The Man in the Mirror

"When we hear people talk of riches, honors and amusements of the world, let us remember that all things have an end, and let us then say: "My God, I wish for You alone and nothing more..."

NEW LOOK: I updated my whole blogger dashboard thing, blogger once again has updated itself. Rememebr when we all first started blogger and how simple it was? Now it's become all crazy and complex, well not too complex. Along with the blogger new look, I also cut my hair for the winter ha. I was trying to think of something different to do, but nothing came ot mind so I juss did the usual minus the bleach. You know what else has a new look too is the internet explorer and windows media player. With the new internet explorer you can tab up the windows the same way with the firefox. Pretty cool eh?

REFLECTING BACK: Sometimes I like to look back at my old entries and see wha exactly was going on in my life a year ago. Last December was unforgetable, the first youf min. retreat and then the suprise guest speaker. Oh man talk bout one December to remember! Yeah, I remember exactly all the anticipation for the special guest speaker...Yet wha else was memorable was the first youf min. winter retreat. How I was fresh to the advisor group and juss that excitement and passion there was to serve. On top of that I had the best retreat group, we were juss bomb. What sucked was we put one of my other dogs to sleep cuz he was juss suffering, man talked bout hard times. The one thing that stuck out to me as I was reading my old entries was this... WOw...

CLARITY: Through the moments of suffering, it can be so difficult to find God in it. Yet I guess you can't look at the cross and think there was no suffering. With love comes suffering, a mom delivering her baby in a delivery room. I looked at the cross tonite then back down to the blessed sacrament and juss asked a lot of whys. Though he showed me that through the midst of suffering, there is love, I juss have to look a little deeper.It’s difficult to “trust” God when you feel like He has abandoned you. It becomes easier to trust God when we look at just how faithful He has always been to us. It gets harder to trust God when we look at our faithfulness toward Him. The truth is that we abandon God, each and every day, in little and big ways. During tragedies and through suffering, we are far wiser to become more abandoned TO God, than to abandon Him outright. Its like the sacrifice skit, the guy went through it all juss to show her what sacrifice was all about. 'For you I will bear all, live my sacrifice.'

CRAZINESS: Times are changing alright! Last nite I ran into some people I went to skool with from elementary all the way up to high skool. I didnt even recgonize or even realize who they were until the girl came up and gave me a hug. In juss 3 fast years will be my 10 year high skool reunion...dang! I was talking to heif the other nite and this girl whom we use to be real good friends at the daycare is having her baby the day after christmas. The interesting thing bout it all is that after the baby is born her and her bf along with the baby are moving back in w/her parents for a good while. Their wedding is in March too, which is funny how they're doing it all backwards. Interesting the people who you run into and the ones who you use to be friends but no longer keep in contact with. It becomes even more interesting when you hear all the chismiss about them! ha

WEEKEND UPDATE: I started this post last saturday, but ended up getting too tired to finish it. What a busy weekend it's been, I didn't end up going on the youf min. retreat this past weekend. As much as part of me wanted to go, I had a job and responsibility to attend to. On top of that, I didnt want to risk getting snowed in and then not being able to go work on Monday. However, after hearing all the stories I know I'm going to wish I had gone to the retreat. Oh well, I had a great time over the weekend. My Harajuku lovers jacket came in on Friday woOo! I love Harajuku lovers, my goal is to find the other jacket I wanted in a size medium. I dont know why they only carry the bigger sizes. ANyway it's a pretty tight jacket, on top of that I know I dont have to worry about other people having the same thing woOo!

CAROLING: One of the things I love about the holidays besides the late holiday hours is the caroling. I think I mentioned earlier bout listening to christmas carols. Wednesday, some of the youf and I went caroling at this home in fullerton. Despite the fact there was only 5 of us, and we probably sounded horrible it was great. We sang twice in two different dinning rooms, and even though we had no instruments and it was all acapella, the people there really enjoyed it. It was kinda sad cuz it brought back memories of when my lolo was one of those homes for physical therapy. Friday and Saturday nite I went caroling with the young adults, it was fun, they're juss majorly hardcore. When you watch these people smile from the singing, you really start to feel that love and joy of the Christmas spirit. Caroling really does help brighten up someones day!

