Wasn't So Manic

"Pray in all things, in all gestures..."

BIRFDAY SHOUT OUT: A very happy birfday shout out going to aela. A beautiful person with a wonderful heart, that always gives. SHes like errone's big sister, you know you can always count on her to help you out. One thing bout her is that she's so patient w/you, even when she's probably had the most difficult day, she's patient. Ill never forget that one time she really was there for me. This was maan 3 years ago, when I had got into exile. Anyway, she was there to comfort me and even though I had a stupid choice, she didn't condem me or anything like that, but she was juss there to listen. Praise God for compassionate and caring people like atche! So may God continue to bless you, and use you as instrument of love.

BREAKTHROUGH: Even though teachers aren't paid enough for wha they do, and they'll never make as much as a some lawyer or business manager, when you see what I did today you realize you chose the right profession. There's this kid in my class, and it's sad cuz he really doesnt know anything. I dont know how else to describe him, then that. Anyway, so during silent reading groups, him I got put w/the lower reading group. I was like 'aghhh' cuz I know how they read. So I told the little boy to come and to me. He starts to read and I was really suprised by the amount he had read. I helped him w/a few words, then told him to go read on his own. I wanted to make sure he was retaining the info. he was reading. After I had another kid come read to me, I had him read to me again and he got it again! I did teh same thing again, told him to go read on his own, then come back and read to me. The third time it was pretty much perfect, and after that I juss wnated ot yell out praise GOd!!!! You really dont know how much progress that is for this kid. I was so happy and excited, I gave him a sticker, a smelly sticker. See its time like that where you realize that you're in the right spot. You cant paid enough to have that kind of satisfaction. Praise God for teachers, who never give up.

COFFEE NIGHT: Sunday nite was cool cuz it was time well spent w/a couple of my cousins. So we were at starbucks juss kinda chillin. Well there's this homeless man who approached me asking us for a quarter or 50 cents. I give him a quarter since it wasnt a whole lot he was asking for. I come to find out that he's a regular here always asking for the same thing. Earlier while I was ordering, this asian chick comes up to joey and I asking if we wnat to donate to some cause. We wer elike naw its aiight, thanks anyway. About 45 min. she comes back outside asking us as if she didnt ask us when we were inside! It was weird, we looked at each other like eh? haha There are some weird people at starbucks on south and gridely. Despite all that, fun times catching up w/the cousins. Joey has this really kick ass phone that when I was playing w/it I was like wow I want this haha

SPIRIT MOVING: Last nites youf min. was very inspiring, one of those nites where I wish I can go back and replay it. It started off being a hectic afternoon, juss getting things together, but errthang worked out in the end. I think that 15 min. of praying in the blessed sacrament helped calm things down for me. Kristine did a really great job on her talk bout lent 'kicking ash.' That was the first time I heard her give a talk before. I love this whole youf and advisor share pair thing. Doing praise & worship in the middle, kinda threw people off, I think but it was nice having it not really at the end. Sacrifice skit was cool, even though the room was small. I think it stiil was able to portray it's message. Rob came out and helped liven the spirit in the room. Honestly, didnt expect to see the things I did tonite. Praise God though, like I said the spirit was defiently moving in the room. It was like a breath of fresh air for many of them before going into the Holy Season of lent.

THANKS FRIEND: Thanks to rob for really helping me out these past couple of mondays. Its funny how God calls certain people and helps them see things through different set of eyes. His passion for music, was I think helped many of the youf to really look deep inside their hearts and open up. Its crazy how a simple song or lyrics can help make that impact. Donne is in love w/that 'I will offer up my life' song, which one of my favs as well. ANyway, God had really used him tonite as an instrument in so many different ways. Truly, they were able to come back to that heart of worship. Thanks friend for all your help, greatly appreciated!



What a great day!

"To the ends of the earth for you..."im done, im out God bless!

Bringing back the memories...

"At the end of our lives, we shall be judged by love..."

YOUF ALPHA: The annual holy spirit saturday came and pass again. It was a little bit different this year, w/o seeing the usual music min perform. However, I'm juss glad that hoj was able to fill in and do the job. It seems like errone really liked them and so they were able to accomplish the job. It was a little bit more difficult this year then in previous years. Not a lot of them seemed to be going 'all out,' usually by the closing song they're all hyped up. I think many of them were still hesitant and holding back. Being in that hall brought back so many different memories, from my first lss, first youf alpha etc. etc. Crazy how so many things have changed over the year. I was asked to give a talk on 'wha does the holy spirit do.' So last nite I sat in the blessed sacarament preparing for this talk, trying to see if I can possibly change it up a bit. Then an idea came to mind to put together a slideshow of youf, kids frmo the youf min. I figured to show them their peers, people in action filled w/the Holy Spirit and how its affected their lives. Hopefully, I was able to convey some type of message.

OLD STUDENTS: A couple of my old students from last year are in youf alpha this year. They were in my eucharist II class last year. It was cool cuz that first day of class they had came into my classroom juss to say wassup. ANyway, so I was talking them today and seeing how the like it. Usually by thsi time, they seem to enjoy youf alpha and dont want to go back in the classroom. Well I got the opposite reaction this time, then again they're not real social people either. As the conversation progressed they were telling me how they liked it better last year. It kinda made my day and made me smile. Sometimes you dont know whether you're doing your job, or not, but hearing stuff like that inspires me to serve more. I told them next year, they can have me again in confirmation II.

BIRFDAY SHOUT OUT: Going out to my one and only mother. The wonderful caretaker who never ceases to provide for me. Always makes sure I have food in my stomach, a place to go to sleep at and errthang else. I remember not too long ago reading one of my kid's journal entries, describing who he sees Jesus through. He said he had met Jesus through his mom and how she always is there for him. He started to describe how his mom would cook him a seperate dinner sometimes cuz she knew wha he liked. Or how she always asks if he needs help w/his hw or with anything. He talked bout how much she sacrafices for him, example if he needed lunch $$, his mom would give it to him even if its the last dollar she has in her wallet. As I was reading this, it really reminded me of my own mother. Those are the same exact qualities and traits she has. ALways willing to go the extra mile to make me happy. Praise God for mothers who are always there for you to give you whatever you need.

