49. Spider Solitaire
48. Ma'am Joy's Birthday
47. Typhoon Pepeng
46. Childhood Friends Reunion
45. Annabeth's Birthday
44. Grand Palazzo Real
43. Birthday Movie
42. Field Trip
41. Closing Party - Gold
40. Tumblr
39. Kuliti
38. Backmasking Frenzy
37. Gapan, Nueva Ecija
36. Plurk
35. O2Jam
34. Friendster
33. One Town One Product (OTOP)
32. Jesus Our Victory Church
31. Pagemaker 2009
30. WhitePanorama
29. St. Cecilia's Auditoriu,
28. First Day of Classes
27. Mt. Samat
26. Juniors-Seniors Promenade
25. Poems
24. Mt. Arayat
23. Cheerdance
22. MP3
21. Photoshop
16. Antigone
The biggest movie of the year has hit the 16th place in my list. Antigone! Haha :D woot. This was like the craziest project that we had this year. This movie took 7 weeks of whole week meetings and a bond of friendship that lasts until now.
It all started on the first story that we tackled on English, and it was Antigone. The story was great and was overly tragic. A king had made his son commit suicide, with his son cursing him on his last breath, his whole kingdom turn against him, his wife committing suicide also, and it all started with a decision of killing his son’s fiancé whose name is Antigone. Antigone, on the other hand, has twin brothers who killed themselves, has a father who committed suicide because her father married his own mother (in effect, Antigone’s grandmother) and killed his own father. Her mother also blinded herself.
I was in charge of doing the script, and after doing it for like one or two weeks, I finished it with 16 acts in 25 pages in just over 10,000 words. Haha. That’s the longest script I have written in my life. The English I have used there made me take several tours in the thesaurus. Haha.
After the script, of course, there is the props making, and I was assigned to be one of the propsman on our first meeting, but soon, that grouping went skyrocketing to Pluto and it never came back. There are no more groups and everyone is participating in the propsmaking.
It took us at least five Saturdays and Sundays to finish all the props. Chica is the best propsmaker in the universe I think, he managed to build helmets of great quality (weee. And I wore them on one scene..), then comes all the swords, then all the dresses, with the tailoring team headed by Ate Jov and Kareejil. I remember bringing plastics of cloth home twice, one from our nightly practice when Chica, Charlotte and I went straight to Chowking, and the other when we went to Alvin, they were like cheap laundry plastics and I look totally poor.
I can also remember staging up a camp inside the jeepney, haha, with me bringing a giant styrofoar along with the game control-looking-shield. The styrofoar was big. BIG! And entering and leaving the jeepney became a hard challenge. Haha. And there is also the gawgawan mode at Annabeth’s, where the backmasking frenzy started, it was when Annabeth screamed her lungs out on a backmask of Jingle Bells. We also had the scotch-taping mode at Alvin’s house, the painting-the-coat mode at our house and the researching mode at Ate Jov’s house. Haha :D I miss those modes so much.
Of course, as a group, we eat a lot. We ate at Chowking and McDonalds at Clark, we ate rice toppings (in which a spoons became problems), we ate grilled chicken at Ate Jov’s and Alvin’s famous kare-kare. Haha.
Then, there goes the shoot. Before the shoot, of course, we need to find a place. Creon is a king, and we can’t settle for any simple room. We need royalty at its finest, cheapest and nearest! Haha! And there we stumbled upon Grand Palazzo Real, woot, the place in which when we first went, I had my public street bath, and on my second visit, we already had our first shoot.
The shoot was one of the most fun part. I can see Chica’s stern face getting angrier each moment he delivers her lines. Charlotte and Julia are just fine, then Annabeth forces her tears to go out. Kervy looks like a beggar at first, now I look more like a character in Holy Week. The elders look young, though they look like they are the officers of a laundry shop. I remember Nayong Pilipino, when the word “puri” was given birth. Haha. We are like living displays of stupid warfare on the ancient times. Chica were dressing us in a public place. We are asked to wear a guard’s costume which wouldn’t fit at all. After two hours of wearing it, haha, the day ended with not even half of the scene shot. Haha.
Then, there goes editing. (For Antigone series!) haha. Editing had me sleeping overnight on a classmate for the first time, and that is on Alvin’s home. Haha. Seeing the videos is fun, with all the bloopers, and the funny facial expressions when I press pause. We passed the movie incomplete, though we got a grade of 95. Weird. Haha. :D The movie was an effort worth looking back and an experience more than enough to treasure.
15. Ako ang Kriminal
Ako… Ako… Ako ang Kriminal. T_T that was another trademark of mine this year. Ako ang Kriminal, entering this list at number 15, is the title of the dramatic monologue piece that was given to me for the competition at Buwan ng Wika.
This was my first venture into the acting stage in my whole life! Never have I declaimed or acted on a stage of this size. On my never ending journey for plus on my card, and for experience, I was forced to join Buwan ng Wika in any way possible. I cannot be in modern dance, for there are so many greater dancers out there, and I don’t deserve any spot there. And after eliminating all other possible slots, I find the last one, dramatic monologue.
Argh. Then, as Ma’am was circulating the room talking about Buwan ng Wika, I volunteered for the slot, and I said that I will try. But, to my surprise, the next day, without even hearing me act, she said that I’ll be the one to represent the section in that contest. The contest is intersection, and the one who’ll win in the intersection will represent the fourth year level in Buwan ng Wika, which will be watched by a thousand strong students.
