User:	thuspakeciriaco
	Date:	Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - 2:35 am
	Subject:	2406: Like only Su Li-zhen with dyslexia could

	User:	sunshower
	Date:	Sunday, July 20, 2008 - 10:35 pm

this is the nth time i have probably tried to update but thought twice and erased it.

there are a lot of things i would have already written about if things were still the same.

my life is on stand-by and i've been praying for a way out.

	User:	tymeless
	Date:	Sunday, July 20, 2008 - 12:09 pm
	Subject:	Sick. But still updating.

I had a feeling that I was going to be sick last Friday, that I was afraid of acting cranky during class and rehearsals. Thank goodness my sore throat only evolved into cold when I got home. But when I tried to sleep, I suddenly developed a cough, arg.

In class yesterday morning, I wasn't really feeling up to doing anything, so I was really glad we didn't break into groups for any discussion whatsoever. I was feeling really sick by the time I got to rehearsal at noon, and I really felt that I was also having a fever. But because we were told that we had to be there that day to be measured for costumes, I figured I'd stay a while, get measured, then ask if I could go home and get some rest. After a quick lunch so I could take the medicine I brought with me, I literally fell asleep on the floor while waiting for everything to start.

When I woke up, most of the cast were already there, and Jojo and Joey were reading lines with our two Valeres, Darwin and Toby. I was still lying on the floor, listened to them for a few minutes before I finally stood up. Because I finally got some rest, even though I was still feeling lightheaded, I decided to help Jojo with Toby's lines. Afterwards, we ran through the first two acts and blocked the scenes that wasn't blocked yet. It was 5 in the afternoon when we reached the beginning of the 4th act, and I had noticed that there was no sign of anyone who will measure the actors for costumes. When Jojo was about to start the 2nd scene of Act 4, that's when I asked when we will be measured for the costumes. She stopped and looked at me, and that's when we all found out that Cam didn't text us the night before that the one who will measure us wouldn't be coming in that day. Arg. That was the prime reason I came to the rehearsal even though I was sick and was already having chills.

I thought our thesis had screw-ups. But I guess there are most groups that still have these. No offense.

So after a quick goodbye, I headed out the door and caught the first bus I saw. Went straight to bed and woke up to catch Eksena Manila on Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho.

Okay, so I was amused that Eksena Manila got their fifteen minutes of fame (and gave publicity to our site and forum). The shot of the senior members running inside the MRT was classic, haha. But I felt a little off after they had shown a bit of me when I had said that I got to use part of my acting skills for the slow-mo mission. They then showed some psych expert claiming that these people were frustrated actors, "kulang sa pansin" and "sira ulo". Why did they have to say that? I consider myself an actor. Heck, everyone's an actor in their own right. Just because they got a full interview with Pao who had admitted that he did plays in grade school/high school doesn't mean he's a frustrated actor, and we're all the same as well.

Oh well, to each his own.

Still wasn't feeling well today, so the ticket I bought in advance to a film in Cinemalaya that was to be shown today had gone to waste. Tad came for a visit, though, so that made up for it, yay. Thanks, lovey!

	User:	thefool
	Date:	Saturday, July 19, 2008 - 10:15 pm
	Subject:	more random ramblings

Rough day at work yesterday…I was feeling tired and frustrated…Just way too many things to do…I really can’t complain…I know I’m blessed…When I got to the shop, I found out we had no kitchen staff…No time to think or relax…Just dove into kitchen duty…The girlfriend came over at around 11:30…brought some really good cake to feed the masses (a.k.a. my friends) because it will be our fourth “monthsary” on Sunday…yes, you can cringe now…being in love brings out the kabaduyan in me…Joined Andy and the gang in the private room to watch a movie…I was so tired that I fell asleep in her arms...the girlfriend’s arms…not Andy’s…The girlfriend went home at 2:30am…I washed dishes that were piled sky-high (gross exaggeration, of course) then I went home too…Looking forward to tomorrow…the monthsary…ang baduy…I know…but I’m loving being baduy…I missed the cheese factor…watching Batman and maybe have dinner after…I am Christian Bale or rather, I want to be Christian Bale…where to have dinner, maybe Mickey’s Deli? Or maybe somewhere in Eastwood…Really tired right now…Another good day at the shop…but just exhausted...There's a party at Jardine's...boohoo...stuck at the shop...i could follow but I'm really way too tired...don't even know if I can muster enough strength to go home...Lasalle trounced NU woohoo…that was brutal…Collapsing on a beanbag sounds like a good idea...MUST do so now.

