I am munching Jellyum Lychee flavored nata de coco jelly. I love its slimy texture flow down to my throat easily, while its flavor retains in my mouth making my breath smells like this tasty fruit that I used to put in mom’s original recipe gulaman.
It is my treat to my throat. Yesterday, I emceed the Ginebra San Miguel Flair Idol 2009 at the Rizal STadium in Vito Cruz, Manila.
When Dr. Gloria Baken Wong- Siy, dean of College of Hospitality and Tourism Management of Trinity University of Asia and president of AAHRMEI, the association of HRM and Tourism professors, handpicked me to be the emcee for the said event, I immediately said yes. She informed me that talent fee is only P3000, quite low as compared to other big events that give much budget for the master of ceremonies. But still I accepted the offer because I might get the break that I need to be discovered. She said that Nicole-hiyala of 90.7 Love Radio will join me by 5:00 pm and the event will also be televised in Channel 13 or 9, I guess.
So yesterday, I did not sleep at all because I need to be in the stadium early in the morning so I can secure a good parking slot and be able to prepare for my hosting job. The program says registration will start at 6am and my hosting at 8:00 but I do not know what happened. The program started at 9:30. I am already sweating. The morning should be devoted to the elimination round of pulutan showdown and flairtending but it extended until the mid of afternoon. I wasn’t given a break, and I can’t go out because I need to keep the audience alive inside the hot and humid stadium. I only ate the 1-pc burger steak that Mark Adem gave me when the flair idols are performing, one spoonful at a time.
The two events ended and its time for the final showdown. But since we’re running out of time, the events went on simultaneously, with only one host to take care of introduction and summary.
Later, a high ranking official of GSM talked to me, asking me to prolong the segments so that the concert of Shamrock and Spongecola will begin by 8:00 and not 7:00 as stated in the program. But there is still Mr. and Ms. Flair Idol to take care of. We were not able to make it on time, and I had to go home without finishing the program, disappointed in some ways, that only I can explain.
Emceeing a big event like this is really a gargantuan task. Everybody thinks that I am part of the committee so all of their concerns are given to me. Crowdpleaser Dino did not disappoint them. I took care of their simplest problems like blender that is not working, to big things like complaints and pleads. Yet in the end, some people still blamed me for things that are beyond my control.
Papa Jack (90.7 Love Radio, not Nicole) got mad at me because I introduced Shamrock and it’s his spiel. He did not know that the floor director gave me that instruction.
I got embarrassed because the organizers of Mr. and Ms. Flair Idol did not orient me with the sequence, and I ran out of spiels while I was in the stage.
Shamrock entered the stage when we are not yet finished with the Mr. and Ms.
A professor shouted at me because she found out that I allowed a barista to perform when he did not appear on the time allotted to him. At that instance, that is the best judgment that I can make. More issues can be thrown at me if I did not allow him.
It was ten o’clock and the show is not yet finished. Audiences are going gaga over Shamrock and I feel I’m useless anymore. I am sleepless, very tired, very hungry (the last food I take are two pieces of empanaditas around 6 hours ago) and I don’t know what to do with Mr. and Ms., as their presentation were held because of a lost bag of a candidate. I did not finished the program. I went home teary-eyed, disappointed, and my chance to be discovered went to the thick and humid air of Rizal Stadium.
Now I’m treating my throat with Jellyum for a work well done (?) and I have finished a pack while I am typing this part.
