What it Feels Like to Lose a Part of Yourself

Last week I was very happy. In fact I felt like I was the happiest person ever. I had a series of fun with my diverse-kind of friends, I had that rare moment of not fighting with my sister, I had my share of my new milktea craving, I had gotten away with the possibility that my professor will call my name for an oral recitation, I had my quiz results that were perfectly satisfactory, and most importantly, I was able to run away from my busy schedule without compromising everything!

And then last night, I lost my earphones.

For the typical folk, this is not a valid reason to be sad at all. But for me, a whole part of myself transformed to a burden I need to carry for the rest of my life. Just kidding, but to be honest, Christmas won't be as happy as I thought it would be.

It's not really an expensive earphones compared to others, but I can't afford to buy it again. I have been craving for that SoundMagic for more than 2 years already, saving then and then yet still failing to buy one.

Not until this summer that my papa bought it for me. Perhaps as a consolation for my barely satisfactory grades the past school year. It's not like every day he rewards me but this was the gift I always wanted.

It had sentimental value to me, it's a prize of my hardwork in college (which was a lot during that school year!) and it was a gift from someone I value so much. Now it fell to ruins, and the thought of "losing everything valuable" will resurrect every time I'll think of it.

The best earphones I've ever had, no doubt. Thanks to that earphones I became an audiophile. Everywhere I go, it's with me. I never let anybody use it because I had been very protective, now it seems like bad karma. At dawn, it's always in my side because it's the first thing I do in the morning. On my way to school and home it's always in my ears, because the world feels empty and chaotic without it, colorless and lifeless. It's also a bedtime essential, because I had to listen to an audiobook to focus myself to sleep.

So when I discovered it wasn't with me last night I was really disappointed. I thought my companions was pulling a prank to me but then again, I am still hoping it was just a prank!

I walked home alone last night, all the happiness drained in my face. I walked in the dark and lonely streets of my neighbourhood feeling afraid for the first time ever. It was then that I realized, life for me would be meaningless without the dramatics produced in my ears. It was really a bland and empty scenery.

I wasn't able to sleep last night, in fact I just closed my eyes from 12 to 4 until the thought hit me again. I was hoping it was just a dream, that I had enough reasons to be happy and not to think of anything else to bother my sleeping schedule, but then again, life has a way of making us realize things.

School and friends are the worst though. Every time I laughed today, a friend or another kept reminding me of my loss, which made things even worse. Not even a perfect score in Statics could bring the smile back in my face.

Tricking my mind won't even work this time, and I'm good at mind tricks. I kept telling myself not to worry about it anymore but it's not happening. Every time I look at the table where I always put it, I stop a little because I'm still hoping it would still be there. Every time I look into the pockets of my jeans, I stop a little because I'm still hoping I find it there. Most of the best moments these past 6 months it was with me. Perhaps this is the way to let it all out, so that I won't bother to think about it again in the future.

I never knew its value until I lost it, and now it seemed like a slap in my face. I have another earphones for backup purposes but it's never going to be the same. Sigh
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To all my friends or family out there, my birthday is coming, I wouldn't mind another pair as a replacement! :P Thanks!

First Listen: Track-by-Track Review of Coldplay's A Head Full of Dreams

Coldplay fans, rejoice! For the band is set to perform at next year's SuperBowl Halftime Show. As the news broke out, we are given the chance to listen to the new album, "A Head Full of Dreams", alleged to be their last album, so without further waiting, here's my impressions upon listening to the album for the first time ever!

