To our Angel

You are our angel.

For the longest time, we were waiting for you. You finally came without us really knowing of your presence. When you left, that's when we felt the difference.

We would never be able to hold you in our arms or hear you cry. We would never know what you would be like and with that we feel a great sense of loss.

We know you are in heaven. We look forward to the time to meet you again.

You will never be forgotten. You will always be in our hearts.

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
-- For Good (Wicked)

My First Half Marathon

I did it! I did it! I did it!

I ran and finished my first half marathon today! That's 13.1 miles (21.08 kms)!

I participated in the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco today. It was a wonderful experience. Very exhausting but it was so worth it. I was running for myself. :) And yeah, the Tiffany necklace at the finish line. hehehe....

My official time is 3:29:21 (hrs:mins:secs). I know, it's not an impressive time but you gotta take the hills in San Francisco into account. Those hills were killers! While running (errr... walking) up the steepest hill on the course, I couldn't help but think, "when will this hill ever end?"

I'm thinking of doing the Nike Women's Half Marathon again next year. :)

Here's my official results:

Overall
9239

Final Time
3:29:21

classrank
1625

sexrank
8837

pace
0:15:58

5k
0:44:45

10k
1:38:10

15k
2:30:28

Las Vegas

Yes, I'm at SFO again typing up this blog. I'm off to Las Vegas for 9 days for the SANS Network Security Conference.

I'm definitely racking up United mileage this month.

I really am in serious need of a vacation. Although the last thing I want to do right now is to actually get on a plane and go somewhere. I just want to stay home.

Anyways, Vegas should be interesting. I haven't really made any plans. Maybe I'll check out one of the newer Cirque du Soliel shows there.

A Chorus Line

I decided to just get it over with and go watch this show. I've been sitting on the edge and kind of pushing back watching this. Well, since I'm running out of shows to watch, I had to go see it. Plus it's a classic and won the best musical and the Pulitzer prize and ran for 15 years on Broadway.

It was okay. I just feel that something's missing in this production (revival). When the cast performs as one (chorus line), it's quite good. However, when it starts focusing on individual characters during the show, it's kind of lacking. It doesn't have the umph that should be there. I had a hard time connecting with the characters in the show.

An understudy (Jessica Lea Patty) played Cassie's role tonight. I wanted to see Charlotte d'Ambroise since she was nominated in the Tonys for this role. Well, Jessica Lea Patty did not disappoint. She was one of the standouts in the cast.

The finale was pretty impressive though!

A Chorus Line at the Tonys

Xanadu

Yep, you read it correctly. Xanadu -- a place where nobody dare to go... Seriously, it is a musical and it is on Broadway.

I've read positive reviews of the show so I decided to go see it.

You might ask, how could I possibly enjoy a musical that's based on the worst movie musical ever made in history? LOL! Well, it's campy, it's cheesy but oh so much fun! I had such a GREAT time watching this show! It's that one show that you take with a tongue in cheek attitude. They made fun of the movie, themselves and musical theatre. I guess that's why a lot of people actually like it.

The movie came out in 1980 so I vaguely remember anything about the movie. Now, I gotta go see it since I think they had a lot of references to the movie.

Kerry Butler is wonderful as Kira/Clio. She perfectly channeled Olivia Newton-John in her performance. Wonderful comedic timing. Wonderful voice. When she sings, you just want to listen and you don't want her to stop singing. She's in roller skates and leg warmers almost all night long.

Cheyenne Jackson is such a hottie! Very good singing voice as well.

I think this show is really well cast. The band sounds amazing as well. It's one of those shows that it's either you don't like it or you absolutely LOVE it!

I can't get the song "Suddenly" out of my head. Yep, this is show is starting to become one of my guilty pleasures. ;)

Check out the synopsis from the show's website: http://xanaduonbroadway.com.

Show preview on broadwayworld.com (need a fast connection or click pause and let it load): Xanadu preview from Broadway World

Also check out this performance of Suddenly at Bryant Park. The girl is Kerry Butler but the guy is not Cheyenne Jackson.

Curtains

I saw Raul Esparza in Company last year and I really thought he was going to win the Tonys. Well, he lost to David Hyde Pierce. That's pretty much the reason why I wanted to see Curtains. I wanted to see David Hyde Pierce's performance.

I can see now why David Hyde Pierce won the award. Raul is an awesome singer. However, the award isn't for the best singer. It's an award for the Best Actor in a Musical. David Hyde Pierce is a really good actor!

The show itself was good. I went in there with low expectations since it didn't really get high reviews when it first opened a few months ago.

Really notable performances by Debra Monk and Karen Zeimbra.

