Wednesday, September 26, 2007
How to draw a dog.
It’s been a long time, actually. A friend of mine asked if I could draw some animals for her in different yoga poses, for a t-shirt design she’s been brewing for a while. Since she really didn’t give any deadline, I was taking my time and actually postponing having to do it.
I realized today, when I was trying to draw the animals that I don’t know how to draw animals! At all! I can’t even picture their important features right now! So I searched for some how-to’s over the internet and tried to do some doodling. I did a few poses and actually finished my sausage sketches of a dog, cat, monkey and frog! 
Just right now, I got a vision of what a funny, cartoony dog in a bending yoga pose would look like and I tried to put it in paper. It’s a good start for my project, don’t you think? And a good enough sketch too, for the shirt design.
Labels: personal
tweenkies_1106 at 9:35 PM
New Life Quest
September 25, 2007
I realized that I have to do something with my life if I want it to be worth while. I know I should have realized this a long time ago, while I was wasting precious time being bored and staring out into space.
So today, I am starting with a Life Quest. Some kind of personal project. A really inspired mission, I admit. Starting today, no matter how small, I will try to do something new. Taste new food, try something more difficult, learn about a country or culture, read up on something I wouldn’t have thought of before, make a new friend, make a first move, surprise myself, surprise someone else. Anything new, anything that would make me think, act, reach out, jog my brain or my usually lazy ass. And then, immortalize my ventures and write them down. I am truly excited!
Labels: personal
tweenkies_1106 at 9:35 PM
Monday, September 24, 2007
Wicked
It was May 5, I remember perfectly because, quite obviously, it was Cinco de Mayo festival in New York then. My friend and I were walking around waiting for another friend to come for a visit. It was a free day in New York for us tourers before our concert the next day. After visiting a Strands bookstore branch, we walked around and saw a street sale with different kinds of trinkets, apparently in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. In one kiosk was an all-Wicked merchandise. I’ve heard little about the play but was more than intrigued to get a copy of the original Broadway recording so we got a copy each and even had free pins to go with that! We had a quick Thai lunch just off another store and ate hurriedly.
That was my third brush with Wicked. The first was when I was in Pennsylvania visiting my cousin and her family. I learned that my niece was part of the Wicked cast in their school. Every now and then I’d hear bits and pieces about the story, that it was a prequel to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, way before Dorothy came to the Emerald City. The second instance that piqued my interest was when a friend bought a book, the one that inspired the play. I heard snippets about the story, he was just starting to read.
So last year, buying the Wicked CD was like out of curiosity. I barely knew the song Defying Gravity. Unlike when I started to like Avenue Q, I’ve already heard reviews about the play and heard the whole soundtrack! I didn’t have time to listen to the Wicked CD all through out the tour and even weeks after we’re already back in Manila so when a friend borrowed it, I willingly gave it to him. More than a year has passed and it was only recently that I remembered to look for it and that it was finally given back. And now I’m mesmerized.
I’ve been listening to it over and over again, for the past days. A new found love. Maybe some day soon I’ll get to see it live too. I have falled in love with its music and lyrics! The humor, the stories of heartbreaks and triumphs and the underlying messages of friendship, loyalty, faith and love. I can’t believe I’ve let a year pass before I allowed myself to be immersed in their world. It’s such a beautiful musical.
I’ve recently come across YouTube videos, in around 15 parts, I think, featuring the original Broadway cast on stage. I’ve only started watching and am awaiting to be enthralled. The speaking parts can get a bit muddled, but it’s a visual extravaganza. I hope there’d come a time when I can personally experience watching it too. No loathing, unadulterated loathing for this one at all!
p.s. it just amazed me that in the original Broadway cast, Glinda (Kristin Chenoweth) was also the girl Maria in the Bewitched movie starring Nicole Kidman. She was too good for the movie! Seriously!
