Just before another busy week begins.

Another weekly update.

I don't really have much time at home to myself during the busy days. It seems that I spend more time sleeping in our office lounge than at home in my own bed during days that I have rehearsal in the evening.

We had music rehearsals this past week, and despite dealing with temporarily changing venues once in a while, plus the crazy rains that began midweek, it still didn't faze us. Well, so we did have to cancel one rehearsal due to certain flooded areas, but we managed to make up for that.

Haha, even with the cancelled rehearsal, I managed to get in a brief spur-of-the-moment rendezvous with a good friend that day, plus I got to watch Atlantis' Aida on its opening night. I loved the music, I loved their voices. Ima Castro's voice was so powerful. I'm already wondering if I could watch it again, but I guess because of my busy rehearsals days, I'm kind of doubtful.

Despite busy schedules and all, I guess I'm somewhat enjoying going back to stage management. Somewhat, hahaha. I suddenly remember that conversation with Lambert when he had asked me why I wanted to pursue acting. I then asked if I could find balance between stage management and acting, but I do seriously doubt that there could be any. I think I have to choose and focus on just one.

I miss reading book after book. I actually envied Rayna when she hung out with us during a music rehearsal with some of the lead actors (during that crazy stormy night). She was reading an English translation of "Noli Me Tangere," something that I'm dying to do since pre-prod days began.

I'm still in the middle of reading "Passport Diaries," which never fails to speak to me. It's like "Eat Pray Love" that was written for me, hahaha. Just the other day, I found another phrase that spoke to me.

I kept him around, not because I thought he was The One, but because he was Someone at a time when I was afraid there might be No One. But Someone isn't good enough anymore. Especially now that I know that being with no one can be cool too.

I love it. It's something I can relate with. It's like the character's realizations are parallel with mine. I'm so glad I impulsively bought this book instead of leaving it on the shelf.

A free day amidst the busy ones.

Yes, I'm still alive, yet being a tad neglectful of this blog. Rehearsals for Tanghalang Pilipino's Noli Me Tangere: The Musical started last Tuesday, so I've been pretty busy. Juggling rehearsals in the evening alongside my other part-time job in the mornings isn't that easy as I thought it would be, but I do believe that after all this hard work, it'll really pay off. I haven't done any real stage management work ever after Doubt 5 years ago, so this is a good challenge as well as an opportunity to hone my SM skills in professional theater.

We've been rehearsing for about 4 days now, and had finished blocking almost half of the play. Considering that there are a lot of actors who have schedule conflicts (due to some of them are in this year's Virgin Labfest as well as some other prior commitments), Wowie, Minay and I have been standing in and taking down blocking notes like crazy, especially during the times when Chie, our fearless leader, was absent. We spent quite a good time after last Saturday's afternoon rehearsals just reviewing and comparing our blocking notes with Lambert so we'd all be on the same page when we update Chie at our next rehearsal tomorrow.

The cast looks like an interesting crowd. A good variety of actors from different backgrounds, mostly familiar faces even back during my old OJT days of yore (gee, I wonder who those are? Hahaha!).

In other news, there are some days that I just wish I could just have some peace and quiet. No one nagging or complaining, no issues about me or with someone else, and no disappointments. Plus I heard some bad news that could possibly happen, but I don't want to join in all the pessimism and negativity. I do know that there's still hope, and it's not just for one person anyway; it's for everyone. That's why I cherish certain simple things lately. The chance to talk to a friend I haven't talked to in a while, even if it's just for brief small talk. The wonderful news that a good friend of mine had just given birth to a beautiful baby. A couple of free hours alone just so I can read a new book I had just purchased, or so I could watch a movie on my laptop. Or even just a random text exchange with playful banter with a good friend.

I mentioned reading a new book. This new book I'm currently reading is called "The Passport Diaries." Yeah, typical chick lit, but it's one of my guilty pleasures. Page after page, the book kept saying the right things at the right time. I love it. There are phrases that are totally for me.

So anyway, how is everyone? Yes, you, to the one reading this. I know you're reading this blog, so go ahead and leave a comment so I'll know how you're doing. =)

Just thinking, that's all.

I just realized that the last time I posted a blog about what I'm really thinking and feeling felt like 3 lifetimes ago. I remember that I only reserved those posts for private entries, so I'm more known for writing cryptic things when I write a public entries about what I think and feel.

