Being Josh Aviñante

Once upon a time there lived a sea lion who had lost the sea. He lived in a country known as the barren lands. High on a plateau, far from any coast, it was a place so dry and dusty that it could only be called a desert. A kind of coarse grass grew in patches here and there while a few trees were scattered across the horizon. But mostly, it was dusty and sometimes wind, which together make one very thirsty. Of course, it must seem strange to you that such a beautiful creature should wind up in a desert at all. He was, mind you, a sea lion. But things like this do happen. How the sea lion came to the barren lands, no one could remember. It all seemed so very long ago. So long, in fact, it appeared as though he had always been there. Not that he belonged in such an arid place. How could that be? He was, after all, a sea lion. But as you know, once you have lived so long in a certain spot, no matter how odd, you come to think of it as home. There was a time, many years back,

I always thought that women who flirted with part-time message handlers were fugly. Well, this one wasn’t. There she was clad in her white uniform and standing between two ladies – a rose among thorns. Too good to be true. It was an ordinary day when I set the date. The campus was a romantic place with all the Romanesque architecture and its gardens. One attraction was the statue of the querubin which was said to be the patron saint of the homosexuals. The thought was disturbing but there was just the two of us surrounded by fallen leaves, a scintillating silence and the mystique of that lone statue. I could still remember the feeling. Act 1: Oh, did I mention that she had a boyfriend? Yes, she had. She said that she misses him. I could still remember the cheerless expression on her face. The thought of it was sad but not tragic. It was too early to fall head over heels. At this point, the excitement of courtship was all that mattered. One time, I forgot that the car I was driving with

Ana Isabel Ramirez Bosch, lead vocalist of Analog, quietly passed away last January 11 from cerebral aneurism. She gave a good fight. Her ashes lies at the family compound in Pasay City. The wake will last until her birthday on January 25 during which a mass will be celebrated. She would have turned 33. After the mass, food and drinks will be served. As tribute to the rock goddess, there will be music, poetry reading and video presentations. As early as now, the Lemuria Compound where her ashes are kept has become a monument to her brief but fruitful life. Besides Analog, Anabel has also been part of Tropical Depression, Electrikoolaid, Spy and Cocojam. Her rise to fame in music is narrated in her last blog found on dizzychick76.multiply.com written in December 2008. According to this entry, she began jamming with Cocojam in her Uncle Pepito’s which was a haven for artists and home base for Cocojam. That was in 1989. She was just 13. Her music career ended at the sweet age of 32. In t