it has been awhile since i touch my blog for updates. it is not that bad considering that the last time that i blogged was march 15. frank, one of the blogger police, reminded me the other day that i'm due.
today, there will be a surprise party for my brother jojo. it will be his 60th birthday. it will be held at his daughter's brampton home and the place will be rocking at 4pm.
jo, as i call him, is the second to the youngest in the family. since i'm the youngest, we did have an ups and downs relationship which is normal during our younger- younger years. while we were growing up, we did have our differences, i'm always right and he is always wrong. he settled down at an early age of 17. he and my late sister-in-law nelia, had their first child, poleng, after 5 years of waiting. anna and christie followed soon.
they immigrated in canada in early 80's. now the three daughters have a family of their own.
jo is the side kick of his common law wife, lynda who is an insurance representative. his main task is to be a designated driver and input in the computer the necessary info regarding pertinent clients. i do admire and respect my brother from what he had accomplished so far considering the education that he attained.
hoping he'll have many more birthdays to come and we wish him the best of everything.
as i predicted, our fil-american contestant in american idol, ms. malubay, finally got voted out last week. truly, there are so many contestant that are better than her. point and case, the lady with tatoos on her right biceps is one of the hurdle she has to overcome. knowing the filipino community, they will embrace her for what she accomplished during her stint in the american idol. i'm just wandering when will an asian american be an american idol champion? whenever it is , the cell is still in the bag and by that time it happens, i might be 6ft below the ground.
going back from the audition until the magic 24, i don't see any korean, japanese and chinese participants. with the exception of william hung couple years ago, it is always us "flips" who always in there. i guess, we filipinos loves to sing even in times that we are mad. i know a woman who makes her own tune and sing the words she wants to blurted out to her husband. the neighbors thinks that she is just singing an opera. what a way to disguise as long as the husband is taking it all in. it is called SPONTERANEOUS singing.
before i end, written or verbal comments are appreciated especially if you are a blogger or non-blogger who is a silent participant.
the snow is starting to melt and warm weather is almost upon us. pretty soon, backyard bbq is an open season. time to go to the park and enjoy the breeze of air of summer.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
AMERICAN IDOL
i have been following the american idol lately due to ms. malubay who is among the remaining 11 contestant vying to be the american idol for 2008. i want to see how long she will last.
the first filipino-american by the name of jasmin lasted to the top 3 and about two years ago a male filipino american lasted not that long.
one thing i seem to notice, filipino-american contestant seems that their choices of songs are not compatible to their voices. they seem to fell in love with the slow tempo. i know that filipinoes love to sing songs that are romantic and in one way or another that the messages that the song brings has attachment to them. i guess their parents has an influence in their selection of songs.
there was a filipino canadian girl who got in to the magic 12 of canadian idol. every week that i watched, ballad after ballad. she has a beautiful voice, just like my wife when she is taking a shower (just inside the shower where her voice really has volume and it echoes as if celine dion is performing her last show in las vegas. as always, i'm staring, standing up and applauding because of her body not the song). what i'm saying , the judges and viewers, never saw how well her voice is if she step away from doing slow tempo music. she didn't last that long too.
i think, these contentants should hire themselves a music coach who can advice them on what songs to sing. they can also advice them if the song can be re-arrange in such a way that it will be accepted. they should go to" frank- talanday's voices unlimited".
these filipino-american-canadian contestants have one thing in common, they are all 6-footers. if they are standing on a 2 foot stool. it reminds me that ms. malubay has a similarity with "things in life" eyes and the height of the "lady lonely traveller and daddy's princess".
now, if you will excuse me.... i would like to sing "ip the fictures faints"..........
the first filipino-american by the name of jasmin lasted to the top 3 and about two years ago a male filipino american lasted not that long.
one thing i seem to notice, filipino-american contestant seems that their choices of songs are not compatible to their voices. they seem to fell in love with the slow tempo. i know that filipinoes love to sing songs that are romantic and in one way or another that the messages that the song brings has attachment to them. i guess their parents has an influence in their selection of songs.
there was a filipino canadian girl who got in to the magic 12 of canadian idol. every week that i watched, ballad after ballad. she has a beautiful voice, just like my wife when she is taking a shower (just inside the shower where her voice really has volume and it echoes as if celine dion is performing her last show in las vegas. as always, i'm staring, standing up and applauding because of her body not the song). what i'm saying , the judges and viewers, never saw how well her voice is if she step away from doing slow tempo music. she didn't last that long too.
i think, these contentants should hire themselves a music coach who can advice them on what songs to sing. they can also advice them if the song can be re-arrange in such a way that it will be accepted. they should go to" frank- talanday's voices unlimited".
these filipino-american-canadian contestants have one thing in common, they are all 6-footers. if they are standing on a 2 foot stool. it reminds me that ms. malubay has a similarity with "things in life" eyes and the height of the "lady lonely traveller and daddy's princess".
now, if you will excuse me.... i would like to sing "ip the fictures faints"..........
