A Schemer with Good Intentions

I've always wondered about the ways of the universe. If she, it always does seem so much grander to imagine nature as daughters of Eve, were a person, I'd think she'd be this beautiful presence that floated far above everyone. She would be distant yet conspicuous, like a glow of a distant star, cloud 9, or the assuring presence of the clear sky. She'd be easily obscured and forgotten when the lights of the city blind us and the heights of civilization suffocate us. But she will always be there, a being of a will, though imperceptible, that stretches and ties together each and every one of us. A schemer with good intentions is how I'd picture a God would be.

And the schemer's schemes came to fruition last night, in another random happenstance, in some form of aleatory serendipity. I came from a fabulous party where it seemed everyone I met were people I should, if life could be grander, have met before. It was a party of a friend of mine, though I still think I don't have it in me to earn in my life such precious things, who celebrated his birthday in one of the many lofty floors of Linden Suites, Ortigas. He, like me, had a different bent when it came to relationships. And like me and him, had stories to tell and adventures to recount, but he had a richer life and such humbling experiences that he banked on these things and made these stories public--online. This availability to the populace made him... popular, and his party was peopled with the famous and the fabulous.

But it wasn't about the glamor at all, it was the fact that I was in a room filled with people who were also... bent, so to speak. It was awkward at first, as most social things go, as strangers repelled each other and moped behind their wine glasses, among acquintances and empty humor. But unlike parties I've been to, the underlying commonness among us won out eventually and I got to meet people wonderful not just because they really are, but because we could talk about our strangeness. And, even for a single night, fully display its fantastic shade not against the prejudiced and unforgiving blacks and whites of society, but among the argent, gules and azure strokes, and vert, sable and sanguine tinctures of our varied personae. We were different, but in being together, we found our uniqueness a quality to celebrate. We brandished our coats of arms and reveled in it. Being stuck in that room, I found out I was special not just because of my predilections and preferences, but simply because I was who I am.

I've always been comfortable about being gay. But last night taught me that that wasn't all there is to know about me. In that wonderful, rare place where gay is the norm, I was still special after all. A swan in a flock of ducks would think himself unique simply because of his separate lineage. But in the sky among fellow swans, only there can one truly see how far he can fly, truly see beyond the feathers and discover the uniqueness tucked away in the heart.

And among these many meetings, a few stood out brighter in the evolving portrait of the party. Star-crossed, much like moons and stars whose orbits and trajectories align once and for a moment share energy, momentum and what other magical things science has yet to discover, I met old strangers again. And in the time between our first meetings, and last night's auspicious circumstances, these amazing strangers became my amazing friends. "Meant to be," I'd say more often now than ever.

Until the next time you pull your invisible strings and send me to another unknown joy, I'll live everyday knowing life has something more to offer, oh lofty universe. As I said out loud last night with all my heart, more towards the cynics of the world than to the people I was talking to, "Life is Good."

Photo: via Mountain Gull Trading Company
BGM: Nakajima Ai - Neko Nikki(Cat's Diary) from Macross Frontier