Welcome 2018!

For more than five years now, I’ve celebrated New Year at the SM Mall of Asia. Not to hangout with family or friends. Not to mingle with strangers somewhere in the MOA Bay area as we wait ’til the clock strikes midnight. I frequent MOA on New Year’s Eve because I choose to work for the GMA New Year Countdown. Keyword is Choose. I have not been forced, threatened or whathaveyou. It has been an annual tradition for me and the people behind it, and this year was no different.

I’ve often been asked, Work na naman?Don’t you get lonely, still working during the Holidays? You know to  be honest, it has not crossed my mind. Or even if it does dance somewhere in the corner of my mind, I’m not going to be chained to its rhythm for too long.  Thankfully, I have a very understanding and supportive family who has been very open-minded about my nature of work: taping and shooting late at nights or early mornings, burning the midnight oil to finish projects in time for the deadline, welcoming the erratic schedule that would take me away from them during special occasions and holidays. At first, they were foreign to that idea; it’s one that has been met with resistance and tampo. But I guess they got over that, not because they don’t give a hoot anymore. But because they understood. And they really do trust me. So yeah, there’s no space for loneliness on New Year for me. 🙂

This year, I was assigned to write for the online activation. My host were Tetay and Joyce Pring. It’s a whole new frontier for me, due to my inexperience to write for a live online show. Basically, it’s the behind-the-scenes coverage of the Countdown while the TV show was on break. So during gap, there we were, updating the netizens while we interview the celebrities and giving them games/ challenges. We also brought in a feng shui expert, Nick Nangit, to share his forecast for the incoming Year of the Dog. As always, netizens were very eager to know their luck in 2018 so online inquiries came flooding.

Last Thursday, we met with the Network’s New Media group to discuss the show’s stats and feedback from netizens. It was insightful! For someone who has been familiar with the TV business, my knowledge of the online economy is limited and I did not know its real potential.  So that meeting was very enriching, something that really opened my eyes on the power beyond broadcast media. Based on the stats, we did good! And I’m hoping we’d do better next year!

So when people ask me if I’d ever get tired of working on New Year’s Eve, I say I can only look at it as a blessing — a chance to share my talent, an opportunity to earn so that I could treat people I love and accomplish my life’s passion. And I’m happy with that thought. Tired? At least, not yet.

Sharing with you some pictures I took on set.