Wednesday, February 18, 2009

25 Things About Me

This post's title is popular in the world of facebook. A friend requested that I make one. I politely declined. Listing down personal tidbits is not really my thing particularly if people I know will be reading it.

Since this blog is pretty anonymous I'm going to join in on what's in - this time on the blogosphere. Posting the list won't be such a big deal since there are only two or three people I personally know who read this blog. And they don't know each other. Hehe...

1. My mom had a difficult labor when she gave birth to me. It was a friday when her water broke and they managed to pull me out, via forceps, two days later. Ang sabi ng matatanda pag naghirap ang ina sa paglelabor madalas hindi binibigyan ng sakit ng ulo ng anak ang mga magulang niya paglaki nito. Tama nga sila. For now.

2. I never met my grandfathers from both sides. They died in the late 60s and 70s when my parents were still in their teens. I only saw a photo of one of them when I was in grade school. I have not seen it since.

3. I was well-known in high school but not popular. I ran for the student council twice and lost twice. I guess public (student) service is really not my thing.

4. I have pretty good penmanship. People particularly women, after seeing my single-stroke handwriting, would often exclaim that I have a woman's handwriting. I wonder what they would say when they see my Paulinian handwriting.

5. I was a member of the school band from grade school to high school. I played the drums. One time the resident bass drummer got sick and I, a rail thin kid, had to carry and play the damn bass drum across the city during a school parade.

6. Weeks before high school graduation, some of my classmates placed a bet that I would graduate second among the batch. I didn't want to tell them i didn't have a chance. It turned out i was right. I placed third.

7. I got a grade of 99 in English when i took the entrance examination in my college where I got my degree. I was ecstatic when I saw that grade.

8. If you were to get the average of my college grades, you would notice that i was 0.02 (or was it 0.12?) shy of graduating cum laude. (dong, if you're reading this don't tell any one!)

9. I was an altar boy in grade school. My friends would often be surprised when I would tell them that I was one. Ang haba na nga talaga siguro ng sungay ko.

10. In fourth grade, I and a classmate got caught cheating. Since my classmate was rich and I was not and since the teacher was infamous to having a "soft" heart for rich kids i was the only one who got punished. She sent me to attend class in another section for half a day. In the afternoon, i took my seat in my real section. When the teacher saw me she muttered "You really can't wait to be called from the other section, can you?". I hate that teacher.

11. I love to read books. At thirteen, I read my first novel - Sidney Sheldon's The Sands of Time. I was enthralled particularly the sex part. During that summer I devoured Sheldon's books. Then I discovered John Grisham, Anne Rice, Michael Crichton, Richard North Patterson, John Irving. My cousin changed my taste in books a bit when she introduced me to JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Erich Segal's Love Story, and Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

12. I used to watch movies alone in college. One time i went to watch this suspense movie and someone proposed that he would give me 500 pesos if I would allow him to give me a blow job. I told him no. He insisted. He gave me another offer - name any price. I shook my head. He gave up and left. Then i started shaking uncontrollably in my seat.

13. I weighed less than 90 lbs when I saw my name in the papers as a licensed ECE. I have since gained 50 lbs.

14. I don't watch Pinoy soap operas. The last time I religiously followed one was way back in high school - Villa Quintana. It was often the topic every morning at school so to join in the fun I watched it even though I wanted to wring the neck of the characters for being so dumb and stupid.

15. During my sophomore year in high school, we were told to think of a quote to print on our shirts for our T-shirt printing class. I chose "Knowledge is Power". Our principal saw the quote and I could see the disgust on her face. That was the start of our hate-hate relationship till senior year.

16. I have never been to the Araneta Coliseum, the Manila Zoo, or the Luneta Park.

17. At age 5 I fell into an empty swimming pool while playing with my classmates. I remember telling my kindergarten teacher that I think my tongue is gone. Little did I know reason was that my mouth was filled with blood. The doctors had to stitch back the right side of my lips (the part where the upper and lower lip meet).

