Thursday, April 29, 2010

Tuesday shoot.

I remembered running into Sir Dennis at the Cinemalaya auditions early this year, and he told me that he was planning to get a whole bunch of us into his film entry. I got his text on Saturday morning, asking if we would be free for the following two Tuesdays.

Headed to Marikina early on Tuesday morning. I had never gone to Marikina, let alone commute by my lonesome there, so I had to ask Opa how to get there. Thank goodness she mentioned where I could find FX cabs that could take me directly to the location I had to go to. Betty was already there at the market (where our first location for that day was) when I got there. She had taken the same van that had picked up Sir Dennis at his place. Anyway, we were led to the waiting area (which is actually an optical shop) where we could just hang out and have breakfast and wait until we had to shoot.

Rayna was a little late going to the location because the car she was in overheated, so it took her a while to get there. When she did arrive, kamusta naman ang lagi ng bag na dala niya, hahaha. Apparently she dumped whatever option for costumes that she could find into one big luggage.

When we came to the shoot, we honestly had no idea what the story was, and the only thing we knew was the title of the film, plus whatever Carla and Julie would tell us right before we would shoot once sequence after another. All of our scenes were with Miss Irma, who was playing the candidate for mayor, while Betty, Rayna and I, along with Dave and Bernard (who had replaced Tad at the last minute) were candidates for council. We had to wear these bright orange vests and orange caps/visors, and it looked like we were rooting for Villar, hahaha.

During the morning, we filmed the exterior shots and some of the interior shots of the market scenes. Sir Julio Diaz was super kulit but was a blast to talk to and joke around with whenever we would retire back to the waiting area. He kept cracking us up with his jokes and stories. Then after lunch, we did one last sequence in the market before we headed off to our next location in Tandang Sora.

Our second location was this house somewhere in Tandang Sora, probably owned by the elderly couple that we keep seeing walking around the living room. We spent most of the time just sitting in the receiving room, and it was really uber-hot (as it was the whole day). Thank goodness one of our props were useful, as they were fans with Miss Irma's character's name printed on them. They had to shoot some scenes inside one of the rooms while we just sat around, catching a few winks, reading books, or just chatting, as our next sequence to be shot wouldn't be until the evening.

We got to shoot our last for the night sometime during the late evening. There were prop sandwiches and glasses of juice laid out on the coffee table for us, and even though we already had dinner, it was tempting to take a bite out of one of the sandwiches, or even gulp down one of the glasses of juice. When I took one of the sandwiches out with me when I exited the frame, I found out that it was just 2 slices of bread with nothing in it, hahaha! Sana pala yung burger na lang yung kinuha ko.

We were finally allowed to leave after that, so we said our goodbyes. Chrome had arrived almost exactly when we were allowed to leave, ahahaha. Kamusta naman na kanina pa siya hinahanap. Anyway, we got to have food again before we left, so we just took it with us to eat outside (at the Burger Machine, actually). We thought it was spaghetti, but when we took a bite, it tasted like noodles with toyo, ahaha. But it was alright, because I was hungry anyway. We (Betty, Rayna, Bernard and I) hitched a ride with Dave to Edsa, where we took our respective commuting routes home.

The day was a blast, even though there was a lot of waiting, but I didn't mind that, really. What really bugged me was the summer heat. I'm gonna bring my portable fan next Tuesday, like what LJ had, hahaha.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

One more week.

There's exactly one more week before our RPT workshop class' recital. We will be performing Karel Capek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) at CCP's Little Theater stage next Sunday afternoon. Hahaha, naks, sa LT stage talaga eh. Quite a change from the Batute, even though it's still an arena staging.

I've spent the past 3 weeks with these great new friends who love to goof off and eat, and even though I may sometimes have the tendency to look back on past workshop experiences, this group is still special just because they're just being themselves, like most of the people I encounter in past TP workshops. They make really good company, plus good distractions from any bad vibes that come my way.

One problem about our upcoming recital was that we were always incomplete. Doi had to quit the class because one of his projects will be on the same day as our recital. Plus MA was missing in action some of the time. So Miss Tess and JK had to think of backup plans. Thank goodness MA finally reappeared last night, but of course they still had to get someone to replace Doi. I think they already found one, but it all depends on the guy's schedule.

