New look. New attitude. New experiences.
Honestly, I had been neglecting this blog the past few weeks because of my awfully hectic schedule. Work had Read more
Heaven is where the cooks are French, the police are British, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and everything is organized by Read more
The other week, my self-esteem was crushed by a small piece of paper.
I was fixing my bag outside a convenience store in Tagaytay City when somebody gave me a piece of paper with a short note on it. Without looking at the stranger and the paper, I pocketed the note and expected the guy to leave me alone. Unfortunately for me, he was there for business.
“Massage, sir? I can massage you, sir, while you’re here in Tagaytay,” the stranger said.
“No, thanks,” I declined. “I’m on my way back to Manila.” I was still busy trying to put all the pasalubongs into my backpack.
“I also do business in Manila, sir,” the stranger insisted.
“What’s wrong with me?” cried Celine, a friend and colleague. Moments earlier, she mastered the art of using all the functional muscles on her face to signal that there was a hot, goodlooking male behind me. Drowning in excitement and a deadly sin, she watched the guy behind me like she was ready to mate.
“Yeah, he was behind me in the queue earlier. He’s tall. He smelled really nice.” I told her. “And he’s gay.”
“No, he’s not.” First stage of grief, denial.
“Don’t you sense it?” I added. “Look at their body language, Celine. The other guy is his boyfriend.”
“Really? That‘s his boyfriend?”
I nodded.
“Really?! THAT GUY??! With THAT face?” Second stage of grief, anger.
Last Sunday afternoon, October 24, 2010, members of Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA), along with their friends and supporters, came together at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles to work on a project. They were to touch lives with the best way they knew — singing. That afternoon, they produced this incredible video.
I must say, I haven’t cried this much in front of my computer monitor. And I’m in the office for crying out loud. I am moved by this. You can say whatever you want about the song but it expresses perfectly what they wish to send across. It gave me goosebumps. It made me reflect on my own life and realize how lucky I am to get through the worst stages of my life and all the hardships in it. It is true; it gets better.
Sometimes, music does things to us. And kudos to the members of GMCLA and everyone who took part in this inspiring endeavor for spreading the word in a way most people would respond to — music. I’m pretty sure this video is going to change and save lives.
The video is going viral as I write. But another amazing video went viral over the weekend. This one, feistier, catchier, funnier but gets the message through nevertheless.
I’m just not sure about the idea of kids saying “Fuck,” but I like the video. It’s very radical and sometimes that’s all you need to get attention and get everyone to listen. Last week it only had some tens of thousands of views on Youtube but when I checked just 5 minutes ago it’s now way above the million views mark! Good job, FCKH8!
This is an interesting and challenging yet important time for gay people and I believe this is the time to address gay issues. I mean, really address them. Not just gay marriage but also the alarming suicide statistics among gay youths.
Sometimes when we feel so alone and sad, all we need to do is look around us. Many times, the things that will make us happy and forget all our problems for a moment are just around the corner, written or posted on a wall somewhere.
I was organizing my gallery when I stumbled upon some old photos that really made me ROTL. I took these pictures at different places across the country and with the intention of blogging about them but they kind of slipped my mind. Good thing I love organizing files in my laptop.
PLEASE BEAR WITH US LITERALLY
First up, there’s a building being constructed near Shangri-La’s Chi spa in Mandaluyong. My friends and I were passing by on the way to El Pueblo when we noticed this very cute advisory. Loveth.
TOUCH ME NOT
The next picture was taken at a souvenir shop in Vigan.
In case you can’t read what’s written in the picture, it says, “H’wag hawakan, LUMALAKI.” (Do not touch. Grows bigger when touched.)
Thank you, Lord, for this food we are about to receive from Thy bounty. May we use it to nourish our bodies, and thee to nourish our souls. Make us ever more mindful of the needs of others, and the needs of our planet. Amen.
It’s not a secret that I love Sam Milby. I don’t care about what other people say about his acting skills (or to some, the lack thereof). I just love him. (And by “him,” I mean his body and all that comes with it, wahaha). I blogged about his Bench Blackout billboard here and now I’m blogging about him again.
When I first heard he left Bench, I was pretty upset. Not that I like the brand, I just couldn’t believe I won’t be seeing sexy, topless pictures of him plastered along EDSA. But when I found out he jumped to Folded & Hung, the agony ceased. I was ecstatic knowing there could be more daring billboards of him, considering how F&H rules the billboard arena. Sam Milby is my one way ticket to hell. Or to death, supposing lust is indeed a deadly sin. *drops dead*
It just dawned on me how difficult it could be to be a Folded and Hung endorser, given that your female counterpart is Angel Locsin, who is also oozing with sex appeal. Angel is that one thing that keeps the “straight” in me alive. But then, looking at this almost nude Sam Milby photo again, that little “straight” thing I have left inside me has just died. Bwahahaha.
I was just about to post the third part of the Top 25 Local TV Shows I Miss when I noticed a Facebook message from my former boss based in Victoria, Canada. The mail contained a link to one of the lists I produced while working with her — Top 10 Signs that Your Boyfriend is Gay. This post was cross-posted to Crunkish.com, where it received a couple of comments that somewhat challenge my morals. Haha. They go:
Honestly, I just don’t know what to say to them. I feel sorry but I think I have made it clear in that entry’s introduction that these signs are not absolute.
