Avenue Q..take two!!!

Yep, I just found out that Avenue Q will have repeat performances in December. Same place, same actors. It means that the play was overwhelmingly received. I would love to experience it again. When I found out, I immediately asked Ane if he would go with me again. Hehe. Maybe the second time around, we can tag my brothers along. Exciting!

For more details, visit The Bachelor Girl.

Avenue Q, Amici, Three-day malling and a new book

The past few days found me sleeping early at around 1am (early pa yan!) and getting up later than usual (read: noon or later!). Is that being lazy or what? I dunno, I just feel that my body is tired. Yesterday, Ane was waking me up at 930am for our errand but since it was raining, he let me sleep until 10am. Later we had lunch at Jabi coz I as craving Chicken Joy which I did not finish. We got home around 2pm, with me planning to go to work, but I fell asleep again! Sheesshhh.

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Anyway, I have a lot to share. My weekend was packed as well as the days that followed. Think of it as having a very long weekend. And since I need to note it down for the sake of my memory, here goes (I will try to make it short and precise)...

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Saturday was Avenue Q day!!!! The show was at two pm but I have an appointment at 8am in Ortigas that day. My meeting ended just before noon. Mitch was there to ride with us to Makati. We did a short stop to Mercury Drug to get my vitamins/some meds. Lunch was at World Topps in RCBC Plaza where I had Thai Bagoong Rice (oh I missed this, since the place closed down in Greenhills...I was however disappointed with the smaller serving and miniscule amount of mango strips). Around 1pm, Ane stayed at RCBC to wait for the others (remember there were 16 of us) while Mitch and I took a trip to MMC ER (nothing serious!). We got back to RCBC just in time for Starbucks green tea frapuccino samples before the show.

We entered the C. Romulo Auditorium and the Balcony is literally up there! It got me nauseous, really. The show was excellent. I found myself singing along, I had to keep it down! Rachel Alejandro did a very good job playing Kate Monster and Lucy. Trekkie Monster was a R-I-O-T! Aiza as Gary Coleman was a revelation, at least for me, as it was the first time I saw her perform on stage. There was something lacking about Frenchy Dy's portrayal of Christmas Eve I cannot really pinpoint, but her voice is powerful (I like her wedding gown! Haha!). You know, listening to the songs have always been enough, but seeing the actor's facial expressions as well as the puppets' actions (again, Trekkie!!!) made it even more wonderful for me.

There was a short meet and greet after the show (aawww the pictures suck, I used my mobile phone):

And then there was a booth to buy the program, the button (Team Kate), and the pink shirt that says 'It sucks to be me'. Teehee. Mitch and I wore our shirts to the badminton later that night.

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Some of us braved the heavy traffic just to eat at Amici de Don Bosco in Makati. One question: Why didn't I discover this place earlier? I was missing a lot! I had an order of Lasagne (too rich but yummy yum yum!) and their thin crust pizzas are to die for (wow, exagg). Never too full, I had some mint chocolate chip gelato for dessert. I brought home some chocolate covered cream puffs, hihi.

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The next day, the brothers and I were in Glorietta after mass (ane had work). We had a little bit of weekend money to spare but for the first time, we did not splurge on food! We had a simple lunch at Kaya (beginning to be a fave!). We did buy a pair of Havaianas each (yay!), a CD for Li'l Bro, shirts for the two of them, and I got Ane and myself a book each. We capped the day off with Starbucks caffeine fix each, the usual thing we do before going home on days like that. We didn't go straight home, we delivered a Bizu cake to our wedidng Ninang in Greenmeadows because it was her birthday :) The brothers were supposed to bring me where I can ride an FX to work but since Ane was out at 6pm (ordinary time 830pm), I waited for him and we went to the garden together.

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On Monday, we were up early again. We drove my FIL to his HQ in Libis. It was also important that we start the day early coz we had three banks to go to. It gets crazy every Monday not to mention that the 15th fell on a Saturday. After dropping FIL off, we grabbed some breakfast and our bank hunt started afterwards. We started along EDSA, then in Mandaluyong and finally finishing it off in Makati. We should have gone directly to Makati as the bank rows along JP Rizal are the ones that didn't have long lines. Sheesh. Then off we went to Mall of Asia to have Ivy, my laptop (yeah, I just gave it a name!) serviced at Lenovo. Just before we left for our vacation, I noticed an ugly vertical line on the monitor. I was resigned to it not being fixed anymore but Ane insisted that Ivy is still within the three-year warranty. I was corresponding with the technician last week and he assured me that if we go on Monday, the parts will be available. Why MOA, you ask? Well I already had a problem with the laptop six months after it was purchased and it was fixed in G3 but that outlet closed down this year and the person who fixed it is already assigned in MOA so obviously, we'd want him to take care of my problem once again. So anyway, Ivy now has a spankin' new monitor and am grinning from ear to ear :) The service and labor were free. To show our gratitude, we bought some coffee buns and cheeserolls from Delifrance :) I brought the boxes back to the store and it makes me happy to see people smile at me :)

