HUNGRY!!!!!

The current show I'm working on is Empty Plate At The Café Du Grand Boeuf and the characters spend about 50% of the show talking about FOOD! They describe these fabulous dishes at length and in great detail. This is a 7 course meal at a 5-star restaurant, not some roadside diner. Absolute torture! The descriptions get more beguiling and more embellished with each course. I have to listen to this 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. And on top of all of that, rehearsals are right through the dinner hour! So I'm starving by the time rehearsal is over, but my only options are 24-hour diner spots (IHOP, Denny's, etc.) or cheap Mexican spots. The show doesn't just make me hungry, it makes me hungry for GOOD food! I try to eat before each rehearsal, but with rush-hour traffic and construction, I barely make it to the theatre on time. No chance of me getting food beforehand. So dinner consists of colorful descriptions of these fabulous dishes. Too bad rehearsals aren't catered.

Inventions of Evil

Well, it's my first day back to work (daytime gig). ICK! The worst was having to set my alarm clock last night. I think that rates as one of the most depressing moments of my weekend. That's why I'd like to nominate the alarm clock as one of the top evil inventions of the modern, civilized world.

Reality Bites

Ok, so I just got done watching that movie. So sue me. I like the soundtrack, Ethan Hawke looks yum, it was filmed in a great city and there was nothing else on TV. On to my reality.

I'm back in home and reality crashed into me like a wall of bricks. I feel like I got off the plane and hit the ground running. My next show is suppose to start rehearsal tonight - except we only have half a cast (at least, I think we're that lucky). So instead of the usual first rehearsal consisting of a read-thru, introductions and design show & tell, we're running auditions. Yeah. Our first audience comes in 2 weeks from this Saturday. Oh, and after tonight, our next planned rehearsal is on Thursday. Today is Monday. That leaves us 1 1/2 weeks to rehearse before we go into tech week. (That's where we start throwing lights, sound and costumes at the actors.) Oh well, we'll see.

On top of that, I've got my show that I'm directing. I'm running auditions this weekend. Yikes! I HATE auditions! I hate them as an actor, stage manager and director. There has got to be a more efficient, less painful way of casting a show. It's always a crap shoot. Some people do lousy auditions, but are great once you get them to rehearsals. Others do great auditions, but never get past what they gave you at that initial audition. But on the flip side, I'm meeting with my set & light designer. One person, both positions. We work extremely well together and he's very talented. I feel like this production is really rolling now. I'm excited again about the show.

My Philippine Survival Kit

These are items I'll be packing for the next trip to the Philippines (in no specific order):



1) Umbrella - especially during the rainy season (which starts in August).





2) Tita Cora and/or Tita Grace - the former is Mom's sister-in-law, the latter is Dad's sister-in-law. They are some of the best hagglers in our family. ALWAYS bring them when shopping!

3) Dramamine - they come in orange-flavored chewable tablets now! I don't need it for planes, trains or boats, just cars in the Philippines. Urban & rural travel. If you're in the city, you'll need it for the potholes and crazy taxi drivers. If you're in the country, you'll need it for the potholes, winding dirt roads and crazy drivers.




4) Fan - the hand-held type. You'll need it 80% of the time (indoors & outdoors).




5) Boyfriend - real or rental, it doesn't matter. Pictures and/or assurances of one don't work. He has to be there in person.

6) Reservations at the Amigo Terrace Hotel (when in Iloilo City) - it's right in the middle of town, has a/c in the rooms, bathrooms with showers, hot water & toilets that flush and a great staff. Bell service not only takes care of your luggage, but will run out to the 24-hour pharmacy/convenience store for you!

7) Reservations at the New World Renaissance Hotel or Shangri-La Hotel (when in Manila) - aah...the joys of a 4-star hotel! Where does one start? Rooms, room service, lounge, restaurant, drivers, walking distance to Greenbelt, Landmark & SM...the list goes on.

8) Reservations at the Tirol & Tirol Beach Resort (when in Boracay) - the rooms look like nipa huts (those are the huts on stilts with thached roofs) from the outside and each room has a porch with chairs, table & hammock. Oh, and coffee delivered to your porch every morning.


9) A lightly-packed suitcase - that way you have room for the obligatory souvenirs, cheap pearls & loads of GREAT coffee!!!

10) Bottled water - make sure you have at least 2 on hand!

11) First class round-trip - flying coach for 20 hours is no fun!

12) Toilet paper / tissue paper - trust me, most public bathrooms don't stock them.

Philippines - Countdown Back To Reality

I finally made it to Manila! Philippine Airlines kept canceling flights from Iloilo City to Manila. We started getting scared. Normally there are about 5 flights to Manila a day, but during the week PAL was canceling flights and rebooking people on later and later flights. This would be such a problem except this week was a major event for the city. According to the mayor, every hotel was booked. With all the festivities over, many people are leaving. I was in the first wave of flights out. I was originally booked on the 4:00p flight to Manila. That was cancelled and I was moved to the 6:30p flight. THAT was cancelled and I was rebooked on the 8:10p flight. I was scared that I wouldn't get off the island till tomorrow - if I was lucky. Luckily, my flight out of Manila isn't until Tuesday, so flying to Manila on Monday wouldn't have been a major problem for me. Unlike my brother, who's flight back to the US is tomorrow morning at about 9am. He couldn't risk not getting off the island late, so he took the early morning flight out - which was full.

After figuring out that debacle, I thought it would be smooth sailing. I packed (after sleeping in - so yes, I missed church), visited with relatives for the last time, double & triple checked my luggage, passport, carry-ons - everything except my ticket. I didn't remember my ticket till we were about 5 minutes from the airport. So we had to turn around and get my confirmation printout and made it with minutes to spare. Except this is the Philippines and all sense of time is chunked out the window. So "minutes to spare" actually translated to 15 minutes before boarding the plane. Filipinos and their sense of time make the Spanish mañana attitude look punctual.

So now I'm in my hotel in Manila, winding down and getting ready to go to bed. FYI, I'm staying one of the 4-star hotels and it's FABULOUS! If y'all need recommendations on accommodations here in the Philippines, talk to me.

Some random pics from the trip to keep you entertained:





The drill field & chapel at CPU. This is a cheer competition they had during the anniversary.












Engineering students on the roof of the engineering building, rooting for their cheer team.

The ice cream man stopping by our boat at Boracay. No, really! It was the equivalent of the ice cream truck going through the neighborhood. Just replace the streets with the open waters and replace the houses with boats and voila! The nautical version of the ice cream truck!

Philippines - Dinner Under The Umbrellas

Today was the CPU Grand Reunion Dinner & Reception. With so many people here for the centennial celebration, there were very few venue options for tonight's event. The reception was housed in the gym with the overflow in the auditorium. There's just one teensy, weensy, tiny problem with this: the gym's not done yet. There's a roof and a floor and ... a roof. No walls, just the roof. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be an issue. It would actually be preferable to a gym with a roof & walls because we had breeze & air circulation without the walls. With as many people there, air circulation would have been a major problem. But I digress. Back to the no-walls issue.


Did I mention we are in the middle of the rainy season? Not only are we in the middle of rainy season, there is a typhoon headed to Japan & China. This means the Philippines is getting rain from that typhoon. We've been getting rain at least twice a day for the last 6 days and today was no different. We got rain as soon as dinner started. First we heard it, then as the wind picked up, we heard AND felt it. We're sitting in the middle of the gym, so I'm thinking we may be ok. The folks on the right edge of the gym started opening their umbrellas and the rest of us were gawking and giggling. Then the wind really picked up and we could see the rain blow in sideways. Umbrellas started popping up all over the gym. No one was paying attention to the children's dance troupe, our dinner entertainment. Everyone was too busy looking around at the sea of umbrellas and with all the umbrellas open, it was difficult to see the stage. Dinner was actually quite fun and funny. Everything after that seemed almost anti-climactic.




Well, almost. This is Dad singing with some of his frat buddies. This is the real reason why I went tonight, in the rain & flood and why I had dinner under a sea of umbrellas.

Philippines - P.S.

Mr. Nemesis,

Check your email. All the info is there. Hopefully you DID read and didn't randomly delete.








Us on the boat right before going snorkeling. Ain't you jealous?

Philippines - the lechon entry

I'm back in Iloilo City and we're in the midst of rainy season.

Yay.

I can't get any of my days straight anymore. Actually, the only day I can remember is Friday because:

Friday = university-wide picnic = lechon.

So I'm using lechon as my calendar benchmark. Speaking of the pigs, as soon as we hit the CPU (Central Philippine University) campus, we saw 2 cows on spits, cooked lechon-style. Nearby under a tent, about 30-40 lechon were neatly laid out, ready to be dropped off at various spots around campus. Those pigs were so yum! And let me tell you, those pigs didn't have a chance. Vultures & condors can't work as fast as a few hundred Filipinos. This one lechon was on the table being cut into and about 5-10 minutes later, I went up to get some and there was nothing but fat and bones left. That pig was picked CLEAN in under 10 minutes! Food everywhere and everyone's aunt / grandmother pushing you to the food line to make sure you ate enough.

I've got unlimited wireless at this hotel for the next 24 hours, so I'll update later tonight. In the meantime, here are some pictures for you viewing pleasure.

Rory at Boracay.

This view was about 30 steps from my front door at Boracay. Isn't it fabulous?