Blog of Z

Of the seemingly impossible things that could happen on the days since I learned about Broadway Asia’s Cinderella, at the very top of that list is that I’ll fail to reserve good seats in time. Those who know me will not be surprised given my proverbial lateness; that despite the fact that very early on, I visited Ticketworld.com virtually everyday to watch for ticket availability. I failed in that respect, but in an awesome twist of fate that would make the Fairy Godmother proud, I did watch the play today, sitting on the exact same seat I had planned to get all along. Now, the significance of this story only lies in my realization, one that I’m very much embarrassed about, that I underestimated the Filipino theatergoer’s enthusiasm to watch a musical that has both material and premise working against it. This may be an unpopular opinion but I’ve gone from inviting people to go watch and received replies such as “It’s a bit too childish (I think I enjoyed the show a lot more that the small kids in the theater),” “I already know the story (but the music?), “ Too expensive (well, this is relative; but if you profess to love musicals, it’s just not a valid excuse),” and, my least favorite, “I’m not familiar with the songs (don’t you want to be?).”

Impossible things are happening everyday. It’s a rather oxymoronic catchphrase that I lapped up just because I am your average, old-fashioned, hopeless romantic. Which is exactly the reason why I don’t mind that this new production of Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s Cinderella felt and sounded like its age. There’s no getting around the fact that despite the universal appeal of the “kitchen slave-turned-princess” story, the score was written in the tone and sensibility of the (happy) olden days. Fifty years may not be such a long time but how can I fail to mention how I thought the prince was lame for not knowing why he so suddenly turned from tragically unhappy to in love (and have the gall to ask the girl if she knows)? Nevertheless, the musical, specifically this Manila production, has its heart in the right place. I wouldn’t go so far as analyze the technicalities of the presentation; the experts have already done that. All I can say is that if you didn’t attend the Manila run, I wouldn’t call it “too much” if you’ll try to catch it in other parts of Asia these coming months. Why is that not too much, again? Because of Lea Salonga, that’s why.

Phenomenal talent is called that because it’s not something you’ll find in just about every corner of the world. In my mind, you never squander a chance to be in the presence of greatness. There’s a great amount of inspiration you can take away from watching a master perform his or her craft. In Cinderella, there’s no shortage of competence, excellence even. From Peter Saide’s Prince Christopher; Charlie Parker’s Fairy Godmother; Julia Cook, Jen Bechter, and Brandy Zarle’s stepmother and stepsisters, respectively; to the Ensemble and the two charming “mice,” everyone, at the helm of our very own Bobby Garcia, delivered perfectly. And what of the reason people came in droves - why there was not an empty seat in the house, so to speak? Lea Salonga is irrefutably the star of the show. When the Overture started playing and then Cinderella, in her rag clothes, and the Fairy Godmother, in her sparkly purple gown, were revealed on stage, I had goose bumps that didn’t go away until the Finale. When Lea sings, it’s the sweetest sound you’ll hear. I can only imagine the level of energy and dedication she has to play the part of the “silly goose” who dreamed with child-like wonder and innocence. That Lea was so effective as Cinderella – a far cry from her Kim, Eponine, and Fantine, those tragically fated ladies who were kept in their own little corner and never got to the Prince’s ball - is a testament to her caliber as a performer.

And the moral of the story? Ah, you know it already. But Broadway Asia’s Cinderella is such a pleasant and light-hearted treat that if you still have a chance to watch it, then, please, do yourself a favor and go. If it didn’t make me forget about the harsh realities of life to truly believe in the impossible, the little warmth in the heart it gave me is enough to somehow hope for that again.

After months, yes months, of whining about a messy apartment but doing nothing about it, our place is now squeaky clean and organized! Much as I want to take the credit, I wasn’t bitten by the home-cleaning bug. Our mother stayed with me and my sister for the weekend and she did all the work. I probably should not be saying this but when she first came inside our room my mom said she thought it was a demented person’s place. That’s how bad it was! I wasn’t even able to clean up before she arrived, citing work deadlines as usual. Anyway, the thing is, having your mother around after being on your own for such a long time can remind you of how much better she is than you are in taking care of yourself. She just knows these things. She even knows that she’ll need to come back in a few months time to check if things are being maintained around here.

My sister wants me to buy that karaoke player that looks like a DVD. I agree, although I think I prefer the “Magic Sing.” However, a torrent of activities at work and at home took away my attention from that for a bit. It’s a good thing I don’t have time to go the mall, thus eliminating the possibility of unnecessary spending. Besides, another friend at work pointed me to the direction of this program that can mask the vocals in mp3s so you can record your voice and edit the audio to make it sound professionally cleaned up if not sung like a professional. But still, having a home karaoke system, more so if portable, is more group and family friendly. If ever, I’ll have to start looking for an HDMI switch to accommodate all those cables that go with my quite small TV.

Make me forget that the U.S. Open is about to start. I still find it weird that Rafael Nadal is now the top seed. Naturally, he should be, despite the fact that Federer is the four-time defending champion there. Just a few days from becoming ATP’s no. 1 and I’ve read he’s already in a fashion magazine spread. What will Anna Wintour, American Vogue’s editor-in-chief and Federer’s friend, say to that? I don’t think Roger needs a memory stick to remind him that barely 12 months ago, these high-profile friends of his were watching him take all the glory in the tennis courts and then bringing him to the Paris fashion runways during his “dayoffs.”

