Before the clock strikes 12, I would like to acknowledge that the iamkr blogsite is celebrating its first year of existence in the world wide web today. Yay! It's amazing to think that the earth has completed one complete revolution around the sun and still my blogsite is alive and kicking! As my cousin Seth puts it, "unbelievable!".  I have to say salamat, thank you, merci, gracias, grazie, arigato, terima kasih and all other versions of the word to my regular readers, friends and strangers who drop by my site every now and then, as well as the random guests who end up at my blogsite one way or another.  Knowing that people actually read what I write keeps me inspired to type away some of my thoughts. And to mark iamkr's first revolution, here are some stats:

47 posts

3,456 hits

142 comments

Top 3 Posts:

Proud to be an Iskolar ng Bayan, 202 views

Say Hello for Me, 78 views

            The island waits, 71 views 

Cheers to me, to www.iamkr.wordpress.com and to all the netizens this part of the galaxy! Til the next revolution! J

Il n'y a que les idiots qui ne changent pas d'avis. Moi qui ne trouvais pas les chaussures exceptionnelles, je viens de m'acheter une paire de Converse grise avec un fin liseret rouge. Grand chic! :D

Et puis 2 paires de Levi's. A 30 dollars, ça vaut vraiment le coup !

Un peu de légèreté en ce moment, ça ne fait pas de mal ! ;)

The PAC is right by our underachieving skyline in downtown Tampa.

Walking around to the entrance of the conservatory, I found this:

The Phantom of the Opera is coming to town soon!!! Where can I get my tickets?!?

Here's a pic of the PAC

Which is situated right by the river (and some school spirited graffiti artists, if you look closely!)

We were actually some of the last people to enter the performance hall, as numerous parents and other relatives and supporters had already filled it to capacity. Many people were asking us, "So who are you here to see?" To which we had to answer that we were here just for the show. I must admit, while I was at first hesitant to come, as soon as I saw the set up and the songs the bands were going to cover, I was excited.

The great thing about PC's Rock School is that it invites ALL talent levels from beginner to pro as well as ALL age groups! There had been some performers that had been doing Rock School courses for 6 cycles (Fall, Summer, Spring... twice)! And of course, all the adorable elementary school kids (boys AND girls!) that wanted to let their inner rocker out! One can only support any musical endeavors by anyone!!! *Sidenote: Mom was telling me that in the Spring session, there were more adults participating, and that she felt that many were local business executives just trying something new! How cool!*

The opening act was called Organically Grown, and they started off the afternoon with Blink 182's catchy "All the Small Things." If that didn't get the older crowd into in, the band's cover of Kiss' "Rock n' Roll All Night" surely had many a parent clapping along and moving in their seats! A great performance by these young ones, who seemed to be between 6-10 years old! Kudos to the drummer who was excellent, who kept a steady beat and had exciting drum fills!

Up next was the same age group of performers, but an all GIRL band! Freedom Runs Deep delivered a very cute performance, though a bit of stage shyness was evident! Yet it is these girls' talent which the audience will remember, as they delivered memorable performances of Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and Buffalo Springfield's "For What it's Worth."

They were followed by early teen band Delayed Reaction, who picked up the pace of the concert with "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones. They managed to top themselves with Guns n' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine," as the vocals were pleasant, and the guitar player absolutely nailed the riff at the beginning of the song, as well as wild guitar solo in the middle of the song. I've got two clips of them!

Next was Cruzn'uy, a three member band of teens, who attempted some tough songs! They opened with Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," which was immediately recognized by many of the adults on hand. The well played guitar riffs and the stellar drumming may have suggested to some that the band may have opened with their best song. This was not the case, as the guitarist's played the opening riff to Metallica's "Enter Sandman" to the excited crowd, and their rendition surely did not disappoint. I've got two more clips!

They were followed by my favorite performance, by the band Flegm Wad. To tell you the truth, I wasn't a big fan of the songs they played, which were Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK" and "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix. But again, the talent of the performers, as well as the overall outgoing performance (they actually interacted and moved around and FELT the music) really delighted the audience. Of course, the fact that their lead singer and guitarist was dressed as The Joker may have added to my overall preference of band at the concert!

And here he is in action!

The last band to perform was Mannequin Riot, and they were clearly the best band talent-wise, as their members had been doing Rock School for numerous sessions. Their set began with an original song written by the band called "Fever." And they closed with Muse's "Starlight." I was impressed by pretty much all the members, but particularly the vocals and the keyboard- who managed to nail the synthesized filling melody in "Starlight." A clip from "Fever."

I was so sad it ended! I will definitely be at the Fall 08 concert later this year! A round of applause to all performers, and as one of the teachers stated, "These kids are the real guitar heroes!"

Mais pourquoi faire me demanderez-vous ? Ceux qui ont déjà vécu et surtout conduit aux Etats-Unis savent qu'il n'y a rien de plus pénible que de devoir trimballer partout avec soi :

- son passeport : seul bout de papier qui vous identifie formellement aux Etats-Unis et qui vous permet accessoirement de quitter le territoire américain;

- son permis international : relativement inutile car je suis persuadé que beaucoup de policiers penseront à un faux (y'a qu'à voir la tête du dit permis...je fais le même à la maison en quelques minutes);

- son permis français : encore plus inutile (les policiers américains ne parlant pas français) mais néanmoins obligatoire.

Les Américains ont quand même l'esprit bien plus pratique que nous à bien des égards : le permis de conduire rassemble la carte d'identité (qui existe mais qui est un peu utilisée) et le permis de conduire. Le tout au format d'une carte bancaire. Je mettrai une photo de mon permis quand je le recevrai; je n'ai qu'un permis temporaire pour le moment.
Et le petit bonus en prime : plus de problème pour entrer dans les bars ni pour acheter de l'alcool dans les supermarchés, le permis texan étant la référence ici. Hic! ;)

"Bigness comes from doing many small things well.  Individually, they are not very dramatic transactions.  Together though, they add up."  -Edward S. Finkelstein, Author

BLINK 182-ALL THE SMALL THINGS  *******They do add up.  You can only calculate their importance once all is said and done, but in the end, they'll always add up according to their worth.*******

WORD OF THE DAY

PRECEPTOR

DO YOU TEACH OR DO YOU EDUCATE?  *******I don't know about you, but since I've seen the clarity of hindsight firsthand, I'll go with that.  I choose education.  It's the longer, less paved road, but it's the shortest road to creating the foundation you were intended to build upon."

TEACHER  *******To stop at teaching only limits the potential of an educator."*******