2006 Year in Review

"It is impossible for a person who prays regularly to remain in serious sin; because the two are incompatible, one or the other will have to be given up..."

ON BREAK: I've been on Christmas break for almost 2 weeks now and it's been real nice. Being able to sleep in, not rushing to get to work juss being chill has been the best. Im trying to embrace errsingle day thas left before work starts again oh why?! However, I'm still working the evening shifts in the rectory but that isn't that bad at all. I always tell myself, I'd rather be working at where I'm at now then having to work retail. Not too much has happened over the course of break. However, my best friend is engaged to be married-dang!! They recently bought a house up by lake elsinore so now they'll be moving out there real soon. I'm trying to let errthang sink in, it's going to be soo weird seeing her married. The funny thing they're getting married at holy fam, so I'm taking care of all their priest appts., paper work, etc. It's kinda like that movie, my best friend's wedding ha!

PERFORMANCES: The whole entire skool minus kinder and first grade put together a Christmas program. Each grade level had to come up with their own 'holiday' music to perform for the annual 'Holiday Program.' The second graders were real cute they did the jackson 5 version of 'up on the housetop.' Then the 3rd graders have been working on for the past month this song from the Veggie Tales, Christmas album, 'sizzle boy.' I think the 2nd and 3rd grade ones were the best overall. The upper grades did some real boring slow songs, watching it kinda put me to sleep. Our last week before break was so chill I loved it. Made gingerbread houses, watched movies, yeah pretty much did nothing. The teacher I work with gave me a $20 gift card to Macys wooo!

THE SEASON: I think Christmas time is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate cuz there's so much to look forward too. People who are away for skool or wha not come home for the holidays. The malls stay open later, cerritos and brea mall became my best friends during the christmas season. I must've been at one of those malls at least more than twice a week. Even though I love to receive gifts, I like watching the reaction on people's faces when they open the gift you gave them. Yeahhhh then the church is all decorated and all over the radio you hear christmas songs. Then you have artists put together special christmas cds juss for the season. Despite the fact that errone complains how commercialized the season has become, you gotta admit you still love it and enjoy it. Who doesn't really look forward to Christmas? Oh yeah I love getting together for Christmas parties!

CHRISTMAS: My Christmas was alright, nothing really exciting happened. It was the first Christmas w/o the whole family being together, which was weird. Actually, it was juss sad cuz it's somethign I look forward too but I guess times are changing. People grow up start their own families and forget bout errone else until there's some drastic emergency. Went to midnight mass as my own personal tradition. It was nice, juss too bad my sinsues were killing me and my so were my eyes. So we spent Christmas at the cemetary pretty much all afternoon. The cool thing was errone was allowed to decorate the gravesites and add decorations, make it look festive whatever you wanted. After the cemetary went to Allen's and chilled there, ate Christmas dinner and then attemped to watch Black Christmas, only it was sold out.

JANUARY: The year started off a little rocky, my lolo had juss had surgery for his broken hip and was recovering from that. He was put into a nursing home for a couple of weeks for physical therapy, and through the grace of God as well the love and support from friends, he recovered real well. On top of that there were plenty of other people who needed prayers and support from dane's little cousin, to coy's dad, it was one rough start. A couple of birfday parties with nicole's at the infamous mai tais in long beach, then dane's huge party with all the youf at his house. MEt up for the first time in a while the C-Life crew and supported them in their vocation mass/event. Lots of interesting things to see and think bout, opened my eyes to new realizations. Became the 'manager' for the m7 effect, and booked their performance at youf min. first ever winter formal. Tons of fun at Simon's in San Pedro, the drive was a little far but the nite was all worth it. After months of madness at work with sub after sub, there's finally stability and they put in a new teacher. Learned some new teaching techniques through this training called, 'GLAD.' High Skool Musical becomes a huge hit and ends up being on my list of favorite movies ha! At the end of the month I had to go traffic skool for the first time oh why?! I applied for two jobs one for the city of cypress, and one for a business manager assitant/executive assitant at the rectory. Turns out I was offered both jobs, but I ended up taking the job at the church and to this day I'm glad I took the job. What a crazy first month of the new year!

