In God's Hands

"It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish..."

KILLING TIME: Alright so I have plans to go watch the grude 2 at 9:50pm tonite inside the mall, but I figured since the theatres are right across the street from work that I'll just go straight there. Well now I have to kill about 45 min. so I figured I mine as well blog its waay overdue anyway. Good thing there's blocker on websites and I ahve full access to errthang. At my other job, certain sites are blocked like myspace and blogs due to 'adult content.' Funny thing though, I was searching on google this afternoon images and I looked up, 'thizz face' and it showed up haha Anyway, praise God for offices w/internet access woOo!

STARTIN FRESH: A week ago joyce left-oh why?! So the search was on for someone else to be my new secretary ha! THere was one this one guy who my boss was really close in hiring prior to joyce. Then joyce came along and she hired him instead of that other guy. Well she called him back and scheduled a 2nd interview w/him and left it to me to be the interviewer. The whole experience was kinda cool, juss asking him questions bout himself and wha not. Then the most difficult decision was choosing who to hire, my friend or this other guy. I had a hard time trying not to be biast and looking at it through a business aspect, who would fit the best. Yeah, I know its not some type of major business or corporation but still. So it may sound OA, but I couldnt even sleep taht evening cuz of the whole decision put on my lap. After spending time in prayer and reflection I ended up not choosing the guy. However, I am glad with the decision I chose and so far coy is working out pretty well. It'll take him a while to grasp the hang of things, but thas the work life for you. THough I must say I do miss working w/joyce cuz well cmon she knew wha she was doing and was really kind to errone who came in. She had this warm hearted smile that when you see it, you can't help but to smile and feel good inside cuz she's helped brighten up your day.

FESTIVAL: The festival is coming up next week and I dont know why but its as if entertainment has been cursed. Ive had people back out on me left and right, another group juss backed out today! What pisses me off is that I really went out of my way to help get them a spot and then adjusted some of the entertainers so they could perform at the time slot they wanted. Oh well, I guess there's really nothing I can do. At least I have next phaze coming to perform Friday nite, that counts for something! haah Yeah Im pretty excited that they're coming out, I mean how often do you get a group that's becoming mainstream perform? Its almost like when Ryan came to my confirmation class and gave a testimony...yeah that was d0pe! I think it would've been almost perfect if I would've gotten Passion to come out. I did email/myspace and ask but never received a reply boo to passion. Its funny how many of these filipino r & b groups or singers are starting to rise up, maybe they wont ever become as big as diddy or kanye, but at least theyre popular on the world wide web!



CONFIRMATION: There's this confirmation retreat that I so have to find a way to get out for next weekend. Its the first year sPv is taking kids up to the mountains for a retreat and I cant go cuz of festival! oh why?! The kids seem to be real excited cuz they're actually going to be able to get awya from the church grounds and go on a actual retreat. The weird thing is that it's going to be on some YMCA or WMCA camp grounds and not on an actual retreat grounds. Not only am I missing the confirmation retreat next weekend, this weekend Im missing the youf min. guys retreat up in big bear. The weekends are juss getting busier and busier with errminute. I feel like by 10pm I'm already ready to go to bed.

THE DEPARTED WITH A GRUDGE: Last weekend I went to go watch two movies, actually thas the most I've watched a movie in a while. The departed was pretty good, it was long but it was real intense. Its crazy to see all the dirty politics that really goes on in today's society. No wonder people think the government is so corrupt. Im glad at least there was some type of real ending to it, not where you come all the way up to the end for something gay. As for the grudge, it was alright, to me I thought it was scarier than the first one. Too bad that asian guy had to die and buffy's sister also. Obviously they ended with a stupid ending and you know there's going to be a part 3. Why do all scary movies have more than one, nightmare on elm street, halloween, friday the 13th...geez. I dont think Ive ever seen a scary movie that doenst have a sequel to it.

STAY WITH YOU: If there's one r & b singer who I really enjoy it has to be john legend. For some reason today his song 'stay with you' was in my head this afternoon. That guy is like a male alicia keys, writes his songs and sings it on the piano. So anyway, I was listening to the song and wow it's a really good song. One of those songs you can use at a wedding or something. THe song talks bout pretty much staying together, in good times and bad. Not very often you hear now days songs with that convey those type of messages. His new album comes out tomorrow, I already could tell its going to be freakin great! Im going to go cop that at target tomorrow morning before on my way to work.