Thursday, March 6, 2008
MOMENT OF TRUTH
last night after watching the ladies edition of the american idol i was able to see portion of the new reality show called "moment of truth".
the object of the show is for the contestant to answer question truthfully and could win $500,000.00. it sound so easy and simple but after the watching the contestant answered the first six questions right, in which she won $10,000.00 and moved on to the next series of questions with another price bracket, i turned off the tv.
the contestant immediate family were part of the show and acting as a coaches for her. the six questions that were asked, i consider them as a touch and go questions even though it was inclining to a more personnal note. the higher the pot is, the more personnal it gets or put this way, the higher the jackpot the more you will air your dirty laundry and one wrong answer will ruin all your winnings.
life in this world is not filled with bed of roses. everyone of us has its share of dark moments. not everyone will ever know the truth about you except for you to divulge. in my opinion, participating in this kind of reality tv show is just putting yourself in a position you want to be. how low could you go?
the object of the show is for the contestant to answer question truthfully and could win $500,000.00. it sound so easy and simple but after the watching the contestant answered the first six questions right, in which she won $10,000.00 and moved on to the next series of questions with another price bracket, i turned off the tv.
the contestant immediate family were part of the show and acting as a coaches for her. the six questions that were asked, i consider them as a touch and go questions even though it was inclining to a more personnal note. the higher the pot is, the more personnal it gets or put this way, the higher the jackpot the more you will air your dirty laundry and one wrong answer will ruin all your winnings.
life in this world is not filled with bed of roses. everyone of us has its share of dark moments. not everyone will ever know the truth about you except for you to divulge. in my opinion, participating in this kind of reality tv show is just putting yourself in a position you want to be. how low could you go?
Sunday, February 24, 2008
auto show
the other day i was in the mood to cook so i made my original recipe "spicy garlic squid". mind you, i didn't cook a lot, so portion of the dish, i have to give to a friend who likes that dish so much.
she works with toyota canada and in return, she gave me two tickets to the auto show which i think was a complimentary to them.
i was going to give the tickets to frank but he is tied up and so much appointment to fulfill, the commander in chief is happy to babysit the "CEO" and tim is not available in the weekend. so i ended up inviting my buddy cris.
the last time that i went to the auto show was many many many moons ago. it was held near the airport and the place is called 'international center'. nowadays, it has been at rogers center and metro convention center combine.
it was good that we started early to go around the place. we saw cars that are really pricey , the car that will be for tomorrow and todays car. it was nice to see so many different cars. by the time that i have seen them all, i started to get tired from walking and the place starts to get crowded which the male group outnumbered the female spectator.
due to the recent spike in gas price, i'm more interested at cars which are not gas guzzler. the 2009 toyota matrix and 2008 honda civic are the two cars that interest me most. i have 1998 honda crv with 260k's in it, the commander in chief owns and jockeys that car. when i say owns, what it means, i have to ask permission in advance if i could drive it even though the car is under my name.
since our second car which is 1988 cutlass supreme with less than 200ks in it will eventually croak, i'm thinking of having another car. i haven't seen the specs on both the matrix and honda, but my brain is leaning on one of those two cars. their financing is 0.9% so i couldn't go wrong.
if my budget will have an extra dough to spare and when the weather starts to warm up, i'm pretty sure i'll be able to afford a new car.
Friday, February 15, 2008
valentine / concert
women has a lot of special days in a year. the most important day in her life is her birthday. then, the wedding anniversary, mother's day and of course, valentine.
it is the same ritual every year during valentine day. the men likes to buy their women bunch of long stem red roses and chocolates. men like to buy their women the most meaningful card they could find which i find sometime a bit annoying because a lot of those cards messages are 'corny' in someways or put in a laymen's word..pooh of a cow.
men doesn't have to wait for valentine to show their women how much they love them. the guy doesn't have to buy a dozen of long stem red roses and chocolates. all it takes is to be a molly maid on a weekend, be a chef every now and then, warm up her car and yours in a cold winter morning and be a street veterenarian ( walking the dogs) every night.
by doing so, getting lucky will happen not only on valentines day and other special occassions but on days that business is close due to bad weather.
received a phone call from a fellow blogger that celine dion has a special program on tv. it was a concert to promote her latest cd and it was taped in l.a..
honestly, i'm not really an avid fan of celine. she has songs that are exceptional. the cd that they made in las vegas for her farewell concert which i wrote in my previous blog is by far better than the one in l.a. the latter is flat probably due to sound, choreography and props.
i was disappointed. at the end of the show...guess what....i didn't stand up and applaude. watching and listening to frank's rendition of "o canada" with norman doing the second voice is magical and more entertaining than this concert.
it is the same ritual every year during valentine day. the men likes to buy their women bunch of long stem red roses and chocolates. men like to buy their women the most meaningful card they could find which i find sometime a bit annoying because a lot of those cards messages are 'corny' in someways or put in a laymen's word..pooh of a cow.
men doesn't have to wait for valentine to show their women how much they love them. the guy doesn't have to buy a dozen of long stem red roses and chocolates. all it takes is to be a molly maid on a weekend, be a chef every now and then, warm up her car and yours in a cold winter morning and be a street veterenarian ( walking the dogs) every night.
