The one with E-Aji Dip Snax

Cathy, Nathan, and I are going crazy over this new snack food from San Miguel called E-Aji.

My mom and I discovered the E-Aji Dip Snax brand of snack chips that come with delicious Magnolia dips at Cash N' Carry and bought some to bring home to Cathy and Nathan. There are seven E-Aji DipSnax variants: Fries with Extremely Cheesy Garlic Dip, Fries with Totally Sweet chili Dip, Nachos with Fiesta Salsa Dip, Nachos with Extremely Cheesy Garlic Dip, Nachos with Groovy Mayo BBQ Dip, Ridges with Cheddar Cheese Dip, and Ridges with Totally Sweet Chili Dip.

It's SOOO much better than WalaStix, the Regent-created dip snack whose dip, unfortunately, is watered down and relatively tasteless. According to San Miguel Corporation, the Philippine juggernaut that manufactures E-Aji Dip Snax, E-Aji doesn't contain any MSG.

We liked the E-Aji Dip Snax fries with cheese dip, then the E-Aji Dip Snax fries with sweet chili. The E-Aji Dip Snax ridges were good too, but not as good as the fries, and the E-Aji Dip Snax nachos... meh.

At P15, definitely worth your money. Unfortunately for me, I'm restarting my diet today, so I'll allow myself maybe one pack a week, and that's it. But don't let my diet stop you from trying this totally delicious snack. Mmmmmm.

Terrible Penshoppe website

I was so excited for the Denim Love campaign of Penshoppe. While I don't necessarily agree with the selection of Jericho Rosales and Heart Evangelista for their latest set of image models, the Penshoppe denims do look nice, and with Penshoppe's latest promo (P1500 and get a free pair of denims), how can one resist, right?

Well, you can't get into the Penshoppe website to check out the merchandise. Don't get me wrong: the Penshoppe website is flashy but, hey, it's terrible. Despite the cool production and ubersexy photos, you actually can't get into the denim section of the Penshoppe website because you can't find the hyperlinks. First thing you see is a flash image that takes up the whole screen, with no 'Click here' instructions or anything. So you have to move your mouse around until you find the hidden hyperlink. After that, you see three photos, two of Heart and one of Jericho. You have to scroll every inch of Jericho's or Heart's photo to find a hyperlink, and when you do, clicking on it does nothing.

Argh. It was wasted time, and I seriously doubt they have any jeans in my size anyway, so I guess it's back to Guess? for me.

The one with my skin art (read: tattoos)

When I was a sophomore at the Ateneo de Manila University and a member of a band (weren't we all?), I wanted to get a tattoo. So I did, and the rebel in me said, go with something fierce, so this was my first tattoo:

Calvin and Hobbes

After that, about six months later, I got another one:

Tiger scratching its way out of my right torso

Finally, about a year later, I got a third and final one:

An ankh on the back of my neck - Egyptian ankhs mean "life"

It's not that I'm showing off or anything, but I realize that I have three tattoos and no mention of it anywhere online. These are part of my journey, and I'm not ashamed to admit I have them.

The one with how my life as a writer is terribly sad

My main source of income involves writing press releases and copy for hotels and websites. Do you have any idea how much it stings to write about how this hotel is so classy and awesome, but I've never seen it?! Or to write about Boracay and having never been there?!

*sigh*

The one with the guy who thanked Jesus and ended up in jail

Check this out: a Hawaiian native who was acquitted by a jury of abusing his son was jailed for contempt of court for shouting out "Thank you, Jesus!" after the verdict was read. While he did not have to spend days in jail, and was only held in the courtroom and a cell block for six hours, family members and the gentleman's pastor at the Assembly of God Church, who all watched from the gallery were "very upset that those words could land somebody in jail."

Tsk tsk tsk.

Pinoy Dream Academy - give me a song title!

I learned over the KATHA Yahoogroups that Pinoy Dream Academy is looking for song submissions. Sixteen songs - in the vein, I imagine, of A Moment Like This, Believe, and Inside Your Heaven, among other American Idol I-will-survive-and-triumph-over-adversity tracks - will be chosen, and each composer gets P100,000.00.

Wow. I want in on that action. :D

And here’s a chance for you to get in on that action, too! LOL Give me a song title that I can use for my entry to the Pinoy Dream Academy songwriting competition. I’ll use the song title I like best, and will give the person who suggested it P3,000 if the song (with your title!) makes it into the finals.

The one with the return to the studio

I’m headed into the studio again tomorrow to lay the instrumental tracks to three original worship songs (Incomparable, Heaven and Earth, and I Desire) and two praise songs (So Good and Testify).

I’m particularly excited for the praise songs, because I’ve been playing with a Darkchild feel to the tracks, taking inspiration from Mary Mary (He Said), Brandy (What About Us?) and Michael Jackson (You Rock My World). At the same time, I’m a little inspired by some of the old school dance/hiphop sound of Soulshock & Karlin (Mary Mary, CeCe Peniston) and Warryn Campbell, so this should be an interesting project.

If we want to reach out to the youth of the nation, we need to work with their music, and let’s face it, I stand a better chance of touching someone’s heart with some hot hiphop/R&B jams than my current, admittedly stodgy Michael W. Smith/Mark Schultz A/C creations so far.

Is the music keepin’ it real? I don’t know. Is the praise real? Fo’ sho’.

The one with Wilson Phillips singing "Hold On" live

At the Billboard Music Awards in 1990, winning the award for Billboard Hot 100 Single of the Year. Man, can you believe that was 16 years ago?!