I was welcomed into this world by the Roman Catholics of a particularly impoverishednation addled by chaos, martial law, a hated dictator, and Kuya Germs's That'sEntertainment. I lived a relatively quiet first few years, broken only by the EDSARevolution and the tragic births of my younger siblings. Haha just kidding. Only sort of.But not really.
Anyway, I went to pre-school and learned yoga and interpretive dance, then transferred toanother pre-school where naptime was imposed and reading time was mandatory. All the funstopped there as I entered a more stringent establishment the following year, with nonaptimes, no playgrounds, and no boys (gasp!). Only nuns and girls! NUNS AND GIRLS! Well,that should be enough to give you an idea of what my childhood was like. There wereswimming lessons, piano lessons, puppies that died, cats that were never officially "owned"but were claimed nonetheless, a heavy rotation of friends, and dozens of failed attempts atperforming arts.
Hard times followed that necessitated a move to bigger and better things. And bigger andbetter things did come as my family and I were uprooted from a comfortable house in a quiet subdivisionto a too-tiny abode with not enough rooms and noisy Mexican neighbors (Not to say thatMexicans are loud; just these Mexicans are. We had Asian neighbors before them who areequally as loud, it's just that that particular apartment was better soundproofed). I wasenrolled in a co-educational institution, then a co-educational state university. And Igraduated. Indeed, I graduated. Huzzah!
Comfortable living now comes in form of a cramped sty shared with a sibling, low-payingpart-time employment as a yes-man to the nouveaux riches, and...not much else come to thinkof it. Lovely friends and lovely relationships abound; the lovely family serves to be lovelyloves or lovely annoyances once in a while; and lovely (but these days not-quite-so-lovely)paychecks come every couple of Fridays.
More change will hopefully follow. Efforts are still being made in that regard. Wish meluck.