The DJ who's not a DeeJay

November 2 is actually the Day for the Souls but in the Philippines it's celebrated on November 1, which is actually All Saints Day.

I started the day early going to church as there was a special mass on this day.
The priest, after giving homily gave a special blessing to us all, called Plenary Indulgence, which was a type of special cleansing. It was a nice feeling to start to the day and month for that matter with this special blessing.

Today was also the day to visit our departed loved ones. We visited both of my grandparents in Loyola Marikina. It's been a long time since their death, yet I remember and reflected on the good times we shared. I was also with relatives which made the experience some sort of a reunion.

Towards the evening, heavy rains poured which reminded me of the special cleansing I had received that day. Though it was a day of grief and reflection in all aspects of my life, I feel it is one that I need to go through in order to find a deeper meaning to life as well as continue with my journey in this world.

To all my loved ones, you will always be remembered.

Last Thursday, I attended a press conference for a new album by a long time group in the Philippine Music Industry. It was one of the usual press conference over lunch. However, what made this one particularly different was that all media people were asked to pick a piece of paper which either had the word "trick" or "treat". Those who picked "treat" would be treated to a short song number by the group while those who got "trick" would do the singing.

Unfortunately, I picked "trick" and had to sing with the group.

Now if you know me, you're likely to say "wait a minute, Jay doesn't sing !". And it's a sad fact that I'm musically inclined but I just don't find my singing voice attractive. As for my speaking voice, that's fine. I can even rap as long as it's not within a melody. I do sing, but I prefer not to expose my unpleasant singing.

Back to my story...

It really helped that there were only around 8 media people and I knew half of them. So the group selected the song entitled "Pasaway" on the videoke machine and away did I go trying to keep my embarassment to myself while enduring listening to my pathetic singing. It's was great timing though as immediately after I finished, a GMA TV crew arrived and started shooting. Imagine my embarassment being shown on worldwide TV if they had come earlier !

On a similar note, I think I found another one of my rare kind who loves music but refuses to sing publicly. She also picked "trick" and was supposed to sing but for some lucky instance, she was actually serenaded by the group since she mentioned that her birthday is near. Lucky Annie !

My swatch watch's strap got busted 2 weeks ago and since then, I haven't been wearing a watch on my wrist.

I'm not used to not wearing a watch since knowing the time at any given time is cruicial for me. My wrist also feels bare.

I remember though my college English teacher asked one day which one of us didn't wear watches. Only one out of my 20 classmates raised her hand and our teacher said "Great ! You are not bounded by time. You are free." It sounded nice.. but I didn't agree with her 100%. I just remember that my reaction that day is the same as it is now... "How the hell can you survive a day without knowing the time ?"

In this day and age of technology, time is critical in applications, especially computer-based ones. And so how am I getting by without a watch ? Well, I'm currently relying on my computer, celphone and any clock or watch I can find nearby. I also get to ask people now... "Excuse me, anong oras na ?"

I happened to pass by a Greenwich outlet yesterday and saw the big tarpaulin ad of an "eat-all-you-can" pizza for only P99 from 11am to 2pm. I was also distracted by the crew member beside the tarp encouraging people to try it. Unfortunately, I was on a hectic sched and didn't have the luxury to stay and satisfy my pasta urge till my heart's content.

Today, I was able to pass by the same fastfood but with a lighter sched. It took me 5 minutes to decide whether to take the plunge and challenge my stomach or regret it. I'd say, it was a no-brainer. And so, I took a last look at the ad, before entering and ordering myself a "Pizza All You Can" package. Adding P30. will give you your choice of bottomless softdrinks. I'm not a fan of softdrinks but I needed some kind of liquid to help me achieve my goal so bottoms up !

I remember way back in college, Pizza Hut had a similar promo and me and my college pal Mark took up the challenge to see how many slices we could eat. I think I ate 5 slices.

I was delighted that the slices available were of their Primo size, which was a Pizza Hut-like slice in terms of size rather than their petite and thin regular pizza. As the ad mentioned, you have a choice of either Pepperoni or Hawaiian. I am not fond of Hawaiian pizza as I believe that pineapples are not a legitimate ingredient of a true pizza. My 1st 2 slices that were served were both pepperoni. My 3rd slice though was served against my will and while I was still finishing my 1st slice. It was a Hawaiian slice. OH NO ! I was set on just asking for pepperoni slices. The tricky part here was that there should be no leftovers before ordering your next slice. So I had no choice but to consume the pineapple tidbits, which kinda dampened my pizza frenzy experience.

