Thursday, September 4, 2008

With Carla and Drei... Southside re-unite, with a high school theme.

Spent the entire afternoon until evening with Drei and Carla at ATC. Southside unite! Hahaha, basically we only had plans on watching a movie, then playing it by ear. Everything turned out to be a "back-to-high-school" thing, because almost everything that we did was the same stuff that a "high school gimmick" was composed of back in our days.

Found Drei in Starbucks when I arrived in ATC. I always enjoy coffee shop moments like this. Spent a couple of hours just sitting there and talking, even until Carla had finally arrived. When it was already past 2pm, we headed to the cinemas to watch Babylon A.D. Haha, I wanted to watch Wall-E, which I've been planning to watch for ages, but because it was Drei's treat, I decided to go for what he wanted. Hey, I never say no to a freebie, hahaha. Thanks, Drei! As per tradition, food is a must when watching a movie, so off to the nearby Burger King stall. Man, we were only 5 minutes into the film, and Drei and I were already thinking the same thing. "Ang sarap ng chicken sandwich." Hahahaha!

It was supposedly a good movie, because Drei found a 9/10 rating of it. Well, the ending sucked. So the movie was going pretty well, specially with Vin Diesel as the lead, but there were a whole bunch of things that I just had to question by the time the credits rolled. What was up with that ending? Hahaha, we were kinda frustrated with the ending as we left the cinema.

So where next after watching a movie? Timezone! Hahahaha! All 3 of us reloaded our Powercards and off we went. The first thing we went to was the photo sticker booth, HAHAHA! My goodness, now what's more old school high school than that? My goodness, back when we were in high school, photo sticker booths were only simple Neoprint booths. Now they have more designs, backgrounds, multiple cameras... and wind effect? Hahahahaha! My goodness. After having our photos printed out and cut (manually by Drei), we headed to our current favorite game, Dance 86.4, which is a simpler version of Dance Dance Revolution. After Drei beat me in the first round, it was Carla's turn to challenge the winner. Then I declared a rematch, and I finally beat Drei, hahaha! Afterwards, we tried the Trivia game, a little basketball shootout, and then joined forces at Deal or No Deal. Hahaha, after every random pick, we ended up winning. We eventually decided to exchange combined tickets for prizes, and we each got a teeny stuffed toy for those dangly cellphone things (I don't really know what they're called), hahaha. Of course, I couldn't leave Timezone without playing my favorite game of Percussion Master, wheee. After two round of that, my arms were ready to give way, ahehehe.

Stopover at Juice Bar and at House of Obagi to meet with Drei's friend Chrissy for a while, then off to Starbucks to talk. Hahaha, common topic was propective significant others of Carla and Drei. Carla was more amusing, of course. She was so kilig the entire time that I was totally entertained. Our talk eventually evolved into drinking parties, pimping and other stuff, hahaha.

After a long while, we started getting hungry (and only realized it when Carla brought it up), so we headed to Food Choices to eat. Not a lot to choose from at 9pm, but at least we stuffed ourselves full before we called it a day.

Man, I missed hanging out with Drei and Carla and the rest of the (southside) gang. There used to be the three of us plus Nicco, Drew and Rianne, back when we were filming Kopihaus #8 (which was also brought up amidst our reminiscing). All those late nights, late dinners at SEx (Sinangag Express), and late talks outside Nicco's house as well as mine.

One funny text exchange this afternoon was with Peachy.

Peachy: Arianne's in Kapeng Malamig pala!
Me: Hahaha, you know her?
Peachy:Yeah! Hello! Sister ni Geneve!
Me: Oh shit! She was the birthday girl in 2005?
Peachy: Yes! Ano ba... Haha...

Waaaiiit a minute. So the Arianne I'm working with was the same Arianne whose birthday I crashed 3 years ago?

Hahaha, to backtrack, one time in April of that year, I went to a gig of Nyoy's to do a little surprise birthday video for Maika's 18th birthday. After shooting each of the band members' birthday greetings, Maynard got me to tag along with him, Nyoy and Nina to a couple of birthday celebrations, before we head home together. 1st was a formal debut at Manila Peninsula, then another 18th birthday at some girl's condo. The second girl was Arianne, a huge Nina groupie whose name and photos I used to see a lot in Peachy's blogs and photo albums. By the time I had arrived at the building with Memey, I was already getting stares from all the girls in attendance at the party. My goodness, you cannot imagine how uncomfortable it was standing inside the elevator with all those people, most of which were still giving me those strange stares, some with raised brows. Thank goodness another familiar face greeted me by the time we had arrived at the girl's condo unit. Camille, another Nina groupie who knew me through Peachy, started talking to me. Anyway, I think after enduring the stares of all the girls that night, I was so relieved when Memey had decided to head for home.

My golly, now I'm wondering if Arianne had remembered me from that night. Hahahahaha! I remember whispers from that time that she had really wanted Memey to be there, and my appearance with Memey was the one thing that caused all their staring and eyebrow raising.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Green with envy.

When my brother messaged me last night, I was surprised to see that his status message in Facebook read Christopher says "Wicked The Musical is wickedly awesome!"

Hogi: SHET, YOU SAW WICKED???!?
Christopher: napanood ko pala witched nung sabado
Christopher: wicked
Hogi: SHET KAAAAAAAA
Hogi: waaaaah
Hogi: may program ka?
Hogi: photos?
Hogi: anything?
Hogi: souvenir?
Christopher: i just have the ticket and playbill
Hogi: rawr, akin na lang! hahahaha!
Christopher: just remind me not to throw it away
Hogi: please please please don't throw it away

Haha, that photo is of him and his friend Joseph at a clumsy attempt to imitate the poster. Yes, my brother is the one wearing sunglasses. During the evening. Hahahaha.

After laptop hunting yesterday with Peachy in Park Square, I met up with Lara so we could go to rehearsal together. When we had decided to grab dinner first, she started asking if we have any other alternative ways to get to Taft. If we take the MRT-LRT route like I had suggested, she reminded me of the anaconda of a line to get inside. She then suggested we take a bus all the way to the LRT so we can just walk. I kept wondering why she insisted on walking all the way along Taft because we only do so when our rehearsal was at San Isidro. I still insisted on taking the MRT-LRT way, because even with the crazy lines, we don't have to endure the traffic jams along Buendia, especially when we only have at least fifteen minutes to get to rehearsal.

When we had arrived at the LRT station at Vito Cruz and rounded the block to St. Scholastica, Lara suddenly asked, "Is that the church na?" I then mentioned St. Cecilia's Hall inside the school. Nyahahay, as it turned out, she didn't get to read the text from Geli all that much and assumed that we're still rehearsing at San Isidro. Holy kamote, thank goodness we had decided to meet up in Makati, otherwise, she would've been waiting for quite a while in San Isidro.

So we rehearsed for the first time in St. Cecilia's Hall. Holy kamote, the last time I was inside that theater was during the restaging of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat way back in 2004. No wait, I was also there to watch a few shows by GTF, hahaha. So anyway, we ran through the first act, as we only had two hours to rehearse that evening.

It's so funny how a couple of the cast calls Lara, Jojo and I as one unit. "Hogi and the gang." Ngi. I hate it when people do that, hahaha. Another is when people call you by your role or by your character's name instead of your real name. Igh. Oh well.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Haircut.

I've been growing my hair out for almost exactly a year, and I usually don't cut my hair until I'm more excited than anxious about getting a new cut. So I ended up having really long hair... until today.
*Taken last Thursday during Kapeng Malamig rehearsals.


After morning mass, I went to Peach Grooming Pad right across Starmall Las Pinas. I initially planned to schedule an appointment at Bench Fix in Taft near school last Thursday, but it was the same day as our Kapeng Malamig pictorial, so if ever I didn't like my haircut, it would be immortalized in the play's souvenir program. Anyway, going to Peach was the best decision, because the artistic director knew me ever since I was 6 years old, when he was still just a mere hairdresser in one of the former salons back then. He always knew how to cut and style my hair. Heck, he was also the one who managed to curl my hair perfectly on 3 separate occasions. When I told him how short I wanted, he knew exactly what to do without making me look like a turtle with my long neck and almost non-existent chin. Almost a short layered bob did the trick. No more bangs, hehehe.


This afternoon, 4-5 inches were cut.

Hahaha, no wonder I always was a brat when I was a kid, always insisting that only Odessa can touch my hair. Maybe next time I'll get him to curl my hair again, hehehe.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Two musicals.

So I attended my first rehearsal of Kapeng Malamig last Saturday afternoon. It was great to see Gino again, my workshop superfriend, hahaha. Went to the venue with Lara, as Jojo wasn't able to attend that day.

