What's In My Draft Folder

I know this blog has been quiet lately, but I was writing in the background for material for this blog. Here's one that I wrote last month I believe.

ON MOVING AND MOVING ON....

MOVING...

A swanky new building is opening at work and 99% of the workforce in my department is moving there. The rest of us are moving also, but not in the swanky new building. I and 5 others are moving to another building. My new digs at work will require a little aesthetic work – new carpet for example. I think that is all there is with regards to my new work space, but I will still have my own office. The world around me though is chaotic, as co-workers packing up personal effects to move to the other building. No other items are allowed to be carried over with the move since the mgt has decided that the new building will have all new equipment and furniture. So, adios comfy chair. The rest of us who are not moving to the new building will move to our new digs in 2 weeks. Hopefully a week of sprucing up will be enough so we can move quickly and on time. This old building that we are abandoning will be torn down. This is a case of it’s cheaper to build a new one than to renovate and make earthquake safe an older structure.

And MOVING ON...

The American Idol is ending its mostly illustrious run next week. It stayed on the air for 15 years. Fifteen freaking years!!!!! Yes, that long!

I came onboard on season 4, the year that Carrie Underwood was voted as champion. I was hooked immediately, especially when the charming and ruggedly handsome Bo Bice seemed to croon to me personally every week. I lost my head with Bo. I went out to vote. And in those years, it was very difficult to vote because you cannot get through the phone line most of the time. And while you had all the time in the world after the show is over when the voting begins, you cannot get through the line to vote. You really must like your idol very much to go through the challenge of casting your vote. I must say I did that, jumped through hoops to cast a vote. I was so engrossed in season 4 that I still have VCR tapes of that season in my garage, I think. Yap, call me AI geek. Well I was one.

In my history of watching American Idol, I’ve seen a lot – boring, compelling, exciting, more boring seasons. I have my share of favorite performances that I sometimes watch on You Tube when I get nostalgic.

The timing is right I thought. I am ready to move on with my tv life without American Idol as I’m sure others are too. I am not sure that the show is still pulling in good ratings. I think it stayed longer than it should. On the other hand, I think someday there will be a rebirth or a reboot of American Idol. I know there’s still THE VOICE, but I never watch that thing. I don’t like the judges.

What I am looking forward to is an awesome, jaw-dropping, no-they-didn’t, OMG kind of finale. A finale to end all finales. I hope all the previous winners will attend and perform. I expect to see all the past judges to be in attendance as well, most especially Simon Cowell.


American Idol......please hit this out of the park will you?

Randomness

it's a bird!!!!, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Scandal is back!!!! Why am I not very excited?

No one to be excited about in the new lineup of American idol.

Nothing is making me excited about spring. Is it because we hardly had a winter to speak of?

I won a coach bag from a blog I read religiously. I won it just by commenting on a post, which I regularly do. My first branded bag. Thanks.

On my other blog, my kitties also won a bag of treats from another kitty blog we read regularly.

Two wins, maybe I should buy a lottery ticket now!

Been eating out quite too much this first 2 months of the year. Not losing weight at all.

Looking forward to not wasting away my 2014.

Would love to take on more sewing projects. The first time I sew it was like riding a bike, once you learned you will never forget it. I love it.

Winter, Olympics, AI and other projects

2013_05_27_28_29 185, originally uploaded by M'roy.

It's been a weird winter. Drought in California and endless snowstorm in the East, Midwest and some parts of the South. I know the rest of the country can't wait for spring to come and snow on the ground to melt, but I'm a bit anxious of the arrival of both spring and summer. If the trend continues and we don't get any significant rainfall between now and summer, I'm pretty sure we will see water rationing. I never experienced having water rationing before, full time. I remember when my brother used to live in Makati, they get water from about 5 am to 9 am and then again from 6 pm to about 10 pm. They collect water in a large bin in the bathroom and more bins in the kitchen. They have the faucets continuously running during those hours and the pressure wasn't great but the household water needs were met. You learn to make do with the available resources I suppose.

In other news, I've been enjoying the Olympic Games so far, although I've been getting impatient with women's figure skating which is finally tonight. I'm not checking online for spoilers as I know the short program is completed earlier in the day.

Additionally, American Idol is back! I'm loving Harry Connick Jr as the moral fiber of the group, so to speak. I really really like him and this early I could see that the trio of judges gel together well, unlike the ragtag team of last year's judging panel. Really dislike Mariah and Nikki Minaj.

