What happened to the UST Salinggawi?

After reading my friend Jason's blog on the 2012 UAAP Cheerdance Competition, I was reminded of my own reactions to the competition last Saturday. Like him, I was a fan of FEU (next to UP, of course), and have always taken note of their routines year after year. I think they're good and they always manage to deliver a cohesive performance, including the theme, music and attire.

This year, I actually believed they had a great advantage. They could have beaten the UP PEP Squad if the latter's performance was anything short of what it did last year. I love their routine. It seemed fairly difficult and smooth and I didn't spot any errors with my untrained amateur eye. I like the tamaraw movements as well and how these gel with the costume and music. The spin landings were solid and the pyramids stable. After the fall of one UP Pep Squad member at the end of the performance, I feared that the Tamaraws will go home with the grand prize.

Needless to say, am happy they didn't. But had they bagged it, I wouldn't be surprised.

What disappointed me most was the performance of the UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe. As my friend Jason said, they had eight championships in their cap before they started their downhill roll, failing to make it to top three in the past few years. Cheerdance squads used to look up to them. What happened?

This year, among all the squads in the competition, their theme was the most potent for creativity. Brazil. Vibrant nation, colorful culture, exciting people. And none of these surfaced in UST's routine. No excitement in the choreography, very segmented flow, delayed introduction of theme highlights. It doesn't even feel like Mardi Gras. The presence of the dark-skinned pretty new dancer did not serve to bring out the best of Brazil. It was a total letdown -- from start to finish, from costume to music to formation.

My son, who is a Judo athlete in UST, earlier said he heard they got a new choreographer, and he was excited to see the group rise to top three at least or win the competition. But he also noted that each time he sees the UST Salinggawi group, they are eating or resting. He rarely sees them rehearsing in full. So when the performance ended, Jules stared wide-eyed at the TV and said, "Yun na yon?"

UST Salinggawi should seriously assess where they're missing out. For a squad that has carried the championship title eight times, there's no fire in them this year.

National University was burning brighter, with their fairy tale royalty theme. They had nice costumes and a cool audio mix. Many other teams had good routines but the errors probably held them down.

Adamson, for one, should find a new set of group stunt participants next year. If I had a heart ailment, I'd probably have an attack just watching that group struggle through their unstable pyramids and lousy catches (at one point they caught the top girl in such a precarious moment that they carried her like an upside down lechon in split position). I was pretty sure someone's gonna land head-on on the floor. Luckily, the group survived.

As usual, Ateneo is a hodge podge of ideas put together that the result is confusing. Is it about the 80s era or just the Voltes V period? And why build a Voltes V prop at the back if there is nothing in the routine that shows "volting in"? The performance was a dart that lacked speed and didn't make it to the board.

DLSU? Still pa-safe and pa-cute. UE had fuel and a chance, but was overshadowed by NU.

Next year will be another exciting competition. I wonder what UP will be up to next. Last year, they had golden crowns, now they are shaven. Next year, would they be entering the arena headless? Let's wait and see.

Strange light (was it a dream?)

I forgot about this. Luckily, as soon as I woke up and began to rationalize things, I snatched my phone and wrote everything I experienced on the memo -- while I still can remember. I accidentally opened the memo tonight and realized I haven't blogged it, so am doing now.

And here is what I wrote:

It happened on September 4 (based on my phone entry). About 10 minutes after midnight, when I was half asleep, I felt or saw a flash of light through my closed eyes. I sat up straight, awakened by the vision or dream. It couldn't be a dream, however, because I remember that the flash was accompanied by a short and low snapping sound. It sounded like a camera flash from an instamatic. 

I stared around and wondered what it was. Mel remained asleep so he couldn't have heard or felt it. After hesitating for a few minutes, I decided to check on the kids. Sometimes, when I have these rousing experiences, I assume that God is waking me up for a reason. Maybe the girls need checking up and He is using a strange movement or vision to make sure am fully awake and understand His message.

The kids were asleep but were not properly positioned in bed, so I rearranged them. Maybe that's the reason why. I hoped it is.

I've had one other such experience not too long ago, maybe just a couple of weeks before the Sept 4 thing happened. I woke up in the middle of the night wondering why the room looked brighter than it regularly does when all lights are off. Our room faces the corridor of the building so the light from the corridor illuminates the room partially. But on this particular night, the light appeared brighter than usual. Just as I did on September 4, I also sat up straight, trying to understand what was happening.

When I couldn't, I slowly laid back down and continued to gaze around the room. I told myself my eyes have probably adjusted to the initial darkness after the lights are extinguished and I fell asleep, and I'm seeing the room clearer now. The explanation didn't sound convincing even to me. I checked the kids that night, too, but nothing was amiss. So I returned to the room and went back to bed. This time, I thought the room is back to its normal appearance -- just the right darkness.

