Starbucks Terminologies

If you've never been to a Starbucks before, you'll probably have the same problem I had when I purchased my first ever cup of coffee: their naming convention. Well, that and besides their lack of seats (maybe there's just too many folks hanging out there).

I got strange looks from strangers when I was asking for a medium sized Caramel Frappe. "Ah, 'Grande' sir." "OK, whatever you say."

At first, I thought it was crazy to call the smallest cup "Tall", the medium one "Grande" and the tallest cup "Venti". Not until I Googled it that I realized there was a smaller cup they called "Short" (thus, explaining Tall). Grande is Italian for big (which only makes sense when you compare it to Tall), and Venti means 20 ounces. Those pretentious muthers.

Anyway, 'tis the season for yuppies to be enslaved by these pretentious a-holes. For every purchase, earns you a sticker. Get enough stickers, you get a slick Starbucks Planner in exchange. And if Starbucks wasn't pretentious enough (seriously, 'pretentious' is the only word I will be describing them), they also named the colors of their planners differently:

• Red = Velvet
• Gray = Metallic

So why are they calling their product a very ordinary 'planner'? Let's take it up a notch and list down a few possible names for the planner:

• Starbucks Agenda Rememberer
• Starbucks Unimportant Events Logbook
• Starbucks Circumstance/Excuse Recorder
• Starbucks Chronology of Affairs Lister

Those are just some of my ideas (thesaurus.com helped). What are yours?

Creativity

Last night, I saw a cab named after me. Jeez. You'd sometimes think that you've created something that's so original that nobody else thought about it then one time this shows up.

Here's Plan B

The first time I ever saw The Purplechickens play was when they played with my cousin's band, Giniling Festival, in one of their first gigs I attended. This was probably in Mayric's (now Sazi's) circa 2003. Giniling Festival was fairly new, so they played last (I think) and unleashed one of the greatest local performances I've ever seen (before they started, Jeje shouted "ANG UMUWE, MAMAMATAY". golden.)

Anyway, one of the bands that night was, well, Purplechickens. I remember my cousin remarking, "galing nila 'no?". And I agreed completely. Like a small town boy getting told what to do.

After a year, the Purplechickens released their album Here's Plan B. Naturally, my cousin bought one out of admiration for the band and naturally, he shared the love.

And love I received. The album was smashing. Brilliant. Remarkable. Outstanding. I found myself listening to the album on a loop while playing NBA Live 2003. It was one of those records you'd love from start to finish. Just like the other 4 of my top 5 OPM albums (no order):

• Cambio - Derby Light
• Sugarfree - Sa Wakas
• Itchyworms - Noon Time Show
• Eraserheads - Natin99

A few years passed, I lost all data from my old PC. I was contacting the band about getting their last copy, but for some reason, the idea drifted. Recently, I was asking them again about it but they already have sold it.

So much for musical cravings.

One day, Kathy G., tweeted that she won P2,000 from the local lottery. And you just know I was gonna joke about getting balato. Instead of letting me in for free at her production that coming Saturday, she gave me a couple of links that literally made me want to cry. One of them was the record I've been craving for for the last 4 or so years.

Suddenly, I feel like one of the Survivor players where food was scarce and really cherished it when they won food rewards. It was amazing. I'm still listening to the album as of this writing. And yes, hints of tears.

The Home of NU Rock

In a few hours, we'll be saying goodbye to one of the Philippine's iconic FM stations, NU 107.

I'm not gonna lie to you. I haven't been listening to a hint of radio since 6 years ago. I have shunned it for principle reasons (in other words, I watched Fight Club). But before that period, nothing else was playing in my ears but NU.

It's where I learned what good music really was. It's where I made ironing my own clothes not feel like a chore. It's where I drown all my problems away. It was the home of new rock. A sudden influx of youngsters who instantly dreamed of being on radio too. That's why our current music scene is so rich right now. No, it's not because of technology, it's because something inspired us who we wanted to be. It stared right into our eyes and pointed out what our passion should be.

Music. Music not heard by many. Music not heard by your parents, your siblings even. Music that, because you're listening to it, made you feel really cool and really good about yourself. It was new rock.

It had a home and now it passes it on to our hearts. Long live NU 107. Long live music.

Sedentary Lifestyle

A.K.A. slacking off, couch potato person, sofa spud.

In other words, my life.

I bet, from those first two sentences, you'll know exactly how I learned the term Sedentary Lifestyle. Yes, from browsing the internet too much.

Here's another term to ponder on: Visceral Fat. It really sounded catchy, which is why I googled it as soon as I read it. In layman's terms, it's fat on your belly. Fat you get for having a sedentary lifestyle.

Cool. Now I can stop wondering why I have a big belly despite not drinking alcohol at all.

Go read up on them yourself. I feel too lazy (even on the internet) to explain, darnit. Too lazy. Even on the internet. Probably why I'm blogging like this right now. Laziness.

So now I'm planning on maybe playing basketball again to burn all the 'potential energy' stored in my mid-section. Well, at least that's the plan. You all know how I am with execution.