Bleh?

Wow… has it been this long already since I last posted in this blog? Well, live has been pretty crazy recently, AND the fruition of one of my life’s recent craziness is about to happen in less than two weeks!

Check out the flyer for Tales from the Flipside 2009! It’s sort of our “graduation” from the CBT Play Creation Program I joined late last year. It was a totally awesome experience and I really learned a lot! I also realized that I really enjoyed writing more than acting onstage! It feels awesome to act like God, creating this world with your imagination and making actors do your every bidding from the script like its the Bible or something.  Ha! Ha! Does it seem like Regina is starting to develop a serious God Complex?

Anywayz… a few weeks after our last meeting, I started feeling depressed. I originally thought that it was one of my seasonal ”blues”, but I realize now that its really some kind of post-partum depression. After several months of working on this baby, she’s about to make her debut to the world. It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.

I had the priviledge of watching Romeo Candido work  with the cast doing the reading for my piece. Did  I mention that I have a serious fangirl complex towards all of RJ’s work? I was overcome with joy when I learned he’s directing my piece. I became a big Romeo Candido fan when I saw his one man show (that later evolved into “Lolo’s Child”) when I saw him perfom when I was a freshman in Ryerson. I don’t know if he remembers, but the first time he talked to me was back in 2001 (I think) in the workshop production of “Miss Orient(ed)” and he went to me and commented how much he enjoyed my acting. And that was actually the first time that I thought… “HEEEEEEY, maybe I could do this seriously!”

Well, I’m still leagues away from what I want to be in this field, but I was thrilled to see his process… my brain was like working overtime, trying to absorb everything. I didn’t know the ideas came to him… but it was fascinating! So I’m really excited to see the final product!

My play, BTW, is loosely based on a monologue that I wrote three years ago from Vinnie Sestito’s Summer workshop about some stories my grandmother told me about her life as a young woman in WW2 Philippines. Of course, it barely looks like what it was… and very far from the truth of how things really happened in my Grandmother’s stories… but its a really interesting world to visit. And CBT has an amazing collection of top-notch actors to tell the tale I weaved! Nicco… Rose… Christine… Byron! I feel so fortunate getting them as the main cast of my first piece.

But yeah! Scared shitless but excited! That’s me! ^_^.

Of course aside from my play, five other playwrights are showcasing their stories as well in a staged reading between Feb 26 - March 1.

My piece will be showing on Feb. 27 @ 8 PM and March 1 @ 2:30 PM in Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace with:

Len Cervantes’s hilarious “Pop” musical, “Shotgun Wedding”. It revolves around the lengths young Filipino men would go in the name of chivalry! Len is an awesome spoken word poet (and I’ve known him since my years in Ryerson). His piece is very tongue-in-cheek and a lot of young Filipino-Canadians I know who spent their teen years in Mississauga would probably relate.

It’s then followed by Myk Miranda’s very powerful “His Story”. An amazing piece about a Filipino mail-order bride in modern day Toronto, torn between a  Spanish and an American lover. Myk is also a great spoken word poet, and the words just flow beautifully in this piece of his story.

On Feb 26 and Feb 28 @ 8PM in the Theatre Passe Muraille, there are three other pieces that are definitely worth checking out too!

Bea Palanca’s heartbreaking “Sana” (I’m reading a character in this play BTW), is about a mother who is reuinited from her daughter after years of separation because of her job as care-giver in Canada. There is still something poignant and very relatable about Bea’s mother-daughter character regardless of social situation.  The amazing and lovely Rose Cortez is the other half of this acting ensemble!

Also playing is Rena Reddie’s “Baby Yellow”, a funny but bitter-sweet story about a young half-Filipina, visiting the Philippines for the first time and encounters her head-strong grandmother. Andrea Mapili and Aura Carcueva who are both exceptional actors will be sure to pull your heartstrings and hit your funny bone.

Finally, Alex Felipe’s “The Balikbayan”, the eyeopening experience of a young Filipino Canadian embarking on an adventure in the homeland for the first time where western ideals clash with Filipino realities. 

So please check these plays out! We’ll be saving a seat just for you! ^_^.

The Mobistar Contest is finally over! And wow! What a trip that was!

