If there’s a CD I’d like to throw into my shopping cart right now, that would be “The Best of Jacintha.” Her voice is soft and smooth --- pretty great for my liking. Most of all, the album is jam-packed with my favorite songs. Whoever chose her song list must be my alter-ego. I was blown away.

Jacintha Best Of Jacintha Track Listing

1. The Look Of Love (GRVSA1001 Jacintha / Here's To Ben)
2. Willow Weep For Me (GRVSAM1014 Jacintha / Jacintha Is Her Name)
3. And The Angels Sing (GRVSA1006 Jacintha / Autumn Leaves)
4. California Dreaming (GRVSA1040 Jacintha / Jacintha Goes To Hollywood)
5. O Ganso (GRVSAM1026 Jacintha / The Girl From Bossa Nova)
6. A Man And A Woman (GRVSA1040 Jacintha / Jacintha Goes To Hollywood)
7. Something Cool (GRVSAM1014 Jacintha / Jacintha Is Her Name)
8. Mahna Da Carnevale (GRVSAM1011 Jacintha / Lush Life)
9. Autumn Leaves (GRVSA1006 Jacintha / Autumn Leaves)
10. Once I Loved (GRVSAM1026 Jacintha / The Girl From Bossa Nova)
11. Light My Fire (GRVSAM1014 Jacintha / Jacintha Is Her Name)
12. Blvd Of Broken Dreams (GRVSAM1011 Jacintha / Lush Life)
13. Windmills Of Your Mind (GRVSA1040 Jacintha / Jacintha Goes To Hollywood)
14. Waters Of March (GRVSAM1026 Jacintha / The Girl From Bossa Nova)
15. Danny Boy (GRVSA1001 Jacintha / Here's To Ben)

My sister in-law who already have two daughters and already finished computer related course wanted to study nursing. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me anymore. For one thing, we all know the great demands for nursing related course for jobs in the US and European countries. My husband her brother told her that it will take her four years to finish it and she will have to take board exams, too. He should know because he himself is a nurse.

Schools offering nursing assistant or nurses aid courses abound. One of them is San Agustin Nurses Assistant School which offers online classes as well. You can have your e-learning program online. This means students can finish the program in their own convenient time and pace because classes are available 24 hours a day. Clinical Labs, Virtual Phlebotomy Lab, Virtual Injection Lab, clinical instructional videos and more can be taken online as well. It is equipped with the best faculties answering your question anytime and anywhere you are online.

We informed our sister in-law that she can become a certified nursing assistant in six to eight weeks. Your role as nursing assistant is the same regardless of title or initials. The Nursing Assistant is an important member of the health care team who often holds a high level of experience and ability.

While searching for Gabby Concepcion’s video clip of him singing, “Iisa Pa Lamang,” I accidentally bump into another youtube excerpt of “The Past Romance of Sharon and Gabby.”

I watched the clip to make sure that what my sister was about to see (as I would certainly inform her as usual --- she’s the bigger fan, remember?)

Seeing Sharon and Gabby together makes me want to ask why some good things never last, such as their romance.

It makes me explore a theory I resist to entertain: that most of the people who love each other too much do not end up with each other (I mean, think Romeo and Juliet, Clark Kent and Lois Lane and many, as in many more). As to why, I still don’t know --- perhaps to keep one another “sane” or grounded to “reality” ? Otherwise, the world stops for two people who are in love.

When I heard that Gabby Concepcion was launching a CD album of his songs for the first time, I couldn’t help but text my sister Danette who is a big fan of his. I believe I was also the first one who texted her to tune in to ABS-CBN’s The Buzz and witness Gabby’s very first appearance after being away from the limelight for 13 years.

Gabby Concepcion represents “happy childhood memories” as far as I’m concerned. As far as I can remember, it’s with Gabby that my girl cousins, sister and I learned what it meant to admire a celebrity and be a fan. We practically followed his career since his very first movie “Totoo Ba ang Tsismis” with Nora Aunor (Was on first grade I think when it was shown) and we would talk about him all the time, not knowing that our bond as cousins and sisters were strengthened along the way.

Seeing Gabby on TV once again, it’s amazing that he hardly changed physically. The refreshing and youthful glow are still very much intact. I shouldn’t be surprised that he can still be paired with the likes of Claudine Barreto who belongs to a much younger generation.

Welcome back and all the best, Gabby!

“Harana” is a Tagalog dialect which means serenade. Here’s how Wikipedia describes it:

“The Harana first gained popularity in the early part of the Spanish Period. It's influence comes from folk Music of Spain and the Mariachi sounds of Mexico. It is a traditional form of courtship music in which a man woos a woman by serenading her underneath her window at night. It is widely practiced in many parts of the Philippines with a set of protocols, a code of conduct, and a specific style of music. Harana itself uses mainly Hispanic protocols in music, although its origins lie in the old pre-colonial Philippine musical styles which still practiced around the country Kapanirong style of the Maguindanao of Mindanao. The main instrument used for Harana is the Guitar, played by the courter, although other string instruments such as the Ukulele and less frequently, the Violin and Trumpets are also used.”

Most Filipino restaurants still feature “harana.” The ones I still see so far in the south of Manila are Royale Tagaytay Estates, Taal Vista Hotel, Leslie’s Restaurant. While in the north are Island Cove’s Fishing Village Restaurant and Isdaan Restaurant. I am not quite sure if Barrio Fiesta and the Singing Cooks and Waiters in Metro Manila still have these (I suppose they also feature “harana”).

This is a Filipino heritage that is well preserved until today. Those who give the “harana” usually come in threes or fours: the soloist, guitarist, one who holds a tambourine and another who holds a bass. You can request the for a song or two in addition to what they sing to you. As a courtesy, you can give them gratuities.

There are already two rockers I know whose featured biographies. These are John Bon Jovi of Bon Jovi and Gene Simmons of KISS band. Looking at how they appear in their bands with their make-ups making them look scary and honestly seem like they’d need acne treatment the following day, you’d wonder how they are behind the klieg lights.

It’s great to learn that both are good guys in real life --- quite far from the images they used to project before their billions of fans worldwide. Bon Jovi is said to be an ideal husband. Gene Simmons on the other hand, despite his not being married to Shannon Tweed until now, have reportedly not been drinking or taking drugs in real life.

My husband and I are couch potatoes that our dream for our future abode revolves around completing the necessary technologies and musical component so that we can enjoy sitting around all the more.

The deal is he’ll take care of setting them all up, complete with home theater sconces with film strips, and the whole works because he is such a genius on these things.