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copyright @ 2002-2007
mona magno-veluz

this work is licensed under a
creative commons license.

Contemporary Filipina. Corporate slave. First-time entrepreneur. Recaptured corporate slave. Wife of 10 11 12 13 14 15 years to my best friend. Mom to two handsome boys and one beautiful girl. Passionate about literature. Budding photographer. Amateur genealogist. Web designer wanna-be. Obsessive-compulsive. Occasionally manic-depressive. Irrationally nationalistic. Artistic to the core. Competitive to a fault. Dimensionally challenged. Hopelessly romantic. Irreparably jaded.

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 (you can hear a recording of my voice if you dial my ex-employer's office trunk line -- it's a wonder they kept it even if I no longer 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 have double D cups (a reason I don't do arnis, judo and kendo anymore). 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 (no shit!). I am swearing again; after fooling myself for years that I was cured. I always overestimate what I can do in a day. 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 who make small talk.

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." 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 shoes are stored in uniform, brown boxes with digital photos on the side. 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).

Everyday, I still discover something new about myself.