Bits of Grace

For those of you who know not enough about me and have lots of time to spare. Read on.

1. I was born on November 22, 1976. You have no excuse to forget my birthday. It’s 11 22 (one one two two), simple OK?
2. JFK was shot on my birth day. November 22, although on a different year. But that does not make me a jinx.
3. My brother was born when I was two years old. I told my parents to throw him in the garbage as soon as they arrived from the hospital with the baby in tow.
4. Subsequently, 3 more brothers arrived and at last a sister. House is packed. I told my parents the same thing I told them in #3.
5. There are 3 Scorpios in my family: me (11/22), my brother Dante (11/9) and our mother (10/25).
6. My husband is a Scorpio too. (10/29). We sometimes sting each other.
7. I have the same hairstyle since I was 12. Boring? I know.
8. I haven’t curled my hair EVER.
9. Colored it ONCE. My husband freaked out. Had to dye it to my natural black after 2 days.
10. I was a member of the school paper since primary school, specifically, since I was in fifth grade.
11. Also joined the Girl Scouts.
12. I love to write my thoughts, be it on a diary or simply on magazines or books that I read.
13. I tried to audition for the choir group in grade school, but failed every time.
14. Also auditioned for the school band. I wanted to be twirling some batons donned in short fluffy skirts.
15. I failed the band audition every year.
16. When I was 10, I told myself to accept my fate that the choir and the twirling band is not for me, and opted to write for the school paper instead.
17. I babysat for my siblings when they were young.
18. I can diaper change and lull any baby to sleep since I was 8.
19. I think of it as a feat. (#18) and mighty proud of it.
20. When I was 16 and our youngest sister was 2, I took her to see The Lion King and she was mistaken for my daughter. Frustrating!
21. I had my first crush when I was 12. It felt funny.
22. I never received any love letter not until I was 17 and going to college.
23. I still keep those letters and look at them once in a while. (for egoistic purposes)
24. My first suitor was shorter than me by around 3 inches.
25. I axed him for that.  (sorry!)
26. I am a music lover. But when I was young, I loved music and music never loved me.
27. I was out of tune until I was 13. ( some big revelation!)
28. But I can memorize songs from any song book or any CD playing in just 2-3 repetitions of the song.
29. I memorized the 50 american states and their state capitals along with countries of the world and their capital cities when I was 12. I loved doing that. For me, it was “therapeutic”.
30. Math is my Waterloo. My father would not let me sleep until I memorize the multiplication table when I was 8.  I had “panda eyes” while growing up.
31. I was a comic addict one summer when I was 11. I would save all my allowance in a week and splurge on comics on weekends.
32. It was a perfect excuse to study “Tagalog”.
33. My first taste of fame was when I was 12 and joined a quiz show.
34. I won the quiz show.
35. Many more quiz shows I attended. Won some, lost some.
36. One particular quiz show provided me my first airplane ticket!
37. …and my first visit to Manila!
38. I was groggy and nauseous during the entire flight. I don’t like airplanes since then.
39. I thought Manila was flooding with handsome guys. I could not stop looking!
40. …I lost that quiz show. (partly because of the handsome guys around, they were too blinding!)
41. I was the only girl there (I mean in the quiz show which was by the way, aired live on TV. Thank goodness none of my friends watched it *wink*).
42. I was a Nancy Drew - Hardy Boys - Sweet Valley High avid reader until highschool, when all the rest of my friends were into Sidney Sheldon and Harlequin Romances.
43. I read my first Sidney Sheldon just after I went to college. (If tomorrow comes)
44. I loved it so much I bought all of Sheldon’s books when I could finally afford it. (so many years later after I read my first Sheldon)
45. I am a worrier.
46. I am afraid to be late, all the time. I don’t want dramatic entrances.
47. I am Catholic but though I read the Bible at times, I am not that religious. Not a church goer as well.
48. I believe in God but also believe that you don’t have to go to church to talk to God.
49. I always have a “flying” dreams when I am in a height of my problems. Usually, I get away with the problem unscathed and I owe it to these kind of dreams.
50. I ever thought of not getting married at all.
51. But loves children so decided to get hitched.
52. My greatest frustration in life is not being able to go to the University of the Philippines, where I passed the gruelling entrance exams.
53. I cried every night for 10 straight days because of #52.
54. My parents did not even know about #53.
55. I still think of people who are graduates of UP as “different”.
56. and I wanted to be “different”.
57. I have terrible dysmenorrhea every month since I was 12.
