13 Going on Thirty

Kaliwete - that is what my father sometimes refer me to, aside from “way lubot” or sapyot (“flat butt” in English; “walang pwet” in Tagalog).

“Walhon!” is what my sisters occasionally teases me when I couldn’t do things right (pun intended).

Yes, I’m the more unique of the two sides of the human species. I’m left-handed. A true blue left-handed. I do everything with my left. I eat with the spoon on the left, wear my pants left feet first, wear my watch on the left, do bunong braso (arm wrestling) with my left, read the papers backwards, etc.. And I share the billing with celebrities like Julie Roberts, Nicole Kidman and yes, including Ate Vi.

Being left-handed has several downsides. In high school and college, I had to struggle with right-handed armchairs that made writing much more difficult. I could certainly attribute that to why I didn’t do well in school. I wasn’t able to convince my parents with that though (he, he, he). Is that why I didn’t grow up having a good handwriting too? Ha!   

There are no scissors for left-handed (at least in the Philippines) that’s why I couldn’t cut anything straight. That left my two sisters (older and younger) to do all the cutting for me including covering my books while I was in school (ok fine, up until now!) Probably that’s the reason why I never got interested in craftmaking. Even sewing was difficult because I do running stitches backwards! If I start opening a can, I had to finish it all the way through. Otherwise, if I ask a right-handed to continue it for me, it would be difficult because I do it counterclockwise! I can’t dance well with a partner because it’s always automatic for me to put my left feet out first. Playing the guitar also looks awkward for me. So where did that theory about the left-handed being the more artistic come from huh? I’d like to refute that! But I can sing though. He, he, he.   

Just last Friday night when I arrived home, I panicked when I found out that while my closet was neatly organized and my clothes nicely folded by my sweet sister Nat, she had all my hangers in a different orientation – the hooks were facing left! I told her my left brain only recognizes that the hooks have to be facing right so my hands are starting to get epileptic when I got my clothes in the hanger. 

Trivia: Don’t you know that one way to distinguish a man’s shirt from a woman is to which side the buttons are located? For women, it has to be on the left, for men, on the right. And there’s even a story behind it about the man taking out his sword and putting on his shirt at the same time or something like that.  He, he, he. Plus the left is often associated with the “evil” one and so it is disrespectful to eat with a spoon on your left (hey, we didn’t choose to be like this!). There’s also a story behind that, I heard. Was Judas sitting on the left side of Jesus on the Last Supper too? Dan Brown, is that you again? He, he, he.

Anyway, while being a left-handed has its downside, there are also advantages to it. My former badminton coach said, my being left-handed is an advantage (aside from my height, he said), because my opponent will have more difficulty in approximating the trajectory of the incoming shuttlecock. But hey, how come I never saw that advantage in any of the games I played, Coach? (he, he, he).

I can hold hands with my special someone even when we’re both eating! Isn’t that sweet or what? Kissing doesn’t need to be difficult too, I guess. He,he,he.     

And what else… uhm… uhm… That’s it pancit?!!! Gosh, now I’m starting to think that there’s a worldwide conspiracy going on. We are actually left (no pun intended) at a disadvantage from the right-handed! Ha! But no! He,he,he.   

Anyway, last weekend I had the chance to think about most of the things I had on my left. And here’s what I discovered:   

1.                 I sleep on the left side of the bed (near my side table where my “Quiet Time” things are located) and I sleep facing left

2.                 My tables at my previous and current office were located on the left side of the room

3.                 The left side of my wallet contains all the “money” cards (atm and credit cards); the right side all my identification cards 

4.                 The left side of my rented flat is the bathroom (which I’m most meticulous about aside from the kitchen)

5.                 On the left side of my mirror/dresser is where I kept jewelry of value  and “everything for the face”, while on the right side are the cheap accessories and “everything for the body”

6.                 My left ear has a mole

7.                 I left Brad because I wasn’t ready to be a mom yet at that time so he’s now with Angelina (now that’s already my imagination working!)

Is it a case of where my “left” is, there my heart will be also? he, he, he.

So what makes you a “rightie”?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 4th, 2006 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.