My Tokyo Trek

Let me share with you my little adventure back in ‘04 just a few days after graduation. I posted this on my old tripod.com page and I thought I needed to keep it intact. It’s too bad, the link to my winning poem over at the MTVAsia page is no longer working. And I have already forgotten about the winning words I gave to my winning poem. So please read the story below. Take note that everything is untouched — I can’t believe I wrote this way back then. I’ll eventually figure out how to add photos in-line.

(start) so many things to do things to do, so many things to say, so many things to write, so little time. our education delays our lives, or at least that’s true. no, not because everyone else agrees. but because i said so. we ought to study, learn, pass, graduate, march, and start our lives after everything else that’s school. but there always has to be that fun part. you don’t need to have fun look after you, you have to look for fun yourself. and that’s what has happened to me all this year, thus far. so here goes my story that i want to be heard and known. and remembered.

i graduated last march after a gruelling wait in one of my most difficult and demanding subjects. the teacher did some adjustments and it worked, not only for me but for some other bunch of guys except one. so then i had fun. then sometime in summer, i bought a very expensive piece of equipment. damn if you’d compare it with the size it has with the price it’s tagged with, you’d probably think i was the most “techno-geeked,” dumbass like what my girl MJ kept complaining about way back. t’was so difficult to get my ‘rents convinced that i should buy that stuff. t’was on sale, remember that. and still cost more than the cheapest cellphone in the market. what that was? t’was nothing but a removable, ultra-portable hard disk drive. for it’s equivalent 80+ US, it offers handy 256MB of storage. yes that was 4,000+ PhPs last may. so i had fun. i had the most fun getting music from internet cafes all around the city. i was DSL hungry, i was soo after soo much speed. i got all the music i ever wanted to listen. i went to the MTV website so i could see the newest tracks both in the US and in the local SEA region. i joined contests, i took part in surveys. i was virtually everywhere. so i had fun wheresoever i was going whenever, when i am only at my hometown. couldn’t be any fun-filled than that. along came with the receipt of the gadget that i bought were raffle ticks since, yes, cos i bought it when t’was on sale so there should be that mall-wide sale that was on-going as well, at that time of course. the next day after that, i got calls from friends and family informing me that i won an AC unit from that same sale frenzy, remember the ticks i raffled? so i had fun. i was feeling so lucky that, yep, i joined contests on MTV. and two weeks after, while i was trying to please myself with someone else, i got an out-of-this-world call from a local MTV rep informing me that i won The Darkness contest and that i had to do some preps cos im gonna have to fly to Japan to see ‘em perform the opening act on the Video Music Awards Japan 2004. now are you getting the picture? i hope you do.

i spent the next week in MNL to see people both from Warner Music and from MTVAsia. they gave me all there was that i needed to get my Japan visa. and i got it in 3 days. i had so much fun in the end cos time when i was in the embassy to submit all my docs, i was told by the consular officer that my birth certificate was outdated and that i had to get a new one at the NSO. i did smell trouble and disaster felt like t’was ready to strike anytime. but i kept all that at bay. i had to line up for 3 hrs. so many people were piling up lines and lines everywhere in the office during that time. when my turn came, i was told that i could only get my authenticated birth certificate in the next 24 hrs. did i get pissed? of course, what could anyone have expected? but i never got my nerves total control. i just kept my cool and begged the in-charge that time is of the essence since the scheduled concert comes in on the at-the-corner-already weekend. and GOD was so great that he slapped that guy and told me to come back in the PM on that same day to get my ABC, authenticated birth certificate that is. angels were everywhere that i even lost count how many there were. i never even knew which one was my guardian angel.

well OK, i went back to the embassy early next day and then was advised to come back 2 days after to get the news. i went homebound in the PM. then watched Troy with my MJ in the evening. then i flew back to MNL again late afternoon the next day. then friday came. i was like up all night, but not really up, only something in me was up. cos i bought fhm when i got to my airport of destination, MNL that was. how sick is that? then friday came, again. early morning i was there in the embassy already, lining up with some oldies and really hot women, talent women i should say. what were you thinking? then by almost-lunchtime, i got my VISA with all the smiles i could show the whole world. then off i flew to Tokyo, Japan the day after tomorrow by JAL courtesy of Warner and MTV. and the pictures will help me do the talking.

The Darkness rock! the Osbournes were also there at the VMAJ 04. Janet Jackson, Good Charlotte, Outkast, N.E.R.D., Missy Elliott, and so many more plus some real GREAT Japanese personalities! see the links below to the article i wrote for MTV about the whole experience. i had so much fun. (end)

Now that up there is one long and boring post… but I wrote that before!