OPEN ROOM 2009

OMFG!

The Balay Lampirong Open Room 2009

by MARY PAULINE 'Veronica' HILADO

The dormers have always been restricted to their respective wings for almost the entire first sem. Of course, it is inevitable that the boys get curious of what’s in the Girls’ Wing, and the girls with the Boys’ Wing. There may be times that girls enter the Boys’ Wing to buy cup noodles, chips and the like from Roy and Carlo, but the farthest they can get is the Boys’ Study Area. And so, what everyone has been waiting for, an annual activity for the 1^st sem, happened on 9.29.09. Entitled OMFG!, the Balay Lampirong held its Open Room activity.

This Open Room activity has been thoroughly planned by the House Council, so to make this event a very successful one. A week before OMFG!, Rea Chill, Roy, Carlo and I did one of the things we enjoy much as House Council- the Photoshoot. We took advantage of the time that there were only a few dormers that night, and let our creative juices do the work. Nicolo then showed his editing expertise through the Open Room teasers. As the first Open Room teaser was posted on the glass doors of the dorm, the freshmen dormers were quite curious and were left hanging of what was about to happen. Some upperclass knew what was about to happen. Some of them remained silent about it, but some dropped hints for the freshmen.

Every night for a week, at 8:00 pm, there was the MMMM, where the House Council fed the dormers (and non-dormers who were there during those times) through the paging system with gossips that kept them guessing who were in the blind items. Actually, most of these gossips were just made up by the Council. We just did that to heighten the curiosity of the dormers while secretly promoting the OMFG!, since the gossips were related to the Open Room.

The night before the Open Room, we, the House Council, locked ourselves in the Mini Lib so to prepare the announcements, rules, freebies and certificates for the Open Room. We quite felt that the dormers knew already what was about to happen in a few hours’ time, since when we passed by the hallways, we saw some dormers cleaning up and tidying their rooms. Most of us slept at 1 AM, and we even had some dormers who were “staying up to study” , but we knew that they just wanted to catch us. And so, we asked from Nong Larry that he would leave the doors of the wings open, so that we could go out and post announcements at 3:30 AM. Carlo and Rea Chill had a hard time debating with him to allow us.

By 3 AM, the House Council was up and about, posting announcements and preparing for the Open Room, going around, sneaking in the rooms. We had to work fast since people were starting to wake up, either to study, or to be the first people to invade the other wing’s rooms.We entered each room, but some dormers locked their doors, like Rooms 24 and 25 in the Boys’ Wing, and Rooms 4 and 11 in the Girls’ Wing. After we were done at around 4:30 to 5 AM, we slept in the Boys’ Study Area for the time being. At 6:30 AM, we had to wake up and get some decent sleep in our own rooms.

As noted, the earliest people to enter the rooms were JJ and Kuya Gierick. As the day progressed, the dormers really took advantage of the Open Room activity, staying in the rooms of the other wing. The upperclass group roamed around in the afternoon, and so did the Lampirong Boys. The event had to end at 8 PM, though. Some of the people who took advantage of the remaining time spent it by having a mini-party at Room 22, and who could ever forget the disco in Room 25, with the lights off, people dancing, and Kuya Azin doing “the mix”? Truly, this activity is one of the favorites of the dormers at date.

8:30 PM, the dormers were called to the Lobby for the awarding ceremony. The room which had the most awards for the Boys’ Wing was Room 24, and for the Girls’ Wing, Room 3. Everyone wished that everyday could be Open Room, because truly, it was an enjoyable one. But, this event is just a preparation for an even major event- the Open House! J