1. A Head Full of Dreams - the intro reminded of the Mylo Xyloto interlude, right until it changed to a dance-y beat. I love that it's upbeat, which is a sharp contrast to their previous opening track, "Always in My Head". It somehow reminds me of a "The 1975" production, are they going for a 70's synthpop revival? Not quite yet! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE HARMONIES IN THE BRIDGE, it is really beautiful, euphoric, and I felt alive to be honest! This is definitely my favorite opening track from the band. An ANTHEM everyone would love, it's ready for stadiums! 10/10

2. Birds - Drums, drums, drums, and a melancholic electric guitar too, the beat reminded me of "Hurts Like Heaven", but it's far from being happy. Another chilly track from the band, I think the prechorus is weak, but the chorus is signature-Coldplay! The bridge is melodically interesting too, that part till the end is definitely my favorite moment, right until it was cut anticlimactically. I think I'm going to be inlove with this after a couple more listens. 8/10

3. Hymn for the Weekend - the track I'm most excited about, everybody hyped it to the maximum level, and did it deliver? I think it did! Beyonce harmonizing in the beginning is definitely interesting, and when the beat kicked in, it felt like it's a new Coldplay territory. Clap beats, world instruments, hip-hop elements, R&B touches, but the song's structure is so weird! The chorus is definitely an album highlight, it's so uplifting, it is indeed a hymn! I prefer this collaboration much more than the Rihanna-collab "Princess of China", but I was hoping Beyonce was a bit more prominent though. Still, a perfect track! 10/10

4. Everglow - slow, piano-driven ballad, and by the start of it, seems like an ode to love. Something that wouldn't have been out-of-place in Adele's album 2 weeks ago. Martin's vocal delivery here brings me back to their song "O", simply beautiful. This song somewhat acts like a break between 2 upbeats, and it serves rather well. The piano riff is beautiful, simple but effective! Coldplay is really effective with ballads, I actually love it a lot. 10/10

5. Adventure of a Lifetime - the album's funky lead single, released about a month ago. Very catchy, and it still surprisingly sounds fresh! Would have been better if it had a stronger chorus, the repetition is what turns me off from listening to it again. But the outro is worth more than that, the guitar riff is definitely one of my all-time favorite outros from them! As a whole though, this song seems so weak, I think it's better as a stand-alone song! 7/10

6. Fun (feat. Tove Lo) - another electric guitar melancholic-wrapped song, I think it could be a song from "Ghost Stories", right until the explosive chorus hits, it's straight-up Alternative-Pop that will be serviced to radios. It is very nice to hear Tove Lo, but she's more like a back-up singer here. A couple more listens and I can already feel it's going to crawl into my Top 5! 8/10

7. Kaleidoscope - muddled piano in the beginning, and A REAL SURPRISE by Chris Martin. I never would have expected these kinds of vocals in a Coldplay song to be honest, but this seemed like an experimental era from them, so it's to be expected. It's a very psychedelic interlude! 

8. Army of One - far from anything they've done at the beginning of their career, but there's always room for growth. This one is probably a grower, the chorus seems weak to me, something that The Script would have done and not Coldplay. At 6 minutes, a lot of things happened, and as I predicted, it's definitely a grower, the outro is mind-changing one! THERE IS A HIDDEN TRACK, but I don't think I like it that much., it sounded more like a Drake-track to be honest. 8/10

9. Amazing Day - they premiered this ages ago, and I never liked it. In fact I never thought it would be this beautiful, the bridge is so heartbreaking as if this is the last thing they'll do! If there is anything that the old Coldplay fans would love, IT IS THIS SONG! It somehow reminded me of Yellow, Clocks and The Scientist all at once! It is so nostalgic, and if by chance this is indeed their last era, then what a nice gift this song is! 10/10

10. Colour Spectrum - beautiful interlude, that's all!

11. Up&Up - surprising track. It is kinda weird because I kept imagining Taylor Swift is singing the verses, this definitely sounds like a Max Martin x Coldplay collab track. The same feeling I've got the first time I heard Adele's "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)", something that wouldn't have suited for the 2, but they did! I love the choir in the background of the song, it definitely lightened it up! If "O" hadn't existed, this would have been my favorite closing track from them, it's just too good, too happy to end the record! 10/10

Surprisingly, I never thought I would love this record as much as I did with Ghost Stories or Mylo Xyloto. I am probably one of the few people who preferred their recent albums compared to their old ones! When Adventures of a Lifetime premiered, I told myself not to get my hopes up, only to discover that Adventures is probably the worst track from the record!

