Confessions of a Teenager - Where Values(Attitude) and Beauty Meet

"If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise", a famous saying of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, a German poet, dramatist, and novelist, the one saying that I've learned to succumb to.

Well, it all began about 8:30 in the morning on the 4th of May, where, after taking a bath, looked at my face to see how my dark(and by dark, I mean dark brown) face was, somehow getting darker(and I thought it couldn't get any darker!). I wondered on how, if this "darkening" was going to continue, I'd be mistaken for a walking charcoal(as what my discouraging family says).


My nose, as short as my financial budget this summer(and I mean it! I don't even think I still wield money right now[that means... I practically have no nose!]).


My ugly, pimpled face, that I think is progressing right now(this is no joke!). I think that pimples won't be growing on my face anymore! Cause I think there would be no room for any more pimples to grow on, perhaps if the not welcomed pimples would pray to God that my face would grow bigger(and by bigger, I mean wider), as big(and I still mean wide) as it is, then, salvation to them! New areas for pimples to grow.


So, that's how you picture my face(If you could even picture it. . .), I'm a growing 13-year adolescent. I am the epitome of ugly.


Going back to the story, well as you know it was 8:30 in the morning(as recorded by my trusty 5310 xpressmusic phone that's about half way to destroyed right about now, and yes, I am completely time conscious), after the sad, sad look upon my face, I begin to remember all those good looking classmates I have, so externally perfect, With hair so straight, that when the wind blows against them, each strand flies individually, their eyes, that outsparkles(that means outshine in the dictionary, it's just my version of the word...) mine by levels that can only be determined by combining physics and calculus and making an equation that would equal to more than infinity, their skin, so fair, so, so, pimpless(forgive me dictionary! I've been using too many words that are not words at all!)... Are you kind of, like visualizing where I'm getting to with this?


My adventurous, treacherous, and dangerous summer challenge is to go to the unthinkable, whiten my face(and my whole body perhaps) and reduce the pimples on my face. Well, that's how I started my summer adventure, after that, I went to sleep because my body is as tired as how God keeps forgiving me for my sins every time I terrorize my sister.


The next day, I got started immediately. By the next bath of mine, I used whitening products that were already available in my house.


So, I kept using them, for like about 3-4 days(as I recall), and you know what happened next? Did I start whitening? No! I completely lazed out! Really! I began to follow my usual bathing habits, just pure shampoo, soap, and some facial products... I stopped.


Oh my God, no! This can't be happening! My summer goal, about to be crushed by 1 of the deadly sins, Sloth! How could I just stop like that? I hate this! My 3-4 days of work, about to be wasted to nothingness.


I decided to go serious on this one. I've always been "slothy". I hate getting up in the morning, I hate it every time my mom calls me to do something that I hate, I loathe my life whenever it's school, and I completely despise wasting my time on personal hygiene. But this time, I'm gonna make sure this obstacle to whiter face that I started would be finished!


I realized, I was missing something, hmmm... It took about 2 meals and some time alone(FYI: I am not an emo!) to figure what it was. Then it came to me, like how females rush to a 5 minute sale in some department store, thank God!


The first thing I realized was that I've been using the wrong products(seriously, you don't know how wrong it is...)! Since majority in our homes were usually females(seeing as though I have 2 sisters and my brother was in Cebu), and since my mom was the woman of the house, our facial products were usually for females(Oh my gosh! How embarrassing.)


The second is that I need to pray! You know what they say, "Faith moves mountains, but you have to keep pushing while praying". So This night, I am totally praying!


Third, is, that the ratio of my whitening to the whitening of some of my friends is completely the same! If I need to catch up in the fight, I need to take my whitening thing to a whole new level!


After using the "right" whitening products for my version of mission impossible, my whitening sped up to the nth level! I'm leveling up (W/out the help of Greenwich...)! Oh yeah! I knew this would work. I just needed to use the right products and most of all, pray.

I totally have this "me then, me now" image to let you see for yourself on how much I've improved. The picture to the right is the "me then", and the "me now" comparison.

As you know, a part of this challenge is the "maintaining" part, where I should not go out of the house as much often as I used to. But, I am a guy who could not restrain himself from the beautiful outdoors! I get completely bored when I dwell in one place only(except the Internet!). I need to be free! But in doing so, I'd be wasting my efforts and crushing my dreams.

