“What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms.”
― Kobayashi Issa, Poems
Reads
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Marlon Stockinger (Personal Website) is a race car driver born to a Filipina mother and a Swiss father. He was born April 4, 1991, making him only 22 years old as of this writing. He studied and was raised in the Philippines until his family moved to Europe when he was around 16 years old.
Bianca Gonzales talks about 10 things more you need to know about him in this article.
To quote Marlon in the said article,
These people from Europe, America, South America, they’re all too good. But then you realize when you win the race, hey, they’re no more special, they’re just from a different country. At the end of the day they’re normal people too. That’s when it sank in that this is possible. With more success comes greater ambition. You just believe in yourself more. It was just a dream, but now it’s becoming reality.
(Photo Source)
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In the next two weeks or so, we become as hopeful as a little boy wishing for a baby brother or as optimistic as a high school student dreaming to make the world a better place. We are neither fazed by the wind of uncertainties nor afraid of the heartbreaks of winter.
In January, we can be anything we want, do anything we like and try to as much as possible make the new year ours.
Because at least in January, the new year is ours.
We scribble neatly (or not) in our new planner notebooks a long list of resolutions. We make vision boards filled from construction paper and cut-outs from old magazines.Will we get all of them done for the year? No but at least in January, we do.
We change our routines and create new personal superstitions. We pass a different route going to work because it’s faster. We try to commit in documenting every day of our lives in a diary. We brush our teeth before going in to the shower instead of the other way around. We realize how much has changed since January of last year and it feels okay. Though there is still regret and bitterness, it is okay because in January, we welcome and accept change.
We read our horoscopes (western and Chinese). We believe that our luck is changing. We think that we are lucky enough to win the lottery so we buy tickets. We imagine what we can buy with the prize money. How much we will donate to charity and how much we will keep. We look forward to find love for the first time or again for the nth time because in January, everything feels attainable.
We dream. We plan. We aim.
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When celebrities die, we begin to realize that Santa does not really exist, that the snowman we’ve built eventually melts in summer, that Ken and Barbie have broken up and that no matter how hard we pray, God will not bring our grandmother back from her long vacation.
When celebrities die, we are faced by reality. The reality that we often escape by watching movies and staying up late to finish a 3-season series marathon. The reality that pushes us to obsess on the glamourous, eventful, controversial lives of Hollywood, local and even other international celebrities. This is why when celebrities die, we have an unexplainable grief in our hearts even if we are from the other side of the world.
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We have not been updating this blog for quite some time now but since it is a new year, I’d like to make it my personal new year’s resolution.
New Year’s Wish
Every new year, I make a wish. Every time the clock ticks its first second, I look up in the sky and silently fill my heart and mind with a silent prayer. First, I thank God for the past year. Second, I wish for good health and prosperity. Lastly, I pray to find someone that I can love and that will love me in return.
Yes. Some may call it cheesy. Some may call it shallow. Some may even call it stupid or impossible. However, this New Year’s tradition is what’s keeping me hopeful for the years to come.
Somehow, I need something to hold on to just to keep moving… even if it’s just a wish.
