4/30/14

Just this morning, received the news I have been waiting for all this week! I have been offered the job I wanted! I was awakened by the sound of my phone ringing and when I saw it was a landline number calling, I knew it was them for some reason and I was right. My face was in shocked as I still had my bedroom voice but thankfully, that didn't make the conversation any worse. I was surprised that I was already for immediate hiring and I'll be skipping the two day internship which was supposed to be the next step. But honestly, I was looking forward to have the internship as I still want to see how things work in their office and how someone with my position do their tasks. I also want to delay my starting date as long as possible as I'm saving the 17th of May for the Wanderland concert.

The contract signing will be at the end of this week where the job details and requirements will be discussed and that is what I'm looking forward to for now and worry about everything else later. I'm just glad that my job hunting days are over for now.

4/29/14

Today was quite uneventful. I barely got any sleep last night as I decided not to use the aircon and the heat was just unbearable.

I am excited for tomorrow though as I will be watching The Amazing Spiderman 2!

4/28/14

So the partial line-up for the Bazooka Rocks Festival 2014 has been announced this weekend. It's an indoor festival that will be having their 3rd festival in August this year. I have been to the first 2 and have blogged about it and I hope to continue the streak.

The partial list is already worth it with some acts who are new or returning to perform in the country.

The partial list is as follows:

Saves The Day
The Used
Taking Back Sunday
The Summer Set
We Are The In Crowd
You Me At Six
Senses Fail

I've seen 3 of those acts but I am looking forward to watching them perform live again. It will be held at the SMX convention center which has been its home since its inception.

4/27/14

Earlier, we went to Los Banos for a small gathering with my relatives. It was to celebrate some birthdays, a relative's visit in the country and just for the sake of seeing each other.

It's too bad I didn't get to swim but it was nice to get out of the house once in a while this summer.

4/26/14

I had my exams and interview yesterday. I had lunch at the mall first since my sched was at 1 PM and I knew where the office was so I didn't have to find it.

I arrived there a few minutes prior to my appointment to see a couple of other applicants which I did not expect. There were at least 6 other applicants. The office looked really nice as we can see them from the lobby which is just separated by a glass wall. There was no receptionist so you'll have to wait for somebody from the inside to see you. Fortunately for me, there were already other applicants there.

I'm not getting into the details but we basically had a couple of exams which were strictly timed for several minutes. There were three sets of tests overall and though I finished the first one, the time limit for the next two were too short for anyone to finish. While waiting for the results, I was able to talk with the other applicants and found out most of them were just either fresh grads or graduating and I'm the only one who had previous work experience.

The results of the tests came in and only 3 of us passed them and will be moving on to the next step. We had a brief orientation before each of us were set for our panel interview. The order of interviews was alphabetical so I was last and that worries me as the other two may have already made an impressive mark on the panel.

I actually prepared an answer for some interview questions that I anticipated to be asked and I was quite right as those were some of the questions that I answered. Unfortunately, my stuttering attacked me again and even the interviewers noticed it but I hope that I got my point through as I made sure to emphasize my skills that made me fit for the job. I just made a grave mistake of not asking a question at the end of the interview as I already asked some during the orientation and looking back, I think I should have still gave them questions. 

Now I'm really worried that I ruined my chances of working for them which is too bad because I really want to be a part of their company. The results are not yet out so I'm still praying for a positive feedback.

4/24/14

I'm so nervous! As I've mentioned, I have a huge interview tomorrow and I really want to pass and have a job offer.

I'm trying to practice my answers and looking for tips but from what I've read, all I need is to be quick, use my common sense and I should just breeze through the exam It's the interview that worries me as it is not my strongest suit.

I don't even know where to start. I think I need to worry first on how to get a good night's sleep tonight as I have been suffering from insomnia lately.

4/23/14

I have a job interview that was set for today but it got postponed to Friday due to an important meeting they were going to go to. Unfortunately, I have another interview on that day and that one is another opportunity that I felt would fit my skills more and give me the type of job that I'm looking for. For that reason, I wasn't really disappointed that it was moved but I do hope that if I don't make it on the other company, I could still try it out with them. After all, it is a job that I somehow wanted a few years ago.

I also had the strap of one of my watches replaced. It was a property of mine that I've had for a long time as a gift I received years ago. Actually, all of my watches were just given to me so all of them are special to me in a way. Its old strap was already missing one of its flap or whatever you call that piece where you insert the strap so it would stay in place and the leather was already slipping away. It was time to give it a new life.

There's also a certain cutie that has been in the gym lately. Though I already see a lot of eye candy, this one is quite interesting and have a different appeal. I know we'll never get to talk or do any interaction but I feel more motivated to work out!

4/22/14

So happy I got my discman fixed! I went to Recto again to check out Raon and I found a shop that fixes electronic gadgets including a discman. I was almost worried as I couldn't find any stores at first. They gave a free check-up which was great and told me it will cost me P450 for the repair. I admit I am quite hesitant at first after I got ripped off by another mechanic last Saturday but they seem to be more reliable and knowledgeable on how to fix a discman so I agreed and within a few minutes, it was working again! I am still asking my mom to look for another when she returns to the US but I hope this will last long enough until I get a new one.

I also passed by the CD store I previously blogged about and sold quite a ton of CDs. I was disappointed with how much he offered to buy them but it's not like I had a choice so I accepted the offer anyway. I was looking at the pile of CDs hoping to find new titles but to my dismay, they were all the same and they were even less than what they had the last time we went there. I still bought 10 CDs but I felt a little discontent but not regretful that I bought them. It will probably take me some time before I go back, when they probably have new titles and I have saved up enough money.

4/20/14

Happy Easter Sunday! The long weekend for everyone is almost over. I'm sure tomorrow will be another chaos as people resume work and the city becomes busy again. I've got a long week to go and I hope to accomplish all my goals this week.

4/19/14

I am clearly not having luck on my side. My cd player has given up on me yesterday and now I don't know where to play my CDs. I've tried getting them fixed earlier at the mall but the repair guy ripped me off and made me think it was fixed already. Lost a couple of bucks for a repair which was actually just disassembling the piece and putting it back together. He did offer to sell his discman for 1K which may be a good offer but I'm still thinking about it.

I even tried to search in Makati Cinema Square if some stores are selling some but even they are not selling them anymore as expected.

I checked Target's website and they have at least 1 more model being sold. It's too bad that my mom has already been to Target by the time I contacted her to look for the product. I'll have to wait until her flight next month.

One last resort is to go to Raon where it is considered to be some sort of cheap electronics haven. When we went there, I did see a lot of stores selling audio/visual entertainment but I didn't notice if they have any portable CD players that I'm looking for or if they can repair mine. But I've heard that repairing a discman is so expensive that buying a new one will save me more money.

My major concern now is the fact that I have so many expenses. I also have a job interview coming up next week and that is not yet confirmed but I do hope that I'll get a good offer and have the job. I also have an upcoming concert that I want to attend to which will cost me a huge amount of money to spend on the ticket.

4/17/14

I hope everyone is having a good time to celebrate the Holy week. No matter how or where you are celebrating, it is always important to be safe.

Some people are continuing that tradition of doing Visita Iglesia where people visit at least 7 cemeteries I have only experienced that only once as far as my memory can remember and that was with my cousins several years ago. 

It's a good place to be in the city as most people are in the province or countries to celebrate the long weekend. There's less pollution, less traffic and the crowds are almost gone. But the thing is, so is public transportation and most establishments are closed so I am stuck at home. I feel bad for those people at work. We actually ordered pizza for delivery at home and I'm surprised they were still open today. I did experience working during the Holy week 4 years ago and it was like walking in a ghost town hen I reached the business district to get to the office.

I'm badly wishing that I was in the beach right now. I just need to get myself occupied these coming days.

4/15/14

This was such a short but tiring and confusing day.

4/14/14

So it's the start of Holy week. I'm sure most people have plans to do something like go out of town, spend time with the family or maybe just rest. Like the past several years, I am left with nothing to do and I'm not necessarily complaining. When I was young, we used to have our own trips with the family but that tradition is now forgotten. It's supposed to be a time to reflect and I do want to to have some moment to think about my future which is kind of blurry right now.

4/13/14

Yesterday was all sorts of fun.  I went to a place I've never been before, met people whom I've been talking to only from the internet where I moderate and bought a couple of goods for such a bargain.

Ever since finding out about a thrift shop selling CDs for a low price, I have made plans to visit the place and add CDs to my music collection. The store was in Cartimar Recto, a place that I've never been to. Though I've heard of Cartimar, I only know the one in the Pasay area which I pass by when I take the LRT going to and from college back then but even so, I thought the place only sold mostly pets. It turns out the one in Recto sold other stuff like clothes and shoes.

There were also other people who were interested to check out the place so we agreed to set up a date and meet up to visit the place together. After finding the directions from Google Places, we decided to meet up in the D. Jose LRT station which is the nearest terminal in the area. My two other companions were from the North so they had other modes of transpo. You can also take the LRT 2 and drop off the Recto station or take the bus or jeepneys going to the area.

Our meeting time was at 1:30 PM. We had lunch first at a fast food resto near the area before heading straight to Cartimar. We only walked since it was near the LRT station. Just take a turn at Recto Ave. and go straight. You will pass by Isetann which is a shopping center then right across the other street is another building which is already a part of Cartimar. Keep walking until reaching Sogo hotel. You will already notice that plenty of vendors are in the sidewalks so you can tell that this is a very busy area. It is also very important to secure your belongings for your safety. This was one of my concerns and one of the reasons why I wanted to come with other persons in this trip for additional protection.

