How I met KP.Like it is for most interesting story's; it was about a girl.
But I think the best place to start would be the beginning. When I was a kid my dad owned a pair of these really long bamboo sticks. What I really wanted in life was to cut off a piece of one of them so I could make a babmboo glass like Mr. Howell on Gilligan's Island. That would be so cool. Every time I'd ask they'd say no. When I asked what they were for I couldn't understand the explanation and so a few days later I'd ask again. One day I took a hacksaw and just started cutting. Being 6 yrs old as I was I got tired after about 5 mins and all I made was a little hole. That's as far as it got and I never asked again.
My Dad used to direct plays at the Robson Square play-house. His set designer was my Tito Roger. Tito Roger and his friends used to do this weird dancing every Flip day. Old ppl dancing looked weird.
When I was about 14 my two older brothers started dancing for the Roger Cabrera dance troupe staring Roger Cabrera, Roger Cabrera Jr,...and a bunch of other ppl. So odd of them. At least they stopped getting into gang fights. That Flip day I saw 'it' for the first time. It was so interesting. My only thought was, "I can do that." And that Flip day I saw Her and my only thought was, "I want to do that." Lets just say that I met possibly the hottest Filipina girl to ever walk the earth. That next year I joined up. About a year later my brothers and I were forced to quit because of familly politics. Translated: A fellow dancer Jr. fancied liked my brother. By 16 I was retired from dancing.
In 1991, Mt Pinatubo erupts. A group of like minded youths gets together to form a group dedicated to raising funds for the relief effort. Kaibigan is born. After Pinatubo we raise money to buy heart/lung machines and after that it was something else. It was my work with Kaibigan that got me involved in the initial group that founded the Philippine Women's Centre. You may have seen them around town. They're the group of youngish Philippino's that are always protesting some thing or the other. Then came a summit of all the local youth groups and FSA's in the area called upon by a group calling themselves Kababayang Pilipino. Our group, who was dedicated to real world change, frowned upon this new group as a bunch of elitist forming a social club. We sent a couple of reps who came back reporting what we expected and that they were planning a show and needed dancers. Pft!
That Flip day I watched this "KP" perform and man, they kinda sucked. I met a few of the dancers as they walked around in their costumes recruiting. They came to our booth and talked to me because they heard that I used to dance. I gave them pamphlets damning the man. It was about this time that Kaibigan died. Eventually I met Faye, the director for the drama portion of the show and she got me to read for her. That first day I met some of the other actors including this dude named VJ. With all the female actress being really hot all the guys read for the part of "Boyfriend". Of course I landed the part of "New Immigrant", you know playing to my "type". As it turns out the then hottest girl in the world didn't get the part of "girlfriend" anyways. The actors, dancers and singers, (kp was so sad that they didn't have musicians yet) operated as separate entities. That first joint practice Faye demanded 'performance level' and I was so ready. I took all those present on a journey of an oppressed new immigrant who had left everything only to be scorned by a new culture and who's only recourse in life was to take it and like it. I'm getting all choked up just thinking about it. Of course afterwards I was informed that the part was written as a comedy. It was during that first practice that I realized I still wanted to dance. So tirelessly, I lobbied both Faye and Randy that I could do both. How about...no. I practiced the dances anyways and eventually Randy put me in a few dances. So how did I thank him? I went to New York for the summer only to return for the last few practices before the show. To make a long story end all I have to say is that first show I didn't know any of my dances, didn't know my costumes or how to wear them. At least I made them laugh.
During my time and adventures with KP our hero met many more most hottest girls in the world.
I never got the girl.
Rhoel.
-Drama is easy, comedy is hard. Charlie Chaplin.
...a few afterthoughts that I thought might be interesting. My first link to KP was also a girl. Dinah A. did hip hop at a fasion show I did before and actually convinced me into meeting Faye. The unnamed actor that landed the coveted part of "Boyfriend" was last seen by VJ when a group of us took Likha to the beach this one time. Apperently "Boyfriend" was walking hand in hand with his boyfriend.
Scientific Method.Observation:
1-The term "Soul-mate" is a re-ocurring theme through out history.
2-Two girls for every guy. Since a large percentage of those guys are 'girls' then that improves upon the 2:1 ratio.
3-Love comes in spurts.
4-I am still single.
Hypothesis:
Love is blind.
Experiment:
-Once upon a time,
there was a lonely kind of a guy...who'd resigned himself to the fact that love was blind. Now, if love is blind, he thought to himself...how will it find me? For how many times has love knocked on the door...when it should have been knocking on mine?
