...that madine magic...

---today marks the 16th birthday of libera's beloved boy,joshua nathan madine. we all remember him as the boy who has the first intro on their leiden-dvd..."hello, i'm josh and we're called libera"...and we also remember him celebrating his 15th birthday here in manila last year as they held their first ever concerts at the PICC and cebu.

---i was not into josh so much because the first voice i heard was that of thomas cully on their "eternal" CD. then after viewing the leiden DVD, the image of that cute boy (next to tom) caught my attention. he had this wonderful smile even while singing and his restlessness caught my attention, too. in one number, he was shifting his foot, in another he made a side glance towards prizeman, as if asking for a cue. at some point, he had this serious look but even then, the faint smile was still there.

---i recall after their concert last year, quite a number of fans acknowleged joshua's talent and face (face value, as i referred to it). it made libera a solo madine group - which left the other boys with less or no fans at all. from the shrieking fans in cebu to korea, indonesia, singapore and malaysia, clearly those teenaged girls were captivated by the angelic face of joshua madine.

---funny, but my first encounter with a libera fan was simply that of a madine pic which she didn't want to share, pfffft! then came april when it was an opportunity to meet all the boys of libera. it was magical - seeing and hearing them was entirely different than being close to them (an arm's length, actually) and the second batch was even more exciting because josh was among them. and it was my turn, an autograph, a smile and a handshake. he looked up to me, said his famous line, "thanks for coming" and looked at me in the eye - i swear he had brown eyes that moment!! and he smiled. and i can't keep my eyes off his face, searching for those famous moles, hah hah he was in his element during the meet and greet. he knew he was "famous" but didn't show off. neither did he had air. he was just pure mr. smiley face.

---another round of josh was after the RCBC concert. it was again an opportunity to ask for his autograph (from him and liam, actually). this time, i had the courage to ask him and liam to write down my name (specifically dedicated to me). liam didn't have a problem spelling out my name (wonder of all wonders, why my name is always mispelled here in my own country, hah hah). when it got to josh, i was just starting out to spell my name - T-H... and he scribbled it fast, nah, didn't miss any letter.

---i've started calling him "sunshine boy" because his smile radiates warmth and sincerity. he doesn't fake it. maybe if he's not in the mood, sick, angry or whatever mood he's in, there is always a ready smile for everyone.

---they say at 16, a member of libera is "retired". josh is 16. and they say "lullabye" could be his swan song. whatever, what a fitting song for a retiring libera boy. josh's voice was extraordinarily haunting yet angelic. but we're hoping he could still stay on with libera for at least a year or until their next concert here in the philippines.

---happy birthday, josh. and with that goes all the wishes of your filipino fans and we hope to see you around sometime soon.

"LULLABYE"

---as i write this blog, i'm listening to libera's lullabye for the nth time. it's a hauntingly beautiful song, not meant to let you fall asleep but to remember something that goes beyond the history of young kids being sent to war, young children being abandoned, the helpless and the forsaken ones. it's a beautiful yet sad song.

---i'm more of a thomas cully fan having listened to his "getting over you" & "cashmere" perhaps for the 100000th time (of course, there's an exaggeration to this, heh heh) but listening to joshua madine now, wow - this boy's voice is so sweet, i have this feeling he'd stay on with libera forever. i have admired him with his "how can i keep from singing" (and made it my ringtone of my celfone, no kidding!) because there's something in his voice that makes me - errrrrr, swoon? is that the right term for that? the boy certainly has a voice but with a different level to that of tom dot.

---i had very little idea of what the storyline of the song was but my good friend, kaye told me about it early this morning. indeed it was haunting - of how young boys were sent to war, ending a what could have been a beautiful life for them. and she also gladly gave me the lyrics of the song, which i couldn't just get right because my emotions were letting it all out, i choked on every line. it was a disaster doing a sing-along of this song!

