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Nessun Dorma

I attended Beth and Banjo’s wedding last sunday and there was this opera singer singing at the reception. I mentioned it to Paul and he told me about the video of this guy, Paul Potts, who won BGT. He sang Nessun Dorma during the auditions and also in the finals. This led me to a video of the three great tenors Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti singing the same song. Although Paul Potts is good, these guys are a different level altogether. Even if you don’t understand the words, you can feel so much power and emotion and it just totally blows you away. Freakin’ awesome.

Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma! Tu pure, o Principessa, nella tua fredda stanza, guardi le stelle che tremano d’amore, e di speranza!
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me; il nome mio nessun saprà! No, No! Sulla tua bocca lo dirò quando la luce splenderà!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio che ti fa mia!
(Il nome suo nessun saprà… E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!)
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! Tramontate, stelle! All’alba vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!

I almost couldn’t sleep :P

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UP Centennial Kick-Off

The University of the Philippines is celebrating its 100th year and the celebrations kick off today. It will start with a mass at UP Manila, then a motorcade to UP Diliman, flame passing and cauldron lighting, ceremonies, revelry, a concert, and finally fireworks!!! More info here.

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RAID Blues

Just before the holidays, the RAID server at the office suddenly died. Not one but two drives failed. The server has RAID Level 5 so the loss of one drive should have been easily recoverable. But no, two drives had to fail. Fortunately, Alex was able to resurrect the two dead drives but it seems there were corrupted files and possible longer term problems so we had to reformat. But first we must back up everything. The next problem then comes up: The external backup drive is also dead! So, we had to use a spare drive. Guess what? The SATA-to-USB adapter was also dead! I had to bring my personal SATA-to-USB adapter so we can backup. And that’s why I’m here at the office with Alex and Aby (misery loves company) on a nice Saturday morning when I should be soundly sleeping in bed. Not looking like a good year. Tsk.

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Back To Work

Back to work finally from the quite long vacation. The whole family came to visit for the holidays and we went malling, dining out, playing paintball, playing badminton, swimming at Laguna, etc. (my sister commented why it is that people want to do so many things during vacations). This also meant traveling practically every day from QC to Makati. Then there are the parties and get togethers. I’m not complaining. It was loads of fun, but it really was also quite exhausting. Still, I can’t wait till the next time. Haha.

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Hapy New Year!

I haven’t had a New Year resolution since forever. But this year, at Cez‘s suggestion, I have these:

  1. Reach French level B1 by the end of year. This means I actually have to study!
  2. Read more books. Specifically literary classics but maybe I’ll throw in a contemporary book. Maybe also one in French.
  3. Take cooking or dance classes.
  4. Take advanced photography classes.
  5. Watch F1 in Singapore on September 26 to 28. Shanghai would probably be nice but I heard it will be way crowded. Singapore will hopefully be less so. Besides, I like F1 more than most Olympic sports.
  6. Go on a road trip. Maybe Pagudpud. You’ll probably be driving more than you actually staying there but in this is a road trip. It is really about the journey! Question is who shares this philosophy? :))
  7. Go surfing in Zambales or La Union.
  8. Go hiking and camping in one trip.
  9. Resume wargaming whether via paintball or airsoft.
  10. Be less patient with people. You read that right :D

Plans more than resolutions :P