Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Reading Between the Lines... The Anatomy of the Ideal Man or Woman (Part 1.5 - the midway stop))

I must admit... this has been one harrowing survey. My friend and I poured over the responses we got for several weeks, and we still could not decide which responses carried the most weight, which ones made more sense, and which ones were serious and inclusive enough to make it to the top ten. Yes, friends, from the hundreds of responses we received, we decided to publish only the top ten. And we still aren't even close to reading half of the responses we got. (huhuhuhuhuhu...)


While we are continuing to read and discuss which responses are in, and which ones are out, I'd like to share some responses that tickled my mind a lot. I'm calling this portion "the midway stop" - something similar to the stops people make during long land trips. And so, in no particular order...


1. "My ideal man is simply non-existent. I trust the Lord will send whoever is best for me, just like He did for my mom and my sisters." - from Candy, a 28-year old account executive. My psychologist friend, Gabe, said he found this answer to be "safe," and believes many others will do, too. He said this is typical of someone who simply does not want to get disappointed if she does not get exactly what she wants, or teased if she begins dating someone who is the opposite of the ideal she describes. As for me, I find this "safe" but nonetheless faithful. Yes, of course, I agree with Gabe to some degree but when it all comes down to it we never do find our "ideal"partner - we find someone to love for who that person is, regardless of what we don't like about them, and regardless of how that person loves us back.


2. "My ideal woman is humorous, smart, athletic, adventurous, and an Angel Locsin look-alike." - from Rowell, an 18-year old college student. Gabe took this a step further by asking how long Rowell has had this vision of his ideal girl, and if he could show photos of his previous and present girlfriends. We were astonished to find that, true enough, both girls were indeed Angel Locsin look-alikes! I asked why he broke up with the first girl, and Rowell said, "She creeped me out! She was obsessing with all these Korean boy bands and kept insisting I style my hair the way they do.She also kept nagging me into dressing like they do and shaving my eyebrows to look more like them!" Hmpf... looks like she was trying to style him into her own ideal guy.


3. "My ideal man is responsible, intelligent, hardworking, business-minded, and caring. No, he doesn't have to be good-looking. At ayoko ng mama's boy!" - from Lalaine, a 35-year old single-mom and entrepreneur. Lalaine said her "ideal guy" has evolved through the years because experience has taught her a lot. Her ex-husband (she has been divorced for five years) was good-looking indeed (he looks a lot like Mark Gil), and was pretty intelligent considering he completed two bachelor degrees in Ateneo before moving to the US with Lalaine to get married and start a family. Lalaine said everything was simply "blissful" - she had the best wedding she could dream of and it was the man of her dreams, too... until he decided not to work full-time and began spending more time at home "studying" what types of business to pursue (but never did). And then he began nagging Lalaine to act "more like his mom." Lalaine exclaimed, "it was frustrating that all you hear from him is 'my mom is like this and that' and 'my mom can do this and that' followed up with a 'why can't you be more like my mom?'" She also recalled how his mom would actually "engage herself" in their marital conflict, including herself in conversations and arguments without respect to the couple's privacy. "And he would let her... they would actually gang up on me whereas I was the one working my butt off to get them everything," Lalaine continued. Sigh... the guy filed for divorce five years into the marriage, as his mom recommended.


How about you? Would you care to describe your ideal man or woman and tell us about your experiences? :D


This is all for now... till the next stop, unless Gabe and I finally finish reading the rest of the responses to the survey. ;)

Friday, July 02, 2010

Food for Thought

I strongly believe in a purpose that is backed by action, for words are meaningless without them. In life, Carlyle Thomas writes, "The purpose of man is in action not thought." In love, Deepak Chopra writes, "Love without action is meaningless and action without love is irrelevant."


We are all blessed by the same loving God with so much love and life. Sadly, we often take for granted the things that matter most. We stray farther and farther from the path towards the Light as we exhaust means to hoist ourselves up the pedestal. So many people act foolishly, hypocritically, self-righteously, and stumble those around them believing they alone know the right path. They claim to be so many things and yet they fall short on proving what they actually mean. They lay on the platter self-serving rules and principles, and yet they know not to hear other people.


Mohandas K. Gandhi once said, "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." Some people dare say they will not "stoop down to the level of other people" because they feel so mighty and proud. You may find them prancing around like kings and queens over the heads of those they care not about. What kind of principles are they upholding exactly?