	User:	tymeless
	Date:	Friday, July 18, 2008 - 1:09 am
	Subject:	Mission remakes with Eksena Manila.

Last Wednesday was the first time I joined one of Eksena Manila's missions. Well, two, actually. As it turned out, Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho wanted to feature a couple of the group's previous missions. I jumped at this chance because it would be an opportunity to finally do the LRT chorale and the Slow-Mo, hahaha.

Off to Gateway after lunch (and yes, I had confessed to Opa, it was my first time to ride the LRT 2 alone, hahaha), and by the time I got there, I think I was one of the two agents who had arrived promptly on time. I had to look for RS and his girlfriend, and had to rely on the description that Agent Rob had sent me via text. Finally found them near Taco Bell with fellow newbie agent Karin (sp?), and it didn't take long until other agents had joined us--Denise with friend Lynell, Mikey, Bleue. A little later, after realizing that we had been standing around for so long, we finally decided to grab some tables so we can sit down.

After an hour, we had an uber-long table, consisting of both old and new agents. Basically we were just sitting around as we waited for Pao to arrive with the GMA crew, just talking, how we're going to divide ourselves in groups for each LRT station, and who were going to participate in the Slow-Mo. Nightowl (Joy, our group's videographer/photographer) had her camera handy for photo ops and documentation.

By the time we all got ourselves something to eat, Gwen from GMA finally arrived at 4pm. She broke the news that the train permit they got was for the MRT, not the LRT 2. Oh well. We then boarded the 2 L300 vans that were waiting for us outside the mall, and we set off for Manila City Hall, where our first mission (Slow-Mo) was going to be.

Pao was already at City Hall with 3 others when we had arrived. A quick brief with everyone, then we looked for positions to be at when the Slow-Mo began, and agreed on a signal. Haha, I started a slow walk, crossing the entire space right in front of that KKK statue. Being accident-prone, I walked in fear of the slippery marble parts of the ground, because I had almost slipped when I tried to jump off a step earlier while looking for a position. Suddenly I found Bleue crossing my path, and pretended to slip as I tried to wave to Karin and Thrish. Arg, Thrish had opened her umbrella, blocking her view of me waving to them. Oh well, I kept walking and as I passed Minari who was sitting on the steps, I suddenly heard the signal from Pat, so I broke free from slow-mo and walked towards Karin and Thrish.

We were asked to do another slow-mo, this time we broke into two groups--one coming from SM Manila, and one coming from where we were standing. We were to walk up and down the sidewalk and cross paths, still in slow-mo. I was in the group coming from SM Manila. Hahaha, when we started walking, I could feel more stares than we got from the previous slow-mo. I even felt a woman poking me, trying to push past me, ahehe. I think I even managed to block a couple of college girls when they tried to sidestep Karin and Thrish, who had managed to overtake me even while in slow motion. When we had finally ran into the other group, I bumped into Mikey so I slowly ducked out of his way, only to also bump into Pao, and we made a slow-mo of quite an impact before I started walking normally again, hahaha.

Back to the parking area and began the brief for the chorale. Because we were going to use the MRT instead of the LRT, we divided ourselves up again into 2 groups--one to board at North Avenue Station and another to board the Quezon Avenue Station--instead of the 5, because it was going to be pretty crowded by then, considering it was already rush hour. We ran through the song ("Maling Akala" by the Eraserheads) once, then off we went in our respective vans for both MRT stations.

It took a while before we were permitted to board the platform, and the GMA crew also filmed a bunch of us going up the stairs, waiting around, and waiting for the train. Finally, the train arrived and we all scrambled for seats. Some who hadn't memorized the lyrics had slipped it in their books as kodigo. I had put mine in my phone so I can just text the whole way. It wasn't until after Cubao station (I think) when Pao had began the song. By the 2nd stanza and refrain, everyone started singing along. We were already receiving stares at the beginning of the 2nd stanza, and someone near some group had started complaining. I guess those people were pretty tired after getting off work. When we finally finished the song, the gay guy sitting next to me started looking around, surprised by the sudden silence, so he said "No more?" Hahaha. Pao started singing another song and Minari joined in, until we all got up and got off at Buendia station.

As they always say in Improv Everywhere, mission accomplished.

	User:	rossetti
	Date:	Thursday, July 17, 2008 - 10:12 pm
	Subject:	YEY!!! And HELLO Angelito!
	Mood:	ecstatic
	Music:	drizzle

My World Vision kid wrote to me! My World Vision kid wrote to me! YEY!!!! =D

Snail-mail letter. One more thing that's better than sliced bread!

	User:	thefool
	Date:	Monday, July 14, 2008 - 6:04 pm
	Subject:	Fake Perfume Scam

You can chalk this up to stupidity but here is my attempt to warn others who might fall victim to this kind of scam.

A guy walked into our small office. He was well dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and slacks. He also spoke English well and he looked like a typical office worker. He had a box of perfume with him—Lacoste “Touch of Pink.” I ignored him at first but then he sprayed perfume on me and started going on and on about how Lacoste was doing a promotional thing and they were giving away Free perfume. My ears prickled at the word “Free” and I started paying attention.

The next thing I knew, my officemates started purchasing 50ml bottles of the perfume for 200php. I did say something like, “I thought it was free?” but the man ignored me. He seemed likeable enough, laughing along with our jokes. An officemate of mine bought three bottles. Most of the men bought bottles for their girlfriends. I bought a bottle for the girlfriend too.

He then asked which of us wanted Lacoste paper bags. Since most of us planned to give the bottles as a gift, we thought that was pretty cool. He then promised he’d be back in 5 minutes and he left the office. After he left, we started getting suspicious. Then the president of the company walked in and castigated us for falling for the guy’s tricks. That was when I found out that two of my officemates paid the guy without getting perfume in return. The guy told them he ran out and that he needed to go down to get some more.

I asked one of my officemates (who purchased the bottle for herself) to open her box. The moment the box was opened, we recognized the perfume as a fake. To add insult to injury, it smelled bad. As expected, the guy has disappeared by now. Although this sucked to the bunch of us who got fake merchandize, it sucked even more for the people who got absolutely nothing in return.

I don’t mind being stuck with fake perfume. Honestly, I was an idiot. I should have known it was too cheap. That was my fault. But this is a scam nonetheless. I wouldn’t have minded too much if the guy just sold us fake perfume, what disturbs me is that he ran off with the money of two officemates without giving them anything in return. I can live with the fake perfume and the lies that it was authentic. Outright theft is one thing.

So be warned. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, can fall for shit like this.

	User:	thefool
	Date:	Monday, July 14, 2008 - 2:27 pm
	Subject:	The Baguio Trip

Andy set up a Baguio trip for the FriiSpirit peeps after she got tired of hearing us complain how tired we all were. Expenses were minimal and the company was great. Carol couldn’t go in the last minute and she was missed but we talked about her every single day so in the end, it was like she was almost there.

We had a blast on the way there…mainly because Andy brought a bottle of Jack and by the time we were half-way there, we’ve had enough Jack Cokes in our systems to shrug off the long car-ride (In case you were wondering, I did drink during this trip with the girlfriend’s permission).

It was a very laid-back trip. No one was in a hurry to go anywhere and everyone was just happy being away from the heat and grime of Manila. We stayed at Andrea’s house and it felt great sitting in front of a fire and having some good conversation away from the frantic demands of our jobs.

We did try to be tourists on the second day and we went to Minesview and happily parted with our change (maybe 40 pesos worth) by getting ourselves lured into paying for tourist traps such as “Have your pictures taken with our giant St. Bernard” and “Have your picture taken in an Igorot costume.” We also went to Camp John Hay to visit the Cemetery of Negativity at medyo kinareer namin ito.

It was hard going back to Manila. The girlfriend and I were dreading rejoining the rat race but some things can’t be helped. The only thing we could was to promise each other that we would have more of these moments to somehow alleviate the exhaustion and the stress.

Pictures are uploaded to my Multiply: http://croces.multiply.com

	User:	tymeless
	Date:	Monday, July 14, 2008 - 12:49 am
	Subject:	Watching Hubad at Cinemalaya.

