Best of 2012

Three hundred and sixty-five days later, here we are again, at the cliff of the year's end. Writing the last sentences of this chapter in life and getting ready to open a new one. After 365 days I've been through my ups and downs and in wins and losses in life, lessons and new realizations, 365 days of learning and I thank God for giving me the last 365 days to see the world!

Without further delay, let's start the countdown to "Bumpy's Top Ten Moments of 2012"

2012 in a blink of an eye.

10. Las Pinas Trip

This late birthday celebration by my friend became an instant mini travel to the Las Pinas Bamboo Organ when he said it was only about 5-10 minutes away from their house. Not only that, I got to do my mini travel with my friends too, which I rarely get a chance to do. AND, of course, we all loved the Beef Stew and Lumpia that Ryan made, we were all stuffed, it was a light day for all of us and thus, it makes it to the top ten!

9. Free Hugs on Valentines Day!

Juan Mann, the original "Free Hugs Campaign" man said something like "You'll never know that there is someone out there who might need a hug on that day." I was so inspired to do it that I did it first in 2011 on a totally random day, but on Valentines Day, A LOT did need those hugs, may it be professors, the security personnel, stranger schoolmates and friends! I'm planning to continue the campaign in 2013! 

8. Graduation

The graduation of course is an automatic, but what's nice here are the surprises, after graduation relatives surprised me with them being there, I said to them I didn't want a big celebration, just a lunch out then that's that. So some of my relatives took breaks from their office to be there and also, my tutor in high school (titch Cherry - the way we call her) and the ever crazy Thea was there! So I got surprised, it was my turn to surprise my batch mate Edward, arranged by her mom, he had little tears after that (Sorry I just had to share it.)

7. Batch outing!

A vacation with batchmates in Quezon province, pure laughter with nature, the travel is different with friends, it makes it light, although sometimes decisions collide but what the hell, we'd all be drunk when the moon goes up and we'd be singing songs together, reminiscing moments, it was just pure laughter.

6. La Naval Procession

The La Naval procession is a Dominican Order celebration in the Philippines, and every La Naval Procession, which happens annually, I look forward to the reunion with my Dominican Network Youth Group (DomNet) friends. And it's always a blessing for me to see them because I really missed them. 

5. Michael Jackson tribute

It's something I am proud of, I said to God once that if I could do MJ's "Dangerous" dance routine, I can die any moment. But still He gave me more life! And it is so fulfilling to dance with reason, with passion, I didn't even know how to dance, but thanks to Mix Gat, also an MJ fanatic, he taught me how to move, I wasn't only dancing but I also sang "Smooth Criminal" and "Dangerous", my first ever dance and sing routine turned out really well! I am so blessed to do this, after this performance, I just sat and said "wow, I did it. This is for you Michael."

If you want to watch it, here it is. IF you only want to watch it. :))

4. Domnet Christmas Party

It was my first time to join Domnet's Christmas party this year and it was again, so fun meeting more people and seeing old friends once again, this is why Domnet has two spots this year because there's so much fun this year with Domnet.

3. Burgundy the adopted dog

Why the dog? Yes, Burgundy is an adopted female dog, six years of age, she came from my high school buddy Tobs. Burgundy is number 3 here in the countdown because she's my stress reliever, from my downs, and major losses. I just hug her for an hour, carry her like a baby until I smell like her. This old dog is a truly a blessing in my life. 

2. The Turtle and Dolphin encounter

I haven't blogged about this but this is an experience that really lighted up my 2012, this was during the semester break, truly elated by this experience, I couldn't even put it to words, I was just so amazed I couldn't believe a dolphin was playing with me. It's like I really am a dolphin myself. 

1. The Return to the North

Last year my number 1 was "Return to Palawan" which took me 5 years to come back, this time, just after Christmas, I returned to the North, Ilocos Norte in particular. I haven't been there for 10 years! So much has changed and the bustling tourism is so much different than before. Sorry about the photo of my Number 1 moment, I have yet to fix the photos, and so that you'll have something to wait for next year. 

