MAD JOURNEY

Is it a descent into insanity or redemption from the blah?

After coming out of the closet with my Arnel Pineda madness, I found myself in another world, among new friends, and using a new language and having a new identity. Talk about reinventing yourself.

As I told a new friend, finding my secret vice in posted in different websites and viewed by thousands is the equivalent of having your clothes ripped off, but still wearing the bikini. After the initial feeling of shame (about 3 seconds), I realized I have nothing more to hide, and relished the feeling of jumping off a cliff again but knowing that I was tethered to a bungee cord.

And what a journey it has been.

For instance, I have come across as a serious Ma'am, devoted to the technical aspects of work, but just the other day, I had to stifle my giggles and face a staff to correct his proposal on the Development of a Yada Yada System, because I just posted "Let's drink to that! Give me another round" in a cyber LUAU to celebrate another of the Arnel Pineda moments. I really wanted this staff to get out of my office pronto because I wanted to know what the other delusional fans are wearing and if they had a glorious massage on the virtual beach with a virtual hunk, and I really wanted to get drunk, virtually.

Since I am still bound to my desk, I live vicariously through those who have met, kissed, hugged Arnel Pineda. I could not get enough of their pictures and videos. Oh my, I will confess to going gaga over the GQ picture of Arnel Pineda with Open Arms and Open Legs. Notice his sexy eyes and pouty lips. Aaaahh!

This is insane. So insane that I lost another 5 pounds, not just by viewing YouTube clips but by joining three simultaneous forums devoted to Arnel Pineda and Journey.

I have met the top posters of various fora on Journey and Arnel Pineda and learned that I was just a pipsqueak compared to their encyclopedic knowledge, passion and devotion to my new idols. They are the Gods - they are omnipresent, omniscient, do not sleep, and relish all things Arnel Pineda and Journey. One is a god who expostulates, or rather, "writes long treatises, sometimes digresses and pontificates a lot" , but whose wise posts on the lore of Journey and the band's "Journiacs" and technical aspects of drum kits have initiated me to a new community of Faithful Ones. The other is a Goddess with a marvelous 'Fro, encouraging her members to be Free Birds, to let go of inhibitions in proclaiming adulation to Arnel Pineda.

Then there are the other ladies who whisper in personal messages, "Are you who I think ..?" Oh, yes, my dear, hiding under a new identity. Never mind that I meet with your bosses, or that your office-mate is a colleague of mine. We are all FANS of Arnel Pineda. And they are so relieved, and so am I, their secret is safe with me.

Speaking of new identities, I marvel at the various aliases my new friends have taken for themselves usually with variations of JRNY, AP, SP, Arnel and mind-boggling avatars and signatures from license plates, tattoos, pussy cats, Angelina Jolie, and meez variants in all hairstyles and hair colors. They enjoy threads to posts on what toothpaste Arnel Pineda uses or what hairstyle best suits him or what underwear AP or Neal Schon prefers. And heaven help you if you dare impose your claim on who is the better singer....because the flames of wrath will engulf you. And they share their stories, their opinions, their foibles, their antics and even their food to everyone in the forum.

Oh what a life! Lately, I found myself smiling more, despite the humdrum and mundaneness of my work, rediscovering the soundtrack of my youth, living life to the full.

Then the guilt creeps in with the demands of work, reality, human tragedy all around. And here I am, embracing Journey and Arnel Pineda with Open Arms.

But with my new life, I have a different take on reality and virtual life.

My new friends are also professionals, managers, doctors, nurses, computer geeks, teachers, life savers, mothers, fathers trying to make a living in a recession-threatened economy, striving to give the best to their families. Some are working from their homes because of some disability or because they have to take care of their loved ones, some just got home from the war. Many are far from home, making a lonely living in foreign shores just to bring something back to their families. My fellow delusionals occupy various time zones and hide their homesickness behind wacky posts.

Oh yes, we are normal people, who deal with our work with utmost professionalism, who care about the real world, who are the real economic power of the market, and who have no intention of abdicating this responsibility and power for frivolity.

The drama of real life is there, and we are not about to deny it, but we need respite, camaraderie, encouragement, some WIX-dom, some wackiness, virtual parties, laughter, LOL, LMAO, and the forthcoming Revelation Album. We all confess to being afflicted with this madness, this sickness of loving Journey and AP. And we are not going to give up the joys that our devotion to the life-affirming songs and stories of Arnel Pineda and Journey have brought to our lives.

We Will Rock the World!
Go Arnel! Go Journey!