When I first started this journey, it was on such a whim that I didn’t actually take it seriously. Tita Zena simply approached me and nudged me on the side and essentially said, “Why don’t you join this contest?” With anyone who knows me, you should know by now that there are only two reasons that motivate me to do things…

1. I really like to do it.
2. I haven’t done it before.

With the exception of Canadian Idol, I never had the desire to join any of these “idol” style singing contest. And to be quite honest, I joined Canadian Idol simply for the experience and the hell of it. Mobistar wasn’t any different at first. One week after Tita Zena informed me of it, it was already rehearsal for filming, and the week after than, we filmed my first week.

I had no expectations whatsoever… and based on my first Mobistar video, you could see… I actually didn’t even stay for the entire filming since I had to leave for a shift at work as soon as I finished my song.

I never expected to win the weekly contest… the monthly finals… and earn a place on the top 3! Seeing everyone’s dedication in rooting for me, it was a humbling experience. As wonderful as the grand prize may have sounded, realizing that so many people believe in my talent and abilities… and not just friends and relatives, but even strangers who are not even Filipino and just happened to stumble into the Mobistar website still reaching out to give me their support simply because they enjoyed my singing. Knowing that my family will always be here for me to support me… even family members whom I haven’t even met in person… I’ve never felt so grateful and so loved. So…

m(_ _)m  THANK YOU VERY MUCH~~~~~~~!

Thank you for making my first (and last) Filipino singing contest such an enriching experience. 

To the Mobistar staff and organizers, thank you for the opportunity to show what I can do to our community. It wasn’t since the Carlos Bulosan group more than 10 years ago had I actually performed in front of the Filipino community in the spotlight. At least in the recent years, I’ve mostly performed for the general Toronto community. While there is pride in claiming to be the only Filipino  in so-and-so contest or theatre or film production, nothing really compares when members of your own community come to embrace you. Again, thank you very much!

For the other Mobistar contest finalists… It has been a great pleasure meeting you. Watching you share your talents has been very inspirational! Congratulations Jeannette and everyone. Stepping out and bringing pleasure to other people through singing and performing is a gift from God that was meant to be shared. Never regret any of these experiences, both good and bad. Because these are vital life lessons that you can learn from and shape you into who you are. Meeting all of you has definitely contributed to making my life more interesting. And always remember that in everything that you do in your singing career… you are talented young Filipinos and make sure to make our community proud of you.

For Tita Flora and the rest of the Simon clan, Tita Lily and the rest of the Gaspar clan, and all friends in Philippines Mama has been telling me of the great lengths everyone in the Philippines went through to support me, eventhough you have other commitments happening at the same time. How you persistently kept on and on to help me get up to the top 3.

To my best friend Jade and her family, Tita Luisa… Jade you have always supported all of my wacky endeavours since we met in Nursing School more than a decade ago. Since Joanne signed me up to sing my original song for the very first Superskillz (without my consent), to Carlos Bulosan, to Alexander Singers… you have been to almost every single one of my shows. Sometimes attending them more than once! I know you and Tita Luisa were the ones cheering the loudest for me in the crowd during Mobistar final show. Thank you and I love you! ^_^.

All our friends and family here in Canada, my co-staff members from CAMH (Jeannie, Joanne, Hiro), Kate and her friends down in the US, the PLM Alumni Association, my online friends from the Suiko RPG, the JQML, and the Sheridan College group from the monthly finals who I don’t even know your names… a good number of you haven’t even met me in person or know me personally. Some of you don’t even know me! But regardless of that, you believed in my talent enough to support me. Thank you!   

To my teacher, Gwyneth, to my favourite director Vinnie and the rest of the Alexander Singers family. Todd, Rodney, and Chy. Eventhough I know most of you couldn’t vote because you were out of the country and for ethical reasons. But Gwyneth and Vinnie, without your guidance, I don’t think my voice and performance would be where I am now. Todd, Rodney and Chy… you were such great moral support that I feel I could fall and do something absolutely stupid and still come out smelling like roses. ^_^.

My parents Rusty and Evelyn, who probably doesn’t understand half of the things I do in my spare time, but regardless you remained very supportive of everything I do. I can’t ask for better parents. My Mom has been very intrumental in getting me this far in the contest.

