[Blog Entry] Surprising History
Surprising HistoryEvery now and then, I make a post that people don’t expect. Or I reveal a facet of my life that catches them completely off-guard. Anyway, here’s a list of facts about me that I’m sure some people know about, but not everything that’s mentioned.
The Ironic Things1) I used to play a music instrument and was actually part of the high school Glee club. I’m currently working for Pulp magazine and the now-defunct MTV Ink. Of course the surprise is that a) I don’t watch MTV, b) I don’t listen to the radio, c) I don’t listen to music, at least conventional music, and d) karaoke is my worst nightmare, because I simply don’t know any of the songs that’s being played.
2) I was news editor of our high school paper, and even spent a day or two editing at the Philippine Star offices during summer. Of course it has to be said that I don’t read the newspaper, and it’s only this year that I actually started doing so (because I need to do so for work).
3) Many people associate me with books, but the fact of the matter is, I only started reading novels at around thirteen or fourteen. Before that, I was immersing myself with video games, game magazines, and TV. I’m not really a well-red person, and my only introduction to the classics were books required by school (whether in high school or college).
4) Some might think I’m Mr. Popular, thanks to all the people I know. I spend many lonely nights though, and I was pretty unpopular as a kid, earning the enmity of my entire class, and a virtual reject of our high school. In college, I’d be hanging out at the library steps, away from my other blockmates. And of course, I even have worse luck with girls.
5) While I’m clearly of Chinese descent, I can’t speak Chinese to save my life. In fact, my Japanese (as rudimentary as it is) is probably better than my Chinese.
6) I graduated with degree in Creative Writing, but one of my favorite subjects was actually Math and Physics. In high school, I also liked Chemistry, as well as programming. Of course it also needs to be mentioned that I’ve flunked Math and Science. Another interesting factoid is that in grade school and high school, my highest grades were in CLE (Christian Life Education). In college, the one subject that I failed was Theology.
My Hobbies1) My first love was video games, everything from Street Fighter to Final Fantasy to Contra to Golden Axe to Mega Man to Simcity. And yes, Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. In grade school, I was either at the arcades, or playing at a friend’s house.
2) Then I switched to Collectible Card Games (CCGs), more specifically Magic: The Gathering. I played the game thoroughly, subscribing to magazines and the like. Fondest memory was probably in the three tournaments that I played, I was a semi-finalist in one of them.
3) Sometime between both of those, I was also into comics. I was originally a Marvel fan, reading everything from Secret Wars to Infinity Gauntlet to the Dark Phoenix Saga. Later exploits in the DC Universe include Zero Hour, the Batman: Knightfall story arc, Superman’s Death and Return, and the Eclipso saga.
4) Shortly before I got into CCGs, me and my friend started reading fantasy novels. The first fantasy book I read was (sorry, not Lord of the Rings) Scions of Shanarra, thus I finished the quartet. After breezing through Terry Brooks, I got into David Eddings, which my friend had a complete collection, and then Wheel of Time which a friend recommended. Of course my tastes now is something less mainstream.
5) While I claim that I was always an anime fan, I shifted into high gear somewhere during high school. Back then, cosplays and conventions weren’t that prevalent, although I did attend the conventions which managed to mix my interests (comics, CCGs, anime, etc.). Also volunteered with film showings at UP. And then anime got the attention it deserved, and friends who were anime fans soon became cosplayers more than anything else.
6) In college, rediscovered pen-and-paper RPGs, notably Dungeons and Dragons. Had a blast playing it.
7) Again somewhere in between, I somehow found the time to learn the rules of miniatures game Warhammer 40K, play several other CCGs, read comics like Alan Moore’s Watchmen, the occasional arcade game shoot-em-up, and built Gundam model kits.
8) A reunion of sorts with my batchmates (none of which are my classmates) from high school, we’d meet up to play various LAN games, whether it’s Rainbow Six, Starcraft, or whatever multiplayer game we could get our hands on. Later I took up RTS seriously and became a very good player at Warcraft III.
9) These days, I’m a hodgepodge of all my previous hobbies, and committed to a few that rotates every so often. I also gave up TV to spend more time doing everything else, from writing blog entries to reading books.
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