Diario de Mascarenhas

  On my way to work every morning, I pray to the Almighty. I thank Him for all the blessings that I have received, I pray that He will continue to bless me. I ask for forgiveness for all the bad things I have done, and all the good things I have not done. I pray that He will guide me daily so I will do what is right and which is according to His will. I pray that He will keep me safe, Suz and Steve, my family and theirs. I pray that all prayers are heard. Particularly, I pray that He will grant a scholarship for Kiray and that He will give Ate Zaida the opportunity that she deserves, whatever it may be. I pray that all who are suffering and have physical pain ; Steve, Suz, Dad, Mama, Luke, Ate Zaida, Zharina, Ricson, Bradpit and all who need healing, may He send the Holy spirit to heal all of us. I pray that all who have passed on; papa, Mannmann, Mum Antoinette, Aunty Nene, all family and friends, may all be at peace. May they be basking in the glory of God the Father and may...

  I have always been interested about the past. I enjoy knowing history because our past and the people before us have shaped who we are today. It is interesting to know the personalities who may have contributed to who we have become.  The people, the places and and experiences are like patches in the patchwork of our lives, each little piece is important. Hence, it may help to know a little bit of our past to understand ourselves. Although it is difficult to trace all of my ancestors, I have some information about a few of my forefathers. From my father’s side, I grew up with stories about my great grandfather Lolo Catiben Moro. We were told that he came from Mecca on a flying frying pan or it could have been a saucer.  It was a fantastical story. Who was he? Why could he fly on a frying pan? Was he an alien or something else? Luis Matthew's interpretation of Lolo Catiben Moro Nobody knows what he did in Mecca. But he was not a Muslim. He was a Bagobo/Calagan, wh...

We had a few days off due to the Anzac holidays (Friday). I took a day off on Thursday so I had an extended break. On the last day of the break (Sunday), it has been raining and we stayed at home. I rummaged through some old stuff and found my old diaries, also this old reflection note from Steve and some old photos. Steve's reflection must have been dated in 2008 since I found it in the 2008 diary. As I went through the old diaries, I noticed that Steve and I had many misunderstandings throughout the years. It has taken us 20 years to communicate better with each other, and even then we still have our moments. I suppose the best thing is that, after all these years with our ups and downs, we can still be together and try to be better, together . I don't think it will ever be easier, but all I know is that we will try our best with each other. We may still be growing up as persons. Growing old together is what we wanted from the start. To love and be loved. And everything else ...

We started our Christmas celebration with a Christmas mass at St. John's in the eve of 24th December. Then later when we came home, we exchanged gifts. On 25th December, we prepared for our Christmas lunch. Suzie had a great menu for our Christmas lunch. We had Afghani kebab, chicken tikka, crispy pork, pork sorpotel, fresh salad and bhuna beef. For dessert, we had cheese cake. This year, Larry was our visitor. He came bearing gifts as well. We had a lovely lunch with him and he also enjoyed himself.   On 26th December, we traveled to Browns Bay for our short holiday break. We got an AirBNB near the Browns Bay shops. The location was excellent, the place was near the beach and very near to the shops. We went for a walk at the beach in the afternoon and we had dinner at a Kebab shop.  On 27th we had an early breakfast at one of Browns Bay cafes. Then, we took the chance to travel to Long Bay. It had been several years since Suzie visited Long Bay and so much have changed. We ha...

  The earliest memory I have was when I was 2 years old. It was the Olympics in 1976 when Nadia Comăneci was performing and got several awards. I remember seeing it on TV. It is a clear memory of her performance and I remember her name ever since. Other memories of my youth include growing up in Bajada and how we played a lot. It was a good childhood there. I have memories of the birth of Liling. I remember the house where we rented. I remember the road with burnt rice husks and the Moringa trees with lovely flowers. There are memories of eating icecream, of riding on papa's motorbike through the Bajada tunnel, going to the beach and making balls of sand. There was wonderful smells of freshly cut wood and grass. I remember the image of Jesus on the wall of our room and His eyes keep following me when we were going to sleep. I remember when papa and mama decided to move to Tagum. How we wanted to bring Zamel’s toy car when we were moving. I imagined pulling that toy car beh...

  2nd June Steve  sent me off to the Auckland International Airport.   The airport has some changes, for drop off and pick up. It looks good, but the work is still on going. Stood in queue for an hour, was 4th in line. All went well. We then went to the departure area and had lunch at a Vietnamese resto. Steve had fried chicken and I had beef Poh. The soup was nice but the beef was chewy. Decided to go in early and said our farewells. Then I went though customs and immigration,  my bag was randomly selected for drug test. It was all good. I waited for 3 hours to board the plane. There was much turbulence during the flight, I got a bit scared. Thank you Lord, all went well. Inflight meal: I had Beef Rendang for lunch then Chicken Tikka for dinner. Online entertainment was so so. I was able to sleep a little. Arrived at Singapore on time, I searched for a place to sleep. I was able to catch a bit of sleep. But my body clock is still Auckland time s...