Category: Entertaining Angels

2012 Mixtape

Tina 2 Comments

Also known as: The requisite 12-12-12 post
Can also be called: My 2012 soundtrack

I am a sucker for dates like this, so I cannot let 12-12-12 pass by without posting something at exactly 12:12. ((if it’s exact by the second, I do not know, because WordPress doesn’t have that by the second setting. So let’s just assume that it was posted at exactly 12:12:12)) I was thinking of something inane to post, something random like my Leap Day post, and then I realized that I should probably start my 2012 recaps early because who knows how busy I will be by year-end?

I’m gonna go all hipster and make my 12-12-12 post a mixed-tape / my 2012 soundtrack post. But a side note first: You know I never really made mixed-tapes when I was younger? :D I made mixed CDs, yes, but I never made mixed-tapes. I did, however, record shows and songs from the radio especially when I liked the songs — I remember this time when I recorded Backstreet Boys’ version of I’ll Never Find Someone Like You and listened to it over and over and over and over again.

But I digress. I’m far from a musical person, really, and I only sing when I am forced to/bored/really feeling the song. However, I am almost, always listening to something when I am free. It may be a defense mechanism so I won’t have to talk to anyone when I’m outside, but more often than not, I listen to songs so keep my mind from wandering everywhere. I have yet to learn keeping my mind still in the silence, but for now, let me have my music.

[original image from we heart it]
So for this post, my first recap for 2012, I have 12 songs that will remind me of 2012 every time I listen to them. ((Or you know, some songs I played on repeat at certain times during the year.)) It’s not necessarily one song per month, even if it may seem like it. ((My research tells me that in January, I was still listening to some leftover 2011 songs that I should’ve let go when the year started. :P))

Also, warning: lots of ~feelings~ in these songs. Haha. :P You were warned!

1. There is a Reason by Caedmon’s Call (Overdressed)

[youtube uK8VyNB3_mg]

For the lonely nights and broken hearts
The widow’s mite in the rich man’s hand
And the continent whose blood becomes a traitor
For the child afraid to close their eyes
The prayers that seem unanswered
There is a reason, there is a reason

If I made a similar post last year, this song would be on that list, too. This song reminds me that…well, there is a reason for everything, and God makes all things good.

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Potted Potter!

Tina 2 Comments

Also known as: A review of Potted Potter Manila

Totally honest moment: I had no idea what Potted Potter was until I received an email from Ticketworld two weeks ago inviting me to watch the show and be a Tweet Seater. Before I explain what a Tweet Seater is, I must say that that last time I watched a stage production was two years ago? I haven’t been able to watch any because of budget and because I never get to catch the shows I want with the people I want to watch it with.

But anyway, this email came and they were inviting me to be one of the Tweet Seaters — meaning I would tweet the show while I watch. Seems like an interesting thing, right? I wasn’t sure if I would get it, seeing as it was on a weekday, and I didn’t know if I was willing to commute all the way to the other side of the city just to watch a 7o-minute show and then go home alone.

And then Filipino ReaderCon came and I experienced the euphoria of having our hash tag trend. Of course, it wasn’t just my doing, but I felt the thrill of tweeting and seeing all of it come to fruition, so I figured, Hey, maybe I should give this TweetSeat thing a chance.

So I replied to the email, and to my delight, they asked if I know someone who can join me. I immediately asked my best friend, who finally gave in and joined me when I told him that we didn’t have my pay for our tickets (which made me more delighted — hello, free tickets!).

To cut the long introduction short, my best friend and I caught the opening night of Potted Potter in Manila last Tuesday night. I was almost late (thank you, public transportation and Metro Manila traffic), but who cares? I had the most hilarious 70 minutes ever.

From the official website:

POTTED POTTER — The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff takes on the ultimate challenge of condensing all seven Harry Potter books (and a real life game of Quidditch) into seventy hilarious minutes. Even if you don’t know the difference between a horcrux and a Hufflepuff, POTTED POTTER will make you roar with laughter.

