Shine, The Recital

May 28, 2010 was a very rainy Saturday but even so it was also a very special date for us. It was my daughter's recital at Center for Pop Music which was held at the center's Hall of Fame branch. It has been weeks of sessions and practices at night. There was a point that my daughter looked so exhausted but there was no complaining or whining from her end. It was because she really loves what she's doing - singing and performing.

She was able to utter though, "I already know how Justin Bieber feels rehearsals after rehearsals after rehearsals." I had to give out a big smile with that. She was really so passionate about her performance. She has also formed friendships within the center. I know she would as my daughter likes meeting new people especially with the same interests as hers. The consecutive nights of rehearsals made it more fun for her with her new found friends.

The picture below was taken two nights before the big day. They were practicing a song from "Glee".



Days before that, my daughter and I scouted for her outfits. It was really tiring but I love doing this. I can make a career out of it actually as long as it's for my daughter. I made an appointment again with our salon for my daughter's hair and make-up for her recital.

Soft curls fits her and a make-up suited for her age, just about the right amount to enhance her glow on stage. Well yes, I amused myself while waiting for her to get done. :)


Finally we arrived at the venue. Backstage, I was a stage mother. I expected a more organized clothes and shoe racks but I think there were only two racks. Most moms cannot just leave their children's outfits on the chairs. Either they get misplaced or they get soiled. These are kids, they still play around.

I decided to bring with me all her outfits at the audience area. I go to the backstage whenever she needs to change clothes for her number. I hope Center for Pop take a look at the organization backstage. I don't expect it to be spic and span but I hope there are provisions for the clothes and shoes with proper tags.

These were taken before the opening number. We were advised that it should be a hip hop costume.


The participants danced to the beat of Higher by Taio Cruz and Kylie Minogue. The parents, of course, were so excited to watch the kids. Well yes, the program was suppose to start at 11 AM but it started around 1 PM thereabouts. It was because there was only one make-up artist and one hairstylist for the more than twenty kids that will go on stage.



Second number was a song from Glee, "Don't Stop Believin'." From hip hop, my daughter changed to a red, white and black school-girl inspired outfit.



Go boys and girls, show them what you've got! :) I love your performance. There was just a technical glitch because my daughter's microphone suddenly went pfft. But it's alright, she was still singing her heart out. The show must go on. :)



And the time has come for her solo performance. My daughter was calm, cool and collected as we prepare for her next number. She said yes, she was nervous, but on stage, while singing, she just do her best and her anxiety melts away. Nice one, little lady.


I suggested a few songs for her but she really wants to sing "How You Love Me Now" by Hey, Monday. I actually don't know this song that I have to look it up at YouTube. It's her song, it's her choice. I don't impose because I believe she can sing her own song better. She can feel the lyrics, the melody better if she choose for herself.

We both thought about what she will wear. I like it that it's not so formal. I remember Hailey Steinfeld at the Oscars wearing Converse with her pink gown. That was cute, cool, laidback but not boring. Fits also my daughter's age and song.


She changed clothes again for the closing number. We opted for a denim shorts and her plaid polo and the boots she wore during their practicum. She looks so fresh and ready to perform. Backstage, the kids were having fun.


This is the second to the last number where they sang "Make Me Feel Like a Star." I really love this song. It's so full of hope and enthusiasm.



My daughter received her Award of Achievement for Completion, Starlite, Stage and Voice Performance. We're so proud of her as she gave her best in this particular summer activity. It was really very productive.


The kids will surely miss each other but in this age and time, they have all the means to still connect and continue the friendship and camaraderie that developed among them. It's great to be young. Use your talents wisely, kids!




Shine, reach for your dreams. :)


It was a great experience for my daughter. I know she learned a lot and she can really use what she learned for her performances at school. Oh yes, definitely, I will continuously support her with what she loves doing especially it really hones her talents and her confidence not just in performing but in interacting with different kinds of people and in handling different situations. Shine, my little lady! :)

Center for Pop Music, Practicum

So this is how it feels to be a stage mother. It's very tiring but at the same time it feels so fulfilling to see your child performing live on stage.

We enrolled our daughter at Center for Pop Music Philippines (CPMP) the whole summer. She was really excited about the program and so was I. My daughter loves to sing. She already sang on stage in school, a concert for the members of the music club. She did pretty well. She has no stage fright and she loves to perform.

She sings in the room and can very well carry a tune. To hone her singing talent further, I decided to let her take a class at CPMP. I saw how two of her classmates gained confidence and honed their singing talents after enrolling here.

My daughter had a busy summer but she said she's not complaining because she loves what she's doing. I can see how her voice improved as well as her performance level. She also gained new friends with the same interests. I love it that her personality is developed more with these kinds of exposures.

She had her practicum last May 16. She did two songs, one by Rihanna, Take a Bow, and the other one, from Taylor Swift's songs, You're Not Sorry.

She got three awards - two minor and one major which was really a pleasant surprise to me. :) She was awarded Best in Slow Song, Best in Voice Projection and Record Artist of the Year.

As the coaches/hosts mentioned, she has very good stage presence and projection, her singing voice improved dramatically and she's very pretty. I was happy to hear all these comments. I'm a doting mom.

Here's to more energetic and productive performances. I'm so proud of my daughter. :)


Singing her first song for the day, You're Not Sorry.



Group song


Her badges of recognition.


Mother and Daughter. :)

Justin Bieber in Manila, Never Say Never Concert

It's been more than a month since I last updated here. I've been really busy both at the personal and professional fronts. The whole family is actually. But I took some time off from work, at least half day last May 10. It was a big date my daughter has been waiting for.

Yes, we were two of the gazillions of people who watched Justin Bieber's Never Say Never concert in Manila. We bought the tickets last December 2010 just to be sure we have secured ourselves passes to see JB. We don't want what happened with Taylor Swift's concert when we were not able to get tickets right away.

It was a fun night but I was not exactly impressed with Justin Bieber's performance. I thought something was lacking. I thought he seemed less energetic and enthusiastic. I was expecting what I saw in his concert movie, like his concert in Madison Square Garden. There was not even much special effects.

He was looking tired. I told myself watching his 3D concert/documentary Never Say Never at the theater was a lot better. The live concert by the way is much like his movie with video clips when he was still a young child. I appreciate him better on the big screen than watching him perform live. But of course, my daughter did not notice what seemed to be JB's lackluster performance. She was really in high spirits watching Bieber.

Going home in the wee hours of the morning after the concert and checking my Twitter and Facebook, I found out Justin was sick during the concert and even had throwing up episodes. That explained why the show was not as spectacular as I thought it would be. But kudos still to the boy for doing his best and not cancelling the show.

My daughter was really happy and I was really happy seeing how excited she was watching the show. I actually had fun not only from watching the concert but witnessing a crowd of young people so alive - screaming from joy, dancing to the beat, singing their hearts out. Boy, they have memorized all the songs JB did. JB really owe it to his fans. :)


Justin in his famous purple shirt.

Probably singing one of his mellow songs.

Until I've watched his 3D concert movie/documentary, I didn't know this boy plays a lot of musical instruments.

The text above the picture was edited by my daughter, not me, haha. Yes, she was really excited.

Oh yes, the mom is just too happy to see her daughter having a great time. The crowd was so alive.

20%

You are 20% likely to be experiencing a midlife crisis

 

You might be experiencing a midlife crisis, but it's not very likely. You may have some regrets about your past, and may at times wish things could be different, but overall you're a calm and stable individual with a bright outlook and realistic goals.

MidLife Crisis Quiz
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The result of this quiz surprised me. I thought I will score high on having a midlife crisis. But I believe the reasons why my score is on the low side are my answers when it comes to my future.

This is just an online quiz and I am not sure if this was supervised by a psychologist but if you read the questions, they are really telling.

Yes, I am greatly looking forward to a great future. There are so many things to enjoy about life, to be thankful for. And yes, there are still a lot of things I want to accomplish for my family, for myself.

I love life so much that I feel so positive about the present, about my future, together with my family. I believe that God is always by my side (as well as my family's). I have proven this countless times. Yes, there were moments when I asked where is my God? But things eventually turn out great and I've come out of a difficult situation a better person.

I want to believe it's my enthusiasm in life and all things that bring joy to my heart, my love for my family and friends, and my belief in God that makes mid-life something I honestly enjoy.

Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never"

My daughter had been eagerly anticipating this movie by Justin Bieber, "Never Say Never". She is a great fan of this boy wonder. She wanted to watch the movie right after her grade school graduation last Thursday but of course, going to the theater was not a priority on that night. We had dinner instead.

We watched it on Sunday afternoon. I was mulling over what to do while I sit there beside her for more than one hour. While checking the movie schedule online, my eyes darted on the how long the movie is. It says one hour and forty five minutes. I told myself "oh boy, I have to amuse myself that long". Needless to say I was prepared not to be entertained. I am not a JB hater, haha. It's just that I already have a Justin Bieber overdose at home. I don't need to see a documentary of his life.

But all for the love of my daughter, I went with her, paid for the 3D charge for the movie, wore that big glasses on top of my eyeglasses and munch on my popcorn. And the movie started.

Surprisingly the movie has a smooth flow. In summary, it documented Justin's musical inclination and talent since he was a toddler up to the present. Oh yes, this is very clever. What mother wouldn't appreciate a child playing musical instruments and singing to his heart's content.

It also warms my heart how close Justin is to his grandparents. You can see the genuine care and concern of the grandfather most especially. Video clips of Bieber as a small boy often show him with his grandfather. His family seems to be a closely knit family. His parents are divorced but from the clips, they seem to be in a harmonious relationship.

It was also touching to see how his father, very young father, cried during one of his concerts. I love that. It was also clear how close Justin is with his mom. Everybody was congratulating Justin but one point he approached his mom who was just sitting in one corner after his successful show at Madison Square Garden. He gave her a big hug. That was sweet.

The movie also showed the hard work Justin gives to be able to come up with a great performance. There are sacrifices and there are sacrifices. There's a price to pay for each success that you get. Is that it?

I am surprised to know Justin knows how to play the drums. He plays the drums, the guitar, the piano and he sings. He's really talented.

One thing I noticed is that his concert is patterned after Michael Jacksons...the pyrotechnics (of the fireworks on stage) and most especially the presence of a girl to whom Justin will offer a song. Just like MJ's, they choose a girl randomly to be on stage with Justin. Usher's idea?

Well, nothing really bad about it. I hope Justin will not be another Jonas Brothers, a flash in the pan. I sincerely think he will not be as long as he will be able to reinvent himself.

One thing I don't like about this documentary on JB is too much exposure of his manager. Yawn. He talks too much and too much close-up. I hope they had a lengthy or substantive interview also with the father.

All in all, I like Never Say Never.

Privacy Setting: For All the World to See

This makes me wonder. A lot of people in my Facebook account, and in my husband's, post pictures without even thinking who will really get to see them. I did add a few people who are under what I called Network and Media. Network for obvious reasons, they post updates on technology, legit business opportunities, running events, and the like. We don't know each other from Adam but I get to network with them online. They don't get to see any of my pictures and maybe 99% of my status.

But some of them seem not to care that even if I don't know them personally (and maybe half of their contacts) they still make pictures of their families and events which are private (example, wedding of their friends or relatives) visible to me. They post pictures of kids. They also post status which the whole Facebook world need not know. There is such a thing as "customize" in Facebook.

It's fine with me. I don't get annoyed even if my news feed is flooded with albums of people under my network list. I accepted their request or for some I was the one who added them so I should't complain what kind of Facebook user they are. I don't really check their pictures and most often than not, I click the X mark. I am only interested with the pictures of my family and close friends.

I'm a little worried for them though. What if among the thousands (and more) in their contacts just copy their pictures and use them for something else. Some pictures even show plate number of cars, house number, the children's schools, their work place, etcetera. Be discreet people. Edit, edit, edit.

Well maybe there are people who are comfortable being in the "limelight". They found a convenient stage in Facebook.

So I Learned.....

I want to master the art of homemaking. Why not? I can do it. As a working mom, I've put this in the sidelight for so long but now, I'd like to be a good homemaker, a very, very good homemaker. I am quite at home with cooking which I started around two years ago. I'm starting on the basic household chores lately. I don't want to be a weekend homemaker anymore.

Three things I have learned today about being keen on details when it comes to laundry, choosing fruits - bananas in this particular instance, and portioning for our daily menu.

This should be all common sense but well more often than not, some things get better with practice. Now I know.

I know that colored clothes should not be washed together with white. That's a no-brainer. But I didn't know that some fabrics are vulnerable to getting stained. That's what happened this afternoon. I put all the colored clothes in one tub only to discover one of my favorite off-shoulder top got a red stain as well as one of my favorite gym shirt but the rest of the clothes did not get the nasty stain.

Why didn't I learn this from our laundry shop? It goes to show I really need to understand and remember important details even for things I don't do everyday.

So I learned that I should not in any way mix any red shirt with the rest of the clothes. And that there are certain fabrics which are susceptible to stains. This I have to research more.

I bought a bunch of bananas at the wet market before going home this afternoon. I discovered that one of them bananas is actually rotten.

So I learned I should inspect each fruit for freshness.

I noticed...well, the hubby too, that when I am the one cooking or preparing our food, we always end up consuming them for two days, and can extend to three. I always over estimate what we can only eat. We practically eat for breakfast and dinner only, before leaving the house in the morning and when we are all together at night.

So I learned that just a little over 1/4 of beef and vegetables, only 3-4 pieces of medium sized fish will be enough for all of us.

Am I acting like a Superwoman? Do I want to be a Stepford Wife? No. I just want to be great at something which will mean taking care of my family every step of the way.

***Photo is from Getty Images.