Thymes has recently been interviewed for a fellowship subspecialty. Obviously she will get in. She is currently in Cebu recuperating from dengue, but she can study in her sleep. She has a telepathic connection to the writers of Harrison’s who feed her information all day even in her sleep. Whenever we run out of things to talk about I would only need to mention something like “Primary hyperaldosteronism!” which would excite her much and lead her to narrating paragraphs and paragraphs of pure Harrison’s text.

During the interview she was asked how she would describe herself. She said with much confidence, “Oh, I’m a schizoid.”

This caused raucous laughter among the panel of macho male interviewers. One of them said, “We want interesting people in our section, hee-hee-hee, but we don’t want hee-hee-hee people who have an altered perception of reality, hee-hee-hee.”

Thymes indulged them and explained the difference between schizoid and schizophrenia with a straight face despite the uncontrollable and persistent giggles of the entire panel. But Thymes shouldn’t have just explained–she should have illustrated. She should have brought out some props–a wig, tattered clothes, a doll. She should have smeared her face with uling. She should have stood up, kick the chair aside, and declaimed, “Basilio… Crispin!!! Mga anak!!!! Mga prayle!!!!!”

Actually I think that’s what she really did.

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