Ondoy Outrage.

Last Saturday, I experienced what must have been the craziest day of my life.

It was competition day. Maximum Groovity, the annual inter school dance competition, had finally come. I’ve spent two whole months preparing for our competing piece, so naturally, you would expect me to look forward to this day.

I woke up late that morning, tired from the Rhythm-in-Blue concert hosted by the Company of Ateneo Dancers, of which I am an active member of, the night before. I went down the kitchen to tell my driver, Morrie, that I needed to go to school and meet my teammates. We were scheduled to meet at school for lunch and go to the venue of the competition together to make the 2:30 PM call time. Morrie, however, was still in the shower, so I went back to my room and told my cook, Lita, to call me when he was finished. The winds were getting stronger and stronger then. I could only see white fog and the raging winds outside my window. The rain always scared me, and I silently wished for it to stop.

While waiting for Morrie, I went on Skype to talk to my family back in Cebu. I showed them how strong the rain was getting through my webcam and told them how frightened it made me. I told them how excited I was for the competition that night, and how sad I was that they could not be with me to watch it. After a few minutes, Lita came in my room and asked me if we should turn off the circuit breaker. The rain was starting to flood over it, and she was afraid that it might cause even bigger problems afterwards. After hearing that, I quickly ended my Skype conversation and went down stairs to check it out. When i opened the main door, I was shocked to see Morrie waist deep in water, trying to push the gate open. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t leave the house in weather like that, competition or no competition.

The water just kept rising up. In about 10 minutes, the water creeped into the house and rose from ankle level to hip level. I was in a state of panic. I called my dad and he told me to salvage whatever I could. I tried to carry two refrigerators up the stairs with a sprained foot. Talk about adrenaline! Lita was helping us rush the things up the stairs when she suddenly gave a small yelp. All the floating furniture and broken glass that came with it sliced her toe. I had to rush her up to my room and remedy her wound with undeniable amounts of teramicin and band aid. I told her to stay upstairs and rest while we finished carrying up everything we could, but she was so ashamed to be sitting in my chair doing nothing that she frantically paced around, which led to a whole lot of blood on the floor of my room. She kept saying “Mor! Akong butang!” (Mor, my things!) Apparently, she wanted to save her ATM because she thought that losing it meant losing all her money. Morrie and I saved what we could: my late grandmother’s photo albums, our old karaoke machine and my mom’s favorite vase, but the water wouldn’t let up, and we just could not keep swimming any more.
It came to a point where both my cars were completely submerged underwater, and the gate of my house showed only about 6 inches of its head. All the furniture was floating to the ceiling, and if i went down the stairs, I’d be a goner. We waited for around 4 hours before the water slowly subsided back to knee level. It might not seem too long, but the wait was excruciating. I didn’t even realize that I hadn’t eaten anything since the night before. I prayed the rosary and the entire prayer book hoping for the rain to stop. Thankfully the water is gone now.
I’m very lucky. Yes, the long awaited competition didn’t take place; yes, most of my house is destroyed; and yes, both my cars are most probably junked. However, my little tale can not compare to those whose families who completely lost everything they’ve worked so hard for. Thousands of families are now homeless, hundreds of people are missing, and up until now, some of them are still on their rooftops, waiting to be rescued.

So what now? How do we get out of a crisis like this? The question that most of us must be asking is what CAN we do? What ARE we doing?

EVERYONE, please. If you have time and some extra things to donate…
GO TO THE ATENEO COLLEGE COVERED COURTS TO HELP OUT ATENEO TASK FORCE ONDOY.

Let’s go Philippines, mobilize! If the world doesn’t care, we have to at least be here for each other.

Perfect Timing.

Today, I became the stupidest person in the world. Remember how I had to cancel on the Jaipur Gig cause my temperature reached 39 degrees and I realized I had dengue? Well I’m once again on similar lines. We scheduled for a “chill rehearsal” so we don’t over fatigue ourself for the concert and the competition. Nevertheless, the opportunity for bad things to happen just had to come running in, and while Michi and I were doing our “fight scene”, I landed my throw on my already injured toe! All my weight came crashing down on the little fellow, causing it to swell up and turn purple. It hurt so much during the remaining runs we had, but it felt better after when I got home. I continued to remedy the situation with some ice and hot compress, but now (like 10 minutes ago) the pain is EXCRUCIATING! I cant stand up, which means I cant walk, and I obviously can’t dance!!!! :(:( If this doesn’t get better tomorrow, or if i end up not getting to dance, I WILL DIE. I will seriously DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(:(:( God knows how much work everyone put into this pieceeeeeeeee UGHHHHHHH :(:(:(:(:(

Weeks worth.

Everything from What A Girl Wants.

Shirt from HK, Belt from What A Girl Wants, Jeans from Zara, Watch from Ice Watch, Wayfarers from RayBan

Belt and Hat from What A Girl Wants, Shirt from Mommy, Shorts from HK.

Dress from What A Girl Wants, Heels from Zara

Oldie.

Lookie what I found!

This was taken for an Ateneo ME group’s marketing competition as an ad for their Maybelline Brandstorm campaign. Sir Aly took this picture and I remember him saying how my eyes and lips were too big for my face. Thanks alot hahaha. Cy Bellarmino did my awesome make up. Apparently, I’m supposed to look like a young professional who smelled some perfume and decided to close her eyes and smell it some more while smiling, which made this shoot extremely nerve wrecking and awkward.

This reminds me of Gavin sleep smiling last night. I’m so happy he’s here! <3

Game on.

I am totally out of my BV phase! There is hope after all!

Thank you very much to the awesome Celebrity Sports dance studio for finally giving us a decent floor to work on. Thank you very much to the awesome Jazzers who totally spruced up their game with matching dance antics and benta jokes (What makes aweSOME better than awFUL? haha). Thank you very much GOD for the inspiring us with a new and improved story line. and Thank you very much to all the people who told me to fight for this!!! What an awesome way to get back in the game!

As a tribute to my recently conquered emotional feat, here’s my ultimate favorite makeup tutorial, Emo style.

And some confessions to La Quandra by the hilarious Glow Pinkstah! (Thanks to Gio for sharing this with us!)

I need to chill.

Brand new purple walls!

Okay. Obviously kidding. See the failed photoshop attempt where the sheer part of my dress gave away the yellow wall. I’m not in the best of moods to fix it anymore, so I’ll leave it at that. Haha. Please don’t judge my lack of skill in this area. My work perfectly explains why I’m not in any graphic design field. I’m so easily contented/pleased with bad artwork.

Sigh…except when it comes to dancing.

10 more days til RiB, 11 more days til Max Groove, 12 more days til Skechers. I am D Y I N G. The dance isn’t done yet, and my brain can’t handle the cramming. Plus, missing people make it so hard to clean the parts we already have. Some girls really have it in them to work so hard for the team, but they get offset by others who lack that kind of motivation. We only have time until Monday to rehearse so we can make way for RiB program runs. I really don’t think I’m meant for leadership positions. At times like these, I so easily break down or withdraw all emotion and act mechanically without a care in the world. I know I’m not supposed to be feeling this way, or rather, I’m not supposed to tell people I’m feeling this way so that I don’t contaminate them in my apathy/pessimism, but that thought too is contained in indifference. I think the way I’m feeling is going to reflect in the way I do with school work this coming week. C R A P. How do I shake off all this negativity???

My moms birthday is coming up in 2 days and I really really want to go home and see her. I wanna play with the kids, relax a bit, eat good food, meet old friends and everything else in between. Sigh, I miss comfortable living in Cebu. I miss home and everyone in it. This competition better be worth missing all of that.

Biting The Big O

Teaser Ads for The Big O.

Because they thought doughnut rings would be cool. Don’t ask.

CADs all the way!

Its that time of the year once again! Who shall conquer the dance floor? Watch ACOMM, AEA, AJMA, AtSCA, BOx, Gabay, MECO, MEA, MISA and YFC-Ateneo as they battle it out in the biggest dance competition in the Ateneo!

September 25, 2009 (Friday) || 6PM|| Henry Lee Irwin Theatre

and Don’t forget to support CADs in the upcoming competitions!

Maximum Groovity || September 26,2009 || Crossroads 77

Skechers || September 27, 2009 || SM Megamall

For more details:

Killing Time

This is as far as my Photoshop skills go.

Playing with balls

This is just too amazing!