I was on my 7th slice when I was set on stopping when the overexcited Greenwich waiter served me an 8th slice. It was a fresh out-of-the-oven pepperoni slice. Oooohhhh !!! I couldn't resist.

And so after over an hour, and 3 softdrink refills, I am happy to have consumed 8 slices of Pizza. And the challenge was that 3 of them were Hawaiian ! All for the love of pizza... :)

Early today, my 2 cellphones, mp4 player and digicam all blinked the dreaded low batt status. My laptop was also still half charged. I then realized that a lot of my gadgets depend on stored power to operate. Not that I didn't know it yet, but it became more apparent as I also realized that if they all need to be recharged at the same time, I am in need of more power sockets. It's a good thing that these gadgets (except for the digicam) can still be used while charging. Otherwise, I'd be waiting for everything to fully charge before I could use it.

Aside from being the name of one of our dogs years back, Skippy is also my favorite dessert (next to leche flan). It may sound weird but when I'm at home, I just get a teaspoon after the meal and take out the peanut butter from the refrigerator. I take a big scoop (half an inch high at least) and lick off the top as if it were coating until the mound of peanut butter slowly flattens until it's consumed.

Of course, it's more difficult to use the same technique on the "chunky" versions of Skippy where you have pieces of chopped (but not fine) peanuts.

I ran out of peanut butter yesterday so I passed by the supermarket.
I was disappointed though that I couldn't find any Skippy branded peanut butter. So I settled for a whimsy Peter Pan. I'm not too keen on their mascot on the label looking gayish, but I hope the super rich honey-flavored peanut butter edition of theirs is enough to make me look past Peter Pan's costume.

Happy scooping !

My new mobile phone was really meant for me to be able to connect to the net at higher speeds. Unfortunately, Smart Communications has a better deal in internet usage, P10. for 30 minutes as opposed to Globe's P0.10 per kilobyte I think. Problem is my mobile number for the past 7 years has been a Globe number.

It seems so hard to switch cause I have to inform each and every person who knows my current number that I'll be using a new number. Also, I love my current number cause it has a lot of "7's" in it and kinda easy to remember.

With the switch also comes some planning. I have to let everybody know of my new number and bulk of the work is figuring out who exactly is "everybody". Hopefully, I'll be able to do this all within a week's time.

As for now, I'll enjoy my last few days with my phone number for 7 years (7 again ? is that a coincidence?)

The remote control for my TV recently got busted. I think it just needed some reprogramming. Yet I intentionally did not fix it as a way to discourage me from watching TV or at least switching channels to watch a show. I didn't fix it for a week. It's actually still not fixed and I'm okey with that.

Meanwhile, I discovered a new remote control... my mobile phone. I discovered the function where my phone can control my computer via bluetooth. So I tried it one night before sleeping. I left my pc online and internet explorer set to my friendster account. I got to my bed afterwards which is around 2 meters away from my pc and tried to access my computer. I was surprised that I could move the cursor, click and navigate windows.

Now when I wake up in the middle of the night, I can connect to the net, check my email and set files for download. I just can't read anything since I'm still in bed and barely awake for my brain to process anything intellectual (nor basic for that matter when your mind is still asleep). But the task is astonishing enough for me to give props to this technology.

I was so happy to find out that Church's Chicken has put up a branch here in the Philippines. As far as I know, it's only at the SM Mall of Asia.

I'm particularly familiar with the restaurant cause my parents used to buy chicken from Church's Chicken in San Diego when I was a kid. I remember they even had gizzards and other weird chicken parts on the menu.

Located at the extreme North area of SM Mall of Asia, it's at the corner and has a huge mascot named Churchie. (Trivia: You won't find that out unless you read what's written at the mascot's back.)

I was pleased to discover that their chicken tastes very similar to the ones I've eaten years back. A plus is that they have very affordable prices. If you get to check it out, lemme know what you think about their food.

Go to church ... church's chicken. (What a lame ad if it've existed.)

