Lahat Tayo, Nasa Araneta

          "Yung tipong, para ka laging magpeperform sa Araneta."

Kung ikaw ay napadako na sa Cubao, malamang ay nakita mo na ang Araneta Coliseum. Napakalaking gusali kung titignan mo sa labas, at mas lalo itong lumalaki pag ikaw naman ay nasa loob. Noon, maliit lng yung TV namin, madalas  ay malabo pa dahil mahina ang signal  dun sa amin sa Novaliches. Kaya pag sa TV tinignan, parang maliit lng. Pero malaki pala sa totoong buhay.

Noong 2002, naranasan kong umapak sa mismong court. Salinggawi kasi ako dati, so nag peperform kami ng halftime dun, intermission, saka lumalaban sa mga cheering competition. Syempre, nirerepresent namin ang UST. Masayang experience, di matatawaran. Nakakapagod nga lang. Madalas din nasasakripisyo ang pagaaral.

Di tulad ng iniisip ng mga nakakarami, marami sa aming mga mananayaw noon ay mga regular na estudyante sa kolehiyo.

Mga estudyanteng takot ma-zero ang exam.

Mga estudyanteng takot magka-singko sa classcard.

Pati mga holdaper sa Sampaloc, kinakatakutan din.

Pero kaming mga mananayaw, dagdag sa kinakatakutan namin ang magkalat sa performance. Pero, sa bawat performance na matatapos, nawawala ang takot, napapalitan ng saya kasi nakapag-perform ako ng maayos. Pagdating ng gabi at ako ay matutulog na, saka ko mararamdaman ang pagod at sakit ng katawan. Pero hindi ako pwedeng magreklamo. May pasok pa bukas, este, mamaya na pala (madaling araw na kasi) – alas syete ng umaga. Putsa.

Masaya man ang karanasan na iyon, kinailangan ko tumahak ng ibang landas. Actually, kinailangan ko lang pala mag-focus. Syempre isa iyong mahirap na desisyon, pero sa totoo lang, ang bawat desisyon na gagawin mo ay depende naman sa mga priorities mo. So inuna ko ang aking prioridad – ang kagustuhan kong maging accountant. Pero hindi ibig sabihin nun, wala na sa akin ang pagiging mananayaw.

Di lang naman ang pag-eexecute ng steps ang tanging nagdedefine noon. Nariyan ang disiplina. Ang sakripisyo. At higit sa lahat, ang kagustuhan na ibigay ang 100% ng makakaya mo sa lahat ng ginagawa mo. Tawag nga sa amin pag praktis – PL o Performance Level.

 Yung tipong, para ka laging magpeperform sa Araneta.

Yung sa lahat ng gagawin mo, dapat maging proud ka pag nakita o napanood ng ibang tao. Isipin mo, puno ang Araneta na laging nakasubaybay sayo. Kahit wala naman. Kahit ang nasa paligid mo ay buhangin at mga batong nagkalat.  Kahit na nasa disyerto ka pa.

Pero ito ang mas matinding rason para gawin ang mga bagay na ikaka-proud mo. Gagawin mo ang mabuti at maganda dahil alam mo na si Lord ay laging nakasubaybay sayo.

 Nasa Araneta ka man.

Nasa bundok.

Nag-iiscuba diving.

O kaya’y nasa Afghanistan na tulad ko.
- champ

Ang susunod na parte ay isinulat ko  bilang contribution sa ‘Memoirs’ book ng kolehiyo namin. Ito ay para sa pagdiriwang ng ika-400 na taon ng UST. Mejo bitin nga lang kasi limited sa 500 words pero pwede ng pagtsagaan.

My alma mater, UST, is celebrating its 400th year. 1611 - 2011 (photo  from Chic-a-boo.tumblr.com)

                   "I am no superman. But I am a Thomasian."

2002 -  Araneta Coliseum

From inside the dressing room where people in yellow suits were hastily putting make up on or braiding someone else’s hair, I heard the indecipherable chants and bass drums. They were like rolls of thunder with rhythm. Everything was loud, but nothing was more audible than my own heartbeat, and perhaps, my prayers that I repeatedly said in my thoughts. “This is it, Lord! Please do not let me drop Ate Dol, or sprain my wrist when I do my tumbling pass” I mumbled. Then our group was called and we came out into the mat-covered court. Surrounding us were 22,000 people, grouped in different colors – green, maroon, blue, and red. Yet, no other group shone more brightly than the pack of the tiger-costumed, yellow-shirted students, who, at the top of their lungs, were cheering “Go USTe!”

That was my first performance in a UAAP Cheerdance competition. Well, that same performance somehow helped UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe win in the first year of its five-peat championship streak. To date, no other school was able to achieve such feat.

2011 - Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan

Exactly nine years after, I heard the same thunder-like sound and indecipherable chants that I knew didn’t come from basses or snares, not even from students yelling their own school’s cheers. The helicopter I was getting on just landed from another forward operating base en route to my latest assignment – Helmand Province. People who often watch CNN will know that that is a dangerous place. How dangerous? Think of Cebu as home to Cebuanos – that’s how Helmand is abode to the Taliban.

 I am not going to lie. I was afraid that time, and the sound of the helicopter landing and US Marines yelling out boarding instructions tend to make my heart beat faster. I’ve been in these situations many times for many years, but I will admit that fear would always seep in. But just as when fear gets into my mind, a prayer would come out of my lips. And somehow, faith has always taken me into reveries of my triumphs in life. On that day in a US Airbase flight line, the afternoon in Araneta resurrected in my mind.