Ma’am Alfonso is not satisfied by what I am showing, and the contest is tomorrow. T_T I do not think I will win, for I am battling against Jefran who is a veteran on the field of acting. The piece is gruesomely long and uses inhumanely deep words. After hours of memorizing, facial expression practice sessions in front of the mirror, and actions and styles think-ups, I guess I am not ready. Haha.
But then the day came for the intersection contest. Lucky for me, I only saw two other participants: I, Jefran and Jehriel. Haha. And when one by one we are called, they cut the lines short, and they have crunched the poem in one-fourth its original, and I was the only one who completed it. I guess Jefran is just giving it as a bonus to me.
Then, there comes the biggest stage, the main event.. the inter-year level battle. I have been hearing news that the third year participant is good, with her depiction of Sisa highly realistic. When the contest came, she was really great, and she got the attention of the whole stage in her first act. Mine was long, boring, and ugh, very deep. The first year followed and she was teaching everyone how to enter showbusiness. The second year participant shared to us the pains and struggles of an overseas Filipino worker.
The contest ended, and I was second to the last T_T hahaha. At least, I tried. An acting career is not that bad to pursue. Haha. Venturing into unchartered lands is one way of exploring the world beyond. A shell shall be cracked, or else the bird will not go out. Hahaa :D in other words, one should try other things than the usual.
14. Battle of the Bands
Another embarrassing moment steals the number 14 spot.
The Battle of the Bands was the most tiring program I have ever been in to. It occupied much of my January and February, and it pulled me out of the classroom for weeks.
To start, the Battle of the Bands was a fundraising program by the Student Body Organization (that does not exist today). At the start, we recruited high school bands that will join the contest (and we have recruited five, luckily), and started to collect P20 from each student in SPCF. The P20 is for the tickets, though everyone is required to go.
Before collecting, we had to write letters for Sir Antonio to approve it. We need to fill in our amendments, and with numerous meetings, we have agreed that it’ll be a fundraising event. There are debates over the amount and the prize, but they all settled in P20. After it, we have to formulate the rules, we have to ask permission for the use of the Multi-Purpose Hall, and we have to write a letter to the office again for the date. After it, we have to advertise, we have to spread the word that we are going to have the Battle of the Bands. After it, we have to make forms for the bands to fill up, we have to make the program.. and I need to take a break. Haha.
Collecting the P20 took us almost a week. First, we need to discuss where the P20 will go, room by room, president by president and teacher by teacher if we must. Then, we need to talk to each treasurer, president and auditor (around 30 of them) to help us in collecting. Collecting from the officers became a problem also, for some of the students won’t pay at them, some have problems with comprehending our discussion and we need to repeat our explanations all over again and persuade the students to pay. I understand the part of the students, for if I were them, I would complain on why it is compulsory, but as the Vice President of the Student Body, I can’t do anything but agree as to what the whole Body is saying.
When everything was done and collected, the time to brief the bands followed. After the briefing, they told me that I’ll be the emcee. The twist is… I am going to be with a real DJ. I was like, “wth are they talking about?!” But that was real. The day came, and all I have in my mind was pressure.
My moment on stage was crazy. When I said, “Whew…”, everyone just screamed as if they’re energy is on infinity. I felt like the star, though I know I am not. Haha. But once the DJ entered, everything just went out of my way. I am not used on being an emcee without the script, and this experience had made me learn to deal with it. I am not used on emceeing like I was in a talk show. I am used to deliver normal, straightforward and formal introductions, not the one typical of a concert. T_T and the whole event, I was downright stupid at stage. I hate myself that day. :D
That experience shall be buried, but the lessons learned from it should be kept. Now, I am comfortable of emcee-ing that way, though I always commit mistakes in doing it, though not that much on my first run. Hahaa :D And I never thought that I could be such a public figure. Haha
Well, the story of Battle of the Bands did not end there, it went on until the first week of May, when we submitted our accounting report. I spent almost a week tabulating all the receipts and figuring out what went wrong. Me and Monique were required to fill in a thousand peso that is missing in the funds (though at the end, we never knew where the money went. Sad ending for me.) When we gave our accounting report, we were like two months late, and we are apprehended saying that Ma’am Malig hadn’t got her monthly wage for two months because of the delay. T_T too much responsibility.
13. Class Funds
Yes! Class Funds! This pain-in-the-pocket thing is on the thirteenth spot on my list (coincidentally thirteenth). Class funds have been significant for me since last year, because last year I was the treasurer of the class. If I had made a list last year, class funds could be up to number five or six.
This year, our class funds took its negative turn again, causing division in the classroom and a bond torn forever. It caused an issue that circulated the campus like wildfire and a fine image that was stained. We were seen as rebels, mutineers and seperatists by many, though only few know the real story behind it.
It all started when our inquisitive minds noticed that we are putting in money almost regularly, and we are not hearing anything about it… I would not like to expand this and be a controversial blog post so let us get to the playing-safe summary… then, a parent came, went to the principal, and inquired about the funds. Our adviser felt hurt or mad or idk what she felt..
And there you go, our name as a class has already spread throughout the campus as money-minded suckers who wants nothing and cares about nothing but money. We are reputed to be gold-diggers who won’t care about how our adviser would feel as long as we get the money. Ma’am Dungca even labeled as us “rebels” on her visit to our classroom. Couldn’t wait for someone who’ll name as Ampatuan the next time.
Haha. Good thing today, we still have that class funds, and it is still burning in a hole in my pocket, but today, that is not that much of an issue.
Btw, I was the class president back then. Haha. :))
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