

fully booked

12:45pmFerdinand

really?

any fullybooked branch?

12:45pmPaul

im not sure if we have highstreet

oop[ps

fullbooked highstreet

im not sure if toti brings around pa

12:46pmFerdinand

fullybooked high street..

ok

I'll take my chance there

by the way good luck sa nomination sa NU

nakaboto na ko

12:47pmPaul

thank you " src="http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/images/blank.gif" />

sana may mapanaluan kami kahit isa hehe

12:47pmFerdinand

sana manalo

Hmm. I'll pray you all win

you deserve it

all

pag sembreak promise

nood uli ako gig niyo

12:48pmPaul

salamat

12:48pmFerdinand

thanks for your time sir

12:48pmPaul

san ka ba nag aaral?

12:48pmFerdinand

Pamamtasan ng Malayong Silangan

12:49pmPaul

saan yon?

12:49pmFerdinand

Far Eastern University

12:49pmPaul

feu

12:49pmFerdinand

yup

12:49pmPaul

ahh hehe

ano course?

12:50pmFerdinand

AB English po

Sir, last question na lang po

kung ok lang

12:54pmPaul

haha oks lang

di naman ako busy ngayon

12:54pmFerdinand

ok

will you sign the udd cds when I see you in your gig?

12:57pmFerdinand

Few months ago I watched your gig at saguijo, I would like to approach you to have the cds signed but I hesitated

baka kasi dyahe sa inyo e

nahihiya rin ako

 

12:59pmPaul

hehe sure man

di naman kami nangangagat

di naman kami nangangagat

1:04pmFerdinand

It's just hard to keep your composure when you are at the presence of those you look up to. your knees shake.heart beats fast. for a while you lose your senses. fan instinct.

but i will definitely have those cds signed by hook or by crook

1:05pmPaul

haha we thank you sir but we drink the same water.

1:08pmFerdinand

I know, sir. However, I am still your fan and you will always be my most favorite band.

1:08pmFerdinand

 

untill your next gig sir. I appreciate your time.

1:09pmPaul

cheers!

          The conversation I had with the genius Sir Paul though short it may be is indeed a treasured moment. For an Up Dharma Down fan like me, nothing could be more surreal, ecstatic, and beautiful than  sharing a conversation with the one I highly admire. I realized that I am one of the statistics and  not an exemption. I had never been so much a fan of any band than I am to Up Dharma Down; and this paints everything vividly: that just like any other fanboy, I could numb, scream, and go crazy about my idol. Tao lang po, e.

"sick and still awake. so what?" and the Up Dharma Down Nomination in Nu Rock Awards '09
POSTED AT 04:03 AM in drinking Chuckie

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          Ok. Guilty as charged. I should be in bed now resting and recuperating from fever. But the hard-headed me wouldn't let my eyes doze off. So I left the bed and started surfing the internet to kill time and exhaust my eyes so I'd get sleepy. I am absent from work today -- one thing I had seen coming yesterday. (Sorry team.) I also missed today's classes especially the long quiz in Mythology. Hope my professor would forgive me and let me take the quiz this Friday. What can I do? I had to be absent or else, perish and die. Health is wealth, indeed. Haha!

          This makes blogging worthwhile:

courtesy of updharmadown.com

          Up Dharma Down, the band that keeps me company in times of boredom, relaxing, and all the other moments of my life that need to be filled in by music so as to make them philosophical (go figure), is nominated in the Nu Rock Awards 2009. The band is vying for all categories.  To name a few, they are competing head to head with other OPM bands for awards like Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Vocalist of the Year, Guitarist of the Year, Drummer of theYear, and Bassist of the Year. The winner of each category will be based on the results of the online voting administered in the Nu website. So if you're a UDD fan and consider yourself my friend, please bother to show your UDD phreneticism and loyalty to me by clicking this: ;">UpDharmaDownRocks!!!!.  Non-UDD fans and non-friends are also welcome to support my favorite band. Please, don't forget to register first. Salamat!;">

 

 

 

Currently feeling: awake

Pacquiao, take him down!
POSTED AT 03:23 PM in drinking Chuckie

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       photo courtesy of bebo.com

