Friday, January 27, 2006

Stress is good

Stress is good... I've been told four times today that I seem to be losing weight, and I attribute it all to lack of sleep and a "haggard" schedule.


I had a harang last night with Zuri and Noel. :) 'Twas good. I had to learn a couple of songs literally overnight, but what the heck! :) Getting paid for singing is FUN!


I'm still new at this harang business, and I've got so much to learn.


Oh golly, am sleepy. What a short, useless entry.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

From Books to Film

You've read the books, now see the movies!


Relive the splendor, the passion, the joy, the action, the horror, and the romance of literature---for only P35.00!!!


 


Ex Libris U.P. presents


FROM  BOOKS  TO THE  BIG SCREEN


A special screening of literature-to-film adaptations


***


Feb. 1, 2 and 3


8-12 noon, 1-5 p.m.


CAL-AVR (2nd floor, Faculty Center)


For ticket reservations, contact Tata 09183216136 or Gabi 09192735418, or any Ex Libris U.P. member you know. Tickets at Php 35.00


We also sell tickets at the entrance.


 


EX LIBRIS UP. Bringing books to people.


 


***


FILM SCREENINGS:


FEB 1 Wednesday


8-10 Girl with a Pearl Earring


10-12 The Princess Bride


 1-5 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (extended edition) ---> includes the romance between Faramir and Eowyn, AAAaaaaaaAAAA!?!?! *Kilig*


 


Feb 2 Thursday


8-10 The Last of the Mohicans


10-12 Little Women


1-3 A Room with a View


3-5  Romeo and Juliet (the Franco Zefferilli version)


 


Feb 3 Friday


8-10 The Bourne Supremacy


10-12 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


1-3 Fight Club


3-5  Dracula


 


Once again, please support UP's first organization for booklovers!


-----------------------


I'm bitchy. Our computer at home is sira (somehow, it's more cathartic when I say it in Filipino... "broken" doesn't nearly do as good a job of releasing frustration compared to "sira"). I repeat... SIRA SIRA SIRA!!!!!! Therefore... no internet access.


It's been quite a while since I was last in an internet cafe... I remember the good ol' care free high school days when my siblings and I would hang out at Net Trekker in ATC and play Counterstrike several hours a week. Aaaaaaaa I miss those days...


I'm so harassed and stressed out all the time in the past few weeks... I'm doing something wrong here. Maybe I shouldn't have taken 21 units this sem. :(  Too late to do anything about it now...

Friday, January 20, 2006

Unwinding after a long, stressful week...

I know now how it feels to organize a forum in 3 days. (@(*)#^$&(#$&*@(!!!!) --> deleted


But it's OVER! :) And I'm so happy. Bits of our forum were even shown on TV PATROL last night, yipee! Haha. Not every ACLE gets national tv coverage. *smug*


We had a lovely evening out, our whole family. We had a nice dinner of two different kinds of pizza and two enormous servings of Caesar's salad (haha, diet kuno), had coffee (I tried Gloria Jean's Chocolate Macademia Nut Hotty Toddy... divine!!), and got a few cd's. Am now listening to the most relaxing jazz music I've ever heard... Steve Tyrell's fantastic!!!! I'm a fan now.


I've got a report to do over the weekend, and a powerpoint presentation on Jerome Bruner's Spiral Curriculum. Bah. Will think of them tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Stress...

Haha. Siyempre kung kelan marami akong ginagawa, saka ako na in the mood to blog.


So! Today I went to all four of my classes, and managed to post Joan Page forum posters in between them. My voice aches from the stress of singing all morning, I just hope I don't develop nodules from continuously exhausting it.


So many things left to fix for Thursday's forum... I seem to have taken the role of un-official "S.M" (perhaps the more appropriate term would be F.M? for Forum Manager? hehe as there is no stage...) and while I appreciate the enormous learning experience Sir Behn is letting me have, I can't help but feel overwhelmed by it all.......


Managed to find time to jog with Raymond today, yay. :) Grabe! The miracles wrought about by exercise! My cold vanished after 1 round in the Acad Oval, and afterwards I felt so alive and my body was all tingly and felt so... uh... healthy. I felt as if I could climb mountains, lift trees... Gaaaaa how I miss this rush of post-exercise endorphins!


