Girl on TV

After the guesting in three different radio stations last Monday to promote our January-February 2011 issue, I guested in a TV show yesterday afternoon. It's a taped episode for QTV's Full Time Moms, and it's going to be aired on Monday, January 17.

So what did I do? Secret. Let's just say I demonstrated something for their "Handy Moms" segment (I'm not yet a mom, by the way hehe), and I spent my Monday night preparing for it to see if what I would demonstrate would work. I felt like I was doing a practicum for an E.P.P/H.E.L.E (Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan / Home Economics and Life Education).

TV guestings, or any form of speaking to a mass audience, make me nervous, thanks a lot to stage fright. Or is it really stage fright? Maybe it's a small dose of stage fright underscored by my lack of confidence in my speaking skills. Maybe it's just all in my head.

So how did my guesting turn out? I guess I'll leave it up to you on Monday to find out. Meanwhile, here's a photo of me with the show's hosts:

From left: Yours truly, Christine Jacob-Sandejas, and Suzi Entrata-Abrera

And since I ended the segment with promoting our magazine, might as well do it here, too! :)


Please grab a copy of our latest issue, featuring the color trends for 2011 and loads of decorating tips to welcome the new year. Available in bookstores and newsstands for P140. :)

What makes you smile?

I thought I was going to be late this morning, because it's just the second work week of January, and yet I've only been successful in my New Year's Resolution (to not hit the Snooze button and get up for real) for only two days! Tsk tsk. So there. Since I slept again after my phone alarm has gone off, I'm thisclose to placing propeller on my feet so I can get to the office faster.

Aside from that, I was hurrying because I had a radio tour today. And since I didn't have a copy of our magazine yet, I wasn't really able to prepare over the weekend. We were scheduled to leave at 11 a.m., and since at 10 a.m. I was still two train stations away from where my office is, I was really worried.

Thankfully, I was able to log in at 10.12 a.m., giving me 48 precious minutes to prepare what I had to say in the radio tour. I was sweaty from brisk walking from the MRT station to my office, worried about my guesting, and then I saw this on my desk:


Two hard-boiled native chicken eggs from my dearest from his hometown in Mindoro. These eggs are smaller than the regular chicken egg, making them oh so cute. And the faces drawn on them even made them oh so adorable! These cute eggs made my day. And oh by the way, the radio tour went pretty well. :)

After the radio tour, I decided to eat them.


The eggs taking their final bow at the pantry. Before they get peeled and find their home in my stomach. *burps* I ate them with crackers. The eggs were so filling that I felt like I ate a sandwich.

Simple, little surprises like this never fail to make me smile. I'm actually easy to please. I don't need to be taken out to a romantic dinner just for a guy to win my heart. A guy doesn't have to drive a car or pay for everything when we go out for me to be impressed. Simple gestures done out of love don't go unrecognized and unappreciated by a simple girl like me. And the two cute eggs I found on my desk this morning are proof of that.

How about you? What makes you smile?

The Road Ahead

It is never straight and easy,
Never smooth, often bumpy.
It is never a walk in the park,
But making your way through the dark.

Peppered with stones and pebbles,
Laced with worries and troubles,
The road ahead isn’t a sight to behold.
To proceed, you must be strong and bold.

A lot of wrong turns and detours,
And you may think being there is a curse.
But let your spirits be not dampened,
For behind the thick bushes is a beautiful garden.

The journey may be long and tiring,
But it’s just a beginning
Of another trip, another walk
On a road full of adventures.

-Katherine Lopez
09 January 2011

Things I enjoyed this week

The first work week of the year has passed, and thankfully, it has been kind to me. I welcomed it with more music, like I've said in my previous post. I had a shoot and one article done for the magazine, so those were two things I checked in my "to do" list.

One thing I enjoyed this week was seeing RPG Metanoia, the first Pinoy 3D animated film.



And I'm so glad I watched it (aside from the fact that I watched it with my boyfriend hehehe). Everything about the film is so distinctively Pinoy: the house, the streets, the kids' pambahay clothes, the Pinoy street games they played at one point in the movie (my favorite part!), a nearby sar-sari store and computer shop. I don't play computer games, unlike the characters in the movie, but I got the chance to look back on my own childhood during the scenes where they played street games like patintero, piko (hopscotch), shatong, tumbang preso, and taguan (hide and seek). I guess it's also one thing that makes it so Pinoy - a scene or two in the movie can trigger a similar experience among the Pinoy audience.

