Saturday, February 25, 2012

You, too, can become great

Mark Twain once said, "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

We all have people in our lives that will tell us that what we love doing is pointless. Some will tell you that choosing music is impractical, some might say that acting is not a bankable career.

There are those people that will tell you that you're not good enough to make it. They'll ask you, "What's the point of going for it if the possibility of succeeding is low?" They will tell you to stop imagining and will advise you to settle onto something that you can be great at, even if you don't like it; even if it makes you unhappy.

I remember a Taylor Swift song saying, "Wondering why we bother with love it never lasts". It's almost synonymous to that. They're probably right. Why should we bother with something if we're uncertain about our future with it.

They probably have a point but THEY shouldn't stop you. NO ONE should ever stop you from doing what makes you happy.

Remember to always surround yourself with people who support you. Don't listen to people who try to put down what you love doing because it will make you doubt yourself and your abilities. Be with people who believe in you and your dreams. Be with people who, at the end of the day, will remind you of who you are and why should keep going.

Once, someone told me that I should stop singing; although I only sing for fun. For a while I stopped because that person is probably right. I may not make it like Whitney Houston (LOL, really) or Lea Michele, or even Bea Alonzo (who is TERRIBLY MUSICALLY CHALLENGED, yet has an album) but I love singing, putting my heart out in a song... and spreading my arms to my sides as if I am talking to an audience. When I hear myself, I hear love reverberate from my throat and it makes me feel alive.

I began singing again, in the shower, in my room when I am preparing for work and I realized that it makes up who I am. My talent, my skills... it defines who I am; it's my identity and without it - even if it is not good enough for everyone else - I will be nothing.

By not doing what I love, I stop myself from being happy and NO ONE deserves that.

No one deserves that. Even Bea Alonzo deserves to wear the Darna costumes if she wants to. *evil grin
x

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Remembering A Legend

Whitney Elizabeth Houston 
(August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012)
“I Will Always Love You”, "One Moment in Time", "Where Do Broken Hearts Go", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "Greatest Love of All" and "Saving All My Love for You" – these are just of the few songs that I grew up listening to.

As kid born in the last decade of the 90s, I have watched the music industry grow fond of one genre to another; but the above mentioned songs were never gone. It always served as a foundation, a go-to sappy love song or a go-to karaoke song. Those songs grew with me as I watched young aspiring singers belt out to each and every one of those songs in talent shows or singing competitions.

I remember tearing up when I first heard “When You Believe” and I remember learning how to really believe. I remember trying to decipher what “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” meant. I remember feeling as if I am the “Queen of the Night” and of course feeling like “I Have Nothing”.

I remember one a time when “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and feeling like “I’m Every Woman”.

I remember Whitney Houston and when I do, I remember a legend; an icon; an inspiration.

Today, February 12 (in the Philippines and 11 on the other side of the world), I woke up to the sad news that Whitney Houston died inside the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Houston, 48, died the night before the Grammy’s – music’s biggest night, which she dominated a few years back.

For all the music enthusiasts, like me, this news is devastating and we all could agree that this event is going to change the face of the industry for the rest of our lives. In a world where people can easily be called musicians the moment he releases a fast-selling single, it always helped to know that there’s someone to remind us that once, the definition of musician or singer is Whitney Houston.

Sure, I was never a die-hard fan of Whitney Houston but I do recognize her contributions, I recognize the person that she is, I recognize the voice that she has – had. 

She was the only artist to chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits and that right there is a record that won’t be broken unless a voice as genuine as hers will emerge out of nowhere into this catastrophe that the industry has become.

At one point, her voice seemed that of an angel. Although that comparison can never be proven since I really haven’t heard the voice of an angel, I’m pretty sure her voice comes close to that.

Houston was everything a singer could wish. She used her talent and let the whole world hear her sing but at the end of the day, just like everyone else, she’s just human. She makes mistakes and she struggled with her marriage, with her confidence. She found comfort in vices and her life fell apart as her spotlight faded.

On a phone interview with CNN, Lionel Richie said (not his exact words but how I remember it), “What would you do if your voice is your identity and you lost it?”

What happened to Houston happens to everyone else who lives in this world with so much pressure to be famous, to be who you need to be – to be who you once were. It’s human nature to force yourself back to who you were to come back to where you once were but she didn’t make it.

Nobody expected it but Whitney Houston said goodbye to life leaving us her timeless music and unbridled talent.

For the next few weeks, stories will circling about the latter part of her life and I bet there would be unpleasant ones – those that talked about her addiction and marriage – but I hope, as we hear these stories, we’ll always remember who she was during those days that she graced the stage.

She’s still the person whose hits made us all want to hit the right notes and at the end of the day, I hope we remember her as the person who showed us how real singing is like.

