Due to the excitement of course card distribution yesterday, I didn't mention anything else. Hahaha.

The other day, we were supposed to have Joseph rehearsals, but due to constraints regarding the venues, we ended up orienting the St Scho girls, and basically just got to talk with the Sining Tanghalan officers.

Afterwards, a bunch of us had dinner at KFC. There was Rain, Nikki, Rosh, Nicco, Altair, Junjun, Arman and me. Then we all went to Nicco's place to hang out. Hahahaha, after settling in Nicco's room, I got them to play "Golden". Not as wild as we played it at the Bye Bye Birdie cast party last year, but it was still funny.

Then we played Charades. Hahaha, the usual topic was always movies, but we decided on Filipino movies. The teams were Nikki, Nicco, Altair and me, then Rain, Rosh, Arman and Junjun. Wahahahaha, our group tried our best at the hardest titles to guess, and it was all thanks to Nicco's knowledge, nyahahaha. In the end, our group won.

After that we popped in the VCD of the LSGH production of Joseph for the rest of them to see. Hahaha, we all laughed at the fact that Zernan played Reuben in that production as well.

After a while, it was time for Rosh to leave, and some of us decided to leave as well, so Rain and Arman stayed in the room while the rest of us walked to Starbucks.

Spent most of yesterday in the theater with Cris and Ems for their thesis. Helped them out with their set in anyway that I could, so I helped paint the wooden panels along with Viv and Earl.

Did the same today. Hahaha. Though during lunch time till evening, I was with Rain, Nicco, Arman and Miko, first at Miko's condo, then at Jollibee, and back to the condo. Talked about changes and additional stuff with our show. Yay.

Hahaha, I'm getting lazy to write more.

Can't wait for September 12. The 2004 Tony Awards will be on Star World! Hahaha, though I already know that Avenue Q won against Wicked, I still can't wait to see it. They're showing excerpts from both musicals and more.

Back in high school, one of our teachers taught us to be good conversationalists.

OK, so I may not be one of the most interesting people in the world, but at least I don't stick to one topic all the time, or do small talk then go away.

Just one request please, when you talk or chat with me, lagyan nyo naman ng essence yung conversation. It annoys me when people talk about one thing for hours on end when I have little or no interest in it whatsoever. It's not that I'm closed-minded. It's just because hearing the same thing over and over again can drive a sane person crazy. It's like you have this (here we go again) "permanent hangover" over that topic. I've met lots of people who won't stop talking about this one particular thing in their lives every time I ask them how they're doing. It's like that only thing is the only life they've got. Nyak. It makes me want to say, "Next subject, please!"

Or if you chat with me with a "Hi! Musta na? Miss you!" Then after that small talk, there's nothing but silence. Nothing else to talk about? Then why did you message or even buzz me in the first place? Please lang, people. You're just adding another useless window to my screen. If you have nothing else to talk about, say your hellos and how-are-you's, then say goodbye.

Ay, que taray, hahaha.

I had to present Sir Montet a letter to ask permission to use the music room for our music rehearsals for Joseph. But then Sir Jed told me that I can find Sir Montet in UP Diliman's College of Music, because he's the Dean there.

So I decided to go to UP today. I was supposed to go there alone to figure it out on my own, but then my mom insisted to go with me.

Got to UP at around 11 in the morning. I wasn't sure where the College of Music was, even with Lexi's uber-simple directions. Hahaha, so warning to people who give me directions to places I haven't been before. I HAVE NO SENSE OF DIRECTION.

Anyway, after following the directions, I still kept wondering where the building was exactly. The first girl we asked pointed us to the building I was thinking about. When we asked this group (that looked like they were on a field trip or something, because they all wore the same kind of shirt), they said that it's on the other side of the campus so we had to ride a jeep. Ngak. The last girl we asked pointed us in the same building the first girl said. But this time, she's music student, so yay. Hahahaha.

As it turned out, Sir Montet (or Dean Acoymo, as he's known there) was in CCP and won't be back till 2 in the afternoon. Ngak. So Mom and I went to the little canteen near the administrations office for lunch, then looked for a place to hang out. Ended up sitting on one of the benches in front of the UP theater. I was texting Lexi and Maika telling them where I was then. Lexi said we could meet for lunch at Chocolate Kiss, but my mom didn't want to go far and I didn't know where that was. Maika had class.

While we were sitting there, I kept wondering what would've happened if I passed UP in my entrance exams. My entire senior batch applied, and only a few passed. And UP was my first choice because it had Theater Arts. Then from where I was sitting, I looked around. It was the type of enviroment I wanted. Grass and trees everywhere. I could sit anywhere and feel at peace. I could finally enjoy being alone in campus without looking stupid. Hahahaha.

Maybe I'll take my masters there.

Anyway, sometime before 2, I decided to go back and see if Sir Montet was already there. His car was already there, but when I went back to the office, I was told to come back at around 2:30 because he wasn't around and has a meeting by then. I was texting Mimay at around that time, and as it turned out, she was also in UP, and she was just in the next building. I told her where I was, and in the span of just a few minutes, there she was! Hahahaha.

Sir Montet arrived by then, and it only took a few minutes for him to approve my request for the rooms. Ngak.

Sat talked a little more with Mimay, then we moved to Chocolate Kiss (it was only across the street pala!) for dessert. Yay, blueberry cheesecake at last! Chatted a little while longer until Mom and I had to leave.

Getting sleepy to write more. Update again later.