You can find a synopsis of the show from their website at http://www.curtainsthemusical.com/.

Here's a clip from the show as well. This was during the Tony awards.

NYC Again

I'm back in NYC this week. I seriously cannot remember how many times I've been to NY this year alone.

Anyways, I'm hear for my Storage Area Networks class (yep, something geeky).

Weather's nice but the tourists are gone. Yay! shorter lines at TKTS -- where I go to get half priced theatre tickets on the day of performance. Almost all the shows, well, except for Wicked and Jersey Boys are up on the TKTS board so I've been able to watch the shows that I haven't seen before.

No running for me this week. I just don't have the time or feel like running when I'm traveling especially when I'm here in NY. Theatre comes first! ;) My miles on Nike+ this month are all going to be walking miles.

I'm back home on Saturday but flying to Las Vegas on Friday for 9 days to attend the SANS Security Conference there.

Avenue Q in SF

Everyone I know knows that I am a theatre snob. I have always preferred watching musicals on Broadway because the touring company is just not as good but I'm going to retract that statement. Arvin and I went to see Avenue Q here in SF today. I liked it a lot more than when I saw it on Broadway. The cast was amazing! Really notable performances by the touring cast. Well, most of them got to play it on Broadway before the tour.

This is my 16th show for this year. :)

I'm off to NY in a few weeks so I'm looking forward to seeing the shows that I haven't seen.

Cheers!

Traveling again (Houston)

I seem to have a lot more time to blog whenever I am traveling. Well, guess what? I have been traveling this week. The city of destination is Houston (again).

This is my third trip to Houston this year. The first time I ever came to Houston was in August last year and I swore that I would not go here in August. But oh well... Sometimes things do not necessarily go as planned.

My mom was commenting that I'm such a jet setter now. I do enjoy traveling. As long as I don't have to do it every week or spend most of my time on the road. I think this is my fifth trip this year. Don't think I'll ever top last year but we'll see. It's only August.

Anyways, I'm going home tomorrow and I really can't wait. I'm already so sick of the heat and humidity. It's just so hateful outside during the day. Quite ironic, eh since I grew up in the Philippines. Well, you know what they say, your blood thins out after a while and I have gotten so acclimatized to the weather in Northern California. The AC unit at home kicks on when it reaches 74F indoors. ;) Yep, I have gotten spoiled. I don't know what I'll do when I go home to the Philippines. The weather is almost the same as Houston.

I wish I could blog about interesting things during this trip. Unfortunately, it has been very BORING (yes in caps!). There's just nothing going on in this town this week. No ballgames. No concerts. No theatre. No symphony. Someone suggested that I go to NASA and check it out. I considered it however, I don't think I'm that interested looking at dead spaceships.

I think I've been to Houston way too many times over the past 2 years. I'm able to go around downtown without using a GPS in the car! I still can't find my way outside downtown but oh well. That's why the rental car has a GPS. heheheh....

I really am looking forward to going home. If I was in NYC, I would've loved being able to stay for the weekend. Oh well... few more weeks and I'm off to NYC.

Lion King meets Elle Woods

This is pretty hilarious. I almost fell off my chair when I saw this. The music is from Legally Blonde the musical.



I love the soundtrack for Legally Blonde the musical. Been listening to it non-stop for the past few days. I saw it when it was still in previews in San Francisco. I might watch it on Broadway next time I'm in New York. I never expected to like it since it'a another movie musical but it was very entertaining.

Yikes! 2 Months of No Blogs

Uhoh... I have been very remiss in my blogging duties for over 2 months. No, I'm not giving up blogging. It's actually pretty exhilarating writing down my thoughts plus I can't give up now, I've been blogging for over a year!

It's not like nothing much has been going on with me and I have nothing to write about. My excuse is, I've been pretty lazy. :)

Biscotti Calories

I just realized after eating the 3rd slice of Goldilocks Biscotti (biscotcho) that I ate in a matter of minutes whatever calories I've burned running for an hour (5 miles)! Yikes!

Oh well... You only get to live once...

Bumming Around

Why oh why do the days pass you by so quickly when you're on vacation? I cannot believe I'm already almost halfway through my vacation. Pleeeeeaaaassseeee, someone slow down the clock. I don't want to go back to work yet.

So, it's day number 8 of my 19 day vacation. Ever since we came back from LA, I have done absolutely nothing except bum around at home. Hehehehehe.... It feels great being able to say that.

