The Art of Decluttering

I've subscribed to a lot of minimalist blogs on the web. Learned a lot of tips from experts of decluterring and making life simpler, clutter-free, and lighter. Later today I will be embarking (yes, I think embark is a much appropriate term) on the biggest DECLUTTER project ever on the history of NELSON DELEON HOUSEHOLD.

First. I will get rid of my old bags. Worn out bags. Faded in color. Anything older than 5 years

Second. Have to dispose those old shoes. Well I’m thinking of donating or maybe sell on eBay, but that’s additional task that I can't manage right now

Third. Will get rid of never-been used home décor/kitchenware. Well they're worth some value so I might consider selling them. But if I can give them out then I'm more than OK with that

Fourth. CLOTHES. Yes, any wardrobe that won't fit or that I haven't worn in years would have to be out of the closet

Fifth. Paper stuff and documents. I seriously have no use for those clippings and manuals from way back when, and outdated newspaper and magazines had to go to the dumpster

Sixth. Unused beddings and pillows. As mush as I want to keep them, even with the sealed protection of a vacuum bag, I have to get rid of them. They take a lot of closet space, and I'm planning to upgrade to memory pillows eventually (just planning).

Seventh. Those CDs and DVDs have to go. What will I do with DVDs and CDs that I’m done watching and have no plans of watching ever again? Out you go…

Eight. Food in the fridge. Everything outside its shelf life will be thrown out.

Ninth. Souvenirs/memorabilia. I've got some 5 or 6 pieces of crafted mugs that we gave out during my daughters baptismal. It's been sitting there for more than 3 years now. No point in keeping them

Tenth. And the last, those electronic gadgets and accessories that are either defective or that I won't be using in the near future. I'm talking about Nokia chargers, Motorola headsets, broken Samsung and Ericsson phones, wirings of all sorts, China-made low-class battery charges, some accessories for the old iPod, etc. Hope someone out there will have to re-use them eventually

Jane Eyre: Old drama, new age

There was a 1996 movie of the same title that I didn't know about until my wife pointed it out to me some days ago. Further research made me realize there was an earlier version back in 1944, the original in fact, and there had been mini-series created around the same theme and title. While reading Jessica Zafra, I thought that I MUST soon finish the eBook before the 2011 film adaptation opens. And I'm still on page 381 out of 956, not even halfway through. I usually find time finishing off a book in less than 2 weeks, and it's not really a question of how much time one has for "leisure reading" but more on how much distracted one is when doing his daily rounds of reading. And no amount of reading campaign can change the course of junk reading habit, without taking into account the elimination of certain distractions.

At first, I thought being able to catch up on my reading by having eBooks on my phone is the second best thing to happen to smart phones (the best thing would be the To-Do list widgets). But after installing Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre on my phone about 3 months ago; none of them got finished. I browse other applications by the end of a chapter. I pause reading when there's a text. At times having to zoom in and scroll makes me nauseous especially when on board. While I do not procrastinate on stuff which are pending (my definition of pending is different), I push back reading Jane Eyre because: (1) when I can't relate, I get bored, (2) I found out about the new movie, so I'll wait to watch the movie first, and (3) I have a strong feeling that this is an Atonement situation wherein watching the Movie before finishing the book is more emotionally fulfilling (couldn't tell I didn't finish the book either).

Notwithstanding poor excuse to obvious laziness or simply bad reading habit, Jane Eyre is a classic masterpiece that starts unacknowledged standards to recent spike of teleseryes and drama anthologies. The fun part is that even if things were difficult for Jane Eyre, and you know you root for her ultimate stardom, you'd still be intrigued by mysteries that are bound to happen. It's like watching the trailer of "Who's That Girl" starred by Anne Curtis, and you know exactly what the plot is, but you still want to see the movie because you're hoping to see Anne get butt naked, or at least on a skimpy two-piece. Alright that's a very stupid analogy, but you guys got the point.


P.S. From past experiences watching good screen adaptations before reading the book gave me better emotional throughput. Classic examples are Brokeback Mountain, Atonement, and English Patient. The opposite is true for the movie Yes Man from the non-fiction of the same title.

