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What is beauty? Indeed, how do we define something beautiful? If you ask people, they’ll say, “beauty is more than just skin deep”, or “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, and other trite phrases like that. In some ways, those might all be part true, but if I were asked that question, I’d say it depends on which society you were raised.

Similar to the saying, “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are” – tell me where you came from and I’ll tell you how you define beauty…

Generally, people in the West prefer tanned skin, while people in the East prefer fair skin. Here in the Philippines, people (girls especially) are judged with three criteria: color of skin, hair texture and built.

With built, it is only a fairly recent trend for people to want to be thin. I’m assuming that this only started with the rise in fame of Twiggy, a thin waif-like model from England. Near as I can tell, models before had normal builds. In 18th century paintings you can even see that they preferred their women with flesh in their bones – a LOT of flesh. I’m not blaming Twiggy for this phenomenon of girls wanting to be thin so much that they starve themselves to death, after all, she is naturally skinny, and I don’t believe she went through extraordinary lengths to keep her skinny built. It’s more than likely an escalation of several factors – but mostly the glorification of fashion designers because during that time, a skinny frame was something new, hence “refreshing”. After all, these designers strive to be different and so they all end up doing the same things. If you don’t see the irony of that, then I won’t enlighten you. Then from the runways, the strive for “skinniness” spread to the streets. Unfortunately, little girls with big dreams who buy fashion magazines and hope to have their pictures featured in one of them one day are too young and are far too impressionable to realize that being too thin is not something that can possibly be attained by everyone.

The next two – color of skin and texture of hair are more than likely products of our colonial mentality. But contrary to what others think, it’s not just the fact that we have an inferiority complex towards Caucasians that contribute to this phenomenon, but also the dominance of the yellow race in our society – by this I mean, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, etc.

I grew up in a Filipino Chinese family, and for as long as I can remember, there has always been an emphasis on having fair skin. To be beautiful, you must be fair. We even have a family friend who ground up pearls to make powder and feed it to his daughter as a baby in the hopes of making her skin fairer and thus more marriageable in the future. It didn’t work, by the way.

Looking around our country today, billboards advertising papaya soaps to make our skin fairer, whitening pills with glutathione and metathione are also incredibly popular. Cosmeticians make a lot of money selling treatments that say they can make you fairer. I’m sad to say that there are some unscrupulous medical and cosmetic personnel that prey on these girls who want to be whiter. They sell these treatments for big amounts of money and for a number of sessions, they promise to bring the patient fairer, whiter skin.

Unfortunately, glutathione is merely an antioxidant, and its whitening properties are merely a side effect. There is even research conducted that suggests that glutathione taken orally is not well absorbed by the digestive tract. Other studies also failed to find a correlation between glutathione and skin whitening. So please take this as a warning, don’t be fooled by those ads advertising glutathione for use as a whitening agent.

For the past several years, there have also been a lot of hair treatments offered in beauty salons that promise to give the customer, straighter hair without losing its natural moisture. Rebonding and relaxing treatments have replaced the straightening treatments (which had harsher chemicals) of before.

I say to a certain extent because I do understand people’s needs to feel good about themselves. Society judges people who don’t obey their rules quite harshly, and much as some people say they don’t care about other people’s opinions—their actions are still a direct result of those. Lately though, some parts of society recognize that the pressure exerted on people (especially women) have reached unmanageable levels – they have even resulted in deaths in some cases. As a result, little by little, people are starting to recognize who they are and are fighting to remain true to that image.

It’s a slow process and an uphill battle, but it is sad when people do things because they want others to love and validate them. I’ve always believed that you must love yourself first – love and validate who you are. Only then can you hope for love and validation from others.

Posted in Etcetera | 3 Comments »

It’s ALMOST summer time! Meaning, it’s also “cramming” time!!! And whether we deny it or not, ALL of us do experience cramming every once in a while, especially whenever finals week is at hand. (Check out the article, “Your Emergency Cramming Tool Kit” by Aileen Santos on pages 44-45, in the March 2009 issue!)

Of course, we also know that “cramming” is a hard habit to break, but it’s not advisable at all! Why? Well, simply because you’ll feel more exhausted after multi-tasking with just a small amount of time. But as true as that may sound, I have to admit that I have no choice but become a “Cram Queen” this time of the week, until the week after Holy Week!

And just to give you an idea, here’s my to-do list before I enjoy my summer:

• finish reading “The Philosophy of History” by G.W.F. Hegel for my book review
• write book review
• finish gathering and reading sources for my term paper
• finish writing term paper, and
• STUDY FOR FINALS!!!

And if that’s not enough, I’m a bridesmaid (and “honorary” maid of honor! haha!) of my sister for her wedding, so I still have to attend to her RSVP and AVP! Whew!

But of course, all of these will pay off once I get to reap the fruits of my hard work! So now, I have to get back to doing school work and some wedding stuff…

Talk to you girls, soon!

Chiong… OUT!

