Wednesday out.

I don't have work until Wednesday, and I'm already restless. I need something to occupy myself until I go back to work, ahahaha. Preferably something where I don't have to spend. Well, at least I can finish that crochet project I'm currently working on.

I'm crocheting a rainbow scarf that Anna had requested as a birthday gift. I usually work on it while I'm in the office, stitching in between calls, and sometimes even during calls. This is the 3rd crochet project that I've had since I started on the floor, and I have to say, it's a good way to start a conversation with the other agents that I haven't met yet. Some of them sitting beside me would just sit and stare, then try to strike up a conversation about it in between calls. Passers-by would simply stop and look, and some have even looked over my shoulder for a good period of time.

I just love handmade crafts ever since I was a kid, and I'm glad that crochet is still something I love doing.


After work last Wednesday, I got a text from Dan about his play in FEU. Their theater guild is performing 3 laboratory plays this week, and one of them is Palanca in My Mind, and he and Tad are involved in it (as actor and director, respectively). So I made a spur of the moment decision to watch that very evening. Rayna's text followed later, inviting me to her birthday salubong at Penguin later that night. Well, let's hit two birds with one stone then.

I honestly had no idea how to get to FEU, despite the fact that I spent one whole year in UST right after high school. Thank goodness asking for directions is pretty easy. Anyway, while I was waiting for Dan at the 7-Eleven outside their school, I overheard some funny things from some of the students.

"Bakit madudungis yung mga fine arts?"

"Hindi ko kasi ka-close yun."
"Dapat 'ni-close' mo!"

Oh, the silly things you overhear everyday, hahaha.

Anyway, Trio, which is what the show is called, featured 3 one-act plays--Ang Kamera Ni Mang Leon, Palanca in My Mind, and Ateng. I was intrigued about how Tad directed Palanca, but because of his certain, uhm, past issues regarding exes and current prospects, I didn't want to watch on a day that Tad would be there. Thank goodness Wednesday was one of those days.

I felt like an alien while walking across campus. Hahaha, Dan just had to say that whenever he and Tad walked together to and from rehearsal, Tad would keep reminiscing about his college days.

It was so funny when we arrived near the show venue, because people from the theater guild were teasing Dan because I was with him. Oh, kids, if you only knew who I really was connected to, hahaha. But of course, we had to keep our mouths shut. I still didn't want Tad to know that I watched the show. Anyway, with that said, while I was hanging out in the classroom that served as their actors' holding area, I ended up meeting his current squeeze. Ahahahaha. No comment. Oh well.

When the house finally opened, I was one of the first to easily manage to nab a good seat. Kamera Ni Mang Leon was up first. I remember watching a production of it by the PHSA Theater students as a recital, so I guess I had pretty high standards. These kids from the FTG managed to pull it off, but I guess one thing they really have avoid is making caricatures. I have to give credit to them for giving the audience good laughs.

Palanca in My Mind immediately followed the first play. I've seen the play in the twice--during Virgin Labfest--during Virgin Labfest 2 and during the following year when it was part of the best of Labfest. Plus I have a copy of the Labfest Anthology. So of course I sort of knew the play backwards and forwards. Dan had told me before the show that Tad had sort of just gotten everything from their own staging, and from the moment the show began, I just had to confirm that he was right. Well, most of it, anyway. They had to make do with the really tight acting area, and some scenes were cut to keep the running time at a minimum. There was a handful of stuff though that was quite original, but that was it. But other than that, these kids still did a pretty good job. Ariele, their Dory, had a sort of squeaky voice that kind of gets tiring to listen to after a while, but she pretty much a good performance. Overall, I have to say, not bad.

The third play, Ateng, came after intermission. The dialogue was funny in itself, but the guy who played the elder sibling spoke too much of the same way all throughout the show that it got too old after 15 minutes into the play. The other guy who played Juicy was funny, but it seemed as if he was just going through all the motions. But in fairness, he was quite entertaining, and despite those actions, he did show that he has a lot of instinct.


After the show, Dan and I headed directly to Penguin. Ahaha, we were the first ones there, so we waited for the rest to arrive. Pretty soon, Kat, Chic and Marco finally came, then Martha, and we just waited for Rayna, who was picking Gino up somewhere near the Ayala area. Later in the night, Angeli and even Trency and JV joined us as well. Not really a big celebration. We just drank the night away, listening to Jack versus the Crab. As it turned out, the band's vocalist, Waxie, was also celebrating his birthday salubong that very night, and he even bought our table at least a couple of rounds of beer. Uhm, I'm still not a fan of beer, so I was pretty content with the pitcher of Boracay sling.

We called it a night (?) at around 4 in the morning, but when Rayna, Chic, Marco and I hitched a ride with Trency, we even stopped over at McDonald's at PeopleSupport for an early breakfast before we got dropped off at our respective stops. As for me, I'm just glad to have a night out with good friends, after quite a while.

