within reason: wordpress edition

Quick summary time, since I’m tired but I need to post otherwise I’ll get stuck again.

I went to the Alliance Française 5 Senses Fashion Show at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza last Saturday. Great show, excellent outfits, brilliant designers. I was there for Raffy, since he handled his mom’s portion of the show (the grand finale, set to the music of WKW’s 2046). I was with Rej, Maike, Ange and Anthony, and we were eventually joined by Wesley and Fred.

After the show, Rej and I went to the NWA memorial party for our beloved friend, the late Ricky Sunico. It was a good celebration, one that I’m sure Ricky would have been proud of. We ate, drank and partied into the early morning, sharing stories about Ricky and what he meant to all of us. The memorial thread for him on the NWA website can be found here.

On Sunday, I traveled with the Layug family to the Rosero residence to attend a family lunch for Oneal’s mom, as it was her birthday last week. The food was good, and it’s always nice to be in the company of the Rosero family. Paul came long as well.

Monday found us four Yale flatmates over at the Tesoro residence for another birthday gathering: Raffy’s. We had a delicious meal of cheese fondue, raclette, and various exotic meats, along with wines and the special moutai that Jason brought back from Beijing for him. Paul read a few people with his tarot cards, and we played some Cranium and Taboo until almost 4am. Also in attendance were Maike, Ange, Omar, Wesley, Gemma, Lisbeth, Jason and Rachel.

The weather’s annoyingly hot these days. All. the. time. I hate it. *sigh* I just wish there’d be more clouds in the sky.

That’s it for now. Will go back to sleep.

The New Worlds Alliance lost a great mentor and friend today.

Goodbye, Ricky Sunico. You are loved deeply and remembered well by many.

I was out last night for two birthday celebrations: Maike’s and Dianne’s! Happily, they were both in the Greenbelt area, so it was easy to go from one to the other.

First, I went to Cena in Greenbelt 2 for Maike’s gathering of close friends over margaritas. I arrived with Rej, and the other people in attendance were Raffy, Atz, Tim, Ange, Michelle and Omar. I stand by the fact that Cena’s margarita carafes are delicious and well worth having lots of. Maike and I talked some about the turning of the years, and we reaffirmed the merit in keeping our chins up and setting aside the occasional birthday blues to have fun with friends.

After a while, I scooted off to Greenbelt 3 with Michelle for Dianne’s birthday gig in Absinth. It was good to reconnect with her again, seeing as how she’s one of my oldest friends. She was supposed to perform a few of her songs, but she opted to spend the night relaxing and drinking instead so that she could chat up her other friends whom she hadn’t met in a while. On a tangential note, it was interesting to see the current incarnation of Absinth: it feels more easygoing and cosmopolitan now compared to the vibe it had when I was last there a couple of years ago. The plasma screens lining the walls, showing chillout CGI, were a nice touch.

I didn’t stay at Absinth long, as my original evening’s plans were really meant to be spent with Maike. (I did promise Dianne, though, that we’d catch up some more over coffee soon.) By the time I returned to Cena, Wesley and Mumf had joined the group, and we stayed there for a couple of hours more. When Greenbelt 2 had to close up for the night, we moved to Cable Car over on Pasay Road. We had some food, but we were there primarily for the videoke. We had plenty of fun singing our heads off, and Omar was particularly hilarious with his Il Divo renditions of decidedly-not-operatic songs. Maike was a tad shy, so we made it a point to entertain her with our vocal antics.

All in all it was a great night, arrestingly humid weather notwithstanding.

Marking another year of our lives does bring its share of ups and downs sometimes, but with good times in the company of good friends, the former can easily outnumber the latter. Happy birthday, Maike Evers and Dianne Sison!

“Better to ask forgiveness than permission.” — Brom, Eragon

At its core, it’s the dichotomy between making a name for yourself, and waiting for someone else to give you your name for you. And that act of passed responsibility, or the span of time involved, however short, can make all the difference in the world: the difference between success and failure, between glory and embarrassment, between seized opportunities and lost chances.

I would rather act now and potentially have to apologize later for overstepping my bounds, than check myself constantly against the expectations of other people. I will never be anything more than what others see, think and prefer of me if I spend my life waiting or asking for their go-ahead. I am who I am by virtue of the actions I take of my own accord, not theirs.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that I endorse brash behavior with neither rhyme nor reason. Every action and every risk taken should be the product of properly assessed decisions. Blind recklessness is just as fruitless and damaging as weak-minded inaction. It’s also one thing to be driven, and another thing altogether to be pointlessly disrespectful of established standards and systems. Structures, rules, ethics, principles and morals carry the import they do for very, very good reasons, so be careful and show restraint when appropriate.

The point is to be assertive, not stupid.

All that said, as with any perspective for apprehending the world, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. There are never any true guarantees or perfect methods. Living a life that is static and self-contained may be just as worthwhile as living one that is dynamic and discovery-oriented.

My experiences, along with those of the people I’ve met, though, all highlight the same linked facts: People lose more often by standing around than by sallying forth. And those who act win more often than those who wait.

Given those odds, what would you do?

Current music: No Ordinary Morning by Chicane

Since I want to post but I’m not in the mood to talk about myself, I’ll link you up instead.

Are you a geek, or are you involved with one? You’re very lucky. The 10 Real Reasons Why Geeks Make Better Lovers. Almost makes me miss wearing glasses.

You know Pachelbel’s Canon in D, don’cha? It’s just classical music, right? Au contraire: it’s everywhere. Rob Paravonian rants about Pachelbel.

Did you grow up with television, and then leave it for broader horizons, savoring your infidelity? Playing the Media Field: My On-and-Off Romance with TV.

Want to see why I love ballet dancers? Take a look at my newest crush: Polina Semionova. Her skill and beauty are jaw-dropping.

And, finally, KITTENS!