Holy kamote, after a brief warm-up, sinalang na kami agad for choreography. My golly, I haven't been in a musical in ages, nor danced as much. I'm not really much of a dancer, and I'm not very enthusiastic if I know that there's something I can't do. Thank goodness Jerome's choreography was easy enough. Maybe it was because I got used to Roeder's dance exercises, hahaha. I remembered how to turn by recalling what he taught us, and I giggled as Gino did a jazz walk. Okay, one dance number down pat.

After a break, we finally got introduced to the production manager. Talked to her regarding the usual matters, plus background of the theatre group and additional stuff. By the time we were done talking, the rest of the cast had already begun to choreograph another production number. The first time they rehearsed it, I was waiting for my turn to talk to the PM (one-on-one), and Geli, the stage manager, put me among the ensemble again. My face was completely blank, but I managed to follow the steps as easily, thanks to a couple of cast members who would pull my hand and whisper as to what to do, yay. So anyway, Tiffy, our director, had decided to re-block and redo the choreography. Hahaha, it looked as if it were choreography for a boyband's dance number, hahaha. But in fairness, I actually enjoyed dancing the whole day.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I had expected my thighs and arms to be really sore because I wasn't used to dancing that much. Sure enough, I was sore, but just a little.

Off to RCBC after mass for Peachy's thesis. Songs For A New World had to run a DTR at around 2pm, and because I will be working at the front of house, I needed to watch the DTR so I could see the entire show. Peachy briefed me on the distribution of the remaining tickets, as well as the pending payments, plus the selling of the souvenir program. Because of the weird price, we realized that we didn't have enough smaller bills for change, so Sundee and I went to the parking area to break some change. Managed to break a couple of large bills at their office, yay.

The DTR began past 4pm, so I settled in my seat a couple of minutes before the run started. The ushers trickled in one by one during the show, except for Jhelo and Bulinggit, who had arrived before the DTR. Yay for Mimay, who was to be my right-hand man at the FOH. It was tough to find ushers for that day, especially because the Blue Rep gang was paying to watch this event. By the time Joms had arrived, I was only one usher short because Elai never arrived. Oh well, balcony's pretty easy to handle anyway, plus Joms had told me that he had perfect attendance during Avenue Q's farewell run.

By the time people started arriving, the front of house was crazy. People came up to us by the dozen to claim their tickets and to pay for them. For a while, I never got to follow Peachy's ticketing chart. Oh well. But it was great to see a whole lot of people, most of them being familiar faces. Even friends that I haven't seen in ages appeared! I just love the turnout.

I was so glad when the show finally started. Mimay and I bummed around the lobby with the rest of the ushers, like I used to do during Atlantis shows. Camwhoring and talking galore, plus hogging Taste Temptations' yummy cookies and pastries, hahaha.

I have to say, Peachy and Janina's thesis was a big success. I could hear the huge burst of applause and loud cheers through the double doors after every song number, and the audience crowded the entire lobby for almost an hour, congratulating people, mingling, taking photos ops, etcetera. Now this was a really great idea for a thesis. What a turnout!

Congratulations to Peachy, Janina, Robbie, Carla, Caisa, Anna, Harold, Felix and everyone who was involved in Songs For A New World! Can't wait for the rerun of this one!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Tough.

Ang sakit isipin na hindi ka susuportahan ng mga mahal mo sa ginagawa mo. OK, so fine, hindi naman sa wala silang tiwala sa iyo. So maybe they want what's best for you. Pero parang ganun din ang pakiramdam eh. Alam ko naman ang priorities ko. Tapos ganito ang mangyayari. Halos pareho lang ang mga ginagawa natin at walang humpay ang pagsusuporta ko sa iyo sa kahit ano. Pero dahil pinili ko ito amidst all that's already happening sa buhay ko, wala akong makukuhang suporta sa iyo.

Bakit kailangan pang pagpilian? Ang sakit talaga.

Immediatly looking for another outlet.

Last Thursday evening, I went with Peachy and Janina for their rehearsal of Songs For A New World. Haha, I've always wanted to check out their rehearsals, but clashing schedules and the venue was a problem.

After class, we headed off to 9 Works. Crazy cab driver. Anyway, they were starting rehearsals late because Felix will be arriving about an hour late, so a bunch of us first went to Hotshots to grab some dinner. After chowing down, it was time for the run through to start.

