Ipad, Starbucks, Running, PNoy, atbp.

I remember the time Adidas Top Ten shoes came out when I was in Grade 6 and everyone of my classmates were forcing their parents to buy them one.  I never did like that shoe.  It's a shoe for the athletic, basketball-y type and I'm not really that kind.  But I remember also wanting to have a pair of those.  Call it, hmmm, inggeht (spoken in Assumption tone).  Or maybe status.  You'd like a pair of those to be able to show everyone that you have the latest in shoe apparel even if you (or your parents) don't really have enough means to owning one.

When the beepers came along, all I could think of was to save enough money to get one.  Even if there were other more important things to save up on, I really focused all my resources on having the latest beeper there is on the market.  I kept telling myself, "Well, I really need one, for work.  It's a must-have."

Then the cellphones happened.  6750!  Woohoo!  First cellphone with a camera!  I must have it!  Sooner or later, I was scrambling to keep up with the latest phone that's coming out of the market.  "I got to have this!  And this.  Oh, and also this!"  Aside from the burden of getting the latest phone, there is a much heavier burden of trying to keep up with everyone else around you.

There is something about our being Third World beings that make us want the latest in everything.  To be part of the latest in trends, apparel, gadgetry and so on.  Stayknit came out and even if you get the fake one, you must have it.  Tretorn and Dragonfly became so popular that even if you don't play badminton, you must have it.  You wear it at weddings, baptisms and even graduations.

Apple has figured this out.  Everyone wants an Apple, they figured.  It's the height of status.  No matter how Vios try to be as classy, it just doesn't get there.  Apple pa rin!  Having an Apple laptop in front of you even without a single peso in your pocket can make you look...glowing.  Park your Apple beside a PC laptop and it can get the PC user feel like a 2nd class citizen.

Starbucks does that too.  When Starbucks opened in my hometown, Bacolod City, everyone thought it's not gonna last.  It's gonna close down, they said.  In a city where a cup of brewed coffee costs not more than 40 pesos, it's bound to close down.  But no.  Everyone wants to be seen inside Starbucks.  It's the glow!  Go in, get a cup of coffee and stay there for 6 hours to be seen by everyone.  Even if their coffee sucks, you still want to be seen slurping its frap.

Over the past 3 years, I've managed to put more thought in the things I buy.  I deliberately stay away from "trends", from what's popular.  Although I also own an Apple (Well, I really need one, for work.  It's a must-have.), it's only just a week ago that I changed it after using it for 3 years.  It used to be cool to be using the latest that everyone wants.  Now I just find it tacky to be seen with the thing that everyone wants to have.

Advertising is the place to find everyone who's concerned with status and staying trendy.  There is this Onitsuka boom on all the production people.  It's the new Tretorn!  There is the healthy eating movement that's good for tent conversations.  And then there's IPAD.  The height of the Apple conceit of wanting to own one.  It's a bigger Iphone but without a phone.  It literally has no use.  Others find an excuse that it's good for presentations.  But if you have a Macbook or any other laptop, it's just not practical to be carrying another one just for presentations alone.  It is practically useless, unless you'd want to play Angry Birds on a bigger screen to aim better at those pigs.  But still, everyone has one.   Call it status.  Others call it having what they've worked hard for.

And then there is Running!  Putang ina!  Every other day of the week there is a run scheduled by a major company in the guise of a worthy cause.  Run for a river!  Run for your health!  Run for the African orphans!  I know someone who used to have so much passion for running but since the trend of running in this country started, he has stopped joining because he does not want to be seen with all the posseurs there.

Alongside the fame running is getting, PNoy is not far behind.  A President who has more gossips about his bachelor life than news of actual achievement, he is fast becoming a "trend".  He has a better story I guess.  His father was assassinated and his mother became the president from being a homemaker.  People love interesting backgrounds.  Without really having a real basis before the election, I chose to go for Gibo.  Only because I don't like to go with the popular choice.

Nowadays, except when you're with people close to you, it's hard to be critical about PNoy.  Because everyone seems to approve of him.  But if you look at PNoy in the same manner we look at the Ipad, except for his celebrity status now, what has he really done so far?  Except for the money he brought in from New York, what else can he show for his presidency as of this point?  I really think he is just a nice poster boy for our country.

I don't just stay away from what's popular just to be different.  It's not even about the new-age, live simply shit.  It's more than that.  Staying away from what everyone wants makes me more individual.  It makes me want to see things beyond what everyone is normally confronted with.  I get to put more thought in what I want or not want.  It stops me from just aimlessly going through my existence.  It makes me more critical about things.  Whether it works or not, I don't know.  In this world where everything is dictated upon by the majority, it just leaves me with more self-respect and dignity to know that I can decide on things without having to go with everyone's choice.