I didn’t know what to expect when I got in the theater (except maybe for sexy British accents…but you didn’t hear me…oh wait, I tweeted about that, nvm), but I was ready to tweet quotes and fun stuff. This task proved to be a bit hard because I couldn’t stop laughing as soon as the show started. Potted Potter in Manila stars Jesse Briton and Gary Trainor, one of Dan and Jeff’s touring cast, and they were excellent. A Harry Potter fan would definitely appreciate it, but if you haven’t finished reading all the books and you don’t feel like finishing it (which is some kind of sacrilege, really), then watching Potted Potter will keep you up to speed…with aching jaws from all the laughter. :D

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All Is Well

Tina 2 Comments

Also known as: Lessons from a Bollywood movie

Hello. It’s been a while.

I meant to blog, I really do, but as always, life gets in the way. I’ve got a list of things I told myself I’d write about since last April, but we’re almost at the end of May and I’ve only written one post, one of which wasn’t even in the list. So if you’re one of the three readers of this blog, forgive me for being so silent in the past weeks.

Truth be told, I also don’t have much to say now. Oh, I have a list of things I know I should blog about — like getting a new toy, running with zombies, going to Boracay for the first time and that awesomely fun time I had with my book club friends last weekend (one that merits a post here instead of the book blog — that’s a big thing). I have drafts of those posts in my mind, and I can write them now if I wanted to, but that’s the thing: I kind of don’t want to.

Not yet, anyway.

Maybe it’s because my vacation wasn’t exactly the most stellar vacation I wished for (oh it was fun. It just had a series of very unfortunate events that made it a bit more memorable than I wanted it to be). Maybe it’s because I’m still in some sort of suspension now with that toy I mentioned, and the unfortunate accident that involved that and some saltwater is still fresh on my mind. Maybe it’s because the sudden lack of a certain routine that I got used to for a certain time jarred me. Maybe, it’s also because I am currently wrestling with my lungs after a sudden bout of asthma attack that’s kept me struggling for breath (literally) for the past days on a week when there are things that I want (and need) to do that does not involve going home and resting.

Ah, don’t you hate it when things like these happen? I feel trapped, and all I feel like doing is snuggling under the covers and sleeping, if only sleep can cure all these wheezes and waiting and silence these thoughts away. I just really want to lie down and do nothing. Okay, maybe throw a tiny pity party for myself for reasons I cannot even determine. I’m pretty sure this isn’t hormones, so don’t even go there.

But wait. I’m not trying to be depressing.

Last weekend, I finally sat down and watched 3 Idiots, this Bollywood movie recommended to me a few weeks ago. Now, to the people who know me, I’m not really a movie person, much less movies that aren’t, you know, from Hollywood. But because I was curious (and a previous recommendation from the same person was pretty much a hit for me), I decided to watch it. It was a fun and silly (and long) movie, but of all the lessons it had, there was one that struck me the most. If I may quote:

The heart scares easily. You have to trick it. However big the problem, tell your heart, “All is well, pal.”

*cue hand to heart*

But anyway, I wrote that line in my phone so I could think about it further after the movie was done. Of course, there were lots of instances in the movie that emphasized this point (including a seriously cheesy Bollywood dance sequence), and it provided me with a lot of material (a flood, even!), but I found myself saying that line over and over again to myself in the last days to remind myself that, Hey, all is well, pal.

I’d like to believe that it isn’t a way of deluding myself and believing things that are not what they are now. It’s not even that bad, for goodness’ sake. I guess I’m just getting a beating that I didn’t expect, but it’s not a bad, bad beating that it would pull me down. (Except maybe, if I get a really bad asthma attack all of a sudden :P For that, I have to rest a bit.)

But the point is that: whatever happens, no matter how I feel physically, emotionally, mentally (and even financially), I have to remember that all is well. Because it is. Even if it doesn’t seem like it. If it’s not, then all will be well.

Because it will be.

Right?