The Freedom of Living Alone

Contrary to the "norm" in Filipino culture where children live with their mommies and daddies and brothers and sisters forever and ever even after they get married and have kids of their own (I put "norm" in parenthesis because I have an aversion to that word and I always question who dictates what is "normal".), I had been living by myself since college until I got married a couple of years ago. Now I live with my husband and his siblings and retired mother so we can help out with the household expenses, and I have enjoyed their company and learned quite a lot from them. But I have to admit that I miss the freedom of living alone sometimes. I followed my own rules then, just me and my cats and Princeton.

Rule #1. Watching the news is bad for your health. I never watched the news because it always amplifies all the bad going on and it depresses me.

Rule #2. Watching Tagalog telenovelas or anything Tagalog for that matter is strictly prohibited. Those shows have the same pattern: There's a rich person and a poor person. Rich person is bad, poor person is good. Poor person is maltreated by rich person until one day a miracle happens and poor person is "saved" and the rich person is "punished". (In short, they are perpetuating the "victim mentality".). And all throughout there's a lot of crying and quarreling. Those TV shows drain my energy.

Rule #3. Watching anime anytime of day or night with the volume turned up while sprawled out on the sofa not wearing any bra is a good way to de-stress and relax. (Now stop trying to visualize it! Haha!)

Rule #4. Listening to JPop/Rock/Hiphop music anytime of day or night with the volume turned up while singing at the top of my lungs is another good way to de-stress and relax. (I should warn you that I'm not even sure if my singing sounds good in the shower.)

Rule #5. This is the best rule of all: There are no rules. Living alone, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want. Ah, freedom! :)