Still got loads of hw to do. Signing off for now.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Joan Page

My life for the past several days has revolved around one person and one person only: Miss Joan Page... the beautiful American actress/singer who became such a big hit in Philippine cinema in the early '50's. Our Theater class under Sir Behn Cervantes was tasked to interview her, document her life, and organize a forum featuring her.


Shameless plugging! Please attend the forum A PAGE FROM PHILIPPINE ENTERTAINMENT HISTORY featuring Miss Joan Page.


When: Thursday, January 19, 2006


Where: UP College of Music, Mini-hall


Time: 1-2:30 pm


----------------------


I want to set up my own business. Maybe it's because of the Entreprenuer magazines I've been reading (haha, I was G.I'd by Kim Kwok)... Aside: G.I. as in good influence, as opposed to B.I


Any ideas? I need ideas badly. Me want to earn money. Me poor. Wa. I'm feeling the effects of the EVAT, hehe, the buying power of my allowance has greatly diminished recently.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

From Sir Manalo



Ten Top Trivia Tips about Gabi Francisco!



  1. The pharoahs of ancient Egypt wore garments made with thin threads of beaten Gabi Francisco.

  2. Humans share over 98 percent of their DNA with Gabi Francisco.

  3. The pupil of an octopus's eye is shaped like Gabi Francisco.

  4. If you don't get out of bed on the same side you got in, you will have Gabi Francisco for the rest of the day.

  5. Europe is the only continent that lacks Gabi Francisco.

  6. Gabi Francisco will often glow under UV light.

  7. Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are Gabi Francisco.

  8. More than one million stray dogs and half a million stray cats live in Gabi Francisco.

  9. Devoid of her cells and proteins, Gabi Francisco has the same chemical makeup as sea water.

  10. Moles are able to tunnel through 300 feet of Gabi Francisco in a day.




I am interested in - do tell me about



Friday, January 13, 2006

A Productive Day

I practiced a total of 3 and a half hours today, haha!! To make up for my not practicing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Bad, bad me. My fingers hurt after pounding on my pieces for so long... I'm not piano major material. I wonder how the piano majors do it... they practice anywhere from 3 to 6 hours a day, everyday including weekends. Ang galing naman nila. THAT'S DEDICATION.


The difficulty about Voice is that you can't practice singing for lengthy periods of time... the vocal chords are extremely delicate and if one forces them, one might do potentially permanent damage. :( One hour of nonstop singing is extremely exhausting already.


I ran through my major pieces (a Filipino song cycle by Noni Espina <8 songs> plus six songs: 1 oratoria aria, 1 opera aria, 1 French melodie, 1 German lied, 1 English art song and 1 Tagalog kundiman) with Ate Michelle today. Whoa! Talk about a major blunder fest. In fairness, it was a first time pasada. I now realize just how much work I need to put in my major pieces this sem... gaaaaak. My songs are "killers," hehe, my teacher's words and not my own. They're all so darn HIGH!! It's frustrating. :( Especially the Tagalog, "Kay Tamis ng Buhay," the aria of Maria Clara from Noli Me Tangere. It has a sustained high C. And the Filipino song cycle is EXTREMELY difficult... then again, it IS an Espina piece. (sigh)


Our side won the Nurture vs. Nature debate in MuEd today!! YIPEE! Congrats to my groupmates Aretha, Kim, and Maricor... we're oh-so-galing! The whole thing was recorded on camera, we're going to watch ourselves next Tuesday and grade our groupmates accordingly.


I'm not cut out to be a public speaker, I must admit. :( It's weird, but the words don't flow from my mouth the way they do with some of my orgmates. I find it hard to string words together. I note that this is a common problem with my collegemates. They say that it's because we think in terms of music and sound, and not in words. Weee-eeell... to a certain degree, I agree with that. Oftentimes I find myself analyzing the musical aspects of the voice of the person I'm conversing with (e.g. timbre). And a few times, I've met people whose speaking voices I find so unpleasant. I have a hard time listening to these people when I'm talking to them, hehe. I know it's a bad thing, and I try not to mind. But don't you think it's hard to listen to someone whose voice is so shrill and screechy?


Tomorrow I have to interview Miss Joan Page for our Theater class. She was the 1940's/50's version of Thalia in the Philippines, hehe, a really famous actress in her day. How exciting!


The voltage regulator is fluctuating. Must post now or this entry might be lost.