Our rehearsals last Friday was at the LT stage for adjustment, and we also got to meet the 4 stage managers (from Sir Edmu's Stage and Production Management workshop class) assigned to us. I missed the entire LT area. The stage, the audience area, the backstage hall and its dressing rooms. I hate this feeling that as of this year, I won't be such a familiar face in the area anymore.

Arg, I have to stop thinking.

I found this small window of opportunity. I won't say anything yet until I really go for it.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Busy Saturday.

Lara had prior commitments yesterday, and I volunteered to be her substitute for her pre-teen theater class so JV won't be so burned out the entire day. Mike (as the other teacher) also couldn't make it due to his own prior commitments.

Off to Merville (oh, service road, how I still loathe thee) and made it to Montessori at around noon, as the class starts at 1pm. There was only one student, actually. Pat's been a regular student in Make Believe, but she's the only one who enrolled this year, so chances are that the class might be canceled and she would be moved to the Moonwalk branch. Either that, or her mom might just pull her out anyway. It's tough being the only student. So anyway, I hung out with Nina, JV, and Mond in one of classrooms (where Nina and Rieszel hold their Fashion and Crafts class). JV had his lunch, I checked out the lesson plan that Lara had written out, and chatted with everyone as well. Nina was so funny as she kept telling Mond about this monologue I did, so she kept asking me to do it not once, but twice (as Rieszel had arrived a little later).

Off to the auditorium with JV, where Pat was waiting (she had streetdancing class with Mond during the morning). After a little warm-up, JV and I ran through the lesson plan. When we reached the monologue part, I had asked JV if I could alter the activity a bit, and he agreed. But I have to say that Pat was a little too introverted or had too many inhibitions that she can't seem to help push herself. Well, maybe if she wasn't the only student, it could help. After a couple of tries, we just said that it just needs to be worked on, and so I just explained the purpose of the exercise. We ended up going through all the activities pretty quickly, so JV had to improvise a last activity, literally. We did improv dancing, right there on the stage, hahaha.

Finally called it a day, and JV and I left Montessori together, as he also had a meeting at the church. I flew the rest of the way to CCP. Once I arrived, I settled myself in the lounge (haha, kapal ng mukha ko) with the lunch I brought but didn't get to eat earlier.

Even though I killed a lot of time by myself in the lounge, I was still the first to arrive in the MKP. Class that evening was mostly warm-ups, then continued with the 3 changes, for those who had not had their turn yet (as I was lucky enough to be one of the first, ahehehe). Then we just finished reading R.U.R. a second time together, then just discussed the thesis of the play before calling it a night. A whole bunch of us then headed to Dencio's for dinner, just for a little breather to end the week. There was Dan, Rish, Len, Mark, Hannah, and Rommel plus his Anna (who's in Roeder and Onyl's Acting in Musical Theater class). Basically it was the same group, plus Hannah, who all went to Jef'z Cafe last Tuesday night. Phrase for the night (courtesy of MA) was, "Alam mo yung (insert adjective here)? Ikaw/Ako/Tayo yun."


Check it out, I actuallly know someone who almost made it to the Glee Send to Hollywood promo. Sean won 2nd place, while some cute girl bagged the grand prize, hahaha. I jokingly said that Lara deserves part of the goody bag that he won, considering that she helped him with his video, hehehe.



I'm not flirting with you. I'm just trying to show what I really feel. Nakakapagod na harapin ka and pretend everything's all right. Ang plastic ko naman kung ganun. Ang lakas mo pang mang-asar that day. Kahit anong sabihin ko at galaw ko, may hirit ka. Alam kong ganun ka dahil alam mo kung pano ako barahin at madali akong mapikon. So ano yun, pwede mo akong inisin pero hindi kita pwede kulitin? Labo.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Beginning the week.

Last Monday was Make Believe's first day of Creativity Master Class. But because Casa Calixto was unavailable, we had to meet that evening at Merville Country Club.

Braved the service road yet again, and met up with Lara and Sean at 7-Eleven. Was a bit late, because as I'm still not used to the traffic of that road, so I still didn't know how to estimate the travel time it takes to get there.

Headed straight to Le Delice, and the three of us were the first ones there. We grabbed the longest table, and we were sort of obligated to order because of that, hahaha. So Lara and I shared an order of chicken nuggets. Lesley then arrived, then JV (armed with a CD player for Lara) then finally Nina.

Lesley was so funny as she welcomed Sean to Make Believe, because she said that as initiation, he had to spell his name with his butt. To our surprise, despite his hesitation, he was ready to stand up and do it until Lesley stopped him and say that it was just a joke.

