sweat, stand, and deliver (and sweat again)

December 31, 2006

(originally appeared on september 06, 2004)

In a country whipped by all kinds of economic (not to mention, political) misfortunes including the latest cross—the nation is about to scrape the budget barrel—17-ish girls are experiencing out of the body experience as they prepare for the day when they formally reach womanhood—their debut. (Whew! What a sentence!) This over-valued celebration has been considered as every girl’s rite of passage (consider it as the circumcision for the boys–sans the preparation).

It has always been a tradition or should I say, a requirement for every family (of course, who has a girl family member)—rich or poor—to celebrate it. I know you’re wondering why on earth am i bothering this staple to every girl’s life. I am already two decades on earth and definitely there is no way I’m going to be danced by 18 boys with 18 red roses…so, why offer a journal entry? Before you go whacko let me tell you the big reason: I just co-hosted a debut last September 04. It was Cielo’s (my best friend’s sister). Now, you know. So, relax and read.

When my best friend asked me to host, I snatched the job immediately. Two weeks before the day itself, I visited each mall in Makati looking for the perfect outfit. Couple of days before the D-day, I almost stayed in each mall in the metro to check and re-check all the possible matches. From Robinson’s Place (in Ermita, Manila) to Landmark to Rustan’s at Glorietta (both in Makati), I’ve traveled for almost one week. If not only to a super typhoon, I would have received a perfect attendance award from these establishments. Although I am guilty of being a shopping-addict, those few days before the celebration were pains in the ass. Never did I expect that it would be a very complicated shopping to date. Imagine I saw two cute pants at Rustan’s (U-Night) at G4. Then, I saw this wonderful polo from G2000, which is located at Robinson’s Galleria. The big problem was there’s no G2000 at G4. So, I had to travel all the way from Malate to Makati to see if the polo and the pants match. To make things a little more complicated, I saw another wonderfully-crafted polo at Oxygen. Ok, let me give you an unruled table of how difficult the mixing and matching were:     

 

 

 

Glorietta (Makati)                                           

Rob Place

(Malate)

 

 

Polo Options:           A) Cream-colored worth P1,099 (from Oxygen)     Cream-colored worth P1,099 (from Oxygen)

 

 

                   (no G2000)                                           B) Torqoise-colored worth P1,400 (from G2000)

 

 

 

 

Pants Options:         A) Maroon-colored w/ hand-painting at the          U-Night is not available at Rustan’s—

Rob Place

 

 

                                      buttocks area P1,700+ (from U-Night)      

 

 

                             B) Dark gray-colored w/ blue piping

 

 

                                      P1,400 (from U-Night)                  

 

 

 

 

Option #1: My best friend suggested that I should get Pants-B and matched it with Polo-B. I was not sure with this because I haven’t seen both in contact (get what I mean?). Also, this was the original plan.

 

 

Option #2: I really love Pants-A but it’s more expensive the Pants-B. Thanks to Polo-A, which is cheaper, I can spare more bucks to my pants. So, it could be a nice color combination (cream and maroon) and nice budget combination (1000 plus 1700). BIG problem: I don’t have the matching shoes for this matching outfit.

 

 

Option #3: Polo-A and Pants-B. It’s the cheapest combination. The problem was it would not be a runway winner.

 

 

Option #4: Polo-B and Pants-A. Color combination: I’m not yet Tessa Prieto for that kind of quite a wild combination.

 

 

***

 

 

          I ended up buying option #2. When I got home (I really was excited) I immediately checked everything. The two were perfect but the shoes. I decided to borrow shoes from my friends. But destiny has it, nobody has a matching pair of shoes for a weird-colored pants. So, I decided to push my fashion envelope because I didn’t want to tarnish my impeccable fashion sense (yabang!). I comforted myself by saying that on the next day, I would be buying a new pair of shoes. Things became more complicated. I was on the brink of borrowing money from a close friend just to satisfy this fashion-addiction. Thanks to a more rational part of me, I decided to return the pants and just buy Polo-B (refer to the unlined table) and get over with it. There it was, after days of excruciating pain thinking of what to wear I ended up with the original plan.

 

 

          It was roughly 20 hours before my (another) hosting stint, my co-host-slash-best-friend and I were not yet finished editing and rehearsing our lines. After some final omission and addition of lines in the script; and after hours of jokes and laughter, we went to sleep at around two in the morning. I will never forget this million-worth joke:

 

 

Dict: ..Ok, got me?

 

 

          (Then, a life-size net snatched me…)

 

 

Liz:     Partner? Where are you?

 

 

Dict (VO): No, don’t get me… [I said,] got me?

 

 

 

 

*If you didn’t get the joke, you’re such a loser! Just kidding!

