Jace's 25 Random Things
Conformity can be fun. :) So here goes mine...
1. If I could decide which career I'd be most successful in, I'd pick being a tennis player and being a pop singer (not dancer!!!) first before being an academic. Notice though that all the careers I aspire to involve performing in front of an audience. The irrepressible showbiz gene in me!
2. Anjo had it right when he said that habitus also has a biological component. Although I've finally been able to overcome my aversion to trikes, jeeps, and (occasionally) buses, my commuter lifestyle appears to be the reason why I have been prone to illnesses lately. I don't have the antibodies for pollution...yet.
3. My most favorite dessert in the world is the $1.00 ice cream sandwich sold by the "uncles" in Orchard Road. I've tried all the flavors, and the hands down winner for me is mint with chocolate chips. :)
4. I hate the fact that my parents passed on two of their worst genetic traits to me: my predisposition towards weight gain (Mom) and my inexorable march towards hair loss (Dad). Oh, and there's my inherited scoliosis too, which is why I can never walk properly.
5. I remember getting a low grade in freshman English because I wrote an argumentative paper arguing that the Catholic Church is in decline. Nyahaha!
6. I once won an award for my organ rendition of the James Bond theme. Now, I can barely read musical scores!
7. The art of small talk is something that continues to elude me. Which is why during academic gatherings, I dread lunches and coffee breaks over paper presentations. I guess I'm a classic case of dissemination over dialogue.
8. The most beautiful photos I have are those of my family's trip to Europe (the breathtaking architecture in Florence! the streets of Paris! the bullfighting stadium in Madrid!, etc.) . But that was also the zenith of my fashion nerdiness: I was a fourteen year old with huge square glasses, giant shirts coupled with skinny jeans, sandals with socks, and...braces. I have a plan to save those photos by digitally erasing very nerdy Jason from them and digitally pasting a less nerdy Jace onto them. Brilliant!
9. Despite Aladdin's patriarchal and racist overtones, it is still my favorite Disney movie. Hey, at least it breaks the notion that you can't fall in love with someone who belongs to another social class. :)
10. Kuchie and I love popcorn movies. However, we usually have NYFD fries or Jamaican patties plus a large sized Big Chill while we watch them.
11. I just called my doctor this morning. And she told me that my liver has fat infiltrates, which may cause severe problems later on. That's not the worst part though. In order to prevent more damage to my liver, I'm now banned from eating fatty food, excessive carbs, chocolates (chocolates!!! can you believe that?!), among other things. Booo!
12. I learned to draw cartoons from two local art legends: Roni Santiago (of Baltic & Co. fame) and Larry Alcala (who is now one of our national artists). I still have my sketch pads with their comments on it. :)
13. I have an irrational fear of flying sports balls. Seriously.
14. The three teachers who have had the most impact in my personal life are Devi Ignacio-Paez (Dare to disturb the universe!), Dr. Marlu Vilches (Believe in yourself.), and Dr. Leo Garcia (The Other is radically other!). I will forever be grateful to them.
15. I wrote my first novel when I was fifteen. It was about a guy falling in love with his girl best friend. It was so sappy, I subsequently burned the only copy I made of it. :D
16. The only reason why I wanted to learn how to sing was because I couldn't sing the songs I composed (yes, aside from writing a sappy novel, I also used to write a lot of sappy pop songs). But after learning how to sing, I kinda got rusty with composing songs. Amazing.
17. The Barong Tagalog that I wore for my high school grad pic is now buried together with my uncle's driver, who passed away some years ago. During his burial, I whispered to him that there was no need for him to visit me to say thank you. Haha!
18. I seriously regret my college creative pic. I always have to explain what the darned thing means. Thank God that the new Comm. Dep't. no longer has a legacy room.
19. I can speak Bicolano (the Catanduanes brand, that is) fluently. And with the proper accent to boot. I even remember being excited to show this off during my first trip to the province. To my disappointment though, everyone there spoke to me in Tagalog.
20. The best Christmas I ever had was when Santa Claus brought me action figures of all the twenty wrestlers I wrote in my Christmas list. As a bonus, I also got a WWF (now WWE) Royal Rumble wrestling ring and a replica of The Ultimate Warrior's Intercontinental Championship Belt.
21. Every month, I get fixated on a particular academic concept. For November, it was phronesis. For December, it was dialogue and dissemination (cf. item 7). For January, it was cultural intimacy (hence my question to Mirca during the B&B conference). This February, it's habitus (cf. item 2).
22. I used to be a huge fan of Marvel Comics. My favorite ones were those in the Infinity Series: The Infinity Gauntlet, The Infinity War, The Infinity Crusade, and the Infinity Watch. And my favorite character was, of course, Adam Warlock.
23. I almost failed fifth grade because I played too much computer games. Mortal Kombat, if my memory serves me right. It was just too much fun gouging my opponent's hearts. "Finish him!"
24. According to Jon, Danny and Mirca are ethnographers par excellence. We have a long way to go to be like them, but we're certainly expert lait-nographers. Hahaha!
25. My eyes always swell with tears every time I read the following passage by Roger Silverstone: "We study the media because we are concerned about their power: we fear it, we decry, we adore it. The power of definition, of incitement, of enlightenment, of seduction, of judgement. We study the media because of the need to understand how powerful the media are in our everyday lives; in the structuring of experience; on the surface and in the depths. And we want to harness that power for good rather than ill." It reminds me that despite all the crap involved in it, being a media scholar is worth it.