Whitney died but her legacy will forever; along with the music of Michael Jackson, Etta James, the Beatles and all the other artists that inspired us. I hope every artist will learn from the story of her life and I hope she will stay as an inspiration to everyone.

When a person dies, it doesn’t matter what caused it or why it happened – it’s about what she did between the day she was born and the day she died. At the end of the day, all the should matter is how she changed lives and how she taught us how to dream.

I’m not sure about you but I will always love Whitney Houston for introducing me to talent, the real kind of talent.

Monday, February 6, 2012

An Uninteresting Love Babble

Please, for one moment, forget that I am not a serious type of person. This just came to me on the sixth of February and I felt as if I could try my luck at stuff like this. Ha. :)

***
 
The first time it happened, she was on a local coffee shop indulged in a book she only wanted to read because it was about to be released through the silver screen. It was the perfect setting, for her at least.

The afternoon wasn’t gloomy but it wasn’t as cheery that it didn’t entirely break the sentimental mode she was in.

The place itself was already too much of a sentimental value. As she sipped cautiously from her mug that held her favorite coffee hostage, she nearly smiled when a thought reminded her how this place changed her life.

She met him here and there’s where it all started.

Apparently, it’s also where it ended.

She focused back to her book as she gently placed the mug on the coffee table. She had been reading the same sentence over and over in effort to bury the rush of emotions she felt. For the first time in a long time, she let herself feel – she let herself remember.

The second time it happened, it was still in that coffee shop. It never really changed since the last time she was here. It still smelled coffee and heck; it was a coffee shop for crying out loud.

As she approached the counter to get a to-go order of her favorite coffee, it happened again. That freaking piece of furniture reminded her of the first time they talked. She remembered staring at the abstract painting not because she liked it but because there weren’t so many interesting things to stare at. Then, from out of nowhere, he said something and it changed her – them ­– forever.

He said the painting was nice; she didn’t agree. She didn’t even understand. She was never an artistic person, not even an appreciative one to start with. So, she just shrugged and the next few days had been an unplanned exchange of opinions about the most uninteresting thing in the world.

She didn’t realize she was staring at it for too long. She didn’t even realize she had tears in her eyes. If only she had tried to understand more about him, they would have lasted longer. She never really liked sappy love songs but somehow, the soft music inside the cafĂ© decided to lunge in at that moment of her vulnerability.

He liked love songs. He also liked to rap. He liked an uninteresting piece of furniture and that’s the whole reason why they aren’t together anymore. He loved the world too greatly; she didn’t like it that much.

He said he was leaving, she let him go; both knowing that the four-letter word wouldn’t be enough. She stayed where she was and he took the high road. He had always been the one with the big dreams and right at that moment, while staring at the most uninteresting thing in the world, she wished she knew how to dream, too.

Maybe, it would have worked.

She didn’t realize she had been staring at the uninteresting piece of furniture for too long until a voice spoke from behind her.

“That’s a nice painting.”

For the second time in her life, she let herself feel. She let herself remember. She knew who that voice belonged to. She turned to the owner of the voice and that’s where she knew.

Second chances do happen.

She smiled. He returned the smile.

She smiled because after all these years of coming back to this place over and over, her hopes turned into something real. There were so many things she gave up in her life but he wasn’t one of them. She came back here every year, on the same date they first noticed the most uninteresting thing in the world – all the while hoping she’d see him again. All the while hoping he’d make that uninteresting thing, interesting because with him, she found meaning in everything.

She nodded, “Yes. It’s a nice painting.”

She still didn’t understand the abstract of a painting that it was but it was a nice painting indeed; because for the second time in her life, the most uninteresting thing in the world just gave her a chance she never gave herself.

A chance for love.

I refuse, do you?

REFUSE
to
BELIEVE
in
COINCIDENCE.

via Danielle LaPorte

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Someone’s waiting for you, too.

I used to speak big about love.

I remember a period in time, when love was everything I have talked about.

Well, as they say it, you talk about something you know. You talk about something you experience first-hand and you talk about something you’ve felt.

That period of time was long gone but I guess the lessons, the feelings linger; how my heart would beat faster, how my knees would go weak, how my words got stuck in my throat.

I remember them vividly because I know, for one moment in my life, I was really happy.

It’s a cliche, how one person can mean the world to you.

My first love was amazing.

Yeah, imagine how amazing it was given the fact that I am here talking about it.

I don’t know how many people would be reading this but I want to share these thoughts because my first love didn’t just hurt big time; at one point in time, it was really great.

Telling this story backwards, it ended somewhat tragically, in a very anti-climatic way. It faded, somewhere along the line we’ve crossed. It iced somewhere along the roads we’ve traveled. Somehow, you knew it was bound to end but it would still hurt when it does because you always hoped for the best.

I did.

I hoped for the best but I realized, some things were bound to happen to teach us lessons we’ll never learn otherwise.

I have traveled the pity road, the self-pity road. I can’t help it. I guess it’s normal for people who have lost something they’ve set their heart into.

But looking at it now, I still smile; and not the bitter kind of smile.

I still smile because the memories were still great and I still became the person I never thought I’d be.

When you fall in love, you learn something about yourself as you learn a lot about the other person. As you go through it, you’ll know the lengths you’d be willing to go, you’ll know just how much you can give; you’ll know just how much you can take.

I think, when we experience it, the only thing we can take from it is the experience itself.

I learned to take the risk.

I learned to dare to cross the line.

I learned to give more than I could and then take something I can.

Funny.

I sit here, at six in the evening contemplating – and smiling all the while – about that period in time and I know I'm bound to remember that for the rest of my life.

Once in my life, I was really happy.

It makes me smile to know that I still have a chance – to experience it all over again.

And although I know first loves are always incomparable, I won’t give up.

You shouldn’t too.

There aren’t many people who are lucky enough to have someone beside them. Some people aren’t even lucky enough to know what they want.

And you know what; I am one of those people.

I don’t know what I want but… I know what I don’t.

I haven’t found the one but I know… there’s always someone for everyone.

Time will come.

The person will come.

It doesn’t have to be today but someday sounds good.

Just remember that when the glass is half-empty, the glass is also half-full. I suggest you take on the latter because being cynical; being negative only makes us miserable.

It’s not the situation that’s bad, it’s how we look at it.

Sometimes, only sometimes, we just have to believe.

It takes courage to believe.

It takes faith to believe.

But faith is worth holding on to because faith gives hope.

Hope that someday, somewhere, someone’s waiting for you, too.

This life is pretty amazing



Take the good things instead of the bad.
We all have those days; some are nice, some are bad. Some people are lucky to be stuck in the good ones while others feel as if every day is a bad day. It’s probably your hair or your outfit. It’s probably your boss or that annoying office mate you have. It could be your awful schoolmate or that person you hate so much. No matter who it is, there would always be something that will make you hate the place you’re in.

Sure, most of us like to believe in reasons, in answers to our why’s. It’s okay to believe that there are answers because there are answers, only; they don’t come the moment we ask them. They come at the right time.

Why is she like this?

Why don’t they like me?

Why is he like that?

Why is my life this bad? 

Why can’t I get it right?

Why can’t I just move on?

Every day we have questions that need answers. Of course, we could go all day complaining. We could go on, all day, wondering why our life hadn’t turn out the way we want it to be. We could go on all day complaining about the things we hate and yet, at the end of the day, we find ourselves unsatisfied with the answers.

It’s because the answers are not the answers we want. It’s human nature to filter emotions and beliefs. Sometimes, the answer is right in front of us and yet, we choose to ignore it because it’s not the answer we want. That’s why a lot people continue to ask questions without the effort to get the answer they want. That’s the reason why so many people are miserable.

We continue to complain. We continue to blabber. We continue to be mad about how our life didn’t turn out the way we want it. We continue to be angry until we run out of energy to change the things we hate.

Some people opt to start changing their ways. They understand what they need to do to stop the misery and they do it just in time to save themselves from falling over to hopeless side.
But not everyone has the courage to change.
Change could be really scary sometimes. It’s so hard picturing a future while pushing for change because nobody knows if there’s actually something in there.
If you are one of these scared people, all you have to do is to take each day, one step at a time.

A leap of faith isn’t always easy but it doesn’t mean it’s insurmountable. Someday, that courage will come to you and you get to say, “I’m done of this shit” and that’s the day you’ll get out of the mess.

Moving on with the rest of your life after being stuck into something – or someone – isn’t a decision made on impulse; it’s not even a decision. It’s a feeling.
It’s feeling sick and tired of being sick and tired.

It comes in time – when you’re ready to experience the world again.
But if it hasn’t come yet, don’t get frustrated. Don’t get mad. Stop complaining. Best of all, don’t give up.

For sure, you must have heard this already from somewhere but there are so many things about your life that you should set your focus on instead of the pain, instead of the misery.
It could be your friends. It could be the laughs. It could be your favorite food or TV show. It could be anything and these are usually the things you won’t notice if you aren’t looking for it. But it’s always there.

The better things are always right in front of us. They always go unnoticed; unappreciated because we focus on the despair.

The bad days are inevitable, and so is pain, but agony isn’t. Misery is not something you stay stuck on to; it’s something you settle for just because you can’t always get what you want in an instant. You can always get out if you you’d want enough.

You just have to find a way without expecting too much.

If you’ll only look closely, this life is pretty amazing.
Lora Gene Tumulak | Gone in Wanderland. Powered by Blogger.