The Phantom

I met you by surprise, I didn't realize that my life will change forever...

I do not still know if this song is going to suit this new relationship. Still cannot disclose although my parents and almost whole family has met him.

How should I describe The Phantom?

Ang mahal ko

Mahal ko pa rin... Kahit masakit, kahit wala ka na.

Rotary Club of Huon Gulf

I was encouraged by my best friend, Cynia Sanchez, to join this club. The president during that time was Graeme Paul. He was working with KKKingston that time. He was the one who inducted me to become a member. When he left, Rahul Kaula took over the president's position. Cynia Sanchez was the president from 2009-2010. She left in May to move to Canada with her family. Now our president is Stephen Beach. It's been 3 years and 4 presidents under the RCHG. At first I was feeling so out of place. The members were mostly Australian that time that I joined. Now there are 3 Sri Lankans (Premilla's, John Dirkze), 1 Indian (Kaity Bluett), 2 Australians (Hans Mehl and Evan Gilespi), Englishman (Stephen Beach), Ethiopian (Workneh Ayalew), American Indian (Rahim Milani - also leaving for his retirement), and Filipinos (myself, Leonida Santos, Roel Sta Cruz, Napoleon Sanchez, and Consul Bartolay). We have PNG members too (Steven Leva, Lamasisi couple who do not actively attend anymore).

This people are the ones I am always with every Wednesday evening at Melanesian Hotel, where we hold our meeting. As all the rotary clubs, we hold functions to fund our charity works. I am happy to be in this club. It makes me feel different from the rest. I am doing something noble and charitable. It takes some of my time but I definitely enjoy the feeling that I belong.

Cynia Sanchez

My bestfriend. I found out Cynia has a good heart when I did something wrong. Well, it's exactly not wrong but just people have small minds. My intention of protecting her turned out to hurt her. I felt like a traitor. But I didn't hear anything bad from her, no confrontation at all. She did not get angry with me, instead became kinder to me. She is a very simple person and very humble too. I did not know her well, and it is not my attitude to ask questions about a person's information. I know a person through his attitude. That is enough information I need. Whether or not this person is good as friend or not.

I found out that Cynia, after 6 years of befriending her, is not really just a simple lady. She is from a wealthy family. Her siblings are doctors, lawyers, bankers, and she herself is professional. She is a civil engineer. Her friends in the Philippines are not simple too. Arlene de Castro, wife of the previous VP of the Philippines and VP for ABS CBN is her bestrfriend in the Phils. But not many Filipinos in PNG knew this. Some Filipinos do not like her. They even said a lot of negatives about her. I heard a lot of nasty word that they use to tag her. Well, I didn't see her to be as how they described her. I chose to be closer to her than to "others". I worked with her in few organizations. Followed her ideas and I am not sorry at all.

She left with her family to Canada in May 24, 2010. I felt that it is not anymore the same. The woman who calls me every morning, the lady who gives me some charitable works to do, the lady who calls me for coffee is now so far away. She will always be close to my heart. Cynia Sanchez is one kind of a woman. Whoever will make her a friend will never regret having her.

Badminton Friends

The competing teams of the first Lae Filipino Badminton Association tournament.

Boring, boring, bored! This has been my sister's regular chanting. That is why she is dead bored staying in this place. It is actually true if you will not find ways to make yourself busy and entertained. I have been living in PNG for over 16 years and I realized that getting bored is an attitude, it is not a situation. I found ways to make myself active and I fought boredom which is so easy to do. One of the ways I found to beat boredom is trying to become athletic.

Although I am not a sports-minded person, I tried to make myself fit and busy by learning badminton. Monday, Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons are fully occupied with my badminton training and practices. I met new friends in joining in and made my stay here in Lae a more active one.

Our president, Noel dela Cruz has become a very close friend. He is a very patient person (to me because I am not a sporty person so I do not learn sports that easy). Other officers of the Lae Filipino Badminton Association are Wen Dizon(vice), Joel Julongbayan(secretary), Jun Tolosa(treasurer), Adenie Bautista and John Reyes (Buss Mgrs). Other members like Edna Massingham, Denden, Zeny, Sally and Nilo Virtudazo, Dante Garcia, Pol, Japheth, Riches Christian are few of them that I could name.

Things are getting better for the badminton group. We will be having a Badminton Clinic soon. This is an area where Gopal, a badminton mentor will teach kids and adults how to play badminton properly. Gopal is a Malaysian-Indian who has 3 kids that are state players of Badminton in Malaysia. He trained them all and now he is very generous to train us, too. Who knows, maybe after extensive training with him, I can at last win a game. Dreaming and hoping I can be an athletic person soon.

Sunday Group

Sunday is my restday. I usually just stay at home, do a bit of chores in the morning and attend to my regular activities in the afternoon. I play badminton for at least two hours in the afternoon then proceed to church at 4pm to attend Sunday Mass. After church, I join my friends to a dinner at any restaurant they'd feel like going. We have only 3 choices - The Melanesian Hotel, Lae International Hotel or the Bunga Raya Restaurant. Yesterday (May 3), I followed them to the Lae Int'l Hotel.

As usual, we updated each other with what happened the whole week. While dining they'd always wait for me to tell jokes. Sometimes even though I am telling stories that are very serious, they'd laugh at it (or me?). My delivery of my stories always seemed very funny for them. This has helped a lot in overcoming boredom in this place. Although a lot of people are saying there is just nothing you can do to entertain yourself in Lae, I realized there are lots of ways to make yourself fully occupied and entertained. It's just a matter of choosing whether to do it or not. My Sunday group is composed of different families - The Sanchezes (Doy, Cynia, Bea and David), the Felipes (Joel, Girlie, Patricia and Iggie), Velazcos (Joan, Shirley and Joshua), the Posadas (Nilo, Janet, Jeff, Koji and Isa) and of course AJ and myself. Bonding with my son, my friends and my son's friends keep us all eager to stay here in Lae. No boring moments, full of laughters, healthy and "unhealthy" jokes, these make us look forward to the next Sunday's dinner.