When Sir Jam declared to us that he picked us to join the Carousel Festival, we were all so excited. It’ll be our first time to participate in a chamber theater contest. Woo!
Our initial piece was supposed to be “Dante’s Purgatory”, but we had a tricky time making a script for it. But then, Sir Jam told us that the organizers will be the ones who’ll choose our piece (bunot-bunot, actually). So there, our piece was “The Lady and her five suitors”, and still, it wasn’t the piece that we were looking for. Thus, Sir Jam looked for a new piece regarding the theme “Arabian Nights”. And then, he came up with, “The Marvels and Wonders of the Arabian Nights”, that’s the origin of the said theme.
We crossed several problems and complications while preparing for this contest. Our piece, the script, the time. Pressure.
Formal practices started only 2 weeks before the contest proper. The speech training took a week to imply. Our practices for that matter was scheduled 3-4pm and 5-6pm on MWF (but on Friday, it was up to 8pm), and 4-6pm on TTH.
And on Saturday, we practiced whole day. Speech training in the morning, and the tableaus in the afternoon. Whoa! Then on Sunday, we practiced the whole night, 6pm up to 7am in the morning (not to mention, that there was a big thunder storm that night, and it was black out until 9:30pm, we had to practice using candles for light, poor us). Practice, practice and more practice. By morning, the tableaus were all done. Yey! *cheers*
Only 1week to go until the festival, and still, only a few of us had memorized the lines. Talk about pressure. Hmpf. We practiced out guts out in that week. Right after our examinations, all our attention was focused on the contest. We practiced whole day, 8am up to 6pm. And on Friday, the day before the said contest, we had an overnight practice at the ULS convention hall. Almost all of us hadn’t slept that night; everyone was busy with making their costumes and memorizing their lines and some were already paos.
Then, the day of the contest came. We were nervous and excited.
The contest started, the ULS conhall was packed with people, and we were the first performers. Wooo!
Our performance was great, the dancing, the intro, perfect! But right after the conflict scene of King Sha Zaman and his unfaithful wife, BLACK OUT, but we (the performers) didn’t know that yet, I thought there was something wrong with our music. We couldn’t rightly without our music. We got confused; we didn’t know what to do next, we were all panicking. Our presentation was ruined.
Right after we got off the stage, every one of us was puzzled. What happened? Bat ganun? Naanu ang music? Panu na tou? Sir Jam hurried to us, and told us to go outside and talk about the tragedy. He told us that he was proud of us for still continuing our performance in spite of the technical problem. But I for one, was devastated, I couldn’t stop my tears from bursting out of my eyes. Ganun lang yun? Panu na yung effort naming? Pinilit pa namin ang parents namin na payagan kaming magsali sa contest na ‘to tas yun pa ang mangyari? But I forced myself to act optimistic with what happened. There’s a reason for everything.God had other plans. Hmpf.
However, all and sundry was tormented by what occurred. Shocked. Upset. Strained.
We will never forget about our chamber theater experience. And even though our presentation was quite ruined, still we got into the top7 performances. That was still an achievement.
And after all, we gained something much more than any prize ever; we gained enjoyment, and friendship. :))
We were favored to perform at our recognition program, and we couldn’t oblige. So, during that intermission, we performed enthusiastically, we gave our best in our final performance. Everyone enjoyed it, the audiences were all cheering. We could see that every person was smiling! Yey! *smiles*
P.S pictures : 1 - me and jonarel (we're the concubines of King Sharyar), 2 - me, dave and freddie (they're roles are men disguised as white slaves), 3 - kuya jaymbo and mars (chorus sila), 4 - rj, or more known as "butchok" (he's the blackmoor).
(pictures; 1- the organizers and the trophies, 2- ate kristine and ate zendie, the judges, 3- the organizers awarding the certificate of appreciation to ate zendie, 4- the organizers awarding the certificate of appreciation to ate kristine, 5- the trophies, 6- me and cecil posing with the trophies)
My dictionary meaning of anemia – a harmful sickness that makes your eye sight dark and blurry, then makes you really dizzy, afterward if it’s really worse, you’ll collapse. This condition occurs to girls and boys of all ages. Those ones who doesn’t eat veggies, (yikes! Natamaan aku! Tugsh!)
Haay. Amphf. I had this so-called illness since I was still in grade 5. I was a crazy kid then, and I like to play games like “latsog”, “lupa-langit”, “king king pluck” and the like. Every time I participate in those games, my bad condition attacks me. Arrrgghhh. Hate it! Good thing that it’s not as worse as collapsing in front of a crowd!
Oh, speaking of collapsing… I have collapsed about 3 times already. The first time I collapsed was when I was in grade6, right after my bath (wooo. Nakatowel lang ako nun. Maygaad!). After that, my second time was in church, (huhu. Biggest humiliation of my life!) I don’t know what really happened, all I remember was that I subsided, then two men carried me to the nearby table, then a woman gave me water to drink, afterwards, when I got home, I was comforted by my parents, (duh! Comforted with a lot of scolding!), they confiscated my cell phone for two weeks. Huhu. Torture! Followed by my third time and still, it was at church, (bakit kaya nuh? Lagi nalang sa simbahan. Love ko man si God. Hmp).
Oh oh oh.. Lesson learned. This anemia was out of me for several months since 2nd year, but now, it’s back to torment me again, to embarrass me again. *sniffles* Just this week, this ostensible condition bothered me again; I get dizzy 8-10 times a day! Gosh! It arises whenever I move unexpectedly. Huhu. such agony, pain, and cruelty. (haha. Overacting!)
Insomnia strikes again. I dunnow why, but even though I really want to close my eyes and wander in my dreams, I couldn’t get to sleep.
It was already 10:30pm, however, there I was, lying down at my bed, staring at the ceiling with my eyes wide open. I still couldn’t slumber. Geez. I need to snooze ASAP! I have tons to do the next day, go to church, clean the house, and organize our school’s film festival. Hmpf. Do I need someone to sing me a lullaby just to go to sleep? God! I’m not a baby no more! (*yawn* *yawn* *yawn* ) I kept on yawning but how come I can’t get to sleep?! Weird.
I tried every technique that can make you drowsy. I counted each imaginary sheep that jumped over the imaginary fence and I listened to sleepy music. Ahai. But no, I still can’t sleep. I hate this.
Time check: 12mn. Wow! In spite of everything I did, still no sign of drowsiness. Why? Why? Why?
“ Kung ayaw mong matulog, di wag! Puyat puyat ka nanaman, magka-eyebags ka nyan, dadami ang pimples mo, tapos babalik nanaman ang anemia mo, cge ka!” Ayan.Napagalitan ko na tuloy ang sarili ko. Waaa!
Then, my eyes started twitching, I started yawning nonstop! Woo! Alas! I’m sleepy.
Time check: 12:39am. I embraced my pillow, I cuddled up with my blanket, I prayed, then waited…..
