Everytime, I see my cousin Jade, in her eyes, I can see the emptiness of  life.  The last time I saw her, I can’t exactly describe how I perceived how her life is going!  She was always in deep thought and her pretty smile and infectious laughter were gone.   A relative told me that she decided to hibernate in a place to “soul search”.  I felt sorry for I did  not even had the chance bond with her and know the true story behind that gloomy face.

Amazing!  One time, Jane popped out of the blue and would you believe in a social networking site when she joined our Family group page?   Jade is undeniably bubbly and happy in her post.   Her shout out in her profile was  ” I found my peace with ilchi lee!    Momentarily, I froze in amazement when I checked on all her pictures and I felt so happy for her.  Not even knowing who ilchi lee is, I presumed that she already found the man of her dreams. When I had the chance to chat with her, I did not hesitate to ask her (what cousins are for) about that newly found joy in her life.   She was all ecstatic, happy and proud about how her life turned 180 degrees from being helpless to being hopeful and she kept mentioning how ilchi lee brought the sunshine back into her empty life.  Very briefly, she recounted that her endless quest for serenity of life, wellness of life and health was discovered in a place she’s been to (she would not disclose).  I wonder which place she was referring to because there were several pictures of places with majestic and serene view posted,  t’was a sight to see!   I also saw her in several yoga poses and her face was very calm and peaceful….. I bet that was her tight guarded secret, ilchi lee!

Oh well, whatever… as long as she is happy and contented.. I am more than happy!

The whole neighborhood had their tongues wagging with the evident fortune that our neighbor Lloyd is enjoying these days.  Fresh from his gallivanting in the nearby city, he came home in a brand new sports car.  You know, it made people here wondered how he became that rich!  The mean and suspicious ones believed that he is a drug dealer or a carnapper.   But those who know him can’t help but shook their head in disbelief because of too many suspicions and accusations hurled against the guy.

Few days ago, Llyod’s worried mom revealed the truth that his go lucky son made huge fortune in online sports betting.   His first million was from a Manny Pacquio – Antonio Margarito boxing fight and he really hit it bullseye when he favored the Filipino boxer called “Pacman”  more than his Mexican opponent and placed his wise bet on him.  According to the mom, he is very clever on how he bet on sports.   There are tactics and strategies he learned from his Uncle Vic which he took by heart and it brought him unexpected fortune.  He also dwell so much in Basketball games and would do extra miles piling up statistics from previous games  and would do lengthy calculation and analyze the odds and all those things.  Whew… seems hard but it is always a sure win for him!

Now, that the secret has been revealed in his neighborhood, people believed  that he is lucky in sports betting.   Even Lloyd himself would not encourage or discourage people to try it.  He always give sound advice to friends (in case they try sports betting) that on line gaming needs a lot of knowledge and preparation.  They were told that it has some real risks so, one should be responsible.   Make sure too that only spare money are used and do not gamble personal savings.   That way there will be no financial pressures .   And most of all, his one simple but well meaning advice is that when you reached your loss limit, stop playing and try again next time.  There should be discipline….

Well, the neighbors tongue are still wagging…. that Lloyd is not only clever but very lucky….he always hit the jackpot….

The recreation club in our village opened finally after months of restoration! The homeowners association really pushed to have the club refurbished so that a lot of people will enjoy its facilities and will have renewed interest to work out and be fit for life!

When we visited the club, aside from its giant swimming pool where most families leisurely spend their week- ends, the playing area is spacious and we particularly liked the game room. It was teeming with Table tennis enthusiasts. My BIL was seemingly intrigued on why this game appealed to most of our friends, so together with his son; they’ve waited for their turn to use the new table tennis table. Actually, they are novice in playing this game because BIL is a badminton addict and he probably just wanted to know the difference of a Pingpong game from table tennis.

We really enjoyed watching both father and son played because they were very enthusiastic to learn and (I think) even trying to master the game. No wonder, a lot of our friends were telling us to come and see for ourselves the new club which boasts of good, quality brand of table tennis equipments and excellent facilities.

Our overall rating of the club: A1!

We suscribed to Pay per view to watch the live telecast of Pacquiao and Margarito boxing fight and it was aired early Sunday morning.  My husband woke up as early as 4 am hoping the fight will start soon but it was already past 6 am and the main event has not started yet.   Fearing he might miss the start of the fight, he asked me to hurry up because he wanted to take me to my office much earlier than usual.   I was reluctant since it was too early but gave in to his request.

The long wait was well worth it!  Pacquiao gave a good fight against his much taller opponent Margarito.  And the Filipino nation rejoiced with his victory!  Though I missed the live telecast of the fight, I was not worried at all because there will be replays in almost every Filipino channel .

My 2 children were playfully teasing each other after the fight and my daughter out of the blue blurted out that he hoped his brother considers boxing instead.  Well,  the millions he made after every fight somehow made a person thought of how to make “easy but bloody” money out of it.   Anyways, he was trained and disciplined to hone his boxing skills and he deserved his hard earned money. 

Well, he made us Filipinos to be proud of our brown race in the field of boxing.

Before he got hooked in playing badminton, my husband was a bowling afficionado.  He never missed to bowl every Wednesday night in a 5 star hotel few minutes drive from our place.  He plays really well!  Winning medals and trophies gives him the hype to improve his skills.   He was a regular fixture in bowling tournaments and we were his avid cheerers and supporters.  Our family are always in tow everytime he plays but it came to a point that he needed to play less till he stopped. 

He then shifted to playing badminton when he  founded CBA (Certified Badminton Afficionados) a badminton club which trhrived  for almost 2 years.   The club is no longer in existence when we decided to stop playing and members looked for an alternative club.  Sad, but we hope to revive the club one day.

However, the passion in playing bowling is still there.  He plays once in a while.  The pulse for strike is still evident everytime he throws a ball.   He is  still good at it afterall!   Really, bowling is my husband’s game!

Excitedly, I was sweet -talking my husband to buy me a new pair of shoes because I told him I am ready to play badminton.   It’s been a year since we stopped and I missed playing.   We were regularly in the court before and we invested in branded and pro racquets.  However, it came to a halt when we got so busy. 

I know it is never to late to indulge again in one of  my favorite sports!

Our badminton racquets  were laid to rest for almost a year now.  Yes, laid to rest because our enthusiasm to play badminton died down.   But now, I have this yearning to belong to a sports club who played once a week.   I’ve been eyeing to join a badminton club and get back to action again. I know that we will find it hard to start all over again after we had been inactive playing for a year.   Muscle sores and panting will be one of them but I am open to that.  As long as we take the initial step and practice and play regularly, we will be able to slowly but surely get the feel of the game.   Before we hanged up our badminton raquets, we were already participating and actively playing in tournaments.   However, there were conflicts in schedules so we gave up playing in favor of other commitments. 

Now, that our schedules will allow us to play once more, I encouraged my husband to sign up in a badminton club for a game or two once a week.   We might as well do it soon because I can feel that my husband and  I are both slowing down.  Sports for all I know will make us active, fit, alert and young.  Winning more friends is a bonus.

I then have to take our racquets out  from it’s hiding place to see the light of day!