IF I COULD enroll in a PhD program, with my tuition paid in full by a mysterious benefactor, I would like to study Linguistics.
I want to have a degree in Linguistics so I could push my Hiligaynon Revolution of 2014.
I really want to advocate for the Hiligaynon language of the Philippines.
Besides, although I really like Literature, there are plenty of doctors of Literature in the Philippines already.
I don’t want to compete in any crowded field, period.
I really want to be a doctor of Linguistics, and I want to be remembered for my championing of the Hiligaynon language.
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At fifty, and after what I have achieved in Philippine literature so far, I don’t think I would want a pen name if I wrote romance novels or erotic fiction.
I think pseudonyms are for novices.
But if I’m really pushed to it, I’ll probably write under P.S. Nery.
Otherwise, Peter Solis Nery should be fine.
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I’m not easily bored because I have lots of interests.
On a daily basis, I enjoy my movies, music, and books.
I occasionally cook.
To spice up my days, I would go online shopping.
Or, if I feel like going out of my house, I go thrift store shopping for more books, and more DVD movies.
I go free reading at bookstores over coffee, and I splurge a bit on alternative content movies (like filmed plays, opera, ballets).
In the past three years though, I think I’m only bored of not having a regular lover.
I like kissing a lot.
And I don’t normally kiss with strangers.
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I really think I am amazingly good at stringing words.
I can make people laugh with my witticisms.
I can comfort the afflicted with my carefully chosen words.
I give great advices to friends, and often with an effective script they can stick to.
Not only I am quick of wit, and too smart for my age, I am also an amazing performer of verbal prowess and dexterity.
In the last three years, I never shied away from calling myself a poet.
(I was embarrassed to publicly identify myself as a poet early in my career, even if it was all I ever wanted to be called.)
But lately, I’ve been publishing my poetry left and right, and rather shamelessly.
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What I love most about my hometown of Dumangas are its historic claims, and its famous people.
Dumangas has produced some real famous writers and artists of national fame, and I’m glad to be counted as one of them.
I still think of Dumangas as a small town, where everybody knows each other’s business.
But I’m told by friends that maybe I only think this way because I am at the center of the talks.
I mean, because I have some celebrity, the locals talk about me, and know so much about me.
And because I am truly interested in people’s lives (as a writer), I get to hear all the town’s stories, and people are more open to share gossips with me because I haven’t betrayed them (yet).
As a storyteller, I tend to listen more to people when they care to tell stories about themselves, and other people.
In a writerly way, I take notes.
Like these could be materials for future stories. (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