Love and Other Drugs: Other Couple's Talk

The usual formula of a rom-com can be witnessed on movies such as Going the Distance, Keeping the Faith, There’s Something About Mary, and recently playing whole month in HBO – French Kiss (Meg had gone way over the top for this). To our delight, there's a unique rom-com chemistry in the lovely couple Anne and Jake, who grew lovelier in Love and Other Drugs after their Brokeback Mountain roles. We knew the love angle in Brokeback is different from the new ensemble they had.

Edward Zwick really dwelled on character development and he used the two so cleverly that we are immersed on their passion – the intrigue about the pseudo-relationship they are trying to keep and deny. Anne’s Maggie gave a different meaning to Parkinson’s, and I suddenly felt an urge to Google her pictures right after watching the movie. Jake’s portrayal of Jamie came a bit of a surprise to me, because although I’ve seen him act his way from being a high school nerd experimenting rockets, to being a gay cowboy, and to being a castaway soldier; I’ve never seen this kind of versatility in him yet as an actor. I’m thrilled to see him in his next movie Source Code.

For the sake of argument someone pointed out that there's a lot of sex scenes in the movie to make it appealing romantically to the general public. I presume that in order for the viewers to grasp the idea of the Jamie and Maggie's relationship, we need to understand the primary constant that bind them in the first place: they both enjoy having SEX. How the movie evolves into something romantic without sacrificing plotlines and using to full extent the gorgeous nakedness of both Anne and Jake, is an important element in reconstructing the concept that this movie is not just your ordinary rom-com flick, but you can take into account good acting, hot scenes, and the range of emotions on screen.

I am reminded by a co-worker who mentioned in passing – about a trainee she used to handle who’s having an affair with a married guy. Given, I know at least 5 married guys who’ve had affairs at work and this is supposed to be normal to them; I still think that society dictates the male-chauvinistic behavior and not the work environment. Much to our dismay, we equate machismo to the number of women a guy is romantically involved with. But then, if you came across someone like Anne Hathaway, then you’d probably stop being a douche bag, and stick to one woman.

How I Met Your Mother: Be Barney's Wingman

Mondays on ETC is HIMYM day, two back-to-back episodes are aired, the first at 9PM is last week's episode, and the 9:30 PM slot goes to the match-aired (as how ETC termed it, which still sounds weird for me) episode.

Amongst the favorite characters is Barney, the bachelor-type guy who goes after random girls for unsolicited sex with no emotional attachment. We learn how he lures preys through his "pick up" lines which can be legen--wait for it--dary at some point, unrealistic when you sometimes think of it, and utterly gender-biased the most. It seems practical to note that creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas patterned their lives thru the other male leads - Ted and Marshall - who seem more romantic and relatable to the regular viewers. However, there's no denying that we do aspire to be Barney at one point. At one, single-dotted point in our lives, have we ever imagined ourselves hitting off with a total of 200 random partners? Well it may sound far-off, but that's really our Id talking. You know, Id, the one who takes on the darker, non-conformity side of ourselves.

Recently, Barney's been denying his possible attachment to a previous date and his friends are teasing him about it. Meanwhile viewers are still pounding on who could be the "mother" and we definitely think it's not Zoey, because we just heard that HIMYM is still up for another two seasons. When I watch HIMYM and I start to think that I'm Barney I'd probably skip the dating and proceed to the fun part, but the fun part isn't sex, but the chasing that you have to do. And I've been a wingman for some time, with my co-workers and friends, but have never been the actual guy. Maybe I can ask someone to be my wingman, for fun, but who's gonna agree anyways?

I don't need an elaborate hairdo

Got a haircut yesterday from a barber, not a hairstylist. The two are different you see, barbers are guys who stay in humid barbershops and use big scissors, and TV is always tuned in to either PBA or IBC, or other least known stations. Hairstylists are a bit trickier, they can either be a guy or a girl, or combinations, they have ranking – creative stylist, sr. creative, junior, senior, super junior, etc – which also dictates the professional you have to pay. Stylists have more elaborate equipment, they also shampoo your hair pre or post cutting of hair.

