Tinig.Com

Desperately seeking Imee Martinez
by Tembarom (reprinted from Peyups.com)

My online search for Imee Martinez ended not in Cyberspace, but in a Kenny Roasters restaurant along Katipunan Avenue.

Just some months ago, I had been typing up her name in the search panels of Yahoo and Google in the hope that I’d somehow end up finding a page that had her e-mail address. With the popularity of web-based mailing lists like eGroups, I knew this was possible. My pathetic searches, however, yielded disgusting results, such as web pages about Imee Marcos.

We were dorm mates, Imee and I. We were both University of the Philippines Kalayaan Residence Hall dormers in 1995. It’s just unfortunate that I--then a simple first floor Kalayaan boy and wide-eyed freshman--was so afraid of probably the whole world--including Imee--that I never had the guts to actually befriend her.

The only time I remember talking to her was once when she was waiting for a friend near the entrance to the boy’s wing of the dormitory. I was about to go to the lobby when she so kindly asked me to call her friend, whose room was just a few doors away from mine. I willingly did so and before I left, I told her my name, which was so unique yet difficult to remember.

Other than that conversation, it was then enough for me to see the tall, slender, and almond-eyed “crush ng Kalayaan” in the dormitory lobby or in the dining room. While other boys were hanging out with her, I, as the other shy ones were, was content at just looking at the soft-spoken princess from a distance.

Know that I never even dreamed of being her man. The idea was just too far-fetched. It was like a future Binibining Pilipinas goddess going together with Mr. Tall, Dark and Never mind.

Why would I so desperately hope to be in communication with Imee then? one might ask. To think that it’s been probably years since I last saw her.

Well, it’s just that I found it a shame that even in this age of really advanced communications, there would be words left unsaid. In this age of connectivity and wired interactions, I thought getting whatever message across, wherever the other party is, was the essence of all these technological advancements.

Okay, okay! Now, I can almost hear you, my dear reader, screaming “Cut the crap! Magpakatotoo ka, brother!” Sige na nga, the truth is, I just thought it was cool to let her know that once upon a time, I was so bedazzled with her.

But then again, as I have told you, I never found her despite my high hopes that I’d bump into her along the Information Superhighway.

There begins the Kenny Roasters story.

One night, my current best buddy and I decided to join a writer’s gathering in UP. There, he chanced upon a former teacher, who is a fast-rising personality in the Philippine literary scene. We chatted all night with the extremely down-to-earth teacher-artist, and being the kind soul that he is, he treated his former student and me at the KFC restaurant along Katipunan.

As our conversation took up an interesting part—beautiful girls, what else?—he said his director friend is currently building up girls to take the place of Miriam Quiambao and Niña Alagao. Imee, one of the girls, he said even lives near here. Imee? “Imee Martinez?!” I said. “Kilala mo?” the teacher asked as my friend started to laugh excitedly. I started to get nervous at that moment.

That night, Imee and I were finally introduced. And she said, “Yes, I remember you! I remember you!” as she wore that smile that years ago would have sent me to paradise.

Of course, it still makes me extremely happy now to receive her text replies thanking me for the moral support that I text her every now and then. Right now, I really wish to see her wearing the Bb. Pilipinas-Universe crown.

Yes, I remain a fan of hers. Ika nga, si Imee ang Ms Universe ng buhay ko.

And by the way, I now have her e-mail address. And if the wind blows luck on us, the first personality to be featured in my new Internet magazine will be a Binibining Pilipinas crown-holder. #