Walking Down Avenue Q with New Eyes
When I first saw Avenue Q, I was desperately trying to get over someone. Such a bold revelation, I know, and probably something I could do without writing. But as I have realized, attitude has always been my strongest suit and writing is my way of holding my feelings in the palm of my hands. When I write, I feel my soul bursting into flames and I could go on and on and on—burning, feeling, writing. And since this is a part of my past that’s not a secret to Jet, I think it’s fine opening this entry with that line.
So yes, when I first saw Avenue Q, I was desperately trying to get over someone. Unfortunately, the plan blew up in my face when the lead puppeteer looked so much like the person I was trying to forget. When the play ended, only one song stuck to me: Kate Monster’s “There’s a Fine, Fine Line.”
That was two years and a different kind of me a long, long time ago.
Last March 20, 2010, I saw the play again. At first, I was scared that the play might scratch open old wounds and shoo my mind to fly off elsewhere. But somehow, everything in the universe conspired to make it one heck of an unforgettable experience.
Last March 20, 2010, I walked down Avenue Q again and saw it with different eyes.
First off, we dropped my Mom at the JMT building for her business meeting. We had a quick snack at my favorite McDonald’s in El Pueblo and bought a shirt at St. Francis Square because I wanted to change into something lighter. I was wearing this turquoise long-sleeved shirt dress, skinny jeans, and—yes—black suede boots under the blistering heat of the midday sun.
Then we drove to Makati to deliver the fancy plates for Suzuki, dropped by at the Republic to check out some shoes, and spent an hour singing at Timezone. We were both so stressed so we needed an outlet. :) We had dinner at the Kitchen in Greenbelt 3 and sometime around 7:15 in the evening, we made our way to RCBC for the 8 o’clock run. Plenty of time, right?
NOT! I’ve never been so frustrated in this city of blinding lights before. Those dizzying one-way road signs kept us driving and driving farther from RCBC. We even found ourselves in N. Garcia and Chino Roces and somewhere there and sometime past 8 o’clock, Jet maneuvered the car, hit the gas, and drove straight to the parking entrance of RCBC building. We were already late and I had no choice but to change my top right then and there in the passenger seat. Of course, this scandalized Jet at first but then we started laughing and told me that I was really something else. Hahaha.
All our friends were calling and texting us asking where the hell we were. We made a mad dash from the car to the elevators then to the theater entrance. It felt like a scene from a movie where the couple was running wildly because they were about to miss their flight and their friends behind the velvet ropes looking at them clearly amused. We made it to the play, even Cheekie who was even later. Whew!
THE PLAY
It started with the familiar melody I knew by heart and soon Felix Rivera entered the stage. We were seated at the loge, one story higher, but with a good view of the stage. I took it as a sign, because of this time, I saw the play differently—literally and figuratively speaking.
“What do you do with a B.A. in English?”
This is probably one of the songs that really speak me. What exactly do you do with your diploma when you graduate from college? Personally, when I finished college, all I could think of were two things: abandon Journalism forever because I didn’t want to write and go to law school.
My first job was at a small advertising studio and I worked as a graphic designer for a year. I did go to law school but quit almost immediately when I realized that the legal profession wasn’t for someone as free-spirited as I am. Just like most people, I came to a point when I clearly felt lost and clueless as to what I really wanted to do with my life and then found the answer when I least expected it.
It’s the same with most fresh graduates I think, even the ones who feel that they have figured out their lives already. Outside the four walls of the university, the world really is a scary place to be. You get turned down by the companies you dream of working for because they need people with at least 4 years of working experience and then you think “How the hell am I supposed to have experience already? I am fresh grad, douchebags!” Then you finally land a less prestigious job at the least prestigious company and you start ranting that you wasted four years of college for this job.
That’s how the corporate life usually starts. It’s up to you to psyche yourself and make things better.
“Purpose”
Princeton is right. Purpose really is that little flame that lights a fire under your ass. Whether you know what it is or not, it keeps you moving. I envy those people who know their life’s purpose right from the start and they actually end up what they said they would be back in kindergarten.
I wanted to be an architect when I was a child because I wanted to design and create things. I’ve always been good with my hands. And even today I still paint. I also wanted to be an astronaut because I want to see the stars. I wanted to be an interior designer, an Olympic figure skater, a psychologist, a lawyer, a travel writer, a pastry chef, a drag racer, and at one point, I wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be a lot of things but when I found out what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life, a lot of things didn’t make sense anymore. That’s what purpose does: it makes everything else recede in the background.
But I did designing and creating things. Not building though, but someone even better: mindsets. Just like what Tweet Sering wrote: The best way to change the world is to change mindsets and nothing better does that than powerful stories.
“The Internet is for Porn”
I wouldn’t elaborate on this because everyone knows it’s true. Let me just mention that Jet was nodding in agreement during the entire song number. Hahahaha!!
“Mix Tape”
Sometimes when someone…has a crush on you…they give you a mix tape (mix signals) to give you a clue. *wink wink*
“There’s a Fine, Fine Line”
I learned the meaning of the song’s lines the hard way. There really is a fine, fine line between love and a waste of time. Ironically, falling in love is an uphill climb. At certain points, you find yourself wanting to give up and slide down slope to safe ground, but you keep climbing, and sure enough, it’s only when you reach the top that you’ll get to see if it was worth all the things you gave up for the trek.