SACRIFICE: Banne had a really good talk on wed. about sacrifice, and tying it all in w/lent. With the analogy of the purple heart and what it stands for. Makes you put a lot into persepctive about wha to give up for lent. I was sharing w/my thurs. kids how when I was younger I never knew much about lent. I juss knew I had to give something up, and then going to mass errday for the easter tridum. As you grow up and start to not only grow in your faith as well learn more about it, you come to have a deeper appreciation for the season. Same with advent, you prepare your heart for the coming of Jesus. This time through lent, you put yourself in that dessert w/Jesus. Doing what you can to give more to others and think less of yourself. In a sense lent and advent kinda go hand in hand, both seasons ask you to reflect more on others, and less of yourself.

NICE CHAT: Had a nice little chit chat w/a various people today. One of those catch up convos, talking with liz first about how youf alpha was going this year. Good to see new interesting characters join the cast this year. Cydi, was sharing w/me how she really enjoyed my talk, especially the slide show. I told her I've been active at holy family, helping out with the youf ministry over there. If there was something over at sPv that would help youf, I'd be all for it, but there isn't. She understood, and said thas great, you gotta go where you're comfortable. Afterwards, stopping by el captian catching up w/the tribe called king. You know it was nice seeing different people today, seeing faces who I havent seen in a while and juss catch up, ketchup.

ABORTION BAN: Ive been reading about the abortion case in south dakota. The house has passed a bill to ban abortion in that state. Which it looks like it will pass with the govenor inclined to sign it. Praise GOd for the sanctity of life. I guess things are starting to look up with this immoral country ha However, it seem that planned parenthood is going to fight it if the bill becomes a law. This bill would become a effective the new fiscal year, july 1. Under the legislation, doctors in South Dakota would face up to five years in prison for performing an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life."I've indicated I'm pro-life, and I do believe abortion is wrong and that we should do everything we can to save lives," Rounds said before the vote Friday in the House. "If this bill accomplishes that, then I am inclined to sign the bill into law."

OUT OF CONTROL: On the other hand, I still believe going into iraq was a huge mistake. Now the sitaution over there has juss gotten even worse! After four days of violence and over 200 people killed. They keep saying it looks like as if a civil war is going to break out. I really wonder what the american peopel were thinking when they re-elected bush. Him and his corrupt administration. Then now with this new port deal, hijole! What is this guy thinking?! Honestly here! It's true, dubya really doesn't care about people in general ha Im really hoping that in november democrats take control of the house and senate or at least one chamber of the house. At least they'll make sure to keep the president accountable for his actions.

ENJOYING IT: WOrk at the skool has been cool. We celebrated happy 100th day of skool on wed. so it was nice taking a break from the norm. I do really enjoy working w/the new teacher they hired. We seem to get along really well together, which helps making my work day easy. The kids can be a handful sometimes, but I love them. Even though they can wear my patience real thin, they're so special. I think I juss have to remember that. The other day I was getting real frustrated, so I tilted my head up at the ceiling and I started to pray. Hail Mary, full of grace...then one of the kids asked me, 'Mr. Jason why are you putting your head up? Is your nose bleeding?' hahaha it was too cute. Thursday, I got invited to go out to lunch w/some of the other grade level teachers. USually thursdays, are 'lets go out to lunch day.' Im glad that I've gotten to know them better. I really do stand out, being the only male in the teachers lounge. I juss remember how in the beginning I would be eating lunch by myself. Now I feel much more comfortable.



Praise God for that Spirit

"You cried I'd wipe away all of my fears..."im done, im out GOd bless!

One Crazy Day

"Whatever a man prefers to God, that he makes a god to himself..."

BACK TO WORK: After being gone from work two days in a row, I forgot wha it was like to go to work ha. I did feel bad for calling in sick those two days, its funny cuz you dont think anyone really notices you're gone, but then people ask where were you etc. Some of the teachers that I work w/I have on myspace, so I've been getting comments from them ha its funny. The teacher that I directly work with told me today that thurs. and fri. the kids were so bad. She goes to me laughing, 'see you dont think it makes a difference when you're gone, but it really does.' Yeaah work was pretty crazy, I was ready to nap when I got home.

PAY DAY: I got my first pay check today at the rectory yay! It feels good to get paid again on bi-weekly basis. So imma getting one more check before my real pay day. Then my check for the skool is gonna be big yay! I love looking forward to big pay checks. I was looking at my pay check and it brought back memories of how my days of working at the daycare. Remembering wha it was like to make that amount back in the days. Anyway, praise God for pay day yay!! I juss gotta get direct deposit now. Work at the rectory was hectic yesterday, I didnt even get a chance to even start my dinner. It was one thing after the other, then by 5pm errone had left already so it was juss jackie and I. Then by the time I knew it was already 7pm and I wanted to leave early too. Rectory days never get boring ha

CONFIRMATION: Oh man those kids frustrate me to the max sometimes. If there are crosses I have to bear it's them, maybe this really is God's way of trying to be patient. I dont think they understand the difficulty, probably cuz some of them cna hardly care. Anyway, so coy came and gave a testimony to them bout his life post-confirmation. It was frustrating cuz they were talking and not even paying attention. Well some of them not all of them were like that. I was telling them taht it takes a lot to be up and share things that are personal w/people you dont even know. Yet in the end they do it cuz they want to help bring people closer to God, so by sharing their experiences thas wha they hope to do. At the end of class I told them if they dont shape up then my last result will be to bring the DRE and fr. ed into the class. One kid said I thought priests are suppose to be nice, then another one said, 'not if they molest kids.' Then I said hey the actions of those priests who had done those things, dont represent all the priests as a whole.

CORE MEETING: After confirmation was over went back to holy family to finish up the core meeting. Im kinda excited for all the upcoming projects going on. The anniversary, confirmation dance etc. I think thas why monday helped paved the way for all these things. To help us come back together spiritually, together, and reconnect as a community. I felt like I was a senate hearing during one of the core's presentation on their ministry. Ha! Yeah it was kinda funny, I guess if you understand politics then you'll get it too. Productive meeting, none the less, rather a bit long. I tend to start loosing focus after a while when it gets to be too long.


What a long day, im ready for a vacation

"Then I will be complete in you..."im done, im out God bless!