I went shopping crazy a few weeks ago. I went to my closet and found that my pants were one by one disintegrating. They have been used so many times that they were dying on me. No other choice but to shop. So I bought 5 pants and 3 tops. Now the pants need to be altered, I mean shortened. I usually buy pants labelled "short" but this time around they didn't have those. So the pants were sitting in my closet accummulating cat hair until I convinced the hubby to invest in a simple sewing machine. Great timing K-Mart was selling a "simple" sewing machine, yes that's what it's called, last week for $79. So we bought one. It's Wednesday now and the only action that the sewing machine had seen were scratches from the cats curious about the heavy box sitting at the foot of the bed. I can stitch two fabrics together, I know how to use a sewing machine. My mother did not teach me how to cook - although she was a great cook - but she taught me how to sew. So my project now is to shorten the pants. I am giving myself a week to complete this project.

In addition, I still have that cross stitch project that I agreed to do with my San Diego friend. She and I will do a cross stitch project at the same time and will check on each other's progress online. Unfortunately she had to go home to the homeland because her mother passed away. I think today is her arrival back stateside.

That's all for now. I'm getting lazy putting my thoughts and feelings on writing, so there's less and less stuff here.

Thankful Thursday

Maybe it's maturity, or that I've been around people who have been talking about it a lot, or it could also be all the things I've been reading online, especially my FB friends' postings. I've been more aware of counting my blessings and being more thankful lately.

I sighed a prayer one time within the earshot of the Mister, "Thank you Lord for everything!", I said. I meant it too. I felt overwhelmed by all the blesings. I was surprised when he said, "You should list down your blessings, name them one by one, and not generalized them like that."

I read somewhere that the minute you start counting and listing down your blessings, you would find that you have more blessings than you imagined you have. And the more you appreciate what you already have, the less chance of you getting depressed or wanting more.

So let me count my blessings:

• family that support and love me
• roof over my head
• food on my table
• more food in the refrigerator
• job that pays for all the food and other expenses
• church that encourages me and enriches me
• friends that give me companionship
• pets that give me responsibility
• blog that keep my mind active
• photography that gives me joy
• general good health
• opportunities to be of service to fellowmen

AMERICAN IDOL

Last night the top 9 performed songs by the legendary BEATLES. While the performances were overall great (2 probably underwhelmed me), I CANNOT believe my ears when 2 or 3 contestants admitted to not having heard of the BEATLES before in their lives. WHAT???????

I was very disappointed at the lack of knowledge of these young people. What are they teaching them in school? Kidding aside, I would think that if one is interested in a certain field, wouldn't he/she be interested in who excelled in the same field? Very very disappointed.

Anyway, with only two performance nights behind us, I would hazard a guess that it's the ladies that will be left standing at the Finale this year. I am drawn to the Kree girl because she has this soft sweet voice and equally sweet face, but I feel the same way for Angie, who cannot be mistaken for sweetness. I think Angie has punk in her, which I like too. Then there's another girl whose name I've forgotten but she's equally good. In fact all the girls are really good this year.

Daily February: Days 23 & 24

Hah! It's becoming harder and harder to keep up this daily blogging goal.

Let me tell you this, I'm quite proud of it in fact, I have finished THE ALCHEMIST by Paul Coelho.

Now I'm reading Amy Tan's SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING. So far, it's a fun read. I was reading it while eating my cereal at lunch today. Then I heard myself laughing out loud. The sound surprised me. It's been ages since a book made me laugh. It's not even meaning to be funny. It's just wonderfully written. The book is a little thick, so it might take days, just like the thin Alchemist.

Right now I'm taking a break from reading by blogging and by watching the Oscar's. I'm having a fun time watching. I like awards shows. I always have a pick, even though I saw none of the movies nominated. We've cut back on our movie budget. We'll wait for DVD.

Since I'm in the mood to write, let me say I have been enjoying the American Idol the past week, where 5 of the girls and 5 of the boys were cut. The judges.....hmmm.....Mariah Carey is boring me. Amused I was by Nikki Minaj, who by the way I had no idea who she was before Idol. Yes, that's how clueless I am. Still I cannot tell you one song of her.

I doubted the inclusion of Keith Urban in the panel. I thought he was good as a singer, but I don't know much about him to fully make a vote, like I have one. Anyway, he's my fave judge so far, because his yes and no reflects mine.

Good news, we have a new addition in our extended family. My nephew became a first time father last week with the arrival of little precious one, Ashley Michelle. I haven't seen her yet, I'm aching to see her, except that I'm not sure I'm germ-free after the nasty cold bug I had two weeks ago. I still feel yucky sometimes and the cough is persisting so I'm not sure being near a newborn is a good idea.

