OPM Guilty Pleasure (sssh secret natin to ha!)

It's no secret that rock music has always been my preference, even with OPMs. Perhaps about 70% of over 97 OPM CDs in my collection are of rock bands, with Rivermaya leading the count.

But what surprises most people about my OPM CD collection is the extensive collection of cheesy pop, blues, R&B, ballad, folk, music in my collection including, but not limited to, Ariel Rivera, Gary Valenciano, Celeste Legaspi, Joey Ayala, Grace Nono, Odette Quesada, Apo Hiking Society, Jose Marie Chan, Regine Velasquez, Marco Sison, Vehnee Saturno, Janet Basco, Sheryl Cruz (believe it or not, I have her songs in at least 2 collection CDs), Gino Padilla, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Champoy, just to name a few. I do not have each artists CD but I have several collection albums that have the mentioned artists most popular singles.

These past days, I've been feasting on Agot Isidro's Loving You and Beginning Today, Dina Bonevie's Bakit Ba Ganyan, VST and Company's Awitin Mo At Isasayaw Ko, Kuh Ledesma's Till I Met You and I Think I'm In Love, Regine Velasquez's Tuwing Umuulan, Passage's You Won't See Me Crying, Ariel Rivera's A Smile In Your Heart, Gary Valenciano's Until Then, and more of these.

Hmn, I can see someone squirming! Huuuuu---whaaaaaattt?!?!?!

Ssssh, secret natin to ha!

Going Back To Their Roots

Introvoys was one of my favorite Filipino bands of the late 80's and early 90's. Their music was refreshingly different. It was light and easy and very relaxing. Nothing heavy nor deeply emotional. Even when sometimes, they have songs that send messages about specific issues in our society, such as White Roses about the 1989 Coup d'etat, Kapayapaan, Calling All Nations, and Huwag Kang Tamad among others, they always maintained that easy groove that made listening to their music a lightly relaxing experience.

The band went on hiatus for a few years and in late 2004, they recorded a few songs in the hopes of reuniting the band and coming up with a new album. They are about to release a single over their website (http://www.introvoysonline.tk) and hopefully a full-lenght album soon.

The new single entitled "Desire," of which I have been priviledged to hear even before edits were finalized, is a song that reminds me so much of Introvoys from way back years ago. I'm glad the band decided to go back to their roots rather than to jump into the new angsty-american alternative rock bandwagon that's obviously the "in" thing these days. While I love alternative rock, I could sure use some refreshing tune from back in the older days.

Here's the best of 2005 and the coming years to Introvoys!

Sisters Are For Keeps

For five years, Thea had been our one and only baby in the family. We pampered her, spoiled her with love (not with material things; we made sure she didn't get everything she wanted even when we could afford it), and she was the center of everybody's world --her parents' (my brother and sister-in-law), my parents', Divine's parents', my older brother's, and mine!

Just 6 days after Thea's fifth birthday, her baby sister, Theyenne Odette Caily, was born, 6 weeks premature and very, very tiny. She was put in an incubator and phototherapy for days and was kept at the hospital for nearly three weeks. Afterwards, she had to undergo a series of tests both in Baguio (St. Louis Hospital) and in Manila (Phil General Hospital) to determine if there were other complications.

I didn't get to see her or hold her at that time because I was in Seattle. I only saw pictures and relied on stories from my Mom and Divz, my sister-in-law.

Now, 6 months older, Theyenne is fully recovered, bigger (even way too big for a 6-month old, she looked like a 9-month old baby), and healthier. She loves to eat anything (unlike Thea who's very choosy). Of course we have to watch what we feed her; we wouldn't want her to be developing an allergy which might cause asthma. She's also very naughty and sensitive. She only drinks breastmilk from her Mom. She doesn't like breastmilk, or any milk for that matter, in a bottle. She'd rather drink water or breastmilk from a glass or a cup. All this when she's only under 6 months old.

