Posts tagged with college friends
A few Sundays ago, I attended the ball of Portia Sorority as the date of a dear friend and blockmate, Nessa (who just won as top USC councilor for STAND-UP). It’s been a while since I’ve been to a ball. And it was, if my memory serves me right, the first time I danced in a cotillon. We pulled it off, despite just two practice sessions.
The ball was held at the Manila Polo Club.
This was some Fridays ago, the same day I went to Tarlac with two of my brods to get some materials from the Aquino Museum. That night, I only had a dinner at the newly-opened Hermanos Deli Bar at Ortigas Home Depot to go to. The place adopts the concept of a Spanish tapas bar, serving appetizers with wine.
By the end of the night, however, (I mean, by morning the next day), I had ended up drinking with three sets of friends at three different places. Whew. Kaladkarin.
A few weeks ago, I had dinner and drinks with my STAND-UP friends in the outgoing University Student Council. Since our terms are about to end in less than two months, we all decided to go on a ‘farewell’ night out at Conspiracy Bar along Visayas Avenue. There are fourteen of us in USC 2008 (vice-chair, seven councilors, six college representatives) and only three of us were absent that night. It was quite a blast reminiscing and sifting through collective experiences from the student council election campaign all the way through the year, along with our experiences with our colleagues from ALYANSA and KAISA. Ha ha. Oh boy. We ended the night at past five in the morning with personal speeches and messages for everyone.
A few days ago, some of my orgmates in UP Cinema Arts Society asked me if Tisay could act for one of our orgmate’s thesis short film production. I was hesitant at first, since Tisay was just two years old, and I was doubting if she could deliver lines or any acting of that sort. Plus, she could be a brat. And I sort of have an idea how coaching a child to act can be a headache. Despite that, I said yes, and for that they even gave me the role of his father, too. Anyhow, it was a largely cameo role.
True enough, however, Tisay was such a brat during the shoot. She was okay at first, but since shoots are always vulnerable to delays, and delayed the shoot was, Tisay got pretty bored and tired before we got to shoot the sequence she was in. By the time it was our turn, she was on tantrums.
Indeed, directing or coaching a child to act can prove to be one of the most difficult aspects of directing. She couldn’t quite grasp what acting was and how pretending is different from what is real and apparent. She got pretty confused when I kept telling her that for a while I would pretend to be our dad. Kunwari ako si papa, ganyan. She couldn’t get it. Ha ha. Oh well, dinaan na lang sa impromptu script-revisions to allow her tantrums and crying to be part of the sequence.
Anyhow, I’ve been having bad dreams every night the past week. Apocalypse, death of loved ones, and even myself, tragedies, etcetera. It has become regular, it’s scary. It has come to a point that I don’t want to sleep anymore. Gabi-gabi bangungot na lang palagi. Well, it’s not as if I can avoid sleep altogether. I think I should re-learn to pray before sleeping at night.
So there goes some random blurbs.
A friend invited me to Star City theme park last Thursday afternoon. It had been more than two years since I last went to Star City. I had just passed my hard-bound written thesis that day, and a trip to Star City was a welcome treat.
You know, it’s a sad realization when you get really bored at some of the tame rides, which were obviously designed to amuse children. We boarded some Little Mermaid boat ride as an appetizer for the better rides. It was really corny. Childhood days are truly gone.
I passed by UP last Monday to do some errands. I didn’t have any more undergraduate classes left, only a handful of final academic requirements. I met with some friends at the Batibot in Mass Comm, and hung out for an hour or so. I also quarreled with my thesis partner one last time, regarding our written thesis.
Last Friday, I passed my last academic requirement ever for my undergraduate years in college. It was a final paper for PI 100. After sending it by email and receiving my grade, it felt quite anticlimactic. Was that it? Am I done with BA Film & Audio-Visual Communication? I don’t have anything else to do to complete my course? I had expected it to feel liberating of some sort. It wasn’t quite like that.
I spent the afternoon last Saturday, February 9, at the College of Fine Arts for Eka and Patti’s thesis short film shoot. Despite the fact that I didn’t have any formal role in the crew list, I passed by and played as an extra in some of their sequences.
Two weeks ago, I passed by my film blockmates Tope and Joma’s thesis short film shoot in one of the quasi-abandoned building complexes in UP. Their thesis also sort of brushes up on political disappearances. Actually, another blockmates’ film also tackles the same theme. Having similar themes with the other theses don’t really bother me. For me it’s simply a manifestation of the social milieu our films are based and made on.
I only stayed for a couple of hours that Saturday morning, as I had other things to attend to, so I was only able to catch the first few takes. Medyo bigatin ang thesis nila. They had Bembol Roco and Jason Abalos as their main actors.
law student, national democracy activist, film school graduate, photography hobbyist