THE FIVE PEOPLE: That author Mitch, I cant think of his last name, but he wrote that book, 'Tuesday's with Morrie' a real inspirational book. Then he had that other book taht was one of the best sellers, 'The five people you meet in heaven.' Well I watched the movie tonite, well off and on, it was pretty good though, the guy dies after an accident at the carnvial then obviously goes to heaven and meets 5 people. Well each of those 5 people he meets shares with him an important life lessons to learn. I want to watch the movie again when I have more time. IT seems like a good story, perhaps I'll read it someday. Though I do reccommend you read 'Tuesdays with Morrie.' I rented the movie and had my parents watch it before, they really enjoyed it. YOu really do wonder wha heaven is going to be like.

RANDUMBNESS: One of my kids from my class transferred last thurs. and moved to another skool. Supposedly when his uncle moves up north they're moving back to the house and coming back to the skool. I liked the kid too, he was a behavior problem but yet had a lot of potential and was real bright. He had this really unique personality which made him stand out. WHen I first met him I thought he was filipino, but apparently he was tongan. I had never evne heard of that country before until I had met the kid. I guess its like samoan and near that area the whole 'pacific islands' are. Ive been hooked on General Hospital for the past month now, oh man I love that show. Its weird cuz how some people dont want to be 'a couple' for example they dont have an 'official title' cuz maybe one doesnt want to have a significant other, yet juss enjoys hmm the companionship of the other person. However, they pretty much do errthang together as a 'couple' I dont know its weird, doesn't make any sense to me ha. I miss seeing old faces, the get together at the barrios on saturday was fun. After waiting for months for these pictures, Ive finally got my photoshop pics two weeks ago, how excited was I!


Festival this weeekend!

"And I will stay with you, through the ups and downs..."im done, im out God bless!

On Topic

"I will not live an instant that I do not live in love. Whoever loves does all things without suffering, or, suffering, loves his suffering..."

I'm taking this from angie...
ON FAMILY: A lot has happened to my family within these past couple of months. I wish I could say it's been a lot of joys, but then again I take that back there has been joys beneath the sorrows. The loss of my lolo probably was one of the most difficult things Ive experienced, however a lot of fruits have come out of it. Sometimes I guess it does take something tragic to happen for people to come a little closer. I am grateful that I've become closer to some of my cousins then where as before it was awkward and weird. It seems like erryear the family is getting bigger and bigger, with the addition of one more great grandchild and one more on the way, like I mentioned in my lolo's eulogy, it's amazing what a simple 'yes' and 'I do' can make. Despite our own flaws, I still love them, cuz they're my family you know? Maybe Ive finally learned to accept things or them for wha/who they are.

ON FRIENDSHIP: Its funny cuz at work I was helping Hector Gomez's wife stuff the bulletins on SAturday for this FILAM-CC event taking place next month. She was telling me how I seem like a person who has a lot of friends, and that she wants her son to become friends w/me. ha! I was like, 'uhh okay, sure.' I didnt know really what else to say. Wow friends are great, Ive made a whole new batch of friends within this past year, but thas a whole other story for later. However, I am extremely grateful for the friends I have now. They've been there to support me and help me through some of my most difficult moments. Even though we sometimes hit a nerve at times, it's expected. Friendship is probably the most treasured thing to value next to family of course. Probably the most important thing any friend can offer besides their friendship is juss their prayers. It may not seem like much, but it really goes a long way in the end. A lot more than any type of material gift you can give someone. I praise God errday for the people who have come into my life and helped make a difference.

ON FITNESS AND NUTRITION: Okay so a year ago I bought a membership to 24 hr. fitness, and well I guess the most I use it is during the summer cuz it's not so hectic. Over the past summer I was on a roll trying to make myself go all the time. Well it didnt really last very long ha. This seems to be a topic that comes up often during teacher's lounge convos. Making the effort to go to the gym, its always the hard part getting there. Once Im there though it's alll good, like I said its the getting there thas hard. Ive become attainted to though to drinking diet coke, ha if taht says or mean anything. There's a 24 hr. fitness sport opening up near the bp mall, maybe when that opens up things will be different. Yet I still havent even touched the 24 hr. fitness by my house, Ive always wanted to walk there to work out and then walk home, but like I said that has yet to be accomplished. Maybe in 2007 Ill do a better job, cuz well Im starting to get fatter and I need to loose weight. If only it was so easy...

