Ac-Comm-paniment 2011: Comm Roast 2011, Together, Forever. Sorta, Kinda, Like-a. :D:D:D:D

- February 26, 2011, Saturday

- After running around school this morning for clearance stuff, I stressed over what to wear for this afternoon's Comm Roast. The Comm Roast is a yearly tradition where AB Communication seniors gather together "for one last time," aside from graduation, chill, relax, party, and eat. The event is always organized by AComm, the home organization of AB Communication majors.

- I finally decided to wear something "normal," at least my friend Cham puts it, but tweaked my look by accessorizing myself, as always. I call my look "Preppy-Tribal" because of the rather pretty-like plaid look, plus the tribal accessories I had.

- The event, according to the Facebook events page, would start at 4, and obviously no one will follow that. My parents, especially my dad, were excited, and wanted to leave the house at 2 or 3pm. At least I convinced my parents to wait a bit longer, so I wouldn't be the first one in Anna Lou's house. (Anna Lou is my batchmate in Comm, and she gladly opened her really amazingly cultural house to all of us.)

- I arrived at Anna Lou's around 4:30, and saw Lauren about to carry some boxes of food inside Anna Lou's house. As I went inside, I saw that no one was there, aside from around one or two organizers from AComm, Lauren, and later on, Bianca. Since I had nothing to do, I just helped set up the things on the table, while stealing some of the finger food with Bianca. Haha.

- Small flocks of people came in gradually, while the chips were placed in bowls by Lauren. At first, everyone resisted getting some chips, but we ended up going to the buffet table and hogging the chips -- controlling ourselves, and keeping ourselves busy so we won't steal the "main courses."

- The main program started around 6-ish. The emcees welcomed everyone, had an opening prayer, and proceeded to the awarding ceremonies for the quirky awards. Photo slide shows of block pictures, or messeges from Mang Tony (fondly called MT) and Sir Sev were played after one set of awards.

- I still find it funny and flattering that I was nominated by a batchmate to the "Hari ng Lookbook Award/ Hype King Award," which was a creative way of saying "Mr. Fashionista." I ended up winning the award. Hahahaha. Braggy won the Reyna ng Lookbook Award/ Hype Queen, which really fit her. Dave on the other hand, was an award-hogger. He had 5 awards, and in two or three of those awards, he was the only nominee. Haha.

- After the awards and the videos, people started to wild-up. The smell of alcohol and stuff filled the air, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable; I don't drink. Still, everyone chilled, talked, and hung out. I dunno whose iPod was plugged into the speakers, but the songs came from the years 2000 to 2007. Most of them were familiar and memorable songs, which made my mood better.

- I left the Comm Roast a bit early, but at least I was able to attend the main event/ program, and was able to hang out with people in my course. It's one of the occasions where we Comm majors are gathered together. I think Comm majors are only gathered together during ORSEM, thesis plenary, this one, and graduation (practice and the actual thing.)

- I am really fortunate to be surrounded with creative, talented, intelligent, and spontaneous people. Comm had been my home for four years. It might not be my target course back when I was choosing my "future," but I will never regret being in Comm, or in Ateneo. :D:D:D:D (PLEASE LET ME GRADUATE ATENEO. Hahahaha.)

Omoshiroi Desu-yo!!!! - Japanese Night With My Neighbor and Friends!!

- February 25, 2011, Friday

- Last night, Charmaine and Tifa asked me to join them with their Jap Food Culture class' culminating night in Little Tokyo. Both wanted me to join them because of my not-so-unknown interest in cultural stuff. Tifa also planned to have a karaoke session in a nearby Japanese karaoke place with her cosplay friends.

- This afternoon, Tifa, together with her La Sallian cosplayer friend Audrey, dropped by around 5:45 to pick up Charmaine and me. We arrived soon at Little Tokyo, met Charmaine's class (and Cheska sensei) and Tifa's other cosplayer friends, Charizze and Peppy.

