Single Minded

Out of a whim, I updated my Facebook status and wrote -"Single and not looking." With a follow up statement which says "I'm single. Not desperate.” I just thought kasi that it has been a while since I actually referred to or talked about my singlehood. And if you're one of those people closest to me, you would know that's quite an accomplishment.

For years I have been obsessed with my single status - -obsess to end it that is. And for years, I let that affect my life. My disposition was always that of a hopeless romantic frustrated at the fact and sad truth that love does not come as easily as I would have expected. I was always in a foul mood. And the saddest thing about it is that I blamed myself for the lack of true love prospects. It was quite ironic that I was beginning to hate myself for not finding love.

But as I turned 30, I had an epiphany. And my realization did not involve a big production number. Not at all. I just woke up thinking that I was tired of hating myself for not being able to consummate my romantic fantasies with the unavailable men I was all enamored with. It took me 8 years to finally wake up - -figuratively.
Although I realized how much time I’ve wasted, I’m still thankful that my realization came at all. I could have been Rip Van Winkle, and that 8 years of ignorant and self-hating slumber could have extended to a hundred years. Now that would have been tragic. So now I am just making up for lost time. In fact when I turned 30 I declared boldly that this year is going to be my year. Everything I want in my life, everything that I want to change for the better I will make it happen.

So everyday I remind myself of the things that make me lovable. A relapse into self-pity was not an option. And it's not difficult, when I’m constantly surrounded by friends and family who never fail to remind me what a great person I am and that my self-pity and self hate was really all just bullshit. If you think I’m happy with this change of perspective and attitude, wait 'til you meet my friends who I have made my sounding board and punching bag all these years.

So when I updated my status, it was also partly because I realized that the year is about to end, and true to what I declared it was indeed my year. A lot of the things I wanted to happen did...except for love. And when I wrote that status update I realized it was ok. It did not even bring me down. And it was such a relief. My fear when I made that declaration was that if I did not get everything I wanted, I would suffer a major relapse. But I didn't. Could it be that I am finally and absolutely cured of my self-loathing?

After updating my status, someone sent me a private message asking "Why are you still single?" And it brought back memories...because that wasn't the first time I was asked that question. And in the past, I would have answered "Because I’m not good-looking, or because I’m short, or because I don't have a good body, or because no one wanted me." Whatever my answer would have been, for sure it was an answer that was self-deprecating.
But today, when I was asked the same question, the answer that popped into my head first was that "I don't know. I guess there are just too many blind people out there." And it's true. Some people can't recognize a good thing even if it hit them on the face. And it's so liberating to know that's not by any means my fault. There's nothing wrong with me. And I guess I have to make up for making myself feel that way all those years.
So to the guys who missed their chance when they said I wasn’t the one for them, what else can I say but “Awwwww, kawawa ka naman.”
In the meantime, tuloy ang buhay single.

Scream Queen

I am a self-confessed horror geek. I just LOVE horror movies. I love getting scared, which is not too often because i'm pretty much immune to most of the horror films by now. I also love pulling off scary pranks on people - - like hiding in the dark with my Scream Mask on, or hanging from a noose inside a closet waiting for people to open it. I was actually known for pulling pranks like that back in college. Fun times.

In fact, I am such a horror fan , my favorite time of the year is Halloween (nope, not Christmas and definitely not Valentine's Day) Nothing delights me more than sitting in a theatre or a living room watching a good horror movie with some friends and seeing their surprised reactions and hearing their shrieks of terror (yes, even from the boys). That's why i always organize horror movie marathons this time of the year.

Yesterday was an example of that, albeit impromptu. After running the Adidas KOTR 21K (wherein i underperformed and disappointed myslef, thanks to my partying the night before - -and this constitutes a totally different blog entry altogether)me and some friends had a horror movie marathon at home complete with some booze, pasta, and chips. While enjoying myself as i watched my friends jump out of their seats, and listened to their screams of terror i realized something - -there is a profound lack of gay characters in horror movies. And i just found that so ironic.

I mean, horror movies --if we were to follow the formula- -are supposed to have scream queens as leads. Take for example Janet Leigh in Psycho, her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween, Heather Langenkamp in A Nightmare on Elm Street, or Neve Campbell in the Scream Trilogy. So given that, wouldn't it be nice and i think even effective to actually have a scream "queen" in a horror movie?

Imagine a gay lead character in a slasher flick? And i mean an honest-to-goodness slasher, not the one like "Hellbent" which was supposed to be the first ever gay slasher. A real slasher with a whodunit plot, the gore, the hold-your-breath scenes, everything but with a gay guy as the lead. Would it be effective to have a final girl character being played by a gay man?

Strictly speaking, the final girl is a horror film (particularly slasher film) trope that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story.

The final girl has been observed in dozens of films, including The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Alien, Halloween,Scream, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The term was coined by Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.Clover suggests that in these films, the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experiences a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.

According to Clover, the final girl is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, avoiding the vices of the victims (sex, narcotic usage, etc.). She sometimes has a unisex name (e.g. Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney). Occasionally the Final Girl will have a shared history with the killer. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward and as such, she exhibits intelligence, curiosity, and vigilance.

One of the basic premises of Clover’s theory is that audience identification is unstable and fluid across gender lines, particularly in the case of the slasher film. During the final girl’s confrontation with the killer, Clover argues, she becomes masculinized through "phallic appropriation" by taking up a weapon, such as a knife or chainsaw, against the killer. Conversely, Clover points out that the villain of slasher films is often a male whose masculinity, and sexuality more generally, are in crisis. Examples would include Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, or Billy and Stu from Wes Craven's satirical horror film Scream. Clover points to this gender fluidity as demonstrating the impact of feminism in popular culture.

The phenomenon of the male audience having to identify with a young female character in an ostensibly male-oriented genre, usually associated with sadistic voyeurism, raises interesting questions about the nature of slasher films and their relationship with feminism. Clover argues that for a film to be successful, although the Final Girl is masculinized, it is necessary for this surviving character to be female, because she must experience abject terror, and many viewers would reject a film that showed abject terror on the part of a male. The terror has a purpose, in that the female is 'purged' if she survives, of undesirable characteristics, such as relentless pursuit of pleasure in her own right. An interesting feature of the genre is the 'punishment' of beauty and sexual availability.

The film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) explains and talks extensively about this popular horror film trope (although in the film, it is referred to as "survivor girl"), even using it as a major plot device.

So given all these requirements would a gay guy final girl work? Imagine a sexually unavailable gay guy....oh wait. Hmmmm, i think we might need to re-think this one. Would a gay character actually survive a horror movie scenario?

Here's an article i found online at AfterElton, written by Brian Juergens and i think he explains it quite well.

We all know the formula: A group of horny teens (or 20-somethings pretending to be teens) hole up in an isolated location to party, and a nutter with something pointy arrives to dispatch them in increasingly inventive ways. For many people it's a Halloween tradition; for others, it's a year-round obsession. It's the American slasher movie.

