Versus

Jon Schmidt - Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay)

The Dare

Two of my officemates, one belonging to the same project as I am and the other has just been redeployed to another one, and me, decided to re-visit our working lunch place and spill a couple of drinks just before the other one changes from a dayshift to a midshift schedule and eventually be thrown to a european country to learn all the booze their client is currently selling.

When the three of us still belonged to the same project, and after the redeployment initiatives of Bevs (our exec, who looks like the comedienne Ms. Salviejo) had started taking its toll on most of the support personnel, we had abused our working lunch time from a mere 1 hour to even up to 2 hours. We spend it in our favorite place - Kuwago's. It's a bar/resto that offers a place for inuman, hip-hop and dance dancing, acoustic jamming and videoke.

Let me make a preface that when I initially joined their group May last year, they had doubts that I was bending on the pink side. Or at least I was already bent. A few months after, T (btw, they're both ladies - and T is the straightforward girl, will ask anything, without hesitations, without limitations and tease anyone whenever she can) asked me if I was one. I said NO.

And up until now, after all the teasing, the questioning and the sneaking, I still stand to my answer that I wasn't. They never believed that (I know). They'd keep teasing me to tell them the truth, but I still stood ground.. and never bent...

A few weeks after Y and me has been redeployed to this new project, Y started teasing me to this girl. This girl was cute. Preppy. Funny. And since the two ladies, and given that they were "ladies", had been telling each other what been happening to me and them and the three of us, E knew it the moment she visited our office. Y even pointed out who the girl was. And as usual, there was the teasing.

Last Friday, as agreed upon, we met in Kuwago's. We started talking about a multitude of things, from Hayden's sex videos, the first case of H1N1 infection here in the Philippines and just everything under the sun.

And who would forget, the girl. That lucky, innocent girl who looks straight into my eyes when we talk - no blinking, just sparkling. So they took the chance, a chance to settle it all out. A chance for me to prove them that I wasn't bent.

The dare was: To ask the girl out on our lunch. My treat. If the girl agrees to the lunch, I continue to court her and see where it goes. And they will believe that I so hate pink (which I doubt they will). If she declines, ask her out again on Tuesday and Wednesday. If she declines, I treat the ladies for lunch. And the teasing, and all that continues, not until I tell them that I am so in "lurve" with pink.

The plan was, come Monday, I'd ask the girl out for lunch (before 11:30 am). By 11:30 am, Y would approach me and ask if we are gonna take our lunch together or not (we used to have lunches together). Declining from Y means I did it. Otherwise, I am doomed.

And I certainly agreed to the deal. With no hesitations. I'll just ask out the girl casually. If she says yes, then we're out on a date. And it won't go any further (for the reason that I don't wanna fool someone for the sake of a deal). If she says no, then I am fine with it. The ladies can think everything they want (it's the truth anyways) but I won't sacrifice my morals for the sake of proving them wrong (they never were).

We'll see what happens.





(time today is 9:43 pm, May 24, 2009)

By the time you finish this, the dare is already over.

Top Ten..

Top 10 Signs your date isn't going and didn't go well...

1. He / She keeps looking at his / her cellphone.. Your date is probably texting another one. Or perhaps he/she is conjuring up a plan to have someone call you for an emergency - thus, the sweet escape.

2. He / she keeps staring at other guys / girls. Trying to spot an alternative. He / she may have wasted his / her time on you, but once he / she got an eye on an interesting one, then going on a date with you isn't really a waste of time after all..

3. He / she will never look straight into your eyes. Random, wordless eye-to-eye contact will never happen. He / she maybe looking straight into your eyes while you are in a conversation, but that's just it. Out of courtesy.

4. He / she will never be hungry. He / she will never be interested in any possible activity you wanted to do (not unless he / she's horny). In short, he / she will disguise himself / herself as the epitome of the most boring person you will ever meet.

5. He / she listens to his / her mp3 player at all times possible. He / she will only remove his / her earphones once you start speaking, and will put back the headphones once your done with your conversation.

6. He / she will always have short answers. Will never expound into any topic you open. Will never share anything about himself / herself. Will be the disguised listener who pretends to listen but at the his / her mind is never interested in whatever you have to say.

7. He / she will never walk close to you. This is to show others that you are not on a date with him / her, or at most, you don't know him / her. Playing safe for other possible targets is simply their game.

8. He / she will always look at his / her watch. Will always ask what time is it. Will always be curious about the time. If he or she has been asking you the time for a couple of times 15-30 minutes after you met, then you should know...

9. He / she will have the best lame excuses just to finish your date. May it be true or not. May it be something about his / her family, something from his / her job, his / her friends. He / she just wants to finish your date.

10. And finally, he / she will disappear like a someone you have never met. Will never get a message from him / her. Will never contact you. Will think and live-up like the date never happened or perhaps he / she had never made contact with you.

WOW!

It was the day the Davids were set to wow Filipino when I learned that they reopened this social networking site. Since the initial version did not held up, as expected, they required everybody, including previous members to sign-up or register as they did before.

And me, being a previous member and a social networking fan, did sign up. And as soon as I had finished my profile, I did what everybody in the site was doing, I socialized. So, I started going through people - their pictures and their profiles. And if they are interesting, physically, socially, emotionally and everything-in between-wise, I'd do the click and add them as my friend.

There was this one guy who I guess stood out among the people I added up. On top of the visual pleasure, what he had in his profile was very much cool. It wasn't nicely written, although thoughts were coherently made avaiable to those made time reading profile's first. I guess the genuine content of his profile was a plus factor too. So I made the "click" and added him up..

A few minutes, or a few hours after, he approved my invite. And he left a comment as well..

"hehe natuwa ako sa profile mu ahh.. sayang parehas taung mahiyain...ala lang.. natuwa lang ako..thanks 4 d'invite/.fellow loner.."

Yes. He the shy type. I am a shy type. The silent one. Someone who listens more than talking. And a loner. And if I were to find a twin in those aspects, he'd certainly be the perfect one.

I admit, I liked him. And so to get to know him... And reach out... And become a little more sociable and less a loner, I sent him a message, a message that just doesn't say "hi" or "hello", "musta" or even "how's life?"

"has it always been fun being a loner?"

It was my opening line which started a short but rather great conversation. Something more than an exchange of ASLs, numbers and IM handles.. Way different than talks about sexual preferences, experiences and positions... And something more than "ok" "oic" and :) as replies... It was all about what we are, the fellow loners..

Until he said that he didn't regret that being a loner for he found someone.. his someone... and they have been together for six and a half years... with another loner...

"cguro sa pagiging loner ko di ako nahirapan na maattach sa isang loner guy din.. "

...

"wow... six and a half years... wow... nice.. that's nice... "

"you may be a loner.. but a lucky guy.. "

At that moment, I had defined the word "WOW" as a heart-breaking, deeply saddening ouch!

(You should have remembered that he wasn't looking for a partner. He clearly stated that in his profile, dumbass!)

The conversation didn't go that long, for I was getting late for the concert. (Damn, concerts are now starting on time!) I logged out of the site and turned of the pc, took a shower, got dressed up and hoped that the David's would bring back the original meaning of the word wow..




I just opened his account today and saw a newly posted picture.. him and someone else (I assume his partner) kissing...



WOW!


(written with Regine Velasquez's Sa Piling Mo as the background music)