When I started law school, I did not know what I was in for. I like reading and writing yes, but the past couple of years, I got into some other things too— that did not entail any brain work anyway. I worked for several companies in the fashion and entertainment industry. Picture The Devil Wears Prada’ (although not as glamorous and with lesser funds hehe. We are in the Philippines, remember?).

So there I was, in my first year of law school. Neat and well-groomed, my outfits always coordinated and trendy, I definitely garnered some attention, more particularly, my professors. On top of it, I admit I am guilty of speaking English in this really casual, perky, and for others, bimboesque fashion. But I thought, this is me, you know? It’s either you like it or not, I don’t care. And I definitely paid for that stubborn way of thinking.

First blow came from a woman professor: I was telling her that ” I wanna explain the case in detail” when she interrupted me, ” You know what? You are going to court and you need to get rid of the shoulda coulda wanna’ from your vocabulary… ” I was speechless. I felt so bad, I went to Church to pray after. ( I thought that I earned her ire then and I felt that could affect my passing her class which is a bar subject, after all.)

Next, was from one of the nicer professors in school. I was the first to recite for the whole semester, (lucky me whoopee!) and then I used the word ‘arrangement’ in this inappropriate manner which he did not approve of (he always reminded us of the importance of using the right words) so he said jokingly to which my classmates snickered at, ” Miss, this is not a flower arrangement class.” I was horrified, as I stared down my toes, my eyes skimming over my outfit then. It was a floral-print sundress. Talk about double meaning rolled in one comment.

And the worst came from a really brilliant professor of ours. He said while I was having trouble answering a question, ” you know what? You seem like Ms. Universe about to answer me World Peace.” Oh man. I just shut up but when he saw my cheeks turn pink- he probably pitied me and let me sit down.

But I took them all in stride. Yes, I can be myself but there was a price. I understood that. I needed to study more to prove myself though, and I knew it would help me in the long run. And I did. And the hard work paid off (well,for some of them anyway).

Yup, that is me. Fine, I am a teenybopper ( I listen to Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears), a fashion lover (Vogue is my Bible), and I love make-up. At the same time, I am a super geek, I love reading and hardly watch TV (well, except for the news and The Buzz— what? I am fascinated by it), and socializing. So? I know I may be weird, but at the end the day, for me, all it matters is whether you have a good heart, you know, just be a decent person. And I think I am, or at least, I try to be one. And stuff like that, well you just laugh at them. I don’t let them affect me, they were just kidding anyway. Just another anecdote I could tell my kids in the future (which is pretty far off anyway).