CHRISTMAS PARTIES: You know the goal was to work out and try to loose weight but with all the christmas parties happening, there's really no point. I figured I'll juss work extra hard during break when I wont be so tired and I'll have a little more time to myself. THe parties all started on Wednesday with the church christmas party, for the volunteers and staff. Good stuff, the part that sucked was juss the cleaning up part. LAter that evening was the young adult one where there was good food and games. There were a couple of new people that came so I'm glad to see that the ministry is growing. Im sure by next year It'll be even bigger. Friday, after work went to Ruby's for her birfday dinner and caroling...more great food! Saturday Religous Ed. Christmas party ate some more, and then that nite I had some more food at donne's house. Yeaaah I can't believe how much I ate this entire weekend...then more parties and food! woOoO!

LIKE OL' TIMES: Saturday Francis I went to chill, I miss hanging out w/that guy. I got really lucky pairing up w/him as my core member last year. Despite the fact we had some rough ends, we always ended up smoothing them out. This guy has a lot of dedication and passion to serve. When we first came together that guy was lost not knowing anything of what service is suppose to be. He came through w/it and the fruits of his projects were always bountiful. ANwyay, we attempted to do the whole mac grill but the wait was forever long!! We waited for almost an hour then ended up deciding to go to donne's to watch the caroling!! FYI, I guess you can make reservations at that restaraunt. I was always under the impression or at least thought you couldn't. Well after donne's we were still hungry and ended up going to albertacos then to his house to eat it there. Good times that nite, felt juss like ol times.

BUSY SUNDAY: Mass was great as always, there seems to be more members this week in youf choir. Fr. Antony's homily was about the invitating to show kindess and compassion juss like Christ to others. After mass went to RCIA christmas party for some good food and games. Micah took some great shots of me by the Christmas tree ha! You should check out my myspace pictures theyre new! haa Took a nap for a little bit then went back to the church to pick up billy. Chilled w/the kids at LBTC took pictures, ate in n out, good times! Dropped off billy at the aiport, saying goodbye at airports are always a sad thing to say goodbye at. Met this guy standing in line and he was on his way back to boston...how funny right? ha Him and his friend were driving to utah and then got into an accident or something, so he's been living at his gfs in daygo for a while. Anyway, on the back brandon and I were juss talking bout sitting in prayer and reflecting. I took him to St. Dominic Savio, oh man I haven't been there in ages! Being there juss brought back soo many memories...made me realized how I really need to do more sitting and reflecting.



Christmas is almost hurr!

"No on else comes close to you, no one makes me feel the way you do..."im done, im out GOd bless!

Fill me, Lord

"Grace will not act without us, in order that we may will to do right. But when we will, it works along with us. Grace prevents him who is not willing, that he may will. It accompanies him who wills, lest he will in vain..."

Fill me with love, so that I seek to understand and appreciate the rich variety and diversity of life that surrounds me.

Fill me with joy, so that I celebrate your presence in each and every moment I am on this earth.

Fill me with peace, so that I know how to ease those angry and sometimes violent urges that well up inside of me.

Fill me with patience, so that I stop rushing long enough to witness your miraculous work taking place all around me (and within me!).

Fill me with kindness, so that I take the extra time to help the one in need, even when it isn't convenient for me.

Fill me with faithfulness, so that I place my mind, heart, and all that I do in the service of your Gospel.

Fill me with gentleness, so that others know that I believe in a God who loves and cares for all people.

Fill me with self-control, so that I act not on my impulses and urges, but rather on my beliefs and values, which are rooted in you.


Fill me with these Fruits of Your Spirit, Lord! Amen.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law-Galatians 5:22-23

long day...praise God it's Friday

"Make me a channel of your peace..."im done, im out God bless!

It's Beginning...

"Don't give in to discouragement...If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own powers. Never bother about people's opinions. Be obedient to truth. For with humble obedience, you will never be disturbed..."

DECEMBERS HERE: So the christmas season has officially started and now the madness begins. Well it technically already started two weeks ago, but its even crazier now. I hate how at the cerritos mall they make it so difficult to park in front of macys. agH! I love parking in front of macys to me thas where I feel like the mall starts ha. Ever since black friday, I haven't done a whole lot of shopping. In fact there are some peoples who Im still debating whether I need to get a gift fo them or not. Pay day is this week wooO! Hopefully I can finish shopping within the next two weeks. Going on this retreat in two weeks isn't helping w/the whole shopping time either agh! However, the shopping list is pretty much set its all bout now getting the gifts and the worse part wrapping them!