Most of all, my sister and also one of my best friends, Jessica. She has been the one who kept my sanity the past couple of months with all the general craziness my life has succumbed to thanks to all the projects I’ve been involved with. She’s always the voice of reason, who kicked my butt and brought me back to reality, and told me to suck it in and get over it, short of hitting me upside on the head to get my common sense back on track, whenever I was starting to fall in the trap of getting my emotions get the best of me. She’s probably the best cheerleader anyone can ask for because she’s not afraid to make you face reality no matter how painful and ugly it may be. I love you very much… and yes, we will continue to celebrate with more fish.

All of you don’t know how much this means to me. Your support has spurred me on to continue pursuing my “showbusiness career” on a more professional level. (Thus the reason why Mobistar will be my last amateur singing contest). To paraphrase one of the characters I’ve played…

“The mission from now on will be difficult, but all of you watching gives me hope. Whatever happens now, never give up yours.” 

(Courtesy of Adam Brown’s words through my character from his film, “Starsearcher”… currently playing in all AIR CANADA flights… and please vote for it as well in the Air Canada enRoute Student Film Festival for Best Animated Short Film… vote for it here on: http://enroutefilm.com/)

That phrase sounds really out there… but that’s how I feel. I’ll be entering new territory and it’s both thrilling and scary at the same time. Eventhough I’ve pretty much put my acting career in haitus until at least January next year for a much needed rest… I’m still pursuing projects and acting auditions for next year.

To follow Tita Flora’s footsteps as a writer, I’ve signed up to join this year’s Carlos Bulosan Collective’s “Play Creation Unit”. I haven’t heard if I got in yet, but I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll take me in this September. If all goes well, I’m hoping to have the first draft for my play idea by spring next year. It’s very very exciting!

I’m also going to audition for next year’s CCMP production of “South Pacific”, and Alexander Players and Singers’ production of “Beauty and the Beast”. If any of you are interested in auditioning as well, please let me know and I’ll send you the information.

Mobistar has also inspired me to go back and flex my song writing chops! My God! More than 10 years has passed and I realized now that I haven’t completed a single song since! Of course, now that I’m in haitus, I’ll have the time to do it.

So please continue to cheer for me! And I promise that I’ll continue to use my gifts to make all of you and the Filipino community proud!

Regina

First of all, THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN VOTING FOR ME!!!! Tita Flora, Tita Lily, all our friends and family in the Philippines. Tita Luisa and all my friends and family here in the Canada, Kate and all our friends down there in the US.  I know being able to vote only once a day when you live outside the Philippines kinda sucks, but the fact that you guys helped me get to 5th place with a lot of your online votes really means a lot to me! The fact that you’re working hard to help me win this is so much important to me than actually winning this contest.  You did your part, so I’ll do mine. I’m aiming for a perfect score with the judges!

If you’re able to come to watch the grand finals in Ontario Place to support August 16, please do! Attending  the Festival itself is a great way to support Filipino artists (both local and from outside Canada). Tickets are discounted to $20 (originally its $33) to Ontario Place if you purchase it from the Festival. Go to the Filipinos Making Waves website and in the contact link, you could purchase tickets through them.

Now for your amusement, here is the Spotlight on Review interview with the cast and crew of Baggage.   

Laters!

Well, the Mobistar contest is still running. Needless to say, I’m in the bottom three. The popularity contest aspect of this really sucks. And its one of the things that I don’t like about American/Canadian Idol either… I just found out that my friend Sebastian got booted off Canadian Idol this week… and he’s an AMAZING singer, musician, and song writer. All that talent in the mercy of television viewers…

Anywayz, I have faith! There’s one and a half weeks left… So please vote for me! And to everyone who are already supporting me, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
^_^.  Mobistar Website.

On another note… My first voice over role in an animated film short will be running in a couple of film festivals! YAAAAAY ADAM! I’m so happy for him! This was really a very brilliant piece of work, and you are looking at one of the most promising young animators whom you will be hearing a lot about in the very near future.

You will see Starsearcher featured in:

1. Long Beach International Film Festival

2. INDIE FEST USA
3. Angelus Student Film Festival
4. NewFilmmakers NY
5. Bay Street Film Festival
6. Air Canada’s Enroute Film Festival

As I mentioned, if you’re flying Air Canada this August, make sure to check it out in the your console’s entertainment section! And also please don’t forget to vote for it. Click on the link to see the film! ^_^.

