How I Got Angry...& Ended up a Billboard Model

Last week, I really got fuming mad. For a week already, my brother-in-law has been in the hospital due to complications from cryptococcal meningitis (it’s difficult to explain but yes, it’s a bit serious). Since June of last year, he’s been in & out of the hospital & this was, I think, his 6th hospitalization. So, the objects of my ire this time were hospital lab technicians & a resident doctor. My brother-in-law was supposed to have his MRI exams (3 different exams the whole day to figure out what the problem really was). He already finished with the 1st MRI, but his sched for the 2nd one was bumped because a doctor had prioritized the case of another patient. My sister was crying to me already, being worried about her husband & all, & that it was already 9pm but he still wasn’t scheduled for the MRI. I had to go down to the lab, castigate & demand with the medical personnel to have the tests done. Rare moments like these are…. the only way I can describe it is, these are the times I put on airs, am so haughty, & use my “Ar-neoww (Ateneo)” accent to the fullest. I usually think (a lot!) before I say anything (my Toastmaster friends know how much I hate Impromptu Speaking or Table Topics). But when I’m really mad, even I marvel at myself! I can speak volumes, impeccable English at that, & the closet bourgeois in me comes out. & its not like I’m roleplaying or anything, it just naturally comes out during these times.
Now, perhaps this incident doesn’t really stand out. But well, I really don’t get mad that easily. I do consider myself a very calm person, and amongst my HR colleagues, I’m known as the one who rarely loses her cool. The last time I got angry was 5 years ago (imagine!). Funny. Same setting (a hospital) & characters (hospital staff). My 2 kids were both admitted: my daughter for dehydration (diarrhea), & my son due a head concussion. It just happened at the same time, a nightmare for any mom. I got mad because they were insisting on putting a dextrose tube on my son’s arm. I protested: my son (4 at the time) is autistic & this might start one of his tantrums. So there I was again, lambasting the nurses & going on my spiel on why it shouldn’t be done. My son’s doctor had to talk to me & placate me. I had to take a breather after a week of looking after my kids in the hospital. I went to the office & the first email I saw (in a long line of emails) was about a company-wide search for models (among the employees) for a Lexmark billboard ad. Out of sheer exhaustion & for the heck of it, I submitted my picture. A week later, I was picked, along with 13 other employees, for a photo shoot. 7 couples were made up, & photographed by Cebu’s top(& expensive!) photographer. Out of the glossies & resulting shots, our CEO chose (what else, miracle of miracles!) the photo I was in.

So for a year (525,600 minutes of fame!) I was up in the clouds. Or should I say, suspended in a 20 x 40 billboard at Ayala business district (in Ayala & Mabolo intersection). I wasn’t paid anything for my experience of being a Lexmark billboard model, but it was fun telling all my friends about it. So, lets just say, I do try to channel whatever negative emotions I feel into more creative pursuits. & I did help my brother-in-law last week. After my tirade at the lab, they were able to put him in for his 2nd MRI, & even had the 3rd MRI (supposedly scheduled for the next day) done as well. Yes, it does pay to get mad now & then.

Now if only I could get another photo shoot out of this....