I am Janie Belle from the Philippines. I was born in Davao City but was eventually raised here in Cebu when my mother got relocated for work. Almost 3 decades in and I’m still in the deciding part of my life which prompted me to create this avenue to express, share, and put them all into writing, a hobby I’ve been putting on hold for quite some time.
Welcome to 
Since we are in a creative space, let’s do the introduction in a unique way. I’ll be using the letters in my name as a starting point of every information about me. Hope you’ll have a fun time!
J – Janie is the Hebrew version of the name, John, which means God’s grace and Belle is the French translation of the word, beautiful.
My mother decided to name me this because she came across a children’s pageant show with a cute, pretty candidate bearing the same name at a mall. Since she and my father’s names all started in J (Jocelyn and Jeraffy, respectively), she decided to capture it. After 3 years, they gave birth to my sister and named her Jade Kimberly, the last J of the family. As a nickname, J in Janie is pronounced as “H” so, it can be read as “Hanie” like honey and served as my parents’ endearment to each other.
A – Art appreciation in all forms is something I have always been interested in.
Museums and galleries are some of the places I frequent whenever I go to a new place or when art organizations open and display their creative pieces in our location. My friends who excel in this area are some of the people I always look up to (
During my high school days, video projects and stage presentations were a trend. I always get excited doing them by taking the shots, creating the storylines, and directing the scenes. Because of this, I’ve come to love watching films and series. Some of my favorites are Titanic, Harry Potter, Interstellar, Avatar, Pearl Harbor, The Schindler’s List, Chernobyl, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and many more.
Of course, music. Whether you have a favorite artist or just simply particular to a song, it is something most people are inclined to because it is life! Personally, I’m such a huge Swiftie and along with my sister,
Finally, the reason why I’m here is writing and reading. Just a disclaimer, I’m not the writer type who is part of the school paper and participates in journal and writing competitions. Growing up, I had so many ideas in mind that I’ve made tons of writing but none of it got finished as I always encounter a writer’s block syndrome. Regardless, I continued writing especially on birthdays. As for reading, my favorite ones are Dan Brown’s, Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, Nancy Drew and the like. Also, back then, e-books were starting and Wattpad was a thing so I did some reading there, too.
N – Niche is something I am currently having challenges with.
By profession, I am an Industrial Engineer from a manufacturing industry producing audio-related products. I took up IE impulsively after my mother shared with me how their HR considered this program a sustainable one even after five years. Truly, it was as the world is continuously growing and developing and is now heading towards Artificial Intelligence and Automation. Thankfully, I got comfortable with it even if I don’t excel in Mathematics because IE is much more than this. I must say, my career is suited to the current state of our world, but I know I am not there yet. Don’t get me wrong, I feel happy but not deeply satisfied and fulfilled. I know I can do much more so, I am trying to explore as I seek what I want in life – my niche.
I – Interest is a category I’ve already talked about in the letter “A”. So, I’m going to share more of them here.
I may be an Engineering graduate, but I have always been fascinated with History. During my school days, I always ace my exams and quizzes and one of my History teachers even complimented me for it. However, I still feel blessed for being born in this generation because we all know how cruel the previous centuries were to women which some are still manifesting up to this day.
Aside from History, I’ve always wondered and marveled at the celestial world. The sun, moon, stars, planets, and astronauts have been fascinating subjects to me that I wished of becoming one in another lifetime. Humans stepping on the moon and establishing an institution outside Earth is something I am still in awe of the human capability to the point of making space flight look accessible and easy in today’s age. Space always reminds me of how a speck of dust we indeed are in this Universe.
Another thing I am always interested in are the mountains, waters, sunrises, and sunsets because they both provide the same level of comfort, peace, and adventure I seek. Living in a tropical country gives me this privilege to have beautiful experiences which are only minutes away from where I live.
And of course, you can never go wrong with food! I always had a sweet tooth especially when it comes to cheesecake, ice cream, and cookies or brownies. For this year, I’m trying my best to limit my sugar intake before anything bad happens because we are not getting any younger. However, food is life’s fuel, so I always want to try new food places like lowkey coffee shops. For the record, I am a fan of anything chicken-related especially if they’re boney hehehe pork and fish may count too in this department.
E – Experiences are what makes a human. After all, it’s the best teacher, right?
Growing up, we were raised by my loving but stern maternal grandmother. She stood as our second mother for 13 years while our own mother goes to work. Because of this, I grew up as a sheltered kid and was more obedient compared to my younger sister who got the rebellious spirit. My Lola Basing, as we call her, took care of us unconditionally and did the cooking, laundry, dropping us to school, perfecting our hairstyles, and giving us the best massages. She protects us so much to the point of not allowing us to go out during the weekends or the summers. Being raised by Lola has its own set of pros and cons. I may not have the experience of a typical kid but the love and care I got from her is something I can never replace because not all kids get to have that as well.
Since my Lola loved cats, we have also learned to love them. Stray cats usually approach her and because of her soft spot for them, she feeds them and soon enough, they eventually get adopted. In my entire life, we’ve had pets who came into our lives and had to leave due to circumstances. We had a stray dog named, Puppy, and a dog from a friend, My Love. We had a third dog before named Pistachio, but he also crossed the rainbow bridge in 2020. Since then, we didn’t take pets, but animals randomly visit us until we were blessed with two senior Pugs namely Taco and Bella and two stray cats namely Gray2 and Yaya with the latter bearing four kittens. Sadly, the one recently died. Also, I have a close work friend who’s got a Persian doll-face cat named Uno, who we babysit whenever she’s got weekly or overnight trips.
Most of my experiences in school were leaning towards student leadership as I always get elected as a classroom officer. Opportunities for growth always came in the form of leadership seminars and teambuilding activities. This also helped a lot with network building as I got to meet different people.
Physically, I would have been an athlete but aside from not being natural, the people around discouraged me whenever I tried to play sports because of how bad I was. It should have been a motivation for me to try even more but I didn’t get that much support. However, I gave it a try in College and played during the Intramurals. It may be quick, but it was such a great experience for me.
Now that I am an adult, I have been doing activities and creating memories with the people I love. To keep a healthy body, mind, and soul, I do regular weekly walks, morning exercises, monthly fun runs, mountain hikes and camps, and beaches. In the future, I want to try free diving and golfing. Late last year, I got serious in getting back with writing, so I write daily logs with prompts and weekly record the good memories and keep them in a jar for me to read by the end of the year. Also, part of my bucket list experience is travelling around the world with the people I love. I want to tick off all the good places here in the Philippines and outside the country. Dream destinations are Kazakhstan and Central Asia, Switzerland, UK, Spain and Europe, and Japan and Asia, probably all of them, even Antarctica
For this year, I've decided to explore more writing opportunities and I'm fortunate enough for
That’s it for my introductory post! Writing all of this as my self-introduction made me realize two things: how I have come so far and how I have yet to come. Nevertheless, relishing the present and being in the now is also important in life. Stay tuned for more updates mostly about all the stuff I’ve tackled in my introductory post 😊
Thank you for reading and an upvote, reblog, comment, or follow will be very much appreciated. See you in my next entry as I make my way through this platform! Bye and stay safeee!
