We Finally Wake Up...

... As one boy sleeps forever.
September 18. 2011: 14-year old Jamey Rodemeyer takes his own life.

Hundreds of people came to his funeral, yet so few knew him personally.
Thousands of people mourned his death, but have never even seen him before.
Millions of people cried as his idol, an international pop superstar, dedicated a performance just for him.

Jamey Rodemeyer, 14-years old, was a victim of the most underrated hate crime in the world -- bullying. At school, he was insulted, demeaned, humiliated, psychologically tortured... He had had enough. His strength was no longer enough to endure the torment of his peers. He decided to end it all with the ultimate escape: death.

He was gay, was bullied for it, and ultimately died because of it.

He did, however, make the infamous "It Gets Better" video which aimed to inspire and bring hope to the people who were just like him -- not necessarily gay, but misunderstood, neglected, mistreated, hated for being themselves. It is his legacy.

It may be no exaggeration to say that he was Lady Gaga's number 1 fan. Her message contained in the song "Born This Way" served as Jamey's mantra. It was a song that stood for equality among all human beings. It gave him strength and hope, as it continues to do for so many others like him. I suppose the bullying simply eroded his spirit. The hate he endured, the emotional stoning, the soul-crushing verbal abuse was all too much. He cried for help, and nobody who could actually do anything... actually did anything. His calls fell on deaf ears.

Lady Gaga is now on her way to making bullying illegal, for she considers it a hate crime. I respect her a hundredfold for this, for I myself am no stranger to bullying. I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with it. We have either done it, seen it, read about it, imagined it, or endured it ourselves.

Jamey Rodemeyer's death is a wake-up call for society.

Hundreds of teens and young adults are taking their lives because of the unwillingness to endure another day of pain and undeserved emotional thrashing.
Thousands of teens and young adults are contemplating the thought of suicide, unsure if there are people who will care enough to miss them when they are finally gone forever.
Millions of people of all ages continue to kick people who are already down, only because it makes them feel superior, stronger, more important, more admired. Or just because they choose not to understand or sympathize.

If you've ever been bullied for anything... for being gay, fat, short, slow, poor, ugly, for wearing glasses, for having brightly colored socks, for tucking your shirt into your shorts, for reading novels instead of comics, for writing poems instead of playing video games, for planting trees instead of climbing them, for loving your parents when it was deemed lame, for listening to Björk instead of the Black Eyed Peas, for being different in a way that nobody else wanted to understand... please share this post. Let the world know how evil the hate crime of bullying truly is.

Jamey Rodemeyer (@hausofjamey)'s last Tweet was:
"@LadyGaga bye mother monster, thank you for all you have done, paws up forever"


"No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life,
I'm on the right track. Baby, I was born to survive.
No matter black, white, or beige, Chola, or orient-made,
I'm on the right track. Baby, I was born to be great."
-Born This Way, Lady Gaga.

His death has trended the following on Twitter:
RIP Jamey
BULLYING IS FOR LOSERS
EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL


Rest in peace, Jamey Rodemeyer.
It will get better. We promise.

Shutting Up

A lot of times, I feel like the only people who don't mind me talking are the ones who can't even hear me, or have the option to ignore what I have to say. It's just one of those things that I guess I'm just paranoid about. I always feel like I'm one of those people that people just "don't mind" having around, rather than one that people "like" having around. I'm a footnote, an extra, elevator music, part of the crowd, the background, the wallpaper. I can't even remember a time when anyone I wasn't related to looked forward to seeing me, or bothered to stay long enough to enjoy my company. I don't know who my real friends are. I'm not even sure if I have any.

I've often joked to myself: "What am I doing on all these social networking sites? I hardly even have a social life to begin with." And I'd laugh because I'd convince myself that the 150+ friends I have on Facebook actually were my friends. But upon closer inspection, most of these people are either just my relatives or people I have some kind of insignificant acquaintanceship with. The only people who ever talk to me are the ones that I talk to first. Never has anyone, out of their own free will, chatted me up just to say, "hey, I missed you. How have you been?"

Granted, I do have a few people I hold so close to my heart that they crowd it so much as to leave me clinically dead for a few hours. But I have to ask myself, are these the people who are gonna cry instead of laugh at my funeral if I die of a freak accident involving a dot-matrix printer and a bag of marshmallows? The only answer that comes to mind is "no." But any marshmallow-related death is always funny, so I probably can't blame them if they cry out of side-splitting laughter instead of sorrow.

I guess I'm just not that guy. I've never been that guy -- the one that people would do anything to hang out with regardless of weather conditions, or the one that gets floods of text messages in the morning from people wishing him a good day, or the one that people invite out just so they could share their good experiences with so they have stories to tell and retell each other the next week, or the one that people want to lean on because they know I've got their backs. People don't see me that way, and I don't know how to make them see me that way.

