Saturday, September 5, 2009

What A Day!

Today started with a bang.  My son, Pierre and I had an argument about their going out today with his friends.  I argued that if he and his sister, Willi-Ann and their cousin, Jeremy went on an overnight trip to somewhere, E.J., my three-year-old daughter, and I would be left alone with my 75-year-old mother. 

I'm sure I wouldn't be able to handle a toddler and an old person at the same time.  Although my mom doesn't need any nursing or caring at her age since she can still stand up and walk around, but with care because she is having pain every time she walks or stands up too long.  She also has Bell's Palsy, where one side of her face has the inability to control facial nerves, as Wikipedia defines it.  So that side has sort of drooped already like the melting of a wax face.  It's actually hard to define.  

So my teenaged kids decided not to push through with their trip which they had already paid for.  I'm sure their friends would have been disappointed that their outing was cancelled.  They had planned this for weeks and this happens?  All because our maid was a no-show.  

Well, the weather isn't really cooperative at the moment since it's been raining and there's supposed to be a typhoon headed up north called "Labuyo."  

But after the shouting and everything, my son approached me and apologized and embraced me for shouting at me.  That made me cry even harder.  My son has always been like that ever since he was small.  He has great respect for his elders and that's what I'm very proud of in him.  He has moods and gets angry at times but after a few minutes, he realizes he made a mistake and tries to make up for it.  



My daughter has the same attitude and that makes me proud of them both.  We all have an open relationship and we are a close-knit family.  I stand as their mother and father at the same time.  

And my three-year-old has this attitude of eating Cerelac by herself in a plastic bowl and after she finishes eating, she puts the bowl into the sink on her own.  If I'm boiling water in the whistling kettle, once the kettle whistles, she'd volunteer to turn off the stove and does it well.    

My kids are really amazing, aren't they?  If I'm going to have my life all over again, I'd like to have them all as they are.  I wouldn't want to change anything in them.  I love them as they are and for what they will be.  Because they also love me for who I am.  Now, the tears are swelling in my eyes.  

That's how my day went.  

Thanks for reading. 

Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Hans Montenegro Article

I was going through the magazines where I wrote articles.  There was one article that sort of stood out.  It was about Hans Montenegro.  I forgot I was able to interview him in 2005.  Imagine, that's been 4 years ago.  That fast, huh.  I was working for a new magazine back then as the editor-in-chief.  I was the one collecting articles for publication.  

I met Mr. Montenegro in one of those events that I went to.  I think it was a Sony press con.  He was the host of that event.  The opportunist that I was, I went up to him and introduced myself and asked him for his contact number.  Luckily, he gave it to me.  But now, I don't have his number anymore because that was kept in a phone that got stolen.  





Back to Hans.  So, the day after, I sent him a text message and asked for an appointment for the interview.  He mentioned a date and I went on that day.  I was quite excited since I was the one who was going to do the interview and write about him.  I also took pictures of him.  

After the interview, I discovered that he has stopped TV guestings, doing movies or soap operas.  He has gone into the corporate world but still in line with the broadcast industry at that time. 


Although it's been four years since that interview and I saw in LinkedIn that he's already a senior manager in Convergys.  I may scan that article and upload it here.  I will still have to buy my own scanner one of these days. 

photo credit:  www.cosmotalents.com

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Lou Diamond Phillips

Meeting Lou Diamond Phillips was never planned.  But unlike Cynthia Luster, I saw him just the same.  It was during the time when he was promoting his movie, "Bats," that he came to Manila and guested in ABS-CBN.  

I was having lunch with officemates in the cafeteria.  At one point, I saw Lou Diamond Philips come out of the conference room and alone.  Finding a piece of paper and a pen, I gathered all courage to approach the famous actor. 

I called him, "Sir, may I have your autograph please?" and he said, "Sure."  And he scribbled his name and signed the piece of paper I had.  Actually, when I approached him, some people saw this and followed suit.  When I left him, he was being swarmed by fans asking for his autograph.  

Was I bad or what?  I started the commotion.  Geez.  I didn't think other people had the same idea.  Or nobody wanted to take the risk of doing so.  But I always thought to myself when there are famous people around, take advantage of their presence because you only see them once. 

And so, that's my story of being a fan.  That's why every time I'm in the office, I would always bring a pen and paper along with me, just in case.  

See 'ya!   


Photo credit:  www.freewebs.com/moviemonger/actors.htm. 

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

How I Got to Interview Cynthia Luster (a.k.a Yukari Oshima)

Have you ever heard of Cynthia Luster? Maybe in one of those Hong Kong action movies with Cindy Rothrock? Still not familiar? Well, in any case, that's okay. She has not been around for quite some time now. But I wish I could have that chance of meeting her again. She's an interesting subject to interview and I had the chance of interviewing her in 1998 when she was here in the Philippines.

Yes, that was a rare chance. I just saw her in one of the Sports Unlimited episodes which was hosted by Vince Hizon and Dyan Castillejo back then. I called up the station and looked for the person who had Ms. Luster's contact number and asked for it. I was lucky enough to get it because I was writing for a publication then, Men's Zone, which is published by BusinessWorld.

Actually, I just suggested the business of Ms. Luster to the associate editor of Men's Zone at that time. It was just supposed to be a one-paragraph explanation of her business and its location, and what they were offering.

But then, I got a call from Men's Zone to turn it into a full-blown article with photo, I was elated. That meant writing the article and taking the photos myself. Wow! What a break! It was such an honor to do a full-feature article about her.

So, I contacted the person and set the appointment.
I was so excited and I felt so lucky that I was given the privilege to interview her in her shop which was Sports Quest on Dr. Lozcano Street in the Morato area.

Finally, that day came. I was expecting her to be quite aloof since she's already a star in her own right. But I was wrong. She was the opposite. She was very courteous and even answered most of my questions without hesitation. She also said some Tagalog words and she even mentioned her favorite Filipino dishes - pinakbet, garlic rice, bangus and lapu-lapu. It was a perfect interview, I must say.  I mean she told me how she got into the movies and other things.  I will have the article scanned and probably post it here one of these days.


After the interview, I was taking photos of her dive shop, Sports Quest. She was into the scuba diving business.


  
Writing the article wasn't that hard to do.  I just wrote from the heart, how I would interpret or let the article flow.  I sent it along with the photos that were on slides at that time, not yet digital.  
I was excited when it was published.  It was published on the magazine's anniversary and their theme was about successful women on the cover.  I got a big professional fee from that.  I wish I could still get that much fee from a publication again.

One thing was certain.  The article I sent to them wasn't edited that much.  If ever there were mistakes, it was minimal.  That is why I am proud of "Enter the Diveshop," the title of my article, which the editor in Men's Zone entitled it.

To me, it's one of my achievements in my writing history.  It's a success story of a writer, someone like me, who isn't that famous and yet, I had that chance of interviewing her.

That's one writing experience I will never forget.  It only happened once and it will forever be treasured in my memory.

I'd like to give credit to the photo source - http://homepage3.nifty.com/hkaction/photo10.jpg.