After going to UP the other day, I went back to school to check out Cris and Ems' thesis. Ahahaha, in case some of you are wondering, yes, I pulled myself out of the show. I just can't seem to get a grip of the character, plus I thought that rehearsals would conflict with my existing schedule.

Got to spend sometime in the theater before the show, standing next to Dave in front of the lighting console. There was an extra headset there, so I borrowed it and bugged the people backstage. Eika, Rie and Earl were all wearing headsets as well, so we all talked and joked around.

Because Drei had quit at the last minute (the day before, actually), they got one guy to play Tony for Act 1 and Sir Zandro for Act 3. Oh yeah, Cris took my place as Paula.

So anyway, before the show began, I saw with Wed and Arman at the front of house. While I had Arman let people in at open house, Anthony said he could hear someone talking into their lapel. Ack, it was Cris. So I rushed inside and told Dave about it, who in turn told the guy at the tech booth to mute the mics. Malamang dun mo i-turn-off because what if the actors forget to switch on their lapels before the show after switching it off, right, Dave?

The play was... so-so. Sorry, Cris and Ems. I have to be honest. Cris' acting was superb, but has this tendency to get soft at the end. Faith still kept waving her arms all about, flailing it around, indicating that she's turning into a hammy actress. The 1st Tony forgot his lines, so he kept adlibbing, in turn sort of trashing what Nick Joaquin had written. Sir Zandro as the 2nd Tony was better, but it seemed that he had a lot of tension in his body, even more than the character needed. He kept one stance almost all throughout the scene, and he kept looking at the floor.

And the lapels! Gak, I don't know who to blame (hahaha, as if this was my production), but all throughout the show, I could hear people talking backstage because the mics were still on. Isn't it a general rule for actors to keep quiet backstage during a show just in case the mics haven't been muted? And why aren't the mics muted when the actors have exited? Ayan tuloy, I can immediately tell the Cris and Faith had dropped their characters upon exiting because of side comments.

Fashion show was also OK. Because some of the clothes really came from the 40's and 70's (according to Ems), they should've warned the female models about how thin the material is, because some of the girls' underwear showed through clothes under the intense lights. They should've told them to wear slips underneath. Then there was this makeup of one girl that seemed too overdone for her complexion. She looked like she had a sunburn with that foundation, and her skin was really fair.

Ngak, stop being such a critic, Hogi.

Yesterday I had to meet with Rain to talk about new plans for the Joseph restaging. Ann, the president of Sining Tanghalan, had called the other night saying that they were pulling out of the project because the girls needed to be workshopped for an upcoming show in December. Nicco sent me a text message asking where we were, so I told him so.

The 3 of us met up in the SIO, then went to KFC to eat (hahaha, we all haven't eaten, so we decided to have a late lunch). But as we were crossing the street, I started wondering why there weren't any passing vehicles on either side of the road. Then I saw a guy with a video camera and a production crew. Ngak, when we got to the island in the middle of the street, we were told not to cross the street by one of the prod crew (that Rain happened to know from high school). Apparently, they were filming something that had to do with that Berwin (sp?) guy who did card tricks from GMA 7 with all that "Yahoo!" and stuff. Hahahaha. Anyway, when I figured out that they didn't want us to cross the street yet to make a crowd, I immediately did the opposite and walked towards McDo, hahaha. The guys they managed to capture on camera? Rain and Nicco, WAHAHAHAHAHA! I gotta see that when the clip comes out.

When we got to KFC, Nicco showed us a photo of his parents. As it turned out, he was the son of that comical Jose guy in Eat Bulaga. Hahaha, tama ba namang mag-shy away from there and then getting 15 minutes of fame with that one clip.

We were supposed to meet with Nikki as well, but she was taking too long so went back to school first. Hung around in the YFC cubicle. Then Dale appeared, asking Nicco to go with him to look for his younger sibling's course card. Ngak, good luck diving through the huge box of mixed-up course cards. Eventually I had to join them there to help because Nikki was already waiting outside school. Ngak, no sign of the course card, so we gave up.

We decided to go to Nicco's house then to watch The Best of FRIENDS. Rain found Michelle and got her to go with us, and we also got Dale to go as well.

Hung out once again in Nicco's room, watching FRIENDS and talking. We even found his old Playshop yearbook back in 2002 (when he first joined under John and Jun O's class). Hahahaha, I had 3 pictures in that darn yearbook--one with my MT1 Alabang class, 1 with the Playshop Alabang faculty (Myles, Ria, Joy, Icko, Dein, Diane and Mariam), and then another one with the faculty, project director (Tita Luna), assistant PD (Kris) and the administrative assistants (Jamie and Tinay). Aw, senti, hahaha. So for a while, when Rain and Michelle went outside for a yosi break, Nicco told Nikki and me a few stories about his Playshop experience.

When Nicco's brother went to their room to sleep, we moved to the other room. That's when we started talking about the changes we were going to make in the Joseph restaging. I sure hope we can make this show much better than the first one, that's all I have to say.

Yesterday was another “non-rehearsal,” as I like to call it.

So instead, Nikki, Nicco, Dale, Cha and I went to Nicco’s house once again. This time because we were with Cha, one of our new Narrators, we decided to let her watch our show (Altair’s video). So we put Nicco’s mattress and TV in the “costume room” and holed up there that evening. His sister, Ai, also hung around with us for a while. Hahaha, Nikki even said that she wanted to keep her. Naks, mabait naman daw pala Kuya Nicco nya, hehehe.

Rain called today, saying that he has decided to resign as assistant director. His reasons was that he thinks it’s not fair anymore if more and more people contribute to the show while he gets all the credit. I agree. It’s beginning to show that a lot of people want to do something more for the production, artistic-wise. So we decided to share the position as stage manager because we’ll both be performing in the restaging as well. So we both be SM, with Cris as our deputy. I'm fine with that, because I really doubt I can handle performing and being SM at the same time.

Hahaha, I popped in my Wicked CD in my player and sang along the whole day. Gak, my voice is so raw.

Leave a comment with your name if you want to know what I really think of you, and I’ll reply and tell you. No lies, all honesty.

Post it in your journal after I do yours so I can see the reverse.




Because I can. And will. And only ask if you want the honest truth.


---I'm going to be totally honest with anything I say, so I'm going to apologize in advance for anyone I may hurt in the process. You don't have to do this, anyway. After all, I'm not always the sweet and smiling Hogi the public knows. As some of you may know, I do have my other moments, so I can be brutally honest as well. I'm human too.

People know how I'm such a fanatic for musicals. When I first started in CSB, people thought I was weird because of the music I listened to. Even in my course, I was still different. I was the only one who still loved musical theater the most.

I got influenced even more by some of the people I meet through my OJTs. Heck, there was even this one actor backstage who had the radio hostage and played nothing but showtunes all night. So of course, I would always sit on the floor next to his dresser table and pore over his CD collection.

Ahahaha, just a few months ago, at the beginning of the year, I met and befriended Ernest (through our online theater club) this guy who happened to have an intensive collection of musicals from Broadway, West End, off-Broadway... you name it, he's got it. From music CDs to videos, and even certain translations and versions. So whatever musical I wanted to know, he would give me a copy right away.

During a concert racket, Robi and Caisa managed to get to me to listen to a couple of musicals, one of which won this year's Tony award for best musical. I found a copy from Ernest, along with another music CD of another musical. Then after listening to it for hours on end, we managed to influence Teena. Wahahaha.

Just the other day, I let Nicco borrow my copy of Sideshow because one of his former Playshop classmates had a lead role in the showcase. When he returned it to me yesterday, he asked if I had other videos or even music CDs of other musicals. Then when we were holed up with Drei in his condo, he started singing lines from the show until Drei managed to pick that up. Hahahaha, so after dinner, we let him and Nikki watch the showcase. So we all ended up singing lines from "More Than We Bargained For" and "Who Will Love Me As I Am." Syempre, hirit naman si Nikki na it was her first time to hear me sing, because I never really sang in front of the cast.

So there, even while I was waiting on the curb for a ride home last night, I could still hear Nicco beside me singing "More Than We Bargained For," wahahahaha.

Went to watch Troyanas yesterday with Michelle, Nicco, and Nikki. Because it was the show's open DTR (dress-tech rehearsal), we could watch the show for free.

To avoid traffic jams along Vito Cruz until CCP, Nicco, Mish and I decided to walk all the way there (Nikki went home first and met us at the theater). Because Nikki was late, the three of us were ushered into the Little Theater by Arman. Hehehehe, the place was uber-quiet while we waited for the show to start.

Of course, the first thing I noticed was the set (duh). Interesting concept. Extended stage, yero for walls aligned with lights, and the entire floor was "dressed" (pun intended) with scattered clothes.

The woman who played Hecuba was pretty good. Looking a little mad, but that's to be expected, ahahaha. Wait, was she really there on the floor the whole time before the show started?

Too lazy to critique right now. Maybe later.

Woke up with puffy eyes. Rawr. Don't ask.

It still amuses me how often our cast gets together these days, even though we haven't started pick-up rehearsals yet.

And we manage to go around our school's area a lot, no matter how much I got sick of seeing it before.

Take yesterday, for example. First, Nicco and I went to Drei's condo for a while. Drei and I watched a Ranma 1/2 movie, Nihao, My Concubine, while Nicco tried to scrape off the color of his cellphone so Drei can paint a new color over it.

Then when Drei had to go to class, Nicco and I ended up eating at House Blend (quite a change from the usual KFC or Jollibee, hahaha) while we waited for Michelle and Nikki to arrive. The four of us hung around until Nicco had to go to class. Then the three of us wound up at Starbucks so Nikki can have her coffee jelly fix.

After Nicco's class, he came and joined us, then we went to KFC for dinner. Nikki had to leave then, because she had to go home and fix her stuff for a weekend trip to Baguio.

We ended up at Nicco's house then. First listening to some CDs in his room, then moved the TV and his mattress to the other room to watch Sideshow. Rain joined us when Nicco was still lugging his mattress from his room.

We were halfway through LSGH's Joseph video when I said that I had to go home. We got messages from Arman and Mimay then. Arman was coming to join us after his OJT at CCP, and Mimay was at Starbucks Taft with Lav and Arni. Mish, Nicco, Rain and I were standing at the corner of Nicco's street when Arman finally pulled up in his van, and inside were Mimay and Arni! Aw, I missed them, and I wanna hang out with them more, but I had no choice but to go home. Rawr.

I never thought I'd hang out with them this often after our first run.

By the way, it's Miko's birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKO!!!

Plug: Mimay finally got herself a blog!

My last post sounded kinda trivial. Goes to show how bored I am right now.

To keep myself occupied, I got around to answering the comments from that "truth may hurt...or inspire" post. And as a first, I actually logged in to Friendster and wrote testimonials for a few friends.

Now that's what I call bored, hahaha.

Two people are celebrating their birthday today...

!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM !!!


!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KYLA !!!


Ate Maui came for lunch to celebrate with us. Mmmm, she brought baked macaroni and a chocolate cake that she made herself. Aw, I sure wish she'd visit often. I enjoy the feeling of having an older sister around.

We holed up in my parents' room after lunch. Hahaha, yay, I managed to get out of dishwashing duty.

Aw, found this somewhere yesterday. It looks so adorable.



Still on pictures, I was browsing my files, looking at old photos that I took the previous year. I found this picture that Maika took of me while we were hanging out at CCP one late afternoon.



Our timing for a perfect sunset was great. I actually miss going to CCP to just sit and watch the sunset, and maybe take a bike ride around the area. Maybe one of these days, I'll just do that. Anyone wanna join me?

Watched the Tony Awards on TV earlier. Hahaha, I actually lost track of the time, so I didn't notice that it was already 8pm. If Nicco hadn't rang my phone, I wouldn't have seen the opening number.

Hearing the lyrics of Dreamgirls' "One Night Only" gave me some sort of rush. It made me miss my own days working for the Manila production of the musical. Aw...

Of course, my favorite parts of the awards are the excerpts from shows. Wicked's "Defying Gravity" is my fave. HUWAW. Idina Menzel, you rock! I'd give anything to have that musical produced here in the Philippines.

Hugh Jackman is uber hot! Specially when he did that number from Boy From Oz, hahaha. My golly, I didn't even care that he was wearing that animal print shirt, hehehe.

And of course, Avenue Q. "It Sucks To Me" is more amusing to watch than just listening to it. And the people behind the puppets are as animated as the characters they're operating. It's another musical I'd kill to be produced here, hahaha.

All those musicals, huwaw. I'd love to see all of them.

Anyway, I gotta log out now. Ciao.

I was hanging out in ATC with Ari yesterday morning, and of course, whenever I visit a mall, I always have that need to go to Gift Gate to play with all the stuffed animals. Plus I was looking for one in particular these days. I wanted a stuffed kitty cat to keep my teddy bear Barnaby company. Ahahaha, juvenile, I know, but it's one of life's simple pleasures.

So anyway, there we both were, playing around with the stuffed dogs, when Ari tossed me something. It was a stuffed kitty! Wheeee! It looked so adorable, looking at me with its cute blue eyes. I wanted to buy it right then and there, but I didn't bring enough money with me. Ari offered to buy it, but I told him not to, so he said that he'll buy it for me next week. But wahahaha, when I said goodbye to him at Friday's so I can go to Taft, I couldn't resist it going back to Gift Gate. That's when I realized I had some money stashed somewhere else in my wallet, so I bought the kitty. Teeheehee.

The kitty's name was on a tag, so she's called Cassie, and sort of became our mascot yesterday evening when I was holed up in Drei's condo with him, Mish and Nicco. We were listening to my Avenue Q CD once again, hahaha, so everyone kept passing Cassie around, trying to turn her into our puppet. Ehehehe, when we were at McDo earlier that evening, and I was singing some lines from the musical, they were all laughing at me because I could do Kate Monster's voice as well as Christmas Eve's.

I think I gave these guys too much musical theater stuff, ahahaha. They're listening to all my CD's! And they keep asking what else I have. I wonder what they'd think of the Rocky Horror Show CD that I'm bringing today? Ehehehe...

Darn YM's messed up these past few days. What in the world is wrong? People say that I'm online when I'm really on SMS mode, and status messages keep getting mixed up. Crazy.

Jun texted me while I was on my way to school. At first he was asking about how much would an assistant teacher be paid in an acting workshop of some sort. As it turned out, he got offered a job to workshop grade school kids and he needed an assistant. So he asked me. What made it even more tempting was he mentioned the pay, ehehehe. So there, starting the week after next, I'll be assisting a kids' acting workshop every Monday and Wednesday afternoon until the day after my birthday, when their showcase will be held. 30 kids handled by 2 of us? Good luck to me.

While I was at KFC with Mish and Nikki, just sitting around waiting for Rain and Nicco to join us, I saw a familiar face that I haven't seen in person in months. It was Maynard! Holy kamote, that white bleached hair was such a dead giveaway. Jeez, naging Mannos lang si Memey, di na dumadalaw sa Taft. And with that getup he was wearing, I was so tempted to sew his pants together.

Then we (minus Nikki, who had to go home, but thanks for the choco flakes!) had to go to DLSU to have some flyers approved for Friday's auditions. We had to ask around to find the Office of Student Affairs, but when we got there, the person who can approve our flyers had already left. Rawr, so we have to do it first thing in the morning. We then passed by the chess plaza, where a huge crowd was gathered to watch the DLSU versus Ateneo game on a big screen. My golly, you'd think everyone's actually watching it at the Big Dome, with all the cheering and stuff. After a while, we went to Kaibigan for dinner.

Once again, we all holed up in Drei's condo afterwards. After watching The Importance of Being Earnest, which Drei had to see for Mio's class, everyone (except Rain) wanted to listen to Avenue Q, especially because I brought my copy of the lyrics for them. Of course, despite Rain's protests, we still played the CD and sang along, so he ended up lying on the top bunk (with his Discman and a pillow over his head) while the rest of us were on the bottom bunk and cranked up the volume, nyahahaha. Naks, may sarili-sariling casting pa kami, hehehe. Drei as Trekkie Monster and Nicky, Nicco as Princeton, Brian and Rod, me as Kate Monster (syet, kinarir ba? Hahaha!) and parts of Christmas Eve, and Mish as Lucy (HAHAHAHA!). Rawr, Mish hardly sang anyway. Oist! Kumanta ka bukas!

