Bring In the Microphone

“Ladies and gentlemen, LIVE at the Araneta Coliseum, let us welcome Jay Famoso”.

That is my greatest dream!

If you are a friend, you will know that choosing between dinner at Chalet and karaoke at Café Breizh is not a problem at all. If I am sick and you invite me to go out, my answer is “No, I have fever”. But if you invite me for karaoke, I will be there in five minutes or even less.

My ultimate dream is to see myself in a poster that says, Jay Live in Araneta, or Jay meets the Maestro Ryan Cayabyab, or Jay Sings Canseco! Alright, you can call me a dreamer but isn’t it that dreams begin with a dreamer? I dream that one day, I will face the big crowd, around 20,000 people and I will tell them, “Good evening Araneta”. That one day, I will stand beside the grand piano of Mr. Ryan Cayabyab, singing, “You are the song playing so softly in my heart.” Fellow toastmasters call me a hopeless case, but no matter what, music and I are inseparable.

My fascination for music started when I was 5. Although it bothered me, why my parents did not show some attention when I sing! To give you a better picture of how it was, when I sing on one side, they will just pass by on me and continue doing their own business! In simple terms, we were in our own different worlds! One of these days, I might as well deliver this speech in front of them. What would be their reaction?  I wonder!

 Two years ago, when Gov Cherrie made me choose between competing in table topics or singing contest, without hesitation, I said, I will sing! This was in the Midyear Convention in Antipolo City where there were seven of us, bold and shameless, and out of the seven I placed seventh. But wait, its not yet over! I said, life must go on! For as long as I will pay my toastmaster dues, I can always attend the next midyear convention and probably sing! Thanks to Gov Mhel. It happened again. This time, it was at Cagayan de Oro! Thanks to the judges, my ranking improved! From being the last, I now placed fourth among 10 contestants! I said what an achievement! Who knows, in the next convention, I will be the champion! You’ll never know! So, to the next Division D Governor, please make me sing in the next midyear convention!

I know three persons who nailed the inspiration to me. Woody Allen flunked motion picture production and English at New York University. Now, he is an Academy Award-winning writer, producer, and director. Thomas Edison. He failed more than 2000 times before he perfected the light bulb. General Douglas Macarthur. He was turned down twice when he applied at West Point. On the third attempt he was accepted and now part of our history!

To date I have joined, 4 singing contests! To date, I have no trophies for singing!  But quitting should never be one of my options because the quitter never wins and the winner never quits. According to Calvin Coolidge, nothing in this world can take persistence its place. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Talent will not. A lot of unsuccessful men have talent. Education will not. Our world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence alone is omnipotent. If you fail, learn from it, and do it again. If you fail again, learn from the first and second failures, and do it again. If you fail the third time, learn from the first, second, and third failures, and do it again. You are not a fool doing things over again if you do not repeat the same mistakes. 

I may have failed in four singing contests but that’s very far from the 2000 failures of Thomas Edison! So why quit? If I do the math I still have 1996 singing contests to loose in order to be at par with the greatest inventor of all time!

As the song goes, “I’ll be there someday, I will go the distance. I will find my way, if I can be strong. I know every mile, will be worth my while. When I go the distance I’ll be right where I belong!”

This is my stage where my dream will soon come true. And this will be the same stage where you have witnessed how a dream can be so powerful. For Sir Winston Churchill said, “Never give in. Never, never, never, give in.”