For M

I saw him one time on the streets of Mendiola and I was stunned - he was wearing nothing but ragged clothes, no shoes, and dirty with tar and grime. But he was performing there and then, with a lot of young and old on an issue affecting the Filipino workers.

He is a great ballet dancer, a choreographer and a cultural activist. Since then, he had me hooked on cultural performances. He was my idol.

This year he was supposed to come to Hong Kong to jointly lead with me the cultural department of two conferences we were arranging.

I was excited that he would. I got sad when he couldn't. I got much sadder when I knew why he couldn't.

He is HIV positive, like me. And he is in the Philippines.

Comrades and friends told me that he had lymphoma and that several procedures need to be done on him as well as a whole cabinet of medications to be provided.

Thing is, he is a full-time activist and volunteer for a cultural organization. It simply means one thing: he cannot stay any longer than 2 minutes in any Philippine hospital since everything has been privatized and a good health is tantamount to churning out a good amount of wealth.

Pag wala kang pera, maghintay ka na lang.

But I refuse to believe that people die without a fight. Amidst the sheer ignorance and the discrimination propagated by the state itself, people like M deserve to be treated with respect as well as a strong dosage of state-sponsored health service.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus debilitates one person. But the negligence of the state kills much faster.

I say this because I am here in Hong Kong getting the medications I need, due to the assertion made by people both in and out of the medical field for government attention and funding on health. I think we can do that too in the Philippines.

For now, while we are trying to fry some ideas in the back of our heads on how we are going to do this, I appeal to everyone who has read this blog post and/or knows M to help out. The comments box will be open for any suggestions or contributions. I will post a bank account in my side bar for anyone who would be willing to make any donations.

People may doubt this so I am outting myself for M. I can live through the discrimination but my friend M, he needs to live.

How to Make the Pain Go Away

More than a month ago, I visited a favorite place, by force - the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Doctors found out that my haemoglobin level was down by less than half the normal count and I would see myself, much to my chagrin, receiving one of two unwanted long ones: a needle thick enough to deflower my main vein.

For a few days there, I was experiencing pain somewhere in my body and it was hard to endure.

Until I witnessed the light, until I reached buddhistic heights. And I conquered pain.

How?

1) Intellectualize.

If pain were human, he'd be a cretin.

My head was aching, throbbing like my heart became bloated and insisted itself to sit beside my brain. And I asked:

Me: Am I feeling pain?
Pain: Yes you are.
Me: Where am I feeling it?
Pain: Here, in the brain.
Me: Left or right part?
Brain: ....

He walked out on me.

And yes, he would be male.

2) Be selfless.

You remember those jokes about all parts of the body enjoying a conversation? I did that, too.

I taught them magnanimity. And they all wanted to share in the feeling of pain.

Pain is a selfish bastard. He simply could not take it.

3) Be humble.

Accept the fact that there are things in life that are long yet unenticing.

And one simply has to take it just because.

Yes, I was talking about the second thing:

the endoscopy tube.

TAG-umpay Nating Lahat!

Simulan ba ang pagbabalik-loob sa blogosphere with a TAG?

Oo, kasi alangan namang patulan ko ang isyung race-sex sa pagtagumpay ng negritong si Obama kay jilted woman runner Hilary.

Oo, kasi alangan namang magpakadalubhasa ako sa pagdodrowing ng mga Beijing Olympics characters na sina Bei-bei, Jing Jing, Nini, Dodong at Tomtom habang nagtatampisaw sa mga Rusyanong napapadpad sa bahaging ito ng syudad Hong Kong.

Oo, kasi friend at kumare ko si Maruja. At kailangan na talagang simulan.

Kaya nung matanggap ko ang lalaking ito:Nagpakatagal muna ng konti at sinimulan. Lima sa mga fellow diarists ko ang dapat makatanggap nito at sila ay sina:

1. Rye
2. Steve
3. Jericho
4. Gibo
5. Ruff (kasi malapit na birthday nya!)

Dalawa ang pwedeng pindutin - either ang papang anarkista mula sa Venezuela o si Julio Iglesias Jr.

Pagkapindot sa kanila, gumawa na ng sariling glitterfy effect sa mudra, papa, lola or any other chorva. At i-post. And then mention 5 names na nasa blog roll mo. And let them suffer the consequences, too.




Oo na. Puro lalaki na naman ang nandito. Pero ano ang magagawa ko, kailangang magcatch ng attention. Gudbay!

Parang moda nitong glitterfy: ano ang glamorous para sa yo, ano? Mga lalaki bang me malalaking dibdib at ari? Si Gloria Diaz ba? Kahirapan? Chos.