It's my 4th day back in PNG for rotation #23. Remember I said I was going to spend 2 weeks in Singapore? I ended up contracting flu and suffered badly for most of my time back home. I didn't get to do all the things I wanted like eating delicious food (durian, popiah, Indian rojak, etc), catching up with friends, topless KTV recording, and the list goes on.
The blessing in disguise was that I got to spend much time with Mummy at home as she took care of me with yummy food that I grew up with and motherly TLC. To spend time with her was the main aim of the trip anyway right? Well, I guess better luck next trip which will likely be Chinese New Year 2026 (I haven't bought my air tickets yet).
When I got to PNG and weighed myself, I was shocked to find out that I lost 3kgs (my uniform pants feel so loose now!). I couldn't stick to my workout routines as I was quite sick and so I've also lost much of my cardiovascular stamina and muscular strength which I'll have to slowly rebuild in the gym over the next few weeks.
I still have some photos that I can share from my Singapore trip in future posts though, as I still got to do some fun things at the start when the flu symptoms haven't kicked in fully (when self-medicating was still fine), and towards the end when I started recovering. I still have a lingering (slight) cough which is annoying.
As I finish kicking this flu out of my body, let me present this month's musical offering. It's a live cover I did at The Laird (gay leather bar in Melbourne) of one of my favourite songs from Elton John called "The Last Song". This is the soundtrack to the movie "And the Band Played On", an HIV-themed movie/documentary I watched very early on in my gay journey. With PrEP so readily available these days, it's hard to imagine life back then when HIV was literally a death sentence. For that, I feel really fortunate to be born in this age.
More importantly, the "father and son" aspect of this song really touched me back then when I was desperately craving fatherly love. That was the time I had a long-term relationship with Greg whom I've sung this song many times to. He must be having the time of his life in heaven right now (read more about Greg and I here).
This song will have a special place in my heart forever and I'm stirred up every time I sing it. Hope you'll enjoy this cover.
