Thursday, November 10, 2011

October, in Retrospect

October unexpectedly became one of the best months of my year. At the onset of the month, though, it was pretty clear that October would be one of the most, if not the most, hectic month of the year at work, and because of that I was dreading October. I just wanted to get through the month! But then again, if you're going to go through something, might as well make it fun, right? Right!





October in Bacolod can get really crazy. Not only do you have the big annual Masskara Festival, but most of the popular clubs are going at it neck-to-neck with each other, vying for the same party crowd of sem-breakers, out-of-towners, and foreigners. Working for a "party" station, the coming of October would be the busiest for us. I was tasked with planning and putting together the theme for a particular event at one of the newly-opened clubs and that basically consumed my first few weeks of the month. Then, of course, there was the annual Halloween bash the station puts together, and this year we had grand ambitions of making the bash bigger than ever. Suffice it to say, I just really wanted to get October over with. I'm glad I didn't get jaded too easily.

I wasn't really looking forward to the whole highlights of the Masskara hullabaloo. Since I wasn't playing host to any friends/guests, I figured I'll probably just chill, take it slow and just observe the festivities. I'll probably go out to the Lacson Tourism Strip on one of the nights that the street would be closed, check out the things happening, walk along the strip and down a bottle of beer to end the night. But October and Masskara had other plans for me. Don't you just love when life grabs you by the wrist and fate decides for you to be spontaneous?

A really good friend surprised me by flying in just in time for the Masskara highlights! (And all my friends know how much I love having visitors over! I've been coaxing most of my Manila friends to visit me and the city and to experience Masskara since...forever.) Surprised is actually an understatement. My friend's got the incriminating video as proof, haha. The best part of the surprise? It turns out my boyfriend and my brother were both in on the surprise. They're the best!

Masskara turned out to be great, even if I did get sick with the flu on the first day, which pretty much put me out for the remaining couple of days of the festival. I think I went all-out on the first day/night alone. I was just having so much fun, the city was so much fun and there's no stopping fun...except the flu, in my case. I left my more-than-willing gay friend in the capable hands of the boyfriend and brother on the remaining two nights of the Masskara madness. It seems like he had a great first-time Masskara experience so  that lessened my guilt for not being able to take him around. (But there's always next year, Rex! Bawal na talaga magkasakit next year!)

With good friend, Rex

Giant puppets from La Consolacion College - Bacolod

Looks like the performer's eating something, but actually his nose was bleeding here.
Just goes to show how grueling the street dancing can get. It's more than admirable
how much effort these performers exert just to give the audience and judges a great show.

Interesting character in the middle of it all stole the show. Was told that he's
actually one of the choreographers of one of the groups of performers in the parade.

Stilts!

October also marks my fourth year in radio! And what better way to celebrate that by ending the month with my Killerbee family in our annual Halloween Bash! This year it was bigger and better in every aspect. Everyone was so into it from the making of costumes to the event itself. The number of party-goers, especially those that actually partied in a costume, surprised us. It was above and beyond our expectations! I'll take it as the start of good things to come. Judging by the turnout of the event, for sure next year will be even bigger! You see, this Halloween Bash is like Killerbee's baby so it means so much to us that it was a great success.

Some members of the Killerbee family. Jocks, Junior Jocks and former Summer Beejays.
Photo from Summer Beejay Jenel Navales.

Missing in photo: Paul MO, Phat Mike & Brynn Lantern
I love you, October!

3 comments:

  1. Cool, Masskara! The giant puppets were super fun! I'm happy to read that you had a great time :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ I'm Tanya: Yep! I had a great time despite the flu. And the giant puppets were a fun addition to this year's Masskara. Already looking forward to next year's! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. new follower here

    please do visit and follow my blog

    http://pinkmommy3030.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete