A Week in AZ

10/08

I got up at about 6, left at about 6:45, got to the airport at about 7:45. I got through security np, found my gate, and sat to wait… and wait… and wait. Lol. I had my journal with me, so I figured I might as well write. I ended up staring at a blank page for most of the hour-and-then-some that I was waiting… didn’t write anything worth sharing… lol. I attempted to write a poem. Fail. I think I was half asleep. I would have let myself sleep if I hadn’t been afraid of sleeping very soundly. SO, anyway… started boarding at 9:15ish, left about 10 minutes late, but we still arrived in Detroit on time. I had apple juice.

I got off at gate A11… and had to go all the way to gate A75. That was super neat, there was this tunnel with lots of flashing lights and catchy music playing. Haha. And then there was this fountain… it was so cool. It was this round black… thing… and the top was flat… and the water was shooting out… and yet there was no water running off of it. I was lazy… didn’t stop to take a picture… regretted it afterwards, I’ll get to that later. Anyway… my legs were killing me by the time I got to my gate. Luckily, Taco Bell was right there. Yumm, Chicken Quesadilla and Dr. Pepper. I didn’t realize how short of a stop-over two hours is. I had JUST enough time to finish my lunch before it was time to board. And I did not finish my Dr. Pepper, shame on me for throwing that away…

I had a good nap on the plane. Drank more apple juice and ate some Twizzlers. I forgot they weren’t the kind with filling. I HATE the kind without filling. Oh well… Listened to my iPod when I woke up here and there, just enough to get me to fall asleep again.

I called Dev’s cell as soon as I got there, and panicked slightly, because she didn’t pick up. I tried her mom’s, but I guess I had the wrong number… so I tried the house phone, Aiden picked up, told me he’d call Dev, but a minute later, I saw Dev. Lol. Honestly, I think she got taller… xD First stop — Chipotle. Had a good chat on the way there. It was hot!!!! Hotter than I’d expected… like that heat that’s blinding at first? Yeah.

We got to their house, and the first thing I did was pull out my photobook :D and then Dev and I took some time to catch up in her room, I borrowed Aiden’s guitar, and we pulled out our Ball dresses. We discussed our parallel lives and brainstormed for blog posts… something about “The Consequences of Being Charitable.” Haha.

Sometime later, JP came in, so I started taking pictures. Well, he noticed that, and wanted to show me their camera…

and made me very nervous in doing so (he did a good job with it, but I was scared he’d drop it… haha…), and then he left the room once dd had persuaded him to let him have the camera, and came back to show me… Mickey Mouse.

Uhm…. notice anything… out of place? *cough*

Yes, well, once Dev and I realized exactly what was… amiss… Ian was given the task of helping John Paul with finding paper to use… and then JP brought his DVD collection in to show me, and spent a good twenty minutes asking me if I knew this story or that story… and I did recognize a great many, but I enjoyed hearing him tell me all about the ones I had never heard of.

Dev started cooking dinner, so I continued to babysit JP. First, we played fort with the couch cushions. He explained everything very, very carefully, so that I might understand that if I put my foot in certain places, I was sure to get bitten by a shark. He did not want my foot to be bitten off. *nods* We hid from arrows and bullets and sharks as best we could, and then when the arrows and bullets ceased, we went fishing. John Paul introduced me to the Mommy fish and the Daddy fish and the Baby fish and the Baby fish’s brothers. Well, we caught them and threw them back several times, and then all of a sudden, all the fish turned into sharks except for the Daddy fish, who went and hid. Mhm. And it seems that JP told his dad that he would be going home with me.

When Mrs. McIntyre and Aiden came home (I forget where they had been… the doctor?), I told Mrs. M what we had been doing, and she went, “You’re fluent. That’s scary.” Hahahaha. I am immensely proud of still be fluent in 3-yo talk after four years. :D

Mary had come home with Mrs. McIntyre, and she had dinner with us. After dinner, we went to Eileen’s house for the teen rosary and game night. Meg led the rosary, and then we played Apples to Apples (Aiden won xD) followed by Amoeba.

