This blog post will not be as formal as how I am supposed or expected to do. This will just be me. This will just be about how I live my first 28 years.
It was just an ordinary August 31, 1987 when my dearly beloved mother, the Dona Zenaida Oris Balota birthed me out of this world. I don't know the exact time of my birth but it happened at PGH. A lot of things happened from then on. Crying episodes, best funny moments, hardships and trials, and most of all, how to love. For the past 28 years, it has been what happened to me and while it's happening, I was learning and still learning.
How is it being Ziegrey Oris-Balota?
I guess first, it is about being true (somehow) to myself. I am very emotional (just like how my BFF, Imee described me) in all things, in all aspects, in all situations. I am sensitive with the words you utter (right, Marky! I'm sorry!) and sometimes, I need to decipher what you really mean about it, which leads to trouble. I am a dreamer, I would love to be like this or like that. The problem is, I only dream without making it into reality. But God really moves in mysterious ways. He leads me to a someplace which I never dreamed of or imagined of. Just like in FEU, I thought of teaching in college but not in as grand as Far Eastern University. I'm already in my third semester with them, with full of vitality, stories and experiences. I am in love with the idea of love, the ideas and ideologies of being in love, that's why I guess still now I don't have someone with me. Or maybe, soon enough, sa tamang panahon.
I... am... gay... Gay which means being funny. Gay which means much higher than being happy. Gay which I'm just showing who the real me. Anyways, I don't need to elaborate, expound and discuss about this. I know how I feel and I know how it feels and its nothing wrong. I am a writer (obviously). I know how to begin and create but I don't know how to continue and finish. I think I am creative but am I really for this? Dr. Baytan will surely backfire me if he'll read my papers. I want to be versatile, both in creative and scholarly writing. I am a traveler on a shoestring. I prefer driving alone (except in Metro Manila) with ample amount of money and food and listening to my favorite radio shows and music. I prefer walking around elsewhere just to know what's going on on that place. If given a chance to have big amount of money, I'd go to Amanpulo, Balesin, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Dubai, London, Paris, Vatican City and New York City.
I need to earn a thousand mile before I forgive someone. It would take days, weeks, months or years to let go of what happened. Still, it will linger whenever the thought strikes me. I became a gullible person, especially with makeshift stories which I don't know why to use them? I always say ah talaga and it makes me a bit tanga to believe. I am such a loyal person, to my family, my dearest, closest, best friends and to my pet dog Jabba The Doggie (yeah, that's its real name!). Whatever happens, I'm there. Whatever which is wrong, I'm just one chat, text or call away. I may have a handful of friends plus the neophytes, I always make it a point to listen to them because that's how I think God gave me such task. I guess I'm also surfacing false humility. I know the task but I'm afraid to do it. I know the answer but I'm afraid to raise my hand. I know what to do but I'm afraid to be tagged as nagmamarunong. Safest answer would be it's okay to be safe but no. Somehow, I'm dealing with some challenges but only in the beginning. Towards the middle part until the end, it will be half-baked.
I am a fan of Kris Aquino, Meryl Streep, Nora Aunor, Vice Ganda, JOWAPAO and the #AlDub phenomenon! And I'm not like the other fans who bashes another icon. I am like Switzerland, a neutralized fan which I know their ups and downs, their good and bad, their awesomeness and irateness. #AlDub is my source of happiness. They made old songs new theme songs for the couples. They made single people wishful in forever. They made noontime viewing a lot more interesting than in prime time. They made the idea of love go back to its traditional roots of pagpapahirap. And it made Alden Richards even more handsome; it made Maine Mendoza instant icon of simplicity with beauty and wit; and it made Wally Bayola the best stand-up comedian since Jon Santos and Willie Nepomuceno (in my honest opinion!). I regained my love for OPM, which for now, are not copycats of American, British and Korean popular music. I prefer the originally composed music than revivals. I prefer seasoned performers jiving into new kinds of music and I prefer newly-hired performers performing old-school music of the 70s and 80s.
I'm still thinking of a perfect angle whenever I am about to be photographed. I don't know if it's a profile view or frontal. Or just how some of the "Baes" of Eat Bulaga's recently finished That's My Bae do their posing (why I don't find cute). I love to read but as much as possible, the knowledge I will get will be productively used in my teachings and other readings. Going back to my Literary Masterpieces class, I need to practice reading a book for a week, just how Kris Aquino read a book. In just a blink of an eye, she's already done a more-than-10-chaptered book! I would like to become somebody, an icon, a famous one but I don't know where to look for my niche in this world! Still, I'm not sure how to handle people if they will love you or even hate you! I just wanted to be famous because I did something good for the society. Probably by writing a beautiful story, or creating a new idea, or benchmarking a new way of thinking to the people.
I am not perfect. I am not a perfect friend, son, co-worker, teacher, citizen and a child of God. As much as I wanted everything to be perfect, but I, myself can't be treated as perfect because I'm not. And that's how it is being Ziegrey Oris-Balota. And for the next couple of years, I will be who I am, no expectations, no qualms and no inhibitions.
Let me finish this blog with a prayer of gratitude:
God, thank You for allowing me to live,
Allowing me to breath fresh air,
Allowing me to watch entertaining things,
Allowing me to love people who surrounds me,
Allowing me to listen to music,
Allowing me to walk to wherever I wanted to go,
Allowing me to say what I feel,
Allowing me to think hard for a solution,
Allowing me to taste the food I dream to eat,
Allowing me to meet a lot of people, and
Allowing me to choose the best people for me,
Allowing me to love and wait, or wait and love,
Allowing me to laugh the funniest moments,
Allowing me to cry the saddest moments,
Allowing me to know what I wanted to know,
Allowing me to talk for what is right,
Allowing me to see colorful things,
Allowing me to discover new things,
Allowing me to reminisce my mistakes, and
Allowing me to learn from them and start anew,
Allowing me to kiss the people I love,
Allowing me to love the people I kissed,
Allowing me to experience once-in-a-lifetime,
Allowing me to take some rest,
Allowing me to count all the blessings,
Allowing me to sleep soundly at night, and
Allowing me to give another day to live.
Sounds like showbiz, but I would like to thank all of my friends who have been with me for the past 28 years. Some may gone, some may leave but only the rest who stayed are stronger than I expected. Thank you to my family who has been the strongest wall ever. I may not be as showy as with other families but who needs it if by simply looking at them beautifully makes yourself leaned against. And of course, to God, through Jesus and Mary, for loving me unconditionally. I don't know how they reciprocate it but I truly feel their presence.
Happy Birthday to me!!!
Toodles!!!
