Wicked Monday

Sunday (8-ish, pm)

Hubby received a viber message from a friend offering tickets for a west end show – Wicked And get this: for 4 people for the price of toooot! (Sabihin na nating yung presyo ng isang ticket, naging pang apat!). We were a bit sketchy at first cause hey, it was too good to be true. But the seller was a trusted colleague so we took the offer anyway and invited two more friends (who we kept on warning that we weren’t 100% sure of the tickets yet but asked them to just be ready anyway -on call ang labanan beh).

Monday

Start of another work week. I was excited but I didn’t want to get all fired up and then later, disappointment. We haven’t physically seen the tickets yet so I was still a bit apprehensive the whole morning. At around 4pm, we took toil from work and went to the seller’s house for the ticks. Or voucher I should say.

5pm. We’ve already made it to the Apollo Victoria and exchanged the voucher. Whew! Confirmed legit finally. Lol. Texted our plus ones to start their journey. Show starts 19:30.

I’ve only ever been to a few West End shows and by far, I could easily say Wicked is there (tied with the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) on the top of my list. I’ve been belting to the song Defying Gravity for god knows how long now (feelingera much, sintonado naman lol!) and I’ve always been curious how the actual live show was. Also, The Wizard of Oz is such a classic film I wanted to see the other side of the story.

If you’re planning to watch this soon, push mo yan teh! It was really good and even the actors were amazing! I also think it would be worth to spend a bit more if you opt to get good seats. And as early as now, I can tell you I won’t mind watching the show again. I also want to give props to Alice Fearn who played the lead role Elphaba. Her voice is just so captivating it took me days to recover (honestly, not fully over it yet! Still playing it on youtube/spotify) from her version of Defying Gravity. Here’s a sample from when she performed it at Pride!

https://youtu.be/MbS2npp54b0

Aca-ntahan

Ed Sheeran FAIL

Thanks to Timehop and my good friend, I get to relive another funny experience from a year ago. Promise, andaming bloopers ng daily life ko kelangan lang ako sapian ng kasipagan para ma-chika ko lahat dito

As I mentioned, one of my sister from another mother Demeye (from Canada) visited me a year ago. Si Beshy bet mag-birthday lamyerda & luckily, one of her chosen destination is London! So ayun nga, during her visit, I took her to the usual places. Cut the story short, we were in a bus from Highstreet Kensington going to Oxford street when we passed by HMV (One of UK’s biggest retailer of music, film, games and technology products).

Ang haba ng pila sa as in! Then we got thinking, ahhh baka may singer, nag papa album signing. And then looking around, there’s loads of Ed Sheeran posters. OMG. This was a “naiisip mo ba ang naiisip ko B1? Oo B2” moment. So, I quickly checked online if may schedule nga si Koya today. Checked on their website, and even Twitter to confirm. T*ng- ina siya nga yang anjaaaaan!

If we could only jump from a running bus, we would. Per malapit narin naman yung next stop so keri na. Take note, everything was happening so fast kahit ako I’m amazed lahat ito nangyari under an hour. So we got there, nag panic buying ng Ed Sheeran merch (book and cd) thinking na if we have those, we could magically enter the magic door –>joined the queue at napanggap na shonga at nagpa press release na ang instruction is merch lang pwede na pumasok pero di tumalab —>pinakita yung merch but apparently we need a wrist band–>Saan kukuha ng wrist band? –>Baba, labas, strategize kung pano makakapasok. –>Minamata yung mga chekwang turista na nagtatatalon sa tuwa kasi katatapos nilang mameet yung idol nila –> Nagpaplanong offeran sila ng £20 for each wrist band –> medyo lumalapit lapit na and trying to start a conversation –> tapos may narinig na bumanggit na we need to buy a concert ticket –> tingin online kung magkano yung concert ticket, ang mahal beh! –> balik ulit sa planong pamba bribe nung mga chekwa –>antay antay, bwelo bwelo –> ayan na may rapport nang naestablish, solid na yung usapan hanggang sa napunta sa topic ng meeting their idol and guess what!? After all the hype and the hassle, HINDI PALA SI ED SHEERAN YUNG ANDON PAAAAAAAK!

Lessons learned:

1. WAG ASSUMERA. Mahirap maging assumera, madidisappoint ka lang. Masasaktan ka lang. Lalo na yung handa ka nang gumastos, mag invest pero mali ka pala. Masyado kang nabukag sa idea pero nakalimutan mong i-check yung reality.

2. MAGTANONG. Sa tinagal tagal naming andun, ni minsan di kame nagtanong kung si koya nga ba talaga yung andun. Di kame nag confirm sa kahit isa. Yung pinaka basic thing na dapat ginawa namin, yun pa yung nakalimutan hahahah

3. MAGBASA. Tama nga naman yung nabasa ko kaso my brain stopped processing after seeing Ed Sheeran album signing at HMV today. You know what I missed? The time. He was there 2-4 and we were there around 5-6.

Overall, kahit na medyo napagod at napagastos kame, this funny experience will live on! Mas napagtibay pa yung friendship kasi alam mo yun, di lang ikaw yung shonga at ignorante, siya din! Hahahaha! Here’s to more kabaliwan moments!

Aca-ntahan

I woke up like this

The 14-hour trip from the Philippines won’t stop me from seeing one of my life-pegs. Magkamatayan na. Ravan, ganern!

Backstory: I got back in UK around Saturday midnight and as expected, (jetlagged) only got some sleep around half past 3, only after buying the Yonce ticket. I failed to set any alarms since all my batteries were maxed out but I didn’t really think I would sleep till late afternoon.

After some time, I woke up. Walked to where I charged my phone and saw it was already half past 6. Double checked with the watches beside it which bore the same time. Instantly, my brain panicked! I felt my world whirled around me and suddenly felt dizzy and tripped going to the bathroom. I cursed and rushed and cursed again, thinking I was so late. I even thought of not taking a bath anymore and just head out which is literally tempting and kept whispering myself I could pass up with the tagline: I woke up like this. Anyway, I did a wuick bath and changed and then, my housemate messaged me, asking if I had a spare charger. So I said yes, and brought it to the next room. While I was handing it to her, I asked her:

Me: ate, umaga ba ngayon or gabi na? (Take note, I was already dressed and ready to go at this time)

Ais: umaga palang. Nagtataka nga ako sayo bat ang aga mo naligo, nagready hahahahaha

Me: 😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

Shengeneh! Wow Mali! Hahahahah. Okay, so I totally panicked for no reason. On the good side, I still had loads of time to kill.

Fast forward to: W E M B L E Y!

I wanted to get the pitch standing tickets but considering my height vs the Brits, and the amount of people who will prolly watch, I saved myself the hassle of neck stretching, tip toeing and got a seat instead. My spot’s not that bad though.

I wish I could show you more pictures, or videos but as I do in most concerts I’ve been, I try to have the full experience sans the camera/phone on my hands. But I’m telling you, she was just phenomenal. The energy is unbelievable. Not even a trace of heavy breathing from the singing and awesome dancing. I just can’t even.

On her last song, (Halo) as much as I’d hate to admit, I was actually crying. It was an unbelievable experience (who would’ve thought this probinsyana would see her idol) + an inspiring song (damang dama ko ang bawat lyrics teh! Hugot to the max!)

I’m still on a yoncè-high. My heart is smiling.
A.