I Rule My World!

It’s insanely hot!!!!!!! To add insult to injury, the water maintenance decided to cut off the water supply for 20 days because some people in the neighborhood have not been paying their monthly dues! So I had no choice but go to my appointments, unbathed. Yikes.

I desperately tried to slow down my usual walking pace, just so I wouldn’t sweat much and wouldn’t feel much of the urge to jump into a tub of cold water. It worked fine for a while, but by the time the sun reached its climax, and I still had the long, dreary, dusty walk ahead of me, I knew I just have to secure a bath somewhere…anywhere. Desperate? You bet!

Now the Music Department is situated somewhere way off the cemented roads of AUP. It somehow resembles an oasis, a sweet refuge of comfort and bliss. That’s because before you can get there, you have to walk through the valley of the shadow of swirling sands that gets into every opening of your body possible. To shield your self with the umbrella would seem like a brilliant idea, but I’m writing from experience that no strong umbrella could ever withstand this particular gale.

So there I was, unbathed and unkempt, melting under the sweltering hot sun, and about to go through the vast desert of unsettled dust, when I got into this "who cares?" mood. So, what! We all have our bad days. I choose to dive into mine. The sooner I do it, the sooner I can get it done and over with.

Got this from Miracle’s post in the bulletin board, who got it from Ariel’s blog (whoever Ariel is) Anyway, do try it sometime. It’s fun.

1.) Put your music player on shuffle
2.) Press forward for each question.
3.) Use the song title as the answer to the question.
4.) No cheating!

1.) How am I feeling today? Allegro! (i’m listening to suzuki piano book 1)

2.) How will I feel getting married? Grey clouds (huhuhu…how sad. This is Ryan Cayabyab’s Dancing in the Rain album)

3.) What is my best friend’s theme song? Can You Read My Mind. (Wow, as her bestfriend I could usually read her mind)

4.) Highschool is? Kailangan Kita..

5.) I am… Sweet Dreams (what the!?)

6.) How is today? Kahit Isang Saglit (lost na talaga..)

7.) What is in store for this week? Longer (longer lines!!! Haha)

8.) What song best describes my parents? Our love is here to stay (well, that’s kind of a bummer because they are separated.. guess their love for me will always stay. Let’s just put it that way nalang.

9.) How is my life going? Long Long Ago (am i that old?????)

10.) What song will they play at my funeral? Someone to Watch Over Me (whoa..now that’s creepy..)

11.) Is this going to be a good year? They Can’t take that away from me (oh yeah!)

12.) What’s your love life like? I honestly love you (i honestly love who?!)

13.) What’s your favorite? Cuckoo

14.) Best bored activity? Photographs of You and Me, Together (awww..c’mon. Is my player this pathetic too?)

15.) Favorite quote? Almost sunup and haven’t slept

16.) Song played in your wedding? Pagdating ng Panahon (a little history..i used to have a big crush on this guy named Jerry. Anyway, it was intrams week and the CON had this wedding booth. It was a cheesy idea, but there was a catch..you don’t know who you would be marrying. You go through the whole ceremony blindfolded. So my friends blindfolded me and had me ‘wedded’. Throughout the ceremony, the PNPA band that was performing at that time in the gymnasium was playing Pagdating ng Panahon…what a coincidence, huh?! Well, after the "I do’s", I found out I got married to Jerry! That was one hell of a heaven moment!)

17.) What is your boyfriend/girlfriend’s theme song? Tell Me (Tell me who my boyfriend is, and i’ll tell you the song. Hahaha!!!)

18.) The song that best described your childhood days: Disney Medley (in other words, magical!)

19. The song that keeps playing in to your mind. Home

20. The song that will make me happy. Go Tell Aunt Rhody (yeah, right!)

Hahaha. Did that make sense at all?

