This past weekend.

So Avenue Q had finally closed last Saturday. One week of nothing much to do. As you can tell, I decided not to go to Palawan, and stay instead for Make Believe.

Last Friday morning, I got a text from Sam. She was offering me the day off from ushering because Reb wanted to usher for one show, if I wanted to, that is. Anyway, I was pretty easy to talk to, so I let Reb take my post. Given that I had nothing to do that night, I debated with myself whether to still go to RCBC for Avenue Q or maybe attend the Philstage awards in CCP. Ended up going to the latter.

I arrived about an hour early in CCP, so I killed time in the lobby with the current book that I was reading. I got a little bored, so I went to say hi to an old flame. Killed more time in the lobby until open house. Noticed a bit of awkwardness, so once inside the theater, I sat beside Sir Jethro and Sir Jed. Wahahaha. There were pretty few attendees of the event, but even with that, I'm just glad to be there, as I didn't get to go last year, when Tad was also a nominee.

Cocktails were served in the LT lobby after the awards, but while everyone headed straight for the food, I managed to chat with a couple of old friends before eating. Sat with Prof Arvin when I finally settled down to eat, and I had to endure his fanaticism, despite the fact that he was a member of the Philstage jury, hahaha. Well, at least I got to talk to some of the winners, and talking to Liesl Batucan was pretty amusing, as I've told her that I've been watching her in Rep for over a decade now. She thought that Prof was just a theater enthusiast, until I mentioned that he was part of Philstage, hahaha. Anyway, I joined in on Prof's camwhoring, until everyone had already left the lobby, then we headed home together, as we're both from the South.


I didn't really think much about Avenue Q's closing. It was kind of uneventful for me. It was like any other show day. Rosa got to watch the afternoon show, though, and she also got to join in on the buffet that was set for us in between shows. She got to meet my Atlantis family, and then some. There was quite an amusing conversation between her and Mahar about Swiss men, among other things, wahahaha. I loved how they clicked when they had just met that very afternoon while we were eating.

Rosa and I spent the rest of my vacant time just chatting up a storm. I was so glad that she did decide to come watch. She was treated to a free show, free food, good conversation and a lot of laughs, everything that she needed at the right time.


Yesterday, I got to watch TP Actors' Company's acting recital, their last recital for this season. I got Joms to join me, and in turn, he invited Alys to join us. Yay, the more, the merrier.

As usual, I arrived in CCP way too early, as the weather's been weird. It looked like it was going to rain, but not quite. Settled back in the LT lobby with my book, until I heard voices outside the Batute. Yep, there was the AC, having their early dinner before the recital. Sat next to Bong and talked for a while, trying to ignore Chrome's quips which turn out to be true. I should've been used to his quips, ever since he started it about someone else concerning me some years ago, hahaha.

While hanging out alone back in the lobby, Tony joined me at the table so we chatted a bit while he ate his food. Ed also came by a couple of times and mentioned that I come back as Labfest staff, as they're already hunting for people already. We'll see, Ed.

Reg and I were the first people inside the theater once the house opened. I haven't seen her in ages, since our workshop in 2008, I think. And even then, we hardly ever talked because even though we're always early for class, I'd be busy rehearsing with a classmate while she'd be on her own studying her script.

Anyway, AC's acting recital consisted of 3 play excerpts. The first was Ahente, a Filipino translation of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Tad and Chrome were pretty impressive as Willy Loman and Biff respectively. It always seems as if their eyes spoke volumes no matter how moderate or heavy the scenes were. One line was spot on... "Paano ba maibalik yung gaya nung araw?" Oh, sigh. Anyway, the 2nd excerpt was from Jean Anouilh's Ring Around The Moon. Russell and Kat were hilarious as they spoke in English accents, and their exchanges were quite challenging as they had to dance the tango at the same time. Finally, the last was David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, with Bong as Song Liling and Riki as Rene. I think Bong had about 7 costume changes, from kimonos, a cheongsam, and even stripping butt naked. They were brilliant. All of them, really.

Congratulations to TP Actors' Company! Another season's over. Good job!

After the show, Joms, Alys and I waited for everyone to emerge from the theater. Apparently, both of them had eye candy during the entire show, hahaha.

A little moment when everyone had already left. Gave Tad a jar of pesto as a congratulatory gift (supposedly if ever he won that Philstage award, but it turned out to be for the recital, hahaha), and hopefully there would be a lot left over for his parents' wedding anniversary on Thursday. Awkward silent moments, and maybe it was me, but there could be a glimmer of hope. Oh, but I guess I should stop hoping for something that won't come.

Went to Greenbelt with Joms and Alys, where we met up with Tracy and Tiffy at Seattle's Best. They were meeting up about a project that they were doing at CSR, and it sounded pretty cool. Anyway, because we were starving and a little low on budget, Joms and I walked to Wendy's to buy food and ate it while we were sitting in Seattle's, hahaha. After quite some chitchat, Joms decided to call it a night, and I hitched a ride home with him. Bonding in the car, and it was punctuated with a monologue he did, wahahaha.

Holy week. What to do, what to do on these vacant days.