I Adore You

'Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,"Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am,;" I said, "send me!"'-Isaiah 6:8

EVENTFUL WEEKEND: Praise God for such an eventful weekend. Even though I was busy doing one thing after the other, it was cool. Reflecting on this verse, helped me realized a variety of different things. That the decision I made back in dec. was a good one. Its like looking at finished product of a 1000 piece puzzle. Even though it took forver to finish it, even though it may have been frustrating, you're so excited to look at your finished product, to show errone it. Today was juss another confirmation of my calling to serve in the youf ministry. Praise God for that opportunity to serve.

BREAKFAST AT BILLYS: Saturday morning, went to breakfast w/allen. It seemed like we havent talked or caught up in while, so I thought itd be coo to go and catch up. The original plan was to go to ihop, but the ihop on licoln and moody was too busy. We decided to try out that hole in the wall joint, called billy bs. It wasn't too bad for being a hole in the wall place. I think sometimes those places have the best food. ANyway, it was juss a good time to catch up and to share whas going on. Amtrak is one funny guy, I tell you, one funny guy.

RECTORY WORK: Saturday at work was pretty chill, pretty mellow day. There was a wedding that was going on, it was a portugese wedding and they had 10 million sponsors! Put together the announcements for the bulletin, then pushed the little cart around and stuffed the bulletins for this coming weekend. Then elizabeth came to pick up her pictures, so she stayed around for a while until it was closing. Saturdays goes by pretty fast, even though I only worked half day. I like the rectory maybe its cuz I miss having a desk and my own office space. Its funny cuz when I go to visit at stanton, my old office space its all empty. I remember in august they had this contest for the best office space w/different catagories, I won 3rd place for theme.

BACK TO LIFE: Ever since I quit stanton in september, I had stopped the blog book. I was pretty sad cuz I had 6 binders working on the 7th one, of juss writing. My thoughts, my life, things I've done and accomplished...ha its almost like an autobiography of my life. Well anyway, good news, cuz I brought back the paper blog back to life. Now working on the 8th binder, sheesh I looked back on all that stuff its juss amazing. Its crazy how popular these online journals have become. To get a glimpse and read into the life of someone else, even people you don't even know. Technology is juss getting bigger and bigger.

ONTARIO: Went to ontario w/elizabeth and jaime saturday, that was real fun. Checked out the victoria gardens out there in rancho. Wow, I was in heaven ! haha Its a newly built outdoor type of mall. They had all my favorite stores all in one place! WEnt home w/some really good buys due some really good sales. Bought a triple 5 soul jacket and shirt for only $22! Usually the jacket alone costs like wha $60-$70! So I had a really good deal on taht one. There was this little bag I wanted to get also, since it was on sale, but I didnt think it'd look good on me. Went to macys and bought a rip curl bag for under $20 for my laptop! Last minute decision, but it was well worth it. Now my confirmation stuff in there is a little bit more organzied. After shopping had dinner at lucille's, haven't gone there since boss lady birfday in june. Then ended up going back to mel's knocked out and was home by 3am. I need to go back to that victoria gardens place.

THE PARALYZED: It's funny with the homilies at holy family. SOmetimes I often wonder where they're going with it, but it all realtes back together in the end. Father Antony was talking bout these people who he prayed over at the rectory. How he was amazed by how much faith they had. How their first reaction was to go to the church, where as they could've went anywhere else. Then how the people who accompanied the little child, put all their faith, hope, and trust in father. Paralleling it to the gospel of the paralyzed man. In the same way were called to bring those who are 'paralyzed' not literally, but those who have turned away from the church for whatever reason. We're called to bring them to Jesus, that is our duty as christians to be evangelizers. Those who are paralyzed in their own life situations, to inspire them so He can touch their lives in and through us. Praise God for great inspiring homilies.

LUNCH & NEW BORDERS: After mass I had lunch w/mike at rubios. It's been a long time since him and I had lunch so it was cool. Since tomorrow is tuesday, Im thinking of getting them $1 fish tacos. Oh man they rubios has the best fish tacos, especially when you add the lemon and lime to it. Yup! I think rubios hits under my top 5 favorite fast food places to eat at. Ill never forget that one time going there and singing on the order mic, then coming out and see errone looking at me ha not knowing they could hear me from outside! Checked out the new borders, it's pretty big two stories, weird thing is they have a seattle's best coffee in there, where right across is the starbucks. Nice place, found a couple of good books for bifday gifts there. Borders does have a nice selection of catholic books.

CHANGED POLICY: On saturday my sister had gotten into another car accident. Pretty much teh same area where she got into her other one 3 years ago. The guy in front of her slammed on his brakes, and she didnt have enough time to slam on hers, so she ended up rearended him. The part that sucks, is that the guy ran off and didnt even have license plate. SO now her front hood is all screwed up with it popping up. ANyway, so today they went to get a rent a car. Apparently now they changed the policy for renting a car. Well dont quote on me this, maybe its juss the place we went to, but my sister(who juss turned 21) was able to rent the car on her own. Where as last year when my car got stolen, I had to have to co-sign it w/my mom. Pretty interesting, so if thas the case, you only have to be 21 to rent out a car then thas tiight!

WORTH IT: Didnt sleep till after 1am this morning, but then woke up early cuz I had the half day retreat/planning session to attend to. I was actually suprised I slept, usually w/stuff liek that Im excited for Im too excited to sleep. Anyway, went to breakfast w/francis to plan out the rest of our service work for the fiscal year. Im pretty lucky to have such a responsibilie core leader, he know wha he has to do and takes care of it. I really dont have to get on him for too much, cuz I know he'll juss take care of it.

COMING BACK: The retreat part was very inspiring for I think errrone. SOmething collectively as a core team we all needed. We were originally suppose to go to the mountains, but thinking it might rain, we decided to bring the mountains to them. We decorated the St. Jospeh's center w/mountains and a tent, ha trying to make that outdoor motiff. I think it ended up being better we did it at the St. Jospeh's center anyway. No distractions, juss God, and us. Like that lifehouse song, 'you and me.' THe theme was 'Here I am Lord.' Rememebeing that first moment you were called by Christ to serve Him. The sharings were touching from reflecting on that first moment, recalling our struggles through serving in the ministry to being able to recongize the beauty in our brothers and sisters. Praise & worship was juss great, I felt the spirit juss moving through the room. THanks to rob for helping me out, otherwise I dont know if it would've had that same impact. Praying over each other, was moving...wow it's been a while since I've been prayed over. Praise God. Then ended it the retreat portion with the washing of the feet...emphasizing the importance of serving one another humbling yourself. Praise God for renewing that calling, to serve and share the love of Christ w/one another.