---this morning, i went straight to the video to listen to it again while having breakfast until now that it's past lunchtime. and that's what inspired me to go straight to my blog. i will never get tired listening to tom's compositions and libera's songs - and the more it excites us to listen to that de luxe album coming soon in november. this song has already drawn so much inspiration to a lot of people - and that album has 2 christmas songs included, so it's really a treat to all fans of libera... in time for the holidays.

---the house is drowning with madine's voice now, non-stop. i have only this to say... beautiful song...beautiful voice...beautiful boy.

...thoughts on the norman-cully lies...

---i've always been skeptic when something is presented to me. surprisingly, at times i can't distinguish a fake from an authentic. sell me gold jewelries and at first glance, i'd say it's genuine but truth is it's fancier than fancy. the same probably applied the first time i learned that there was a thomas cully account. i should have known better...

---but on the lighter side, i met my 2 friends - "witches", we called ourselves. i won't trade our laughs and giggles for anything on facebook. everytime i log on FB, local friend is always there. waiting for "tom", i surmised. she greets my mornings with jokes which sends me laughing until i log off after 12 midnight. there has never been a day, an hour where my laughter can be heard 3 houses away! our closeness has left us with our own terms of endearment - she calls me "moomy". now, i forgot what i called her then, hah hah. we exchanged fone nos. and during the height of the norman-tom-witches chat, she would wake me up to tell tom's online.

---my other friend, another of the witches, is from niagara country. she tries the best she can to join us in our chats. funny how she tells us, she'd leave for work, go for coffee, go here & there but she never leaves her computer for us. she's the thoughtful one, too. and i owe her this mess we ran into (hi hi hi, joke time witch!) and because of the time difference, local friend & i are ready for bed just as she's about to have her tim horton.

---my 2 witches and i discovered skype. we went hi-tech except for our brooms. i didn't know about this technology until there was a need for the 3 of us to go on a conference. but we always ended up giggling. nonetheless, it was fun. we waited and waited and waited until norman or any of the boys went online. and we made fun of each other until local friend thought she was hearing everything on AM- DZRH. thus, "DZRH" was born. this was our code whenever we would go on a conference call on skype. nice one, witches!

---when this brouhaha about "tom's" page went out, there was a mad scramble to get to his contacts. some japanese fans even migrated from myspace to facebook. i saw a few of my cebuana friends among them. and norman alcala accepted friends left and right even if i already gave him a background check of every head. and everybody became "tom" and norman's friends. wow.

---here are some of the posts lifted from "tom cully's" page. unfortunately, i already deleted norman's account on mine today..

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Tom Cully has been busy. Sam's birthday today, so going out. Can't wait for the weekend!
Tuesday at 5:49pm · Comment · Like

**Tom Cully Good morning! Just wanted to share something I overheard on the way to class this morning. "Seize the moment. Think of all those people on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart." So true innit?
October 7 at 4:52pm · Comment · Unlike

**Tom Cully What a day. Can't wait to lie down and get some shuteye. Songs are almost done, so please bear with me a little bit longer.
October 7 at 7:23am · Comment · Like

**Tom Cully G'mornin! Just got back from footy, Crystal Palace owned! Now time to get back to work on those songs.
October 2 at 6:16pm · Comment · Like

**Norman Alcala Tom! I'm calling you on Skype right now. I heard a nasty rumor about an "incident" that happened the last time you were here on tour with Libera. Tsk, tsk.
October 2 at 8:11am · Comment · Like

**Norman Alcala Hey, you there? I may be sick but we have a lot to do.
September 30 at 2:43am · Comment · LikeUnlike · View Feedback (10)Hide Feedback (10)

