8 times Pari Flashes
Saturday, June 10, 2006
... her past.
*ahem*
Another tag mark left behind... this time by Onigiriman!
Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 8 facts/things/habits about yourself, saying who tagged you. In the end you need to choose the 6 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs.
I find this challenging because I don't like to write in-depth things about myself. Telling folks about my take on stuff or my day is so much easier, which is why this post took longer than it should. While pondering over what to include, I mentally flipped through the back chapters of my life searching for anything that is remotely interesting. As my mind clicked out bits of memories, I was amazed that all these fragments did in one way or another shape the person that I am now. Memories (good and bad) are things that build one's character and define the person that you are. Which makes people with Alzheimer all the more tragic because they end up becoming empty shells of themselves.
These are the flash facts:
Fact #1:
I have been using the same facial wash - Eversoft Avocado - for 13 years
Old design (left), new design (right)
The green packaging has been really consistent as it only went through 1 major change. I still have the older design and unused for possibly over 5 years now. When the company decided to change the design, I felt the urge to preserve a piece of history so I left the last tube with the old design to rest inside the cabinet.
It's also the very first facial wash I ever used. I did try others now and then, but I'll always revert back to this one. While some detractors commented that using this is no different from plunging your face into detergent, it's still good ol' reliable Eversoft with the ability to leave my face squeaky clean. I do not plan on switching brands anytime in the future as once I develop a liking for something, I'll stick with it all the way till I'm forced to look elsewhere. Such as product discontinuation or in a larger sense, a break-up. But that's another story.
Fact #2:
I do these sorts of stuff behind closed doors
Tamaki Nami - Shining Star (alternate angle)
Tamaki Nami - Believe (alternate angle)
But don't count on me hitting the Para Para Dance machines at the arcade. This shall stay behind closed doors until, with my under-developed dance coordination, I can figure out the entire dance steps within the next couple of years.
Dancing to a happy tune was my way of dispelling nervous energy which I have an excess of. I was a difficult baby as I would cry non-stop and every little thing frightens me. As I grew older, I make a perfect candidate for hypertension and have regular throbbing headaches to prove it. Friends complained that I always leave them behind in the dust as I hurried along and that got me even more flustered. Many things worry me and I would even fret over stupid things like whether I'll die from spontaneous combustion from a short circuit in my brain.
Overtime, I have learnt not to take everything too seriously and laugh at myself more. There is something liberating about dancing as it encourages me to look on the bright side of things. My dancing might look like a rabid bunny pumped with caffeine and steroids but who cares? No one is watching and I get to have some fun.
Fact #3:
I have a
Sure he is a pretty boy and has waist size that's barely 30". It's also fine that folks say that he's gay, engaged etc. But he has the IT look for me.
I remember the first time I saw him on MTV's Bangkok Jam. My jaw dropped, I sighed and that was the beginning of a lovely one-sided relationship. Well I don't have posters of him all over my room and I sure do not scour the internet searching for any scraps of information about him, but I subject myself to creepy supernatural encounters just to catch a glimpse of him introduce the next scene for barely a minute. Hurry up and host something less scary!
Fact #4:
I survived Typhoid fever when I was 11 months old.
My parents really thought at that time that they would lose their first born daughter. But somehow, I hung on.
When I was at my lowest point, I was short of taking anti-depressants. Thoughts of suicide were never too far away and I would devise ways to end my life with minimum fuss. In times when I was finally staring at the knife clutched in my hand, I asked myself if my passing on would matter anyway. People will feel sad, but they will eventually get over it. It is then that I recalled the time dad told me about my illness and near brush with death.
That became my last source of strength. I told myself that if I managed to survive something that could have easily killed me, it is a sure sign that I was placed in this world to give something back and I should not ever short change myself of that purpose.
Fact #5:
I make it a point to watch every single Swan Lake performances that comes along.
I loved Swan Lake because of its story and most of all its music. And what little girl doesn't like white tutus and prancing around like the most graceful of all birds? I could also sit for hours watching videos of ballet performances which my mom dutifully rented. Strange that I could not remember any of them other than Swan Lake. But there was one scene from a ballet that traumatised me. The hero was given some flowers from a girl who left him. He watched her disappear from sight before turning his back to the audience and walked away. The lights dimmed and by the time credits started rolling, I was wailing like a banshee. It took a while for me to be consoled after that.