Mapua Tekno Teatro's Ang Mabuting Tao ng Parian

The Mapúa Tekno Teatro (MT2), the official drama organization of the Mapúa Institute of Technology, will hold its 10th anniversary production with an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Woman of Szechuan, Ang Mabuting Tao ng Parian. Penned by Tim Dacanay, Ang Mabuting Tao ng Parian is directed by JK Anicoche.

The piece is in line with the new vision of the MT2 to stage socially-relevant productions in the tradition of Brecht's theatre of alienation, which engages the audience members to think rather than to get highly emotional about the play's plot and the characters' plight. The play will be on December 6 and 7 with 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. shows (per day) at the Institute's gymnasium.

"The Mapúa Institute of Technology advocates academic excellence and strength of character in our students. Our curriculum equips the students to be technically skilled and strengthens values that are equally valuable in the work environment," says Dr. Bonifacio T. Doma Jr., executive vice president for Academic Affairs of the Institute. Doma adds that the MIT addresses this balance through a holistic approach by the inclusion of a strong arts, humanities, and social sciences program into the curriculum. A non-academic program in line with this approach is the Mapúa Tekno Teatro. The Institute has a School of Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences aside from its technical courses.

Director JK Anicoche envisions the play to be a literal interpretation of life as a competitive game with a set of winners and losers, and a boxing ring where the two types of people fight it out. "Through the three gods, the play asks the characters and the audience members " what is goodness" Having defined goodness, is there still a good person in the world?" The questions, Anicoche adds, are relevant in this time of desensitization where morality issues, corruption, and oppression are common fares in the media.

Anicoche heads the artistic team composed of Alison Segarra, assistant director; Dacanay, writer; Ninya Bedruz, lights designer and technical director; Eisa Jocson and Leeroy New, production designers; Teresa Barrozo, sound designer and; Isabelle Martinez, stage manager.

The MT2 cast and production team participating in the production include Alsus Adiaton, Kim Adulta, Ed Aniag, Kiki Baento, Jezreel Bernaldez, RR Boniol, Michael Caballero, Daniel Cardenas, Rommnel Coliat, Earl Dangalan, Debbie Del Rosario, Jethro Espenida, MK Espiritu, Alyshia Formento, Michael Figueras, Steven Galedo, G-may Galvan, Chopper Gapasin, Julio Garcia, Rachelle Gimpes, Leih Gonzales, Nathalie Inductivo, Roxanne King, Jerome Liao, Henry Malacaman, Kael Ma. Guerrero, Yuyi Marzo, Michan Mendoza, Anton Mercado, Camille Orense, Aj Ramos, Chris Rimas, Harrold Saliba, Jovie Vieja, Charizza Villanueva, and Cedree Wheeler.

Visual artist Joey Cobcobo collaborated with MT2 member MK Espiritu for the advertising collateral design while filmmaker Raymund Cruz created the trailer. Betty Uy-Regala is the resident coach of MT2 and Dante Sauquillo is the director of the MIT Office of Student Activities and Discipline.

Tickets are at P90. For reservations, contact Anton Mercado at 0917-6182223, Cha Villanueva at 0916-7720752, or Kim Adulta at 0915-8692545.

In other news...

Aside from the significant reunion with some old friends from high school track, there's not much to update, really.

By the way, Wedding Singer had finally closed a couple of Sundays ago, and I have to say, it was a pretty okay experience, especially because I had to handle a brand new batch of eager ushers, aside from a handful of people who already knew the ropes during Rent. I guess that's what you get when you put together a big group of workshop graduates who are willing to perform in front of any willing (or unwilling) audience, ahahaha. But one thing I have to say, please don't wield your flashlights around too much inside the house. It kind of bugs some of the audience.

I got to catch the preview show of Magsimula Ka at the Music Museum last Thursday. Knowing that the venue was in the middle of the Greenhills Shopping Center, I just had to resist not buying anything when I arrived there early. But when I got bored and met up with Peachy at the bazaar up front, I ended up buying something. Well, it was another pocket watch that had an Audrey Hepburn cover, but it was still a purchase, ahahaha.

Anyway, the show was pretty alright. There were lines that were somewhat sounded cheesy, but maybe that was just me. The cast was pretty good in terms of performance, and it was great seeing Myke onstage again. I have to commend Jerald for stealing the show for his performance as Jograd, though. It was never boring whenever he was onstage. But I guess I have to say that the play was pretty predictable and totally 80s in every sense, if you know what I mean, ahehehe.

I heard some interesting news last week about certain issues of this particular group. I can't really be too detailed about this, but one thing I have to say is that it could be possible that it was already happening right under my nose some years ago. Tough. So now things have to be fixed and settled differently, and even though I'm somewhat relieved of certain duties, I have to say that I'm glad that things are sort of getting better for this group, in a way.

I miss going to script analysis class ever since the TP Actors Company's rehearsals of Anatomiya ng Korupsyon was put into overdrive. It's one of the highlights of every week because there at least one creative outlet for me.

In other cryptic news, I hate to admit this, but there are still some things that I'm not ready for. There are some things I'm not prepared to see, some things that I'm not yet prepared to do. I'm afraid for the time that these things will just  jump up and hit me in the face.

So how about you guys? How're you doing? Does anyone still read this thing? Hahaha.

Mini-reunion with some track and field friends.

I'm back.

I still miss seriously blogging, but it seems I don't have the drive to do so lately, even though I really want to blog about them, and I'm almost always in front of my laptop when I'm at home. What's wrong with me?

Anyway, so what's been up lately?

Two Saturdays ago, I went to Dave's house for a rare reunion of the high school track and field team. Well, it wasn't really a big event. It's basically just a get together of the usual crowd that we used to hang out with when I was in the track and field varsity, mostly during my junior year of high school. A bunch of people decided they want to get together, and I only heard about it from Karlo. They even sent messages back and forth in Facebook about the reunion.

So anyway, I haven't seen most of these people in several years, so heck, I'll go. Considering I only live a few blocks away from Karlo, I coordinated with him about hitching a ride to Dave's house, even though I would be coming all the way from Meralco to Alabang. It took me a while to get picked up, because apparently there were lots of dead spots in Dave's house where you can't get any cellphone reception. Once Dave had picked me up and we had arrived at his house, I found out that it was only him, Karlo and me so far.

Then sometime after I managed to grab some food, people started trickling in between several gaps. There was Diane, Andrea, Barry, Aris with Karla, Ben with Jeng, then Seph and Josh.

I have to say, I'm just glad to see these people again. I haven't seen the Funky Bunch in several years. And even though I see Drea in Makati occasionally, we don't really get to chat as we just pass by each other and say hi. As for Diane, this is the first time I've seen her again after high school.

Before Drea had arrived, Karlo, Diane, Dave and I were already chatting, updating here and there. When Drea had arrived, I was amused at how she found out that I had somehow pursued the road to theater. It was like she had no idea, even though she knew I had participated in school plays as a hobby. Maybe that was how people saw it back then, as a hobby. I was still sort of clammed up back in high school, even though I was pretty loud when I was with my close friends. Suddenly I imagined how my other batchmates would've reacted had I gone to our 10-year high school reunion.

But to be brutally honest, I have no regrets about not going to last year's high school reunion. I mean, why bother when you already see the batchmates/people you want to see?

Anyway, it was great seeing these guys, even though there were only just a few of us. There must be another one considering the rest didn't get to come.

I really seem to just update this blog once every week.

I love spontaneous meet-ups with friends. When I got off work this past Wednesday morning, I got a random text from Lara, who told me that the movie Salt was playing on the bus TV that she was on. Of course, knowing that she always budgets her time from staying in at home to work, I asked her where she was off to. As it turned out, she was going all the way up north to The Real Thing Diner (which just opened), plus a couple of other things, as she was meeting Noelle for a fitting of her bridesmaid dress, then meeting up with Nina concerning an event they were doing together.

I ended up hanging out with Lara the entire afternoon until evening, hahaha.

I met up with Lara at the Quezon Avenue MRT station, then we headed to Il Terrazo, where The Real Thing Diner was. The place was quite empty, and the sign up front said "soft opening". So this was Noelle and KV's diner that Lara was talking about. Noelle emerged from the kitchen once she found out that Lara and I were there. I have to say, this was the first time I ever got to hang out with Noelle. The first time I met her was at last year's Make Believe showcase, but it was a pretty brief meeting. She was also at this past summer's showcase, but she had to leave right away, so I never even got to say hi. At least there in the diner, it was just the 3 of us, aside from the random customers that dart in and out while we were there. Even though Noelle was quite busy, coming in and out of the kitchen, attending to some stuff, she managed to join us every once in a while. Anyway, Lara and I ordered the Taco Burger, plus a side of Chicken Tenders and potato wedges, and they were pretty yummy. I loved how the taste of taco was actually inside the very thick burger patty. And the chicken tenders came with a barbecue sauce infused with Coca-cola. Yummm...

So anyway, come check out The Real Thing Diner, especially if you're a fan of Coca-cola products. It's located at the 2nd floor of Il Terrazo along Tomas Morato. =)

The rain started pouring like crazy while we were there, plus Noelle had to be there during their diner's staff meeting, so we were sort of late for Lara's fitting. But at least we managed to get there. I love the shade of blue of Lara's dress. And the design was simple yet elegant. Nice.

