Her name is...Lisa Herd.

When I first met her, I thought - in the best possible way - she was a drama queen. There was something special about that drama queen that drew me to her and here I am - with such pleasure - writing about her.

 She is one of the most amazing girls I have ever met in my entire life. She genuinely exudes great things that represent very well her colorful personality. She is very engaging and when she speaks she easily makes you pay attention to her.

 She speaks with passion and conviction. I love her. When she is telling you something, she makes you not only believe but also makes you be part of whatever she is telling about. She always gives you the most spontaneous, genuine answers. The more I write, the more I love her.

 We share the same passion for movies.  We could speak about movies for ages. We share some of the same worries in life. I enjoy her company and sometimes I feel I am enchanted by her presence. I love talking to her and she comes to my mind all the time.

She has left a mark on me and she is already leaving a celebratory mark on life because in a few months she will become one of the most amazing, beautiful and happy yummy mummies in the world, and I cannot wait to see her overjoyed by love, tenderness  and happiness!

She is my pal. I am very fond of her and her name is…Lisa Herd

 

 

 

 

Marlon/Marlife

In some countries, children still dance!

And if you click the link below you will realise children do love dancing...

http://youtu.be/dEwxyabYHFE


Marlon/Marlife

Marlife and the Power of Social Media...

When I created my blog, my genuine intention was to write and to share with people my thoughts, outlook on life, feelings and opinions, etc. I never had in mind the idea of reaching an X amount of people. My objective never was to reach such audiences in the likes of Australia and/or Germany.
 I have been stopped on the street to be told "I'm reading your blog, well done" or "I came across with your blog somewhere, it's very good". I've met people in the supermarket saying  exactly the same. I've been out dancing topless, sweating and out of the blue in the middle of their drunk night, a guy has come up to say "I'm reading your blog". In the gym, 2 lads in between pumping up their muscles mentioned to me "we came across with your blog".

 Then I created my promotional card which I have been giving it out to people, but some of them have said "I'm already reading" or "I've read a few".

 All of these people are people that I don't know well or don't know at all. Some of them are not connected with me in any of my Social media platforms and I've found fascinating that they know all about my blog.

 Why? Because of the staggering Power of Social media which can allow whatever message you put out there become a snowball effect or in online terms "go viral".

 This short video shows how Social Media has become a powerful and effective platform to convey messages, to promote whatever it is that needs to be promoted, whatever it is to be talked about or been noticed. I have hugely benefited from it, that's the reason why "Marlife" is approaching the 7000 views and it has made me excited and a Social Media nutter. I love it!

 





 Marlon/Marlife

I felt like a spoiled child.

It has been an amazing, emotional month and more so an amazing week. The highlight of the month was my 10^th anniversary together with John and our 3^rd year of marriage.

I would like to take this opportunity to say this to you all...

Thank you so much for your kind words and best wishes for our anniversary.

Thank you so much for my Birthday wishes. I was – and still am – overwhelmed, touched and moved.

Thank you – of course – for taking the time to read my blog and make our celebrations even more especial.

Thank you  for giving me the opportunity to be myself and to express myself in every way I want and can and always receive a great reaction from all of you.

Thank for you for being there, for giving me love, the love that waters my plants of love.

Thank you for allowing me to share with you this amazing experience called life - "Marlife"!

 

 

Thank you so very much!

Marlon/Marlife

16th of July, the day I was born...

I was born in Maracibo, Venezuela , the 16^th of July, 1972. My Mother’s name was Carmen Matilde Jimenez Arrieta. My father – biological because who never looked after me, is Luis Emilio Ortiz who is still alive. I am the youngest of 10 siblings on my Mother's side.

My Mother always made of my birthday a big deal. She made sure I felt it was my especial day. Even though, she couldn’t afford to have a party, she always managed to have a cake for me, she would sing Happy Birthday and get me to blow the candles, so of course, every year I couldn’t wait for next year so I could repeat the whole celebration all over again.

