Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

"It might be too early to write that." Charing said.

"Too early? If we don't write it now, by the time we do it will be 2010." I replied laughing.

She said this would be a long one to blog about because of a lot of things that had happened since the last time we posted something and I agree with her. So, I asked her to choose the best story of all time for her. She gave me a very interesting look and told me to start typing and she said this is the rule, whenever you feel like stopping let me know. She told me that the story she's about to tell is something I can relate to, she said she doesn't really want me to write this but its very timely and a lot of woman go through her situation but most of the time never get out of it alive.

I look at Charing and told her "You are already giving me goosebumps." and gave her a little smile. She asked me if I want to continue and I strongly answered "YES Please." She told me that we have to write her stories in ACTS like a stage play, I laughed.

ACT 1

Morgan is the main character of the play, she's a happy go lucky type of girl but very brilliant. She's gorgeous, she won the title "Miss Friendship and Best in Swimsuit" when she competed in a beauty contest when she was in college. She has a bachelors degree in business major in Tourism. She's a little bit liberated but hard to get. Her colorful life started while in college, because she's beauty and brain, a lot of guys are all over her. She has a lot of suitors most of them just want to get in her pants. But like I said she's hard to get.

She had a perfect idea, she talked to one of her gay friend his name is Gil they agreed that they will pretend to be BF and GF so no one can court her. It worked! She was able to focus on her studies but the adventure never fail to miss her. She was doing a research paper for her sociology class, and she was waiting for her research partner to show up in their meeting place when she met a guy, his name is Cooch they started talking introducing each other and why they were there. Its been 2 hours now and her research partner still not there yet, seems like they misunderstood each other as to where exactly they'll be meeting.

Cooch's friend already arrived but Morgan still waiting, she told Cooch to go ahead and that she'll be fine waiting there but Cooch is not wanting to leave her there by herself. Its been 4hrs now, the longest time Morgan patiently wait for someone, she's very impatient when it comes to waiting. If you are not there 30mins after the said meetup she usually leaves. She decided she can't wait any longer, Cooch invited her to come with him and attend a session, she was so naive and curious about what the session is all about so she went with them. It was only a block away from where she's supposed to be meeting her research partner.

ACT 2 ......to be continued

A cup of 'Chai Spice' black tea

I know...I know, its been awhile...I took a little break. Even Charing is starting to stay quiet and almost don't want to tell me anymore stories. Our last posting was all happiness and excitement about this new social networking,shopping and all-in-1 launchpad called 'BLASTOFF'. I still am excited about BLASTOFF, in fact last Oct 12 at noon CST, it officially BLASTOFF.

I guess it always happens that when there is a lot of positive energy coming I tend to forget that a negative energy is on its way to balance the surroundings. Sure thing a lot of things happened for the past three weeks or so that I've been absent from this blog. I'm still sorting which one is negative & which one is positive but what's more important is its like a cup of 'Chai Spice'' black tea that I'm sipping while listening and typing at the same time about Charings stories.

She told me about Jayne's story, she's very young about 26yrs old and a single mom. She probably would have a lot of good stories to tell her 4yrs old daughter if she would have lived longer. Sad, isn't it? But that's the reality of life. All good things can disappear in a second or a minute. The bad part of her story was she didn't die of natural cause, she was shot and the suspects are still at-large. Although her family has an idea on who might have done it, it will probably take a long time before that person will be put in jail. Especially, knowing the slow and outdated justice system we have in the Philippines that most crimes remain cold case for a very long time. Charing said she's following the story of Jayne, so she'll update us about it when something new comes up.

The main point of our story here is that the bullet shot that killed the life of that young girl happened in a blink of an eye. Jayne was a nursing student and wanting to continue to be an OB-GYN doctor, now all of those are gone. What will happen to her daughter is up to her siblings and parents. This is only one of thousands of sad stories that we often see on the street that wish we can stop, but how? I've been asking Charing same question and her respond to me was "I'm too old and too far to do something". She said the best contribution she can do is to tell the story and hopefully someone we'll be able to read it and possibly be able to do something or learn something that when they're face in such situation they will be able to prevent it.

We decided to finish drinking our 'Chai Spice' black tea and hope the next story would be a happy one.

Social Network Age to BLASTOFF

With the new and changing technology nowadays, even Charing was telling me she will be obsolete herself even before she leave the physical world. I agree myself, I'm glad they don't have these when I was in High School or College, otherwise I'll be more pain to my parents. LOL!

Anyway, with all these new technology social networking, chat and gaming seems to be the hottest trend, Myspace, Facebook, Orkut, twitter and so many other. Well, I frequent facebook more than any other social network but with this new internet launchpad with social network included not to mention that you'll earn EXTRA MONEY being part of it, I believe I'll be stuck on BLASTOFF.

Its so much FUN to have, if you will see the picture (sorry its a little blurry I did that on purpose) on the left, you can watch video, read the news, games, networking, shopping and much more! This will be the HOTTEST TREND globally. Fortunately, it was pre launch exclusively to Pre-Paid Legal(PPL) Associates, which I'm glad to be one of them, it means I get to setup myblastoff and invite my friends before the world can sign up.

Guess, you would want to be my friend and Charing's friend now too, don't you? Here is a video for more info.

Charings view about 'On the Canvas of Society'

Aside from Facebook, Charing and I are a big fan of YouTube and this video really caught her attention.

Its very sad video isn't it? Charing said she can't but be thankful that she was able to change the life of her kids, even though she felt like it was late but at least she was able to do a little bit of her part to better the life of her kids.

She said they used to live in one of those shanty house right next to the railroad, they're know in the Philippines as 'Home Along da Riles', she remembered the time when she feels like there was earthquake everytime a train will pass by. She wakes up every 5 hours that's the schedule of the train, almost no sleep for her.

Amazing how life of a person can change in a blink of an eye, sometimes it happens when you least expect it. It just shows that patience is virtue.

'Stories over coffee' - A Tribute to my friend -Ikoy (Last Part)

Sorry it took me awhile to finish my story, I think Charing and I drank more than 8cups of coffee that day :-) Anyway, let's finish it.

After the devastating Katrina that I was so lucky to get Ikoy’s first hand experienced, I didn’t hear from him until I believe after 6months or so. And after so long, his next news is another bad news…he was caught by the immigration officer and that he is facing deportation charges and his health was really deteriorating, aside from his diabetes, he is suffering from another sickness that is just wearing him down. He said he cant go to the hospital because its too expensive. But he said there were people that are very kind to help him and thats what he was thankful about. That was the last time I heard from him. I tried calling him again but his cellphone number has changed.

Then last November, I received a voice mail from a Filipina asking me if I'm related to Ikoy and to return her call. I called her and told her that I'm not related to Ikoy but his a good friend of mine back in Palau. She said Ikoy passed away and that they found my number in the phonebook of his cellphone. I did what I can to contact his relatives in Palau. The Filipina can't shipped his remains because he was undocumented and his passport was expired. She had to get a travel document and other release papers from the hospital, the state and the Philippine Embassy. I can imagine the times she spent and paper works she has to deal with just to send his remains back home. I admire that Filipina, she did all she can to send Ikoy's ashes back to his family, she's not even related to him. It took almost two months before Nanay Susan (Ikoy's Mom) received his ashes through FedEx, it was sad but atleast his home.

The thing I will never forget about him was he always have the smile and his sweet laugh that inspite of all the hardship his been through, he always keeps the positive spirit in him. He is a true survivor, he will never give up…’till he cant anymore.

To you my dear friend….IKOY, rest in peace and know in your heart, somewhere along your life journey you’ve touched other people’s heart (I’m one of them), I wish we’ve seen each other before you said goodbye to the physical world. May you continue your training and maybe next life time we will meet again my friend.

Charing made a good point when she said 'I wonder how many more Ikoy are here in the U.S., undocumented, working hard, getting paid under the table and will be sent home in a box through FedEx or other form of postal service.?'

'Stories over coffee' - A Tribute to my friend -Ikoy

Weekend is usually family time, but I can't sleep and Charing was telling me a story about a friend of her friend which reminded me of a good friend of mine in Palau, he passed away last November. This story is a tribute to him. I'll tell you about Charings story after Ikoy's story, by the way, I have to start telling story in English because Charing has some readers that wont be able to understand tagalog, but we'll make sure all our tagalog reader will still enjoy. Here we go!

It was a usual afterwork ‘tambayan’ (hang-out place in tagalog) behind Uncle Joe’s auto shop, the ’Bulabog’ barkada usually get together. It was one of those get together night that I first met Ikoy, I wasn’t close to him yet at that time.

I remember when I first met him (Ikoy), I didnt really like him, although I’m usually attached right away to gays because I have a lot of gay friends in Pinas, with the line of work that I was in (TV Production), I worked with gay people,as a matter of fact a good friend of mine “Greg” (I wonder how he’s doing?) is gay. But Ikoy was different, he is not the typical gay that you’ll meet, he was the sophisticated, snob type.

