So yesterday was the Songs of Stage and Screen concert.

Our call time was at 8 in the morning. Had to drag my sleepy bum off the bed early in the morning. It was around 8:30 by the time I reached U.N. Avenue, but when I texted Tricia, I found out that no one was there, and she was still out looking for a hotel Anna could stay at. So I walked past Philam Life Theater and went straight to McDo, hehehe.

I decided to walk back to the theater at 9, and I saw Tricia getting out of a cab. Hehehe, nice timing. Anyway, we were the first ones there, so Tricia got me working on unraveling the red paper twine while she started making flower bouquets, which will both be used to dress the set.

Hannah and her musician boyfriend Naldy (who will play the piano alongside Sir Jed for the concert) arrived then, and we started fixing the IDs. Then we waited for the stage riggers, the smoke machine guy, Sir Manolet, Mara, Dhel, Dang and Jhoi. When the other girls arrived, Tricia asked if we knew what our assignments are. Dang then took a piece of scrap paper and listed it down, and then insisted that Jhoi be Nyoy's PA, hahaha, because she has a crush on him. But Tricia went on, saying, "Yung nasa list ko yung final, and si Hogi kay Nyoy kasi kilala na nya sya. Kay Reuben na si Jhoi." Then off we went to fix the light curtains. The stage riggers were done with the set, so we went to the stage to dress it. Naldy was at the piano while we did so, and Sir Manolet started singing. Hahahaha, I even snapped a pic of him singing next to the Broadway-Hollywood post.

Pics to follow, because my brother left the cable in his office.

Hannah then handed chores for me, like buying water for all the guests and crew (huwaw, work-out), and buying specific batteries for the walkie-talkies and the wireless mics. I had to go back outside lotsa times plus it started drizzling as well, rawr.

Anna (with yaya Sally in tow) and the guests started arriving at around noon for rehearsals. There was Sir Jed, Sir Montet, and the CompanY's Reuben Laurente. Then I wondered about Nyoy, because I knew they had a Pampanga gig at 4 pm. So I texted both him and AJ, and they both said that the Pampanga gig was cancelled and that they'd be at the theater by 6 in the evening. Rawr, why the heck didn't they come for rehearsal, I have no idea.

After meetings, more rehearsals, more errands, we were getting hungry already by 5pm. Hannah said that dinner will be arriving at 6, so we had to wait. The other volunteers that happen to be Dang's friends arrived at around 5, and they started hanging around the stage and the audience area, which was fine because we weren't doing much anymore anyway.

Then I get a call from AJ, and he said that he was at the entrance already. When I asked where, he said he was outside, along Paseo de Roxas.

What the...?

He was at Philam Life Tower in Makati!

ME: Age, the concert is at Philam Life Theater along U.N. Avenue!
AJ: Talaga? We were told na dito daw eh."


Ay, que...ewan ko ba.

So he waited for Nyoy to arrive and they set off for the theater. Nyak, I have no idea who got it wrong. He said that that was what the office told them. *bonk*

Hahaha, it was already 7 when we were all sitting in front of the dressing rooms, when AJ texted that they were already there, just parking. Jhoi was already waiting in anticipation that every time the door opened, her head would turn in that direction. When they finally arrived, I had to introduce the whole crew to them, and AJ remembered Dang as "Dang Minerva from Friendster", hahahaha.

Finally, the food arrived! MMmmmm... The OJTs all grabbed their own, while Hannah and I had to distribute the food to the artists. Then we realized there wasn't enough food, so she let me get one of the two remaning (the other one was for the smoke machine guy), and that left her and Tricia with nothing. So I started eating, and noticed that the others had eaten so fast so they can find time for a yosi break.

When I finished mine, I decided to hang around with Nyoy and AJ. Hahaha, what's new, Nyoy was clutching another deck of cards, so I asked if he has anything new. Yep, he has a lot. He showed this "kinda creepy" trick that involved my sequence guide, and then when we were with Sir Jed and AJ in their dressing room, he showed me this uber-creepy trick (in Nyoy's words, "di ka makakatulog mamayang gabi"), where the card I was holding ended up all the way across the room and inside Sir Jed's dictionary! That happened before company call so I ended up shrieking as I left the room, with an amused Sir Jed and Sir Manolet staring at me.

When the show started, I was still hanging around with Nyoy and AJ because Nyoy's appearance won't be until way at the end of the concert, because he was the last guest. After a while they decided to go outside for cocktails daw. It wasn't till intermission that I found out that they had sneaked into the theater to watch the show. *bonk*

After intermission, Dang had snuck in two of her friends and let one of them wear her ID so they could get to see Nyoy. So all the volunteers and OJTs were there outside the dressing room. I decided to take a picture of the whole group, so we had a pic taken. That's when Tricia saw us and blew up, saying, "Kaya pala walang nagagawa eh! May photo session pa kasi kayo dyan!" Whoops. Of all the times she walked in on us, that moment pa talaga.

Tricia was in a bad mood because lots screw-ups started happening one after the other, like the curtains, the cueing, Anna's lost lyrics...gah... I wanted to avoid all the people like crazy. So after intermission, kulitan na lang kami ni AJ like we did along with Nyoy during the first part of the show to take out all the negative vibes. In the dressing room, Jhoi and 2 other friends of Dang went in with me so they can stare and gape at Nyoy while he talked with Reuben. Uhm, hello? What are you doing?

When Sir Montet was already singing onstage, I finally told Nyoy to get ready, so he got dressed and went on tinkering his guitar. Then when Anna finally called him, off he went.

Then it was time once again for another anticipated screw-up. We were looking for the kid who will be handing Anna a bouquet of flowers, and we couldn't find that darn kid anywhere. Sir Manolet then said that we get Miss Cecile instead. He caught me running from the lobby backstage to relay the message to Dang, and he said "Presence of mind, people!" I think he thought I was watching the show instead of working backstage.

Blunders aside, the show was OK. AJ had asked if they could leave after Nyoy's spot, because they were going to Aelain's debut. Uhm, Age? It's 11 pm, and you're expecting to be there at Sulu Hotel in QC when the party's gonna last until midnight lang? They ended up staying till after the show because they had to talk with Sir Manolet. Hahaha, plus they got stalled even more when the abaniko volunteers just had to talk with Nyoy and have their IDs signed and have pics taken with them.

After everything, off we went to strike the set. That meant taking out the light curtain, plus removing all the Christmas lights we had attached to it. Then company call time with Sir Manolet, where we discussed everything that had happened. When it was time to go, Sir Manolet even asked for a group picture. Lucky for him, I had space left in my memory stick for one more photo.

I'll post pictures soon, promise.