The movie also sends a message that kids shouldn't be playing computer games ALL THE TIME. Yes, it's clean fun, but they shouldn't be glued to it 24/7. I saw this when Nico, the main character, forgot about his promise to play badminton with his mom. He went to play computer games instead. And when Nico and his friends got banned from Bomb Shelter, the computer shop, by the bullies, they channeled their energy to Pinoy street games, with the help of a character named May, and they still had fun. It is important for kids nowadays to remember that there's a whole lot of fun and interaction outside computer shops and away from their precious computer games.

The film won four awards in the Metro Manila Film Festival. These are: 3rd Best Picture, Best Sound Recording, Best Original Theme Song, and Quezon City's Special Citation for Gender Sensitive Movie. Click here to know more about the movie and its director, Louie Suarez.

I also love the soundtrack! My favorite song is Aminin Mo. It's the song played whenever Nico sees May. :)




The other songs are great, too. If I see the album in record stores, I'll have no second thoughts in buying it. :)

Aside from seeing RPG Metanoia, another thing I enjoyed this week is getting to play Ultimate after a three-month hiatus. Thanks to the Disc Kulits team for letting me play with them. :) Now, I'm looking forward to Beginners' Night on Monday and playing with my Ultimate friends again.

More work, more music

The holidays are over, and whether we like it or not, it's time to go back to work again. As others face this reality with dread, I'm facing work this year with music by my side. Thanks to the earphones my cousin gave me last Christmas, I can listen to music played in the computer while I work without bothering anyone.

As it is obvious by now, I love acoustic, so I love the music of Boyce Avenue . Here is one of their covers that kept my ears glued to my brand new earphones:


I love the piano, but for me the vocals were a bit dragging in some parts. The beginning was suave, paving the way to the buildup of the song at 1:40. With the addition of the guitar and with the playing of more individual notes instead of merely chords, the vocals could've been more dynamic. But overall, I enjoyed listening to it. My favorite part is the piano instrumental at 2:54 (yes I love piano, and I haven't listened to anything played on it that I didn't like).

So there it is - beautiful music to kick off the year's work. I hope that my work this year and in the years to come will be as beautiful as the music I listen to.

2010 in review

This email from Wordpress made my day. I didn't know my blog did this well in 2010.Thank you so much - fellow poets, bloggers, friends who keep on visiting, and anonymous people who found this blog by searching some terms, and yes, you who are reading this - for your continued support. Now, I'm motivated to write more and make this blog better this 2011. I hope to see you back here blog post after blog post. Cheers! :)

The email I got from Wordpress:

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here's a high level summary of its overall blog health:



The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2010. That's about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 46 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 52 posts. There were 38 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 4mb. That's about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was January 21st with 44 views. The most popular post that day was Nostalgia.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com, iheartroanne.blogspot.com, WordPress Dashboard, and mail.yahoo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for acoustic duets, rey and kaye, rey and kaye album, acoustic duet 2009 filipino, and mark navarra frisbee.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Nostalgia January 2010
27 comments

2

"You Belong With Me" and other covers by Rey and Kaye December 2009
1 comment

3

Tower of Babel January 2010
21 comments

4

Ghost November 2010
15 comments and 3 Likes on WordPress.com

5

About December 2009
6 comments

Fresh Start

Open your door
And take the first step
Of another journey,
Another beginning.

Leave behind your tears,
Your regrets, your worries.
Put them all in a box, and take with you
The lessons you have learned.

Another year, another chance
To dance, to laugh, to love, and take risks.
Fireworks light up the sky
As you start anew.

-Katherine Lopez
01 January 2011

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Happy New Year fellow poets, bloggers, friends, and pretty much everyone! I hope you all had a blast welcoming the new year sans the firecracker-related injuries. Cheers to a wonderful 2011! :)

And since Katy Perry's Firework suit the occasion, I would like to share with you Kina Grannis' acoustic version. It's simple, relaxing, and can put you in a reflective mode. It's beautiful and inspiring as well. Enjoy! :)