hoping to do something light on my night off, i called fun ricky, a casual acquaintance from my pinoy mahjong circle, early yesterday afternoon.
his first name isn't fun, much more than his last name is ricky. but when I spoke to him, he sounded drab.
you sound like you're in the woods, I told him. i am in the woods. i am in new fucking jersey, he answered. i am babysitting the brats.
fun ricky has a sister who raises two toddler scallywags on her own in rutherford. and fun ricky, god bless his soul, volunteers to watch over the little imps on some of his day offs.
suddenly, a high pitched voice interrupted our prattle. justin, give me back the phone, fun ricky, no longer fun, barked at his nephew. allo, allo, allo, said the voice. hellow, i answered back.
i saw the elephants today, justin said. what elephants?, i asked. he was not able to answer me as fun ricky successfully yanked the receiver from him.
i asked him, instead, what elephants. he said, he brought the kids to the town center earlier to watch the parade of the animals from the ringling brothers /barnum and bailey circus.
nothing announces the arrival of march, of spring, in the tri state more garishly than the parade of circus animals through town. this year, the big circus makes it first stop in new jersey before it moves to madison in mid-manhattan later this month.
then, fun ricky had to put me on hold as his other nephew was about to fall from the couch. as I waited, justin began talking to me again.
i asked him about the elephants again. he said he didn't like them. why? i asked. they stink, and, and they, and, and they peed a lot in the snow, he said. and then fun ricky grabbed the phone from him again.
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three months now since the intellectual giant susan sontag died. but to this day, some new york gay activists are still fuming over perceived bias by the new york times.
it all stemmed from the 3,200 word obit the paper wrote about ms. sontag's life which conveniently glossed over the mention of her alleged lesbian relationship with uber-photographer annie leibovitz. previous to the claimed relationship, ms. sontag was in an 8-year marriage.
the activists allege that not mentioning leibovitz in sontag's obit manifested a patent prejudice of the paper against homosexual relationships.
the paper countered by asking the activists that since there wasn't a marriage certificate on record between the two women, how would it assess the relationship for a fact.
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last year, i went home just in time for the round robin eliminations of the second tier professional basketball league in manila.
surely enough, i bought me a ring side ticket to a do or die game between the powerhouse and the underdog team where my ex-boyfriend plays.
my ex used to play for a top seeded uaap team when he and i first hooked up. but since he made a conscious decision not to come out then, and now more than ever that he is making a decent name in this league, i, without histrionics, was reduced to cheering him on from my seat.
i don't remember now, but i guess he was fouled out in the tail end of that game or he was just not producing enough, but his coach retired him unceremoniously with still five minutes remaining.
as he ambled back towards the bench, he passed by the seats where i and another closet case friend were sitting. upon seeing me, my ex, who still made me catch my breath, made this smooth, almost thuggish nod at me, never breaking his stride.
my friend asked me if I knew him. my show off gay personality wanted to scream in my companion's face yes, I know him. he was my boyfriend. top that, bitch!
but even if i did, my companion would not believe me. what proof would i give him, anyway? a monogrammed underwear? a yellowing soft porn picture?
ultimately, the team of my ex was eliminated. before we could troop out of the arena, my friend and I could see him and his teammates, sweating, hulking, lumbering towards their dugout like tired circus animals.