Half of us were craving for coffee, so we went to Starbucks. There we talked about Nicco's ideas for the show. Interesting. I really enjoy it when the cast say what they want to happen for the show. Like Bobby said during the summer, "You have to tell your cast feel as if they did it themselves." But instead of letting them just feel like it, why not let them create most of it as well?

We went back to the condo to do another round of Avenue Q, then we popped in a DVD of The Truman Show. Well into the movie, I was about to fall asleep, when I heard Nicco's soft snoring (ahehehe...). Too bad I had to go home then, because when I get too comfortable watching a good movie, I'd be too lazy to move.

Gotta go for now. Have to go back to DLSU early in the morning.

I got Mae to try out for Joseph, because she kept saying before that she wanted to be part of the production. She didn't follow through then, so now that she's a fresh transferree to CSB, she asked if she could still try out.

She was with Lawyn, per usual, while Rain, Nicco and I were waiting for her at M400 yesterday. Mae didn't know what to sing yet, so I asked about any songs of the Narrator that she memorized, because she once told me that she knew all the songs. She said that she mixes up the lyrics once in a while, so I let her sing whatever she knew. That was when she saw that Nicco was listening to my Wicked CD, so she suggested "The Wizard and I", with a side comment saying that her voice isn't that good that day.

Right... she always keeps saying that. Yep, she's gonna be a Narrator.

OK, no more listening to Broadway CDs in the condo while Miko's brother John is around, hahaha. And to think that I got everyone to listen to Wicked. Before Mae even arrived at M400, Nicco and I made Rian listen to it. Then when Rian left, he texted me, saying that his LSS is "Defying Gravity", hehehe. But listening to Wicked kept Nicco quiet, hahaha. No kulitan when he borrows Rain's or Mish's CD player, mwehehehe. I actually fell asleep when all four of us were hanging out in DLSU's conservatory during the afternoon.

Meeting Jai around school today. I miss that girl. Then I'm gonna watch Macbeth in the evening. I can't wait to critique the latest that Dulaaang Filipino has to show.

Met up with Jai yesterday and had lunch with Lawyn and Mae at Kenny Rogers near school. Aw, it's been ages since I last saw that girl. We sat in the booth for hours, even though Lawyn and Mae had already left for class and stuff. I love sitting around, just talking in one place with a good friend. Jai, we really have to get together often!

Saw Dulaang Filipino's Macbeth with Nikki, Mish, Nicco, Drei, and Junjun last night. Well, it wasn't as bad as Arman had said it was. But of course, there were a lot of stuff I just had to notice...

The translation of the play to Taglish butchered the entire beautuful English that Shakespeare had created. And because of the director's translating effort to keep the dialogue modern, there was too much profanity and slang. And about the slang, it was mostly gay lingo. I mean, not all people talk like that. Maybe sa DF, oo. Jeez. Plus I heard some wrong grammar, rawr.

My head ached because of how everyone spoke. They all spoke too fast, and it didn't help when the Witches did so with microphones during their famous "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble..." because they were shouting it into the mics. Holy kamote. What's up with all that acting? Is everyone high on weed or something? They all reminded me of that retarded guy from Anchorman.

Plus the guy who played the title role of Macbeth sort of has an "R-defect", as Benj used to call it. He should've done an English play instead. And he kept talking in this monotone. What in the world? I think he got the role because of face value.

The actors have this tendency of losing their energy and worse, their character, when they're not active onstage.

Then the stage design. OK, it was a huge risk turning the theater around to make a thrust, and tranferring the audience area to the actual stage. But because of it's "experimental" design (that's the nicest word I can think of, no offense to the designer), the actors keep turning their backs to the audience too often, even when they're upstage.

And what in the world is the stage manager doing? I know Dang is a really dedicated SM, but I keep seeing her sitting next to Mish, texting people. Do you really know where you should be?

OK, that's enough.

But Charm was a standout, no bias there. It's great to see her doing something else aside from the swaying and stuff. She was hilarious as Lady MacDuff. Pose and smile here and there, hahaha. Even when she was already being killed by the Murderers, they all still had to smile and pose for the guy with the camera.

Well, the Murderers were funny in their own way too. Especially Ayem, and that girl in the preppie outfit, hahahaha!

Anyway, enough about that.

I heard that in the general assembly for the prod and tech students had last Wednesday, the topic of forming new theater company was covered. But Miss Cindy gave such a corny name. "Green Stage"? What the heck is that? It's like you're copying off Blue Repertory, specially since this new company will most likely be the underdog theater company in the school as well.

It's technically a Saturday already, so I'll write this entry according to this day.

Aside from this guy from DLSU who tried out yesterday, there were these 2 other girls who also came. One was the girl that Mimay met last Wednesday from Blue Rep, while the other was the girl's friend.

Jeez, we went through all that trouble to get them into the campus, and they just fooled around during the auditions. Well, not exactly fool around. But they just kept laughing and delaying and stuff. They just wasted our time. Que annoying.

Aside from Rain and I, Nicco and Drei were also there at the auditions. The reaction behind the girls' backs were unanimous.

*crumples their audition sheets into a ball*

Cha, Anthony's girlfriend, lifted our spirits up. I liked her voice. Narrator material. I just need her to sing another song next week to see if she can belt. She told us that she could belt, but it all depends on how well she had vocalized. Well, we'll see then.

I have to hand it to Drei and Nicco. They've been a big help these days. But honestly, nahihiya na ako sa kanila because of that. They go out of their way to help us, and we don't have anything for them except the promise of a good restaging.

But hey, I'll bet they'd be cool to work with professionally. Drei comes up with cool designs. Heck, I was already impressed with his costume and backdrop designs. And Nicco's ideas would really work well, even though half of it clashes with Rain's. I admire how their creative juices flow ever so abundantly. Right. Do I really want to break my promise of not working with friends?

In case Rain is reading this, this is without bias. Hahaha.
In case Nicco is reading this, wag nang lumaki ulo mo, nyahahaha.

This is just my take on everything. This isn't a thesis anymore. It's not just a production of our thesis group right now. It's everyone's production, so I want everyone to have their say on anything they want to happen.

We'll be starting pick-up rehearsals on Wednesday. Then I'm starting the acting workshop at The Learning Child with Jun the Monday after next. Will I be able to handle everything?

Oh yeah, after watching a few episodes of Friends in Drei's condo, Drei, Nicco, Rain and I went to Nicco's house with Mish to hang out. Mimay was with Mish earlier, but went ahead to meet with Jade. Back to the costume room, where Arman and Henry joined us after a little while. Talked about Macbeth and new ideas for Joseph, then we started playing Avenue Q. Wahahaha, per usual, Rain slipped on his Discman once the CD started playing, but then soon afterwards, he began listening as well. And he actually liked it! Hahahahaha! To quote, "Hay nako, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." After weeks of torment, he finally gave in! And he's actually asking for a copy of the CD too! Ehehehehe.

Ernest invited me last week to watch Rep's Pinocchio with him today. We met up for lunch at Kimpura in Glorietta before going to the theater. Mmmm... and to think I was craving for sushi yesterday, hahaha.

When we got to Onstage, we found Tita Menchu in the lobby while we were in line to claim our tickets. Anyway, when we were already seated, we started wondering who would be playing Pinocchio that afternoon. I mean, yeah, Liesl Batucan's been acting in practically all of Rep's shows, but I'd like to see one that's she's not in.

Sure enough, Pinocchio was played by Liesl. At first, Ernest and I were chuckling quietly in our seats while she was being dragged by Mai-Mai (Angelina) towards Tito Bonggoy (Gepetto). But when they started playing with the strings, holy kamote, she really did look like a stringed marionette! A-mazing.

The sets were pretty good too. They really maximized the use of the theater. Flys and flats galore. Very well thought of. I specially liked how Pinocchio slid inside the huge whale. Literally. Hahaha, there was a slide behind the whale flat to show that he got swallowed up.

Yay, I finally have that Wicked video! Plus I got to borrow a video of Boy From Oz as well! Thank you, Ernest!

Hahaha, so the moment I got home, I popped Wicked into my player. Holy kamote, I fell in love with it.

Sorry if you won't find me online as often as before. I'm gonna be pretty busy for the next few days to juggle our show and the acting workshop I'll be facilitating.

Wish me luck, ahehehehe...

My golly, I wonder how ngarag I'll be by the end of next week? Or even by the end of the workshop in December? Oh well.

Hahaha, what a stupid title.

Sitting in an internet cafe while waiting for Nicco to arrive.

Jun dropped off my Workshop book this morning. Wahahaha, I was about to take a bath when he arrived, ngak. What a state I was in.

Was chatting with Kuya earlier concerning his flight details. He needed to reschedule his flight ASAP, so I had to call up my mom to tell her what to do. Huwaw, thank goodness I charged my phone before I left the house, otherwise, it would completely more than drained before our conversation ended.

Apparently, the whole workshop at TLC is still kinda tentative, so I'm still on standby, mostly because Jun might be busy in December. And to think that I'm not even capable of teaching kids by myself yet. But if ever it falls through, what the heck am I going to do to earn?

Then there's this thing about the company we want to establish. It's sort of on hold for now, because of all the stuff we're still working on. As for the Joseph cast, we're going to give them some more workshops for now, because some of the actors need some work.

But wouldn't it be cool, though, that we have our own company? Wahahaha, dream on, Hogi. But seriously. I mean, I have no direction when I get out of school. Every time people would ask me what I'm going to do when I graduate, I would always say, "Freelance." Nyak, I sound so pathetic. Anyway, it would be interesting.

Oops, I forgot that today's a Friday. Peachy's dropping by DLSU to submit her application form. Ahahahaha... I sure wish there are more than 24 reusable hours in every day.

Just wanted to share... I had the creepiest dream last night. Someone who hates me so much without reason (*cue music of Wicked's "What Is This Feeling?"*) started talking to me as if we were friends again. Scaryyy... Well, I was told that dreams are about stuff that had happened before in the past or stuff that will never happen. Take your pick, wahahaha.

Getting hungry... Where in the world is Nicco? And Mish? And everyone else?

Before anything else, let me just say this.
This is my journal, my own thoughts, so I don't mean to offend, insult, or belittle anyone in any way. My public posts are just my opinions; my own points of view. So if anyone has anything to say regarding anything written here, be reasonable. I'd appreciate it if people be civil and comment or come up to me in a calmer way.

Anyway.

Yesterday evening, we were supposed to workshop on movement for the Joseph cast. As it turned out, only Drei, Nicco, Mish, Cha and I were there. So what were we to do with just five people?

