Staying alive.

Ah ah ah ah staying alive...

Death by ennui. I know I should be thankful 'cause I didn't have it as bad as hundreds/thousands of people. The power was back on very early last Friday, and nothing much was damaged except for some toppled down patio plants.

No t.v., no computer games, no music, no internet (homaygaz withdrawals!) last Thursday. The kids, my mom and I played Taboo earlier in the day, but my mom kept saying all the bawal words and she was being such a sore loser (hahaha) so we kept the game within an hour. Late afternoon I tried reading the annotations of From Hell by candle light but my eyes could only take a few chapters of heavily inked pages at a time. Note to self: Gabbing on the phone for hours was definitely the most feasible and entertaining way to pass the time in the dark when you're not sleepy.

Our Tagaytay trip was obviously cancelled postponed 'cause other than the fact that the SLEX toll gates were out of commission at the time, it was pointless to go out of town just to twiddle our thumbs in the dark. At least here at home we had the juice back the morning after the storm. Gadsh, rescheduling a trip with a bunch of artists is going to be a logistical nightmare hahahah...

Vacation was replaced with work when Jan came over Friday night with insta-raket. And I've been working since. Well, at least I'm not bored to death anymore. :-P

Aaargh!

Kontrabulateng bagyo ito!!! (T_T)

'Yun lang.

I'm so excited...

...and I just can't hide it.

Come Friday night, I will be off to the Tagaytay/Nasugbu area with 7 other INKies for a weekend of mindless entertainment. This will be fun! (n_n)

*****

So I've acquired this nasty habit of posting in several drafts and updating my blog in bulk. Argh. Too many distractions. I'll try posting more regularly in the future. *(^_^)*

Sunday babysitter.

Took my nieces to our I.N.K. activity at Riverbanks today. While Kuya Jun of Alitaptap entertained the audience with three stories, Guia, Loki and I did some amateur, on-the-fly face painting. Nakaka-challenge ha.

"Hi! Anong gusto mong i-paint natin?"

"Gusto ko ng Captain Barbell!"

"Naku, hindi namin alam 'yun!"

"E Batman?"

"Ay Batman! Dun ka kay Ate Guia."

"Sige Superman na lang."

"Ha? Pano 'yun?"

"'Yung may 'S'!"

(whispering) "Aba demanding."

I decided I won't ask the kids anymore.

"Wow, ang ganda naman ng shirt mo! Puro hearts! Lagyan kita ng heart sa face ha?"

Hahaha. It was fun anyways. Then we checked out the cute dogs at the Activity Center where a Dog Show was being held. Kaaliw. Hee. Ü

I managed to bring the kids home safely before dinner and before the rain started to pour like mad.

Masarap 'yung Oishi Pillows ube flavor. Wala lang. (n_n)

Oh, and the Riverbanks run of Sa Tabi-Tabi Po! is extended until the second week of October. 'Yun lang. Ü

Ahoy, ye landlubbers!

Avast! Because it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day--

Q: Why can't kids watch pirate movies?
A: Because they're Rated Arrr.

Q: What has 8 arms and 8 legs?
A: 8 pirates.

Harrrharrrharrr... :-P

Jobs that pay the bills.

I hate sequential art. That means storyboarding and standard comic book panelling. But I've a meeting with an ad agency for storyboarding later. Don't ask me why I agreed to do this.

Then there's this über-third world project with UNICEF and DOH-- something about health and uhm, intestinal worms. Bleeech. Hahaha. Challenge ito.

Argh the things I must do to earn money... *sigh*

Security.

For the first time in 9 years a building security facility detected the brass knuckles inside my bag.

(Weird that it hasn't happened before when I've been to a lot of high security places and the house of the British Ambassador. Mall and transport security inspections don't count, the routine's just for show anyway.)

I went to UNICEF for new project briefing today. For some strange reason I forgot to put my brass knuckles inside my jeans pocket (today of all days, when everyone is uber-praning because it's the 9/11 anniversary), and when I placed my bag on the x-ray conveyor belt at the United Nations office, the guards found the thing, and asked me to leave it with them.

After the meeting the guards returned the offending object without question and I went on my way.

Hah. Buti na lang hindi ako nakulong or anything. Kinabahan ako dun. (o_O)

Stage fright.

I had a planned schedule today: arrive early at ingress and finish set up before 3 p.m.; check mail and my KoL character; freshen up and get ready for the Sapatos Festival closing ceremonies at 6 p.m.; scoot over to Cubao X and watch Outerhope perform; and finally, catch up with the guys at pokahhh night. But internal office politics and the drenching kind of rain happened.

Insta-ingress team (myself, Jodi, Oro, Cheps & her beau) experienced delays over artwork turnover and venue schedule conflicts at the Marikina City Hall. While the others had lunch, I slipped out with Ayoy briefly for a fitting session with her wedding coutourier and lunch, then returned to the Marikina City Hall where we waited some more. We transferred our exhibit to Kapitan Moy, set up everything ourselves, and finished past 7 p.m.

I didn't have time to go home and change (the City Hall guys were looking for us at Teatro Marikina as early as 6 p.m.), so I asked Jodi to tell Liza to pick me up at Kapitan Moy.

I attended the closing ceremony in my most dugyot glory-- sneakers, jeans, a band shirt. Imagine the horror on my face when we saw all these people in formal wear milling about at the lobby. EEEK. (o_O)

Liza and I were ushered to take front row seats to watch the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra perform while waiting for the intermission segment. The PPO performed bits from Annie the musical (awesome!) which almost made us burst into song and dance. As the orchestra piped out the opening bars of the theme from Superman, the former first lady Imelda Marcos sashayed into the theater and took her place a few seats away from us. Talk about a grand entrance. And it prompted all video/photographers and media people to gather round us. My ingress dugyotness was immortalized in the form papparazzi photography/videography. How. Annoying. And. Embarassing.

One of the highlights of the night was seeing and hearing MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, former senator Joey Lina and DILG Secretary Angelo Reyes sing Tonight, Tonight (West Side Story) with orchestral accompaniment. May career sila sa stand up comedy and music kung hindi na sila mamumulitika. Hahah. It was actually fun to see and listen to them when they're not talking politics.

And despite all pleas to have myself excluded from the intermission segment, I was called onstage with Liza to shake hands with the mayor and the vice mayor. On behalf of Ang I.N.K. we received a plaque of recognition as "Marikina City Ambasadors of Arts and Cultural Excellence", an ordinance declaring Ang I.N.K. as honorary citizens of Marikina City, and a gold plated key to the city. (A key!!! Huwaaat!) To top it all off, we have a permanent marker mounted near the entrance to the main theater. (There are five markers, one each for Ang I.N.K., Ballet Philippines, Rock Ed, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippine Madrigal Singers.) Naks. Sikat. Haha.

We slipped out of the theater during PPO's second set. Ang lakas ng ulan! We had to borrow a nice stranger's umbrella so we can walk to the car and leave. Liza and I had very late dinner at Krung Thai (mmm) afterwards, then we both went home.

I was still supposed to catch the Lomo Love event and pokahhh night, but I heeded Marnie's advice and stayed home instead because of the hellish commute in the rain. I missed a gig and had to content myself with talking to the pokahhh guys on the landline instead. Sux.

*****

Gadsh I'm sooo tired. And this is a very long post. Pffft.

Sapatos Festival.

The exhibit at the Marikina City Hall opened today, but I didn't get to witness the opening ceremonies. (I was informed the event was to start at 9, but it all happened 8 a.m.) I arrived in time for the cocktails and shook hands with the mayor. Over pasta and crunchy ube dessert (I dunno what it's called) I silently panicked with Liza and Conrad before we headed for the quadrangle where 28 Marikina Science High School students waited for us for the rubber foam workshop.

It was fun to watch these kids work on their shoe hats (errr... shoes for the head). We even went on overtime because everyone, including the two supervising teachers, was so immersed on the project.

Success! Yay! (n_n)

Photos courtesy of Alex Tiangco of MCTTIPO. More photos over here.

Hale Hale Hoy!

Cover study by Jandy, Liza and a bunch of Ang I.N.K. members

It's out! It's out! Our book is out! :-D

Hale Hale Hoy! is a collection of illustrated Filipino traditional rhymes, riddles, games and songs published by Ang I.N.K. and Adarna House. It's available on discount at the Manila International Book Fair, go go go buy now! Bookstore price is P235, I think. It's worth your money, promise! Heheh. Hardsell ba? Heheheh.

*****

Earlier today Guia, Vane and I set up the Tabi Po exhibit at the Marikina City Hall quadrangle in time for the Sapatos Festival opening ceremonies on Monday. We were at the venue 10:30 a.m., and we finished past 6. Nakakapagod. Pero mukhang sulit naman ang effort. Buti na lang di nag-inarte ang hika ko ngayon. Hayyy ang tagal na nito. Pahinga mode na muna ako.