This Is How To Raise A Geek Kid

As I was going through my Google Reader feed, I came across this io9 feature about WanderMonster, a blog that started out as a travel blog and is now pretty much dedicated to these adorable little comics created by father and son team Rob and Ben.

The premise behind the comics is pretty simple. Every day since Ben was in kindergarten, his father Rob would leave a piece of paper attached to the lid of his lunch box with a partially completed comic like this:

She couldn't wait to get home from work so she could...

And when Ben came home from school it became this:

...turn Cthulhu into a cyborg

Totally brilliant, right? And this adorable little 8 year old knows about Cthulhu! Here's another Cthulhu strip:

I'm not afraid of Cthulhu, because...

...I know his dad's phone number

And this kid has serious geek cred mind you. Check out one more:

The circus strongman...

...loves to ride on his buck tooth wampa

Yes, he just said Wampa. Like from Star Wars. And the rest of the pieces are littered with references to LEGO, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings and other great stuff such as space pigs, cyborg beavers and Dr. Chicken.

This father is amazingly inspiring and I can only hope that Tobie and I can manage half as well in how he's raised his kid to be creative, confident and geeky should we ever get to adopt or somehow have a child of our own. This is such an amazing way to engage one's child in a manner that allows him to express himself freely, celebrate his passions and ultimately just have some fun with a parent. It's rare that you encounter a father this engaged in his son's life in a manner that is amazingly memorable. Totally brilliant.

So kudos to you Rob Kimmel! Keep up the awesome work and we all look forward to the kind of amazing guy Ben is bound to grow up to be. You guys are just stellar.

Note: I do not claim copyright over any of the images posted in this entry - they are merely for commentary / celebration of Rob and Ben's awesomeness. Show them some love by checking out the rest of their Lunch Posts at WanderMonster or follow them on Twitter via the username wandermonster.

Sietch Life: Seeing Signs In Breakfast

Yesterday's big mushy Baduy Pride moment:

...realizing that the eggs in your backed corned beef hash sort of look like a heart. 

Can you see it? 

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.

The 2011 Manila Pride March

Last December 3 marked the date of this year's annual Manila Pride March, which typically takes place on the first Saturday of December. It's a great event for celebrating LGBT diversity in the Philippines, even if the timing feels a bit weird.

There's a lot of lore behind the march that tries to explain why it happens in December instead of June (which it used to). The most common answer has more to do with the fact that June is the height of the rainy season and more often than not it leads to the parade being rained out. So moving it to December has remained to be a generally more practical alternative plus it coincides with AIDS Awareness month here in the Philippines.

This is my third-ever march and my second together with Tobie. When we became a couple, the Pride March was one of our first activities together that involved being this public about our sexuality and being a couple and we've enjoyed the experience ever since. It's a shame that last year we weren't able to march together since a family trip to Singapore kept Tobie out of the country at the time.

Two years ago we purchased our rainbow pendants as a sort of memento of that first march. This year we bought matching "I WANT A MARRIAGE TOO" pins, that were rather cute even if slightly awkward in phrasing. If anything, they certainly sent the right message.

In years past we've ended up joining other friends by marching with the party list group LADLAD. This year was different since it was the first time that our friends from the Pinoy G4M forum marched as an organization as well. I gave us an alternative group to march with, one that included a lot more of our friends. Plus a few of our close (yet non-forum) friends also joined us for the march this year, although in hindsight I regret not having taken photos of the actual group.

Then again, I barely took any photos since we were too busy having fun - and this was despite the small turnout of religious protesters trying to get us to turn away from our life of sin. Funny that. I did take a few videos though - I felt that it was a better way to capture the experience a bit more compared to just still images.

It was a long and somewhat tiring march, but I don't think we really felt the physical fatigue at the time. We were marching for very important reasons, all to do with the importance of LGBT rights, the fight for equality and our call to end gender discrimination. And it was also a clear reminder that the pink community is very much alive and thriving in the country and we remain to be a legitimate group that deserves equal treatment and better representation in government.

I could go into a bunch of different stories and anecdotes about what made the march memorable such as the creative ways some of the marchers dealt with the religious protesters - one of my favorite examples is the image to the right. Or I could go on and on discussing the even crazier jokes and antics our group got into as we marched, which was a big part of the reason why we didn't feel tired at all.

In the end, what made this year's Manila Pride march so different was not the general turnout (which was rather good) or how crazy some of the signs and placards were. More than all that, it felt amazingly empowering to be marching with people who were near and dear to our hearts - our friends who had taken the time to join us for the event regardless of how simple it was.

It really means a lot to me (and Tobie too, I'm sure) that a number of our good friends took to the streets that day. We can only hope that more of our friends join us during next year's march and the many marches to come given how important it is that we continue to send a strong message to our government and to the country at large about how relevant we are and how at the end of the day we're people too - people who deserve the right to love whomever we choose to.

So a belated Happy Pride, to you readers! Hope to see you at next year's march!

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.