"Because I Can Still Hear Them Coming"

was a huge success. It was a three months size of production done magnificently in 3 days, which to almost everyone, was a downright farcical effort in every single sense of the word. The whole team wouldn't have been able to pull it off if even one of us was sane. We were out of our minds, out of our souls, believing it to Heaven that we would make it. And yeah, that's what Houston and Carey did sing in their song, 'You will when you believe'. We did make it. We showed it to the whole college; that it can be done if you just put your heart to it. The right side of the heart, if I may add.

Truth be told, this is by far the biggest stage production I have ever done, fifteen performers on the stage at the same time, each with a different choreography; what with the crazy cool Firebending steps for the highly-spirited Firebenders (OMG I still can't believe I actually taught my kids to Firebend, with Zarif!!), the smooth waltz of the sneaky Sootbenders, the silent but expressive acting of the orphaned tiger cubs which made one of the teachers (as far as I know) cry, and the impressively ancient look of the Forest we managed to achieve in such a short time under such pressing atmosphere with such little cosmetics (BUNCHO poster colors as face paints - pathetic, I know), yeah, it really was insane. We were insane. That's why we made it.

The past three days were slightly lesser than hell for me, and for the kids. My co-director, Zarif almost lost it with the kids several times (if you expect 14-year-olds to act 17, you should just commit suicide), and there were times when it was such a funny sight to watch. Haha.

Narrator Hanym read from the heart, which was an over-the-top performance from someone who only had 3 days of practice. 'Thanks, Hanym, for reading from your heart,' was what I said when I gave her a hug. It was so emotional, jeez. Jatuh ego I, haha.

Azuan, Adil Isma and Luqman were awesome visual and score coordinators. The animal cruelty slide show brought everyone's jaw to the floor, and the credit video they did was royally praiseworthy, with Nakata Yasukata's Liar Game OST as the BGM. I mean seriously if that is not cool, I don't know what is. So yeah there was a tiny technical glitch at the end, but really who cares? The whole show topped almost everything school-level I had ever seen before! The best thing is; we got it on video, yay (thank you Kak Siti)!

And that's not the only good news I've had today. My Zone Champion Public Speaker, Alif, won the first place in the Minggu Bahasa MRSM Se-Malaysia; championed his category like the Alif he is. He's now the Johan Kebangsaan, which made me so proud I thought I would cry. But I didn't, of course. Habislah ego I nanti, God.

I was coaching the Firebenders with Zarif when he called (OMG, I really did Firebend didn't I?).

'Teacher Nani, it's Alif.'

'Yes?'

'Teacher, I got the first place!'

And the rest were incomprehensible screaming, squeaking, shouting, hooting and excited yelping of the theatre team who scrambled out of their characters right after I spilled the news. God. If excitement could kill. LOL. Storyteller Elmie won the second place, now the Naib Johan Kebangsaan. I'm so proud of both of them. A series of Alhamdulillah and sujud syukur just don't seem enough. But it was all I could do. Thank you, Allah SWT for making things go such wonderful ways. I could never thank You enough.

Alright. Enough talking. Pictures!

The beginning of today's show; the cub was reminiscing the days when his brother was still around.

The cub who was left alone after the raging wildfire, Asyraf (my Anak Homeroom - sumpah Teacher Nani bangga ah).

The cub who was claimed by the flames (sobs), Syazwan.

The Fangorn Brothers (back row from the left) - Fazir, Muhammad, Zhafir, Zulhafiz,

(front row from the left) - Zubaidi, Akmal and Azri.

The Firebenders (back row from the left) - Farrin, Mu'az, 

(front row from the left) - Ikram (my Presiden Homeroom) and Adzfar.

The Sootbenders - Wulan and Azzam.

Narrator Hanym and her favourite Firebender, Farrin.

* * *

Phew.

Now, how is everyone?