All the prior posts before this have stayed in drafts, and I’m just praying this one doesn’t. ^^;
Happy Pride 2019!!! 
I am sooooo happy that I finally got to go to my first pride march + festival! I thought I wouldn’t be able to, despite signing up earlier this year when MMPride was trying to estimate the number of attendees. I was hoping to go with my siblings, but since their schedules were packed, they couldn’t, and I was hesitant to go all the way to Marikina by myself. Thankfully Aya told me she and Dan were planning to go as well!
And so last Saturday, despite the non-stop rain, Aya, Dan, and I attended Metro Manila Pride together. Jadie and I picked up Aya from her place, and drove to Katipunan where we met up with Dan for coffee before heading to Marikina Sports Center where MMPride was being held. We thought we were /avoiding/ crowds by going around 2pm, assuming that most people would have probably gone in, but we were wrong.
We had to line up for about an hour and half before we finally got inside the sports center at 4pm. Aya was the last to be strapped, and there were still a lot of people lined up outside. At that time the estimated number of people inside were 30,000 – which was apparently a lot more than last year’s attendees! It was moving to see so many attendees who were younger – probably in their teens, and in their early twenties.
This year’s theme is Resist Together – reminding us that apart from a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community, pride is rooted in protest, and that it means to fight back. Fight back inequality and oppression, and stand up for human rights, not just of the community, but also of other minorities as well.
Being there, taking part in it albeit only for a few hours… I don’t even know how to express how I felt. The sense of belonging, knowing that there are others too, who see love in a similar way, and an affirmation that it is valid, that it is okay, there was relief, and happiness, and so many other emotions ;_; But mostly happiness and a lot of positive energy.
The gloomy weather didn’t stop people from attending (apparently 70,000+!!!) or from exchanging greetings of “Happy Pride!” – Aya said she absorbed enough happiness / positivity to last her the whole year. It’s that kind of an event. ;_;
In the end, no, we didn’t get to join the actual march (it took us about 2 hours to get out of the sports center because of the volume of people). We opted to just watch, and sort of did a march of our own on the side ^^;
Overall this has been a very memorable and meaningful experience! Hopefully next year we can attend with more friends and family members^^
Wednesday Wallies: Now I Know What I Want
June has been a challenging month, but I am thankful for it ^^ Somehow, I feel like I got the clarity that I have been needing, and from constantly thinking “I don’t know what I want“, now its – “now I know what I want“. And it’s just a matter of holding on to it and constantly reminding myself so I never lose sight of where I want to go, and who I want to be. This was what inspired my latest Wednesday Wallie : )
This is originally a poster design that I decided to make wallpapers out of as well, and now I’d like to share them with you guys^^
Dimensions: 1920 x 1200 px
Hoping I can update more frequently in the coming weeks. I’ve made a list of things I wanted to write about, so hopefully I can create a posting schedule and get back to blogging ^^ Til next time~!
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