With roots in the increasingly violent thrillers of the early '70s, the slasher film became a mainstay of the American cinema between 1979's breakout indie hit Halloween and the mid-'80s, when it was pretty much phased out in favor of other subgenres. It seemed like every week boasted a new set of bowling-pin teens just begging to be skewered by Jason Voorhees, Madman Marz, Michael Myers or any one of their many imitators. America's kids were suddenly caught in a highly visible life-and-death situation; issues like acne, grades and who to ask to the prom were Mickey Mouse stuff compared to the bloody morality plays that were splashed across our screens for $4 a ticket.

Considering the amount of nudity, violence, and all-around sleaziness that slasher pics boast, it's no surprise that the genre has been the subject of a lot of scrutiny by critics, academics and conservative media watchdogs. The overriding criticism of the genre is that it is demeaning to women and encourages sexual violence in young men.

But other readings of the genre argue that the mucky morality of the teen horror film is actually far more complex. The genre actively promotes gender cross-identification (the hero is almost exclusively a young girl) and places enormous weight on the ideals of purity, hope, responsibility, accountability and good overcoming evil. And you just thought it was about hacking up drunken sluts.

So what about the queers? Seeing as how we're constantly encouraged to believe that Hollywood is the Gayest Place on Earth and that leftist, Commie, tree-hugging, gay-seeming subtext is being crammed into everything from Harry Potter to shampoo commercials, what does the horror genre hold for the homos?

It's actually not what one might think. Considering that the common perception of horror movies is that they're about as sensitive as a dead co-ed when it comes to gender politics, and that anything not immediately understood by hygiene-challenged men who live in their parents' basements is verboten, the facts about gay representation in horror are surprising. In order to gain a better understanding of how gay characters are treated by the horror genre, I've created the Gay Characters' Guide to Surviving a Straight Horror Film.

Now, I am focusing on only straight horror films because the past few years have seen the rise of actual all-gay horror movies, the most well-known being Paul Etheredge-Ouzts' West Hollywood slasher Hellbent. Since all the fellas in that one are gay, it doesn't really fit into the discussion at hand. The happy, humpy himbos of Hellbent essentially take on the roles traditionally played by straight boys and girls in standard horror. Our concern here is the odd man (or woman) out — the lone sissy or dyke, trapped with a group of gropey straight kids and forced to suffer through an otherwise straight morality play. And so here it is …

The Gay Characters' Guide to Surviving a Straight Horror Film

1. You don't.
History unfortunately shows that the gays don't fare too well in the horror genre. But then again, neither do most people — after all, you're slapping down your cash to see some blood and maybe jump out of your seat once or twice, and you can't make an omelet without breaking a few teens. In the dozen or so films I will be discussing here, only one of them shows a gay character living through the final reel.

But horror isn't a black-or-white genre. Sure, the whole “you live or you don't” thing is pretty rigid, but there are plenty of shades of grey. Some characters die nobly, while some have deaths that are treated as jokes (the meanest kind, really). Some characters contribute to the defeat of the killer, while some actually aid in the massacre. And perhaps most importantly, some characters earn our love and support, while others become folks we actually want to see die.

In this regard, gay characters have actually made quite a bit of progress over the years. Gay characters have evolved from being mere tools to aid in the survival of the film's heroes to being their own complete characters, and their deaths have been treated with increasing sensitivity. Gay characters have also become younger and more at ease with their sexuality in recent years, which is a huge shift, particularly in a genre commonly regarded as straight male masturbatory material.

Let's start with what is perhaps the gayest slasher movie of all time, Eyes of Laura Mars (1978). Sure, it predates the teen horror boom by a few years and really fits more into the glorious Batshit Matrons in Peril subgenre, but it's basically a midlife crisis version of a slasher movie.

Faye Dunaway (Mommy!) plays Laura, a cutting-edge fashion photographer (gay …) who poses her models in scenes of bloody carnage (fabulous and gay). Problem is, someone's been offing her acquaintances in scenes that mimic her photos, and what's more, she can see through the eyes of the killer as the murders take place. Laura's whisper-thin, noodle-wristed pillar of strength is the fabulously flaming Donald (Rene Auberjonois), who hosts piano parties in his apartment and brays like a gay donkey at just about everything, good or bad. At one point, Donald even dresses up as Laura as a decoy to distract police, and sadly meets his end — still dressed in Dunaway drag — in his building's elevator.

Here, the gay character is about two eyelashes away from a gay Stepin Fetchit, the cackling, zippy queen who seems to have no other concern than catering to the whims of the straight, rich and fabulous. I guess these days he'd be a celebrity stylist or one of the Fab Five. But remember, this was 1978 — for a gay character to be present at all in a mainstream genre picture was something notable in and of itself, and I wouldn't exactly expect the character to be particularly well-rounded.

But while Donald's affectations might be a bit over-the-top and cliché, the fact of the matter is, he's really the only selfless character the movie has. He's there for Laura through thick and thin — he even dies for her, albeit not intentionally. So I guess if you're a gay character and want to survive a horror film:

2. You can't rely on your good intentions. Or your fashion sense.
Let's look at another Batshit Matron in Peril movie, 1981's ridiculous The Fan. In it Lauren Bacall plays film and Broadway legend Sally Ross, who is attempting to mount both her first musical production and James Garner. Sally has been receiving increasingly creepy notes from a deranged fan named Douglas (a young Michael Biehn), who soon begins offing Sally's friends with a straight-edged razor.

As if the Marvin Hamlisch-scored musical, countless dance routines and campy performance of Bacall weren't enough, we soon get a legit gay subplot. In order to throw cops off his trail, Douglas goes to a gay bar, picks up a kid roughly his size, and has a quick tryst with him on a roof before slitting his throat and setting him on fire beside a fake suicide note. Charming, right? And who in God's name would put a straight-edged razor that close to his junk?

Here we have a rather less favorable image of a gay man in a horror film. He exists solely to facilitate the actions of the villain (he's of no help to Sally, who's off belching out show tunes between clouds of cigarette smoke) and is identified only by his “destructive sexuality,” which gets him killed before he utters a single line. It's really pretty despicable, but then again, the whole movie's a gloriously tasteless piece of trash, so it's not out of place. So the message here would be:

3. Don't seduce Michael Biehn on a rooftop.
Oh, come on — have you seen The Terminator? Rawr …

Once the craze kicked in, horror films started skewing much younger, and plot and character withered, making room for more gore and allowing for faster shoots and cheaper budgets. It seemed that the Friday the 13th (1980) and Halloween (1978) clones existed in an entirely straight universe — there's not a gay character to be had among them (although plenty of gay and closeted actors, of course).

I like to think that gay kids had better things to do than work as summer camp counselors and hang out with Jamie Lee Curtis, like maybe strut around the mall or audition for Puttin' on the Hits. There are a few teen slashers that feature gender-bending killers — most notably Terror Train (1980) and the wonderfully screwed-up Sleepaway Camp (1983) — but they are more plot devices aimed at tricking audiences and concealing the identity of the killer than attempts to bring a gay character to the screen, for slaughter or otherwise. (I also have my own theories about Jason himself being a bit light in his water-logged loafers, but that's another discussion entirely.) The message here would seem to be:

4. Being the murderer will keep you alive a little longer, but ultimately you'll still die, be driven insane or bring the wrath of GLAAD down on your head (not sure which is worse).
Along with gender-bending killers, the horror genre also features a few notable “confused teens” whose seeming sexual ambivalence and possible possession by demons lead to mass carnage. Take Fear No Evil (1981) and A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985). Both boast somewhat feminine male leads at odds with their more aggressive high school peers, who have complicated relationships with girls and suffer horrible humiliations in the locker room (I affectionately call this subgenre Jockstrap Horror).

