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.”

Past and Present

WHEN ONE MEANS POWER

When I was in kindergarten, I was most behaved in class. In fact, my first scholastic award, in red and white colours, is a ribbon that read Jay Famoso, Most Behaved. When I asked my mother, what did I do to deserve that ribbon, she said, “You just stayed in one corner alone, as if afraid to move and talk.” Nevertheless, my fondness to be alone first taught my parents to be photogenic onstage.

My wanting to be alone most of the time grew fonder because of my Chemistry Professor. She will just barge inside Science Complex 117, write gas law problems, and leave the room without saying a word. We assume she will just be back. Lesson learned. Don’t assume! Because of you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. At the end of the class, we all got zero. After that, I spent most of my time, alone in the library, to study chemistry.

“It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts”.

“Language... has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone”.

When does one mean power? When does solitude become the best option in life?

When writers write their literary masterpieces, they seclude themselves from the deafening noise of the world. In their solitude where peace and silence abound, comes out the free flowing cornucopia of words and ideas ready to be etch in ink and paper. Examples are, The Count of Monte Cristo, Love in the Time of Cholera, A Tale of Two Cities, and others. Conrado de Quiros of the Philippine Daily Inquirer once wrote in his column, There’s the Rub, that when he writes early in the morning, he does not answer text and calls, unless, he knows that that person is dying.

When Albert Einstein formulated his theory of relativity, he did it in solitude where concentration is boundless and infinite.

When Thomas Alba Edison invented the light bulb which he did in two thousand experiments, he did it all by himself in his own laboratory.

I asked recently a colleague if there’s a term in psychology that refers to a person who enjoys in solitude most of the time. She seemed preoccupied with her analysis that she just earnestly smiled as an answer to my query.

"Why do you live alone in your rented house?"

That question has been asked to me innumerably that in fact I have gotten used to it. And this is how it usually started.

Commencing a conversation with a stranger, (Let me first qualify the word “stranger”. It could be a friend of my friend, an auditor from another brewery, or a new colleague) one of the informations that will be asked is the location of your house. Guilty? Then the trail of questions will follow. Take for example my case. Once they know that I am renting my own place. The follow-up question to that would be, "How many are you in the house?" I’d say "I live alone". As a follow-up to the follow-up question, would be "Why do you live alone?" If I may deduce the question, they wanted to know if it is a personal choice or a pure circumstance. So I would say it’s a choice. My answer will always elicit a conspicuous, pensive gaze shown in their eyes riveted on my face. "Are you a loner", they would ask. "I am not", I would answer.

Living alone taught me things I could not possibly learn if live in two or three.

I decide things on my own. I clean my own place. I solve my own problems. I influence my own decision. I have plenty of time to be myself, to reflect, retrospect, and introspect.

I am in full control of my life. I am a mature, young professional who has found his niche outside the portals of the academe. I am now a person who stands on my feet gripping fully on my cognitive capacity to decide on my own.

Conrado de Quiros, Albert Einstein, Thomas Alba Edison, Jay Famoso, have one thing in common. Not genius. Not good looks. They all believed in THE POWER OF ONE!

LIVING IN SOLITUDE

I asked recently a colleague if there’s a term in psychology that refers to a person who enjoys in solitude most of the time. She seemed preoccupied with her analysis that she just earnestly smiled as an answer to my query.

"Why do you live alone in your rented house?"

The question above has been asked to me innumerably that in fact I have gotten used to it. And this is how it usually start.

Commencing a conversation with a stranger, (Let me first qualify the word “stranger”. It could be a friend of my friend, an auditor from another brewery, or a new colleague) one of the informations that will be asked is the location of your house. Then the trail of questions will follow. Take for example my case. Once they know that I am renting my own place. The follow-up question to that would be, "How many are you in the house?" My answer to that. "I live alone". As a follow-up to the follow-up question, would be "Why do I live alone?" If I may deduce the question, they wanted to know if it is a personal choice or a pure circumstance. So I would say it’s a choice. My answer will always elicit a conspicuous, pensive gaze shown in their eyes riveted on my face. "Are you a loner", they would ask. "I am not", I would answer.

My growing up years is not extraordinary. I am like any other child.

Rainy days are blissful days. I play mud, trying to make artistic forms and shapes of anything conceivable under the rain. Playing hide and seek becomes more fun, when running is made difficult by the slippery ground. We choke in laughing when we see someone slide over and fall.

Sunny days are doses of happiness. The fields and the outdoors are my haven for excitement and fun. Swimming with friends from sun dawn to sun dusk on weekends is an activity to look forward to. On some days when we become lazy to walk the long distance going to the beach, we would busy ourselves creating the most gaudy and gigantic kites. And then we compete whose kite soared the highest.

Dissecting my childhood memories, I am certainly not a loner. I take pleasure in the company of friends.

More so when I was in school. You will rarely see me singly in the campus. I practiced badminton with co-varsity players. I interviewed campus personalities for my feature story in our publication. I camped with fellow classmates during science week celebrations. I led as an officer in student organizations and clubs. Long before I know that it is fun to be with other people.

After I painstakingly finished all my academic requirements, it marked the time to bid goodbye to the comforts of my home. It signaled the moment to embrace living separately with my parents and live to a place I can consider my home.

Economics tells me that life is difficult. Therefore, people who are perplexed why I live independently in a house is comprehensible. They may be correct and sound to do that gesture for practicality reasons but I chose to stick to the wisdom of living independently.

Living independently made me a different person.

I decide on where and what food to eat to satisfy my own craving. I manage to wake up without other people pulling off my hands. I plan my activities for the rest of the day without the consent or approval of someone else. I clean my place which makes me conscious of my own litter. I brush the tiles and bowl in my CR. I take time in taking a bath without having to worry for the next users. I read books free from distractions of human sounds. I sing my heart out anytime I want. I trip off or put on the fluorescent lamp any time of the day. \

This is the picture of living in solitude. And that is not to detach myself from other people.

I am in full control of my life. I am a mature, young professional who has found his niche outside the portals of the academe. I am now a person who stands on my feet gripping fully on my cognitive capacity to decide on my own.

I am a person who chose to live in sheer solitude. I, who knows the wisdom of living independently.