Just woke up. Haven't slept since Friday.

Mimay had gotten me to act for Irene and Sheena's thesis, a film called Maria Milagros Barbarosa, so we started shooting it last Friday night.

The shoot was somewhere in Fairview, so I waited for them to pick me up at McDo near the Quezon Avenue MRT station. Hahaha, I even ran into Mervin while walking there from the station. He even told me briefly that Nicco's dad's birthday celebration was that night, and that he was going. Nicco even texted me to join, but of course I couldn't. Oh well, happy birthday, Tito Jose.

Anyway, I had to wait a few more minutes for Mimay and Irene to pick me up from there, because they still had to pick up the equipment. Got to meet their other friends who were also helping out in the production. I couldn't remember all their names, but they all put their names on their shirts with masking tape so we know who they are. Anyway, after picking me up, we had to pick up Ate Naomi (who plays Mrs. Consolacion), then it was off to the location, this duplex that was owned by the guy who plays Mr. Consolacion. I don't really know his real name, but Mimay calls him Papakins. Met the rest of the people involved, and then we got to eat dinner. While we were eating, Lamer, the guy sitting next to me, told everyone to buy his album. As it turned out, he was a member of Live Sound, one of the acapella groups that was part of Jam 88.3's The Blend CD.

Soon after, we had to start shooting. Barbie, my character, is the maid and the main character of the whole banana. So they got me into this pink maid's uniform that looked a whole lot like the ones Ate Alona has. Plus it was made of thin material, so it was really breezy.

The first scenes just involved Ate Naomi and me, and I still don't know how my character was supposed to sound like. Irene and Sheena never gave me anything. Thank goodness for Mimay.

The hardest scenes weren't until later that night. Barbie was supposed to be crying, and it was pretty difficult. I mean, the last time I had to cry for a film was back in 2001, and it was easier because the monologue helped me gear up for the crying. And the last time I had to cry while acting was in Beauty and the Beast, and that was also easy because everything was in chronological order.

It took me a while to internalize, but it was really tough because I'm the kind of person who easily gets distracted, and there were a lot of people talking and milling about. For one external scene, I had to go back inside the house and sit in one corner just to help me. Nothing. What did I do? I had a helper, through phone. Thanks, Thumper.

No offense, Mimay, but I wasn't listening every time you were trying to motivate me. For some reason, sense memory works better because I get numb at certain situations. But you were a big help just by being there.

There were a bunch of scenes like that, but because we were shooting external scenes, it was harder. The cold night air dried my tears so fast.

Then there was one scene that involved me getting rained on as I leave the house. Pressure. I had to do it in one take because once I get wet, it's gonna take a while to get me dry again. BRRRR!!! That night was already really cold, and just looking at them test the sprinklers made me even colder. And my costume's material, hello? I was looking at the rest of the people in envy because half of them were wearing jackets.

One take, with dried tears, arg... Put down bag, close gate, then stoop down to pick up bag. Whoooossshhh... there goes the water. Shout out the line, then the rain stops. I had to keep from shivering because the scene had to go on. Cut. There it goes, I was shivering like crazy, but thanks to someone who handed me cloth to use as a blanket before we continued with the next scene. COLD COLD COLD, FREEZING COLD!!!!

After the next scene, which was a continuation of the rain scene, we were given an hour and a half to rest. Just an hour and a half... at past 3 in the morning??!?? That's because they were running late. Following their schedule, they were a couple of hours late already. Oh well, I managed to get a power nap on the mattress in one of the upstairs bedrooms before someone started saying that we need to go on.

More scenes... at least there was one scene that Barbie didn't look like a wreck, hahaha. They already had a hard time messing my hair up because it was "too straight" and "balik ayos", ahehehe. I then got to meet Lena, the girl who plays daughter Vicky, that morning.

All throughout the day, one scene after the other. I only find out what scene we'll be doing just a minute before we start shooting. Lost.

Then another crying scene. The one where Barbie goes all out with her tears. My phone was out of reach downstairs because we were in the upstairs bedroom. I had to shut out Mimay's voice and dig down deep. Sense memory suddenly kicks in and I felt the tears creep out. OK, I was ready. The scene started, and then the tears suddenly began to pour. My golly, I forgot that once I start crying that way, I couldn't stop at will, like what had happened in Kaye and Abby a few years ago (when I had to keep the door shut until I stopped). But when I stopped, it stopped as well, hahaha.

Oh yeah, during the entire shoot, I was hardly called just "Hogi" except for Mimay. It was always "Ate", "Ate Hogi", "Ate Barbie" or "Tita Barbie" (last name courtesy of Neps), hahaha. Right until I was dropped off at Glorietta last night when our shoot had to wrap up, I still heard "Tita Barbs" from him as I jumped off the van.

So where was I? Oh yeah. We had to shoot some kitchen scenes with the entire Consolacion family (Papakins, Ate Naomi, Lena, and Miguel, this adorable little 11-year-old). I wasn't in the mood to shoot then, but I didn't really want to show it. I was annoyed because there were too many people going around in that small kitchen. It drove me crazy. Or maybe it was just because of lack of sleep. I couldn't even sit down.

By 7pm yesterday, we had to wrap up because they were only allowed to shoot until then. Knowing that I would just crash in my room once I get home, I wanted to end the night on a good note. I had called Nicco earlier that afternoon because he was asking me where I was, and I found out that, Drei, Erik and Cris were in Glorietta, so I asked if they were all still there. Drei was with Erik, but was about to go back to the south for a family dinner. He said that Cris and Nicco went to CCP to watch Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah. But all the same, I asked to get dropped off in Glorietta. Then suddenly Nicco calls me and said that he and Cris were going back to Makati because they didn't manage to get in due to a full house.

So I met up with the two of them at Gloria Jeans. Hung around, just talking. Wheee, we even saw Maryll! She was out with her boyfriend and a couple of other friends. Aw, we haven't seen her in ages, and when we heard her laugh, we couldn't help but laugh with her that it perked me up so much. I missed that laugh, ahahahaha. Anyway, when at around 11pm, we decided to go around and ended up in Greenbelt 3. We even ran into Bryce and Jessica a couple of times. After a while in Timezone, we decided to call it a night.

I was ready to collapse on my bed when I suddenly had the urge to go online because I missed my laptop. Hahaha, ano ba yan, I found Nicco also online. Loneliness is still kicking in, poor guy. Yeah, little bro, you gotta go out more.

Darn it, Valentine's day is around the corner once again.

Man, I'm still beat.

I think I'll sleep some more.