DELL IS GOOD: Last week some of my keys were coming off my keyboard. It started off with one key, then it became a domino effect. I went to best buy attempting to see if they could fix it, but they said you juss have to replace the whole keyboard. My immediate reaction, was 'oh great now I have to go through the hassle of calling dell etc. etc.' Anyway, so after lagging on it for a couple of days, I finally call dell. The next day I received in the mail, a new keyboard w/directions on how to fix it. It wasn't so bad after all! Now I wonder if they can clean up the rest of my laptop. Dell really does have some good service.

Praise God for such a great weekend!

"Im a window shoppper..."im done, im out God bless!

The Cup is Already Full

"If we love Christ we are more then willing to endure whatever cross He graces us with..."

GONE GOING: My parents left yesterday to go to arizona, yeah the dessert state. Ive gone there once and it wasn't the most exciting trip, I'll tell you that. They went to go visit my uncle and his friend who goes out there every year, to pan for gold. Yeah, I know sounds funny ha but its true! ANd you thought panning for gold and the gold rush thing was extinct! ha! HAving a camper has become more convient than I had expected it to be. Its a good place to put visitors ha when there isnt enough room in the house. Yeah they took the camper out there and made their own little road trip. Its nice having a whole house to yourself for a little bit at least.

BIRFDAY SHOUT OUT: A very special birfday shout out going to lyn lyn. This person has such a beautiful soul inside and out. ALways willing there to help out when she can, always willing to give. Her warm heart reflects the love of God, that you cant help to see the face of Christ through her. Not only her kind words, but always there to listen. I remember that one time she came out and helped teach my kids at work polynesian dancing. Which hepled landed her a job w/me at stanton as well yay! Anyway, praise God for such a awesome friend!

EXCITED: On monday, were having this half day retreat for the youf min. on monday. Im so excited to grow w/these kids and share the different things I've learned about my catholic faith with them. The theme is 'Here I am Lord,' remembering and reflecting that first time we were called. THe first time we fell in love God, the first time we were touched, that very first moment. Because it really is out first that you never really forget. The first kiss you ever had, you first heart break etc. Your firsts are the memories we always hold on to and never forget. So the whole thrust to recall that first moment you fell in love w/God and come back to that moment to help you in your call to service.

AO1 CONCERT: THe Ao1 concert was really good last nite, wow there was such a conviction I felt. Even though I came at the tail end of the concert, it was still exactly what I needed. After I got off work, I kinda doubted to go since errone else kinda flaked out on going. Praise God that I went though cuz it was refreshing. The group collectively and individually is so talented that's amazing. It helped put a lot of different things in perspective for me, it was juss as good as spending time in the blessed sacrament. There's been a lot of different things I've been struggling with as of lately, people and others probably cuz of lack of prayer, but last nite was great. On top of that catching up w/ol uciers too, couldnt of been a better way to spend a friday nite.

PRAYER: Blessed Teresa once said, 'How do we learn how to pray? By praying.' I had this really good convo. last nite with joyce bout contemplative prayer. Its weird how people ask you or tell you how to pray. When you're use to praying a certain way how do you pray differently? How do you pray? By praying...when you're touched by the holy spirit, you're touched, and you follow the flow of the spirit. You cant tell the spirit to stop moving in you or to kick back a little bit. When the spirit is flowing, then it's going to let it flow. Another great convo I had was w/angie that nite bout growth, spiritual warfare etc. I miss convos like that w/great leaders of the different communities. Man I've been so mia this past year. Praise God for a nite of growth and prayer.


I love AO1

"I adore you..."im done, im out GOd bless!

Raindrops Keep Falling

"Prayer is to our soul what rain is to the soil. Fertilize the soil ever so richly, it will remain barren unless fed by frequent rains..."

INSPIRING: The past couple of sundays, in the bulletin at holy fam they've published RCIA canidates testimonies. When I read them you feel so inspired, its like wow. It does go to show how God really does work in the lives of other people. On top of all that Fr. Johnny's homily on sunday made it even better. He started of reflection and analyzing on this quote by a german philospher by the name of gabriel marcel. It went something like this, 'To really love someone is to assure the person that you'll never die.' He talked bout the challenges on loving beyond juss the external. The thing that got to me was when he said, reassuring that person that they wont be reaching heaven alone. Wow...the calling is that each couple and the family is to sanctify themselves together. We have to walk to holiness together, reassuring that no one is left behind. Though we have to work together not juss in the family sense, but as a parish community. From the domestic church to the parish, thas why we worship together, there is life in the church through the sacraments. That is why the church provides us that oppporunity to assure you no one dies in the church. We need the church, it is in the church that the we find the faith to carry on despite the trials and difficulities. We live in love beginning in our families and then sharing in our parish communities. Praise God for holy fam homilies!

ICE CREAM NITE: Sunday nite I went to visit dane at work at baskin robbins sunday. THen francis and donne ended up meeting up there also. Despite the fact the plans to go chill at boomers or something didnt fall through, it was still a fun nite. Dane asking us to critique his audution for the skool play w/him singing 'I juss cant wait to be king.' THen with francis all excited and making up these little rhymes bout errthang and anything. Attempted to go to target, but it was already closed. So after that I took the two on a little field trip to the OC ha! SHowed them where I worked, where I went to hs at, rented movies at lincoln video all that fun stuff. Like I said for a sunday nite, it turned out to be real fun. Well at least in my eyes it did.





CLEAN UP: I really am enjoying working in the rectory, it's a little weird w/mel being gone though. Monday, I went in(even though I was off)and juss started to do a whole reorganizing and cleaning of errthang. Being that's going to be my workspace from now on, I'm juss trying to get things organized and create some type of system. WIth cherry, jackie, and I doing mel's jon now, things may get a little hectic. I created inboxes for the 3 of us, so this way messages and calendar requests stuff doesnt get lost. Today I was able to pretty much do most of the stuff I needed to follow up on. I juss wish the calendar stuff worked from my log in name on mel's comp. Hopefully soon, I can juss stick to using mine rather then having to go back and forth. For the most part though, I love it there.

