Three hours ago, I watched Battalia Royale again with my girlfriend and three close friends. We paid P350 for the ticket, and another hundred bucks for the cool OLOGHS “school bus”, and a few hundred more for the survival kit and character cards. But the experience was just as priceless as the first time we watched at CCP. The venue was a bit packed, but it was, as the production team promised, very intimate. This time, I kept close to the Kiriyama Family, and made sure that I asked the goons where the next scene was going to be. I enjoyed the Kakai-Victor scenes, and the refreshingly funny and ironically poignant Francis-Malaine suicide scene. But of course, I followed the Kiriyama family the most. I was just a bit disappointed that at some parts where it was supposed to elicit a cheer from the audience, well, people were lacking in enthusiasm. When it was time to choose our own adventure, I ran to the building where I last saw Carmina and Sebastian, and stayed there. I was in front and I saw everything, and I just went click-click-snap away. It was chaos. When Sebastian got around to killing the rest of the Kiriyummies, I almost cried because I realized the special bond that Basti and Sanya had. When Kakai arrived on the scene, I was so surprised that she died on me (yes, her head was on my lap when she fell) I took a step back and she fell on the ground. Sorry dearest Kakai. :( When the show ended, RadioActive Sago Project gave the audience a little treat as they played several of their songs. The actors were jumping around and the happy hype was so infectious I started jumping along with them and singing. I was a happy camper all throughout. After the mini-gig ended, we hung back and took a lot of pictures of the cast. I was anxious to get a picture with Basti Kiriyama, and so we did, but after taking pictures with him and Alab, we started chatting a bit, and he was so nice and accommodating and he didn’t have even just a hint of the diva syndrome, which made him even more lovable. We enjoyed talking to him that we didn’t notice that we were the only audience members left in the court. We went outside to the entrance, and I decided to get the autographs of my favorite characters. I cornered Joelle (Carmina) and asked her for an autograph. The sweet little darling wrote a note too, and I was so kilig inside, it was an effort to stop myself from squealing. Kuya Mark Ghosn was there too, and when he saw me, he hugged me and told me that of all the people who killed him, I was still the best. I saw Adrienne (Sophia) and asked her for her autograph too, but she was a bit busy so I talked to Joelle for a while. I saw sir JK and we talked too, and he was so nice, and he held my hand the whole time he was talking to me. He said, (non verbatim) “With the deepest humility, I thank you for supporting us.” I told him that I had an intention to join Sipat Lawin as soon as I graduate. I told him, “Kahit po watergirl, ok lang.” He laughed and hugged me and told me that he will be looking forward to the day I join Sipat Lawin Ensemble. I introduced my girlfriend to Joelle (feeling close lang kasi ako) and I can see that she was so kilig when she was talking to Joelle, because of her super big crush on Joelle. :) I followed Adrienne and I bumped into three of the Kiriyummies, Sanya, Erlat and Paola. Isabelle (Rhae) was there too, and I was surprised that they remembered me as the super duper big fan of the Kiriyama Family. I told them that I was writing a fan fiction about them, and they told me that they were super thankful. They were really really really nice, and Isabelle told me that I was well known in the Battalia Royale family. Must be all those fan art and status posts. Hmmm. I really enjoyed the entire show, from riding the “school bus” to the long conversations with the cast. Someday, dearest Battalia Royale, I will bring you to my beloved Los Banos. :) 

For now, I sleep. Although I know that I will dream about Battalia Royale and everything that happened. Nothing compares. Good night. :)