58. Experienced fainting and being confined because of #57.
59. Been told that I may never bear a child because of endometriosis.
60. My strong will proved that doctor wrong when I conceived Pristine, 5 years later that diagnosis.
61. I believe I can bear children as long I want. As many as I want. I have wide hips!
62. I have ashtma.
63. But was healed when I came to Japan and came back when we came to Dubai.
64. My not going to UP turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I passed a scholarship while attending college in my hometown.
65. There were 150 examinees for the Japanese University scholarship. Only 2 of us passed. Me and another male from Tarlac.
66. My father was more excited than I was when news came of the scholarship test result. He could not contain his happiness — he could not find the right words to say to me, he wrote me a letter.
67. I still keep that letter in #66.
68. I studied Japanese (Nihongo) for only a month before I left for Japan. My Japanese was almost zero when the plane touched down at Narita October 1996.
69. I was so afraid no one would pick us up at the airport.
70. October 1, 1996 was probably one of the happiest and most fulfilling day in my entire life! I was sitting on my bed in the dormitory and savored the moment. I wanted to freeze time that cool autumn night.
71. I spent my first christmas in Japan crying in my hotel room in Kyoto. I was waiting for fireworks and stayed awake until midnight. There was none! and nobody told me about it. I was not emotionally prepared, loneliness ate me up.
72. My first bestfriend in Japan was a Muslim. She was a fellow scholar from Indonesia. We had great times together.
73. But some good things never last — we had a rift. Her Muslim friends were irked when they knew my friend showed her hair to me! It should be covered and never to be shown to other people except fellow Muslims and their families… rules!
74. In our Japanese Language class, I always rank 2nd — 2nd from the lowest!! I was a terrible language student.
75. I passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam, Level 1 (the highest, ehem, ehem) after 3 years.
76. My language teacher got the shock of her life because of #75. Did not expect me to pass, that darn old lady!
77. I credit the successful exam result to my then boyfriend, now husband who was religiously teaching me every single day since I said yes to him….nice move huh?
78. I am still connected with my friends way back from primary school.
79. I gained a lot of weight since the first time I came to Japan. And a lot of cms. in my waistline!
80. I blame Chocs and pregnancy for #79.
81. A certified chocolate addict, me.
82. A tea lover as well. I have since shoved away Coke and other sodas since 1997.
83. I lose weight fast but gain them faster. Man, I feel I would just look at some really luscious cake and gain weight right there and then! Just by looking!
84. Played tennis before but surrendered to my flat foot. One brother is playing professional tennis.
85. All my other siblings are still single. 4 of them still going to school.
86. I got married at 27. My husband was 28. We were together 4 years before we got married.
87. We were classmates in the japanese university I attended. But did not even talk to him not until we were on our 3rd year. We worked for a project as a group and got to know him better.
88. My husband is 100% Japanese.
89. I had a turbulent relationship prior to #87. Eventually broke up and hooked up with #88 all in a span of a month.
90. My husband proposed to me during our first year together — and every year after that. I kept on declining.
91. #88 was the first man who ever gave me flowers. Other suitors offered chocs and hankies but I wished for flowers and thought of it as a “sign” from above.
92. We had Pristine on the first year of our marriage.
93. I had a very smooth sailing pregnancy with no particular food cravings and nausea and vomitting that often goes with pregnancy.
94. My chest size increased tremendously after I gave birth and breastfeeding completely.
95. My labor stretched to 34 hours before Pristine finally saw the world.
96. My husband was with me all throughout labor and delivery.
97. I had no epidurals injected on me. All-natural, all-painful birthing procedure. (I nearly broke my husband’s hands though)
98. We wanted 4 kids before we got married and because of #95, I think I would just have to be contented with two. (meaning I might have to go through hell and high waters for another labor)
99. English is not my first language, nor is Japanese but I believe I can write and read and speak these languages fluently.
100. Pristine is babbling English, Japanese and Bisaya words altogether.  She knows when to say what. She says things in Japanese in daycare English in her new school here in Dubai and all of the other 3 inside our home…Arabic might be next!
101. This was fun. Thanks for the time spared reading some facts about me. I have to add this one.

To those who want to add something, go click the comments!