Too often is it said that it's always best to be yourself. Well, that shit doesn't really work for me.

I'm just that somewhat funny, always sarcastic, trivia-filled, book-reading, blog-writing, bad joke-telling, muffin-top-wielding weirdo who sings in the shower and has fake orange hair. I don't know if I'll ever be able to impress anyone just being myself. I can't even impress myself with being myself.

And this is me, already looking on the bright side.

I'm just venting. Nobody really reads my blog anyway. My blog is pretty useless. Just like wallpaper.

I'll shut up now.

My Favorite Bar...

... has no alcohol, no drugs, no hookers, no bouncers, no dancers, no loud music, no syrup or artificial sweeteners added. It's a place few people know of, but it's so great that I had to blog about it. Welcome to Mondo Juice at SM Megamall, where the fruits are fresher than fresh, the food makes you forget your worries, the people are friendlier than your favorite dog, and the drinks cure every disease in existence.

Zoom in close enough, and you might be able to see the names of the items on their menu. Don't worry if you don't find anything that interests you at first; they take requests of mixing the fruits and/or vegetable juices of your preference. Those are Francis (left) and Dan (right) on the side there. They really know how to treat their customers right. Thanks for the great service, guys! ;)

Food, glorious food! Ahem... Yes, they've got a small, but very nice selection of food available. However, not everything is on their menu, or on display, so be sure to ask about what else they've got. My personal off-menu favorite is the Med. Veg. sandwich. It's just one of the few things I have the pleasure of eating at Mondo Juice because of my vegetarianism. It's so damn good, I end up ordering one whenever I have the chance to. I had one earlier today, and I wish I had another one right now. It's pretty addictive, for something made of vegetables.

This beautiful object, dear reader, is what I had today. It's coffee, it's juice, it's cold, and it's wonderful. It's called Banana Buzz, an iced coffee laced with, yep, you've guessed it: bananas. It's already one of my favorite drinks, next to the Banana Mama smoothie and the Banana Bar pastry. They've all got one thing in common. Do you realize what it is yet?

That's right! They're all from Mondo Juice, and they're all fantastic. So when you've got the time, why not stop by for a refreshing drink that's sure to brighten up your life? You'll be glad you did.

Oh, and I emailed my resumé to them, too. I hope I get hired. Just another reason to be at my favorite bar. :D

Happy drinking, everyone! Cheers!

Dear Diar-- uhh, Blog...

I've missed you. I've been meaning to get back to you, but I just haven't had much news to share. Lately I've just been doing a few bad and fairly decent cover songs, cooking some more experimental food, watching a lot of TV, having imaginary conversations with myself, learning a few more pieces for my piano, and sitting on my butt for a long, long time.


Blog, I'm 21 now. I've been 21 for almost a month now. I've stopped going to school, and I'm now trying to improve on my singing. I've mainly been focusing on my Jason Mraz covers, because he's my superhero, and because I'm starting to have a harder time singing higher notes.

Aside from playing my endless online video games, I've been working on a story! Again! This time, it's going much more smoothly. I guess, in a way, I'm practicing and refreshing my literary abilities through you, Blog. I'm so glad I have you. :)


You know, Blog, I've been better. Last year wasn't great, but it was better than how this year's been so far. But you know, I've got my friends, my music, my entertainment, even my family, dysfunctional as it is.

I actually miss a lot of my friends, especially the ones I made when I was still studying in De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB). I really want see them and talk to them again, but they're busier than any organism I could mention in any sort of metaphor fitting the situation, so I don't blame them. I may not go to college anymore, but I'm happy that I got the chance to make some of the nicest friends ever, especially when I was still in AB-MMA. (That's Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Arts -- arguably THE most demanding course in the known universe -- to all you non-Benildeans.) I commend them. Somehow, even through all the stress, they never forget how to stay as decent human beings, and they never forget the people they have ever high-fived, fist-bumped, hugged, called for no reason on their cellphones, played games with, smiled with, laughed with, and cut class with.


Blog, I hope that someday, I could meet all those people again. I want to know how they're doing, what they're up to, how they survived hell on earth, and I want to see what sort of diamonds they've become after being put under the intellectual equivalent of thousands of tonnes of pressure. I, for sure, have a lot more to learn, compared to what they have. Most of them are graduating soon, and as much as I regret not being able to do that with them, I certainly could not be any happier for them. They'll finally become full-fledged artists in their own right. I cannot wait to see what they have to show the world in the future.


That's all for now, Blog. I just wanted to let out all the gooey stuff in my chest that wasn't phlegm. Thanks for being the one to catch it all. Now, you may not be the best blog, but you're the best, Blog. :)