Remembering my Seoul Getaway🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷

I didn't realize it's been a year since my last blog post :( Been busy at work (nothing new), one event lead to another and I got stuck...boo!!!

What started for the layoff last year was my Seoul, South Korea trip in October. I got excited, planned all my deliverables at work, took care of my visa etc etc :p

It was a fun and unforgettable trip, so fun I wanted to go back but on a different season this time (spring or winter maybe). Will blog about this trip separately, hope to finish before the year ends (finger crossed) ☺️😉

The biggest fun with my Korea trip was that I was able to meet 4 new friends. They are actually the friends of my friend and they are all working in Singapore.  I'm so thankful I was able to tag along with them.  They are one great bunch of travel buddies, I couldn't ask for more. 😊😘

Big thanks to my friend Tina for introducing them to me. We're all in touch up to now inspite of distance, thanks to whatsapp, IG and FB 😊

Love you guys, looking forward to more tumblings ahead 😜😘

Me, Tina, Dondon, Ross, Kiko and Anne

Instagram Addict :p

Yup that's me ;) Hope you could follow me on Instagram...iamarleen :)

I just love the challenge of photo editing, stress reliever ;)

Instant happiness :)

Instagram has been a staple habit if mine since March of this year. It's so addicting since I really enjoy photography. And one great way to make use of thousands of my photo collection was to edit and post in Instagram.   How convenient ;)

August 7, 2012 was one stressful day I'd rather forget. Stress at work since it's month end closing and "Habagat" was rampaging the metro with tons of rainfall and flooding was all over. We never get to monitor what's been happening since we're all stuck and busy at work. We were even billeted in a hotel so as to ensure we're able to get back at work safe. It was so disheartening since I know my family was stressed out since flood has entered our house already :(

But there's nothing much I can do since the rainfall hasn't stop for days already. All I did was pray for things to turn out okay eventually.

But if there's one consolation I got from that dreadful day was Instagram :)  It was a breath of fresh air to get a notification from my cellphone that my photo entry the night before was chosen and picked for the day's photo challenge by @igersmanila. So dense of me but I'm still glad for the recognition ;)

The Magic of John Williams Featuring ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra

Much has been said about my fascination for music.  From radio, concert, musicals, movies and music videos.  I'll never get tired talking about music my entire life :)

I never said I'm a music expert but I can attest that I know good music when I hear one.  Badly wishing for a great singing voice though to complete my "so called" and self proclaimed musicality :)

My father was instrumental in honing my great love and appreciation for music.  Aside from radio music being played during weekends, I would also hear him practice with his clarinet.  He started playing the instrument when he was still in college as a scholar for their University band.  Our house will never be the same without any music being played out, be it popular songs or classical music :)  So imagine me enjoying classical/orchestra played music and at the same time loving rock/alternative genre ;) 

While watching ASAP last Sunday, I finally got to see the newly formed 40-piece ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra perform live on TV.  The orchestra is headed by the great music director Gerard Salonga.  Oh my, was I so fascinated to hear them play those great songs.  The arrangements were awesome I can't wait for their John Williams tribute concert.

This is a great chance to bring my father to watch this concert and enjoy classic movie scores.  But I was so clueless as to how and when can I get tickets for us.  So I had to follow the group in Twitter and Facebook so I could get some info :)  I'm very thankful that the moderator of their Twitter account was kind enough to reply to my inquiries (thanks Neil). 

So I finally got to see the official poster for the concert from their Twitter account.  This is it!  I'm so excited and would love to share the experience with you guys in September.  Will blog about it definitely :)

The John Williams tribute concert will be held in Meralco Theater on September 2, 2012 at 6pm.

