Jessie’s Wish List

Its Christmastime once again and here are are my wishes, dear old Santa.

1. I wish for a perfect body – that perfect body which makes boys - and well, girls too, give them some chance – drool. They say that when you wish, you might as well wish for the stars because wishing is absolutely free. Another thinker also said that “beauty corrupts, absolute beauty corrupts absolutely.” Or was it power? Whatever. Beauty and power are synonymous anyway, depending on how a person maximizes the quantity of beauty or power he possesses. Definitely I am going back to my old gym. You wait and see.

2. I wish to be a bestselling author, or editor, or ghost writer – whichever is more applicable. Two years ago I ambitiously fought for the publication of a cover story that chronicled the best things that happened to our foundation during the last 18 years. Apparently, everyone was happy with the outcome such that 20th Century Fox expressed ruthless interest to acquire the film rights of my cover story! Actually, the cover story became the inspiration of a monumental coffee table book project that will and should sum up the best of social development. And starting today, I only have two months to put it together. I don’t know what physical laws I am going to defy this time to finish the book on time and to actually produce a Pulitzer-worthy material. I had actually fallen prey to my own uncalculated ambitions. And yet, the challenge is fiercely interesting!

3. I wish for charity and cooperation. This wish is tantamount to asking for world peace, I know. Still, charity and cooperation remain paramount for our nation’s sustainable growth especially now that our nation and the rest of the world are going to face a very tough year ahead. How do we express charity? How do we collectively practice cooperation? I think there are so many ways but just don’t ask me which is the most effective. You could give pencils and textbooks and food to poor children. You could buy proudly Pinoy products. You could vote responsibly. Anything good that is done collectively would eventually bring us somewhere – to a better place, not necessarily perfect, but definitely better than where we are right now.

4. I wish for more time to savor and devour life’s simple yet great pleasures. In my case, and in no particular order, these are my life’s simple yet great pleasures: good literature, good movies, good music, home improvement and home decorating which are also occasions for bonding with my mama and papa, bonding with the people that I grew up most especially my high school friends who are very dear to me, hunting for books and vintage stuff in those second hand shops and bargain black holes, and intimacy and really quality time with my life’s sweet love. The last one - intimacy and really quality time with my life’s sweet love – are what savoring and devouring are all about!

5. I wish for constant physical energy, tolerant mind and unsinkable spirit. There is no written guarantee that life will turn out the way we want it to be. No matter how we prepare our day, something or someone will catch us off guard, most of the time attacking us when we are most defenseless. Energy must be constant so we could rise, shine and get through each brand new or jaded day. The mind must remain tolerant because each one of us is engineered to be unique and some people are just so damned ugly and foul, they are constant pains in our bottoms. And our spirit must be unsinkable, intact at all times. So you are tired and frustrated and you cry. So you are demoralized and angry and you curse the constellations in the heavens for failing to fulfill the good fortunes supposedly due to you today. So your jeepney seatmate is not adorable and not fragrant either and the rest of your day might as well be doomed. So many things could pull you down and before you know it, it’s already rock bottom. Rock bottom must be such a boring place. So you start going up, up and away. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And hotter.