This is it!

The Mobistar Grand Finals voting process starts today for the next two weeks… It’s going to be bloody!

The details below are from the Mobistar website (Mobistar Website ). If  you missed the show this morning, the videos of the performances today will eventually go online. There will also be a repeat of Filipino Eh on Rogers channel 10 Thursdays at 8PM and Saturdays at 1 PM. So please check the Mobistar website for those videos regularly when you go and vote online.

To vote online, register at Ruruworld.com to sign up for an account if you don’t have one yet. (It’s free!) Once you have an account, just log in and click on your favourite Mobistar. (You can vote once a day).

I hope everyone comes out to support me. And please spread the word! ^_^.

Regina

****

A Star-Studded Finale

After close to a year of eliminations, the grand final of the first Mobistar competition is here! The ten monthly finalists will be introduced on the July 26th episode of the Filipino Eh show. Besting their field of competitors, Inah, Regina, Grace, Juness, Stephanie, Jeanette, Camille, Pamela, Joan and Jaz will be given one more opportunity to stake their claim on the Mobistar gold.

The Grand Finals Day on August 16, 8pm will feature all ten finalists performing live in Ontario Place. And as a bonus, impressive production numbers will also be presented complementing the field of contestants.

On the Grand Finals, the first Mobistar crown will be given to the contestant with the highest total score using the 60-40 scheme. Forty percent will be coming from the online and SMS votes while sixty percent will be coming from the panel of judges, whose criteria are as follows:

Voice Quality - 50%
Looks - 20%
Star Appeal - 30%

But even before the live finale, you can help your favorite contestant to come up on top by voting online or through SMS (for Globe and Touch Mobile subscribers in the Philippines). The voting period is as follows:

Canada (and the rest of the world, E.S.T.)
12pm on July 26 (start)
12am on August 17 (end)

Philippines
12am on July 27 (start)
12pm on August 15 (end)

For SMS voters in the Philippines, key-in the codes below to vote for the corresponding contestant:

MOBISTAR 1 Inah
MOBISTAR 2 Regina
MOBISTAR 3 Grace
MOBISTAR 4 Juness
MOBISTAR 5 Stephanie
MOBISTAR 6 Jeanette
MOBISTAR 7 Camille
MOBISTAR 8 Pamela
MOBISTAR 9 Joan
MOBISTAR 10 Jaz

To take the voters as close to the competition as possible, we will post the voting results for each day. The top three with the highest votes and the bottom three with the lowest votes will be announced along with the percentage points of the four other contestants.

So vote as many times as you can. And don’t miss the LIVE Grand Finals on August 16, 8pm in Ontario Place, Canada. This will be a memorable end to one of the most intriguing contests in mobile and the start of a burgeoning career for one lucky Mobistar!

It’s finally come, the first of three nights when clowns invade the Winchester Street Theatre. If you’re expecting the weekend birthday party clown show… you will be greatly disappointed. There really isn’t any good way to describe Crossroad Theatre Project’s clowns.

Well, think of it as:

"Mr. Bean meets Monty Python going to the Opera…

…lots and lots of boobies…"

With that said, get your tickets now! There are still a few left, but they are selling out very fast!

CLOWN the Musical

Winchester Street Theatre
80 Winchester Street (Parliament and Winchester, 2 blooks south of Welleseley)

July 17, 18 & 19, 2008 @ 8 PM

Tickets @ $20 Adults, $18 Students/Seniors

www.alexandersingers.com
(416)781-9253

"Baggage" continues to make a buzz!

  We had our first sold out night last night! It was very exciting! Thank you everyone for your wonderful support coming in to watch the show and spreading the word. We’re looking forward to performing the last 4 shows with even greater enthusiasm thanks to you. If you haven’t seen the play yet, please do try to come see it. It’ll be a shame to miss this opportunity. After all, we’re the only Filipino group performing in the Fringe this year.

And to add icing to the cake, Now Magazine has given us a 3 out of 4 N’s review! Check out what Now Magazine has to say: here. That’s on top of Eye Weekly’s 4 out of 5 stars review and Tandem Online Magazine picking "Baggage" as one of the 8 noteworthy  shows in the 20th Toronto Fringe Festival.

