Month: August 2014

A Letter To My Twenty Year Old Self

Dear Barby at twenty, Hello, from twenty-six year old you. We’re in a sunlit living room, sipping tea, a breeze flowing through your balcony on a lazy Saturday afternoon. This isn’t your parents’ home. There’s a man reading on the couch, and the sound of kids playing in the background. You’re married, with one mini me! :D AND YOU’RE PREGNANT WITH THE SECOND. Congratulations, momma! This is you, by the way. We still look the same, except for the hair. Yay? JUST KIDDING. Before your imagination goes crazier, you can sigh with relief that you’re as single as the day you were born, except for some dates you’ve gone on (and had a good time). Kids are like short aliens, and you don’t have any of them. That nightmare with the royal blue wedding dress and Asian Keanu Reeves never happened, but you will meet some pretty fantastic people. Two of your mother’s side cousins have boyfriends btw! Anyway. This is the first of three letters to us at different points in life. I chose to write you, because this is one of …

The Gracefully Sexy Charles James Exhibition

  We who have been ahead in STYLE have usually been also ahead in our thinking. – Charles James   The Met has something for nearly every region of my brain, easily making it one of my favorite museums. No pretty rocks or beetles, but that can be found just across a park. Besides, there are weapons here. And flutes disguised as walking sticks. And medieval drinking cups (with naughty but sexist connotations). And intrigues, if you take the time to dig deeper. The Charles James exhibition is now over, but I’m happy to say that I was able to visit it with two dear friends. One of them is Sandino, a fashion designer from Manila, who planned his arrival to NY partly around this exhibition. Months prior, I was only too excited when I found out that he’s returning for further studies, because he’s one of the people I strongly believe to be cut out for this city. I found out about Charles James through friends in the fashion industry who told me about his architectural approach to design, and …

A Little Bit of Home

No brunch out for me today, because I didn’t get my butt out running this morning. So I’m imposing it upon myself to eat whatever is at home. Which didn’t turn out very well either, because I has instant pancit canton noodles, chocolate, cookies, nuts, and bottled sardines. Eating healthy is the furthest thing from my inclinations. Anyway, I’m finally clearing up my desktop, littered with a bajillion mini icons, after a year and two months of living in New York. I haven’t touched it since I arrived, but just piled on new files on the old, like when I was applying for jobs. And now, I’m taking out the old, useless things, to make more space, and to have order. This is my way of saying that yes, I’m here. It’s a realization that’s been slow in the coming. It shouldn’t surprise me anymore that I’m here, but I can’t help feeling like being here for just three months, and still a stranger. For the larger part, I feel right at home with the rest of the foreigners that have found …