Renaissance Girl

I came into this world within twelve hours of Julia Roberts’ birth. I ran away from home when I was 9 — I got as far as the village entrance. I learned to swim when I was twelve years old. I once owned 23 cats — all pusakals. I command a skateboard gracefully; but look really funny on a bike. I wore braces for 8 years. I have short, fat, non-piano playing fingers. I have a cute mole on my tummy. I would never leave home without my journal. I have a great speaking voice (i was my ex-employer’s office trunk line voice, long after I stopped worked there). I’m a mean mini-golfer. I can speak enough Spanish, Swedish, Japanese and French to get me into trouble. I have a brown belt in arnis, judo and kendo. I deny that I cry at the lamest of movies. I danced with the Philippine Bayanihan Dance Company for one year. I did not go to school with boys until I was in college. I can change a flat tire, a broken light bulb and my nail color without help. I vacationed in Boracay before it became a commercialized tourist magnet. I have seen China, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Monaco, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, US and Vietnam — and on half the time, I travelled alone. I won a dance marathon at a dance club in Malate once — and got a month’s supply of cough syrup-tasting wine coolers.  I traced my ancestry to the 1860s 1740s. I successfully cured myself of swearing unnecessarily. I am swearing again; after fooling myself for years that I was cured. I always overestimate what I can do in a day, and continue to call it “optimism”. I am a closet bum. I gave up my suits for jeans and t-shirts during my 2004 career change; but in 2006, returned to disguising myself as a snotty, laptop-lugging corporate-type. I like money — all too much. I deceive people into thinking I’m sociable; when I really, truly am a manang who detests strangers and small talk.  I want to be a social entrepreneur when I grow up.

My name should have been “Fatima Regina” — but my father overruled my mom, and as they say, the rest is history. My all-time favorite food is ensaladang mangga with bagoong. My weirdest summer project was a family tree of Greek gods I labored over when I was 14. My biggest trophy was from being my company’s “Athlete of the Year” in 1990, which I tossed in the trash in 1995 because I didn’t have shelf space. My feet grew by an inch and a half since giving birth to my first child. My imaginary ex-boyfriend will always be Keanu Reeves. My weary spirit is soothed in bookstores amidst books, paper and office supplies and in Odd Manila (a coffee shop at the UP Bahay ng Alumni in Quezon City).

This blog, my daily discoveries, are all about …

• Bagging Bacon.  Me and making work work.
• Chlorinating the Gene Pool.  My parents, siblings, neices, spouse and spawns, and our journey to becoming higher life forms.
• Drawing Thought Bubbles.  My occasional cerebral flatulence.
• Fricasseeing Fiction.  Making stuff up.
• Parang Poetry.  When the stuff I make up rhyme a little bit.
• Ruling Dweebdom.  How I am a nerd.
• Seeing Places.  Where I’ve been.
• Talking to Tita.  Real problems of real people and the advise I wish I could tell them.
• Unearthing Gems.  Things I discover everyday, and remembering the best ones.