Mauie Flores

People who have known me since birth know that I do have the passion for singing. As far as I can remember, I think that people started to discover that I sing when I volunteered to sing the "Hail Mary" song way back in Kindergarten class. From there, a teacher who was volunteering for Asilo de San Vicente de Paul (an orphanage sponsored by the Vincentian fathers who operate our school, Adamson University) asked my parents to allow me to sing in one of their programs. Ms. Flores eventually became my mentor and was the one who entered my name in inter-school contests and programs until she went abroad.

In Grade 1, I won a gold medal that came with free voice lessons to the Center for Pop Music under Mr. Butch Albarracin. I think my parents were not able to afford the fees for further voice lessons after the package that I won. Luckily, I was accepted in our Grade School Choral Group and the weekly rehearsals gave me my free voice lessons! We were always joining singing competitions. Naturally, the HS Choral Group became the first club I signed into the moment I entered High School. The group also joined a lot of singing competitions. We were also asked to sing at the PICC for former President Cory Aquino's farewell program.

Our HS choirmaster, Mrs. Tess Cervero, was also the one who invited me and my sister to join our parish choral group. The youth choir eventually became known as the St. Vincent de Paul Parish M.U.S.I.C. Ministry (Movement of the United Students in Christ) which was spearheaded by Kuya Val Jovero and our choirmaster Kuya Fred Gagaza (who are now Rap's godfathers). This is the group where I can honestly say that I felt at home. This is where I was able to make lasting friendships and also where I experienced my first heartaches. The group lasted for 11 years. Kuya Fred and Kuya Val became busy with work. Ate France, also Rap's godmother, passed away in 2004 from lung cancer. We eventually had to move on. It was hard to get the group out of my system at first. I admit that it was hard for me to hear mass with me sitting in the pews with the regular churchgoers and not in the choir stand. Every Sunday was a struggle because for 11 years, I had been accustomed to singing in the 6 pm and 7 pm masses in our parish.

Now, I don't get the chance to sing in public anymore. It's now more of a hobby than a habit for me. I'm thankful that my son shares the same passion with me. Yes, he sings, and he has the ear for singing. I'm planning in enrolling him soon in voice lessons so he will know how to use his vocal chords properly. We often sing with our Magic Sing especially when there are celebrations. A regular duet of ours is "The Prayer" by Josh Groban and Charlotte Church. Recently, I discovered Singsnap.Com where singers can record their songs and save it in their accounts. The recordings can also be embedded in their personal websites. I tried so sing some songs and posted it in my Friendster page. I had fun singing because it's just like singing videoke. Here's a recent recording that I have made...

I'll be waiting for your own recordings. Hope you have as much fun as I did.

ndI finally had the luxury of time to consult a doctor last Saturday. I have been suffering from cough and colds since last month. It got me so worried because I need to be well before my tutorial sessions start. I don't want to be an agent of the virus/bacteria to my students. Ralph has also been coughing again for a week now. It started after his swimming competition in the first week of June. He probably got so tired from the daily training and his resistance to disease was primarily affected.

We went to The Medical City Satellite Clinic at Robinson's Cainta. I was seen by Dr. Joseph Macalla, a practitioner of Family Medicine. He subjected me to a chest x-ray and PPD (tuberculin test) since he said my work is high-risk for tuberculosis and he just wants it ruled-out. For those who are not familiar with the process of PPD, a tuberculin serum is injected into the skin. The results are read after 48 to 72 hours. The area on my skin developed a small red lump right after the injection. I had to return last yesterday to the doctor's clinic so he could observe the reaction of my skin to the serum. I googled the procedure and discovered that a negative result should be a small lump with a diameter of around ten millimeters. I kept on measuring mine and, luckily, it has not reached more than that. That's what my doctor also told me. He just advised me to continue my mucolytic and antihistamine medications. His assessment was that I might be allergic to smoke and dust and that's whats making me cough. I was also advised to take multivitamins.

I'm glad that at last I know that my cough's nothing much to be worried about. After days of taking my medications, I have been coughing less than before. The small lump is still on my skin, though. I just don't know if it will disappear after a while.

I felt so depressed a few days before my birthday. I didn't understand why I just didn't feel like celebrating at all. My siblings asked for a simple celebration. So I agreed to prepare a simple dinner that was supposed to be last Friday night. We were supposed to have mudslides and beers and sing our hearts out all night long. This celebration never happened. I'll explain why later.

Last Thursday, the morning of my 30th birthday, I woke up to texts and calls from loved ones greeting me on that special day. Even parents of my former students in Laguna texted me birthday greetings. I prayed silently that God bless them with all the blessings He has given me through the years. I am really grateful that I am loved by so many people. Dadijun had to go to the office for a training he had to attend. I tried getting back to sleep because Rap's still asleep. I was obliged to get up anyway because my mother-in-law played our birthday cd on the cd player. I was treated to an extra special breakfast of fried rice (yup, I totally forgot about diet that day), hotdogs, eggs, bagoong and tomatoes. I also thank God for giving me a super caring mother-in-law.

Rap and I went to Greenwoods a few hours early for his swimming practice for the swimming competion the following day. Mama cooked pancit for me. It will be a shame if I didn't eat lunch with them that day. I bought ice cream and Andok's for everyone. Late in the afternoon, Dadijun picked us up from Rap's swimming practice and we went to SM Taytay afterwards to watch Prince Caspian. A late family dinner followed at Shakey's.

Now back to the Friday dinner that never happened...

This Friday, during Rap's swimming competition. I received a text from Manay, my mom's older sister. She told me to tell Mama that Tata Digoy has already passed away. Tata Digoy (Rodrigo Racal) was my mom's older brother. He's one of our closest uncles because he was always there during the summer vacations that were spent in Siniloan, Laguna.

Back in the late 80's, we had a small ricefield and an irrigation pump in the area. Neighboring farmers also avail of our irrigation services for their fields. We always spend our summers there in time for the harvest. I remember happy times with my cousins swimming in the river beside our property from where we get the water that was irrigated to the fields. My memorable experience with Tata Digoy was when I joined a singing contest during the barrio fiesta. I think I was around 10 years old back then. A rule in the contest was that contestants should be locals of the area and not dayo. A neighbor of ours suggested that I pretend to be their neice which I did. On the night of the contest, I sang my piece and won the first prize. Unknown to all of us, Tata Digoy came to watch the contest and, at that time of the night, was already drunk from their early merry-making. When my name was announced, he shouted at the top of his lungs that I was not a Padilla (our neighbor's surname) and that I am his niece. I ended up getting a 100 peso consolation prize instead.

I will really miss Tata Digoy. May his soul rest in eternal peace. It's just a shame that I wasn't able to attend his burial because of my busy schedule.