Was taking advantage of my dad's blistering DSL here in Bacolod when I came across this photo:
The kid in the yellow shirt and apple-cut hair happens to be 11-year old ME. This was taken from the Children's International Summer Village (or CISV) camp I went to waaay back. I spent two months in Tokyo with a hundred other kids from different countries. For those of you who've been lucky enough to have gone to CISV you'll agree with me when I say that the experience will forever linger in your memory as one of the best experiences EVER. This was the time I started liking girls, making porma/ pa cute, and scheming up ways to steal smooches from the female campers. Was I successful? Well based on the grin on my face, what do you think? =)
My only regret about camp is not being able to keep in touch with all my friends. You see, I went to camp at an age when the Internet was still non-existent and people communicated using an old method wherein you write a letter on a piece of paper, place it in an envelope, lick and paste on a thing called a stamp, then drop it in a metal box called a mail box, where it then takes 6 months to get to whoever it is you've sent it to. With this archaic system, it's no wonder we all lost touch.
But what a wonderful thing the Web is. Someone from camp with way too much time on his hands created a
website
where we could all update each other on our current lives. What a trip to see my old friends holding up pictures of their wives and babies! It made me feel old but more importantly it reminded me of the fact that life is a series of changes. We'll all encounter different stages in our lives which give us happiness and purpose, and while I'm not a doting dad (yet), seeing my friends' faces as they held up their spawn made it easier for me to look forward to becoming a father.
On a totally unrelated note, check me out doing the tinikling. Born to perform.
