Insightful, Hopeful

On our northern Luzon trip, Mimay played Broadway musical soundtracks on their car stereo. Thanks to that, Broadway songs are now playing on my head which are mostly from "Wicked" and "Miss Saigon". I was bitten by the Broadway bug when I became a fan of no other than Ms. Lea Salonga (winner of Tony Awards for her role of Kim in Miss Saigon) in 2000. I was awed by her talent when I watched her Millenium Concert at the CCP together with my friend Cat, her mom and my sister.
That same year, Lea also starred in a musical, They're Playing Our Song, which was the first musical I ever saw. It was a romantic comedy, and I absolutely loved it, and it still is my favorite musical! :)
I loved the songs too - especially Fallin', I Still Believe in Love, Right and If He Really Knew Me. Too bad, the Manila production was not allowed to have a cast recording. But Lea was able to include two of the songs from the musical in her "By Heart" album.
Lea also reprised her role as Kim here in Manila, and I was lucky to have been able to witness her performance. Compared to They're Playing our Song, the set was much more extravagant, and the whole time, the performers had to sing. It was really a world-class musical.
Aside from those two, I was also able to watch "Baby the Musical", "Rent", and "Tick Tick Boom" all from Atlantis Productions. I was also able to see the Blue Rep (Ateneo's theater company) production of "Into the Woods", and Mimay's theater recital in Repertory -  West Side Story.
For a while, I have stopped watching musicals, and had no news about what's playing on Broadway. But one of my "Lea" friends, Tin, introduced us to "Wicked". It is a comedy about the Wicked witch of Oz. It shows her life before she became wicked, and also shows her college friend, Glinda, a good witch. It stars Idina Menzel in the original Broadway cast, who is now Mimay's current idol hehe.
Musicals are great because they tell stories through songs. And don't we all have a theme song for special moments in our lives? I hope one day I can watch a musical in Broadway, and hope that Lea's in it too :)

This holy week, I had the privilege of going to Northern Luzon to visit the famous places in the Ilocos region. I was invited by my friend, Mimay, and her dad, when I came to meet her to watch Ice Age 2. I so wanted to visit the northern part of the Philippines, so I felt so blessed to be a part of their trip.

Since it was holy week, we visited mostly churches for the traditional Visita Iglesia. We visited 3 stations of the cross per church. The churches are exquisite, displaying rich cultural heritage from the mere structure itself. One of my favorites was the Shrine of our Lady of Charity in Bantay, Ilocos Sur. What I liked about it is the belfry on top of the hill.

Along the trip, we passed by breathtaking fields and mountains, shorelines, and bridges.

We were also able to see Pagudpod. The waves were everywhere, and I don't know how to swim, so I didn't stay long in the water.

We stayed at Laoag at the Hotel Tiffany which has a very cool diner reminiscent of diners in 70s Hollywood films (think Grease). On our way back to Manila, we drove by Vigan.

It was a very exciting trip for me. I am really thankful to Mimay and her dad for this "Northern Exposure" trip :)

Despite the various things I am into these days, I still did not miss the chance of trying out as contributor of Pinoy Tech Blog(PTB). This is my second time to try out. Last time, I wrote tech-related articles and the regular contributors would check out the aspirants' blog. This time, the format was changed and an "Open Mike" was introduced. I had no idea what an open mike was. Turns out, it is a live show where audience members may perform at the microphone, and the term was just used.

Anyway, I was lucky that two of my articles were chosen to be published on the site. These are about my new mp3 player and a cool stock photo site I found on the internet.

There were of course others who tried out (and I guess, again, I am the only woman), and I checked out their blogs. Some are definitely more tech-savvy than I am. I have not really written tech-related articles here or perhaps I should create a tech blog. The new contributors have not been announced, but nonetheless, I am happy for opportunity of having my articles published on PTB.

I have abandoned this blog for the whole of March except for my blue things collection post where I boldly showed off my blue toes :P

I have been busy with activities which I would perhaps post some other time. But then again, as I've said before, new months also mean new beginnings. Hooray to summer! April is here.

Lent Season is also coming up, time to reflect and renew our wearied bodies and souls.