"and Yes I said Yes I will Yes"

(Note: This was originally posted in my Facebook's Slate)

I was made aware of James Joyce's Ulysses was when I was browsing through Microsoft Encarta probably in the late 1990s, probably when I took a break from that interactive trivia game I was addicted to; as a digital encyclopedia on CD-ROM, it had bits where certain passages from novels and poems are read outloud. And of course, this part from Ulysses threw me off, like a call out from a personal Holy Grail. And who does not want to miss this:

...and yes I said yes I will Yes

Imagine how sensual the lady voice-over pronounced each syllable, and how she reached the climactic Yeses! Imagine how boggled I was trying to figure out how such affecting line may not be grammatically correct! You want to know what or who she is saying yes to! A yes to what, who the bloody cares, I want to be able to say that kind of YES!

But I shall have a chance. The dares to myself do not end yet. Maybe in some audition I will do this monologue and have the casting director, director, producer and spectators jump out of their seats as I start with, "I was a mountain flower..." and they will say Yes to my Yeses!

Last night I have finally finished Danny Wallace's Yes Man. Now this book is what I'll call a Significant Coincidence. I was stood up (for a meeting), and that bloody arse who made me drive like a madman all the way from suburban north to metropolitan Makati should be thankful that I was in a jolly mood. And I hate wearing heels for no reason. But anyways, I was not as upset (though pissed) that I ended up in Powerbooks. Yes, I am that kind of girl who goes to bookstores when disconcerted or incredibly annoyed --- my (future) husband is going to love me for finding bags of books instead of Manolos and Jimmy Choo shoes in the closet. Don't be surprised if I opened a library in the future.

Although I consider James Joyce's Ulysses as a personal Holy Grail --- note that I looked for it for years, and now I have it since 2003, I haven't even cracked it open yet --- Danny Wallace's Yes Man, I must say, is my current inspirational source. So FINE, I have recently browsed through some Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus texts (haha), but Yes Man made me want to say Yes More.

It is quite obvious what the book is about. Danny Wallace, through a Significant Incident, met a man on a bus who somehow suggested that he should "say Yes more". And so the experiment started --- he would Say Yes to everything! Until the year ends!

Of course it would turn into an interesting adventure --- he'd become a nurse, a minister, ended up in Amsterdam looking for a man named Albert Heijn (haha!), and he even exchanged numerous correspondence with the son of a Sultan from a Middle Eastern country who needed to transfer billions of dollars into his account. He also found himself hanging out with random people and got an undeserved promotion at the BBC. And he's impulsively gone to Stone Henge, Barcelona, Singapore, (almost) to the Stone Henge replica in Texas, and then to Australia, to go after the woman he loves who lives Down Under. Si a Todo!

Well, it's not like I am going to say "Yes" to everything. I guess this book has somehow opened my mind about the possibilities that are available to you, if only you won't turn them away. Don't wait for opportunities to happen, make them from the smallest, 'inane' things! And from there, things will fall into place. Who knows, you might say yes to a little thing, and eventually, it will lead you to something significant. So who cares if some of the Yeses do not result to significant things? The point is, you get to say Yes and you put your foot at the door of a possibility. So if someone would ask me, "Do you have time to join our group's 2-hour Bible discussion?" Why not! I may get inspired! I will learn things and understand people who go to these things. It's also called networking! Some of them may even have that audition I have been looking for! It's better that something happened instead of you moping around, grumpy that your job sucks, etc.

And so it goes. And to begin, I just said Yes to a couple of projects due in a few days... in addition to tons of projects I need to finish before the week ends. I, Yasmin, am living up to the Yessence.

Ah, progress.

But then the power of choice is intriguing, no? The power of the Yes and the power of the No. Which direction shall the pendulum swing to?

I hate to say this but I am starting to think along the scientific lines. Magnetism. Does the positive force attract only the negative ones? Or does the positive force merely affects the behavior of the negative particles?

Ah, si. And I just said yes to a friend request from a stranger.