Once more, with feelings

Once again I was present at the Eraserheads reunion concert. It was held last Saturday, March 7 at SM MOA concert grounds and was attended by an estimated 100,000 fans.

How do you like our new house? The 'Heads perform acoustic. Photo by: Dan&Neva

This concert wasn’t as surreal as the first one – that it started with spine-tingling “Alapaap” and that it ended with shocking news that front man Ely had to be rushed to the hospital right after the first set – there was none of that drama. If anything, “The Final Set”, as what the concert was called, was more relaxed and full of fun surprises. When the concert started with a fast song, “Magasin”, we all knew this one was going to be different. And it was. Ely was more engaged with the audience, he responded “kayo muna” when we shouted “group hug!” and when a man from the audience shouted “I love you Ely!” as Ely was singing the lounge version of “Kailan” Ely responded, “I love you too, pare”. More than that they showed how unpredictable they still could be as they were 10 years ago. They changed some of their lyrics, in “Magasin”: “ngunit pangit ka pa no’n…hanggang ngayon”. And in the already naughty “Pare Ko”, they added more, well naughty lyrics: “sabi nya, ayaw pa nyang mag-asawa, dehins ako naniwala…ayun pala, magaling lang sha sa kama…akala ko ay dehins pa.” That got us, the crowd, screaming.

Ely in excelsis: confetti showered upon the stage and on the crowd as the band played "Ang Huling El Bimbo." Photo by: ikissfootball

There were other moments during the concert that got us cheering and screaming like mad: Raymund standing next to Ely as they listened to us sing-along to “SloMo”, Marcus singing the reggae version of “Wag Mo Nang Itanong”, and at that part where Ely had us chant “Francis!” before he sang the chorus of “Kaleidoscope World” for his dearly departed friend FrancisM. If I may be candid, sometime while Ely was singing “Pare Ko” I started to cry. The song was sad in itself, and I was feeling nostalgic: here is the band that made songs that had become part of my teenage years. It felt a lot like saying goodbye and I wasn’t ready yet.

Thank you Ely, Raymund, Marcus, and Buddy for the 2 reunion concerts, for performing one last time as a band and for playing the songs we all loved. Those nights would never be forgotten.

Group Hug: We are the Eraserheads. Photo by Dan & Neva

the year that was

I didn’t have a life in 2008. Work was like a vampire that sucked me dry until I didn’t have energy left to do anything else. Airplane rides and beaches were traded for many long boring meetings. I had way too many midnight cab rides going home instead of road trips with friends. Weekends were gone, for my only free time was Sunday and it was spent sleeping in. 2009 promises to be a great year. If my plan pushes through I’ll be stepping inside a plane again flying half way around the globe taking a bite on a big apple. I can’t wait.

projects

I wish I have the time to take pictures again.

A couple of months ago I finally found a box of fotoclips which I’ve been looking for forever. The clips are supposed to “stitch” photos together to put on a wall instead of taping or pinning which may ruin the photos (and your wall). And last month I won in eBay a vintage Olympus XA (a rangefinder! Yay!) The light seals need to be replaced and I intend it to do it by myself. I’m excited :D Now all I have to do is to find and buy the stuff needed to replace the light seals. And as for the photo wall…well that would have to wait. No new photos will be put on my wall while I’m busy with work.

Minsan

We're nearing hell time at this phase in our project but thank God I can still spare a few hours to unwind. This is the event I went to last Saturday, August 30:


The one night only reunion concert of the Eraserheads held at the Fort open field. It was a good 15-song show which started with "Alapaap", a song that was performed oh-so-lovely that for a split-second I almost cried. The concert was cut short when Ely was rushed to the hospital after experiencing chest pains. I was disappointed, just like everyone who was there, but we all understood. And we didn't feel we were short-changed. I guess collectively we felt that at least they reunited at all for our benefit and that we heard them play their hits live, at least some of them. Raimund announced shortly after in an interview that it was supposed to be a 3-set concert, where each set will be better than the last. He also mentioned that members of the band were sad that the fans didn't get to see what they had prepared, adding that the first set the fans saw was just "warm-up". Sigh. As of this writing, Ely was already released from the hospital after undergoing another angioplasty. No word yet if another reunion concert will push through.

Photo by: LBDista

so many places to go..

one of my flickr contacts has a lovely photo set of images from a recent trip to macau. i like how she took photos of not only the usual tourist destinations but also of the city's quaint nooks which one usually discovers when en route to some place else.

i miss travelling. so much.

photo by KoolCats

not Sunday

I am currently sitting on the dining table with my laptop, a notebook, pen, and a bottle of water. I am all set to work at home…on a Sunday morning. An hour has already passed without me getting any work done. (Although I discovered a nice little blog which I now added to my growing list of blogs I love to lurk, haha).

Why am I working, you might ask. Because there’s a lot of work to be done and our working hours last Friday was cut short with an impromptu team building activity and an hour-long pep talk from the IT big boss. Add to that that all us from the team could not come to work yesterday since our workstations were being transferred from an oven masquerading as an office to a, well, better working area. All in all about 10 manhours were taken from me. Sigh.

It’s nearing 11am and I have yet to start opening up the test scripts and use cases I intend to review. Seriously.

photo credit: FabianG

new chapter

Yesterday I decided to:
1) Give my old laptop to my brother
2) Buy a new laptop
3) Give my iPod to my dad

It feels like starting a new chapter of my life.

Tomorrow I will commute to work without my usual playlists in hand. I don’t know if I should re-create them as how I remember them...or if I should create new ones. Hmm.
These are just superficial things, but there are actually bigger things changing in my life right now. Like my youngest brother leaving home to work in UK. A friend leaving. My work starting crunch time. And then maybe, me. Changing yet again.

I guess this calls for a new soundtrack.