After a few meet up at the ‘tambayan’, BBQ gathering, Sunday ‘basketball games’ and pizza after the game at Rock Island Cafe, we started to click together. Aside from he was a good friend to my late ex-husband, I just started to really like him.

But I became really close to Ikoy when my life in Palau was upside-down, he was there when all the friends I know turned their back on me, I remember asking him a favor to watch my son DJ while I work and he did. He was the only one who have the guts to tell me the truth that my ex was cheating on me.

So, he was the only friend I had during my hard times in Palau, then he told me about his plan of leaving the island and finding a better opportunity here in the U.S., I was really sad I almost want to tell him not to go. But I know he wants nothing but a new outlook in life and help his family to the best that he can. He was a wonderful person that he understood my situation and he introduced me to his group of friends, I remember him telling me, “these are real people who will help you when you are in need and will accept you for who you are”, sure thing they are, I still would love to see them when I go back to the island, hopefully they’re still there (Rogie, Luloy, Juvie and Chaps). I had great times with them, I remember Halloween of 2001 we party ’till morning, after leaving Port Area at around midnight, my 5 passenger Toyota Landcruiser became 9 or ten passenger (LOL!), it was so much fun everyone was laughing even though they were squeezed at the back end of the car.

That was the last party we had he even said that’s worth a ‘dispedida party’ for him, he was all set, I asked him so where you going? Do you have family there? He aswered me “Bahala na (Whatever happens), Topo-topo barrega when I get there”, I can see the determination in his face.

One week later, we had our last drink together at ’Storyboard Bar & Grill’, in our conversation that night, he was the first one who gave me an idea of coming here in the U.S., he told me to apply for a U.S. Visa. With my life so wacked at that time, that thought didn’t even cross my mind. But I remember answering him, “I will keep that in mind”, then he told me to look for him when I get here. I gave him a hug,warm wishes, and goodluck, that was the last time I saw my good friend Ikoy.

I looked all over for him, when I got here. Finally, I was able to get hold of him sometime 2004, a year before the devastating Hurricane Katrina, I’m in California and he was down in New Orleans. We just said “hi and hellos”, we didnt get to talk for very long because we both have jobs and he kept changing his cellphone almost every three months. The longest conversation we had was August 2005, the day before Hurricane Katrina. I was worried about him, I told him to move out of New Orleans, and he said ‘no, they (his co-workers and friends) will be staying there, that it shouldn’t be so bad’, the next day, after seeing in the news about what happened to the City of New Orleans, I was calling him but to no avail. All I can do that time was pray for his safety. I tried everyday to get hold of him, it was two weeks after Katrina, I received a call from him.

He survived Hurricane Katrina, I heard one of the most traumatic real-life story of a person who survived mother nature’s fury. He was crying the whole time he was talking on the phone. I told him he can stop if its too hard for him to share it, he said “no, it will make me feel better if I can let it all out of my chest”, he survived 5 days of no food, he was just drinking the dirty flood. All he has was the blanket that he grabbed from the flash flood. It was afternoon of the fifth day being on top of the roof, when he was finally rescued by a helicopter. He said if he wasnt rescued that day, he would have not last another day, he said he saw several body of dead people in the water passing by him. The third day he said he was dillusional, he said he is not going to survive and that his body will end up somewhere that his family wont even know where he’s at. But he was thankful that he survived, he said that was a life experience he will never forget. His hardship battle didn’t end there.

....to be continued

Remembering Ninoy

This blog has to be written fast, its 9:30A.M. on a Friday, YEY! Happy weekend everyone! Well, in Pinas its already Friday night. Anyway, Charing and I likes to watch SNN (Showbiz News Ngayon) on TFC. SNN starts at 9:45am(PST) here in the U.S., some Pinoy likes to watch showbiz news more than the current events news, why? kse its a lot lighter to hear and aside from its the gossip of the showbiz personalities in Pinas, alam mo naman si Charing love nya talaga ang tsismis so GOW!

We're blogging about it as well because one of the host of the show Kris Aquino is the daughter of the late Ninoy & Cory Aquino and today is the 26th death anniversary (assassination) of Ninoy Aquino. Charing still remembers those days when she was outside the MIA (Manila International Airport) now NAIA (named after Ninoy) she said about a hundred or more of crowd welcoming Ninoy but Ninoy was killed even before he stepped on the ground.