I guess I do so because blogging has become more commercial, and personal posts only spark the interests of the people who personally know the blogger. I don't know. Hence, my cryptic posts.

But then again, cryptic posts are useless when you need solicited or unsolicited advice, or for people to empathize with you. Though I'm not really keen on the latter because it just... well, it just too much of a weak girly thing. (Blame it on my reading "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man".)

Anyway, so an old flame and I have been pretty chummy as usual, and it's not really a surprise. But I do have a feeling that sometime soon, we're going to have another argument, tampuhan, or whatever you may call it. It's like a cycle with a weird pattern ever since we stopped seeing each other.

Plus it's weird. I have a feeling he still talks about me with other people, and I don't even know what about. A couple of nights ago, I found that he tagged a girl in one of my most recent (and one of the prettier, hahaha) profile photos, and as quickly as it happened, the tag disappeared. He told me in a brief chat that he wanted to show it to someone.

Huh?

The last time he did so, he tagged another girl (a girl he was starting to like) in one of our old couple photos (from one of my birthdays), to show her what his ex looked like.

Anyway, I found it interesting and funny that I'm still one of his topics of conversation. But why talk about me, of all people, right? Anyone?

OK, enough about that. This is what I get for blogging too early in the morning. Now for some hodgepodge.

My laptop suddenly sort of crashed yesterday. Darn it. So after a deep breath and saving what meager parts of my files that I could, the whole system was completely reformatted. Sigh. I lost all my music, half of my photos and other miscellaneous stuff.

I can't wait for Noli Me Tangere rehearsals to start on Tuesday. The stage management will be meeting later so it makes me more anxious and excited. I haven't had any backstage action in a while, so I need to brush up on my SM skills.

And now, off to work I go.

A look back on 10 years of blogging.

When I had introduced myself at the blog camp, I had mentioned that I was an old-school blogger, as I've been blogging for about 10 years. Haha, for some reason, our lively host was impressed but chuckled, and joked that I had been blogging since I was 5 years old. No one really knew how old I was judging from my looks alone, ahehe.

Anyway, when I recalled that, I decided to take a trip to my old blogs. Let's have a look, shall we?


I started blogging way back in September 2001, and I had used DiaryLand. I came up with the username "tymeless" because I had already been using it before in chat rooms. It was unique, and it somehow suited me (those who really know me know why). The online diary, as it was called back then, was an outlet for me to write whatever I want without my mom having to go through my stuff (as I caught her repeatedly reading my actual diary before). I found out that posting those entries was really therapeutic. I could express what I was feeling without having to tell anyone, I could vent what was bothering me (I once made a scene in front of my friends, making a show of walking out, only to find myself at the computer lab, typing away an entry).

Then when I decided to make a personal website (which was starting to become quite a trend back then), I noticed a few online friends' sites had these weblogs, or a sort of news page for their site updates. I realized that I think I needed one of those.

I ended up finding a clean, decent platform with Pitas.com back in December 2001 , and learned how to design my own "blog." I also found a blogging community (Pinoybloggers) in the PinoyExchange forums, and we all started exchanging links and visiting each others' sites. One thing I didn't expect was that one of the bloggers there actually worked for Studio 23's Digital Tour, and for one of its episodes, they featured our blogs in one segment. It was nice to have a few seconds of fame.

Eventually, I befriended one of the bloggers in the forum, and he told me about this online journal platform that was perfect for me, albeit somewhat exclusive. We had to pay a certain fee to sign up, or we had to receive a certain code generated by someone who's already a member of that site. It was a sweet deal, he gave me a code for me to sign up, and in return, I generated a code for a friend of his.

So that's how I got into LiveJournal back when it wasn't free for everyone yet, way back in February 2002. I've been pretty loyal to it, as I'm still maintaining this site even until now. And I realized that because you can comment on entries, I actually enjoyed having an audience who reads them every once in a while, as I never learned how to attach a place for comments in my previous sites.


I also got an account at Blurty, which is sort of similar to LiveJournal, back in December 2002, and made it more private than the one in LJ. Eventually I turned it into a public blog when I found out that more of my friends from LJ also started signing up for Blurty. Sometime in 2003, I sort of abandoned LJ and focused on just updating my Blurty, until some sort of conflict within a circle of friends ensued, hence my reason to return to LJ, and even start using another place to blog.