I didn't think anything of it the next day, until Marthe commented that she "dreamt" of the sarcophagus-looking stone we saw in Puerta Real gardens in Intramuros the previous weekend. She dreamt that the sarcophagus shape, in miniature, was moving across their room, illuminated by some kind of light (spotlight, she said), its shadow seen on their closet doors. She specifically mentioned that the bright light seems to come from outside their door and focused mainly on the gliding sarcophagus.

"Outside their door" is the door to our room. It was the mention of the "bright light" that caught my attention. She was dreaming about it at nearly the same time as I woke up to a bright light. If what she was dreaming actually happened, could I have seen the illumination of a light coming from outside both our rooms? What would that light be? There were no lights outside our door except a dark bulb that was a few steps farther from our rooms. It could not be mistaken for a "bright light". Or did Marthe see through a dream the same light I saw but one that is coming from the corridor, passing through our room and going through theirs, illuminating the "sarcophagus"? Again, what was it?

It gives me the creeps to think about it now. I'd rather not dwell on the reality of the sarcophagus. I'd like to think it's a dream. Period. And I'd like to think my eyes had adjusted to the dark. Oh well, I think I heard the admin person say they changed the corridor lights so it's brighter now.

It's just the corridor light. Period.

"We" Time

One good thing about my redundancy from office -- and there are plenty -- is that I get to spend more time with my husband. By 'spending time', I don't mean just sitting across each other in the dining table, having coffee and reading the newspaper (which we did often on Saturday mornings when I was still working, aside from listening to the radio and talking about the news).

I mean, really being aware of each other's presence and consciously doing something together. On my third freedom-from-work week, Mel and I began this daily routine of walking to the nearby market after breakfast to buy something for lunch or dinner, or simply stroll around the block to revisit spots we've seen before.

It all started when we were looking for a Baroque costume for Jules' music class and sewing kit items for the girls' Work Education subject. An officemate, who also lives in Pandacan, told me that she used to rent costumes and gowns for her daughters from a nearby shop. We went to look for the shop and found the items we need. We also visited a relatively new store of school and office supplies and discovered they had all kinds of sewing kits with everything in it. We had such a productive day that day that we decided to walk together again the following day.

The next day brought us to the Kapt Isidro Mendoza Public Library in T. San Luis Street. I just heard about it and told Mel I wanted to see the place after the habagat-caused-flood. We came upon the library personnel tidying up the place. Some books were obviously not fortunate enough to be saved during the flood. The water had reached almost the second level of the shelves so those at the bottom were drenched. Some books were lying in tables, being dried. From there, we went to the talipapa for pork and other ingredients.

Since then, we've gone walking almost every morning for a variety of reasons such as to visit the nearby pet shop to look for an aquarium with a movable bottom for our pet white mouse, Fifi, or to check if the Puregold store in West Zamora sells pizza sauce. Sometimes, it's as simple as me craving for pandesal, and we'd go to the Pan de Manila near Caritas after our trip to the market to get large, hot bread.

Last week, our "we time" went beyond Pandacan. The trips were primarily for errands but we decided to have our own little dates. On Tuesday, we went to BPI in Padre Faura to take care of some investment business, then thought of splurging a little to try out something new. We went straight to The Kitchen at Oasis Hotel in Paco. "Splurging a little" turned into "splurging a lot" because, man, the prices in the restaurant are no joke. If you're a big group, and don't really have that much extra to spend, I suggest you stay away from this tempting place.

I ordered Ox Tongue Risotto with asparagus and parmesan. Oo-la-lah! It's true, the dish is delicious! I could have finished it if the order wasn't that big. Even before my last spoonful, I knew I had too much. It's worth the sky-high price.

I paired this wonderful dish with a glass of Kiwi Soda, all green and refreshing. I didn't regret the choice.

Mel opted for something less adventurous but equally satisfying. Something familiar to the palate, yet not. He ordered an Italian Sausage dish with lentils and potatoes. I forgot the exact name but it's also amazing and flavorful. Heavy, if I may add.

He paired it with, first, a glass of Banrock Station, a fine Australian wine, and then another glass of Stonehaven from California.

The Kitchen was the highlight of the day.

On Wednesday, I had to get a community tax certificate for my quit claim document in the office, so I can get my last paycheck and severance pay. Mel and I went to Manila City Hall to join the long line of people getting the same. Surprisingly, all of them are lining up in the window for the "unemployed". Nobody was lining up in the windows reserved for self-employed people and business owners. Some look too good to be unemployed, but then that's the strategy here to avoid paying much. At least for me, it's true. I am unemployed. :-)

After City Hall, we went to The Old Spaghetti House in SM Manila to have a light meal. Our food consisted of Buffalo Chicken Tenders with Blue Cheese Sauce and Chicken Tequila Pizza.

Yumm-mmm-mmmyyy... Me time, we time. Great food and great company. This is life!