CRAZY: Monday ended up being a crazy afternoon. I went to work for a couple of hours to get things organized and cleaned up. After that I went to the cerritos mall and changed my phone contract finally. Ever since I've been 18 the phone has been under my mom's name(at the time I started my contract, I didnt have any credit), now that my 2 year was up, it was time to switch it up. Ended up getting a new phone, yeah I know again. THe guy hooked it up for me, since I've been w/cingular for so long. I was really debating whether or not to upgrade being my phone is so unique, on top of that no one really has it. Though I couldnt resist it and got the 6682. Im still trying to learn all the features to it, its got a lot, that its tight.






M7 PERFORMANCE: Got lost on my way to St. Paul of the cross. I am so bad with directions, tahs why I juss take the freeway its so much simpler. I ended up coming to the last half of the show. Gotta support my peeps you know? ha I loved the songs they chose, it seemed like the kids over there had a good time. I had that song, 'come and play w/me tonite' in my head all today. Maybe cuz its such a catchy song that it juss got to my head. It was nice seeing some ol peeps again. The tribe called king made it out, I had told jaymee I was juss thinking of her the other day too. It was nice to see dani again, it's been ages since I had seen her. She's a real fun person to talk to. Oh yeah and I saw noreeeen, whom I havent seen since geez her wedding?! Or maybe not...though it's been a while since I've seen a lot of people. Great job to the band though on starspacular performance! I have pics but I have to resize them and I'm too tired to post them right now.

HAPPY VDAY: ERrtime I heard of 'vday' it reminds me of WWII ha. Rob and I were suppose to have our annual vday philly cheese steak luncheon, but that got cancelled. This happened ot be a blessing in a sense, cuz I was worrying bout how I was goign to get my mom flowers before going to work. Though with the lunch being cancelled I didnt have to worry bout it. I bought my mom a whole set of dozen roses. Then gave a couple to my lola, she was real happy that someone got her something. When I went there and showed it to her, she a huge smile on her face. Im grateful for the fact that they only live aroudn the corner. That was probably the best valentine's gift was seeing her face light up and smile.



and we dont stop...

"Let me see you go run it, run it..."im done, im out God bless!

Small Things

"God will never leave you empty, He will replace everything you've lost. If He asks you to put something down it's because He wants you to pick up something greater..."

TGIF: The teacher that I work with and I were both saying thank God its friday the other day. On top of that its a 3 day weekend, which even better! Then next weekend I have monday off too! woo! It juss by the end of the work day, with them I'm drained. Thas why I dont want to teach in the elementary skool field. Then again working w/teenagers can even more draining. I think teaching in juss general is draining cuz no matter what age group youre working w/you, you're always going to have to be on top of them. If your opinion differs from mine, ha please enlighten me. DOn't get me wrong, I love my job and I love the kids its juss gets old sometimes having to tell them 10000 times to be quiet, sit down, dont rock your chair etc. What do you expect right? They're only in first grade. So I have this one kid who constantly rocks his chair back and forth, and I tell him all the time he's going to fall. The other day his chair tipped over and he fell back. As mean as this sounds, I have to admit it was a little funny. We were making a list of things we love on friday for their valentine's day project. Some of the kids put my name, 'Mr. Jason' under their list of things/people they love. Awww I felt touched. We were reading bout Abe Lincoln and man was it hard trying to explain to them about slaverly and all that...ha so inquisitive. I still need to get a picture to show...

WINTER GAMES: The 2006 winter olympic games started already. I love watching the opening and closing ceremonies. Watching the opening ceremonies though, you cant help to feel a sense of pride for your country. Then watching the closing ones, you cant help to feel a bit sad too. It almost as if you were there watching it or particiapting in them yourself. Those ceremonies are so hardcore, and creative. Man I'd love to do something like that for spirit games one day. I always like the summer olympics better though. The 2000 summer games were my favorite cuz of the womens gymnasitics. Yup, I had a crush on dominque moucheanu and dominque dawes, but wow that was so long ago. My friend had boughten me this folder of the 'magnificent 7' haha it was so gay.

FEELING OLD: Friday nite, I went to allen's birfday party, where the whole world was invited. Had to park like 2 streets down and then there were all these kids outside juss chillin. The cops ended up coming(whatd you expect right?)to tell the kids to go back inside the garage. Apparently, they were even chillin outside around the corner for a while. I mean it was a good clean party, but juss too many people. ALlen's mom is funny, as I was walking through the house she pulld me aside and was like to errone, 'do you think he looks filipino?' Talk bout being put on the spot! On top of errthang else, I juss felt old, yeah real old. I was probably the oldest one there next to the titos and titas. You're probably thinking why'd you go if you knew it was going to be like that. WEll cmon now it's allen, I wasn't bout to not go. So I left around 11ish along w/the other 3 kids I had in my car. Ended up going to carl's and starbucks. Oh what a nite. Oh yeah I also ran into like 3 of my old confirmation students from last year there too. One of them, errtiem I run into him is always asking me questions. What if...such and such were to happen. I said why do you always have to ask me questions errtime you see me. Its something that never fails, and he goes to me, 'cuz youre a holy man.' ha I told him yeah right.

PAINT JOB: The youf min. did our second service project. This time we painted the walls to st. jospeh's center. Talk bout crazy job! WE were asked to get at least two walls done, I didnt expect it to be so difficult. Remind me never to go into the painting profession! Donne called me around 7ish this mornining waking me up. GOod thing she called otherwise I may have over slept, right after I got off the phone w/her my phone reseted on its own. Changed real fast, cleaned up, then picked up her and francis. Went to rectory to get the stuff and off to the paint store we go. So I met Jesus today in the man at the paint store, who helped us pick out wha we needed. I started off getting a whole bunch of stuff then learned we didnt all of it. Nice guy who said he didnt want to rip us off. In fact after learning it was for the church, he ended up talking bout his wife, whos filipina. Then went on and on and on blah blah blah, I dont mind chatting it up, but I had to get back to the church already! 5 hrs later after paint stains on the floor, paint all over my body, going through 5 gallons of paint, 12 rolling brushes, 6 4" brushes, we accomplished the mission. Praise God! CHeck out the highlights below...

