Tuesday, June 03, 2008

New York

“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. […] Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion." E.B. White, Here is New York

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Long Time No Hear...

... and no blog!

Yup.. it has been that long since my last entry. Over the past few months, technically since February, I've been on a non-stop, get-going, full-plate, scheduled pack days.

Right after a great vacation in the Philippines, I was swamped with work. The new program that I have been handling have been very time consuming from progress notes, job readiness, standardization of procdures etc. My first week back from the Philippines had me working late nights. In fact I was out every night of the week to market the program, to meet with student and finish up reports. Mixed into the work schedule is a healthy dose of social life from wine tasting to square dancing.

February Highlights:
Wedding, Pinas Vacation, Wine Tasting and weekend of southern cooking.

March was packed with starting a new cycle of the Jobs to Build On plus we had the start of the Gerontology Project. On top of that I had to do regular financial projects plus a Rehab program where I had to develop handouts and presentations.

March Highlights:
Day Off (just because), Belly Dancing (I watched not performed), International Easter Feast

April was the best month in terms of being busy. From flights to Charlotte which was Mare's surprise for me to work running me crazy to meet deadlines.

April Highlights:
Softball Kickoff, My Birthday, Charlotte Trip, Taxes

This month has not yet ended but have been very fruitful. From Mare moving to a new apartment to a San Francisco trip.

I'll post pictures later. For now, I shall see everybody soon with other plans lined up until September 2!!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Fw: Turning 28

In a few days this little old me will be turning 28. If you don't know me or if you think you don't know me anymore I suggest going back to 2007's entry on me turning 27.

I was in a state of contentment that I actually gave myself permission to enjoy my life. I did realize that for the past years of my life I have helped make lives of people around me better and that I needed to start living my own life on my own terms with God's grace. Within a few months into giving myself permission to enjoy life I was able to meet someone special. Someone who made me feel special. Someone who reminds me that sometimes it could be just about me.

Am I happy now? In certain aspects of my life it is a definite YES. But in some areas is a MAYBE.

Maybe this year instead of praying for peace of mind I could pray for understanding and patience. Understanding that other people see things differently and patience that it will take time for people to understand. I know deep inside that I am happy. I pray to God that people see how happy I am. Finally, to be 28 and happy. That was a long wait.


Btw: I get to go on a weekend trip down south for my birthday. Can't wait for Showmar's, Bojangels, authentic pulled pork and bbq. No one has bought me tickets for a vacation. This feels sweet.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

One Big Vacation

I would say that this recent visit to Manila was something extra-ordinary. The tour of Bohol was great, laying out in the sun was wonderful, the Rico-Pearlie Wedding was a bliss, scuba diving was fun and to top it all family was at its same crazy self.

I learned a huge deal about myself, my family and my relationship with Marianne.

I learned that I can have patience when I need to and stand up for what I believe in. I learned that family protects and loves you until the end. I learned that my relationship with Mare is stronger than before. I learned that to be truly whole you need patience, principle and love. The trip was full of those virtues.

I'll post pictures soon. Until then, hello to snow and ice-cold New York.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Sunday, January 13, 2008

West Side Pistol

Last Saturday, I planned something for us to do (Marianne didn't know the plan until we got there). Something that we have not done before and you guessed right, we went to a shooting range. Hind sight, we had a stressful week at work and shooting a .22 rifle is rather relaxing. It was just me, the target and the gun. I don't advocate gun use, but in a controlled-"stay in the basement"-shooting range kind of thing, it's ok.

Marianne was nervous. I was excited. At the end, we thought we did something cool. At least having done it once. Next time, we do something else. Any suggestions?
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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Thanks for A Great 2007!

I have always believed that I have been blessed. I can not say that 2007 have been the most blessed even though it would seem like it (it's just unfair for the other years, like 1980 was a great year for me). I would describe 2007 as a very exciting, fun-filled, "I would never have done that" year. A look back in 2007.

January
Started my year with a lot of preparations and planning. All of this paid off. But as with God's humor in play, it is not my will but HIS. I made the plans, He says NO, GO or LETS CHANGE THAT. I was thrown a lot of curve balls this year, which I am thankful for.

February
Took an extra job teaching a medical assistants class at night. Pay was ok, extra cash was there to help pay the bills. It was a short but fun month.

March
March was a very life turning moment month. This was the month that I realized that I turn 27 years old. 3 years shy of my 30's. 3 years shy of getting geriatric. Ok, I am far from being old, but with all the things you want to do and experience, you get worried a little bit. This was the month that I gave myself permission to fail forward. To move on and experience things. Prior to this was sleepless nights wondering about nothing.

April
My birthday month. Nothing much to say here, but it was a crazy month so to speak.

May
Words can not describe the stress I had to go through this month. I have spread myself too thin... I was tired. I became a US Citizen. I didn't know I was being prepared for something great!

June
Friends were in town. Cafe Wha? to the rescue for an impromptu gathering. Trips with family that are always chaotic and fun. I started to do things I have not done before, like attend an art exhibit, go to a reading celebration, volunteered with NYCares.org and just took days off just to walk around the city. It was summer nonetheless.