18. I used to dig Michael Learns to Rock in high school particularly 25 Minutes. That is one of the things a friend would immediately remember about me in high school.

19. I would chain smoke at least one pack of cigarettes during a night of drinking session back in college. I drastically limited my smoking then gave it up entirely when I started working. I have not smoked a stick in two years.

20. Many years ago I didn't miss Sunday or any Holy Day of Obligation mass for a whole year. I was a devout catholic. This year, the number of masses I have attended is nill.

21. In college, I refused to cut my hair for over a year. Since I have wavy hair it would look really unruly even if i spend minutes putting on gel and styling it. My hair was one of the many things me and papa fought on. I succumbed to the pressure to cut it when my aunts told papa that I was definitely hooked on drugs. A college friend almost fell on a manhole when he first saw me with almost bald hair.

22. I had a chatmate who worked two jobs - in PDI and in an ad agency. This chatmate would offer me free concert tickets. I would refuse since it would mean personally meeting and I dont't do EBs. Then one time I mentioned about a certain TV personality who I saw (and stalked) while vacationing somewhere in the north. The next day I read my little story printd in PDI's Entertainment section. I wonder where she could be now.

23. I won a Jessica Zafra book frm one of her early contests from many years ago when she first started writing her Emotional Weather Report column in The Philippine Star.

24. I am terribly afraid of heights. i don't like riding on the Ferris wheel. The last time i rode one was 4 yrr ago at EK. The entire time I sat on the floor and hugged the center pole. I'm not exaggerating. There's a video of it somewhere in my cousin's place.

25. I am a pretty good caretaker of things. The blue Sony cd player that my folks bought for me in 1998 is still fully functional. I gave it to my niece during my last visit as one of my Christmas presents. I also still have the Timex watch that my folks bought for me in 1997. I still use it once in a while.

9 comments:

gillboard said...

2. I only have one living grandparent...

11. I too got hooked to reading books after I read Crichton's Disclosure. I thought all books had steamy love scenes. boy, was I so wrong.

17. ouch

19. Good for you for quitting smoking.

22. I'm interested to find out who you were stalking... hmmm..

Visual Velocity said...

Ako naman I still watch movies alone. Most of the people I know don't like the movies I like, so ayon.

Hirap nga eh, kasi I really want to write about obscure Indie films in my blog, pero I feel like if I do that all the time, people would get annoyed. So I'm forcing myself to watch wham-bang commercial movies right now so I can write about them in my blog, ehehe.

Raft3r said...

hehe
facebook na facebook ire, ah
nyahaha

i once had impeccable penmanship
you should know
you read all my posts, diba
=)

The Scud said...

gillboard > astig nga ung disclosure. buti di mo na-diskubre si harold robbins. hehe.

andy > haha. you care about your readers pala. blog more on indies. babasahin ko mga yun. :-)

raft3r > nakikiuso lang. hehe.

Anonymous said...

You also know Paulinian handwriting?

I had Paulinian handwriting subject from Kinder to Grade school. And I got good grades. ;p

The Scud said...

len > i studied for 12 years in a co-ed school run by those nuns. i remember we had this workbook where we had to practice our handwriting. 3rd grade ata. haha!

Raft3r said...

hehe
dapat talaga pasalamat tayo sa mga nanay natin
dami nilang sakripisyo para satin
hehe

escape said...

hahaha... almost scud! i remember those days.

and the time when we learned that we passed the board exam was a yiihaa moment! it was a very memorable experience. six months together, gastambide forever. i was in recto last week. hehehe...

pinatubo here we come!

The Scud said...

dong > tama ka! huge relief when we learned we passed. tagal din natin inantay ung result. a week ata. hehe.

at di lang yun 6 mts. 8 mts! if i'm not mistaken april-november 2002 un.

pumunta ako quiapo last weekend pero didn't pass by recto. :-(