Say Yes Part One: Doing it all over again

Arthur

"I'm looking for Mr. Arthur Lesaca..."

"Yes. Come in please"

I wasn't expecting a client this morning. You see, My bestfriend, Jeybs, and I put up a small videography studio somewhere in QC. Usually ang clients namin mga advertisers and upstart musicians. We were once part of this big advertising company until we decided to put up our own studio. Artistic differences, if you know what I mean. Aba, hindi naman kami basta-bastang film makers lang. Gradweyt kami sa premierre University dito sa Pilipinas. Hindi papayag si oble na gagawa kami ng pelikula just for the sake of money, or so we thought. To tell the truth, di pa talaga ako nakakagawa ng film na masasabi kong obra. Our stay in that company made us do campy music videos and TV commercials (I'd rather not say any commercials I've directed. Nakakahiya). We're still in that state of crappiness if you would ask me pero sabi nga ni Jeybs, makakagawa din tayo ng film na masasabi nating art!

Pero di naman sa pagmamayabang, nakagawa na rin naman kami ng matinong video. Hindi yung mga wedding coverage na ginawa namin, or yung mga small time TV commercials na napapanood lang sa mga provincial cable channels. We did this really surreal Music video for Arianna Esteban when she was starting out. She was this soul-ethnic artist from Mindanao who's starting out her mainstream career last year. Nakalimutan ko yung title nung song pero yung video was about a wedding. She was in the middle of the altar at the start of the vid and then she walked out of her wedding.The whole time in the video, she was walking away from the church, meeting people of different types and singing this weird chant. Sa end nung journey niya, naghihintay yung groom and they embraced. I think Arianna's music video was the best I directed so far. After that, puro basura na ginagawa namin. Sabi nila may pera sa basura so what the heck. We will have our break soon. Actually this afternoon, we will have a meeting with a writer for Cinemalaya. If the talks work out fine, then perhaps darating na yung break namin.

But this client, who by the way introduced himself as Carl Legaspi, wasn't expected. We have the time though so tingnan natin. Now, Carl want us to cover and direct a flashmob for his wedding proposal. Lahat naman tayo nakapanood sa YouTube ng mga proposal video's, di ba? This guy wants to have one of his own and he has ideas on his mind. Actually di naman ako stranger sa mga ganyang productions. In fact, I myself made one hell of a historical video production of an over the top wedding proposal before.

My own wedding proposal. Sa babaeng pinakamamahal ko.

Kay Janine Angelica Ramirez. Ang pinakamagandang babae sa freshman block ko sa Mass Com. Sweet. Sensitive. Supportive. Extremely passionate. Siya ang naging buhay ko sa buong college life ko.  It was her. Nothing else. It took me a year to court her. We became a couple for the rest of our college life until we both graduated. We landed on our first jobs in the same year; siya as a segment producer for a giant network, ako as an advertising executive. Pero kahit magkaibang genre ang pinasok namin, we are supportive of each other. We have each other's back.

Janine and me, we were together for seven years. Those were the most wonderful years of my life. Sabihin natin na naging routinary yung relationship: we wake each other up, ihahatid ko sya sa work nya since malapit lang naman, susunduin ko sya after work and we'll have dinner. Ihahatid ko sya sa apartment nya, we'll have coffee or wine thereafter, then we make out. Di ako nagmamalinis pero, yes, we have sex occassionally. Then I go straight back home. Aminado ako, nakakapagod minsan yung paulit -ulit na routine, but most of the time I'm looking forward to it. Every morning, i wake up earlier than usual para marinig ang boses nya na ginigising ako. Every morning, I leave my house early para di sya ma-late. Sa maghapon, hinihintay ko ang text nya kung malapit na syang umuwi. Pag may location shoot sya, ako pa mismo naghahatid sa kanya. Minu-minuto sa isip ko gusto ko syang makasama. Kung pwede lang na nakatitig ako sa kanya maghapon, kung pwede lang na gawing trabaho ang makasama siya. Kung merong Test sa PRC para magkalicensya para lang makasama si Janine, ako magiging top notcher dun. I do believe that I was an ideal boyfriend for her.