EL TORITO: Came home, had to shower, I felt so dirty, then crashed. Woke up at 6pm and went to eat at el torito for lyn lyn's birfday dinner. I havent eaten el torito in a while, so it was pretty good. Thanks mike for the drink! ha Salud! AFter dinner the plan was to go to boomers, but unfortuately they were closing @ 10pm. By the time we were to get over there, it would've been too late. Another time we'll go, another time.




what a long productive day...
















































"I'm in love with a stripper..."im done, im out GOd bless!

It's been a while

"Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible..."

WELCOME BACK: I know its been a while since a real blog post. Eerrtime I attempt to blog, I end up not even finishing the whole entry. Thas probably the laziness kicking it...yup. Man I remember the days when I use to blog consisitently all the time. Now I'm lucky if I even get a whole entry in one week. Speaking of blog, let me get this out of the way before I forget. Welcome back rob to the blog world, even though you were only gone for wha like a couple of days? I still dont understand why you deleted your blog and myspace at the same time. Then days later end up resigning up for it. You're a freak, but we're still cool right?! hahahahaa

HAPPY BIRFDAY: A very special shout out going to my young padawan, allen aka amtrak a. I've only know this guy for 6 months or so? But within that short amount of time we've become real good friends. He's become one of those people that I've kinda taken under my wing...sorta. Well, we all have our 'circle of friends' or those people that you tend to take care of. Yeah, he's become that type of person. He's done a lot for me as well as putting up w/a lot of my demands ha! If you know me I can tend to be a bit pushy at times. At the same time this guy was kind enough to say 'yes' to be my confirmation aide, what a cool guy. To be 18...wow those were the days, now they're long gone. So my amtrak friend, thanks for evening prayers, for the laughs, and errthang else. May God continue to shower you w/blessings and give you the desires of your heart. Thanks for being a great brotha!

RECTORY DAYS: These past couple of weeks at the rectory have been sorta mellow. Im still trying to learn and soak in errthang. I put together my first baptismal certificate last fri. Sheesh it took me forever to do, I'm not use to typing on a word processor/typewriter, thas such ol skool stuff. Mel gave cherry and I a tour of the whole parish last fri. I didnt realized there were so many rooms inside the parish center. Oh yeah I have my own log in account and email now at the rectory. Jasonf@holyfamilyartesia.org so if you need to book something then contact me yay! Im basically going to be in charge of the booking of the facilities, so orgainzations will go through me to request anything on the calendar. On top of that I'll also be in charge of renting out the hall to those who want to use it. Challening stuff, but yet will keep me busy at the same time.

MEL'S LEAVING: We threw a going away party for mel wed. nite at the rectory gardens. It turned out to be real cool. Put together a slideshow for her that took forever for me to do. I think I need to get my laptop cleaned out or checked out. It's juss taking too long to do anything on it. Anyway, it was good that erroen was able to get together for her little shin dig. Like I've said before, she's such a great person with such a giving heart. You can always expect to have fun w/her wherever you go. She's one of those people who puts your needs before her own, and will bend over backwards to help you out. THough it's going to different w/o her, especially being she was such a strong pillar to the youf min. and the rectory, sometimes God allows us these oppurtunities that we juss cant pass up. Errthang happens for a reason and thas when I think we juss need to trust in God the most.


YOUF MIN: Within these past couple of weeks, I've come to realize that GOd did lead me in the right direction. Of course, being I was originally was sent to help create and establish the young adult ministry, I think GOd had other plans. AFter really praying and discerning, I really felt more of a passion to work with the youf. I think thas my strength, my forte, it probably comes from working w/confirmation so many years now. I love those guys in the youf min., they took me in and juss showed me hospitality. I still remember that one nite w/jan-michael and francis at jack in the box...sheesh summer days. With the core and the advisors, you come up with a real cohesive unique set of individuals. As with errgroup, there's always struggles and trials, yet with God's grace we over come them creating a community thas united with Christ.



BJ'S NITE: I had originally planned on going to white lotus for a couple of my friend's from hs birfday. Well no one really was going, so I skipped it and went to bjs instead. The fact of driving all the way up to hollywood on a week nite bymyself, didnt interest me a whole lot. I had more fun at bj's instead. THe farwell party for mel continued with mark poblete, rose, jay, mel, and then elizabeth and jaime followed up after. I havent laughed so hard like I did tonite in a while. At point I thought someone sent the server to check up on our table cuz we were so loud. Apparently, though he was checking errone else's too. Thas become our hot spot to juss chilll, well that and jack in the box. Great times tonite though, really fun times.



NEW FRIENDS: It was funny at work today I was talking bout myspace to another teacher during lunch. Then we started talking bout how addicting it can get and the interesting people you can find. TOo bad they blocked it at work, probably cuz of all the upper grade kids who have that. The teacher I work with goes, 'I heard that if you dont make one for yourself, your kids end up making one of you for you.' So when I got home I ended up looking up that teacher and through her I found 2 other teachers at my work on it also! haha I was able ot add 3 more friends on to my myspace yay!! We talk bout the most randomest things inside the lounge, but its funny. I'd rather be in there w/a bunch of young people then with a bunch of older ladies talking bout who knows what. So it has its perks.

OUT TO LUNCH: Last thurs. my old bosses took me out to lunch at red robbin. Which I thought was really nice. Im glad to know that despite the fact that of the circumstances of why I left, were still close. In fact they were offering me a contracted position for the summer. Being that I most likely wont be working at the skool in the summer, this will give me some $$. Hopefully by summer I'll have $ saved up so I wont have to work but then I may get bored. It does end up getting boring when errone is at work or skool and you're stuck at home doing nothing. Anyway, as much as I'm glad that I'm out of there, I do miss it. And errtime I go back to visit, they always show me love. Its like that show cheers, 'where everybody knows your name...' haha

HOOTERS KING: Jei Franxis has to be the all the time hooters king. Last fri. abby, fred, gen, and me all went to hooters in burbank. I guess it was to try something different and new. Anyway, thinking reirich was going ot come, we ordered 2 orders of 50 wings. We thought with 6 of us all, we should finish it in no time. THen reirich ends up not coming, after we already put in the order so were stuck w/100 wings. I ate like 20 something, fred ate maybe like 12, the girls ate a few, but jei went all out. Eating 40 something wings, yeah I know. We all felt pretty gross afterwards, at least I did. Thas why we did this whole walking thing to this one bar and grill place. It was aiight, the music was good 80's cover songs. Juss too much smoke and junk for me.



