Sunday, July 30, 2006


TV Life: Philippine Idol Na!

Tonight is the premiere of Philippine Idol and I am so excited to watch it. Drop by Philippine Idol Updates or Idol On ABC fansites to get the latest news about this TV phenomenon.

Anyway, ABC-5 has been showing previews of Philippine Idol featuring...


THE GOOD



THE BAD





AND THE DOWNRIGHT AWFUL.



Now I have to buy shawarmas and rush home.




Saturday, July 29, 2006


MOTIF: A Night In Sn-Tsn

I miss this, and I know you miss this. The Misadventures Of The Imperial Family returns with all the crazy travels, this time embarking on a tour in Mainland China...

Riding in a public bus on our way to Mainland China, our Hong Kong tour guide Eric made some final reminders about Shenzhen before we part ways.

* Beware of pickpockets.
* Never EVER buy jewelry in China. It's fake.
* It's better to buy tea, but DON'T BUY JEWELRY. It's fake. No guarantee.

After three hours, we arrived at the border. Eric assisted us all througout the immigration process. When it was my turn to have my passport verified, the duty officer seemed to have a hard time with me. He told me to remove my glasses, since I wasn't wearing any in my passport photo. He requested to add my middle name in the form. And he kept on flipping over the passport like he is dealing a poker deck.

What am I? A terrorist threat?

Our new tour guide met us after all 24 of us got verified. She took us on a bus leading to our hotel. The tour guide introduced herself by her English name: Helen. Some members of the tour groups asked for her Chinese name, but we didn't understand what she said. It's too fast to comprehend.

Helen welcomed us to Shenzhen City (pronounced Sn-Tsn), a booming metropolis of 25 million people where Hongkies go out for a weekend of cheap, I mean, inexpensive rendezvous.

We were billeted to "G" Hotel (I'll let you find that out for yourself). It's a two-star hotel disguised as a three-star hotel. I'm telling you now, our room was so cramped, it was so dark, sleeping was like camping on the sidewalk, and please don't make me describe the bathroom.

Again, my sister Princess Six and I stayed together in one hotel room while King Daddy and Prince Eleven took another room. After unloading all our things, my Dad decided to have dinner.

And what are you supposed to do in a city that you have no idea where to go? Follow every Filipino trait: just walk around without asking for directions, relying on your innate sense of navigation. We did just that.

Passing by a few blocks from the hotel, the Imperial Family realized the places to go in Shenzhen. You can go for a full hour of soothing massage for only 78 yuan (really really cheap, I mean inexpensive), but Dad was short on money. Besides, having a massage was not part of our plan. Shenzhen also have trendy clubs, but don't expect the clubbers to look like the ones on the cover of every Hed Kandi CD. Since I went to China with my family, I don't have the liberty to enter one.

The Imperial Family stopped by a seemingly trendy restaurant (it has impressive interiors) and decided to dine out in there.

(to be continued...)





Life Life: The Agony...THE AGONY!

Why do I have the pleasure of torturing myself?

I discovered that one of the blogs I linked with has a particular song in his MP3 player, and I was so squeamish but at the same time excited to press the PLAY button and listen to that old...old...love song.

The song is Kenny Rankin's "Hiding Inside Myself," about a love that is never express, and at the same time often joked as a gay anthem. Yes, my dearies, that song had some sort of a significance in my life, back when I was an innocent and naive peasant (meaning, back in college).

I don't want to drown you with the details. Let's just say someone sang that to me, and being coy about everything, I only thought it was just that...a song. It was only too recent too late for me to realize its true meaning.

Hearing the intro all over again was a mix of joy and agony. I was smiling yet shedding tears. Basilio? Crispin? Just kidding.

Each part of the lyric speared right through me, but the only part I was anticipating was at the end of the song. I never heard the song until its end before. Did Kenny Rankin whisper something?

The answer appeared in a very faint voice

"I love you."

He did.




Thursday, July 27, 2006


Special Feature: Paris Hilton's Baby Shower

I can't believe I spent five minutes watching this, and you should, too! Paris Hilton throws out a baby shower to her celebrity friends, but who among them is pregnant?




Saturday, July 22, 2006


Work Life: Back To Busy-ness

Just wrapped up our shoot for the children's show that was put on hold for almost a month. It just feels so good to work again.

I think I am fated to become a freelancer, which is a good thing if you work in TV.

Meanwhile, I have a hard time dealing with the new director I am working with. He tends to call for a meeting on the day itself, and when I arrive at the venue where we are supposed to meet, I have to wait for three hours after texting him that I am at the location (my colleague jokes that it is his signal to take a bath).

Anyway, the upcoming projects seem to be going to the right direction. Hopefully I would be part of it.

Thanks for your fervent prayers for the success of your Imperial Highness.




Monday, July 17, 2006


House Life: The Wonders Of Adolescence

At 15, my younger brother is at the peak of puberty and he has been eliciting weird behavior in the past few days. For one, he now always race towards the phone whenever it rings, compare that to a month ago where his ass would have been too heavy to move a muscle.

His mobile phone has been blaring beer jingles everytime he has a message alert, in which he has mastered the skill of texting message on his cellphone while dabbling buttons of his PS2 controller.
After days of being clueless, my sister tells me of a vital classified information.

"Do you think our little brother has a girlfriend?"

I have no idea that he is starting to explore the wonders of adolescence, and my sister have proof:

EXHIBIT A:
She received a phone call from a girl looking for our brother. When she called our brother he suddenly got up from his bed and grabbed the phone in an instant.

EXHIBIT B
He changed his mobile phone service from Smart to Globe. He said he wanted to text his friends cheaply since they are all, including his "girlfriend," using Globe Pre-paid.

And EXHIBIT C
When my sister once teased our little brother that he has girlfriend, he became defensive. "Stop it," he would yell at her.

