COUNTing...

I'd like to start counting...counting the weekS and dayS till I can escape once more. Someone IMed me and asked, "when are you leaving? do you even like going? is it enjoyable?" Coming from her, I should think more before saying anything, but what the heck... I gave her some quick answer that my brain could muster in 10 milliseconds. And when I was about to close my eyes to end the day, it hit me and thought about it once more. I still go by my answer. YES. It's kind of a sad yes... sad because no one really likes leaving or being away. But it is a definite yes. It is my only escape. I get to do everything I want. I can have almost everything I want - good food, parks, landmarks, nice stuff to shop. I have my time and I can be in places where I can enjoy nature, take pictures of it, stay out all day and not have someone poke at me and say, "Let's go!" I can just play tennis with anyone in the park and have a nice talk afterwards. I can drive a bike in the open street go hunting for nice stuff in garage sales and just talking to some nice ol people.

I wonder why many would disagree with me in this. I like it there. I just keep wondering why almost everyone would just go there for the money.,, and if not for it then they absolutely won't. Am I missing something? Or maybe I'm just not having a good time here. It's boring. Really! I think 'coz this place is getting too small for comfort.

ESCAPE

I'd just like to drop everything and leave. Leave everything, everyone and start a new in a new place where I don't know anyone. Is this possible now? My current "world" is too broken to be mended. Why fix something as hopeless as this when I can build once more from scratch? What could this place and these people possibly offer me??? I'd ask forgiveness from Rizal, but this is just too much for nationalism to prevail.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Yes there is! It is official, we now have a doctor in the family. My mom's cousin who is just 2 years older than I am just "passed" the medical board. "Passed" wouldn't do justice for his efforts... and would simply be a huge understatement because... he TOPPED it at 3rd place!

Congratulations to our beloved Omid Etemadi!

New Look

I've finally made time to go beyond just changing the backdrop. I like the design actually... the drawers are awesome... keeps lesser clutter minimizing footprint of the links and the chatterbox, archives, etc... And taking a look at the code, it is more "object oriented" than the past layout where I couldn't define style globally. Now I can and it follows that future restyling is a lot easier.

Well, hope you like it and this sure is something remarkable for the New Year!

Happy Valentines Day!

Music Madness

I've been a house music lover for more than 2 years now. I've always loved trance ever since I learned how to drive... tsk tsk tsk... and it was late in college that I learned to embrace the bubblier side of trance. From albums such as Fragma's Tocas Miracle to Chicane, to ATB to the more acclaimed mixes of Paul Van Dyk and DJ Tiesto (his have got to be the best mixes), I've slowly resonated to the chillout beats of Kaskade, Bonnie Bailey, Frou Frou, Gyskard, Moony, Late Night Alumni. And who could ever forget the compilation of the best tracks? You'll never go wrong with Hed Kandi. Plus you'll love Kandi art!

Everytime I hear a new track either streaming over internet radio or in a local radio station such as Y101... or even just hearing the beats in let's say... Formo, I direly need to find out the title, artist and album. And since original CDs of this genre are very rare, and if indeed available are purty expensive, I search for them in Limewire with a matching 320kbps encoding quality... or else it's time to call a friend.

I've been hearing a certain song playing for quite sometime now. I always mistook it for David Morales' Here I Am (Kaskade mix). But for the two occasions I heard it, I said to myself, "Nah, this has to be a new track from Gyskard... or Sunset Daze... or it has to be a new addition to the Hed Kandi compilations that I do not know of." And today, just this lunchtime, I heard it again over at Y101. So despite their busy lines, I patiently rang them over and over again to try my luck... and voila, I have what I was looking for.

*** Samantha James - RISE ***
And yeah, I was right about it on one thing. I just found out late tonight that it is in the Hed Kandi Beach 2006 CD compilation... track 1!!! Told you, you can't go wrong with Hed Kandi.

So after my work shift today was over, I rushed home to DL via Limewire. I've found 3 versions of it. The 12" original Samantha James track, Eric Kupper mix ripped from the Tokyo Disco CD and ROCAsound mix. I first listened to the ROCAsound mix. Not bad really, except that I have a big feeling this is where radio edits will be ripped from.,, or maybe they are already. Dunno. I'm now listening to the Eric Kupper mix. Bold, vibrant, sophisticated with that subtle 3D surround sound effect... no wonder it is the more favored version. I love the original mix. Just simply uplifting, it makes me wanna.. RISE. How apt!

So if I could convince anyone reading this to appreciate house and chillout music, check out this track! And what did I say about Hed Kandi? Grab some trax now and get some nice headsets to match. And if you're heading off to the beach this weekend, find a nice breezy spot, listen to the gushing waves, breathe that fresh sea breeze, grab a cooler or some soda pop, lay back on the sand, push play and then close your eyes.

And don't forget to... chillout!