TRAVEL LIGHT

For Sale

I have a friend who had this penchant of changing furnitures, interior designs or the landscaping of his house everytime he sees a new one that he’d like. Everytime he’d see a modern furniture displayed in the malls, on the lobby of a five star hotel or in one of his friend’s house, he would, by impulse, instantly change the ones he already had in his house. Even if the modern furniture does not fit his house’s interior design, he would insist on installing it for the simplest reason that he wouldn’t want to be left out with what his friends have. A simple case of keeping up with the Joneses.

This is a common case among those who wants to flaunt a newly acquired social status. Another term for this case is the conspicuous consumption. It is the lavish spending on practically anything mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such profligacy serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status.

This has become a common trait acquired by those who had made one step upward in the social heirarchy of a consumerist society. And in order for other people to recognize this achievement, conspicous consumption comes to the fore. In the Philippines, this has become a common trait among young urban professionals, celebrities, families of OFWs and of course our politicians, both the old and new trapos. That is why in our age and time, there seems to be an unsatiable craving for goods like new gadgets and gizmos, modern houses, modern lofts and condos, modern furniture, cars, guns, etc…and also even on services like spas and vacation packages.

Everything now is for sale. Anything can now be traded, including principles.

Collecting Collectibles

My late Dad kept a collection of memorabilia, from old photos, his World War II campaign medals to his ID Cards. He had a cabinet full of potpourris of this kind. When he died, his collections were distributed to those interested among us his sons. Being the first Mason among my siblings, it had become my obligation to keep all of my Dad’s Masonic stuff. Among other things, I also inherited from my Dad his penchant of collecting sundries for keepsakes.

As a kid, I started collecting a wide array of stuff, from photos, coins to toys, my school ID cards and even some of my notebooks. In high school, I had kept a considerable collection of soccer-football posters, posters of my favorite folk-rock group, and etc…Some of it I still have, but a lot had been misplaced or left somewhere else.

Recently, I started to collect covers of movies in DVD.In addition to my Dad’s collection, I am now starting to gather my own collection of various Masonic stuff .I plan to reconstruct my old collections again and hope that I can complete or find replacements of those which were already lost. Its time to take a trip down the thrift and antique shops or just click on the mouse to stroll the internet for other sources. Shopwiki for one, offers a lot of store for Collectibles and Memorabilia.

Hi-Tech, Low Drag

At the time when I entered my first job in the late 80’s and the early 90’s, office equipments were still not that complicated to operate. Early Personal Computer printers require only a ribbon for an ink. It was not much of a hassle to change a ribbon from a dot-matrix printer. But the transition from one ancient form of equipment to the next most modern one was fast and furious and it seem to happen overnight. While we were sleeping, new gadgets and equipments invaded the world.

In the morning we found ourselves sweating over the simplest of tasks, that of changing the toner cartridges of a laser printer. We, the older citizens, took sometime to understand how these new gizmos work. We suddenly find ourselves in a world were every piece of equipment and gadget shrunk but its functions became more complex. What once was a cabinet-sized copier, suddenly shrunk into an equipment that can occupy only the one fourth part of a table. Not only did it shrunk in size, now it assumed at least three tasks into one machine. Amazing how a fax machine, copier and printer is now rolled into one.

Amusingly younger people can handle these equipments easily like they’re just playing with toys, while we sweat and labor hard just to replace inkjet cartridges or toner cartridges. The next time we find ourselves becoming experts with these machines, a new and more complex machine was just delivered into our offices. It’s a Hi-tech world and a low drag me.

Shape Up or Ship Out

If you are rapidly growing old, gaining excess weight and having a sedentary lifestyle and zero physical activity, be wary. They are the risk factors that increase the chances of someone developing diabetes. I must admit that I am one that should be wary and alaramed about it. All these risk factors are staring back at me everytime I look in the mirror.

The last time I was checked up by a Doctor, I got a clean bill of health. I was far from being afflicted with diabetes. But then that was long ago and far away. That was the time when I can still climb mountains and cross provinces via its mountain ranges. Now climbing just three flights up the stairs is not without buckling knees and a bucketful of sweat.

Diabetes has become a silent yet deadly killer. Luckily, there are now a lot of medicines that one can buy over the counter or even through an online Pharmacy. There are even ways that one can determine or detect the chance of having diabetes, like a blood glucose test strips.

But then again the best way to prevent diabetes is not the medicines, fancy meters nor the doctors, it is still that of taking care of yourself. Nothing beats being fit and trim and maintaining healthy habits and lifestyle. Changing a decadent lifestyle may be hard, but think about how it’s like to be being amputated. Which is harder for you?

Smile, you’re on Candid Camera!

It is a cardinal rule not to leave your kids to strangers, much so, your infant baby. But in a situation where both parents are working, they are forced to leave their kids under the care of babysitters. In this situation, parents have to devise systems in order for them to be assured that their kids are being well taken cared of.

The only thing that comes to mind is to install a hidden camera. In this case, a nanny camera. Of course cameras could not prevent any impropriety or maltreatment, but it can document these incidents. Not only can these cameras document possible maltreatment by babysitters to their wards, it can also document illicit acts committed by the babysitter and/or her boyfriend, who was just outside your house waiting for you to leave. Petty thief is a common occurence in a household where strangers are tasked to watch over your property. Or even, a steamy (*tooot*) scene caught by your nanny camera can be a bonus take, you might wish.

The downside about this hidden camera stunt is that it violates the right to privacy of a person, and in this case the nanny. Who knows that the nanny might be actuated by pure and worthy motives in doing her job. Under the same circumstance, by secretly filming her through a nanny camera, you have acted more unwisely than you have judged her to have acted. While she gave you favor by diligently watching over your kids, in return you violate her rights by transgressing on her privacy.

But, in the final analysis, and as a father myself, I subscribe to the dictum “Salus BABY Suprema Lex”, - the welfare of my baby is Supreme Law.