I NEVER thought of myself in terms of food.
But the ambrosia fruit salad represents my easy nature.
It’s mostly canned fruits mixed with whipped cream.
I’m actually that easy.
I just seem, and sound, complicated because I have a public, and celebrity, life.
But I am swear-to-God easy.
I’m not choosy.
Open the cans, mix them all with cream.
I’m all flavors, all sweet.
And if you don’t know yet, ambrosia references the food of the Greek gods.
I feel I am special that way.
*
At first, I thought it would be fun if Martha Stewart could live and work in my house for a year.
But then, I’m thinking, I don’t need a fancy house staged for Martha Stewart Living magazines.
For now, I just need a handsome houseboy, who have no qualms cleaning my house in the nude everyday for a year.
Knowledge and eagerness to massage would be a big plus plus.
I don’t even need housekeeping.
I just want a daily massage from regular hands that have familiarized, maybe memorized, my body.
*
Because I read so many books, it’s hard to identify one book, and one favorite moment from a book.
But if you can imagine illustrated fairy tales, it would be the transformation of the beast to the prince, Sleeping Beauty’s wake up kiss, or Cinderella triumphantly fitting the glass slipper.
I am a romantic, and I like happy endings.
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My longest employment was as an orthopedic nurse at a hospital in Los Angeles.
My favorite co-workers are still my best friends.
I’m godfather to the three children of the Filipina co-worker.
And I was the wedding videographer of the Japanese co-worker.
The three of us also adored our boss, the unit manager.
There is really nothing I wouldn’t do for this boss.
I’d bury a corpse with her.
She’s also a Capricorn, and we have mutual love for each other.
Fun fact: my boss was my ring bearer to my 2008 wedding.
(Not that I had other weddings!)
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I cannot say there is something underrated that I use on a daily basis.
I am pretty mindful of the things I use.
It would seem like my iPhone is the most obvious thing that I use on a daily basis.
But my phone is never underrated.
I use don’t wear underwear daily (I often go naked inside my own house!), but I still won’t call my underwear underrated.
I use a lot of toothpaste, not only to clean my teeth, so it’s not like I’m going to call my toothpaste underrated.
I guess what I’m saying is, I have learned the art of appreciation of every little thing I see, and use.
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I’ve seen so many bathrooms in my life.
Many of them very fancy.
Many of them are themed.
I’ve been to gold bathrooms like the Dolce and Gabbana’s gold room in Milan.
I’m pretty sure New York City’s Bar 89’s privacy glass bathrooms are not endemic to NYC.
And I swear I’ve been to bathrooms with urinals in the shape of alligators.
And I hope I’m not dreaming, but I might actually have been to bathrooms with toilet bowls shaped like someone’s lap and bum!
At home, I have a half bathroom that I’ve personally painted bright red.
It’s not my favorite bathroom in the world, but I think it has great character.
*
I don’t think there’s a “last time” I felt proud for standing up for myself.
Because I always stand up for myself.
And because I think differently, I stand up for myself everyday.
And I’m always proud of it.
But the thing is, I only really fight for battles I can win.
A lot of people think I was dealt unfairly when the local screening committee (and the whole national project) excluded me from the CCP encyclopedia of Philippine art and literature in 2018.
Because I currently reside in the US, I felt it was not a significant battle for me to fight.
And who buys the CCP encyclopedia anyway?
But when attention was drawn into it by respected journalists, I responded in social media, and the newspaper.
So, in a way, I felt I also stood up for myself.
And my position was so credible many people discredited the local screening committee (and the encyclopedia) as politically corrupt.
As for me, I went on to be commissioned to write two textbooks that have the same coverage as the encyclopedia, namely: 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World; and Contemporary Arts from the Regions of the Philippines.
I say, the stone that the local committee has rejected, has now become the corner stone in Philippine high school textbooks. (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
