who am i?

Most of my friends call me Mica. Generally, people know me as Mica Peña. Others call me Pens, my close friends call me Mics, and at home I’m known as Mic. I was born on July 29, 1989 in Makati. When I was four, I started playing the piano although I’ve been drawn in to music even long before that. I now play the guitar and the piano, however much my piano teacher disapproves of it. Probably the only thing that could equal my love for music would be my love for basketball. I’ve loved it since I could remember. Looking back on my childhood, some of my fondest memories include playing basketball with my dad. At 6, I was an avid fan of the Chicago Bulls.

Over time, my taste in music and my favorite basketball team have changed as well as my fashion sense and my favorite food. I love rock. I love Muse, Jimmy Eat World, Something Corporate, Yellowcard, Dashboard Confessional, and Taking Back Sunday and if I’d keep naming my favorite bands, the list would go on forever. Although I love rock, my musical preference is pretty flexible. I like listening to pop, Broadway, hip-hop, R&B, jazz, disco, even opera –anything but country. One thing that’d totally make my day is having the L. A. Lakers win. I love the Lakers. Though I don’t get to watch as much basketball as I used to, I try to follow them still. My favorite fashion brands would have to be Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle and Vans. For the top spot in my favorite food list, there’d be a tie between Italian and Japanese food. I love American food too (In n Out is HEAVEN!).

My hobbies however don’t just end in music and basketball. I love photography. I love taking pictures. Beach pictures are my favorite. This goes alongside my other passion, directing. I love movies. I love big productions. I love being behind the scenes and making everything work. I felt ultimately fulfilled doing Macbeth last year. “Macbeth: Murder on the Dance Floor” was the title of our class’ musical production. It was perfect. It was the most fun thing that I’d done in a long time, however stressful and tiring it was. And because of it being tiring, stressing and fun, having everything turn out great was just overwhelming. One of my ultimate dreams ever is to be a director and both produce and direct my own movies.

I believe in trying your best in everything you do. I believe in giving your best all the time. I think it’s safe to say I’m a perfectionist. And like most people in the batch, I’m a very competitive spirit. However I do love having a good time and just letting things go by now and then. To me, nothing beats having a good time because I believe that in the end, those are the things you’re going to remember. You won’t remember what you won, or what you lost, what you will remember for the rest of your life however was how much fun you had and how much you learned from it, which I think, is ultimately important.

I value my family, of course. Being the eldest, I guess taking care of your siblings instinctively becomes your priority. The truth is I never really realized how much I cared for my siblings and how much I really love them ‘til summer of last year. We were supposed to move to the States last year and my dad got left behind to fix up back here. And because of this, I ended up taking care of my siblings and I realized just how much I love them. It was because of this that I realized how much my parents meant to me. I value my faith as well. I firmly believe that there is someone out there who helps us. Lastly, but definitely not the least, I value my friends. I guess you only learn the true value of friendship once you’ve made the right friends and you’ve found your true friends. And I learned the true value of friendship last year. I’m really glad to have the friends I have now. They’re the people who get me. The people I can trust whole-heartedly. I was never really trusting of people neither was I confident in people ‘til I met the friends I have now. I feel truly blessed to have them.

They say that the choices you make and the friends you have make up you who you are. I think so too. Our choices in life, in everything, no matter how tiny a decision it may seem or how big and important a choice may be, each and everyone of our choices make up to who we are. So if someone were to ask me who I was, I’d give them a list of things I believe in, things I enjoy, and things I value.

simple truth.

no regrets. whatever happens, happens for a reason.