I have always thought of myself as the small-town girl who makes it big in the end. It's always the typical Cinderella Story: Girl comes from an average family and goes through growing pains in her teenhood, such as annoying parents who restrict her from too much freedom, the annoying little sister, being in the shadow of It Girls and Beauty Queens, secretly crushing on the Hot Jock, and finding solace in her only best friend, a computer geek, and her secret diary.

And one day after a series of embarrassing pitfalls and getting played by the Hot Jock, Girl bumps into Cute Eccentric Boy who appreciates her awkward moments and one-too-many freckles. Cute Eccentric Boy is not the hottest person in the school, but he gives Girl exactly what she has been longing for: Fairytale Love. Furthermore, It Girl/Beauty Queen is blatantly ignored by talent scouts who make a beeline for Girl as the next star blogger/singer/model/princess/celeb. She grows to love her family for who they are, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Indeed I could vouch for such a Cinderella Story. The first part, at least: I've had my fair share of humiliating school moments. The name-calling, unpopularity, and being played out constantly. Back then my friends were fellow nobodies: drama students or just plain eccentric people. Till today I can say that I don't have huge followings or cameraderie, but I do find loyalty in a few great girl and guy friends who care nothing about being "in" or hip. My family members, like everyone else's, used to get on my nerves a lot back in the day, but I have grown closer to them since.

And though I wouldn't say that the love of my life is a carbon copy of what they describe the heroes to be in stories (pensive, quiet boys who are actually vampires, musicians or politicians' sons and like poetry), I've definitely found someone who's eccentric, funny and smart. He's not the most popular guy ever, definitely (because I realised that the popular ones are full of trouble and love their reputations more), but he's crazy, outgoing, ambitious and downright different. Best of all, he's real. There is never a time he'd make a fool of himself happily prancing around to the music, and he's ever-ready to be frank with someone whom he feels isn't being right about something. Not everyone can accept the way he is, and I love him more for it, because how many times are the well-liked ones ever true to themselves?

The only thing missing, however, would be the stardom I secretly yearn for. The movement of justice that screams out: YES, it IS possible for a nobody to become somebody. The day someone comes up to me and go, "Hi, we've been noticing you for a while, and would like to get you out there." Who doesn't long for this? There is that little smalltown girl in us that longs to make it in print one day. But perhaps reality is that only the rich and goodlooking get there.

I thought about it today. How the heck does one who is seemingly untalented and undeserving still manage to be handpicked by not one or two but many scouts? Easy: connections, lots of poster-face appearances, and status. The truth of life is that you need to have the status to climb higher. If you have no status, you have no cameraderie. If you have no cameraderie, you have no social standing. If you have no social standing, you have no networks. And if you have no networks, how the heck are people going to notice you?????

But there are many out there with no status. They're just really great people with awesome personalities and awesome talents. I certainly hope I'm one, and I very well see many of these people around me. If only I had that much resource to handpick them myself, and transform them into something greater. Some of them are so shy and unsure of how to make it big. I wish I could tell them to just stuff it and try anyway. But I really should start telling myself that, first.

The fear to want to venture out on my own is strong, because what if the bigger fish look down at puny me and go, "Who are you? You're a nobody. We're not going to read your book. We're not going to join your club. We're not going to vote for you. We're not going to attend your events. We gain nothing out of supporting you at all." It's happened - believe me. I tried.

Perhaps something would be different one day. Perhaps those who have envisioned the girl in cinders who eventually becomes queen of the ball actually saw such things happened, and that is why they wrote about it. But time is moving a little too fast, and I'm not getting any younger. When?