The Phantom that will haunt me forever

The greatest consolation (and the highlight of this month) for me from all the stress I have been having is watching Andrew Lloyd Webber's broadway musical, The Phantom of the Opera at the Singapore Esplanade Theatre. Me and my friends have long been waiting for this day to arrive. We have bought our tickets five months in advance.

My fascination with The Phantom of the Opera started in High School. I had some classmates who were so into broadway musicals and particularly, my classmate, Jimmy, was a fanatic and as I was his pseudo slave during Grade 7(1st yr highschool), I had no choice but hear him sing this musical's songs over and over again (peace, Jimmy!).I did not know the story actually, I have not read the novel it was based from (Le Fantôme de l’Opéra , a French novel by Gaston Leroux) but I fell in love with its music and I remember I tried playing two of the songs on the piano while I sing (oh yeah, step back Alicia Keys, hehehe). So"Music of the Night" and "All I Ask of You" have become my favorites as they were the songs from the musical I got familiar with. In Grade 9 (3rd year high school), each class was to perform an excerpt of a broadway musical. Our class performed (the very sad) Les Miserables, but I was much in awe to the section who performed The Phantom of the Opera, I became more fascinated with this musical as I got to know the synopsis of the story. They did the scene at the boat where the Phantom was taking Christine to his underground hideaway.

A few months ago, I saw a DVD of The Phantom of the Opera movie at the gym I go to so I rented it out, watched it and that was it! After seeing the whole story and hearing all the songs, I have declared to myself that I have indeed fallen in love with this musical. It has this magical feeling of elegance and beauty that lingers on. I rented out the same DVD at the same gym at another time, I was just hooked. Thanks also to Chuvanescense for giving me his VCD copy, I can now watch the movie over and over again. I just had a little reservation though, because knowing that I will be watching the broadway play soon, I was not sure if watching the movie would do me good since I would now have a point of comparison. We know that movies are different from plays in that movies can have take twos, threes or more to make the movie perfect plus the locations can be chosen and special effects of computer graphics can be utilized, but in live plays they are only allowed take ones, notwithstanding the challenge of changing backdrops and props along the different scenes.

So yes, I did have expectations before watching the play because I have seen the movie and I was wondering if the play would have the same magical feeling that the movie could give since I was not sure how the play would create the effects that was done in the movie. After watching the play though, I was gladly surprised that not only did it meet my expectations, it exceeded it! The set and props of the play was perfect! It was amazing how they did the effects almost the same as in the movie. I have to give special mention to the scene in this play where the Phantom takes Christine on a boat going to his hideaway, as it was truly incredible, and way better than in the movie!

I only have praises for Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera broadway musical. Indeed, it's a musical so enchanting that its music you will keep on singing by heart.

~o~

Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is playing at the Singapore Esplanade until May 13th. Tickets are still available at Sistic.

Photocredits: The Phantom of the Opera Official Show site and Sistic website.

15 hours of zzz and 300 oohlalas

The weekend that has passed was....hmm...I can't find the words to describe it...

Perhaps I have been so deprived from a cool and comfy sleep for the last week because of my defective aircon that last Saturday after it was temporarily fixed by the aircon contractor (they just topped up gas again but they said it will eventually stop cooling again since apparently the gas is leaking and the pipes need to be replaced), that at around 6pm I felt my eyes were so heavy and I fell asleep on my bed. I woke up at 9am the following morning and that makes a 15 hour record breaking sleep! And too much sleep is not good, especially when life has been getting stressful, as it starts unthinkable thoughts to play in your mind, thoughts like becoming a 40 year old virgin, quitting your job and becoming a bum, or disappear from the mainstream and live as a hermit.

But good thing that before getting eaten by the sadness monster, I was able to push myself to do my Sunday routine -- go to the gym and then go to mass. Sunday night was supposed to be also my tennis night but my teacher was not available so tennis was cancelled. That left me with a lot of time for the evening so I decided I'd go watch a movie. There have been a lot of good movies lately and most of my friends have watched at least one of them, so I thought I should at least try to watch one. I decided to watch the movie 300 at the mall a few blocks away from our condo. Alone and armed with popcorn and cola, I sat there and watched in awe at 300 oh so wow abs and legs of men. The movie was great, not because of the sexy men (well ok, fine, it counts as well) but the movie in general, good cinematography, graphics, and storyline. Plus, I have to give credit to the abs and bodies really, because contrary to what most think that those abs and sexy bodies were part of the movie special effects, those are actually the actors' real 6-pack abdomen and muscular torso and legs. I've watched the interview in TV of the lead actor and they really worked out for months to prepare for that movie.

Anyways, I'm just glad that I made a good decision to watch a movie, even by myself. It was the first time I watched a movie in a cinema by myself here in Singapore. Well actually, it's just my second time to watch a movie by myself in a cinema, my first time was waaay back in highschool and I needed to kill a couple of hours to wait for my studio pictures to get developed (I know, I know, that was so pathetic, hehe). It's a good quality time for myself, to just relax and forget about the hussle bussle of the real world. Yup, I think I'd do this again, moreso, more often. ;)

