current fixation

forgive me, my friends. it's going to take a while before i am able to purge the "apolo mania" out of my system.

it's been quite a while since i had a huge crush on anybody --- celebrity or otherwise. on a celebrity, it's been around 5-6 years. sure, i've had crushes on matthew goode (ben calder in chasing liberty) and sascha radetsky (charlie in centerstage) but it was nothing major. so how big is it when i say it's a major crush? well, for one, i have a link to his webpage on this blogsite. second, i have downloaded his screensaver. and third, i have been religiously watching the olympics and even checking the internet when he is competing in an event (picture me in front of my laptop clicking on the refresh button every few seconds to check how he did since they show his races on the television during prime time, long after the event is finished)

sigh.

i wonder if i will ever get to meet him...

a fan bid almost $6000 to skate and spend a whole day with him. i won't be doing that, for sure.

this crush would fade away eventually. when? give me a few weeks. or maybe a few months. but in the meantime, bear with me. :)

====================

i was supposed to reply to dahon's comment but decided to actually place the comment as an addition to this post.

i bought the february issue of cosmopolitan magazine. my friends know how serious this is. and the reason? not hillary duff who is on this month's cover. check out the secondary cover they had.



driven, focused, talented and abs-olutely gorgeous! every penny i spent for the magazine is so worth it! (although i must say i would have preferred it if they had a longer interview than the one page spread).

apolo wins two more medals

after winning an olympic bronze medal in the 1000m, u.s. short track star apolo anton ohno wins a gold medal in the 500m and leads the u.s. team to an olympic bronze for the relay.

apolo almost didn't make it to the 500m finals as he finished 3rd in his semifinals heat (only the first two advance). but a disqualification of li jiajun helped him move on to the finals. after the two false starts from two different skaters, the 500m finals was smooth sailing for apolo. he started at lane 1, had an amazing start and led the pack until he crossed the finish line. tremblay of canada took the silver and ahn of korea, apolo's arch rival, managed to snatch the bronze from bedard, another canadian skater. it was a clean race, so much different from his experience in salt lake in 2002. this was the perfect race, as he said. you can see the excitement and happiness he was feeling as he raised both his arms to express his victory. (and i was jumping and shrieking in my apartment as i watch him win the race).


taken by yuri kadobnov/afp/getty images

then came the 5000m relay. the u.s. team had a shot at the medal but had to face serious competition from the canadians and south koreans. during the first few laps, the u.s. team was actually leading. but soon, the canadians and south koreans passed them and were both taking a big lead. it was clearly a race between the south koreans and canadians for the gold and between the americans and italians for the bronze. the italians were leading until apolo took the track as the anchor. he immediately passed the italian skater and brought home the medal. it was a very exciting race for the bronze and i was ecstatic that ohno had a big part in making it happen for his team.


taken by al bello/getty images

way to go apolo! congratulations to you and to the u.s. short track team!

silly grin

it's stupid, i know... but i can't get the smile out of my face. i couldn't say that i am smiling for no reason because there is. but it's a stupid reason, which makes me smile even more. sort of like laughing at myself for its idiocy.

athlete watch

then...


yoichi kato - japanese volleyball star

and now...


apolo anton ohno - u.s. olympic short track star

recharged

i just got through a long and draining meeting for a solution that has been discussed, reviewed and debated for too long already. prior to the meeting, i was positive that we would finally be closing this problem and start working on the technical aspect of it. my "optimistic bubble" popped during the first five minutes of the discussion as obviously the other party did not want to pursue what we were proposing. the tone and volume of voices were proportional to the time we were spending on discussing it. an hour and a half later, we were still at a standstill, with no final solution at hand. i had feelings of both frustration and resignation at the end of the grueling meeting.

God must have known i needed something to perk up my day and it did... just as i was going home for lunch. now i am ready to take on another one of those meetings. bring it on!

ice skating stars

i have always been fascinated with ice skating. i am amazed how the skaters can do turns, jumps and lifts on the ice. i've watched alissa czisny win in skate canada and was hoping to see her on the olympic team. she did not make it, but the US team is fielding sasha cohen, kimmie meissner and now, emily hughes (replacing michelle kwan who had to drop out). i am looking forward to seeing them skate against the best in the world like irina slutskaya.