On an unrelated note, remember the animated short film I mentioned a while ago? Well, its up and available for viewing online courtesy of the enRoute Air Canada Student Film Festival! You can check out "Starsearcher" here. Also please help out Adam and vote for the film in the website if you love it. Not only will it get our film out there, but it will also help Adam win that $5,000 prize for his category. And based on his work, you can see that he has the potential to do great things in animation.

Until next time…

First off, belated Happy Canada Day! I hope your Canada Day weekend was fun and safe. My Canada Day weekend was relatively chaotic as my projects are quickly closing in.

The Mobistar Singing Contest is coming very soon. I will be asking everyone for help and support. We’re filming the Grand Finals on July 20th. The voting period will come sometime around the last week of July-1st week of August. And the grand finals result will be announced live in Ontario Place on the 16th. I’ll give more info later on… but first things first…

My first Toronto Fringe Festival show opens tonight!

And guess what? Last Saturday, "Baggage" was cited as one of the top 5 must see shows in the Fringe this year in a National Post article interviewing theatre veteran and Fringe President Derrick Chua.

Even the more reason for all of us to be proud of these talented group of young Filipino-Canadian playwrights and actors. Please come and support us. For me, its a great honor playing with the members of the Pulang Maleta Collective. I was first introduced to Filipino Theatre here in Canada through Carlos Bulosan Cultural Workshop (now called the Carlos Bulosan Theatre Collective). Pulang Maleta is the little sister of CBT, who shares the same vision as telling our stories in our voice within the Filipino-Canadian community.

5 very talented playwrights collaborated in creating this wicked show of 5 short plays interconnecting with each other. "Claim Your Baggage"  (by Christine Mangosing ) is a funny story about transplanted Filipinos and cultural shame. "Maria" (by Aura Carcueva) is a powerful story about a family struggling with familial obligations in the midst of a young woman leaving for Canada as a mail-order bride.  "Not My Exotic" (by Darrel Gamotin) gives a vouyeristic point of view on a one-night rendezvous that unravels into something more. "Edge of the Family" (by Vincent Galvez) paints the uncertainties of a Filipino crime syndicate family’s daughter, who needs to make an important decision. "Touch" (Reese Baguio) is a hilarious story about a young woman struggling against her conservative Filipino Catholic upbringing as she enters the world as a new lesbian.

Baggage will be playing, starting tonight, July 2 and will be playing until July 13 (except Monday, no show on Monday). All weekday shows are @ 8PM and weekend shows are @ 2:30 PM. We’ll be at the Kapisanan Philipine Centre @ 197 Augusta St (Augusta and Dundas). Tickets are available through the Toronto Fringe Festival ( www.fringetoronto.com; 416-966-1062) or at the door. But please come on time. Late comers will not be admitted.

Then the weekend after that, will debut my first (and hopefully not my last) attempt into full blown comedy, as Crossroads Theatre Project’s "Clown the Musical".

I’ve always enjoyed Vinnie Sestito’s summer workshops and I felt that I’ve learned treasures of knowledge to incorporate in my performance from it. This year is no exception. And it’s a little terrifying for me too, since I’ve never really ventured into straight comedy. I mean, I’ve been in shows that had comedic elements,  but not like this… not JUST comedy… CLOWN!

The premise is, a group of clowns (literally) think that they’re really good performers. So they decided to put together a theatre company… eventhough they know nothing about theatre or opera whatsoever! I highly recommend that people brace themselves from ultimate lunacy. This group is absolutely hilarious. As in "I-just-peed-in-my-pants-my-belly-hurts-that-it-feels-like-an-alien-will-burst-out-any-minute-now" hilarious.

And of course what I particularly love about Vinnie and Gwyneth is how they encourage and nurture each and every group member’s uniqueness to enhance their performance.And since I am the sole Filipino member of the group… you’re sure to expect a touch of Filipino in the show. ^_^. 

"Clown the Musical" will show for 3 nights only! July 17-19th, 8 PM @ the Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester St (Winchester and Parliament, south of Wellesley). Tickets are $20 (adults), $18 (seniors/students). (www.alexandersingers.com; 416-781-9253; sestito@rogers.com)

I hope to see everyone there!

… you’ll see the naked truth without shame.

If you’re wondering about that very naughty profile picture, that’s one of the three projects I’m involved in for the month of July… before I go on a very long deserved vacation from all this theatre craziness!