          I'm not a boxing fan but I was able to watch the Mayweather-Marquez fight last Sunday. As always, Mayweather  was in his element of putting up such a booorrriiiing fight. Once again, the guy did not engage in a real combat just like in the other fights he had prior to the one against  Marquez. He  successfully maintained a certain proximity from the Mexican and managed not to give his opponent a chance to punch his face. Well, that could be his tactic and it can be understable at some length, especially that it renders  best for him. However, I couldn't help but feel like he's  just a cowardly freak or probably a vanity sucker who's afraid of getting bruises and scars on his face. I'm never pleased with his strategy. I don't see much action inside the ring when he is in it. He's lifeless and monotonous. His extremely nauseatingly defensive strategy may make him winnable but it doesn't reflect him a complete fighter. More hatesome about him is the sarcastic smile he fronts whenever his opponent slips a punch through his defense. I want Pacquiao to knock him down and give him the lesson of his life.

         Having said all of these, am I not really a boxing fan? Duh!

 

 

A Cory Magic?
POSTED AT 02:16 PM in drinking Chuckie

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 photo courtesy of wowdavao.com

         Alright, he is all that popular now. He's now got that oozing charisma he never had before. He is seen on the news, every now and then, being clamored by people to save them from their miserable lives  of being miserable Filipinos in this politically miserable Philippines. He's now the most talked-about and most written-about presidentiable among all the hopefuls. Being the son of the late political hero and heroine, Ninoy and Corazon Aquino, hopes are high on him. He has just declared his pursuit this coming 2010 National Election and the presidential post is his aim. This has put a temporary smile on the faces of his supporters as they eagerly wait for him to assume the Malacanang seat...as they hope. But with all the buzz about him and his ever growing popularity among the disgusted Filipinos, how sure are we that he is the savior we all have been praying and waiting for? Is his sudden presidentiability just a mere consequence of his mother's death or does he really possess the Cory Magic?

Unadulterated

          He is an honest politician -- well, that is if we go straight to the records. No corruption issues. No  battered girlfriend interviewed on TV. No defaming rumors spread about him. He is seen as morally irreproachable. Having been raised by a God-fearing mother, people are just so certain that he has the moral ascendancy to govern this country. On his morally clean slate, people bank their trust and faith. People see the principled Ninoy in him and probably the kind-hearted Cory, too. One political analyst called him fitting of the presidency because he does not lust for power unlike other presidentiables whose political ads are shown frequently on tv, glaring with hipocrisy. If his moral credential would only precede good leadership and good governance, then we could all heave a sigh of relief because of a more politically blessed Philippines in the future. However, moral qualification alone may not guarantee us the safety buckle we need. In this case, a question of readiness and capability is at matter. Is he ripe enough for the presidency?

Fledgeling?

          Six years in the Congress; two years in the senate.  Will his experience  as law-maker  of  eight years make him a competent president? What has he accomplished yet? I have searched the internet for any piece of information about the bills he successfully authored or projects that prospered under his initiative but I could find none. (Unless my effort was not really enough.) All I found were articles just all about his candidacy in the coming election. What's more bothersome is that his political decision was only cooked up several weeks after his mother's death. The time he had spent to make a well-thought decision may have not been enough and this would only render him impulsive and immature. Running for the presidency would mean a careful and wise decision -- a decision that has been examined and thought of  over a long period of time.  There had not  been any news about his possible candidacy before, and this could only mean that his political decision was not something he had prepared for a long time. Taking this into consideration, people supporting him may only place the country in jeopardy upon his election to the highest office.

A Challenge

          He owes it to the people who believe in him. Now that he has answered their call to be their savior, he has a moral obligation to prove to them that he does not just walk under the great shadows of his parents but lives to perpetuate their  legacy of clean politics and good governance. He has to prove to them that he is not just an Aquino by name but  by character and  the strong determination to  effect a positive change on the country's political system.  As early as now, he has an obligation to let his supporters know about his platforms  and how these platforms would benefit them so they would have an informed and wise decision. He has to ensure that his plans and policy would serve the voting populace more than anyone else. He has to prove himself to us all that he is worthy of those media hype and adulation. He has to prove that, indeed, he's got the Cory Magic.

