Iced Tea

I had my short lunch break at 3:30 AM since my shift started at 9:30 PM. I was very sleepy when I went to KFC, but my short conversation with the girl at the counter was enough to wake me up.

Me : Two-piece Original Recipe chicken please.

Girl : That also comes with drinks, sir. What drink do you want?

Me : Coke Zero.

Girl : We only have Pepsi products.

Me : Oh. In that case, can I have Pepsi, please?

Girl : I'm sorry sir, only iced tea is available.

Me : Okay, then I'll just have the iced tea.

Girl : So for your drinks, your order is iced tea?

Me : Uhm, yeah? Do I have a choice?

Girl : We just have iced tea for today, sir.


Unbelievable!

And I thought conversations like those only happen in the movies.

Let Down Again

We had our supposedly-first meeting and casting auditions yesterday, and as I predicted and feared, only a few came. Most of those who were absent informed me way after, while a few didn't bother to respond to all the messages I sent them.

*sigh*

It's instances like these that discourage me from continuing what I've started. Yes, I was expecting people not to come based on experience, and yes, I'm a little bit disappointed. While I've always done everything possible not to let people down, sad to say, a lot of people have let me down all my life. I'm used to disappointments and failures, and honestly right now, I've lost all the thrill and excitement to schedule another meeting. I've spent weeks of sleepless nights preparing everything, and if the first meeting is an indication, all the efforts exerted is for nothing.

I can understand my sis' absence as she really had/has a lot to do, with work, helping Scene One with their production, and a lot other responsibilities. What disappointed me are the other people who were so eager to join when they heard about the plan that most of them even volunteered themselves, then until now I still have to see even their shadows.

For the longest time, I thought that the greatest challenge of my musical career would be to pull this production off. I was wrong. The greatest challenge is to get the people to attend meetings and most especially rehearsals later on.

*sigh*

And yeah, from now on, I will not believe people telling me they're interested to join and all that sh*t. I will only believe them if they are already there during rehearsals, rehearsing with the rest of us.

Massacred by Cowards

As someone whose family is both in politics and in the media, I ask everyone to pray for Justice. As a Filipino and a citizen of humanity, I ask everyone to pray for the souls of the 57 victims of this gruesome massacre.

Why do people have to kill? For power? For money?

I condemn the perpetrators who did this. I can only think of one word to describe them: cowards. Killing civilians including women, journalists and lawyers in cold blood is a cowardly act. Their souls, if ever they have any, are now burning in Hell.

Nervous

I am very excited and very nervous at the same time for our casting auditions this Saturday. I'm expecting a few old members and a lot of new ones to hopefully meet for the first time, and I hope that by the end of the day, Kazie and I will more or less have a clearer idea on who will play what roles. I'm nervous because I'm not sure if the people will be coming or not. What if it will just be Kaz and me? What if no one is interested to join after all? What if those who expressed interest and excitement are not really joining?

We will know by Saturday. I'm crossing my fingers.

Chills

Chills refers to feeling cold after an exposure to a cold environment.
The word can also refer to an episode of shivering,
accompanied by paleness and feeling cold.

Last night, I decided to sleep really early because I was unusually tired and my wife was using the computer. The usual routine is that she'll sleep early because she has work at 12 midnight, while I use the computer until around 11 PM, and then sleep because I had work at 5:30 AM. I set my alarm and slept. Less than 2 hours after, I woke up shivering. I asked my wife to turn the air-conditioner off, but I was still freezing. I put on my thickest jacket and covered myself with the thickest blanket, but I was still shaking and freezing, my jaws shivering. It was so unusual for me to feel that since I rarely feel cold all my life, even if I have a high fever. In this case, I didn't have any fever, in fact, when my wife and daughter felt my hand, it was unusually cold.

I was already thinking of going to a hospital, but we just can't afford extra expenses nowadays, and I can't afford to be absent from work since I don't have any backup yet with my client, so I just forced myself to sleep. I woke up around 11:30 PM, my wife just left for the office, and I was feeling okay. I no longer had chills, but I didn't sleep anymore. I'm now at the office, hoping that the nightmare I experienced last night will not happen again.

Hero of the Year

Congratulations
Efren Peñaflorida,
2009 CNN Hero of the Year!

Thank you for bringing honor
to our country.

Mabuhay ka, Kuya Ef!

Full of Glee!

As someone who loves music, Glee is a breath of fresh air from the many series on TV today. From the plot to the characters to the songs, it really is Perfect. Their take on famous songs, be it show tunes, ballads, rock or rap, are incredible that most of their versions are even better than the original ones, and to think half of the cast have not been singing professionally before Glee.

I can say I'm a certified GLEEK and I'm proud of it.



The latest episode, Episode 10 (Ballads) was just so beautiful, I cried throughout the whole episode. The last scene of that episode was one of the most touching so far with the whole club dedicating this song to Finn and Quinn.

Impacted Again?

I was just editing the songs for our next production this morning when all of a sudden, I felt so much pain from right side of my teeth that the pain immediately went to my head. It was so painful that tears fell from my eyes. I immediately called our company's medical insurance company and asked for names and addresses of the dentists closest to me. Turned out, they were all out of town. The closest who was available was around 20 to 30 minutes away. I immediately left the house in pain.

When the dentist checked my teeth, she said that the probable cause of the pain is a possible impacted third molar, known to many as the wisdom tooth. What?! She must be kidding! It has only been a year since I had surgery, to have my impacted tooth removed. It was VERY painful and VERY expensive, and now this dentist is telling me that I have to have another tooth surgically removed? I told her all about it and she suggested that I get a tooth (or teeth) x-ray to determine if this that's causing the pain is another tooth, or part of the old tooth that was supposedly removed last year.

I will have my x-ray once I get my last pay from my previous employer because I'm just broke now. In the meantime, I'm taking antibiotics and pain relievers.

PBA Legends

It was the best birthday gift I've received this year. It's also the only gift I've received this year, but it was the best gift. Two lower box tickets for the exhibition game between our own Cebu Niños and the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Legends. I won the tickets through a contest in Facebook by WRock FM and the station's main man, Billy Sienes.

My wife and I enjoyed the game immensely. It was her first time to watch a professional basketball game live, and it was not my first time, it was so good to see my idols again. I was called a lot of names in high school, one of which was Vergel Meneses, the former Aerial Voyager of the PBA, because I patterned my playing style after his. When he retired, I didn't watch the PBA games that often anymore, add to the fact that I was working during evenings. It was so good to see the original Aerial Voyager in action again.

The game ended in a tie, and because it was just an exhibition game, there was no overtime that was played. My wife and I had our pictures taken with the legends after the game, and since she enjoyed watching the game, I promised her that if we have extra budget and the PBA will have their provincial game/s here soon, I will again take her to the game again with me as the excitement level in a bearing (official) game is incomparable to an exhibition game.

It Started with a Dream

A lot of people can't believe that young as we are, my sister and I were able to form our own theatre company. We came up with the concept while we were at the lobby of a hotel in 2003, waiting for our little brother who was attending their school's JS Prom.

From the early 90's until the present, we have seen so many gifted, talented individuals disappear into anonymous wilderness. When we meet them, they often express the desire to return to the stage to do what they love most: to perform.

And then, there are also a lot of people with potentials, who dream of performing on stage, but just do not have the avenue to do so.

This is why the idea, the dream of having a theatre company was born...

It all started with a dream...

And the dream come true in 2004, when the Cebu Theatre Company, Ltd. entered the scene through our debut production, Anastasia.

In its own little way, the Cebu Theatre Company, Ltd. hopes to promote Filipino, particularly Cebuano culture, through theatrical productions; provide an avenue for individuals to share themselves, and to steer away from bad influences; create an extended family and provide an environment in which imagination can flourish; and contribute to the growth and advancement of Philippine theatre; and discover and create a new generation of theatre artists and audience.

Five years of doing plays, musicals, variety shows & concerts, as well as private events such as weddings, corporate shows and parties, we've never made this a business. It's all for the love of performing, and if ever we're lucky enough to receive something, we give it back to our needy brothers and sisters.

My sis, Kazie, and I hope that even when we're long gone, CTC will continue to live on and continue to make a positive difference in the lives of many.

Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
The world unites in hope and peace
We pray that it will always be
It is the power of the dream
that brings us here.

-David Foster & Babyface

Pacman Makes History

With another impressive win today against Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico, Manny Pacquiao has cemented his legacy by making history. It was not an easy fight with the power and heart of Cotto, not to mention his size advantage, but Pacman was just too good, he was just too much for the valiant Puerto Rican. The cocky Floyd Mayweather, who came back from retirement to supposedly challenge Pacman, may have second thoughts after Pacquiao did what no fighter has done before - win a belt in a seventh weight class. More impressive, though, is how he has fought, dismantling opponents despite moving up consistently from 106 pounds to the 144 he weighed for the fight.

