system error: geez, what brought you here?!

joey aka our eic: "Hey Hershey. Do u listen to Paramore? Got an exclusive phone interview if u want it..."

me: "Sorry, I haven't heard of Paramore till now..."

joey: "Dnt worry, its cool abt the Paramore thing..."

nyahahahahahahaha, kaya nga mahal ko na sobra ang eic namin eh, dahil sa kanya eh mejo made-delay ang pag-terminate/fire sakin sa pulp, siguro kung dati one week, ngayon after one week and two days na lang nila ako palalayasin sa publication!! ( :

me to novia: "novia, sikat ba ang paramore??" *retells conversation w/ joey*

novia: "sheeeeeeeeeeettttttttttt, di mo sila kilala?!"

me: "ah so sikat sila??, kala ko kasi another underground rakrakan sila eh"

*toinx*

me to pao aka our photogs: "pao, alamo ba yung paramore??"

pao: "oo naman, favorite ko yun eh" *tells about his not-so-subtle adoration for lead vox hayley, which includes hairstyle influence, multiply posts, plus a lot more*

me: ah okay, *retells conversation with joey*

pao: "faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak"

moral of the story: wag ipagtatanong ang bandang ikaw lang ang ndi nakakaalam, mamumura ka lang ng mga tao haha ( :

funny pa, kasi when i checked out their site and listened to their songs, i realized that i know some of their tracks!! di ko lang alam na sa kanila pala yun and/or na yun ang title nun. one which i really liked, even way before was their "Misery Business" and all this time i thought it was Avril's. oo na, shungak na nga ako. bah.

basta ang alam ko, paninindigan ko 'tong ginagawa 'ko, eng-eng na kung eng-eng, i'll let them figure that one out by themselves and possibly fire me in the process, basta magsusulat ako, kung pano man yun, sa magasin na 'to. haha ( :

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Last Friday, Pao and I went to Club Dredd to cover a band's album launch. but before that, we were at this "Rock for Gold" Olympics Opening night concert dun sa IMAX theater parking (yey me, ang lapit, sa karagatan na pinagwe-work-an ko).

As we were about to leave, one of the event organizers (i think) handed us a couple of take-home bags. shempre, si pao ang may bitbit nung bags, pagbukas niya ang laman lang naman eh malaking-malaking tanduay tas may shirt haha ( : ayun, binully niya na lang si ate plato wraps na itabi muna yung bags kasi nga naman di ko rin iuuwi yun, ma-shock pa ang mga tao dito sa bahay "nakipag-lasingan ka lang ata eh!!"

so there, we went from coast-to-coast and landed our butts in Libis. I earlier found out that the original Dredd was in edsa. and that this place in Libis was a remake of sorts.

halata naman first time ko sa place di ba??

although way before, friends have been inviting to the place already. okay, slash that, A friend invited me to the place before, that was a year ago i think, yikeee.

ah well, thank heavens kasama ko si pao dahil sha yung may alam sa lugar, at sa mga tao na rin, nagugulat na nga lang ako pag bigla shang may kinakausap na kung sino dun sa place, parang "uyyy close!!" ( :

nga pala, nakita ko si raydon dun sa dredd, he/she was with this girl, kalimutan ko yung name basta kumakanta sha, sha yung kumanta dun sa inkblots closing dinner namin last year. ooohhh, thinking of sushis.. and LBM haha

anyhow, to say that the place is minimalist would be a total understatement. it's a really intimate enclosure, translation: small place, so kung naghakot ka ng maraming tao for your event there eh expect mo na na yung ini-exhale nila, yun na rin ang derecho mong ini-inhale. at, at kung hindi ka smoker, well prepare your lungs and your eyelids na rin sa matinding smoke machine coming from cigarettes here, there, and everywhere. seryoso, mahihilam ka sa pollution, tipong wag kang mag-a-eyeliner at mascara dahil matutunaw yung mga yun pag uminit na sa dami ng tao na tuma-tambucho.

