Magic

Hello, Friends!

I thought we were gonna get married.

He was a dancer, a physically perfect specimen of humanity with an impossibly carved derrière. He could strum and sing an angsty Michelle Branch tune on his Les Paul like it was nobody's business. He could draw. He could write. He was the one who introduced me to blogging.

He was called Kaolin.

We met at a Gaypinoy Grand Eyeball in the bowling lanes, back in the heydays of mIRC. He borrowed my mobile phone, supposedly to call his driver to come pick him up. I didn't realize, then, that what he had really done was input his mobile number into my phone. I wouldn't have realized it if he hadn't just told me outright.

"You're now meant to send me a text message so I get your number, too," he scolded with a smile.

"Oh..." I responded stupidly.

He stood on tiptoes and planted the softest kiss on my lips. He smiled, turned his back and made way towards the parking lot.

I decided then that he was the love of my life.

The days that followed were some of the sweetest, shortest I've ever known. Time with him always went by quickly.

And then he moved to the United States to pursue a ballet scholarship.

He was the only thing that kept me anchored to Manila. My theatre projects were challenging but didn't pay enough, my singing gigs were few and far between, my TV appearances were not regular by any stretch. I was a star, but only in my mind. And that was okay. But when I lost Kaolin, I found myself adrift, too.

I stumbled into Hong Kong, June 2005. I was to be part of Hong Kong's Disneyland Grand Opening Team. The resort area was still an industrial wasteland then, spotted with cranes and dehydrated trees on towering mounds of red earth. Watching its rapid transformation into a phantasmagoric mosaic of colour and music and screaming children was mind boggling.

For two and a half years, I sang and danced myself thin. Once, I did eight shows on a day when my alternate fell ill. We were in the middle of Golden Week – a time of peak park attendance. I thought I'd die from sheer exhaustion. I survived purely by feeding off of the park guests' energy.

Nights out in the city became a habit as an easy, reliable, predictable way to relax. It was during one such night I met a silverfox with a crazy smile.

"Who are you?" I demanded lazily.

"Chris,"  he replied, dimples digging into rough, weathered cheeks.

The next day, Chris said he wanted to come with me to Disneyland.

"Have a magical day," the automated voice said as we stepped off the MTR.

And we did.





With Affection,
James

facebook.com/gaydaysasia


Gay Day @ Disney 2011

When: Sunday, 4 Dec 2011
Time: From 10am-9pm (planned schedule from 1pm)
Where: Hong Kong Disneyland Park, Penny’s Bay, Lantau Island

Dress Code: RED

日期 : 2011年12月4日 （星期日）
時間 : 10am-9pm（特備節目由１pm開始）
地點 : 大嶼山欣澳香港迪士尼樂園

指定服「色」:紅