AHHHHHHHHHH my wrists hurt for a long time after Amoeba. I love that game!!! and I’m going to introduce it to the YFC as soon as poss. Hopefully this Sunday xD They didn’t enforce the boy-girl-boy-girl rule, so of course it was girls vs. guys, aaaaand the girls won twice! Funnnn. Honestly, I think my wrist popped… haha.

Dev and I didn’t stay up talking… we slept in the living room on the couches that had been the fort xD

10/09

I woke up at about 8. Dev had set her alarm for 9:30, but the sun was up, and I woke up, let myself drift in and out of sleep for a bit. After a bit, Mrs. McIntyre came into the dining room and started looking through my photobook. It was very quiet and peaceful, so I lay there for a bit and looked up at the ceiling… at the fan… the altar… the crosses… Our Lady of Guadalupe… Eventually, Dev woke up, and we sat up and ended up chatting with Mrs. McIntyre for about an hour. We talked about lots of stuff… it was a very homey, good-beginning-to-a-morning type thing :D like my talks with Mum.

The boys woke up one by one, and when they were all up, we met for prayer and breakfast at 9:30. I forget exactly what time Dev and I left for her math class… which I spent attempting to catch up in my journal, and then we went to Savers. Oh my goodness. It is a very dangerous place for me to be. Hahaha. I TRIED to focus on finding a costume for the party that night, but goodness, it was distracting… rotfl. We went home and had lunch, which was absolutely delicious. Ian was cooking corn tortillas, Mrs. M had chicken, Dev prepared a salad, and Aiden was grating cheese.

Dev and Mrs. M left for Walmart, we needed some stuff for that night’s party, and the boys and I continued eating. Ian made another batch of tortillas, and he and Aiden insisted that I try one with butter. Mmmmmm. After we cleaned up, JP decided to be a tiger, and he wanted me to be a lion. OK!! And then apparently I needed tutoring. I’m very, very bad at roaring, I’m afraid. *hangs head* I sound nothing like John Paul says I ought to… At any rate, I was very thankful for that time that I got to spend chatting with the boys while crawling around with JP.

When Dev and Mrs. M got home, we started baking immediately. SPEED BAKING!!!!! She made this chocolate/cheesecake cupcake, and I made upside-down plum cupcakes.

And YES, we actually got them into the oven within the half hour that we had!!! Haha. John Paul wanted to help… so he handed me plums to cut in half and core. But once that job was done, he wanted to do more… so they ended up making edible playdough. It smelled delicious, and I bet it tasted even better, but I didn’t get to taste it. :( lol. I would have liked to… ah well.

Dev and I left for the wake once the cupcakes were in, and Mrs. M followed once the cupcakes were done. We only stayed at the wake for a bit, but I got to meet some of Mary’s siblings and her mom, and we enjoyed the slideshow of her grandfather.

Mrs. M arrived at the wake as we left, and we traded cargo (the cupcakes) before proceeding to Eileen’s house for the Murder Mystery Party. Ahahaha that was funnnn. I was Aladdin. And I was completely innocent. It was CINDERELLA that destroyed King Henry VIII. We seriously couldn’t figure it out. (Wow, between 10 girls, our logic and clue-finding skillzz totally sucked. Rotfl.) Chelsea’s accent was the funniest. And Ms. Sherlock Holmes looked quite dashing with a ponytail.

Hahaha. We did take a break for dinner, pizza :), and then after we’d completed the act, we played Mafia and I killed everyone, so Cinderella and I were hated for the rest of the evening :D Oh well. Guess that means I can keep a straight face. *hem*

We…. took a bunch of awesome pics, OF COURSE. And then headed home…

and when we got home, JP decided he wanted to sleep with me on the air bed. Okkk!

