miss universe fever

it has been more than a week since my last post.

i hate starting my posts with 'it has been x days since my last post' but i cannot do anything about it. it has, indeed, been more than a week since my last post.

so i had zankou overload two weeks ago. what happened after that?

wednesday night last week - had dinner at picanha in burbank with two of my friends, r and j. had fun, although we didn't get to eat a lot because i had to be at the universal citywalk to meet up with the mother of lia andrea ramos, miss philippines 2006. this year's miss universe is being held here in los angeles, at the shrine auditorium to be exact.

so i met up with lian's mom in front of hard rock and i took that opportunity to interview her for a story i was going to write for the paper. i saw miss philippines in person for the first time today and i think she's pretty. saw most of the candidates up close. miss ghana even hugged me. maybe she thought i am a long lost relative? hah! me and my dark mocha skin.

thursday night - miss universe welcome party at the wilshire grand. what do you know, i get a couple of exclusive invites passed on to me by my publisher. not one who says no to a great party, i said yes, yes, yes. little did i know that this was going to be a memorably wonderful night.

it was an exclusive gathering. we had laminated name tags with our table numbers printed at the bottom part. i was seated at table 21. before entering the grand ballroom, i had the chance to mingle with the candidates and talk to them. i was like, is this really happening? it seemed to good to be true. then i had the chance to strike up a conversation with miss philippines and i asked her if i can do an ambush interview. she said yes. and i had my exclusive. woohoo! had photos taken with her and some of the other candidates. i was ready to go home. but we still had dinner.

upon entering the ballroom, i prayed hard that i'd be near the table of miss philippines so i could go and talk with her some more and get to know her better. as i approached table 21, i saw her. miss philippines, table 21. she recognized me and waved. four pretty ladies (one of them a really bitchy ass) were there -- misses peru, paraguay, philippines and poland. i sat beside miss poland.

i had a grand time.

saturday morning - mikimoto event at the south coast plaza in costa mesa. met more filipinos supporters of miss philippines. yay! the support is really snowballing. i hope this support translates into warm bodies during the presentation night and actual pageant night, i kept telling myself.

monday morning - an exclusive one-on-one with lian at the wilshire grand. at an unholy 7:00 am. my goodness. she told me she was nervous. i told her it didn't show. she smiled and said, she was trying to be calm and collected. deep inside, i was hoping and praying that this girl -- not only because she's filipino -- be blessed to take the crown home. she deserves it. she's not only beautiful in the outside but i could sense the sincerity in the way she communicated with me over the past meetings we've had.

tuesday night - presentation night at the shrine auditorium - also known as the night when hundreds of pinoy pageant enthusiasts trooped to the shrine to show their support to miss philippines. the crowd was very noisy - mexico had noisy fans, usa of course, thailand had noisy followers but the pinoys didn't just sit there, they made noise as well. flags of various sizes were being waved from the different corners of the auditorium; banners proclaiming support to the filipina candidate were also unfurled. i could see lian's confidence boosted from all these show of love, affection and support coming not only from her family and friends, but also from kababayans.

thursday afternoon - rehearsals at the shrine. wow. i've spent quite a lot of time following this year's miss universe proceedings. everything will culminate with the coronation night this sunday.

thursday night - pops fernandez and martin nievera presscon for their wilshire ebell concert tomorrow (friday). event happened at the edwards cinemas in alhambra. i'm quite surprised why they scheduled the presscon on a thursday when the concert was going to be held the next day. what's the use? i can't find the logic. as in.

and then, this is how my weekend looks like --

friday night - drive to las vegas with friends to attend c and d's wedding on saturday

saturday - c and d's wedding at bali hai in mandalay resort.

sunday - drive back to los angeles, miss universe pageant night at 6 pm (pst).

monday - fil-am night at the dodger stadium

tuesday night - start of my leave.

yep. i am up for a leave. i'll be celebrating my birthday somewhere, and in line with that, i requested for a two-week leave (actually, it's just 9 work days). needless to say, i am quite excited with this trip. in fact, i've been dreaming about this trip for years! more details about this trip in my next update.