III-Feynman's Speech Choir

After weeks of endless, exhausting, life-sucking rehearsals, we finally received our reward. The much-awaited Dramatic Speech Choir Competition was held last Thursday. We were asked to perform the dry run first during the afternoon which we effortlessly did. I only giggled during that time.

This is us, waiting for our turn to do they dry run. The Seven Deadly Sins (L-R: Dela, Miguel, Effie, me, Eunice, Chester, and Billy) plus Caluya (the most tortured slave) are in the third row. The rest are slaves.


I enjoyed the part where we changed into our costumes. I was really excited to wear it and show it to my other classmates [who acted as slaves] since they have never seen it before. It was supposed to be a surprise. They said that we looked really cute in it. Next comes the hairdo. I probably have mentioned before that I don't know how to tie my hair. Anyway, I asked Leizle to tie it which she did perfectly. Thanks, Leizle. Lastly, the makeup. I obviously don't know how to put on makeup. We asked Ate Maggi from our canteen to put on our makeup which she did very well. It was so fun. Dela and I helped Miguel to think of a hairdo because he didn't know what to do with his hair. His hair looks like Joseph Fiennes' hair in "Luther". His costume also made him look like a monk which adds to his resemblance to Fiennes. It was fun spraying hair spray on Miguel's head while Dela made fun with his hair. The slaves also had so much fun dressing up. Actually, I left our room because there were red stuff (supposed to be blood) on the floor. I was afraid I might get dirty. Wahaha.

The slaves



We headed to the sports complex right away. It was where the competition was held. It was supposed to start at 6pm but some of the judges arrived an hour late. After 14 performances, we finally showed our own. I had fun acting as Pride, I did my very best to look evil [which wasn't so hard, haha]. The physical pain we gave to the slaves were real and the physical pain they returned to us were also real. I was surprised at how my classmates pulled and pushed me. They never acted that violent during our rehearsals. Monique also acted so violently. She choked me to death with a heavy chain which made me utter a real cry for help. Anyway, the real pain they gave helped us to act less since we don't have to look like hurt because we were really hurt.

After five more performances, the winners were finally announced. The winners of the essay competition and etc. were announced first. Finally, the winner for the freshmen was announced, then the winner for the sophomores. My hands were so cold while I waited for the winner for the juniors to be announced. I was hugging Effie who felt sick that time. Then Sir Dex said "Three F--". To myself I said, Three? Three what? Say it now, please! I was so nervous that time and was half-expecting to hear "III-Fahrenheit" because they have an awesome hum. Then things happened so fast, I was so happy to hear "III-Feynman". We jumped and we laughed and we yelled and did all the things a happy person does. This was the best victory [for me] ever because, well, the next paragraph explains it.

I can't explain how happy I am that night. I was so happy I could die. We wanted to win so bad because of someone's evil goal. I can't allow them to win because of that thing. I'm sure I won't bear to watch them. I was really hurt because of that goal. Honestly, I don't want them to go home happy. I know this sounds evil but their goal is more evil. There are many things I want to say but I must not say it because this can be viewed publicly. Anyway, hahaha. I must also say that Fahrenheit's performance was good because of their hum. Honestly,I liked their hum but--wait, I should not critique their work because well, they are our eternal rival [because they always give us a good fight], hehehe, so forget about that. We also won the Best Costume Award. Yey!

We ate Jjamppong [pronounced zham-fong] to celebrate our victory. It's a chili seafood and vegetable instant noodle soup.I was excited to taste it because it sounds yummy. Everyone's blabbing about it's goodness since morning so I thought I should give it a try. And it tasted okay.

**Pictures from Patrice Pascual.
**I'll try to add pictures later.

Purple Pride

We (I, Effie, Eunice, Billy, Miguel, Chester, and Dela) are having some problems regarding the upcoming speech choir competition. One of these is how to get the audience to recognize what we will be portraying. We wish to portray the Seven Deadly Sins. Our piece, by the way, is "The Man with the Hoe". Our class agreed on portraying the sins as the things responsible for the the man's sufferings.

During my lucky day [I won't tell how I got lucky that day because it's a different story], I was allowed to represent 'Pride' and it made me sooo happy. Don't ask me why. And so I did my research and this is what I learned:

"In almost every list Pride is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and indeed the ultimate source from which the others arise. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to give compliments to others though they may be deserving of them, and excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God). Dante's definition was 'love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor.'" (Wikipedia)

I also found a gorgeous art portraying pride--vanity--from deviantart.com. I also learned, from the artist's comment, that vanity is somehow linked to the color violet which reminds me that I love violet. Anyway, violet does represent 'pride'. Go, violet! I repeat, I find this art gorgeous.



For my co-sins, click your sin if you wish to see your art.
Lust
Avarice
Anger
Gluttony
Sloth
Envy

Anyway, enough of the art. I still need to find something that will make the audience instantly recognize us. Aside from the art, I also found the animal and color that correspond to each sin but we can't change our costume's color because the dressmaker is working on it already. Plus, an image of an animal will not look that good on our elegant robes. In short, I need help.

Impersonators

A day, though stressful, will never be left without happy things. Have I mentioned about the happy-sad-happy-sad-happy cycle? Each day is like that. There were a lot of fun things that happened today like rondalla's rehearsal. I'm loving them. I'm loving each moment I stay with them even my fingertips peel. Most of the happy things that happened today happened with them. Anyway, one thing we (me, Miguel, and Eunice) did was watch and offer moral support for our representative. Caluya represented our class in the 'impersonation contest'. He impersonated a great man from history whose name I can never remember. Caluya, please include his name in your comment. Let me tell you what really happened during the contest.

