Top 10: Dating A Choirboy

I first joined a choir when I was a freshman in college. Since then, I've joined about five choirs. I also lived with some choirmates for six months. Like with any other set of people, living with and dating choirboys has its own intricacies.


Top Ten Tips When Dating A Choirboy

10.
Be prepared to hear a concert (with vocalization and a full repertoire) every time he steps into the shower.

9.
Every choirboy has an inner Simon Cowell and will critique every singer when watching American Idol, ASAP, Party Pilipinas, Showtime, etc. Just let him say his piece. It will physically hurt him if he doesn’t let it out.

8.
In connection with number 9, it will be good if you can acquaint yourself with some terms he uses. That way, you can appreciate it when he says that Sarah Geronimo has a strong mid register but should place her high notes more towards her head. Or that Yeng Constantino can’t do a proper legato.

7.
On the other hand, if he asks you if you liked how a singer or a choir performed a song, a simple “Yes, I did” or “No, I didn’t” will do. Do not attempt to give a technical critique. Unless, of course, you are a singer yourself.

6.
He will sing in his faux-soprano voice a lot, especially coloratura arias. It won’t matter that his voice is several octaves short; he will still try to whistle out those notes from Magic Flute, The Flower Duet and Diva Dance. Just bear with it.

5.
Do not expect him to make you proud in videoke sessions. Pop songs require a different technique from choral music. Or so he will say.

4.
If he has an upcoming performance, try not to smoke, drink cold water or eat cake when he is looking. But once the concert is over, treat him to ice cream.

3.
Do not mock him when he vocalizes, no matter how weird it might sound to you. He will take it personally.

2.
Buy earphones for yourself. They will come in handy, especially during concert season.

1.
Sing for him. It won’t matter if you hit all the wrong notes as long as he sees that you made an effort to practice. Choirboys spend a lot of time rehearsing and singing songs for other people. He’ll appreciate it if someone sings for him for a change.


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Talent Portion

And I'm still not in the mood to write, so why don't I just share my "talent" with you guys?

Here are songs I recorded acapella in my laptop. I made them last month, one night when I was bored and had nothing better to do.



Art of Letting Go



I Can't Make You Love Me



So Sick




What was that?


More?


Well, if you insist.



Here is a bonus track. This is me and my friend singing the English version of our high school hymn.




If you want to listen to me sing an entire song, I have one in my previous blog: Kanta: Tensionado. That one was recorded in a videoke place while I was buzzed.

So, is anyone up for videoke? =P

Chat

(2:14) K: Do you think you will be friends one day?

(2:15) W: Probably not.

(2:15) K: Wow.

(2:16) W: It might be better that we shared only intense feelings.

(2:16) W: Intense love, intense hate...

(2:17) W: I'd rather not have that replaced by plain "friendship".

(2:17) K: Remember this day and remember what you said.

(2:17) K: It would be interesting to see if you still feel the same way a decade from now.

(2:25) W: I often wonder if he's as hung up as I still am.

(2:25) W: I hope he is. To make things fair.

(2:26) K: Ah, and there it goes.

(2:26) K: The "I want you to be as unhappy as I am" stage.

(2:26) W: Yeah. I know, it's so immature. But I can't help it.

(2:27) K: It's okay. I mean, you cant fastforward the way you think.

(2:35) K: Do you want him to be unhappy?

(2:35) W: *sigh* No, I want him to be happy.

(2:35) W: I guess I just can't handle the possibility that I no longer have a place in his heart.

(2:36) W: Him being unhappy means I'm still there.

(2:36) K: What you had was beautiful. And when something that beautiful is suddenly gone, the emptiness it leaves behind can be scary.

(2:36) K: And sometimes, you want to ask: if what we had meant to him as much as what it meant to me, how can he be okay?

(2:37) K: He's not supposed to be okay, because I'm not.

(2:37) K: Fuck.

(2:41) K: I've seen him. He seems happy.

(2:41) W: Yeah, he does.

Cebu - Bohol Trip Pictures

Too lazy to write a decent entry. Or even a complete sentence. So I'm just going to post some pictures from our Cebu-Bohol trip.

DAY 1 - CEBU

 Sto. Niño Basilica

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Well, not exactly. This was the museum at the back of the church. We couldn't take pictures in the church because mass was going on.

