Last night, I found my meager collection of videotapes. Most of it were videos I took during Trumpets Playshop showcase rehearsals since 2001. I took all the rehearsal videos and spent this entire afternoon watching them. It was so hilarious looking back at all our crazy antics. Plus I actually noticed improvement in my camera handling. Hahaha, probably because it was my first time to have full access of our video camera in 2001 (because Kuya always had it with him when he went abroad), and I knew it was really magulo (ala-Blair Witch Project) when Chevy's manning the camera.

When I popped in the video from 2001, it was... chaotic. We were doing an original musical, written by a bunch of us (in the span of one full day at a friend's house). Some people are always off to one side, talking, horsing around, while some are gathered around the keyboard with Ria, and others around Myles. Hahaha, everyone loved how the "I Like You" song was born and written for Eric (Chevy's younger brother) and Alex. Cute kids.

The whole show was pretty cliche and ever so stereotyped. Everyone was typecasted based on looks and preferences. Heck, I was casted as an eccentric artsy weirdo in her own little world. But it's simple anyway, and people couldn't believe we wrote it on our own. Here's something funny. Despite how proud Kris and I were of coming up with this show, we still have Putting It Together on a high pedestal (right, Ari?).

Hahaha, freaky. In one shot, when I panned the entire class, for a moment, Bobby's profile looked so much like Nyoy's.

In the video from 2002, there was much more people. There were too many students in the class that the younger kids grouped themselves together, we older ones hung out more often with each other. When I viewed the class video, there were even some people whose names I already forgot because they just became acquaintances. I got to bond with some of the people (still in the older group) just because of our late-night coffee shop talks after the showcase.

Hahaha, my favorite parts in this video are what you see near the edges of the frame. While a particular scene is being rehearsed, people in the background would notice the camera's red "record" light and then they would smile and wave, or occasional blush and shy away. The one who did the most waves and smiles was Luis, hahahaha! So there, every time I pan the camera across the room, try counting the number of people who would look, smile and wave.

Then there's the "hula-hoop tournament" that Chevy, Eric, Karl, Jamie and Mikki did. Because the entire showcase is a collection of vignettes, each of us would wait for our scene to be rehearsed, and we would stay in the mall until midnight. We were so bored out of our minds one night that we took out all the hula-hoops kept in the "teacher's lounge" (equipped with Jamie's beanbag, TV and PS2, Dein's air bed, Tita Luna's supply of rice crackers, and my pillows), and then went outside the venue and played with them. It was so freakin' hilarious. No one really knew how to hula-hoop, so all you hear is the clatter of hoops to the floor and contagious laughter.

Then there's the one from last year. Because of the campy musical we did, we all had the perky open smiles down pat. And there's always this annoying pair of bunny ears that Karl and Lawyn always wore. It actually came from the Children's Theater class, but because Lawyn and I had keys and full access to the storage room, we sometimes get it to fool around along with a couple of pillows the kids leave behind.

Hahaha, if Luis was the one always smiling for the camera the year before, Marex is the ham from last year.

Hmm... there's always talk about reunions and stuff like that, but it never seems to happen. I swear, when there will be one for any of these classes, I'm bringing the video to it. I was already rolling on the floor with laughter with all the stuff I saw this afternoon. Imagine a room full of the people you were goofing around with and watching the same crazy videos.

I miss those people.