Falling in love is always a risk. You decide if you’re all for it because more importantly, you have to go after the things you want when you’re still young and able. Live your life with your heart on your sleeves: be daring, be bold, be free.
Sure, there’s a fine, fine line between love and waste of time. But it’s crossing this line that makes you feel so much alive.
“I Wish I Could Go Back to College”
Over breakfast, Jet and I talked about life inside the four walls of college. You wake up and ask for your allowance. You go to school. You speak/report/retort in class as though you have the world figured out. You have meals planned for you. You cram for tests and party at night. You have a thesis adviser that points you in the right direction.
Outside of college, there’s no thesis adviser. Not even your parents can point the way towards what you want in life. It’s really all up to you. You have to work for the things you want, the lifestyle you want, the future you want. And the moment you realize how hard it is to work for your own daily allowance, you say that you want to go back to college. But the characters were right; you’d look old and stupid amongst this generation’s smart mouths.
So don’t say you want to go back to college because you don’t really want to go through the whole academic ordeal again. You just want the college parties and freedom. Rather, say that you just want to get away from it all even for just a while.
“For Now”
True, some people never find their purpose but end up happier than most people living out their purpose in life. I think what this song really wants to say is that we should live in the present. Not in the past, not in the future, but in the moment and just enjoy the things we have now. Stop analyzing the past. Stop worrying about the future. Just be at the moment.
We were able to get our photos taken with a few of the cast. I was even able to meet Felix Rivera in person and half tempted to squeal that he looks like this asshole I met so many years ago, the same one I wrote about in another blog and whose pen name has become a household name for assholes. Of course, I didn’t say that.
We all went to a drink after that and had a blast talking nonstop. It was also the first time that my closest friends met my boyfriend’s closest friends. It felt so nice, so warm and fuzzy, and so right.
Throughout the play, Jet was holding my hand and would squeeze it during the parts that amused and moved him the most. I kept looking at his face and wait for it to light up during the wittiest scenes. I love hearing his laughter and seeing the crinkles beside his eyes when he laughs. These crinkles would soon turn to crow’s feet and our hands would wrinkle with age. I never thought about these things before…growing old with someone. But with him, I see a wonderful future. And from where I stand, I just know I would love him all the more in the years that would come.
Somewhere in the future, I could see us walking down the same “Avenue” (with younger casts by then) and still holding hands till the play ends. I wouldn’t be probably wearing suede boots when I’m old but I would still be enjoying one of couples’ simple pleasures.
So it was walking down memory lane after all because I walked the same avenue and made new memories that outshined everything else.
So yes, when I first saw Avenue Q, I was desperately trying to get over someone. Unfortunately, the plan blew up in my face when the lead puppeteer looked so much like the person I was trying to forget. When the play ended, only one song stuck to me: Kate Monster’s “There’s a Fine, Fine Line.”
That was two years and a different kind of me a long, long time ago.
Last March 20, 2010, I saw the play again. At first, I was scared that the play might scratch open old wounds and shoo my mind to fly off elsewhere. But somehow, everything in the universe conspired to make it one heck of an unforgettable experience.
Last March 20, 2010, I walked down Avenue Q again and saw it with different eyes.
First off, we dropped my Mom at the JMT building for her business meeting. We had a quick snack at my favorite McDonald’s in El Pueblo and bought a shirt at St. Francis Square because I wanted to change into something lighter. I was wearing this turquoise long-sleeved shirt dress, skinny jeans, and—yes—black suede boots under the blistering heat of the midday sun.
Then we drove to Makati to deliver the fancy plates for Suzuki, dropped by at the Republic to check out some shoes, and spent an hour singing at Timezone. We were both so stressed so we needed an outlet. :) We had dinner at the Kitchen in Greenbelt 3 and sometime around 7:15 in the evening, we made our way to RCBC for the 8 o’clock run. Plenty of time, right?
NOT! I’ve never been so frustrated in this city of blinding lights before. Those dizzying one-way road signs kept us driving and driving farther from RCBC. We even found ourselves in N. Garcia and Chino Roces and somewhere there and sometime past 8 o’clock, Jet maneuvered the car, hit the gas, and drove straight to the parking entrance of RCBC building. We were already late and I had no choice but to change my top right then and there in the passenger seat. Of course, this scandalized Jet at first but then we started laughing and told me that I was really something else. Hahaha.
All our friends were calling and texting us asking where the hell we were. We made a mad dash from the car to the elevators then to the theater entrance. It felt like a scene from a movie where the couple was running wildly because they were about to miss their flight and their friends behind the velvet ropes looking at them clearly amused. We made it to the play, even Cheekie who was even later. Whew!
THE PLAY
It started with the familiar melody I knew by heart and soon Felix Rivera entered the stage. We were seated at the loge, one story higher, but with a good view of the stage. I took it as a sign, because of this time, I saw the play differently—literally and figuratively speaking.