Labels: theatre
tweenkies_1106 at 8:33 PM
Breaking Down
Last Friday, I was at my worst. I guess only my sister knew what really happened or what brought me down again. A case of why them and why not me? Or what else is there for me to do? Even of do I not deserve better?
For some reason, I think I’ve been in this rut for the longest time ever and I can’t help but look for people or things to blame. I have been trying to do what I can do, I know I have tried to be more specific with what I have been praying and asking for. I know that for the past few I have been truly unhappy that I have tried to do as much as I can. But my resources are so limited that most of the time all I can do is wait. Mostly sulk and even drown in self-pity. And it gets tiring having to go through this vicious cycle of ok to rotten.
I am trying to figure out what life is telling me. Why it seems to bring me deeper into something I have clearly said I do not want. I have been trying to find what I truly love, but it has been elusive. Painfully elusive.
Waiting is the most often and most heartbreaking answer to one’s prayer. I don’t know if I can stand getting that answer again. And I don’t know, really, what I can do about it.
I am angry, yes. But most often, I am just frustrated. And tired. I do not want to give in just because I can no longer wait. I need to find a reason to believe that there is still hope. But where and how… I do not know. I am totally at a loss here.
Labels: personal
tweenkies_1106 at 8:33 PM
Ow! (and Yech!)
Last Saturday I had to face what I have been trying to postpone for the longest time… having my wisdom tooth extracted. Actually, it was more of a nuisance than out of fear. And also because that would mean spending money I could use somewhere else. My sister just had her tooth extracted too, some months or weeks ago. And she did say it was just a short ordeal. Nothing to worry about then, I said to myself. so after having my X-ray and having that examined, I scheduled for the surgery.
The “easy” part was all a sham. First off, the x-ray proved to be misleading. I guess partly because it was blurred which may have made the tooth appear “easily removable” when, exactly opposite, it was in the most difficult position for extraction. I had my arm tested with the anesthesia to see if I wasn’t allergic and after 15 minutes, I was cleared. We started around 2:30 in the afternoon, with only the bright afternoon sun as light in the room. So with my mouth half-numb, I opened up. Apparently for a 3-hour (not the expected 30 minutes) ordeal. Thrice they had to put anesthesia because I’ve started to feel pain in my gums. I was getting teary-eyed both from tiredness and frustration (God! Please let them pull the tooth out! I was silently shouting in my head.) Even the doctors were starting to give up. The tooth was coming out in pieces. It was already nearly 6 p.m. (I later learned) and the afternoon soon has begun its fast descent. When the doctor was ready to give up, one last push and out came the stubborn root. Thank goodness. The bits and pieces of my broken wisdom tooth, all bloody and wet, was on the dentist’s table. I didn’t want any remembrance of that day.
With still half of my mouth and tongue numb, I mumbled a dozen thank yous to my dentists. It was a looong day for all of us and I’m sure they’d be heading for a quick dinner and long sleep after that.
An hour and a half to go still before we reached home. Around 30 minutes into the rocky ride, the anesthesia has started to wear off. I was at the back of the van where I can feel all the bumps and swerves of the road but I was determined to stay as far away from the others. Alone with the throbbing pain of my gums. I realized that as soon as the anesthesia wore off, I can also feel the painful pricks of where the needle was stuck, close to my throat. So I can’t even swallow. I almost used up a whole role of tissue to wipe off saliva. The glands were overactive that night! I can now taste blood and Betadine. I can even feel the surgical thread with my tongue. The pain began to be unbearable, I can’t stop from crying. I even snapped at my sister because I had to shout what I was saying, which was hard for me to do.
Today, the swelling has gone down to a did-you-just-gain-weight-on-your-face or candy-in-mouth size. Which is actually bearable. But I still can’t open my jaw well and have to push it small bit of pasta in my mouth. Can’t chew as much, because my jaw gets tired easily too. I’m hoping for a full recovery by the end of the week, when I no longer have to take antibiotics and my dad finally gets to remove the surgical thread in my mouth. Yey!