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

10 Moments, 10 dates, 10 experiences. What a year it has been, I close this chapter of my life, will you join the bumpy journey of life with me in 2013? Cheers!

Christmas song for everyone!

Finally, I've finished my Christmas gift for everyone, a song! A love song for everyone! It's titled "My Christmas in you" well I really have not much to say, it's all in the song, so, enjoy! :)

If you can't view the video, click the link to go direct to my youtube upload of the song :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-m17Rzhgp0

Cheers!

Rejuvenated. Reinvented. Reconnected. Re-engaged.

Isn’t it so? To start writing again in a brand newfound voice? Like being out of that dark deep well I fell into when I lost my lust to flirt with words with the world.

Been out of the blog scene for 6 months, traveling stopped, so does my writing, got nothing else to write, too much censorship on my mind, I can’t tell much, people involvement was too much.

Things have been a little, ok, it's been a lot of really crazy and random things that I did since I got out of work, I didn't even went to work during my last day, I was in a terminal at midnight, going to Malolos, Bulacan, and then I went to Manila to watch a pageant, and then drink with a couple of random people at Taft Ave.

It's been slow this past few months, I deactivated my Facebook account for 2 months so that I could start writing music and lyrics again. And it did work, I have 12 new demo songs but haven't recorded it. I was planning to release a Christmas love song (awwww) as a gift to whoever is listening to my songs. Listen to a few here: 

                                     http://www.youtube.com/user/bumpymusicphilippine

As for my personal hiatus in blogging, I have no excuse for it. I ran out of words, lost the tongue of my hands, but everyone needs a break right? For me, forcing to continue something you used to love is like still believing to win a match where the announcer just said you lost. I wasn't happy writing blogs that time, what the hell would I say? What more to say? Nothing, I was burned.

It’s been 4 years (I think) since I’ve started to speak these jailed thoughts of mine. Four years and so much has changed but one in this life.

Mine’s still a bumpy journey. 

A room, a bummer, and a whole lot of junk

Last two days I woke up, did the same things a bummer in me would do every morning. Go out of the room, look for something to drink, may it be water, juice, or alkaline water (something mom was introducing to me, she says it removes the acid in the body, but people, alkaline water is like tasteless water) or even soft drinks.

After that I'd always come back to my room and lie again, but I guess that day, on that day, a spark of energy in me, perseverance to clean my room, I guess so. After I saw this:

A messed up room.

It was a mess, I couldn't move much in my room, old files, papers, junk food, all kind of stuffs are all over, I didn't know where to put all the stuff I bought and have been keeping. So I said to myself "Eff this, I'm cleaning this shit." And so I did, I didn't plan on anything, I just made decisions on the trash and other things, where to put it, what to do with it, as I clean along.

I was taking my time cleaning my room, especially when I see things I thought were lost, and some memorable pieces, like old test papers, old photos, gifts, more old photos and some works of my friends I asked for like old print ad campaigns.

Then I saw old 8x10 prints of my project in my class in Photojournalism. It was eating a lot of space and I thought, why not display it on the walls of my room, together with my no-good-but-nonetheless-I'm-proud-of-it-paintings. So I stopped, looked at my wall, visualized, held the masking tape in my hand, and started putting it all up.

Room's still a mess, you can see that the Print Campaigns I asked from my friends are making their way on my wall.

One big problem in my room is the small space it has to offer, three persons would suffocate in my room! It wasn't using its "full space potential," A look from above the bed gave me the answer - I had two study tables! But I couldn't move out one because no one would take it and I needed the two to keep stuff.

Wanting my room to be a space-efficient-with-a-gallery-look universe, I separated the tables and designated the one on the left as my work-related table and the the one on the right as my hobby-related table (where I will do my photography, painting and music writing stuff)

Throwing old stuff has been always hard for me because I'm such a sucker for old things and the memories with it that I treasure. But some things really have to go away, and as I put papers, cards, junk into the garbage bag, I took a one last look at everything I was throwing away, smiled at it, laughed at it, and sometimes regretted the memories it came with the stuff.