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4 people like this.
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Tom Cully your effin mental! i just got home, lemme lay about for a while, im tired.
September 30 at 2:44am · LikeUnlike
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Norman Alcala Okay fine, but as soon as you're rested, get off your arse and help me! I can't figure out how to post music in MySpace.
September 30 at 2:51am · LikeUnlike
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Tom Cully so you opened up a myspace page even tho you griped about it when i called you up earlier today. ill teach you after i take a bath, i stink like cod.
September 30 at 2:55am · LikeUnlike
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Norman Alcala Cool! Josh and Michael going to be online tonight?
September 30 at 2:58am · LikeUnlike
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Tom Cully probably after dinner
September 30 at 3:02am · LikeUnlike
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Norman Alcala Okay sure. Never mind about the MySpace thing, I figured it out on my own. Check it later then.
www.myspace.com/normanalcala
September 30 at 3:05am · LikeUnlike · 6 people

**Tom Cully stop the poking! dont you know that if you poke someone in fb a mole grows on josh's face? be kind to joshy woshy, so no more poking.
September 27 at 3:49am · Comment · Like

**Josh Madine You need to stay after church service today Tom-Tom. Rob wants to talk to you. I think its important. I suggest you come early. I'm just about to leave the house. See you there!
September 26 at 1:49pm · Comment · Unlike


---i really can't understand if these posts are real or were they also lifted from the real tom (or josh) pages. well, except the ones that belong to norman. only one thing is clear, much as we don't want to admit it - they're fakes.

...apology...

---it breaks my heart to know we were all duped by norman alcala. i think i might be one of the oldest among the fans to be so stupid to have believed in everything he said and posted. in my excitement to have been in contact with the boys, i informed 6 of my closest libera friends to request them to add "tom" and eventually joshua madine because according to norman, joshua will open his facebook account upon the prodding of "tom". we all rushed to make a request to josh.

TO LIBERA: may i extend our sincere apology for what a filipino fan has done to tom cully and the rest of the boys (joshua, daniel, michael H., and stefan). we know how private individuals these boys are but out of our love and excitement to interact with them, we played along with one crazy individual by the name of norman alcala. it is really a shame for us fans how one person can lead us to believe the impossible. again, our apologies.

...the robe...

---during the course of this 2-week brouhahah over norman, "tom" and us fans, we had differences and conflicts in opinions. among the really excited fans quite visible 24/7 on norman and "tom's" wall were tom abraham and jenna decker. they had positive comments for norman and the non-stop accolades for the duo. things got wild when lolo (grandpa) tom a. didn't see eye to eye with my other 2 friends. that made the 3 of us blocked by him and eventually we had to block a few others supporting him, and i decided to stop accepting friend requests, my small rift with another fan...chaos. all because we were near to worshipping norman and "tom".




---one morning of chat with norman sent him to his door, a package from "croydon". i asked him what the contents were. chocolates? goodies? and he was silent for a few minutes. and he said it was what "tom" has "promised" him. his "other libera robe". i warned him not to post anything concerning that "privilege". all libera fans will be drooling if he posts the news. he didn't listen to me....that post nailed him on all his lies....

---it was evident that norman was already running out of excuses. there was another scheduled "meet and greet" as orchestrated by "tom". in tom's words, there would be a "coup" of some sorts. everybody will be there - jonathan, sam, alex, mattie, ben and maybe liam can be convinced, too. it was excitement for everyone! what was supposed to be an ordinary convo will be a meet & greet on facebook. norman even requested the 3 of us to help him out. we were supposed to give support to the other boys while maybe the other half were interacting with the other fans. the
unexpected happened - no meet & greet because somebody tipped off management. hah, what a lame excuse!

---the 3 of us were already smelling some rotten lies among norman's chats. we tried him to join us on skype. but this time, surprisingly, "tom" was nowhere in sight - he wasn't on chat nor on his or norman's wall. we caught up with norman on skype. we wanted to hear his voice - his alibi was he was at his parents' house. no microphone available, connection sucks. oooookkkkaaayyyy! he was now defensive on some issues, like, "tom" wasn't in a good mood to talk, "tom" would be out of facebook for a while because he had to attend to his unfinished songs."tom" had this, had that, blah blah blah.... all i asked from him was produce "tom" for us to dispel rumors that he was a liar. up to the last minute, the 3 of us were still supporting norman. we believed, even if we were already starting to doubt.