 

 

 

 

We woke up at around 0900am. Though I was not the debutante, I was really excited. The pheromones in my veins were boiling that’s why I was very active in spite of not enough sleep. Part of my excitement was my plan to my hairstyle for that evening. Thank God, He sent a very friendly hairstylist; I got the hair style that I’d been wanting.

 

 

 

 

Cecille: Wow, Dict! Kamukha mo na si Antonio Banderas.

 

 

Dict: Hindi po! Regine Velasquez! Hahaha!!!

 

 

 

 

This is why I really love working with the Capalad family: I always receive the fit-for-a-queen treatment. I really thank them for treating me as if I’m a big star. I was pampered to the fullest. Anyways, we checked-in at The Westin Philippine Plaza Hotel. Our room was at 354; while another room (#251) was booked for Cielo and her friends. I really felt I was a star. Inside our room (originally, Liz and I shared the room with Jayzee, Achi Lea, and Eugenne), my co-host and I practiced for more. After long minutes of seemingly endless laughter, the photographer (John Aguas) arrived. We changed clothes, and I did my dream bronzing make-up effect, and we headed to Cielo’s room for the pictorial session, which Liz and I really love. We left the hotel going to the Registry at Greenhills, San Juan. Nature has its own way of pissing of the debutante, as what we’ve feared, the mighty rain arrived [even ahead of us]. It was a wet Saturday late afternoon. Thanks to the gift of the clouds, my most favorite part—the Red Carpet ceremony was washed out of the program. Almost every member of the Capalad family including the new family members (Eugenne, Jayzee, and yours truly) were moving from one place to another. We were all checking each detail. We wanted to make sure everything would go as smooth as possible; especially during those moments that the program was slightly modified. Million thanks to the rain!

 

 

0730pm arrived. Everything was set. On Achi Lea’s signal, the program officially started. I heard the voice-over (c/o Jayzee) calling my name and the crowd went wild (this is an exaggeration) as I entered the banquet. In the middle of a not-so-well lit hall (because of some special light effects for the entrance of the debutante and her family), I was trying my best to get the attention of a crowd, which all members seem to be talking at the same time. Then, BOOM! The spotlight of the moving camera opened in front of me. As expected, my sweat glands were so active—as active as the owner. As I deliver my lines, they kept on delivering pints of sweat all over me. If only I had the mutant powers, I would have frozen each person in there (except for me, of course!) just to have a time to wipe my super sweaty fez. It really was shameful. I couldn’t do anything but as what each performer says, “The show must go on!” I have to be compost. I must stand there and deliver my lines. Otherwise, my career would be doomed! God bless the dinner, I had an enough time to change polo, to retouch, and to refresh.

 

 

Round 2 of the boxing match (between my sweat glands and I). I was really about to cry. I wanted to walk out and save myself from disgrace. During that part of the program, my sweat glands were working big time. Pints of sweat just kept on coming out. I’m not exaggerating. It was the exact thing that happened to me. I was very thankful when the 18 kisses arrived. The attention was diverted to those ladies giving out their heartfelt wishes. I had the time to turn off each gland. Really, my sincerest gratitude to this portion of the program, I got the chance to wipe everything that has to be wiped out of my skin. But the damage has been done. I really looked like an athlete who just finished his marathon race and he was sweating to the maximum of his sweat glands’ potential.

 

 

Round 3: After the 18 kisses. I looked fresher than few minutes back. Given the scenario that my sweat glands were in the relaxing mode, I put my best foot forward and did my thing. I was able to inject some laugh lines (not the ones we can clearly see on Cindy and my face). After those very shameful sweaty moments, things went smooth. I cracked jokes, which luckily, were gladly accepted by the audience.

 

 

In spite of my sweat public appearance, some audio and technical glitches, Liz and I were able to deliver well. The night ended with a big bang! We received a well-heard applause from the audience. I assumed that they were happy with our performance. Over-all, I was happy with the way I carried myself. True, it was not a first-rate performance—as I was hoping to—but I would like to think I’ve pushed myself to the edge in order to do my best. Days had passed; I’m still receiving positive feedbacks with what I did on that night. My performance may not be as great as it was with Zayda’s (as of press time, I still consider it as the best performance in my hosting career); but I can still say it was great enough knowing that my sweat glands were so irritating that night. I am still proud of that show. I did perspire a lot but I stood there to do my thing; and I delivered a performance, which I hope, has given satisfaction to the debutante who trusted me with the task. It was great an experience. I learned more about myself. And I learned more about the things that I should do especially if those things (not only the perspiration issue but also some of the technical aspects of performance) happen again.

 

 

This is Benedict Navarro, wishing you good night!