I feel like a new person! And I’m not exaggerating. I say that only because I have never had to endure that much physical pain in my life, or at least I don’t remember anything worse than that. I’ll be trying to make that the last one.
P.S. right after the surgery, I also had my ears pierced, at last! Just one ear, because the piercing in my left ear is still good. I’m wearing kiddie hypo-allergening earrings of my birthstone—topaz—today!
Labels: personal
tweenkies_1106 at 8:31 PM
Avenue Q
Finally after a year or so of learning about the famous play, and playing its soundtrack over and over in my CD player and then iPod, Avenue Q has come to life! The first time I heard about it, they were holding auditions for puppeteers and actors last February and back then, the play date was rumored to be August. I was so excited I had to text my friends about it, friends who shared the same fascination I had on the play. And around summer time, we heard that Rachel Alejandro, Frenchie Dy and Aiza Seguerra were to top-bill the show. I was a bit skeptical, thinking the producers were just milking on the famous names, but boy was I in for a surprise!
After more than a year of singing with Kate and Princeton and the rest of the Avenue Q gang, I was more than eager to see “faces”, visuals to bring to life what I have only heard in my head. And there it was, right in front of me, Avenue Q with its 3-building, 2 storey façade. I was mesmerized. Despite the fact that we were far up in the balcony, the excitement couldn’t have been lesser than those who afforded the orchestra seats. We were in for the experience, and the Philippine cast delivered wonderful.
I have to say that Rachel Alejandro has never surprised me this much. I was astounded beyond my wits. Oh yes, she was a great singer back in her days. And she was a great Mimi in Rent, some few years ago. But the way she brought Kate to life and then switched flawlessly to Lucy the Slut was beyond me! She was truly fascinating, as both characters. Her voice was truly beautiful, soft and “innocent” Kate to domineering and woman-of-the-world Lucy. The shifts were seamless.
I would have to laud Joel Trinidad who played numerous characters, all so convincingly: Trekky Monster (he was truly hilarious); Nikky (who couldn’t forgive him with that cute naivete?); and the male Bad Idea Bear (I’d drink to that!).
And for the slightly newbie theatre actor (I say slightly because I’ve read in the book that he has performed in many other plays, but I’ve only heard of him for the first time here in Avenue Q), Felix Rivera , I’m totally amused! The boy has great talent! Not that I’m an expert, but he does a really awesome Princeton, the wide-eyed new grad to Rod, the closet gay Republican. He’s amazing as both but he made me guffaw more in his puppeteering of Rod. He’s just a total riot.
I don’t know if this is the first play for Ms. Aiza Seguerra, but he does a good Gary Coleman. Sometimes though she’s just all-grins and on her arms-on-hips poses. It gets a little awkward.
My gosh, Frenchie Dy is a wonderful soprano. She makes a mean Christmas Eve, I tell you! But my sister did notice though that she had to distinguish between just consciously switching her l’s and r’s and getting the accent right. It wasn’t too convincing at times.
Of course, I couldn’t help but hum along. Every song I knew by heart, yes, even the raunchy ones. Cringe in slight embarrassment at the full puppet nudity of “You can be as loud as the hell you want when your making love…” or cry at “You gotta go after the things you want while you’re still in your prime. There’s a fine fine line…” or reminisce with “I wish I could go back to college…”. Even decide whether to be hopeful or fearful that things are only “For now.” And it was such a beautiful feeling to see and not just hear being played and sung. That made it more than special! It was a dream come true!
All in all, I would say that the Philippine run was a success. I should say so because the theatre was packed, the audience was reeling in uncontrollable laughter, the cast was great! Even the 15-minute intermission announcement came as a funny surprise. The effort! Gotta love the show, really! Whether down at the orchestra to way up in the balcony, it was an experience to remember.
Labels: theatre
tweenkies_1106 at 8:26 PM