I was driving along Buenda yesterday going to Mall of Asia. It was a Sunday so the usual Makati Business District traffic was non-existent.

Upon entering the Buendia stretch from the C5 bridge, I witnessed a motorcycle at top speed disengage from the driver and both of them tumbling over and over separately. I had no idea how it happened since it was all happening at an instant. Good thing the driver wore a helmet cause I actually saw his helmet bounce on the concrete while tumbling at a fast pace. All the cars behind came an abrupt stop to give way to the unfortunate driver and check as well whether he was fine or not.

He was able to get up after a few seconds. Seems he only got some minor bruises. I don't know if his bike is okey too. Another guy on a motorcycle tried to help him but the shaken up guy kinda said something to the other guy and made some pointing signs towards a speeding car almost disappearing in sight. I guess he signaled the guy to catch up with the car. So it seems like it's a hit and run.

It was a scary sight. You see these kinds of accidents on TV but you can never prepare yourself for the shock of witnessing it live right in front of you.

A couple of nights ago, I was with my college computer science kabarkada, Kristine. She's based in Singapore and is here on vacation and to celebrate her birthday in the Philippines for a change (Happy Birthday Kristine!).

We met up and and hung out at the nearest Starbucks and reminisced about our college days and updated each other on the whereabouts of our other college peers.

Along with my new (hi-tech) 3G-capable phone, I also brought my (not-so-hitech) laptop and decided that since we were talking about our friends which we couldn't seem to remember their full names, I booted up and went online to where else but... friendster.com

I tell you it was such an easier exchange of stories viewing our friends on our friendster accounts while learning about our other classmates whereabouts and getting updated on what they're doing and more especially, how they look now. Thanks to friendster for letting users upload their self-portraits. :)

It was the day after that I realized that most of the people I know who have a friendster account have way many more friends/contacts than I do. I was envious of Kristine's friendster account who had way more contacts and friends than mine. So I decided to spend an hour searching for my other friends whom are not on my friendster list yet, to beef up my friendster count so to speak. I think after all that searching within an hour, I only found 10 more friends.

So for those who are reading this and know me personally, add me up on friendster. PLEASE !!!!
hahahaha ! No I'm not that desperate. But I'd appreciate the add up. Cya on friendster soon !

After more than two years, I finally bought myself a new phone. I was pretty much satisfied with my old Siemens M55 phone as I didn't long for video, camera, memory cards, bluetooth and other features newer phones have.

I was actually canvassing for a low budget phone, simply because my old phone became stubborn when pressing the keys. I guess after two years of pressing something, it will refuse to be pressed afterwards. I only wanted a replacement that had better keypress and a bit more color (65K as opposed to my 4K color phone).

Anyway, the turning point of getting a high-tech phone was when I witnessed a 3G phone being connected to a laptop and getting DSL speeds instantly. When I saw that, I thought to myself, I need that. Fancy phones - not too keen.. can live without, but fast internet mobile connection - it's a must for my profession.

And so after a week of canvassing and searching in shops for this extremely hard-to-find phone, I finally got one at a premium price. Behold the Sony Ericsson K608i. :)

Even though the price has increased by P2,000. cause it's phased out, it's still the chepeast 3G phone available. I tried to connect the phone to my desktop and laptop and I get internet speeds of 15K/sec. which is much much better than my regular 3K/sec. dialup connection.

But now since I have the phone, I might as well utilize the other features. It's my first time to have a phone with a built-in camera. My digital SLR is still way more superior than the pics taken here, but I may use it for those times I don't have my camera with me. I still have to learn the other features. The manual given to me was in Malaysian. Good thing there are online manuals available on the Sony Ericsson Website.

For more details on this phone, check this link out.

3G baby ! Watch out ! I'm on the internet highway with a Ferrari now! Am short on gas though.

I just came from Virgin Cafe, the bar/restaurant/gig venue along Tomas Morato.

You can't smell it while you're there cause I guess it's everywhere and you get immune to it, but I swear the moment you get out from the enclosed canned airconditioned joint to the fresh, unadulterated atmosphere (or at least around 2am it is), that's where you'll start to smell your clothes, and boy do they smell !

It's the distinct scent of cigarette smoke which clings to your clothes like a leech; rendering your clothes unusable for anything afterwards with a non-stop one-way ticket to the laundry.

