25 Things

1 Once, I was understudy in a play called “Daughter’s for Sale” (Carlos P. Romulo). I was required to master the lines of one of the daughters, ‘Amparo.’ Since I thought there was no chance I was going to act on stage (there was only one play date- in Intramuros), I learned some of the blocking, but was lazy memorizing the lines. I had resigned myself to the role of prompter. But on the day of the play, the lead actress was a no show. This was during Marcos’ time, when student activists were being ‘salvaged.’ I think the story was that the lead actress, who was also Editor in Chief of a publication openly opposing Marcos, received a life threat. So she did not come that day; I had to wear her costumes (they were too big for me) and got on stage to play the part. My co-actors helped me a lot, and since the play was slapstick comedy, the actors somehow found a funny way of pushing me here and there where I should be in the blocking, and they did a lot of adlibs and adjustments so the show could go on. The play ended, then there was the ‘curtain call,’ and they gave us roses. That was my only taste of the ‘limelight.’ (The following day, I got a short kudos from Crispina Belen in her column at Bulletin Today. She misspelled my surname however. She wrote ‘kudos to Josefine Baril...’)

2 In College, I was extremely bored with my course (AB ENGLISH) but what saved me from complete boredom was my four year active membership in our college’s theatre group called “Tanghalang Dalwa Singko.” Once, in one of the plays written by one of the members, I played a crazy woman who prophesied about the end of the World. The play was called ‘Tuldok.’ I realize later that most of my lines were taken from the book of Jude in the Bible.

3 In my entire life, I have not bought nor received as gift a single stuff toy. I owned only one toy when I was a child, a bald, crawling doll (turn the key on and it crawled). It wore a polka dot overalls and it was two times the size of my fist. Whenever I think about this, I regret losing my favourite baby picture, the one where I was in a similar posture of crawling in my fours- and I was bald too.)

4 I fell on a canal when I was a child, so I had seven stitches on my head.

5 I fell on a steep slope about ten meters down when I was in my second year high school. I remember feeling that I was running very fast (like flash Gordon). In fact, I was rolling down, down, down, until I bumped on a bush. Nobody could get me so I went up myself after I recovered. I remembered that the sky was very clear when I landed on my back, and I was shocked, but I did not cry. My right arm was wounded on that fall.

6 When I was in high school and up until I was in college, my huge chore every weekend (one whole day) is ironing all the laundry. I don’t remember washing my clothes from the time I could do it until I had my first job, but I used to iron two huge tin containers of clothes every Saturday or Sunday. For a time, my one pet peeve was not being able to iron my clothes before wearing them (even if they were wash-and -wear). But this has long changed. I can wear anything direct from the wash line today, of course, as long as it is dry.

7 I had only one uniform when I was a freshman in high school, so my mother would always be very angry if I spoiled it in a day. I think she washed and ironed it every two days.

8 During the gap between my first job (medical representative) and my second (high school teacher), I auditioned as a singer in an agency recruiting “cultural workers” to Japan. I passed the singing bit, but they said I should gain weight. I was so naive that I did not realize they were more concerned about ‘the looks’ rather than the ‘singing voice’.

9 When I was medical representative, our team, four med-reps plus the team supervisor in Quezon City Area, used to meet in what we called ‘contact point.’ That was my first job in Manila after spending my whole life in the province. So I was the promdi, wearing the wrong clothes, speaking in puntong ala-eh, and using Johnson’s baby powder on my face. My supervisor always wanted me to put some make up on and always castigated me when I came to that contact point sans make up. So he bought me this whole make up set – one container has it all – and took it upon himself to tutor me in the art of selling. I needed to meet my quota after all. I never got to use that makeup set because the next day, a pickpocket stole it from my bag. Perhaps he thought it was a wallet.

10 One time, in a bus, a pickpocket again stole what he thought was wallet. It was my slim, silver edged, leather bound, New American Standard Version Bible.

11 I became a Christian in 1983. My sister got born again, and she said she was attending this Baptist church. I was never religious, and I didn’t have any stand, nor opinion, nor any deep belief in the Divine, so I said, any church was as good as the rest. I suggested a Baptist church which was nearer our boarding place. Maybe, because she truly had a ‘burden’ for me as the jargon goes, she agreed. I chose the nearest Baptist church. The choir in that church was excellent. I came back the following Sunday, and the next, and the next, because of the choir. Then, I joined the choir, then I attended Sunday school, then I got born again.

12 My second cousin is a missionary in Morocco, sharing God’s message to the people there. Five of my friends are missionaries, too, and sometimes I wonder about what I am doing about the Great Commission as I sit in front of my computer and work with words. When I hear the stories of my missionary friends, I feel deeply humbled, and a bit envious, wondering whether God could play favourites.

13 I have collected quite a number of books on water-colour painting. I once enrolled in a watercolour class, I have been collecting brushes and have bought some paper and other materials– but I don’t know when to actually sit down and just do some watercolour painting!!!!


14 I am deeply honoured to be the one living with my mother in her old age.

15 I go to the wet market once a week to buy the very same things – chicken, fish (two kinds-one to fry or for daing and the other for pinangat or pinais in either sampaloc or kamyas), pork, potatoes, onions, garlic, green chilli, sampaloc –the skinned type (we call it kipil to cook fish in), saba, kamote, monggo, and fruits in season. It used to be difficult since I didn’t know what to buy. But now, I have sukis, and the whole marketing takes me less than an hour (including commuting time), if I see fresh fish at once. But I yet have to grow wiser in dealing with dishonest fish vendors.

16 I have a total of only six godchildren; because I think only two among my close friends are married and they each assigned one child to me. The rest are my nieces and nephews and one is a cousin.

17 I find it very difficult to write for children.

18 As I’ve already blogged, I lived in more than 8 houses in my thirteen years of working in Manila.

19 I took up almost all the accounting units relative to becoming a commerce graduate in college, while I was feeling insecure that I would not be able to find a job after my AB English course. So my transcript of records shows that Liberal Arts Commerce was my course in my last two years. I got only passing grades in accounting. Now that I’m in business, I realized that I should have taken all my accounting subjects seriously. Actually, I did not learn anything. Right now, all I can really do is basic bookkeeping. Somebody else has to balance the accounts and do the financial reports.

20 I can’t go out without applying Vitress on my hair. (If not, you will always ask me, “Mahangin ba sa labas?”) Otherwise, I wear something that covers my bulk of short hair entirely. So I have a little collection of ‘turbans’ or ‘tubao’s’ or ‘headbands’ or ‘headnets’ in my closet drawer.

21 There are only two directions my nephews and nieces are taking or planning to pursue – one in the medical field, either to become doctors or nurses, and the other in the arts and media field. I always sense a tension in these extremes within my family.

22 I share with my brother a love for old things to display inside the house, decorative pieces which seem antique and have been used in the past but not discarded.

23 I have slept over in all of my friend’s houses through the years of working in Manila and even today when I occasionally go to Manila for some freelance work. (Most of these friends are here on facebook). My very urgent prayer...’Lord, give me a place of my own in the city.’

24 I’m not up to date with ‘what’s up.’ I’m always the last to know.

25 I don’t cook most of the time (but I can do some basic dish). I don’t drive (I learned how to drive my brother’s old car, but it wasn’t even three months when he got a new car, and then he wouldn’t allow me to drive it, so now, I have lost all confidence in driving.) I don’t cross stitch ( I tried but the one piece I started in 2002 is not yet finished)