Thea was ever excited at the coming of the new baby. Unsure whether it was going to be a boy or girl, Thea more often referred to the baby in her mom's tummy as her baby brother rather than sister but when baby came out and it was a girl, Thea never changed her mind about the new baby.

I love the way Thea loves and protects her sister and the way she always wants Theyenne with her all the time. When her grandmother (Divz's mom) jokingly told Thea that she would like to bring Theyenne home for just one night, Thea said no firmly and said that her sister should always be with her.

I love the way Thea plays with her little sister in the morning before leaving for school. Early morning in bed, she talks to Theyenne and sometimes sings to her her favorite songs.

I love the way Thea tries everything she could to help her lola and lolo calm down her baby sister when Theyenne is throwing one of her infamous tantrums. Thea would clap, jump, and dance around her "ading" hoping to entertain her and make her stop crying and screaming.

I love the way Thea laughs and makes fun of the cute little things her "ading" does like sucking at her fingers, screaming out loud, crying out loud, making faces, laughing, doing little baby noises, even the way her sister eats (with food all over her face), and drinks from a cup.

I love the way Thea laughs (and imitates) at her little sister's funny face when she's yawning or crying.

I love the way Thea looks after her little sister while her mom prepares her bath. They sit together on the sofa, Thea's arms around Theyenne cradling her.

I love the way Thea cradles, hugs, and kisses her little sister as Theyenne sits on her lap and the way she puts her arms around her and hugs her tight and showers her with kisses. Just like all of us, she just couldn't get enough of her baby sister.

I love the way Thea shows off her little sister to people. The proud "ate" goes around telling people, "This is my little sister. She's still little but she's growing up! She's still a baby and she is small but she is big."

I like the way Thea goes "Aaahhmm...Aaaahhhmm..." to her sister while her mom feeds Theyenne.

I love the way Thea shares everything with her little sister from toys, to the clothes she's outgrown, to compliments. When I ask, "Who's beautiful," she not only raises her hands but runs to her sister to raise her little sister's hands too!

I love the way Thea makes fun of us (me, my mom, and Tital Ligaya, Divz' mom) and the way she immitates the way we talk (to her sister, mostly). When Theyenne starts crying my mom would say, "Hay na, darling! Hay-na, hay-na, darling!" When Divz' mom comes over she usually greets my parents with, "Good morning, Abalayan," and when Theyenne starts sucking at her fingers, I'd say, "Don't eat your fingers, Darling." I was almost rolling on the floor laughing out loud when I first heard Thea imitating the way we speak, our accents, diction, and pronounciation. She could make a career out of this!

I love the way she misses her little sister when Theyenne goes to school with her mom (don't ask! :p ). When Thea comes home from school in the afternoon, she usually takes a nap from 4 PM until 6 PM. One afternoon when her little was out, she felt lonely and told me how she misses her little sister.

And lastly (for now anyway), I love the way Thea is not at all jealous of her little sister. She adores Theyenne, loves her, loves to help take care of her, and protects her every way she can. She doesn't mind at all when people pay attention to Theyenne (I think sometimes she's even relieved that the attention is not on her).

I never had a sister and I always wondered what it was like to have one. I'm glad Thea and Theyenne have each other. Thea sure makes a great big sister. And Theyenne seems to love her "ate" just as much. You should see how calm and cheerful Theyenne's big round face looks like when her ate hugs her and showers her kisses and the way Theyenne cradles her ate's head on her cute little hands.

Truly, these sisters are for keeps and will be forever true!

-----
Thea named her baby sister. She had two dolls which she named Tyron (the boy doll) and Theyenne (the girl doll). When her mom was pregnant, Thea said said that she wanted her baby brother/sister named after her toys. And her wish was granted!

Thea never had tantrums when she was a baby. She was the easiest and the most
behave baby in the world! She only cried when something hurt or when she was
sick. She didn't even cry when she was hungry. She just makes weird noises and
goes quiet again when she starts eating.


Theyenne looks very much like her "ate." Perhaps the only difference is that
she's bigger (more like rounder).