Spring is nearly here. I cannot wait. The fruit trees in my garden are blooming, although the plum did not get pruned so there might not be too many fruits this year.

This weekend we spent a lot of time weeding. My backyard is overrun with weeds. (Buster just interrupted me. I think he wants to go downstairs. He needs human supervision to go down or up, hehehehe)

I planted a few Shasta daisy seeds today. I was planning on planting my "salad greens" seeds, but I didn't have a pot available. The planting plot just got weeded today and so it's nearly ready for tomatoes, but I'm not sure the plants are in the nursery yet. Will check next week.

Okay my tilapia sarsiado dinner is waiting.

Yays and (oh) Noes!

Yays:

• Shoe shopping.  Got 2 on sale.
• Dress shopping.  Got 2 also on sale.
• Reserved camping cabin for July.
• Drive to our favorite route Highway 128 to visit the "ghost trees", which are actually California oaks all covered/dripping with Spanish moss, looks eerie on a misty rainy winter day.
• San Francisco 49ers going to the Super Bowl this Sunday, a little viewing party at home to boot.
• Bought a dining voucher that includes a 5-course tasting menu with drink pairings.

(Oh) Noes:

• Emma still not fully healed with whatever is ailing her. 
• Pet insurance has not reimbursed me yet.
• Headaches - go away!
• Failure to pick up a book and a month is almost gone.
• Unable to start with craft/needlework project.
• Cannot get with the American Idol vibe this year.  Maybe when the shows are in Hollywood.
• Big Bang Theory not getting love from critics as evidenced by their inability to snag any awards so far.  They were the toast before and when the show skyrocketed in popularity with the viewing masses, the critics looked the other way.  Isn't that always the case?  Still, I'm frustrated.
• "Haven" has had it's season finale already. I want more of it. 
• Cannot seem to start losing weight.
• Still have not inquired about swimming lessons. Or pilates. Or Zumba.

Bullet time

What's going on?  It's been a week since my last post. 

A few of the things on my mind lately:

• Cold here. Having a cold snap.  It's 36 F (2C) when I went to work this morning.  I love the cold weather.
• Looking forward to having sake tasting this weekend with another couple, friends of ours.
• Might miss the SF 49ers game though.
• Watched the entire 49er V Packers last Saturday.  Must admit that Kaepernick is pretty good.
• American Idol is back tomorrow.  Are you ready for another Idol season?
• The Golden Globes was Sunday.  Happy but surprised that Ben Affleck bagged the Best Director award.  I am so looking forward to watching Argo.
• Personally, I feel blah - physically, emotionally, mentally.
• I think I need baseball to perk me up.
• No concrete travel plans for 2013 yet.
• Must plan vacation times this year, deadline for submission at work is by the end of the month.
• Zoom lens for my DSLR still broke.  Boo hoo.
• Need massage, ASAP.
• Pancit palabok from Red Ribbon was dinner last night, courtesy of Brother #1.  Thanks Kuya, I needed that!
• Dreaming of Mendocino this year. 

Well that's all folks.  Still not in the mood to blog here. I don't know why. 

Jessica or Phillip?

The question will be answered tonight.

The choice had been made and will be revealed tonight.

That's all I have to say. I really don't care much which one ends up winning it all, because both have talent to build a career with or without the title.

Who will it be?

A Season of Farewells

To a tv watcher just like me, you know this is the season of finales. The shows are either putting on a mind bending season finale or tying loose ends for their series finale.

Two of my long-time shows have said/are saying goodbyes this season. The housewives of Wisteria Lane have managed to neatly tie loose ends in a bow just like Brie would do it. I was watching on Mother's Day Sunday, just like I always do for years, but I wasn't aware until the 2nd hour that it was the finale I was watching. I used to be in the loop when it comes to my tv shows, but this past 2 years have been really different. I've got more things to do at night than ever so most of the shows I play catch up. Thanks to DVR.

Needless to say, it was quite emotional to see a show that you've watched for years. But I was glad that DH have ended their run the way it did.

HOUSE is airing its finale next week. I missed the show yesterday, because I've got my church meetings on Monday evenings. I'll catch up with it this week, after my chores.

In another goodbye, my new fave show MISSING starring Ashley Judd and shot in Europe has been cancelled. I think it still has one or two unaired shows. I hope they air those and I'm really hoping some other channels will absorb this show, because it's really good.

American Idol will be crowning its new Idol in 2 weeks, then no more singing until January. I'm really excited to see who ends up the top 2, after that I really don't care anymore, unless of course Joshua Ledet makes it to the top 2. I really don't dig his way of singing.

