Family

Each and every family goes through ups and downs, and this makes them stronger and even hold on tighter to each other. As the going gets rough, we have to hold on to the special times we had, times we shared with each other and think ahead and envision the fun and memorable activities we will be having with each other. :)

It's been a long time since I updated this blog, and I do feel that today is the perfect time to post something to uplift everybody's spirit. Let us stop awhile and stop pointing fingers, because in reality that will not do anything, it will just lead, as it always does, to petty fights that damage the group and our relationship with one another.

There is one thing that I would like to say, no body should ever say that we have lost interest or heart on what we are doing, that is just plain rude and petty. Nobody can ever say what a person feels, and what they feel towards something. I believe, from the bottom of my heart that everybody loves the group, there's just a time when the love for oneself becomes a priority and for some time they leave the group.

And I shall end my post with this video. :) Enjoy. :)

Best Himig Love Team

I asked and you guys answered, and for that I shall release the results of my question
"Sino ang best love team sa Himig?"

With a total of 7 votes, its Kuya Badz and Ate Joyce, congratuwlations! Next in line is Ate Joy and Kuya Mikko with 6 votes, followed by Ate Ginger and Kuya Mark. 

If you disagree with this results, vote now and i'll update this as soon as there are positive developments. As for now, photos of our couple, woot woot! :)

And the newest couple!

Rainbow

There are times when,even if you have friends, you seem to feel and think that you are in need of something else, or somebody else. There are also times when loneliness strikes in, even in one's happiest moment, and they suddenly recall that, I'm not supposed to be happy. That at that moment in time, I have to feel sorry for myself, and for whatever it is that I am missing, whatever it is that I am not getting. There are also those absurd, dum-dum moments wherein you get so self absorbed with your worries that you actually end up troubling an already brewing trouble which makes it boil even more. Meaning, more problem for you.

Friends are just there for you, some might give you the silliest advices, such as go home and drink until you feel numbed by the pain, some will give sound advices, and some just listen, they listen to your rant about your woes and absorb your pain and worries.

My reason for posting something that seems off topic to the chorale, is because, himig is like this for me. I've seen a lot of people share their problems, drink beer or vodka ice, and try to make the other feel better. May the problem be as small as not having load when somebody special texted up, or as big as well something that can't be shared to everyone.

I know I've been comforted by the choir, one too many times, and for that I am eternally grateful, for i have found people who truly understand me. :) Thank you and I love all of you, for you help me realize that each rain presents a beautiful rainbow in the end. :)

Thank you.

starry, starry night

fireworks- colorful display seen up in the sky that can help people feel better, and forget their sadness, it can also help make one feel complete and open to reveal what they really feel, (yes, an original description, diaz 2011)

Last night was the last pyromusical show at SM Mall of Asia, we however were stuck at the Our Lady of Fatima Parish Church to sing for the 5pm mass and have our regular practice after the mass and after we ate.

It was a cold March night, I even thought for some time that it was December, I honestly wanted to wear the panda-ber hat and my mom's purple knitted gloves and some leg warmers to help warm me up. It was even colder up on the church's roof. Oh, yeah we went up there and it was one adventure I won't forget.

As we heard some poppin' we knew it was the start of the pyromusical at MOA, we wanted to watch so badly, we dared to go up the rooftop,and really we were literary up on the roof, the roof top (if you don't get this bit, die, really, go to some corner and die, kidding :)).

Anywho, jhang asked me to play fireworks by katy perry, i obliged and played it. and the emo, over emo weekend begun...

we watched the fireworks, but what stood out most last night was us sitting up on the roof and enjoying each other's company. I guess there are times we take this for granted.

I guess, for some people what's important is looking for that somebody special whom they can spend their whole life with, but then again aren't your friends, well in this case, choir mates the people whom you can spend your whole life with. The people who would understand and care for you and accept you for who you are, no matter how dumb and senseless you might sound.

We started playing special songs for jhang, and cue it might be you, but really we begun remembering random things. From weird songs to emo moments. Last night I realized something, we really are fireworks, and for each other we are the firework that they needed to see to be happy and open up their woes and heartaches to.

