My Childhood (Prelim)

Introduction

Greetings

My name is Avielh Aleczis M. Tolentino; ‘Avielh’ for short. The ‘h’ is silent. My mom calls me ‘biyaw’, most of my close friends call me ‘viel’. I tend to be kind. I like to do things properly. I like to help others - but not if it’s illegal or wrong. Still, I go out of my way to help close friends. I learn quickly but tend to get bored easily; I love new challenges, problems but not repetitive tasks. I’m sort of tall about 5’8. I usually wear pants (jeans) or shorts – I like to wear slippers if I’m wearing shorts. I do try to look nice. I want people to see that I make an effort to please them, even in my clothes/ appearance. I do try to stay fit as that’s the cheapest way to look good- and you get to live longer too!

Purpose

            Writing an autobiography gives me the chance to develop my communication skills. I do love to talk once I get started – I really enjoy it, in fact many people who know me tell me I talk too much. Writing an autobiography also gives me the opportunity to recall my past, enjoy memories, and enjoy people I love. It also gives me the opportunity to share my life with others.

Skill

            I’m not really a writer, I don’t like to write long- or rather I don’t like to think long – that is I tend to summarize everything, simplify ideas and concepts the most that I can. I’ve read science fiction novels before, but not too much. I’m not really a reader, but I do listen a lot to sermons in mp3, and those help my diction a lot – both in my speech and in my thinking. I do think in English more than tagalong (or Filipino). Playing games also helps a lot because you get to listen to speeches in good poetic English, especially in fantasy role playing games. Come to think of it I did write a couple of game guides on the Internet. I don’t think they were very good grammatically, but experience does help. Writing has a way of making you think more clearly. It gives you the opportunity to see your thoughts more clearly and scrutinize them. Writing is beneficial to anyone who loves to think about things.

Attitude

            I like to share ideas with people who also love them. I’m a logical person; I got that from my dad. I tend to be passionate on a one thing at a time, usually neglecting other things in the process. But that does mean that when I love something or someone I really give it my best. I like to excel in the things I love.

Style

I really don’t know what my style is because I really haven’t had a lot of chance to observe my writing in essay form. I love to argue so that will help. I don’t like to be too formal, I tend to be natural and authentic; what is in my heart I tend to speak as is. I’m not really good at lying. Someone said to me that I’m honest but tactless. I’m witty, I love to add a lot of logic to what I do, I don’t like things too simple. I love things well thought of, things that people really put effort into. It shows that they value those things or at least the people who will read or use them. I am hopeful and confident that this will be a rewarding activity for me. I feel like I can go on forever : )

My Family

Grandfather

            I have no memory of my lolo (grandfather). ”Salvador Tolentino” – still the account name on our electric bill, he was the one who bought and constructed our house. He was an accountant and was a partner in a business (as I understand it). He was rich (most people today hesitate to use that word; “poorer than the next richer guy” they’d say). Though, he was relatively rich. I have no memory of him because he died before I was born.

Grandmother

            My lola (grandmother) is the family I spent the most time with, because when my father and later my mother went to work abroad, me and my sister were left with her. She used to worked at the Ministry of Immigration, near Jones Bridge in Manila. I still remember going there, it seems like the memory is in black and white because it was so long ago. I remember that she was in charge of the supplies. Me and my sister would often play in the corridors of that building when we went there.

Mother

            My mother was and still is a nurse. She used to work at Philippine General Hospital (PGH). I remember vaguely how the parking lot looked like during those days. She was also a Tupper Ware seller- I vaguely remember the building where the Tupperware office was; in fact I have no idea where it is today. When my father went to work in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, my sister and I were left with her. Though she later also went abroad to work, to Oman.

