Then and Now

Change is the only thing constant in this world. It is inevitable. We humans go through this long and arduous process all throughout our lifetime. Sometimes, we do so painfully and sometimes hap’ly, but nonetheless, with equal significance.

I am the kind of person with an “a-lot-of-things-happen-in-one-minute, what-more-in-a-lifetime?” attitude. So for twenty years, give or take a few, I can say that a lot has definitely changed.

‘Watch’ Out

As I think all of us would agree, every childhood won’t be complete without each of our own all-time favorite cartoons or anime. Animax, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network among many others, were the channels that, I’m sure at least at one point in everyone’s childhood, dominated our television hours. Powerpuff Girls, Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Detective Conan, and let’s not forget the famous classic fairytales, such as Snow White, Cinderella, Pocahontas, etc, were definitely our choice of ‘must watch’. We would gladly lend our eyes and ears to endless stories of magic, fantasy, fairies, Santa Claus, angels, or even the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I was like this until change changed me. I started to shift my interest to sports, such as volleyball and lawn tennis, and to almost all of National Geographic’s segments during high school. Then I began to like romantic comedies, mysteries, science fictions, fictions, action, suspense/thriller, and books-turned-into-movies/TV series kinds of genre during my freshmen year in college. I started becoming bored with cartoons; out of the blue, I could no longer stand Tom and Jerry’s endless cat and mouse chase that never really quite gets to the chase. Suddenly, I can no longer bear watching television with only the cartoon channel on for one whole day. It’s either I switch to History, National Geographic, ETC, Star World, or AXN. I didn’t quite get to notice it immediately, but during my junior year, after not watching any kind of animated drawings for about a year, I knew that I have changed.

Now, I only watch movies like Despicable Me, UP, Cars, etc, and would seldom watch any cartoons on TV. But don’t get me wrong. I did not become a person who hates the cartoons I used to watch. I still do love them, it’s just that now, I pretty much would not want to watch them or they aren’t exactly at the top of my ‘must watch’ anymore. Probably, when there’s no choice, I would. Besides, there’s always going to be that kid-at-heart thing in my vocab.

Chow-then

Do you know Cartoon Network’s Chowder? It is a cartoon about a young aspiring chef, Chowder, who is being trained by another chef, Mung. It is a really funny show. Anyway, I told you that because in the show, there was also some cooking done. And speaking of cooking and taste for food, drastic won’t even describe how this also changed over the years.

When I was just a kid, I was like one of the thinnest kids in school, literally. I don’t really fancy eating breakfast. Let’s face it, waking up early to eat and spend my precious sleeping time doing such was not really my thing. I was never really a morning person, I was shall we say, ‘nocturnal’. So back then, I don’t really eat much, like, I only get to eat for about 15 minutes and then that’s it. I easily get satiated. I eat so few food each meal that at times my mom would have to call one of my aunties who scared the hell out of me back then and she would make me eat. I was really not hungry most of the time and I was a really picky eater. I don’t know why, but it’s like food didn’t even appeal to me at all.

But now, look how grown up my belly, I mean, my appetite’s become! I eat 4 major meals a day not to mention the snacks I take in between breakfast and lunch as well as during midnight. And what’s worse is that I eat the heaviest meal during dinnertime and not much during breakfast.

Before, I used to eat only chicken and pork and very few types of veggies. But now, it’s like I can eat anything as long as it satisfies my taste buds. Not to mention the junk food and the guilty pleasures introduced to my ever-widening food-I-love-to-eat cognitive map.

Hangout

As a child, this would have meant going out into the streets and playing non-stop with other kids of the neighborhood until my parents call me for dinner. As a teenager, this would have meant sleepovers on a friend’s house for movie night or just endless chatting, road trips to random places, or food trips to affordable guilty pleasures.

But as a young adult, three things have managed to be equated to such: (a) having a pig-out night plus watching movie either alone or with family/friends, (b) having booze with friends plus sometimes with great food, or (c) having a good few or, if I’m lucky, more hours of under-the-covers-sound sleep.

Yes, my leisure time nowadays include me just unmoved within the confines of my room either sleeping, watching movie while munching food, or surfing the internet. I’ve become the boring person I've thought of and was scared of becoming when I was still a kid. But hey, on very rare occasions, my besties and I would go out and have random road trips, end up having a sleepover or booze at a condo, or watching random movies at home or in cinemas. Going to the mall has never  really been my thing, but I definitely love to shop whenever it’s Christmas season since I really love to buy things for people and for myself. But I do not consider  shopping as a regular thing.

Outlook on the Opposite Sex

Being kids, we used to hate each other, it used to be a world between girls with their ponies and Barbie dolls, and boys with their toy guns and gameboys. We have these imaginary solid walls between such worlds. But as time passed, one wall eventually started cracking after another revealing the shy beauties of one world and the gentle toughness of the other. Crushes begin to blossom and butterflies start fluttering in thy stomachs.

By the time we’ve reached our teenage years, crushes would have been one of the ‘it’ things-to-do. Having someone chase after you and shower you with sugarcoated words and material things isn’t too bad after all. Besides, it’s the nature of human beings; neither can live without the other.

But as I reached college, it felt like forming more serious relationships than just those borne out of intimate love. We start forming serious friendships that will last a lifetime. Of course, there are times that we don’t settle just for friendship, and thus, develop a deeper sense of understanding and relating to each other. But I’d go more for companionship than just being the girlfriend or a guy’s girl. This section may have been a bit senseless, but I just can’t put into words my explanation.

Happiness

I used to equate happiness with money. I believed that everything would have gone smoothly in life if only one has money to buy ice cream. But as years went by, life happened. I learned that it’s not the money that makes us happy; it’s what the notion of being satisfied with whatever we have at present that does. It’s not about the money and most of the time, it’s what the money can do. But take away all those, and go back to the time that money wasn’t the main focus and goal of life, maybe we’ll realize that it’s the simple things that bring happiness. Doesn’t one saying, “sometimes, even the best things in life are free” ring a bell?

So you see, it’s insane how change creeps up on us and slaps us in the face. There are still a lot of areas to consider where changes have made huge impact. But as for now, these are the things that I think matter to me and thus, deserved to be discussed. I’m pretty sure a lot of you can also think of other things about yourselves; things that have greatly evolved through the years. We might find it scary when we realize how different things are from before when everything was just as simple as learning ABCs. But sometimes we’ll also realize that maybe change is exactly what we need.

Isn't it funny how everyday, nothing changes? And yet when we do look back, everything actually has.

- Keso