Monday, June 28, 2010

Another Chance... Songs of a Valkyrie (Part 2)

The early evening air whispers anew,
With the sound of the drizzling rain providing a soft harmony,
Yesterday has gone and tomorrow promises a new age.
An age of marvel, of hope, of miracles, of joy.
An age of blessings, of tears and of laughter.
An age of family, an age of friendship, an age of love.
Tomorrow is a new day, tomorrow is a new age.

The clouds and the full moon tell me that
Yesterday was a lesson, yesterday was lost.
Yesterday was found and it helped form a cause.
A cause for celebration, a cause for moving on.
A cause for looking forward to a new day, a new dawn.
A cause for another chance, a chance worth living for
Because yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is a new dawn.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

At Summer's End

The sound of rain makes the listless bodies
Form molds under the covers in their beds.
Tis' truly begun, the season of rain,
And the summer has away gone.

Wake up, lazy head, and greet the morning sun
As it peeks through passing clouds.
The day is new and the world is, too,
Let's march while the day is young!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Estranghera

Sa pinili mong landas,
Kung san di lang minsan nadapa,
Nagalusan at naputikan,
Kung san di lang minsan ding
Tumayo ka't humikbi sa kirot
Na pinsidhi pa n'yaring takot
Na dala ng yong pangungulila,
Kung san di lang minsan
Na ika'y humayo at lumakad na muli
Upang marating ang pinili mong paroroonan.


Isa kang estranghera sa mga matang
Mapanglait at mapanghusga,
Ng dahil sa ika'y naiiba sa kanila,
At dahil hindi singtuwid ng landas nila
Ang landas na iyong napiling sundan,
Pinipilit durugin ng itinatago nilang poot,
Ng pilit kinukubli nilang takot, 
At dungisan ng kanilang panlilinlang
Upang mapilitan kang tikisin,
At tuluyan ng iwan ang landas na napili.


Estranghera, ang araw ay di laging magkukubli,
Kahit mga tala'y di lilisanin ang langit,
Kaya't sa landas mo'y mayrong mananatiling
Ilaw na tutulong upang di muling maligaw.
At di rin naman mauubos ang mga taong
Sa mundo mo'y di makakalimot na tumanaw
Ng kahit kaunting pakikisalo, pakikiramay, pakikibaka,
Pagka't maski sa daming bese na ika'y nadapa o naligaw
Mayron pa ring sumisilip na ilaw ng pag-asa,
Ilaw na gagabay at tutuwid sa daanang liko-liko.

Reading Between the Lines... The Anatomy of the Ideal Man or Woman (Part 1)

               Since my grade school days, I've listened to boys and girls talk about their ideal partners in life. I've even answered countless slum books and dating surveys, detailing what's supposed to be an ideal picture of a guy I'd be dating or, perhaps in the future, marry.

               "Tall, dark and handsome..."
               "Has beautiful eyes, a cute butt and a sweet smile..."
               "Must be caring, responsible and smart..."
               "Should not care about how I look like, but instead look at the person I am inside..."

               These are just some of the ways people describe their ideal partners in life. And whether we admit it or not, the way we describe our ideal men or women change as we go grow older, as we experience different relationships, and we witness other people's relationships.

               The question now is this: what do we really mean when we say "must be caring, responsible and smart" or "should not care about how I look like, but instead look at the person I am inside?" What do we really want in a guy when we say, "tall, dark and handsome?" Or in a girl when we say, "has beautiful eyes, beautiful eyes and a sweet smile?"

               A recent conversation with a former classmate in Psychology has led me to these questions. We talked at length about what people really mean when they say this and that about their ideal mates. Do we really know what we want? Or do we really take extra effort in adding subtexts to what we say we want, carefully defining every adjective we use to describe that ideal partner?

               When a woman says, "I want my man to be sweet and romantic," she often leaves out that she wants him to bring her flowers in front of other people, take her out on expensive dates, constantly hold out his hand for her, carry all her stuff - even her purse - when they are out together, and many other things. Meanwhile, when a man says, "I want my girl to be sweet and caring," the term "sweet" may actually refer to her being "sweetly proportioned" - as in big breasts, small waistline, big hips - while the term "caring" may actually mean that she's willing to literally make him her master - constantly shower him with kisses, cook for him, clean for him, follow him around and serve him and his buddies. Of course, these examples may seem very extreme but to deny their truth in certain cases is simply hypocritical.

