Jane’s 6 Oddities

(I got tagged by Chats of iMom and frankly, this is the first meme I am answering because when I got the other emails with “You’ve Been Tagged” in the subject header, I promptly trashed them, thinking they were spam email.

This topic is pretty tough to blog about because what I consider normal could be weird for others. So who do I call? My own kids! Let me just say I have been adequately forewarned about the possibility of my kids being totally honest in answering me).

Before getting to the meat of this post, here’s how the tag rule goes:

Each player of this game starts with 6 weird things about himself or herself. People who get tagged need to write a blog entry of their own as well as state the rule clearly. In the end, you need to tag 6 people as well and list their names. Don’t forget to let them know they’ve been tagged!

Okay, with that out of the way, here are the top 6 weird stuff about me (according to my 4 brats kids):

1. I sometimes talk to myself.

Now, now. It does not mean I carry on a dialogue with myself. It’s just that I tend to think aloud sometimes and vent my feelings orally. The book I am reading now, “Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps” hits the nail on the head. Girls’ verbal skills develop more rapidly and earlier than boys’ and so they tend to verbalize many things, including doing math calculations. Watch a woman do the groceries, while evaluating which item is cheaper or mentally calculating her bill. More often than not, a good majority would be mumbling to themselves.

2. I am paranoid about my kids’ safety.

Yes, when they go out, I need to have all the details — where are you going, who will you be with, send me the bizcards of some of your friends, what time will it end, how are you coming home…When my 2 boys took their first plane flight by themselves just this summer, I kept calling M1’s cellphone while they were in the departure area, prompting M1 to ask, “Mama, are you worried?” No, I’m not!!! Just biting my nails here in Makati waiting for your flight to depart….

3. I eat bananas with generous helpings of peanut butter on top.

And sometimes not just peanut butter but actual peanuts.

Is that so strange? My kids pile catsup on top of their rice — it looks like catsup with rice rather than the other way around! Oh yes, and my dad eats ripe mangoes with rice (actually, many people I know from our place in the Visayas eat like this). Bet you, you also know someone who mixes and matches food you would never eat simultaneously….

4. I am trying to gain between 5-8 lbs (since I lost so much after getting these adult braces); and yet I go to the gym and do yoga several times a week.

My kids said….duh???

5. My nicknames sound like animal names.

For some reason I cannot recall now, my family has always called me Bing or Bingbing — a common Visayan nickname — but with no direct relation to my real name. But when my mom used to call me “Come, Bing!”, it sounded like kambing (goat). And now that my in-laws are Chinese-Filipino, I am called A-soh (wife of oldest brother-in-law) by my sisters-in-law. Sounds like a dog…

6. I joined the Streetdancing class at my gym.

When I first told my daughter C2 about this, her jaw dropped and she screamed, “MOM!” with that voice inflection that tells you she is absolutely horrified. To which I promptly answered her, “If you can learn how to dance the Swing which was the dance during our time, why can’t we learn how to dance hip-hop?”. It was just a simple cardio workout, as far as I was concerned, done to a hip-hop beat. For her, it was unthinkable for HER MOM to be doing the moves of her generation. Still, it got our group of hip-hop mommies a name (aptly given by a priest–blogger-friend). We’re now the YO MOMMAS! hehehehe……

OK. Now that’s done, whew! I now tag Chona S, Lala, Aly, Feng, Deedee, and Dine. Ladies, the truth pleeeeezzzzz! 🙂