my independence day

Today, I celebrate the day I left home to pursue my dreams in New York. Each year, I reflect on how much I've changed from the style-impaired, scrawny 19-year old borderline closet case from Clinton, NJ who almost missed his getaway bus because his cheap "Chinatown Coach" luggage set was too heavy to drag across the asphalt parking lot.

Today, I'd like to spice things up and reflect on the opposite.

A lot about me may have changed in the last 8 years, but some things have remained the same:

1. dairy still gives me the shits
2. still allergic to pussy (and I don't mean cats)
3. my sense of direction will never improve
4. saying my bedtime prayer if I'm sober enough to remember
5. i hit the snooze button for an whole hour before finally getting up in the morning
6. "I'm foreign!" is my excuse for everything
7. "I have ADHD..." is my back-up in case #6 doesn't apply (I do have Filipino friends!)
8. my mom and I are tooootally BFF (I am a homo, after all!)
9. my baby sis is my pride and joy
10. I do not enjoy small talk
11. Janet Jackson is the queen of my (pop) universe
12. I may have sworn off Chinatown merchandise since that fateful day, but bargain clothes shopping is never a crime. That is, if you can pull off half the crap that you buy!
13. BUFFY ROCKS!!! Thank you, Lord, for DVD technology!
14. Prue can kick Paige's ass ANY day
15. La Lohan will always be cooler than that Duff bitch
16. have not stopped obsessing over my hair
17. I a firm believer that Whitney will dump Bobby--for good
18. Bush is still al loser
19. I still keep a journal
20. PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME "CARLOS!"
21. Carlo will ALWAYS be late for his date with you

As the cliché goes, the more things change, the more they remain the same. I guess as we change over time, experience and (/or LOSS of) wisdom, we hang on to some things that matter the most. In my case, it's usually the little things that matter more. I mean, HELLO--this idiot celebrates his own independence day.

For you to find some items on my list frivolous and insignificant would not be surprising to me. But these things speak volumes of who I was, who I've become and who I have yet to be.

Happy anniversary to me.

-cmbi.