Because Lara and I were still meeting Nina at Glorietta, we rode with Noelle to SM North Edsa so it would be easier to take the MRT from there, as rush hour was fast appproaching. We walked with her inside the mall for a while then bid our goodbyes, then Lara and I walked to the MRT.

We met with Nina at Starbucks, where we just hung out, chitchatted and had lots of laughs. We finished off the pastries Lara brought that was made by her sister, and I love all three samples. Plus it complemented the Strawberries and Cream Frappuccinos that Lara treated us to, hehehe.

Headed off to Landmark to shop for Lara's outfit for the event they're doing. The theme was French Botanical, and I was amused at how Nina easily managed to find certain things for Lara to try out. I swear, the next time I go clothes shopping, I'm getting Nina to come with me, hahaha. All of us ended up buying something, as there are some stuff there that was too tempting that we couldn't resist not buying it. Yes, the Landmark can be a place of sin because I end up buying something whenever I'm there, hahaha.

While Lara and Nina still wanted to stay and let the traffic and rain subside, I had to bid my goodbyes because I needed to get home as early I as I could, as I still had work in the morning. But the entire day was such a blast. These spur-of-the-moment things are pretty fun if you're with good company.


I got to catch TP's preview of Dugtong-Dugtong na Sumbong at the Little Theater late Thursday afternoon. That was when I found out from Gino that script analysis class would be canceled the next day, as well as the few weeks to come to make way for rehearsals for their recital of Anatomiya ng Korupsyon. As it turned out, the production had to be pushed to overdrive because a school bought shows to the recital. Aw, too bad. I mean, it's good that even their recital will have a guaranteed audience, but I look forward to those classes. Anyway, Dugtong-Dugtong na Sumbong is a children's play adapted from the folktale Ang Hukuman ni Sinukuan. Consisting of 4 actors playing different characters and animals that sometimes interact with the audience, it was pretty amusing to watch, as each actor also had to play musical instruments all throughout the play.


Just a few random thoughts. What's with the deleted comment? It's just a simple comment. Or feel mo lang mag-delete ng comment and mag-untag ng photo dahil tinutukso ka nanaman? Sensitive much? Oh well. Sige, choice mo yan eh.

There's a reason why I choose to do or to not do certain things. That's why they're called choices.

(Hey, that last one could be a status message on Facebook, ahehe.)

Quotables, going primary, setting up blind dates (?) and others.

It seems that I only update my blog weekly now. I don't get to update as often as I used to. I actually miss that. But I guess my excuse wouldn't be because I don't have the time. Mostly it's because there are some thoughts that have been bugging me, and there are other thoughts that I'm dying to push away instead of blogging it away in here.

I've come across some quotable quotes that I'd like to share. It's so funny how I just hear them at a certain particular time that I need to hear them.

"Sanayan lang yan. Ano mang bagay ay nagiging karaniwan. At anumang karaniwang bagay ay madaling malimutan ng isip na nais kumalimot." - Reformist soldier (Alimuom)

"Mas mabuti nang nangyari ang lahat kahit sandali lang, kaysa hindi yun nangyari kailanman." - Rony's quote translated into Filipino ("Amazing how fast an idea turns into a rehearsal, turns into a show, and turns into a memory.")

Uhm, yeah, Rony, for some reason, the Filipino version sounds better, hahaha.

I got to watch Alimuom last week as it was part of the Philippine Monodrama Festival, and CSB was the host, as it was performed in the SDA Black Box theater. When I watched the show, it was also Tad's birthday the next day, so I got to give him his "surprise" birthday gift (ahahaha, thanks Riki, for spoiling part of the surprise). It's nice to know how much he appreciated that gift. And one thing I enjoyed about thinking and coming up with his birthday gift was that I got to learn a little more about him through the birthday messages from his friends. And that's what made me appreciate him more now as a friend. Here's to more Starbucks to both of us, Tad, ahahaha. Don't forget to bring your new tumbler.

Argh, just when I decided to have some vocal rest, my cough suddenly returns. It's annoying. So now I'm stuck at home, silent, but occasionally barking because of the random cough. Thank goodness I don't have to take calls at work tomorrow. Nadine had talked to me during coaching last Saturday, and she told me that she has put me on her roster of would-be primary agents. They're briefing us tomorrow on one of the top projects. Nyahahay. Me, a primary agent? I don't think I'm ready for it, even though Nadine had asked me that, and I just gave a little shrug.

A close friend and I were chatting and texting yesterday, and we were talking about setting each other up with other people, just so we can go out and have fun. OK, I haven't been this cryptic since... well, maybe 2006, but I was dying to ask him something. Because we haven't found any blind dates for each other yet, maybe I could ask him if we could try out one date together? Argh. The iffy part about all this is that we're both so close that it would be so awkward, but the thing is, I remember liking him a lot several years ago. Dilemma? I'm not sure. Oh well.