Growing Pains - Living Strong

Some kids who turned out to be gay today, might share horrible stories about their childhood as portrayed by Hollywood and also in some indie flicks. Some had sexual abuse, overpowering parents, or on the flip side, no-show parents. Some got bullied and tormented for being different. Some received horrible dehumanizing call names such as sissy, banci, bencong, etc. You there. Either you pretended to be on their side or you were one of the victims

Growing up pretty nice, I was just happy being gay I think. Back then I didn’t know better if I was even different. I enjoyed men at some very early age. Older, younger, didn’t matter for this seducer. For past-timers, playing bekel, congklak, jumping rubber ropes and stuffed animals with my gals were fun enough (note: no dolls and barbies here!). I think the in-the-shades-games were better than inserting myself in some outdoor fields to play basketball, soccer, or tennis. Even if I learned just a little bit of tennis, squash and golf, it was simply because it was posh to do so. However, I did not find basking under the glare of Mother Ultra-Violeta that much interesting (changed when it became trendy to sport suntan glow), being gorgeous of course wasn’t easy.

Now, the taekwondo in Bulungan and the roller-skating in Monas were different… I did actually like the crowd. They were abundant around, cute kids about my age and our cute instructors. Sessions with those massive legs in a joggy terry-ultra shorts were too hot to miss in the skating arena. It was like an orgy of different people mixed together in one big cultural pot. On the contrary, gym, swimming, jogging and other personal non-competitive sports were done only for the sole purpose of keeping oneself healthy, beautiful and supposedly happy.

You are different from the rest of us!

Never in any case you’d find an older kid bullied me because I was big to begin with. That alone ought to gain me some respect. I could crush any enemy with ease, even if I wasn’t that masculine (Yes, I worked hard for the army-look you see today you know!). Not that I would blatantly punch someone on his face. Some of the reasons were, not only I was a supporter of peaceful negotiations since I was in the 6th grade, I was also afraid that it would break my nails and leave any permanent damage onto my skin or knuckles. As you guessed it, never did make any enemy, always good in school, active in the church choir. A total momma’s boy to be proud of.

Ms. Cimahi, Ms. Bangkok, Ms. Panama City and Ms. Bintaro came along. But then again I was afraid to have any physical engagements with them, if you know what I mean. Found out that men are more pleasing and attractive. On another side, my career was okay, a bit bumpy at the beginning, but always thankful for what the Above has given me everyday.

Fortunately, if I wanted something that bad, or worked hard enough for it, I always get what I wanted at the end (except maybe in the love department). Problems may arrive; we sorted things out, consulted, thought of, and solved them one at a time. Deep shit, shallow shit, little happiness, extreme euphoria, roller coaster ride, sometimes life is just like a sinetron. That’s how I grew up. Even with everything that happened, life was and is just beautiful and meaningful.

Hover and click your mouse on the animation above and wait for the clip to download in another window. There, Wilfred Brimo, a great animator tried to picture the growing pains of a boy who never cease to be optimistic in finding his true love. Brimo and the French Gov’t incorporated the classic 1974 tune, Sugar Baby Love by the Rubettes to send this very sweet message to promote AIDS and other viral transmission awareness.

Always play safe and may the f*%! force be with you.

| Live strong | Enjoy Life | Keep on being optimistic |