Poise

If there was a category in the yearbook as to who was 'Most Poised' (like in the Disney Channel Lizzie McGuire series), I'd definitely be the last person to earn it. I am very uncoordinated, and even on those days when I was going to the gym to do aerobics, I couldn't do those moves that require more than two body parts working together.

Anyway, I put off writing about it but I had a most embarrassing day at the office last Friday. I sit on this workstation at the far end of the room, with a wall to my right and back. It was to my advantage that I had been exiled here, as that fateful day, I tried getting an electric fan in position while picking up a pen and fell over! Yep, my huge chair tipped and I was pinned for about five seconds under it, trying not to laugh and cry at the same time.

An officemate at the nearby workstation saw me and shouted, 'Maam! Are you all right?'

I could barely muster a reply, and the guy in front of me asked the same, although he was too embarrassed for me to look over the cubicle wall.

Throughout the day, I could not stop thinking about my blooper and would grin like a fool. If I had been witness to someone who had the same experience, I'd probably be telling and retelling this story for days to come. Argh.

I also count the following as memorable experiences of the comedic kind:

1. In grade school, we were asked to do the 'Panatang Makabayan' every morning after the flag ceremony and a different pledge of allegiance in the afternoon. Each day, two persons were to lead the pledges. When my time to lead came, I switched the afternoon pledge for the one in the morning. Surprisingly, the whole school followed me in reciting the wrong pledge.

2. I always loved doing unusual college class activities. For one activity, my bestfriend and I decided to do a puppet show. There were two Assumption girls in our class who were always grooming themselves, so we had the puppets act like them. Our act would have the two do lines like, 'Does anybody have tissuuuuue?!? Loose ha!' and 'You know last night, I put lotion all oooover my body.' The other girls in our class loved it, but the boys were another story. We got booed by them! It turned out all of them except for one (Mr. I-am-an-agnostic Bedan Activist) had crushes on the two Assumptionistas.

3. In college PE class, our group of six girls had to design an aerobic routine. We decided to practice in front of a corner classroom. Of course, as luck would have it, we had to work with the two Assumptionistas. So while doing lunges (to make your butt look bigger), we were unaware our tushies were the star of a floor show for about 20 boys watching from the classroom across.

4. I was a sleepwalker for one week in my third year in college, and my mom would tell me in the morning that I tried to open the main door and gate while she struggled to lead me back to my room. Imagine what would have happened if I succeeded in my attempts.

5. I would often answer my home phone with the standard office greeting. One time, my brother's best friend and our regular visitor called. After my '[Office name] good afternoon, how may I help you?', I realized I was at home and quickly started correcting myself. However, he had already hung up and called again, thinking his first call was a fluke.