Mercedes Cabral, Gina Respall’ wish list, goals for 2024

Mercedes Cabral — MERCEDES CABRAL/ FACEBOOK

MERCEDES CABRAL

I don’t really have a “wish” this year. I’m aware that whatever I want to happen this year will come true or will happen if I’ll be more proactive in doing things that will make it true. But I “wished” I savored every moment that I had, even the bad ones.

One of my goals this year is to be more aware of the moment. To be “more present” in the situations given or happening. Be it bad or good, I’m going to embrace it and just be in it. Take it in … and breathe it all in!

Gina Respall —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

GINA RESPALL

I wish that the things I failed to achieve in 2023 will be fulfilled in 2024.

The year 2023 was not one of the best for me as I slowly returned to live music performing in Manila.

I had a long hiatus (10 years) from performing as I started a job in digital marketing in the UK in 2016. Initially, it was meant to make ends meet while waiting for auditions. I didn’t notice how long my absence became, until I came back to see my mom in 2019. I knew, however, that I shouldn’t give up performing. Then, COVID-19 happened. That gave me the time and the chance to develop more skills in digital technology and also to start my long-awaited recording projects, which I both did! In a way, I reinvented myself to become a surviving artist in the digital sphere.

I then updated my knowledge in digital art, music and video production programs such as GarageBand, Logic Pro, Canva, Affinity, Photoshop, etc., livestreaming programs such as OBS and the use of digital interfaces, as well as setting up digital marketing campaigns on social media. I saved so much money in production costs and social media marketing when I released my self-penned singles. Apart from that, I am happy to have helped a couple of artists during the lockdown. I am proud to say that I helped my friend Christine Bendebel, owner of “House Of Tunes,” create Odette Quesada’s single cover for “Growing Up.” That was created out of Odette’s photos she took using her mobile phone while in the US.

With the right environment to be creative, I really put my head into creating more things. Then knowing that my kumpare Pido Lalimarmo (he made me ninang for one of his kids during the time of Artstart’s heyday in the 1990s) of the original group Side A and Artstart had so much content to potentially establish his digital presence, I also offered to create and set up his YouTube channel. All these, I did at the height of the lockdown.

Still hungry for more digital skillset uploading, I didn’t leave out my veterinary background. I learned to build an app for veterinary tele-consulting. I initially offered it to some people in the veterinary field. However, they did not seem to grasp how much potential it had for them during the lockdown. So, I thought, maybe I should just develop it more for my own veterinary use.

The same template was used initially for a new veterinary establishment, but due to a contract misalignment, I pulled it out. I have revived my veterinary profession as a general practitioner, and hope to set up my own physical grooming salon/clinic in the not-so-distant future.

Come February, it is going to be the Year of the Dragon. I only wish that what I planted these past few years will eventually carry me through to success in music, performing, producing and entrepreneurship in my veterinary field.

The following are my goals for my music career this year: Performing my original music live with my own band; finishing more digital applications; to continue developing my skills as a surviving musical artist in the digital realm; to perform more often than the year 2023; to continue working with other artists. It is simply to be more visible in live public performances than I was in 2023. —RITO P. ASILO