Fort San Pedro

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My teammate's camra had a remote. We set the tripod up, posed and clicked away.

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And yes, I was the one holding the remote.

Chikaan (SM Cebu)

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We wanted to eat lunch in CNT but they were already out of lechon when we got there (which was around 1pm), so we decided to eat in Chikaan instead. Food was okay. I would still have preferred tasting Cebu lechon.

Taoist Temple

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I didn't like the idea of visiting two places of worship in a single day, but the location was nice. The dragons were cute too.

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And so were the dragon-worshippers.

CENDET Dorm

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After taking in every bit of the scenery in the Taoist temple, we decided to go back to our dormitory and freshen up before going on with the tour.

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And yes, Hayme, those are all mine.

Crown Regency Sky Walk

This was probably the highlight of our entire day, the part we were all dreading.

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A little picture-picture before we face the inevitable.

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Halfway through the walk. One of us was too chicken to join so he just volunteered to stay inside and take pictures. It was a good thing he did. The pictures of the official photographer cost PhP230 each.

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Proud survivors of the Sky Walk. Nobody backed out! Haha!

Larsian

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By nightfall, everyone's body and wallet were already exhausted so our Cebuano friend brought us to Larsian for dinner. It was like Banchetto but with tables and a roof. And the food was really affordable.

DAY 2 - BOHOL

Bohol Port

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The Japanese tourist and the local girls. Lol. It was a shame we didn't take pictures of the sea. The water was clear. And there were fish for crying out loud. The place was insanely clean for a port.

Chocolate Hills

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 And we finally saw those hills that we only saw in pictures.

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WACKY!

Bilar Man-made Forest

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I wanted to go higher but the rain left the ground too slippery. Everyone was quiet at first because our tour guide said funny things happened to noisy groups here. Like their heads shrunk in pictures and...well, actually that was all she told us. We managed to stay quiet for the first two of the twenty minutes we stayed there.

Lunch With River Cruise

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Rio Verde Floating Resto entrance. Notice how there's a gap between me and the girl to my left. We sort of had an argument in the van on the way here.

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Emo-ing in Loboc River. I was still stressed over the argument. Lol. Such a brat.

Baclayon Church

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The people behind me were preparing for some kind of photo shoot. Their model looked like Morticia Adams.

Prony

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It was a shame, Prony was preparing to molt so she was inactive. And the owner was out of town so we couldn't go in. We got to see Marimar perform though, so it was still okay somehow.

Blood Compact

I thought we were going to the actual site of the blood compact that happened centuries ago. I was all amazed at how they figured out where it happened. But apparently, it was just a recreation, which made me wonder why we went there. Nevertheless, being the cam-whore that I was...

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The one holding the camera was already counting when someone yelled at me to grab something because Honey (the girl on the left. Yes, there's a girl on the left) was holding the cup. Napakapit na lang ako sa sandata nung Kastila.

Bohol Bee Farm

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The Buzzz Ice Cream. I suppose the third 'z' gets rid of any patent issues. I had Malunggay + Pagong (Nipa fruit) combo.

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Tongue out!

DAY 3 - BOHOL + CEBU

Panglao

We finally got to see the beach on our third day. We didn't have enough time left for the sea tours, though, so we just contented ourselves with swimming.

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The one with sunglasses is our company nurse. We were in good hands. =D

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Me doing my Titanic/Stigmata pose again. The beach was beautiful, but as usual, I wasn't too thrilled about it because we have one in my hometown, just an hour away from our house. (yabangan portion)

Ayala

We traveled back to Cebu at around 11am. Then we ate in Ayala. I forgot the name of the restaurant but the food was great. They had baby back ribs for less than two hundred pesos.

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My shirt says "HORNY yes i am".

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One of our last photos in Cebu.

Upcoming trips:

• Caramoan on April 8. Company outing.
• Lucban on May15 for the Pahiyas.
• Puerto Galera. Either on Holy Week or the week before that. It will be my first time. =D
• Bacolod on July. Honey's home town.
• Davao on August 28. I was intending to go to Kadayawan but I'm still not sure if August 28 is included. Anyway, if it's not, I'll just go home.

I'll Be On Vacation This Weekend. Yay.

