“MidKnight” // AJ Rafael

I wholeheartedly support independent artists – the ones who work their tails off, having amazing talent, and are wonderful people. One of my favorites is a 19-year-old Filipino-American from California named AJ Rafael. You may have heard of him. He’s one of the most subscribed-to musicians on all of YouTube, and if you’ve heard his music and his voice, you’d know why. He’s currently cultivating his musical ability at the Berklee College of Music and shares new music, covers, news, and experiences with his fans on a very regular basis. (He’s very in touch with his fan base…)

I could (and would) write more about him*, but that would be quite extraneous and would detract from my original purpose: to promote his song “MidKnight.” Why am I promoting it? The reason is quite simple – AJ wrote the song based on the Batman series and is using all he has to spread the word about it in the hopes that it will be used in the third “new” Batman movie.

I can tell you right now, folks, that this needs to happen. Not only will AJ gain more recognition for his spectacular musicianship, but the movie will acquire an incredible and heartfelt track that will only be an asset to the film. I know it’s a huge assumption, but should the song fall into the right hands, the hard work will already be done.

Please watch and listen to this video, and please support AJ. He truly deserves everything he has gained so far, and also so much more.

Vodpod videos no longer available.
*Find out more about AJ at his…
www.youtube.com/ilajil
www.myspace.com/ajrafael
http://ajrafael.blogspot.com
www.blogtv.com/People/ajRAF

Thanks, everyone!
Spread the love of music and dreams.

Shabei

Holiday Greetings + Strange Happenings

First off, happy holiday of your choice!! It’s Christmas for most of you, I’m assuming… 😀

Second: the holidays put my family in a strange mood…(not that they’re not already quite strange, but here):

• The Mother allowed me to order a CD off of the internet. What has this world come to, that the woman who reviles the web and calls all purchases from it utter folly, grants permission to me, her failure child, to type in her credit card number online??? (It’s Wang Leehom’s new album, Heartbeat, for those who were curious…if ever there was a Chinese musician to look into, he’d be the one.)

Leehom’s latest single, also called “Heartbeat” or “心跳” (Xin Tiao). It’s beautiful *sniff*

• A family friend came over and asked us to go bowling with her, and the Mother agreed.
  • What’s more, after she totally failed at the first game, she pwned everyone in the second game by getting five strikes, three of them in a row. Keep in mind, folks, that this the first time the woman has ever set foot on the bowling strip. WTF, WORLD???
  • Also, on my very first try on my first game, I got a strike. NOTE THAT I AM THE WORST BOWLER EVER KNOWN TO MAN. I do not have enough incredulity in my body to sustain these wondrous occurrences!! I went on to get another strike (woohoo), and then ran out of steam completely. I ended with a score of 27 on the second game. Shiiiiiiiit. (The Mother is never going to let me hear the end of it…)
• My crazy aunt (literally, she’s got mental issues) decides to become moody and frown in most of our pretty Christmas pictures. Yayyyyy.
• My grandpa wears a tux for the first time in like, ten years. TEN FREAKING YEARS, YOU GUYS. He looked rather dashing, though, for a 77-year-old man. XD

Anyway, to sum it all up, I’ve had a rather good Christmas, even though I didn’t get that many presents; it’s been much more eventful and just more fun than most years, and I really enjoyed it.
I hope you all were just as lucky!! 😀

Yours Happily,
Shabei

There Are Downsides to Being Asian: An Epic Rant

We Asians tend to boast a lot about our culture, and rightly so. But life’s not always so great for us, ya know?

Like how when you’re sick, your parents and/or grandparents shove ridiculously disgusting “medicinal” remedies at you and tell you they’ll cure all your ills.

Um. Granted, some do work, and I’m grateful for them (because, after all, Eastern medicine is pretty dang awesome). For the ones that do work, I’m used to. So no big deal.

But this… this is a new and utterly unwelcome development.

Somehow, somewhere, through some TOTALLY SADISTIC person, my elders have discovered the “miracle healing powers” of… (seriously, you don’t want to know…)

GARLIC FREAKING WATER.

*facepalm*

And I, the newest addition to the household infirm, was just subjected to the equally new-found treatment.

I’m telling you, it’s worse than Stephenie Meyer reading ‘Twilight’ aloud while sitting on effing Edward Cullen bedsheets that have been dipped in Edward Cullen effing body glitter (courtesy of Hot Topic, ha. ha. ha.).

In short: MAJOR YUCK. YUCKYUCKYUCKF*INGYUCK.

I even tried to avoid it by setting it at the far end of my desk and heating up some scented oil (lemony-fresh…) to drown out the smell. (Perhaps it’s a good thing my nose is stuffed up 95% of the time these days?) Alas, the Grandfather keeps a strict reign and eventually forced me to drink the nasty, diarrhea-resembling concoction. (Not joking about the visuals.) To say I gagged would be an understatement.

le sigh.

I managed to convince the old man that four sips was enough (more than enough, actually). Unfortunately, I may have heard him mutter something about “saving it for tomorrow”…

Oh, HELLZ NO.

All I can say at this point (and if you’re still reading this, you’re a brave soul?) is that eating an apple directly after rinsing vigorously helps immensely in scouring away the pain that is garlic water.
Yay?

—end official rant—

Some notes:

1.) I already hated garlic. It’s totally against the religion of my taste buds to partake in any direct contact with the stuff.

2.) I almost want to stay sick, just so I can show them that it doesn’t work. But then, they might just keep trying…and trying…and trying…. Until I die of garlic overdose, probably. woot.

