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Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Things are going great for me. I just got back from Boracay yesterday, but first, please let me rewind a bit. To start off, the swimming teacher gig didn't really work out. The training was extremely fun and enriching. Sometimes we had to play pretend and one of my classmates would be the teacher and the rest of us would be the kiddies. Real children, however, are very unpredictable. I felt that I was ready for them, but apparently, my arm wasn't. It's been 3 months since my elbow was operated on and it's a little stronger now, but not that strong. I can do weights, climb walls, swim laps, things that require muscle control, but I remember trying to play volleyball with the GamePlan crew in Oceana last month and when I struck the ball with my right, wham! My elbow hurt bad and I had to be replaced. So when I had my first hands on lesson with 2 really cute toddlers who more or less already knew how to swim, my arm got tired. All the more when the kids started jumping into the pool. Oh my, I was so exhausted afterwards, not because the kids were playful, but because my arm just couldn't take all the work. I was thinking about the pain more than the kids, so I figured that it wouldn't be safe for the kids, or me, to teach swimming at this point in time. That was a depressing Wednesday, and I spent the rest of the week sulking about what I could do to make money over the summer. Then the sun rose on a beautiful Monday morning, and I got a call for a job to write a script. I made a draft in an hour and thank God I found the words quickly because that draft landed me 4 other writing jobs for April, including 2 articles for Metro Active Magazine, an off-shoot of ABS-CBN Publishing's Metro Magazine. The editor gave me a call Thursday afternoon to do a story on the Island Caravan: The Nautical Highway Adventure. The call time was 4:30 Friday morning and the 5-day trip passed through Puerto Galera, Calapan, Roxas, Caticlan and finally Boracay via vehicle caravan and the RORO (Which actually stands for Roll-On, Roll-Off. Ah, makes sense now. Parang Karate Kid. Roll on! Roll off!) in Batangas (to Puerto Galera) and Roxas (to Caticlan). I was a little hesitant because I was going to travel alone. It's been years since I've been on a trip without a GamePlan crew, but I thought I'd give it a try. So I met with the group in the Petron station along Macapagal Ave. and lo and behold, my friends Issa Litton and Rica Villaluz were hosting for 2 different shows (Road Trip and First Passenger, First Class). I also bumped into Eric Faustino (former cameraman of Lakbay TV) and Tito Charlie and Tita Kelly (owners of Pink Patio, Boracay). I went from lonely newbie journalist to a happy camper. Aside from being thankful that the magazine had confidence in my work, I traveled with old friends and made a whole lot of new ones who were all in a business where the work has become second nature to me. Until now I'm still shocked with how things turned out. Rica was my best friend in grade school, and Issa is one of my good friends from college, and I immediately bonded with Gen Maramba of Studio 23 (also a former producer for Lakbay TV), Ronnie Quizon of Road Trip, Mike Marasigan of Living Asia, and their camera crews. I also made friends with Elizabeth Reyes and Hans Springer of Mabuhay Magazine, Ronald and Rona delos Reyes of Auto Review (And let me tell you that Rona is cool with the camera. I was jelly from the moment I saw her shooting.), Ge Gentozala and China Cojuangco who were shooting for the DOT, their friend Jam Tagorda (Who was actually a rhythmic gymnast!), and other people from the media whose names I can't really remember right now. It was a blessing to be with them all, because their company helped me make the transition from video to print. Not that I won't be doing video anymore, but I will be taking a rest from that kind of work for a while. And man, all the camera people had "Ro" in their names! Well, not Paeng, Ricky nor Noel. But there was Rolly Gallo, Rolly Roque, Ronald and Rona, and Ronald for the DOT...it was hilarious, promoting travel via the RORO with cameramen whose names began with RO. The event organizers were also very