And even if we weren't able to finish the pyromusical, I realized something (an dami ko atang na realiza, anoh) even though we didn't finish watching that damned fireworks, we still had one heck of an adventure! From climbing up the church's roof top, to actually climbing up the roof, to making emo statements, to going down the altar. We shared a special bond somehow, one that made us each other's fireworks! Well, that's all for tonight, even though I was not able to go to Tagaytay, I had an adventure filled night last night!

of course with bhie too (sort of honorary mem, hahaha)

we are all fireworks, and we should not ask for more, especially when we have each other! We're just one text away from one another, I hope that everybody realizes this, and holds on to this thought...

Boyfriends/Girlfriends may come and go, but friends, they won't go, they'll stay forever even if you tell them to get the hell out of your sight, because they stay for you and love you just the way you are. :)

mcdoodle-dards

Food is the best way to a man's heart, it makes him wonder what other magical things you can cook and create. Food is a way for people to satisfy their hunger for love, for a lost love, a love which never came back, or a love that is needed to be forgotten.

The uber drama post is just shiz for this post, because really food is the best way to bond with friends and in this case choirmates.

As always, after mass we eat, may it be the simple isaw with the manang who seems like she's wearing a wig (really, i'm deeply confused is that a wig or is that her real hair?). Or the siomai on the sari sari store or cheeseburger. But, the best place to eat is at mcdoodledards! well it's just mcdards :)

Imagine a small place, a house, a two storey house in a dark place only lit by lights inside the house. And as you look up, in the dark night, you see a man wearing a white shirt, it's blinding that for a split second you think its a mumu. Ay, horror, well Me, Kuya Dave and Ate Ginger thought we saw a ghost, manong wearing blinding white shirt lang pala, echoserong mama!

Anywho, it's a small place, but it feels like home. I remember the first time I heard mcdards, I was like, Mcdo? Sorry naman, Tapsihan pala, the real "hidden tapsihan", because it's really hidden.

We ate and shared stories, and bullied a baby boy into admitting his heart's true desire to us. We, however, were unsuccessful, but I did pick up some wise words...

"Utot Mo" - Jen Bustillo, 2011

As we ate our combo meals, we shared and laughed at stories we told, we drank our cold drinks and talked about the most loved and hated topics of all time, love life...Well, not everybody in the choir has a love life, but then again we have each other so that's sort of another relationship, a relationship of a different type.

Some might be confused, because of their long hair that extends to the end of the earth and then back again. Some might be happy, with overflowing joy that they can spread an eternal sunshine. Some might be sad, for waiting for the right love to come along not knowing that love is there and is just waiting for the right moment. Some might be angry, for the one sided and unreturned love they have experienced. In the end, we had to pay our bill....

In the end, we had to go home and pay our bill...we ate our combo meals, and had fun, while singing echosera songs on the way home and repeating

"magmahalan tayo"

over and over again...

well, that's just another night spent well at mcdards...

mcdoodledards

attack of the panda-berss

Since it's a saturday, we had our usual practice, but a not-so-usual practice. First, we went to Cavite City, since the church was the venue of the other choir's concert, oh and yes, i refuse and desist to post the name of the chorale in this oh-so-awesome blog. Why? Uhm, well let's just say we are not in good terms, but let's not ruin this amazing post with my irritation with them. (don't remind us that we have to sing for the 7:30 mass, when you guys didn't sing for the 5:30 mass last week, thank you very much.)

An awesome saturday evening, became more awesome and legen-dary when panda-bers came and made the rehearsal oh so cute!