ayun, and dun ko rin lang nalaman that Tuesday Vargas really sings. like seriously, buma-banda. i mean, i never knew her musical prowess beyond the novelty of "Babae po ako". And damn, you really should see her perform. na-tibo na naman ako when i watched her. (dun ko rin lang na-realize na kaya pala sha asa batangas dun sa isa kong cover eh dahil nag-perform sila) her band's name is top junk. astig niya talaga sobra!! before, i never really appreciated girls who wore red pants. like you could only pull off those crimson red pants if you were a hot supermodel. a whole lot of chutzpah wouldn't be enough for that. but when tuesday wore those red pants, augh, na-inlove ako!! i actually enjoyed more Top Junk's set for the night than the featured band's album launch.

ayon nga pala kay pao, si tuesday yung pumalit sa vox ng Put3ska nung umalis yun.

pansin niyo ang number of times i name-dropped pao?? nyahahahahahahahahahahaha, aba shempre, bago ko yang bff!! BFF!! at hinikayat ko rin shang gawing akong bff!! haha

eh kasi akala ko iiwan na talaga ako ni novia sa antel, so naghanap shempre ako ng friend dahil shy kid me, at ayoko namng magpaka-close lang bigla sa office. nagkataon lang na si pao ang palagian 'kong nakakasama sa cover, mapa-billy crawford man o dredd or layout ng mozcom. so there. BFFS!!

at swear novia, di ko talaga ni-jinx yung pagre-resign mo sa antel!! there was a small part of me that wished na hindi mawawala ang novia ko na pumupunta sa 16th floor para magbigay lang ng turon sakin, or kay sir ewik man :p pero promise, di ko hiniling na hindi ka na lang sana mag-resign..

pero since di ka na naman magre-resign, edi happy!! wahahahahaha

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pao to me on the way to libis: "alamo yung "insert band names here"

me: "uhmmm..." *blank stare*

pao: "wala ka talagang alam noh??"

me: "hehe"

pao: "sige, okay lang yan"

it still baffles me until now. how i managed to land this post. kasi i applied with novia, and well, mi novia is just way more eligible for the position than i am. and that's no pep talk. novia would know bands even before they make it to high-time mainstream, she plays the guitar, and dances to crazy frog too, she acts pretty well also. oha, oha, laban?! haha

so when they actually called me to say that im hired and asked when i could start, sobrang tagal kong pinrocess yung news.. as in sabi ko, "can i call you back later?" dahil ganun ako ka-shocked. i even threatened to gut sir vic if i ever find out that he asked sir eric to get me into the publication. and that threat still stands to date. yabang noh?!

i couldn't even bring myself to tell novia about it. and it's not even because im afraid she would take it badly, like duh, gusto niya lang naman yung post dahil kay stalkee 1 at 1.5, *lol* but it was more of, i was waiting for pulp to deliberate among themselves kung tama nga ba yung decision nila. (malamang habang bina-blog ko 'to eh nagde-deliberate na si joey at vernin sa nagawa nilang pag-hire sakin)

i eventually told novia ofkorz, kasi i know that if it were the other way around, novia would tell me too. NOT!! haha ( :

di ako bumabanda. lalo namang di ako nagpapaka-vocalist. ktv oo, sobra. i follow the mainstream musical arena, although heavily-westernized ang gusto ko. but i am no fanatic. ewan ba, bakit hindi na lang ako naging normal na bata na nahihimatay malaman lang na tutugtog sila ganito, dito at doon.

i am inclined toward protest songs (malamang, thesis namin yan). i like a number of local artists, but as i've said before, di talaga ako fan girl material. i don't impulsively buy cds of bands, if i want a song, i download it in limewire.

the last time i wanted to buy a cd badly, and had no resources to buy that which i was overly-addicted with, was when i was 13 years old. At the last minute, I got my parents to buy me a P500-special cd tour album of The Moffats.

i don't consider myself THAT musically-inclined. unless of course you'll consider some of the people i went out with ~~(a bassist-slash-student photographer; a singer-slash-composer-slash-protester; a keyboardist-slash-filmmaker-slash-writer; all of them whatevahs)~~

and im pretty sure, i dint include my dating options in my resume.

so you see, however it is that i landed the post was very much questionable. before, my friends would really gape at me and my song selection, i.e. cabangon and granada. Today, im left gaping at how well-versed the people i work with now are with the musical genre. aba dapat lang naman talaga. passion yun, dude, after all that's what your mag's all about.