To the lady I met in the MRT today:
I am very sorry for giving you the wrong directions.I should’ve known I suck at directions, and had I been willing to accept that, then maybe, you have saved yourself from the agony of rushing up to the wrong place. I might have the it’s-the-thought-that-counts excuse for such sheer stupidity, but i admit it, I was an idiot. Although I have been travelling on that route for several times doesn’t necessarily give me the license to know the right direction…but then only stupid people wouldn’t remember a well-travelled path.  Oh, i can’t erase the memory of your sweet smiling face when you asked me where Magallanes station was, and I pointed to the wrong train. You rush to occupy the nearest vacant space because you were probably late for your appointment. It dawned on me later that you were pointed to the wrong direction, and that you have been an innocent victim of my moronic behavior. So, if ever you were late for your appointment, and that sort of made your day today swing to the hellish side of life, then you have every right to curse me, or tell your friends about that stupid lady in the MRT who gave you the wrong direction…

I come back from watching the Music Majors’ Minors Recital. It’s a recital done by music majors by performing on their minor instruments. Each of them is required to have a major and a minor instrument on which they have to perform by the end of the semester. A majors’ recital is something to look forward to because it is when you see the students in their "best" performance. It usually determines how hard they worked during the semester. However, a minors’ recital is always a winner evening (at least for me) because one can get to witness the performer try on something he is never really used to do.

So the evening starts. I brace myself to an hour of tension, laughter, inspiration and miracles. A piano major comes on stage and sings a famous kundiman. A trained ear could only judge that he sings a tad sharp from the absolute pitch. A voice major plays the famous Sonatina No. 1 in C major by Clementi, and fumbles, and stumbles yet he still made it to the end with all bravado and much cheering from the friendly and understanding audience. Another piano major graces the stage and gives a rendition of a lovely Italian song, alas, the voice would not project and she seems to cover it up with the big hand gestures that seem to do the shaping for her. Then a shy voice major plays a short, jolly piece, which was clean and clear at the beginning but then she must have forgotten that it should end in the tonic and not the leading tone…

But who’s to say it wasn’t their best? On the contrary, who said that was already their best? One can only react to the fact that they are on unfamiliar territory and it gets scary out there.

Kudos to these students and more practice!

3.2.2007 (friday)
Woke up late since the previous night was spent cleaning the "pig sty". Anyhow, I had nothing planned but to have make-up lessons with my piano students after spending a vacation in MVC, and a rehearsal run-through on the organ. Oh, and meet several classmates for a case study on SPED. Yep, that is my definition of ‘nothing to do’.

But my students backed out at the last minute. Two were suffering from a bad case of allergies, one had a fever, and the other one had a conflicting appointment. Add to the list my classmates who decided not to show up, and didn’t even bother to let me know! At least, (buti nalang talaga!) I was able to practice the organ.

Friday vesper was spent in AIIAS. The Ambassadors had its annual sacred concert for the brethren, and for the first time after a very long time, I am stressed out because I was the accompanist of the evening. Yikes. Prayed a lot (because it always works!) and I was able to pull through the concert without the anticipated non-chord tones. Thank God!

3.3.2007 (saturday)
I am the divine worship organist. I feel like I was going to give one of those solo recitals again. Oooh, can somebody eat the butterflies in my stomach??? For the past few weeks, I had been nagging my brain to memorize Bach’s  "Sleeper’s, Wake…" and somehow I was able to give it justice. Lemmen’s "Fanfare" was at least better than the last time I played it although I was still feeling a little panicky over several lines. Hopefully, the whole world is filled with big rooms of improvement.

Come evening and I spend it with another rehearsal of the concert we’re doing tomorrow. I am so fatigued! I was running myself tired from singing as loud as Ican for hours at end. Why is there a sudden scarcity of altos in the campus anyway???

3.4.2007 (sunday)
Woke up early (and I loathe it!). With the annual Piano Teacher’s Guild of the Philippines Piano Festival to be held that morning at Philam Life Auditorium, I had to drag myself out of the warm, comfortable bed I was sleeping on.

The kids were all great but two recitalists stand out from the rest(at least for me). Hugo Hua, a 6-year old prodigy and his sister Hannah, another 8-year-old prodigy amazed me. How can they can play such mature pieces at those ages, and sound mature also? I am intrigued how their teacher even taught them. My students were great also, at the unbiased sense of the word, at least. Hehehe…

Capping off the weekend is a performance of Beethoven’s "Choral Fantasy" and excerpts from Handel’s "The Messiah", with the AUP Chamber Orchestra, University Chorus, Ingrid Santamaria, Dr. Cerna and Dr. Abriol, at the Philam Life Auditorium, commemorating Dr. Alfonso Roda, previous president of AUP who’s legacy remains untarnished.

Finally, i got to have that much-needed sleep…