Happiness

Aristotle said that the key to happiness is MODERATION, not too much and not too little. For example, food.

As a young adult living alone, I tend to eat canned foods most of the time, which is having "too little." On the other hand, eating out for EVERY meal is having "too much" for me. It makes me feel like a spendthrift, which, in turn, makes me guilty and NOT happy. As a compromise, happily eating for me means cooking my own food (amazingly none of the two extremes) and only eating canned goods when I REALLY need to save money and eating in restaurants or canteens every once in a while.

How about you?

How do you practice moderation? And what are you having too little or too much?

Conversations with Aunt Terry

if I am a character in the series and it's still season 1 and 2 of The Killing 

So, by now, most people who care about the American series The Killing probably know who the elusive killer is. Well, I'm gonna say it anyway; it's Terry Marek,  Mitch Larsen's sister, and the woman Tommy and his brother call Aunt Terry. While the criminal act was carried out by three people (Jamie Wright, Richmond's campaign adviser, chased Rosie through the woods and Michael Ames, Terry's boyfriend, was there, too), it was Terry who ultimately killed Rosie by pushing the campaign car into the bottom of the lake. Now, if payback is a bitch and making people guilty is a form of vengeance, I will do it by having these conversations with Aunt Terry:

Aunt Terry and Mitch talking in the kitchen the day they found out Rosie is missing

Terry: Why didn't you look for her? She was gone all weekend.

Me: Because you already killed her, you bitch, looking for her, by then, will be useless.

Aunt Terry and Mitch arguing in the garage

Terry: Screw you, Mitch! You didn't even know your own daughter.

Me: And you do? You didn't even recognize your own niece's voice when she was screaming from the trunk of the car while it was sinking into the water!

Aunt Terry reporting to Stan about Mitch

Terry: I found the boys in the car with the engine running.

Me: I'm not excusing what Mitch did, but, if you didn't kill Rosie in such a gruesome way, Mitch wouldn't have been distracted by her murder photos that leaked to the press, and you wouldn't be here feeling like some kind of hero when, in fact, you're the devil in our midst.

Season 2

Aunt Terry to Stan, confessing about her Beau Soleil connection

Terry: My boyfriend, Michael, I met him through Beau Soleil.

Stan: Get out of my house!!! <with a very scary booming voice>

Me: Good job, Stan! You will be REALLY glad you did that when this season ends.

Aunt Terry scolding Tommy after she found Denny locked in the trunk of her car.

Terry: Why would you do that to your brother? <while shaking Tommy out of his wits>

Tommy: You're not my mother!

Me: Yeah. You're right, Tommy. She's not your mother. She's the bitch who killed your sister while she was stuffed in the trunk of a car! How does it feel to see that haunt you, Terry?

Aunt Terry sharing to Stan about her dreams with her married boyfriend

Terry: We were going to find a place together, start a life together. He said I will make a good mother. I guess that's what they say. You wan't to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.

Me: It's not really about God laughing at you, Terry. It's about you killing a girl, lying to people about it, and still think you can live happily ever after with your "boyfriend." You are the joke to begin with.

Aunt Terry finally confessing to the police and to Mitch and Stan

Terry: I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know it was Rosie. I didn't know. I didn't know.

Me: This is so fucked up! So you lied to us the whole season 1 and 2 just because you "didn't know"?

What is more fucked up about it, though, is the way she acted like the family's savior when her deed (and continued silence about it) is the cause of their pain. I don't know if the producers (Hi, Veena Sud!) are messing with us, or they didn't have a better killer to offer, but the answer to "who killed Rosie Larsen?" angers me to the core! (maybe that was the intended effect). Anyway, it's good that the Larsen family finally has closure, and we, the innocent viewers, are finally fed with an answer that troubles us--more than satisfies us. 

Ed Sheeran's "The A Team" and the poetry of songwriting

I had the privilege of watching Ed Sheeran's performance at the Grammy's this year. He was accompanied by Sir Elton John, who also manages him. I read in Wikipedia that Grammy's management initially declined to have Ed Sheeran perform on the show because he's not "high-profile" enough, but John volunteered to perform alongside this newcomer and, I bet, the management is more than ecstatic to have them. 

Anyway, on to Ed Sheeran's song "The A Team," this song has me spell-bound. I even woke up once with the song in my head to try to figure out what it means. What I came across in the Wikipedia page (I know, not really the best source there is) is that he does philanthropy work for sex workers. It hit me, then, that it was written for one sex worker, and that the song's story is about a girl who "sells love to another man." This created more disquiet in me--what 21-year-old will have this kind of sensibility to write about prostitution in such a transcendent way? 

The lyrics are simply beautiful. Add to it, Ed Sheeran's smooth, velvety voice. However, more than both of these, the message of the song should not be left unnoticed.It makes me think, yeah, why do very few singers  write about this subject? After getting desensitized with pop songs that call women "hookers" and pop artists whose farthest way into sympathy is to say "I'm in love with a stripper," I am awaken from the dead. This song has given me a refreshed look at women who live in the fringes of society, who lurk in the streets and dark alleys of life. They deserve just as much compassion and sympathy as everyone else.

Particularly, what struck me the most about the song is how it paints a woman who dreams of a better life, who hopes of a different future. Even if the government has forgotten about her or how people look down on  her, she can dream on. There is light at the end of the tunnel. 

Actually, there are not enough words to describe "The A Team" (I'm still figuring out what the "A" means--Anonymous?). It gives you so much thought and a subtle tugging at your heart, that you couldn't pinpoint exactly what it means for you--and your life. Maybe, I will just let the lyrics speak for itself:

"The A Team"

Ed Sheeran

White lips, pale face
Breathing in snowflakes
Burnt lungs, sour taste
Light's gone, day's end
Struggling to pay rent
Long nights, strange men

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cause we're just under the upper hand
And go mad for a couple grams
And she don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
Or sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly

Ripped gloves, raincoat
Tried to swim and stay afloat
Dry house, wet clothes
Loose change, bank notes
Weary-eyed, dry throat
Call girl, no phone

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cause we're just under the upper hand
And go mad for a couple grams
And she don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
Or sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
An angel will die
Covered in white
Closed eye
And hoping for a better life
This time, we'll fade out tonight
Straight down the line

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
They scream
The worst things in life come free to us
And we're all under the upper hand
Go mad for a couple grams
And we don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe we fly to the Motherland
Or sell love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly
To fly, fly
For angels to fly, to fly, to fly
Or angels to die

   (courtesy of azlyrics.com)

Have a good day!