Oh goodey! Now we can forget the Wowowee Stampede for now. Why? I've got the pics from our Tagaytay shoot, of course!

The production team checked in at a modest hostel in the City. The hostel is fine (we didn't stay too long since we shot the whole day), but I have only one critique.

Why would they put a swimming pool in a town that is so cold all year round? That's two of our hosts, by the way.

After we had our breakfast, our hectic day started.

The hosts were welcomed by the city's tourism office.


They did some spiels.

Kids TV! Our TV!

Tagaytay is a cold mountain city, famous for its majestic view of Taal Volcano, which is the smallest in the world. When we arrived last Sunday, it was so windy not even my hard hair wax could hold.

As you can see, I did some extracurricular activities while the rest of us were shooting. I took some pictures together with my co-workers.

We ate lunch at RSM Lutong Bahay. It has a beautiful garden setting and we were serenaded by their in-house band.

They sang the theme song of Pinoy Big Brother, much to my dismay.

Dad and the crew were enjoying the warm reception.

Much to my delight, we were served with a bountiful selection of fried pork rind, sizzling barbecue, fried noodles, chopsuey, grilled tilapia, beef bulalo, and rice wrapped in banana leaves. Yum...

After lunch, it was back to work.

While we were at the Picnic Grove, I asked our production manager to take a picture of me.

It was windy. Hair was messy. Garland was flying. Beautiful.

Too bad my batteries ran out when dinnertime came. We ate at a beautiful restaurant called Viewsite. It has the nearest view of Taal Volcano, and it has a wide array of fresh seafood to choose from.

This Saturday, we'll be leaving at an ungodly hour of 2:30a.m. just to cover an event. I'll tell you what that is next week.

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REHEARSAL JITTERS

As scheduled, I went to my alma mater UST (short for The Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas, the Catholic University of the Philippines) to check out the progress of the rehearsals for my play "Jewel and the Two..."

As I've said, my play is one of five productions celebrating our theater organization's 25th Anniversary.

Director Jon did not attend that night so the stage manager took over. The rehearsals were done at the parking lot using temporary props. The run-through was one actor less, so his lines were being uttered by another actor "offstage".

I personally liked the director's treament of my script. I didn't meddle much to my director's creative license during the meetings because I wanna see how he envisions my play, and it was all good.

What I liked the most were the two dance numbers incorporated in the script. The choreography was hilarious.

Looking at the actors and the lines that they utter from my script, I felt like a mother seeing her baby for the first time. It was so overwhelming.

I guess they were jittery by the fact that the playwright was monitoring their rehearsals. They tend to forget their lines, especially the lead actor (whom I still find cute).

After the run-through, the lead actor admitted that he was a bit nervous because I was there (as a scriptwriter, of course, stop that! hihihi). I told the actors that I felt really happy of your performance, and those jitters were forgiveable since they were halfway through. They were glad and relieved.

I will attend again this Sunday for a pictorial and a "critic's night". Hope they do well.

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LOVE ME, SUGAR PAPA/ MAMA (A PHOTO GAME)

I'm making a photo game for everyone to enjoy. It's called "Love Me, Sugar Papa/ Mama"

Show your expressions of love to your invisible Sugar Papa/ Mama. Include a funny or raunchy message to your lover.

My co-writer and I will start...

I know you can do better. So show your affection and express your love and gratification. E-mail your pics at empressmaruja@gmail.com. Photoshopped pics are accepted for now, but it would be adviseable if you write your message on a piece of paper together with that sexy pose.

I'll be posting more of my amourous showings in future posts.

SYET, PAPA, SYET!