               Breaking down this concept of an ideal man or woman and looking into some of the possible subtexts of this concept are arduous tasks. There are far too many to include here, and most are undeniably unconscious subtexts - we don't realize that they are also part of what we want in our ideal partners. In fact, that lengthy discussion with my former psychology classmate lasted for several hours but never really ended. We still trade notes and observations every once in a while. We agreed to post some surveys on our individual social networks to see what kind of responses we'll get. Part II of this article will be dissecting those responses to aid us in defining what we so lovingly termed "the anatomy of the ideal man or woman."

Friday, June 18, 2010

Songs of a Valkyrie (Part 1)


Forsaken, thine kiss has been stolen,
My breath taken from me.
Forsaken, my wounds have no healing,
The scars burn incessantly.


My sword has turned against me,
My eyes can no longer see.
My dreams have failed to save me,
Waking moments tormented by thee.


Rising from the ashes are them warriors of old,
But they left the mem'ry of me behind.
Calling from a distance is a voice so cold,
And the need to bleed comes alive.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

My Daily Prayer

With unwavering faith,
and without fear in my heart
I look up and allow myself
To be showered by His undying love.


"Oh, that He may bless me indeed,
And enlarge my territory,
That He may lay His Hand upon me,
And keep me from evil..."

AMEN.

How Do You Teach a Heart

How do you teach yourself
To forget pains past,
To stop regretting past decisions
To stop telling yourself
That you should have done this a long time ago
Instead of submitting yourself
To four years of lies, deception and physical abuse,
Four years of hate, anger and false refuge?
How do you teach yourself
To trust and believe now,
To see the truth behind clouds of gray,
To look beyond the troubles of today,
And see the rainbow after the rain,
The sun hiding behind yesterday's eve.
When you wake up each morning, wondering
If the person waking up right beside you
Will stay with you till the end,
When each time you close your eyes,
You see his face, and smile,
Casting aside all sense of doubt...
How do you teach a heart to love again?
You don't... it simply does,
Just don't hold back now,
'Coz before you know it,
You may actually find yourself
Really, truly happy once again.


Written on 14 August 2005

Singing My Blues Away

I'm singing my blues away
And there's no begging me to stay
I've lived far too long in broken dreams
So now I'm singing my blues away.

The rainclouds beckon me to stay
But it's just no use to linger anyway
I've shed far too many tears this way
So I'll be singing my blues away.

I've found the strength to find a way
To greet the dawn with a smile everyday
Rather than hide in a closet filled with fears
I choose to just sing my blues away.

I'm carrying on
No doubt it's still gonna be long
But I've been blessed with a song in my heart, in my head
So I can go and paint my town in red.

I'm singing my blues away
There'll be no more sad tears today
This time there's no making me stay that way
'Coz now I'm singing my blues away.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Revival

Yup, I am reviving this old old blog site of mine once and for all. It had a two-year break before I finally realized that a lot of the things I've been writing are kept stashed away in the privacy of My Documents.

A lot of things have happened since my last blog entry. New apartment, new job, new sidelines, new baby... and did I mention I'm back to being a single mom? It's been a rough two years but I am happy with the new ME somehow.

So, what does this blog have in store for the next few months? Well, a lot of the stuff I've been writing are articles about life, relationships, work, places, people, and being a single mom. I'm also throwing in some reviews on books, movies, music, and current events. I can hardly wait to get started, but I'll touch up some of my really good ones first before I start posting them. Till my next (err, first? err... yeah...) post then!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Broken, I Am

I lie here, waiting
Each morning, every evening.
Waiting for a word, a message,
Even a mere warning.

I lie here, waiting
Forlorn, and weakening,
The deafening silence
All consuming.

My subterfuge
Of being whole
Is but a mere attempt
To hide the fresh wounds.

Wounds scathing not the flesh,
But the heart and the soul;
A death that seeks those who are
Enfeebled by false hopes.

I watch as this sordid world
Continues to turn, mocking
My measly existence,
My negligible presence.

I watch helplessly,
As there naught anything else
That my solace can afford me
But a window to watch the world.