Separated table gave me more space.

What was really hard was choosing the photos to put up on my wall. I wanted to show my best works, but, the sad truth is, all my works were a nod, an "ok" and some "hmm..yeah that's good" ones. But nevertheless, I chose, took me 2 hours to choose and probably 4 hours to finish putting it all up.

The cheapest collection I bought. The 7-11's "7-Elections" for PHP20! (less than $1)

The next hard thing was mopping the floor, because I've never done that, and that's probably why I'm blogging about this is that I did so many new things while cleaning, like cleaning the wall, the window, removing dirty spots and mopping the floor!

The 12 photos of the main wall of my room.

After cleaning my room, I took a bath for an hour, literally an hour! I loved every drop of cold water, it was like love all over me, haha! Well, then I rested for a while and I didn't know we were going to have a send-off party for my Auntie that night, so what a coincidence, I got to show off the new look of my room!

For the first time, in my life, and I'm not exaggerating, I wanted people to be in my room, to look at it, my room was the extension of me, I think people will get me if they took time to look at my room.

The paintings I did, except the last one, it was made by a friend for me. See, I'm no Picasso.

My cousins actually said it had a different look, a different feel, "more breathing space" said one of them. Yes! Now they can hang-out! I actually felt improvement of the air-flow in my room.

My two cousins, this is the view from the door looking into the room. They painted for me, now I'm looking for space to put it up.

Cleaning my room took two days to finish and now, I'm actually kind of satisfied with what I did. And to top it off, my return to blogging is today. 12-12-12.

Cheers! I'll be blogging more soon about my past travels that no one knew and the best moments of my 2012!

Urban Wandering - Manila and its lessons in life.

Ever had a time when you looked at you camera and shoes? And it was all dirty and dusty, it lacked care and love? Then you realize that you haven't traveled for a long time? So you grabbed your camera and shoes, cleaned it up but also realized you had not much money?

Yes, again and again it usually happens to me, most of the time it kills me to stay inside the house and watch National Geographic and let them explain the world to me. I always say to myself: "No! I have to be there! Anywhere!" - I miss wandering around.

A kid on his Battleship floating around Pasig River.

For me, it's best to wander around if you have these things ready. Of course you wouldn't just go out with a few cash in hand, you have to be ready too for everything, remember that you're going wherever your feet takes you. Or is it just me?

1. Camera - Any camera will do, as long as the quality of the photo is good. It will later serve as your photo memory. 

2. Cash and Cash in Card - I usually have a initial PhP300.00 ($6) budget for the day, then if I had to spend more that's when I withdraw my extra stash. ATMs are all over Manila City so don't worry. When I didn't have a card before, I used to hide my money in 3 different parts of my body - In my Wallet, inside my shoes and in the pocket of my Boxer Shorts.  

3. Extra Clothes - I prefer to travel with a backpack with clothes in it, you'll never know when the sky decides to be emotional. But please, don't dress to kill while you're wandering Manila, you'll end up being a target of not-so-friendly elements present in each urban city in the world.

4. Music Player/Ipod - Music while walking around really takes away the feeling of getting tired. I listen heavily to the Beatles, Coldplay, Lights, Up Dharma Down, and Michael Jackson - but be sure to be more alert while crossing the streets of busy Manila.

5. Water, water, water -  When in Manila, you'll perspire like a dog's mouth so be sure to drink at least 2-3 liters of water while traveling.

Feast of the Black Nazarene, I was on top of a waiting shed. 

Why do you want to wander around? - This is the most asked question thrown to me, and my answer is simple: Because I want to think about life. The thought of seeing different things and experiencing it makes my life a bit more sensitive to others and realize that most of the time, people don't have what I have and I don't have what they have.