That's how a bunch of my friends and I ended up at Tabulas in November 2003, where I really enjoyed blogging at during quite some time. I could also keep track of all my blogger friends by posting their links on the side bar, so once I'm on my page, their own blog was just a click away. By the way, I also still maintain this site, but I guess most of the links on the sidebar have been defunct for a while now.


Finally, there's Multiply, another place where my loyalties still lie since October 2006. I love that I can blog here, plus post photo albums and videos as well. Plus I loved the cross-posting options so it's very convenient for me. I never got around to using the tagging option when I post any entries, though. I guess that's how old-fashioned I still am.


Wow, that's a lot. I can't believe that I've been blogging (and baring part of my heart and soul all over the world wide web) for almost 10 years now. I once thought that I could gather all those posts and turn it into a book, but by now, I doubt it would probably take me another 10 years just to compile all of those, hahaha.

It's actually nice to look back at those old blogs. I randomly took a peek at one entry from each of those sites, and I just smiled at the memories, knowing that I survived all those obstacles, heartaches, and all the crazies that came my way for the past 10 years. Here's to 10 more years and even more.

Blogging hodgepodge.

I haven't posted a hodgepodge entry in ages. So because my blogging drive got fired up this past weekend, it's time for a comeback.

After a 5-day trip outside Manila that consisted of me having to memorize a new combination lock for my bag (that was also used for my locker at the guest house), I come back to the office on Wednesday morning with slight stupidity. Because the new lock combination was stuck in my head, I suddenly found myself facing my office locker blankly, trying to recall the combination to that particular lock that I've been using for a year, hahahaha! It took five tries and even a text to former locker partner Kyrene just so I can open it to get my jacket and clearbook. I sure hope the guard didn't think I was trying to break into someone else's locker.

Speaking of work, today marks exactly one year since I started working part-time at CVG. Wow, it's been a year already? Time really does fly. I can still remember asking Anna about my resume, how I met Kye while we were both waiting for our respective validations, plus our crazy training days with the rest of the wave. From a group of 16, there are only 3 of us left on the floor as of today. I wonder which of us will stay the longest. I remember telling myself that I'll first give it a year, then I'll see how things go. Well, it's already been a year, and I still love the work, plus the friends I have, so I'll just keep going until a turning point or a different opportunity arrives.

Speaking of opportunities (I love how this entry segues on its own), I got a text from Sam early this afternoon, asking about merchandisers for The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. As it turned out, the people from Cats are the same people behind this show. Oh my golly, if only I could. But I think my upcoming schedule might be a conflict. Oh well, we'll see.

After the blog camp, there was more.

About a week before the actual event, I got an email from Johnn, the blog camp's main event organizer, that they had planned a little activity for us non-Cebu bloggers on the day after the event. I guess it's to show us around the city and to let us have a taste of their local culture.

According to the final itinerary that was emailed to us, our meeting place was on Sunday was at the JY Square Mall at 10am. From the place I was staying at, I hopped on a jeep that passes that place (thanks to Hendri for the simple directions), and once I arrived at the designated meeting place, I realized that I was the very first one there.

After grabbing a quick breakfast, the few people finally arrived. There was Carlo, Iggy, Ruffy, Johnn plus his brother Van, some of the other Cebu organizers, then Xyza and Jam from Iligan Bloggers. Most of the guys boarded one vehicle with Van behind the wheel, while I was in Ruffy's vehicle with him, Johnn, Carly, Xyza and Jam. We also picked up Yuri while we were on the way to Johnn and Van's house.

I love the Mendozas' house. It was all the way up at Jardin de Busay. The view from their yard was gorgeous. But once they started setting up the food on the table in the gazebo, I momentarily forgot about the view and realized that I was hungry, hahaha.

It was a sort of Cebu food fiesta. There was puso (or hanging rice), Balamban liempo (pork that is "heavenly blessed" with spices, according to Johnn), Sr. Pedro chicken, Siomai sa Tisa, and of course, the one that I was waiting for, real Cebu lechon!

While we were chowing down, Johnn decided to play "mind games," which are basically those ice breaker games that I remember playing this past summer in RPT class, hahaha. It was so hilarious because by the time everyone got it, Yuri basically got somewhat frustrated and gave up during the "Chinese math" game. Johnn ended up teaching it to him, while speaking in Chinese.