Another show that hooked me is the Katharine McPhee starrer (she was an Idol runner up) is SMASH. Thankfully, it's been picked up for another season.

So while my regular shows take a summer break, I'd be wise to do the same. I'd like to (fingers crossed) limit my tv watching and pick up something - a book perhaps, or even some needlepoint - to do as a project. Wish me luck. In the meantime, I'm still glued to the tube, heaven help me!

Top 4

It's down to 4 contestants still singing at American Idol. If you remember in the past years, I used to write regularly about the show, but this year has been quite hectic.

Last night's show showcased the talent in each of the remaining 4 singers. I stand my ground that Phillip Phillips is the man. I really enjoyed both his performances and his duet with Joshua Ledet.

Phillips wowed me by singing one of my absolute fave songs, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN, which was sung last year on the show by Casey Abrams, remember that? Well, I like how Phillips sang it. On his second song, he totally hit that one out of the park. The song is unfamiliar to me, but the way he performed it was spectacular. He totally threw down the gauntlet.

It's very easy to like Hollie. She's that younger sister type who likes to play and sing. I thought however that she has not found the right song to complement her wonderful voice throughout the contest. She needs a little bit more seasoning. I'm afraid she's the one deserving to go home tonight, performance-wise.

Joshua Ledet hit 1 out of 2 for me last night. His first song that Josh Groban masterpiece did not hit the mark for me. His second James Brown rendition was a grandslam. However, his type of singing, oversinging just isn't my type. Although I must confess he does sound very American Idol winner like.

Jessica, Jessica, Jessica. What can I say? I hold on to my belief that she will not win, because she doesn't have enough people support. There is nothing to criticize with her singing, it's superb, professional sounding even. But whenever I hear the song from Dreamgirls, all I can imagine and see is Charice belting it out in the Korean talent show that I have watched over and over on You Tube. While I really think her voice is the best in the competition, her stage presence and song interpretation needs a lot to be desired. I don't choose her to win simply because I am not into pop songs - I don't go for Beyonce, Gaga, Katy Perry. But I hope the best for her.

However way the cookie crumbles tonight, I'm sure these four have shown their talent and have caught the eye or eyes of producers in the industry. I'm sure they will make a living out of singing. So good luck to them. Sometimes you don't need to win to be successful. Just look around who's in the industry. In the season where Taylor something won, who's in the showbiz? Second place Katharine McPhee is riding high with this wonderful show SMASH on NBC and third place Daughtry who is successful in his singing career. There of course is Jennifer Hudson who placed fourth and made a wonderful career.

So there. Let's go Phillip Phillips!!!!

$40,000 car and random thoughts

There I was sitting comfortably in the couch about to watch American Idol when hubby walks in the room with a piece of paper in his hands.

"Do you want to buy a $40,000 car?", he asked.

"No.", I replied.

"Good, we're on the same page.", his retort.

So I asked why all of a sudden he was asking me about purchasing a very expensive automobile, when I just got a new car last December. He said the piece of paper in his hands was one those junk mails and someone is interessted in loaning us $40,000 for a car!

I no longer read the still many junk mails that arrive in our mail box every day. I do browse at the ads though. Those I could use. But banks offering loans, not really. I don't want to be more buried in debt as I already do with my mortgage :)

Back to American Idol, early in the season my dear brother commented how despite Jessica Sanchez's talent she will not win AI. He said she will not get public support.

I agree with him, although I wish that we were both wrong. On Monday night when they showed the contestants hometown support, I was dismayed to see that Jessica's support is not the community of San Diego but only her family - extended family yes. But no one can win with just family support, not American Idol.

Thus it was a real shocker to learn that she landed in the bottom three and a bigger shock when she was the one with the least amount of votes. Coming in to the show last night, I had the feeling that the SAVE was going to be employed, regardless of who gets the boot - unless it's Hollie, I think.

So it's back to square one Jessica. And people go vote for her, because I don't vote. I do follow the show, but not as a voter.

Still on last night's AI, I am so proud to see James Durbin's performance, really authentic and so believable. He was my fave on last year's show. Very inspiring to see that he's making good with his career so far. He's a local kid you know, from Santa Cruz.

On another random thought, today is Friday the 13th. This year there are only 2 Friday the 13th and the other one is in July. Are you superstitious about this date? I don't even know what it means why people are wary of this date?

