Probably the saddest Christmas song there is

Maguindanao Massacre

As history has it, a lot of people have already shed blood in the name of power and glory, and I'm talking about thousand of years of history that were written on the books and were reenacted on movies and plays. And it's still happening at this age and era, and it's such a shame that it's happening in the Philippines right now.

The massacre in Maguindanao clearly shows that it's very easy to claim lives in the name of power. And what makes it more interesting is that the ones who might be responsible for this are great allies of our current ruler. What a shame.

I pray that justice be given to the families of these unfortunate ones. God bless the Philippines.

J.Lo saved by the butt

It would have been a freak accident if it weren't J.Lo. Imagine the impact that fall can give to one's spine. But it's J.Lo! And I guess this was one of those moments that she have made a good use of that sexy thingy. Peace y'all!

Bonding with friends

It's been a whirlwind case of events for me and one of them was the fun that we had after bonding with our friends. It's been a long time since we had last seen them. Booze, jamming and laughter were shared all through the night. It was an offday well spent. Photos to be posted soon.

Politically Induced Snow in Beijing


Last November 1st, it snowed in Beijing (see my earlier post & video). Although it wasn't our first snow in China, it was out first snow in Beijing. We (kinda) enjoyed the day that we even went to the Zhizuyan Park to capture some nice "snow" scene. Only to learn the day after that it was actually a politically induced snow! They had to induce snow because of the drought in Northern China which is affecting a lot of people. Also, the Beijing air really needs to be "cleaned". What a revolutionary way to clean the air!

My reaction upon knowing this? It sent shiver down to my spine, not because of the coldness it brought, but simply because I couldn't believe it. I guess I can consider myself lucky by not touching it coz God knows what they had put in it.

It snowed last Monday again and the weather forecast continues that it'll snow again one of these days.

Now I wouldn't know what is real anymore. I feel like I'm in a real Truman Show.

Posted by ShoZu

Happy 1st Anniversary, NoyTube - The piNoy youTube!

It's great to be a part of this anniversary video for NoyTube, put together by my inspiration in video editing, Jason Telmo, who works behind the camera on ABS-CBN. Watch my bits here and there - I'm all over the video. LOL.

NoyTube ROOOOOOCKS!

iPhone and me

When I have a quiet time in the bed, while waiting for the sheeps to start passing by so I could count them, and hubby is still on his desk, I never failed to grab my iPhone and let it put me to sleep. I can do almost anything with this little powerful device - except make coffee.

"What do you do with your iPhone most of the time?", you ask. I have installed some of my favorite addictive games like Sally's Salon, Sally's Spa, Cooking Dash, Cooking Quest, Wedding Dash, Chocolate Shop Something, etc. I have played most of these games over and over again until I get the expert score. And I have only finished Sally's Salon with expert scores so I still have lots of late nights to do the rest.

I miss blogging with it, but I figured out that my nonsense blurtz belong to my Twitter (@saritaonline). But with times like this when I have so much things in my mind to share with you guys, blogging is better. Or I'll lose followers on Twitter. LOL

Follow me on twitter.com/saritaonline

Posted by ShoZu

A Song for the Philippines - "I Will Survive" by Sarita

This was shot at the Fundraising Event here in Beijing for the families and victims of the devastating typhoons in 2009. I wasn't supposed to sing here, wasn't even prepared. But, I was called out, together with Aretha, as the night's finale number.

Thanks to wideeyeshut for uploading this.

A Night To Remember: Party with Novak Djokovic

After the China Open 2009 match, we went back to the hotel and had dinner. I've been on a strict diet of green salad and fruits for more than a week but since it was our off day, I indulged myself to a sumptuous dinner. The best (or worst?) part of it was finishing 5 scoops of chocolate ice cream for dessert!

It was past 9PM. I just waited for Nole's SMS though I wasn't really expecting him to do so, since I know that the organizer might have a party for him and that they might be going back to the hotel late. Right after dinner, we went to Aretha's room to meet our singer-friends, Anita & Darren, who came to Beijing from Tianjin. As we were chatting and laughing, I got an SMS from Nole to meet him in the hotel lobby at 10:30PM. I rushed back to my room, pulled my new (and only) pair of pants, wore my hot heels and checked myself in the mirror to make sure I looked okay. Marl and I went down to the lobby to meet Nole, his coach, his trainer and his physiotherapist.

We all headed to where the action is - even on a Sunday night - at the Russian club called Chocolate. Marl and I were in the same cab with Nole sitting infront. His team followed us behind. Before leaving the hotel, there was a Chinese woman who wanted to get in the same cab with us. That crazy woman has been stalking Nole for days and she wanted to join our party that she tried to open the cab's door as it was leaving the hotel! Really crazy and scary! And yes, she got in another cab to follow us to the Chocolate Club as well!

When we arrived to the vicinity, we thought it would be a dead night because the surrounding was sooo quiet. But we were ushered down to the basement where the underground club is actually located. Nole and his team liked the ambience and we were ushered to a VIP-like round couch. The Chinese stalker followed us but as Nole was being nice and never wanted to ruin his night, he just let the Chinese woman hang around the table.