The entrance was a small opening right beside the hotel with a Cartimar signage on top so it isn't so hard to spot. We looked for the store which was on the ground floor. There were also other stores but it was mostly for shirts and tattoo shops. There were also other CD selling stores for rock music as well as old cassette tapes, vinyls and DVDs. But they were selling them for a high price so we just stuck to the original store we were looking for.

We finally found this little store with plenty of CDs displayed. There were also other merchandise such as merchandise, tour DVDs and vinyls but the CDs were mainly noticeable.

I was very overwhelmed to see plenty of CDs at such a low price! Not entirely low but still cheaper than how it is priced at malls. They were composed of both old and new releases and also some OPM thrown in as well.

We just started grabbing everything we liked for our own purchase. Since it wasnt really s music store, we had our own mini-Hunger Games style scavenger hunt as some CDs only had 1 copy each especially those that are quite popular. 

We ended up buying a bunch and I personally brought home 12 CDs which were sold at a total of a little over P2K! A bit over my budget but already a small price in comparison to buying those at a regular price. You won't really see these CDs sold at a similar price anywhere else and at such good condition, some of them are even sealed and are brand new.  I had a little disappointment when I didn't see some of the albums I was hoping to find as well as some imported albums but I'm not discontented with what I ended up buying.

Here's what I got:

Yellowcard-Ocean Avenue (acoustic) [I was hoping to find the regular version]
The Academy Is..-Santi
Faber Drive-Lost In Paradise
MKTO-MKTO
The Fray-The Fray
Passenger-All The Little Lights
A Great Big World-Is There Anybody Out There?
Simple Plan-Get Your Heart On...The Second Coming
Panic! At The Disco-Vices & Virtues
Dashboard Confessional-A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
Daughtry-Baptized
Bastille-All This Bad Blood

Take note that most of those were just fairly new releases in the local market and to get them at a low price is still surprising to me at this point. There are still many albums I've seen that I want to get so I will definitely come back for them when I save up money. They also buy old CDs and I have a bunch here at home that I want to dispose of.

It was also great to make new friends Though I've been talking to them online for a long time, it is still a new experience to meet them in person. I'm glad to find people with the same interests as mine.

4/11/14

This week has been very weird. I've been having headaches and I can't even focus properly at the gym for a full workout. 

Some plans that I have, particularly that particular outing I mentioned the other day seems to be in jeopardy now as I found out they moved it onto a later date which I may be busy.

I'll be going on a CD shopping spree with a couple of online friends I've never meet personally before. I am looking forward to buying a couple of CDs that I hope I can find there.

4/10/14 - The Colourist

The Colourist's self-titled album is one of the many additions to my music library. Their music possess an innocent, clean and vibrant pop sound that is deemed fit for radio this summer season. If the album cover isn't much of a giveaway, they were able to produce 11 tracks full of life and positive vibes. It's not exactly the upbeat vibe that is similar to the songs heard in generic party songs but more on the positivity in life in general.

Their lead single, Little Games sets the tone and starts the album with its insanely catchy beat. The song showcases the female lead singer's smooth vocals. But just like in other groups composed of mixed genders, you can expect certain songs to have a wonderful collaboration in the singing parts and it is certainly not missed here especially in the song We Won't Go Home which is one of the best and my personal favorites.

They've made a quite impressive debut with this full length album and I hope they'll show more evolution in the future. Their sound is reminiscing to the likes of Of Monsters & Men, Youngblood Hawke, Echosmith and Grouplove.

Top tracks: We Won't Go Home, Little Games and Say You Need Me

4/9/14

So the Wanderland Music Festival line-up was released last night! I didn't go last year because it was too expensive and I had another concert to watch, but this year, I really want to go. The line-up consists one of my new favorite bands I have discovered last year, The Royal Concept! I never thought they would come here, at least not this early The festival also includes The Drums, The Paper Kites, Architecture In Helsinki and many more. The ticket price is still expensive, almost reaching 5K but there's an early bird promo where tickets are sold at 3K each. I'm thinking of going since I'm sure that it's going to be a wonderful event.

My former officemates are also inviting me to go swimming in Splash Island next month, it's a water park which I haven't been to for a long, long time. I've already said yes and I can't wait to beat the summer heat and have fun!

4/7/14 - Wrestlemania 30

By now, most sports fans are already talking about the latest and surprising turn of events at grandest stage of wrestling, Wrestlemania as it celebrates its 30th year.

I haven't watched wrestling for quite some time but I still get myself updated every now and then. It seems like most wrestling fans appear at this time of the year for this pay-per-view.

