Six Weird Things About Moi

Rolly has tagged me to write on 6 weird things about myself. So here goes:

ONE: I read 5 - 6 books at the same time. Nah, I don't have 6 hands to do that. While others read only one book at one time/sitting, I manage to multi-read. I have to - as a teacher reading 2 - 3 textbooks, as a thriller/horror/science fiction fan taking on the 3rd to the last book of Stephen King, John Sandford, and Ray Bradbury (they're so prolific I and my budget can hardly catch up), as a writer/journalist reading up on the bios and writings of journalists/broadcasters/literati, and as a believer reading Daily Bread and the suggested Bible passages at the start of each day. And no, I don't use bookmarks or dog-ear pages to remind me where I have to continue reading in these books.

TWO: I only feel totally at ease when I am the one taking a picture of myself. I call this my auto-photo/fotome syndrome. Don't ask and I don't tell. So I thank the technorati who came up with cellphone cameras and digital cameras. Now I can choose which pictures of mine to keep and delete.

THREE: I am able to keep my presence of mind in times of crisis. So well in fact that I was once suspected of being part of a plot to blow a colleague to smithereens. This is what happened: a colleague whose family was close to mine was a blast victim. When I heard about it, I asked about his condition and the nurse informed that he was conscious and warned the clinic not to inform his hypertensive mother about the blast. Since my own mom was hypertensive too, I volunteered to phone her about it. When she answered my call, I asked her to sit down and asked someone at their home to get her water to drink. Then with the calmest tone I could muster, I told her that her son was a victim in a blast and was in a hospital, alive and alert. We agreed to meet at the hospital. I passed by the canteen to buy her food and bottled water as it was approaching noon then. When I got there, everything was in a tizzy. I saw other colleagues in groups talking in hushed tones and gesturing a lot. When the mother saw me, she flew into my arms and cried. She pleaded with me to arrange an ambulance to transfer her son to another hospital as the one he's in was under renovation. So to assuage her about his safety, I made the request. While waiting for the paperwork, I shared with her the lunch I brought. Soon, we were on our way to the other hospital. When the son was finally in his new room with his mother, wife and son, I bid them adieu. Within the next few minutes, a few colleagues streamed into the room and warned the mother I was part of the plot to kill her son. Reason: I was so calm and even managed to bring her food and drinks. Since I was so self-assured about the incident, I must have had prior knowledge of it. Ergo! I must be involved in planning it! And this was what I got for being thoughtful, a boy scout and a Red Cross trained volunteer!

FOUR: I have anosmia, a term I learned from Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses. I don't know exactly when I started losing my sense of smell, but I remember as a young boy waking up every morning and sneezing. In elementary my adenoids were operated on. In high school, what started as allergic rhinitis had escalated to sinusitis. My anosmia was weird because I smelled extreme aromas and odors only. I could detect whiffs of strong perfumes and revolting decaying garbage; nothing in between. After polyps were surgically removed from my nasal passages three years ago, I began sensing again to a limited degree the in-between-smells. Thank God for small mercies. Now I can enjoy my meals better. Now I can smell the scent of Ilang-ilang the whole day and dama de noche at night wafting from my garden.

FIVE: My drawing skills are limited to eyes only. My drawing pads are filled with eyes, mine and others. I can't draw any other body part, much more an entire body. I'm learning Chinese water color painting this summer. And eyes are difficult to draw with a Chinese brush!

SIX: I collect various versions of my favorite songs: Windmills of your mind, Meditation from Thais, Adagio by Albinioni, Who can I turn to?, What matters most, What kind of fool am I?, Ode to Joy, Try to remember, While my guitar gently weeps, Somewhere over the rainbow, I'm always chasing rainbows, Both sides now, and many more. In college, I scrimped on my weekly allowance so I could arrange with the record bar to record a cassette tape of Windmills versions.