In both cases, these young men are possessed with an evil power that seems to arise in highly sexualized situations. For example, Andrew from Fear No Evil is kissed in the shower by a bully looking to humiliate him (makes no sense!), and counters by nearly sucking his soul out of his head. (He later gets revenge on the bully by giving him breasts, at which point the kid kills himself — better dead than feminized, right, kids?)

Meanwhile, Jesse of Freddy's Revenge is a classic closeted teen. He's obviously in love with his best friend, recoils at the touch of an aggressive girlfriend, and dreams about running into his gym coach at a leather bar and being forced to shower alone in front of him. No, I'm not making this up. I guess the lesson here would be:

5. Try to become possessed, so you can lay the blame on someone else for your own sexual frustration. And stage a dance routine to a Cathy Dennis song — that'll throw them off the scent.
Recently, though, the climate for gays in horror has become much less about self-loathing and destructive sexuality, and more about just hanging with friends. Maybe this is because the slasher renaissance was in part facilitated by gay writer and producer Kevin Williamson, whose Scream, The Faculty and I Know What You Did Last Summer infused a dead genre with some much-needed queer sensibility. The teen slashers of recent years, while regrettable at times because of their dependence on WB actors and wink-wink humor, have been surprisingly charitable to the gays.

The first “Well whaddayaknow, he's gay!” character I remember seeing in a horror movie is Dave (Gordon Michael Woolvett) in Bride of Chucky (1998). Openly gay Dave is a well-adjusted, friendly guy who helps his friends elope, while unbeknownst to them Chucky and his new bride Tiffany plot their own cross-country carnage. Dave's character is interesting in that while he does die, he isn't actually killed by Chucky — he gets hit by a truck.

Openly gay scripter Don Mancini (who created the series, wrote every installment, and directed the most recent, Seed of Chucky) once told me that it was important for Dave to die because “he's the one likeable victim,” and that it was important for the audience to feel the “sting of death,” the sense of loss. So here we have the gay character not being used as a way to horrify the audience or make them uncomfortable (as gay characters have been used for decades), but to pull them emotionally into the story. He's sort of a more mainstreamed, teen-friendly version of Donald from Laura Mars. Pretty progressive, for what most people would dismiss as a “dumb horror movie.”

Or what about the surprisingly good (and incredibly gay-friendly) Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003)? Aside from boasting a bounty of young male skin and an appearance by Diane Delano (Miss Glass from Popular), Creepers 2 also features a gay teen character, Izzy, who butts heads with an alpha jock on a school basketball trip. The character is smart, attractive and an ambitious writer for the school paper; he's also much more level-headed than the punchy jocks. Sadly, this doesn't save him from being killed by the Creeper, but it does raise the topic of high school homophobia and how it creates a culture of fear for gay teens.

The abysmal teen voodoo slasher flick Venom (2005) also features a gay central character, and for once, he is about as generic as the rest of the kids. (His gayness made him a bit closer to the lead girls than maybe he would have been were he straight, but that's about it.)

Genre legend Tobe Hooper's Mortuary (2005) features a gay teen character as well, and like Venom, the film presents the guy's sexuality as a nonevent, just a character trait like hair color or height. It's also interesting to note that in both movies, the gay characters are absolutely adorable (Pawel Szajda in Venom, Rocky Marquette in Mortuary). We may be subordinated, but we're cute!

Wes Craven's colossally misguided Cursed probably went further than any other recent horror movie to address teen homophobia and present a complex gay character (too bad it was otherwise essentially unwatchable). Bo (Milo Ventimiglia) is a jock who picks on the lead character, Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) — that is, until Jimmy is bitten by a werewolf and suddenly becomes the “dominant male” in his school, kicking butt at wrestling and getting the hot girl.

Curiously, Bo does an about-face at this show of pumping hormones, and clumsily comes on to Jimmy, inadvertently outing himself. By the end of the film, Bo is much more comfortable with his sexuality (and no longer a self-loathing bully as a result), and he and Jimmy are friends. And you know what? They even let him live.

So I guess the real key is:

6. Disguise yourself as a hot, homophobic high school wrestler who later opens up and becomes the hero's happy, gay sidekick.
Which brings us back to square one — well, except for the fact that we're at least allowed to live this time. The bottom line is, genre movies paint with some of the broadest strokes in the business, and as a result, just about any group (gays, blacks, women, the elderly) is likely to find some kind of beef with their methods. But time has shown that gay character presence in horror has become both more frequent and more positive. Now if we could just find a way of bagging the jock, helping the Final Girl to find a more flattering wardrobe, and dispatching the killer, we'd be on to something.

I guess we'll just have to settle on being queens rather than scream queens. Let's leave that to the girls. Just as long as we get a chance at the cute Final Guy, i'm cool. But i still can't help but wonder about the possibility of a gay lead in a horror movie. Maybe one day i'll write a screenplay for one. Ang title - -"Tsugi". LOL. Happy Halloween!

I'm a Super Smodel. (style tips for short men like me)

Being of a short stature, i have always found it difficult to dress stylishly. Because truth be told, it's so damn hard finding clothes that fit me right. It's a chore i tell you. The availability of stylish, fashionable, very Details and GQ outfits for men who are 5"2 and below are next to nothing. Off-the-rack clothing is not an option for me. GIven that, I could have just easily given in and resigned myself to ill-fitting, I’m-swimming-in-my-clothes, yes-I’m-a-clothes-hanger look for the rest of my life. It's a good thing the sartorialist in me refused to give up so easily. I am going dress up as stylishly as i can, whatever the odds are. And I’m going to look good.

So i researched on my options and in my conclusion, as a vertically challenged guy, if you want clothes that fit right and make you look good the only way to go is have it customized. Thank God for tailors! After experimenting on different looks through the years, i have found myself being most comfortable with the classics - - nothing to fancy and avant-garde. Some may say that's playing it safe and i don’t mind. Because i believe that fashion has always been a feminine idea. Women like to exaggerate and change. Men need to be much more stable - - we just need to be stylish, not necessarily fashionable. And so having said that, i would like to help my fellow "hobbits", "smurfs", “weng-wengs”, whatever else we vertically-challenged men are called these days to dress up with more style. Just because we’re small, doesn’t mean we can’t dress up like these models do. We all have our “smodel” potential (small model), the key is to start dressing the part.We can still be style icons in our own little way. So here are some styling tips for shot men that I have compiled during my journey to self-style discovery. Because remember my vertically-challenged brothers - -we should never sell ourselves short when it comes to style.



Taller tips
Before we start with the fashion advice, the following are some simple yet often overlooked tips that can help you appear taller:

1. Confidence is key. The first thing you must learn here is to avoid the lack of confidence you face due to your lack of height. Instead just look at the history and you will notice many great people were short, so where does the height matter? Remember your confidence plays a significant role in how you look. After this you need to pay an attention towards what you wear and how you wear them.
2. Maintaining good posture is key if you want to hit your maximum height potential. Remember to sit with your back straight and stand proud with your head up high at all times. A slouched stance will only make you look shorter, not to mention insecure.
3. Keep in mind that, as a general rule, short hair works best for shorter men. Long hair tends to hide the neck and shoulders, making your head and body look like one body part, which doesn't help you in your quest to look taller.
4. Another tip to maximize your stature is to stay fit and trim at all times. Heavier and extremely muscular men tend to look broader and stubbier, but staying lean and having some muscle (such as built, defined shoulders) can help add some height to your overall frame.

Fit, fit, fit!
An important tip is to plan on having your clothes tailored. Get it in your mind that it will have to be done. Often shorter men don’t want to acknowledge their height and choose not to get their clothes altered to fit. Guess what, taller guys need to do it, too. Looking taller comes down to the fine tuning of a garment. Don’t believe it’s a price issue, a lot of tailors offer their services at a ver reasonable price. My tailor for one is quite budget-friendly. Get it in your mind to get it done! Look at tailor-made clothes as a long-term investment. Because they truly are.

Buy the fit, not the size.
Designers and manufacturers have different opinions on how a size 40 short should fit. If you are 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches, try both short and regular size coats to see what fits best. If you are 5 feet 4 inches 5 feet 5 inches, try both short and extra short size coats to see what fits best. When it comes to dress pants, wear the shortest rise you can comfortably wear. The rise is the distance from the top of the waistband to the bottom of the crotch. Many men think wearing a longer rise increases their mobility, it actually limits it.

Sizes change with the style of clothing, too. Ten years ago a size 32-waist casual pant measured 34 inches at the waist. Now with trimmer fits in style, a size 32 waist may actually be … 32 inches! Don’t get caught up with the numbers, get the right fit.

general styling tips

Wear vertical stripes
Anything that elongates your height is a good thing. For example, vertical stripes in clothing can help extend the look of your shorter body. Patterns such as pinstripe, chalkstripe and herringbone also offer that "vertical" effect.


Wear one color
Wearing a shirt and pants in the same color will prevent obvious breaks in your natural frame, and as a result can give the illusion that you're taller.

Opt for dark shades & light fabrics
In addition, dark colors, especially black, tend to have a slimming effect and help shorter men seem more elongated. The same applies to light or medium-weight fabrics. Heavier fabrics, on the other hand, tend to make you look bulkier and shorter.

A proper fit is key
Finally, remember that it's important that your clothes fit flawlessly. Looser garments can make you look stumpy, so opt for a fit that is trim rather than baggy.

The clothes that'll do the trick...

Short man clothing from the feet up

SHOES
It’s quite tempting for short men to get those elevator shoes to make them look taller, but I rally believe that’s not the point. That just hides your height, when in fact you should be confident with what you have. So celebrate it! Wear normal shoes, but avoid the chunky ones. Opt for the slimmer styled shoes. Of course finding a pair in your size is another issue. You can have shoes custom-made too, or go to stores like Linea Italia. Sometimes they carry women shoes in men’s style - -wing tips, boots, etc.. Once you’ve worn them, no one would be able to tell. Just avoid the ultra-pointy ones because you don’t want yourself looking like an elf at Christmas.

Choose dress shoes of a clean and simple design and thinner soles. Plain toe oxfords are sleek and take attention away from your feet. Avoid chunky soles, it makes you look like a teen who’s never worn a suit before. Leather soles of most American and English style shoes are appropriate for both plain and cuffed hems. Italian and Spanish style shoes usually have thinner soles and are best with a plain hem. To add height, a dress boot can be appropriate. Classic shoes like wing tips are appropriate with suits and tasseled moccasins are best with a suit and sportcoat. Socks should match your pants or be a shade darker. Don’t wear shoe lifts with tall dress shoes. Nothing says I’m trying too hard than suddenly appearing to have had a growth spurt.

Tips for Pants/Jeans
As for jeans, Avoid full-cut baggy styles. Choose trimmer models like a straight leg or boot cut. The best model would be a short rise boot cut. When given the choice, choose a short rise if you want to wear it at the waist, and a low rise if you want to wear it close to the hip. Avoid stovepipe legs, bell bottoms and baggy fitting styles. They bring all your attention down and to the floor. The deal breaker in all jeans is how your butt looks in them. Comfort and attractiveness are inversely related. In most cases, the less comfortable it is, the better your butt probably looks in them. Find a pair that gives you both comfort and sex appeal, buy all you can and horde them. Ask any woman.

For all pants, including jeans, make sure your pant legs are hemmed to the proper length so that they break only slightly. The term "break" refers to where your pants fall on your shoes, creating a horizontal crease in the fabric across the front of your pant leg. If the break comes too high or is not defined enough, your pants will look too short when you stand or walk. If the break is too low, there will be a lot of excess fabric around your ankles, and your pants will look oversized-- this can especially be a problem for shorter men. A slight/short break is the best choice for the short man. If you also happen to have smaller feet, a slight break will keep your pants from "drowning" your shoes. Jeans can break slightly lower than dress pants-- but one should still avoid lots of excess material around the ankles.
Cuffing jeans or other pants makes the legs appear shorter-- have your pants hemmed to the proper length as described above. Avoid white or light-colored shoes with jeans, as this breaks the overall line of the leg.

Another thing to consider when choosing pants is the "rise"-- the distance between the crotch and the waist. If the crotch of your pants hangs too low, the legs will again appear shorter, and the area around your seat and crotch will look odd or boxy. Look for low-rise (or short-sized) jeans, or have a tailor alter the crotch of dress pants if it is too long.

In dress pants and khakis, pleats should be avoided, especially deep pleats. Flowing, full-cut dress pants should also be avoided. Pleats can take away from your clean vertical line, and bagginess in pants can make you look like you're drowning in too-big-a-clothing. When possible, it is generally better to stick to flat front pants and avoid lots of extra material.

In general, baggy jeans should also be avoided. Very baggy jeans will tend to make you look like you are drowning in them, making you look smaller. This is not to say that you should wear ultra-tight jeans, but rather that when observing fashion trends, keep overall proportion in mind, and remember that certain cuts of clothing may suit your better than others. If you do choose a relaxed or baggier cut, be sure it fits you well and is proportioned for your frame to begin with (i.e., proper rise and inseam length).

Furthermore, avoid any kind of puckering around the hips, from tucking in your shirts or having full pockets, as it will make you look wider and hence, shorter.

Your trousers should break on your shoes slightly more than average, to help make your legs look longer by covering your socks properly.

It's also suggested to shun cuffs altogether. If you do decide to wear them, have your tailor hem them slightly narrower than normal (that is, 1¼ inches instead of the usual 1½ to 2 inches). Finally, keep in mind that pants with no pleats or a single pleat are more flattering than multiple pleats.

Shopping tip: If you can't find any pants that fit properly, you can always have them custom-made or visit a specialty store near you.


Tips on Shirts
Try to find shirts that are hemmed to rest only an inch or two below the waistline of your pants; if your shirts are longer than this, tuck them in to avoid giving the appearance of short legs. In general, button-front dress shirts should always be tucked in for the same reason (in addition to the fact that it is a tidier look). Keep in mind that a tailor can alter the hem length of shirts in addition to the sleeve length for a better fit.

