change? anyone?

this was an essay i wrote for PSY1 today:
question: if you were to change your body, what would you change and why?
answer:
      in a beauty pageant, or any other morals, personality and intelligence test for that matter, this question would merit the answer: "i would not choose to change any part of me, for i'm happy with who and what i am." which is true, i am happy with who i am, what i look like, and what i can do. but if people were that gullible, the world would be such a better place.
      in real life, people constantly want to change a part of themselves, myself included. sometimes i wish i were taller, slimmer,...and prettier. i also wish i were better at drawing, a better writer, a more confident speaker, more friendly.
      the first part deals with the physical aspects. people want to improve the way they look based on the image of beauty of their time - ours being tall, slim, flawless and pretty. and no matter how much i’d like to think i’m better off without looking like everyone else, a part of me wants to look good and feel good about myself. yes, i wish my feet weren’t so big so i don’t have a hard time finding shoes for myself. i would like to feel pretty and look good not only in the mirror after i’ve brushed my hair, but also in random photos. i wish my hair were not as untamed as it is.
      but i guess i’ve gotten used to the way i look and wouldn’t want to change much - no liposuction, plastic surgery or anything like that! sheesh! just the things i can take care of with a little change of habit. i try to make the best of what i was given, and i’m happy that way.
      the second set on my, god-hear-my-prayer wish list, has mostly to do with the skills i want, or wished i could have. they say practice makes perfect and you aren’t born with your gifts, you learn them. also, that you can’t have it all. if you’re good in one thing, others are good at another (but why are there so many multitalented people?)
      they say be careful what you wish for, i have. change is such a big thing; even of it is for your benefit.

my sassy girl

      i'm not the type who likes chinese and korean telenovelas. i find myself awkward around my friends who actually enjoy watching those kinds of movies and sing along to videos they don't understand. (but i have to admit that i do like asian movies with high-tech action scenes and espionage plots) i'm not a fan of love stories, but they are usually motivating, especially if the soundtrack is great. teen or chick flicks are enjoying at times especially if they're hilarious, its then that i go for them, but that's it.
      i just watched my sassy girl with my dormates the other night. it's a korean love story movie [so i don't have to point out that the main characters are a guy and a girl]. the story is set in present day - easily identified through the flip cellular phones and the subway. the girl is sort of a bully, she gets drunk after 3 shots, and she is so unpredictable. the guy is weird and unbelievably impossibly helpful and kind, he's a pushover and yes the girl bullies him around. they become friends and it takes long for them to admit that they like each other. i liked the movie not because it was a sweet love story and they got together in the end, in the most awkwardly predictable way. what made it really stick to me was the funny antics that happened in the movie. though very impossible, basically it was ... funny. and yes it was a nice love story, nothing too serious: it was light and comedic. it was very asian in such a way it didn't have only one rise and fall and you can't really tell when the story will end, until it does. its a love story, (it has so many clichés) and its very much impossible. its foreign, but i do recommend it. its really fun!

      and here comes the undying question: can and/or does that actually happen in real life? i don't think so.
      the girl was a bully of the worst kind. its been kind of typical in love stories that the girl is a bully and she bullies the guy around. it can happen, but its unlikely. not many girls have nothing to lose. well i don't and as much as i like to bully guys around, i'm too kind to. (i'm generally nice, but i make exemptions for the assholes)
      the guy is a "loser"! there cannot exist a guy like that in this world. he meets the girl in the subway, she's drunk and vomits all over the place and calls him honey though they've never met. so people in the subway think he's responsible and has to clean up and bring the already unconscious girl out. not only that he takes her to a motel and checks her in so she can rest. he gets in jail for it, and that doesn't happen only once. he is impossibly kind. when they're friends already, he does whatever she tells him to. well i guess you can't blame him, the girl hits him - fondly - and asks him, "do you want to die?" but still, i don’t think any real guy would be nice enough to do that. they don't like it when they're pushed around. the patriarchal society we live in tells us that men have to show the girl that they're strong men, not men who act like chickens. its actually very animé, the guy is not even handsome, he just looks stupidly cute.

unwritten love story? taking off from that, can you think of a love story that hasn't been written, made into a movie or the like? i know all love stories are unique, but of the many love stories already on the reel or on paper, are there any other ones without the already overused clichés? just a thought. think of one and type it as a comment below, or in the chatterbox.