I realize that sometimes, the best isn't really the best out there, it's the right things for you that come into play. Wandering around made me realize that my life didn't suck as much as I think it is. I see people living in cartons and card boards with no clean clothes. I've seen a lot of things I thought I would never experience in life, one is being chased by a scavenger I tried taking a photo off, man I ran like I was The Flash.

Then there's things that make you feel how selfish you've been so far in your life. Children in the streets carrying their baby siblings asking for silver coins in hopes of surviving another day in Manila. They're merely SURVIVING, not LIVING. These things make me sit down for a while and just stare at them. Manila made me more sensitive to the truth of living in its city.

An old man in Quiapo begging for food.

But sometimes things are just plain fun and random, you feel you could do anything, like lie and relax under the shade of the trees. I'm a slow wanderer, taking each meaningful step and sometimes I sit for hours just watching people, couples - young and old, running people trying to make it on time in their workplaces, vendors, the local chess players in the park, and self proclaimed prophets.

Here's me at LRT Tayuman Station at 3:30AM, experiencing Manila in a whole new perspective.

Locals riding out in their 4-wheel Kalesa-Slash-Pedicab. I was stunned when I saw this it almost got away from my camera.

Manila is everything stuffed in one city, that's how it is, it brings you drama, love, comedy, suspense, and sometimes "What the Fuck?" moments in life. I did my wandering around this Dirty-Smelly-But-wouldn't-be-beautiful-without-it-horse-dung-included city and here's my story, what's yours?

Bumpy's Top 10 Michael Jackson Songs

The King of Pop, who could argue that? The first African American to ever break into MTV, the humanitarian who gave hundreds of millions of dollars to charities around the world. The most popular entertainer and holds the record for selling records with "Thriller".

But let's skip these popular songs, if you "Remember The Time" we all went "Bad" with "Thriller" and have been a "Smooth Criminal" to the "Scream" of "Billie Jean" who didn't care if she was "Black or White". The "Man in the Mirror" said that "You are not alone" because "You Rock My World" and it's because of "The Way You Make Me Feel". Everyone knew these songs so let's "Beat It" cause "They Don't Really Care About Us" and it's "Human Nature".

I present to you 10 of my favorite Michael Jackson songs that have been shadowed by these greater songs, my favorites are his a-little-less-than-great but still light years better than today's pop music. Welcome to the first edition of "BUMPY'S TOP 10" - You can clap your hands now.

Sit back and listen to the songs while you read through the top ten.

10. The Girl is Mine (Featuring Paul McCartney of the Beatles)

      Released in 1982 as the first single of MJ's "Thriller" album. The song brings back the early 80's waves and what other nice way to argue for a girl than with Paul McCartney! Their voices really jived together with Paul's soft and cold and Michael's rough and trembling voice. 

9. Unbreakable

     

     Unbreakable was a non-single track from Michael's last album "Invincible" in 2001 when he was still alive and kicking. I discovered this song while browsing for new MJ songs and I came upon this one because I thought the title was strong and it was! Michael's voice here sounded angry and very uplifting. This is a song for "Me against the World" moments in your life.

8. Blood On The Dance Floor

     Blood On The Dance floor sparks up MJ's sexual skills to seduce women with his dance moves. This one get you up on your feet and do salsa, shake and bake stuff and just groove in the music. This was a single off from his remix album "Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory in the mix". For me this is a more upbeat version of Billie Jean.

7. Dirty Diana

     This single from "Bad" is powerful and is for all the groupies in the world. Nuff Said.

6. Childhood

     

     This is a song of honesty for MJ, in this song I could relate so much because I don't remember much from my own childhood, yeah I have missing pieces in my early life and I've got no baby pictures to start with and that explains my childish personality and wanderlust. There's a line in this song that makes me teary eyed. "Before you judge me, try hard to Love me" - That always gets me.