Our team at work is going to Cebu and Bohol this weekend, from Saturday (March 12) night to Tuesday (March 15) afternoon. We booked our flights last year during one of Cebu Pacific’s Piso Fare promos. Yes, we waited a year for this and we all very excited about it.

Can you feel my excitement?

I am very excited.

We’ll be touring Cebu all day on the 13th. One of my teammates' boyfriend is from Cebu so we have a free tour guide. Then we'll probably be partying at night. Hah! I wonder how the gimik scene in Cebu is.

We will head straight to Bohol on Monday. It will be everyone's first time there so we had to get a tour package. This is the itinerary of the one that we got:

March 14, 2010 (Monday)
        Arrival in Bohol
        Arrival in Tagbilaran City
        Fetch at the airport
        Land tour proper (11 spots, possible itineraries not in order)
            Bohol blood compact
            Baclayon church (the oldest coral stone church in the Philippines)   
            Python encounter
            Buffet lunch with free river cruise
            Tarsier encounter (the smallest primate in the world)
            Chocolate hills
            Bilar man-made forest (little Baguio)
            Delicacy tasting
            Nipa weaving
            Bolo making
            Miraculous well of Mary
        Buffet lunch with free river cruise
        After the tour, drop to resort
           
March 15, 2010 (Tuesday)
        6:00 am Sea tour proper:
            Dolphin watching Pamilacan island
            Island hopping at balicasag island and virgin island also called Pontod       
        After the tour, back to resort

       
I have absolutely no idea if that's a good list.

Anyway, the biggest reason for my overflowing excitement is our projected expenses. My teammates did some math and came up with Php 8,000. Yeah, that's like the money I get every payday. That's ten days worth of work. Meh. I was totally unprepared for that and was only able to set aside Php 3,000. Demet.

There’s only one thing I can do now:

Pick up phone.

Go to messages.

Compose new message.

“Ma, pwede pautang? =)”


If anyone is free for a meet-up, please do tell me. I'd like to meet Cebunao bloggers. If you’re interested, send me an email or leave your email address in the comments section and I’ll send you my number. =)


Spiral, hunting-on tika pag dili ka magpakita. Bantay ra gyud ka.

The Day I Stopped Believing

The sun looked beautiful as it strained to touch the horizon. The warmth of its last rays was slowly being overpowered by the cool wind of the approaching night. I looked at the sun directly as the ship pulled away from the harbour.

A sunset seemed to be a perfect punctuation to my life. I had just recently come to accept that I was gay. I just ended my relationship with the first guy I entrusted my heart to, a “relationship” that lasted two weeks. The semester had just ended with me failing every subject. And now, I’m on my way to the province where I will spend the next semester at home, with my mother probably spending the next six months trying to fix me.

My life was falling apart.

Everyone was telling me that things will work themselves out. Things will get better; I just have to pray. I just have to talk to God and rekindle the fire that once burned so fiercely in my heart, and that fire will purge the darkness that has consumed me.

I gazed at the sun, now halfway hidden, breathed in the salty air and closed my eyes.

God, I used to be so in love with you. I surrendered my every day to you. You were my master and my friend. And I was happy.

I don’t blame you for what happened to me. No, not at all. Every single one of my problems is of my own doing. So is every single thing that I have accomplished.  They were not brought by your hands but by mine. I understand that now.

Tonight, I will rest. I will sleep and forget about everything. Then tomorrow, when I wake up, I will start to take back the life that I had surrendered. Tomorrow, I will decide on how I will live my life.

Your people claim to be driven by love, yet I have only seen judgement and hate cloaked as what they call “love”. The love that they believe in has rules. The “God” they believe in is not a god of love but a god of endless vanity. If a god really exists, he will not be like the one they believe in.

This will be my last prayer. This is the last time I give in to the tradition that I grew up to. With everything that I going on in my life, it is very tempting to put my fate in someone else’s hands. But I won’t. I will get through this without believing in anyone but myself, my family and my friends. They are all that I need.

But just in case you do exist, then reach out to me. Show me that you really are a god of love. They say that you will leave the rest of your flock to look for one lost sheep. If that is true then come and find me. I am right here.

I opened my eyes and wiped the tears that had fallen from them. The sun had already left. The sky was now filled with the thousand stars conquering the darkness. I looked up and wept as I marvelled at their beauty.