I have tons of books in my to be read pile but I've only read one book so far. The Promise by Harlan Coben. It's a pretty good book. He sure knows how to keep you on the edge until the very end of the book. It's another one of those page turner books. I've started reading Deal Breaker still by Harlan Coben but I'm only into the first chapter of the book. I think I need to go to the bookstore and get one of those lovey dovey chick lit books that I dearly love.

I have about 6 weeks worth of Grey's Anatomy in my DVR. I've gone through several episodes but I still have about 2 more episodes to go. One of them is the season finale. It's been a pretty decent season so far.

Finally 24 season 6 is over. Well, this is the worst season. What can I say, 24 just sucked this year. It's a shame because season 5 was one of the best seasons that they had.

Aside from sleeping in till noon, I've been playing Puzzle Pirates. Check it out when you get a chance. My nick there is pretty obvious. It's an Ilonggo phrase which really is meant as a joke. :) I love the fact that I just need a mouse and sometimes 3 keys to play this game. Doesn't need a whole lot of thinking either so it's a good way to waste time.

Anyways... 11 more days of lazing around. I love it!

My "Wicked" Birthday Weekend

I couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday aside from spending it with Arvin and watching my favorite Broadway show -- Wicked. So, when the cast was announced for the LA Production in November and I found out that it was going to be Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty, I immediately got tickets to the show for my birthday.

Dropped Jack at the kennel last Thursday and then off we went to LA. We took the ultimate driving machine for a long drive as well on this trip. I drove part of the way. The car's too fast. I normally just go maybe around 75 mph to about 80ish max on the freeway. With this car, I think I went over 100 mph and was cruising along at an average 80 mph while watching out for the CHP -- I don't want to end up with a speeding ticket! The handling is awesome with this car. Clearly, it also has the power. Having a GPS navigation system in the car is great! We're not familiar with LA but we were able to go where we needed to go. It rerouted us based on the traffic conditions and when we took the wrong turn, it told us how to get back on track.

So last night, we went to see Wicked on my birthday. After the show, I was telling Arvin that I really really want to see Wicked from the front row. You can only sit there is you win the Wicked lottery -- you put in your name 2 hrs before the start of each show and they draw the winners. If you get picked, you can get up to 2 tickets for $25 each. Anyways, I think he knew how much I wanted to see the show from the front row so he agreed to go try the lottery today. We went and played the lottery for the matinee performance. Arvin's name got picked!!!! So we were able to get tickets for the front row today! I keep on telling him that he's my lucky charm. I've tried the Wicked lottery in New York so many times already and I have never won. He kept on telling me that I picked well. He gave me my heart's desire -- to watch Wicked from the front row and the big plus was Eden and Megan were the ones performing!

I'm going to focus more on today's show since I got to see it from the front row. Our seats were almost dead center on the front row. You had to look up a bit from were were were sitting since we were so close to the stage but it wasn't such a big deal. I can't explain how awesome it is to watch your favorite show with your favorite performers from the front row. I absolutely LOVED it! The cast in LA is so much better than the cast on Broadway. I really liked this cast a lot. They're all so talented. Eden was amazing! I absolutely love seeing her perform. She has the best facial expressions and she absolutely rocks when she's on stage. She knows how to suck you into the story and makes you feel how she feels when she's performing. I've seen so many shows and not a lot of performers can actually do that. Seeing her fly in Defying Gravity from where I was sitting was just breathtaking. That scene never fails to give me goosebumps. Megan was wonderful as well. She really knows how to work the crowd and her comedic timing is awesome. Eden and Megan are still my favorite duo in Wicked. I've seen the show so many times but I still got really teary eyed when they sang For Good. I could see how sad they both were while singing that song and they were even crying so what can I say, I got carried away.

As of today, I've seen Wicked 7 times and I have seen 15 shows this year (Wicked 3x). I'm probably going to skip Wicked for a while even if I end up in NY again soon. I'm not too thrilled with the current Broadway cast-- they pale in comparison with the LA cast. We'll see once the cast changes if there is a compelling reason for me to go watch the new cast. It's too bad I don't really get to go to LA for business. I would love to see the show again as long as Eden and Megan are still in it.

I'll never forget this birthday weekend. I really couldn't ask for anything more. It really meant a lot to me being able to see my favorite show with my favorite performers from the front row with Arvin.

I'm Officially Off for 19 Days!

Yessirreeee..... I am off work for 19 days! I don't go back to work till June 4th. :)

I never had the chance to actually take any time off last year so a lot of my vacation days got carried over to this year. I was only planning to take off maybe about a week but I've been feeling so tired and I just wanted to get away from it all for a while.

What to do? What to do? Well, you just have to come back and read about what I've actually been doing. I'm sure it'll involve a lot of sleeping. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz :)