BUHAY TAMBAY!

I filed almost everything I needed for me to take the PT exam, and when I pass the exam (given that I pass), there is a job waiting for me! And still I have four months to finish everything I have to do! What more can I ask for…?

What more can I ask for!?! Well, my friends and my family! That’s what!

Before, I said, “I want to go abroad to have a better life!” But now, thinking about what I said, it seems “better life” is the life with my family, the life I left in the Philippines!

My dilemma! Here it goes… as of today, I am not sure if I want to pursue this career here! I know Kuya Norman had already put out a lot for this… Financially, physically, mentally… lahat! But the thing is, I am not sure if I really do want to stay here, for reasons that I don’t know or I can’t explain… maybe because I miss my family, maybe because I don’t have friends here that I can talk to or maybe because I am just homesick? I don’t know!

It’s funny how you are granted with everything that you wanted but you are shorn of everything you need…

Help me decide… Should I grab this rare opportunity or should I take my chances and explore more options?

Should I stay or should I go… Home?

Jena, Jen, and Troy came down to San Diego to visit JC for his birthday! The day after that, we went to Westfield Mission Valley mall.  We ate, played arcade, and gala! Seeing familiar faces made me recall all the best things I experienced when I was in college! I remembered the time when Jen and I (actually all the “right wing” peeps!) will sleep through class! To stay awake, I will go to the school canteen and they will ask me to buy them food… and when I come back, 5 of my pockets are full of food and stuff. My upper right pocket is filled with candies; my chicken sandwich is in my lower right pocket. In my lower left pocket will be She’s Mocha Java and cheese burger. On my right pocket (pants) is a big bag of Mr. Chips and on my left is a ham sandwich! On top of that, may hawak pa akong bote ng mineral water! Those are some of my fun memories of my college life! And madami pa kaming pinag kwentuhan that day, if I write it down this would be a very long post!

Fun antics, good friends… Great memories!

My first time going to San Diego gay and lesbian pride festival… immediately, thoughts came popping into my head… Natatakot… Kinakabahan! Thoughts of obscene display of “gayness”… public displays of affection by men with other men as well as a women with other women, exaggerated dramas/mga kaartehan, kalandian, and kaharutan! My thoughts changed when the first thing that welcomed me into the festival was these two middle-aged women asking me to sign a petition. A petition for same–sex-marriage! Obviously, I just smiled at them (mahiyain ako eh…) anyway, while my Kuya Norman and his friends are signing the petitions, two gay couple walked by. The women then asked them to sign the petition, saying “We would like to ask for your support and sign the petition for same-sex-marriage…” and the couple said (with an “I-don’t-care-what-you’re-saying!” tone) “We are married!” snubbed the ladies and just walked away… Then what I heard was the thing that changed my perception… The lady said “Well good for you! But we’re not married! And we want to be married!” and the other lady said “I want to be with her as my wife…” The Pride festival was not about sex, not about kalandian, kaartehan and not about being gay! Well… It’s about being gay… but it’s about being gay AND being equal! Having equal rights as straight people have! Equal opportunities and no discrimination…

Gay Pride was an eye opening experience for me… first was the equality thing and the other thing is this… While we were walking to buy our drinks, we saw a mob of protestors with their plaque cards, with signs like “You (gays) will burn in hell!” “You (gays) deserve to have AIDS!”… Etc… etc… Actually lima lang sila… pero yun talaga ang naka lagay sa mga karatula nila! Sa tingin ko nga binayaran lang sila mag buhat ng karatula kasi isa lang ang nag susumigaw dun eh… back to my story… It’s very sad that people like them (I think they are church affiliated) are the people who persecute other people! Kala ko pa naman since malapit sila sa Diyos eh sila ang mas nakakaunawa… Maybe people fear what they do not know…

Tama na ang drama! About the parade! The parade was great! It stared off with Dykes on Bikes, lesbians with their big (Harley-type) bikes go wild on the road! Followed by different and I mean DIFFERENT gay and lesbian groups! From gay and lesbian Asians to Americans to Mexicans to Blacks to Greeks!?! From gay and lesbian choirs to tattoo artists to car repairs to doctors and lawyers! From gay and lesbian employees of Starbucks to the gays and lesbians in the senate! There’s so so so SO much more… Trust me, even the church has one! Here are some nice (and some naughty) pictures of the Gay Pride Weekend!