Paalam na, house (Tribute to AJ Matela 1982-2011)

AJ and WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg at the back seat of my car. This was straight from Wordcamp 2010 in Manila.

Ang Buhay ni Boy by jayveef

I was listening to an old podcast I helped record back in 2007. It stars several friends from the Internet, with AJ taking center stage playing the role of “Boy” for this short radio play. I remember we all came together to Juned’s place to record this right after I told them I got a new podcast microphone. To fully appreciate this listen, you have to realize that everything spoken here was impromptu and I kept on rewinding AJ’s final lines as he closed the episode.

Pero marami din ako natutunan sa bahay na ito, pero kailangan ko nang umalis. Natutunan ko na kahit anong kailangan natin, kung paano tayo magmahal .. basta taos puso ang pagmamahal natin … yun ang importante. Tsaka natuto ko rin na hindi lahat ng … hindi mo naman kailangan maging beauty queen, hindi mo kailangan maging designer … hindi naman ganun ang lahat. Kung bakla ka, o bading ka hindi naman kailangan na tawagan kang i-stereotype. Hindi naman ganun lahat.

(…)

Natutunan ko lang basta taos sa puso ang pagmamahal mo mabubuhay ka ng maligaya. Aalis na ako. paalam na, house. — AJ Matela (September 10 1982- September 9 2011)

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AJ’s family and friends need our help to raise funds for his hospital bills. Please head on over here for details.