Happy Six Months, My Love

This song will always resonate in our hearts.
I love you, Rocky.
Happy Six Months.

Owning Your Valentine's Day Baduyness

Today is Valentine's Day, which is probably the best day for being Baduy. 

There's nothing to be ashamed of. The things that you do on any other day of the year may seem overly corny and cheesy to most, but today it's par for the course. A lot of people are being baduy today - you can see it with the numerous bouquets clutched tightly to their chests, the goofy grins as people wait for their loved ones and all the cheesy love songs.

But the key to being truly baduy isn't just doing what is expected. This is more than the "traditional" gestures and all that. What is more important is that you fully own your baduyness and make it your own. You need to rely on the things that are most important to you and your loved one and no one else. That's when it really counts.

Before We Leave 2011...

Hey 2011,

It's been a pretty awesome year for me and Tobie and we're really, really thankful for all the awesomeness that came our way. And this seems a good a time as any to make sure we count our blessings and remind ourselves of all the reasons this year was great.

This year marked our first two years of being together as a couple, which is something pretty awesome to consider. It actually feels like we've been together a heck of a lot longer, but who's counting really? All I know is that I remain forever thankful that we found one another and we continue to become better people because of the support we give one another.

This year we also visited Manila Ocean Park for the first time, and it was a pretty spectacular experience. I'm glad that we have a facility like this here in the country and I'm looking forward to future explorations of other educational experiences like this.

Despite quirks with the scheduling, we also had a killer time at the "Almost White Party" with the rest of our friends at Malate. Plus we had these really cool Patapon shirts made that really added some character to the night's festivities.

This is also the year that we fulfilled a major bucket list item in terms of finally getting to see Kylie Minogue live in concert. Best of all, we didn't even have to leave the country to see her since she finally came to Manila!

2011 is also the year that Tobie and bought a star together, or more specifically a galaxy as a way of showing our support for The Mind Museum. And it's the Mice System, which naturally reminded us of Muab'Dib from Dune.

This was the year that we finally took a trip together out of the country and best of all it was to Singapore! Not only did I get to spend more time with my sister, but we also got to watch The Lion King musical, had an awesome time at Universal Studios Singapore and got to see a lot of great exhibits at the ArtScience Museum and other places around the country. And this definitely won't be the last - we're scheduled to go back this January to watch Wicked!

And as if getting to see Kylie Minogue wasn't enough, this year we also got to see Jason Mraz live in concert as well and again it was right here in Manila. I doubt we'll ever be able to fully explain why two of our favorite artists who have played such a big role in our lives would visit the country in the same year. But we're definitely not complaining.

And lastly there was this year's Pride March, which was the second time that Tobie and I were able to march together as a couple. Plus we got those "I Want a Marriage Too" pins that make for really fun accessories.

This is all just a taste of what made 2011 amazing for us as a couple and I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us. As always we remain thankful for all those who have been a part of why this year has been amazing ranging from our good friends who enjoy O Bar with us, the geeks who juggle their schedules just so that we can enjoy tabletop RPGs together well into the wee hours of the night and to all the others who continue to support us as a geeky couple.

2011 was awesome and I hope that you guys take the time to remember all the great things that made the year special for you as well. After all, there's nothing wrong with being a bit more positive in your outlook towards life - it's always worth it to be proudly baduy after all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

Thoughts While Alone One December Eve

Christmas is just around the corner.  2012 tip-toes ever closer with each passing day.  I just finished cleaning up the bedroom and putting in some new bed sheets and opted to check online if rOckY made it to work okay.

Admittedly, there's always a small part of me that feels worried when he heads off for work.  Given the lateness of the hour, the prevalence of poverty in the country, and the questionable trust-worthiness of even the police force, I always have a small part of me that juggles unwanted fears the moment he leaves the Sietch.  Then again, I always did have a paranoid mind.  (You can ask rOckY about how my brain is getting all messed up by Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles! HEhhehhe!)

Bi-la Kaifa

Last year things were far worse.
Fears circled around me like a shark that was struggling to survive.  Insecurities bobbed around and mingled with happy memories.  There was the pain of dealing with the loss of a friend, and the difficulties of knowing whether or not things were going to be better work-wise, financially, and even in terms of my family.  But even through the roughest waters and the murkiest moments, Rocky reminded me of his presence in my life and anchored me to the truth of the matter:  We were together and we were going to survive anything together.

And now, a few scant weeks left before the last year of the world (according to so many doomsayers who misinterpret the Mayan beliefs) I am sitting at the Sietch typing up a blog post with a smile on my face.  The journey with  rOckY in my life continues to be blessed with so many wonderful moments and enveloped with a love so great it reaches out and touches if not changes others as well.  Everything from the small stuff like supporting me in finishing my (often ignored) online comic Diliman, to encouraging each other to reach for our dreams of writing and publishing our own work, to celebrating our geekdoms and filling our flat with Transformers, books, graphic novels, video games, board games and all these other things that so many others would call junk.

Boracay!  Second only to... Puerto Galera!

We've learned to cook and have constantly been challenging ourselves to try new recipes, as well as encouraging each other to try new things.  We've traveled both within the country and out of it, and watched musicals and plays that we've longed to see.   We've been even further blessed with the opportunities to watch Jason Mraz and Kylie Minogue on the very same year - a miracle I must admit, given how we loved both of their music and how important their songs have been in shaping who we are.  And of course, there's being supported fully in my decision to finally come out to my family, as well as our joint determination to be more active and vocal in the push for Equality by attending the annual Gay Pride March, as well as taking part in other activities when we can.

