Monday, January 17, 2011

Connect The Dots

"Average is just as close to the bottom as it is to the top."
-Jane Archibald
tweeted 12 Jan. 2010, Wednesday


"By perseverance, the snail reached the ark."
-Charles H. Spurgeon
shared by Paul John Pena and tweeted on 14 Jan. 2010, Friday


"He just didn't get a very good seat."
-Phil Whelan
comment posted on 14 Jan. 2010, Friday



Happy Monday, world!
Congratulations, Natalie Portman and
thank you for The Black Swan

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Welcoming 2011

That I don't believe in New Year's resolutions and that I don't make them, are not always necessarily true. I have made quite a few of them over the years, and, out of being scrupulous (in order to not lose my pride in case I don't fulfill them), lied about doing so.


Today, I sit here thinking of reasonable, achievable resolutions to make for the coming year. As I look forward into 2011 with an unprecedented soaring level of vigor and thrill, I revisit my past and examine where it has brought me to and I decide that there is absolutely no reason to be sheepish about my resolutions. I have not only fulfilled the goals that I have set for myself over the last two years. I have, modesty aside, surpassed them.

2009 arrived with a promise of being artistically rewarding for me. Auspicios in many ways, as I had just left Disney then and was starting to explore what was in store for me in the performing arts scene in HK. I resolved to work on putting myself out there and finding my own place in it. That own place may not necessarily be big-- it didn't matter. I just wanted my own. And I found not just one, but two places for me-- that for Rye, the dance and theatre practitioner, and that for La Chiquitta, an up-and-coming drag artiste. On top of all that, my pro bono involvement with community theatre is now, two years down the line, beginning to bear fruits. Some of the people that I have worked with for free are the same people that opened doors for income-generating opportunities for me.

2010 was predicted to be a difficult year for those born in the Year of the Monkey. I was gonna work extra hard but be financially rewarded very little. I decided that in order to take my mind off the foreseen hardships while waiting for the year to be over, I decided to spend my time learning a new skill. It didn't have to be something so big; even something as easy as learning a new recipe would be enough, which I did. But more than that, I learned a new language-- Cantonese-- and was named "Best Student" of my class. What's more, I tried something for the first time for my 30th birthday, and I didn't suck at it!

2011 is supposed to be a good year for me. The Year of the Rabbit bespeaks good fortune and creative fruits. Besides the fact that predictions for me in the past have more or less been spot-on, I am inclined to believe the coming of better fortune because the year has started off even better than I had hoped it would. So this year, I resolve to pay more attention to myself. I will cherish my days off and take advantage of my annual leave days and go on trips that I had been putting off over the last five years. I will not say yes to every project that comes my way so I can focus all my energies to the very few ones that I will commit myself to this year. I will spend more time at home or at the gym re-centering myself than in rehearsals or in social circuits expanding my network. This year is all about me rekindling my basic, most important relationships-- with my family, my friends, my partner, and most especially, with me. And I will do all this while allowing blessings to come into my door, instead of forcing them in.

In 2011, all things will just keep getting better. And there's no stopping it.

And now I hereby close this year's first blog entry with a song for my T, my Rems, my La Sahara, my bitch La Chiquitta, my Ka Oca in heaven, my Esguerras, my beloved Beckies, my triad, my BP-HK family, my Swarovskis, my flatmates, my Alpha, my Drag-It-On gurls and crew, all my friends (new, old and those I have yet to meet), loved ones, admirers, exes, stalkers, colleagues, mentors, students, detractors and ill-wishers. For ALL OF US, for 2011.