~0~

Photocredit: Image from warner bros shop official site

F for 4th Friday, frustration, fondue and friends

It's the fourth friday of the month and it means that it's been four weeks that I have been getting frustated at work. The everyday waking up to go to work starts to get to be a heavy thing to do. The weather is becoming hotter everyday and what perfect timing could be for the aircon in my bedroom to stop cooling again and needs to be repaired. Something inside me would like to scream and run amok. I'm just so stressed out.
Omar said he observed my self esteem is low lately...then later on in the afternoon he invited me to meet him and buddy Wit for dinner and drinks at DXO. Unexpectedly though, he got a little held at work so Wit and I started dinner without him at a Japanese restaurant, Haru at One Fullerton. Had he made it in time when the ika sashimi was served, I'm sure he would've taken a picture of it's presentation and would be featured in his foodblog. But nevertheless, here's the fondue we ate at Max Brenner in Esplanade mall, after we had that Japanese dinner. We were so full with all the food. But wait there's more, we went to DXO bar for some drinks and what do you know, it was ladies night so I got in for free plus free flowing drinks! The band playing was a Filipino band and they were good. There were not much people though, perhaps because it was just 10:30pm and it was early for a clubbing night. I was looking forward to the free flowing drink for the ladies so that atleast I could get a little tipsy but after I had 2 glasses, I concluded it would take me atleast 10 glasses of those drinks before I could attain my goal. You see, my first glass was a shot of vodka and lime juice, diluted in gallons of water (sorry, im exaggerating) and the second glass was a shot of vodka and ribena soda, diluted in liters of water (ok, im still exaggerating). So, I took the liberty to snatch Omar's half full glass of tequila plus sprite drink from the "real bar" and tadah, it served its purpose. ;-)
We went home after staying half an hour at DXO. It was a fun night, simple but I really enjoyed it because of my dear, dear friend who's never been at DXO before and I think, just wanted to lift my spirits up because he knew that I've been wanting to go to DXO because I told him before that I hear the band playing really good whenever I eat at Makansutra (the food centre beside DXO). How can you not help but be cheered up by having such a thoughtful friend?
Thanks Omar, that was really sweet (na-touch ako ha). :)

Tell me this is not how journalism is here

I read in the newspaper today about a restaurant supervisor being stabbed by one of his kitchen staff and he died right there in the restaurant. The article wrote how the family and colleagues of the victim were surprised that the victim could be in a heated argument with the staff that would lead to a violent act as the victim was a diplomatic person. At the end of the article, it writes:

"The restaurant is closed today in respect to Mr..., according to Mrs.., the restaurant manager."

Then right after that the next paragraph reads:

"The restaurant has other branches located in...."

Now I don't know if it's because I didn't have enough sleep last night, or that I am stressed out at work that I am easily irritated but I am in quite a disbelief at how this article was written. I mean, can somebody tell me what is the significance of that second paragraph!?! Is it just me or is it really that insensitive to do indirect advertising?

March is fastly marching by

After that fabulous NZ experience, I am back to the real world, back to my routine, back to facing the sad monitor of my computer at work. I do expect that March would be quite a challenge for me because of work -- I have a 1,001 tasks that I need to accomplish and I would be doing it alone. And there are no travels for me this month, so I will not be going anywhere outside the 4 corners of this island of shopping centres and malls.

The first 11 days of this month seemed like it have zoomed fast though and I don't know if I'd be happy because this dreaded month will be almost over or if I'd be scared because quarter end is always is a critical period at work for me and I have to be prepared to face it alone.

Let's see what this month given has me so far:

the hoorays:

• After three weeks of not being able to go to church and hear mass because of my travels, I have finally spent quality time with Him again these past two Sundays. It was a heartwarming, teary-eyed reunion.
• I have accomplished a big initiative I have been leading at work: finally, our database is 3 bundles upgraded and less bugged, this would be my first bundle application in my almost 5 years in the InfoTech world. Ahhh, my baby, my bundle of joy! ahehehe.
• Had a fun time when we celebrated Aoisoba's sweet 16 + 12 birthday with literally a round of different handcrafted beers of Brewerkz in our table (really enjoyed that, chilis!)
• Was able to recharge a little and finally able to do some writing after spending some quality alone time at my spot, my sanctuary (besides church) yesterday.

the boos:

• My second semester of French class has started and I have not been studying diligently, unlike the previous
  semester where I would do extra reading.
• On our Chinese new year dinner at the first day of this month, I was chatting with my colleagues that I shared the dinner table with, and this French guy colleague called me a pervert after I told them I lined up for almost an hour in Disneyland Paris just to have a picture with Mickey Mouse. I am considering his limited English for having used that adjective. But then he also crashed the tiny hope left in my heart when he asked me the qualities I am looking for in a man and when I told him a man who is loyal, hardworking and who loves life, he said I must be looking for a priest (reminded me of Mon Homme Idéal), otherwise the man is inexistent. Ouch!
• The two consecutive strong tremors from the two earthquakes in Indonesia last March 6th left me so nauseated at work that I had to put on some scented balm to keep me in my senses. Our office is on the 26th floor and I don't know why it seemed like it was only me and the second big boss who felt the tremors and reacted upon realizing those were tremors and not just a sumo wrestler running around in the office.
• I have been so stressed at work for pushing myself to be supergirl that last Friday I just realized that I have been coding directly in our Production database (and yes I have clicked the save button already!). If you are in the programming world, this would be like one of the greatest mortal sins you could ever commit. I felt like my blood was drained from head to toe when I saw the database name I was working on.
• I got okrayed* twice by pseudo BF Omar when we met for dinner one after-office night: 1) He said I looked like I was wearing pambahay** clothes (I was wearing slacks and blouse) and 2) He was greatly disturbed upon hearing me speak in Singlish in talking to the taxi driver that he had to send me an sms that night and called me at work the following morning to remind me to take care of my English.
• I cancelled my tennis tonight because I ate a lot of different food which led to an attempted stomach revolution and a successful lazybug infection.

OK, now let's see the score: 6 is to 4, in favor of the boos! oh noooooooooooo..

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*Okrayed - a term in Tagalog slang for giving negative criticism

**Pambahay - a Tagalog adjective pertaining for the house