Happy Anniversary

Good lord, it’s been one year since our book launch. The Threesome books (“Chronicles of E,” “Dear Migs: Letters To MGG” and “The Wetbook: Stories From The Bathouse”) were launched last year at The Room in Panay Avenue, QC. 

So what has happened since that launch?

Whenever I pass by National Book Store in Greenbelt 1, I still see copies of all three scattered in the bookshelves. When I say scattered, I mean the three books aren’t placed side by side with one another. And I noticed that they keep moving; one day I’ll find them here, the next visit I have to actively look for them since they;re not in the same place I last saw them. Is that an NBS policy? Maybe they think moving things around will help move book sales.

I have gone to the bathhouse a total of 5 times. So literally, I can count the number of times I’ve visited with one hand. You can safely say that those 5 visits won’t be featured in a book anytime soon. Not that nothing happened; so far, I’ve been lucky with my visits. Well, not really; luck plays a small part only. I’ve learned how to spot potential partners so that if my first choices don’t pan out, then I always have back-up. It’s not settling, it’s maximizing.

Gasp! McVie still visits bathhouses?! Isn’t he taken? Didn’t he and D just celebrate their first year anniversary? Yes, yes and yes. However, early on D gave me permission to continue visiting the bathhouse. “I know you like going there,” he said. Of course I insisted that if I can go, so can he.

But something funny happened. Because we gave each other carte blanche to play around, I now don’t feel the need to visit the bathhouse. Sure, there were days when I was thinking, “I wanna visit the bathhouse tonight,” then something happened during the day, or I got distracted by a movie or a dinner invite, or I suddenly remembered that I still have a Fabcast to edit, and bingo! The bathhouse has taken a backseat to several other items in my agenda.

I guess it is true what they say. Masarap ang bawal. In the musical “The Fantastiks” (which Onofre Pagsanghan translated, or rather, transplanted to a Philippine setting, into the long-running Valentine’s offer of Dulaang Sibol, “Sinta”), the dads of a couple wanted the two to end up married. So what did they do? They pretended they were at war with one another, and forbade their children to see one another. Of course that drove the boy and the girl to continue seeing one another on the sly. Reverse psychology seems to work for me and D too. Sure, I have gone five times, and often it was because I was just curious if I still have it in me, if I can snag a chubby chaser or two (har-har-har).

And because of that, I am not hopeful that there will be a “The Wetter Book” or “More Stories From The Bathhouse.” Been there, done that.

So where do I go from here?

Come to think of it, I have not been blogging as much as I used to. Recently the Fabcasters interviewed Dan & Rye of “The Dan & Rye Show,” and Rye said something that resonated with me. He said that he’s not blogging as much as he used to, because when he was happily settled down with a partner he said he didn’t know what to write about. “Wala na akong angst eh,” he realized. Yeah, angst is a perfectly legit Muse, and for the longest time my being single since birth has fueled many an episode of The McVie Show. It was also the reason why the bathhouse is my go-to place for physical male-to-male contact; if I don’t have someone, then at least I can have someone, any one, for the night.

So where do I go from here?

Nah, don’t worry, I’m not about to shut down my blog. The Show must go on. Besides, I take pride in the fact that I have been blogging for more than 7 years, and the longest respite between blog entries have been a week. I may have stopped exercising for 5 months at the gym, but exercising my writing muscles is something I refuse to let fall by the wayside.

Maybe I won’t end up with another book deal ever. Maybe I will find some other impetus besides angst to make me write. Or maybe, I need to search for some other angst that I still have. Which can be a good enough reason to go from season 11 to season 12.

In the meantime, happy anniversary to our books, Migs and E!