I was surprised to see the line-up of matches. It seemed so few so I want to see how they would pull off an exciting show.

This year, we have new additions to the Hall of Fame which is held the night before the show. This year's new Hall of Famers includes the likes of Lita, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Carlos Colon,Mr. T, Paul Bearer, Razor Ramon and the Ultimate Warrior. What a great set of talents!

The show had some great moments and display of athletic ability.

Hulk Hogan was the host and started the show. Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock also came out and it was such a great moment to see them delivering their wits to kick off the show.

Triple H and Daniel Bryan had a good match and the victor will head to the main event for a triple threat match with Randy Orton and Batista. After several exchanges of finishing moves, Bryan emerged as the winner. Triple H attacked Bryan after the show which might have added to his injury.

We also saw great action in the inaugural Andre the Giant memorial 30-man Battle Royal where 30 superstars tried to eliminate each other over the top rope to win a trophy. It was probably WWE's way to provide a Wrestlemania spot for most of their talent. There were plenty of big names in the match such as heavy favorite The Big Show, Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, Alberto Del Rio, Cody Rhodes, Goldust, Dolp Ziggler, The Miz and Mark Henry. Kofi Kingston once again had another Wrestlemania moment as he avoided elimination with his feet landing on the steel steps. Cesaro pulled off an amazing stunt and lifted the Big Show over his shoulders to eliminate him and win the match!

John Cena also had a faceoff with Bray Wyatt with Cena expectedly winning. The Shield faced off with Kane and The New Age Outlaws with The Shield winning but that is perhaps the weakest match of the night. The Divas also had a chance to win the Divas championship by gunning it out with each other but AJ Lee was able to retain her title.

But perhaps the biggest story of the night was the end of the Undertaker's winning streak. It was disappointing to see Taker lose against Brock Lesnar and I'm not even speaking as a big fan because I'm not. The match was quite slow and bad and not a good way to end the streak or even retire if the rumors are true. I was surprised that he is even competing this year when he should have retired last year. You can tell right from the beginning that he looked so frail and weak but his dedication can never be doubted. The crowd was just stunned in silence after the match as well as the people over the internet. I heard this was planned a long time ago but I was hoping that it would be someone else to do it and not someone who is barely with the company anymore.

But all shades of loneliness was erased or momentarily forgotten when the main event has started and the crowd was rewarded when Daniel Bryan succeeded in capturing the title. Despite two strong opponents, interference from Triple H and an injury, Daniel Bryan beat the odds. Hard work paid off and dreams really do come true for this man and the crowd really exploded and all you can hear was the "Yes!" chants. A fitting way to end the show.

4/5/14

Something's happening to my net again. Some pages won't load properly on Google chrome which is my primary browser. I don't know if it has anything to do with the internet connection but it works fine on Firefox. Sigh.

4/3/14 - Expectations

Satin Circus is a Finnish pop band that I discovered a few weeks ago. According to some light research, they started in 2010 but have just released their debut album this February of this year. 

When I first heard their songs, I was reminded of the current boy bands today like 5 Seconds of Summer and One Direction but just a bit older but mostly the same style and energetic sound.

Their single Expectations which is also the name of their album leads a positive and catchy vibe that makes it a perfect summer track. They don't slow down with songs like If You Love Me, Emma and Popster. However, that doesn't mean they couldn't pull off ballads. Sleep Tonight provides a good icebreaker showing their sincere emotions and even tug your romantic strings.

This is definitely an album that young people will surely fall in love with given a chance. The first half of the album is actually the more memorable part and the mood slows down towards the end but overall, it's a fun album that can compete with this generation's boybands.

My top tracks: Expectations, If You Love Me and Emma

4/2/14

Summer has really started! My siblings have graduated and will be moving on to higher education on the next school year so now they're just hanging out at home. But what is most noticeable is the heat! It's nothing new in this country but it is very humid around here. Heck, I sweat more at home than in the gym!I'm surprised I didn't pass out earlier when I was working out. Almost all the people were complaining how hot it was and the drinking fountain could not provide cold water. I've been drinking from it most of the time.

It's still better than having non-stop storms though. I just wish I have something to keep busy with this summer and hopefully find a new job already!

4/1/14 - How I Met Your Mother series finale

After nine seasons, How I Met Your Mother has finally aired its final episode. I remember discovering this show back in college and introducing it to some friends and got them hooked too. Since then, the whole gang consisting of Ted, Barney,Lily,Marshall and Robin has been bringing in the laughs and tears as well. It suffered from comparisons with another long-time running sitcom, Friends, but that just shows how great this show is.

The ending is already receiving mixed reactions from the fans but whatever, I will still miss this show. Thank you and farewell to the show. You will be missed and will always be legen.....wait for it.....dary!