it wasn't really a brush brush but i just kinda liked the way it sounded.
11:30 pm and i just got home. it was a long and tiring day but i had great, great fun. now i know i wanted to be a journalist. hahaha.
i covered two major events today -- the one sponsored by women for gore, which had hillary as a guest speaker and the actual opening of the 2000 democratic national convention. the first one was held at the wilshire grand hotel which is just two blocks away from my office.
hillary had charisma. she's so pretty pala up close. and she knows what she's talking about as well. never mind the bad press (there are news reports that he and bill are "stealing" the limelight away from al gore) hillary is hillary. she had composure, she looked like a tough woman with a heart. while she was speaking, my cell rang. it was d. sorry po at di tayo nakapag-usap po. mas mahalaga po kasi si hillary kaysa sa iyo. hahaha.
after that i proceeded to the staples center where the convention was happening. it was a long walk, i didn't want to take the shuttle because i wanted to walk. hahaha. para daw maka-burn ako ng calories. i had enough time to spare so i looked around. the staples center is a huge huge place, and it took me a while to finish looking. then i went to the media headquarters at the la convention center which is a stone's throw away from the staples.
by 4:30 pm, i started going back so i can catch the big opening.
i saw dylan mcdermott. hahaha. he delivered the declaration of independence with three kids. and that was just the start. then, melissa etheridge sang an america the beautiful medley. golly, malapit ko nang ma-memorize ang star-spangled banner. hahaha. [major aside: when i covered the two official events here in los angeles when estrada went here, the ladies [louie reyes during the dinner and a lady-whose-name-i-forgot during the vets bill signing] who sang the philippine national anthem actually BUNGLED and forgot some lines of our dear lupang hinirang? it was so embarrassing. back to the story...
then there were speeches blah-blah-blah yada-yada-yada. then they presented the six women democrat senators -- two of whom are from california.
then segue to the seventh, the future senator from the state of new york, hillary rodham clinton.
there i was again, transfixed. hahaha. i dunno, she must have cast a spell. then the usual speech. after her speech, there was a video of bill. then, the dramatic entrance. the giant screen had bill walking to the stage, while flashing his administration's achievements for the past eight years.
then the crowd went wild when he appeared on stage. the cheers were deafening. then he spoke. bill clinton is a good speaker, there's no doubt about that. the only thing i noticed was his hair. halos puro gray na. and he joked about it too. he looked kinda older than his pictures. he was so eloquent, nakakabilib.
in between pala, i had to go out to go to the bathroom. and in one of my trips (actually, only one pala) i bumped into martin sheen. then i blurted
out "mr. president!" and he stopped and smiled. hahaha.
cheap thrill lang. i whipped out my media credentials and asked for his autograph. then this woman from the million moms march asked to borrow my pen kasi wala siyang pen. so sinamantala ko na, and i asked if she could take my picture with martin sheen. bobita't kalahati, sabi niya na-press niya. when i checked it out, wa. wash. wala. nainis lang tuloy ako.
as i was about to get in, richard dreyfuss and john lithgow (made me wonder, where are the young hollywood turks. hahaha). i looked at them and went straight inside, mas importante yung slot ko sa loob.
oh well, that concludes my report for monday, august 14, 2000.
reporting lve from the staples center in downtown los angeles, this is momar... ay sa print pala ako. dapat byline lang saka dateline. hahaha.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000
Brush with Bill & Hillary
Saturday, August 05, 2000
birthday blues
saturday morning, 10:00 am and i just woke up.
the past week has been particularly busy, it being my birthday week and all. my birthday was okay, i had fun. better than lat year’s.
i was supposed to take my birthday leave but i was assigned to cover estrada’s dinner with the fil-am community in LA. so it was a working birthday. it was my first time to see erap up close and personal and i was like charmed? no, too strong a word. he didn’t transform me into an instant fan or anything like that.
he had a long and funny speech. funny because the guy has a sense of humor. if only he knew what he was talking about, it would have been a hell lot better. the speech was informal, a radical departure from the stern Marcos speeches I grew up listening to or the emotional yet anger-laden Cory speeches in the late 80s.
Erap’s was conversational in some portions and a stand-up-comic-very-much-like-Seinfeld stance. in fact, when i was transcribing the tape, I could hear boisterous laughter every fifteen seconds. I am not kidding, it was crazy. he made the people laugh but did they believe everything he said?
he was so comical and he had me in stitches. his humor was self-deprecating and he seemed to enjoy every clap and adulation thrown at him. what an actor.
lani misalucha was there. the girl can sing but she’s not a diva. not yet, at least. boots anson roa acted as the mistress of ceremonies. how pc can you get? then for more entertainment numbers, theey introduced the platters. yes, the group that our parents love. they sang three songs—only you, dahil sa iyo (!!!) and one more. then for the biggest surprise of the night—which almost brought the house down—ang nag-iisang superstar—miss nora aunor!!!
