Person 1: Sino si Sorsi?
Person 2: Yung maliit.
Person 1: Ahhh yun! Kilala ko na yun!
Person I was talking to on the phone: So ano totoong height mo?
Me: 4’8”
Person on phone: HA?!? May tao bang ganon???
Another person: Ano height mo?
Me: 4’8”
Person: Ay, eh di walang nanliligaw sayo?
Me: I’m 4’8”
People: Ows? Talaga? Imposible!
Yes, it’s true. I’m only 4’8”….unless the measuring system in our school is flawed. Every year, our school nurse would record our measurements and I have been 4’8” since 7th grade (actually, one time in high school, she measured it at 4’7”. something but decided to mark it as 4’8” anyway because I was about to cry.).
In school, I have always been one of the first girls in line. The only way I can be seated at the back of the classroom is when we’re seated alphabetically.
When I graduated, I was given an award for the yearbook….for being the smallest girl in the batch!
One time when I was in high school (our high school uniform is different from the grade school uniform), I was walking along the corridors of the grade 1 classrooms. A grade 1 student (who I didn’t know at all) approached me and said, “High school ka na?” I said, “oo”. She said, “Eh bakit ang liit mo?”
Since I liked joking around in school, I would harass the younger girls by making non-stop hirits. I’ve actually made a few girls cry because I made them kulit too much. A few years later, I had a tap on the back. When I turned around, I looked up at a tall girl looking down on me. She said, “Di mo nako kilala? Ako yung pinaiyak mo dati!”…uh-oh!=P
In college, I had friends who would put my arnis sticks at the very top of the lockers when the bell rings and enjoy the sight of me jumping up and down to reach them.
In the family, my cousins have made me their benchmark. They would measure themselves against me as they grow up. Once they’ve gotten even just a bit taller than me, they will rejoice. “Yey! Mas matangkad nako kay Cathy!”. It has gone on for 13 cousins now…and I bet my nephews will do the same.
During my sister’s wedding, I was seated with my baby cousins (grade schoolers). One of them said, “Why are you not married yet?”, I said, “I don’t even have a boyfriend yet.” “Why don’t you have a boyfriend? Is it because you’re so small? Maybe you should drink Cherifer so that you will grow taller…and then the boys will see you…and then you will have a boyfriend…so that you’ll get married!” (so the problem pala is that boys don’t see me!) These are the same cousins who told me to dress as an Oompa Loompa for Halloween.
Excuse me my dear cousins but I’ve had boyfriends even if I’m this short. Yun nga lang, they looked like pedophiles having me in their arms=P I was always more than a ruler shorter than they were…and when they hug me, my head hits nothing but chest.
On MRT’s, my head is always on the same level as every construction worker’s armpit. In crowded places, my head always gets hit by people’s bags.
It’s really not my fault I was born short…my mom was only 4’11” or so. She didn’t let me take those Chinese growth balls for some reason. Growee and Cherifer were unheard of when I was young. I’ve tried jumping on New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and Chinese New Year! I’ve tried jumping over people, from high tables and from stairs! Still, I’m 4’8”.
Yes, I have wished to be taller. Sometimes I’d pray, ‘sige na Lord, kahit isang inch lang…please…”
But I guess there are advantages to being short too….like…ummm…you get to pass for the kiddie buffet at Las Vegas and pay cheaper, you look younger, people help you around a lot, you’re always in front of production numbers, you always get to be on top of the pyramids, etc.
I always liked the short basketball players who are good on the court like LA Tenorio or short people who become powerful like Marcos and GMA or great like Jose Rizal=) I know that we, the short people, have a big capacity/potential to be great…because we’ve had to work harder for things since we were young. We’ve had to work harder to reach that cookie jar on top of the cupboard…we’ve had to work harder to catch someone’s attention…we’ve had to work harder not to get our panties wet while walking from the shore to the waiting ’sundo’ boat in Boracay (I always end up being the only one in our group who has to be carried by the porters=P), we’ve had to work harder to grab the last piece of chocolate first … etc.=) And so, we become tougher (even when a number of her cabinet members bailed on her and with impeachment complaints here and there, GMA..undeterred…still remains in power)…we learn to fight back in other ways (If Jose Rizal were big and macho, he might have used the sword instead of the pen)…we learn to use our ‘disadvantage’ to our advantage (because he is short, LA easily slips through other taller players)…yan ang mga bagong bayani…ang mga pandak! BOW!
I’m taller than Farquaad!
Why I can never have an American boyfriend.
Short people being used as patungan…
Short people are sometimes bullied too…
Short people have very little ‘fighting’ chance….
Short people should not stay in the middle of tall friends…
No, I’m not the same age as these Americans in the picture. I was 22 when this picture was taken…these girls (and the fag at the back) were high school and middle school students. (If you’re thinking..what is Sorsi doing at 22 with a bunch of high school girls dancing in a halloween kiddie talent show???…well, let’s just say i was bored in the states…=)
