KZ TANDINGAN AT THE X FACTOR PHL (PRESSCON)

Watch The X Factor Philippines finalist KZ Tandingan with her performance at the X Factor PHL press conference last September 14, 2012 at the Dolphy Theater. 

IT'S A PRIVILEGE!

Little did I know that someday, I will be holding a 1997 newspaper of Philippine Daily Inquirer.

For ABS-CBN chairman and CEO Gabby Lopez’s 60^th b-day, I was tasked to find a specific article in the Inquirer library. It was about the Lopezes and the Ayalas that was published in January 1997, between the dates of 23 - 25. It is said to be in the front page of Inquirer.

As I arrived at Inquirer office in Makati (about an hour of travel from ABS-CBN), I don’t have a hard time finding the said article because the Inquirer library is very organized. The newspaper copies were arranged by year and but each issue of Inquirer newspaper only has one copy, so reproduction of it is allowed. 

As I scanned the 1997 archive, I found this…

The article was really about the Lopezes and the Ayalas centered in their vigorous role for Filipinos. "SA UMAGA PAGGISING MO PARA MAG HILAMOS HANGGANG SA PAG PATAY NG ILAW PARA MATULOG SA GABI... CUSTOMER KA NILA!" 

BLAME THE SEATS FOR HALF A DECADE OF FRIENDSHIP

They say College is the enjoyable phase of life. And so it was.

It was a sunny Thursday, my first day as a college student. It's one of my most anticipated days in my life as I have gotten all the hard works back in high school. It will open another chapter of life full of challenges.

College will never be the same without them - GaChAlLaMeMo. I have created our group name from the first two letters of our surnames. I must admit we have differences (as in sobrang dami), but when I'm with them, I can really be who I am.

 

Ga - Galindez

Ch - Chua

Al - Alday

La - Landrito

Me - Medina

Mo - Mondero

We blame the seats that we chose upon entering room 110 of PUP – College of Communication (CoC) bldg. on the first day of class. I don't know about their justification as to why they chose their seats, but as I am late (though there's no prof yet in the room), I seated just two row and two seats from the door. I was with Manuel and Jastine beside me. In front of me were Jen, MJ, Pia and Jo. See? The arrangement of seats was a sign that God wants us to be 'friends.'

It came to a point when going to the main bldg. for P.E. class for the first time, we were already together. After the orientation, we had our lunch at Teresa. MJ was the one who led the way to where we ate. It was a big two-storey house that the first floor was made into a carinderia. As I remembered, we all ordered shanghai rolls with rice. Hmmm yum! It costs us around P25 each, "sulit naman."

GaChA during first year college

Blame the seat. That was I told them when remembering how our friendship started.

Time flies so fast that we still stuck with each other for half a decade. It's been five years! Today, we have our own lives as 'professionals,' but still find ways to have communication.

I'm so proud of my daughters and sons! (They used to call me "momi" and Marlon as their "dadi.")

What made us intact as friends? Our differences :-)

Describing our personality took me some time to think, as I've said, we were ALL different (the way we talk, we put on clothes, etc.) It’s just that I want you all know how unique we are as GaChAlLaMeMo.

Mary Ann Chua - She was my first best friend in college, and we used to call each other 'GF.' She's kinda weird that most of our classmates were having a hard time knowing her character, but for me, I knew who she was - happy go lucky!

Jen Alday - She looks like a 'shy type' girl but is very, very talented. She can sing, dance and act! She's now working in TV5 (my rival station, haha!)

Joy Landrito - She's kinda boyish but sometimes transforms into a lady. She loves to laugh and likes to challenge herself. "Hindi siya nagpapatalo sa boys."

Jo Medina - The super "kulit" in the barkada. She always makes me laugh in her own little way. She loves to sing, she loves God above all, and best of all, and she’s our spiritual adviser!

MJ Mondero - She's the 'all-around' girl. She knows everything and has no time to rest; she's the "Kuracha" version in our group.

Originally we were just six but as time passes by, we tend to expand as a group. We've been super close to other boys in our section: Arnie, Jeric, John Paul, Rafael, Reysimar, Menard and of course their "dadi" Marlon.

We also have our "ampon," she's Kriezyl (just ask her why she was called adopted, haha!) She's the 'best layout artist' in our group. Not to forget our baby Pia (who stopped studying during our 1^st year in college due to his father’s death) and Elijah (who also stopped).

So now, our name also needs some expansion too: we are now called DeEpGaChAlLaMeMoCaPaPaZaRaSaMaSa or GaChAlLaMeMo PLUS

“Alam niyo ba kung saan pa kami subok na? Kapag may b-day ang isa sa amin, tiyak nandun kami.” 

Birthday celebrations of GaChA

                                    

It's been five years, yes. September 7, 2012 marks our 5th GaChAnniversary - and the birth of my third "pamangkin," Baby Bianca Loiuse Galindez-Layon. Some of them too have their own "pamangkins."

4th GaChAnniversary celebration at Chef de Angelo and Flights Bar last year

09.07.12 has been a significant date - Happy 5th GaChAnniversary!

