Sunday, December 18, 2005

Euphoria: The Outsiders Christmas Party (Part II)

The program started with a prayer lead by our thread founder, Garpppy.

The prayer was relatively short, and it was about our hopes that whatever rifts and divisions we had this year would finally come to an end after the party. Garpppy also gave his intentions for our lasting friendship, and that, such bond and brotherhood we have would not break apart as time passes.

After the prayer, Arj introduced the MC for the evening. Since the Outsiders is a very diversified and talented group, the event planners never encountered any difficulties in choosing our Master of Ceremonies. It was our jolly and most creative brOdder, Carlo (Mango79) who was chosen to be the host for the party. His wits and punchlines, which remains unrivaled among us ensures that our night would be full of comedy, gayness and endless laughter.

---

The program was designed to have a full armada of icebreakers before our main event - which is the traditional gift-giving. As for the opening salvo, the emcee took out random strips of papers that contained the names of all the guests from an envelope.

My name was chosen so I had to join the game. As it turns out, XP, who had significantly lost weight after six months of extreme dieting was also included among the contestants.
As anticipated, our first game was a mini 'Beauty Pageant' contest.

The mechanics were very simple. Since it was just for fun, we just had to introduce ourselves like real beauty contestants do. And then after we have finished with our own introduction, we get to choose a number from among ourselves.

Since most of us players have never taken beauty pageants seriously like XP does, he had the edge and talent for this contest. In fact, he introduced himself as a Miss Philippines from an obscure year in which, he made sure that he did an introduction with much flair and diva-ish attitude than most of us could come up with.

Of course, XP was an instant crowd favorite. However, since the semi-finalists would be chosen based from the number they picked, there might be a big chance that despite XP's showmanship, he might not be chosen.

Luckily, his number was picked by the emcees. (which now includes Arj and Bench) Like the seven of us who also made it to the semifinals thanks to our lucky numbers, this time the real fun in the game begins.

The semi-finals was actually a question and answer talent portion.

And since this is one of the most favorite portion of gays who watch Beauty Pageants and then later imitates it, everyone's gay side came out.

Carlo, Arj and Bench proved to be masters at asking absurd beauty pageant questions such as "If time is gold, why is it not silver or bronze?" or "What is the essence of a woman when you're in Mahal's position?" Of course, the answers were mostly hilarious, especially with the witty questions. Some tried answering it seriously, while others, obviously buying some time to find a sane answer to such insane questions attempted to delay the judges by asking for 'swahili' and 'mandarin' interpreters.

After the semi-finals round, we were asked to choose a number again for ourselves.

At this point, RC arrived at the party and since he remains the one and only Sapa Queen* from last year, the judges immediately announced that the reigning Beauty Queen has just paraded on stage.

Eventually, despite the self-induced drama and excitement some of us demonstrated while waiting for our number to be called, it was Papu, who wasn't really paying attention to the mini-pageant and who had forgotten his number turned out to be the Beauty Queen.

Now I'm beginning to wonder whether this mini-pageant would be a reincarnation in next year's party.

---

The next game, in which Phanks participated was a modified charade.

Actually, I wasn't really paying attention to this contest so all I could remember is that a team must give subtle hints and trivia about the local celebrities they were describing and a 'bouncer' from the other team must guess who this celebrity is.

I think the winning team would be based from the number of celebrities their bouncer had guessed from the opposing team.

Like what I've said, I wasn't paying attention to this game so I had no idea who's team won.

Although I remembered later that night, Phanks was holding a bar of chocolate and was asking to put it inside his bag. Now I'm not really sure if it was just given to him by some of the guys or it was the prize for winning that contest.

---

The last game we had was called Diva-Diva-Ding. Probably you've got an idea what this game is all about.

However, the real twist and blatant rigging in this contest was that it seems like those who were chosen to play for this game were actually the least gifted... or should I say, the most untalented among us when it comes to singing.

And once again, for having a frog's voice... I was chosen to play for this event.

To make the game more exciting, the emcees picked three judges who would, like in TV shows, choose the better singer among the two contenders. I don't remember their criteria for judgement, but of course, the real 'market value of this contests is how 'bitchy' and brutally frank the judges would rate our performance and how 'creative' the performers were in singing notes reserved only for Mariah and other Divas as well.

The songs chosen to be played were Beautiful by Christina Aguilera, Bulaklak by Viva Hot Babes, Through the Rain by Mariah Carey, Stop by Spice Girls, and I Am What I Am by Gloria Gaynor. With the help of several bottoms up of Strong Ice, and a moral boost from the Bulaklak Boy himself: Roy, I got the confidence to sing Bulaklak by Viva Hot Babes against Nate, who was obviously nervous as I am.

At the beginning, our team was winning the game. But since it was already 'rigged' from the very start, the judges made sure that all of us would have a chance to sing. Eventually the other team won, and the prizes they recieved are gift packages courtesy of our fellow bRodder Keren (Kesibi) from Adidas.

---

Aside from this major ice-breakers, there were also mini-games and a special mention award in the program such as the awarding of the best get-up for the night, which was given to P3 (Pipay) for wearing a rather ordinary ensemble, as well as an auction game in which those of us who were given paper money would auction for secret items.

After all the prizes were given, we then proceeded to our main event which was the traditional gift giving. At this point, the mood became serious and nostalgic as every person who participated in the exchange gift would have to give a short testimonial to the person who would recieve their presents.

---

-tobecontinued-

*Sapa Queen - In the long history of the Outsiders, there was this very charming boy who became the source of every juicy tsismis surrounding the private lives of most our fellow brOdders. The chismisan we used to do was notoriously known as 'labahan sa sapa' this boy, which was the chief source of all hot news became the central figure of the 'labahan'... thus he became known as the Sapa Queen.

Unfortunately, he retired from the scene at the start of the year and until now, nobody among his former ka-labada can match his skills and his abilities in squeezing out the hottest news and intrigues surrounding the private lives of the Odders.

No comments: