GRAVITY!

Gravity [grav-i-tee] n. the force of attraction by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the earth. Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gravity
_________________________________________________________________________________

This was the exact cover picture of our first CD

The craze all started when my dad brought home a CD of Westlife's "Coast to Coast" album back in 2001, when I was still in 6th grade.


I didn't pay much attention to it since I was still stuck with my first boy band madness -- The Moffats (I had a really huge crush on Scott Moffat! WAAA!)


Until our Music Teacher in Sixth Grade required the class to do a music project wherein we had to perform one song using some self-made instruments, i.e. drums out of milk cans.


One group made a cover of one of Westlife's hits, "My Love". Since the group members were practicing the song non-stop, on piano and on guitar, during breaks, I also familiarized myself with the song and learned its lyrics as well. What can I do? Almost half of the class was already singing along with the group. Haha. 

The second album that my dad brought home.

The next thing I knew after that project, I was already listening to the "Coast to Coast" Album almost everyday -- and even memorized the lyrics. I think my dad noticed that I was starting to get into Westlife's music 'coz one day, when he got home, he brought another Westlife album -- "World of Our Own"! Haha. 


He actually also bought albums of other boy-bands aside from Westlife, like Backstreet Boys (I think) and Boyzone, but I found myself more drawn towards Westlife's music. I think it's because it was more soft-blended in terms of rhythm and and it captured my sentimental side more. 


I don't clearly remember how we got our third Westlife Album -- either my dad brought home the copy again or it was me who asked my dad to buy one. But what I do remember is that, last 2002, we already had the "Unbreakable" album at home. 


(Hmmm... I'm starting to realize that if it wasn't because of Daddy bringing home the first two albums, I would not be this much inclined to listening to Westlife! Si Daddy pala!)

Our third album at home.

_________________________________________________________________

Why Westlife? You may ask. 

Aside from being influenced greatly by my father (Hahaha!), I guess it's because their music is more soft-blended in terms of rhythm, as I've mentioned earlier, and their voices mix greatly with each other compared to the other boy-bands (I really love Mark's high-pitched voice!). Plus, their music is, for me, the most sentimental too. As hopeless romantic as I am, I can literally close my eyes and feel their music and be carried away (Yes, I like that kind of drama).

_________________________________________________________________________________

And so, being a just-recently-realized-and-confessed fan of Westlife, I won't miss the opportunity to watch the group LIVE in their Gravity Concert Tour at the Araneta Coliseum yesterday, September 29, 2011 (Yes, I really did!). I consider this to be my first ever concert (the Hillsong Concert back in 2008 was more like a praisefest for me)!

I watched them with, no other than, my ever supportive boyfriend. <3 I made the screaming and singing along, he was in charge of the documentation. Haha. 

It's a really different experience when you get to listen to them live than in a VCD track (But of course! Because you watch them live, IN FLESH!) The moment I sat down (we got Upper B tickets and we were seated near the center), the first thought that came in mind was "Is this real? I just used to listen to them on CD 10 years ago!". And when the lights went off and the music went on, man, this was really it!

Mark, Shane, Kian, and most of all Nicky, still remained good-looking after all these years. Nicky, I must admit, was the hottest of the four. I can't help but scream whenever their faces are being flashed on screen. 

In their list of songs, they performed the following (however, not in order): Tell Me What Makes A Man, My Love, World of Our Own, When You're Looking Like That, Seasons in the Sun, You Raise Me Up, What About Now, Flying Without Wings, and Uptown Girl from their past albums and Safe, I Will Reach You, and Beautiful Tonight from their new Gravity album. (I think I'm missing two more songs)

My favorite part of their concert was when they performed a medley of the following songs with matching dance steps: Viva La Vida by Coldplay, Only Girl by Rihanna, The Time (Dirty Bit) by the Black Eyed Peas, and Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. They were so fun to watch! :D

Oh, did I mention that while they were performing "World of Our Own" (if I'm not mistaken), someone threw her bra onstage and [was it Nicky or Kian] who picked it up and swung it back and forth while singing! O_O Hahaha!

And, yes, they also praised the Filipino crowd saying that we were the most receptive among their audiences (this is put into my own terms, but they really said we were amazing!). They even mentioned Charice and Manny Pacquiao. :)

It's so nice knowing that thousands of fans still follow their music after 10 years or more, knowing that I'm not also alone screaming out to them! Haha. 

Yes, I bought my own glow-stick. :)

THIS EXPERIENCE IS UNFORGETTABLE.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Right now, I'm listening to their new Gravity album. Their song list still holds the same charm that captivated me back when I first learned their song "My Love". Making "Gravity" their title is very appropriate as they still continue to attract their audience to the core of their music -- charming, sentimental and captivating. 

For more pictures, you can scan through my album in Facebook. For a mini-video, you can watch it in my YouTube page.

FYI: Norms of Conduct of Public Officials and Employees

I just thought of sharing with you a section from Republic Act 6713 wherein the norms of conduct of public officials and employees are stated.

Republic Act 6713, Section 4:

Norms of Conduct of Public Officials and Employees. - (A) Every public official and employee shall observe the following as standards of personal conduct in the discharge and execution of official duties:

(a) Commitment to public interest. - Public officials and employees shall always uphold the public interest over and above personal interest. All government resources and powers of their respective offices must be employed and used efficiently, effectively, honestly and economically, particularly to avoid wastage in public funds and revenues.

(b) Professionalism. - Public officials and employees shall perform and discharge their duties with the highest degree of excellence, professionalism, intelligence and skill. They shall enter public service with utmost devotion and dedication to duty. They shall endeavor to discourage wrong perceptions of their roles as dispensers or peddlers of undue patronage.

(c) Justness and sincerity. - Public officials and employees shall remain true to the people at all times. They must act with justness and sincerity and shall not discriminate against anyone, especially the poor and the underprivileged. They shall at all times respect the rights of others, and shall refrain from doing acts contrary to law, good morals, good customs, public policy, public order, public safety and public interest. They shall not dispense or extend undue favors on account of their office to their relatives whether by consanguinity or affinity except with respect to appointments of such relatives to positions considered strictly confidential or as members of their personal staff whose terms are coterminous with theirs.

(d) Political neutrality. - Public officials and employees shall provide service to everyone without unfair discrimination and regardless of party affiliation or preference.

(e) Responsiveness to the public. - Public officials and employees shall extend prompt, courteous, and adequate service to the public. Unless otherwise provided by law or when required by the public interest, public officials and employees shall provide information of their policies and procedures in clear and understandable language, ensure openness of information, public consultations and hearings whenever appropriate, encourage suggestions, simplify and systematize policy, rules and procedures, avoid red tape and develop an understanding and appreciation of the socio-economic conditions prevailing in the country, especially in the depressed rural and urban areas.

(f) Nationalism and patriotism. - Public officials and employees shall at all times be loyal to the Republic and to the Filipino people, promote the use of locally produced goods, resources and technology and encourage appreciation and pride of country and people. They shall endeavor to maintain and defend Philippine sovereignty against foreign intrusion.

(g) Commitment to democracy. - Public officials and employees shall commit themselves to the democratic way of life and values, maintain the principle of public accountability, and manifest by deeds the supremacy of civilian authority over the military. They shall at all times uphold the Constitution and put loyalty to country above loyalty to persons or party.

(h) Simple living. - Public officials and employees and their families shall lead modest lives appropriate to their positions and income. They shall not indulge in extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth in any form.

Source: http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1989/ra_6713_1989.html

Need this section of the Republic Act say more? 

What I get from this section is that, those officials and employees in public offices should be rooted on and should follow basic principles and values such as equality, honesty, and respect, to name afew. In fact, they should be rooted on these basic principles in the first place. 

I hope there's some way that officials be reminded of these norms everyday, or whenever they committed or are about to commit actions that will mostly be against them.

Little Surprise of the Day

So, I was regularly checking my Facebook account this morning when I came across a post made by James on my wall.

It said:
"Ang ganda naman ng girlfriend ko :) nagising [a]ko to post this...
wala pa kasi official music vid eh :) bago nila"

And the music video was "Say You Like Me" by We The Kings:

After watching and listening to the video, I was like --> (O.O)   and then --> =')
(If you get what these smileys mean).

My boyfriend does not usually post stuffs like this on my Wall. In fact, this is the first time (if I'm not mistaken) that he told me I'm beautiful in public. 

Whatever hit him hard in the head that night enough to wake him up and post this video, I'm surely grateful for it. It made my day. It made me smile. It made me really smile that I left the tab open from the time I watched the video until I sign out from work! (I didn't even mind the post having no punctuation marks [except for the ellipsis])

Oh, how I love little surprises and sweet nothings. <3

(I hope he really means what he said on the first line of his post) Haha.

To Take The Leap of Faith

“...be it unto me according to Thy word.” – Luke 1:38, King James Version

My most favourite line in Mary’s Annunciation story which eventually became my ultimate mantra whenever I meet crossroads in my life.

And perhaps the most difficult mantra I ever decided to have.

It’s like deciding to dive from a cliff not knowing what’s waiting below – sharp rocks, dangerous sea creatures, a deep trench. If you do dive, will you be able to swim back up alive? But you jump anyway.

It’s like starting your business using your own and only savings unsure if your business will thrive or if it goes bankrupt instead. But you invest and start it anyway.

It’s like betting your fragile heart to a person – a friend, a lover – not knowing for sure if they’ll be able to take care of it. But you grab the chance to love anyway.

It’s like surrendering to the uncertain and hoping that something good will come out of it.

It’s like putting your trust to the unknown, afraid but still willing to thrust.

It’s in between the fear and the decision to trust and surrender where I ask and find the grace which I call courage.

The courage to step out of my comfort zone.

The courage to say yes or no to an opportunity.

The courage to accept the consequences that lie ahead.

It’s not easy to utter that same phrase as what Mary did before the angel of the Lord. And so, I always still pray for the grace of courage.

It’s not easy to take that great leap of faith. And so, I still focus and reflect on my mantra: “...be it unto me according to Thy word."

My personal prayer for Mary: Mama Mary, thank you for being my greatest example of  courage and faith. You have accepted your mission despite the uncertainty that lay ahead. I pray that, through you, God may also grant me the same courage you had for each and every crossroad I will encounter. Amen.

A Tribute To Our Imperfect Friendship

Ours is not a perfect friendship, and I admit that it never will. How will it be? We never became whole again after our second year in high school.

I believe our barkada started out on our sixth grade in elementary when Janna wrote to me what seemed like a love letter from a suitor on a stationery asking me if I can be her best friend. When I read it I felt a bit weirded out. Janna was a new student in our school and I was not that kind of girl back then who loved to approach people and become perky. It was actually the first time a person popped me such question.

I said yes anyway after a day or two of wrestling with my own thoughts. Why don't I give it a try? She looks friendly anyway. Apparently (and I just knew this almost two weeks ago), she also wrote and asked the same question to two other girls, Roane and Tin.

Roane and Tin knew each other before our sixth grade. They were already classmates back in, I believe, fourth grade. I was in the morning class while they were attending the afternoon session. Although we did go to the same school, we just knew each other by face.

I don't really clearly remember how it went the first day we got together as a group. I don't even remember a feeling of awkwardness or timidity. What I do remember is how we clicked as a group -- and we sure were a very happy one!

We used to eat lunch together, laughed at and teased each other, shared secrets and made fun about other people, wrote letters to one another, and talked about anything under the sun -- the kinds of stuff a typical girl group (as far as what I have watched in movies [but not those mean girls kind]) would do. I won't go through the specifics since it will take me months if I tell everything about what we did and talked about back then.

Of course, we also had moments where we had miscommunications within the group. There was a time when three of us already had love interests and the other one felt left out. Eventually, we had things patched up and everything went fine again.

As we matured, we pretty much stayed the same. Our bond stayed like this up until our second year in high school when Roane and Tin moved back to the Philippines. Janna and I's bond continued until our third year when Janna eventually flew back to the Philippines, too.
__________________________________

The four of us had communication for quite a time, but not at all constant.

Roane and I lived almost near each other in Metro Manila, but it was only seldom for us to meet, mainly because of our class schedules.

Tin studied in Baguio for a while. But had to stop because she had to go under medication for her stage 4 Lymphoma. When we heard about the news, we prayed hard for Tin's recovery. And, thank God she did. We just saw her struggle and recovery through pictures she posted in Facebook, and a little bit of text messaging. And that's all. We planned to visit her, but because of our schedules, we never had the chance.

With Janna, we had constant communication. Back when Friendster was still the fad -- up until the end of our second year in college (most probably around 2008). After that, we eventually lost track of each other.

So we had to live and move on.
__________________________________

It was just only early last year, 2010, when Janna and I reconnected again. And, oh how time flies! She already had her first baby! Because of this news, we were sending messages to each other again, but this time, through Facebook, which has already taken the lead in social media. She was already residing in Ilocos Sur with her family, all happy and fulfilled. Roane and I were really happy for her.

When she had the chance to travel to Metro Manila, I really made it a MUST that we meet. So I immediately sent Roane a message to set up a date.

And so, we did! After 5 years for me and 6 for Roane, we finally saw Janna again in SM Megamall.

Nothing really changed that much. I was still a cry-baby. Janna has still a boisterous laugh, and Roane is still comedic.

Me, Janna, and Roane

On January of 2012, Janna will be married to the love of her life. We are uber excited for that day! We'll finally see Ja wearing her wedding dress. It was just like yesterday when we were crazing about our own prince charmings. :)
__________________________________

Thank you for the long weekend that took place two weeks ago. If not for it, Roane and I would not have the chance to travel to Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija and finally visit Tin.


She had recovered from her Lymphona, though not yet diagnosed to be fully clear from cancer.

She hasn't changed much, too (well, aside from the fats she gained from eating so much! Haha.) I think eating became her habit.

When she was telling her recovery story to us, we were just happy that the girl in front of us was strong enough, both heart and soul, to battle for life. I'm personally thankful to still have the chance to see her again, alive and kicking, after 7 long years! If not also for the help of her loving family and supportive boyfriend, Martin. <3

Roan, Tin, and I

__________________________________

We are yet to be complete again (hopefully around October, November, or December, we get to visit Tin). We can't wait for that day where we'll be kids again, laughing and teasing each other and talking about anything til the last of us snoozes. And we'll do all we can to make that day happen.
__________________________________

Ours is not a perfect friendship, and I admit that it never will. But it will always be next to perfect, for we have and will still overcome time and distance. And in the end, I know that it will seem that we never left each other at all. :)
__________________________________

Cheers and long live to the best (and only) girl group I ever had!