Oh, I’d taught him to call me Ate. He pronounces it the way Lexie and Tintin do. So adorable. So we played tigers and sharks under the blanket and then JP told me a story, and I recorded part of it. Mrs. M came in and tried all sorts of things to get him to come sleep with her, from “Do you want a bedtime story?” to “John Paul, I miss you.” Nothing was working; he absolutely insisted on sleeping with me. Ok, new tactic. It’s called *lights out*. Well… at first, JP was quite content to stay with Ate and Devin, even though Mommy missed him… but then when the lights were out and the door was closed… here was John Paul, less than a minute later, trying to sneak out of the room without waking Ate and Devin up xD We cracked up when the door closed behind him. We could hear Mrs. M asking him if he was ready for a bedtime story. Haha.

10/10

Dev and Mr. McIntyre left for ASU pretty early, and the rest of the family went to the funeral for Mary’s grandfather, so I was home alone. I called Mum while everyone was gone, and talked to her and the kids for about half an hour… but then Yena took the phone and then forgot that I was there, so I was going, “Hello, hello?? Hello, nandito pa ako…” and finally, Paco took the phone and explained that Yena and Migi were fighting. (I kinda figured that out from the noise…) So then I asked to talk to Mum, and we had a good chat about lots of stuff.

Dev and Mr. M got home from ASU at around 1ish, and they’d brought me home Chipotle xD with extra rice, and I finished it in one sitting, I was so proud of myself.. hehe ang babaw… Mr. M took a nap, and meanwhile, Dev and I went to the library and checked out a bunch of movies. When we got home, we left again for… mm, I can’t remember whose house… but the boys were already there, in the pool, and Dev and I sat and talked with the mommies. We talked about chocolate, the 4real board, psychologists, being foodies, books, basically a bunch of stuff that I just love listening to mothers talk about. There are just some subjects that are so… so mommyish, so homeyish… :) I love homeschool moms. They’re the absolute best people to talk to.

Mrs. McIntyre and the boys had come there straight from the funeral, so Dev and I headed out with Mr. M and Aiden first. We dropped Aiden off at baseball practice (whew!!! sounds majorly intense…) and Dev and I got dropped off at home, and we got started on the pizza dough. We put on HSM (ahahahaha yep. We actually borrowed HSM1 from the library… what possessed me, I wonder? maybe because I saw an HSM2 poster at Eileen’s house…) but we turned it off before we finished the first three chapters. We watched baseball and the Suite Life instead, and some other show on the Disney channel (oh geez. It was about THE most awesome miniature golf course EVER… Ian and I went on and on and on and on about it afterwards, because it was just TOO COOL FOR WORDS. Geez, I wish I could play on it… what show does that to me these days?!). When the rest of the family got home, we ended up refrigerating the pizza dough, because Mrs. M had brought home sandwich fixings, so we had sandwiches for dinner :D and then Dev and I went and watched the rest of HSM in her room, followed by Becoming Jane. AAAAAAHHHH I HATE THAT MOVIE!!!!! and I love it. It’s one of those movies one loves to hate. Or hates to love. I mean, it is such a lovely movie, and I KNOW she did the right thing, but I HATED IT!!! lol. And I hate crying during sentimental movies, honestly… I don’t mind crying when someone dies, but AAAARRRGHHH!!!! good movie. Yup. Would love to watch it again. Or not. Paolo called at some point in the middle of it all, before anyone had gone to bed, about 8 something in AZ.

10/11

The morning started off with chores which they did not let me help with, except for tidying up JP’s area. Hah, but I snuck in washing dishes later…

We made pizza for lunch!!! and then the family shared a bunch of funny Walmart stories… well, some funny, some slightly alarming… lol.

After lunch, Dev worked on the sleeves of her dress, and I made a huge fuss over what to do with my hair… such a girl, aren’t I, when it comes to my hair… lol. Well… let’s skip over the fusses shall we? Heh.

We left the house at about 5:15ish, got to the Pattersons’ at about 5:30ish, played 8-ball with Aiden until the girls came down (Dev went up), and then we took pics outside. There were five of us girls — Cary, Maleah, Mary, Dev, and I — and then Aiden, so Mr. Patterson was coaching Aiden, and he had him kneel in front of us with his arms out.

