This is the first New Year's Day in a long time when I did not wake up with the flu.

I remember during the last one, I was so ill that I could not even get out of bed.  My head was spinning, my stomach was doing somersaults, and I felt feverish aches all over.  I remember thinking to myself  that if this is what it's like to approach 40 years old, then I don't want to turn 40. I figure that since today went without incident, then 2009 is going to be a great year.  This year, I will turn 41, I will visit Europe again in the fall, and hopefully by mid-year, I will have a new government job.  I want this year--which everyone predicts will be a terrible year--to be a good one.  Despite the economic uncertainties of our country and the continued instability in the Middle East and along the India/Pakistan border, I am still hopeful.  Maybe it's the gay man in me--or perhaps the Jew in me.  I am an eternal optimist.

Right now, I am working on a project to convert old VHS tapes of a social club called, The Maharlikang Ngayon into DVD format.  This was a club that my family was involved in back in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  The informal club was comprised of about 2 dozen Filipino families who lived in the Bay area.  We would get together on an bi-annual basis to camp, attend potlucks and celebrate Christmas together. I recall vividly our annual holiday parties when my father would emcee and we would have lip-sync contests called, "The Great Pretender." By converting these VHS tapes into DVD, I hope to distribute them to those of us who are left from the Maharlika.  It's yet another way of reconnecting with my past.  It's very surreal to watch my grandfather, Vicente and grandmother, Elena in these tapes.  I feel as though they're still alive and with me.  It's also strange to watch images of people who are no longer with us--like Uncle Emil and my friend "Poochie."  I am somewhat saddened to see these old tapes.  At the same time, I can't stop watching them.  I am compelled to watch my youth and everything that helped shape who I am today.

I must say, I had such a terrible taste in clothes during the 1980s.  I also had some really bad hairstyles too.