ON RELIGON: Ill never forget my first LSS experience back in '02 one of the most memorable events of that summer. I had that excitement and fire for the catholic church, you know that feeling when you're juss so in love w/something? Yeah, thas wha it felt like back then, not that it's gone or anything. Ive learned so much bout my catholic faith, that wow if only I was young again. I wish I wasnt so lazy sometimes, cuz I really miss going to daily mass. I always try to make that my lenten committment cuz it really requires me to go deeper in my faith. I owe to people like to tito jess who share inspiring talks bout the catholic faith, to help you understand it more. To where in the end, you're juss amazed bout how rich and deep the faith is. On top of all that praise God for community, the group of people where you can sit and praise GOd with. It kinda brings me to Rob's talk bout fitting God into your busy schedule and his whole acronym on 't.i.m.e.' I only remember wah the 'M' stood for though...haha

ON PRAISE & WORSHIP: FIrst off, I hate how some people juss call it 'worship.' It bugs the hell out of me, when I hear 'let's do worship.' Anyway, you know switching up from going to young adults to youf was a change. How I miss doing praise & worship w/the young adults cuz thas where my foundation is. Thas where I learned how to really do praise & worship, through them. I do wha I can to come on wednesday nites, to catch up on their prayers. I miss juss praying w/them, I miss that whole deep praise & worship. I love the songs they sing, cuz they're different all the time. It juss brings back the memories of praying together as a community for one another. Last nite during the launch was juss memories of that very first nite of our evening of songs and prayers. I miss those nites, cuz it felt like prayer meeting all over again, minus the praise reports and sundays readings.

ON SACRIFICE: I remember back during lent around march, when banne gave a talk during one of the prayer meetings bout sacrifice. The whole analogy she gave about the purple heart and how each time you choose to sacrifice for someone else that's your purple heart. Then brought it back to the story of the perfect heart bout the young man who mocked this old man for his old messed up heart, yet fell apart convicted when the old man chose to give him his old messed up heart. Yeah...that goes to show exactly wha sacrifice is. As I've gotten older, I realize more what sacrifice is, how much people that love you will go above and beyond for your needs and wants. How were called to sacrifice in the same Jesus has, it doesnt have to be anything big or exravagant, but a sacrifice that comes from the heart. The same way Jesus did to all of us on that cross. The cross is the ultimate example of a sacrific of His love.

ON MUSIC: Its crazy how much different music there really is, juss last week I remember mike asking me if I've heard of that song 'chicken noodle soup.' When I finally saw the video a couple weeks ago I was crackin up. Last week I was teaching my kids at work the whole drop with lean w/it blah blah I figured it would be a good way to help them remember their multiples. Music gets weirder and weirder, now with all these different kinds of movements from the different areas from the hyphy movement to dirty south movement. Back in high school the only big thing that was in was 'crip walking' ha! How soon did that fade out and new things were in. Music is constantly changing but yet a lot of the songs from now a days are sampled from music in the past. I love listening to freestyle music though, that has to be my all time very type of music. If you think bout it music means so much, music is used errwhere, from stores to home personal use for business...man where would the world be w/o music.

ON HOLY FAMILY: Okay, so Im adding an extra section here. Ive gotten to love that parish more and more each day. Even though I only work 5 days a week, Im there 7 days a week with mass and youf min inbetween. God has been so grateful with the whole swtiching parishes. At first it was a little difficult but man its so great there. Working in the rectory on top of that hass been juss one awesome experience in itself. Really getting to know how the parish works and getting to know the different parish leaders and organizations. Last week this guy who runs the bible study complimented me saying how thankful he was for all the work I put in. It made me feel good inside. The people there are so good to me and I thank God errday for that blessing. On top of all taht Ive come out making some really good friends as well. Despite the fact working the youf, can be difficult at time it is so inspiring watching these kids grow in their faith. I do what I can to push them to think and go outside of that box. Challenge them to dig deeper and go above and beyond surface level. The parish is so much different then sPv, its so vibrant and errone knows each other. now helping plan for the upcoming festival...wow!


WOw this was a real long blog

"Holy is the Lord God Almighty..."im done, im out God bless!

Be Still

"The most powerful weapon to conquer the Devil is humility. For as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it..."

BACK IN THE DAYS: Geez, I remember back in the days where I would blog errday, like it was mandatory for me to do it before I sleep. Now a days, Im lucky if I get to blog once a week. Which kinda sucks cuz then I forget wha happens during my week. I was planning on blogging at work today, but it didnt work out that day. WHen I think my work day is going to be chill, it doesnt and it ends up being all crazy. GOing back on blog entries is fun cuz you really see all the things you went through in life. A year ago things were os much different, finally got a job and in fact a year a go was the oktoberfest. Im juss glad God has provided for me through all the difficult moments in my life, allowing me to surrdender it and put it in his hands.