The guy from the barbershop has a generic way of trimming hair even after I had carefully explained to him how I want my hair to look like and given instructions on what to trim and what not to trim. He was very detailed at first, cutting in miniscule and measuring the shape and all. Then he became trigger-happy and started cutting insanely using his edged scissors like he just bought that and was excited to use it. It ended up with my hair less K-Pop, it's really short and now I’m starting to like it because I don't need to spend 30 minutes to style it (because it has no style, yes, don't rub it in).

But guess what, I don't really need an elaborate hairdo. I know I've dyed my hair twice this month, and I was on the verge of doing something incredibly stupid with it like give it highlights just like with what Caloy has in Magkaribal. But today is different, today marks the day plain hair triumphs over stylistics.

The clock is ticking

Lately, I’ve been impatient waiting, on ATM terminals, ordering “fast food”, impatient being on hold waiting for a Globe rep to pick up, and yes, being stuck on the dreaded traffic. But what I can’t bring myself to understand is having to wait an hour for the doctor to come in. The schedule clearly states 9AM, the front desk guy confirmed it’s 9, and the Intellicare clinic guide says it’s from 9AM. I completely get that I have to wait for my turn, it’s always first come first serve basis, and I’m cool that I would have to wait because some patients would take a longer time because they have unusual procedures done like anal probe or psychological tests.

But when my doctor arrived at 10am, and started accepting patients 30 minutes after, I felt my wasted time was deduced to plotting evil schemes like making a scene or exploding outright. In 1 hour I can do a lot of meaningful things, like watching 3 episodes of How I met your mother on DVD. Or completing up to 2 washing machine cycles, or playing with my kid Soleil and letting her watch the entire [V] Countdown, or neatly folding 1 week worth of laundered clothes, or go over my daily social networking update (I limit only 1 hour to check my facebook, twitter, blogs, etc). In 1 hour my wife and I can have our very meaningful catch up chats, you know, she tells stuff about work and how much she “adores” her colleagues, and I tell her what’s going on at my work and how I’m this close (insert hand gesture) into writing a hate email.

Because I value time I respect other people’s value on time. I apologize to my class if I came in late from break to run some important errands. If I need them to stay beyond their shift, I let them know how much I appreciate them sticking around. After reading messages from people who texted or email me, I reply immediately when needed, there’s no reason that they would have to wait for a response. In cases when someone needs me and I’m unavailable, I inform him or her when I’m available. And when there’s an agreed time, like for a work-related meeting, or casual meet ups with friends, I make sure I come in on time. Anyways, about the evil plot or rage and terror, it didn’t happen. I realized the doctor can poke me in the eye and I won’t get my badly-needed med cert.

On dream interpretations;

I have a recurring dream that is worthy of blogging. It's always set on a familiar village pathway, an old dormitory hallway, and in the end of each of these subconscious episodes, there's a dog bite. You heard it, I get bitten by a dog. From what I can remember, these dreams have been recurring for more than a year now. When a recurring dream doesn't stop, it means you haven't addressed some unconscious conflict.

And recently, the dog-bite dream isn't recurring anymore. I can connect it to the fact that I was able to interpret the dream, took action to address the conflict, and because of that, I got rid of the recurring dream. Some friends and acquaintances would ask me to interpret their dream and expect that I gave out some cosmic revelation or premonition. Weird enough, dreams are internal to the person who dreamt them, so if you dreamt that your crush likes you too, it doesn't mean that, in reality, she likes you back. The best person to interpret one's dream is the dreamer-the one who dreamt it. So what I did is just to guide them on what this and that may mean, and what their subconscious mind is telling them.

A friend told me about a bad dream where a relative died. I told him that it was not something that he should be alarmed about. When he further described the dream, we figured it's because of an ending phase (specifics cannot be disclosed) that is about to happen in his life and that the said relative was involved in that phase. It wasn't recurring, so there was no conflict: it only means that he's subconscious mind was reminding him about the phase in his life that is about to close.

So how did I resolve the recurring dream about the dog, you may ask? I won't go into details of course, but I had some tough self-realization that I needed to do. When I came into this certain self-awareness, everything came into place and finally, the recurrence stopped, just like that. Start interpreting your dreams to learn more about yourself, well, at least at the subconscious level.