Monday, April 30, 2007

musical obscurity

One of my most favorite musicals is Avenue Q.. While some people may not like the message or the delivery, I see that a lot of lessons we can learn from it.

Consider the following lines and comments after them:

1. "Everyone's a little bit racist, it's true! But everyone is just about as racist as you. Ethnic jokes might be uncouth but you laugh because they're based on truth. Don't take them as personal attacks. Everyone enjoys them, so relax."

Everyone is really a little racist. I confess that I am my own worst racist. While most people make fun of other races, I make fun of my own. I even create my own Chinese-racist jokes. This practice is not to be evil or to look down on people. It's to poke fun at things we observe and a sign that I am quite secure and comfortable with my ethnicity.

In fact, being a little racist is healthy for the soul. We have our personal biases, culture, belief system, and standards of beauty. In a society that dictates what's supposed to be "the norm", the norm keeps changing. It's up to us to decide which norms we take as our own.

2. "I wish I could go back to college. Life was so simple back then... in college you know who you are. You'd sit in the quad and think Oh My God! I am totally gonna go far... I wish I could go back to college, I don't know who I am anymore... But if i were to go back to college, think what a loser I'd be. I'd walk through the quad and think OH MY GOD! These kids are so much younger than me."

This song struck quite a chord in me. Back when we were in highschool or college, we did have dreams and we had plans of how they were supposed to be followed. Unfortunately, life has a funny way of telling us that we are wrong. Cultural and political environs shake and break idealisms. The things we consider are right do not always end up being right.

Life is, indeed, funny. We are given a make-or-break chance back in college. No second chances. Just the message that you have to deal with your life as soon as it is thrown at your face.

Not so many people go through this, though. There are quite a number of people who seem to always know who to stick around with, where to be at, and what to do. Like they say "some are born to greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them." Some people are really born under lucky stars with not do-overs.

3. "You gotta go after the thing you want while you're still in your prime. There's a fine fine line between love and a waste of your time."

In connection with the previous lines/paragraphs, life teaches you the lesson that you should always make the most of what you have. Strike while the iron is hot and all that jazz.

In the past, you were best to take things slow... but life has taken a spin towards oblivion where each second does count and you're only as good as your last task. The moment you show a little waning of skill, you are replaced with someone or something new.

Life is not simple, nor should it be that complicated. I guess that's why I love Avenue Q. It reminds me of lessons in life that I seem to have forgotten. Can't wait for Atlantis to finally show it onstage here.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

standard of beauty

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What a cliche! Much as we'd love to believe this, it's a very big lie that has been perpetrated throughout centuries.

I recently came across a print ad for the Miss Earth. I'm not even sure if the girls featured there have already won. To my surprise (shock is more like it!) the girls looked like tranny cross dressers! Hair and make up were awful, they did nothing to beautify the girls. Hair and make-up styling is supposed to enhance beauty and disguise flaws, not the other way around!

These days, we see a common pattern as to what is beautiful. High and prominent cheek bones are crucial, nice doe-like eyes (whatever the shape), plump beautiful lips, oval-shaped faces, long lashes, great skin, and an aquiline nose is quite helpful.

It makes me happy that tans and dusky skin are widely accepted already. The proliferation of whitening products have brought a strange color to Filipinas. Those who have naturally dark skin and take these products end up being whiter but having a ash-gray tinge to their skin. Not really the best skin tone because it casts an unhealthy pallor.

To be truly beautiful, people must understand that it really radiates from within. Beauty starts with feeling good from the inside. Confidence adds a lot to the resulting look. From there, one must realize which features to enhance and which ones to cover up. It also helps to not have extreme self-worth values as it will end up in a delusional belief that of the self as perfect when it is far from reality.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To see the beauty in the world, it is best to see beauty in the self first. We are all beautiful in our own way, but it helps if we know how to enhance some of our unique traits to make us more beautiful.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

the closer i get

The world has become smaller and smaller. Thanks, mostly, to the leaps-and-bounds advances in technology. What used to be a very-fast "80 days around the world", can be done in half the time. A trip to Hong Kong just takes a relatively short time and shuttling back and forth for a vacation or shopping trip can be done.

Technology has advanced so much that conversations can be held between people, at a relatively reasonable price! There's 3G, VOIP, web calls, chat, instant messenger, etc.

But what has this technology done for us? Now that the world has gotten smaller and everything is accessible a finger's touch away, we have to pay the price: schedules have become tighter. Stress levels are at an all-time high. People are totally reliant on modern technology. People have become too lazy to go out and interact. They rely mostly on the internet or cellular phones to talk to friends and family. We have kept in touch with so many people, but we have cut down on personal times.