---we were supposed to give him until this weekend to produce "tom" either on skype or a video call. chat on FB wasn't a good idea. then one morning, i was awakened by a call from my friend to go DZRH (this was our code for a skype conference). she chanced upon "tom" on fb chat and led him to go to her account on myspace. boom! she was able to track him --- and the connection led her to a place somewhere south, using digitel as the provider. early on, norman told us his connection was "digi-hell"...

---up until i'm writing this blog, i still can't believe how norman could have pulled such act. of making up those almost real conversations with the libera boys. of how he has gotten "tom's" robe which according to a source was quite unreal since all their robes were left in the church - or if they had one on hand, it was quite impossible to just give it away. and if someone would have that privilege, it must be the person who brought them here and to whom we owe so much for introducing libera to us, mr. roberto de ocampo. and not just an ordinary person who has high regard for himself, using other people for his own personal benefits, and playing with other people's emotions.

...dizzy, dizzy, dizzy...

--- my "interaction" with the libera boys (tom cully, josh madine, daniel fontannaz, stefan leadbeater & michael horncastle) happened after sept. 23rd whereupon after ages of finding thomas cully, there he was - collaborating with a "filipino musician/composer by the name of norman alcala from san pedro laguna. i made a request to be friends of these 2 gentlemen in the hope that finally, i will have the chance to "talk" and communicate with even just one boy. but two, three, four already came as a bonus...and it did happen.

---we communicated through posts, either written down on norman or "tom's" wall. at one point, 3 or 4 boys were simultaneously "talking" to us. it was unbelievable!

THE MEETING:

---apparently, the "boys" were so impressed with norman's "works" that they brought it to st. philips, had robert prizeman hear it and immediately scheduled an audience with norman on facebook. wow! 'the' robert prizeman....but the anticipated sunday didn't go as planned. "prizeman" had excuses on the choir's forthcoming tour so he resheduled the meeting on a later date.

THE CONVOS:

---three boys took part in our conversation (amazingly, they were still praises for norman's works/piano cover) . nothing serious, it was the typical conversation of young kids. we took part (my friend from the north), was properly acknowleged by madine, horncastle and fontannaz. the conversations didn't last long but it left so much memories and awe - again, it was too good to be true...

THE POSTS:

---here are some texts/posts taken from norman's page (apparently from tom c. & josh m.)

Norman Alcala Tom, received the file this morning. Sorry if it took me this long to reply. Man, it runs a bit too long, don't you think? 7:37 is a bit too long, I'm thinking we should ax the last melody and just fade it out. Tell me what you think after you get this, ok?
October 9 at 12:27pm · Comment · Like

Norman Alcala Received a package via courier today pastmarked "Croydon, United Kingdom". Thomas Aaron Cully! I told you not to send it, right? But you still did! I really don't know what to say, so listen and listen good. I'm just going to say it once.....THANK YOU! It's a little big, and the hood is HUGE! Actually, take off the hoo...d and it looks exactly like what we wear every Sunday at church. Whatever did you wear under these things. its like an oven!
See More
October 8 at 11:26am · Comment · Unlike

Josh Madine Still online, eh? Can't sleep, going to be real busy after school today. The soldier kit is wicked, but I don't like the night-shirts much. They ride up without you noticing!
October 6 at 8:08am · Comment · Like

Tom Cully Going to bed now. Remember, 8:00 PM tonight GMT, or you'll be sorry.....
October 5 at 7:39am · Comment · Like

Norman Alcala Josh was right all along, you're an ARSE! My ears are still ringing from this morning. Sorry about that Mrs. C! Won't happen again.....
October 3 at 11:34pm · Comment · Like

---the above posts didn't come from tom & josh. they were just the imaginary "conversations" of norman to himself....