And so one day, he went off in search of the aloof creature. He soon happened upon
the cute and fuzzy bunny gang. Perhaps they could help him. "Pardon me, cute and fuzzy bunnies, l wonder if you could help me find love. " "Love would have nothing to do...with such a stupid-looking creature." said the first cute and fuzzy bunny. "Roses are red, violets are blue...but love will have nothing to do with you! " They chanted and danced around him. Naturally, our hero was very saddened by this, so...he....actually, he....he reached into his suitcase...and pulled out an lsraeli submachine gun...and he sawed those cute, fuzzy bastards in half...with hot lead! lt was beautiful!-Opening sequence to the movie "One Crazy Summer (1986)".
Conclusion:
I suppose I'm a romantic when I declare that I beleive in true love. I also believe in love at first sight. But 'love at first sight' is revisionist history of the actuality of 'lust at first sight'. I'm not naive enough to believe in one true love. One can have many (infinite) true loves. Accounting for everyone on the planet, considering the right sex...age range...oppertunity...accesablilty...etc etc ; A single soul-mate is the equivilent of winning the lottery. In my observations I've seen too many lottery winners. Therefore, for every one of you there are many soul mates and for each soul-mate there are many "you's". It's my opinion that the human palate is not as diverse as we'd like to think, not by a longshot. We'd like to think there's 40 million distinct individuals stalking the earth but I don't think that is the case at all. More like millions of copies of a few distinct models. There's a very finite number of models most of which fit together. Vanity is what keeps them apart.
Rhoel.
BBQ on a Stick: Grilled marinated meat on bamboo
skewers
Which Filipino Food Are You? brought to you by Quizilla
We got robbed.That's all I have to say. Pittsburg fans can thank the officials for personally delivering them one for the thumb.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs05/columns/story?columnist=smith_michael&id=2320683
Rhoel.
FinallySuperbowl eve. A Superbowl I care about. Usually this time of year I look at the super bowl as just another reason to get together to drink and eat chili dogs with a side of chili. I'm so exited that I haven't been sleeping well all week. In fact, I'm skipping KP. I plan on having a buzz on by 2 o'clock tomorrow. The Canucks have this thing when they make it to the finals every 12 years, so we're due this year. the Seahawks have never been to the finals. None of my teams have ever won a championship. The Vancouver Millionaires won the cup in the early 1900's so that doesn't count. The Lions winning the Grey cup a few times isn't quite the same 'cause there's like only 9 teams in the league and they all kinda just take turns winning it (not really, but kinda).
Don't Believe the HypeThe entire planet outside of Washington state, BC and Alaska have the Steelers taking the Superbowl. This reminds me of game 5 of the '94 Stanley cup when Rangers fans were paying 5 grand a seat to watch the home team end their 1940 curse only to have those dastardly Canucks come in and ruin everything. If I'm not mistaken, we crushed them that game and took game 6 too. It's not only the picking of the Steelers, but the refusal to concede that the 'Hawks even have a chance. By my count the teams are very evenly matched, actually I think the 'Hawks have the edge. People forget that the Steelers struggled all year and just got hot at the right time.
Steelers win if they can counter the Hawks pressure and throw deep.
Hawks win if they can control the ball on O and out play the Steelers O line.
Shy.
Love MonkeyIsn't it sad when ones life mirrors fiction? Certain shows post mark my life. 21 Jumpstreet was HS Jason Preistly got his start there with his now famous mullet. Twin Peaks was senior year. 90210 was post secondary till I realized the show wasn't that good anymore. And then there are the characters. In Kindergarten I wanted to be the Fonz. I wore black cowboy boots with a squared off toe, and a black leather jacket. (Interesting...this may explain my thing for leather jackets and biker boots. I need new boots...)That lasted about a day when my mom decided that I should wear my Incredible Hulk shoes with my Snoopy backpack. For a while there I traded my pseudo gangsta mullet and trench for a tail, and then eventually Brandan Walsh trademark sideburns. If I'm not mistaken he cut off his mullet after the first few episodes. Right before I became grunge, (in case you're wondering Singles came out afterwards and the characters in the movie were older than us.)
I was working through the hours of programming I'm behind on and came across a show called Love Monkey. The show itself is not half bad, actually it kinda reminds me of the movie Singles for some reason. Preistly is in the cast and in this one episode he has this startling revelation: That he is no longer rugged and handsome, but a guy that was once good looking and now out of shape. Just like me. I'm thinking Preistly should play me when my memoirs get published and becomes a movie.
I've been in denial for years, but yeah. I'm fat. I mean I've know it for years, but now I can say it. Maybe now I can stop talking about getting into shape and just do it. Maybe I can now say it 'cause apparently talk is now cheap.
Rhoel.
-I went to my reunion. It's just as if everyone had swelled.- Joan Cusak. Grouse Pointe Blank.
