23 lessons and then some

A lot of kids my age have probably gone through so much experiences than I ever did in all my twenny three years. And they would probably not want to be called kids.

I may have little encounter with profound life-changing situations and little understanding on how this 'life' thing works but I've been around for two decades; I'm sure I squeezed something out of it. I'd like to believe I'm not a waste of oxygen in this green and blue marble.

And sure, I have not the slightest on life's essentials (things a person will have to go through at least once in their lives) like falling in love or breaking a heart or wearing a cast after falling off a tree and breaking bones. Things like that. No, falling and breaking is not the theme of this blog.

I'm not exactly the best person to talk about growing up pains and life crises so I'll just make a rundown of the lessons I like to remember when life threatens to take the best of me. Which isn't really a lot, haha.

1. Never cut up images from National Geographic magazines. I learned this too late. I was in high school and we had a project. I used my uncle's collection of Nat Geo for reference but when I saw the pretty pictures, I knew I had to cut them up and include them in the collage. Bad move. How was I supposed to know those magazines are like, whoa? At least I got an A.

2. Never shoot a pencil up your nose. Especially if the pencil has an eraser at one end. It was probably the worst afternoon of my life at seven years when the eraser got stuck in my nose and I couldn't sneeze it out. My yaya kept telling me to 'singa' but I didn't know how coz I was panicking. It eventually got out but I was damaged emotionally already.

3. Building administrators do not honor Barbie club membership IDs when you present it in business attire. No amount of make up and corporate threads can fool security guards when they demand for identification. Is it my fault it's the only ID I had at the time?

4. You will eventually make your dreams come true. It doesn't have to be at the exact moment you dream it, but it will happen. If it doesn't happen, you really didn't want it enough.

5. God's holiness needs to be taken seriously. One thing you must remember about the Lord is that He is first and foremost holy. He takes sins seriously. And no matter how sound your justifications for your actions are, He cannot be mocked.

6. Oxygen cannot be seen. When I was in pre-school I was awarded with high honors for being witty. I don't know how that happened, but I remember telling my teacher I did not believe her when she said that plants produce oxygen because I can't see oxygen. That was the first debate I had in my life. Still doesn't make sense why I was the 'witty kid.'

7. It's okay if you haven't seen Titanic. You and about a few other people haven't, including me and some aboriginal tribes. That does not mean you're any less than three quarters of the world just because Jack and Rose aren't your favorite movie couple.

8. You don't have to have quarter-life crisis. Two ways: end life early or do what I do. Focus on eternal things so you won't have to stress about the mundane. Sometimes, it's okay to be in touch with life but it really helps when God is in the driver's seat.

9. Count your blessings. Nothing new about this one. When I say count blessings, I don't mean you compare numbers with others.

10. Never stick foreign objects in your eye. It hurts like whoa. Trust me.

11. You don't have to try everything just so you'd know what it's like. I've never tried smoking, not even once, but I didn't have to to know it's going to kill me someday. It's bad enough that I will probably die of second-hand smoke (what with the metro's unbelievably clean air), but please, why should I speed up the process? I want a fabulous death.

12. Take ONE STEP at a time. Your destination will be where it is. Have fun down the road; it's rocky so sprinting is just going to be more painful. Walk. And always look where you're going, step by step. You'd know when to make a turn, when to stop and when to keep pressing on if your pace is just right.

13. High School is NOT a musical. But it's definitely worthwhile given a good soundtrack, great friends and crushable crushes.

...to be concluded.