by doing so, getting lucky will happen not only on valentines day and other special occassions but on days that business is close due to bad weather.
received a phone call from a fellow blogger that celine dion has a special program on tv. it was a concert to promote her latest cd and it was taped in l.a..
honestly, i'm not really an avid fan of celine. she has songs that are exceptional. the cd that they made in las vegas for her farewell concert which i wrote in my previous blog is by far better than the one in l.a. the latter is flat probably due to sound, choreography and props.
i was disappointed. at the end of the show...guess what....i didn't stand up and applaude. watching and listening to frank's rendition of "o canada" with norman doing the second voice is magical and more entertaining than this concert.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
computer
yesterday, i called up my supervisor and informed him that i'm not coming for work today. instead i went to my family doctor and had my left shoulder checked. its been bothering me for almost two weeks now. since i'm a dedicated worker (joke! joke! joke!-"pinas " style), i just ignored the pain even though i could hardly drive. i even applied those heated medicated plasters (salompas) which didn't do any good. the situation is not getting better. so i went to my nearby family doctor.
he prescribed for an x-ray, physiotherapy and 10 tablets of "celebrex" 200mg. i have just taken the first tablet after our dinner at "wasabi" with the commander-in-chief, seyla, frank (francis) and teacher trae. so far the pain is subsiding. i'll find out tomorrow morning the results.
during our dinner, teacher trae gave me an idea what to discuss in my blog. she said that the blogger police will not be on my tail because i'm on a roll regarding my blogging. anyways, she said to write something about my and commander-in-chief computer.
two weeks ago, the blogger police was at my e-mail advising me that i'm logging off at my blog. the blogger police doesn't have any idea that i'm having a problem with my commander-in-chief regarding the usage of our computer.
before she got involved with this travel business, i used to sit down and do computer stuff after dinner and will break for at least an hour for me to take out the two love of her life four legged friend, feed my inheritance from timmy (fishes) and then comeback finish the rest of the day infront of the computer.
now it is different. on a week nights, after dinner, i will just have a glimpse of people who sent me messages. i can't reply back. then it will be her turn until around 11:30 p.m. and by that time , i'm already snoring in our bedroom. on weekends, the session starts after lunch.
lately, she is asking norm to look for an affordable laptop. i hope norm can find her one at her price (which i doubt) so i could be back to my normal usage of our computer and i don't have to get up so early, 4am to be exact, just to respond to some of my friends messages.
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COMPUTER!!!!!!!!
note: there was a guy who beat the charge against him in court regarding the incoming traffic radar warning. same token, daddy's princess, watch for the blooger police.
he prescribed for an x-ray, physiotherapy and 10 tablets of "celebrex" 200mg. i have just taken the first tablet after our dinner at "wasabi" with the commander-in-chief, seyla, frank (francis) and teacher trae. so far the pain is subsiding. i'll find out tomorrow morning the results.
during our dinner, teacher trae gave me an idea what to discuss in my blog. she said that the blogger police will not be on my tail because i'm on a roll regarding my blogging. anyways, she said to write something about my and commander-in-chief computer.
two weeks ago, the blogger police was at my e-mail advising me that i'm logging off at my blog. the blogger police doesn't have any idea that i'm having a problem with my commander-in-chief regarding the usage of our computer.
before she got involved with this travel business, i used to sit down and do computer stuff after dinner and will break for at least an hour for me to take out the two love of her life four legged friend, feed my inheritance from timmy (fishes) and then comeback finish the rest of the day infront of the computer.
now it is different. on a week nights, after dinner, i will just have a glimpse of people who sent me messages. i can't reply back. then it will be her turn until around 11:30 p.m. and by that time , i'm already snoring in our bedroom. on weekends, the session starts after lunch.
lately, she is asking norm to look for an affordable laptop. i hope norm can find her one at her price (which i doubt) so i could be back to my normal usage of our computer and i don't have to get up so early, 4am to be exact, just to respond to some of my friends messages.
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COMPUTER!!!!!!!!
note: there was a guy who beat the charge against him in court regarding the incoming traffic radar warning. same token, daddy's princess, watch for the blooger police.
Monday, February 4, 2008
BIRTHDAYS
yesterday was my dearest mom 88th b-day. it seems that it was only yesterday, mom could move around well without any pain in her knees. she used to go out where she pleases. that's why in 'pinas' we used to call her "aling purita may gulong sa paa" (aling purita has wheels on her feet).even though her health is not what used to be, her mind is still sharp especially if you are discussing "MONEY".
she is the founder and chief ceo of the "alalay philippines foundation", a charitable institution known for their humanitarian assistance for the needy.
the barrientos clan is blessed and we hope she will still be around for another 20 years. from the love and constant prayers of people that surrounds her and also from people that she was able to touch, i think mom will be with us for awhile.
a b-day greetings also to cristy who is celebrating her b-day tomorrow and will be a full time housewife come april. i hope i will be able to join her for a nice "kare-kare" dinner.
lastly, it will be norm's b-day feb. 10. i'm hoping i'll get invited to magic wok. an order of deep fried squid and a plain rice that will do me good. as for dessert "FRESH RIPE DURIAN" fruit.
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