E-Games' Domination V

I was at the e-Games Domination V last April 2. I arrived at SMX around 4:00 PM while the Shure Band was performing. The band was the 2nd place winner of the battle of the bands during the R2D5 NCR leg.

The event was hosted by Eri Neeman and two other girls I didn't get the names of.

SMX was packed but I think there were more attendees last year. Well, correct me if I'm wrong but I could barely roam around last year. Or was it just the floor plan this year that made it seem more maluwang?

There were computers for free play but the line was oh-so-long. I just busied myself with watching Ran Online's "Flip Top" challenge in the game's booth. The last two standing battled it out on the main stage.

The judge was no less than Gloc9, who confessed that he doesn't freestyle himself. He just chose the one with better construction and rhyming. The one in black, named Gabby(?), won the battle, while the one in red, I guess, will be dubbed "Yo!" after that.

Audition Dance Battle also had a dancing event. Just like in Ran Online's, teams of three dancers were screened at the Audition booth and the last two remaining groups battled it out on the main stage. And one group was so obviously better than the other.

Of course Team 1 (the all-male team) won.

Highlight of the event was the cosplay competition. I had two favorites:

Unfortunately, none of these two won.

Open category was won by Rolando Logronio, a familiar name in cosplay, as Hades and Eli Chan(?) as a nymph from some anime.

E-Games category, on the other hand, had Christian Umali in the second place and Zyka Managad (?) in the first place. Zyka cosplayed a character from Granado Espada.

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The 2nd Philippine International Pyromusical Competition – Korea and Spain

It was late January when my friend Danilo told me about the 2nd Pyromusical Competition. I immediately made a mental note to watch it alone. Either that, or my going shouldn't depend on someone else's decision to go or not.

You see I bought two VIP tickets last year for me and a friend. I still wasn't open to going out alone in those days so when he cancelled at the last minute, I didn't go as well, wasting the precious 2 pieces of VIP tix.

I was only able to watch last year's Pyromusical on its last day with my sis and nephew, and the fun that night made me regret not using the VIP ticket on the previous show.

But going out alone because you planned to be alone is really different from going out alone because the person you're supposed to go with either stood you up or cancelled at the last minute. The latter sets your mood and excitement to a very low level, making you irritable and not enjoy whatever it is you are supposed to have fun attending.

Anyway, my online friend Mean who I played Ran Online with years ago, expressed her desire to go with me. She had a date that day, though, and was honest that she wasn't sure if her date would end in time for the Pyromusical Competition. And to cut it short, she wasn't able to come so I watched the show alone.

I was at the Mall of Asia by 4 PM that first day, February 12th, and immediately bought the cheapest ticket. I knew I'd have front row view even with the cheapest ticket if I was early.

A group of people were already waiting around the entrance area, but there's no line whatsoever so I decided to buy food first. Anyway, the entrance would open at 5 PM. Fifteen minutes later, I got back to the entrance and to my surprise, a line had already been made. Around 30 persons were lined up so I immediately positioned myself behind the line. I sighed. I wanted to be first, but anyhoo, I wasn't so far behind the line naman.

I put the doughnuts I bought inside my backpack and fished out my Kodak camcorder. After fumbling with my bag a little, I looked back to check how long the line had formed. Lo and behold! I couldn't even see the end of the line anymore! I was still lucky I arrived a little earlier. Lucky. Lucky.

The gate opened at exactly 5 PM.

I immediately went to the silver tickets area that's starting to get full. I was alone anyway so it wasn't that hard to make singit.

The show, as indicated on the ticket, would be 7PM and 8PM. But the fireworks display started almost 8PM. Korea first exhibited.

And how I wished I had a better camera. My cheap Kodak C813 could only do this much.

And my camcorder (Kodak Zx1) had so much glare I don't wanna upload it.

Anyway, Korea's exhibition ran for about 20 minutes. There was a long pause before Spain's exhibition began.

I loved Spain's better than Korea's, though.

It was almost 10 PM when the show ended. Imagine sitting on the breakwater from 5PM til about 10PM! But all in all, it was a great night. Better than spending my one hundred pesos on two bottles of beer. Got home at around 11PM. My Nanay was still awake, waiting for me. Waiting for my kwento about the fireworks display I watched.

What I did was plug my camcorder to our tv set and let her watch. She enjoyed the pictures better, though. The glare on the camcorder was really disappointing.

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