Avoid very baggy shirts, or shirts that puff out when you tuck them in. Look for shirts with higher armholes (to avoid extra material under the arms) and that fit properly-- neither baggy nor clinging to your torso. Shirts and jackets with vertical stripes can add height to your look. Choose vertical stripes that are on the thinner side-- too wide and you may start to look squat, or the pattern may overpower you.

On casual shirts, a lower collar can make your neck appear longer (for example, on a polo shirt). A V-neck t-shirt can also have the effect of making your neck seem longer. Turtlenecks, on the other hand, can make you look stumpy, as they conceal your neck.

Avoid wearing blazers and cardigans with more than three buttons because they will draw unwanted attention to your shorter upper body. Also, make sure that your blazers and jackets fall slightly below your buttocks, as this will make your body look slightly more elongated. While you should try to avoid double-breasted suits, if you do choose to wear one, do up all the buttons (including the lower ones), as this will give you a longer look.

Also, when wearing a sports jacket, make sure there's as little contrast between your jacket and trousers as possible, to maintain the natural vertical lines. Center and side vents also add the effect of a prolonged vertical line.

Look for formfitting shirts in order to avoid excess fabric when tucking them in and opt for point collars instead of spreads. Finally, keep in mind that tucking in your shirt can place the emphasis on your legs and torso, which might make you look shorter.

Shopping tip: Shortening the length of a shirt is generally easier than reducing the length of its sleeves, so make sure the shirt fits properly around your shoulders and body, first and foremost. If it does, then you can have the overall length and the sleeves adjusted.



Accessories
When it comes to accessories, shorter men should avoid bow ties. Instead, they should wear narrower ties; solid, and regimental and diagonal patterns work best. Also, choose the less intrusive four-in-hand knot over the bulkier Windsor variety.

When buying a belt, remember that you can have it adjusted to any length by simply adding more holes. A belt that doesn't have holes is even easier, as it's fully adjustable for a perfect fit.

Finally, keep in mind that suspenders can emphasize your natural vertical line, so avoid them.

Sleek suit
Fashion favors the shorter man; especially for the next year or so. Shrunken coats and trimmer fits make finding alternatives possible. The most favorable trend is the pinstripe suit in all its types and colors. Try a light grey pinstripe suit in a three-button, single-breasted model. If you are more concerned about looking taller, choose a three-button model, if you would like to look bigger, choose a two-button model. Lighter colors help emphasis more size, while darker colors make you look slimmer. The width of the stripes should balance with your frame. Stripes should be no wider than 3/4 inches. Avoid loud plaids and windowpane patterns. If you like these patterns, choose more subtle tonal varieties in smaller patterns.
Choose a slimmer and shorter necktie to better balance your body. If the necktie is too long or wide, shorten it from the wider end. Keep patterns small enough to repeat several times. Find a trim fitted dress shirt with the pocket and collar in the right size so that it doesn’t make you look like a flying squirrel. Shorten sleeves to fit about 1/2 inch below the wrist, and shorten the shirt hem enough so you can tuck it in your pants without having it bunch at the crotch. If the pocket is set too low or the collar of the neck too high, pass on it. You can’t move the pocket, and the only way a high collar style will fit is by going to the next size up. I recommend a shorter collar like 1-1/4 inches for more comfort and to elongate your neck.

Tips on Suits
When choosing a suit, request a "short" cut-- short-sized suits are proportioned better for shorter men. Adding a slight taper at the waist of the suit jacket can create a longer look for the legs. A two-button jacket with a relatively low stance that shows more of the tie will make the upper body appear longer. Very subtle pinstripes can emphasize length, but avoid any strong pattern that will overpower.
For suit pants, avoid cuffs; the goal is to create long lines, and cuffs interrupt the line. As with all pants, make sure the rise on your suit pants is short enough, and avoid pleats and excessive bagginess. Keep your pants streamlined, like the rest of your silhouette. Match the color of your belt and shoes to your pants for an even longer look-- a monochromatic color scheme creates an uninterrupted line.

Tips on Ties
Most men's neckties are proportioned (in both length and width) to fit average-height or taller men. Typical sizes are between 58 and 60 inches in length and about 4 inches in width.

For shorter men, a tie of length of 54" to 56" usually fits well. A narrower tie width also usually looks more proportional on a short man-- too wide a tie ends up making a short man appear smaller and stout. Look for ties that are between 2.5" to 3.25" wide at their widest point.


Be a good sport
Sweaters are becoming more popular and more styles will be offered this fall. Don’t get drawn into wearing a bulky sweater. Stick to wearing thinner styles in trimmer fits with a V-neck collar Heavy gauge knits and chunky cable knits will swallow you up like a blanket. Sweater patterns need to be small or subtle. A V-neck brings attention to your head and shoulders. Choose sport shirts with a trimmer fit like you would a dress shirt. Rules are the same as above. Choose stripes in narrow to medium widths You’ll know when it’s too wide. You’ll only see the stripe and not the shirt. When it comes to checks, houndstooths and herringbones, choose patterns where the size of the pattern will have a more solid effect from a distance and can be appreciated closer from a social distance. If people notice your shirt pattern from across the room, that’s all they are noticing.

Get your motor running
Leather jackets are a hot fashion item and leading the way are motorcross styles. Leather motorcross jackets usually come in shorter cuts and many are sleek will minimal treatment to keep a clean look. Choose lighter-weight leather like lambskin instead of calfskin. It drapes better on a shorter man and isn’t as stiff. Go for trimmer bodies and trim sleeve styles to help lengthen your body. Trim cut hipsters and bombers are also a great look. Stay away from blousy bombers, and boxy 3/4-length jackets, you’ll be engulfed by skin.

Dream date on the Carribean
A white linen jacket can be dressed up or down Either way you will look like you just walked off a yacht. Wearing linen says I’m casual and confident enough to know wrinkles are part of its character and relaxed allure. Wearing white says purity, openness and sanctuary. Combine the two, and what date wouldn’t want to be seen with you? Wear it with white, tan or beige pants in a lightweight fabric like silk, cotton or linen for a great dress casual look. For a wedding on the beach or a captain’s dinner on a cruise, try a black and grey pinstriped seersucker dress pant that’s perfect for a white linen jacket. The look is spectacularly continental and elegant. This is reserved for only the most confident man, because the first rule of sportcoats and pants for the shorter man is to minimize the contrast between pant and coat. If you can’t pull it off, we recommend wearing pants closer in color for a taller effect.

When wearing blue, tan or beige linen jackets, choose pants of a slightly darker shade to bring attention up to your chest. It’s best to choose a plain hem on your pants to give you a longer leg line. Pleated pants are OK if the pleats are shallow and in a short rise. Avoid regular rise pleated pants. The pleats are too deep and make you look stubby. Wear dress pants at the waist where most are designed to be worn. To look taller, keep contrasts to a minimum with your sportcoats. Go with more tonal combinations. Avoid large patterned pants, especially in plaids and windowpanes. Solids and marled shades are best, followed by thin stripes, small herringbones, and small checks. If you prefer a cuff, make sure your tailor makes it no more than 1-1/4-inch wide. If you are bigger or stocky, try 1-1/4-inch, if you are thin or small it may look more balanced with a 1-inch wide cuff. You should not wear a regular 1-1/2-inch cuff.