And it always boils down to this: what is it that i really like writing about??

i have been asked this question in pulp, and in some others. and my answer would always be the same: it's HARDCORE NEWS. send me to where the real action is taking place and i guarantee you a sniping story before the day ends. I just know i could weave myself through anything classified as such because that's where my drive is. and it takes precedence over everything else. everthing else equally places second to my hardcore yearnings.

and yes, i'll pursue that calling in due time. just as soon as my dreamy PDI buzzes me with an opportunity. hah!!

so why did i still continue with the post?? two reasons: one, because i badly need to hone my writing again, ergo, i have to write again. two, because my sister was uberly proud of me when i got the position, and my sister's esteem and personal take on things mean a lot to me.

i have a rocker for a sister. she'll be qualified to assume my post at any given time. she's five years older than me, which means that before, everything she did was so cool, i just had to emulate every bit of it. (arguably, i still feel compelled to do that until now). imagine growing up and wanting to be just like your sister. you wanna be in her circle of friends, which doesn't easily happen especially when she's a highschool senior already and you're still a bumbling fifth-grader. you read what she reads, you talk the way she talks, and you listen to what she listens to.

and there are a lot of artists which were handed down to me by dear sister through a biological process called osmosis--scientifically, from a higher base of concentration to a lower one. insert eheads, parokya, rivermaya, spice girls, and a whole lot of others here. but let me make the boundaries clear, that influence stops where slapshock, greyhoundz, and the like, enter the picture.

now that I have a shot at it, it's high time I make my Ate proud!! ( : haha

besides, i have always maintained that IT'S NOT WHAT YOU CAN DO, BUT WHAT YOU CAN ENDURE.

Amen.

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nga pala, about the title

im not necessarily mean. but when im in the middle of doing things which i consider really important, like writing, i don't like being pestered.

earlier, the phone rang. usually mommy would answer the phone since most of the time para sa kanya din yung caller. but then she went out for a while so i had to answer the call.

the caller introduced himself and said he's from citibank. he's looking for my mom so i casually told him that she's out and he could probly try calling her again at a later time.

conversation finished. phone hung-up.

by the way, i just had to mention this, the caller had a distinct accent which became more noticeable as he tried to express himself in the English language. again, im not mean, but there are certain things which could easily tick me off during times when i don't wish to be bothered.

not five minutes passed when the same caller rang again, (distinct accent, remember) and i was starting to get annoyed because he was looking for my mom again. and im pretty sure we're not banking with citibank so i was half certain this guy was fishing for credit card applicants.

in a very hurried tone, i told him to call back in an hour or so if he wanted to reach my mom. but he dint stop there, he asked what my relation is to the person he's trying to call. now in an irritated tone, i said i'm her daughter. banat ba namn sakin nang, "so she's your mom?"

really irritated, i said yeah, and again advised him to call back later. then he said a couple of other things, interchanging the female and male pronouns all the while, and i heard myself saying that im really busy at the moment.

then he started asking if we were renting out or if we owned a house, and also inquired about mommy's mobile phone number.

i reiterated that it's best he contact her at the number he's currently calling and he should ask her himself for that detail, if he gets the chance.

sagot ba naman sakin ng: *inflect accent* "But what if in case of emergency, you don't know how to contact her?!"

very irritated me: "THAT'S MY PROBLEM, NOT YOURS!!" *hung-up the phone*

again, i am not usually that mean. i understand that he has a job to do. but i don't want the fulfillment of his tasks hindering mine.

chos!!

^___^

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