Anyway, updates on the classes, like how was the Merville branch's first week was doing, and that our Alabang branch is still accepting enrollees until the next week, as there were only 5 girls who are already enrolled. Sean, as always, showed that he was still nervous, but was assured that Nina and I will back him up. I was also anxious about teaching a class, but of course, I can't show it and decided to go with the excitement instead.

Also talked about what we can bring to the creativity master class, as well as who we can invite to talk about certain fields of expertise, then we moved on to pet projects. I showed them a copy of Last Order Sa Penguin as my pet project, saying that these books aren't meant to just be read by one person, so I mentioned a play reading of some sort, which is one of my own frustrations. Heck, if I can't do a full-scale production, why not a play reading first, right? Ahehehe.

So on with a short overview about the creativity master class, whose purpose is basically to unleash your true artistic potential. I like what she said at one point, which was "Build up, encourage and inspire--don't critique (yet). There will be a time for that." Oo nga naman. There are lots of people who, whenever they see something, magco-comment agad eh. Try to enjoy muna ang nakita mo, and try to understand it first.

Then we did a little activity where we were to draw lines or scribbles on each other's sheets of paper, then pass it to the next person. It's so funny sitting next to Nina, as you can hear the sound of her pencil as if parang galit siya, ahahaha. The sound actually encouraged me to scribble as crazily as she did. Anyway, once we got our own paper back, we had to look at the lines and color in any image that we see. Interestingly enough, I saw a couple of smiling faces among the lines. Then we were told to write words related to our drawings on a separate piece of paper, then we shared what we had with each other.

We finally called it a night after that. But of course, Lara being Lara, we just had to take photos, hehehe. Gossip Girl pose FAIL! We have to re-shoot next week!

Anyway, as excited and anxious as I was about Flickering Lights workshop, I got a text from Lesley last night that the class just got canceled because among the 5 girls that had enrolled, there were some that had backed out. Even though enrollment would still be ongoing until next week, I guess the class had to be dissolved because of how little the class was to begin with. Anyway, Lesley had said that she will follow up something for May that we will be in charge of, and then we will be assigned roles in the Merville workshops. At least there's still something to look forward to.

In other news, our RPT class will be doing Karel Capek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) for our recital. I finished reading it this weekend, and we'll be doing our first assigned scenes tonight. And site-specific na kaagad, ahaha. Interesting play, really, as it's the term "robot" was first coined and used in this piece. It's funny how it was written in the 1920's, yet it reminded me of the rise of the machines in The Terminator movies. Man versus machines, hahaha.

And I just have to add this. I can't pretend that I'm always OK, fine, alright, all that jazz. Ang plastic ko naman kung ganun. As much as possible, I try to avoid any bad vibes or any negative topics of conversation. True, I acknowledge it, but I have to leave it again after that. And for you, I don't think it's immature to say what I had said. If I have a problem with someone, you're wrong when you said that it's just my problem. I have a problem with someone, it should be talked out with that person. So don't tell me to grow up, because that's what I'm doing. Avoiding that is not as mature as you think. Ang rude mo talaga.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Make Believe Alabang meeting.

I forgot to blog about something else last Friday.

Friday was the day I had to meet with Sean, my co-teacher in Make Believe, to brainstorm. As we were both newbie teachers in the group, I had also invited Lara and Nina to join us. We all met up at Starbucks ATC, and Sean was the only one there when I arrived, as I was running late, and so were Lara and Nina. When Lara arrived, she asked Sean if he had recognized me. Apparently, he had forgotten where he had seen me, even though he had taken several photos of me during that production of Tartuffe, ahahaha. Anyway, by the time we were all complete, we managed to nab a set of couches in the back of the coffee shop.

Talk galore, as Sean and I had a bunch of questions regarding our class and the venue. Well, Sean had more questions than I did, which was good, as I hadn't thought of those myself. Thank goodness for that, so at least we can complement each other. Apparently he's not at all that confident yet about teaching, but I bet he'll do fine. Tag team na lang kami, haha. And Nina will be there to help us out during the first 2 weeks, so it's not like we'll be left all alone. Baptism of fire na yun, hahaha.

Anyway, as we talked about the upcoming class and our first day's lesson plan, Lara and Nina contributed lots of other ideas that they used from the classes the year before. Thank you so much, girls. We appreciate all the help we can get, hahaha. We also did a lot of goofing around, and they just had to make me read my monologue for RPT class out loud, ack. And of course, because Lara was there, camwhoring was also in order.

