In two days time, Miss Universe 2004 will be crowned at sunny and exotic Quito, Ecuador. I am a beauty pageant fanatic since those childhood days when me and my sister would play with her barbie dolls as Miss Universe contestants. Growing up, I always see to it that I WILL watch Miss Universe no matter what.

Just last year, the format of getting the finalist have changed. From 10 finalist, the organization decided to have 15 finalist.

These lovely ladies in my opinion has the best chances of getting the crown this year.

1. VENEZUELA - Miss universe wouldn't be Miss Universe if there will be no Miss Venezuela in the finalists.

2. NORWAY - a beauty pageant veteran who is a finalist in Miss World 2002.

3. ARUBA - another veteran who faired pretty well being the Miss World 2001 1st runner up.

4. UKRAINE - perfect facial features, reminds me of Evelina Papantoniou (the most beautiful woman who ever lived!), 1st runner up Miss Universe 2001.

5. SPAIN - statuesque stunner from Europe, Jennifer Garner look - alike.

6. INDIA - as much as I hate seeing Indians as finalists, this girl certainly has it.

7. PUERTO RICO - though not as pretty as former Misses Universe from this US commonwealth, Dayanara Torres and Denise Quiñonez, this gal has the height and killer Latina looks.

8. USA - blonde representatives usually fair well for Miss USA at the pageant, she won't be an exception this year.

9. CURACAO - stunning brunette with perfect chin and cheekbones.

10. ECUADOR - host country representatives were usually snobbed in choosing finalists but she's not bad to belong to the elite 15 finalists this year.

11. BOLIVIA - another stunning Latina to watch out for.

12. TURKEY - tall with blonde curls maybe a lethal combination for this Turkish beauty.

13. GEORGIA - she may have what you call beginner's luck as with Ms. Serbia and Montenegro last year.

14. RUSSIA - with her multi - ethnic looks, she'll surely got what the judges were looking for, fresh beauty.

15. PHILIPPINES - three words: LOVE YOUR OWN!

Last night watching "Maalaala mo kaya" featuring life story of Allan Pineda Lindo a.k.a. APL DE AP of the Black Eyed Peas, I can't help but wonder how talented we Filipinos really are. Just two weeks ago, a Filipina in the person of Jasmine Trias was one of the three remaining contestants in American Idol. Though quite an achievement, poor Jasmine was caught in the center of controversy who managed to survive by getting a large number of votes which costs La Toya London's farewell in the said reality TV show. There's also Mutya Buena of Sugababes, one of UK's most popular girl group. Not to mention cute Mike Mejia, winner of Star Search.

With all the bad things of being a Filipino or living in this country we face in our every day lives; Abu Sayyaf, actor-politicians and politician-actors, corruption in the government, air, water, land and noise pollution, poverty, etc. etc., but because of Allan, Jasmine, Mutya, Mike and many others making it big internationally, aren't we proud of being Filipinos? I am.

When HANSON broke into the pop music scene by mid-1997, their music easily caught my listening ears. MMMBop sounds so different from all that boy band music at that time i.e. Backstreet, Boyzone, etc., etc. I was really impressed and swept away by MMMBOP that I immediately started looking for the album which has that song MMMBOP in it. I didn't even know who the artist is that time.

Was i surprised to find out that the artist behind the song were actually boys? I really thought that the song was sung by a female artist like Jill Sobule or Bic Runga. The moment I listened to the first song 'Thinking of You', I fell in love with HANSON. All songs sound different from each other and listening to every one is a totally different experience. I was an instant fan.

I started buying stuff that has anything that has to do with HANSON; be it posters, stickers, bookmarks, magazines, and T-shirt (?). My friends then started to share my interest in liking them. I may have not influenced them into liking HANSON like I did but at least they appreciate the guys' talents and can compose great songs way beyond their age.

But there came a time when being a HANSON fan was uncool. I cannot comprehend why? It even came to a point when I had to confront two girls at national bookstore when they started laughing upon seeing me reading HANSON SCRAPBOOK. It turned out they're fans of those LOSER, COPY-CATS, TRYING-HARDEST-TO-BE-LIKE HANSON CLONES, the moffats. I don't want to imagine what could have been had I not resisted the urge to slap their pathetic faces.

Well, I guess with age and maturity, I started listening to other genre of music which I would not even think or consider my kind of listening materials. I started digging rock bands especially the those that sounds satanistic (they say) like SLAPSHOCK, DISTURBED and POD.

Last Tuesday, I had lunch with my bestfriend, Paulo. We met at Powerbooks and he told me he saw the latest HANSON album. Without thinking twice, I buy it right then and there. I don't know why, but I was very excited to hear how almost seven years of absence had made a difference in their music. I had a randomly played the songs in the album for a minute of two just to have a general perception of their music. But I will be setting aside this weekend just to listen and probably reminisce those times that I have been, and I realized just now, that I am and forever will be, a HANSON fan.

I almost didn't make it on time today. Why? Me and my sisters watched SCHOOL OF ROCK last night and we finished it around 2:00 AM. My sister Kristelle bought some PIRATED VCDs (pun intended)and we decided to watch this one since its GP and my younger sisters can watch with us also.

I've been dying to see this movie on the big screen but work, allowance, and scarcity of companion or buddy had prevented me in doing so. Anywayz, the movie turned out really the way I expected it. We had a blast watching it and laughing with all the antics and schemes Dewey Finn (Jack Black) had pulled off to coaxed the kids to start a rock band.

All the time while watching the movie, I cannot help but think how cool it is to have a teacher like that. I certainly can't remember ever having a teacher who had encouraged us to believe in ourselves and show the world what kind of stuff we're made of and develop our talents in singing, dancing, playing instruments etc. Our music teacher in grade school was not only an old maid but had persistently forced us to sing those "aawitan kita" songs in ala Sylvia La Torre voices. Hahaha!!! The only songs I want to sing back in those days were Andrew E, Francis M and those english dirty rap songs by ... those dirty rappers (can't remember the names, eh).

Kudos to Jack Black for being so rockingly funny in this film. Its not a surprise really because Black is a real life rocker/musician but in a not-so-serious type like Mayers, Mraz and Sheik but being half of the duo Tenacious D.

hayyyyy!!! another day of work, good thing it will be Friday again tomorrow. Wait, i remember that i have to report for saturday work to orient our incoming head. anywayz, nothing new today, arrived quarter before nine, browse the internet for that breakdown lyrics, read emails (office and personal), then work. at around 10.30, smoked two sticks of marlboro menthol lights (my only brand) and get back tom that ever-boring-routinary-sometimes-too complicated-for comprehension accounting work, again.

and here comes 1200 hrs. i nearly fight the urge to skip this meal just for today but i know myself really well that if i skip lunch, i will be in for a week of bed confinement because of gastritis, ouch!!! i ate at greenwich 4th level at mega ordering my usual. wacky wings with java rice and ice tea. i havent been drinking cola because of that gastritis thing so i have been more of like accustomed to having tea or either lemonade (when i eat at kfc) as my substitute for cola. good thing there's only a few customers that i was able to chow down everything in good 20 minutes. after that, decided to check out whats opening and whats coming soon at the silverscreen. well, what you expect to see??? troy, gersey girl, i will survive (?), and that korean movie that is, take this, taking hollywood by storm! well, im not very intrigued by that. who knows what producers can think of just to promote this too good to be true films. i just remembered that harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban will be showing in less than a month's time but i haven't found anything that has the picture of harry, ron and hermione on the now showing, coming soon and next picture billboards. whats up with sm cinema? huh?

i happen to pass by whoops! store at 3rd level and this striped green and black polo shirt really caught my attention. too bad they dont have my size. shucks :-(

well thats been a mouthful, i mean wordful (grammar check here,hehehe). so much for today!!!

i miss working in my previous company. its not that the pay is good and my colleagues are friend materials, truth is, they are exactly the opposite. the reason why i miss working there is because internet access is unlimited and all i do half the day is to chat, check my jobstreet and jobsdb alerts, and most importantly i can download mp3s. i was able to save this song "Breakdown" by Tantric in my yahoo.groups account but i do not have speaker here in my current employer so the novelty and excitement of downloading songs have subsided and almost gone. (sigh)

i dig rock music but thats not the only reason why i like this song. its seems to sum up what i had gone through at a certain point in my life. though its over now, everytime im feeling 'out there' searching for that so called 'inner happiness', i listen to this song to remind me of the time that i found myself.

In your life...You seem to have it all
You seem to have control...But deep within your soul...Your losing it
You never took the time...Assume that your to blame
You think that your insane...Won't you spare me

~Chorus~
I know the breakdown
Everything is gonna shake now someday
I know the breakdown
Tell me again now may you wake now baby
You can find the reason that
No One else is livin this way, yeah
Livin this way, yeah

In your lives...The world is built around
Two faces of the cloud...Voices in your head...Bring those four palms down
But in this unity...Fate is found in need
So you better check yourself before you check out

~Chorus~
I know the breakdown
Everything is gonna shake now someday
I know the breakdown
Tell me again now may you wake now baby
You can find the reason that
No One else is livin this way, yeah
Livin this way, yeah

If you find yourself then you might believe
Live within yourself you just might conceive

~Chorus~
I know the breakdown
Everything is gonna shake now someday
I know the breakdown
Tell me again now may you wake now baby
You can find the reason that
No One else is livin this way, yeah
Livin this way, yeah

You can find the reason that...No One Else is livin this way(4x)

never thought that there's this thing called blogspot.com, with all the craze about network friendship connections i.e. frienster, myspace, everyone's connected, etc. which had taken a life of its own and seems to be latest 'in' thing today. even minors going to internet cafe's have their friendster's page displayed on their computer screen. so rampant that even here in the office, the url had been blocked cause all the employee's been making testimonials and add/invite their friends, or just searching for everyone they knew who has a friendster account.

so enough of those friendsters, vibesters, pinoysters and even 'fiendsters' (mind you, it really does exist!) and make a toast for blogspot.com which will serve as an outlet to your literary cravings or just plain online diary where my innermost thoughts, deepest, darkest secrets (it won't be anymore, lolz) will be posted for your viewing and reading pleasure, i hope!!!!

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