Have you ever wondered how it is to live in another time and place, be someone else you’ve always dreamt of being, experience a different lifestyle — one so different from the one you’re living right now? Let’s travel back in time as personalities share who they want to be and when.
Malou E. Rosal, director of communications, Edsa Shangri-La Hotel: I would be a dragon slayer or the equivalent of it. There is something about the medieval times — the clanging of steel and the thunder of horses’ hooves over the plains — that makes my blood rush. I would not be a fair princess immersed in weaving tapestries, squinting under the fading daylight. Nay, I would be out there, one of the fierce knights, wielding my sword. Think Eowyn of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings. It may be chaotic in the battlefield and the armor tortuously heavy, but at least death would be met with dignity and honor in fighting alongside the valiant men of the time.
Dennis Trillo, actor: I would like to live the life of a famous rock star, someone as famous as Jimmy Page or Kurt Cobain, and live the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle!
Cat Arambulo, public relations officer, Embassy: If I were to be born in another time as another person, I would want to be Jackie Kennedy Onassis, because she was a very dignified, serene woman with impeccable style.
John Lloyd Cruz, actor: I wish I lived before language was born. How did people develop words to represent objects, events and, most interestingly, human emotions? I’m wildly amazed by words and the people who put the letters together and eventually developed the desired word. I want to be that person who called an apple “apple” and who differentiated love and lust in a matter of letters.
Rico Hizon, BBC World news anchor: The Italian Renaissance intrigues me. This period saw the rebirth of art and culture. Leonardo Da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo were some of the famous people who lived during this period. I would want to be a patron of the arts during this era. Commissioning works by these famous artists/painters would be a dream come true.
Candy Dizon, jeweler: There are so many things I would still like to be now, so this is a difficult question to answer. But if I really ponder over it, I think I would like to be the wife of Prince Rainier of Monaco but still be Filipina. How scandalous it would be to have an Asian wife at the time! To live a life like Princess Grace’s is something that I can only dream about. I also think that my darling Prince Rainier is absolutely gorgeous. I would probably walk instead of driving on the fateful night that her car fell off the cliff. That way, we can grow old together. Sigh...
I am such a romantic.
Tina Pamintuan, gastronome: I’d like to live in a time, past or hopefully future, when love means: “A woman’s heart should be so well hidden in Christ that a man would have to seek Him first to find her.”
Mia Florencio. T. Florencio Jewelry/Atelier Avatar: I’d love to be Elizabeth Taylor in the 1960s to 1970s. She was — and still is — beautiful, had a great career and amazing jewelry given by her lovers. I really wish I could have her jewelry collection. I would spend a few hours each day trying on different pieces and appraising them.
Gabbie Dela Rama Talan, associate editor, Oestyle magazine: I would want to live in 19th-century New Orleans as one of Les Gens de Couleur Libres or “The Free People of Color” but I would prefer to be male. They contributed so much to the culture of New Orleans, which is the only American city that interests me enough that I would actually want to visit it. I am also curious as to what it must have felt like to attain emancipation after centuries of slavery. I read a book about them when I was a teenager called Feast of all Saints. I’ve been fascinated ever since.