Oh man our travel planning is going really crazy. We chose destination 1. Then we found out that our travel dates don't coincide with the dates on the travel company. So we chose destination 2. The travel dates are in accord with the #2. However, before we can finalize our plans to stick to #2, Travelzoo came out with the weekly deals that made us halt our plans to book #2 and take a gander at this new destination #3. While all this is happening, I got replies from different travel companies about #1. One of the proposed tour itinerary and price really fit our style, budget and travel dates. However, we still pursued #3 because it's so tempting. When we were getting ready to book #3, there were many surcharges that made the "deal" not so tempting anymore. It hardly wasn't a "deal" at all after adding all those "optional tours".

And so after all the phone calls, emails, and headaches (mine) I think we have finally decided to stick it to #1, our initial travel destination. Nakakaloka!

[the picture above is random too, we've been having stormy weather here. lightning and thunder and winds so strong and rains last night.]

This.......is American Idol

guitar hero? nah, acoustic., originally uploaded by M'roy.

The new season of American Idol unfolded last night. Did you see it? I tuned in nearly midway when contestant #5 was singing. I have a few comments with regards to the newest season.

First, every day I am liking Jennifer Lopez more and more. Did you see her stylish white ensemble last night. So elegant and fabulous. She is flawless with her styling. I also like the way she's calling it bad if it's bad, in her own I-don't-want-to-be-mean fashion when she told Shannon it wasn't her best. I could have preferred if she gave Shannon some tough love.

Second, I don't see many contestants that excite me.

Third, my early faves are Jessica Sanchez, Hollie Something, Skylar Something, Phil Phillips and Colton Something. Yap, that's how much I know this new crop of wannabes.

Fourth, Stevie Wonder is a terrific singer but enough of his songs already. It seems that every single year we have to sit in front of the tv and watch these wannabes cover Stevie Wonder. Pick another singer/songs will ya American Idol bosses.

Fifth, I hope none of my early faves get the boot tonight.

BTW, did you know that today is the International Women's Day? I didn't. Happy IWD to all the wonderful women.

2 Down 10 To Go

IMG_0121, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Hah! It's the 29th day of February y'all. That means another month is coming to a close. That's 2 months gone from the 2012 lineup. Fast. Super fast isn't it?



Well, here's a recap of my February:


*** Attended a surprise b/day party for my niece organized by her hubby. It was at a Taiwanese restaurant in Berkeley. The place was not fancy you know so everyone was asking why this restaurant of all that Berkeley has to offer. Answer: they loved this place and used to come here after rounds of clubbing during their dating period. It was fun.


***Went on a 2d1n getaway in the wine country. Accommodation was superb in the middle of a vineyard, so nice.


***Ate at Food Channel's Guy Fieri's restaurant in Sta. Rosa called JOHNNY GARLIC's.


***Wonderful post Valentine's dinner at John Ash and Co.


***Wine tasting at Ferrari-Carano and Jackson-Kendall wineries.


***Attended planning retreat for church.


***Only one church meeting (?)


***Via Netflix watched the following movies: The Next 3 Days, The Expendables, Skyline, Bridesmaids, Contagion, Real Steel. They were all good, my least fave was Expendables.


***American Idol is back!!!!


***Called in sick one day.

***Had a procedure to remove skin tags.


***Booked Caribbean cruise for November. Friends who cruised with us in Mediterranean are coming too, yay!



I just found out through the radio that today, leap year, is historically a time/day where the woman can propose to a man and historically the man CANNOT refuse such proposal. Anybody else know this? I certainly don't. I wonder if women really take the initiative on this day.



It's leap year, leap day, go ahead JUMP for JOY!!!!

A Quick Friday Post

I overslept this morning. If my husband did not nudge me, I would be sleeping until noon. Nope I was not watching the Royal Wedding in the wee hours of the morning. That wasn't the reason for the extra minutes of sleep.

It wasn't Manny Pacquiao's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live either, which I caught accidentally. I am not normally awake by 12 midnight, when Kimmel's show comes on, but last night I was still up. And when they announce that MP was going to be there, I waited for his interview. My husband asked if he was going to sing again. The last time he guested on JKL he sang much to both our chagrined. That super boxer simply loves to sing. However, last night he spared all of us by not singing. Thanks MP.

Earlier that night, I was unhappy with the AI results. Did anyone see it coming? My ever wise hubby guessed it was Casey (and no he did not peek at Yahoo either - where the results would have been posted since we are always late here in the west coast), reasoning that he had been voted off once before - until the save by judges kept him longer.

Okay so what's in store for the weekend? I am hoping that in between running errands and doing chores I'd be able to sort out photos for posting in this blog since I still have photos from our getaway in Central Coast for my hubby's November b/day and from the cruise we took in January.