Nole ordered for a bottle of Bombay Sapphire and some tonic water and we started drinking, singing along and dancing around our table. Aretha came an hour after together with Anita and Darren. We had good fun, and I guess it was the best party I've been to so far. Private as it was, but everyone was in for a good night. Nole was of course enjoying the moment as he worked hard for the past 10 days, just isolating himself in the hotel most of the time when he's not in the court.

At midnight, there was a special show at the Chocolate Club and we had a great laugh and enjoyed it very much. Marian, Nole's coach, ordered shisha (hookah) to add in the fun. We were also given our own pipes to be used since the shisha was usually passed around. It was my first time to try it and all of us, including Nole, would really get excited when our turn comes. But Nole just did a couple of puff since we don't really know what's in that bottle of heavenly smoke. The Russian band came back onstage and it was party time again. Nole and I, together with our friends, rushed to the dancefloor and danced the night away. While Nole would also dance with Anita and Aretha, I was his constant dance partner. :-)

It was 4AM when we left the club and after 3 bottles of Bombay Sapphire, most of us were already tipsy. The Chinese stalker never gave up and insisted Nole to take the private car that the government issued (?) so that it would be safe for him. I don't think so, neither did everyone else. Nole insisted to take a cab, but this time, it was me, Nole (in the middle) and Marl on the backseat while Nole's trainer, Jiji, sits infront. Oh and yes, the stalker followed us back to the hotel, too.

When we reached the hotel, we all sat in the lobby and Nole was still in a party mood. He invited all of us in his suite to continue partying. The Chinese woman wanted to come up with us but I told the security to stop her. He turned on the sound system and we all had a great laugh because he asked each and everyone of us to show what we got - for fun's sake. His coach Marian did a headstand, Darren did a split, Anita did a bit of a dance, Aretha did "ocho-ocho", his trainer Jiji did juggling, I did another split and Nole did a funny headstand. Nole broke down and rolled on the floor laughing when his physiotherapist Miljan took off his pants as part of the "deal".

And too soon we had to part. As much as we would love to give in to Nole's request and stay longer, we also know that they needed to get some rest before catching the flight to Shanghai in a couple of hours. It was surely a night to be remembered forever. I know Nole have met and will meet thousands and millions of other people but I know deep in my heart that he will always remember us, as what he had said, "the first persons from the Philippines I have met".

"We are the biggest U.R.B. fans" - Nole

Novak Djokovic wins China Open 2009

Who's Nole?
Nole is Novak Djokovic's nickname. He's fondly called by his friends, family and fans as Nole.
Last night at work, we were visited by Nole once more. Knowing that Saturday would be the last night he'd see us perform, he still managed to drop by, have a drink with his friends and enjoy our music for couple of sets. It was so nice of him to stay long even though he has a big match against Marin Cilic today at the China Open 2009. Again, he invited us to watch his match and promised to get us tickets.

We all woke up at 12 noon today and prepared to go to the National Tennis Center for the China Open 2009. What a luck we had since the taxi drive actually didn't know where the National Tennis Center is and brought us to the Olympic venue - The Bird's Nest. We wasted time going in circles, trying to find some traffic guy to give us direction to the Tennis Center. And after 30 wasted minutes, we managed to find it.

As directed by Nole, we again went to Will Call (a counter where the athletes can leave stuff or tickets to their friends) only to find out that there were no tickets left for us. Out of panic and disappointment, I tried to call Nole eventhough I know that he won't answer his phone. But I got a return from him, I answered with my sweetest voice and said, "Hello, Nole?". It's his physiotherapist Miljan and he said that he will send 2 tickets for us to get in. But we were 3 - Marl, Aretha and myself. Luckily, the guys in Will Call gave us entrance tickets to the vicinity and was instructed to wait infront the Center Court, gave me a number to call for the match tickets.

We waited for 20 minutes. We were able to get 2 tickets but it wouldn't be right to leave either one of them outside. And I for sure would want to get in as well. So to be fair, all of us stayed outside the Center Court and watched the match on the large screen - until the match was stopped and delayed because of the weather. What a luck!

We ate pizza, potato wedges, and Coke while waiting for the match to start again. And a funny thing happened. I was sooo in a hurry to pee that I've mistakenly entered men's toilet! LOL. It took quite a while for me to notice the urinals on the side as I headed directly to the cubicles. When I realized that I was in the wrong toilet, I turned back to go out but a young Chinese policeman came in, unbuckling his belt. When he saw me, his face turned white and I was also stunned by his presence. I then said, "Dui bu zhi, deng sha!" (I'm sorry, wait!). And he also followed me outside to check if he's also in the correct toilet. I was laughing sooooo much when he gestured a sign of relief by touching his chest. Hahaha! I swear that was the funniest bit that happened to me and that was the first time that I ever entered a Men's toilet. The reaction on his face was really priceless. :-)



Anyway, after 2 hours of waiting, the match has finally restarted. The crowd went crazier and excited this time around. The seat that we got were in the same section but different rows. And I was unfortunate to be surrounded by Cilic fans with matching Croatian flag. And I was there, the No.1 fan of Djokovic clapping everytime he'd get a point. The game went so intense especially when it came to the last part. And I was cheering aloud while the Cilic fans kept quiet. It was a well-played game and Cilic played very well, too.

But, of course, Nole played the best and he surely deserved to win this year China Open. And yes, I will always be his No.1 fan forever...

WALANG KOKONTRA! :-)