The magical mystery tour

One day my computer began to flip-flop. The caps lock key stopped functioning so I just pressed down the shift key with one finger every time I wanted all capital letters. That went on for a long time. But it was a white laptop, see, and it got progressively dirty — but who cares? I live alone. I don’t have to worry about anybody looking over my shoulder and commenting on my computer’s looks unless it was I. Then I would finally clean it and feel proud.

Then I was going to send e-mail and when I typed what it came out wh94. All the words I typed had numbers in them. I thought my computer was dying. I brought it to the shop. They said it needed to be sent to their main repair shop in the sky and I would know within a week. I’m a columnist, I said. I need that to work as quickly as possible. One week, ma’am, they said. On my way out I decided to check the price of their smallest, simplest laptop. Around P65,000. Aaargh. If my computer dies, I will have to find enough money to buy a new one. A simple laptop is all I need. All I do on it is write my columns, draft my book, craft my e-mail and play games. That’s pretty basic.

I visited my son who helped me buy my computer in 2005. Hey, it’s five years old. Maybe it’s not flip-flopping. Maybe it’s really dying. ”You still get your computers from the same place?” I asked. “Nope,” he said, I have a better deal now. I get them from the person who brings them in and supplies all the rest. “You have to understand. My son is a musician who arranges and composes all his work on computers.” “How much is the newest laptop, preferably silver. Wow, so much less than the store price. I guess when my computer dies I will buy another one from your source.”

Knowing the price of a new laptop I finally decide to check up on mine. They were supposed to call but they didn’t. Ma’am, the pregnant young woman said, your keyboard has to be changed. It will cost about P4,000 but it will take about three weeks. Please hurry, I said, secretly relieved. It isn’t dead after all and it will cost me only 10 percent of what I might have had to pay if it dropped dead.

But now I have to write my columns in the office. So what do I do when I get home at night?

Well, I make jewelry. I have learned how to work with wires and beads and I make costume jewelry following the trends I saw in Hong Kong. Estate or jewelry your grandmother might have worn, using colored semi-precious beads from small to large, I make them with my own two tired and veined, running-quickly-to-wrinkles hands. To give away for Christmas? No. To sell at Carl Jung Circle Center’s next art exhibit on Oct. 26, 27 and 28 at The Pavilion, 2nd Floor, LRI Design Plaza, Nicanor Garcia St., Bel-Air, Makati. The art fair is an annual fundraiser we started last year.

This year it is called A Magical Mystery Tour because you can see how art has become a part of life and how some artists evolve. Alex Tee is still doing sculpture. Alain Austria is still painting but different subjects. Dido Gustilo-Villasor is now painting butterflies and dabbling in lampshades. Marivic Rufino is still painting and making bags, umbrellas and sofas that carry her paintings. Manny Minana and Kim Nygaard are still doing photography. Oliver Roxas is doing all sorts of wonderful things from masks to music stands. Mia Herbosa, Len Fernandez, Niña Lojo will be painting in oil and watercolor. Denise Weldon is going to surprise us all. Astrud Crisologo will be presenting bags and boots made of our ethnic materials and trimmed with amulets. I am making jewelry. In the end it promises to be a Magical Mystery Tour.

What makes life so magical for artists? First, I think, they have the spirit to set themselves free. If they want to paint, they paint. If one day they want to write, they write. If they wake up and decide to pick up a camera, they photograph. Artists have no rules. Or maybe they have one: to explore. Second, they don’t care what other people will say. They are not enveloped in minor fears like — what will my neighbors think? What will she/he say? I don’t want them to say anything bad against me. I always want to be right.

I never have such fears. I can be right or I can be wrong in a big way, who cares? All I need to know is I want to explore a medium and I do. I remember once sitting in traffic in front of the old Ayala Museum and seeing watercolor classes advertised. I decided to enroll. I’ve had three fairly successful watercolor exhibits since. I remember the renowned painter and my late dear friend Onib Olmedo being at the first one. I learned a few things from your paintings, he said. I almost lost my mind, turned to him and said, Huh? But we got interrupted before I could find out if he learned from my work or my mistakes. But never mind. His statement is framed in my heart.

I think the whole world could be artists if they only let themselves loose, if they only stopped worrying about the correct thing to do and if they ventured into what they find fun to do.

When I used to teach writing, some of my best students were accountants but when the class opened their right brains, they could write. We all have artistic gifts, we just have to set them free and we must have the right attitudes. Why worry if your laptop is dirty? Clean it when you feel like. Why worry that your neighbors will think your painting is ugly? You enjoyed painting it. Why worry that no one will buy your work? The important thing is you enjoyed making jewelry, or boots, or music stands. The most important thing is your personal enjoyment of life.

On that note, may I invite all of you to come to our Magical Mystery Tour just to see how art develops and progresses? How happy it makes all of us? Just call 0917-6172550 or 0917 512-3763 for more information or to make reservations. See you there.

* * *

Please text your comments to 0917-8155570.