From your backyard to the Beach
It’s a huge misconception that clothing has to be loose to be comfortable, especially casual wear. Tight isn’t good either, but clothing that is too loose will make you perspire and chafe more. Short sleeve casuals like camp shirts polos and T-shirts need to be trimmer in order to look great and feel great. Solids are great, but for a more lengthening effect choose vertical patterns or prints. If you like horizontal stripes, choose stripe combinations that are thinner and/or more subtle in color contrasts. Be aware of shirts that are too long and have the shirt hem shortened. When wearing shorts, choose styles that are above the knee. Man style “short shorts” are an acquired taste. I recommend shorts just at or above the knee. Avoid shorts with too many cargo style pockets. It just looks like you have a bunch of material wrapped around your waist. Cleaner styles like short rise walk shorts or tennis shorts are good. Board shorts and swim trunks are so big it’s like drowning in a parachute in the water. Many boys’ styles are simple and may end up being the right fit for a shorter man. Another option is buying lifeguard trunks. They are shorter and trimmer for less drag. Removing the lifeguard emblem is optional.

Overall
Men under 5 feet 8 inches want the same thing that men over 6 feet want … to have good looking clothes that fit and make us look normal. We don’t want to look like junior high kids in hand-me-downs and we don’t want to look like giant freaks draped in a tent. Wearing clothes in the right proportions will make men of all heights look normal. Appropriate choices in fabrics, patterns and styles will always help shorter men look taller and really tall men just look tall. Looking good doesn’t mean having to look tall. A great fit is always in style.

Just look good
Just remember that the key is not necessarily to look as tall you can, but to look as good as you can. The proper fit and the right styles can make you look great, regardless of your height.

And lastly, Don't treat fashion tips for short men as never-break rules. Use all tips as guidelines. Happy stylin'! :-D

Mega Statement of the Day

Just because someone didn't love you the way you wanted him to,
doesn't mean that person didn't love you with everything he had.

At the strike of 12.

I have always been an avid music enthusiast. My taste can be perfectly described as ecclectic. I can listen to anything, although i do have my favorite music genres and this includes jazz, house, pop, r&b, and most recently electronica. I have recently discovered the beauty of indie electronic music. Although some are too over-the-top for my taste, i have found myself being pulled into the hypnotic, groovy, shake-your head-and-ass melody of more than a few of these electronic pop gems. Some of my favorites artists under these genre are Alphabeat, Black Kids, Metric, Chew Lips, Copacabana Club, Frank Music, Ali Love, Astro Nuts, and BMX.

One group i discovered is called The Twelves - -a duo of Brazilian Disc Jockeys who never fail to churn out electronica mixes that are just plain AWSOME!!! I love these guys to bits. Here are a few of my favorites. One is a song by Metric and it is just divine. Another one is from the group Black Kids which is entitled "I'm Not Gonna teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance", its 80's influence is undeniable, but you're made out of stone if you don't find yourself dancing shamelessly to this one. So buffer up and enjoy!

Kylie - -you're wow, wow, wow, wow!!!

I am a HUGE (and I mean that figuratively of course)fan of everything Kylie. I love her, love her, love her!!! Her music - yes, even the ones from the 80s, her sense of style, and her personality. There ain't no divazilla hiding inside her 5-foot frame(OMG, we're the same height!!!) stomping people with her stilletoes. She's genuinely a nice person. Who doesn't love Kylie? Even Madonna loves Kylie. In fact Madonna wore a Kylie shirt in one of her concerts. And when Kylie was asked how she felt about that "tribute", she replied "Are you kidding me? I feel like I was blessed by the Pope." Awwww, and she's funny too. I am just so happy Kylie is back in the music scene after that breast cancer scare. She's currently in the US for her first-ever American concert tour, and based on my friend Dax's feedback - -and he has seen the show, Kylie was AWSOOOME. Everyone loved her. Especially the gays. Definitely, most especially the gays. WE heart Kylie. So as a fitting tribute to one of my greatest idols, here's a fan made video i found on Youtube. One of the best (if not THE best) fan made videos i've seen and one of the best Kylie song remixes i've heard.If Madonna and Kylie had a mash-up collaboration, this could've been it. Kudos to DJ Victor Cheng. So enjoy my fellow Kylie fans. Because we should be so lucky Kylie is still spinning around. And you know we wouldn't want to miss a thing. Because we really just can't get her out of our heads. Oh, i can go on with this...Wow. But seriously, i'm really happy she survived the big C. Because i don't think the world is ready to lose a Kylie just yet. Enjoy the video guys!

Single File

I wrote this a while back. It's one of my favorite blog entries and since this is my first official endeavor into the world of blogging, it just feels right to make it my first official entry (My welcome message/mood-setter entry doesn't count. Hehe.)

Going through what i wrote, i realized may mga p'wede pa pala akong idagdag. So here's an updated, 2009 version and i want to share it with all of my fellow single, not-so-single, and once-single friends out there.

30 years and 7 months na akong single. Di naman ako nagrereklamo, just stating a fact. In fact, ayos nga maging single eh. You're free to do anything you want, go anywhere you want to go without someone texting you every single minute. Asking you to update them,subtlety aside,kung ano na ang gingawa mo, kung nasaan ka na,ano'ng kulay ng brief o panty mo, at kung ano-ano pang "life-changing" stuff.

Pero,gano'n pa man, i can't help but ask myself - -sa dinami-dami ng tao dito sa mundo, bakit may mga taong single pa rin hanggang ngayon? Di ba nakapagtataka? More so, di rin maiwasan na mag imagine ng life with someone special. Lalo na pag naglipana ang mga magsyoyotang walang humpay sa pag PDA. Napapaisip ka rin minsan, pag malamig ang simoy ng hangin, na masarap ang may kayakap na mainit na katawan at hindi ang teddy bear mo na di makaalis sa iyong bear hug.

Oo, naging manhater ako once upon a time. Cynical at jaded sa konsepto ng pag-ibig. 'Yan ang naging pagkakakilala sa akin ng mga kaibigan ko. Pero di naman talaga ako bato. Nagbabato-batuhan lang. Defense mechanism lang 'to. Inisip ko kasi mas mabuti nang magpaka-Xena: Warrior Princess kaysa naman maglulupasay ako sa sahig dahil walang nagkakagusto sa akin at dahil lagi na lang ako'ng narereject.

Ayoko din naman ng isa pang option - -ang maging easy and cheap for the sake of having a sex life at least. Aba, this chastity belt stays right where it is! Single lang naman ako, di pathetic at desperate.

Pero in all gut-wrenching honesty, I also want to find someone - -and hopefully this time he can love me the way i love him. Unrequited love - -been there, done that. And you know what they say, what doesn't kill you - -makes you want to die. Kaya i had to toughen myself up. I had to suck it in, flip my hair, and smile despite the heartache.

It was all an act. A tough act to follow, if you may. Pero ang totoo, ang mga statement ko na "Love is overrated!!", "Who needs men, when you have a credit card?", at ang walang kamatayang "Confeermed...I will never fall in love again." ay said and imbibed purely for self-preservation lang. Para di naman ako mamatay habang patuloy na dinudurog at sinasaktan ng mga lalaking FEELING ang aking feelings.

