When I Was a Kid... (#1 - Rainbow)

I decided to start this series entitled "When I Was a Kid..." for the good reason that from time to time, these distinct memories from my childhood pop up in my mind and are mostly immature misconceptions. These situations may be influenced by adult supervision, peers, the natural flow of the environment, or self regulation. Or whatever. Nevertheless, I already have this summary in my unsophisticated brain and I felt the need to publish them for all you cool readers to know and if you find it similar with their childhood experiences as well.

#1

When I was a kid, I always thought pointing at a rainbow will actually make my finger/s rot. As a child, rainbows are magical. Admit it. It's a huge wonder how rainbows are formed when I was a naive kid. Even now that I'm absolutely legal, I still stop and stare at the thing with impulsive sparkles in my eyes still wondering God knows who makes them. Oh, did I just answer that?

Sometimes they're there, most of the time they're not. They're like hard to reach celebrities who are arrogant enough to come and go and don't even care about how their spectators would feel about their intermittent presences. Integrity is what they're afraid to lose.

Nobody ever personally told me that in line with popular belief, there is a mischievous leprechaun of some sort at the end of these rainbows bearing a huge pot of gold. I guess this is purely western (duh, leprechaun) and considering the fact that the Philippines won't be able to afford the gold. Not to mention I only heard this at television shows and kiddy books. Whoever made up this story wants children to be hungry of wealth and dirty old men who are green and epitomizes dwarfism.



It was so amazing seeing a rainbow that I usually had these strong urges to even go out from the classroom in the middle of a teacher's discussion of lame verbs and practically waste my time gazing at the fart-like gas. Wow... I usually tried to run and follow the rainbow expecting that I'd actually end up feeling it up close. But I never did. This is one of the most drastic disappointments I had in my childhood.

Out of pathetic curiosity, I'd point at the rainbow for an accurate nanosecond and quickly withdraw so as not to risk my tiny sausages from getting rot as the mysterious myth says. However, it was indeed possible to point at the rainbow without your fingers dying. As the very popular urban legend trick goes, after pointing at the colorful arc, just lick those fingers good and they'll be just fine. So I did. Every time. And hey, it actually worked!

I have not the slightest idea why I was very amused by rainbows as a child. Heck, I am not even a fan of colors. All the more reason not to like them. But yes, I usually dislike anything colorful. In fact, my top three favorite colors are white, black and grey -- all of which cannot be found in the interesting color wheel. Well, the colors which I normally like can never be found there, such as purple, aqua, silver, scarlet, pink, (wow, sounds like a set of sluts) and I can go on forever. Perhaps my fascination of rainbows way back then had a significant implication of what I am now.

This is yet another wonderful thing in life that can't ever be bought. So, did you lick your fingers too?

Six Simple Steps to a Better Life According to Me

(1) Be passionate about life. Living life is priceless and work hard to survive it. You have a unique, great life full of marvelous experiences and all. To waste them might be the worst thing you can ever do. You should know what you're doing and you should be happy that you're doing it. Otherwise, don't do it at all. Success is not about becoming rich, living to the expectations of others, nor is it having an easy and comfortable life. It's about fulfilling what you aim to reach and being satisfied by what you achieve.

(2) Maintain the humor. Being serious helps, sometimes. Being passionate about life would normally take a lot of seriousness. But always keep in mind that a jug of endorphin plays a huge role in making your life brighter, more fun and interesting. Produce them abundantly by being funny in one way or another. Tell jokes and take jokes. Don't be conscious about your jokes being corny. People who can't take jokes are worse. I dislike people who are like that and those who are inappropriately serious most of the time. Making people laugh is one of the best feelings.

(3) Be kind, thoughtful and loving. People love nice people. Chances are, most of the people around you will most definitely like you if you're vibrant and your disposition has candy written all over it. Well, not everyone will feel that way. Maybe 1 or 2 individuals whom you had a rough time during your past life, so never mind about them. Everybody knows we can't please everyone. You don't live to do that, too. You can only do so much and it's for the people who care. On that very note, try to decide on doing a good deed every single day to anyone who matters to you no matter how simple it is. Smile at everyone until those worthy wrinkles appear beside your lips at the end of each day. You'll even feel good about aging.

(4) Do something creative. Become a literary writer maybe? That's just a suggestion. Even I can't do it. But seriously though, waking up one morning, getting dressed and making something unique and worthwhile makes sleeping at night a thousand times more comfortable and waking up the next day an assurance. Not only that, you will become proud of yourself because you never expected that you, a simpleton, can do something more amazing than how amazing this sentence has so many amazing words. Always remember that each one of us has an artistic side. So, enrich yours. You may not realize that yet but if you try and you are determined, nothing will stand your way. Everyone is talented in so many different ways and you are not an exception. If they can do it, so can you.

(5) Be spiritual. For the record, I personally am not that spiritual. Being spiritual, helps a lot. But I guess don't overdo it because it has bad effects on one's practical and rational principles, at least from what I can observe. While I was attending a certain mass one Sunday afternoon, I realized, again, how the sermons of priests (not all priests are like this, sadly, some are hypocrites) make you want to become a better person other than how you already are (not to mention how comfortably good I felt inside that church because the ambiance was great). It's amazing if you think about it. But yes, praying, attending mass, contemplating, doing all those spiritual things truly makes you a better person.

(6) Take a break. I know you need to work your ass off because you're treading that damn path of yours like it's the only thing that matters. That's where you're wrong. You need to get a break sometimes. And make the most out of it. There's no unlimited promos in breaks so you need to savor them. Go away with your lover, take a quick vacation with your friends or family, treat yourself to a nice movie and dinner, or better yet, stay at home and do the thing you loved doing when you were still a kid. I know you thought about it when you read that sentence. Go do it.

And I can go on forever, unfortunately, I can only say too much. :)