ღ Fame in a Name ღ

What's in a Name?

I remember the first brand I was completely in love with: Sanrio -- Hello Kitty, My Melody, and my absolute favorite, Lala and Kiki of Little Twin Stars. A UNICEF ambassador since 1983, Hello Kitty has been on a renaissance of late and the beribboned feline is somewhat of a quirky fashion icon making red carpet appearances on the arms of fans from Cameron Diaz and Christina Aguilera to Paris and Nicky Hilton. Everyone love Hello Kitty and though I thought she was cute, I didn't collect Hello Kitty with the same fervor as I did My Melody and Little Twin Stars. My Melody was scarce commodity when I was in fourth grade. The white little bunny with the carnation pink hood (albeit if you log on to their website, Sanrio has changed the pink hood to the original red) occupied just one measly shelf at the Gift Gate store in SM Manila. I really had to snap up the merchandise once it was displayed. Ever kikay, my fourth grade self was totally enchanted with Lala's long pink hair (though in some illustrations it appears brown). The star wand she carried with her at all time was, to me, pure glamour. I think it had something to do with sprinkling fairy dust on everyone. The fact that Kiki was always by her side increased her allure too.

I used to save up my allowance and whatever cash I collected from birthdays, Christmas, stellar report cards and good behavior bonuses to buy Sanrio memorabilia. I amassed a good number of stickers and icons of the aforementioned characters turned up all over my room. I had too all manner of pencils, erasers, sharpeners, hankies, hair clips, and even slippers with these characters.

In my pre-teenage years, the first logo tee I begged my mom and dad to buy me was BNY Jeans. It was all the rage back then: a cotton T-shirt emblazoned with "BNY Jeans" across the breast. Everyone was wearing it, including my favorite local celebrities. It is like Bench or Penshoppe now, where the hottest celebrities are its endorser. Kim Chui and Gerald Anderson for instance. I also remember pairing my BNY jeans and shirt with my all time favorite Skechers shoes. I remember longing for these items almost as a physical ache.

And now that I'm a teenager, the brand that I'm so desperate to own (even though I can't afford the original) are it bags and designer bags such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Kate Spade, Dior, Versace, Fendi, amongst others. I also dream of having raiments made by known couturiers such as Garavani Valentino, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, Vera Wang, Vivienne Westwood and Monique Lhullier.

On hindsight, I was never really a sneaker kind of girl or even a shirt lover. But there was just something about having them that made them more than just a shirt and shoes. They became symbols of cool, to which mom's perpetual rebuttal was that they would not seem as "cool" once you owned it.

No matter how many lesson my mom gave in "brand management" I know that my folly has always been--will always be--the label.

Comfort Zone

For fours years or so I've been in my comfort zone. Same environment, same classmates, same schoolmates, same friends. Always hiding in my shell and always dependent on my friends especially to my two best of friends Mj & Rica. But now that I'm in college,now that I've got no one to rely on, its so hard to cope up with things. Hard to accept that I have no one to turn to whenever I have problems, or just sharing my kiliig and happy moments. But that's life. You have to learn to be independent cause relying on somone will make you no good. It will only increase your cowardness...

Decisions

" Whatever choice you make is gonna affect the rest of your life "

These words of Nathan Scott to Haley James really struck me. I remembered the worst decision I made in the most important stage of my life -- choosing my future career. I really do love cooking. In fact, when I was a kid, I dreamt of being a famous chef someday; pastry chef in particular. Unfortunately, when I was about to make up my mind regarding the course I have to take, I hesitated to choose culinary course. My relatives told me that teaching is a good career. I'll have many opportunities abroad. Some of my friends say that it is, too, a career wherein you'll find lots of job when you graduated. In other words, I listened to them though I never see myself teaching someday. I thought I'd be able to love this profession as the day goes by.

Later I found out that I'm being harsh on myself. Trying to love what I don't really love and trying to be happy with what I am doing. I feel really sorry about myself. Maybe this was the greatest regret I've ever done in my whole life so far. Nevertheless, I can't blame anyone. All I can blame is myself; listening to their advices knowing my heart beats for HRM. On the other hand, maybe another reason why I obeyed them is that I am afraid of what's gonna happen if I disobey them. I thought they're the ones who know what's best for me. However, I've realized that its always up to you on how you run your life. Ask others' opinions & suggestions and listen to them, yeah, that's ideal, but don't rely on them to make your choices because they don't hold your life and in the end, you'll be the one to suffer the consequences; not them. Make your decisions but don't rush. Think hard and weigh your options. And always follow your heart no matter what because its the only accurate instrument that knows what you really like. And if in case you made a mistake because of following your heart, at least you'll never blame anyone and you'll never be that rude on yourself becuase you know that its a choice you made. And you'll confidently say that "kaya ko 'to panindigan coz this is my decision; not others..."

My final advice to those who are confused in making decisions, don't be afraid becuase if you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't step, you're always on the same place.