But now i'm singing a different tune. Nakakapagod din kasi ang lagi kang galit sa mundo. 8 years rin akong angsty and angry dahil single ako. May naitulong ba? Wala!!! Kaya ngayon, i choose to be positive and optimistic. Hopefully i attract the same thing. Kaya kung dati, nega-star ako sa pagiging single, ngayon i'm putting my singlehood to more productive use by helping my fellow singles out there figure out why the hell we're single.. At sa aking pag mumuni-muni, 'eto ang mga reasons na naisip ko, of course with matching unsolicited advice. :-) At kahit written ito in gay speak, applicable ito sa lahat -mapa girl, boy, bakla, tomboy. :-)

1. Masyadong Independent
Baka naman masyado tayong nagpoproject na kaya nating mabuhay ng wala silang lahat, with matching singing ng Independent Women ng Destiny's Child. Ayan tuloy feel na feel rin ng mga mhin na hindi natin sila kailangan, kaya dun na lang sila sa taong tingin nila ay magkakaron sila ng silbi. Bilang driver man, kusinero, hardinero, or simpleng love slave. Aba, hindi p'wede 'yan! Ipakita mo naman ang damsel-in-distresss side mo! O maging clingy ka naman once in a while. I know a lot of guys complain pag clingy na ang mga girls/boys kahit nililigawan pa lang nila. Naaakooooooh, i'm suuuuuuuure! Naiinis, pero pag di mo hinahanap, o kinukulit, o niyayaya - feeling naman nila you don't have time or you're not interested. Magpakita ka naman ng konting motibo, para di naman siya mawalan ng pag-asa. H'wag ka lang mag all the way because you might lose your love on a lonely highway. O di ba, may i quote ng lyrics?!! Ang ibig sabihin ko, show them you're vulnerable rin naman once in a while and in need of affection and attention. Sabi nga nila no man is an island. Hmmmm, teka baka kaya ka masyadong independent woman ay literal ang take away mo dito. Lokah-lokah! Kasama ka din d'un! So let me rephrase - - no woman is an island din, kay go! Maging dependent ka naman minsan! Magpasundo ka!, Magpaluto ka! Magpabuhat ka! Papatay mo ang flying ipis! The important thing is you also show him that you do need him - - na may relevance din siya sa iyong buhay. Na kahit papaano, he adds something to your already fabulous life.

2. Mataaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas ang Standards.
Nakuuuuuu, guilty ako dito. Sabi ko nga, "what i lack in height, i make up for in standards." At tunay namang nakakalurky, pati mga friends ko napapalinga na lang ng ulo dahil sobra daw imposiible 'yung mga hinahanap ko. Ibaba ko naman daw ng kaunti. "Yun nga ang problema, masyadong mataas, eh 5"1 lang ako! "Di ko abot 'noh!! Pero siguro, hindi lang natanggal sa isip natin yung pangarap natin nung bata pa tayo. Sa kakabasa ng Snow White, Little Mermaid, Cinderalla, at kung ano-ano pang fairytale - -ayan damang-dama tuloy natin ang pagiging princessa at 'eto tayo nagkakandalokah sa kakahanap ng ating prince Charming. Siguro kailangan na natin magising sa hubad na katotohanan na there is no such thing as the ideal guy. Ok fine, in theory, kung makita man natin ang hinahanap natin na Mr. Perfect - -gwapong matalino na mayaman na mabait - -pero nung nakasama mo naman eh nakita mo hindi pala pantay ang tenga, or tatlo pala ang nipples niya at mabuhok pa lahat. 'Di turn-off na tayo? Oo aaminin ko, shallow ako! Pero kung lahat ng tao ay katulad natin na mataas ang standards, malamang wala ng magkaka boyfriend at girlfriend sa mundo.Pero ako, di ako nawawalan ng pag-asa. Magtangal kayo ng mga standards kung gusto niyo, but this standard stays right where it is!!

3. Lagi kang may regla.
Aminin, hindi masarap lapitan at kausapin ang taong laging may PMS. Mukha na ngang nangangain ng tao, liligawan mo pa? Dapat kasi kahit slight, maging approachable ka naman para kahit na hindi ka kagandahan,madidiskubre niya na masarap ka palang kausap at masaya kang kasama. Pero bet tayo, mag kumare lang ang kalalabasan niyong dalawa. Opinyon ko lang naman 'yun. Pero dapat, Ms. Manila Sunshine Girl ang disposition, para walang fear factor sa mga mhin. Always remember, kasungitan is next to kapangitan.

4. Maitim ang Budhi!
Between masungit at maitim ang budhi, mas malaki ang chance magka boyfriend ng mga taong laging may PMS. Ang mood swings, lilipas for sure. pero wala pa yatang naiimbentong pangkula o baretang pampaputi ng budhi. Try niyo maghanap, kahit sa Raon o sa 168 sa Divisoria wala kayong makikita. I swear, na-try ko na! Pero hindi pa naman huli ang lahat, kung kaya mo pa magbago, bigyan mo ng pagkakataon ang sarili mo na magbago. Magdasal ka kay lord ng mataimtim ha. Mag novena ka sa Baclaran, o sa our lady of Perpetual Help. Mag-alay ka na rin ng itlog kay Sta, Clara, although para sa ulan 'yun. (at balita ko, nauumay na sa scrambled eggs at omellete ang mga sisters natin d'un kaya request nila dilata na ang offering. Sosyal ang mga mongha!) And for good measure, sumali ka na rin sa Mother Butler Guild, although i doubt it kung matutulungan ka nilang magkaroon ng boyfriend. Pakabait ka muna siguro. One step at a time.


5. Hermit Crab Ka
Paano naman masisilayan ng mga utaw ang iyong kagandahan kung nakakulong ka lagi sa bahay! Lumabas ka naman! Pero kung may pinagtataguan kang inutangan mo, naka blotter ka, or may swine flu ka - - maiintindihan kita. Pero kung wala naman, manood ka ng sine, mag malling, o mag coffee ka. Di dahil single ka di ka pwedeng lumabas. Wala naman tayong ketiong dabah?! At siguro naman may mga friends ka naman. O kahit wala, enjoy quality time with yourself. Solitude is the salt of personhood after all. Pero kung available ang mga friends, yayain mo sila! Come on, let's join us! Paano ka makikita ng mga option mo, kung di ka nagpapakita? You're single, so mingle!

6. Lost-yang Ka
Ito ang kadalasang krimen ng mga single. hindi ka nagbibigay ng ample time and effort para magpaganda! Naku, punishable by death 'yan! Death sa iyong dapat ay promising na love life. I'm sure aalma moreno ka to the tune of - "Eh bakit pa ako magaayos at magpapaganda, for what? For who?! Aba, aba, aba at mangangatwiran ka pa! Dapat nga lalo kang mag-ayos para makita ang asim mo. Joskoh, ano'ng ginagawa ng mga naglipanang Be Beautiful For Him, Vicky Belo, Elvies', Ellen's, at Let's Face It d'yan?!! Zsazsa, mag scehdule ka na ng appointment. Now na! Sabihin mo lang na hindi mo peg si Elvie at si Ellen, dahil friend gusto mong gumanda oki? Hindi magmukhang buhay na bangkay. Ang gusto mo maging Ooooooh la la, sizzling hawt!