4K TWEETS AND COUNTING…

Celebrate any milestone

I can't imagine tweeting 4,000 times since June 10, 2009 (as stated in my Twitter account).

I was quite silent and I think Twitter has been my voice for some time. Tweeting doesn't need to be detailed, nor has to be serious, its actually just like a diary of your emotions over a particular period of time, can be every minute, every hour, every day, once a week - it’s your choice!

As I am a Blackberry user, I tweet once in a while whenever I am on the mood to type something (sometimes out of this world). Before, when I was using the old phone (Samsung Galaxy Mini), I tweeted often because I don’t have mobile connections.

Tweeting made easy with Blackberry, I guess. It’s in the notification feature that actually built to stay alert on social networking sites. But activating the mobile connection might easily drain the battery. For me, once charged in the morning lasts half day depending on the usage of BB.

In the lyrics of the song 'Boom Boom Pow' by Black Eyed Peas, "I'm so 2008, you're so 2000 and late," I am kinda late with the so called 'POP.' Pop is a shorter term for popular, meaning its 'in,' in Tagalog "uso." I'm the type of person who does not go for the "uso" thingy but rather be what I really wanted.

First example to further explain: While everybody's crazy over Twilight (on both on movies and books), I'm not. While everybody prefers Twitter over Facebook, I'm still into the latter. For me Twitter is not as interactive as FB, found it boring but eventually changed when I worked as a 'monitoring girl.'

I was employed in ABS-CBN (first & current work) as Media Monitoring Assistant last year. As part of the job, I tasked myself to monitor (as much as possible) even social networking sites. It was my officemate/friend Myan who advised me to be active on Twitter because the news easily caught early on Twitter unlike publications. For example, when fresh news came out, it can be posted on Twitter while publications can include it in the next issue of newspapers.

Twitter has been the 'watchdog,' next to the Press (for me). As stated in our Social Studies class, we have three (3) branches of government: 1) Legislative; 2) Executive & 3) Judiciary; then comes the 4th branch - the Press, watchdog of the government. But I guess Twitter can be essential to the said branches because nowadays, it is the no. 1 source of information – especially when disaster comes.

Twitter is a timeline, yes. It’s really a virtual diary that is accessible to people following you (depends on your setting if private or public).

As usual, I followed Kapamilya stars, entertainment press, official Twitter accounts of publications/websites and the like. My followers were my friends (of course), former college classmates, co-workers, bosses and some unknown people.

As of posting, I have 80 followers (thanks a lot for following me), 4,362 tweets (mostly 'good morning' tweets, haha), 282 following and nine favorites. 

Please feel free to follow me: https://twitter.com/amberpop

Happy tweeting!!!

A 'CLASSIC SAVORY' TREAT

After the long weekend, it’s back to normal again. August 27 was Tuesday but we had a status meeting (normally Mondays) to start the week aligned. That day was kinda long, stretched two-day workloads to one, and me got burned out. It was about to end that way until I received a good word.

I was surprised when my boyfriend Ram told me he'll treat me to Classic Savory Chicken (CSC) after work last Aug. 28 because it’s not in our schedule for that day. As I went to their office, all I am thinking is going home. I was then so excited because it’s our first time to try the said resto. You know what makes me anticipate the treat? I watched it in QTV’s ‘Ang Pinaka’ way back and can’t remember the topic but the resto was featured.

We went to the CSC's branch in Trinoma mall. It was just kinda awkward to find the resto in lined with Meg clothing, Karimadon, Pepper and the like when all mentioned were clothing line and CSC as resto. At first, we really had the hard time finding the exact location of the resto, so we approached the roving guard of the mall.

So finally, entering the resto there was a staff approached us if we will dine in, and I said 'yes.' He called his co-staff to assist us and gave us a table good for two. As we sat, Ram and I were not comfy in sitting with only a table when we can occupy a large portion of table, so we transfer to another table good for four people.

Ordering from the menu list, I told Ram to choose chicken since it was the resto's specialty since 1950. We ordered two Combo B, worth P215 each serving:

Combo B1: chicken, salt & pepper spareribs + special turon with tropical cooler

Combo B2: chicken, sweet & sour pork + special turon with tropical cooler

We also ordered their Classic Lomi Soup (P195).  

Combo B is actually a complete meal – it has meat, rice, drinks and a dessert.

First served were tropical coolers and it tasted so well. It’s like drinking four seasons with a twist of calamansi.

Second to be served was a large bowl of lomi soup. The taste of lomi was so good and it’s really tasty. It has shrimp, tenga ng daga, pork and chicken liver. It also has plenty of veggies that complemented the chicken liver. I must say, we enjoyed the lomi soup because we both love it. 

Last to be served were Combos B1 and B2. When put in our table, I first handed my camera and got a snap of it. We ate it until we figured out we need another cup of rice. Not to forget, each rice costs P25.

By the way, our dinner that night was a “salubong’ for his birthday. Thanks Honey! ( '0' )/