cool. Cesar Cruz of the Island Caravan Consortium had this megaphone and he rang the siren whenever it was time to go, so I got a kick out of copying the siren and making the sound when it wasn't really time yet. Hehe. I aslo recognized his daughter Kay. She was the captain of the UA&P Futsal Team, and when I saw her, I really felt the world shrinking around me. It was freaky and cool at the same time. The trip was sponsored by Honda and Nissan, and Maureen Abelardo, Tere Custodio and Arni Maniego of Skoal Advertising actually let me drive their CRV around Puerto Galera and to Calapan, and the next morning all the way to Roxas. They've been doing the caravans for years and this was my very first caravan and my very first time to drive out of town and I'm so glad that Tere said, and I quote, "She drives very well," because it was quite an experience. It's so much more beautiful than driving in the city, except I don't know if I can ever do it again because a chicken flew and hit our windshield! AAAHH!!! I'm a chicken murderer! Dear Lord, I felt horrible. Overall, I liked this trip. I know that I complain sometimes that going out of town for work is really tiring, but still, I'm glad that I get to meet so many people along the way. Too many in fact. From a business perspective, I made lots of new contacts and revived some old ones, and it's all good now that my life as a freelancer has truly begun. It just goes to show that there really is a lot of work out there and it's flattering, but I also felt that everything was happening a little too fast. I mean, in just one week, I got offers for scripts and articles, websites and, to my surprise, a position in SALES! A little wild, don't you think? Me in corpy? Still, it was cool. I feel bad having to turn down some offers, but all in all, I feel good. It's good to know that my work has some worth outside GamePlan, that I can choose to accept or deny projects, name my price, and even better, dictate my own schedule. My first lesson as a freelancer is that I have talent. Yeah, a boost to the ego, baby! I have talent! But my second lesson is even more important: Focus. I need focus. I need to focus on something, something that all this work will finally lead to, and I've got to slow down before I take on too many things again and burn out before I even begin. When we went parasailing in Boracay, Issa asked me, "So what do you really want to do?" And I couldn't answer her. My ultimate dream, of course, is the romantic "family" type, but what about my career? Hmmm. I don't really know. I want to do a lot of things. I want to be an athlete. I want to promote sports. I want to help Philippine tourism, go diving every weekend, swim with dolphins and watch children smile and play. Just today, I remembered that I once wanted to be a garbologist (Doesn't that sound so lovely? Garbologist?) because some barangay people started burning garbage in the empty lot beside our house and I had to stop them. One, the smoke was invading the house, and two, hello?!?! Burning garbage is wrong! Anyway, I don't know what I want to be exactly. All I know is that I want to be successful in something, do something meaningful and make a difference, even just a small one, like how the old man made a difference for one starfish in Chicken Soup for the Soul. After all this work, maybe I can afford to travel with my family someday, or with someone special. There's no rush. I shouldn't rush. But I'm sure I'll be able to reward myself in time. Someday. *** My articles are coming out in August, but I'm sure that some of you will read about the trip in the papers and magazines and maybe see it on TV. The group has more trips set for April and May, so I hope that some of you give it a try. It's different because the Island Caravan Consortium works hand in hand with the governments of the places that you visit. We were welcomed by mayors and governors and, my personal favorite, local dancers. Accommodations are set, meals are set, everything is prepared before you go on your trip. So come one, come all and give the caravan a shot. Contact Skoal Advertising, Inc. at 896-1910. *** My new favorite quote: Little ideas that tickled and nagged shouldn't be ignored for in them lie the seeds of destiny. - Narrator from the movie Babe.