After concluding that our brother "could probably" have a girlfriend, that only means one thing: I am the only one in the brood of four who is currently unattached.

Gasp! I'm an endangered specie!

Kidding aside, my sister and I become obeservant of our brother's behavior behind his back. I would liketo regard it as contingency procedure just in case something goes wrong.

One morning, our brother goes out for a weekend with friends. He returned early in the evening and we ask him what takes him so long. He says that he spends the day in his friends house watching DVDs.

My sister suspects that he probably goes out on a date with his girlfriend. They watch movies and probably dine out at a fastfood restaurant.

I suspect that he and his friends watch porn.




Saturday, July 15, 2006


Life Life: Que Horror-scope

Monday may seem to be one of those days when things don't go quite right, Your Imperial Highness. If you can get out of the rut of your usual expectations, you may find that doors open in unexpected places and that you may get results where you had not expected any.

I woke up on a text message alert sent by the production manager of my supposed upcoming project with a director/ producer whom I supposed to present with network executives on Monday.

The director suffered a mild stroke. The meeting was suspended.

I called him up on his hospital room and he said he got a bit doozy but he was okay. He even epoligized for not being able to continue with the meeting, but I told him that it's okay.

I mean, I can't blame him. I can't even blame God for that.

So given the situation, that only meant one thing: another round of online job hunting.

There is also a Full Moon on Monday in Capricorn which is your love and romance zone. Full Moons can highlight feelings that you never thought you had - and can be either positive or negative. The temptation may be to thrash around in a well of emotion, and make a mess of things because you may not know what else to do with it. But don't be tempted to make decisions on the spur of the moment as you might not be in the right frame of mind. After a few days you may regret something you did or said at this time.

For some weird reason, I begin to reminisce on my past love that was lost and (what I thought) forgotten. I thought of the same thoughts, of how he is now, and whether or not he misses me.

Unlike before, I no longer cry at the memory of him. My eyes seemed tired of crying, but my heart was still heavy, needing to breathe deeply every now and then.

But now there seems a silver lining. I am beginning to harbor romantic feelings over a guy who is so distant from me. That's the problem though. You see, I used to hear this from the man of my past: Friends can be lovers, but lovers cannot be friends.

I'm afraid that the bond I am beginning to forge with this newly-found friend would be gone before I know it. I am supposed to learn from my mistakes and I will not gonna fail with my new guy this time.

If we are meant to be, God will find a way. But in the meantime, I would remain happy that we are friends. Just friends.

Friday may be equally intense as Mars trines Pluto which could bring home and family issues back into the limelight. Listen out for some positive intuition or guidance on any matter that is bothering you - you may be blessed with a fresh perspective that in itself proves very healing.

I now spend the time guarding house while the rest of the imperial family are away. King Daddy works from afternoon to almost midnight, my brother is in his senior year in high school (and that means more "gimiks", rendevous with friends), and my sister (who quit her job right after the first day, long story) spends her time in the house with a new hobby: custom jewelry making, which she sells to her boyfriend's cousins.

She also asks me to help her with another round of job-hunting. So far, things aren't that good.




Sunday, July 09, 2006


Sports Life: My Imperial World Cup Analysis

The World Cup Finals is just hours away, and your Empress is torn between two great football teams.

Who do I think will win the coveted trophy?



France?



Or Italy?



France?



Or Italy?

Aaarrgh! My head is aching...





House Life: F*ckage

The big box had arrived!

Queen Mother sent us a huge package filled with gifts for all of the members of the imperial family stuck--I mean, living--in the Philippine Islands.

The contents in the box contained the usual stuff: cans of SPAM and Vienna sausage, canned oranges, hand-me-down Prada handbags and Victoria's Secret underwear, ladies' shoes, make-up kits.

What did I get?

An electric toothbrush.

A deodorant.

And a pile of Us Magazine.

Thanks, Ma.





Intermission Number: Numa Numa In Concert!

The Numa Numa may give you one hell of an LSS (okay, okay, it's "Dragostea Din Tei"), but I just found out that the boys (yes, there's three of them) who sang this infectious song are really really hot.

So here they are in my site, all the way from the Republic of Moldova, and reunited all for the sake of good ol' me, here's O-Zone!

(applause)




Thursday, July 06, 2006


Go For Short!

"I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know" -- Sophie Ellis Bextor, "Murder On The Dance Floor"

This latest post is long overdue. And just because I'm currently technically jobless doesn't mean I'm not doing anything in my life.

Last Tuesday, I attended a meeting that involved most staff members of the children's show I work for (since most of us are freelancers), which was called by a producer/ director. He introduced to us a line-up of potential projects. Hopefully I would become part of those.

See? Obviously I have a life offline.



While this guy doesn't seem to have any.

***************

You know by now that I like my posts long, but after much thought, I have decided to do the unthinkable.

I would go for short.

Yup, shorter posts. Easier to the eyes. More random lives.

But I still like mine long.

***************

NET LIFE: HOTTIE CHAT

I recently got in touch with my good friend Luis, who hails all the way from Venezuela, while he's working and while I'm groggy and battling sleep (damn that 12-hour difference). What we chatted about? It's about our favorite subject: men.

Luis: are there more hotties today?
Empress: of course there are ;)
Empress: never mind the girl...



Empress: what do you think?
Luis: he is gorgeous, nice chest
Empress: how about this one?



Empress: i honestly don't like him, but what do you think?
Luis: nice ands, but too fem of a face
Empress: exactly
Empress: but a lot of girls here are gaga over that celebrity ...eww
Luis: really?
Luis: is he gay?
Luis: i bet he is
Empress: well, he's rumored to be gay...i think he is
Luis: i'd bet my balls he is
Luis: lol
Empress: haha!