Lara and Sean had to leave afterwards as they still had other engagements to go to. Nina and I ended up staying and talking a little longer. Ken joined us after a while, and it was pretty cute seeing them together. Ahehe, Nina just had to make me read my monologue again. I also found out that Ken is also a Zobel alumnus like me, and we just had to laugh about a bunch of teachers that we both had.

We got a text from Lesley this morning. Apparently our class' first day was moved from Monday to Wednesday because they need a bit more time to get more students. Oh well, at least we're done with 3 days' worth of lesson plan, as Lesley had asked, and we have more prep time. We can easily figure out the rest after day 1. Even though Sean is still feeling his way around, he did give pretty good suggestions via email. Even though that part about "A-Team" and "Mr. T" was a little bit crazy, hahaha.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Workshopping yet again.

"Theater is a safe environment to do unsafe things."

I remember reading that in Bobby's blog 5 years ago, when Atlantis' Beauty and The Beast was about to open at the Meralco theater. I loved that quote so much that I wrote it everywhere--on a Post-it on my desktop, my notebook in the office, in one of my favorite notebooks, and even saved it as a message on my phone.

I remembered that quote on the first day of Rehearsal and Performance Techniques workshop in CCP this past Tuesday. Even though it was already my 2nd time to take that class, it still feels like a brand-new class to take. Anyway, back to the quote, it reminded me of what JK kept telling us during warm-ups. Aside from the usual, "Challenge yourself," he would say something like, "Go for the kill," and "Get in trouble." I like how he put it, because hey, acting is all about taking risks, and you can't always play safe and stay in your comfort zone. Where else can you see yourself barefoot, having people scrutinize your walk without much judgment, and where you can find everyone falling without fear, as there's always someone to catch you, and where you can be all over the floor rolling in every way (and I'm not just talking about mere log rolls here)? Plus there's the thrill and headaches of script analysis and creating a character step by step, and eventually making it your own.

I told myself that I wanted to return to the RPT class this year, so I immediately set my mind to find means to enroll myself for this summer. Thank goodness for freelance ushering, no matter how much or how little you earn with that, hahaha. Anyway, I eventually found out that Sir Dennis, the one who usually teaches the class, will be teaching at the new branch in Miriam, which was way too far for me. But I also found that that Miss Tess, one of my teachers from the Beginning Acting class a few years back, would be teaching RPT in CCP this year, along with JK. I chatted with her one time and she mentioned that she would be taking a different approach on the class. We would be more physical, she had said, unlike when Sir Dennis was teaching it, as he always took more time on table discussions. I like different. Like I keep telling other people, I like this class (hence the reason for coming back) because it's not always the same thing every year, unlike most of those basic theater workshops that almost teach the same thing over and over again.

There are 11 of us now in the class. One had to drop out because she had scheduling conflict on the final week of class right on until the recital day, but another enrollee came to replace her. I heard last night that another one will be enrolling, but won't be coming to class until Tuesday, as he will be flying in from Japan tomorrow.  I actually like it that classes are small like this one, because it's more intimate, and mas natututukan ang lahat, compared to having a big class where it takes time for everyone to have their turn at things. And so far, the people in the class have been great. Haha, MA was so funny yesterday as he had come in late (he got stuck in a bad traffic jam despite the fact that he lived so close), and he actually brought peach mango pies for everyone. We snacked on them while we took time to go through our monologues and action verbs.

We're finally getting the entire script of our recital tomorrow. As of now, we only have a couple of monologues with us to focus on this week, and I can't wait to read the entire piece.

In other news, most Make Believe classes have started this week in Merville. My own class in Alabang begins on Monday. Ack, I'm kinda anxious, nervous, and excited all at the same time. It's going to be my first time ever to lead a class of kids, but thank goodness I won't be alone, as Sean will be teaching the class with me, and Nina will also be there once in a while to help out.

"There is nothing more rewarding than working in theatre. And I know many people who will agree with me on this. Theatre is a safe environment to do unsafe things. And, thus, the bonds you form sometimes will last you your whole life."

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Joining Make Believe.

Dingdong sent me this text this evening: "For what it's worth, mukha namang happy ka with your choice of going to the Make Believe orientation."

Yup, I am.