Only three of us were able to see Caluya compete so we needed to our very best to give moral support. 'Audience Impact' was one of the criteria and we badly wanted to win. So when Caluya's name was called, Eunice and I applauded. But Miguel's support was shown in a different way. He found the cymbals beside him and began to tap it with his coins while cheering Caluya. The audience turned their heads to see who was responsible for the commotion. That was sooo embarrassing. To add to that, Miguel did it again when Caluya had finished speaking. Because of that, we hurried to the exit to hide.

After hitting Miguel a couple of times, we returned to watch the rest of the program. We watched Chiang Kai-Shek's impersonator babble weird words (supposed to be Chinese) as one of his classmates translate it. His performance was amazing. There's something about his gestures that astounded us [me and Eunice]. His costume was also cool. When his gaze moved towards us, we saw his eyes. His eyes were perfect [ because they were really like a Chinese man's eyes] and cool! Because of that, we decided to ask him if we could get his picture. He did a really great job.



After that, we decided to get the pictures of the other good impersonators. It was really fun.



That's Ms. Shellah, our music teacher, Eunice, Alyssa as Oprah Winfrey and me.



With Princess D. You should have watched him.



With Saddam Hussein.



Finally, with our very own representative, Nicko Caluya. That's the first time I used Nicko to refer to him.

I'm so glad they were so friendly. They enjoyed posing with us. Haha.

Ilocos Trip

Finally, something to make me forget the reality and unwind.



It was a long trip and aside from eating and sleeping, I was also listening to "Whistle for the Choir" over and over again and taking pictures.

Vigan:

1. Our trip to Syquia Mansion was the best! Not only because of its beauty but also because of the very good tourist guide. This mansion was once a residence of Elpidio Quirino. It was called Syquia Mansion because its original owners were the Syquias, Quirino's wife. I also played "Moon River" on the Syquia's antique piano.


2. We visited Floro Crisologo's house afterwards. He's a congressman who authored the Social Security System law and was assassinated inside the St. Paul Cathedral on October 18, 1970. Sadly, I didn't get any good picture because I needed to recharge the camera's batteries.


3. We also visited Chavit Singson's Baluarte where horses, ostriches, and geese ran free. I love the horses. I wish I could own one for a pet.
Laoag:

1. On our way to Pagudpud, we stopped to see the Church of Laoag and 2. Ferdinand Marcos' house[s]. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see his house but we entered a mini museum, where I took their wedding picture together. We also visited him in his mausoleum.

I felt the cold breeze as we entered the mausoleum [because it was airconditioned]. An eerie music also plays inside. I can't remember how it goes. I don't want to remember how it goes. The mausoleum was so creepy. I hesitated to enter the mausoleum first because of the eerie music. When I finally agreed, I admired his fine and detailed waxed corpse. It was creepy but at the same time beautiful.

And because it was creeping me out, I made up my mind to leave if the caretaker will volunteer to tour us around the coffin--when I say around, I mean stare and walk around him. Fortunately, he didn't do it.

Cameras were not allowed inside the mausoleum. But even if it is allowed, I won't dare to publish a photo of his waxed corpse. I won't even dare press the button of the camera.

This is one of the creepiest moments of my life. I can't imagine being trapped inside the mausoleum.

Pagudpud:















(Above)This is the view of the beach from our breakfast table. Waiting for our breakfast to be served was not so boring because of this.

(Right)After some time, Inna finally agreed to take a picture of me walking by the shore.

Laoag [again]:
On our way to Baguio, we stopped to see the Malacañang of the North.

(L-R) One of the many living/receiving rooms in the palace; ballroom; I can't remember where I got this window. I've been addicted to capiz windows since man; one of the many living/receiving rooms in the palace with a painting of the Paoay Church; Irene and Imee's beds; dining room in the second story; a view of the Paoay Lake from the yard; the view of the palace from the yard; me overlooking Paoay Lake in the yard.

After the tour here, we decided to drive to Baguio and spend the night there. But we ended up in Vigan because it was too late to continue driving to Baguio. Aw. I want that strawberry jam.

Well, I'm back home and time goes back to normal. It's time, again, to face the reality. And school.

Mr. Darcy

I haven't blogged about Mr. Darcy, my first love, for a long time. And I guess this will be the last time I'd blog about him. TT.TT

I read Alexandra Potter's "Me and Mr. Darcy" last week. It was a great read and it sort of made me face the reality. Mr. Darcy is not real. He is just a fictitious character from one of my favorite classics. Mr. Darcy can never be real. Can you imagine a man that perfect?

Just like the main character, Emily Albright, I realized that:

I'm not in love with Mr. Darcy. Not even remotely. And you know what? I never was. I was in love with the idea of him and what he represented, but not the reality. But that doesn't mean I'm not attracted to him, who wouldn't be?

I also remembered some of the parts where Emily and Mr. Darcy meet. The first meetings were fun and happy. Just imagine Matthew Macfadyen in Mr. Darcy's clothes talking to you with his British accent. I remembered their picnic when Emily unintentionally squirted grape juice on Mr. Darcy's shirt. Emily suggested a way to remove the stain and you know what his reply was? Thank you. I will suggest it to one of the servants. Haha. He's obviously so posh.

But there's no harm in dreaming about Mr. Darcy, of course. It's just that I realized how impossible Mr. Darcy can exist. Maybe a Mr. Darcy existed before, way back before. But that's just a maybe. And if he does exist, I can't say if I will or will not like him. Remember how he treated Elizabeth during their first meeting? And when Matthew Macfadyen assisted Elizabeth ride the horse-drawn carriage? But if things change and he won't be that snobbish and arrogant... just contact me if you meet one. But I guess being not that snobbish and arrogant won't make him 100% Fitzwilliam Darcy. Aw.