Spent this evening in CCP for the premiere of Hubad at Cinemalaya. Tad went with me to CCP after our afternoon out, but because he had already seen the film's very first premiere (the rough cut, I think) a couple of months ago, he let me watch it while he had to photocopy a script in the TP office for their acting class.

Found Peachy and Robbie in the lobby. As it turned out, there were a whole bunch of them who came to watch Rob in the film, hahaha! With those two were Sundee, Anna, Santi, Jonjon, Francis, Carlos, Stefan, Bench, and Harold. Oh, and Noel was also there, someone I haven't seen since he was shipped off to Hongkong Disney ages ago, hahaha. Joined them and we found a row and a half for us right smack in the middle of the theater.

I liked how the film also integrated video clips from the actual play, when it was shown for Virgin Labfest 2 back in 2006. I really enjoyed watching all these actors I admire in this one film (yes, including you, Rob, hahaha!). Several familiar venues were used, from Batute theater, MKP (the Jade Emperor headpiece had a cameo, haha!) and LT backstage, Jorhe's gorgeous pad (chandelier included), and of course, Penguin cafe. My favorite part was the montage of the 2 couples on the mattresses. Props to Ms. Denisa on that one. When we heard the conversation about talents of Hongkong Disneyland being associated with prostitutes, our entire group cracked up, referring to Noel, hahaha!

Chaos sort of ensued at the lobby after the show. Haha, I'm exaggerating. It was the regular Cinemalaya crowd that occurs in between film screenings. I honestly loathe crowds, but today, I guess I didn't really mind much. Found Bart in the lobby, and he mentioned that he owes us a cast party of our own. Yahoo, a pending Las Mentiras cast party! Hopefully before Tuxqs leaves for New Zealand, please.

When I found Peachy again in the crowd, she was looking for Rob so she can take a photo of him with Peque Gallaga. Of course, because this is the Peque Gallaga, I couldn't help but follow, and once Rob had their photo taken, I immediately requested for a photo with the big guy. Hahaha, starstruck moment. Thanks for the photo op!

Off to Rai-Rai Ken for dinner, where everyone went on talking about the film, raving mostly about Mr. Koh (Rob's character in the film), HAHAHA!

	User:	tymeless
	Date:	Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 10:09 pm
	Subject:	Brief update after Labfest.

Haven't blogged much lately, even about Labfest, specially since it had closed last Sunday.

After the first week of Labfest, I returned to school mode for a bit then returned the following weekend for our 2 remaining shows. Of course, I made sure to watch all the plays during the first week so I don't have to contend with paying audiences on the 2nd week. I was also working on our post-production requirements as well, so I can just submit everything that was needed for the production book after all shows closed.

Didn't even get to go to the Labfest cast party at Penguin. My legs were ready to give way, so after watching Pamantasang Hirang during the evening, I headed straight home to my bed. Spent the following couple of days finalizing my production book (goodbye, yucky jar of "umbilical cords"), and Tartuffe mode began as well.

After Tartuffe rehearsals this afternoon (where I didn't really do much because Jojo had focused more on the scenes with Dorine, Valere and Mariane; only came because there was free lunch, haha), Lara, Toby and I headed to CCP to watch Baby Angelo, an entry in this year's Cinemalaya. Apparently, Lara was in it, so we were dying to see it before she gets to show it to her family and boyfriend tomorrow, hahaha! Holy kamote, it was only the 2nd day and lines at the box office windows were already long. I was already regretting that I missed the opening yesterday. Anyway, thanks to being a student again, I took advantage of the 50% discount to a ticket to Baby Angelo, and also bought a ticket to tomorrow night's Hubad. I didn't really get to watch its premiere a couple of months ago at the Dream Theater because of Nemesis.

Baby Angelo... Hmmm... interesting plot, and those 1-F girls (Lara included, hahaha!) gave quite a comic relief for us, hehe. When it came to the conclusion of who owned that baby fetus, it wasn't implied as much and turned out sort of anti-climatic. Or maybe I wasn't too focused on that? Maybe, maybe not.

Sunday tomorrow, yay. A good day, I hope. I'm beginning to enjoy Sundays as much as Tuxqs does, hahaha. Minus the driving, of course, and even though CCP will still have tons of people milling about.