I ALWAYS WANTED PORCELAIN SKIN, BUT NOT LIKE THIS

I love them and they're beautiful but to be crystal clear it should be us at the Consulate who honor and acknowledge and give tokens of appreciation to the esteemed pillars of the Filipino community and not them who have to gift us with anything much less commemorative plates picturing all the recent Consul Generals and I was never even a ConGen just an AHOP and I'm blushing now

sir naman...platonic lang relationship natin

EPISODE IV: A NEW HOP

 Andor's foreshadowing, of course, was spot on 

Sydney! They were placed in Sydney, Mon Mothma! We just received them at the airport!

As you can see, we made sure to blow their cover/cloaking device. But why are they here, and why now?  I mean, yeah, we had some work done on the Residence and Chancery, but everything there was properly planned, programmed and documented, as were all other operations during this AHOP's stint.  

And yes, this audit was actually routinely scheduled a long time ago in a home office far, far away and only postponed because of lockdown. Still, it is clear to this overdramatic fanboy what needs to be done in his own fanfiction saga 

First, as the good Chandrilan Senator herself would do, we must welcome the finance people to a big official function -- in this case this year's Paskombalong...

...where perhaps the audit team could be distracted into investigating how the Consulate's ragtag group of singers placed second in the choir competition

(and while they're at it, they should inspect this Paskombalong visitor's barong usage, amirite?)

Second, and more importantly, I must cede all power, authority and responsibility to some other party, say....the Consulate's NEW HEAD OF POST

While the new Consul General's appointment was known in advance, her actual arrival gate was not - nagulat na lang kami na nasa likod na namin siya sa airport. Anyway, we made sure that one of the first things scheduled for the new HOP right after her touchdown was a meet-and-brief with the audit team where she could face their findings (never more than 12) and front the Consulate's response.  

Happy to say in the end, scanners detected no renegade activity. We run a tight starship here, ma'am.  

So my one way out of audit and AHOP was navigated properly, and I now give up all trappings of the position.  S'all good, because the experience was invaluable, the service was the reward, and this overdramatic fanboy gets to put on in the end the coldest, hardest bars in the history of Star Wars: WHAT DID MOI SACRIFICE

Great Acting!  Abangan na lang ang next episode =)

JUST AHOPPING ALONG

an AHOP Round-op, if you will

* Acting "Madam"/Actual LLDD-Hyphen-L has Morning Tea at the Governor's House with the Sydney Consular Corps spouses, as one does

* Pay respects at Victory in the Pacific ceremony, as one should

* Judge some Balagtasan and Barong, some dance and some 'dobo, because Buwan ng Wika

* Join Southeast Asian missions in Sydney Lord Mayor's reception (but fail to get consensus on the ASEAN arm-link thing)

* And 10 years and 10,000 miles apart, I continue to have More Fun on the wrong side of Her Majesty's roads

an AHOP never forgets where he came from

JUNE SWOONS AND OPPORTUNES

You'll never know if and when you'll ever be called up to be an AHOP, and I suppose one can never say that there's a best or worst time to become one, but for me I'm kind of glad my stint happened to run through June -- this June in particular -- and I had the honor and opportunity to be front and center for the full spectrum of indie month experiences.   

From leading the Flag-raising and Oath-taking...

...to witnessing the spectacular return of Vivid, whose showcase installation "Temple" was co-created by a great Philippines-Australia storyteller...

...and, oh hey, it also happens to be my birth month and even the temp building security guard wants to slide into my DMs...

...meanwhile, the community decides to celebrate the National Hero with tinikling and (*checks notes*)...The King

The Department likewise commemorates its founding with a slick online global concert/presentation, and includes Sydney in its hype video montage... 

The Sydney Fil-com also comes roaring back with their first (of many, many, many) post-lockdown Independence Day celebrations... 

...which was all supposed to lead up to the social event of the season, our own piece de resistance, the biggest Fil-Com gathering hosted by the Consulate on its premises since the pandemic began, the one to show the worst's behind us and we're now stronger than ever, the one... 

...where over half the Consulate and their families come back positive the day before and the whole thing has to be hastily cancelled.  

Alas.  What could've been.

the June-iverse works in strange and mysterious ways