Posted in Etcetera, Lists, Red-Letter Days | 2 Comments »

Woohoo!
The school year is almost over!
It’s the best thing ever!
But before I can leave school and welcome summer,
I have to lose some slumber
And get over
What I’d like to call,
My worst lover—final examination.

Final examinations make me lose my skin color. I’d go around wearing my glasses, eyes half-shut, hair a bird’s nest—or a tumble weed—my clothes are deduced to the basic t-shirt, blue jeans, and Havaianas High—or sneakers. For the whole week, I’d be like a walking zombie suffering from a terrible case of intellectual overload and summer-longing.

This week is finals week. Both the best and the hardest week, I consider finals week a bittersweet moment in my academic life.

Let’s start with the bitter part. Like a common student, I cram. Don’t get me wrong here, I do not enjoy cramming but I always find myself stuck in this situation come finals. I remember all the weekends I spent sleeping until noontime, watching movies with my Dad, and just plain resting and killing time by reading books I love.

All these memories bombard me and I’m instantly filled with remorse and regret for all the wasted time. “I could’ve written this paper last week,” I’d say. “I could’ve read this reading last week,” I’d cry at three o’clock in the morning.

I’d have little or no sleep at all during these days and of course, this will eventually lead to serious side effects when I grow older. I mean, I even experience really bad headaches now, what more will I experience in the future, right?

But on a brighter note, I find finals week sweet too. You know that feeling you get after finishing an exam you studied hard for? It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? It’s like lifting a thorn off your chest.

And come to think of it, ever exam finished is one step closer to summer. Sweet!

Posted in Reflections | No Comments »

Tonight I’ll be sleeping in my younger brother’s room for the first time in almost a year.

When I was thirteen, I forced my brother to move out of my room. He moved into our old music room, which, of course, had been converted to fit his eleven-year-old needs. I felt slightly guilty, but my feelings of irritation usually won over that guilt and made me even crankier and more evil than usual. (Or at least that’s what I remember. The evil.)

You know what it is like to be an adolescent. Around the time you turn twelve, things start changing, from your appearance to your personality (and everything else in between)—and you long to be away from your parents, your siblings, and even your friends, right?

That’s precisely what happened to me. I became antisocial. I thought of resorting to drastic measures whenever something bad happened to me; I was that dramatic. My freshman year in high school wasn’t going as well as it should have (or even close to “well”). My maternal grandmother passed away. And the whole being-a-teenager thing on top of that? Too much to handle.

I was so absorbed in my problems that I completely forgot about the little boy in the music room.

When I stopped being completely self-centered, I started noticing things—like how I’d wake up in the middle of the night to find him right next to my bed, staring at me, and how I’d say, “Just get in,” before rolling over to give him space on my small bed; how I would say, “Give me a hug!” (because my classmates were getting affectionate at school and I wanted that same affection at home) and he would grudgingly (complete with eye-rolling) hug me back; how he would eventually be the first to hug me; and how, when he came over at night, he would start telling me what was going on his life, as I listened – until we both fell asleep.

Then, before I knew it, he was thirteen and drifting away from me.

My brother is fourteen years old now, and he’s changed in so many ways. He’s grown physically and mentally —emotionally, I’m not quite sure ;D—and often I look at him and wonder where the toddler-brother I had went. (I’m very prone to looking back and being nostalgic.) It’s a little sad but it gives me some hope as well.

That is what tonight is for, I suppose—to give me a chance to get closer to him, to catch up on the old times, and to cut down on our electricity…

Right? :>

Posted in Reflections | No Comments »

I’ve been alternating between Facebook-ing and reading Economics handouts for the past few days, since finals week is just around the corner, and my Econ finals are scheduled for Monday. Rawr. Hahaha.
And thanks to the new Facebook layout, I get to see everyone’s quiz results, the surveys they take, who they Superpoke!, and came across this survey! It’s quite fun! Haha :p I’ve always wanted to be part of a band ever since I discovered Incubus, and turned my back on Britney Spears, M2M, and Backstreet Boys in gradeschool!

If I was part of a band, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be the lead singer, because I hate performing or doing anything in front of big crowds. I wouldn’t be the bassist either, because I’m short, and the bass would probably be even longer than me. HAHA. I wouldn’t be the drummer, because I think I lack coordination and I’m pretty sure I would screw up. So I’d probably be the guitarist, woooo. Hahaha.

To do this:
1 – Go to “Wikipedia.” Hit “Random Article”
or clickhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to “Random quotations”
or clickhttp://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 – Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or clickhttp://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 – Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together

5 – Post it to FB with these instructions and TAG the friends you want to join in.

Heeey, I actually like my band & cover art! :p

Okay, I think I have to get back to reading about taxes, deadweight losses, and non-competitive markets now. L See you after finals week!

P.S. Check out another one of my favorite Asofterworld.com comics http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=7 Click!

<3Gaby

Posted in Etcetera, What's In | No Comments »