Weird Dream of the Day: The Empty Office and Norah Jones

If you've been following me on Twitter, you may have seen my tweets about my weird dreams. Normally, I barely remember them once I wake up. But there are days when I remember most of the weird dream; sometimes, part of it or the feeling it left me after I woke up even stays with me throughout the day.

In today's dream, I was walking through my side of an almost empty office with my lunch in my hand. I saw my nine-months-pregnant colleague talking with a couple of officemates who had their back toward me. They looked very serious. My colleague glanced at me while nodding at one guy. I went out to the shop side to get to the lunchroom. But when I closed the door behind me, I saw that the lunchroom had one door boarded up. I don't remember whether the other door was locked or not, though. Also, the tables and chairs from the lunchroom were moved to the shop side, where the manufacturing equipment would be in real life. There were three women - who didn't work at my office - sitting and chatting in the shop/lunchroom. Two of them sat at one table, while the other sat at another table. When I sat at the table where the two women were, I saw that the third woman was Norah Jones. Yes, Norah Jones - the Grammy-winning musician and the star of My Blueberry Nights. They were discussing ideas about either a new video or new movie. I don't remember what Norah was saying when I sat down, though; and I wouldn't have known what song (if it's a song) they were discussing, because I don't follow her music. Which is probably why, when Norah noticed me, she said something like, "Oh, she's OK." I don't recall what she said after that, but I think she mentioned something about that fact that I don't know her music as much as I know, say, Kelly Clarkson's (see two previous sentences). Then the dream ended.

Weird, eh? Disturbing too, because the office and shop were practically empty; although it could also mean that it was a very slow Friday or that the manufacturing equipment was moved to the larger shop section downstairs. Also, three were talking with each other on the office side and three were also talking on the shop/lunchroom side. Also, Norah Jones in my office? Not to mention that she knew the music I prefer and was OK with it.

What could this dream mean (as well as the other weird dreams I've had and will have)? Does this mean that I should buy the new Norah Jones record when it comes out? That's some sneaky and creepy advertising! Or is it just the bottle of Corona talking? Or that I slept at 1 AM? Or that I ate some meat the As brought home from Pinpin Restaurant in Vancouver three hours before I went to bed and four hours before I actually fell asleep? Not that I'm saying there's something in the food, just the fact that I ate something that heavy at 9 PM (after I watched the Stand Up 2 Cancer special on ABC/FOX/CBS/NBC).

Regardless, I'll try to write about my weird dreams as much as I can. I hope that I can figure them out or why I'm having such dreams by blogging about them. Feel free to comment, y'all.

A Complete Online OPM Store: Is That Even Possible?

In case y'all didn't know, I immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in February 2002. I brought my Original Pilipino Music (also known as OPM) and import cassette tapes, since compact discs in Manila are expensive to an 18-year-old unemployed university student and online music downloads were then way out of my radar, when I came here.

Anyway, I started friending (sorry, Lake Superior State University Word Banishment Committee) Filipino celebrities on Facebook last year. Roselle Nava, the singer known in the Philippines as the Sentimental Diva, is one of them. Before Kelly Clarkson came in my life, Roselle was my all-time favourite singer. I bought all her records and enjoyed lip-syncing to her songs, since I couldn't - still can't - sing like she can. Unfortunately, CDs are affordable here so my cassette tapes, especially my Roselle Nava tapes, are now collecting dust. (If someone can convert my cassette tapes into mp3s, that's great!) Roselle has released three albums since, including Forever Love Songs, released under mega-record company Viva Records.

Unfortunately, Roselle doesn't have an official website. Her only songs on the Canadian iTunes Store are those part of movie soundtracks. My eBay and Amazon.ca searches turned up nothing. So I tried Googling her name and found myself going through several online Filipino stores (e.g. Kabayan Central, ABS-CBN's Starry Starry Store, and Divisoria.com). There are also online music download sites, but most of them are free mp3 download sites that may or may not be legit. I usually pay for my music, unless I'm absolutely desperate for an album or a song. Anyway, only some of Roselle's albums are available on these sites. For example, her two recent studio albums, Bare and Forever Love Songs, are available on Kabayan Central; the cost for each CD is USD$12.99, excluding shipping and handling. On the other hand, her first four albums are available on one online music store (whose name and website I can't remember).

Will there ever be a complete online store - physical CD or digital music - for Filipino music? It's exhausting to search for a certain discography, especially when the artist has no official website and you're an ocean apart. It took me hours looking for a site where all Roselle Nava's music is available, and yet I didn't find one.

I can, of course, purchase a CD at a time, but shipping and handling fees may cost more than the CD itself and it takes at least two weeks for the CD to arrive. On the other hand, digital music downloads cost from zero (for free mp3s) to the physical CD's cost. But there are no shipping and handling fees and it only takes an hour or two to download an album.

I've tried iMesh before, but I had to quit it because I don't want to pay $8.95 a month when I don't even buy music from the site. By the way, it took iMesh a month and a few e-mails (one of which to convince me to stay with iMesh) to cancel my subscription. Although, I wonder if I can get Roselle's last three studio albums for free, now that my paid subscription is cancelled. Hmmm...

So, should I buy the CDs online? Or should I take a chance with these digital download sites, whether free or not?