My Big 4-0 Birthday Wish-list

For me, there are only four significant stages in life – The Kiddo, The struggling Yuppie, The Adult and The Retiree.

The Adult stage is marked by the big 4-0, and that’s what I’m going to be in 16 days.

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If you know me very well, I am not really the type of person who creates a ‘wish-list’. Of course I do, but it is only limited to people who are really close to me. I have discovered the practicality of making these lists two Christmases ago. It made me appreciate more the gifts that were given to me. It eliminated the ‘recycling’ of gifts and made the ones given to me ‘for keeps’.

Like Christmases, I think the BIG 4-0 is very special too, so I have decided to make a wish-list.

1. Rice, sacks of rice. I can never get enough of them. This will be given to ChildHaus – a halfway house established for kids with cancer. There are 40 patients there now and food supply is always a major dilemma.
2. Canned goods, lots of them. Again, this goes to ChildHaus.
3. Powdered Milk, any brand. ChildHaus.
4. Bath soap and shampoo, lots of them. ChildHaus.
5. Laundry soap. ChildHaus.
6. Toys, old or new. ChildHaus
7. Kiddie shirts and shorts, medium to Large. ChildHaus.
8. Coloring books and crayons. Yes, it’s for Aubrey. Joke lang!
9. Cake, yung sobrang sarap para sa bata. To feed 40 kids.
10. Ice Cream. For 40 kids uli.

Allow me to be selfish at sumuntok sa buwan! – this list is limited to my bosses (asa pa), co-reporters (mas asa pa), really close friends and family, especially my brother Noel and my Mom (special mention pa ha):

Ang daya ng mga friends ko who got married in the past years, nakakapag-register sila sa gift registry ng mga department stores, kaya… nagpa-register rin ako (just me and myself) sa Rustan’s. Dahil bago ang condo ko, maarte ako, errrr, mas maarte ako ngayon. Hahahaha.

11. Cuisinart Grind and Brew Thermal Coffeemaker -- For my new condo http://www.cuisinart.com/products/coffee_bar/dgb-600bc.html
Check Rustan’s EDSA Shang Mall (Ortigas) Gift registry.
12. Cuisinart Power Blender 700 – healthy living na kasi ako.
http://www.cuisinart.com/products/blenders/cbt-500.html
Check Rustan’s EDSA Shang Mall (Ortigas) Gift registry.
13. Cuisinart Metal Toaster – For my bagel time with Tina
http://www.cuisinart.com/products/toasters/cpt-160.html
Check Rustan’s EDSA Shang Mall (Ortigas) Gift registry.
14. Cuisinart electric griller – healthy living to the max
http://www.cuisinart.com/products/grills/gr-4n.html
Check Rustan’s EDSA Shang Mall (Ortigas) Gift registry.
15. Metastone steam oven
http://www.metastone.com.ph/products/gallery/77/
Metastone is located at the 4th level of SM Megamall Building B, telephone 6370079
16. Metastone microwave oven with mounting kit
http://www.metastone.com.ph/products/gallery/44/
Metastone is located at the 4th level of SM Megamall Building B, telephone 6370079
17. New pair of Nike + shoes, gym bag and running outfit

Di ko na enumerate ito dahil alam ko namang imposible – Mag guest sa Oprah or Ellen, Maging cover ng Men’s Health (di lalo kasi pwede pag FHM), Pakantahin si Regine Velasquez sa kasal ni Aubrey.

Thank you very much. Ang hirap palang gumawa ng list. Hahaha.

To Botox or not to Botox

Three weeks ago, I was shooting at Charice’s Tagaytay home. We were waiting for the technical guys to set up. Waiting in the living room, Charice was on the floor playing beyblade with a young cousin. Her mom was chatting with me and the issue of ‘makeover’ came up. Her mom began to be upset. Very upset. Then she said “Look at me, Cha! You see, my baby does not need a makeover, she is not ugly”.

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I got a text from a friend and co-reporter, Sandra Aguinaldo, yesterday morning telling me that my report was posted in Perez Hilton’s blogsite. Immediate reaction – Whoa! When I reached the office I found that there are others that posted 24 oras’s report – E! News, Boston Herald and a lot of other big international websites and news organizations.

The issue was about Charice getting Botox procedure and… she was crucified for it.

Thousands commented. Highlighted were the really nasty ones.

But my best picks were:

‘she was too young to get such treatment’

’Its her mom’s fault’

‘if she’s proud to be a Filipino, she wouldn’t change the shape of her face’. (This one is a big duh! I mean, hello! Face shape and race are connected?)