Also I am hoping I could window shop (either physically or online) for my much-wanted DSLR. I have lamented previously in back posts how my p&s have been ruined by having dirty lenses. One has been sent out to the company for cleaning (part of the warranty).

Any good movies lately? Oh yeah, I have a Royal Wedding to watch this weekend. I think I may need to pop some corn.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

AI Talk

I missed two weeks of AI review and this is supposed to be a weekly posting. I have reasons, 1)there were only good performances as the number of contestants dwindle, 2)busy schedule, 3) busy schedule. Well you know what I mean.

Anyway, what can I say? With Pia Toscano's departure, there doesn't seem to be any contest at all - well IMHO of course. I pegged this season to be a mano a mano between Pia Toscano and James Durbin. So it was simply no contest now in my view.

And while I unashamedly throw my full support (minus the voting part) to James Durbin's campaign to be this year's AI winner, I thought that Randy Jackson's proclamation last night of Durbin as winner was ill-advised and in poor taste.

After all, the others in contention are all very good and still strong. Except of course I love the way James Durbin sing his songs.

Take last night's Carole King night, the six remaining aspirants did their best in performing their choice song. Although I may have to add here that two of my least fave perfomances were that of Haley and Jacob. My other fave aside from James' was that of Casey. Boy, was Casey good in that bluesy jazzy renditions. He appeared to be very professional in his performance last night. My husband even thought he got it made. He could perform in some joint and people would pay money to see him.

I would really be disappointed if James or Casey would be eliminated this early. I'm hoping it would be either Haley or Jacob getting the boot tonight.

Speaking of eliminated contestants, I saw Pia Toscano sing while her rumoured bf dance on Dancing with the Stars this week. I cannot remember what the dancer's name. They do look good together. I wonder if Pia would be a celebrity dancer next year for DWTS?

More girl talk.....

Anyone interested at all in the upcoming Royal Wedding? Hassle here in the West Coast as the wedding takes place at about 2 am here. But I am happy to report that our DVR is already set to record from 1 am foreward. I haven't seen the Diana and Charles wedding as I lived in the boondocks back then and had no clue who these people were.

I hope this marriage will last though.

My Weekly AI Review Or Something

Before I go on with my weekly listing of my fave and least fave performances, I must say I recently went to out for dinner on a weeknight, a very rare occurence for me.  A friend of ours just got back to the States after a few months overseas and he and his wife and me and my husband went to this tapas place.  The selection is not wide and varied, but the dishes were great.  I'll blog about this since I have photos to go with it - very soon.

So on to the American Idol perfomance night.  I didn't realize that before the season started the producer had announced that this year - with the new judges and all - there would be no theme every week.  Howevder, it looked like there is a theme every week, don't you agree?

And last night was Rock and Roll or songs by artists inducted in the Rock and Roll HOF.  The top 9 went on to perform and I was pretty much satisfied with the performances.  They as a group pretty much upped their game and gave their all.  It is a competition after all.

At the end of the night, here are my picks.  For this week and the coming weeks, I will refrain from using BOTTOM THREE instead I will refer to it as my LEAST FAVE peformances. 

I am still reeling from my successful prediction from last week.  On my bottom three last week were Naima and Thia - who were both got the boot. 

This week, rock being the theme and my fave themes of all time, I chose the following:

FAVE PERFORMANCES:
1.  James Durbin - come on now even if you weren't a fan before this night, didn't he sway you a bit to take a second and closer look at him?  I was washing the dishes when the commercial break come on and I told my husband that I predicted James to sing a Beatles song - a slow one since it's a Rock and Roll theme, he'd take the slow route.  I was correct on both instances, although the song he chose -  WHILE MY GUITAR SILENTLY WEEPS - was not the one I had in mind, but what a clever choice.  He came out swinging with his emotional take on the theme.  And what a handsome guy he is.

2.  Casey Abrams - A few posts down, here, I mentioned how much I love the song HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN that was a cover by Rod Stewart, originally sung by CCR. My brother has CCR CDS and sometimes when I borrow his truck one of these CDS are in his truck stereo and I get to listen.  But I wasn't particularly knowledgeable about the group.  Still I was stoke to hear Casey go out and cover this song, the song that I personally believe would be great tune in this day and age and would merit more air time.  I thought he did a great job - especially since the song he chose was my favorite.

3.  Scott McCreery - Who knew he could do Elvis?  And spectacularly well I might add. I was truly impressed with his overall perfomance last night although some of his hand gestures were a bit disconcerting to see.  Anyway, I thought he hit the bull's eye with last night's perfomance.

