At one point in your life, you will be given what you think will be a golden opportunity – investing in someone else’s business. Before you turn giddy and give your yesses and your checks, think.

My husband and I, we are very enthusiastic persons. The idea of getting into a new business – except when it involves multi-level marketing, which does not float our boat – is enough to send us to euphoria. But of late, we have been a little selective and a little wary of the businesses we get into. We have been burned some of the time and if added up, those investments would run into the hundreds of thousands. Okay, okay, some are not yet “dead” but we worry about them constantly and we do not think that worrying is very good use of our time and our money.

… To read the full article, please click on the title …

It was not my first time.

I remember. It was more than 15 years ago when I produced my first show. It was in a southern province, accessible by land (8 hours) and by air (45 minutes). We partnered with someone who was introduced to us as the wife of a Brunei prince. Such was the rage at that time and many young women – some described as desperate, others gold diggers, others still victims of their own beauty (and another’s greed) – fell for the charms of dark-skinned princes, giving birth to scions of royalty.

Indeed she was beautiful and was moneyed and was very much interested in bringing to her hometown some showbiz denizens. “To make my mother happy,” she quipped.

The show was a moderate success and we learned a lot. One partner made some unnecessary trips by plane which added to the expenses; the people that we tapped to get sponsors did not deliver (they got zero sponsors); the souvenir program was overpriced (we ended up hauling the whole lot back to headquarters); it was not easy.

I was reminded again of these lessons when we did “Love in the Key of R”.

… To read the full article, please click on the title …

I have a confession to make. I have not written my will.

I do not know what is stopping me – not the thought of invincibility because slowly I am finding out the truth and fact of my humanity. Not for lack of knowledge – I have drafted wills for others and other more complicated – and more sober (sobering?) – documents. Not for lack of having given it thought – because I have.

Then what?

Because writing a will is an emotional exercise and I am not sure if I can handle the enormity of it. It is half love letter, half goodbye letter, transmitting all of your hopes and dreams to people you hope not to leave behind too soon. It is a practical letter, an inventory of your life and what you have accumulated in terms of the material and the familial and the emotional. It has a potential to be controversial, leaving in its wake disappointments and tensions and conflicts that you no longer can put under control. It is a testament to what your life has been, to what you valued and continue to value. It is a last heave before you and your life and your words says caput.

And how do you say goodbye?

… To read the full article, please click on the title …

I remember some years ago, in one of her yearly visits to our homeland, my mother dragged me and my husband to the premiere destination for cheap finds.
We call it Divisoria.

Now, Divisoria is a shopping mecca, comparable maybe to the night markets of Thailand or the street-side shops of Hongkong, that is, equal in color, in confusion, in aroma, in the cacophony of sounds that makes it almost the modern Babylon – of people speaking in different tongues and gesturing wildly to alter the balance of power between the seller and the sellee. It is scary and alluring at the same time.

… To read the full article, please click on the title …

I am waxing nostalgic about some trainings and seminars I attended in the past. (some of them do that to you, you know)

A memorable one was the scholarship I received for voice and dance – it was through the generosity and kind-heartedness of Dong Alegre (of Miss Saigon fame). In that “school”, I met many wonderful and talented people, including two people whom I still consider my best friends, M and A. The people in that school rose to great fame in theatre, both locally and internationally (and sometimes I catch myself wondering where I would be now if I had pursued that path). I will always remember those years as one of the most exciting.

Then there are others I still want to experience…

…Please click on the title to read the full article…

If you think you are the fountain of learning, you are not.

At least that is what I tell myself (okay, not in those words) when I feel lethargic about going to some training or something. Because really, what is there in the world and in this life but to know.

So I tried to know.

…Please click on the title to read the full article…

I listen to the hum of the airconditioning as I sweep my eyes across the huge room. I turn my eyes to the center, to the lights caressing the empty stage. It is 3:00 p.m. and it is the calm before the storm. I can hear a distant noise outside, slow and steady, punctuated by laughter and loud chatter. They are coming. The lights go out as the stage manager calls out: sound check is over.

The lights are on again, this time, on full blast, as if egged on by the screams of the crowd. A clamor. Music starts to float, and again, a roar, strong and sure. One by one, the artists come out, each swaying to their inner tune, some great, some not so, all, somehow, adored. A deafening clap at the end, as if the crowd could not get enough.

I thought I had forgotten this part of my life when I left show business for law school.

But I guess, an experience like that could never be forgotten, and somehow the mind, or the heart, looks for a similar uplifting.

And so we are producing a show with some of our like-minded friends.

… To read the full article, please click on the title …

Live within your means, an old saying is what one is religiously expected to follow. But in reality, it isn’t implemented always. This is evident from the statistics which tell us about innumerable mortgage delinquencies. How will you avoid deviating from the old saying? Effective money management skills are called for.

…To read the full article, please click on the title…