July
Friends were in town. Had a weekend trip in Boston. Friends from Buffalo came down. Steam pipe explosion in midtown. Went to a retreat. Met new people. Met Marianne.

August
It was a busy month with classes that I had to teach. 2 weeks working off-site (all the way downtown!!). Shao spends a month in NY. It was also the month that I took chances in life. Chances that have been blessed.

September
Got my US passport. Went back to Boston for another weekend trip. Got super busy with work. Volunteered for the November 2007 BustedHalo retreat.

October
Got introduced to the world of Billiards and Pool. Went to AC. Celebrated my sis Jen's bday.

November
Attended one of the best retreats ever (well, I was part of the organizing team, so I guess I'm a little bit biased). Had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

December
Crazy month... from Charlotte trips, to square dancing, to bull riding (ok, I didn't ride the bull, but I did go dinner with friends in country themed restaurant and saw people getting flung out from the bull!). A crazy week towards 2008. But started off 2008 with a bang and new realizations.

Looking forward to 2008 with family and friends. To good health, happiness and love.


"Never lie, steal, cheat, or drink. But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love. If you must steal, steal away from bad company. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away." -Hitch

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Merry Christmas

This Christmas I pray and thank God for all my blessings: Family and friends. Challenges and new beginnings. Life, love and health.

From New York, I send my warmest Christmas wishes.


Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Holiday Rush

As far as I can remember, this year tops as my busiest December ever! The slowest one was back in 2005 when I took the entire month off from work.

I won't go into the details here at work, but golly gosh, work has been rough. Deadlines, pressure from all department to produce numbers and reports, closing of projects, starting new ones and so on.

However, on a personal note, the rush during this month have been quite enjoyable, tiring at times, but still enjoyable. Let's start off with the first weekend of December.

I got this free museum pass from a co-worker for the American Museum of Natural History. If you haven't been there, you should definitely try to go there at least once. I've been there a couple of times and the museum brings out the kid in me. Marianne and I have been wanting to see the exhibit on Mythical Creatures and yes we did see griffins and unicorns. But aside from these special exhibits, I always need to visit Hall of Marine Life and just gaze at this giant whale that is suspended in this great big hall. Very fascinating.

The following weekend, I find myself in Charlotte, North Carolina. Marianne's hometown. Got to experience southern hospitality, eat pulled-pork bobbyque (later on the spellings), drink Cheerwine, drive up and down 485 and heard the Charlotte Symphony perform Christmas Carols with Charlotte's choirs, jazz quartet and UNCC's Percussion Band (thanks to Mr. Duca for the tickets). The weekend trip was more of a meet-and-greet. Got to meet (for the first time) Marianne's friends (Julie and Glenn), Petey (Mare's bro), and church people from her home parish. We are planning on going back there around Spring time next year for more grubbing and relaxing. Flew back to NYC on Sunday night.

After the Charlotte trip, I zoomed in all the next activities.....

Monday, I went to my dentist in the morning and checked myself in for a sleep study. Apparently, my snoring is not just because I'm tired (my all-time favorite excuse), but I have sleep apnea. I did not take a nap nor dozed off on the train. When I got there at 9PM and after hooking me up to the machine, I slept right away. They woke me up at 5:15AM to tell me that the study is done and that I can go home. Instead, I went to the gym and kicked-off my Tuesday.

Tuesday after work, I went to Johnny Utah's (http://johnnyutahs.com/) for dinner with friends. Was supposed to ride the bull, but then again, not enough beer made me do that. Got home at 11, slept at 1:30AM.

Wednesday after work, I had to meet with Mike regarding BustedHalo's Lent's Retreat 2008. I think it was a productive meeting, I was able to share some of my thoughts on how to make things more engaging. After the meeting, we had dinner at Donovan's in Woodside. Named best burger in NYC. You got to try it.

Thursday... you'll never guess. Those who know me have not seen me dance (except those grade school field demonstration days and that one time in college which I am still trying to suppress). Can you imagine me square dancing?? Well, Marianne dragged me into square dancing. I had fun. Really. I had FUN. I won't be doing it everyday now, but I had fun.

Friday, after a relaxing dinner at La Lanteria, Marinne, Cary and I found ourselves at Lion's Den in the village for some Queen music. Almost Queen is a band that plays all Queen music, they even dress up like them! That ended at 12midnight.

Saturday was sort of slow, I had to take Winrich for his birthday treat at Max Brenner (he turned 9 last week). At around 2PM, after the first order came, Winrich already had sugar high. He was off the wall with his antics and banters. But he still insisted on desserts. A chocolate pizza did the trick. After Max Brenner, I met up with Marianne at Cary's place. Marianne did her Christmas shopping and since Cary lives right behind the mall, we decided to meet up there before heading for a Christmas party in Astoria. The game plan, leave the holiday party after an hour since we dead tired. Once we got to the party, we kinda forgot about the time and left at 11:30pm.

Sunday was a relief. Went to church. Went to the gym. Watched a movie on dvd. That's what I did. Marianne on the other hand had sister time with Angela. And from what I heard over the phone, the two of them had a fun evening.

Now, this week... we are trying to slow things down. Just had dinner Monday (12/17) and exchanged gifts with Mare. Last night, Mare had to play pool. She won her match, but I had to leave after that since I need to be at the office (early, alone by myself) to proctor an exam.

I write this entry on a laptop, while counting down the time for the examinees. That is what I call multi-tasking.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Borders was the very first establishment that I've set foot when I got to NY and it was in the World Trade Center. Books and coffee. Such a sweet combination.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

A Sappy Entry

Well, I guess it's not really a sappy entry... but I'm writing this with no idea where this is going. I have all this emotions bubbling inside. I can't even identify them. Love. Hope. Anger. Dis-illusion. Confusion. It could even be more than emotions. Tired. Job-burn out. Energized.

I know its confusing, I don't even know where to begin.

Random stuff I want to do:

1. Take a weekend trip somewhere (though I'm going to Charlotte second weekend of December).
2. Walk all over Central Park (but its cold!).
3. Get a new job (been thinking about this for the past months).
4. Go back to school (wanting to since last year).
5. Not work for a whole year (just thought of this now, possible? maybe.).

Sunday, November 11, 2007

BustedHalo in NJ

36 young adults found themselves in the midst of Oak Ridge, NJ in the vast acre of Mt. Paul. It was another experience that will be cherished. Malo, malo Mike, Rosemary, Chris, Diane, Michelle, Katie and Missy for making me part of the team. Danke schon to Kara, Paul, Nik, Abigail and Idania for a very open small group session. Dziekuje goes to everybody who were present during the weekend, I learned a lot from everybody. Believe. Connect. Share the faith.

Grazie, maraming salamat, mesi bokou for a weekend of renewal.


Monday, October 08, 2007

Weekend at AC

We found ourselves planning this weekend two weeks ago. I don't gamble but enjoy the sights and sounds of Atlantic City. From its boardwalk, pier carnival, overly aggressive seagulls and bright lights! But one thing I enjoy the most is the peace and quite I get while sleeping inside a hotel room when everybody else goes out to gamble.

The first agenda to the weekend was to spend it at the carnival. Everybody went on the Crazy Mouse, some did the Disco Ball, and the two fearless (Cary and Marianne) did the Slingshot. The gambling started when everybody thought that they could shoot the ball through the hoop. I'm guessing around $75 was spent just for that single game.

After the carnival, everybody went for the Karaoke Night sponsored by the Wyndham Hotel. Free beer, so everybody went. I guess we were the life of the party. People started to request songs for us to sing. Let me just make it clear, the us means everybody else except me. I don't sing, sorry. But we, yep, including me, danced to the Electric Slide.

After karaoke, we decided to continue the party over the local bar, AC Bar and Lobster. We got two rounds of drinks while the other half watched the baseball game and the other half saw the boxing game. Pacquio won by the way.

Sunday, after church, everybody had their plans. Shopping. Sun bathing. Casino. I stayed in the room and slept. When everybody got back from their thing, they decided to treat the kids to Sundae Social. Marianne and I decided to skip it. Too much eating for the weekend for me.

Left AC around 8:30 an got home around 11pm.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

BustedHalo Organizes Another Retreat



Hey guys... BustedHalo.com is organizing another retreat this year at Mt. Paul, NJ.

There will be a pre-retreat event with wine and cheese after the 5:15 Mass at the Church of St. Paul. The event will be at the Parish Center, 405 59th Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues.

This pre-event retreat will be a great environment for everybody to meet those who have been on the retreat, meet the people behind BustedHalo , and learn what to expect about the retreat.

The actual retreat happens on November 9 to 11 (Friday night at 8pm to Sunday lunch). It is an all inclusive retreat, so you get to relax and find your faith over the weekend without the NY noise. Visit http://www.bustedhalo.com/retreats to reserve your spot. Limited space is available.



Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Found in a Restroom Wall

It's not a good idea to take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Photos for Charity

After passing by Court House Square on 45th Road Station one afternoon, an idea came up and I started to brain storm about it with my friends and siblings. I decided to sell pictures that I took. Put it in a frame and sell it. But to make something out of it, I will be donating all of the profits to a charity.

I was thinking of setting up a website with all the bells and whistles, but then again, I don't have the resources to do them. However, I cam across eBay's Charity listing that allows the seller to donate the profit to a charity of choice. Super!

So, watch out for the listing soon. I'll be posting maybe 3 pictures to start off.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Sa Kambas ng Lipunan - In Society's Canvas

The video runs for about 20 minutes and is worth every minute of it. Pass around... let us be inspired to do something.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Full Force in RawVegas.tv

My cousin has been a BBoy ever since. I would hear about it. Saw pictures of it. But not until I visited Vegas in 2004 that I saw the entire crew in action. From the girls to the guys, you would not believe how they are able put one foot on one side, the other foot flying the opposite direction while the rest of the body spinning in all directions.

Their group, Full Force, was picked up by RawVegas.tv and has recently launched last week their on-line reality TV broadcast. Check out the premiere video.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007