Soaring High

My love and passion for the Arts lifted me to a level I could not imagine achieving. It surged at a time when I struggled to fight loneliness and homesickness, the two strong forces that pulled me apart, that tore my soul to pieces. Without it I would have been depressed all my life.
The Arts picked me up with great force and put me down again to fulfill what I believe as share-my-talent purpose driven life. The ‘I-can-do-it’ attitude instilled in me by my teacher and life-long friend, Rafaela ‘Tita Iday’ Hernandez-Diaz has manifested its profound effect more so in my adult life.
When I was cast the starring role of the singing-dancing Princess Sey Wen, in the Picton Drama Club’s production of Aladdin, the pantomime, my soaring high began.
Acting reinforced healing and forgetting. My portrayal of the Princess immensely shrank that feeling of insecurity and depression finally ridding of its bitter pangs that clenched tight on my withering self.
This was the beginning of very significant contributions across a variety of subjects and therefore made full participation in the professional spectrum with limitless possibilities especially in the arts. My involvement in many different organisations and clubs took me on a high: Sweet Adelines (barbershop four-part harmony), Music Society, Ukulele Group, Picton Writers’ Group, church music, barbershop quartets, Kapa Haka (Māori performance group), Filipino cultural group, Marlborough Philippine Society, A Cappella Belles (choir), St. Joseph’s Board of Trustees, Gifted and Talented Education, New Zealand Society of Authors, APRA, Wearable Designz and yoga. Experiences with these groups have been my passport to a happy and contented life.