My February went kind of awesome. I was thinking that it would be somewhat bland, a bit mediocre for a supposedly hellish month. Midterms were about to roll in, and I desperately wanted to get out of UP Los Banos to get a bit of culture in me. I had two projects lined up for February, and those were to see Battalia Royale at CCP, and visit MV Logos Hope to (insert meme here) HOARD ALL THE BOOKS! I bugged my mom to give me some cash, because honestly UP students run low on funds during February. I think you know what I’m talking about. Alright, for the non-UP students reading this, we run low on moolah because it’s the UP Fair/FebFair month, and it’s a week long money sucking celebration. All the food, all the rides, all the henna tattoos, all the shit that needs money. Anyway, after FebFair and some exams, I marked my planner for February 23. It was a special day because of two reasons. First, it was our 13th month together, and we were celebrating it with two of our closest friends by watching the last show of Battalia Royale. We thought that we were going to miss the pre-show because the traffic going to CCP was so bad and I was biting my nails because I didn’t want to miss anything. Lucky me, we arrived just when the pre-show was about to start. Lo and behold, Sipat Lawin Ensemble’s Battalia Royale, in its full bloody glory before me. Sir Labor, a professor of mine (and a long time crush) was there, but we didn’t get to interact much because I was so excited like a hyper bunny and I was jumping and I was running and OMG I won the killer killer game by dying creatively (?) although I really didn’t see how screaming and twisting and falling constituted as creative. HA! Anyway, when the show started, and just as Aiza Bragga was shot to death by Sir Fraser (played by Tito Bodjie Pascua) I began having second thoughts about watching. I didn’t have a strong heart, quite literally. What if I suddenly felt faint during the predetermined action packed scenes? Ah, to hell with my faint and conyo heart. I wanted culture, well I got it right there. As I was running along with the 900+ audience that night, my attention was caught by a particular group of kids. The Kiriyama Family, they called it. I immediately fell in love. My original bet for the win was Sophia, god how I love her hair and her personality (forgive me, dear girlfriend, I still love you with all my heart) but I was secretly rooting for any of the Kiriyama kids to win. After the show, I was still so hyped up and I was talking very fast, my friends and my girlfriend couldn’t get an word in edgewise. I ran up to Kiko, who I know from school, and acted in a play with, and hugged him so hard and congratulated him on a job awesomely done. Up until now, I still have the strangest hangover from being splattered by blood and getting to act alongside Sir Pascua (OMG asdfghjklqwertyui screaming). When I got to school the next day (yeah, I had a class the next day) I was promoting Battalia Royale in all my classes. A lot of kids expressed their desire to watch, and I told them to go like the Battalia Royale page on Facebook. I was an avid fan. I stalked the characters, zealously followed the Battalia Royale Wordpress blog, made fan art for the Kiriyama Family (whom I love so much with all my dear heart and omg I just. I can’t even.) I was hooked. Aaaaand, I’m currently making a fan fiction solely centered around the Kiriyama Family. Obsessed much? It’s okay, I haven’t felt this in a long time. I was right, I needed some new, non LB culture in me. I got that from Battalia Royale. I actually described the feeling of experiencing Battalia Royale as a sexually charged adrenaline rush. Weird, yes. Sorry. I even told my girlfriend that I wanted to leave everything behind and just go into theater. I’ve had a lot of theater in me, especially because I’m a Communication Arts major and we’re sort of required to dabble in theater, and even outside of school requirements, I’ve had a few credits under my belt. Anywaaaaaaaay. Battalia Royale spoke to me in such a way that I just wanted to drop everything and be on stage forever. Hah. No regrets there. I was so hooked that I bought tickets to the Cubao showing of Battalia Royale, and even asked Adrienne Vergara if I could get dibs on inviting Sipat Lawin Ensemble to bring Battalia Royale to my dearest UPLB. I gave it careful thought already, where the venue would be, how the publicity would go, how I could invite people. I read so many friends’ posts on Facebook on how they were dying (pun intended) to go watch Battalia Royale, and I knew that it would be an instant hit in LB. Perhaps a 4 day show? :) Anyway, I strayed from my blogpost’s title already, but I guess it’s all good. My March is shaping up to be just as awesome. If only I could get these damned papers to do themselves.. :) See you on the 10th, Battalia Royale peeps. I can’t wait. :) Blood surging, adrenaline pumping, hell yeah. This is one hell of a kick ass show. :)