---i had sleepless nights during the convos among these kids, sometimes finding me awake until the early hours of mornings because of the 7-hour difference. and "tom" would be online on the chat as early as 6 or 7 am. there was so much hype. my friend from the north was the most disappointed one. among us, she had interacted with "tom" for the longest time, even had his 8-yr old son interacted with "tom" on the chatbox.

---up until tonight as i write this blog, i still have lack of sleep from those 2 weeks of stupidity. anticipating "tom" going online, josh replying to my query, of how stefan addressed me as "auntie", and the pride of knowing each and every libera boy has already read my blog. sad, sad, sad. and these were all too good to be true....

***coming up "the robe"...

....getting to know mike zhang

>>> i love writing. but i must admit i'm not a very good writer. i call my english "elementary english" because i figured it can easily be understood by a 5-yr. old kid. and one thing, i write on an "as is-where is" basis. i don't go in circles. and if i have the pictures to go with my writing, i include them to show to people who are kind enough to drop by my blog. and i thank my readers. i heard some find it funny, some are amused - some may be offended but that's how i present the facts. i don't want hypocrisy. no pretensions hence the heading "this is me"...

>>>i 'met' mr. zhang at libera 360. now i can't recall anymore if i was still a member of that site but i was able to access on the blogs. one that was written by him, nicely done. it was his love and appreciation for libera. we shared the same passion so i left a comment which he so kindly replied at. then he requested to be a friend on FB, which i accepted without reservations. i reckoned i'd be reading more of his blogs. then he popped up on the chatbox, introduced himself and somehow gave me a background about himself. he's young, passionate about music. played quite a few musical instruments - even gave a sample of his piano piece which was left incomplete. i prodded him to finish it as it was good, but that he didn't have a good piano.

>>>as a friend, i have started to recognize his talent for music. he has been a familiar name on FB - being a friend to messrs. A & B. he was always present on their "conversations" - on each and every conversations, maybe because he wanted to join on whatever projects they're into. and i don't really know if he's even allowed to join. i don't want to meddle although i inquired from mr. B if has officially joined them.

>>>he has always wanted to be "in". in our few chats he has confided that he can also contribute his talent with the duo. but it seems there was little attention given to him, but mr. A & B are accommodating, though. but in my opinion, he wanted attention - fast and quick... so i told him in one of our chats he is also talented like the two but perhaps they just don't need any help now. it's very hard to "squeeze" yourself in a project where you're not yet needed, even if you think there are lots you can contribute to that work. or there are also moments the duo do not need a third party because they feel there's no need to.

>>>as a parent, i know how it feels for a child to race to the top. it can either be a joy of succeeding or the anguish of failure. mr. zhang, you have always presented yourself as a talented musician. hold on to that talent. and with that, i hope you don't hurt other people's feelings because you want attention to get what you want in a flick of a finger. success and fame come unexpectedly. you have to work hard for it and not just ride on other people's popularity. there are lots of responsibilities, one of which is to stay humble and considerate to other people.

>>>you cut us out in our "big event" mornings back. what was supposed to be something big for us witches, you spoiled it. at my age, i was terribly embarrassed in front of our hosts that it was a good thing i thought of a good alibi for a quick exit. it was humiliating. it may not be big deal to "them" but it was for the 2 of us. you were not even involved in the conversation. there wasn't even an important conversation going on. but you made it appear that you were the "important" person that morning (that was early morning, our time). i felt bad, mr. zhang. i can't speak for my other friend but i went to bed with a frown. what was supposed to be a happy occasion for me, you ruined it by cutting us. our "hosts" were so gracious to have received us and politely bade us goodbye. i hope you should learn a lesson from them - on how to be gracious to receive people and polite on how to part from them.