Can you imagine? I’ve been working on this hobby of mine (theatre, concerts, conventions) one project after the other without rest since 2006? As much as I hate to bow down when so many exciting things are happening in the theatre scene right now, my body is starting to protest! It literally broke my heart when I came to the decision to give up "Sweeney Todd" (and taking a leave from Boses Pinas starting July)… but I’m running on back up batteries now to the point that I’ve actually gotten physically ill and lost my voice for more than two weeks (and still recovering). I figured I should stop and rest for a few months before I injure myself permanently.

I haven’t actually written in a long time in my blog… and yeah, so many things happened the past couple of months. First of all, I mentioned a while back that I got my first paid voice over job through a education video by Citizenship Canada, right? So Filipino immigrants coming to the country who get to watch the Filipino-dubbed videos regarding the experiences of parents sending their kids to school in Canada for the first time, will get to hear my voice! ^_^.

Well, even earlier than that, I recorded my first voice over for a stop motion animated short film (trailer is here: Starsearcher trailer in You Tube) and it was actually screened for the first time in the Ryerson University Film Festival in May. And guess what? It seems that "Starsearcher" is going to be in the 2008 Air Canada enRoute Student Film Festival. It will be playing in all Air Canada flights for the entire month of August! Isn’t that a blast? So if you’re flying Air Canada, make sure you check out "Starsearcher". ^0^. Though for those not flying, I think all the films involved in the enRoute festival will be available in their website. I don’t know when exactly, so check it out often Air Canad enRoute Student Film Festival.

Then there was Anime North, which is a lot of fun, but very exhausting. Now that the main convention is over, we have two mini events happening for the rest of the year. One this summer and one in the fall.

This summer, my sister is organizing the first (and hopefully, Annual) Anime North Doujinka Festival in collanboration with the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. (Scroll down the page when you hit the Artist Alley AN page). It’s open to all amateur artists who have doujinshi, fanzines, and original comic books. It’s happening on August 16, 2008 at the JCCC. Then later in the year, Anime North will also hold its first Halloween Festival with the JCCC. Details to come in the Anime North website, so please check the site often. Just because the main convention is over, doesn’t mean that AN is.

Now… on to the three mentioned projects that’s I’m devoting the last of my energy in the next month or so.

1. And on July 2 - 13 is Regina’s gonna be in the Toronto Fringe Festival under the banner of the "Pulang Maleta Collective"! This is probably the most exciting thing that’s happened to me so far. I’ve never been to the Fringe, and this is my first year. And best of all, my first Fringe will be with a group of people that I have grown to respect a lot. I owe my theatre roots here in Canada to Carlos Bulosan and its awesome to be a part of another group that this company helped usher to grow.

The play is called "Baggage" and if my profile pic doesn’t raise eyebrows, check out the Pulang Maleta Collective website for more details. This group of super talented young Filipino-Canadian playwrights and actors deserve all the support our community can give them. They’re telling our stories in our point of view. So please support our show in the Fringe! It’s running from Jul 2 - 13. Again, ticket and show details are in the website.

I’m also planning on joining Kapisanan’s playwriting workshop in September. You never know, maybe I’ll be blogging about asking people to watch a play I’ve written next year! ^_^. 

2. Soon after the heels of the Fringe Festival is a still to be named show running on July 17-19 from Vinnie Sestito’s infamous summer workshops. It’s going to be very interesting this year! There isn’t a greater group of people to clown around than this year’s group. Yes, clown around… literally! It’s a clown workshop and I’m just totally amazed at how learning clown can improve your performance on stage dramatically! It’s pretty exciting! So please watch out for it. And yes… I’m the only Filipino actor in the group again this year. 

3. And finally, the Mobistar Grand Finalist telecast to air on Channel A in July 26 on "Filipino Eh!" (voting period starts from July 26 - Aug 15, I’ll be depending on your kindness again very soon!), with the Grand Finals happening in Ontario Place August 16. I’m actually quite worried about the finals… my voice still hasn’t quite healed up yet. I’m sure I’ll be okay in August, but we’re doing the taping for the telecast on June 22nd… gah! Pray for me!

Anywayz, this is the longest blog I’ve written… EVER! Though it does make up for the long time of not writing, right? Until next time…