- Cheska sensei gave us the freedom to choose whichever restaurant we'd like to eat in, while the main bunch of people was at the courtyard, eating. Tifa and Charmaine chose to eat at a small okonomiyaki place, where the okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancakes) are cooked in front of the customers.

- The service at the okonomiyaki place was very very fast and efficient. The food was undoubtedly authentic, fresh, and filling. The place was very small, clean, bright, and minimally-decorated with Japanese souvenirs, and small statues of famous Japanese sports idols and personnel. What caught my (our actually) eyes was a small statue of a baseball idol that was decapitated. The head was placed beside the erect body.

- After the rather short filling, we said our goodbyes with Cheska sensei, and went to the Japanese grocery to buy Japanese snacks. Charmaine and I bought some ice cream. The milk ice cream (Hokaido style) was interesting, because it seemed like we were eating frozen butter. While enjoying the ice cream, we read the cover just to make sure that we were eating ice cream, and not frozen butter.

- We later rode Peppy's car to Wako, the karaoke place. That's where the "real" fun began. We dug through the song books to look for Japanese, Korean, and English songs. The Japanese songs were the most of course; it even had its own songbook. Aside from the usual anime songs we sang, (I mostly sang Sailormoon songs. Haha. *Don't judge me.*) we also became crazy, and sang retro songs, as well as Tifa's "Basketbol" song by the Viva Hot Babes. We didn't really know what came over Tifa, so much so that she decided to sing this rather un-Tifa-like song.

- My only concern with the place was that the songs are not updated. According to Tifa, the "latest" songs in the song books were from the year 2007. Even so, not a lot of songs from 2007 were there. Still, we all had crazy fun, and sang our hearts out. Again, it was also Tifa's idea to sing "Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin" (The Moon Represents My Heart -> a really really old Chinese song that may be considered one of the Chinese counterparts of "My Way" in Chinese karaoke places.)

- From our two hour reservation, we had to extend another hour since Tifa's dad wasn't around yet to pick us up, and that we were having too much fun as well. Tifa's dad picked us up at around 11:30, and had a chatty rode home.

- Hopefully, this adventure will make a bright future for me, and that I'll have more adventures to come. My first day as a free bird from college (hopefullyyyyyy) had been great. Again, cheers to more adventures. :D:D:D:D

"This is a Call:" Of Teens, By Teens, To Teens - MASCKS' Production 2011!!

- February 23, 2011, Wednesday

- Again, I am tremendously happy that I didn't have any scheduled exams for today. It was hard to do my schedule since the play date constantly changed. The original "sure" play date was supposed to be tomorrow, and I wouldn't be able to go if ever because of my Korean final written exam. Good thing Henry will be having a contest tomorrow, so the play had to be moved today. (Friday will be a holiday, and most of the dancers who happen to be part of the cheering squad, will have a competition this Saturday.)

- I arrived earlier than the 6:45 call time, and was able to practice a bit with my musical mentees before the "final" dry run. Soon, the junior and senior high school students entered the auditorium and settled down. A series of AVPs, relevant dances and a fashion show (that showed the typical "degrading morality" of today's youth.)

- "This is a Call" is the renamed and longer version of "Of Teens," the play wrote by Henry Morco (really talented and intelligent student/friend.) A few photo albums back would tell you that this play was, again, used to compete in the one-act play competition of St. Paul Pasig, "Phases 2010," last October 2010. The theme of the contest was about the degrading teenage morality, and the main theme of our entry was premarital sex. For the extended performance this morning, we added more characters and other minor themes such as drug use or smoking.

- I am not normally a fan of plays with many many many, and often irrelevant dances and superficial numbers. However, this play showed that most of the dance numbers, as well as the singing numbers, are very much relevant to the theme and message of the play. Some other numbers are understandably there for aesthetic purposes.

- I am really proud of my mentees for doing a really great job with their respective instruments. They were all fast-learners, and really talented people. During the performance, there were some times when we'd make mistakes, either us or the singers (that I trained at the beginning; Mrs. Villaver was in charge of their actions,) but it was great that no on stopped in the middle and gave up.

- At the end of the morning, all efforts within the last almost-a-month were fruitful. I still am very proud of MASCKS for producing a very nice and highly-relevant play.

- Epilogue: I went to III-1, the current junior year's star section, in order to rest and hang out before going home. I still wonder how I got to know their whole class, and how I came to be "close" to some people here. They're an awesome class. :D:D:D:D While resting, Sharon and I had a guitar-violin duo. We played random songs until the bell rang. They had to go to their Chinese classes, and I had to go home. *Sob.*

- With this photo-album-blog entry, my 8th year of MASCKS has finally ended. I am not sure what the future holds for me, and hopefully I'd be able to help MASCKS out in the future. For now, MASCKS has given me hope that it will still produce great plays - not necessarily big, but if so why not - and that it will always welcome great an maybe even undiscovered or inhibited talents. Because of this, I am leaving MASCKS just because I need to (especially if I'd be accepted to the graduate studies program I would be applying in soon.) Still, I thank everyone for not being afraid to show their talents, and that they have inspired me to do more and be more as a person of the arts and cultures. MASCKS, thank you once again for having me, and I have never regretted staying in MASCKS as a mentor after high school graduation. I love you all. ♥♥♥♥ (cue in You Gotta Be, MiChi's version. Hahahaha.)

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Rehearsals and Interviews: MASCKS' General Rehearsals and Shakey's with Leslie. :D:D:D:D

- February 22, 2011, Tuesday

- After the bulk of final exams that I had this morning (Korean orals, Philo orals, Jap written,) I hurried to CKSC to attend MASCKS' general rehearsals. Tomorrow will be the big day, and I wanted to make sure that the musicians and the singers were harmonizing. I still had to train Cedric for his piano part, the polish the violinists for their parts, and synchronize the rhythm of the guitarists among themselves and with the other musicians.

- I was really glad that Mrs. Villaver, formerly known as Ms. Bartolay, was in-charge of the singers and the actions, so I may focus on the musicians. The singers showed great progress, especially with the MASCKS members who also happened to be members of the school choir.

- Since the auditorium was going to be used be grade school students, MASCKS invaded the kinder building by practicing in the typing rooms, science laboratories, kitchen (singers and musicians) and the multipurpose room. That area of the school reminded me of our Moulin Rouge days, since a lot of our practices were held there around half a decade ago. (Wow!! It's been that long already?!?!?!?!)

- The general rehearsals went well, I think. Well, a lot of stuff were not as polished, but I can honestly say that the numbers I saw were one of a kind. When it comes to the singers, my jaw-dropped after hearing the harmonization of the singers and the musicians. I heard that the singers and the musicians were far from harmonizing prior to my arrival in CKSC. With what I heard and saw, I must say that our effort to polish ourselves in the afternoon were very fruitful. I am still psyched that I would be able to play my violin in public again tomorrow, since Hazelyn, the only person in the "first violin," was overpowered by the three "second violin" people (plus the guitars and the piano.)

- Overall, I think that MASCKS will have a great presentation tomorrow, considering the limited number of weeks to practice. I think we started finalizing and practicing last January (??). Still, I have to give credit to everyone's joint efforts and discipline (ehem) - without these, nothing would have happened.

- Not keen on leaving the auditorium around 7pm, I still had to leave to meet Leslie in Shakey's Masangkay. Leslie is a friend of mine from college, and she needed/wanted to write an article about me for her Feature Writing class (a class I once had also, under the same awesomest prof.) She lived nearby, so we met somewhere accessible to both of us.

- I met Leslie minutes later and immediately ordered. I was a bit thankful that she offered to treat the pizza, but I offered to pay for an appetizer platter, so I'd at least have some contribution. After all, I am still thankful that she chose me to be the subject of her extended profile article. Hahahaha.


- What was supposed to be a simple dinner turned out to be hours of eating and talking about personal lives, school, and of course, the interview proper. While doing the interview, I realized that Leslie was the third person to do an extended profile about me.

