This week was pretty amazing. I did not expect the volume of congratulatory messages I got on my social media announcement, but mostly because I have forgotten that I did know these many people. I’m relatively old. I’ve lived so many lives. So. Many. Lives. One day I will write about them.

But for now the main reason it was amazing is because we pulled off a fully improvised musical after learning musical improv via Third World Improv for six weeks. Me and my musical improv team mates had no expectations about the show (the proper stance, mostly, with anything involving improv), but I feel pretty good about it. I don’t know if it’s too much to ask, but in the future I really want to do face-to-face improv again.

Here’s the show (and by that I mean try and click on the picture LOL). For the uninformed, improv is about creating spontaneous scenes in the context of games. To the audience, knowledge of the game is secondary, the magic is in watching and enjoying the things that the players come up with (with each other, especially) on the fly.

There were a ton of wonderful learning moments during the classes but just based off of one recorded class, Karl (who scores our shenanigans on the fly, a tremendous thing in itself) went all Basquiat and said music is how we decorate time, so decorate your time wisely. And really, if I go and keep improvising by myself to get better at rap, that will be time alone well-spent (and who’s to say I don’t already rap in the shower at least). ‘Yung desire gumaling sa rap feeling ko stems from being a writer but also because when I had a transient ischemic attack, the blockage temporarily affected my speech. It was a nightmare that came true for a few terrifying moments, so syempre gusto ko sairin ang pangalawang pagkakataong itong makapagsalita pa rin.

The musical improv class is a masterclass, meaning dapat naka-level 5 ka before attending. So yeah, this goes without saying that I’ve been doing improv for basically the entire year last year, I think. There’s another post in there somewhere because that journey with #FTP was obviously longer, more formative, and really shaped what kind of improviser I eventually turned out to be.

What’s on my mind

• So I’ve been watching Stranger, a Korean crime drama, and I read the spoilers because I want to be efficient and I find that good stories don’t really rely on suprise twists (na ‘yung journey ang nagma-matter), and nagulat lang ako how a big chunk of the season revolved around prosecutors and police men without even touching the narratives of the higher ups who were actually involved in the corruption ring. Pero right after I thought that, naisip ko that probably makes total sense. Kasi the reason powerful people stay powerful, is because they hardly ever do the dirty work anymore. So it’s probably more realistic than I give it credit for.
• I wanna do more improv! I wish I took more notes!
• My Gon Freecss Nendoroid arrived yesterday and it was worth all the wait (and the price). It was small and cute and just altogether wonderful, scratching that low-key collector’s itch I only very rarely get.
• I was so good with my low-sodium diet for two weeks now until yesterday, when I went ahead and devoured EVERYTHING THAT WAS (even vaguely) OFFERED TO ME at Mango Tree. Cheat day, maybe? I was with friends. But what do I do tomorrow, we’re meeting up for breakfast again. I shouldn’t be this hard on myself.