This is a really happy album, it sounds so festive minus a couple ballads! There is energy throughout the 11 tracks plus a hidden one. Believe it or not, after just a single listen in its entirety, I'm glad to say, "It's my favorite album from them!"

The album is now available in iTunes and Amazon. 

Movie Review: Pixar Adds Another Tearjerker with The Good Dinosaur!

This review is spoiler-free, that I promise you!

Before I begin to expose my thoughts of my The Good Dinosaur experience last night, I would like to say a few words about the Pixar short Sanjay's Super Team that accompanied Good Dino before it was shown to anticipating viewers.

Sanjay's Super Team is hands down the best Pixar short I've ever seen, eclipsing La Luna (supported Brave) by a long mile as my favorite animated short film; as well as redeeming the studio after their corny and lousy Lava (premiered with Inside Out).

Sanja Patel directed the short film, based on his childhood with his parents living in America. He used to play with Superhero toys while his family performed Hindu ritual, which was not what he wanted to do.

His Super Team is closely based on that, a 7-minute film that takes Sanjay into a daydream adventure with Hindu deities while his father performed their daily ritual. The story is somewhat like all superhero films, but the visuals and color palette took it to another level!

After seeing the short, I think Mr. Patel is really a creative and intuitive director, somehow managing to capture all the elements that would have made a great animated superhero film like Pixar's own The Incredibles.

Now, here's the main part, my review for The Good Dinoasur:

First and foremost, I think the most important aspect of this film are the animated VISUALS. God knows the budget for this film must be very huge, everything just looks GREAT! The landscapes were beautiful, the rivers looked like they were actually real, the underwater scenes were stunning, and the characters were so well structured you might as well think you are in 2020's. I swear, NO FILM STRUCK ME LIKE THIS VISUALLY SINCE GRAVITY. If only animated films were eligible for Academy's Visual Effects category, then this one would likely take it!

Critics are unfairly harsh about it though, having to follow-up Inside Out's universal acclaim and humongous Box-Office results. True, it's not as intellectual as the story of Joy and Sadness but, if other animation studios delivered this one, critics would praise it to high heavens! Pixar really set a high standard for their films, and while The Good Dinosaur fell short of it, the main core value of a Pixar film is still there, heart and emotions.

While the story seemed familiar, it was not necessarily dull. It had the visuals that engaged people to watch it without ever trying to look away from the screen. And no, whoever said that it is similar to Ice Age or Croods needs to validate this point, because as far I what I have seen last night, it is far from those two!

Personally, I think this film is finding ways to deal with your fears. Arlo (the dinosaur) had been really afraid of almost everything, since the time he hatched. And the ending brings a nice closure to the development of his character, eventually finding his way to Spot (a human child) and meeting a lot of dinosaurs in his journey home. "You can't eliminate your fears, but you can outrun them!" is perhaps the best line in this movie, which says it all!

While the score (film music) is neither as emotional as Michael Giacchano's score for Inside Out, it is still pretty memorable, it sets the tone quite nicely in the beginning of the film, and the main theme is gorgeously happy, but also adds a little bit of melodrama.

It is fairly comedic, in fact I laughed way more than I ever did with Inside Out, but then again, they were 2 different movies that shan't be compared to each other. I think it's comically in line with Croods, without the help of a lot of characters, which goes a lot to say! There was a scene when Arlo said, "Hello?" and an audience right behind me replied, "It's me." loud enough that the whole theater bursted into laughter!

As I said in the title, it is another TEARJERKER, and yes I did not lie with this one. I cried near the end of the film, it was super emotional and powerful, perhaps because I could relate it too with what is going on in my real life right now, but I really felt it, and I know that the girl right beside me sobbed too! Pixar really made a unique way of telling it, an improvisation that a lot of other films tried to do but failed.

I would love to pay again for this film just to look at this scene:

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT, it really gave me goosebumps for more than a minute. It was an experience beyond words, same thing that happened with Gravity. I know it will never look as much as good in my 720P screen, but at least I've managed to experience this phenomenal scene!

I think I will leave it here. This one's a really good and fun watch, teary at the end and contains some nice lessons as well that kids will eventually eat up. For people like me who loves to watch Pixar flicks, I could never let this go, so I had to watch it. And while it fell short of the "Pixar story standards", I would still give it an A+ for touching my heart, for making a world that was so breathtaking and almost realistic, and for delivering a scene that was worth way more than the ticket price I paid! 

If you have some questions or reactions, feel free to comment. You can also look for me on my Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr accounts! Thanks for reading. 

Silly Things People Do When They Are In-Love!

I don't normally talk about other people, I have always been self-centered, but something about these past few days got me interested about gossips again!

Being a keen observer in this world, it's rather simple to figure people out! For example, it is easy to tell that a person is in love by the way he/she speaks about someone, you can always see the enthusiasm!

I have observed a lot with my friends, I just don't talk because I don't want to speculate! But something really bothered me 2 weeks ago and I can't help but share it. This is true.

So I will talk about this girl, she and I are very close and before you speculate, let me tell you first and foremost: this story is not about US, it is about HERS.

She and I are very close friends, obviously, though we don't see each other every day. But this girl, she really knows how to keep a secret. To her surprise though, I am an observer and I know how to work around people!

Her secret? Well, she is madly in love with someone, someone I know. I figured out the name of the guy, it was always my speculation that there was something going on around with the two every time I was with him. 

Remember what I said about enthusiasm? Yeah, he keeps talking about her, but during that time, I had no doubts they were just good friends. I already had my little amount of speculation though, but that was like 4 months ago already.

I put that speculation to rest because I don't want a good friendship ruined, you know, manufactured romance is not good based on my experience (mmhmm)!

However, 2 weeks ago, she opened it up, and to my utmost delight, my speculation turned out to be correct! She is blaming it all to the guy, for giving her motifs that he liked her, even though he shouldn't! The guy seems like he has no idea how he makes this girl feel!

Now it is always our topic every time I get to see the girl.

Some people have their ways of surprising me, and I bet that the next paragraphs will surprise you too! She has taken everything into SIGNS.

To try her luck, she asked for a sign to confirm that the guy indeed has the same feeling towards her, kind of silly but some people do it this way! 

First sign:

She was riding her way home around 9 pm, she asked God for a sign, "Lord, if I see someone in a red shirt when I get out of this jeepney, then he is really into me!" When she arrived to her destination, horror struck her eyes like lightning, someone in a motorcycle shoot past right in front of her eyes, and you guessed it, the guy was wearing a red shirt!

Now that could basically happen to any of us, it's very coincidental, but to her, she's still not convinced! (However, you can almost feel for her, she must be delighted!)

The next day, she asked for another. But this time, something that is not very coincidental:

She looked at the contacts saved on her phone, she saw someone (a guy) who has not contacted her for more than a year already, so she asked God, "Lord, this is almost impossible but if this guy will message me within this day, then my crush is really into me!" Not 3 short hours later, she received a wrong-sent message from the guy! 

This really caught me off-guard when she told me! It's not like every day things like this happen, but she still doesn't want to believe it.

And so, she asked for another, "one last time" she told herself, a very spontaneous one:

It was 8 pm, she was walking around insert place here on her way home, she asked God again "If I see him right here, right now, then Lord, it is really true that our feelings are mutual!" And to her horror, she can't believe it (she almost passed out) when she saw him at insert place right after she asked for a sign.

