Let's ride again!

     Guess who's back? Back again? Bumpy's Back, tell a friend. Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Guess who's back, Bumpy's back!

     Hello everyone! I return to save you all from life's boredom. As you all know, my life is your entertainment. But before I get into things, please forgive my sudden disappearance way back in May 2014. I was "pre-occupied" with the journeys of life, I got into a lot of struggles in life. But hey, that's why my blog's called "the bumpy journey of life" and I am Bumpy.

     What's different with this ride compared to the first 7 years of blogging? (I started in 2009)

     I am now more open to all of you, I won't hide feelings so that you will get a taste of a raw, and unedited Bumpy, but I have always been honest to all of you, I just didn't share THAT much. But things will change from now on. AND I WILL TRY TO PROOFREAD MY POST FIRST, YOU KNOW I HATE PROOFREADING MY BLOGS (It's evident with so many grammatical errors during the first years of my blogging)

     So what the hell (or heaven) happened? 

     First, I got into a string of misadventures in my career in the advertising world, I worked in 3 different companies for the past two years. I was let go at a job as a Digital Marketing Assistant after 6 months (That was February 2015) due to having different creative ideas and strategies. And so I was jobless for 3 months, and without money coming in, the floodgates of my wallet became streams of rolling coins. I was actually offered an internship at a big ad agency, but there was no pay and the contract was for 2 months, I couldn't accept it so I reluctantly accepted an offer and went "client-side". Yes, I went client-side, I became a "traitor" to advertising practitioners. 

     But my work experience with this client-side company did me damage. It's not so much about the work load, I can handle that without sweat, it was easy, it was more about the people I worked with. I experienced "crab mentality" and I have seen people with skins made of tupperware. There was so much beaking around and backstabbing. And the corporate world was so different to the 'creatives' world that I was accustomed to. I'm not saying that all corporate companies are like this, but for my experience it was so difficult. I lost a lot of sleep because of it, I badly missed the advertising world, I missed the people, the freedom of casual wear and the unrestricted number of breaks and most importantly, I missed creating, innovating, and thinking about campaigns hoping to turn it into reality.

     So after 5 months, I walked out, happily. There was so much relief that I started to see rainbows and began hearing birds sing again, I was that happy that I got out of that horrible work place. There were a good few friends there, but I knew who were the snakes, I always knew.

     But then I got in an events & communications agency and I got to be a Copywriter! I always wanted to be a copywriter ever since I graduated in 2012. There were misses and hits, but I was always happy when my idea became reality, I was so fulfilled I didn't mind going home way past midnight and show up at the office the next day (but of course, if you know me personally, you know that frequently take naps in the office) - But the best of all of being a copywriter? We can drink alcohol to expand our minds during brainstorming. But all things come to an end, and just after 6 months, I had to move out again. My boss there was so kind (sometimes I think he was too kind) that he didn't even know how to let me go and so we ended up laughing our way toward ending my contract. He said I had the knack for copywriting (naks!) but I was at the wrong business, he said I should try Above-The-Line advertising and veer away from events. Of all the work places I've been into (I think it's 6 or 7) since 2012, I'm only thankful to three of them: My first job (proofreader), my first experience in Digital Marketing (What's up Makati!) and my last job - as a copywriter. And for the rest of the companies I've worked for, shut up nalang ako.

     My career's so wild right? Can't blame them though, I'm a Journalism graduate chasing the world of Advertising, as much as I love it, I think it will never be my home.

     And so I was jobless again and combined with a broken heart, I drank the months of May, June, and July away. Yes, I was literally drunk every night during May, I was drunk weekly in June and finally I was occasionally drunk in July. What can I do, I was depressed. But one day I finally decided to watch the film "Stranger Than Fiction", it's been in my laptop for years but somehow I always skip on it. The narrative of that movie inspired me to look at my past short story work and compare how the movie told the story and yes, mine sucked big time. But after a while the inspiration died, what else could I write? I'm was still depressed and comparing my short story to that movie was almost suicidal, so I just watched another stock movie which was "Midnight in Paris" - It was that movie that gave me the inspiration to revise my work and come up with stronger storytelling, and with the help of a friend (a friend who must not be named) we worked with character names and again with the help of some friends (some friends who must not be named) I had them read the draft which they gave mostly positive reviews (I hope they were honest, because I really needed the negative comments more) and I can say, writing 10,000 words in 3 days and cutting it into 7,000 was really extraordinary for me because I'm a slow writer. I think being a bum and having a long break (and heartbreak) did help me come back to my writing form.

