25 Things

25. I had this thing for PAL (Philippine Airlines) Flight Attendants in the late 1980s. Little did I know that my wife Jovi was a PAL flight attendant at the time. Too bad the PAL flight attendants now are NOT THE SAME as the one's back then. Must be that "cut at all cost" Chinese ownership.

24. In 1989, running from serious trouble and a busted heart, Jovi picked me up on the side of the road in the Philippines and I was carrying a surfboard and a piece of luggage. Because it was a VW bug with no room, I carried the board on the outside of the car until we got to my cousin Edward's house in BF Paranaque and dropped it with his mom. Sadly I have no idea where the board is to this day, but it is a one of a kind.

23. I started surfing in 1979. Yes that is how old I am. Luckily, the guys who taught me, Bill Sallans and Mike Takayama are still surfing. I surf with Mike around once a month but haven't seen Bill in six years.

22. I tried to buy a Playboy Magazine at the 711 when I was 5 years old. Yup. We lived in Utah for the first five years of my life and my neighbor, Kenny Freeil, who was about five years older, gave me 25 cents and handed the magazine to me and told me to buy it. I put the magazine on the counter and the clerk said, "you aren't old enough to buy this." So I spent the money on a large Slurpee instead. Back then, Slurpees were 5, 10, and 15 cents. Kenny was pissed.

21. My mom's side of the family is huge and fairly complicated. I have at least two aunts who I am older than and also a 24 year old Uncle who I never met. My mom is 70. Her dad had around 15 or so children before he died in 1989. I shared a room with my lolo before he died at Makati Medical Center because I was sick with some nasty virus of some sort.

20. My grandfather's younger brother, Ramon Revilla was a movie star and was a senator in the Philippines. He is rumored to have more than 80 children. I believe it is more.

19. Back in the summer of 1985, I went around Manila with my cousin Bong, who is a movie star like his dad. We went from movie shooting location to movie shooting location all over Manila. One particular shooting was in Project 8 Quezon City. He offered to make me a movie star too, except I am monolingual and don't have the good looks that he did. I should have said yes anyway. We got in a verbal argument over the difference between right and wrong back then and haven't been close since.

18. In 1985, I saw two dead guys who got hit by a Mercedes Benz on EDSA Ave in Manila back then. One was cut completely in half. Street rats. In 1989 I happened on another guy who just got shot three times in the chest. I directed my driver to stop at the sidewalk. I watched him gasp his last breaths.

17. I met this starlet, Mags Bonnin at a BF Homes party back in 1985 as well. She looked like JuRina Mendoza and I kept staring at her, thinking it was her, until my cousin Lori introduced us. I felt a bit sheepish after that. I also had this crush on another star, Manilyn Reynes. My cousin Marlon's wife, Gigi dela Riva used to tease me about it, but back then, Gigi looked a heck of a lot like Manilyn.

16. I tried to wean my family off of bottled water, but to no avail. I even bought a SIGG bottle for myself, yet, right now, I have about 15 empty plastic bottles in the back seat of my car.

15. In college, I broke a story about a professor who was accused of plaigiarizing a paper of some sort. It was front page on the Daily 49er, however, what I turned in to my professor was different from what was printed in the paper. Needless to say, my professor gave some serious tongue lashings to the so-called editors who screwed it up. My professor submitted a story I wrote about Amerasians to the RFK Journalism awards that year, the only one submitted from my class. I didn't win but got the satisfaction that I could write a neat story.

14. The Bautista in me says YES! but the Virata in me says NO.

13. I've been writing about technology since 1993, and my writing style has become one dimensional.

12. I think the Mercedes Benz is over-rated, except for of course my 1984 300D Turbo diesel with 227,000 miles on it.

11. I have a beautiful daughter, Juliana Rai Montero Virata. The Rai comes from Aishwarya Rai, because I had this thing for beautiful brown haired women. I have no idea why brown haired women are called brunettes.

10. I've lived in Hawaii and want to move back.

9. My dad came to the United States in 1957 and joined the Navy. My mom waited in line and came in 1960. I think that those who want to come to the United States and become citizens, should wait in line like all law abiding folks do.

8. I think that the bank bailout is a SCAM. The banks screw up and want a bailout, yet charge usurious credit card rates and nothing gets done about that. We the people should be bailed out.

7. I like to eat pie

6. In 1986, I gave my class ring to a girl who lived in a slum next to a river in the Philippines. She kept it for three years. I asked for it back, and then a year later it was stolen in a burglary at my mom's house in CA.

5. I think Kimi Evans is a way better weather reporter than Jackie Johnson

4. Among many other things, I think the Bush Administration totally screwed up the Pat Tillman case.

3. In addition to surfing, I enjoy fishing with my two teenaged boys as well as dirt biking.

2. My friend David was the best man at my wedding because the guy I initially asked was too cheap to rent a tuxedo or do the bachelor party. It turned out fine though because that guy turned out to be the master of ceremonies (and did it well) and David is still a great friend of mine and a good guy.

1. I can fold my tongue in half and stick it up my nose.