Connecting the dots
Shake, Rattle and Roll 3's episode III, entitled Nanay, features a laugh-out-loud scene where a still-D-lister Ai Ai delas Alas got swallowed by a toilet bowl, apparently inhabited by an avenging Undin, a mermaid-like creature that's a cross between a tadpole and a siokoy. To appease the avenging Undin, a still-hot Marilyn Reynes had to retrieve the Undin eggs and talk to the Undin herself and apologize for the folly that she and her friends did. The Undin accepts the apology and heads back to the sea. The scene ends with two Undins lip-locked in a passionate underwater kiss.
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During high school, we called Ma'am Anele, our Physics teacher, "Undin". It was Atoi who coined the term, so Atoi apparently also saw Shake, Rattle and Roll 3: Episode III. Ma'am Anele had two kids --- a boy and and a girl --- who were enrolled as elementary students in our school. We called the guy Charlie Brown and the girl Goldfish. Charlie Brown looked like, well, Charlie Brown. Goldfish had funny chubby cheeks that made her look like a goldfish.
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I used to own two goldfish. One was of a regal bronze variety, which I called Bruno, and I called the other one Fetus, because it looked like an overgrown embryo. Fetus was pinkish white, and was a voracious eater. I loved them both, but I hated cleaning the aquarium, which was also populated with tiger barbs, sword tails, and a couple of lazy janitor fish. Eventually, my mom had to clean the aquairum since she disliked looking at the icky greenish-brown waters of an uncleaned aquarium.
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A new Smart Buddy ad features a girl consoling a friend who just broke up with her hubby by introducing her to a party full of cute guys using, of course, Smart Buddy's unlimited texting features. She quips before opening the door, "There are many fish in the sea!", and dramatically opens the door. We presume that the inconsolable friend forgot all her worries after seeing one particularly cute guy, who is called "Mark" in the commercial.
The problem is that Manila feels more like an aquarium, an uncleaned, rotting aquarium at that. In this aquarium, there are no regal gold fishes, nor any gorgeous deep-sea creatures --- only boring guppies, ugly bubble eyes, and well, boastful fighting fish.
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Making a male fighting fish (formally Siamese fighting fish, scientific name: Betta splendens), "fight" itself by putting a mirror in front of it was one of my earliest childhood hobbies. It was fun and funny making a fish square off with himself. It was also a gorgeous sight to behold, as the male fighting fish will display its vibrant colors --- indeed, its true colors --- when agitated.
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These days, at 25, I find myself squaring off not with others but with myself. I am my own worst critic and adversary. Sometimes, I feel like I'm facing a mirror and I am only fighting with myself. It is a fun and funny exercise, as I know that I alone can decide the outcome. I know too, that it is only in this battle that I can show my vibrant colors --- indeed my true colors.