Wink murder. Teeheehee...

Yeah, I know it's just a game, but because we wanted to do something, and turn it into sort of a workshop, we played it with a twist. We wrote down the roles on slips of paper (killer, witness, police, victims) and set it up in one pile. Then we made another pile, and written on this set were characters that we thought of out of the blue. Each of us would draw one slip of paper from each pile, and that's what we turn out to be.

So instead of just sitting in a circle, we walked around the room, as these characters we pick out, as well as being the killer, police, witness, or victims. Wahahaha, it was so crazy, but we all had a blast.

We saved the slips of paper so we can do it again next week, with a bigger group. Then we could also have more killers and policemen, hehehe. And we need to come up with more characters. I played the clumsy bird that keeps crashing into walls a little too much already that I found a new bruise on my leg this morning, hahaha.

Thriller marathon at Drei's condo last night with him, Nicco, Mish and me. Well, not really a marathon. Drei, Nicco and I watched Identity during the afternoon, but since Nicco didn't get to see the ending (amazing twist! You gotta watch this movie!), we watched the video again for him to see it. Then we wanted to see another movie. Drei then proposed we watch this other thriller, Godsend, so we did.

Imagine all four of us, huddled together on the bed, with the lights off. Wahahaha! Then once again, there were instances when Nicco fell asleep beside me, and we could all hear his soft snoring (peace, Nicco! ). I think Drei and I kept waking him up because we kept moving around, while Mish was off at the end huddled up on her own.

After the movie, we all just lay there and talked while listening to music. Then during first couple of hours of morning, we just lay there, until John said he wanted to use Miko's PC (which we were using then). He and Drei moved the PC to the other wall, and we ended up just lying there on the bed. Hahaha, we even tried to fit all of us without no one dangling over the edge. Hehehe, it kinda reminded me of that modified version of musical chairs that the Urinetown cast did last year...


Can you guys think of something better than this? Hehehe...


Anyway, I gotta get going for now.

Got this from everyone else's blog...




Nyak, "caffeine" is spelled wrong.
Oh no, I am a "word nerd", wahahahaha!

Was browsing through the blogs that are linked here, and I managed to find some interesting stuff to read.

(Meantime Girl and Audition Notes...)

Here's a shoutout to Tin. Belated happy birthday, girl! (This is the nth time I greeted you since last night, hahaha!) Twas nice chatting with you last night.

Why am I awake at 8 in the morning? I should be sleeping in on a day like this... *hauls self back to bed*

My cousin Beverly asked me last night if I can go with her to CCP on Saturday. Her Japanese Language class is required to watch 2 contemporary films out of the 6 being shown for Eiga Sai (festival of Japanese cinema) at CCP's Dream Theater.

So we're watching the two films that will be shown on Saturday, Juvenile and Waterboys.

For those interested, here's a listing and schedule...

Waterboys (2001), a comedy about a group of high school boys who join a synchronized swimming team

The Twilight Samurai (2002), about a low-level samurai who is called on to defend the honor of his clan although his heart is not in it

Hush! (2001), a self-centered gay man is forced to find out what family means when he finds himself in a triangle with a man he loves and a woman he got pregnant

Juvenile (2000), a child discovers a time-travelling alien and they become friends

Don't Look Back (1999), two 10-year-old boys get into all kinds of mischief together and soon learn of the brutality of life

Give it All (1998), about a high-school student who decides to form an all-woman rowing team after he is rejected by her school's all-male team

Eiga Sai Schedule of Screenings

CCP Dream Theater

Sep 29 (Wed)
7:00 PM Waterboys

Sep 30 (Thu)
4:00 PM Dont Look Back
7:00 PM Twilight Samurai

Oct 1 (Fri)
4:00 PM Give It All
7:00 PM Hush

Oct 2 (Sat)
4:00 PM Juvenile
7:00 PM Waterboys

Oct 3 (Sun)
4:00 PM Give It All
7:00 PM Hush


SM Megamall

Oct 6 (Wed)
2:00 PM Waterboys
5:00 PM Juvenile
8:00 PM Hush

Oct 7 (Thu)
2:00 PM Dont Look Back
5:00 PM Twilight Samurai
8:00 PM Give It All

Oct 8 (Fri)
2:00 PM Hush
5:00 PM Waterboys
8:00 PM Juvenile

Oct 9 (Sat)
2:00 PM Dont Look Back
5:00 PM Waterboys
8:00 PM Twilight Samurai

Oct 10 (Sun)
2:00 PM Give It All
5:00 PM Waterboys
8:00 PM Hush

Oct 11 (Mon)
2:00 PM Dont Look Back
5:00 PM Hush
8:00 PM Juvenile

Oct 12 (Tue)
2:00 PM Twilight Samurai

Oh yeah, one more thing... All shows are FREE!

Kuya arrived yesterday from Korea for a week-long visit.

Ahahaha, while we were sitting next to each other, him in front of the PC and me at his laptop, he started showing off his new MP3 player (oooh, I like the red color). Then I couldn't help it, I told him that I wanted him to listen to something. I popped Avenue Q into the CD player and made him listen to "The Internet Is For Porn". Knowing Kuya, who easily gets amused at simple things like Spongebob Squarepants' annoying voice, I knew he'd laugh at the first few lines.

So of course he made me leave the CD with him, hahaha.

I was hoping that there would be more people last night for our cast workshop. But I hate the annoying silence of my phone whenever I ask them to reply whether they're attending or not.