Well, that seemed really hard to believe, I was like, "Are you conjuring some story to make you feel better?", but I trust this girl, she is not like the one who tell lies!

After every thing that happened, she still doesn't want to confront him. "He's just a good friend," she told me. But surely, the signs must have meant something. Or am I being too optimistic?

I'll leave her story there, time for the side notes.

Sometimes, love will make us do silly things. And we do these things to make ourselves feel good, we keep hoping that these signs are true so that we have something to hold on to for ourselves rather than confront someone and examine their true feelings. 

This, I have learned in these past few days: YOU WILL NEVER GET ANYWHERE IF YOU KEEP ON WAITING.
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No, I'm not going to be the bridge between the two. I would rather make her a real life Forrest Gump.

Thanks for reading! You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr!

An Open Letter to the Girl Who Broke My Heart

It's not a letter, but I like the way the title sounds!

Recently, I have been very busy with my schedule I had to say goodbye to my classmates earlier than I used to, and this led to an speculation that I am seeing/dating someone again. I am terribly sorry to inform everybody that I am still very happy with my own company!

When I started college, everyone was different, it's like a clash of every society, there's the rich with their cars, pretty ones sitting on the table, geeks facing their tools, models on high fashion, and then there's some of us, raised without the glimpse of city living. It was certainly hard at first, but to make a point, it was certainly harder when you're lost in a sea of lovers!

However, making some friends wasn't really that hard to accomplish. Pretty soon, I've managed to introduce myself in at least 10 people and made good impressions with them. But trust me, nobody ever believed me when I said I have never been in a relationship before. It became a little bit embarrassing after a couple of months, and to feed my ego, I had to make a synthetic connection with someone, preferably a classmate!

During my first year, I've met this girl, she was/is awesome, intelligent, hard to figure out, very strict, fun to be with, and sooner than later, my classmates seemed to notice the two of us and they had to manufacture a romantic fanfiction between the two us. I tell you, manufactured romances are neither good or bad, but it becomes a joke after a while. And they're hella effective too, with a little to no effort, my heart seemed to expand thrice the size and I began to imagine what it feels like to be in a relationship and it felt good! But I had to consider other factors.

You see, in a manufactured romance, there's what they call "bridge", you know someone who links the two of you to become closer. Most of the time, it's the bridge who brings out the drama and the comedy, he always had the laughs and the jokes ready, and the right amount of teasing. It was good at first only to grow out of hand, and then all of a sudden I realized that it's true what people said, "bridge is always the owner." Sigh.

So at this point, it seems like I'm blaming it to the bridge, right? But now that I've searched my feelings, I have to blame myself. I never took any actions and before I knew it, the ship has already sailed!

IF THIS WAS A ROMANTIC STORY THEN IT WAS REALLY A TRAGEDY, but because this is not a romantic story, I STILL GET TO LIVE HAPPILY AGAIN! Surprise!

Some things beyond everybody's control are bound to happen whether you or I like it or not. 

Not that I became numb after being heartbroken (I get to recover in 3 days!) but I decided to tell myself that love is not for me yet. I had to comfort myself in silly ways, sometimes by telling my mind, "You're here to study, not to find the love of your life,"; sometimes by thinking, "Cheer up, the world is so big, by the time you're 25 you're gonna travel around the world alone and by chance, you're gonna meet her,"; sometimes by looking at the flaws of other relationships, "Look at them always arguing, look at him being commanded by her, etc.,"; and at times trying to find comfort in songs, like the one Mumford & Sons song, "I'm not ready, I'm not strong enough to carry the weight of your love."

I know, I told you, those ways are really silly but THE MIND IS EASY TO TRICK, I have learned ways to control it better than my heart, (lol) and now I am really glad that that part of my life happened, that I had the privilege of being heartbroken. 

*plays Adele's Can't Let Go in the background. Thanks for reading!

