Chatting for the whole night with my fiance online during this unholy hour is simply a punishment to the nth level. We've been awake for more than 16 hours now, still tired from spinning class we religiously do every night in a local gym and struggling with the gurgling sounds of our empty stomachs in the wee hours of the night. It sucks! (but needed) We finally decided to break through from the guilty pleasures of eating good food during the late hours. With our decision to practice a "strict diet" to shed off extra pounds will soon be worth it and rewarding in our targeted time frame.
Anyways, we have been flirting with this nightly "set-up" for almost a week now and I am starting to feel ticked with the change of my fiance's schedule at work. Rica's still in her office right at this very moment having a teleconference with their new client for next week and ultimately hoping that the trainees for this particular account can maintain this and pull it off. Rica is such a life saver for her company! Trying to get jobs for unmotivated people who needs a good beating and taking care of a phallic fixated British boss. Tsk...
Anyways, I had a pretty interesting week where I began to ask "questions" again to myself. Some are quite pristine but mostly are disturbing. But as this night session ended, Rica sent me the lyrics of our favorite song, "Everybody's Free (to wear sunscreen)" written by Baz Luhrmann (director of Moulin Rogue). Great song for it totally snapped me out from this "bugging out" mode.
"If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.
Scientists have proved the long-term benefits of sunscreen whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are NOT as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
Brother and Sister - TOGETHER we'll make it through."
When my Dad and my fiance's dad finally met in Manila 21 days before he passed away
