After opening another show.

Things have been busy this past week, yet I feel as if there's not much to blog lately. But of course, I have to say that Wedding Singer the Musical has officially opened at the Meralco Theater this weekend, and yes, that was what's keeping me occupied this past week.

I figured things would be pretty easy considering 9 Works made changes with the front-of-house and ushering after a few little disasters in Rent early this year. I have to say that I'm glad that they finally got regular ushers, most of which are graduates from their first summer workshop. They're pretty eager, and at least I've worked with some of them before. Everyone has their own quirks, and this group has no exception.

One thing that I'm still not used to is not getting that much sleep. When I got home last Friday night after the preview show, I just lay down on my bed and didn't sleep, because if I did, I would oversleep and won't wake up in time for work in the early morning. So by the time I was on the floor at 6am, I was running on 2 cups of coffee and no sleep, but at least I was quite perky during my calls, ahahaha. Thank goodness I wasn't bouncing off the walls, though.

To be honest, I'm still getting used to how their company works, as I'm used to a particular system. It's not really negative really, but one comment that I can't but say is that they really should have designated more people to particular things, considering some of the people in charge of particular departments are also part of the cast.

Mika and Dante watched the show yesterday. Patton couldn't make it because he was busy with work. But it was pretty amusing for each of us to discover how small the world is. I only knew Mika from Patton, but she's from Ballet Philippines, which means I could have seen her a lot but never really knew who she was. It's nice to see one more familiar face whenever we pass by each other in the CCP artists entrance or in the buffeteria. Then when I passed by them in the audience area during intermission, she tried to introduce me to Dante. Hahaha, she didn't know that we already knew each other from CSB, back when I used to call him "Sir Dante." It wasn't until just recently that he told me to stop calling him "sir," hahaha.

The interesting thing about how Dante and I knew each other was that he suggested that I write for the weekly school publication back then. But even though I love writing, I wasn't really confident writing for any publication back then (even though I was once a student correspondent for a magazine during that same time).

To be honest, I actually want to try writing regularly, but I guess just blogging here is just fine for now.

Some people would say I'm not that busy at all considering I'm just juggling a couple of part-time jobs. Well, I'm also prepping up for the entire next year. I'm still figuring things out how things will turn out this December, then we'll see how it goes from there. But of course, it does help to be prepared.

A Sondheim musical, and a bit of pondering.

Thanks to Atlantis, I got to watch their production of A Little Night Music yesterday. I honestly didn't know what to expect, but people were raving about it. But hey, it's classic Sondheim, plus a cast like that? Intriguing as ever.

While I was still hanging around the lobby, just waiting for open house (it was still way too early though), I found Ed buying a ticket. Ahaha, he just decided on a whim to watch the show after work, considering that he works close by. We ended up sitting in the lobby together, chatting, while we waited for the house to open. When we decided to go inside, we ended up sitting together. Naks, upgrade ba, Ed? Hahaha.

The cast was awesome. Everyone was casted pretty well, and everyone's voices were equally powerful. I have to admit, I never really knew much about the musical's synopsis before I came, and only knew of the songs. Ahehehe. But anyway, everyone was spectacular. I can't pinpoint much about the show, but I have to say, most of the songs are of LSS-quality, hahaha.

Congrats to the cast and crew of Atlantis' A Little Night Music! I enjoyed the show a whole lot! Super thanks!

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Ever since a few days ago, there are some thoughts that have been burning in the back of my mind that I don't really want to dwell on, but they just keep coming back.

Then I keep telling myself this. I remember a relatively similar situation 4 or 5 years ago. I felt the same thing. And I made it. I managed to survive with just that, and I was happy with that. And I'm sure that I can do the same thing right now.

My Facebook status just vaguely says, "This is it. There's no stopping me now." Just a little bit of optimism, ounce by ounce.

But sometimes, I can't help it. I keep looking for the "crux," which, as I had learned in script analysis class, is the point where you had or have to make a decision, and once that decision is made, everything that follows is irreversible.

I was doing errands the entire day today, and during the bus ride home, I think I found the crux. Sometimes I wished that I could just go back to that point in my life, and just stay there for a while. I should've pondered over things a little more. But still, it's still quite a relief that I didn't linger, that I was still the impulsive old me.

Oh well.

A galleon visit, and an inspiring movie.

We didn't get to have Script Analysis class this past week, so I tagged along with the TP Actors Company to the Galeon Andalucia on Friday afternoon. I wanted to watch El Galeon de Simeon (written by Miss Lallie, directed by Tuxqs, and performed by Miss Shamaine Buencamino), and that's what they were planning to do as well. I first went to CCP and hung around with the ladies of the AC while they rehearsed their scene for their company class until Marco and Dan had also arrived.

When it was around two in the afternoon (thanks to Marco's constant time checks), the boys were prompting the girls to finish up their rehearsal because Tad had texted Marco, saying that he was already there in the galleon. I ended up leaving CCP with the boys while the girls continued with their rehearsal. That, and we all wouldn't fit in Martha's car. The boys and I decided to take a cab, but it took us a really long while to get one, up to the point where we were hailing all the cabs along Roxas.

It was already 3:30 when we got to Intramuros, and when we arrived at the gate leading to the pier, there were so many people outside, trying to get in. I knew that they had specific times for people to go aboard the galleon, plus they're only allowed 100 people at a time, but yet, these people standing outside the gate were still insisting to be let in because they only took note of the time. We, on the other hand, were trying to talk to the guards that viewing the actual galleon wasn't our purpose of visit, but to watch the performance on the galleon. The guards still wouldn't let us in because they had no idea what we're talking about. Hay, talk about lousy coordination.

