Mommy D. and Me

The last time I posted something in this blogsite was more than a month ago. I was too busy finishing my book, and doing some other things. In addition, I just took up a new career as a part-time aerobics instructor in my neighborhood gym. It's something that I have taken up to make my life more exciting. At 48, I want to prove something. I am not just an academic. I am not going to stand by and let the years of my life pass as a routine. I don't want to be bored by what is expected and the usual.

Besides, if Mommy D. a.k.a. Dionesia Pacquiao can dream of becoming a recording star, I told myself that I have every right to become a fitness guru.

That is exactly the point that makes me crazy--when people who have no right come up and claim something that they don't deserve, or have no talent or capacity to become. This is why I decided to teach aerobics, albeit on a part-time basis, as a way of resisting the politics of boldness of these people who simply lay claim to an image just because they can get away with it.

Mommy D. became a celebrity by virtue of Manny P. Without him, she would never be taken seriously. I told myself that my becoming a fitness instructor is someting that I worked hard for, spending time learning the trick, losing pounds by lifting pounds, and spending at least two hours six times a week in the gym. I do not have to rely on the fame and fortune of someone else to make my 151 pounds turn into 137.

If Mommy D. can have the audacity to sing, and be bold enough to even see the products of such as fit to be sold in record bars, then I, in my humble opinion, have more right to lead those who desire to be fit as they sweat it out in the gym. She may have Manny and his money to be used as a fulcrum to make her and others believe her make-believe. I have nothing to offer except my health, both in body and mind, and yes, my authenticity, to my aerobics students.

Mommy D. as singer; Tonton C. as aerobics teacher. The former is a mystery of wealth defying the laws of sanity; the latter is a work of health transcending the challenges of age.