The "Little Miss Universe" Question
No, I didn't join Eat Bulaga's "Little Miss Universe" contest. And this is not about wishing for "world peace" (that question is reserved for "Big Miss Universe").

When I was in grade five in Maryknoll College, we had this project -- we had to list down ten things we wanted to be when we grow up, and make drawings and a description of each. One bond paper each, one "ambition" with drawing and description. I can never forget that project because it was so much fun (and very funny, now that I think of it)! But for the life of me, I can't recall all ten, unfortunately. I will list them down as I remember them. Read on, and laugh at your own risk!


detective -- blame it on too many "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators" books! I hated Nancy Drew (oooh, why didn't she ever get hurt in any of her cases? I think she's like "Charlie's Angels" -- hindi mamatay-matay nor masaktan-saktan!), but loved Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews. Their adventures were hilarious, and fat Jupiter was oh-so-intelligent! I had a collection of these pocketbooks which I could never ever part with. 26 years later, I still could not part with them -- before I migrated to the US, I thought long and hard whether to give them away or not. I decided to keep them. This is extreme -- I hid the books and stashed them in my two leave-behind balikbayan boxes, which I sealed with packing tape. I wanted to make sure my Mother never disposes of them. My mother has a knack for throwing things away.


telephone operator -- why did I want to be a telephone operator? Because I enjoyed answering the phone ... *roll eyes*


teacher -- why did I want to be a teacher? Because I liked wiping the blackboard clean. *roll eyes again* Bata pa lang ako, I didn't know na OC-OC pala ako. Heck, I discovered what OC meant when I was old already.


nurse -- I guess some girls, at one point or another, wanted to be nurses. We had those plastic doctors' bag toys which contained drugstore stuff, like plastic stethoscopes, etc.


librarian -- why did I want to be a librarian? Again, OC-OC kasi ako. *sigh* I liked returning books to their proper places.


veterinarian -- I always had dogs. I've always had a soft spot for animals. "Animal Planet" brings tears to my eyes. Awww ...


That's all I remember from that list of ten things in grade five.

In my even younger years (I must have been 5 or 7 years old), I said I wanted to be a nun ... a masungit nun, at that (gosh, I was so so so sungit as a youngster. I'm still masungit now, but ten times less!). I really had a pure heart, despite my being a bitch. Anyway, I backed out of the nunnery ambition when I realized that I would have to scrub floors.

In my mid-20s, I had this fantasy -- I wanted to be a "maid". Yes, a maid. I figured I would be the most sosyal maid anyone could ever have. I'd answer the phone and speak in straight flawless English (cough cough); my master's/mistress' home would be spic and span due to my OC'ness; and I'd be reading Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan magazines instead of Liwayway comics (komiks). I know, I know ... my OC'ness really is an illness for me to even have this fantasy! Nothing wrong at all with being a maid (I love our maids in Manila. We all spoil them!), but you know what I mean.

Now, I still dream of doing something similar/related to detective work -- my greatest dream is to join the FBI, CIA, or be part of the Secret Service. As a matter of fact, before migrating to the US in 2005, I checked out the CIA website in hopes of applying for a job (yeah, right!). Tough luck -- the first requirement is US citizenship. I am eligible to apply for US citizenship in three years. But by then, this old and weak body would be lola-like!