I realized that the fear I felt of going to a hostile territory is just as much as the anxiety I felt when I danced into that competition. Yet, just like the fear, the assurance that my faith in God gave me never faltered. I overcame fear before and I will overcome it now.

Well such was my routine since I started joining a US Air Force contractor first as a Cost Controller. Right after I passed the CPA exams in 2007, I found myself in war-torn countries supporting the US Military’s reconstruction efforts. I became a Project Scheduling Engineer, not a dancer as I hoped I would be. But no matter what I’ve become, I know I will always triumph. Don’t get me wrong – I am no superman. But I am a Thomasian. 

Meeting in the Middle (East)

>>>
2003


It was in the church choir when I first met Jaja. He was so quiet then, very shy. But when he opens his mouth to sing the low bass parts of each song, man, you’ll be amazed by how much power of a voice his throat projects. Same as the surprise I felt when I first heard him sing was the unexpected turnout of our friendship from church acquaintance to best of buddies. He went to UST on his first year of Law and that’s when we would go to each of our homes together in the evening after school, stopping by for a smoke in Urduja Village before we would get a tricycle ride home.

>>>
2005

I am no musician but I turn out to be one when I’m with Chon-chon. We’ll sing some antique church songs from his rustic town of Pandi and make a duet out of it a la Martin and Bert Nievera (based on our age, he’s Bert).  He’s got a really weird set of fingers on each of his hands which to my amazement, perfectly fit on the piano keyboard which he plays damn well. A family man, Emerson has been the premium buddy to me for a long time that not only we have been both members of the choirs, but also partners in business. (He’s my only trusted alternate in driving, what can you say?)

In 2009, after years of song-jamming, catching rock-fish in Puerto Galera, and swinging on Anchor’s away together, we parted ways. Chon followed his wife in Australia, I worked in Afghanistan, and Jaja made a new life in Saudi.

Two years after, the bond between us brothers have never loosen. And on that first day when we saw each other again, complete like the Three Tenors, it seemed that there were no years nor distance that separated us for a long time. It was like we just saw each other yesterday and felt we’re all together again for a choir practice or a tong-its game or a ‘rest’ in Puerto, or a Cocoose Videoke night. Only that time, we were not in Caloocan - but in Dubai.

Yeah, nothing has change. And I think none of us will. =)

With the Iconic Burj Al Arab behind

Chilling out at the Apartment

Pre, san yung chicks? bilis habang di nakatingin hehehe

The Three Musketeers and D’(Arte)gnian

The entire group having breakfast.

This reunion in Dubai had been even made spicier and more fun by a good friend and co-worker of mine, Jonathan aka Maruja aka Belen aka La Oropesa (but that’s because he doesn’t want to be called Berting Labra).  He accompanied us in the hotel we stayed in, and boy, it was a blast somebody was taking care of my two friends while I was with my fiancée.  Thank you Jon, for being the best tour guide, chef (not cook)-slash-waitress, and most especially, a good buddy to all of us!

La Oropesa Labra

Here are some more pictures of our Dubai Reunion.

This time I was the one who took the hit..

Duet hehe..

Kung dati, Baguio lang, ngayon Dubai na... 

At Boracay Club, Dubai... 

Jaja sleeping in a subway train

Somehow, the two are compatible.

And here's the proof

The Proposal (not a movie review)

Though I resemble Ryan Reynolds a bit, this is not about his movie with Sandra Bullock. This is about me and my own Sandra Bullock, who I tell you, is a lot prettier than the award winning actress.

Exactly a month ago, I had asked her if she wanted to marry me.  It was one of those romantic scenes in movies you see – fine dining, we were in a river cruise, and soothing music in the background. Damn, there were even fireworks (but I didn’t plan it, it was the end of Ramadan, so the timing was great). However, none of those mattered as even the romance in the air succumbed to the chutzpah of silence. I tell you, when you do things like that only once your entire life, all the months (perhaps years) you prepared for it will all dissolve into nothing. The only thing that will remain is silence, and (in my case) the hope that it end soon, no matter what the result is.

Bateaux Cruise, Dubai

At that time, I felt two things:

1.       1.  Afraid that I was too corny or unorthodox when I popped the question and

2.       2.  Afraid that I may have a heart attack. I was palpitating, and I can literally hear my heart pounding. For a good 30 seconds, I thought I only breathed in once.

So what’s the verdict?

She answered yes. And we’re getting married.

God has been infinitely good to me.  There are times I feel that I’m not worthy of his blessings. But they just keep pouring. Just like that most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She didn’t just pass by. She didn’t just smile.  And she didn’t just say hello.

She loved me. And beyond the exchange of vows, rings, and I do’s, she will love me forever.

Ms. Rodelyn Pineda, soon to be Mrs. Javier

Say a decade back, I didn’t believe in romantic love. All the while, I thought love is just about caring for people you love. But now I am able to know the difference between platonic love and romance. It’s the feeling of you writing a novel about it and after people read it, they would smile on their sleep. As a college paper writer/poet, I rarely delve in the subject of love in my literary pieces. I always find that subject corny, mushy, and cliché. But now, love would always be present, not only in my journal or blog entries, but in everything I do, or none of them would ever be complete without it.

Well, when she came, I became complete.

- Champ 10/1/2012

I honestly  thought that she was a lot happier because I asked than I was happy because she accepted. hehehe