Sunday, March 14, 2004
I attended two coaching seminars for swimming this weekend. I'm training to be a teacher with the Bert Lozada Swim School under my former coach Anthony Lozada. Although the training's been really fun, I'm a little nervous as to how I'll do teaching children again. As you know, children are extremely unpredictable. Hopefully my experience in teaching kids years ago will come in handy. I also realized that my having been a producer (and a student of Fr. Nick Cruz in Film Theory) has made me very observant, so I think I'll do alright, except I won't be observing edits and scripts. I'll be observing kids and their quirks. Dang, I hope they like me, especially Coach's kid, whom I hear can be a handful because she loves free play...like me!!! :) Anyway, if you have any kids, I strongly suggest that you enroll them in a swimming class for the summer. It's really important for children and adults alike to be comfortable in the water, not only for fun but in case of emergencies. The Lozadas are giving lessons everywhere, but I'll be stationed in the Alabang Country Club where I used to train with the Gators. Dang, I was so much thinner back then. And darker, too. *** I also uploaded my first website for someone else recently, and they're pretty happy with it. Yey! I know that my designing skills are really basic, but I think that content is always more important.
Saturday, March 13, 2004
  Interviewing the hosts and smiling at the cameraman in Puerto Galera. Tonight is the Puerto Galera Dive Special, my last episode for GamePlan. Huhu. I edited the third segment and used Ciudad music. Never thought that their music was perfect for the beach.   Firing M16's and M14's in Tanay Rizal. And next Saturday is the Army Jungle Challenge I recently wrote about. Now that episode is my last shoot. Sigh, it was fun to be on-cam. It was fun to work for GamePlan. If you have time tonight at 6:30 (Oh my God, that's like NOW!), tune in to Studio23 and find out why this job was my life for almost 3 years.
Monday, March 08, 2004
No, really, why is the sky blue? I remember asking my science teacher in grade 6 (I believe it was Mr. Siriban.) and he said something about the mixture of different gases; but I can't remember the exact answer he gave me. Another friend whom I just texted minutes ago said that it was "because of dust and water particles in the atmosphere that reflect light or something like that". Then he asked me if I was drunk. Haha! I said no. Some of my friends (esp. Chris) are used to my silly trivia questions, especially about movies. You know that feeling when you've a question and you can't sleep 'til you find the answer? Anyway, really, why is the sky blue? Does anyone know? Agh, the things one thinks of while taking a crap.
 See this here? This is a rip from our Saturday afternoon shoot for GamePlan. 3 producers are doing an episode on the 3rd Jungle Army Challenge Camp BGEN in Capinpin, Tanay, Rizal, and because joining the challenge requires 7-8 members, they asked our new PA Riza and I to participate with hosts Carlo, Akiko and Rovilson (Tricia was out winning an adventure race somewhere. Galing!). What I love about being a participant is that you don’t have to think as much as the official producers do. The downside is that you have to be as game as the hosts are, no matter what the producers order you to do. Although I loved firing an M16 and an M14 (I’ll write about those next time :), and walking through a ropes course and running through an obstacle course came naturally to me, but doing a second take in the obstacle course for safety was not that fun. I mean, it was ok. We do safe takes sometimes, but it was only then that I realized how tiring it is to do retakes for sports. Phew! And crawling again killed me! But I’ve got to hand it to our cameraman Denor. If you watch the episode this March, you’ll see this one part of the course where we had to go over around 8 to 10 bars. Carlo was first and Denor went under the bars and rolled on the ground with the camera pointed up at Carlo and going round and round…basta, it’s amazing. I love our cameramen. And I’m definitely going to miss them. I will be resigning officially this March 15, so this is going to be my last week in Probe. Surely I’ll be helping out in certain projects if they ask me to, but other than that, I’ll be back to being a GamePlan fan again. Still, it’s ok. A little heartbreaking, but I’ll be ok. So the rip on my hand is from last GamePlan shoot. My last wound, my last accident for the show. Too bad because I still have 4 GamePlan lives left, but I hope to gain a new set of lives in my next venture. I was really happy when I got this wound, too. The ropes course was really fun, and it was my first time to do it actually. Once I saw the rip, it reminded me of my gymnastics days, when getting a rip from the bars meant that you were getting better. Your grip was getting better, and your calluses were getting harder. In this case, maybe my time in GamePlan is really over, but at least my rip proves that I did pretty well on the job. If only I wasn’t such a slow editor. Hehe.
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