Ticket prices are:  Ochestra Center - P2,500 / Orchestra - P2,000 / Lower Balcony Center - P1,800 / Lower Balcony - P1,500 / Upper Balcony - P500

For ticket inquiries:
Tinky Cruz (0915) 194-9760
Chris Graham 586-6732
Email: absphilharmonic@gmail.com

Like their Facebook Page @ facebook.com/ABSPhilharmonic
Follow them on Twitter @absphilharmonic




Image grabbed from official Twitter account @ABSPhilharmonic

Take 2: Vertical Horizon

Last Saturday (April 28, 2012), I was able to watch my first concert for the year. This is something new, it's almost May and I haven't seen a single concert or musical for that matter ;)

But it was all worth it. Vertical Horizon came back for another concert in Manila to be held in Smart Araneta. True to their promise from their first concert in Manila last Dec. 7, 2007 (which I'm grateful to have watched), they came back for another great gig. It was actually a back-to-back concert with Live's former frontman Ed Kowalczyk. Yey! 2 in 1 concert for a price of one! How lucky can one get :p

It was a great concert just like the first one. Matt was at his usual superb vocal greatness. I'm such a fan of his voice and musicality. A very charismatic foreign vocalist that makes him so endearing to the fans. He's the kind of vocalist who sound great in live performances the way he sounded
in studio recordings. Awesome artist! The arena might not been filled to the rafters but it went wild to every rift and familiar songs they played. And it's cute to hear him try to speak Filipino and appreciate our "adobo". I would love to see them perform the 3rd time around...promise! :)

Ed Kowalczyk performed next after Vertical's set. It's his 1st time to perform in Philippine soil. And for those familiar with Ed, he's bald just like Matt of Vertical Horizon :). I'm not so well versed with Live's discography but I'm quite familiar with their hits and mainstream releases. Everybody (including me) went wild when they sung Selling the drama and I alone (encore). Great job on their debut concert in Manila :)

Oh and by the way how can I forget :). I watched this concert with a good friend and his husband whom I haven't seen in quite awhile. Carla and BJ were fans of Vertical Horizon as well that's why I invited them to watch with me. Besides the fact that Carla was so envious the first time I watched them in 2007;) We were officemates then and I felt so guilty not being able to ask her to watch it with me..lol!

It was a fun night of great music and laughter with old friends. I'm grateful for this great concert artists rocking Manila, so looking forward for a few more this year :D

Insta Craze 😊

I'm definitely hooked....can't help it! :)

Before anyone think of something bad about my addiction, I'm just talking about Instagram 😉

Yeah! Gave in eventually since I like taking pictures. Great apps to post pictures and shout outs to Twitter, Fb and Tumblr all at the same time. For someone like me na tamad mag online to all these social networking sites, Instagram is great news for me 👍

Please follow me at Instagram - iamarleen 😊

Just Got Lucky: So much luck to thank for :P

I never realized I had so much "luck" to look forward to till I started getting "really" hooked with music.  

As my blog was so called, I love MUSIC (besides traveling).  Cliche as it sounds, music is my life.  I never imagined living the kind of life I have right now without music in the picture.  I can literally say, I will die not hearing any kind of music in any form and it is my "soulmate" :)

I'm a busy working girl (blah blah blah) and I find solace in music.  I cannot work efficiently if there's no music at all in my work area.  Good thing my colleagues in my former employers love music as well.  They didn't mind hearing the music collection I had with me all these years.  Actually they enjoyed it, I felt like a DJ playing their requested songs, ahaha.  But ofcourse I made sure I didn't play loud, I know my work ethics by the way ;)

But ofcourse playing MP3s is not always the case.  You'll get bored also even if I had a vast collection to choose from.  And besides, I wanted to hear new music and that I wasn't able to regularly download or buy CDs with my erratic work sched :(  So radio is my saviour :)  Eversince I was a kid, I love tuning in to radio.  Well maybe because I don't have the resources to buy albums then, radio listening was a great alternative to feed my cravings for great music. 

Oh well fast forward to my addiction to radio.  As mentioned, I was able to find my niche for luck while enjoying radio music :)  This is too long to discuss in the first place.  Gonna take some time to elaborate further so I decided to make this a regular thing in my blog.  Blog about each "luck" encounter in contest winning.  Yep! Got pretty lucky indeed with some contests I was able to join in.  Gonna prove to all that there's really such a thing as winning in radio, TV or newspaper contests.  Ahaha...this is fun!  I'll have to test my memory in remembering all those contests and prizes I've won the past 12 years (I think) of my life :P

One visit in 103.5 K-Lite Booth :)  Happy days....