5. Earth Song

     

     Just a little trivia, the music video was shot on four geographical locations. This socially conscious song is not to be missed, and who writes these kinds of songs today? Everything's all about Drug and Sex and gettin' them bootay! 

4. Dangerous

     

     Whew, this seven minute song is the sex! I feel dangerous when singing this, so "manly sexy" and if you've ever watched the live version of this where he dances, damn it makes me wanna be a Mafia.

3. Gone Too Soon

     A music video was dedicated to Ryan White who died of HIV/AIDS when the deadly virus was widely misunderstood, the boy was prevented from going to class. This song is for the lost loved ones in our lives. 

2. Stranger In Moscow

     Stranger in Moscow is one sad song, it's like being alone in a crowded place, knowing no one but sadness.

1. Will You Be There

     Will You Be There was the OST of Free Willy, and why is it that I chose this as my number one? Simple, it talks about my life, ever listened to a song where every line was like for you? This is it for me, I cry to this song. Lines such as "But they told me, a man should be faithful and walk when not able and fight till the end but I'm only human" and "Everyone's making control of me, seems that the world's got a role for me, I'm so confused will you show to me, you'll be there for me and care enough to bear me!" - Whew.

Just listen to these songs and you'll see a different MJ. Cheers!

A Safe Seclusion: Songs for the Heartbroken

Venting out emotions alternatively other than crying does help a lot in the "moving-on" process where we become so fragile and vulnerable, did you ever feel that you are nothing but a worthless lover trying to find your way back to the game? Sucks right? And when friends come over and share their awful experiences with their loved ones you too can say "been there, done that".

When get hurt or plainly get emotional about things, I vent it out through writing. I've got notebooks of random writings, it's either a plain heartless rant or in the form of bittersweet poetry.

I've written songs way back in 2006 and during my college life ( I graduated batch 2012 yay!) my friends heard some of my recorded songs, well I kind of forced them into listening to it. I didn't really wanna share the songs because it's like my diary, what I've written there are nothing but real emotions and I was afraid people might know too much about my life.

This is the first album art titled "A Safe Seclusion" with the help from Dani Dulay.

Some of my friends talked me into sharing these songs and at first it was a little uneasy but later on we were already creating an album cover and lining up the songs for release!

I titled it "A Safe Seclusion" because I think these songs can accompany hurting persons who want to be alone and just listen to music and stare at the stars.

So these are the songs included in the "a safe seclusion" mini album:

This is the first song, written in 2009 and recorded in 2011. "18 Last Letters" tells about the last love letters written to a loved one that was lost and there's nothing left but memories through these 18 Last Letters.

"Free" was written in 2008 and was recorded in 2012, it's about a person wanting to leave your life but this person is the one who completes you but you don't have a choice but to let go.

"In A Second" is about a love that slipped away too fast even before it was realized. Written by a friend of mine, let's just hide her in the name of "Theapots". It was a poem of hers that I asked if I could make a song out of it and so she said yes, written in 2011 and recorded in 2012.

"Manila Sky" is about love at first sight, I still believe in it. Written in 2010, Recorded in 2012.

-I hope you guys would like these songs I've written and you are all free to share and download it from youtube!

Life of a jobless fresh graduate.

March 29, 2012 was memorable, yeah because it was my graduation day but after throwing our hats in the air and celebrated, shouted with all the strength of our lungs we could muster...What happens now? Yes, everybody that time was being optimistic saying that there's a lot of job openings out there, that everyone will get a job in no time.

Undergrads, this is NOT true.

I am guilty of bumming out for a month after graduation, I stayed at the house and embraced every minute of sleep I was getting. I ate well and on-time for at least 5 times a day! Yes, bumming also comes with getting those extra levels of fat in your body. I played video games for 12 hours straight sometimes even more! It was like paradise to me.

I continued reading books during the "bum" era. This one's "The Pretenders" by National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose.

Then days of happiness came to weeks of boredom. The same routine each and everyday inside my house (couldn't go out that much because of the summer heat all over Metro Manila and of course, dwindling money reserves) is killing me, I couldn't take it anymore!