Presenting the panda-bers:
dave-ber
-impersonating dora the echoserang, lakwatserang frog
our ber who keeps us together as a family ber

Jhang-ber

-the oh-so cutie ber with the nice pose, the ber who loves dancing and is so lovable

ginger-ber

-the dyosa ber that looks exactly like timmy-ber, our oh-so patient conductor-ber who helped us improve our voices, thanks dyosa ber :)

denice-ber

the kiddie ber who attempts to look like somebody took her favorite toy, oh and that's me the person who chronicles the chorales misadventures :)

kookie-ber

-the happy ber, who can't stop herself from smiling and sharing her sunshiny smile to the other bers

addie-ber

-the friendly ber, who's everybody's ear

joyce-ber

-the kilig and oh so in-love ber (nuff said)

hazel-ber

-the bi-polar ber, swings of emotions from sudden happiness to sudden loneliness, but she's so huggable and lovely

chikay-ber

-meow sie ber, who loves to read books and is so lovable and honest and tried to impersonate a sexy star

loloy-ber

-the bunso ber, who has grown out of the sando shirts, ready to fall in love (*wink*)

bernie-ber

-the oh-so huggable ber, who loves to share quotes and some bits of wisdom as well

topher-ber

-one of the tonga bers, the ber who laughs while he shares his kwento

badjut-ber

-the big-not-bad ber, who protects the other bers from harm

ian-ber

-the ber who almost went away,but came back...welcome back ian-ber :)

jay-r ber

-the ber who speaks out his mind :), he always has ideas and opinions worth hearing

the attack of the panda-bers on a cold saturday night!practicing songs with the bers was so fun and kilig, *wink*wink*

and that my friends is the panda-bers, well some weren't present during the photo op :)

time of my life

I was tasked to create an AVP for our concert. I had to make an AVP about HKC, and in the end decided to create to AVP's
* One featured the people who would sing in the concert
* One was all about HKC

I never thought that coming up with songs to use in the AVP's would be that hard, I mean I love music and therefore I should find it easy to select a specific song. I even came up with a list of probable songs to use;

1. Fireworks by Katy Perry
2. Go the Distance from Hercules
3. Glee's To Sir, with love
4. Glee's Dog Days Are Over
5. Glee's version of Marry You
6. Katy Perry's Teenage Dream
7. Glee's version of Forget You
8. Maroon 5's Sunday Mornings
9. Glee's version of Don't Stop believing (regionals version)

It was hard to pick a song that would fit into the whole HKC experience, it was when I heard Glee's version of Time of My Life that I started crying. The lyrics of the song touched me and I knew it would be the perfect song for the video.

It was my bf who helped me finish this avp. I actually found myself almost into tears when I began watching the AVP. Memories flashed by, and the song was perfect. Here's the video :)




I now realized that the song is really perfect since most of the members or past members of HKC have grown up in the chorale. Most of us formed intimate relationships with the other members, and we have found a home away from home. It's where we grew up and formed ourselves as individuals. From the time we had our first boyfriend/girlfriend to the time we had failing grades and needed a shoulder to cry on. I find it very comforting to know that I have a family to go to.


Attending mass and practices isn't the sole reason why we go every weekend...It's because we want to see our friends and bond with them, even in just eating isaw or cheeseburger or siomai. Because GM's and conferences just can't be the only way we can communicate with each other.


And as I have mentioned intimate relationships, I found myself wondering, how many love teams have been formed in the chorale? I just know that I have to make a list for that, and i shall start here

1. ate lei and kuya geh
2. ate lei and kuya marlon
3. kuya mark and ate dale
4. ate chikay and kuya jc
5. chinee and ropher
6. owen and ate chikay
7. jubert and ate joyce
   
8. gina and jay jay (tikoy)
   
9. gina and ian
10. chinee and jayjay (cake)
    
11. hazel and louie (pool)
    
12. chinee and gr
13. trisha and loloy (ek)
    
14. ian and mutya
15. ate joy and kuya mikko
16. jhang and hazel (first kiss)

well, can't remember the other love teams...but which one's your fave? 

Everything's Worth it

Himig Kapatiran Choir at the Himig Caviteno Choral Festival. We weren't really planning on joining the competition. It was Jen Bustillo (Ate Chikay) and Joyce Amigo (Ate Joyce) who pushed us to join the competition.

They repeatedly said that joining the competition was something we should do, we already have songs to pick from (because of almost a year of practice for our 25th anniversary concert). We could just enjoy the moment and have fun in joining the competition.

We were all hesitant at first, especially when people from the competition came and recorded us during one of our rehearsals (later we found out it wasn't for a pre-judging test, but for an avp). But then, after our concert, everybody jumped in and it was like, what the hell, let's just join the competition.


