Ten Years Hence
Ten years ago, it was 1996. Take this survey, post the results, and see how many things have changed since then.
1) How old were you?
THEN: 25
NOW: 35
2) Where did you go to school?
THEN: Just graduated from U.P. Law
NOW: Teaching law!
3) Where did you work?
THEN: Herrera Laurel de los Reyes Roxas & Teehankee Law Offices
NOW: Still a part of Hernandez Benedicto Oliveros & Associates Law Offices (ahem) but don't do any legal work any more. I mock the Integrated Bar of the Philippines everyday - the building anyway; it's right across my office window at an advertising/graphics design firm. Work in Baguio on Saturdays, at He Cares when I get the opportunity, just started up Third World Traveler, Inc. (a publishing company) and C + C Personal Caterers, and continue to writewritewrite and raketraketraket... Bawal ang tamad dito!
4) Where did you live?
THEN: Tandang Sora, Barangay Culiat, Quezon City
NOW: Baguio City...but still also BCQC
5) How was your hairstyle?
THEN: very long and straight
NOW: very long and wavy and always up in a ponytail, because I have no time to get it cut or relaxed!
6) Did you wear braces?
THEN: No
NOW: No
7) Did you wear contacts?
THEN: No
NOW: Nyet
8) Did you wear glasses?
THEN: No
NOW: No, thank God
9) Who was your best friend?
THEN: Miles, Ney, Rhia and Neil
NOW: Miles, Ney, Rhia and Neil!
10) Which of your pets were still alive?
THEN: Pugsie, Cheska, Ali, Iron, Nina
NOW: Iron, Nina, Taliban
11) Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend?
THEN: No time for that
NOW: No man worth my time, he he
12) Who was your celebrity crush?
THEN: Keanu Reeves, James Woods
NOW: Hugh Jackman
13) Who was your regular-person crush?
THEN: Manong!
NOW: Still Manong I guess, and *secret* e e e e e...
14) How many piercing did you have?
THEN: Two
NOW: Four, all on my earlobes
15) How many tattoos did you have?
THEN: none
NOW: none
16) What was your favorite band/singer?
THEN: Sting, Madonna
NOW: Sting, Madonna!
17) Had you smoked cigarettes?
THEN: Two packs a day
NOW: Cold turkey for almost four years now
18) Had you gotten drunk?
THEN: Of course
NOW: Unfortunately so
19) Had you DRIVEN?
THEN: Yes
NOW: And still driving myself crazy
20) If so which car?
THEN: Silver Mitsubishi Lancer GLi PSR 176, Manong's "twin" car hehe
NOW: Gold Toyota Corolla GLx UUW 511, my bebe
21) Looking back, are you where you thought you would be in 2006?
I thought I'd still be a lawyer - thank God I'm not! "Not." :-)
(Can't) Forget Paris
Rissa O, one of my dearest
sorority sisters, legislative and corporate securities expert, Bar buddy (in tandem with Liberty D! Geishas unite...) and forever
kunsintidor-ng-walang-katapusang-kakiligan from *bleep* to *bleep* and back to *bleep* he he... OK I haven't even finished that last sentence yet:
Rissa O is going to Paris. To the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, no less, for the
Cornell Law International and Comparative Law Program (the same one I completed in 2002 and which Leah O also attended in 2003...
teka muna, how come only Portians with the surname "O" seem to get into the Program, weird!).
Anyway, had dinner with her and my Paris-bosom-buddy V during the electrical storm the other night, to orient Reese my
sees on what to expect in the City of Lights. This reunion with V (who I never see in Manila except when he comes to give me my Christmas present!) was uncannily coincidental with H's and our fellow Sorbonne-Cornellian Suzy Q-my-soulsistah in Sweden this week.
Wala lang. I know there was a time when all I wanted to do was "Forget Paris," but how can you forget the most unforgettable destination in the world? The most beautiful city, hands down, that swept me off my feet the first time I cast my eyes on it, so much so that my heart's desire of living there, even for a short while, later became a thrilling reality. Sure, after a while you begin to realize that it's not all picture-perfect and that dogs poop on the sidewalk 24/7 and that the Metro stinks up during summer rush hour and that there is no such thing as airconditioning or ice in your drink. And that your dearest and nearest are 50 million light years away. It's hard to believe that four years have passed since those days at the Sorbonne; but it's funny that the memories that are most vivid are the beautiful, heartwarming ones.
Memories of daring to "assault" Paris on my terms by hopping on a bus from the airport and immediately getting lost in the city on my very first visit; of jawdropping architectural beauty and unbelievable vistas. Of running through the Louvre - pre
Da Vinci Code - and walking down the Seine 'til my blisters bled. Oh, the Seine: mute witness to my ever-shifting moods, from ecstasy to blissful contentment to indifference to melancholy. Savannah, the albino boxer entrusted to me by dear J along with his apartment and Julien, was a constant companion on those walks by the river, down the streets of the 13th
arrondisement in the early mornings when my roomies H and Dave were still in dreamland, and, for the most part, in my bed (which was a PITA at 6 a.m. when she needed to GO and would literally drag me from the 3rd floor to the sidewalk! just so she could do her business). What a pain. But what a sweetheart. Just like Paris.
Exquisitely landscaped gardens you could spend the whole afternoon in - the Jardin du Luxembourg near the school and on my RER stop, the Place des Vosges, the Parc du Floral of the Paris Jazz Fest - picnicking, drinking wine and eating cheese and just talking for hours on end. Little cafes on the Left Bank to just hang out in - on St Germaine and St Michel; the bistros on Rue Mouffetard; the bars - since I hung out mostly with English speakers, they were mostly American/Irish/Australian bars, bah! -at the Marais (gay district!) or the Latin clubs on the Champs Elysees and at the Bastille. Come day time, the fabulous street markets all over the city - the most marvelous exhibition of fresh produce, wine, cheese, bread, and what have you...think Farmer's Cubao dead and resurrected in heaven. The Champion
supermarches, the small Arab-run
alimentari , the big Asian market in the 13eme (the smell of durian right at the entrance made me want to weep and kiss the ground! My
moits Dave from Sydney and Stockholm's Suzy Q were thoroughly grossed out by the pig parts and innards...hehe) the
brasseries, patisseries, don't get me started about shopping now...
My goodness. And that's just Paris we've been talking about; haven't gotten around yet to the Côte d'Azur or Provence or Normandy or Cedric's weird Paris-suburban-friends...
Hmmm, I loved Paris, I hated Paris, I'd like to go back to Paris to love and hate and write about it some more. Perhaps one day soon. Next year perhaps? Who knows :-)
* Photo is of me, dearest V, and Suzy Q by the La Grande Arche de La Défense, modern-day alter ego of the more famous Arc de Triomphe; both monuments lie on the axe historique. Basta, there's a method to their madness!