To this date, I still feel my birthday is so super special. I feel honoured to be turning ages. I am grateful to be alive, I am grateful to be human, I am grateful to be the person I am,  I am grateful to be Me…Today I’m turning 42 years of age  and I feel wonderful. I feel fortunate in so many ways and I am very happy to be able to share these great feelings with all of you.

The more we live, the more  we learn and the more we learn, the more we love and the more we love, the more we feel alive. So I am going to take this opportunity to convey this message to all of you: Feel good about turning ages, be good to yourself and to others. Age is just a number, a simple number, what is more significant and meaningful is the way you feel deep inside of you, that’s what matters, what really matters.

Thank you so much for reading this blog and for wishing me a Happy Birthday…I sincerely appreciate it from the bottom of my heart…Thank you!

                                                     

This is me at 42, I feel & look great

With love

Marlon/Marlife

My very heart-felt wedding speech...

" Don't worry guys, you look great from up here. The great thing about straight weddings, or let's say girl and boy weddings is that you can be as romantic as you like, but the great thing about gay weddings is that you can be as cheesy as you like. So you can imagine how cheesy this is going to be? And you know what guys? I'm already loving it! I have been an emotional and cheesy person all my life so I am allowed to be a cheesy person today because it's my wedding day? There is one person in this room to be blamed for my happiness and that person is my friend, Dr Cian Denihan. Talking about Cian, I still remember that day when I said to him that John has invited me to go to his house for dinner and I didn't want to go because I was single and I was having fun.  I was only a year in this country and Dublin was for me a novelty  so I was trying to have as much fun as possible so he encouraged me, that 15th of July, 7 years ago to go and have dinner with John in his house because John had invited me and he said to me  "well go, if I was you I would go" and he mentioned all the qualities John had. He said "John is nice nice man,  he is good looking and bla bla bla" But then he mentioned something that was really really revelant to me. He said "I have never heard anything bad about him" And being a model and a gay guy in the Dublin thing that has to be relevant.

That was exactly the last encouragement I needed to go and have dinner with John in his house, and now look at me now, 7 years later on my wedding day. That has to be the best advice he has ever given to somebody considering the happiness you have brought into my life.  So I want to say thank you to Cian and also I want to this opportunity to thank Him because he was the person who really helped me when I so needed it. So if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here tonight.

My background is a very humble one. I grew up in a poor house in Venezuela, but my Mother was always making sure to provide me with everything I needed to make my childhood as happy as possible. We didn't have economical resources at all, but she always managed to make sure I was OK. She died at 56 and I was only 11, but those 11 years I spend with her were full of joy and happiness. She taught me so many lessons in life and today I remember 2 in particular. She taught me to dream and how to fight for my dreams in order to make them come true. And the 2 lesson she taught me was to make my own decisionsI remember I was only 8 or 9 and I was having a tantrum (It was probably over a dress) and I remember her saying "OK fine, make your own desicisons, that's fine, but before making it think of the consecuences of your desicions, because even if you don't make a good one, in the end is gonna be your own choice" And I have never forgotten that lesson. Actually I have put that lesson into practise throughout my life and it has paid off, that's the reason I want to dedicate, today, my wedding day to her memory because marrying that beautiful man over there it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

John when I made you my life changed forever. I have learnt to see life from another perspective because of you. You know the way I love myself very much? But I love myself even more since we are together because you have made complete. You have brought the best out of me, not only as a gay man but also as a person and I am grateful for that. I still remember our very first chat on the internet. The way you spoke to me, the way you were so honest and straightforward. That day you told me everything I need to know to be with you. And I remember finishing the whole conversation and going back and I re-read  the whole thing again and I went "fuck me, this guy is not only insanely good-looking, but also straightforward and honest" and they were the qualities that really brought me to you. We don't have a perfect relationship because we are human, therefore we make mistakes, but what I like about our relatioship is that we are always trying to have a relationship based on communication, understanding and respect and I think that's remarkable. You are not only my lover and my best friend, but you are also the person I want to be with for the rest of my life and from today I am going to be very proud to be calling you "My Husband". My wonderful husband...until he farts.