Anyway, we ended up just standing there while Marco was trying to text Tad and the girls about the crazy entrance. When we saw Martha's car, we hopped aboard while the guard stopped her, and she just said in a superior tone that she needs to talk to the director first, considering that we were guests of the performance. So the guard let her drive through. Haha, way to go, Martha.

There was an annoying guy who grabbed our parking space though. A total jerk, who even mocked Martha when she rolled down her window to tell him off. Once again, money can't buy breeding.

Anyway, the performance was supposed to begin at 4, but it still took us a long while to get to the galleon. Thank goodness when Kat called Tad, he passed the phone to someone who'd come get us. Thank you, Miss Tessa.

Due to the rain and the crowd, the performance got a little delayed, but we didn't mind. We finally managed to board the galleon, but we were told that we're not allowed to have open umbrellas aboard. Either it was bad luck or whatever, but thank goodness it was one of those rare days that I brought a cap. Anyway, we got to tour the galleon, but we never got to go downstairs because we were too busy camwhoring, ahahaha.

El Galeon de Simeon is a monologue performed by Miss Shamaine, and she was so amazing, playing all those characters. Huwaw. Congrats!

After the performance, I immediately left with Miss Clottie, Tad, Rayna and Reg, sharing a cab back to CCP.

On Saturday, I had a spur-of-the-moment decision to meet up with Lara in ATC. Met up with her early in the afternoon, and had lunch at Shakey's so we could talk and catch up on each other's news. Haha, I was getting over a cough, and she was losing her voice, so we ended up ordering the same drinks, sans the ice.

We decided to watch Eat Pray Love, and while we were waiting for the scheduled screening, we decided to kill time by walking around the mall. Ended up checking out some dresses at this store where she just purchased one before we had met up, and once she got me to try a couple of dresses, I just might come back for it after my next paycheck.

We were still kind of full from what we ate at Shakey's, but considering that we had already digested most of it from walking around, we decided to look for dessert or something to eat during the movie. We ended up sharing barbecue popcorn from Tater's and Hershey's pie from Burger King. I can't believe we actually finished everything during the movie. It took a while, but we did, hahaha.

Anyway, Eat Pray Love is the perfect movie for me at the right time. I was thinking of several things, plus pursuing certain others, and this movie inspired me to do so. The lines were so right on target.

And now, I'm in the process of fixing certain things, planning certain others to pursue certain goals.

Pseudo-annual reunion with Nikki and Nicco.

I remember that it always takes too much effort to get together with some friends, and with some, it's as easy as sending one simple text message and you're hanging out together within minutes.

But hanging out with Nikki and Nicco is quite the rare occasion.

I love hanging out with Nikki. On random days, she would just text and we'd be seeing each other in ATC or somewhere in Makati in about an hour. With Nicco, it's quite the opposite, because convenience (venue, time, and whatever else you can think of) is one of his very many factors to consider.

Thank goodness for this previous Saturday. I got a text from Nikki while I was still at work, inviting me to hang out with her in ATC. Instead I suggested hanging out at CCP, in hopes that we could watch Nicco in American Hwangap, and maybe hang out with him in between shows. Thankfully, she agreed, but as for Nicco, it turned out that they can't let anyone in because a show buyer bought the afternoon show.

I headed to CCP after work, and killed time bugging Gino, Tad and Marco while they rehearsed for a scene that they're working on for Mailes' class. Nikki had arrived when they were just wrapping up. We decided to have a late lunch at Harbour Square, and ended up at Yellow Cab. We ordered the Dear Darla pizza plus got an order of pasta along with it. My goodness, I realized that I could actually finish one 10-inch pizza by myself, if we didn't order any pasta, ahahaha.

Updates here and there while we consumed our pizza and pasta, and crazy bonding moments as well. Hahaha, I swear, some of the craziest things and topics always come up whenever I'm with Nix. It goes to show how open we are to each other. Anyway, after those long talks, we decided to hang out at the LT lobby until the afternoon show of Hwangap ends. More talks, and as usual, Nikki rummaged through my bag, which was a crazy habit that she does ever since we became friends.

When the audience filed out, it was disappointing to see that very few people watched the play, considering it was a bought show. Sayang talaga. Anyway, once Nicco had emerged from the theater and had some photo ops with some of the audience members, Nikki and I managed to drag him off to Harbour Square, where we ended up debating where to eat and hang out during Nicco's break. We ended up going back to the buffeteria so Nicco can have his free dinner there while we could all talk and bond.

Ah yes, I love the bonding moments we had that late afternoon. It's never a boring conversation whenever I'm together with these two. From the serious to the mundane, and with so many quips to go around, especially quips that were pointedly thrown at Nikki, hahaha!

"Oops, sorry, Nikki! Ikaw kasi eh!"
"Ikaw kasi eh, di mo ako pinapansin dati eh."
"Kung naging kayo na lang kaya?" "Naku, mag-aaway lang kami lagi."

Funny, the last time all three of us were together was over a year ago already. And we still talk as if not that much time had passed, no matter how much stories we each had to tell. We may have grown a lot throughout these years that we've known each other, but we'll never outgrow or grow tired of each other. Oh, Nikki and Nicco, I just love you both.

Photo taken from last year, at Rai-Rai Ken Harbour Square during the annual Virgin Labfest.