I need to take a shower as well cause I feel as if the smoke has penetrated my clothing walls and silently sinked into my skin.

I left my computer to conduct a complete scan test for viruses while I ate breakfast this morning. I was surprised to learn that I had over 300,000 files on my computer !

If I were to name at least some of them, like the filename and subdirectory they're in, I guess I could only reach 5,000. And I just backed up a lot of files on DVDR last week ! So I could originally have had a half a million files. I wish this were cash !

If you're not familiar with Batista, we'll he's one of the most popular wrestlers now in World Wrestling Entertainment. Batista was scheduled to visit Manila for 2 days to promote the upcoming Smackdown Manila Tour set for October 2006.

Out of the 5 malls he'd be touring, I picked the one least likely to have lots of people and on a weekday. I was with my former officemate EO and we were lucky to get in because we already had tickets for the October event. To make our experience even more exciting, both of us were two of 10 lucky texters who won a special official WWE matt and an exclusive opportunity for a meet and greet up close with the Animal.

The whole experience was so surreal and for this day in particular, I was a fan and not a media person covering the event. I was also nervous as what I could say to Batista since there was only a 15 second chance each winner got since they were rushing the event. I clearly remembered I told him "I admire the fact that you acknowledge your Filipino heritage." Ehhhh !!!! Wrong answer ! I don't think he heard me cause of the noise plus the fact the I wasn't able to finish my sentence or else I would miss the photo opportunity. I should've just said "Hope you become champ again !" ... at least it would be short and sweet.

Damn he's huge ! His shoulder is as hard as a rock and his arm is as big as my puny thigh. His thigh is huge enough to be my friend's waist !

The 3 hour wait was worth it. I got my autograph and pic. (Note: I intentionally cut the pic to hide my useless identity. hehehehe!) This is the closest I've gotten to an actual international wrestler. Whooooohooooo !!!! Batista ! Batista !

It was a first time I think that I've been complimented for my clothing, particularly my shirt.

Yesterday, three people from 3 different places noticed my shirt and complimented it saying it was a nice shirt. Well, I really didn't notice the design when I wore it yesterday. All I remember before leaving the house was that it was a black t-shirt. I didn't take any notice of how nice it was cause for me, it's a shirt, something decent to wear and clean. I wasn't aware my shirt could get compliments that day.

So now I'm taking note of this particular shirt and if I need a good shirt or at least one that may possibly attract attention, I'll wear this one. Funny thing is I don't remember where I got it.

Last Thursday was a series of shockers for me. One is bearable but 3 in succession feels like it's too much for me to digest all at once.

First, I received a text message that my girlfriend's condition in the hospital went from not good to worse. And later that night when I read more about the medical terms on Wikipedia, the more it scared me.

Second, I was at Eastwood early evening and couldn't find my celphone. I had a hunch I left it in the car, which is actually better than losing it. I figured I just forgot to bring it. I just remembered my friend Ernie who I was supposed to pick up that night, that he just lost his celphone the other night in a taxi. I was hoping I wouldn't be receiving the same fate.

So I went back to the car. I sorta panicked when after 5 minutes of looking under each car seat, I still couldn't find it. I took the flashlight then, opened all doors and crawled into the seat floors of the car. While I was losing hope, added pressure to me were 3 cars waiting for me to leave so they could take my parking spot. Don't they know I can't find my celphone and they're only interested in my parking space ? Well, can't blame them. They don't know why I was frantically moving from door to door. The security guard even had suspicions if that was my car because the way I looked puzzled. Get off my case guard. I'll show you my parking ticket if I have to.

After 10 minutes of looking and a breaking out into a cold sweat, I finally found it. It wasn't actually on the car floor. It was behind the seatbelt buckle which was why I couldn't find it right away.

After that, I drove to pick up Ernie. My knees were still trembling from that last incident. Because of the celphone incident, I was also late. I was supposed to pick up Ernie and go back to Eastwood. Since there were lots of people there that night, parking was terrible. I couldn't find a parking space nearby. Then, some guard directed us to park at a new parking lot, which I followed. To our surprise, it was a road that lead to an basement parking of an unfinished (and currently being built) building. It was scary that you parked in a place where you could see cement trucks and workers fully equipped to handle any falling debris while you and your car are totally unprepared for any such mishap. Plus the entire place smelling like fresh cement added to the creepiness of the parking lot.