ISLANDS: Then on saturday afternoon, met up w/heif for lunch at islands. We try to chill at least once a month, go have lunch or coffee or something. So we were talking and she was telling me there's a posibility that before the end of year is over, she maybe engaged! I was suprised when I heard the news. We were juss talking bout how crazy it would be. THen going down memory lane of whne the ol skool crew would all hang out. Our crew was kinda like one of those 90210 type things, except heif and I didnt go to hs w/any of them. Now look, errone is older leading their own individual lives. Praise God for myspace ha so we can keep in contact w/each other. Yeah that was the crew before I got involved w/the renewal. THe memories of going ot hte block errweekend, watching the latest movie, eating at fridays all the time. Yeah praise GOd for best friends, yay!

CLOSING: So robinsons may in the cerritos mall is closing down. Theyre having sales, but nothing real dramatic. I went there w/cherry last sat. and then I bought pants over there. There was this kenneth cole wathc that I saw that was real cool. After the discounts and all it ends up being $70 something, which isnt too bad for a kenneth cole watch. Normally, they're at least $100 something. The interesting part is to see wha they're going to put in place of that store. I think they're still going to be around until march, so you have until the rest of this month to tkae advantage of the sales. Juss be aware of wha you buy, cuz once you buy thas it. There isnt any refunds or exchanges after the purchase has been made. I wonder why...ha

NUTSHELL: SO there you have it wah my week has been like in a nut shell. I miss taking naps, but oh well I guess thas wha the weekends are for. I cant wait for the back to back holidays! My parents are leaving to arizona for a week next wed. It'll be nice ot have the house some wha to myself. Last nite I made the decision to give up something that I was interested in. I figured why set myself up for a dissapointment. There isnt any use right now, so in the mean time I'll juss go on with wha I'm doing. Although...ha well nevermind hopefully I can juss get back to blogging on a regular basis again.



I need to start getting into the habit of working out again!

"That's wha friends are for..."im done, im out God bless!

Loose Myself

"If people spent an hour a week in adoration, abortion would be ended..."

CYPRESS: The city of cypress called me yesterday offering me a position inside the rec. dept. According to them, I had done real well on my interview, I was really great. However, someone who was a little more qualified for the kid's corner position. Not to worry though cuz they still want to bring me on board, the catch is I'd have to wait a month for any hours. Apparently, in the upcoming month new positions are set to be avaiable. Thye juss want to bring me on board as soon as possible cuz they feel I could be a great asset to the team. And they didnt want me applying to other places thas why if they offered me the position then they wouldnt have to worry bout that. I told them I'd think bout, in my head I said no. ha This was juss to test to see if I'd be qualified enough to work in other parks & rec. depts. Apparently I still am fresh like good vegatables.

WAX: At work we were working on spelling words. We were doing this 'share and pair' activity. The students pair up and do three things, spell the word, tell the partner the defintion of the word, and then come up w/a sentence together. So the word was 'wax' and the little boy, anthony begins to spell it, wax w-a-x, wax is like from candles. I told him very good, okay come up with a sentence. 'I have wax in my ears.' hahahahahahhaaha! I couldnt stop laughing, and I said okay well yeah that is a sentence. The other kids were laughiing too, I dont know if they quite understood, but man kids do they say the darnest things!

OFFICIAL: I signed all my paper work yesterday and so I'm an official employee of the rectory. Fr. Johnny welcomed me on board as I ran into him last nite. I'll be working tues-friday, maybe possibly saturdays too. Im excited for a new adventure and learning all the ins and outs of the place. Mel showed me last nite all the baptismal, confirmation, and wedding certificated...aka the archives ha! Wow there's a grip of stuff in there that I never even knew about. Im going to be working on helping to book the facility, the website I think, and some other stuff. It was great knowing taht both jobs I applied I ended up being offered. THis will help bring in some extra cash for going out and other fun stuff.

ALMOST DONE: We've been working on my bathroom for the past couple of months now. Starting in november taking it all apart and then december putting home dry wall and then putting it on hold. LAst week they painted it and then added the final coating. APparently my sister and mom want ot make it look like an aquarium, I didnt like the idea. I juss wanted to have a simple bathroom. Obviously thas not gonna happen since the walls are this dark blue water color. I juss wnat ot have a bathroom again ha its a hassle walking to my parent's room to shower, using the bathroom, and all that stuff. Especially in the middle of the nite, whne you're half asleep.

JET PLANE: I cant get enough of that song, I've been listening to it all the time now. It brings me back memories of maui. Well juss the hawaiian version of the song at least. I came across it the other day while browsing through people's pages on myspace. Too bad that guy justin hasn't uploaded it to there. YOu know how there are juss some songs that make you feel so mellow. Kinda like you forget about errthang else and you're juss chill. Yeaaah, this is how that song makes me feel. So kiss me and smile for me, tell me that you'll wait for me, hol me like you'll never let me go...I'm leaving on a jet plane dont know when I'll be back again.

SPIRITUAL GROWTH: Jaime, mel, and I were at starbucks last nite talking a lot bout growth. How some people question why God allows suffering, why He allows things to happen to you. I mentioned that although it hurts, at the same time if all that stuff didnt happen wha would be the purpose of having God? I dont know I guess people have this misconception that if God is almighty and errthang, He should make our lives perfect. Life w/o trials, w/o suffering, or any sort of drama. Of course, that does sound maybe enticing, yet how would we know really who God is? We were talking bout doing some of kind of growth activity in the upcoming weeks w/the core. I miss those days, where we'd get away for the day to pray or those nites preparing for a big event soaking in prayer together. Sometimes its in the trials I think its when we remember wha it's like to come back to the heart of worship. Errone remember their firsts, their first crush, first kiss etc. when you think of those memories, they become as fresh and real as the first time it happened. To me its the same way w/your relationship w/God. Maybe after turning away from Him for so long and you come back to the way it was the first time...wow.