So I began looking for a job, it was exciting! I did it through www.jobstreet.com.ph (free advertising for you guys) and I just typed in my finished degree and specialization and what kind of job I wanted and the webpage began to show me an ocean of opportunities! So I clicked "apply" to all sorts of jobs from being an Editorial Assistant, to being an Online Editor, Writer, Proofreader, Child-Friendly Photographer. 

Then I went to the beach with my batch mates. Had a great time being drunk and just being close to nature. 

12 applications as of May 10, 2012 and guess what! 8 of it were rejected! It was devastating, frustrating and depressing to see the words "unsuccessful" on your application status. For a guy like me who wanted to try to find a job without having helped by someone or a "backer", it's really hard and reality is really setting in and I realize that life isn't a fairy tale after all.

Bumming era included me sleeping on highways.

Am I scared for my future? Yes, hell I'm scared. With the degree I'm holding right now, it doesn't make that much money than those of the corporate world but sometimes for me it's not all about the money but being content with what you really need in life, I've always been a "need" instead of the "want" type of guy, I don't need much clothes, I only have 3 shorts and 3 shirts to wear inside the house but that's perfectly fine for me cause I love living like this, simple is so much better for me.

What's sad in my country is that some people aren't really that poor, but there are really these poor people you see on the streets sleeping, those are really poor but some who claim they are "poor" aren't really poor. They just buy their "wants" instead of "needs". In the Philippines it's popular to be a socialite, buying the latest releases of shoes, gadgets and everything that says "trending and latest".

But back now to my jobless life, I just pray that I'll get a stable job before June comes in so that I can save up, but for now, I'll just be staying here at home bumming around and making sure that the left over food is saved from being spoiled! :)

A College Graduate, at last!

Hello blogspot and hello readers! I'm sorry for not blogging for a long time, I was so busy with the final stretch of my college life. It was worth it! I'm happy to announce that I'll be a graduate in Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Four years of college is finally coming to an end, these moments make me look back and remember the first day I was in college, no friends, no one to talk to, I was a stranger to everyone since no one from my high school enrolled to the college I went.

I didn't plan to be at that school, I ran out of slots at the university in Espana, Manila. It just so happen that I was referred to its sister school in Intramuros and if I am not mistaken, it was probably late April or early May when I enrolled, to tell you people the truth, I had no place to go. I took exams in only 3 Universities because I was confident I could get in at least one, and I did! But bad luck came and the feeling was like being thrown out from your own house.

At first I really didn't like the school I was into, it was smaller than my high school. I didn't like the people I saw when I was enrolling, and then came day 1 and I realized that being in that college school, alone and isolated from my high school classmates gave me the perfect opportunity to jump start and redeem my studies. Way back in high school I fail 4-6 subjects every year and I wanted to show that change isn't always bad, change can make good men.

So I did, it was kind of Michael Jackson's song "Man in the Mirror". That was the driving song, BTW Michael Jackson inspired my life so much that even before I really got in the high school band of mine I sing MJ's songs.

So with the drive to change my ways, I "accidentally" got in to school politics where I became a representative for the Journalism program. In second year I went in to the school paper as a photographer and it gave me a bit of experience of the nature of my course. By third year college I became a Photo Editor (Thanks to my previous photo editor Cheena, I know I wouldn't get the spot without you!) and at the same time I was a President of a youth group. Now in my last year, I'm currently a feature writer for the school paper.

These co-curricular activities taught me how to manage time , to lead and be responsible, college was the things I haven't done before in my life. A lot of my high school friends tell me that I was going at the right direction, so I kept going there, step by step and here I am now at the final steps of the stairs ready to get my diploma.

Wow, it has been a real journey, the experiences, all kinds of it was something spectacular. If only there was   technology that could show my life and watch it as it happens.

To end this blog, I would like to present you my Graduation Photo. Cheers! :D