mestizang TV

ang mestiza
      pansin ko, uso ang chinita ngayon. sa bagay, di ngayon lang, matagal na "maganda" ang chinita. kung bakit ay di ko talaga alam. siguro kasi makinis ang skin, maputi, maganda ang buhok at may lahing iba sa pinoy. pero di ako galit sa chinita a! may mga kaibigan akong ganon, at mabait sila.
      napansin ko kasi sa TV (gawa siguro ito ng F4), mga commercial puro chinita-in ang mga modelo. puro mestiza at di lang mestizang intsik ang pinaguusapan natin. ang mga taong ito na halo ang lahi ang mga mas natitipuhan ng mga agent para sa showbiz. nabasa ko sa isang article ng [p] ang isang pamimintas tunkol sa starstruck, parang display lang daw ito ng mga mestiza - lalaki man o babae. parang totoo nga. (laki talaga ng impluwensya ng F4). napanood ko kagabi, may viva hot men na pala. pansin ko lang ang hairdo nila: karamihan sa kanila ay long hair ala F4, siguro iyon ang "gwapong" style ng buhok panlalaki ngyon.
      kung iisipin natin matagal nang ito ang batayan ng kagandahan sa atin: ang maputi ang maganda, na di naman salungat pero medyo malayo sa itsurang pinoy talaga. di naman kasalanan ng tao na maputi at maganda siya dahil ako ay di maputi at di maganda, di iyon ang punto ko. di ko sinusulat 'to dahil insecure ako.
      may narinig ako dati, na yung mga lumalabas na pampaputi na sabon, lotion atbp. ay di makatarungan para sa mga di maputi. dahil maiitim sila, dinidikta sa kanila ng lipunan na kailangan na rin nila magpaputi. isa iyong malaking diskriminasyon sa aming maiitim. its unfair. at ang nagkakalat ng di makatarungang pagiisip na ito ay ang mga TV natin.

ang TV
      may malaking kapangyarihang hawak ang media sa mga nanonood sa kanila, na nakakapaghubog sa kamalayan ng tao. ngungit ang kamalayang ito ay hawak ng iilang tao na gusto lamang kumita - kaya nga soap opera, di ba.
      sa aking palagay, di ginagamit ng media ang kanilang kapangyarihan para sa ikauunlad ng tao, ngungit sa pagpapalaganap ng status quo. balikan natin ang mga telenovela na kinahihiligan ng mga pilipino. wala nang kakupaskupas ang gasgas na gasgas na formula na paulit ulit din naman: na ang kahirapan ay nandyan na at ipinanganak ka dito, at antayin mo na lang ang tunay mong inay na mayaman na makita ka sa squatters area na tinitirhan mo, saka ka makakaganti ka sa mga hinayupak na umapi sa iyo. pagdating naman sa mga commercial sa gitna ng sampal ni bida kay kontrabida, ang makikita naman ay ang mga magagandang taong hinihikayat ang karaniwang mamamayan na bumili ng kung ano ano dahil: masaya ito, mapapansin ka na, dahil puputi ka. sa primetime, walang natututunan ang tao para sa kanyang ikauunlad.
      imbis na iyon, bakit di nila ipakita sa mamamayan ang mabuting magagawa ng pagsikap sa mgagandang kinabukasan? di ito swertihan lamang. hindi po BINGO ang buhay. di ka lamang gigising one day at malalaman mo na may lahing mestiza/o ka pala.

maslow's hierarchy of needs

      this guy actually has a point in his pyramid-like model of man's needs. he says, the physiological (food, water, clothing, shelter) needs which are at the base of his model, must be satisfied first. then the security need. it is when these two are satisfied, then one can dwell on his psychological need which will eventually lead you to the top - the self-actualization need.

why he makes a point?
      basically it has truth to it. when i first learned this model of man's needs, it was just something i had to memorize for an exam to pass a particular subject. now i see it means more than that.
      to survive, people need to satisfy their basic needs - food, water, shelter, clothing - and secure these and themselves. let's take the urban poor as an example, they aim to satisfy their basic needs through the income they get from their less than minimum wage paying jobs, which we all know is not enough to reach the daliy cost of living.
      security comes form the community people live in, they make sure they and their belongings and their families are safe form being stolen or lost or burnt etc. these people are in constant threat of losing their security and basic needs because of the unsteady movement of the economy and the government, which affects all sectors.
      satisfying their psychological needs is secondary, or should come after, however the filipino culture tends to satisfy the sense of belonging and fun in between all hardships.

am i'm getting to nowhere?
      my point: only the rich think of being a better person, psychologically. those who have satisfied the physiological need and security need think they need to reflect on their lives, have a change or do something about their lives. (gets?)
      one of my friends once noticed that lots of people these days have with them a copy of "Purpose Driven Life". i've never read this book and i dont know what it is about, but my guess from the title is that it's about making a change in one's life or lifestyle (I'm not really the into-God type). the book is not my point. i've seen lots of these kinds of books in the library and in the bookstore under the classification psychology or sometimes inspirational. besides the fact that these books are costly - did i say costly? that was an understatement. i meant very pricey - they do only cater to those who have plenty of time to think about what to do with their lives.

      i'm NOT saying the urban poor can't do anything with their lives but work to satisfy the basic needs. they can, but just don't expect them to - drastically. i did mention that these people also satisfy their psychological need. they do it by celebrating, having fun, dying their hair, singing vidoke and all the fun stuff they like. they too have dreams to change their lifestyle, but not the way rich people can just get up one day and say "i want to change my life, i'm gonna be a better me!" theirs is a change of wanting their children to graduate and go abroad, their house built of cement instead of scrap wood and metal.

      what i am saying is that those who do have the time to make the world a better place have to work together, and with the people who don't always have that luxury. thinking about a better Philippines is different from listening to what will make a better Philippines from the people who need it most.