April 25 - May 3, 1962

April 25 - Wednesday


Mercy picked me up at 2:30 pm and went to the ANC. We were disappointed to find Yan not there. We just talked with Luli and Lita a while. We had lunch and suddenly I see Yan go into the Teen Den. I told Mercy and we went to see for sure. It was him.



April 26 - Thursday

Mercy, Chiqui and Albert with Tito Ramon picked me up at 7:30 am to go to the ANC. There was no one there until 10:30 when Jose Luis Marti arrived. Yan arrived at around 11. He paid for my cinnamon toast order. Arno was there too with the bad news that he failed. He and Carlos can shake hands. Carlos is finally getting his wish for studying at the American School this June. Marina said she ran into him at the Polo Club this morning. Big deal! (I was such a fake!) He can go study with every single girl at the AS, marry Lorraine and drop dead. No skin of my nose! Mercy ate lunch with me and she, Mom and Dad are fighting with me about having my hair cut. I don’t want to, but....We went back to the ANC at 3 pm. Arno, Luli, Lita, Chiqui and Albert played Monopoly and Mercy and I just talked. I was so disappointed when Yan didn’t show. He’s so much fun. Arno is nuts!



April 27 - Friday

I woke feeling terrible this morning. My nose was clogged up and my head felt as if I had 3 tons of sand in it. I helped Mom cook lunch and then I slept a siesta or at least tried to. My head was splitting and my temperature was 37 plus degrees C. Finally I took a Cortal and that was the magic wand. I felt 100% better. I talked to Mercy over the phone and Yan and Mitch were at the ANC this morning. I hope they are there tomorrow. The PAN AM plane that Mitch’s parents were on crash landed on its way in from Hong Kong but no one was hurt. Mommy went to play mah-jong at Tita Lol’s house this evening. “Bonanza” was fun to watch - “The Honor of Cochise.” Nadia is leaving for Hong Kong shortly and I think Mitch is going with her but he’s coming back - alone. She’s staying there for 2 years. Poor Mitch.



April 28 - Saturday

I didn’t sleep to well last night but I washed my hair this morning. This afternoon I went to the Desiree Beauty Parlor with Tita Lol and Mercy and had my mass of hair, which was almost to my shoulders, cut. It didn’t turn out too bad. Phew! We went to the ANC this afternoon and later were disappointed to learn that Yan had just left for the movie with Leslie Suter and Monchu. This evening I had supper at Mercy’s house. Muneca Lebrun was there. She’s awfully nice.



April 29 - Sunday

Every time I use my pique sheath dress something pleasant happens - I guess its my lucky dress! I went to Mass at 11 at Ermita and to the ANC later, as usual. The first thing Arno tells me is that he’s broken with Beli!! I nearly hit the ceiling. I am so happy. This is awful I know but at least when I’m flirting with Arno I won’t feel guilty about Beli. I had lunch at the ANC and while I was eating Mitch and Yan arrived and Mitch gave me one of his devastating smiles. (I guess I can be bought with a “devastating smile” - Carlos, Mitch, Bill....) Luli picked up at 1:30 to go to the Rizal to see “State Fair” starring Pat Boone, Bobby Darrin, Anne Margaret and Pamela Tiffin. Mitch is the image of Bobby Darrin. The way he walks, talks, smiles, etc. As we walked in the movie, I looked at one of the doors in the lobby and who should be standing there but Carlos! He looked so, so wonderful! He makes me dissolve inside. As we walked up the stairs, I could feel his eyes boring into my back. Once during the movies, I saw him get up and walk out and my heart went out with him. When the movie was over, as we walked out and waited for Luli’s car, Carlos walks out. All those silly things began to happen to me again and its pitiful. He just stood some feet behind us with Mari Duarte (or was it Rafy?) and laughed (a little too loudly I think to attract attention). I turned around and he waved and smiled hello and for a minute I couldn’t even breathe! Finally Luli’s car arrived and we left. We went back to the ANC but Arno, Yan and Mitch had left. Darned! Bomber and I exchanged looks and Luli was in a cloud. Mercy didn’t seem to be in a very good mood and I think she was a little sore at me. Anyway, Carlos and Mitch are all jumbled up in my mind...



