On Loving

I was reading through an entry of Migs in his blog:http://manilagayguy.net/ titled "Twenty Four and Loveless Yet," and I was particularly happy to read about the response Migs posted culled from the blog http://corpcloset.blogspot.com:

Here it is:

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"its also sad that some people feel that romantic love is lacking in their lives. and some complain of being lonely, lonesome, alone...

perhaps some of these people focus too much on what they don't have, i.e. no love in their lives. and whining about it just makes the thought expand. always mentioning this will just reinforce it further, a vicious cycle.

so turn it around. stop thinking you don't have love. stop focusing on what is lacking in your life. start by recognizing that there are so many people around us who love us and whom we can love back! family, friends, people we work with... then you become thankful sincerely of what you already have: this wonderful people around.

Then start loving. It's an action word. start focusing your energies on making people you love happy: your father and mother, especially your parents, your grandparents, your officemates, your friends and barkada. spend time with them, make them laugh, make them feel appreciated. then extend to other people in dire need of loving: the poor, the elderly, the abandoned, the orphans and widows. just keep on loving and loving.

this way, you stop focusing on what you don't have and you start focusing on loving people around. you end up sending signals of love to the universe. and that is what the universe will give back to you. love, in all its forms, perhaps including romantic love.

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All together now, say with me, "I love love love!" :)

My Niece's Drawings

Last Sunday, I had a fun time with my niece Hannah, 4 years old. She had her pen and paper with her, and so I asked her to draw things randomly. After drawing one, she'd show it to me, and then ask me for another thing to draw. And I was amazed by the mental images she had of the things I told her to draw! Among other things, I was floored by her rendition of McDonald's! I try to take her there whenever I can, and she always waves a goodbye to the McDonald's arch post outside when we leave. And yet, for the local fastfood chain Jollibee, she opted to draw the mascot itself. Also, there is her perspective of the airplane (which now, I recognize as the plane that she frequently sees in the dreamboard of her Tita Erel pasted on the room's wall). And the horse! I taught she'd find it very difficult. But she showed me her horse and I was awed.

I am speechless. And proud. :)

Here it is (click image to enlarge):

A Camel in Ilocos

When I was a kid, I recall that my early surprises in my zoo visits were seeing a long necked giraffe, a tiger, a lion, a hippo, an alligator in Manila Zoo--these were never before seen animals for me, animals that were only seen in books and National Geographic tv features. They were all, should I dare term it, Overseas Animals (OA)! Then also, two years ago, I remember my very first sighting of a brown bear and a llama (a llama! imagine that!) in Tagaytay.

On my recent trip to Ilocos with my friends (April 15-19, 2009), I was surprised to see, this time, a camel! :) This was in Ilocos Sur, in Baluarte Zoo, the once private resthouse of Gov. Chavit Singson now turned into a zoo open to the public.

So, here's my photo with a camel. Yes, the one eating the grass. Haha.:)

Ivan Roxas

This last Lent, I took to reading the book Understanding Art and I came across a hundred and one artists (French, Italian, English and American) from the 14th to the present century. I was amazed, among others, by Paul Delaroche's The Execution of Lady Jane Gray, and specially by the virtuosity of John Singleton Copley for doing portraits that appeared so real. I wondered suddenly if there was any Filipino artist, dead or living, who even had a bit of Copley or Delaroche in him. Then I remembered my officemate and artist Ryan Arengo telling me about seeing an Ivan Roxas painting up close, one that made the hairs on his arms stand. And today, googling Ivan Roxas, I came across this self-portrait: Died Broken Hearted. The silk around the man's waist so fools the eye, I am reminded of the curtain painted by Adrian Van Der Spelt (Flower Still Life With Curtain,1658) that looked so real one could thumb it. And the red cloth on the woman in this Roxas' painting recalls a familiar painting. Running through the other works of Delaroche, I saw the painting: Joan of Arc in Prison, 1824.

Here, I've posted Roxas' painting and that of Delaroche's.

Ivan Roxas,Died Broken Hearted


Paul Delaroche,Joan of Arc in Prison, 1824.


Ivan Roxas was born in Tanay, Rizal, Philippines, on June 26, 1978 and graduated at the University of Sto. Tomas, (a fellow Thomasian), College of Fine Arts, Major in Painting in 2000.

Living Spectacularly!

I came across this message of Brazilian theatre director, writer and politician Augusto Boal (born April 16, 1931 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) for the World Theater Day this March 2009.

Brazilian theater director Augusto Boal developed The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) during the 1950s and 1960s. In an effort to transform theater from the "monologue" of traditional performance into a "dialogue" between audience and stage, Boal experimented with many kinds of interactive theater. His explorations were based on the assumption that dialogue is the common, healthy dynamic between all humans, that all human beings desire and are capable of dialogue, and that when a dialogue becomes a monologue, oppression ensues. Theater then becomes an extraordinary tool for transforming monologue into dialogue. "While some people make theater," says Boal, "we all are theater." -(from an introduction to Boal by Douglas L. Paterson on Webster's World of Cultural Democracy in 1996.)

And it made a lot of sense. And among the things he said that resonated most with me was that we do not become citizens of our respective societies until we are able to change it, and always, of course, for the better.

So, here is the full text of that message:

_________________________________


"All human societies are “spectacular*” in their daily life and produce “spectacles” at special moments. They are “spectacular” as a form of social organization and produce “spectacles” like the one you have come to see.

Even if one is unaware of it, human relationships are structured in a theatrical way. The use of space, body language, choice of words and voice modulation, the confrontation of ideas and passions, everything that we demonstrate on the stage, we live in our lives. We are theatre!

Weddings and funerals are “spectacles”, but so, also, are daily rituals so familiar that we are not conscious of this. Occasions of pomp and circumstance, but also the morning coffee, the exchanged good-mornings, timid love and storms of passion, a senate session or a diplomatic meeting - all is theatre.

One of the main functions of our art is to make people sensitive to the “spectacles” of daily life in which the actors are their own spectators, performances in which the stage and the stalls coincide. We are all artists. By doing theatre, we learn to see what is obvious but what we usually can’t see because we are only used to looking at it. What is familiar to us becomes unseen: doing theatre throws light on the stage of daily life.

Last September, we were surprised by a theatrical revelation: we, who thought that we were living in a safe world, despite wars, genocide, slaughter and torture which certainly exist, but far from us in remote and wild places. We, who were living in security with our money invested in some respectable bank or in some honest trader’s hands in the stock exchange were told that this money did not exist, that it was virtual, a fictitious invention by some economists who were not fictitious at all and neither reliable nor respectable. Everything was just bad theatre, a dark plot in which a few people won a lot and many people lost all. Some politicians from rich countries held secret meetings in which they found some magic solutions. And we, the victims of their decisions, have remained spectators in the last row of the balcony.

Twenty years ago, I staged Racine’s Phèdre in Rio de Janeiro. The stage setting was poor: cow skins on the ground, bamboos around. Before each presentation, I used to say to my actors: “The fiction we created day by day is over. When you cross those bamboos, none of you will have the right to lie. Theatre is the Hidden Truth”.

When we look beyond appearances, we see oppressors and oppressed people, in all societies, ethnic groups, genders, social classes and casts; we see an unfair and cruel world. We have to create another world because we know it is possible. But it is up to us to build this other world with our hands and by acting on the stage and in our own life.

Participate in the “spectacle” which is about to begin and once you are back home, with your friends act your own plays and look at what you were never able to see: that which is obvious. Theatre is not just an event; it is a way of life!

We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it."

Augusto Boal

Working on a Mission

For a week in February, I had a fruitful week learning and immersing myself in new knowledge, allowing myself as well the company of people who have opened themselves in the areas of financial planning.

I met in person a qualifying member in the Million Dollar Round Table (yes, that premier association of financial professionals), and I became an instant fan. She has such a passion within her, plus enthusiasm, and sincere concern for her clients and even strangers, that I'd buy a policy from her outright anytime. Just like her, I see my position as a financial advisor more as a mission--a mission to help Filipinos be educated about their finances and to be responsible with their money and future.

I'm definitely thankful for this encounter!

Financially Marvelous 2009 for Me!

Happy New Year everyone!

I received this fab message from a friend during the holiday season: "The best use of our life is to love people and the best expression of that love is our time to do it."

I say thank you 2008 because it was also a great year for me and now I'm looking forward to this, as they put it, Ox (oks) na Ox (oks) year!