3.) How to make the brew of the Devil: take a bunch of garlic cloves, smash ’em into smithereens, throw ’em into a giant cauldron with water, and boil until satisfied. Voila, you have the ultimate puke inducer.
:[

4.) And that lemon-scented oil? Oh yeah, it’s still going…

On the election

Isn’t it great that we’ve just experienced a momentous point in American history? Whether you support Obama or not, this year’s election will go down in the history books for quite a long time.

As a minority citizen, I am very proud that this country can overcome its previous (and current) adversity towards its non-white members and begin a new chapter. I have high hopes for what this election entails for the country, its people, and its effect on the nations of the world. Change is here… 🙂

On a slightly more solemn note, I sincerely hope any and all assassination attempts on our new President (because we all know that it’s probably going to happen) are unsuccessful. I don’t care who you support or what your ideals are – murder is disgustingly wrong, and the United States can’t afford much more turmoil than it’s been experiencing already. Not to mention the fact that Obama seems to be a pretty nice guy…

Anyway, that’s my spiel. I hope you all have a good night and a good future.

Shabei

I despise online classes

No, really. I’m taking one this summer (Economics) so that I have room in my schedule next year for Physics. The thing is, I’ve been taking an online class each summer since my freshman year. It really stinks because it drains so much of my time! It gets frustrating sometimes, especially when I have so many other things to do during the summer (i.e. volunteering, Chinese lessons, flute practice, summer reading, etc.). Perhaps I’m partly at fault that it takes me so long to finish a class due to my irritating habit of procrastination, but it seems that every year I take a class, I also have something else going on that makes my schedule even tighter.
Behold:
The first year, I went to China for a month, meaning that I had to finish a semester’s worth work of Personal Health assignments in one month. Joy.
The second year…was my fault, since I had just discovered the wonder of Asian dramas on YouTube and did about 75% of my Family Health work in the last two weeks. Super joy!
This year, I’ve been traveling to several places, and that’s put about a month-long chunk in my homework time – which, unfortunately enough, is very reminiscent of my freshman year predicament. I cannot sufficiently describe how effervescently enraptured I feel about this. >.>

On top of all of that, I’m BLOGGING right now instead of doing Unit 9 assignments. Purely because I like to complain. That, and I feel like I’m obligated to make another entry after skipping out on July (totally not intentional, but now you know why!) *sigh* So, in conclusion: my problem superficially lies with the mind-deteriorating tedium of online classes, but is more truly affected by my uncontrollable need to procrastinate. I think I’m a nut job in the making. Thanks for reading.

Peace – since I’m not having any,
Shabei

I…am a Grammar Sheriff.

In this day and age, when correct spelling, elegant grammar, and common spoken etiquette are naught more than fading virtues, I uphold the Alamo of the English language in my own little corner of the world. Well, more like my school, really, or even just in the classroom. On occasion, I can reach out to the glimmers of humanity via the Internet and release my all-knowing correctness and shed some light on their darkness. But alas, one person is not much resistance against the raging forces of “your cool” and “its not me!” and whatever other horrors dwell in people’s vernacular these days. It’s a minor comfort to know that I’m not alone in this battle, but I’m not connected with any of those other diligent warriors, either. So, I trudge along and try to make the best of it all. It’s a hard job, I assure you–although every once in a while, I get to have a moment like this:

Yes, there are benefits to every job we take on. I just happen to enjoy that particular part of it very, very much. Hahahaha.

Peace out and stay correct, yo.

Shabei

SocialVibe rocks my socks

It’s so true. People these days are getting more involved in the world around them and try to make a difference. It may be a side-affect of the “green” craze that’s been going around, but things like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and whatnot have been around for a long time, as well. Now there’s SocialVibe, a website that allows anyone to choose a cause to support and select a sponsor to donate the money. It’s easy to join, simple to set up, and a quick way to do something good in the world.

I personally am deeply concerned about the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake in China last month and the cyclone that hit Southeast Asia. Conveniently enough, one of the causes available for the choosing is “Disaster Relief”. It was one of the several that I was interested in supporting, but I chose what I thought needed the most support at this time. My sponsor is ZUNE, which I think is quite amazing, but you can choose from a huge variety of sponsors, among them Hollister, Apple, Jeep, and Coco-Cola Cherry.

I urge you, if you have not already done so, to sign up on SocialVibe and support something today. If we act together, we’ll end up having a better tomorrow.

Visit http://www.socialvibe.com for more info.

[I would post the amazing/beautiful widget that I made from SocialVibe, but it seems that WordPress doesn’t allow those because they could be viral… oh well.]

‘Ello, folks!

(10:29pm.) As I try to think of something creative to write in the blog that will take my WordPress virginity, the neighbor’s psychotic dogs are barking incessantly at more unknown and most likely non-existent pests. Such a pain. The neighbors aren’t much better, to tell the truth. But I digress.

I was going to write something interesting, or creative, or witty, perhaps? Well, fat chance for me, I guess. I’ll just have to start with a little confession:

I am the worst blogger you will ever encounter.

I’m terribly inconsistent and never keep up with my entries. I literally fail at journal/diary writing since I have such a hard time updating. It’s generally more by chance that I remember that I have a blog at one website or another. So, if you happened to stumble upon my humble website and are reading this now, you are witnessing a momentous – uh, moment: I vow that I am going to become a regular blogger.

That’s right: REGULAR.

gasp/zomg! I know, I know. But we’ll see how it goes. Until next time [which I hope is decently soon!], I’ll leave you to yourself. Don’t go away yet – history will be made….

Yours truly and most sincerely,

Shabei