How often have you found yourself sending e-mails and YM messages, finally realizing that you haven't seen your friends in person for over a month?

How many of us have had dinners, lunches, and even sleep times interrupted because of "important" calls from the office?

Technology has made us extremely reachable that we have forgotten personal times. We have failed to realize that technology was created to serve us and not the other way around.

I have to admit that I am a slave to technology. I get quite uneasy when I leave my phone or laptop behind. I do enjoy a once-in-a-while escape from technology, but I find it difficult to leave it totally behind.

I greatly admire some people I know who can live and control technology. There are people who check their phone every hour only. There are those who don't answer business-related calls after 6pm.

Resolution to the problem, which I hope I am able to follow: take a weekly off-day from technology and enjoy it soaking in a nice scented bath with candles and a wonderful wonderful paperback.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Secrets to beautiful skin

I don't look my age... a lot of people say that. Many say that I look like I'm in my early to mid twenties when, in fact, I'm already in my early thirties.

Good genes would be a great reason for how I look, but I also have to thank some beautiful products. I bought them on a trip to KL and I do wish they'd sell the products here.

The Nugeno skincare series for men are the best! I've even stolen the Bio-Essence radiant youth essence I gave my mom.

Check them out at ginvera.com

Any of you going to KL, Singapore, or Taiwan? :D

Waiting in Vain

Waiting has long been my pet peeve. Something about being ready and agonizingly waiting for the minutes/hours to pass have wreaked havoc on my semi-ADHD state.

The gravity of the situation is amplified because I feel that time is always running out. I've always multi-tasked because I want to do so many things at one time. I've had that frame of mind since I was a kid and was probably the only one who never slept at nap time and deviced various ways to wake myself up (I didn't know how to operate an alarm clock back then).

Over the years, I've developed ways to combat boredom induced by waiting:
1. always bring along a paperback or magazine to read. if you're in an area where there is a bookstore, let your mind explore
2. keep your mobile phone by your side because the games come in handy
3. play mindless games on your laptop
4. keep a notebook for doodling or writing ideas
5. observe people passing. make up stories in your head at the same time.
6. if you're waiting at home, plonk yourself down in front of the TV set and just while the hours away.
7. play with your dog... or torment it by throwing items for it to retrieve, if you feel a bit naughty
8. If you're stuck in traffic, use your mobile headset and chat away with people on the phone. It helps if you have Sun Cellular Mobile
9. Sing your heart out to a CD of your choice if you're stuck in traffic. This works only if your windows are all closed and your car is almost sound proof.
10. take pictures and play around with them.

there are lots more ways to battle boredom. it's just a matter of creativity

The Idiot Box

My name is Alvin and I'm a television addict.

Funny as it may seem, I really do have an addiction to the boobtube. It's a wonder my brain has not yet turned to mush!

My love affair with the television started when I was a little boy of about 3 or 5 (I guess TV has rotted some parts of my brain, afterall). My mother was suddenly busy with so many things that she decided to put me in my crib and face the television towards me and...like a shot of Heroin (or so I assume), I was hooked! A magical world opened before my eyes. A world where people become other things! Cartoons were my bestfriend and Sesame Street was my babysitter.

Somehow, I was more discerning of the programs I watch than my siblings. My affinity for educational, American-language, and (oddly enough) cooking programs (WHOO-HOO for Wok With Yan!) Through the years, I developed a strange relationship with the television. It taught me lessons in life through the various programs I watched and I kept my eyes glued to it everytime.

One funny incident when I was younger was when the TV set in our room didn't work. I had to go and get the TV from our store (this could be another story on its own). The TV antenna was extended and I ended up poking my eye with it. I walked around with a red mark on my eyeball for a week or two. Yet my affair with the idiot box didn't end. As years went by, I found it easier to study, retain information, and concentrate on my schoolwork when I did it in front of the TV. I also relied on the TV to lull me to sleep at night. Cable was a godsend to me!

Now that I'm in my earliest of 30s, I still consider the Television a wonderful invention, but I do understand why it has been called the idiot box. I've seen kids stare blankly at the screen, fixated at whatever show was on. On occasions, I've found myself suffering the same fate.

I cannot fathom spending a weekend without television because I still rely on it to lull me to sleep or keep me company on long hours of work, but I wouldn't trade it in for a nice book, trip out of town, or a relaxing day at the spa.