Quotable quote.
Yuri: (to Johnn) Why do you hate me so much?

When everyone already had their fill, we were on the road again. It was time for the sunset cruise by Islands Souvenirs!

We first had a brief stopover to pick up Coy. While we were still on the road, Yuri had a bit of a lesson in Bisaya, and he even made a short video on what he had learned.

More quotable quotes.

Yuri: Anong meron sa Manila na wala sa Cebu?
Me: AKO!

Nyahaha, and they all thought I was so prim and proper and serious.

About Sacred Heart School being under Ateneo...
Coy: Heartenista ka, ang "harte harte" mo kasi.

We boarded this nice white banca that came with bean bags. It took quite a while to wait for Ate Imee (our guide that day), so Johnn decided to play all those mind games again to let Coy in on the fun that he missed at Casa Mendoza, and once again, it took a while for him to get it.

We were finally off! The sun was pretty much out at the beginning of the cruise, but it started hiding behind some slightly dark clouds later on in the afternoon. So much for the sunset part of the sunset cruise, hahaha. But even with that, it didn't faze us one bit. Photo ops galore, and even a couple of jump shots courtesy of yours truly (to those who own those photos, please give me a copy, or at least tag me on Facebook, hehe).

After the cruise, Sir Juned and Marck had to fly back to Manila, so Van drove them to the airport while the rest of us waited in SM. A bunch of us still wanted to do something, so Yuri, Carlo, Coy and I were the last to be dropped off... in Ayala Center to videoke the night away in Red Box, hahaha! We stayed there until midnight, finally calling it a night after hamming it up with Bohemian Rhapsody.

That day made my trip worth more than I bargained for. New friends, great food, what more can I ask for?

The following day was actually an extra day for myself to just experience Cebu on my own, or to just take it easy and rest, chill, and pack when the day was over. But I guess that never happened.

Sometime after lunch, while I was just bumming around in my room, taking advantage of the guest house's wifi, Johnn messaged me on Facebook, asking if I had plans that afternoon. Obviously, I had none, despite all the suggestions he gave while we were chatting earlier that morning. He then invited me for a little road trip with him and Van, because they were picking up their younger brother James from the airport (who was flying in from Manila). I ended up hanging out with them while waiting for James' flight to arrive, then after dropping off James' friend OJ at his house, I somehow got invited to join their family for dinner. If the day before was all about Cebuano food, that day was about Chinese food. Haha, all the while, Johnn, Van and I kept inserting tidbits about food reviewing. Balance is the key. Aw, Chef Anton would be so proud.

I guess that was a good way to end the trip. This entire stay gave me more reasons to visit Cebu more often. To everyone that was involved in the Cebu Blog Camp 2011, thank you so much. I've learned a lot, and I'm looking forward to next year. To my new friends, thanks for the awesome time... the hospitality, the brief lessons on the local dialect and of course, the laughs.

The Cebu Blog Camp 2011 experience.

I had first heard of the Cebu Blog Camp from Hendri, who had attended last year's blog camp. I got pretty curious about it, and part of me wanted to go, because, hey, I've been blogging for 10 years already. And, this is also a good excuse to visit Cebu. Heck, the last time I was there was when I flew in with Ate Sally to surprise the Doubt cast and crew, and we only spent quite a short time so I didn't really get to enjoy much of the place.

It took me quite a while to decide whether I really should go to the blog camp or not, because of course, I also have to think of my own budget for this trip. Thank goodness my referral incentive at work arrived, even though it was a little bit late. Once I got the incentive fee, I was off. I sent my registration and started checking airfare (though the rates got higher because the event date was pretty close).

I arrived at Cebu on Friday evening. Checked in at this guest house that mostly catered to backpackers, and it was pretty close to the venue of the blog camp.

I'm an early bird by nature, so even though it took me a while to have breakfast at a nearby fast food place in the opposite direction, ask around about how to get to Sacred Heart Center (despite my lack of knowledge of the dialect), the people behind the event were still setting up by the time I reached the venue.