Well, at least more people came. For a warmup, Lawyn suggested we do that whole "Heaven, Earth and Man" thing that they did with Tito Freddie during the previous summer's Playshop. Hahaha, when we were finally allowed to go freeform and pose in whatever way we wanted, someone commented that I looked like Spiderman (well, squashed on the floor) for one Earth pose.

Then we played another round of wink murder. This time, we added more characters and victims. Hahaha, I ended up drawing at least 2 of the new characters. And because of one of them, I found 2 new bruises on my knees this morning. Grr...

Finally, we played "Who's the Leader?", which is one of the first exercises I did in Playshop. Hahahaha, hilarious... specially when Miko attempted to do the "Ocho ocho".

Dinner at KFC with Rain, Drei, Nicco, Mish was pretty interesting... We were already looking towards the future of CLOKWORX. My golly, the things we talked about, hahaha. It could happen, couldn't it?

Met up with Alex, Kat, and Myra in front of school at around noon today. I volunteered to help them book the Akafellas for their upcoming thesis in February, so I went with them to meet with Kyla at Starbucks Magallanes.

Had lunch somewhere near there, until Pam arrived, so we moved to Starbucks and waited for Kyla. When she arrived, business talk right away.

When everything was all set, Kyla started asking about the technical theater course, because she had sort of dabbled in that aspect for Blue Rep, plus mixing the Akafellas' mics and all. She also had to say one of my little mishaps that had happened in the most recent concert concerning that darn follow-spot, wahahahaha.

Got this from Kyla's blog... My golly, we got the same result.


"Into the Woods"


Which Broadway Musical Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


*note to self: Wicked for Lawyn, Mae, Altair, Kyla, Tin and Anna. Huwaw.

After dinner, Rain, Nicco and I went to St Scho to watch the DTR of Pepe and Pilar with Mimay, Mish and Nikki. Hehehe, we decided to watch because Arni's in it as part of the ensemble, and the pink habit clad Sister Bianca.

Aside from Arni, I saw lotsa familiar faces. There was Pam, playing Catalina the "kunsintidorang pusa", as I called her. Then there was Roy, playing one of the title roles. Miss Lani, as part of the ensemble. And to my surprise, Gary from the first Alabang Playshop was there, playing China Cojuangco's dad. Plus I think one of the girls from this year's Playshop Master Class (the one who sang Rent's "Without You") was also there as part of the ensemble. And then in the crew, there was Joey and Lemuel.

After the show, we all went to Starbucks to hang out. Henry and Lav joined us after a while, then when they had to leave (along with Mimay, Nikki and Mish), Drei suddenly appeared. As usual, we ended up sitting there, just talking till around midnight.

Lately, I've been feeling ever so numb about certain things, then uber-sensitive about other stuff. Plus the huge problem about myself is that I don't know how to talk it over with friends if something is bothering me. So what happens? No one knows what's wrong with me. Hahaha, I remember that line from Perfect Strangers... "I'm a hollow reed... Trouble blows through me like the wind..." Anyway, I guess I'm still too secretive. When I'm being bugged by something, I stare off into space or fake a smile. Or both. Oh well. But whenever something's wrong, I don't show any reaction. Hahaha, I actually like it that way. I don't want to haunt myself with the negative stuff, plus I don't want any commotion. Civil? Is that the term? Ehehehe...

Talk about being civil... Uhm, next time, nyahahahaha...

"What's on your mind?"

Someone asked me that question a few hours ago.

There's a lot of stuff going on in this little head these past few days, and everything is such a mess that I can't really put into words everything that is wrong or good or anything. I feel confused, I feel frustrated, I feel...

...I feel like such a mess.

I guess that's why I felt a bit numb during the evening.

I felt some tension the same time someone felt it. But because of the situation, I put up a wall so I don't have to crumble.

Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm completely manhid. Guys (yes, you), I'm sorry if I didn't say or do much. I don't want to talk because I have this tendency to be tactless. But I'm still here, though with a fake and tired smile, part of it is still sincere, knowing that you're still eager to do this with me.

Saw Pepe en Pilar (the actual show) with Mimay and Lav. Much better than the day before, but the audio was still kinda bad. Plus they shouldn't have let little kids endure sitting through a play that long. They were getting restless by the 2nd intermission break.

It's September 30th.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD !!!


Getting sleepy. Time to hit the sack.

To quote Sir Dante, “My opinion is my opinion.”

Apparently, I’m being talked about by Dulaang Filipino because of what I wrote about their production of Macbeth.

To the members of the org who can read this, may I repeat: This is my personal blog; a place where I write my own thoughts, my own opinions. If you find something negative about you in here, I’d appreciate it if you personally tell me that you don’t like it at all. And please be civil. Anyway, this is not some high-brow publication that can actually have the power to bad mouth you to the whole world.

What's more is that you had a choice whether to read it or not. If you chose the former, you have to accept everything that was to come your way.

Let’s face it, we all hate lousy critics, right? But if you find one person saying some negative about stuff that you worked hard and slaved for, what more if more people come your way in the same manner? Why does it affect you so much when just one person brings you down? What would you do when you hear more negative stuff in the future?

I didn’t write the critique to bring anyone down. It was just a personal point of view. So take it easy. It’s not like I hated the entire show. There were still some aspects and parts of the production that I enjoyed somehow. Plus I’m sure that other people have lots more to say, be it more criticism or praise. Most likely I’m just one little speck in your universe for all you care.

That’s it. Easy lang kayo. Peace!