Mimay had called off Monday and Tuesday rehearsals, so I was debating with myself whether or not I should go out on Monday night, either to catch MNNV at the Fort, or join them before they head out to ABS to catch Lea's taping of a Sharon episode. I chose AFLS over MNNV, mostly because I haven't seen most of them in ages (I think the last I've seen half of them was during ZsaZsa Zaturnnah and the rest were at Lea's Tomorrow concert).

Mimay and Tin's persistence to meet up earlier and hang out at Trinoma resulted in me hurrying up my morning chores and both of them texting me the whole time I was on the road before I had to meet Tin at the MRT station, hahaha.

The first thing Tin and I did when we arrived at Trinoma was look for the nearest place to buy myself a ball of blue yarn and a new hook to make my crochet project. The hook I have at home was the wrong size for the kind of yarn I was using. The next thing we looked for was Mimay, who wasn't really there yet even though she was badgering us to hurry up.

Text messages to Mimay:
Dahil minadali mo kami, libre mo kami ng lunch.
Dahil late ka, hanapin mo kami. Clue: isang banyo. Hahaha!
Shet ka, nasan ka na? Baka kainin na ako ni Tin sa gutom niya.

Settled at Brothers Burger for lunch, then when we looked for a place to just sit and talk, we ended up not finding that non-existent Gloria Jeans branch that Tin had insisted. Off to Starbucks then. While Tin and Mimay talked, I took out my hook and yarn and listened to them, improvising crochet patterns as I worked the yarn into a circle. Haha, by the time they had finished applying makeup, I had something that somewhat resembled a small potholder. Progress, yay.

When it was time to meet the rest, we hopped on a cab to ABS. Jhack had mentioned a certain venue with a green gate, but by the time we arrived, there wasn't any green gate in sight. Opted to meet at Starbucks at ELJ instead. Found Jeff on the way, then we trooped to Starbucks where Jhack was. Carmel and Edcel arrived a few minutes after we did. It started drizzling, so we went inside and sat around at the food court. A bunch of us started to eat (after a little horror story by Jeff that they spent hours sitting in hunger during the last time they went to a taping, hahaha) while waiting for Betsy and Zen. Camwhoring galore and talking, along with Carmel's endless makeup application (and her rants about her eyeliner), hahaha!

Betsy was still on the way, so we decided to go ahead with Zen to the studio. It took a really long wait outside the studio, but we entertained ourselves just fine, hahaha. Seating wasn't really a problem, as Zen had reserved us a whole row. Thank you, Zen!

Being so used to live theater, I still can't seem to appreciate the business of TV production. Everyone was required to clap on cue, no frowning is allowed, bawal ang "nakahalukipkip" ang kamay... all that jazz. I remember once being in YSpeak, and because I was in the dressing room the whole time the floor director spoke to the audience, I never heard these before. Never mind that I was sitting on the front row then, directly in front of two of the cameras. Haha, I had no idea about what to say and do before they cue to commercial. Nyak.

So anyway, there we were, sitting in the audience. My fellow AFLS friends were waiting anxiously for Lea to appear. As it turned out, the first thing that was going to be taped was her singing "The Journey." Hahaha, funny moment was somewhere in the middle of the song, Lea turns to face our direction, sees me amidst our happy group, and even does a double take and chuckles while she was singing, hahahaha! Great to see you too, Lea!

As it turned out, that was the only thing Lea had to shoot to promote her 30th anniversary concert. Jeff suddenly stood to follow GR backstage, and because Edcel and Betsy were sitting on the edge of the bleachers beside me, they leaped off and the rest of us followed suit.

Everyone went backstage and hovered around, waiting for Lea. I said hello to GR, who I haven't seen since the closing party of Avenue Q. When Lea appeared, she said hello and bussed me on the cheek before the guard started herding people away from the halls. When the people started crowding around Lea, I suddenly felt Carmel's camera in my hands. Haha, it's the Tomorrow concert all over again.

Oh, those AFLS moments...
Betsy's legendary Sharpie.
"Thank you." "What for?" -Someone's Janina moment. HAHAHAHA! (I told you I'm not leaving this out.)
Carmel's cyborg transfer.

I haven't done the groupie thing in 4 years, and I'm so glad I'm past it. But it was great being with the AFLS gang again. These guys just crack me up. Too bad I won't be able to go to the concert. Girlfriend mode ako that weekend, hehehe. But let's get together another time!