Choosing Make Believe Productions over Palawan turned out to be an easy choice. Even though schedules regarding orientation days and training sessions had changed, I'm glad I stayed in Manila during Holy Week.

All because I fell in love with Make Believe ever since I spent 3 days with them last year. And this year, they invited me to officially join the gang.

I was off to Merville this morning for Make Believe orientation. Lesley gave the address of what I had assumed was Nina's house, and because I don't really know my way around the village, Lara and I had agreed to meet at 7-Eleven half an hour before the meeting. Even though it was Black Saturday, I still didn't want to take the risk regarding the traffic flow along the service road. I had arrived about 15 minutes early at 7-Eleven, and realized that Lara had the same idea about coming early, as she was there a few minutes before I did. It was still pretty early, so we decided to grab a little bite right then and there before we headed inside the village.

By the time we arrived at the address that Lesley had sent us via text, I noticed that the house looked as if was new, being sold, and never been used. Uh-oh. I even had to check if we had the right address, and yes, we did. So Lara contacted Lesley, who was already on her way. We were at the right house, alright, but apparently, Nina's mom is selling the property. We were just going to use the house as a venue for our meeting. Thank goodness Lara and I had come together, otherwise, whoever arrived first would be so confused, hahaha.

Lara and I were sitting on the curb in front of the house across the street when Lesley had arrived. Talked for a bit, some updates here and there until Nina arrived to finally open the house doors. The moment we had stepped in, I fell in love with the house. It was gorgeous. The space downstairs was fairly big, as well as the bedrooms upstairs. It would be a good place to rent for Make Believe, they had said, hehehe. Anyway, Mike had arrived a few minutes later, and then we finally settled down on the floor to begin.

Even though Lesley had thought of a little formal introduction to start things off, there were still a lot of crazy and funny moments abound, like my "makuha ka sa tingin" expression when I looked at Lara, which cracked Nina up. Anyway, more talk galore about certain ground rules for the workshops, who gets assigned to which classes and at which venues, lesson plans and other stuff. After more discussions, Lesley asked us to make a first-day lesson plan for our respective classes. Nina helped me with mine, considering that my assistant was still tentative, so she talked it out with me. When we were finishing up, Lesley finally showed each of us our contracts, which I gave a nod to. Then we presented our lesson plans to each other, and it helped a lot as Lesley commented on each of them, plus suggesting more stuff for us.

After a while, we finally ended the whole meeting. And of course, because we had Lara with us, we couldn't resist doing a whole lot of camwhoring. During that entire time, we were laughing until our sides ached, and I have to admit, I even had a headache from laughing too hard. I couldn't help it, Nina's laughs were way too contagious.

When we finally got tired of laughing and camwhoring, we walked to Food Box for lunch. I was starving, so I really had to get something heavy to eat. More talking as we ate dessert before we had our actual lunch. This is one of the parts I enjoyed with these people the most, I get to hang out and bond with them sans the teacher modes. I just love bonding with friends, both old and new alike. Among the group, I've hung out with Lara the most. I only got to talk and hung out with Nina after those 2 rehearsal days last year before the Make Believe culminating showcase. Other than that, I hardly ever spent time with the rest, Lesley and Mike included. Hopefully, despite my own schedule, I can still find the time to bond with them, especially since we have a master class until the end of summer. Too bad I won't be able to attend that class until after this month. But at least I'm still allowed to catch up in May.

I'm getting excited. This summer is going to be a blast.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Catching up online.

Chatted with 2 awesome friends yesterday on YM.

The first was Iam, one of my best friends. First we started out talking about trivial things during the afternoon, like window-shopping at online shops, because I mentioned this key I wanted to turn into a necklace. She then started showing me photos on Etsy of pretty necklaces and stuff that she wanted to buy. Evolved into 90s trends due to this one photo we saw of Will Smith playing baseball on the NES.

When we found each other online again during the evening, she told me that she came across my private blog again. Other than me, only she and Rosa have access to that particular blog, which consisted of ramblings that I can't seem to share with anyone, and stuff that I don't have the guts wording out loud. I used to ask them to read my entries there way back in 2003 because we hardly get together that often due to our schedules. Anyway, she found a certain entry that caught her eye, skipping over the way too personal stuff (thanks, Iam) and asked me about it. Updates and chat galore, as we talked about certain relationships, relationship dramas and close calls, hahaha. Because of how she managed to access my blog again, our conversation even evolved into online accounts, social networks, blogging and microblogging, hahaha.