LEAST FAVORITE:
1.   Stefano Langone - I did not particularly care for his brand of crooning and the song he chose I thought did not do any justice to his quest. I am not a fan to begin with and with that song choice last night I remained not a fan.  You see what I mean.  I thought he failed last night to convert nonfans to fans by that song.

2.   Lauren Alaina - No one sings that and comes out looking and sounding good, unless you're Kelly Clarkson, which I really haven't seen since I jumped onto the AI bandwagon in Season 4.  But I heard Kelly's interpretation and it rocked.  But Lauren's Natural Woman - suprised to find it was sung by Queen Aretha - was nowhere near the shadow of the originator.

3.   I don't have a third choice. 

I'd like to note that I like Haley's raspy almost manic performance last night. I hope she keeps choosing songs like this.  Plus, keep the curls Haley, I like the curls on you.

Agree or not, doesn't Pia sounded like Celine Dion every single week.  Keep your eye shut and just listen. You would think it's Celine crooning.

Jacob Lusk continues to do well. But I don't think he'll have enough staying power.

So there goes my weekly prediction and blabber about American Idol.  Until next week.

TV Talk

Another performance night is over for American Idol. The top 11 performed Elton John songs last night and most of them did a fantastic job, in my opinion.

My top three based on the performance:
1. James Durbin
2. Casey Abrams
3. Lauren Alaina

Note: I don't know what it is, but Pia Toscano has started to rub me the wrong way. Is it her perfectionist way of singing? Is it her ballad heavy repertoire week after week? Is it her perfect teeth and lovely face and silky long hair? I don't know. But she just fell off my fave wagon.

The bottom three based on performance:
1. Stefano Langone
2. Naima Adedapo
3. Thia Megia

Note: I hate to see Thia in my bottom three but she has not shown any personality in the contest so far. Her voice could only carry her so far. She needs to bring in a total package. I hope that the votes will save her, but for now and until she develops a go-get-it attitude, she will be off my fave list :)

In another Wednesday show, TOP CHEF ALL STARS had their finale last night and Richard Blais was crowned the TOP CHEF. Good for him.

It's hard to be totally happy, since my fave chefs, Dale Talde and Angelo Sosa, were eliminated earlier.

I Haven't Rambled in A While

So here is my rambling in bullets:

• Last Friday, March 18th we had a full blown storm - ala PI - with thunder, lightning, hail, strong winds, and power outage.  Hubby was ecstatic to feel the home feel again, reading newspaper by flashlight.  Buster was freaked out.  Could not figure where all the rumbling was coming from. Backyard went white from all the hail.
• Went to see BATTLE LOS ANGELES. Wanted to see the new Matt Damon movie but changed our minds at the last minute.  Wasn't bad, in fact quite entertaining for a war/action movie.
• Had adobong pusit and plain white rice - take out lunch from local Pinoy resto, CABALEN.  Totally enjoyed my lunch yesterday.
• Looks like our friends are dragging us to the Central Coast soon.  I haven't even posted the photos I took from our 2 night 3 day stay from November and here I am about to go.  We'll see they might change their minds and opt for Yosemite instead. Either destination, I would not care.  Both are spectacularly scenic in their own rights.
• Would be very busy at work.  Looks like I'd be putting in OT for a few weeks in the coming days.  I can almost feel the heavy weight of that Canon DSLR in my hands.  Husband warns me not to spend the OT money before I earned it.  Wise guy, isn't he?
• I am just loving the new batch of judges on AMERICAN IDOL.  Jennifer is so insightful and so supportive of the contestants.  I heart her!
• And I just adore Steven Tyler's beautiful eyes when he listens to the contestants perform.
• James Durbin's for real, isn't he?  Easy on the eyes too :)
• Antonia just got sabotaged by her "cousin" Mike.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you ain't watching TOP CHEF ALL STARS.
• The radio just played HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN, the version by Rod Stewart.  I really really love that song. 

That's all I have to say for now.

I Pick Thee

We've heard the top 12 boys performed on Monday night; the girls last night. I thought that there were more talents in the boys this year. It's sad that the top 12 had to be half girls and half boys. Why not just pick 12, any 12 regardless of gender.

I am talking about the new season of American Idol for those who got lost and found themselves here on this site and can't follow what I'm saying.

My understanding is that tonight they would choose the 5 boys and 5 girls that had the highest number of votes to go to the "real show". From those that weren't picked, one boy and one girl would be chosen by the judges as the wild card picks. Sound good, but unfair for some of the boys who would be left in the cold because well there's only 6 slots for them. And from what I heard last Monday night, there were more than 6 boys that deserved to move on.

