I bought my first Glee CD in Singapore. I was there smack in the middle of the release date, and I assumed they will never reach our shores. I assumed, naïvely, that the show will not become a big hit here, never mind the fact that I turned a few people on to the show (insert obligatory Icka Facebook tag).
Of course, things turned out differently. The show became a huge hit here, and thus, the CDs were sold in local record stores. (There's also the thing about me being an expert gleek of sorts, thanks to my work, but I will not go there. Yet.) And I did like the show. I really did. So, I kinda vowed to collect all of the show's soundtracks - they will be available here, after all, and they have pretty good songs.
Things have changed, of course. Glee went downhill from the second half of the first season, got really frustrating by the second season, and become more of an obligation than a joy by the third. (Then again, I still get excited about certain Glee-related things. Like, say, this.) But I still bought the CDs. Sometimes I bought the CDs by impulse. Only lately did I start stalling. They won't go out of stock, I told myself, correctly. Some of the CDs haven't been played, either. Impulse.
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1/31/2012
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1/29/2012
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It occurred to me a few days ago. How much time do we spend trying to move on from something?
I don't know why I thought about it either. I was just thinking of random sentences when this particular thought struck me. You don't move on when you try your hardest to move on. Odd, because ideally, you're supposed to convince yourself first that you have to move on before you start moving on. The acceptance stage, as they call it.
But then I looked back over the many times I tried to move on - from heartbreak, mostly - and realized that nothing really happens when I consciously try to do it. This is not working, I thought at one point, seven years ago. I have to get out. But the more I repeated that last line to myself, the more I sunk deeper. The more I sounded desperate. And then, before I knew it, I was out.
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I don't know why I thought about it either. I was just thinking of random sentences when this particular thought struck me. You don't move on when you try your hardest to move on. Odd, because ideally, you're supposed to convince yourself first that you have to move on before you start moving on. The acceptance stage, as they call it.
But then I looked back over the many times I tried to move on - from heartbreak, mostly - and realized that nothing really happens when I consciously try to do it. This is not working, I thought at one point, seven years ago. I have to get out. But the more I repeated that last line to myself, the more I sunk deeper. The more I sounded desperate. And then, before I knew it, I was out.
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1/24/2012
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The last time I attended a film premiere, for Paglipad ng Anghel, I was a bit wary that Sir Doy had forgotten me. We saw each other after the screening; he smiled and nodded at me, and then left.
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1/20/2012
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"Mapili ka sa kaibigan."
It's an observation my mom offered yesterday, one that has never occurred to me. And that changes everything.
Whenever I have one of those hissy fits about not having friends, I run on the assumption that I'm not getting the responses that I want to get. In some cases, that really is the case. In others, turns out, I'm the one who's not giving the responses others want. True, everyone's guilty of taking some people for granted in favor of others. I'm sure I've done that a few times, while I'm busy chasing some crowd I have half an idea about because I'm really interested in one member.
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It's an observation my mom offered yesterday, one that has never occurred to me. And that changes everything.
Whenever I have one of those hissy fits about not having friends, I run on the assumption that I'm not getting the responses that I want to get. In some cases, that really is the case. In others, turns out, I'm the one who's not giving the responses others want. True, everyone's guilty of taking some people for granted in favor of others. I'm sure I've done that a few times, while I'm busy chasing some crowd I have half an idea about because I'm really interested in one member.
Read more »
1/08/2012
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"Dear friends, family, and just about everyone who loves me: I want a Baby Alive for my 23rd birthday. It's on the 18th of February. Thanks."
"23 na tayo. Wah."
It should be a breakthrough for me. Somebody else is turning 23 at almost the same time as me! I was, after all, always surrounded my people a year older than me, thanks to me skipping a year of pre-school. Sure, I know people who are also the same age as me, if not much younger (looking at you, Inka, Les, Sars...) but here's where my propensity to pull myself down comes in: it still feels like they're older than me. Definitely more mature.
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"23 na tayo. Wah."
It should be a breakthrough for me. Somebody else is turning 23 at almost the same time as me! I was, after all, always surrounded my people a year older than me, thanks to me skipping a year of pre-school. Sure, I know people who are also the same age as me, if not much younger (looking at you, Inka, Les, Sars...) but here's where my propensity to pull myself down comes in: it still feels like they're older than me. Definitely more mature.
Read more »
1/05/2012
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I read the newspaper daily. Or, at least, the days when there's a new newspaper in the house. Of course. I'd like to think of myself as politically-aware, and there's no better way to keep up with things than by reading the newspaper.
Then again, my newspaper reading habits don't exactly suggest that. The first thing I read is the comics. Next, the entertainment section, even if there isn't really much worth reading there. If it's Thursday, I absolutely have to read the food section. On other days I'd probably pass by the other lifestyle sections, except if it's Friday or Saturday, during which I skip the whole thing - fashion's of no use to me, I'm not a teenager anymore, and no, stop being such a pop culture smart ass when you only found out about Adele from me, thank you very much.
And then, when I decide I'm ready to eat breakfast, I take the main section and read it. Again, I might skip most of it - it's either stuff I've already seen on TV, or stuff I'm not interested in - but there are things I have to read. The main stories. Any interesting historical feature. And the opinion columns. Of course, the opinion columns.
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Then again, my newspaper reading habits don't exactly suggest that. The first thing I read is the comics. Next, the entertainment section, even if there isn't really much worth reading there. If it's Thursday, I absolutely have to read the food section. On other days I'd probably pass by the other lifestyle sections, except if it's Friday or Saturday, during which I skip the whole thing - fashion's of no use to me, I'm not a teenager anymore, and no, stop being such a pop culture smart ass when you only found out about Adele from me, thank you very much.
And then, when I decide I'm ready to eat breakfast, I take the main section and read it. Again, I might skip most of it - it's either stuff I've already seen on TV, or stuff I'm not interested in - but there are things I have to read. The main stories. Any interesting historical feature. And the opinion columns. Of course, the opinion columns.
Read more »
Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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