A Weird But Brutally Honest Fact About Me!

I just found out that blogs need introductory posts, looks like I haven't got one so I present you this! This is weird because I don't do stuff like this, but since it's a must I'll give it a go.

Profile portfolio:

• Name: Laudemhir Jan M. Parel
• Age: 18
• Current Location: Davao City
• Occupation: Student (Mining Engineering @ University of Southeastern Philippines)
• Blog: Opinions Avenue

Well, that was kinda silly! Either way, let's get this ON!

A weird but brutally honest fact about me: I HAVE AN OBSESSION WITH HAND MASSAGE!

I am terribly ashamed to say this, but yes, ask my sisters, ask my mom, ask my dad, ask my classmates, and probably ask my neighbor whom I got to work at a store once, and they'll tell you all about it!

Whenever I'm home and mom's watching the primetime drama, I always sit right next to her, give my hand and she knows exactly what do to! She's the only one who doesn't complain to be honest, a session could last an hour and she wouldn't mind, love her so much!

And to be fair, dad's got to do it too right before bedtime! But he's a bit too harsh, I had to stop like after a minute or so. And he'll be like, "What? That's the right thing to do, if it doesn't hurt then it's not effective!" But duh, I only do it for pleasure and not for pain.

My sister's a bit interesting though, she massages my hand every Sunday, (yes, it's a schedule!) at Church because that's the only time we'll be together (other days than that, it's just a no-no, we don't get along, me and my sister), but she always have one condition, "massage my hands too so that I can have a sample!" A damn mess but I still give it a go.

Now my classmates are not bothered by it anymore. I think they have grown accustomed to it, so much that every time I give my hands, they do their respectful jobs! I think it's absolutely cool though, I get to know some of their personalities based on their touches! Some of them press real hard (they're a bit harsh in real life too, trust me!), some are soft (mostly the girls), some are sweet (yay!), one seems like a real pro (Miss Sharmaine), one (Arnel, I see you) just likes to tickle, my closest friend (yup, Ralph I'm speaking about you!) is the harshest of them though, he's always pressing the one between the thumb and the index finger and it's excruciating, but I know he's been doing it on purpose to punish me for being close with one of our girl friends! Kind of rubbish but I understand. :)

I don't exactly know why I have come to this, but it's inevitable now! I think it all started during my first semester in college, but back then it wasn't this worse, I only had to give my hand for a massage for like once a week, and now it has to be like every hour! I know it's a mess but it's truly a weird fact about me! So if you're bound to be my friend, then please be sure to accept the fact that every time I am around, you'll be ready to give my hands the massage they deserve! :)

Sigh, that was hard! Story of my life indeed. 

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NEWS! Billboard Confirms Adele's 25 Already Sold 2.3 Million Copies in the US

It seems like Hurricane Category 25 is not on it's final form yet, though it's impact in the music industry has already been marked as "catastrophic".

The When We Were Young singer has already amassed more than 2.3 million copies already, for her latest album 25, confirmed by Billboard. Well that's a lot of copies, isn't it?

Adele will take the top spot from Justin Bieber, after topping last week's chart selling more than 520,000 pure albums after competing head to head with One Direction. It is to be noted that two big releases were crowded into a single week because music experts had already expected the impact that 25 will leave in its path!

It looks like Adele's humongous return to music will at least be five times the amount of copies Bieber sold last week.

And for the record, Adele has beaten Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again's record of 1,319,000 copies, (a feat that Taylor Swift has come close in her 3 previous efforts) in just a span of a day!

While she's at it, she will probably destroy the almost impossible record of NSYNC's No Strings Attached (2.4 million copies) as she already registed 2.3 million copies in just 3 days!

In a poll recently conducted by Rolling Stones in their Twitter account, it seems like there are still many potential buyers to come!

Have you already got your copies of 25? Go and grab one, be part of this incredible music history!
Purchase 25 on iTunes or Amazon.