MONACO is a pseudonym I use on the net. No, I'm not from Monaco or in Monaco and my name isn't Mon, but I was named after the prince of Monaco. Male, pinoy and single. Full-blooded La Sallian, gadget junkie, car lover, coffee fanatic, beer drinker and one-time chain smoker. A seasoned executive from the customer service/hospitality industry, I'm currently on an extended lunch break... in other words, jobless!

More random facts about me:

I once lost more than thirty five pounds in a span of three weeks! Yup, that's right, 35 pounds in three weeks. That was sometime after college when I gained so much weight from a vacation abroad. Mind you, before the said vacation I was as thin as a bamboo rod, but something triggered my metabolism for me to gain so much weight is such a short time (more about this later). Anyway, I looked at myself in the mirror one day and didn't like what I saw - I was bulging all over, and in the wrong places at that! I then followed a strict regimen of exercise and diet that proved to be successful. I swore to only eat one cup of rice and vegetables until I
lost all the weight I needed to get rid of. On top of this, I vowed to shed off the fat through exercise. No, not regular gym exercise but ordinary aerobic exercise, like walking. I walked to any destination I could. At that time, we were still living in Hong Kong so I had a lot of company walking. But this was the clincher. I didn't use the elevator as well! We lived on the 12th floor and I walked upstairs every time in those three weeks. That was many years ago and though I am a few founds overweight now, I haven't tried it since. Besides, I don't think my metabolism is as obedient now.

I learned to drive by myself! I didn't enroll in a driving school and no one else taught me. I just observed how my dad and my uncles drove and kept it all in my head. Also, I chaperoned for my female cousin when she had her driving lessons and intently watched from the back seat. Then I put all of these gathered information into practice by sneaking dad's car late at night while everybody slept, always after midnight. I did that three to four times a week, driving around the quiet neighborhood, until I could drive outside our subdivision. My parents never found out and I don't think they know to this day! The funny thing is, when I was eventually allowed to drive I had a hard time adjusting to driving in the daytime since I always drove in the dark!

Before that weight gain spurt I was thin. I had been since grade school. I even remember being teased about it all throughout my teen years, with words like 'payatot', 'kalansay' (skeleton) and 'malnourished' often used. Kids can be cruel. No matter what I did I never gained weight. And mind you, I ate like a horse! I remember checking my weight everyday on the coin-operated scale at the Star Ferry concourse to see if my efforts have paid off. Nothing. The reading was always pegged at 95 pounds. It was the same story in college. Then I read an ad about high protein tablets that weight lifters took. It was Hoffman's High Protein tablets and it promised weight gain to 'malnourished individuals like me. But here's the catch. I had to drink 40 of those brown, dog-food-smelling pellets everyday! I had no choice. I gulped 40 tablets a day and, about four months later, I started gaining weight.

I am a fast food junkie. Though I also enjoy regular restaurant fare, even indulging in fine dining and haute cuisine with my friends regularly, nothing fills me up like good ole burgers (quarter pounders are my favorites), fried chicken or pizza. This must be because I worked for McDonald's for five years. He he. While others dream of a trip to the food capitals of the world to try their gastronomic delights, mine is to go to Chicago to feast on their world-famous deep dish pizzas!

I hear and see ghosts! I must have 'inherited' this gift from my dad and from my grandfather. They both have this gift as well. I first became aware of this when I would hear footsteps just outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night. I was around eight years old at the time. It didn't scare me. On the contrary, it made me curious enough to open my window every time I would hear those mysterious footsteps (it even sounded like it was dragging something). However, I couldn't see a thing. I eventually gave up despite continuously hearing that sound every night. My first encounter was in college when I saw this dark shadow in my path in the Marian quadrangle of DLSU as I was going home late one night from computer lab. It was kinda scary. The shadow looked like it was watching me, would stop still when I stopped and moved when I moved. It eventually disappeared when some of my classmates caught up with me. I have had many encounters since, some of which I may have written about here before.

BTW, my niece has this 'gift' too. While we were driving out to dinner when several years ago (she was about eight then), she suddenly said, "Poor little girl, playing all alone by herself." She was pointing to the dark neighborhood playground we were approaching. My dad and I immediately looked at each other. The playground was empty!

More...

Whenever I’m depressed, you’ll find me at the mall, shopping. But not for clothes or anything useful. I buy knickknacks, trinkets or whatever from gift shops and bookstores. Sometimes I go to hardware shops and look for nails and screws or some small tools. This is my therapy I guess. As a result, I have loads of useless stuff tucked in my closet.

I am 5’9” tall. Though this is above average by Filipino standards, I am still one the the shortest among male cousins on my mother’s side of the family. Most of my cousins are six-footers including teenage nephews. But on my dad’s side of the family, my brother (he’s as tall as I am) and I are the tallest. He he.

My left foot is one size bigger than my right . I don’t know why. Though I know one’s feet are not exactly the same size, I think to be one whole size bigger is weird. And one more thing, my right hip is slightly higher than the left, thus making my right pant leg look shorter!

I have (severe) acrophobia (fear of heights). Though this may be quite common (I read somewhere most Asians suffer from this phobia), I think mine is more intense than usual. I get dizzy just watching scenes shot from heights on television and in movies. And sometimes just walking near the railings at the mall gives me the shivers.

I worked at McDonalds. Sometime after college I tagged along with two friends to an interview for crew positions. They didn’t make it but I did, starting as crew in the kitchen cooking McChickens, Fish Fillets and Apple Pies, then gradually working my way up to a management position.

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