>>>tonight, my friend told me to check on what you posted. an apology. i can always accept an apology since i'm already old enough to be your mom. i try as much to be considerate to people your age but sometimes too much consideration goes beyond the border of you being abusive and arrogant. you have referred to me as the "pesky" one. why? i don't even butt in your conversations! i don't even meddle with whatever the 3 of your are discussing about so why call me pesky? look to your left and right - there's a lady with whatever syndrome who's been bugging you and another old man who can't keep his mouth shut. so that's foul on my person, mr. zhang. i promised mr. B that as much as possible, i'd just be a spectator. and today, i went out of control and confronted you on his wall, which i deemed was wrong. now, i'm totally embarrassed to mr. B. and i feel bad and upset.

*************
>>>for purposes of privacy to those concerned, i referred the duo here as mr. A
and B.

...a pet blessing...

>>>ever been to a pet blessing? well, no big deal really, except those attending are the "holy dogs" of all sizes and shapes (and characters). we knew october was pet month, hence, there would usually be a mass followed by blessing of your household pets. well, years back, i saw on TV a pet blessing held at the malate church wherein all animals - of all kinds and breeds - dogs, cats, snakes, rabbits, hamsters, birds, iguanas, turtles, etc. were blessed after the holy mass.

>>>we had over 50 cats raised during the years so it was quite impossible to transport them to malate church. we would have wanted mooey & booey to be blessed, even my favorite orangecat, inkelboy. nevertheless, getting blessed wasn't a sure thing to make them obedient, kind and holy. but all of my cats, present and past were just as adorable and they were family to us.

>>>daughter informed us last minute that there was going to be a pet blessing at the eastwood mall oct. 3, a sunday at 5:30 pm. we had finn in mind since he has been coming with us and riding the car wasn't new to him. an opportunity, so we decided for a go show. i bundled up his "kit" consisting of water (placed in an airtight/leak proof container); his alpo kibbles, and some plastic bags for foo-foo. we arrived at eastwood just as the procession was about to begin. there in front was the image of St. Francis of Assisi. it was finn's first time to travel long distance (and to walk long distance, too). he created a scene when he stopped at the pedestrian crossing and rolled over, to my embarrassment. daughter had to apologize because cars halted and caused a small traffic. i literally had to drag/carry finn to get him to the other side of the road! no problem, though. the kids on the vehicles were quite amused with finn's antics and started waving at him.


>>>the procession was a killer! was that a death march for the dogs, owners and handlers!!! most of the dogs, esp the little ones (toy dogs, for that matter) had their tongues dangling in heat, fatigue and stress - the larger ones (huskies, shepherds, labradors) had their share of stress from the march, too. others were running in all directions, their cutee little booties straying away from their cutee paws. but my native dog (and the only native one in the pack) was the most behaved dog and we were just proud of him. he never showed hostility to anyone - dogs or humans. he just walked between my husband & daughter while i held on to his harness.
the long walk proved to be tiring for the dogs, esp to the smaller ones - they drank water as though there wasn't any tomorrow anymore. some snuggled on the plants along the side entrance of the mall - to cool down, maybe? finn had his share of the heat. he was panting like crazy - that was some exercise for his heavy body!





>>>after the mass we had this sort of "pledge of allegiance" to our pets. the thing that goes..."i (state your name), do hereby swear, to take good care of my pet (state name of pet).....and i just can't help but hug and kiss finn. for even without that portion of the event, finn has always been our baby, even treated him more like human and will do up to the time he'll serve us in his time.



>>>with his human papa carrying him up the stage where an improvised altar was placed, finn and human were blessed. and just like a behaved doggie, he was quiet and savored the moment of the evening breeze where he and other beloved
doggies (and cats) were lovingly remembered - and in honor of the patron saint of animals, St. Francis of Assisi.

*****it was great to see familiar faces from PAWS (phil. animal welfare society) where we got finn november of last year. finn was a shelter dog, having been rescued at the height of typhoon "ondoy" in the middle of laguna de bay. there was his mama charlene, handler john and vet, dr. almoro.