Another Mesmerizing Day at the Noroña-Hinto Nuptials

Usually the Catholic Church discourages weddings during Lent and Christmas. However, I wonder what mysterious grace befell our amorous couple for having received such a privilege?

It is after all the month of love. Amor vincit omnia!

Joy originally asked for Harold and myself to sing at her wedding. However, we decided to pitch in the rest of the group as a BIG THANK YOU for all the memories at CFC-Singles for Christ. By the way, she used to sing for the SFC Choir and the music ministry and she has a fairly good alto voice mind you.

Eric meanwhile is Joy's erstwhile co-worker at Intel and badminton guru. A remarkable fellow indeed

They both had the jitters before the big day which is definitely normal. Most of the couples that I have known always tell me that the wedding ceremony is the easiest thing a couple can go through. The biggest challenge starts the day after.

I am pretty sure though, that with lots and lots of prayer and sacrifice they can both face whatever trials and tribulations that may come their way.

+JMJ+

Valentine's Play A Huge Success!

Sorry it took so long for me to post back. I just made sure that the pictures that I have for this post were ready.

Thanks to Shiela who lent me her USB flash device last night.

The play where we performed by the way was a rousing success! Thanks to a little PR and teamwork. I gotta hand it to Ichi who displayed wonderful leadership skills as well as TALENT! He's got skillz! His play was shown at the Ernesto Palanca Crisostomo Hall (Auditorium) at 3:00pm.

Before show time we were urged by Mr. Alvarez, head of the Campus Ministry to perform outside the auditoriumnear the study hall. The half hour performance really helped spark interest in the play and played a major part in drawing a huge crowd outside the doors of the auditorium.

A few days before the performance when we visited the crew I was a little doubtful and uneasy because their rehearsal performance leaves much to be desired. But my instincts told me that the lousier the rehearsal, the nearer the playdate the better the outcome. I know it defies logic but I've seen my share of well rehearsed talents not giving a satisfactory performance on the play date itself. I guess its because the guys who are not doing well on their TDR (technical dress rehearsal) will do whatever it takes to make it right. Kung baga, panindigan mo na because you have no other choice.

I also have the same observations with our performances as a choir. There were times I wanted to suggest to our group that we should not include a particular piece at an event because I still saw the need to perfect and polish it and behold during the event it was a stellar performance. Usually it was the crowd (discriminating or otherwise) who appreciated it and we the performers who either abhor or detest it. I don't know. It just sounds better when you're part of the audience. In this performance though we loved it so much that we hated our guts for not recording it.

Back to the play these guys did not have the luxury of a huge sequence guide posted backstage nor the help of production assistants who were supposed to make sure that the play ran smoothly. But boy everybody knew their places and they moved like clockwork. Who needs PA's and huge sequence guides when you have Ichi running the show? Not bad for a bunch of Nursing pencil-pushers.

Weee're Going Back to School!

It has been a while since I posted because our old computer monitor (an old NEC 15" model handed down by my aunt) finally broke down.

We went to my ol' alma mater - University of Perpetual Help DALTA System in Las Piñas City yesterday to do our ol' friend and altar server pal, Ichi a big favor. This week the university is celebrating their 32nd Foundation Anniversary and Ichi along with his nursing buddies are planning to produce a play that is slated tomorrow, Valtentine's Day at 3pm and 6pm.

European Garden

We went there at around 3:30pm and lo and behold Ichi begging the guards to let us in! We went through all the usual greetings and then he led us in. Since it is University Week the school had a festive mood with all those booths with lots of food and refreshments. Walking past the former bookstore and inside the main college building, I realized the structures that I grew up with are still there only they're painted with the school's colors. They have enlarged the covered court and made sure it was really covered. The auditorium, small as it is was given a more refined touch. My former classroom during 1st year College was turned into a lecture hall for medical students where I saw Ronnie a co-household head of mine during our SFC days, watching and listening intently to his students one by one presenting their research report.

We finally went inside the classroom and we were introduced to the participants in the play. We were surprised to find out that all of them are nursing students from different levels. To be able to bring something together out of scratch is really something worth applauding. Ichi happens to be the playwright and his play is somehow a very musical way of making someone laugh and feel cheesy at the same time. He is actually dedicating this play (based on a true story of his love life) to someone he really admires and wishes to court. Their real status is still unknown to me for he wouldn't really tell. There are a lot of part in the play where we need to sing. The students were totally mesmerized and spellbound as we performed some of the songs we were thinking of adding to their line-up. To sum it up we both were happy with our ideas and after watching the entire progress of the play we decided to go home and do some more practice.

You can watch the play tomorrow at 3pm and 6pm at the UPHDS Auditorium. Admission is free. Don't forget to bring some identification

Images courtesy of the University of Perpetual Help DALTA System website: http://www.perpetualdalta.edu.ph

-JMJ-