one sport that i started having interest in is short track. it's such a fast and exciting event, you wouldn't even know who's going to win up until the last millisecond, when all these skaters cross the finish line. aside from that, another thing that held my attention was 1000m bronze medal winner apolo anton ohno (he's still going to skate for the 500m and the relay). he's talented, determined and cute! hehehe! :)

two of my other favorite athletes now are tanith belbin and ben agosto who have just won the silver medals in ice dancing. i've seen them skate multiple times and they're really great to watch. not only are they really athletic and talented, you can see that they have a fondness for each other that goes beyond the ice (i thought they were romantically involved and was surprised to learn that they are not). this being their first olympics, i think they did a superb job. for sure they'll have more success and more medals in the future.


taken by elsa/getty images

frustrating

ang hirap pala talaga ng nasa ibang lugar at oras. lalo na kapag may gusto kang kausapin pero wala kang makausap. wala kang magawa kundi magkimkim sa sarili mong sulok.

***

i really need to start toughening up. it's not a good thing to shed tears everytime you're angry, right? there must be some other way to channel one's anger to something more productive than screams or tears (although i rarely resort to the former). good thing there's music to calm me down, at least until the time i think about the incident again.

i need to get this off my system. soon.

wedding song?

eversince we knew of irish and alvin's wedding plans, i've been subconsciously looking for songs that might paint a portrait of what their marriage means. subconsciously because i have never really went out to look for the songs. i just listen to songs or artists that i like and then when a particular line of the song strikes me, then that's the time i listen to the lyrics of the whole song intently. that was what happened when i heard kelly clarkson's "before your love". although kelly's second album, breakaway, was more successful in terms of sales and awards (yes, she got 2 grammy awards for this), i still like her first album. maybe because her first album was more mellow, more me. anyway, here's the lyrics to the song:

before your love
written by: gary burr/desmond child/cathy dennis

i wonder how i ever made it through the day
how did i settle for a world in shades of gray?
when you go in circles all the scenery looks the same
and you don’t know how
and i looked into your eyes
with the world stretched out in front of me and i realized

i never lived before your love
i never felt before your touch
i never needed anyone to make me feel alive
but then again, i wasn’t really living
i never lived before your love

i wanted more than just an ordinary life
all of my dreams seemed like castles in the sky
i stand before you when my heart was in your hands
and i don’t know how
i survived without your kiss
’cause you’ve given me a reason to exist

i never lived before your love
i never felt before your touch
i never needed anyone to make me feel alive
but then again, i wasn’t really living
i never lived
i never lived before your love
i never lived before your love

and i don’t know why
why the sun decides to shine
but you breathed your love into me just in time

i never lived before your love
i never felt before your touch
i never needed anyone to make me feel alive
but then again, i wasn’t really living
i never lived
i never lived before your love

two justins

probably with the exception of blue, i have never been a fan of boybands. well, that is, unless you count boyz II men as the original boyband then that is a different matter all together. and even with blue, i think it's largely because of the image behind it that make me enjoy their music more than the others (read: andrew, art, neil and romer). so when justin timberlake went solo, i just never thought of him doing better than what i heard with 'n sync. well, obviously, i have been wrong. justin timberlake is probably one of the hottest popstars to date --- he can sing, he can dance and he has this boyish charm make him so appealing.

i have only one song of justin timberlake in my computer, "like i love you" (not sure if this was his first single). everytime i hear this, i can't help but want to dance. of course, i couldn't do that when i am in the office. but when i am home, alone, then that is a different matter. :) amazing how one hit song from long ago makes me want to buy his cd now.

the second justin is not as famous as the first one but just as talented, if i may say... justin guarini of the american idol season 1 fame. i recently watched his movie with kelly clarkson, "from justin to kelly" on tv. this is the second time i've watched the movie, the first time being on the airplane. it's not an exceptional movie, some critics might even hate it. but for the fact that it's a feel-good movie with great singers and good lyrics, i really enjoyed watching it. after the movie, i looked at justin guarini's site on the internet, hoping to see if he has a new album out. i remember seeing him in oprah with clay aiken and ruben studdard as they released their albums at the same time. i thought that with all the exposure he has gotten with american idol, his album would sure be a hit. unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way. makes you realize that you need more than good looks and great talent to make it big in that dog-eat-dog world called showbusiness. anyway, he did have a new cd out but unfortunately, it's only being sold via his site and is not yet widely distributed. i am very much tempted to buy it after listening parts of the tracks that were posted, a fusion of jazz and pop. and i am very much hoping that his success would soon parallel his talent. it would be such a pity if it didn't.

miles away

birthday greetings to the best dad in the world.

love you, dad!