In the spirit of making life more fun (or if you’d like to put it this way: because the husband and wife tandem of Marc and Gail tagged me), I will confess 6 things that I think are unique/weird/different about me.

1. I rub my littlest toe (what is the proper term for that?) on my right foot against the other toes on my left, unconsciously it seems, to lull me to sleep. I don’t know why I do it, it just works. If you would take notice, you’ll probably see callouses (but why would you look at my toes?). I have a cousin who can’t sleep if he doest play with his mother’s big mole on her arm. My daughter Iani seems to trace the linings on her pillow with her thumb and pointer. Does it run in my family? More research needed.
2. I read several books at any given time. Like Juned, I love reading (though I don’t usually sleep with my books. As of this writing I have Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference in my bag (along with my digicam and iBook) which is sort of a bible for BlogandSoul Jayvee. In the throne room, I have Where Are You God by Marjorie Holmes and The Magic of Getting What You Want by David Schwartz. Lying on my home table is The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. Do I get confused where I left off? Sometimes. But it only takes a minute or two for me to recall where I was before. Is this efficient or effective? I do admit it has its disadvantages, re focus. But I feel I get the gist and lessons rather well. Oh, and you’d almost always find me carrying a book. I adhere to Jack Canfield’s advice which is ABAB. Always. Bring. A. Book.
3. My 256 MB Astone Rumba MP3 player has no music, 99% of the time. No, I don’t hate music. As a matter of fact, I love music and can play guitar and a little of bass, keyboards/piano, recorder (I had to put that there), ukulele, drums and maracas =). I appreciate rock, jazz, classical, religious, contemporary, oldies, new wave, some metal, pop, etc too. So what do I listen to? Podcasts, audio books (mostly self-help, classic/public domain, inspirational, business) and interviews. There are lots to go around, most of them free. I also have Rosary Army’s 4 Mysteries of the Rosary in it. I pray along with it in my daily commute from the house to the office. I’ve turned my audio player into a mobile university (and a chapel). You should too!
4. I’ve practically given up on TV. Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of TV shows, specially sci-fi and fantasy. But I realized that the time I spend was not commensurate to the entertainment or educational value I get. It used to affect my physical state when I stayed up too long and then go to work less than 100%. I seldom watch (nor listen) to news since most of it is bad news anyway. (I hope some innovative network produces a prime time good news newscast.) After watching, you just want to curse and rant and complain (leaves you mentally-and-emotionally-burdened) - which will be translated to venting to those around you. (Yes folks, what you put into your mind affects you and you don’t even realize it. If you put in negativity (scandals, murders, corruption) you’ll end up negative too. Though if you take in positive things (new cures, heroic acts, cute babies), your days will be brighter.
5. I am an electronics and communications engineer by education but an educator by vocation. (not really weird, but different). I started teaching in Don Bosco Technical College way back in 1988 through 1995 and crossed the entire spectrum of levels from Grade School, High School and College. I left and got a job at a radio telecoms company as, guess what: a Trainer! I left for another job to be - well, you guessed it: a Trainer again (until this day). And you know what one of my lifetime goals is? To create a complete e-learning school, portable and free. I’ll call it “school in a USB disk” or something.
6. I can dig catsup, salt and bagoong, but nothing beats soy sauce and calamansi, add a bit of chili sauce or “sili” and almost any ulam will taste terrific. Whether it’s fried fish, sinigang na baboy, nilagang baka, broiled anything or steamed shomai or veggies, toyomansi (the natural kind) beats suka, patis, bagoong, mustard, catsup, asin, paminta and bawang hands down. My wife frowns at me when she sees me concocting that elixir and blames me for influencing my daughter who loves it as much as I do. Oh the tangy pull of soury-and-salty in my tongue! Only the pull of Romana’s Peanut Brittle (and anything sweet for that matter) rivals this strange yet pleasurable experience on my palate.
7. Okay a bonus: My left eyebrow looks like Spock’s (of Star Trek if you are not into the cult). My right one is “normal”, my left seems to run away. It’s not ugly or eye-catching at all. As a matter of fact, some found it “cute”. It twists and turns about 1.5 times. I tried coaxing it to straighten down during my youth when I thought it was an aberration. I got tired of holding it down for minutes at a time and sort of forgot all about it. Cutting or pruning it never occurred to me, much less shaving it.

Not shocking enough? Why don’t you try it Ele, Retz, Carl, Migs, Gloria and the Real Fake Steve Jobs?