As of real time, I am writing this blog in my Mom's New York house. It has been three weeks of total chaos as far as my schedule is concerned (being the organized freak that I am when it comes to my schedule) and I got so used to it that having been idle for a couple of days now is driving me crazy. I was dying to do something; so I thought of blogging again since I didn't blog for awhile now. For those who do not know, I am one of the delegates from Davao who represented the Philippines as a vocalist for WCOPA or World Championships of Performing Arts that was held in Long Beach, California this year. We left NAIA on July 8 at 11:30AM, arrived LAX around 7AM on July 8, 2015 PST.
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| with Christian Bahaya of Y-Fi in our Team Jackets at NAIA while waiting for our flight to LAX |
JET LAG
I originally planned to write about my WCOPA Journey as soon as we land in the States and blog real time or daily but jet lag and schedules got through me. Jet lag, boy, that sh*t is serious! I didn't know it could last for a week. I was at my weakest on our competition week because of this condition. I missed all of the celebration because I was too tired all the time. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed our competition week. I just wish I was a bit more of alive than zombie-ish.
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| Selfie at LAX ;) |
THE AUDITION
To be honest, I didn't give it too much of a priority when I was informed about WCOPA late last year (2014). To me, joining WCOPA and going to the US is like so fetch: It's not going to happen.
So imagine my anxiety when the video auditions and the live auditions for Davao finally happened. I can still remember it vividly. I was not feeling well on live auditions day. I had the worst laryngitis and I didn't get enough sleep the previous night, but, I sang my heart out, as I always do in every song. Below is the video of all the Davao delegates' audition.
I was in the mall buying a water heater two weeks later when I received the text from Mr. Jeremy Sarmiento, Director of Muzic'sKool and the official Davao Talent Scout for WCOPA that I got in. To my delight, my music family Zhalia, Y-Fi, Juliet Bahala, and Rigel Micolob got in too! Another talented kid for the Junior division was added to the group, Jona Soquite, who turned out to be a real darling.
Mr. Gerry Mercado, the National Director of WCOPA Philippines who is also the manager of Mr. Jed Madela, personally went to Davao to orient the local delegates. It was such a thrilling experience! My dreams were slowly coming true.
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| Briefing day with Mr. Gerry Mercado. Photo grabbed from WCOPA Philippines official instagram account |
THE PROCESS
Everything happened so fast but it didn't come easy! But of course, nothing worth having comes easy. We needed money for our trip. We individually sent out sponsorship letters while Muzic'sKool organized events to raise money for our allowances aside from their sponsorship. Mrs. Katrine Sarmiento, wife of Mr. Jeremy Sarmiento, along with the rest of the MuzicsKool staff made it easier for all of the Davao delegates. They went as far as organizing a Peak Performance workshop with Mr. Rob Rances and a dress rehearsal for us to be confident on stage.
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| Peak Performance workshop with Mr. Rob Rances |
I have soooo much to share that I can't share it all in one blog, else, you'd get dragged at and eventually get bored with my endless stories. LOL. This is only first of the series of blogs that I have yet to write about this wonderful experience.There were a lot of interesting things that happened but the highlight of my WCOPA Journey was me bagging medals on ALL of the styles that I joined. I won GOLD for Contemporary, SILVER for Pop, and SILVER for Variety and it was such a wonderful feeling. I've waited for that moment for 12 years! I will never, EVER forget this journey. ;)
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| I am one of the worlds' best! Yay! :) |
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