A Filipegger: Born This Way

Maria Aragon.

10 years old. Filipino. Newest online sensation. Winnipegger.

OK. As the story nowadays goes: kid sings. video of kid singing uploaded on YouTube. video gets tons of views. video noticed by celebrity. kid = on the way to STARDOM. *insert shimmering sound effects here*

Here you'll see Maria singing Lady Gaga's song, Born This Way. Views are up to 2,028,902 at press time (LOL). Perez Hilton somehow managed to watch it, who then tweeted it to Lady G herself.

"Can't stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future," said Lady Gaga on Twitter.

The video is only two days old but my, my she's already been interviewed by Ace Burpee of Hot 103, has already made a guesting on, well, Ace Burpee's show hihi, has been offered a trip to Toronto by Virgin Radio 99.9 (which was cancelled due to our lovely blizzardy weather yesterday), and invited to sing with Lady Gaga during the Canadian leg of her tour in March. Whoa, this kid is going to have a great summer! ;p

Pretty cool seeing a young Fil girl from Winnipeg, Manitoba (where that? LOL) makin' waves in the music industry.

The power of the internet, I tell ya, is just A-MA-ZING.

But wait, there's something missing in the equation...hmmm...has Ellen or Oprah seen the video yet? Then she'll sign some record deals. After that, she's off to Glee! hi hi ;p

The Disney princess in me decided this video to be my fave of Maria:

Oh, and one last thing. Maria said on one of her interviews that she idolizes Lady G. Now I don't know how I feel about that yet. Actually I do. I really, really, REALLY hope it's not true. hihi. ;p

Best of luck, Maria! Filipeggers represent! hihihi! ;p

I claim that word BTW...Filipeggers. Bwahaha! ;p

Another last thing: Here she talks to Lady Gaga on air at Hot 103. Actually made me tear up a bit. :)

On Publishing.

If I were to write a book...and the functional word is, IF...I would attempt to have my book published in this order: traditional publishers, self-publish, or publish online. So, online publishing would be my last resort.

I am a firm believer of traditional ways, and I think that it is always best to have something to hold (and to flip over) when reading. There’s just something different when your eyes crawl across a page...of paper...as opposed to something electronic like an iPod or computer screen. It’s more intimate. Holding the book, feeling its weight, and the texture of its pages all take part in the whole experience. Some times even the smell.

My hypothetical book will land on the laps of every publisher that I could think of, that I believe should publish my book. And when they won’t, that’s the only time that I’ll consider self-publishing.

And if self-publishing won’t work for me, then only will I publish online.

I’m not really against publishing online. I just think that there’re a lot of disadvantages. For example, online, it is very easy and instantaneous to copy the book even though it’s protected from “copy and pasting” functions. I also that think that reading from a screen takes away a lot of the magic when reading a book.

So, yeah, I would rather find my hypothetical self-written book on a physical bookshelf, rather than on a virtual bookshelf online. BUT...if I did write a book...it will be so good, that not only traditional publishers will publish it, but online versions in every language will also be available. ;p

If I Could Tell The World One Thing

        If Mubarak steps down, who will replace him? Will the people calm down? Or will there be more fighting with the Mubarak supporters? How many more people have to die and get hurt before they stop? Once this ends, how long will it take for Egypt to reach normalcy again?


        I don't really know much about Egyptian politics...or what the issues over there really are. All I have is what I see through the news. And all I can say is...there's so much violence. You're all brothers, but you're hurting each other.

        They're fighting 24 hours a day.

        What's also sad is that all this could've been avoided. But now their lives halted, they're losing days of business, work, school and family time. Don't they ever get tired? If everyone could just calm down...the person they're fighting about is sitting in his home, troubled but unhurt, while they are bloody, tired, have no money, and probably not even sure if they have a job to get back to after this ends.

        Do they go back home to their families at the end of a day of protesting? Do they get to eat 3 meals everyday? Are they all in fighting mode the whole day? Do all of them really know what they're fighting for? Or are they just going where the crowd goes?

        A difference of opinion doesn't have to lead to violence.

        After destroying much of their city, they're the ones who's going to clean it up too.


        If only all this can just stop on a snap. But it can't. And we can't fast forward time too.

        and please try not to damage any of the pyramids and mummies...I want to see them too...

Bad Week for the World.

A tropical cyclone in Australia.
An earthquake in China.
A superstorm in the United States.
Of course there's Egypt.


And then hearing about this. Just heart breaking.


What's next?


It's a bad week for the world right now.

What is the world coming to?

        Jeddah, KSA: I used to live in that part of the world. It USED to be the driest place I knew. Literally. Not even a drop of rain water for months or years at a time. Although we did have the Red Sea, it's a desert. It rained so rarely, there was no need for a drainage system. (So there's none at all). Then a couple years ago, when my family and I still lived there, it started to rain....hard.

        I remember it started at night because the sound of the rain on the air conditioner (the part that sits outside the window) woke me up and scared me. It took a while before we realized that it was ACTUALLY raining. The next morning, it even started to hail............HAIL!

        It was the first time we saw hail, my mom got so excited that she ran outside...with a plastic bag to catch some...in her nighties! LOL I also remember it was a weekend cause we were all home. [TRIVIA: In the Mid East, the week starts on Saturday. Weekends are Thursday and Friday].

        Anyway, when the rain stopped and the skies cleared, people started coming out of their homes...as did we. It was weird and funny at the same time. It's all flooded outside and yet families are actually out and about on a weekend morning, having fun wading in the flood. Some even had their camcorders with them. hihi.

        So yea. The next flood we heard about was the one in 2009, then again in 2010, and AGAIN just this week!

        Here's a link to Arab News, a local newspaper, showing some pictures of the recent flood: Jeddah Flood 2011.

        From no rain...to major flooding. In what, a span of just 10 years? What is the world coming to?? It's pay back time for all the things we've done to Earth.

        Nowadays we have sinkholes (which, really, you'd think can only happen in movies), tsunamis, mudslides, and other floods in surprising parts of the world. I wouldn't be surprised if it starts snowing in the Philippines. OK, I would.

        I wonder what's up for us in the future?