And please, for the love of Prince Charming, give her mom a break! She was able to raise two beautiful children on her own and one of them gave so much for her country to be proud of.

If you’re past the teen age, let me ask you --

Is it really easy being 18, when you are starting to notice that some parts of your body were not like the body parts of some who are hailed as “the pretty ones”?

Maybe, just maybe, Charice is starting to feel that way.

Some of us grew up with bucktooth and we had braces on even if it’s not TMJ. I did! Big deal!

Back then, it made me feel secured, beautiful… accepted.

Charice had Botox injected to her jaw muscles (hers not yours, by the way) because it might make them smaller. All she wants was to get her face “ready” to face stars of “Glee” who seem to look “perfect”.

Tiny steps to making herself fit in an industry where being tagged as looking different is synonymous to the word outcast, ugly is tantamount to a life sentence.

We can tell her otherwise, but will an eighteen year old listen?

She’s going to know sooner or later that she is indeed beautiful but shouldn’t we accord her the freedom to know at her own pace?

ITS JUST BOTOX, anyway! Not a face-changing lift!

Funny how “learned people” from the “new world” notices the “unfit” body parts of its denizens – most times, these fanatic high priests recommend a knife or a needle to prove their knowledge of “real” beauty. And sadly, it’s a heinous crime to think ahead of these lords.

Question: How can people think this way, especially if they are from a land where liberty of choice is deemed sacred?

To Charice: IF YOU WRITE A NOTE TO GOD, you might want to include there – please make them leave my Botox alone!

The Hardest Word

I grew up in a family where we aren’t used to hugging or kissing each other. We don’t show affection by way of saying ‘I love you’ and the likes. My dad, who is supposed to be the most mature part of the tree, grew up with us. In my younger years, his way of showing authority is by showing anger, strength – really, such a bully, even to his kids. My brother and I would fight and hurt each other really badly. When we come to our senses, a simple tap on the shoulder would do it. Not really the traditional ‘I am sorry’, but I think it did it for us.

I have learned to forgive my dad over the years. In fact, I think I have learned to respect him, and love him eventually. He was the 5^th kid in the brood. I, in my ‘extended families’ (friends as defined in every dictionary), have learned the power of touch, of saying ‘sorry’ and ‘I love you’. In fact, I think I have learned to put it to use in my own family. It was kind of awkward the first time I said ‘I love you’ to my mom – I was already 30 years old then. Every now and then, I’d say it to my sisters and I felt good.

Years ago, my stepfather Steve died. My brother and I were talking on the phone for hours, crying over the lost chance to make our daddy Steve feel how much we love him. At the end of the conversation, I said ‘I love you’ to my brother – for the first time, ever. Nothing can be heard after that, just a continuous sound of sobs, my sobs – which seemed to be echoed at the other end of the line. I guess it made us cry harder.

I hurt a VIP last night. When I came back to my senses, I felt like the same child I was again. Saying sorry felt like I was subjected to lethal injection.

Pride. Ego. Hormonal imbalance. I don’t know what to blame anymore.

You see, it is a common misconception that if we break our walls down, if we show our true emotion – it could make us weak and vulnerable. It doesn’t. Holding back our emotions and building that wall makes us isolated from the rest of the world, from the people who matter.

With this, allow me to borrow one of ex-President Gloria Arroyo’s (in)famous lines.

I am sorry.

To Blog or not to Blog

I have always wondered how it felt to blog. I want to start one but most times I decide not to for the following reasons. One, I don’t need it. I have outlets wherein I get to speak my mind, and yes, I do it very well… every single day, hour after hour. Two, being I guess the most important, I associate it with fear. And three, maraming mandaraot diyan ng grammar na makakita lang ng missspeld word at saka maling construction ng sentence ginagawa nang sukatan ng pagkatao mo.

Seriously, my daily routine involves being close with celebrities and it’s no exaggeration if I say that I am privy to the things that most people don’t experience – their hidden tempers, their concealed relationships, their smell, even to the smallest zit, among other things that they hold private. Sure, I have tickled minds by “squealing” these secrets in blind items but a blog is a different thing. I don’t think a person, as “tactless” as I am will be able to write a carefully written blog so as to protect the stars’ secrets. But hey, don’t expect that I name names, but you will know who I'm talking about. That is where most of my fear is coming from.

Onsikantot, we all want to get scared once in a while, don’t we?