MANILA, Philippines ? Do you want to do the right thing by making New Year?s resolutions for 2010, but can?t come up with anything because, modesty aside, you think you?re perfect? Why not look at yourself in the mirror the way others see you? The truth hurts, but it can also jolt you into abashed, retroactive action, hopefully resulting in a much better you.

Let me practice what I preach, and see what the people around me think I need to do to make me a better person, and transform this eyesore into a sight for sore eyes. Deep breath, here goes:

Standards

Lose weight?a lot of it. Get your blood pressure way down. Dress better. Smell nicer. Control your temper. Don?t be such a grouch. (Selectively) lower your standards to more human and humane levels. Don?t keep talking about all the things you want to do, just start doing them. Remember: ?Pride rice? is bad for your and other?s people?s health. Try to understand the younger generation better.

Crawl out of your cyber cave. Don?t wait for your friends to contact you?call them first. Say thank you more often?and mean it. Out of the blue, (sincerely) compliment at least one person a day. Pray more. Apologize. Apologize again. Learn a foreign language. Shape up, build up your corpulent corpus indelicti. Do something about that mole. Clean your room?and clean up your act.

Decisively unclutter your life and surroundings. Get in touch with old friends you haven?t seen or heard from for decades?starting with Kenji Sekiguchi, Francois Rigolot, Takeshi Kawase and Tessie Abella at Northwestern.

Conduct all those workshops people keep reminding you to offer. Put up your second one-man art show. Write more stories and plays for children. Pray much more?for others.

Hey, that felt good. Try it yourself sometime?and follow through: At the end of each month, do a check list on what you?ve already done?and still need to accomplish.

Having said that, let?s empathetically draw up a list of New Year?s resolutions for a star on our radar screens, in the hope that she will also benefit from the unsolicited ?mirror images? we?re offering.

Hairstyles

Charice Pempengco: Now that you?re a teenager, don?t try to distract from your pudgy cheeks with those huge, curly-curly hairstyles, because they only compound the problem. Instead, shape up, tone down, get a good stylist, and convince yourself that less is indeed more.

Finally, realize that your belting style has resulted in your now having some singing problems that, if uncorrected, could negatively affect your career in the future.

So, get yourself a good and strict singing coach now, while there?s still time, and learn how to ?belt? selectively, for more aesthetic contrast and versatility?s sake.