- Leslie and I talked and ate from 7:15 to around 9:45. We never thought that the dinner would last that long, and we realized that we didn't have a photo together. We had to walk to the nearby Mercury Drugstore just to get a photo of both of us. Hahahaha. Oh well. Simple joys.

- Tomorrow, I shall perform again, as a musician. I miss being an actor, a performer, and I miss acting on stage. As most people know, I (need) to leave MASCKS after this year, to hopefully pursue greater things. I would have wanted to help out with MASCKS, but I am not sure what the future holds for me. I may not have a definite schedule. I don't know. Still, I am hoping that it will not be the last time I perform on stage. The stage has been my home for many years. It has inspired me to aspire and attain fantasies that may not be attained in the real world. Still, a lot of people say that everywhere's a stage - and you perform as your own character anytime, anywhere.

"Leap" Into The Rabbit Year: Gong Xi Fa Cai Dinner With Nellie And Bino

- February 5, 2011, Saturday

- The lunar new year started just a few days ago, and the Philippines warmly welcomed the rabbit year as it hopped with the new year spirit. For some weird reason, I was very excited for this year's Chinese new year, so much so that I invited Nellie and Josephine Bino to a Chinese New Year Dinner.

- I was really thankful that Bino and Nellie were available tonight, and I was thankful that I would be able to spend a (post) new year celebration with friends, apart of course from my direct family.

- We agreed to eat at Tasty tonight around 6:30pm. As I was walking towards Tasty, the soles of my rather old shoes "popped" somewhere near Salazar, and I had to drag myself to Ongpin, hoping really hard that no one would notice my rebellious soles. I dragged myself to a store to buy Chinese good luck ornaments (for my angpao to Nellie and Bino,) and finally dragged myself to the nearby Shopper's Mart, where I met Bino coincidentally. I wanted to look for a pack of Might Bond, but a bigger surprise caught me - Monica and her sister Marnianne. Of course I wouldn't let this pictorial-worthy chance pass by, so I took a photo of us, despite desperately looking for a pack of Mighty Bond.

- Alas, Shopper's Mart ran out of Mighty Bond, and Bino and I had to go to the nearby Mercury Drugstore, where they thankfully had stocks of Mighty Bond. I quickly mended my shoes, and walked towards Tasty.

- Bino and I waited for Nellie, and had a hunch that she came from somewhere else, especially since she wasn't answering her phone. Nellie arrived soon, and we found out that she came from Makati for something.

- I surprised Nellie and Bino with the angpaos I prepared, and they told me that I was "prepared" for new year. (Part of tonight's new year celebration were plates of dumplings, a common dish served during new year.) The angpaos contained the ornaments I bought earlier, and my graduation photos. The angpaos themselves were part of the "presents" since they were cute and pretty too. Haha.

- We talked and talked while finishing our dinner, as always. Nellie didn't run out of words, I didn't run out of reactions, and Bino didn't run out of side comments Typical. Still, we enjoyed each other so much that we decided to have dessert in Cafe Mezzanine.

- We finished dinner rather late, and Cafe Mezzanine was about to close when we arrived there. Instead, we went to President's. Now President's isn't really the best dessert place to go to, since they specialize more on the entrees rather than the dessert. Besides, President's is a bit expensive too. Still, we wanted to see the new President's, since we hadn't gone there since it was renovated.

- The new Presiden'ts preserved a bit of it's historical background, it being a theater before being a large restaurant. (That explained the high ceilings of the unrenovated Presiden'ts.) Now, the ceilings are a bit lower than before, and the new look of the restaurant somehow made me imagine an old China. Around 30's or 40's China, I think.

- The three of us had a big bowl of mango sago, and finished it minutes later. We stayed for a long time even after we paid the bill because we were waiting for Nellie's car to arrive. Well, we really wanted to hang around longer anyway. (And Bino and I ended up hitching a ride with Nellie's car again. Haha.)

- A dinner that was expected to last around two hours ended two hours later than expected. Why? Friendship has no curfew, and the new year celebration doesn't end until the next year stands in the corner. :) :) :) :)