 

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Real life

Well, I've learned several valuable lessons in life in the course of these past few weeks. Such as, the weapons of Truth and Honor no longer seem to be as effective as they used to be in days of old. It seems to me now that honorable, one-on-one talk has no place in a world that clearly values facades and showmanship over good ol' integrity.  Also, I've seen firsthand how talented UP students can be in the realm of "politicking." I see future Miriam Defensor Santiago's in the making. Good Lord, what is this country coming to when intelligence and tenacity are misused?


* * * *


The perennial question remains... Does the end truly justify the means?


I know now that I can never go into politics. Leave the rat race to the rats, I say.


* * * *


On the bright side of life... I FINALLY got to see NARNIA. Wahoo! I have a bit of a crush on Mr. Tumnus. Ehehehe. And Peter, of course. If only he was a better actor.


* * * *


My cold is getting better!! Today I vocalized a bit and managed to hit my upper notes with a more bell-like clarity compared to the croaks emanating from my larynx from a few days ago. Yaaaaay!!


Oh, to be able to sing properly again...


Disaster! I've been reassigned to a different role in our opera. :( One of our classmates is going on a leave of absence, and now I have to study an entirely different part. Drat... one half sem gone to waste.


It doesn't help any that the new part is tougher vocally. :( :(


Ooooh! Our College is having its second concert on the 11th of February, Saturday, 8 pm, at the CCP Main Theater. I got so excited, I purchased tickets already. I don't want a repeat of what happened last year... the tickets were sold out and the only reason I got tickets was because a friend of mine couldn't make it and sold her tickets to me. EVERYONE's going to be there!! The Orchestra, the Madrigal Singers, the Band... AaaaAAaa!! If this year's concert will be half as great as last year's, then my allowance-for-a-week investment in tickets will be well spent.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Happy birthday!!

Shout out to my friend, the pianist Maestro Raymond Sanga!! Happy birthday!!! :-) Haha ang gurang mo na.


Wasn't able to attend his little handaan tonight.:( Sadness. Our little brother got sick kasi. And, of course, there's the fact that we live so far away from UP Diliman. (sigh) It's not easy to attend late night parties (like Franco's last Friday, which was a lot of fun even though Tata and I left 7 hours before the party REALLY ended).


Sometimes I wish I was allowed to stay out late, to go to parties and attend all the concerts I want. Sometimes nga lang, hehe. But aside from that, I'm really happy with my life. Besides, there's more to college life than birthday parties, inuman's and sleep-overs. There are the memorable conversations ranging from the most mundane topics to the most deep, philosophical ones. In my college, there are the jamming sessions where we don't sing bel canto and do our own rendition of Westlife/Backstreet Boys songs instead.


Had my major and minor today... and in Ensemble class, we finally sang the first 5 songs of Brahms' "Liebeslieder," which is for SATB and two pianos. Enrico's kindly agreed to sing the bass part, yay!! He's so good, grabe, it's so inspiring to sing with him. Oooh and in MuEd our group prepared our arguments for Friday's Debate: "Musical Intelligence... the product of Nature or Nurture?"  We're the nurture group. Yay! I strongly believe Nurture plays a bigger role in determining M.I.


Tomorrow is a big day. Need some shut eye. I desperately need to acquire perfect pitch in order to sing my part properly in Menotti's The Old Maid and The Thief. It's a one act opera, and it's kinda atonal. :( Hardly any reference pitches! And no arias to speak of... it's like the whole opera is made up of recitatives. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...... ang hirap niya.

Monday, January 9, 2006

Interesting Times...

I don't know why, but whenever I'm busiest with schoolwork, that's when I feel the urge to do the ff:


a) blog


b) manage my virtual kingdom at http://games.swirve.com/utopia


c) read!! and read and read and read...


My cold's gotten a little bitter. "A little" being the catch phrase. Grrrrr. Oh when will I be able to sing again?


Our Theater class is doing an outreach performance project at ANAWIM! see http://www.anawim.com.ph Oooooh. Really excited about it.


Hmmm... org life doesn't get any more interesting than this. It gets tiring, though. How funny it is... I always thought I was a good judge of character. Turns out I was wrong. It's funny how very few people are left in this world who actually value integrity and honor... it's like we're dinosaurs, a fast disappearing breed. It's funny how small minded people can be... when God gives them brains but they don't use it. I find so many things funny these days.


A lot of things will be resolved by Wednesday. Finally. Cannot wait 'til then.