Well I'll cry over spilt milk after I crossed the bridge after I found out who's left out in the dark. In the meantime let me share my picks.


Casey Abrams.  He's quirky and I like that a lot.  He also reminds me of Jack Black.


Thia Megia.  The young one who has a lovely voice and a very pleasant face. 

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Scotty McCreery.  I like his deep voice and I heart country music. 


Lauren Alaina.  I heart country music, that's all.  Oh she also can sing.  Really well.


James Durbin.  First he's local - from the bay area city of Santa Cruz.  Second, he's a rocker.  Third, he reminds me of Adam Lambert - who I heart from last season.  Enough reason.


Julie Zorrilla.  Loved her from the audition in SF.  But she chose the song that's completely wrong for her.  I think she's going thru anyway - voted in or chosen by judges as wild card.


Pia Toscano.  Impressive on Tuesday night.  I was completely floored by her performance.  Not in my radar until last night.


Paul McDonald.  I love quirky.


Tim Halperin.  I like him.

All photos were borrowed from tv dot com.

About the judges:  I am liking the set up.  I think the chemistry among the three judges is fantastic, although it feels weird that Randy is becoming the voice of reason this year, huh????

Love Jennifer in the judge's panel.  She brings glamour and also sound advice. 

And Steven is really fun to watch.

Tune in tonight and see who made the cut.  Keeping my fingers crossed that all of these aspirants I mentioned here would sail to the next round. 

It's Thursday Again

And I suppose I need to write something here again, right?

My offline life is getting busy - work is getting hectic - and other extra-curricular activities start piling up, and with two other blogs aside from this, something is bound to be neglected.

Unfortunately, this blog is the one victimized by my busy schedule.

I'd like to rectify that today.  And fingers crossed my next post won't wait another week to be published. 

Anyway, I can't remember what exactly we did over the weekend.  The weekend was a blur, especially now that another weekend is upon us. 

I'm going to be riding a plane this weekend, which will take me to a place where I'd catch another ride to my week-long vacation destination.  Oh, the much-needed get-away is here.  Thank heavens!

I didn't intend to tell you that, it just slipped into the post.

Last night I went to dinner with "friends".  Why the quotation?  I don't know if I'd categorize them as friends or they belong to the gray area where they are more than acquiantances but less than friends.  But for the sake of this post they are friends.  They are my husband's colleagues, they have been to the house and eaten my food more than once, so I guess friends is not an exaggeration.

January is California's Restaurant Month, wherein the Visitor Bureau encourages you to patronize local businesses by going out to dinner.  In return, the business gives special deals, like lower prices for prix fixe meals/3-course meals for $30.  Oakland has it's Restaurant Week this week.  After work last evening, I met with friends for dinner - to Mezze - which is about 5 minutes from my work. Isn't that mighty convenient? 

Anyway, there were 3 girls and 4 boys that went to dinner - and no one brought a camera; I don't know how the photos of food taken by cell phone turned out.  6 of us ordered the 3-course meals.  The menu is quite limited, and on a Wednesday at 7 pm we were told that the tuna is sold out and they only have 2 orders of scallops - that went to our table, I ordered one with butternut squash soup and bread pudding for dessert.  M ordered the salmon entree, which we all agreed was overcooked. Two ordered the steak entree which was according to both who ordered it was too spicy and that the pepper crusting is too overwhelming.  My husband ordered ala carte of Morroccan lamb shank.  The portion is huge and delicious.   I ordered the scallops.  The order consists of three huge scallops over parsnip puree and some veggies with pancetta. 

I like my entree.  It is flavorful.  I always like anything pureed - even parsnip.  The scallops weren't as flavorful as I'd like, but if you bite into the pancetta, you get the maximum flavor.  The accompanying corn succotash looks like it came from a frozen veggies bag.  All in all I enjoyed the dinner.

However, we were all united in saying the highlight of the dinner was the chocolate croissant bread pudding - so delicious and rich.  It will make anyone happy.

On Wednesdays they waive the corkage fee so we brought two bottles - which were both Bordeaux, a pleasant surprise.

We chatted all through the three courses sipping wine and agreed to dine about town every month.  M assigned me to pick the next restaurant.  I'd like to choose one where the entree prices are under $20, because this dining out can get very heavy on the pocket too :)

And because I went out last night, I missed American Idol and I failed to record it.  I also missed Top Chef, but I believed that there was no new show last night, so no harm there. 

Happy Weekend everyone.