cheesy, damn it. people in barong tagalogs, coat and tie, and even ternos were screaming like fans. i could not believe my eyes. the cheesier part—ate guy went upstage and gave the mic to erap, and the president obliged her with four lines from the song kahit na magtiis. dr. loi wasn’t smiling.
and the official entourage. my goodness. who are these people? did the pinoy taxpayers pay for their trip? dong puno was okay, so was blas ople. noynoy aquino? okay. mar roxas? definitely. but some congressmen from unknown islands? what were they doing? what were they trying to accomplish? and the consultants? [ting paterno, et al]. give me a break.
oh well. that was how i celebrated my birthday. fun but it could have been better.
thursday was more fun. i covered the ceremonial signing of the bill for filam veterans. erap attended the affair as well so it was like two days in a row. the speech? same stuff. in fact, both speeches were strangely similar to his SONA.
the coverage was more fun though because i had a chance to interact with lou diamond phillips, rob schneider, tamlyn tomita, jennifer paz and paolo montalban. california governor gray davis was there, and some of the other who’s who in local politics.
Thursday, July 06, 2000
4th of July and Other Stories
the 4th of july has come to pass again. actually, kahapon siya and i was hoping against hope that the office would declare the 3rd (monday) a holiday as
well pero deadma.
so i actually went to work on monday. to compound my woes, my co-editor went on leave for two weeks starting july 1. which means that ako lang ang magsasara ng diyaryo for two effing weeks. tama ba yun? anyway, at least someday, magagamit ko rin itong
leverage when i ask for my leave in the future.
so how was my 4th of july? it was generally okay.
went to the grocery and bought some stuff. then went to some house. long story -- the family of my cousin's husband all live here. so ang laki talaga ng angkan nila. like 6 brothers and sisters with their whole families in tow. i just don't like the feeling of socializing with them but i don't have a choice. baka akalain naman nilang supladito ako't kalahati.
so iyon. bbq dito, bbq dun. eh may swimming pool sila. gusto ko sanang lumangoy langoy pro di ako nakapagdala ng swimwear. lol. alangan namang birthday
suit. ayaw ng pulis.
i just watched TV and played games with the kids. then nung mga 4 pm, some of them left and bought a bingo game. hayun, afterwards eh bingo bingo na until
8 pm. nanalo ako ng ten dollars. hahaha.
afterwards, off to the fireworks show. nakauwi kami sa bahay mga 12 midnight na.
i had lots of free time nung weekend so nagbabad ako sa cineplex. opening weekend ng the perfect storm ni george clooney saka yung the patriot ni mel gibson.
watched them both. okay lang. i liked the patriot a bit better, tho it was a longer. tatlong oras yata siya. eh yung perfect storm eh 2 hrs 10 minutes. hayun, halos mag pop na naman ang contacts ko.
am following this season's real world on mtv. kasi may pinay na nakapasok. actually, black pinay because mixed siya -- dad's black and mom's pinay; from florida. guilty pleasure.
Tuesday, June 20, 2000
lakers fever
I am not really a big NBA fan, although I used to
cheer for the Chicago Bulls -- the reason why I had to
ask Don & sassy to bring me to the United Center (Home
of the Chicago Bulls) to have my picture taken with
Michael Jordan's replica.
The LA Lakers fever though have totally caught me and
I just couldn't help it. Specially now that they have
just won the championship against the Indiana Pacers.
I stayed home. Even if I wanted to go to the Staples
Center -- a couple of blocks from where my office is
--and watch the game, no can do (read: wala akong
magagawa. hahaha) the tickets have been sold out since
God knows when.
I am still home alone. My cousin and her husband are
still in the hospital. Their son -- my 10-year-old
nephew -- fell off a 60-foot cliff last saturday. It
was a really, really tragic and freak accident.
Francis, my nephew is a member of the Rockies, a
Little League baseball team. They were the champions
for this season and they planned a potluck party /
celebration which was held at the San Gabriel Canyon.
There was a river there and my nephew was going there
but he became off-balanced and he tripped and he fell.
The paramedicas later told my cousin that my nephew
was lucky he was still alive.
They told her that the height of the cliff that he
fell from was 60 feet. He didn't have any broken
bones nor major bruises. He had an 8-stitch wound on
his chest and the only major problem was the
lacerations on his liver. He's so skinny so his
internal organs were the most hurt after falling off
from the ravine. He stayed at the ICU of the LA
Children's Hospital for almost 36 hours.
It's 12:00 midnight and I just turned off the TV. The
celebrations around the Staples Center just became
violent. Unruly fans just torched two police cars and
two SUVs. Golly, how crazy can you get. It's very
embarrassing especially when the foreign and
international press pick that up.
The police seemd to be not doing their job but as I
found later, it was a strategy. They didn't want to
be confrontational. They didn't want the LA Riots in
1992 happen all over again. But as some newscasters
mentioned, what image is the city of LA projecting
then, specially now that the Democratic National
Convention -- which will be held at the Staples
Center... which I will cover, thank you very much --
is just two months away.
Oh well, that's their problem.
Looking Forward to the Lakers' Parade on Wednesday