7. Over-dose ng Kumpyansa
Medyo sensitive itong topic na ito dahil maraming ego ang masasagasaan. Alam niyo naman ang mga mhin, ever-so-insecure about their machismo that they always have to prove it. Eh hello?!! Kasalanan ba natin kung mga diosa tayo? Pero siempre dapat may compromise. Kailangan maramdaman din nila sa atin na hindi tayo condesending towards them. Hate nila 'yun. Alam ko mahirap - -sa ganda nating 'toh! Pero best-actress ka naman kaya mag pretend ka na minsan is ka ring hamak na taga-lupa, hindi isang paraluman sa kalangitan, isang buhay na panaginip na di nila ma-reach. Hindi ko sinasabi na i-downplay mo ang confidence level mo. Wala tayong magagawa, magagaling at mahahaba talaga ang hair natin. At kahit you are not feeling any pressure right now, minsan matuto rin tayong magbigay at maging grounded and humble. H'wag nang ipagdukdukan na sobrang galing tayo. I'm sure alam na nila 'yun. .

8. I am a working girl, a busy working girl....

Nalunok mo lang ang bato ni Darna, di mo na niluwa!! Honey, di ka si wonder woman. Di magugunaw ang mundo if you stop working to smell the roses. Hello! May insurance ba ang work mo for Emotional Damages brought about by your lack of a social and love life?!! Wala! Ni sa Medi Card di covered 'yun. Love your work, but love yourself more. At h'wag kalimutan na magkaroon ng time for yourself - -kahit sa pagpupluck lang ng kilay o sa pag bubunot ng nose hair. Know your priorities! Work -Life balance dapat! Papaano ka maliligawan kung kailangan pa ng mga mhin magpa appointment sa secretary mo, mabigyan ka lang ng chocolates at roses?! At i'm sorry, hinid considered na jowa ang blackberry mo kaya tama na 'yan! Ang dapat mo naman career-in ngayon ay ang iyong potential love life. Magbibay ka naman ng panahon para dito, para naman may ROI ka.


9. I'll Never get over you, getting over me...

Fine, gago ang mga lalaki. Wala silang kwenta!! Pero di naman siguro lahat (At nagsalita ang self proclaimed man hater!) Walang mangyayari sa love life mo kung dala mo ang emotional baggages ng iyong masalimuot at nagdaang love life. Friend, let go of that heavy samsonite bag! Travel light dapat. Para di ka mukhang constipated all the time. Past is past. Move on! You have your future ahead of you. Kung paghihiganti pa rin ang na sa isip mo, eh what better way to get that sweet revenge than to find a guy na mas gawpo, mas macho, mayaman, at mas malaki...ang pasensya kaysa sa damuhong nagpaiyak sa'yo. He's not worth it. Stop wasting time and tears on someone na pinaglipasan na ng panahon. Sumigaw ka lang ng isang napakalakas na Pakshyeeet You!! (with matching ngarat) tapos move on. This is your story, and it's time for you to look for your happy ending.

10. Masyadong masyado - -as in Over OA!
Masyado kang maganda, masyadong matalino, masyadong talented, at masyado mayaman - -kaya walang may lakas ng loob manligaw sa'yo. To be fair, di mo na kasalanan 'yon. But you have the option to be humble. Pero, kung ako sa'yo, maghanap ka na rin ng katulad mo para less issues. Maraming insecure 'dyan, and for a very intimidating person like you to have someone like that as a jowa? Recipe for disaster. Kaya maghanap ng fellow single na masyadong-masyadong over OA din. Para boom! It's sexy time!

11. Makati ka pa sa Gabi.

Aminin! Di enough sa'yo ang single course meal. Ang gusto mo, eat-all-you-can na buffet! Quantity ang labanan! The more, the merrier! At ikaw naman, carenderiang bukas salahat ng gusto kumain!! Kung gano'n, aba h'wag kang magreklamo with matching tears in your eyes! Dahil kahit na gusto mo nang magka jowa, deep in your heart you know na never ka makukuntetnto sa isa. Eh hello! H'wag ka nang magbalat-kayo! Wala naman masama dyan. Basta you're true to yourself,and always be safe ok na. Plus, you get to spare the men also from falling for someone like you. Good deed na din 'yun. Ibigay mo na lang ang mga good catch sa mga single na altar/or long-term relationship ang hinahanap na finish line in their search for Mr. Right. Pero may request ako, sa susunod na on the prowl ka, isama mo naman ang mga single friends mo. Para naman di sila masyadong malungkot.Now put your hands up! Uh uh ohhh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh ooh, uh, uh, ooh! Share your blessings! Sabi nga nila, those who have more should give more. Hala! Maging Caridad Sanchez! H'wag m'ng solohin ang mga mhin. Dahil, sa huli nakakasawa din ang buffet. Nakakaumay. Pag di ka mag ingat, impacho ang abot mo.At ang carenderia mo - -mapopoto.

at eto ang pinakamatindi sa lahat:

12. Ayon sa baraha...wala sa guhit ng palad mo ang magkaboyfriend.

Huwaaaaaaaaaaaat?!!! Homaygaaaaad!!!!!! (tumbling, cartwheeel, split!) Kill me now! Shyet, ang saklap! Masakit man tanggapin, ok na rin. At least ngayon pa lang alam mo na. Di mo na kailanagn umeffort. Ilaan mo na lang ang panahon mo para maging reason number 10 ka. Maging masyadong-masydo ka na lang. Single ka nga, ganda mo naman! Pero malay mo rin, baka naman may greater purpose ka in life. Ako personally, i think i'm destined to be the Patron Saint of gay men na sawi sa pag-ibig - -Nuestra Senora No Hada. In any case, it's not the end of the world. And always remember, you make your own destiny. Deadma na sa baraha. Mag tong-its na lang tayo.

Sa haba ng listahan na ito, isa lang ang net take-away...It's definitely not easy being single, parusa talaga. But then again being single is also a blessing. Ironic ano? Pero perspective lang 'yan. You can either make it work for you or against you. I suggest you choose the former. Essentially, mahirap maging single. Pero kung single ka na, losyang, neurotic, at psycho ka pa dahil sa depress ka na single ka - -aba naman gumising ka maruja! It's about time you wore those rose clored glasses, because singlehood is not bad. Not at all. It's a time to get to know yourself, to love yourself, and to make yourself a better you. Para pag dumating ang panahon na dumating na ang lalake/babae/palaka na tatapos sa iyong single life, masasabi mong - -Go ahead, I'm Ready! (with matching raised hands and welcoming arms. And believe you me, it will come at the moment you least expect it. :-) In the meantime, tuloy ang buhay single.

Toto, something tells me we're not in Kansas anymore...

Today is the day. No more walls. No more barriers. No more excuses. No more holding back. No more self-imposed limitations. No more fear. No more what ifs. No more regrets.

I may be completely out of my element here, but truth be told - -the fish is finally out of the water and it feels fucking great!

Hi i'm JC, a gay fish. Welcome to my blog. :-D