     So because they loved the first part of my three-part short story, I wrote the second one a week after the first and I think it's quite as good as the first one. I'm still thinking about what to write for the third part of the story, so I'm really excited to finishing this personal project. I also plan on selling it, I found a cafe in Quezon City who supports independent writers and I hope I do get a go signal. Don't worry, I'll sell them really cheap, 3 stories for a price of 1? Not bad right? Cheers!

      So what am I doing now? I'm still doing advertising. But I only do it from 8AM to 5PM. I know have more time to make blogs for you, my beloved readers! I'm really quite surprised I still got an average of a thousand views every month without putting up anything for a long time.

     And because I went rogue on you guys for more than 2 years, I owe you guys a lot of bumpy stories, and I will give all the bumpy stories you all deserve to know. But please forgive me, I'll try my best not to leave you again. So will you come and ride with me again?

!Vamos Por Todo!

Escolta X Binondo X Malate

Friendships are amazing, it comes in different ways. There are some you see everyday, some you meet every week. Some once a month, I have one who I meet at least every 7 months (It's coincidence, I swear) and then there is a friend who I last saw four years ago, and four years later, we met again.

The first time I met Mari was in 2010, it was game seven of the NBA Finals between the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics, I was in school and I asked my friend if I could borrow the PC inside the admissions office to look at the score online. Mari was one of the On-The-Job trainees there and so she saw me celebrate when the Lakers won. A few days after I asked about her and then I added her on Facebook.

Since that day I never saw her again but we talked through chat and messages, to cut the long story short, we kept communication every once in a while. 

So last April, there was the "Saturday Future Market" in the famed street of Escolta in Manila. It was perfect, I liked old stuff and she likes the artsy side of life, which I like too anyway so there you go, we already have a place to go, I just had to show up. 

Four years talking online, what do I say to her when I see her? How do I close four years into a split second? It was running inside my mind all the way to our meet-up place. It was 2PM, April, in the Philippines, you know what I'm talking about, right? The sun was beyond scorching! And when we finally met, it looked like I just finished a triathlon! 

I'm not going to lie, it felt awkward (I'm sorry Mari, I know you'll be reading this anyway, don't get me wrong, I'm just really socially awkward!) I mean it's been four years, online conversations are way different than in person. But I had to shrug it off and just went with it. 

The heat of the day wasn't helpful at all, I had to constantly wipe off the sweat on my head, on my back, but not on my armpits because I use Axe Sport, it keeps me dry, 60 Pesos only! (That's not a free ad placement Axe, pay me please.) 

We went around the event and everything was just awesome, old advertisement posters from the 1960s to up to early 1990s, artwork, some vinyls, some CDs, some old photos of celebrities, shirts, novels, and the others are too awesome to mention. As you can notice I didn't post everything that was in there, so that you have to go to see for yourself! 

Mari bought bracelets and other things while I settled with stickers that only costed me only 90 Pesos! What I loved so much about the sticker is that it doesn't only states the historic districts and places inside Manila, but what made it different was putting that hashtag! That "#" right there for me has a deeper meaning. Those places are the places of the past, right? I mean those were the fancy districts before but had fallen to the city's decay. Today we use hashtags to make something trending, and those stickers say that these places need to trend again, #Manila has to happen again! 

Mari in the light

After we went around the event twice to make sure we didn't leave any stone unturned, we walked around Escolta, just admiring the old buildings, I imagined how it was in this very street back in its heydays. We then went to the Lucky Chinatown Mall, it was my first time going in and the first thing I noticed there was how cold the air-conditioning was! (Now, that's free ad placement for you because I loved the temperature inside the mall.)

Since she brought me first at the Lucky Chinatown Mall, I wanted her to try my favorite noodle place in all of Binondo.

I wanted her to try the other food I usually eat in Binondo like the best vegetable lumpia place, the dumplings, the fried siopao and everything that was in there! But since it was dinner time and the other food places close early, we went straight to the noodle place.

I ordered my favorite "Beef Kan Pan La Mien" and she ordered, umm (What did you order anyway, Mari? Haha!) and we shared a plate of steamed dumplings.

The meal was awesome as always, you can see also watch there how they prepare their in-house-made noodles which is very very chewy and soft. What I also love about this place is their generous amount of serving, if you don't have much of an appetite, you can already share one plate.




After that delicious and heavy dinner, guess what? We now wanted coffee, and Mari knows a place where to get one. It was first a choice between Cafe Adriatico, a favorite place to go to when in Malate District and the world-famous Starbucks, and of course, Cafe Adriatico won. Yes, I do love to try out the new things, whatever the result may be.

 She had coffee and I had beer and shared through a slice of cake that was very sweet, I thought I was diagnosed with diabetes after one bite. Here was when the catching up really began, asked what up in each other's universe and plans and things of the past, present and future.

After coffee we took a stroll around Malate and went to the baywalk area, don't worry, this side of the bay didn't smell...that much. We watched bike exhibitionists and eavesdropped to people talking about how their relative doesn't have a work and other stories about their neighbors while we blew plastic balloons which I bought earlier at Escolta and I almost forgot I had it.

It was awesome to see Mari again after four years, plus I got to buy those cool stickers and got to blow a few plastic balloons. Awesome wandering with an awesome friend, or should I say, SUPER? Cheers!

bumpy: a safe seclusion

For the past months, I've not written anything at all, yes and I am terribly sorry for that, I wasn't writing online, I was writing in notebooks, in papers, in my mind and in a recorder. The 2-month hiatus was because I was writing songs.

A quick background: When I was in my sophomore year in high school (that was in 2007, yes I'm not in my teen years anymore, time passes so fast!) I was in a punk-rock-alternative band. I was around 16 at the time and we already had gigs around Manila, I could never forget walking around in Malate, seeing the night life and of course, the prostitution that was going around by that time.

I was the vocalist and we never actually got to sing an original, but I was writing back then, I wrote my first song one night in a beach in Zambales, it was also my birthday that night, but that wasn't my party, but anyway I enjoyed writing ever since, I wrote about 2 or 3 songs in high school, it was really in college that I started writing songs heavily (because I took up Journalism) and song writing for me is like my diary, each song is a sneak peek of my life, and since all the songs in this first "album" is all about love, hence, it's a novel about my love life (Cheesy pare, gravyyyyy)

Why call it "a safe seclusion"? - When I wrote these songs (except 2 songs) I was always on my own, either I was lonely or happy, depressed or inspired, I believe I write most honest when I'm on my own. It was my way of venting out emotions, either song or poetry but it was mostly songs. I really never liked hugging a friend while crying over it or getting drunk so much just to "forget the feeling", or maybe I just really got used to getting hurt a lot that I can contain it like a pro (awww, sad to say haha)

So I hope you can relate to at least one of my songs and like it. Remember: You can share the songs or even download it! It's absolutely free, I just want to share the music, and maybe help someone on the way with my songs. Cheers!

1. 18 Last Letters - A song I wrote in 2010, it's about writing love letters and the love that was lost.
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/18-last-letters?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

2. Still Asking Why We Fell Apart - Written in 2011, remember when you just woke up one day and you're just full of questions about what happened? How did it all go to waste? Why did it end?
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/still-asking-why-we-fell-apart?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

3. I keep on lying - A 2009 song, one of the old ones. This is about being in denial, saying that you've moved on but still, whenever you see that person, the love just comes back.
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/i-keep-on-lying?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

4. In A Second - Not sure if this was written in 2011 or 2012, but this is written by my good friend Thea L. It was originally a poem that I asked if I could make a song out of it, it's about a love that faded away, in a second.
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/in-a-second?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

5. I Do - Written late in 2012, it's about really being confused if to take a leap of faith or not, to continue and go for broke and the regret that you once loved each other, but someone just bailed out.
 https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/i-do?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

6. Free - Another oldie, written in 2008. It's about letting go. Nuff said. Haha!
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/free?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

7. Wake Up - I wrote it early in 2013. If free was letting go, this one's about leaving because I've had enough. (Naks, lakas)
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/wake-up?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

8. Worlds Apart - Early parts of 2012. About two persons that just drifted apart.
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/worlds-apart?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

9. Langit - Written in the summer of 2010, probably this is the one I really did enjoy recording, it has a simple and relaxing tune. Everybody has to listen to this. It's about telling someone that their secret's safe with you, that you'll accept whoever he/she is.
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/langit?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

10. Love (John Lennon Cover) - I really love John Lennon, he's one of my musical influences, and I really really love his voice, so I did this cover for him.
https://soundcloud.com/bumpymusicphilippines/love-john-lennon-cover?in=bumpymusicphilippines/sets/a-safe-seclusion

Enjoy listening, it's ok to cry if you feel like crying. And remember, this music is free! Download and share! It's not everyday someone gives free music right? Cheers!