Now Sean and Pauline Compton thank you so much for bringing that beautiful man into this world, otherwise you wouldn't be becoming my husband today. Sean I have to say you are a great man and I have you in such high regard and I am very proud today to see that you're becoming "My Father In-Law". Pauline you are a definition of tenderness, you are an extraordinary woman who hasn'r realised how special you are and that's why I want to thank you for embracing me into your family the way you have. Thank you!

I couldn't continue talking about special and important people in my life without mentioning my friend Erik. Erik and I met in Venezuela around 10, 11 years ago. We had the same dream, we wanted to live our country searching for a better life, so we united our forces to try to make it happen. In the process we had some difficulties, but our determination was bigger than those difficulties and in the end we achieved what we wnated. I am pleased I met you those years ago and I want you to know today that you will always have a special place in my heart. Always.

This is the moment I was waiting for because. This not an opportunity to open my mind but also to open mu heart to all of you and last thing, in the name of being cheesy and emotional, if you have a dream, if you have an ambition, if you have an aspiration go out there and grab it to try to make happen, regardless what it's around you, because I am walking testimony of what dreams are all about and I am a walking testimony of what hapinnes is all about.

I want to thank you all for coming to John and I big day. It really meaningful. I want to thank the Angles Rest, this beautiful place, we got engaged here a year ago. I want to Thank Una Williams for those pictures. I can not wait to see them, especially to see myself. I want to Thank Jennifer and her boyfriend for videoing the day, thank you so much, and thank you all for joining us and please, please have a drink, have a great time and get really really drunk. OK, thank you!

Marlon/Marlife

15th of July 2011...Some pics of our wedding day!



The Happy couple

It has undoubtedly been one of the most amazing days of our lives. We were overwhelmed by joy,
contentment and happiness. We felt that it was the perfect way to officilize our union and we would do it all over again if we could. The 15th of July 2011 John Compton and I - Marlon Jimenez sealed our love forever and these pictures are the perfect proof of such an amazing event.


 

The Happy couple

Wedding cake

My Parents In-Law Sean & Pauline Compton



The In-Laws Debbie, Sean, Paul, Pauline, Alan & Mark Compton







                                

Especial friend...Denise Brady







 

The whole gang in front of the Angler's Rest, wedding venue

The Husband making sure it was official



Our official photograhper: Fabulous Una Williams

Gail Kaneswaran & Henry Daly



 

With Lynn Pagi




Merle Zirk & Jeanette Reilly

Amazing Emma Buckley

     
Ollie and fab friend Lisa Cummins

My friend Erik reading my dedication to John

Patrick Dunne, the great Amanda O'Sullivan & Caoilinn Taylor

Nature was also a witness of our union

The dark and white


                                                                           


And the happy couple cut the wedding cake

           It was an amazing celebration...

           Marlon/Marlife
  
                                                                

 

The 6th of July, the day my Mum died.

My mother was the most important and influential person in my life. A woman who made a lot of mistakes in her life and when it came to the children she had. She had 10 of them, but I feel I am the lucky one since she gave me birth when she was 45 years of age, so in a sense, she tried to redeem herself with me.

She was originally from Colombia and she emigrated to Venezuela in search for a better life. Sadly, she was never to find it and she poured her life in grinding poverty. My mother had virtually no formal education and she was illiterate until she was 35 years of age. She made so many bad decisions in her life, particularly when it came to men, most of whom had no responsibility for their children or providing assistance in their rearing. She never married, but she managed to have 10 children out of 7 men. That's a record for someone who was so poor. I was one of her children and the one who most benefited from her love before she died at a young age. She was 56 when she passed away from a heart attack as a result of a brain haemorrhage.