Someday, we will have our turn.

Rare is there a day or night that passes without  rOckY  or I finding the urge to tell the other how happy we are.  Rarer still a moment we don't find ourselves smiling at one another.

It ain't perfect.  Seriously, is there anything really and truly perfect out there anyway?
But man, this is so close to perfect it seems insane.

I originally wanted to write this merely as a small update on my garapata blog, but now I realize I best post this in BaduyPride.com instead.  Admittedly, I have my moments where I feel it is "wrong" to be this happy.  Moments where I find myself unnecessarily thinking, "Others might say I'm bragging."  Or as they say here in Manila, "Nagpaparinig."  (Saying something loud to be intentionally overheard.)  But I guess whenever there's a happy person out there saying his joy, there will always be naysayers who will try to pull that person down  for reasons they will probably never admit.

It is amazing to realize how much my life has changed ever since rOckY chose to be part of mine.   And wonderful to remember how there was a time I only knew him through www.multiply.com and told myself, "This guy... I wonder if I'd ever get to know him."  Or how many times I told myself that friendship was enough.  Friendship was all we were going to share.

It is not often one realizes how happy one gets to be oh so wrong.

Mwwwaaaaaaaah!

Today is December 14.  Eleven days from Christmas.   Seventeen days to the end of the year.  With a long life spent together ahead of us, I anxiously await for the chance to celebrate each and every single day with you, rOckY.  And I will always be thankful for every single day that such an opportunity exists.  And if the world does indeed end next year, then so be it.  Let the meteors come and smash everything to pieces.  Let the earthquakes roar and grind the cities to dust.  Let the oceans rise, let the forests burn, let the sun breath a cosmic gamma ray to burn the planet to a crisp.  Let the bombs fall.  Let the aliens invade and win.  Let the angels descend with their trumpets and hymns.

Let the whole world end and take away everything we enjoy, everything we hate, and everything else in between.

At least I'm ending it with a life absolutely well-lived thanks to you.
I love you, rOckY!

Gosh, this was so long ago.
But yeah I feel the same even today.

Rhythm follows a pattern...

...and for us, that pattern seems to be love.
Music has always touched people emotionally in ways that may seem strange or magical.
This has never been more true than for me than with rOckY.  

Any of you readers who frequent this blog, or mine other blogs, or rOckY's LJ or Geeky Guide would probably be familiar with how much this year has been a special one for us.   But were you aware of how special it also was in a musical level?

Kylie.  Jason Mraz.  In the Heights.  From each of those artists is at least one song that we truly deeply love.  And as fate would have it, we would be able to watch all three of them each in a massive performance for us to enjoy.   Kylie and Jason Mraz would somehow happen to both decide to hold a concert in the Philippines (and just next door to boot!) and within the same year, a local production of In the Heights would be staged almost as if to remind me of the time when one of their songs marked an important moment in our lives.

Most of you might not even be aware of how music was a constant force that helped us remember the love we shared even back in the earlier days before we got together.  I will always cherish the anecdote how one morning, I happened to wake up with a weird last-song-syndrome still in my head.  I vaguely remembered dreaming of the Garfield and Friends song and posted it as a status message, only for rOckY to inform me that morning that he had chosen that song as well for his blog.    Then there those moments that a song we kinda pegged for a time as "our song" kept being played even in a CD-R filled with over 200 mp3 songs worth of music that was set at Random.    I will also recall those times when we'd hear the song play while we were at McDonalds and the like almost out-of-the-blue.   (Maybe we should have a post about our "wavelength" moments too soon.)



Then, there were the smaller moments that I personally still hold special as well.  Such as when Ingrid Michaelson, who song The Way I Am reflected a lot of how I felt for rOckY, held a mini-online concert which I was able to record for him.  Or how Musicals have once again returned to be part of my life, with rOckY sharing that moment with me when he let me finally watch Into The Woods in full in his arms (you can watch it in full here too), or how he introduced me to The Origin of Love from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which has very much made me realize how special our feelings for each other truly are.    There was also him getting me hooked on Spring Awakening, which to our luck had a local staging as well.

And (as of this blog post) we have us finally catching The Lion King at Singapore, Marina Bay Sands for his birthday and tickets for the upcoming musical, Wicked, this January.   We also have DJ Zymon at O Bar Ortigas who always spoils us by playing a few Kylie songs on nights that we are there.   Then there are the O Divas who perform songs we love.  More and more, music wraps around us and reminds us of how magical and special our relationship continues to be.

I must admit, I look forward to how else it will in the many years to come.

Another Musical Milestone

These geeks will be with the Geek in the Pink on October 30!

Jason Mraz FTW!

Jason Mraz is coming to Manila!

And just when we thought this year couldn't get any more perfect.... we were able to watch Kylie perform and sing our favorite songs, and fly to Singapore to bond with my partner's sister and watch The Lion King, and have enough funds to map out a flight come January to watch Wicked, and have tickets to catch the local staging of In The Heights...

Jason Mraz is having a concert.



Jason FUCKING Mraz.

Jason Mraz' songs have been very instrumental in allowing me and Rocky to voice out our feelings for one another back when we were living in lives that required us to censor our own words.  To have him have a concert in the Philippines is just a godsend.

We're definitely getting tickets.

I guess life really does just fall into place when you find the person you are meant to be with.

I'm Yours, Rocky.
Absolutely.