I love the songs in Songs For A New World. I have last-song-syndromes of almost half the songs. Anyway, while I was sitting there as they began the second act, I sent a text message to the Tartuffe gang. I said I missed being in a musical. Paging Dingdong and that new musical that he's writing, hahaha. And what about Xanadu with John and Edz? Hahahaha!

Anyway, because of that thought, another outlet might begin. Haha, Jojo, Lara and I just looked like we dropped by last night, when we were actually supposed to audition. And it's amazing how small the world gets every day.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Curtains: Tartuffe.

We are now "un-Tartuffeefied." Crazy days of rehearsal and "non-rehearsal" are over. Things were always crazy, and I have to admit that it's quite a relief for it to end. The cast and crew were such great company, and it was a delight spending time (and killing time as well) with them.

It was Tara who told me about this thesis production while we were at one Labfest rehearsal venue. She said that a bunch of them were already casted, but can't commit anymore because they will be involved in The Golden Child. So she gave me a bit of info and I managed to schedule an audition (which lasted for about 5 minutes).

Anyway, yesterday's call time was at 8 in the morning. By the time I arrived, there were only a handful of people. Sigh. Call time seemed useless to some people even on the day of the show. After an hour still, not everyone was there in the theater. Put the camwhoring on hold and began dressing up, especially because lacing up those corsets required the help of another person. My costume had consisted of 4 pieces of clothing, 2 of which needed lacing up from the back. My goodness, because of the corset, my waistline was reduced a few inches, so my skirt felt like it was falling off. Thanks to Allie, we managed to fix it, and keep my petticoat and corset from coming out from my skirt and top. I slipped into them before I had my hair curled. Holy kamote, once again, because of my straight hair, it was uber-tough to curl, but thanks to Kaye, the outcome was pretty good. Yung makeup lang ang hindi ko makayanan. It was the same level as my makeup in Beauty and The Beast 4 years ago, hahaha. But I guess it was pretty close to the makeup they really had during the Baroque period. Holy kamote, from call time until whenever, Jojo was on the thesis group's nerves, as everything wasn't complete. Costumes, backstage assignments, food... oh, so many to mention. In fairness, I love how Lara's costume as Dorine turned out.

We never had a run-through before our 1pm show. We only did a paper tech, then rehearsed the curtain call. Oh well. That's what we get for people not coming in on time, even for once.

1pm show. Because of the non-run through, I realized that the only way to reach stage left was behind those darn bars, if the fireplace wasn't in place. I felt sleepy, and I only became pretty alert during the 3rd act with John and Dingdong. A bunch of forgotten lines here and there, but we barrelled through. But all in all, we did manage to pull off a good show. Wait a minute, was that Sir Tim Dacanay I saw sitting in the front row? Thanks po for watching!

Break time. Found out that our food wouldn't be arriving until half an hour before our evening show, so we had to fend for ourselves. Still in makeup and some of us sporting one piece of costume, we headed upstairs to the cafeteria for food. A bit of rest, then I slipped back into my top (I was wearing only my corset under my jacket the whole time) so I can have my hair curled again, this time by Pangga. Still couldn't get over the makeup when I had it retouched, so I went behind the door to fix it, getting Lara to check it for a second opinion, hahaha.

6pm show. I felt much better with this one, but even with that, I still ended up forgetting the same lines I had forgotten during the first show, hahaha. And because I got more comfortable with my fan, I got a little too attached and found a way to bring it with me until the final act, and Lara even made good use of it, hahaha.

Betty and Opa watched the show! Thanks ladies! Hope you enjoyed, despite your notes, ahehehe. Dinner at Tapa King with the two after the show. Chikahan galore. Man, I missed these girls. Too bad Mimay couldn't make it. There must be a next time, hehe.

Joined a bunch of the cast at Providence for videoke and drinks. Found Jojo, Edz, Lara, Dingdong, Grace, John and Darwin already there, armed with beer and tokens. Hala na, audition na rin ito para sa musical that Dingdong's writing. Jay, his girlfriend and a couple of their other friends dropped by for a while, but after a duet, they all left. Then the rest of the night was full of camwhoring, incriminting photos (HAHAHA), Xanadu, and crazy toasts.

Shoutouts and those darn toasts to follow in a separate blog. Hehehe. Time to grab some photos from everyone's Multiply albums. Congratulations to all those "tartuffified"!