Well, speaking of glam, Ana Ivanovic is back at the top of the rankings and is the women’s top seed. As for the WTA, the no. 1 spot has not meant that much since Justine Henin retired. Somebody has to step up and deserve the ranking. Maria Sharapova, the one who can be considered the best hardcourt player in the field save for the Williams sisters, is out of the Open due to a shoulder injury.

While I was pushing a grocery cart in the packed SM Hypermarket (now I know why it’s prefixed with “hyper”) last Sunday, I was imagining if driving a car would be as easy as maneuvering a push cart. Of course, that’s a silly idea. I did try to learn back when I was in high school, a couple of years shy of the legal age allowed to drive. We had this owner-type jeep and I remember that my father allowed me once or twice to take the driver’s seat, in the main roads of our province no less, with a few nervous passenger friends who didn’t want to say anything so as not to hurt my feelings. I know that was foolish, and although our old vehicle didn’t have and probably didn’t need online car insurance then, I was confident that I wasn’t risking anybody’s life in that few minutes of my own personal thrill. (How did I grow up to be such a nervous wreck?) But I was deemed careless, unbalanced with speed, and incapable of controlling the gears, besides the fact that I can’t make a turn, so I didn’t try again even when I was a lot older. It makes me wonder if I can start learning to drive again one of these days. Maybe when I am finally capable of actually getting myself a car, I’ll go down that road.

On my way home last Saturday afternoon, the first time in such a long time that I came off work before the sun has set, I came across a group of teenagers with funny t shirts. They all have these large-print shirt that’s says something like “I’m gorgeous” (not really funny) or  “I Don’t Know What Makes You Dumb but It Really Works” (Ok, not always funny).  One of them has this smartass one liner that has awful grammar. Unfortunately, this blog had a five-day-long downtime because of my Web host’s server problem and I completely forgot what those exact (wrong) words are. I’m just too happy to be back, although I initially had problems with the permalink (the exact URL of my posts) structures again and had to upgrade from Wordpress 2.6 to 2.6.1 and then downgrade all the way back to 2.5 when all else failed. Maybe I should find myself some of those shirts to lighten up. I saw one at SM that I’d like to buy as a gym shirt – it says “Fatness First” in the exact same font one famous gym franchise use.

Forget politics. You’ll probably see this one in thousands of other blogs anyway. It’s just, like, totally, funny not to share.

If there’s one thing I learned today, it’s that procrastination is bad. (Yeah, right!) Ever since the news about Broadway Asia’s Cinderella came out, I knew there’s no way I’m not going to watch. First of all, it’s an international musical that stars Lea Salonga. I don’t have a second of all – I am so there! But I didn’t purchase my tickets even after they began selling. I waited and waited, thinking about the schedule and that there were so many performance dates anyway. When my sister and I went to the Ticketworld outlet today, we found out that all balcony seats are sold out for ALL weekend performance dates. We managed to buy two tickets for Tuesday (August 12) but it was at the topmost balcony row. Talk about the least favorable location. But not to dishearten my sister (a big fan of Lea); at least she’ll be able to watch with her friend. As for me - it could be (Ebay) beginner’s luck – my other sister found two tickets up for sale; the other good news is, it’s on the “Buy It Now” category so I didn’t have to compete against anyone else, like what happened the first time. But the better news is that those tickets are exactly within my budget and they’re balcony center seats. It’s going to be on the matinee show (August 24) and although I prefer to watch on the closing night, I’m a little relieved by Lea’s announcement that she’s scheduled to perform on each and every date barring illness.

Anyway, after buying the tickets, we strolled in the mall to look for some things we need at home. I haven’t shopped for appliances and gadgets lately so it surprised me to see that the television displays now mostly consist of LCD TV screens. The smallest one I saw (25 in.) costs Php 29k. Then, we did a little window shopping, looking for clothes and shoes on sale and viewing Nautica watches display, although we didn’t really plan to buy anything. We went home carrying nothing but the clothes rack I bought from ACE.

I also must say that Mall of Asia has officially taken the place of Glorietta as my favorite mall. I just don’t like their cinemas, well except of course for the IMAX theater and the Director’s Club.

Thinking about future projects and options, feeling panic at the thought that I’m entering my 10th year in my first job, remembering about the “where do you see yourself in 5 years” questions during my job-hunting days fresh out of college – those are the things that I’ve been pondering on lately. I know; it’s depressing. And I don’t have any plan just yet. I don’t mean that I want to resign from my current post, at least not anytime soon. Stability is still the priority. They say the best way to be rich and free at the same time is to be self-employed – start a business or something. The thing is, I’m not particularly versed in economics and I hate math in so many forms, so that option may be quite a stretch; most importantly, I don’t currently have the finances to start anything. I’ve heard about friends venturing into stock trading, so I did research on futures trading. It gave me nosebleeds. I don’t want to get filthy rich anyway. I just want to live comfortably and not at all filthy. So how do I start the change? I believe these things have their way of being revealed. I just know I don’t want to stand still and wait. Nobody’s getting any younger.

He may be dropping to no. 2 in the world ranking in a weeks’ time; he may be losing confidence and tournaments lately, but you can’t say Roger Federer doesn’t have style!

Here’s TheFed carrying the Swiss flag at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Bejing Olympics. I got the photo from tennisforum.com and the highlighted part is obviously a mistake.

He looks good in red, no? I can imagine him driving a red Ferrari F430. I bet this guy doesn’t need car insurance, no matter how many millions his car(s) costs. With his tour schedule, I wonder if he even drives at all. Tennis stars have such a globe-trotting lifestyle.