I learnt ballet when I was in Primary school and while I loved tip toeing around in my ballet slippers, I dreaded going for class. My ballet instructor was not exactly the nicest of people. The kind of person who personifies snobbery, she walked around with her nose pointed upwards. I never really found out whether it was because she didn't want us to see just how big her nose was. She was quick to dispense insults to those (like yours truly) who had the audacity not to know the difference between a leotard and a unitard and wasted no time to publicly humiliate those who could not keep up.
I also had organ class which was on the same day. In order to reduce the stress of shuttling from one class to another, I was made to choose between ballet and organ. I chose the latter. Simply because I liked the organ teacher a little better than the ballet teacher. In the end I found out the hard way that it was a childish decision. Minus the teachers, at least I liked ballet. 7 years of banging the keyboard and smashing pedals finally came to an end when I got to drop out of teacher's grade. Till this day, I regretted making that decision to stop learning ballet. So I guess watching Swan Lake is a way I could still connect with the lost ballerina in me.
To date, one of the more memorable Swan Lake I watched was Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake in Melbourne. The storyline was a little different but the choreography and costumes were stunning.
Fact #6:
A teacher compared me to Audrey Hepburn.
She might not think that it meant anything, but for an awkward teenager with very low self-esteem, her worlds were solid gold.
I had my first taste of the Audrey Hepburn charm through My Fair Lady when I was a little girl. Though totally clueless to her life outside that one film, watching her left me with enough impression to mention her name whenever I was asked who my favourite actress was. Couple more years passed and I watched My Fair Lady again on television and was reminded of how I admire her classiness and poise. I imagined meeting her in person one day but later found out she passed away.
Even in her winter years, she still has a certain glow about her and maybe much more than in her youth. It was as if she became more beautiful as each year passed. She was neither bombshell gorgeous nor wildly popular but with her down-to-earth and gentle ways, her legacy is a steady flame that burns eternally. The kind of person I dream to be someday.
I went through the usual stuff like teen angst, obsession to fit in, questioning my self-worth and wondering what my future would bring. Nearing graduation, the class exchanged the usual "keep in touch" notes on our class photographs. I nervously gave mine to the teacher and when I got it back, I teared, "... on a personal note, I really like your poise and elegant 'sense'! A little 'Audrey Hepburn-ish' - I've always thought."
Like a mother's hand that soothes an anxious child, I felt that same glow Audrey Hepburn had and with that, a tremendous boost of self assurance.
Fact #7:
I was a Jealous Brat
I envied my rich neighbour who has a room fully dedicated to house all her Barbie, She-Ra and My Little Pony collections. I whined constantly over my small collection of toys and threw fits when my parents refused to get for me something I saw on tv. Then Mom brought me along on one of her visits to a salam - village of the poor - in Bangkok.
"So you think you have so little?" mom asked me as she lead me along narrow planks that bridged different odd-shaped huts. I was too shocked to say anything. For a 6 year old, it was too much for me. It was a long time ago, but I vaguely remembered blue-grey wood on huts and pathways, dampness, and my mom saying hello to the residents. There was an old lady we passed. She was doing laundry outside her tiny house and she grinned at us, her gums were swollen and she barely had any teeth left.
Then mom brought me to a slightly bigger hut. She said that it was a school. It was lunch time and the students were tucking themselves into tiny pieces of chicken with more bones than meat.
Did they whine? No.
So I stopped whining too.
And something a little more recent.
Fact #8:
I crashed my car in a car park. Twice.
The first time was at school. And the other time was at the estate's carpark. I was running late for work and I backed the car out into an old Toyota belonging to a (thankfully) kind man.
It was a total comfort knowing that I have successfully carried out a family tradition. Grandma crashed her car into the back of a garbage truck while Mom managed to drive hers into a marketplace that was under construction with enough force to have a metal pole pierce through the windscreen and missed her face by inches. My father was no better. In his young and restless days he single-handedly drove a car off the cliff and left his passengers with broken arms and legs while he escaped with only a cut on the forehead.
Feeling that I might be destined for achievements that surpass my predecessors, I have developed a habit of braking early and often.
And finally...
my task is done. I hereby pass this on to 6 (why not more?!) other people who I very much would like to force a blog out from. In order of the number of days since last post - Will (18 days), Malu (11 days), Daene (10 days), Te (5 days), Don (4 days), and Ryo (4 days).
K, would relish in tagging you myself as a present from last time but something tells me that Aemii is going to do that when she's done with hers. You've been warned. Heh!
Updated: Pssst.... Debs (aka pegasus979).
WHAM!!!
I heard you and you've been given a tag of honour. Serve it well! |
