Accidentally in 'business'

IN THE morning of Feb. 9, I called the people at Smart to inform them that I had decided to stick to our usual accommodation at Casa Amaparo and won’t be using the hotel room they booked for me.

Well, it didn't turn out the way I planned it.




Funny how things went because about a few hours later, we turned Room 322 into an impromptu facepainting room that the front desk were puzzled by the so many phone-in inquiries.

“I heard there’s facepainting in the hotel, where is it? How much?” were just a few of the questions the puzzled desk had to answer.

It started innocently enough, though.


After I transferred to the room at Planta, I immediately called Smart to request them if photographer Ruel Rosello could join me.

Thankfully, they said yes

The night before, we planned to have the facepainting session done in West Inn, where the Pascuals were staying but since there was enough room for a football team at Planta, we decided to transfer the session there.

What was supposed to a session for the Pascuals, Graeme Mackinnon and me, turned into an open affair after somebody posted on facebook that we were facepainting.


When I got down to the lobby, with facepaint and blue wig and all, a harried receptionist approached me.

“Sir, are you the one doing the face painting?”

To be honest, I got apprehensive that they might “gently remind” me that I couldn’t have that many people in the room.

So, I just said yes.

She asked if we had a sponsor or whether we were doing it on our own.

I said we were just doing it with friends.

“Can anyone just join?”

I said, “Ha?”

“We are getting a lot of inquiries about the facepainting session and we have no idea. Is it OK if we will just tell them to proceed to your room?”

I said, sure, “as long as there’s still paint, available”

And that started it. Before long, a few folks were marching in, wanting to be face painted. We even had to turn a group of five folks away because we were already leaving for Panaad when they got in.

All in all, it was an amazing experience, though. And Ruel, who did all the facepainting, became an instant artist.

How many customers did Ruel have in that manic two-hour session?

Well, let me say if Ruel charged P200 for every “customer,” we could have paid for the room Smart gave me.

But that's what's great about Pinoy football fans. They don't ask, "what can I get from this," but ask, "What can I do to help the sport.

In our case, it was getting into the "facepainting business," accidentally.

Click facepainting to check video.

Facepainting