“What do you do with a B.A. in English?”
This is probably one of the songs that really speak me. What exactly do you do with your diploma when you graduate from college? Personally, when I finished college, all I could think of were two things: abandon Journalism forever because I didn’t want to write and go to law school.
My first job was at a small advertising studio and I worked as a graphic designer for a year. I did go to law school but quit almost immediately when I realized that the legal profession wasn’t for someone as free-spirited as I am. Just like most people, I came to a point when I clearly felt lost and clueless as to what I really wanted to do with my life and then found the answer when I least expected it.
It’s the same with most fresh graduates I think, even the ones who feel that they have figured out their lives already. Outside the four walls of the university, the world really is a scary place to be. You get turned down by the companies you dream of working for because they need people with at least 4 years of working experience and then you think “How the hell am I supposed to have experience already? I am fresh grad, douchebags!” Then you finally land a less prestigious job at the least prestigious company and you start ranting that you wasted four years of college for this job.
That’s how the corporate life usually starts. It’s up to you to psyche yourself and make things better.
“Purpose”
Princeton is right. Purpose really is that little flame that lights a fire under your ass. Whether you know what it is or not, it keeps you moving. I envy those people who know their life’s purpose right from the start and they actually end up what they said they would be back in kindergarten.
I wanted to be an architect when I was a child because I wanted to design and create things. I’ve always been good with my hands. And even today I still paint. I also wanted to be an astronaut because I want to see the stars. I wanted to be an interior designer, an Olympic figure skater, a psychologist, a lawyer, a travel writer, a pastry chef, a drag racer, and at one point, I wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be a lot of things but when I found out what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life, a lot of things didn’t make sense anymore. That’s what purpose does: it makes everything else recede in the background.
But I did designing and creating things. Not building though, but someone even better: mindsets. Just like what Tweet Sering wrote: The best way to change the world is to change mindsets and nothing better does that than powerful stories.
“The Internet is for Porn”
I wouldn’t elaborate on this because everyone knows it’s true. Let me just mention that Jet was nodding in agreement during the entire song number. Hahahaha!!
“Mix Tape”
Sometimes when someone…has a crush on you…they give you a mix tape (mix signals) to give you a clue. *wink wink*
“There’s a Fine, Fine Line”
I learned the meaning of the song’s lines the hard way. There really is a fine, fine line between love and a waste of time. Ironically, falling in love is an uphill climb. At certain points, you find yourself wanting to give up and slide down slope to safe ground, but you keep climbing, and sure enough, it’s only when you reach the top that you’ll get to see if it was worth all the things you gave up for the trek.
Falling in love is always a risk. You decide if you’re all for it because more importantly, you have to go after the things you want when you’re still young and able. Live your life with your heart on your sleeves: be daring, be bold, be free.
Sure, there’s a fine, fine line between love and waste of time. But it’s crossing this line that makes you feel so much alive.
“I Wish I Could Go Back to College”
Over breakfast, Jet and I talked about life inside the four walls of college. You wake up and ask for your allowance. You go to school. You speak/report/retort in class as though you have the world figured out. You have meals planned for you. You cram for tests and party at night. You have a thesis adviser that points you in the right direction.
Outside of college, there’s no thesis adviser. Not even your parents can point the way towards what you want in life. It’s really all up to you. You have to work for the things you want, the lifestyle you want, the future you want. And the moment you realize how hard it is to work for your own daily allowance, you say that you want to go back to college. But the characters were right; you’d look old and stupid amongst this generation’s smart mouths.
So don’t say you want to go back to college because you don’t really want to go through the whole academic ordeal again. You just want the college parties and freedom. Rather, say that you just want to get away from it all even for just a while.
“For Now”
True, some people never find their purpose but end up happier than most people living out their purpose in life. I think what this song really wants to say is that we should live in the present. Not in the past, not in the future, but in the moment and just enjoy the things we have now. Stop analyzing the past. Stop worrying about the future. Just be at the moment.
We were able to get our photos taken with a few of the cast. I was even able to meet Felix Rivera in person and half tempted to squeal that he looks like this asshole I met so many years ago, the same one I wrote about in another blog and whose pen name has become a household name for assholes. Of course, I didn’t say that.
We all went to a drink after that and had a blast talking nonstop. It was also the first time that my closest friends met my boyfriend’s closest friends. It felt so nice, so warm and fuzzy, and so right.
Throughout the play, Jet was holding my hand and would squeeze it during the parts that amused and moved him the most. I kept looking at his face and wait for it to light up during the wittiest scenes. I love hearing his laughter and seeing the crinkles beside his eyes when he laughs. These crinkles would soon turn to crow’s feet and our hands would wrinkle with age. I never thought about these things before…growing old with someone. But with him, I see a wonderful future. And from where I stand, I just know I would love him all the more in the years that would come.
Somewhere in the future, I could see us walking down the same “Avenue” (with younger casts by then) and still holding hands till the play ends. I wouldn’t be probably wearing suede boots when I’m old but I would still be enjoying one of couples’ simple pleasures.
So it was walking down memory lane after all because I walked the same avenue and made new memories that outshined everything else.
