EVERY morning, I struggle to wake up. I usually set my phone to set off an alarm at a given time, then snooze it. It will repeat the alarm promptly after five minutes, then I will promptly snooze it again so I can do some last-minute napping.
Then my big-ass alarm clock would ring 20 minutes after my phone’s alarm. My alarm clock is not big-ass actually. It’s just a small contraption one can smuggle in one’s pants and when there’s an important mission by our Armed Forces to invade a territory-grabbing country, and for the Philippines to stop it is to plant an alarm clock undetected and that would lead the invaders to back off, then I will volunteer my alarm clock. But the size of my alarm clock belies the sound it blares to wake me up. It sounds like church bells with a microphone—that’s more than enough to really jolt me to my senses.
That doesn’t make me get up immediately, though. With my mind still foggy, the first thing I do is check my phone. Usually there would be messages I missed plus mundane e-mails, some of which claim I’d won an iPad. I would also usually get notifications from YouTube that so and so had posted a new video. I would then check these out and there, I enter a black hole that—if I don’t become mindful of the time—I could be glued to my phone for much of the morning watching a steady stream of videos.
Many of the videos that would claim my time feature dogs. Dogs that do tricks, dogs that sing, dogs that would solve math problems. I swear many of these YouTube dogs are smarter than some people in the government. Other videos that would catch my fancy include fashion shows and musical performances.
One YouTube personality that has consistently impressed me is Sam Mangubat. Apparently, I’m not the only one as this guy has amassed millions of subscribers to his YouTube page.
He’d whip out covers of popular songs. So talented is he that he even ventured into live performing and competed in “Tawag ng Tanghalan” on It’s Showtime and was crowned as first runner-up in the competition’s first season.
Sam is ready to add another feather to his cap when he performs in his very first solo concert, titled I Am Sam, happening tonight, September 14, at the Music Museum. I’m pretty sure Sam will impress his fans with his vocal prowess and even his dance moves (which I heard are pretty dope). Fellow “Tawag ng Tanghalan” finalist Marielle Montellano, as well as Bryan Chong, Nyoy Volante and Yeng Constantino will join the concert as guests.
Sam is the current host of the online show TNTV by the way. He is also the first artist from the “Tawag ng Tanghalan” roster to hold his own concert.
Tickets to I Am Sam are sold at SM Tickets, with prices ranging from P1,500 to P3,500.
Good luck tomorrow, Sam. Meanwhile, can you please stop posting new videos until the traffic problem is solved so that I won’t be distracted by watching them and I can arrive at the office on time?
On that note, maybe we can get one of those YouTube dogs to come up with the solution to our never-ending traffic problems.