'TIL NEXT TIME

Play Fest. Just the thought of it has already gotten me excited, let alone actually experiencing it. The Play Festival is the time of the school year where we are made to present one play each in English and Filipino. The whole event probably highlights the whole year. So far, I have only experienced two Play Festivals and I really enjoyed them both. Although last year was so much fun because we were new at everything, this year was no less since we also encountered a lot of new challenges.

                When I was just a freshman and was still new to this play thing, I thought staging a play was hard. But I was proved wrong. It was actually easy once you got the hang of it. Preparing starts with choosing a story to stage of course, then you start choosing your cast members and assigning the members of the crew. Then you start rehearsing and in no time you’ll be on stage or wherever you are assigned already having your TDR. After all of that, comes the most awaited part, the final play.

                For my section, Year II – St. Elizabeth, we chose the biblical story of Esther. We watched the movie version as part of our preparation. Auditions are one of the best parts of the whole preparation. It’s where you guts are tested. People get to know if you are really brave enough to audition for a certain role even if you know that others might actually be better than you. Personally, I think that auditioning is not only about courage but also humility and staying true to your self. I’ve had experiences where in people bragged about auditioning for a certain role but ended up not even being able to have their name written on the list for those who wanted to try out. You know, it’s already enough deciding to audition even if you yourself know that you’re not capable of doing it, let alone bragging about it. But if you are really willing and you know that you’re good enough, then go for it. There’s no harm in trying. Take me for example. Last year, I auditioned for a whopping 6 times. I wasn’t killed or anything. In fact, I even learned a lot from the whole experience. I realized that although I wasn’t good enough for the role, I still have the guts to audition for them. Now that’s something you can be proud of.

To be continued…..

THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR

SAN JOSE

One family tradition which my family in my mother’s side practices is San Jose. It is really the Feast of the Holy Family but we just call it San Jose. We usually hold it during summer. This is because during the month of the Feast of the Holy Spirit, most of us are busy with school and work. My great grandmother, Lola Pilar, was the one who moved the event to summer. In this event, two grandchildren are chosen to play Mary, and Jesus, while an elder and needy man is chosen to play Joseph. Such qualifications are followed in choosing the one to play Joseph because in the end, the ones who play Mary, Joseph, and Jesus get to earn money. So we want to be able to help the one playing Joseph. The event starts with a long prayer, usually led by our grandmothers. Then, the Holy Family enters and is made to sit at a table. This happens while women, usually our Lolas, sing Spanish songs. Then, people serve food in the table where the Holy Family is seated. 2 male family members are chosen to feed Joseph and Jesus, while a female family member is chosen to feed Mary. After eating, the people go to the table and kiss the hand of the Holy Family, while doing so, they may drop money into the basket in the middle of the table. In the end, the money received or the proceeds are being given to the ones who played, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Every year, each family in our clan takes turns in taking care of the whole affair and hosting the event. The benefits we get from this tradition is that our devotion to the Holy Family is strengthened. It is also a time where almost all of our family members are present. This event enables us to have deeper faith and be united in prayer.