FEBRUARY: Officially made some new friends at work, which helped make the rest of the work really enjoyable. Now we all talk all the time, and share/swap stories bout our personal lives w/each other. Tried something new and went to the hooters in burbank, jei franxis comes otu becoming the hooters king eating over 40 chicken wings...sick! Had a going away party for mel and say bye, bye, bye and she took on her new endeavor in ontario. More birfday parties crackin that month, with allen's 18th party. The cops ended up passing by telling those foos not to chill outside cuz it looks like they loitering, yeah it was one busy party. Sharing our time, talent, and treasure with the church, the youf puts together another service prot a painting job to last soooo long. In the end though it was rewarding, being able to give back to help make the church brighter. Gave myself a valentine's day present by buying a new phone, renewing my contract for cingular for another 2 years. When I first saw the 6682 I fell iject...painting 2 walls of the St. Joseph's center. What a crazy day that was, yet it was fun, I didn't expecn love with it cuz it had flash! Put together a renewal retreat for the youf min. core, 'Here I am Lord.' The fruits that came out of that were real refreshing and rewarding, thanks to Rob who helped coordinate the praise & worship that afternoon. UCI had their first ao1 concert that month, such a talented group of people. Took a trip with Elizabeth and Jaime to visit mel after her official move out to cowtown. We had dinner at lucille's in this shopping place called 'Victoria Gardens.' Oh man it was so d0pe, I can't wait to go back out there! The annual holy spirit saturday came and went and I delived the usual, 'what does the holy spirit do' talk. HOJ came and did music min. that day, it was real fufilling. I had a break through w/one of my kids at work, he came out reading a book literally on his own. Now he may have not understood what he was reading but still it was wow!!! I was so excited I wanted to yell out, 'Praise God!'

MARCH: Lent comes around and I used banne's talk to give to the youf bout what sacrifice is all about. Praise God the spirit was really moving in all of them, and having rob there helped with the mood. Rob & Em's baby shower was fun, seeing old people again and juss catching up. Drove all the way out to highland park to get fingerprinted for the archdiocese of LA. That wsa one crazy hectic day, after that ended up taking a road trip from sPv to the art mall and ended up filling in the rest of the nite at bj's in brea. Put together a confirmation II retreat and gave a talk on the gifts of the holy spirit, one of hte kids were touched by the slideshow of the kids from the youf min. that he asked bout the youf min. at holy fam. To this day he's joined and it has really helped him. Praise God! The youf min. celebrates their first anniversary in March, started with a mass and then party afterwards in the hall. Celebrated Elizabeth's 22nd birfday at v20 in long beach, that was real fun nite. Toni and I went to support allen and nico in their choir show, it was cute. The month ended very busy as always, with a huge birfday party for all the priests. Then there was youf day at congress, this was the first year I didnt go with the kids from sPv. After the youf min. hosted a fun nite of games and more with holy fam parish from new mexico. Quite the interesting nite it was...

APRIL: My grandparent's celebrate their 61st anniversary this past april, wow 61 years! Who would've expected it to be their last year together. Made the effort to get to daily mass, it was a great way to rejuvante my spirit and start my morning off. Went to the beverly center for the first time and ate roscoe's chicken and waffles for the first time too. The beverly center is freakin awesome, juss too bad it's such a drive. Roscose's chicken and waffles were great, it was juss weird combo eating at the same time. THe chicken was good, I juss wished I had rice with it ha. The HFYA finally gets themselves established and puts together their first core team. Had a moving party and helped the Moya's move from anaheim back to the bPc, it wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be, jusss a lot of stuff! SPring break came and went in a flash dinner with heif, was fantastic as always. One of the kids from last year's confirmation class gave a great inspiring testimony bout his journey through confirmation. WEnt to UCI YFC's annual praisefest, this time we took the youf and it was nice. To think I use to drive out there errweek for my own spiritual nourishment, now errtime I get out there, tons of new faces. The youf min. finished the job in painting the St. Joseph's center, it was quite a challenge but we did it. Spent thurs. nites helping rob get his new house in order, it was like home improvement nites ha. Went to the dunk's exchange for the first time passing by 330 brought back memories ha.

MAY: As the saying goes, April showers brings May flowers, and it sure brought plenty. Crazy thing happened while having dinner at Guppy's Tea house. Went to eat there w/some of the youf after one of the servers screwed up on our order or something so they juss paid for it all. ha Talk bout God providing! Spring was filled with birfdays, confirmations, and more celebrations. Some of the youf went to SOL's youf rally, it was weird rolling up with a whole different group and representing a totally different group but it was cool. The thing that sucked was we didnt sttings, we ordered tons of food so we were expecting this huge bill turns out it all ended up being paid for! I think theyay the whole time cuz we had to rush back for the confirmation dance that nite. Confirmation ends and I was so excited to see another set of kids confirmed. I was telling people that my slogan should be something like how they have on the mcdonalds sign but mine would be, 'over two hundred confirmed' ha. They were the class from hell, yet we had some good times together. Francis' suprise birfday party at el torito was fun juss cuz he was so freakin suprised, that kid I tell you. Elizabeth's grad party was d0pe, ha 'learning how to salsa with maricela' ha that picture ended up getting tons of myspace comments. Went to daygo for laialni from SOL daygo's grad. party it was great seeing old faces and juss sharing tons of laughs. The teachers at work suprised me w/this really nice card and gift from starbucks telling me how I was appreciated for all the work I do, it made my day.