For some reason, I felt like an alien just sitting there by my lonesome. It seemed like everyone was in a group or at least with a friend, and most were chatting in the local dialect. Thank goodness that by the time the venue had filled up with people, I didn't look like a loser sitting alone at my table, hahaha. Anyway, it amazed me how many bloggers there are out there, in varying backgrounds, interests and ages.

After kicking things off with a meet and greet (complete with own shameless plugging of blogs), on to the topics discussed.

First up was Photography 101, by Paul Gotiong. He discussed pretty basic stuff, really. I realized it was mostly things that were covered in photography class back in school. It was amusing how the die-hard photographers in the camp were suddenly tinkering with their DSLRs while the speaker was talking.

Next was Travel 101 by Estan Cabigas. He talked with such conviction, and I loved what he said that "Travel broadens the mind and enriches the soul." And of course, I totally agree that "bloggers blog for themselves and not for an audience." This really applies to me because I always find blogging therapeutic, and it's one of the primary reasons why I blog. I'm not really conscious of readers. If you read my blog, I appreciate your dropping by. If you don't, I don't mind.

There was a topic on Google and blogging by Aileen Apolo (who, I believe, is Philippines' Google country consultant). She discussed some stuff, or "cool tools that add oomph to your blog." Now there's a thought. Why am I not using those tools? Hahaha. Maybe because I still blog the old school way?

One of my favorite topics came up next. Bloggers' Etiquette 101, by Janette Toral. I love her. She was perky, she was so nice, and her points made so much sense, so here's a link to her own site about bloggers' etiquette. It's what every blogger should know when it comes to attending events. I especially liked what she said during the open forum about not blogging something that could possibly be a bad review. It's all about contacting the person privately bout your feedback, should you prefer not to publish something you didn't like. Tact is something bloggers (well, any human, for that matter) should be conscious about.

Another favorite topic in the camp followed this. Food and Restaurant Review 101, by Chef Anton Gomez. He spoke with so much passion, and I can't help but quote him on what he mentioned at the beginning of his talk. "It's an irony that the more you know, the more you don't know." And I liked that he said that chefs are open to criticism, so you have to be honest, which matters a lot.

Coy Caballes, the social media manager of Globe Telecom, then discussed Social Media Marketing 101. He talked about having a social media "diet," which consisted of its own appetizer, drinks, main course and dessert. They all made sense, and despite the fact that I was scribbling away during his entire talk, I suddenly find out that his talk is posted online on his Tumblr site and you can check it out here.

The final talk of the day was Social Media Marketing Via Facebook, by certified internet marketing expert Ruben Licera, Jr. My goodness, I didn't realize how much you can do on Facebook other than all that trivial stuff. It's a pretty good means of adding more traffic to your own website or blog.

I have to admit, I was pretty focused on the talks the whole time, and I guess because of that, I came off as too quiet or serious. At least that's what a couple of them had told me the day after, hahaha. They said that I looked pretty serious, also looking so prim and proper in a dress, and taking notes the whole time. Hahaha! That's a new first impression that I got. I had never seen myself as the prim and proper type. I think I'm actually the opposite.

In between the talks, there were freebies given away during open forums, and even though I got a freebie (courtesy of AirPhil Express) as one of the early birds at the beginning of the day, I wanted to take a shot at one of the Q&As. Haha, I ended up getting a Mozilla Firefox T-shirt as a prize, and wound up getting another one during the raffle.

After the entire thing, all of us posed for a group photo (hmm... who has a copy of the whole group?), then some people started mingling before they decided to leave. I shyly went up to Janette and asked for a photo op with her, and was too shy to gush about how I liked her talk. I did the exact opposite when I came up to Chef Anton next. I found out during his talk that he was originally from Manila, and then the world suddenly got smaller. As it turned out, not only was he from Manila, he was also from the South! We're actually from the same high school, hahaha! We ended up talking quite a bit about how to go about doing blogging reviews, considering I sort of do the same when it came to theater events.

Speaking of blogging theater events, I was actually surprised that not a lot of Manila bloggers came to the event. I was sort of expecting at least one blogger from Joriben's circle of friends to be there, because they are the ones I always see at blogging events (or at least at the press conferences that we attend).

I have to say, I enjoyed every bit of the blog camp, though I did regret not mingling that much. But the day that followed totally made up for it, and I'll blog about that later today.

Photos of the blog camp can be found at this album, so do check it out.