Rollercoaster Ride

Marry-go-round

I can't say enough good things about being single and living in New York. Where beautiful men and women in their late 20s and 30s are not at all pressured to be with anyone or worse, settle down. (That's why they call it 'settle'. down.) Where Valentine's Days are more popularly spent doing laundry, working or  simply going home to watch "Lost." Where people rarely pine for someone because they are the prize. Where travels by oneself or with friends are far more often planned and enjoyed.  Where people know they'll get there someday, but don't want that someday to be now. This is the only city in the world, where the married ones truly envy the lives and lifestyles of the single ones, rather than the other way around.

Love is not blind.

Sana nga kung love is blind. Pero hindi eh. Alam nyo kung bakit?

Nung nalaman ko na bulag pala ang dad ni Angel, isa sa mga naisip ko is sayang na hindi nya makikita ang mga guwapong boyfriend ng anak niya. Immediately after, naisip ko na ok lang yun kasi ang dapat ngang mag-matter is kung mabait yung guy sa kanya. And in this case, yun nga ang magiging basehan for the father -- if the guy treats her well. Very well.

Tapos naisip ko yung mga taong hindi natin gusto, ergo hindi natin mahal, pero gusto o mahal tayo. Minsan puwedeng maging simple lang ang sagot natin: 'hindi natin type.' Ang lungkot 'no? Pero kung lahat tayo bulag, eh di wala nang problema. Mas madaling makahanap ng match kasi hindi hadlang ang hitsura: ang tangkad o liit, ang payat o taba, ang itim o puti.

Eh kaso nga love is not blind. Kaya ginugusto pa rin natin yung someone we are physically attracted to, based on what our eyes can see.

Hello!

Nagugulat ako pag merong bibisita sa akin, or mag-iiwan ng voice mail or e-mail, na para bang blast from the past: yung mga taong hindi mo na naisip ng 12 or 15 years, halos makalimutan mo na nga, tapos maririnig mo ang boses o makikita mong nagpapakilala ulit. Tapos either maalala mo sila, o hindi. Lalo na kung ang mundo mo'y puno ng bagong tao - mga taong hindi mo nakilala before 2003 pero mga pinakamalalapit mong kaibigan ngayon, na mas kilala ka na nila more than anyone else.  Tapos makikita mo na either nothing has changed, or so much has changed. Tapos you may get some time to catch up on the past 15 years, and you won't know where to start -and stop. 

Pero ang mas nakakagulat ay yung pag nakakaita ako ng mga photos ng mga dati kong kakilala taken just a block away from my office in New York, whether it's at Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Grand Central, or just on Fifth Avenue and 44th Street. Hello! Mag-hello naman kayo. So close and yet so far... Ang lapit lang sa classic NY tourist spots, puwede pang maglunch dun or mag-happy hour. I'll take you to my favorite bars or we can go to Bryant Park. As you know, everyone's wlecome naman in my office. Lalo na 'pag PIlipino ka :)

6th

Today, January 26, 2008 marks my six years of living in

New York

. And in the earliest two hours of this day, and as I put myself to sleep, I think I've reached a new high in my career. See http://mydreamreality.multiply.com/journal/item/45/Its_Carissa_Villacorta

Just saw it through google at a little past midnight.

I can't believe she's putting me beside Paulo Cuelho and Mitch Albom among her faves and Surreality alongside The Five People You Meet in Heaven and By the River Piedra...!

In the eyes of one. It matters. What a blessing.

You're the Inspiration

When I was in fashion, I learned that the first step in making a design is always Inspiration. So you either watch a movie, go to a museum or travel to a new country to get the theme or reason for your collection. I've always felt it a little contrived, because you intentionally look for inspiration, before your pencil even hits your canvas.

In writing, your essays are always, involuntarily inspired by a certain recent happening, or person, in your life. There will be no essay if there was no experience, no realization, no lesson.

And so, to all the people who've come, passed and mattered in my life and in my thoughts, you may recognize yourselves in some of my writings. Some are named, others unnamed, but always with impact.

Before I became a writer, and life would slap me with such people and experiences, I would console myself and say, "One for the books!' Now, they really are.

Life experiences? Random people? Wide array of actions, reactions and emotions? Bring 'em on!

Keepin' on Writin'

I wish I could do this as my full-time job. Thank you all for reading my work, and for all your sweet notes. If ANYBODY would hire me to do this, call me! ;)

SWOT Analysis

Strengths. Weaknesses. Opportunities. Threats.

If we just apply this method to ourselves, and not just in our business plans,we'd discover our talents, improve ourselves, find the perfect job and avoid heartache. We'll be better businesses - and happier persons.

Not a Fine Line

Confident but not self-absorbed.

Well-bred but not flaunting.

Accomplished but not flashy.

Initiates but not flaky.

Humility, kindness of spirit, and genuine interest in others are still key.

Will you marry you?

I think, at the core of it all, we are our own best friend.

We know what we want, what we don't want, and what we totally despise. We know our strengths, weaknesses, good traits and bad habits and we fully accept them as part of us.

And I think at the end of the day, we should be able to answer a strong and resounding 'yes' to the following questions, before we can truly say, that we like and take ourselves for who we are:

1. Would you hire yourself?

2. Would you befriend you?

3. Would you ask yourself out?

4. Would you marry you?

Before we can say 'I love you too,' we must be able to say 'I love me' first.

Without falling into self-absorption (the worst thing in the world), we must first become our own best friends, before we can even become acqaintances with anybody else.

Hit and Run

You know those times when you're quietly walkin' on the road, and you get hit by a car or more precisely, by the one who drives the car?

As we happily skip and hop In the streets of life, people bump into us - either by introduction or by accident - and jolt us into an awareness that we never knew before. We ask, answer, and get to know each other. We hit it up and hit it off, and then walk far far away.

Maybe I'm guilty of being reckless too. Because in the constant social highway of men and women, we meet people, make an impact, then leave. While really hoping to find the ones who'll stay, we hear about the ones that got away. They're the ones that hit us - then run away, like a criminal on a getaway. And we are never ones to set out a chase.

Are you okay? is all they ask...We get bruises and broken bones, and still they drive away.