JUNE: This was probably the craziest and the most busiest month out of the whole year. Tons of celebrations was going on. June's always been known too for the month of birfdays with fred, rob, maurice, and so many more. Jackie celebrated her 18th birfday with a debut at the holiday inn in buena park. It was real nice, the dancing, and errthang else was cool, juss dressing up was fun. ALl my weekends for the entire month was booked, jam packed with event after event. To kick off holy family's 75th anniversary there was a huge gala dinner. Talk bout hardcore fancy! The hotel was packed with errone who was errone there, it felt like some type of political fundraiser dinner. Fr. Johnny even gave a state of the parish address too ha! The following monday the youf min. had a kick off meeting for the rally and for the plan to sell 500 raffle tickets for the oktoberfest festival. Accomplished one of my long life goals of going to see a taping of 'So you think you can dance.' It was fun day, I was able to sneek in pictures even though I wasn;t suppose to. Didnt really follow season 2 that much, season one will always be the best! Holy Fam celebrates their long awaited 75th anniversary with a weekend full of festivities. The mass with the Cardinal was bootiful! A great way to bring the parish community together. Finished my first officialy skool year at Danbrook, I realized how lucky and blessed I was to be given such a job. Youf min. created this grad nite an evening to celebrate the youf min graduates of 2006, despite the small turn out, it was still great. Francis grad party at liberty, barely made it to that, followed by HFYA bonfire at HB that was one long day! The month ends with the new superman movie that sucked. Jackie and Cherry quit the rectory and we hire this really d0pe girl to be my assitant. June was one crackin month!

JULY: As June was one of the busiest months of the year, July had to have been the most difficult. The month started great to see er off with back to back birfdays with cherry, abe, jay, kat, and then my own. We celebrated my 24th at VIP buffet which wasrone there. Caught up w/some friends from the ol skool crew, to think about it I havent even seen them since. Got obessed buying sb dunks off ebay, I think I must've boughten 4 pairs I think over the summer. Oh well they've been put to good use! Originally planned to take up a job as contracted rec leader through the city of stanton, then changed my mind last min. I'm so glad that I made that decision too, the money is always nice but having my mornings free was even better. What was suppose to be a weekend up in big burr for the annual core retreat, ended up turning into a weekend in the St. Joseph's Center due to the wild fires. THen the most difficult moment that I never thought would occur so soon, my lolo past away from bi lateral pnuemonia. His passing took a huge toll on my whole family, most of all my lola. However, there were many fruits that came out of it, I got closer to some of my cousins and the awkwardness of before dissapeared. Family from the midwest came to help w/the funeral and wow it was busy month from that point on. THrough the struggle, I leanred that God never abadons and through His grace He allows us to pull through it. Praise God.

AUGUST: August always means summer is almost over and its true cuz the summer winds down and skool is almost here! Life slowly begins to come back to normal. The festivities didn't slow down either in August, first the youf held their 2nd annual jam nite which turned out to be a great success. I threw a suprise party for my best friend, however it ended up being a double suprise party for her and her cousin. The 2nd Annual youf rally rolls around and I was busy with the kids getting together our skit. Bought myself a new photoprinter to capture all those moments that I praise God for in high quality printing! My lolo's brother passes away at the age of 102, after the passing of my lolo is took a huge toll on him and he went into depression. At least now they're both partying it up in heaven together. Thanks to Mike who was able to create this awesome picture of my two lolos. The month ended with Leo and Charisse's wedding from LF. Oh man talk about one hardcore wedding, it must've been the wedding of the century! They had a bishop along w/some of their parish priests preside over the wedding crazy! THe reception followed at this korean catholic center where there was tons of food and guests.

SEPTEMBER: I started a new year with a new class in various ways. First the new skool year at Danbrook teaching 3rd grade with a new teacher. Attened the annual SCRC convention and did that whole thing. This was the first year that I actually did the adult track and went to the talks on my own. It was really great spiritual nourishment for me. Some extra people from HFYA decided to join the group this year and went for their first time. Ran into my annual 'SCRC' friend over there, it was good seeing him again. WEnt to FPAC for the first time and met this up and coming filipino group called 'Next Phaze' real cool guys. I asked them to come and perform at Holy Family's Oktoberfest. That was pretty much my whole purpose of going over there ha. My digicam breaks down and through the warranty they give me a new one, one that's a little better. Im happy to say that it's still in good condition too! HAving a camera case helps a lot! It would've been my lolo's 100th birfday we had bigs plans to celebrate, but it didnt work out that way. Ended the month celebrating my friend from work's 28th birfday at Fred's in HB.