…You have to remember, however, that these signs are a bit stereotypical. These are not absolute. If you see these signs on your boyfriend, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he is gay or bisexual. Not seeing these signs doesn’t mean that he is not, either. Again, playing detective is a tricky business….
I’m still trying to come up with a polite, apologetic reply. I think that’s proper.
But there’s another comment that made me LOL.
That made me feel a bit better!
Gaaah. Anyway, before my conscience finally convinces me to believe that I am a bad person, I should go back to writing the rest of the Top 25 Pinoy defunct TV programmes that I miss. Or perhaps I should start announcing Yoshke.com’s BLOGSOF THEYEAR.
“Lahat na lang ba ng gwapo ngayon ay bading? Wala na bang straight na cute ngayon?” A friend was hysterical (I think) when she asked me this through Multiply. She was starting to doubt the sexuality of the guy she had been flirting with.
In fact, the two posts have been viewed about 3000 times already since I installed the views counter plugin just last week. The post ranks third on my Most Viewed Entries. The keywords “signs your boyfriend is gay” has been my top referrer since I posted it in 2006.
It makes me wonder how many women in the world actually find their partner’s gender dubious. Haha. But I thank these people for the significant fraction of my 408,000 hits since December 2006. I just hope they click the ads, haha.
July this year, QTV‘s Sunday evening show ANG PINAKA featured the same topic. Just that they counted down the familiar signs that your husband is gay. Here it is.
ANG PINAKA FAMILIAR SIGNS THAT YOUR HUSBAND IS GAY
10. shifty eyes on your honeymoon
09. you’re always more sexually aggressive than your husband.
08. your husband’s a diva fanatic!
07. your husband picks out the clothes he wants you to wear!
06. your husband is too vain for comfort!
05. he has an underwear fetish!
04. he is a beauty pageant freak!
03. he keeps souvenirs from gay bars and saves sexy men’s photos and gaysites in his computer!
02. numbers of gay escorts appear in his cellphone bills!
01. he’s extremely homophobic!
Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that they ripped this off of this blog, but the similarities are striking.
What I’m pointing out here is that now, that list I came up with two years ago finally got some sort of credibility. Haha.
I was startled by these ridiculous words from my friend Chemae. We were walking back to the cottage at a resort in my hometown in Batangas. The conversation went like this:
Yoshke: Well, that remaining 20% makes me totally gay. 1% can make someone gay, you know. Chemae: I think in time, you’ll go straight again. Yoshke: You think so? I doubt that. Chemae: Aila (our common friend) warned me about you. Yoshke: Warned you about me? Chemae: She thinks you’re just pretending to be gay when you are really straight.
Yoshke: Even after Daniel (not his real name; an ex-officemate and ex-boyfriend)? She didn’t buy the whole Daniel-Yoshke thing? Chemae: Apparently not.
It’s funny. I don’t know how many people still think I’m straight when I see myself (and I know Tonet agrees) that I am already as gay as I can be. Either they’re right or they’re blind. Haha.
Aila and Chemae aren’t the only ones. In fact, I also had a similar conversation with my ex-roomie Ethan (not his real name). I’ve always considered Ethan my older brother. I call him Kuya. He’s genuinely straight like the rest of my bestfriends. And he has this “Republican” worldview going on in his head.
Ethan: When will you shape up? Yoshke: Excuse me? Ethan: That gay thing. I know it’s just a phase. Yoshke: I’m telling you this is sooo NOT just a phase. Ethan: It’s just a phase. Sooner or later you’ll come to your senses and realise everything’s just silly. And then you’ll regret it. And repent. You know, for your soul. Yoshke: What are you? A priest? And what makes you so sure? Ethan: Because I know you! This might just be one of your experiments. And even after turning gay, your dreams didn’t change. You still want to have children of your own. Yoshke: People change, Kuya. Ethan: No. They just try new things but they don’t change. Yoshke: A long time ago you said you would never have a gay friend. Here you are sharing a room with one. Ethan: That’s because I’d known you even before you became like that. And I like you. And to me you haven’t changed. Yoshke: I have.
I told Glenn (a college friend) about these conversations one night.
Yoshke: Aila, Chemae and my ex-roomie think this is just a phase and I’ll come around. Silly, right? Glenn: No. I agree with them.
Oh well. What is it with straight people that they’re so hard to convince sometimes?
I’m telling you. This is not just a phase. And even if it were, it had better be a long one because I friggin’ enjoy every minute of it. image courtesy of cartoonstock.com
On May 31, 1985, tragedy struck when 41 tornadoes hit Canada and the US, leaving 76 people dead. At the same time, a doomed couple in the Philippines were having the best orgasms of their lives. Nine months (280 days) later, a healthy baby boy was brought into this world by normal delivery. That was exactly a week before Microsoft had its initial public offering.
Today, Yoshke Dimen resides independently in Mandaluyong City. He got a degree in Film from a university in Diliman but is now pursuing a career in Social Media.
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You can reach the author by sending an email to yoshke (at) philippinebeaches.org
