hey, what's your name, baby, maybe we can see things the same

have you ever woken up in the morning, turned on your radio, iPod, or what have you, and the first song you heard would not only instill energy into your sleepy soul but set the mood for the rest of the day?

seems like i just took the opening lines of boston's more than a feeling, but you know, such cliches are sometimes true.

it's funny how it works, right? you hear something like queen's it's a beautiful day or the who's won't get fooled again and suddenly the rest of the world is on an upper.

music, and what it does to the human mind - now there's something that should be given more study, so that our psychologists aren't just set for life with the notion that only classical music (by Bach, to be specific) can relax the brain and any other kind of music (i.e. rock, and just about any kind of music that plays to one's emotions) just upsets it and even dumbs you down. sometimes, such studies are clouded by personal preferences.

may you wake up more to the music of your soul.

music much maligned

picture this.

you're sleeping soundly late into the morning, dreaming about the girl you like, just plain dozing off. it's quiet in your room, with only the aircon softly buzzing, but that does nothing to wake you up. you're halfway through your dream when suddenly, in your sleeping state, you hear the first few notes of a somewhat decent-produced song blaring from a megaphone, piercing the silence and bringing you to a state of being half-asleep. it's not the ice cream man, you think, while half-asleep, the song isn't simple. you then hear a familiar name thrown in amongst lyrics that heap loads of praise at someone you couldn't care less about.

you finally figure it out: this is a campaign jingle. you wake up, frustrated that the song rudely awakened you and you can't get back to sleep because, well, you're up.

honestly, philippines, is this what the so-called elections for your so-called government have come to? as if the tv ads, radio commercials, and endless flyers weren't enough, politicians are now tapping into the resource of music and turning songs that aren't already novelty into one more for the masa.

it was tolerable before. i mean, only the bigwigs used jingles, but emphasis was placed on advertisements. now, everyone and their mother who's running for office now has their very own jingle, either original or bastardized, and they're not afraid to send a truck to go around town and play the song as if anyone actually wants to listen. the really bad part about this phenomenon is that everyone, even those who are running for positions that no one really knew existed or gave a rat's ass about are apparently important enough to warrant their very own jingle.

it's as if this strategy was brought about by the concept of whoever has the most catchy tune gets the most votes. honestly, if that was true, then the state of the philippines is something to feel sorry about. but that's not the case. i know the filipino is smarter than that. LSS is not, should not, and will not be a means of winning elections.

don't even get me started on my personal tastes. one such politician butchered crazy little thing called love and i don't think what he's running for is that important.

i'm still waiting for the day when flash and flamboyance finally takes a back seat to true credibility in philippine politics. showmanship belongs to the arts, not the science of running a country. right now, the flash dominates the whole show, leaving substance as a lot to be imagined. this is why i refuse to participate in the elections until our generation takes over. at least, for the time being, that holds some sort of promise.

and for the record, the only politician who is worthy enough for the right to having a campaign jingle is president ramon magsaysay.

shifting gears

in his book, edge recounts the story of how he, still as a young amateur working independent shows, watched a live taping of a talk show that had bret hart as the guest. edge asked bret, "how do you get better?" bret shared a good piece of advice that edge adheres to and would like to share with the next generation, one piece of advice that i'm currently taking good heed of:

"get experience."

and by making the jump from school orchestra to the local city band, that's one hell of a vault of experience right there. i'm grateful that the melvin is joining me in this endeavor.

we don't move in any particular direction

call me unusual, but i hold the belief that college education is overrated. now, before you roast me on a spit, let me say something in stark contrast: i can't wait for the college experience. i just think that what we learn inside a classroom, from listening to a professor is quite overrated. it's because of this that i'm still not a big fan of the concept of going to college. (i'm just going for the experience and for my pride.)

someone, i don't remember who, has told me before that we won't use a good part of what we learn inside a college classroom.

look at the choices for courses right now. most of them are just silly (to me) hodgepodges of titles of professions that don't interest me whatsoever. maybe it's just my preference, but i'm really not a big fan of economics, business, polsci, or accounting, so therefore i laugh (secretly, yet not condescendingly) at people who consider such choices. (sorry, guys. i'm a big fan of science, though.) sure, they make the world go round, but i'd rather leave that to other people who are willing. i have no time for such trivialities.

my NCAE results tell me that my occupational field of interest is artistic; at least they finally got one thing right. (though my entrepeneurial skill is a good 98. o diba.) so, yeah, you guys can have all the accounting or business management your hearts desire.