CRAZY DAY: At skool today it was juss one of them crazy days. I found myself during the afternoon taking a deep breath asking for patience. This afternoon I was telling mike, I dont know how many times Ive had to repeat myself with juss explaining directions. This morning I was working w/my ELD group and normally it goes pretty smooth and fast. We were working on contractions and asking 'who is' type of questions. You know questions like, 'who is she? or who is he?' The pictures were on their worksheet all they had to do was respond with, 'She's the grandma' or 'he's the brother.' Basically change the she is into contraction form then respond in a complete sentence. This one girl couldnt do it for the life of her and the answer was freakin on the paper! oh my gosh! Then during math groups, I told them to do 1-6 then on the other page do only the even numbers and then the 2 word problems along w/the two challenge questions. First off all I had to explain the directions more than twice, then as I was walking around checking up on them, some of them still couldnt follow directions and started to do all the problems. So I told them since you can't seem to follow directions, you can do all. What a challenging day it was today.

RECTORY: Then at the rectory it got all crazy, w/the business manager gone, I thought it would run a little smoother. Apparently not, so the the IT guy comes with the cannon IT guy to set up the new copy machine to get it working for networking. Then people were coming in left and right, as well as other things going on, on top of that trying to get trained on how to use the thing for scanning and other stuff. Ahh the craziness of working at the rectory. I made myself business cards last week and htey turned out pretty neat haha. I also switched my chair out last week so I ahve a better chair for my desk. Saturday i was having couples coming to set their dates for appointments, being Im now taking care of wedding stuff. It felt like pretty cool, like I was workign w/clients ha. Joyce's last day is next thurs. Im trying to get coy in there to work, but karen wnats to reinterview some guy taht works at savon. Hopefully, she cant find him or get a hold of him and well coy can get the job.

CONFIRMATION STARTS: Confirmation has started once again, a new year, new set of kids. This is like season 3 ha so far I hvae 28 kids, however that could always change within the next couple of weeks. With a lot of them Ive had their siblings in my class from either last year or the year before. Im excited though, to share w/them new things, to get to go on another adventure w/them in faith. Then to see them come May to stand before the congregation ready to make their confirmation. Im planning on this to be my last year teaching, yeah I know thas wha I always say but forreals I want to make it my last year. Tuesday I already started giving them things to do. It was a good productive class, and Im hoping all the other tuesdays will be the same.

HEALING MASS: Friday nite I went to sPv's healing mass wow it was packed w/people. I got to be an EM for the first time, and it was pretty coool. My feet were hurting from followiing the priest everywhere, but I juss had to offer it up. As the nite was getting later and later, slowly people were starting to leave. IT was crazy goign to see a jam packed church to well empty pews. I really pray though that people receive the necessary healing they desereve. Watching these parents bring up their sick children maybe feel so sad. You see these innoncent kids who have no idea what they have yet have to sit w/this life altering disease. At the same time it humbles you to be grateful for the life you live and all its blessings.

PASSING BY: It seems like thees weekends juss keep passing me by. With work and other stuff happening, I dont remember having some juss personal time. I really would love ot take a vacation or even juss get away for the weekend and go somewhere fun. There's this couple who I was friends from the church who moved up north this past week. They told me anytime I wanted to stay with them I could. I've never been up north before and I always hear stories of how fun it is. Im thinking of going to new york again for a weekend in the winter time. It'll be nice juss to get away for a weekend or even go to boston! I would love to go to boston! Maybe I can find someone to take a weekend get away with me!

BIRFDAY SHOUT OUT: A birfday shout out going out to my newest padawan, evan. Within the short time, I've known this kid, I've learned a lot bout him. He's one of those type of kids who is real hardworking and juss smart. I remember the first time I met him he went w/me and one of the other kids on operation rescuse priest. He had this backpack on as if he was kanye west and I remember askign him if he kept any tools in his backpack. Now months later he's on core who wouldve thought. Im excited to work w/him with the many different service projects I have planned for the youf min and the parish. Happy birfday young padawan may you continue to be that shinning light and reflection unto others.

RETREAT: In two weeks I have this brother's retreat planned for the youf min. however I dont think im going ot be going. Like I said its been weekend after weekend w/something going on. AS much as a retreat sounds fun and relaxing, its not something that's on my top 10 list of items to do. On top of that my cousin from NY is flying in and I would love to see her. So the likelyhood of me going is probably real slim. There are juss times where we all need juss that personal space. I kinda miss taking fr. paul up to oceanside and doing those retreats up to prince of peace abbey. Away from the world and Id juss sit in front of the blessed sacrament and pray. We'd totally make a day out it and in the end it was so worth it and enjoyable.



This month is juss going to fly by

"Tell me when quando quando quando..."im done, im out God bless!