BLUE MOON

At the night, of her 40^th birthday, Patricia went to her balcony and sat at a bench. She shivered in coldness as something warm covered her body. She looked down and saw a beautiful shawl over her shoulders. “Happy birthday Mom! Do you like it?” her daughter, Ella, said. “Oh! Dearest daughter, it’s wonderful!” Patricia replied. They both sat down at the bench and looked up only to see a big and bright blue moon, to their surprise. From then on, every night, after supper, they would go to the balcony, chat with each other, and stare at the beautiful moon. This continued until they reached a time when Patricia was already an old woman, and Ella, a mature woman herself.  At this point of Patricia’s life, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Since the diagnosis, Ella felt very alone and helpless even with her mother still living with her. Patricia would often look at Ella blankly and not remember anything no matter how hard Ella tried to remind her. As time passed by, Patricia forgot all about Ella, and she didn’t go to the balcony anymore. She even stopped wearing the shawl her daughter gave to her. The blue moon had no more significance to her. The day came when it was Patricia’s 85^th birthday. Ella stared at her mother in pain while Patricia lay in bed very weak and silent. She was surprised when her mother suddenly went up as if she was never sick. Patricia went to the balcony and sat at the bench. She gave a long blank stare at something in the distance. Ella went out bringing her mother’s shawl with her. She put the shawl on her mother’s shoulders just like she did 25 years ago. Patricia gave her a blank stare. Ella cried in pain. As Patricia looked up to the sky, she saw a big and bright blue moon. She suddenly remembered everything. She remembered who the crying woman beside her was, and how the shawl on her shoulders used to be so meaningful to her. Ella was relieved and so they did the same thing they used to do before: sit down and have heart to heart talks. They also stared at the beautiful blue moon. Unfortunately, that was the last blue moon Patricia saw, for after she fell asleep that night, she never woke up again.

As I was browsing over my files earlier, I saw this story Janina Llaguno and I made over a year ago. It was an assignment we had for Journalism. We were instructed to tell a story where in the words shawl and moon must be used. This story brought back memories of the fun we had last year in Journalism where we had to make these stories and poems with our imagination as our limit. Our creativity was surely enhanced.

Powerpuff Girls

I’m sure by now you already know of the latest fad in Facebook. It’s the campaign against child abuse where in you change your profile picture to a cartoon character you were fond of watching when you were little. A lot of people followed this, including me. Although I’m not that ‘old’ yet, but it did bring back memories of my pre-school days.

                I chose the picture of Buttercup from Powerpuff Girls. I chose her because when I was still small, I was very fond of watching Cartoon Network and one of the shows which I became an avid fan of was Powerpuff Girls. I thought they were really cute including Mojo Jojo, the main villain who was a green monkey that wore this head dress where you can see his brain. The show had very unique characters including Professor Utonium who acted as a parental figure to the girls. There’s also the Mayor of Townsville who is very short and is fond of pickles. His secretary, Ms. Sara Bellum, is a very peculiar character. She mostly handles anything the mayor can’t and her face was never shown. Only her red suit and red hair could be seen. I have to say though that the most memorable character for me besides the girls would be Him. Him is a devil-like creature with crab-like claws, red skin, pointy ears, a curled beard, and a hooked nose. What would scare me the most about Him is his very scary voice which would either be high-pitched or very deep.

                There are certain happenings that would just be so clear in my mind even until now. One of them was the day when I was still in pre-school and my friends and I were at the playground. We figured to play Powerpuff girls and I randomly took the role of Buttercup. I even remember one of our male classmates playing the role of Mojo Jojo. We would run around and play on the swings.  One time, I even pushed myself too high that I fell to the ground. Those days were surely fun.

From L-R: Bubbles, Blossom, Buttercup. The so called Powerpuff Girls.

THE AGLET

 The aglet. Have you ever heard of this word before? Well, the word aglet means the end of a shoelace. You know, that cylinder plastic thing covering the end of a shoelace. You might think this word is not worth knowing but actually, it might help you someday.

                The aglet is just one of the countless things I have learned from television. Just a week ago, my brother was watching Phineas and Ferb and so I decided to join him. The episode we watched started with Phineas and Ferb’s father playing a word cross puzzle. One question said something about the end of a shoelace. None of them new and so the two boys checked it in the internet. To make the long story short, the word aglet was made very popular by the two said boys and as usual when Candice, their sister, was just about to tell their mom about what nuisance the boys have been doing, everything goes back to normal.

                The fact that watching tv can earn you a lot of knowledge is undeniable. But viewing television also has its limitations. Some shows are very informative while some are just plain useless. We should always be careful of what we watch. We may think they are harmless but unconsciously, what we see is already starting to influence us.