OCTOBER: The official skool year for faith formation at sPv began and I have a lot of old students from first communion class and from earlier. I really praise God that these kids are real more mellow than the ones from last year. SpV holds its first healing mass and the turn out for that was juss amazing. Tons of people were able ot get healed and came from all over. It was long nite but it was all worth it. My rectory assistant leaves me after getting another job at ABC unified skool district. She realized it was too hard keeping up w/two jobs and it was draining her. There was a brother's retreat that I missed due to work, but its alright I know I didnt miss much. The month ended crazy with the holy family's annual 'Oktobefest Festival.' This year I was given the task of coordinating the entertainment-wow it was so much fun. Fortunately I was able to book 'Next Phaze' to come and it ended up becoming a huge hit! Not only them but the festival in general was a huge success, it was nice seeing that raffle tickets finally come to an end! At the beginning of the month I met up w/this guy I was hm acqutainces with in high skool. We ran into each through myspace and he waas in the area and wanted to chill. Ended up going to that zen bistro on s & g, which was whack and what was even whacker was he couldn't remember my name! The HFYA had their officialy launch that turned out to be a huge success, through it they were able to bring a lot more people to join the ministry.

NOVEMBER: PLans were revealed of what will be probably the biggest trip of my life, WYD in '08. Yeah it's going to be pretty d0pe to see the pizope, so thus begins the initial planning stages of world youf day '08. The democrats took over the midterm elections in both the house and senate, that was one terrific day! Learned bout this new place called 'Mc Clains' in downtown fullerton, this little coffee shop that has games and all kinds of stuff. Low key, which was coo it wasn't all jam packed how the starbucks usually are. My little cousin had her 3rd birfday party, played musical chairs w/the fam. Rode on a bike for the first time, pretty crazy feeling you get this whole rush too. Then went up to Geneieve's party up in burbank w/some of the guys, saw some people I havent seen in a while. Ended up falling asleep over there cuz I was so drained. Damn im getting old! ha UCI Liwanag had their annual beneift concert, it's a great feeling to be back in places where I dont even know how to describe it but it was a fun. Thanksgiving was alright, nothign too spectacular came and gone. Hit up the malls and got tons of good deals on black friday, the first time I really went out and done the whole 'shopping thing.' Got addicted to a new show called 'The Office,' staring that guy from the 40 year old virgin, one of those shows that I cant stop watching. The weather started to get a little cooler and crisper as winter slowly began to creep in.

DECEMBER: December juss flew by, I dont even know where the time went. The rectory won second place in the raffle sales, so we took a staff outing to the Getty museum. It's been years since I've gone but it's freakin so awesome! They have this special exhibit going on now, 'The Saints of Mount Sinai.' You should go see it, you come out of it getting this real richness for your faith. Holy Fam had their annual tree lighting ceremony, the trees in the churches look so nice. A lot better than the ones at sPv. THe youf min. started their first caroling service project which was some what of a success. We made good money, and people enjoyed it so it was nice. FRom the bank to nursing homes, to people's own personal houses, we were able to share and spread that Christmas spirit. Billy came down for the retreat that I didnt go on ha but I volunteered to take him to the airport that Sunday, being he was my young padawan. We all had fun times at the LBTC juss doing stupid things. Even though I didnt go on the retreat, I was glad to hear how the fruits of it went. Christmas parties galore happened with back to back ones at teh church. I received a nice christmas bonus that helped out, which was real unexpected. AFter Christmas hit up the malls fo some more shopping, guess became my best friend with their 70% off sale. Spent a couple days with godson and my cousin at the park and downtown disney, those were some fun times. Friday nite we had an post Christmas advisor dinner w/some of the priests at hte crab pot. I remember going there long time ago for Jem's birfday. Seafood is always enjoyabe to eat, especially lobster and crab. Ended the year at the revolucion 1910 in downtown fullerton. Its a mexican restaraunt in the daytime and then in the evening a club/bar. It was aiight, at least I didnt have to pay the cover charge. On top of taht I got to some real exciting entertainment to end my year. Two girls fighting ha then another girl who was juss totally wasted kept leaning to her bf for support. At one point she pretty much fell flat on her butt and hit her head on the floor, I dont know how hard she it though. When midnight struck it was madness!

WRAP UP: Well there's to 2006, what a year it was. From the joys to the sorrows, to the frustrations I made it through. I didnt seem to get a whole lot accomplished in '06, though I hope to have bigger accomplishments in '07. You learn a lot of things reflecting back on a year. More about yourself, who you are and who you can become. Towards the end of last year it juss seemed like the trials kept coming one after the other, this year it was a little easier but none the less I give thanks to God for juss keeping me busy. Anyway, '06 is gone and heres to 2007, man I know this year is juss going to fly by!!!



Happy New Yurr!

"Celebrate good times cmon!" Im done, im out God bless!