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.