You gave me questions....

It's been a while since I last replied to emails from people who frequently visit this blog. I try my best to respond to all of your messages, guys... but the thing is, work has really been eating lots of my time and energy these days. *sigh* This new job, full-time executive office manager of a leading Tourism company in the city is quite taxing specially for me who came from a very lazy part-time commercial modelling stint. But really, I’m enjoying it. Power-dressing is a lot more rewarding than posing for a select number of people in a given studio. Oh, I just love it when men stare behind my back… I wonder what they’re staring at? Teeheehee…

Anyway, I’d like to do an attempt in answering some of the questions which are frequently thrown to me by my blog visitors. I’ll try to answer the top five most asked questions on my list. (And yes.... some of 'em can get a little bit to the stupid side... some of 'em...)

1. Where exactly are you? Your profile says you’re in Makati, but you always mention you are somewhere else…

As I’ve said, I work in a company where tourism and travel is our business. So basically, I go out of the country a lot. As in, A LOT! But I always make sure I’d be going back. No matter how bad the situation is in the Philippines, my heart always pulls me back to where I came from no matter how persistent people are in convincing me to stay away if I had the chance. I love the people here. People are warm here. In Paris, no one would smile back at you. It’s cold out there when you’re out there.


As of this moment (Sept. 2004), a lot of my time is spent doing corporate meetings and assisting our clients with regards to doing business in the Philippines. Yes, I promote the Philippines. My friends and some people would find it weird- how too much hate I have for the country when in fact, my work involves building up the image of the Philippines. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably tell this again and again: I don’t hate this country. I think the Philippines is a great place to live. There’s just too many things to fix first before we can truly appreciate it’s beauty to the fullest. And fixing stuff means being aware of what is to be fixed first, right? Hence, I whine, if that’s what people would like to call what I’m doing.

2. What qualities do you look for in guys who’d want to be your next boyfriend?

Ah. Simple question, nasty motive. Here’s the thing. I don’t look for qualities. I believe that when love hits me, then that’s it. I don’t look for standards and I definitely don’t look for a new boyfriend at all. As far as I’m concerned, I’m already happy with what I have right now. If the right guy comes, then lucky me. If not… or not yet now, well, the hell with waiting. I’ve waited once, but I found it really frustrating. I learned how to deal with it, and the only way to deal with it is to NOT WAIT at all. “He” will come, true. But it’s quite weird if I go head over heals for him after dealing with the long desperate wait. The right approach that I have learned to live with is this… “Let ‘him’ be.” The “be” there has a phenomenological taste to it. Better read your philosophy books.

Ok. Some guys are persistent, so I’d give them an answer anyway. There’s one quality in particular which I am searching for a potential lover. He has to pamper me… a lot.


Let’s go to the other side of the question: What qualities don’t I like in men? Yes, this question has definite answers. First, I don’t like men who stare. I mean, sometimes, it makes me feel good when men "look"... It gives me an impression that I do look good... However, there are men's "looks" that are... well, bastos. I have this strong sense that I know when men stare at me in a very malicious manner even if I’m not looking at them. And I feel severly uneasy whenever that happens. Second, I don’t like men who brag about their stuff. If I don’t ask about what year you got your car, then don’t tell me anything about it. Third, I don’t like men who consider women as possessions. I’d like to feel I belong to someone special, but being branded as “syota ko yan…” or “akin ka lang…” is a different story.

Related question: Who’s Elmo? Well… I still have to ask Elmo himself first before I’d blurt out his true identity. I always say that he’s the only one in the world who really knows me, and how to make me happy in ways no other human being can. He’s... well... a special someone.

3. Can I have your cellphone number? No.

4. You’re a commercial model? What getup do you usually wear?

This question always come from people who’d like to know how to be a professional commercial model. I always say commercial models are people, too. They wear clothes the way usual people do. We go to places where people usually go. People eat fishballs, and I love fishballs. We’re not goddesses. We just do things in style, that’s why agents notice us- a usual way to start a modelling career.

What I usually wear?… hmmm… It depends. At home, the usual boring tanktops and shorts. At the malls, the usual low riders, pink tees and boots. I love dressing up in really girly style, although work won’t let me wear my favorite flowery dress anymore. In the office, short skimpy skirt ala-Ally Mcbeal, of course, but I’m not as thin as her, so I do power-dressing way better than her. I don’t wear overly stylish clothes, swashbuckling as if the mall, for instance, is my entire catwalk. I tend to disappear in the crowd, not emerge from it. I live a simple life. I intend to stay that way.

This brings me to another, quite rude, question. “If you’re a model, how come you don’t have lots of pictures on the web?” How dare these people ask me this question. I have questions posted on the web, but they are exclusively for professional purposes only… I don’t give away my profile. You should look for them if you can find them. But don’t expect me giving you links and stuff.

I had a terrible experience related to this. Once, I was trying this wonderfull lavander strappy sandals that I saw in one of those stalls in Megamall, then this weird looking dark thin guy approached me and shouted on the top of his lungs, “Shit! You are Katie Torres, right?!” He was all over me so much that I could cover my face with a bayong and wish I have the ability to pop like a bubble. I left hurriedly in discomfiture. Now you know why I keep a low physical profile online.

5. For the last question for this batch: What do you do in your spare time?

Aside from writing an entry for the blog, I do sketches for deviantart. But the thing is, my scanner’s broken now so I can’t upload it to the site. Maybe later. What else? Hmmm… People say I’m a text addict. I spend five hundred bucks a week for calls and text. Guilty pleasure.