So, I decided to reschedule my "going out" time, I only leave when I could not feel the sun rays anymore, which is about 3-4 in the afternoon. And, that actually worked. It helped me whiten more (another level up w/out Greenwich! I'm totally breaking records here!).

But, the moment of truth came! My "controlling myself skills were put to the test. We had to go to Cebu to accompany my sister in her interview with some company for her scholarship. Cebu! The scorching city! A city wherein the word: rain, is not part of the people's vocabulary, where the heat could be felt every time it drizzles.

Oh my gosh! No! My only way of subsisting in this City is to stay in the malls where the temperature is constantly cold. But what about the travel to the mall? What am I going to do then? Well, for starters, I bought an umbrella to carry with me through thick and thin, and thin and thinner. And you know what? It worked! I survived Cebu W/out that much exposure to the sun. Another obstacle finished by me and my trusty umbrella! Oh yeah! I'm leveling up again (Where are you now Greenwich?)!


My "modus operandi" is going according to my devious(and by devious, I mean good) and perfect(and by perfect, I mean totally imperfect) plan!

As I was taking a bath one afternoon (Yes, I take a bath during the afternoon, I'm too lazy and tired to take a bath during mornings, but no worries, I take half-baths during evenings.), as I was scrubbing my back, I felt, well, a little bulge, only or realize that is was a pimple! Veto (that means a refusal, a new word for me.)! As everything was going well for me, acne just grows on my back like that! This is just perfect! I could just imagine my pimples playing the "eye of the tiger" song while everything was in slow mo, they'd shout: "Triumph! Wahahaha!"

What a cruel and ironic world this is! Just as I was on the verge of succeeding in my summer goal, another problem pops out! My life ceased to exist during that moment. I didn't know what to do. But then, I felt my conscience slapping me right on my face saying: "Shut up will you!? You're even uglier when you cry!" What the? My conscience was trying to deprive me more? But in that method, I begin to get a hold of myself.

So, I began researching the net on how to remedy my situation, and what do you know, by searching on methods to solve my problem, I found this contest? What are the chances? It's like God gave me a problem to find this opportunity for me to actually win something! Well, sucks to you pimples! It's like I was paying them revenge with the same treatment(cause you know, the golden rule), the "eye of the tiger" and a bitter and cynical laugh of sweet, sweet revenge!

Well, as you now know, I am now writing this blog. I'm trying to keep up with the competition, of windows and, with that, I also found a cleanser that contains "dermaclear tech" allowing it to dry out acne in as early as 3 days (and no, I am not endorsing any product).

It was a two-in-one bonus! Consider finding this contest my "Summer Blog Contest - The Sequel". And what do you know? My pimple on my back dried out just like what the cleanser said(duh!) and was later on removed. Oh yeah! Two points for me, none for my arch nemesis(the pimples and my dark skin).

After a couple of more days, I began to whiten more and more, I tried my hardest to achieve my long goal. How I wanted to achieve this dream of mine, that I'd do anything to make it a reality.

But I've known that this goal of mine would take more than the summer to finish. I guess God wanted me to undertake this journey to realize that I have to accept facts that this will be my color for this period of time, to accept myself.

I guess Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe was right, what I need to do at present was to accept me for who I am, because another fact of life is that change is constant, so, after a period of time, I'd probably change(for better of for worse[yes, I got that from the icky romantic movies of my mom where a wedding would take place]).

So, I guess my goal for this summer wasn't to whiten myself or reduce the number of pimples on my face, but it is learning the value of acceptance. I believe that God looks at us genuinely as beautiful individuals. We are all created for a reason, we are all created like this for a reason(no matter how ugly you are). We are all equal in general(and I mean it!). Nobody above, nobody below.

I guess I could reschedule my whitening goal to some other time. Summer is almost over and I just wanted to share with you my experiences and how this summer was different from the rest. I guess I could wait for a little more longer for my face to turn like that picture above. Hey, you know what they say, you win some, you lose some.

This has been my chapter of my book that everyone calls life, a chapter truly different from any other summer I had, hope you liked what I shared with you in this blog.

passe bem(that means goodbye in Brazilian language)! Oh and

-I am an Explorer and I use IE8!-