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Proud Ate

I'm so proud!! My younger brother is among the 60 top notchers in the DLSU Entrance Exam, and he's in the running to be a Star Scholar! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! :)  Hehe.


My throat is kinda sore from my forcing myself to sing during Opera Workshop and Opera Lit class today. In fairness, our teacher didn't want me to "force" it, but I felt pressured to perform well since I was singing to fellow voice majors. Haha. I didn't perform well, though... no matter how hard I tried. It just wouldn't come out. Barado talaga.


Hmmm... did org related stuff today. Something happened that shouldn't have happened... grrrrr

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Bwahaha

Did my good deed for the day: sight read the melody line of several songs for my brother's Theater class in Pisay, he's the music director and apparently they're doing a sarswela, and according to my bro the title is: Circa "Something." Haha. :)


I'm still a sucky sight reader, but at least I can make tuldok pieces pretty decently compared to when I first entered the college. Hahahahaha!! Brings back memories of solfege, and not particularly pleasant memories, at that.


Was supposed to have four classes straight today but only one prof came (hay nako, Music people talaga...).


My ensemble groupmates and I are such ideal students!! (haha kapal) When we found out our teacher wasn't coming, we made use of the time to practice our pieces. Hahahaha!! Kaya lang kami ganito, kasi NEW YEAR.


Went book-shopping today along AS walk. And blew half my weekly allowance on several hard-to-find goodies. Ooooh! Five of them I'm giving as gifts to Bogz, it's the least I can do to reciprocate his accompanying me last sem and for NAMCYA. :) And two, I'm keeping for myself: Asimov's "FOUNDATION" (my first Asimov book... let's see what all the fuss is about) and Herbert's "CHILDREN OF DUNE," the third in the DUNE saga (grrrr I got confused, I thought C.O.D. was the second book and that DUNE MESSIAH was the third... mahirap kapag dyslexic . I'll read FOUNDATION first, and hopefully I find a copy of DUNE MESSIAH, fast.


I have this terrible cough, I've had it for a few days now. It's awful, not being able to sing. What's even more awful is, I have performance classes wherein I get graded on how I sing on a per meeting basis. Waaaaaaaaa... :(


Opera Workshop and Opera Lit. tomorrow. I'll need Divine Intervention to be able to croak through Welche Wonne somehow...

Monday, January 2, 2006

My first day of class...

I was supposed to have 3 classes today, and texted the Prof. for classes B and C yesterday to make sure he would come for today's class. He replied to my text, and said he would come today. But.... he didn't. Grrrrrrrrrrr to think I made damay several other classmates pa... waaaaa...


Strangely enough, our prof. for class A (whom I didn't expect to come) showed up and lectured!! :-) He confessed he wasn't planning to go today, but then he thought, "Why punish the faithful?" Hahaha! faithful daw kami


I feel fulfilled!! I practiced piano today for the first time in....... 3 weeks?? Hahahaha! So many sabits. Kakainis.


Tried to vocalize but I would cough after every third note. :( Good luck to me... I have performance classes this whole week. I have to get well in... 12 hours?


Franco's 20th birthday today. Happy birthday!!


Went to Gateway for the first time today with Tata and my parents, in an attempt to search for the ever-elusive One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Gateway was..... disappointing. For me, anywayz. :( So many people!!!


Hopefully, tomorrow will be better, prof-attendance-wise.

Sunday, January 1, 2006

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's how I spent the last day of 2005: I fixed my music books and scores. Grabe! It was exhausting, and I'm still not finished. I have to file a couple more pieces in separate boxes, but more or less I'm done. And the result is really great. :) As my little brother put it: "Ang ayos naman! Sarap sipain!" Hehe. It's arranged by genre and by era kasi.


Grrr. I should have filed my pieces a looooong time ago. Don't know why I never did it... until yesterday.


School starts tomorrow, yipee! I have to say, I'm excited for all the buzz to begin again. Besides, I have to LOSE THIS POST-CHRISTMAS BIL-BIL! Mental note to self: Jog whenever possible, i.e. in the hallways of AS and Music. :) And skip up the stairs, two steps at a time. And walk instead of taking the jeep.


Oooooh, saw a lovely movie on HBO today: IRON JAWED ANGELS. It was AWESOME! Superb. Divine. A must-see. A life changer. After seeing it, Tata and I wanted to suffragists. haha! How lovely to be involved in a cause that's greater than your own person.