She was obsessed with her health - this si something I inherited from her as I must confess I am a bit of a hypochondriac myself. I remember as a child she would bring me to the Doctor twice a year for a full check-up to make sure that I was OK. Her health obsession, paradoxically, worked against her. Throughout her life, my mum tried to look after herself the best she could. I still remember her reading books about medicine and how to keep healthy. She used to take a lot of vitamins and Doctors believed that she overdid it so that's why when she had the brain haemorrhage, the excessive blood she had in her system didn't come out of her body, but it became a tumour underneath her brain and she died from 3 heart attacks as a result of it. Very ironic! 

I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, I was her youngest child and that's the reason she loved me so much and devoted herself to me in such a loving way that I now know I am such a happy person because of her love. My other brothers and sisters were scattered between Venezuela and Colombia. I must say she was very good to me, but she was not that great when it came to my brothers and sisters.

I remember her being wonderful to me. I remember her loving me and making me feel I was the most special person in her world and in the world. Her love equipped me with the self-esteem I have always relied on and she always made sure I felt I was wonderful, special and fabulous. Oh god, I miss her so much!

I think she realized that she needed to invest all her dreams and hopes in my future. She was determined to ensure that I was emotionally well-looked after in every possible way.

My Mother died the 6th of July 1983, I was only 11 years-old. All I remember is a neighbour coming to the house, who was looking after me while she was in the hospital and she broke down the news saying "Carmen Jimenez has died" when I heard her breaking the news, all I remember it's me jumping up and down, inconsolable, it felt like very blunt sword penetrated my heart leaving breathless. I said it before on one of my blogs that I cried so much that I nearly puked. I still remember every single moment: The coffin, the funeral, the burial. The light of my life had gone out and left me on my own. I still think - even though I am nearly 49 - why? why? why did she have to die? Who knows?

As painful and sad as it is, I must see the positive side of this painful experience, she left me an unbreakable legacy: She loved me so dearly and so much that I am a walking testimony of her love and devotion. She laid down the strong emotional foundations for me to walk on and be the happy person I am today. Do I remember her face and voice? Yes, I vividly do. Her love is with me, in my heart, beating every day. What I remember the most - and this is what I will treasure forever until the day I die myself - I remember having a Mother who was wonderful and amazing. I always look at the stars and think, feel deep down in my heart and soul that one day I had a Mother and she was fantastic. Mummy I love you and forever miss you...

Marlon/Marlife

When the Metro newspaper published my article...

This time 3 years ago, my now husband and I, were finalising our Civil Partnership – Wedding – and we were on a constant high of emotions. As a result of it, I decided to write a small message for the newspaper (Metro) which was called metro herald at the time. A week later, to my very own surprise, my article was published and in the next days that particular section of the paper was inundated with messages from readers congratulating us. Of course I was delighted.

I thought I had a copy of the actual newspaper, but unfortunately I can’t find it to insert it on my blog, but I’d like to share with all of you that writing. It was brief, straight to the point, but very heart felt.

This is what I wrote:

 

                          “I  love Ireland, my new home!


                            Every morning I read the Metro Herald mailbox on the train on my way to work. Most of the time it's all about complaints about the economy, the politicians or the country in general, so I want to write a positive message to all Irish and non-Irish people.
                           I came to Ireland 8 years ago when I decided to leave my country, Venezuela, in search for a better life. I arrived in Dublin with no money, but with a bundle of dreams and hopes. I was amazed at the way Irish people embraced me & made me feel welcome. This green & beautiful country gave me the opportunity to fulfil my dreams and hopes not only as gay man, but also as a person. Two years ago I got Irish citizenship so now there's a little bit of green in my blood.
                           Coming to Ireland has been one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. Now Ireland is my home and Dublin is my house!
                         This coming 15th of July I'm getting married to a nice, beautiful, great man and I'm very proud to say that He is Irish!
                          I will invite you all to try to see beyond the problems this country has, and I will assure you that you will see a country full of beauty and nice things!

                                                                        Love! Marlon”

Needless to say that I’m again on a high one in emotions, this coming 15^th of July is our 10^th anniversary together and our 3^rd year marriage anniversary also. Time flies, but the love is still the same.

Marlon/Marlife