The rest of the night went well even though we were late.

As the day was almost over, I was heading home feeling hungry, decided to pass by one of my favorite 7-11 branches to get a quick bite. When I parked, I noticed in front of the car was a man who was sitting down near the curve. Behind him was an ATM Machine. When I left 7-11, he was laying on the ground looking lifeless and almost looking dead enough to qualify for the "Night Of The Living Dead" cast. That scared me. And there was this guy with a motorbike helmet using the ATM behind him who paid no attention to the man. It felt like it was a scene from a scary movie. Eerie.

This is why I don't like watching scary movies. If it were anything close to my day, I'd be in shock the whole time. And just antipicating the shock leaves me agitated. Good night.

I recently went to Megamall to look for a particular item.

I used to be here almost everyday years ago since my office was nearby. Years after, and the horde of people entering this mall is still immense.

This time I was trying to lay low, keeping my head slightly tilted towards the floor and not looking too much at people. I was actually avoiding seeing someone I know. I was just too lazy to made an effort to call their attention or make some chitchat in the case I do bump into someone I know. I just wanted to get my business done and get out of there.

Unforunately, I did see someone I knew, a former college batchmate of mine. Good thing he didn't see me so I didn't have to say Hi. I know, it looks bad but I wasn't in a social mood that day. Don't worry, I'm not usually this way.

I just came back from Banawe, the mecca of auto parts in Quezon City. I had to find a cheap mud guard since our terriers chewed up our front mudguards. Getting an inexpensive car accessory in Banawe is not a problem.

What you should worry about is the safety of your own car as there are lots of "tambays" who offer car services and some double as car accessories stealers. I've heard of some horror stories from Banawe. If the auto supply store doesn't have what you're looking for, they'll look for a car parked nearby and steal it for you to buy. Of course you never know if what you're buying there is hot or not.

One other thing I frown upon when in Banawe is that those street people who look for customers will stop and look at your car in detail and will critique almost everything so they can offer their services. For my car, I was told that I needed new suspension, headlight guard, another mudguard, rain protector, new tint, door protector and a paint job. If my car had any emotion, it must've gone into depression. I kept on telling the people that the car is fine and I don't need any additional accessories. Imagine, I was even offered a remote control for the car. Remote control ? For what ?!?!?

While the mudguard was being installed, there were at least 5 other people (usiseros) who had nothing to do with the installation. They just watched and eavesdropped on my conversation with the mechanic, possibly hinting for anything else they could offer me. I couldn't understand why they stay there. It isn't a damn freakshow. They made me more uncomfortable because I was thinking someone might distract me while somebody else may be stealing something from the car. I remember my side view mirror was stolen the last time I passed by this place in the past.

Anyway, I saved 80% of the regular price if I would buy it in an authorized Toyota dealer. I'm just glad I got out of there without any casualty.

I attribute my personal saddest couple of days to be last week because 3 things happened:
1. I got sick with the flu.
2. My website went down and I was too physically weak to even use the computer to fix it.
3. I lost 1 week worth of revenue because of No. 2
4. My loved one was ill too.

Now that I thought of it, it's been 1 1/2 years since I last got sick. And I don't miss it one bit. For someone who's a workaholic and is not content doing nothing, it was such an unbearable and frustrating week for me as I was restricted from doing anything but getting rest so I could get well.

And if that wasn't irritating enough, imagine my frustration that I couldn't even use the computer to go online and fix my website who is still suffering from server migration pains.

My website went down along with me for a week and I fear it sustained some damage in some way. I know it affected my steady visitor count. Also since my website was down, my online store was as well and I couldn't receive any product orders. Lastly, my advertising revenue also screeched to an abrupt halt with no ads being displayed due to the site downtime.

Lastly, the person I wished for additional comfort was in need of comfort as well as she was sick the same time I was too. As much as I wanted to be there for her, I myself was in the same predicament. We were like in a mutual support system where we had to reassure each other everything was going to be fine.

I dread having to go through something like this again. I can handle single blows but if they come in multiples, I may not be able to handle it.

Quoting my friend who texted me last week, "bawal magkasakit."