I've said this a million times before, I'll say it once again -

I'm damn proud to be PINOY! ♥

Turning 29

I turned 29 years old yesterday. It was just like any other day, and I wasn't expecting anything since I haven't really celebrated my birthday for the past 10 years. I was kinda expecting people to greet me through Facebook since FB has this birthday reminder thingie. What I didn't expect though is to be remembered by people who doesn't have FB, two of my former students. Former students and forever friends who are already teachers themselves, and living (and working) in a place where there is no Facebook or anything else to remind them about my birthday. Yet they remembered. It's friends like them who make ordinary days into extra-special ones.

I thank the Lord for giving me another year. I am not asking much, just the chance to right all the wrongs I've done in my life, and to watch my daughter grow up to be the beautiful person that she is right now.

Never fear growing old; there are many who have never had the privilege.

Hacked Road Sign

Whoever hacked this road sign
TOTALLY ROCKS!

Theatre Companies

The Cebu Theatre Company, Ltd. is a theatre company my younger sister and I formed sometime in 2004, and ever since, we've done a lot of shows, both public and private events. Recently, our younger brother also organized Scene One Performing Arts, a theatre group just like CTC, but as he said, the members are students, unlike CTC where the members are professionals.

Performing is really in the blood, and I'm so proud of what Gayle and Dan have achieved both academically and theatrically. I'm so excited to meet the S1 members soon as we've agreed that our major production next year will be the first joint production of both groups. I am also hoping that both groups will continue to live on for the generations to come.

Mabuhay CTC! Mabuhay S1!

Bring Him Home

One of the songs I'll be singing in our next production is Bring Him Home, a really emotional and powerful song. It is also quite difficult. I am so excited and honored to be able to sing this song, and I have been listening to the different renditions of the different actors who have played the role. For me, one renditions stands out: Colm Wilkinson's. He's the very first actor who played the role, and the song was added by the composers when they heard his voice. So this beautiful song was actually made for him, and for me, his version is the best.

Journey to the Past

Because I'm so excited about our next production, let's go to a journey to the past...

Our theatre company's very first production was Anastasia in 2005, which we adapted from the beautiful animated movie. It was not easy bringing the story from the screen to the stage, and I'm proud that we pulled it off, considering more than half of the cast members were first timers in theatre.

Aside from writing the script, my sister also played the lead role of Anya/Anastasia. I would love to post her video here but I disabled the embed option in our YouTube account, so instead, here's the link of my sis singing Journey to the Past from Anastasia.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Even if most of my life,

you were my harshest critic, I wouldn't be who I am

and where I am today if not for you. Even if almost always

our conversations become arguments, You're still my dad

and I still respect and love you.

HAPPY 61st BIRTHDAY, DAD! ♥

New Challenge

In a week or two, we'll finally have our casting auditions for our musical next year. I'm so pumped up and excited to not only hear again my favorite songs, but to perform them again. For more than 10 years that I performed in Les Mis, I had the role of Thénardier, the only comic relief (together with his wife) in the heavy drama musical. I had a few solo songs but those songs were fairly easy.

Now I will be moving on to a much more heavier and much, much more difficult role. It will not be easy as I will also be directing aside from appearing in almost all of the scenes. And yes, I will have a LOT of solo's, ALL with REALLY HIGH notes. I consider it the biggest challenge of my musical career, and I'm so excited to start rehearsals.

Let's get it on!

Hope or If?

I think know it's one and the same song.

*sigh*

Hope?

I'm such a big, big fan of Jim Brickman and his music. His songs are some of the most romantic I've ever heard, that they're almost always a part of any wedding I've attended. Even his lesser-known song In a Lover's Eyes, a song he asked Ariel Rivera to sing, is one of my favorites. For me, Jim Brickman is one, if not the best, musician in my generation.

You can just imagine my shock when I learned that one of his supposedly-composed songs, Hope, from the album of the same name, is actually one of my most favorite Filipino love songs! If is a song composed and sang by Nelson del Castillo in 1994. He's the same guy who composed and sang the song, You're My Best friend. I didn't believe it at first when I read about it, but when I listened to Hope, I knew I was listening to If.

Jim already apologized to Nelson and said it's "an honest mistake." Nelson del Castillo is not buying the apology though, and has already taken this to court.

From my standpoint, I would agree it to be an honest mistake if both songs are just similar in some measures, but the whole song? I feel really, really bad about this. Hope everything will turn out well.

All Souls' Day

Death is not extinguishing the light;
it is putting out the lamp because dawn has come.

-Rabindranath Tagore