How music transcends the whole nine yards

The other day, a friend was talking about how she thinks mediocrity transcends language barriers as she recalls having watched an awful musical at Stadthalle. It was a version of the "Phantom of the Opera" in German, which extremely disappointed her and she felt like she was robbed of her EUR 60. Well, for one, Vienna is home to a number of opera houses so I can't blame her for the major letdown.

Anyway, moving on...I was wandering through a 3-meter long Bulletin Board in the university full of posts, from Spanish tutorials to flats for rent, when I came across a poster that caught my attention because of the line that says "Latin, African, Asian". Then I realized that it's a special event at a Sunday Church service. No biggie, I wrote down the details of the event on my calendar and went to their Sunday service.

Road to the Kephas Church...

There I realized how (gospel) music transcends language barriers. It's amusing and amazing at the same time. The worship team was a set of mostly LatAms and the praise and worship songs were all sung in Spanish. I recognized the melody of the first song to be that of "Take It All" by Hillsong. The other song was unfamiliar. But towards the end of the song, with the repeating lyrics "Con mi fe te exaltare, con mi amor te exaltare, con mi ser te exaltare", I found myself singing as well (of course they had the lyrics projected on the screen). The thing with Gospel songs, it’s easy to get a hold of the tune not only because they’re catchy, but also because of the fact that they keep singing the lyrics of a song, most often the chorus, over and over.

The song is actually "Me Viniste a Rescatar" (English title: Came to my Rescue) by Hillsong.

Talking about how music transcends language barriers, I remember being glued to that performance of Siyaya, an African street-performing group. Listening and watching them on YouTube while reminiscing that moment still gives me goose bumps every time. Imagine me standing on the streets of Cambridge with other engrossed tourists watching these guys perform real awesome music (in an African language). It’s a totally different experience to actually see them perform live! Their music exudes free spirit and vivacity. They are phenomenal, I must say.

Here's a Youtube clip of the group performing at the exact same spot where we saw them last year in Cambridge. This was in 2010.

Music transcends anxiety. I remember back in college, it was my final exam in swimming and it was my first class that day. I was sooooo nervous (you can’t imagine how nervous!!) about the treading part of the exam because I wasn’t able to do it properly during our final practice, so much so that if that was the actual exam, I would have failed. So what I did was I set my mp3 player on loop, playing “Meet With Me”, a gospel song, from when I left my dorm until before I plunged into the pool for the “final judgement”. And I guess the music was a hell lotta help because I passed!

Most of the time, music transcends my indolence. Music is often the key to perk me up, to motivate and to inspire me. It’s my energy bar. Whenever I feel like couch potato-ing (for the second day in a row) at home, I know it’s time to play my perky playlist to get me moving. Even if it’s just tidying my room as long as I’m being productive. Don’t get me wrong, I love couch potato-ing! Who doesn’t?!? It’s heaven! But if I know that I’ve been doing it long enough that I can already feel it’s getting harder to get up on an heavy ass (literally), then that’s already dreadful

Music transcends many other things – fear, conflict, and barriers, be it age, sex, culture or language. And music influences people either negatively or positively. But I’d like to believe that it’s positive for most people, just as how music influences my way of life – living life to the fullest.

Magda-drive ako hanggang...

…Paris! Sabi yan ni Ate Budz oder? :)

I never would have thought that I’d finally pass my driving exam on my second take, aber zum Glück habe ich es ja geschafft! Woohoo! Real luck! I’ve only done 6 hours of driving lessons before my first exam last April and 4 hours before my second exam last June. I haven’t practised driving since September last year and I’ve only been driving since January of last year, so I wasn’t positive about it. Luckily, the police examiner was so nice to us two girls who took the exam. (You bet, yes, it was our charm!) No seriously, they were all nice — my teacher, the examiner, and the other girl whom I did the driving exam with. They sort of worked together to let me pass the exam. To my dearest future riders, don’t freak out, though. I am not that bad in driving. It’s just the loads of street signs in Vienna that I unconsciously ignore sometimes (well yeah, that’s quite dangerous, eh?), which is the most important part of the driving exam. I failed my first one because I entered a one-way street from the opposite side. I mean, I know the signs, but for some reason I just don’t notice them sometimes. Also because the examiner at that time asked me to turn right in an apparently one-way street going to my left. Busted.

My Q&As were about the car tires.

Q: How would I know if it is a summer or a winter tire?

A: A winter tire would have the letters M/S on the tire suface.

Q: How would I know if I need to change the tire?

A: If it has deep cuts or if the tire depth is less than 1.6mm and 4.0mm in summer and in winter, respectively. Measure the tire depth with the tire depth gauge or check the tire depth indicator.

Q: What risk should I be careful of when there is road flooding? What should I do in this situation?

A: Aquaplaning. Hold on tightly to the stirring wheel. DO NOT BREAK!

Some mistakes during the actual 30-minute driving exam:

- watch out when driving in narrow streets with bicycle lanes

- failure to do oscillating glances in one of the intersections with a priority sign

- use of clutch

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The next day, we went to Therme Wien for R&R and to test my driving skills. Here’s Mom riding shotgun, with Wynn, Kuya Carlo, and baby CW in the backseat of Dad’s car. (Photo courtesy of Wynn)

Namatayan ako ng makina mga tatlong beses (yikes, fail) at naligaw konti dahil nag-inarte si TomTom Nav pero still…we survived!

So, BAD and TET, you've finally SLAYED YOUR DRAGONS AND BEFRIENDED YOUR DEMONS, eh?

Ginugulat nyo talaga ako Bad at Tet ngayon...! Grabeeee...! Ambot talaga, Ambot! (Haha, sorry at kelangan ko talagang sabihin ang "ambot". Eto lang kasi ang alam kong word...! :D)

Pero eto...di ko talaga kinaya ang trip nyong dalawa ngayon! Pramis!!!! Napa-"whhhhaaaaaaaaattttt?!" talaga ako at sobrang natuwa sa mga pangyayari. Ang babaw ko shocks! Kasi naman...magkasunod kong nakita ang pics nyo at magkaibang sites pa (Friendster at Multiply). Stand-out talaga dahil sa dinami-dami ng posts sa Multiply at friends' update sa Friendster ay napansin ko talaga ang sa inyong dalawa na effortless...lalo na yung kay Bad na tipong hindi naman ako normally tumitingin sa friends' update tapos napansin ko yung kay Bad?! Haha!
Rurok!!...at rurok din ba ang kababawan ko? :D

Ayan, nagamit ko tuloy agad ang quote for the day ko!
"...slaying your dragons and befriending your demons..." -- Ala Paredes

Nice one, Bad at Tet! Bangs kung bangs...at bikini kung bikini!! Ahahahay! :)

Hmmm...actually, I've already been thinking of "slaying my dragons and befriending my demons" in YOUR kind of way... Hmmm...Friends, so ano gusto nyong new look ko ha? Afro na ba ha, game? (Bad, I'm hearing you laugh... **Bionic ears**) :D Bwahahaahahahaha!
Brace yourselves...!!!! <--- Bad's one-liner these days.