 

Currently listening to: sana by up dharma down

rant ni dinan
POSTED AT 04:43 PM

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         Ok. I am counting the weeks, relentlessly - no, the days - no, the hours that I will have to spend before the semester is over. I am excited about the semestral break and everything that goes with it.

          I am excited about life without stressful professors whose joy lies in seeing their student struggle at their wits' end.

          I am sick and tired of carrying a heavy semi-sports bag loaded with clothes and all those other stuff I need for a week of work-school-work-school routine - my shoulders hurt a lot!

          I am excited about spending my days in utter carefree. I am excited about relaxing at the moviehouse without feeling guilty of procrastinating.

          I need to catch up on my reading, too: Tim Winton visited me in a nightmare, mocking me of my negligence of his work; Sir McEwan spoke with me through a dream, begging me to pay a little of my time to his genius that is in "The Innocent".. Sabi niya kahit isang chapter lang, isang chapter lang, pleaassseee. Oh, the poor creature in me didn't deserve that humble pleading from such a master. I could have dwindled into a state of nothingness out of shame  and self-disgust in that dream. Puff! I could have explained to him and defended that I was so remorseful and repentant but  the chance was cut as I found myself waking up at the sound of my alarm clock, I had to prepare for work. 

         I miss trudging the late-night streets of the Metro and delight at the beauty of the night scenes and all those melancholy lampposts that induce in me  a moment of self-introspection. 

         All I could do now is wait and wait and wait and look forward to that day. 

         I need a breather.

 

   

Currently listening to: sugarcoats and hearbeats by Up Dharma Down

untitled rose
POSTED AT 10:26 AM in drinking Chuckie

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They stare at you with

eyes incinerating

your every skin

til none is left but ashes of

flesh and bones.

And those eyes,

welling up in tears,

wrap me in guilt and shame

until I burn and freeze

to want  to dry them off

and clothe you

from your nakedness,

from your destruction,

from the flashing lights

of greed and lust.

But my hands tremble

at the prospect of

gold coins clanging in my pocket;

my voice faint at the cries of hunger;

my ears are covered from

the pleas of a blossoming rose

whose beauty is now

withering slowly

until all is left are thorns

of death

to love

and innocence.

 

Your eyes well up in tears

as they stare at me and

crush my spirit down.

Now all I see are ashes of

flesh and bones.

a drop of water
POSTED AT 03:14 PM in drinking Chuckie

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A faint scent of hope

is all we need,

then we'd keep on riding

this roller coaster You sent us.

We've been battered left and right;

our hearts beating restlessness and

desperation.

All we need is Your smile to glance at,

and we'll warm ourselves with Your grace.

We'd keep on toiling our hands

until we reap that peace

hidden in our dreams

and searched during sleepwalk.

For in that thin ray of light, we would take refuge.

We'd tilt up our heads and bend our knees

Until we see ourselves like

children--

faithful,

innocent.

ligtas na patlang
POSTED AT 10:15 PM in drinking Chuckie

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Sige lang.
POSTED AT 10:14 AM in barefooted

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I am really getting used to this stressful lifestyle that I don't really feel the stress anymore. It has been a month since the semester started and I am still up and running like a vehicle that suprisingly never runs out of fuel. Certainly, I am deprived of the physical rest that I truly deserve, but, miraculously, I don't complain about not getting enough sleep. I even feel guilty everytime I oversleep during the weekend.

However, I am somehow confused if I should classify this as a milestone that signifies how mature I have become since maturity is measured in different ways and not just when one stops ranting. It also dawns on me that this, probably, could be a manifestation of the system making me its slave, removing all my rights to feel, think about, realize, and criticize the possibly chaotic situation I might be in. Or it could be that I have finally learned to be resilient and go with the current just like everyone else does. I don't want to categorize this yet as something positive nor see it in bad light. It's too early to conclude. I'm still clueless what awaits me in the middle. Life is full of surprises. Tomorrow may be different from today as today is different from yesterday. You can never have the full share of certainty as life is constantly evolving to something that may catch us suprised and consternated.

One thing I am certain about is that I have a race to finish and a hope to keep. I will carry on until I reach the end of this.

See you there.

Currently listening to: sugarcoats and heartbeats by Up Dharma Down
Currently feeling: contemplative