1. If I could decide which career I'd be most successful in, I'd pick being a tennis player and being a pop singer (not dancer!!!) first before being an academic. Notice though that all the careers I aspire to involve performing in front of an audience. The irrepressible showbiz gene in me!
2. Anjo had it right when he said that habitus also has a biological component. Although I've finally been able to overcome my aversion to trikes, jeeps, and (occasionally) buses, my commuter lifestyle appears to be the reason why I have been prone to illnesses lately. I don't have the antibodies for pollution...yet.
3. My most favorite dessert in the world is the $1.00 ice cream sandwich sold by the "uncles" in Orchard Road. I've tried all the flavors, and the hands down winner for me is mint with chocolate chips. :)
4. I hate the fact that my parents passed on two of their worst genetic traits to me: my predisposition towards weight gain (Mom) and my inexorable march towards hair loss (Dad). Oh, and there's my inherited scoliosis too, which is why I can never walk properly.
5. I remember getting a low grade in freshman English because I wrote an argumentative paper arguing that the Catholic Church is in decline. Nyahaha!
6. I once won an award for my organ rendition of the James Bond theme. Now, I can barely read musical scores!
7. The art of small talk is something that continues to elude me. Which is why during academic gatherings, I dread lunches and coffee breaks over paper presentations. I guess I'm a classic case of dissemination over dialogue.
8. The most beautiful photos I have are those of my family's trip to Europe (the breathtaking architecture in Florence! the streets of Paris! the bullfighting stadium in Madrid!, etc.) . But that was also the zenith of my fashion nerdiness: I was a fourteen year old with huge square glasses, giant shirts coupled with skinny jeans, sandals with socks, and...braces. I have a plan to save those photos by digitally erasing very nerdy Jason from them and digitally pasting a less nerdy Jace onto them. Brilliant!
9. Despite Aladdin's patriarchal and racist overtones, it is still my favorite Disney movie. Hey, at least it breaks the notion that you can't fall in love with someone who belongs to another social class. :)
10. Kuchie and I love popcorn movies. However, we usually have NYFD fries or Jamaican patties plus a large sized Big Chill while we watch them.
11. I just called my doctor this morning. And she told me that my liver has fat infiltrates, which may cause severe problems later on. That's not the worst part though. In order to prevent more damage to my liver, I'm now banned from eating fatty food, excessive carbs, chocolates (chocolates!!! can you believe that?!), among other things. Booo!
12. I learned to draw cartoons from two local art legends: Roni Santiago (of Baltic & Co. fame) and Larry Alcala (who is now one of our national artists). I still have my sketch pads with their comments on it. :)
13. I have an irrational fear of flying sports balls. Seriously.
14. The three teachers who have had the most impact in my personal life are Devi Ignacio-Paez (Dare to disturb the universe!), Dr. Marlu Vilches (Believe in yourself.), and Dr. Leo Garcia (The Other is radically other!). I will forever be grateful to them.
15. I wrote my first novel when I was fifteen. It was about a guy falling in love with his girl best friend. It was so sappy, I subsequently burned the only copy I made of it. :D
16. The only reason why I wanted to learn how to sing was because I couldn't sing the songs I composed (yes, aside from writing a sappy novel, I also used to write a lot of sappy pop songs). But after learning how to sing, I kinda got rusty with composing songs. Amazing.
17. The Barong Tagalog that I wore for my high school grad pic is now buried together with my uncle's driver, who passed away some years ago. During his burial, I whispered to him that there was no need for him to visit me to say thank you. Haha!
18. I seriously regret my college creative pic. I always have to explain what the darned thing means. Thank God that the new Comm. Dep't. no longer has a legacy room.
19. I can speak Bicolano (the Catanduanes brand, that is) fluently. And with the proper accent to boot. I even remember being excited to show this off during my first trip to the province. To my disappointment though, everyone there spoke to me in Tagalog.
20. The best Christmas I ever had was when Santa Claus brought me action figures of all the twenty wrestlers I wrote in my Christmas list. As a bonus, I also got a WWF (now WWE) Royal Rumble wrestling ring and a replica of The Ultimate Warrior's Intercontinental Championship Belt.
21. Every month, I get fixated on a particular academic concept. For November, it was phronesis. For December, it was dialogue and dissemination (cf. item 7). For January, it was cultural intimacy (hence my question to Mirca during the B&B conference). This February, it's habitus (cf. item 2).
22. I used to be a huge fan of Marvel Comics. My favorite ones were those in the Infinity Series: The Infinity Gauntlet, The Infinity War, The Infinity Crusade, and the Infinity Watch. And my favorite character was, of course, Adam Warlock.
23. I almost failed fifth grade because I played too much computer games. Mortal Kombat, if my memory serves me right. It was just too much fun gouging my opponent's hearts. "Finish him!"
24. According to Jon, Danny and Mirca are ethnographers par excellence. We have a long way to go to be like them, but we're certainly expert lait-nographers. Hahaha!
25. My eyes always swell with tears every time I read the following passage by Roger Silverstone: "We study the media because we are concerned about their power: we fear it, we decry, we adore it. The power of definition, of incitement, of enlightenment, of seduction, of judgement. We study the media because of the need to understand how powerful the media are in our everyday lives; in the structuring of experience; on the surface and in the depths. And we want to harness that power for good rather than ill." It reminds me that despite all the crap involved in it, being a media scholar is worth it.