Father

            My father was a mechanical engineer, then later also a programmer. He really was that type of guy- very theoretical, logical. He is an idealist, he expects systems (whether in computers or in the society) to work at their best. He tends to hate systemic faults; as a result he really doesn’t like the Philippines. He tends to be very western in thinking. He’s not very talkative and doesn’t socialize much, very quiet. In fact I didn’t talk to him a lot. It seems very awkward to talk to him; most of my childhood conversations with him were more of questions and answer conversations.

Sister

            My sister Ginelle – we’d get along together when we were kids. Though I remember I was really mean then. I remember stealing from her savings and I always wanted toys, food for myself… I was really selfish.

Home

An Old house

The house we grew up in was an old house. It used to be really well maintained but when my Lola died it fell to disrepair. When I was young it was a rich house – a house that looked like it was owned by rich people, I know this house very well; I’ve played around it, inside it, hid in every place possible, climbed the roof – it was a big playground for me.

Ginelle

My sister and I played all around the house. When we were young we had a Family Computer as it was called, or more commonly called today NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). It was placed on the third floor and during lazy days we’d played all day long. I still remember the first game cartridges we had : Galaxian, Mario Bros, Pacman and 1942. Also during Saturday mornings, there used to be an all morning cartoon marathon on channel 13 and we’d watch that every week.

Buboy and Aian

            Buboy and (ate) Aian are brother and sister, our cousins. They were from the province (from Aklan). They’d usually come on vacations and we’d play with them. They were noticeably faster and more agile than us and most of the kids here. They were good at climbing trees, using sling shots, running and feinting during outdoor games like tag or Langit Lupa. We spent a lot of time playing with them and learned a lot from them.          

Jereth and Marco

            Jereth and Marco are brothers, also our cousins, this time on our father’s side. They are also neighbors living right in front of our house. They were the first ones to own a bicycle, one with a side car. Eventually almost every kid on our street owned bikes. We’d bike together with them, fight other kids with them, have fights with them – it was a blast.

Dogs

            We have had lots of dogs growing up. I must admit we were cruel on them and treated them like toys especially when we were very young. Brownie and Blackie; our first dogs – as I remember. Those names tended to stay on later generation of dogs. It seems we never had more interesting names for our dogs. Still I love dogs, I’m so used to them I hardly get scared of other dogs even when they’re barking or moving as if to chase me, I just yawn cause I’m so used to them. I still own a dog to this day.

School

Lutheran

“Immanuel Lutheran School”, it used to be just a church using the rooms below the main chapel hall for Nursery and Kinder. I was funded by a foreign mission from Norway, even then it had a big lot. They later expanded it and would build buildings for grade I to VI. They later would also have a High School. It was close by, walking distance but on a different lot. It was a Lutheran school and so we’d had chapel service every Wednesday.

Picked On

            Early on in school I remember being picked on by other kids, being called names or made fun of. A lot of the kids during my Elementary Grade School then were mean. Though I suppose they were still mean through High School but I’ve gotten taller and bigger so they didn’t pick on me anymore

Poor Performance

            I didn’t do well in school both academically and socially. I didn’t like school at all. I did make it to the top ten once or twice, but I think it was really more because my tutor was also our class teacher. I think the thing I really liked in school was talking about toys and cartoons with other kids.

Macross and Transformers

            I guess I’ve always been childish and it was during my grade school days that the Japanese cartoon series Macross came out on local TV. I really loved that cartoon; my circle of friends was really focused on things like that. I guess every kid had some cartoon they’d really love. Transformers also came out during those days and it was really big in those days, I remember my schoolmates would have heated arguments over which robot was better this or that.

Walking

.           I love to walk even during my elementary/ grade school days. Even then a one kilometer walk was not a problem for me. I got that from my dad, he also loved to walk. I remember that after school I would really be annoyed that the school security guard wouldn’t let me out of the school and insist that I wait for my service (tricycle rented to fetch me)- and a lot of times he would be late. And so the friends I had in school was also like me, we loved cartoons, toys, and games. A lot of these characteristics tended to stay with me even today. That’s all.