Or the day I saw Journey in person.

I accompanied Yuan to school because he just had fever and flu, and because the accident in his school created paranoia in some of us.

After bringing Yuan to school, I went to The Block. It was Journey's meet-and-greet-the-press day. I wasn't a big fan of Journey, but since Arnel Pineda joined the band, I've been watching their videos on YouTube.

An hour before the band arrived, onlookers have gathered around the venue. There was a huge screen showing Journey's concert in Mexico. When the band arrived, the audience broke into thunderous applause. It was their way of showing the love for Arnel, a local boy who made good, and the rest of the band members, for embracing one of us, thereby becoming one with us.

Arnel and Journey have an interesting story, stuff modern fairy tales are made of. You need not mine their story further to get a good interview. It could have been a good opportunity to ask interesting questions, and the band members, I think, were prepared to be more than cordial.

Alas, what they got was a dud.

It was odd. The press people who were there were more than content with taking pictures. Only a handful asked questions, and not very good ones at that. Oddly, I felt cheated. These people were the ones given the chance to ask all the questions we wanted to ask. And they were awfully quiet. Those who did have the courage to ask questions babbled platitudes that sounded awfully rehearsed.

The audience was not allowed to ask questions, but when the host -- for the umpteenth time -- said "Any more questions" and was greeted with a deafening silence and uncomfortable pause from the press, my hand shot up in the air out of its own volition.

The rest made it to the pages of the Philippine Daily Inquirer the next day.

Read it here.