Parts Rene

Brilliance will not put you in an ivory tower. Your arrogance will. That is what I found out when I got to know Rene. Very very brilliant guy, almost a genius. But never did he make me feel that I was not worthy of his company.

And ever since I met him in 2001, he has been my Parts Rene ever since. He knows me inside out even if I do not reveal much to him at first. Very perceptive guy. I need not even explain things to him. He knows and he understands. Parts Rene has been and still is my favorite movie companion, my librarian, philosopher and mentor, and agent, manager and marketer.

He could appreciate the simplest animation and the most profound stories. And we usually cap our movie dates with long discussions over coffee about the movie we saw. He provides me with premier tickets he got as a freebie from sponsors.

He introduced me to LOTR even before the first movie got hyped. Explained his passion for it and for dungeons and dragons. He gave me books and for those he wants to keep for himself, loaned them to me indefinitely.

He got me interested in a lot of things: geography, GIS, systems analysis and planning, cartoon characters, Egypt, everything under the sun and beyond it, far beyond it. He was interested in astronomy too. He is very much in love with the world, the universe and everything that they have to offer. He's also one of the wisest I know.

He's exactly the guy who can sustain the interest of a person who practically thrives in variety like me.

He taught me about social epidemics through the book, The Tipping Point. Got me interested in the Templars, through Focult's Pendulum. Even remembered me when he was in San Diego when he bought me the book, The Da Vinci Code. Loaned me the book, 24 Habits of Good Leaders when I needed it most. Helped me learn how to be intelligent enough to be stupid when necessary by pointing out key lessons in the book Jingo. He was confident of my abilities to understand and remain interested in the complex theories and information on astronomy, geology and Egyptology when he excitedly referred the book Fingerprints of the Gods to me. He always make sure that I get copies of books from Asia Foundation too. And he probably gave half as many books to Dindin. You see, he has also grown to love my son. And he's a good friend to Andy too.

And don't ever think that he only got me the really serious reading materials, he was the one who introduced my husband and me to FHM, Hustler, Maxxim and GQ.

Even though he was not completely supportive of my decision to run for public office, he made sure I had the right connections to make me it easy for me. I don't know what he told Sir Gabby exactly but it was enough for Sir Gabby to warm up to me immediately, trust me fully and became some sort of a father for me.

He was with me in the middle of the night at the height of the counting to make sure things were ok. Although I don't tell him to and I never really wanted him to, he explains my conflicts with my fellow barangay officials to the higher ups so that I would not get railroaded by false gossips against me.

He even trusted me enough to give me the key to his office. Allows me to use his resources unlimitedly. It is because of this that I get to learn from him unselfishness.

He made me believe that I was more scientific than I think I was, that I was capable of doing more. When I asked him what I could contribute to the team composed of middle-aged, successful, intelligent guys who I think can cover all bases already, he simply said, "passion and idealism."

I've let him see the worse part me, the really lazy, unfocused part. Even gave him a progress report simpy stating, "I did not find the internal motivation to start the project," but he did not give up on me.

He still gives me proposals and still includes me in the loop. He makes sure I get to do visible jobs and never misses an oppoprtunity to show me off and broadcast what I can do. He first did this when he introduced me to Minnie. I didn't how much he knows of me until then. Marketed me so much to Minnie, she has to outshine me by stating, "Minnie..., Harvard, Kennedy School of Government," when she shook my hand.

He introduced me and got me to be friends with The Street Strategist, my favorite business column writer in college.

But most of all, he inspires me, always knows what to say at the right moment.

When I was really down and depressed, he told me, "the best thing about being too down in the dumps and nobody believes in you, is that you will surprise everybody when you do things well again." I know he was speaking from experience.

He always tries to be there for me. That's why I also try to be there for him, even if it means getting up at 2:00 AM, getting out of the house and meeting him for lumi at chowking to hear him grieve over his current losses: his girlfriend and his iPaq. Doing that is nothing much compared to what he has done and what he is for me.

I'm very grateful for the guy. But he just tells me to pay it forward. Very very good person indeed.