Okay, I admit it. I am a sap. I am an annoyingly saccharine creature when I’m happy. And today I am happy. I am letting all the other things fall away. Stress. Politics. Underhanded schemes and crazy news. I am letting it go. At this moment, I will lose myself in the dastardly delicious romantic music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Notably, one of the songs that I think, defines romance for me. “All I Ask of You”. I cannot pretend to know the context as I have not watched, read, or listened to the whole soundtrack of Phantom of the Opera, so as far as I know, this could be…

“I’m going to paraphrase Thoreau here… rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness… give me truth. ” ― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild I can sit here spouting all these quotes about truth. It hurts. We are never really prepared for the bad, and too giddy at the good. People say to give them the truth, but who is really prepared for it? I would like to think that I am. Because it takes too much effort to lie. Because I’ve been lied to too often, and by the people who should never lie to you and about the things that matter. So give me the…

I have been an Ally Mcbeal fan since forever. It is neurotic. It is selfish. It created a whole culture of body shaming and disorders due to the unreal skinny stars on the show. But that is not my point. My point is that it has the sexiest singing I have ever seen anywhere, and with the hottest men on earth. Did you know that Robert Downey Jr. sings? And that he sang on the show with Sting? (And held his own if I might add) I will post about that another time though, because the hidden gem in this show, and the voice that will make any girl’s knees weak…

What I’ve been thinking about today was the culture of public shaming we Filipinos tend to have. I don’t think people realize they do it sometimes, but the thing about a culture being able to “laugh all things off” also can tend to spout a culture of tactlessness and hidden hurt. I get it a lot now. I have admittedly gained weight, being the heaviest I have ever been in my life, and comments of “Neng, antaba mo ngayon ah!” (Sweetie, you’re so fat now!) or “Laki ah!” (You’re so big!) are common when I see people nowadays. Sometimes it hurts, even if it’s true. I like that people are…

My heart is bound to you, I have never felt so free.

Growing up, I was always surrounded by beauties. I was “the friend”, the approachable one that was nice and easy to talk to, while my friends were the girls that the guys salivated over. Countless hours have been spent providing advice for men who had unfortunately fallen for my emotionally unavailable friends, or looking for something else. During Valentines’ day at school, while a few of my friends were peppered with presents, I was the one giving present advice the day before, and the one helping the friends carry them home. I’m not complaining. Beauty is a gift. This incredible power that people hold and may not know how to…