MORE POWER: I finally, after weeks called at & t sbc dsl this afternoon, complaining bout my dsl service. The problem was, I would loose my wireless connection from my room Id have to walk out of my room in order for the connection to restore. THen it would restore again for a short while, then go out again. AGh it would be so frustrating sometimes Id be going back and forth in my room juss to get connection. I felt like trying to find cell phone signal in a building walking around. ANyway, so the lady was real nice and helpful, in the end we were able to accomplish something. She boosted up the bandwith and some other junk to prevent the disconnections. So far, so good, I juss hate calling and they have you do all this junk that you've already did and you get no where.

THE GETTY: Friday, the rectory took a staff outting to the Getty Museum in LA. Its been such a long time since I've gone. I think the last time I was there was during the summer coming into my senior year of hs with SLA. Anyway, they had this icons of mount sinai collection on display until March. Wow you can learn so much bout so many different things going to the museum. I was checking out these portraits of these black and white photos this guy shot from way back. A couple of the shots were from back in the 80's and its crazy looking at the background. There was one where you had a thrifty's ice cream store in the background. Yeah, thas ol skool right there thrifty's! Then looking at the italian renissance paintings wow, you end up seeing so much richness in your catholic faith. Looking at stuff like that, helps you to really appreciate more your faith and what its worth. The only thing that sucks is not being able ot take pictures inside the musuem.

ENJOYABLE: I am so thankful for having such an easy going confirmation class this year. There's difficult times, but overall they're real good compared ot last year. I need to start implmenting guest speakers to come in and share bout their faith experiences. The only part I hate bout this confirmation is going into the hall @ 7pm. I think its a total waste of time and they kids dont get anything out of it. I could use that extra 15 min. with praying the rosary or do something more productive. Im trying to get the kids to go the youf min. retreat, Im trying to give them an incentive to go by adding extra credit points. Ive already have one kid turn in their permission slip wOO! Hopefully more will turn theirs in also.

LACK OF: So advent is all about being patient, waiting for the coming of Christ. Fr. Vic's homily was really great last sunday. It focused all about being patient and perservering, using youf as examples. Made me realize that one thing I wish I had more of was patience. Patience in a overall sense with dealing w/people and juss being patient waiting. SOmetimes I get sooo frustrated and irritated that I forget what being a christian is all about. Between now and the rest of the advent season I'm going to try real hard and work on my patience. Patience one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, one of the fruits that I lack in my own personal life. Pray for me that I may obtain more patience cuz its something that is definietely needed.

GOOD TIMES: The best part of time sometimes is chillin with friends that you hardly get to see. Lately I've rob and I have been hanging out and it was juss like ol times. We went to lunch together, followed by the mall, to ideneity, to target...wow it was one long sunday. I dont know if I could go to the mall w/him again cuz we'll nevermind. ha Then there's allen who I miss seeing on a regular basis. Last year I really got the opportunity to get to know him better and he became one of those kids that I kinda took under my wing ha. Like 'at risk' youf but he wasn't really 'at risk' ha ANyway, so him, coy, and I went to burger king after confirmation and it was juss fun he's willing to be stupid w/me even my whole idea is gay. When you look stuff like that through a big mirror, you tend to appreciate people like that more you know?

CAROLING: The youf min. is starting their own caroling fundraiser this year. We went to one house already which was alright, due to not having a whole lot of practice. Last year we went to one convalsecent home and that was fun. There's something bout christmas songs that juss helps you get into the whole christmas spirit. Were going to our first nursing home on sunday, that'll be fun. Thas exactly what the holidays are all bout juss being joyful and singing sharing taht love of Christmas with one another. I remember a couple of years ago during confirmation we'd always sing Christmas songs. One of the kids would play the geetar and we would sing, it was fun. Ill never forget that one year when I was in 5th grade I think it was? The PTA was hosting this caroling thing and so I was rushing to finish my math hw so I could go. It was real cooold and I dont even remember where went caroling at. Ah the joys of the Christmas season!



Neeed a break going crazy!

"So young, so sweet..."im done, im out GOd bless!