I have to admit, medyo nahiya ako bigla kay Iam for finding all those new entries I had posted aside from the one that she had asked about, because they were beginning to sound like pathetic ramblings of someone who has nothing to do but sit idly just waiting. But I guess it's just a way of releasing things that have been clouding my mind all the time. And hey, it's good writing exercise. I was actually flattered when Iam had said that my blog entries, be it public or private were articulate. Naks naman, pumalakpak ang tenga ko, hahaha.

Sometime past midnight, I found Roan online. I haven't seen her visible on YM in ages, so I sent her a message just to say hi. We ended up chatting longer than just saying hellos, and caught up on each others news. Talked about camwhoring, but mostly touched the topic on relationships yet again. After we had told each other's stories, I was once again flattered, because she had said, "You have a better head on your shoulders than I initially assumed. and to think I already think highly of you." Syempre palakpak nanaman ang tenga ko for the second time that night, especially when I also looked up to her in some ways. She then explained that Lara had told her certain things about me already before Roan and I had met.

"I remembered you were the girl who had enough sense and control not to be swayed with the emotion and the mob-mentality," Roan had added, when she recalled a story Lara had told her in passing about me.

It was mighty flattering how people still seem to find that I'm level-headed and articulate when I'm the one who thinks of myself as otherwise.

And I just love catching up with good friends, be it online or in person.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Ending March on a good note.

Taking advantage of still being able to go out during the early days of Holy Week, I decided on a whim to check out this show in Market Market by some of my friends from Trumpets, directed by Sir Jaime (haha, I still never got around to calling him Tito to his face). It was called Christ in The Concrete City, and I expected something text-heavy because of what Joms told me.

Headed over to the venue and immediately saw familiar faces. Even the cast was outside mingling, so there were so many friends and acquaintances to say hi to. I remember Pam coming up to me and introducing herself once we were inside the venue. We've heard of each other for quite a long time, but it was the first time that we had actually met each other.

Yep, they were right. The material was pretty much text-heavy, but I never really saw it as too preachy as some people had anticipated it to be. They had edited some parts of the original script to colloquial speech and even Filipino and Taglish, so it was easier to understand. The cast's performance was pretty good, and showed Sir Jaime's seamless direction. And may "manual revolve" pa sila, hahaha. A swift movement of the actors, and the whole acting area had changed. There were some little things, though, like the "anti-talking" motion in quiet conversation, but other than that, the show was really great. Congrats to the cast and directors!

After the show, a little bit of mingling, and then Alys, Tracy and I were off in Joms' car to accompany him and some others to their Magsimula Ka callback auditions. It was Joms' birthday yesterday, and he invited us to eat afterward, so we tagged along. At Spotlight, we ended up hanging around outside, just talking with Kakki and Didang some others while we waited. Hahaha, our stomachs were grumbling already because of the anticipation of Shakey's pizza that Joms had proposed. At the last minute, when everyone had already finished with their callback auditions, we decided to have dinner at Som's instead.

Off to Som's and it was time to finally eat! Hahaha. Thanks for the birthday treat, Joms! I read a review in Iam's blog about the place, as I had never had a prior Som's experience. But I have to say that my favorites were also hers, which were the spring rolls and the yummy milk tea, even though I had countless servings of the shrimp fried rice and the pad thai. Yum. Crazy funny anecdotes abound, like the "jabar" quip courtesy of Nikki, hahaha. I have to admit that it's been years since I hung out with friends from Trumpets, and it was nice to hang out with this crowd and meet new people that I've always just watched onstage. And I love Joms' birthday wish for all of us this year, with an additional "minus one" in the end, so as there would be something more to look forward to in the following year.

When dinner started, someone proposed to watch How To Train Your Dragon after eating at Som's, but then plans changed and we decided to just hang out and have a few drinks over at Ikey's place instead. Yeah, Joms had bought beer and stuff, while Ikey had served wine as well, plus popcorn, chips and chocolate (hence the quip, "The darker, the better." Ahehehe.) People settled on the couches, the chairs, the floor and the massage chair, as some played Wario Ware on Ikey's Wii, until they got tired of it and we all decided to just watch American Idol instead.

When we finally called it a night, I hitched a ride with Joms, who was rambling again as usual, hahaha. Pagbigyan na, birthday naman niya eh, hahaha. Plus I had my own share of ramblings last Sunday and during the short drive to Ikey's place from Som's.

All in all, it was a good day for me.