February 18, 2011

The day before the competition, Dave Miralles (Kuya Dave) and Ginger Silva (Ate Ginger/ Dyosa) had to make a very difficult decision. They had to remove one member from the group (well not really from the group but from joining the competition).

The limit was 21 members, we were 22. The only way to go was to have a quartet and distinguish which amongst us would be removed. Each group was composed of a soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Each group sung Only You and Bahay, I felt the tension in the room. Everybody was fidgeting and singing those two song repeatedly. Nobody could stay where they were seated and everybody just kept on moving from one place to another. Each group sung, even though the two songs had been sung and practiced for almost an eternity, people were still making mistakes, thank you tension and stress.

In the end somebody had to go. And we were down to 21 members, us and our conductor Ate Ginger. We still practiced until almost 12 midnight.

February 19, 2011

It was "The Day", everybody was nervous but we still had a laugh here and there. Especially when we were fixing ourselves up. We were Pucca girls as styled by Melody Tinasas, Kuya Dave and Jubert. We even shared lunch together before the big event.

We got there at SM Rosario early, and it was funny when we walked into the Cinema Hall the Choir being shown at the AVP was us! For me and Hazel, it was a sign that we were going to do well that evening.

As usual, we had fun even before the competition began. Ate Ginger picked lucky number one and we started fixing ourselves up. I remember putting funda and blush on the guys, because the "make up artist" there just dabbed her brush into some unknown powder and put it in the guys faces,really make up artist ka?

We were nervous but we still had fun waiting for the competition to start, we were laughing at random things, while Ate Ginger was furious because of the delayed start of the program. I, however, observed something sad, the other group looked unhappy and nervous (nervous ka na nga unhappy pa).

The Competition

As we went on stage, it was a now or never kind of feeling. We waited for Ate Chikay's interview avp to end, Ate Ginger repeatedly smiled at us and told us to smile, I started laughing for some unknown reason.

We started to sing, and I felt nice, people were taking videos and photos of us. I guess we all remembered what Kuya Dave and Ate Ginger repeatedly told us, feel the song and have fun. The mood changed when we sang Bahay, Jubert said that he was close to tears when we sang that song. Singing about poverty doesn't really spell good vibes.

HKC Grand Champs
And it all got down to the announcement of winners, Ate Ginger told us not to expect anything, and really we didn't expect to win, we had no choreography and that's10% of the score. When they announced the 2nd and 1st runner-up and said that the grand champion's score was 90.57, I was like that could not be us, but the crowd kept pointing to us, and they were saying "number 1!"

And it was announced, we won! Everybody was hugging each other, the sopranos and altos had a group hug that not even a needle can penetrate

we won, and we didn't even had a choreo for our performance but we won.

After a year of practice for our concert, and for this, it was worth it, every sweat and tear, after all the tardiness on reporting for school or work, the haggard nights of going home around 11 pm or 12am. The countless debates on which songs to sing. It's all worth it, to see Jhang in a super fit uniform, to hear Topher's voice which hit the right notes, to see Ate Ginger and Kuya Dave smile, to hear beautiful songs and have a family that will stand by you forever, who would scream at you and nag you when you do something st*pid and horrible. It's all worth it.

himig kapatiran choir

Himig Kapatiran Choir started 25 years ago. It was formed by a group of young teenagers who were related to each other. The choir had 2 concerts, and won in numerous competitions the recent one was the Himig Caviteno: Chorale Competition held at SM Rosario. The group was the Grand Champion, wherein they sang Only You, and their winning piece Bahay.

The group's main purpose is to give back to God the talents that He had given them, through serving the community. The chorale sings every Saturday (5 pm) and Sunday (5:30pm) masses at the Our Lady of Fatima Parish Church in Binakayan, and also at the San Sebastian Church inside the SSCR Cavite School every 6pm (1st,3rd and 5th Sundays).

Each week, I shall feature a member of the chorale and share videos and photos of the group. The group is not just a choir but a family. The aim is to have fun and enjoy singing songs with each other.