Tiring Weekend

December 13: Saturday

Call Time: 11:00am

We had an impromptu practice for a Wedding at Fort Bonifacio for two hours. The traffic was uneventful, but I am glad that I had good company and we spent time laughing and telling stories along the way.

When we arrived at the venue, I was quite amazed at the structure of the Church and its surroundings. The church is situated in Fort Bonifacio which is basically a military camp here in Manila.

Basically, we attended a Silver Wedding Anniversary, and as expected, the one who invited us is a member of the Philippine Marines. So it didnt shock us that much to see that many Marine officers in their full, crisp, white formal uniforms.

We sang our usual repertiore for wedding ceremonies and sang "Umagang kay Ganda" as our final song as the couple walked their way out of the church. Me and my friends in the choir all agree that the song fits as the final song for the couple. After the mass, we headed back to Reyes residence while eating pancit and chicken sandwich that were provided to us.

Our singing did not end at Fort Bonifacio. We celebrated Therese's birthday and sang to our hearts' content using Ian Girl's mediacom until midnight.

Well, my tiring weekend is just beginning...

December 14: Sunday

Call Time: 2:00pm

Ate Leah, one of my choirmates informed us that we will be singing Christmas Carols to her cousin's Christmas party and to a friend's house. But there was a problem, there seemed to be a conflict in our schedule because we also have a Mass service at Pope Pius Church c/o Kuya Mardie.

As usual, we met at the Reyes residence for our game plan. Our conductor divided us into two groups so that we can cover both bases at once. I went with Ate Leah's group and went our way to Ferndale subdivision. We were to join the other half of our choir to Pope Pius after singing.

Kuya Maui, told us that traffic in Commonwealth is uneventful since it was a Sunday so we went out early. On the contrary, we didn't encounter that much traffic and we arrived at the venue 30 mins too early.

I wasn't surprised that the party didn't start on time. Filipino time nga naman... I hate to admit it though. I was used to being on time especially when I was still working. But then again, it is something that I myself can't change in the society.

We finally sang our first song when one of the MC's asked us to sing our next songs after a program. To my frustration, the program was all about introducing ALL the residents that attended the Home Owner's xmas party. I was gritting my teeth the whole time and prayed that they keep it short so that we can sing and leave. We sang our songs during the food was served. It was kind of them to ask us to join them for dinner too :P

Much to our dismay, we were not able to sing at Pope Pius. We regrouped at Burger King and headed our way to Banawe for our next caroling.

We sang for the family of Ate Leah's friend. I was happy that they were clapping after we sang our songs... though I was disappointed at the same time because I know I was offkey in one of the songs. They invited us to a hearty dinner and headed home.

Who said my weekend ended that day? We were just getting started!

December 15: Monday

Call Time: 5:00pm

Since most of us are working, we decided to meet up in 3 different places: Reyes Residence, Magallanes MRT station, and LRT Edsa Station. Being a professional bum that I am, I met up with the group at Reyes residence. We eventually regrouped at Shell Magallanes and headed our way to Cavite.

I know Cavite is far from Manila but dang! I didn't know that our venue for our xmas caroling will be THAT far in Cavite. We left Manila at 6:00pm, and we arrived at 9:00pm.

It was so cold! I have never been to Baguio all my life, but when I was experiencing the blast of the cold December wind, I swear I could compare the cold to Baguio.

We had dinner and eventually sang for the family and guests. By the time we finished, it was almost 11:00pm.

We were wondering if we are still gonna be able to attend the Simbang Gabi at 4:30am. I was pretty much confident that I will be attending the mass that time. I was still wide awake and my usual sleep time is at 2:00am. I thought that I could just past time and wait for Simbang Gabi.

Our journey back home is a silent one. We arrived at 12:30am. As for Simbang Gabi? I wasn't able to attend it (^_^)

Now I am dreading my weekends this December. If this keeps up, I'll surely write it down.