Leaving on a jet plane

"Can you catch up..."im done, im out God bless!

New Windows

"The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience, which comes naturally to those who cherish Christ above all..."

NEW OPP: FIrst off, I'd like to praise and thank God for allowing a new job opp. to come up. I landed a job at the rectory at holy fam! Yay! No, I'm not quittng my other job at the skool, but since opp. came I thought I'd go for it. When I found out I was pretty excited, get to work at the church and see all the insides and outsides of things. Hopefully too, it'll allow me to have some extra money on hand. Sometimes it's hard not having enough money to go on trips or wha not. Like I said this will juss be another great oppurtunity to learn new things and stuff like that.

BACK TO BACK: Sunday, was juss craziness sometimes I wish I could multiply myself to be at so many different places at one time. First off, I hate missing any type of meetings juss cuz I feel like I miss out all the info. On top of that I can't really put in my two cents on a certain issues. Thas why I try my best ot make it to meetings. It shows responsibility on your part too on top of all that. So anyway, I had an advisor meeting for the youf min. which was real productive. Then right after that had a young adult meeting which also was real productive. Im glad we're going to be moving along with that ministry. Im excited to see the new leaders and all the great stuff they have planned for it.

BYE, BYE, BYE: MOnday nite was fr. tino's going away party potluck. Great turn out by errone in the parish. Sunday was the first time I had heard Fr. TIno celebrate mass and wow his homily was real good. You know how you have certain priests that you love when they celebrate mass. Then there are others who aren't as exciting, so you're not as exciting. God sorta proved me wrong, on sunday ha. He talked bout teaching and wha it means to be an apostle and disciple of Christ. I love the homilies at holy family, Ive really taken that to become my 'home' parish now. Especially since I'm there and practically working there now.

MEGAN'S LAW: I had receieved an email today bout a link that shows you sex offendors in your area. As I was browsing on there, I tripped out on how detailed that thing was. Man talk bout being put on blast, for the whole world to see you. Thas crazy though on how detailed it is, showing you where the person lives, wha they did, scar/tatoos they have etc. Now you know wha houses not go to on halloween ha! This will defintely come in handy when ti comes to moving what kind of area you want to live in. I looked up on my city and I have 45 sex offendors living in the bpc. On top of that there are possible 4-5 of them living within blocks from me! Good thing none of them living on my street, I'm glad we know my neighbors at least for the most part who they are. You should check out that site when you get teh chance, youll be amazed and wha you see.

WORK: The kids have been alright these past couple of days. However they still tend to wear me out as usual. Yesterday was kinda funny so we were doing social studies and one of my kids who speaks mostly spanish was talking bout gfs. He wsa saying something like tu es cinco novias and I was laughing cuz he was smiling. So then I asked him if he liked any of the girls at the table. I said to te gusta carla? He would no no me gusta carla, ella es fea! ha I was trying to hold back from laughing. We got a new student also in the class, her name is yosi, sounds japanese but shes actually hispanic. I got myself a whistle finally! wooo! I love using that thing, now its easier to get the kids attention. That care card program is pretty cool, now I love giving those things out. At the same time Im waiting for the moment to write some kid up for doing something minor/major. haha Working for the skool can be sooo fun!

BLESSINGS: There has been a lot of blessings coming to holy family. Within the short time I've been here, I've met a lot of good people and have made some good friends. One of them have the group of people in the youf ministry. Great group of people who I really enjoy serving God side by side with. The youf help inspire my own spirituality, and it's great sharing the things I've learned with them. Im grateful for another set of good friends I've been able to make. Of course, it has its ups and downs, but what group doesnt have that right? It reminds me of the ol skool SH days, where we'd see each other errday, talk to each other, hang out all the time on the weekends. The one thing bout them is I dont think they quite yet understand my ghetto slang ha.

CONFIRMATION: The past couple of weeks I've been slowly bringing in a little bit of praise & worship into my class. I figured I'd test the waters, despite their maturity level to see wha happens. By golly, they were able to get it, I was shocked. LAst year at first it seemed like I was having to pull teeth, ths year they went w/the flow of things. Crazy! So we learned lulaey last week, which I always enjoying singing and doing action songs to. Last nite we did let the river flow cuz our theme was about offering ourselves to God. We talked bout compromsising our faith and making deals with God. I love when we can have discussions like that, I really wish confirmation was at least an hour and a half or two rather then an hour and fifteen. The other classes after they got out were looking at us. I love bringing music into the classroom.

REFLECTION: These past couple of months, working a lot more with the youf min and teaching confirmation has allowed me to relfect on my own faith journey. A lot of the youf had asked me, 'fish how do you know all this stuff?' I always tell them its juss stuff I've learned over the years. Gosh I can remember the first time I stepped into room b, and how I wasn't into the whole 'lifting my hands in the air' type thing, ' or thinking I'd look dumb doing the action songs. Man my faith has been incredible coming into the charismatic movement learning so much. Its through all that, that I've gotten to where I am in my faith today. The many nites I'd sit in front of the blessed sacrament talking, listening, whether it was at sPv or driving all the wya in the middle of the nite to savio. The very first time going to SCRC, charismatic mass, my very first LSS, brings you back in perspective bout juss falling in love all over again. MAaan those were days!!! Im juss glad that I can take the light, and share with holy fam. All that seems forever long ago now...how time flies.







YEAR AGO: A year ago today I started working at the fern street center. That place was like my own. For many of the kids that place was like their home, some of them even when it came to closing didnt want to leave. The memories...chsaing kids to their house and ratting them out to their parents. Fooseball table tournaments, trying to incorporate a homework problem...Im proud of the accomplishments I created over there. There are some days where I sorta miss doing all that programming stuff. Or when my boss would stop by and have this smile on his face cuz he was proud of all the good stuff happening there. Yeah I think in my 3 years at Stanton that has be to my biggest accomplishment...the opening of the fern street center.




Ive become so lazy in blogging now

"Jesus, you are the way..."im done, im out God bless!