Our MOA adventure didn't end there. It was still too early to go to Greenhills to fetch li'l bro. We grabbed some lunch at David's Tea House. The food seemed expensive but since the servings were big, it was alright. We weren't able to finish everything, so the food was wrapped and later was on the hands of the sampaguita boy (who has no feet and has only one arm, no kidding!) on the intersection of Ortigas and Granada. I swear, he smiled! My heart ♥ goes to him. :) We didn't leave MOA right away, as there was a lot of time to spare strolling. And stroll we did. We were looking for a sturdy table to place our CPU on (so it doesn't sit under the table) but in vain. But my Ane bought me a collapsible study table (so I can use Ivy beside our bed)and a table lamp (so I can use the desktop even if Ane is already asleep at night).

I was supposed to play that night but my legs were about to give up on me after two days in the mall! (Hi Donna! You weren't jinxed, dear, heheh, hope to play with you next monday!) Ane still played and he brought me Buco juice that night :)

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Can you believe that on Tuesday, we were at the mall again?!? This time, it was SM North/The Block. We finally found a nice table (and within budget, hah!) and later we did some grocery shopping for the garden. I went to work while Ane went to his Badminton Training. :)

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The book that I got on Sunday is the book the my sister recommended. It is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. It talks about a Bengali couple who migrated to the United States and their two children were born there. It talks about the struggles they had to go through and teaching their children the Bengali culture even if they are half a world away from their roots. But it proved to be hard for Ashima and Ashoke since their children grew up in the harsh realities of their surroundings. The story focuses on Gogol, their first child, who felt imprisoned by his own name. It is a good read. I'd recommend it as well. I finished reading it on Tuesday evening.

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There, if you got this far, I salute you! My eyes are hurting and I am hungry. Hehe. TTFN!

Trip to Avenue Q

in six nights! Yay! Eversince I heard the OST of this musical play (courtesy of DEP), I've dreamed of watching it in Broadway. And hearing that this will actually run in Manila, of course, we can't just miss it, can we? Even if we are gonna catch it from 'up there', I don't mind at all especially that we are watching with a group of sixteen! Good show, good E company...perfect! :)

There are rave reviews of the show, from those bloggers who were invited to watch the final dress rehearsals on Friday evening. The Bachelor Girl (Lorna Lopez) provided us with the links to these reviews. I also swiped the image above from her blog, I hope she doesn't mind, hehe.

Notes from the Atlantis website:

"AVENUE Q, the phenomenally inventive musical that combines people and puppets, is about real life. It's about finding a job, losing a job, learning about racism, getting an apartment, getting kicked out of your apartment, being different, falling in love, promiscuity, avoiding commitment, hangovers, Internet porn and discovering the world. It has music and lyrics by Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez and a book by Jeffy Whitty. It won three Tony Awards in 2004 including Best Musical. AVENUE Q is directed by Bobby Garcia and Chari Arespacochaga, Sets and Costumes by Mio Infante, Lighting Design by Jay Aranda and Puppet Design and Execution by Samuel Fuentes and Marvin Choa based on Rick Lyons original Broadway designs. It runs from Sept 7 - 23 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati.For tickets call Atlantis Productions at 892-7078 or Ticketworld at 891-9999. "

Oh my! Can't wait for September 15 to arrive :)

They're here!

Remember this?

We received our tickets today! They were delivered to Ane's office by Ms. Lorna herself. We only got the balcony seats reasoning that RCBC theater isn't that big and we only need to listen to the music and the dialogues, hehe (actually, we just couldn't part with precious money now that we are being faced with something really big).

We also welcomed the 10% discount. We love discounts! The E's were happy we got P50 off the original Balcony price. The discount scheme, I came across Anton Diaz's blog but I never tried calling Ms. Lorna thinking that it's only for P&G employees. When I called Atlantis, I was referred directly to Ms. Lorna as she is the show buyer for our preferred playdate, Sept 15 2pm. :)

We are (I am!) so excited. I read in the Atlantis website that Rachel Alejandro will play Kate and Lucy, Aiza Seguerra as Gary Coleman, Frenchie Dy as Christmas Eve, and Felix Rivera as Princeton. I can hear the songs in my head!

I think Ms. Lorna still has tickets for the Sept. 15 2pm show, and gives early-bird discounts. Visit this. For other playdates, tickets are available at Ticketworld at National Bookstore branches or call Atlantis. :)

OMG!!!!!! (edited 09 aug)

Gasp!

"Avenue Q in Manila will be directed by Bobby Garcia & Chari Arespacochaga. It's set for August-September 2007 at the Merlaco Theatre. I can't wait!"

The OST alone made me laugh so hard...this I gotta see! Since I can't afford yet catching it in Broadway (meron pa ba dun? :))

Badadayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! Stitchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

***The musical will actually be shown at RCBC Theater in Makati from September 7 - 23 , all Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. As of today, August 9, Sept15 8pm run is already sold out.