nuffnang leaderboard

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Urbanista Swingles, Embassy-inspired Dance Moves and Stress Relief

Published in Edge Newspaper September 29- October 5


In this day and age when music players are getting smaller and smaller, movies are peddled along city streets, reality shows have ceased to be realistic, new technology seems to pop up every second, and everything, including gratification, has become instant; stress is inevitable. And so, the younger generation, my generation, generation “now”, or the “instant” generation, whatever you want to call us, finds ways to relive stress as instantly as they come.

Stress-relief means different things to different people, but for kids like me who enjoy the social scene, love dancing unabashedly and have a penchant for consuming not-so-child-friendly drinks, the perfect solution for a hard week of exams, quizzes, and nagging sessions is an all-out, no holds-barred gimmick night!

Saturnight gimmicks have ceased to become an avenue for one to be classified as “cool”, the word cool has even ceased to be, well, “cool”. We do not go out on saturnights to pick someone up or to find a relationship, we do not go out to meet swingles (single and willing to mingle); we do not go out to be seen. We do not go out because we have nothing to spend our money on; we do not go out to piss our parents off.

We go out because these so-called “gimikans” are the perfect venue where we could let our hair down, chillax after a hard week, enjoy our friends’ company and try to forget all our problems. Yes, gimikans, wherever they are, however they look like, or whoever frequents them are flocked, not because of all these superficialities, but because they provide my generation with the perfect distraction. We, however young we may seem to other people, have our own problems; we have a lot of things on our minds. And although our parents never hesitate to remind us how minute these problems are compared to theirs, and no matter how many times they give us that “been-there, done-that” lecture, these problems remain ours. And when we feel like we need an escape from these problems, the first thing that comes to mind is a gimmick night. Not because it is “in”, but because it is the most accessible form of escape for us.

I mean, where else could you spend six hours of your time, working your body with Embassy-inspired dance moves, relaxing your mind, clicking glasses and sipping cocktails, and talking with your friends about senseless stuff? This is the only place where you can truly relax and forget your worries. During gimmicks where the only decent conversation you have is bellowing your order to the mixologist (bartender for all you baby boomers out there) on top of some crazy techno music, you could forget your social standing, and you could forget that you do not know how to dance. And in those moments between crazy drunkenness and normalcy, between ingesting alcohol and hurling it out with projectile vomit, between senseless conversation and even more senseless dance moves, you realize that here, in the middle of the crowd, you are happy, and even if you are not… at least you are trying to be. And that is why my generation finds solace in an all-out, no-holds-barred, saturnight gimmick.

Confession #10



the truth is..gimikans really give me a venue to let lose...and i dont care if anybody says otherwise

2 comments:

Your New PR Girl said...

so this is the almighty maiden article. =)

dyofree said...

nice one! =)