Online Romance and the Jejemon Bar that could

My good friend K had a whirlwind romance that lasted for a couple of weeks. Again! Say one thing about K, say he’s on a roll.

I’m not even sure if it was good that it was nipped at the bud because the thing is, it’s an online romance and he’s never really met the pinoy dude working in the USA. Their interaction consisted of leaving the webcam open so each person sees that the other guy is sweeping the floor or sleeping or whatnot. They’ve been listening to the same music by leaving Skype open and playing MP3s. K was really inspired.

I didn’t think it was a real relationship. Not yet, at least – not until they would have a chance to meet. I told K that they’re in love with an idealized version of themselves.

The guy had a boyfriend and after getting to know K, he’s decided to pursue K instead. But it ended on a sad note for K, when the guy said that he’ll try to patch things up with the boyfriend. And all my buddy could do, being literally halfway around the world, is to accept the fact and be devastated for a few days.

I didn’t think it was a real relationship, but it was real for K. Even K couldn’t believe it but there it was--the same giddy feeling, the same inconvenient fashion of not knowing what to do and finally--the same heartache.

***

Sidekick and I were taking K around town and accompanied him to Malate and in some of his meet ups, most of which end up as flops. The most recent was with a guy who invited K to meet him and his friends in a jejemon bar in Timog. Sidekick and I accompanied our good buddy, of course. The fact that it was a jejemon bar should have been a major clue, we still went anyway. I hate being mean because even if the bar was jejemon to the bone, I had a fantastic time. There were hookers, fags dressed like lady hookers, madlang people in chinelas and jejemons and a sprinkle of decent-looking people, great music and a chance at getting stabbed by a switchblade--it was magnificent. I danced and had genuine, sincere and unpretentious fun. I seriously wanna do it again.