I walk this ragged trail each day
To join others and their masks
Worn to conceal tears shed
For those, like me, who have come undone.

Undone by the chaos of this world,
They are.
Undone by the despair that has consumed all hope,
I am.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Some Old Journal Entries (from those lost)

"Love is, by no means, quantifiable. Neither is passion. This makes the whole concept of 'loving a person more' a contradiction. One cannot measure how much s/he loves a person for love is beyond all principles of reason, all principles of physics or accounting. One can never say that s/he loves another as much as that person loves him/her. There is no way to compare what cannot be quantified and measured."
- journal entry, December 4, 2006
(Jessica Zafra's version sounds better, and wittier... she probably wrote it before I did, too)

"Love is irrational... so is passion. The moment you try to rationalize these, you set yourself up for disaster. No long discussions or debates can ever result to an agreeable reason why or how people fall in love, or give in to their passions."
- journal entry, January 16, 2002

"What pleasure might one soul find in spending even a fleeting moment in the arms of eternal love? ... One that is not merely as fleeting as that moment's embrace, but as eternal as the love shared with a beloved."
- Abbe May, December 4, 1995

Monday, May 08, 2006

LISTLESS

I grow weary
Each hour, each minute
Every second that passes.
My breath remains stale
In this humid room,
In the mid-day sun.
My head aches,
Muscles in my body
Heavy with lethargy.
My naked body,
Dripping with sweat
Embraced by the sheets.
Intoxicating is the scent
Of the down pillow
Pressed against my face.
I turn over to see
The stream of sunlight
Through the blinds.
Sweat slowly dripping
Around my lips
As I exhaled a deep breath.
My skin glistens, wet;
And as I pull the sheets away
I stretch my indolent body.
The electricity failed today,
Must’ve been a short somewhere…
And it ain’t helping me wake.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

REMEMBERING SAMUEL

You came on Christmas day,
Wrapped in newspaper and plastic
In an old shoebox.


Your body was so soft yet so cold;
Your tiny fingers and tiny toes
Washed clean by what streaming warmth my tears could bring.


Your face, as fair and innocent like the dawn of that day,
Held so little memory of sharing the air that I breathed
As I held you close.


With trembling hands and agony in my chest
I tore away that little package that bound you,
Revealing the naked truth behind your mortal death.


I shared with you my blood;
I shared with you your pain,
And the yuletide season may never feel the same.


Please forgive me for not being there
For her, for you
Before she took your life away.


You left on Christmas day,
Wrapped in my shawl, with all my love,
Carefully placed in a small abaca-woven box.


I let you go on Christmas day,
Buried you in garden soil in an old icebox
Dug by my fingers, watered by the tears from my eyes.


And all I could give you was a name.

photo from http://www.soulprintsphotography.com/images/index_04.jpg

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

KUNG 'DI RIN LANG...

Saan pa dadalhin
Uhaw kong puso't damdamin
Kung di rin lang makakamtan
Minimithi kong pag-ibig?


Minsan na akong nabigo,
Minsan nang nasaktan at pinagkaitan.
Sandaling nagkubli sa dilim ng nakaraan
Sandali rin ang lumipas bago natuto muling lumaban.


Aanhin pa ang buhay
Kung hindi man lang mapagbibigyan
Natatangi kong hiling na sana'y
Makita ka man lang muli kahit minsan?


Tila ba isang bangungot
Ang maranasang ika'y ipagdamot,
At ako'y napagbilinang ibaon na sa limot
Ang lahat ng alaala ng saglit mong pagsinta.


Kung di rin lang kita makikitang muli,
Sana'y hindi na hinayaang magkubli
Ang puso kong ikaw ang itinatangi,
Ang pag-ibig kong mananatiling sawi.

photo from http://oscarandre.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/alas_my_lost_love_by_countelmo.jpg

Thursday, October 13, 2005

RAIN

Pouring, continuously,
Since this day’s dawn.
Lying on my bed,
Trying to ignore
The beat of each second
Passing by,
Being drowned by
The sound of the
Pouring rain.


Coldness, embrace me,
Hold me tight,
And feel me.
Let the rain take
Time away for
Just a while.
I want, for now,
To feel your touch
Under the sheets
As the rain
Continues to wet
The waiting earth.


photo by http://smithakumaran.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/71619-11-first-taste-of-rain.jpg