April 30 - Monday

My mother makes me so mad at times! You’d think she could wait a minute to say prayers so I could hear “Goodnight My Love.” (This is the dumbest and silliest sentence and sentiment that I’ve ever written - ever! I’m almost embarrassed that I was such a spoiled brat. I feel like to omit it but then it wouldn’t be honest....my poor mother...) Honestly, my mother is entirely too possessive. I can’t take a step before she wonders what I’m doing. I pity anyone who ever marries me. He’ll have to give her an autobiography of himself before he gets within 10 feet of me. Oh, how I wish I could find someone to love. Somebody I could tell all my troubles too, laugh with, cry with and someone who cares about my feelings....I wish Mom wouldn’t go to Baguio with me. I want to be on my own for a while without having someone looking over my shoulder all the time. I can just see Mom watching my every step while I’m up there. (This is probably the most nostalgic, heartbreaking, entry I’ve transcribed so far. I guess because I’m reading this 40 years later and I know how different my life turned out than I thought it would or dreamed it would be. I also realize how little I appreciated my parents, especially my mother, and how self-involved teenagers are. We all did learn that the world didn’t revolve around us, didn’t we?!) I went to the ANC and spent the whole day there. No one interesting was there this morning. I was with Arno for a while then Chiqui Ramirez, Margie and Marina. This afternoon Yan came and I was glad to see him though I wished that Mitch had been with him. It seems he and Nadia are pretty serious. Nacho didn’t recognize me with my short hair. He liked it too. Margie said that Arno did too. I had lunch with Monchu and Leslie. Mercy and company came this afternoon and they played Monopoly. Yan is going up to Baguio with us. Lita went to Dita Hagedorn’s and Margie Santamaria’s party tonight. I was invited but Mom didn’t let me go. My pimples are bugging me again and no Mennen ACB. I am so lonely.



May 1 - Tuesday

I think I’m falling for Mitch Schlachterman and heading for yet another heartache. Tonight at Bingo, Yan, Luli, Lita, Arno, Mitch and Nadia sat together. (And I go on a bit about Mitch here, so again, I will spare myself and whoever reads this.) Jeanne McElroy was at the ANC this afternoon. Tomorrow I am going to Sangley with her and Paula Henriks. Pichuco’s mother died last night and Mom and I went to the church where she is lying this morning. It was so sad to see Pilina, Pichuco, Jaime and their father look so devastated. Tomorrow we are going to the funeral.



May 2 - Wednesday

Stupid me! I missed the last boat to Sangley this morning. I was so mad at myself so I sat and chatted with Gerardo Lanuza. I almost forgot to mention the funeral of Teresa Berenguer. It was the most touching, tender and sad funerals I have ever been to. Pilina was completely devastated and poor Jaime was in tears too and Pichuco and his father looked grim and silent. Pichuco wore a gray suit and he looked so different than the teenager we know. Everyone was crying. Mom went to the funeral and she said it was terribly sad and moving. Marina was nasty this morning and made a crack about Pichuco’s suit being borrowed. She makes me so mad at Luli was livid at her! I had lunch at the ANC and there were many Navy ships in the bay again and a lot of good looking officers milling around the ANC. (To think that its very likely that two of those men milling around there would feature prominently in my life - one would be my “significant other” for almost 9 years, and the other is now president of Polytechnic University, where I’ve worked for the past 22 and a half years!) I was with Yan this afternoon and it seems he once had a crush on Ditas Hagedorn. Jeanne, Paula, Lita and I went to the Taza de Oro for merienda. Some nice looking sailor types talked to us and then Lit and I went back to the ANC. This evening I went to Ramon Faustman’s house. (I wish I mentioned herein why?? Probably to accompany my mother.)



May 3 - Thursday

Sigh, what a day. I did nothing this morning except cook a little and listened to Connie Francis “Someone Else’s Boy” for the zillionth time. This afternoon Albert calls up to tell me that Carlos would be at the ANC. From then on, my hands were trembling even as I ate lunch. When I got to the ANC Yan was in the Sunset Lounge with Monchu. I sat with them. Then Carlos, Arno, Eddie, etc. came up to the Sunset Lounge. Carlos just smiled at me and I smiled back and surprised everyone, even me, by acting like I wasn’t in the least bit interested in him but as he walked into the Sunset Lounge my heart felt so tight and it was beating so fast I thought I would burst. Anyway, he just looked at me twice and then promptly forgot I existed. (If Carlos knew then how much he made my teenage heart suffer so!!) I like Mitch and Carlos I think equally but at least Mitch speaks to me and teases me and knows I’m alive! Jeanne is such a darling, she’s going to lend me a darling blouse for me to take to Baguio. This is not the reason I like her. It’s just that she’s so sunny and friendly. There’s always a smile on her face and never a frown on her brow. There should be more people like her in the world - it would be a much nicer place. Bought a lovely blue sweater from Tito Ramon this evening. (I bought a sweater from Tito Ramon?!!?? Tito Ramon Sarthou sold sweaters?!) Tomorrow at midnight, we leave for Baguio, at last!!