This would be his “Guys, eat your hearts out; I’m the luckiest guy in the world” pose. rotflwtime. We left their house at about 5:45, and Mrs. Patterson drove the six of us. We played the alphabet game, which Dev and her dad had introduced to me, and I totally lost. Blah! Haha. We got to Scottsdale at about 6:15, walked around a bit with the girls, we had a fairly big group, but I’ll get to that later… Shall I begin my crazy narrative of the Pride and Prejudice Ball? Here goes:

So the first dance, Grady took Dev and I was considering simply sitting it out, but Dev spotted some guy and jerked her head towards me and so he came and got me. I don’t remember his name now, but he wasn’t very… *cough* interesting (I’m counting on nobody from around there ever finding this blog. Please excuse my bluntness…)… he smiled… a LOT… and didn’t say much, the conversation we had was very vague and general… stuff… *ahem*

The second dance was about to begin, Dev and my partner and Grady and I were standing close to each other, and Grady goes, “So are we switching partners…” and Dev goes, “Or we could just keep the same partners…” but I gave her a *mortified* look, so she consented to switch. *coughthankheavenscough* *coughidontthinkdevwouldvethankedmeforit* That dance was a lot of fun, it was fairly simple, and Grady was very pleasant and funny.

The third dance, I was with Aiden, which was a lot of fun. Aiden and I nailed that thing PERFECTLY. And now I forget how it goes. Ahahaha. Let me see… we were in sets of four, first couple cast down, walk up between back to our spots, second couple cast up and walk back to between to their spots, then… wait… I think first corners switch, second corners switch, then circle four halfway, and first couples cast down and second couples step up. Yes, I think I got that right. I’d know it again if I danced it.

Fourth dance, I was with Jeremy, but while Jeremy’s a truly interesting guy, I highly regret that dance, because it was a waltz, and Jeremy is incapable of waltzing (which reminds me, Dev also had a story of a certain someone who was also very much incapable of waltzing… last year was it? xD so we’re even, I suppose…). We had a break after that, and our group claimed a corner of couches (two couches at first, and then all of a sudden when we went there at the next break, there was a third couch there where no couch had been. There were enough of us in the group to keep others from joining us), and then we were piped back in by the bagpiper guy (piped at the beginning of the dance, and then piped us back into the gym after each break, much like the cowbell in the Moeller cafeteria), and I forget now who I danced with for the 5th dance. I believe it was Jeremy again. Yes, that was it. Now, that dance was awesome, we were in sets of six, and so it was me and Jeremy, Mara and Grady, and Dev and Aiden. There was one part where the girls were required to take hands and skip around the guys, and then the guys would do the same around the girls, but the guys had a MAJOR problem with a) skipping, b) holding hands. Actually, no, I take that back… Aiden and Jeremy didn’t make much of a fuss at all, but GRADY was HILARIOUS. He REFUSED to hold hands with the guys and ‘REFUSED’ to skip, but I say ‘refused’, because when the six of us took hands and circled, HE was the only one skipping(!!!!!!) and the rest of us walked calmly. Absolutely hilarious.

Sixth dance, I was with Anthony. That was a lot of fun, and he made me laugh… he’s a karate guy, and it was evident. *nods* I appreciate that. There was one part where we were supposed to do a full turn on the spot, and you could just tell that he was a karate dude, because the movement on his part was akin to some crazy spin block in a kata? Yep. I quite enjoyed myself.

Seventh dance, some random dude asked me… I wasn’t even turned towards him, like, I was standing with Jeremy and Grady and all of a sudden this guy comes up to me, he’s on my left, and bows. (Again, God forbid this guy find this blog… hahahaha.) Well, at first I thought it wasn’t such a big deal, he was an ok dancer, I guess, but I freaked out at the very very end, because the first and last couple, at the ends of each lines of sets, stand out for one round, and then go back in because there’s a new couple at each end at the end of each round. Anyway, so things went well…. until we were the end couple. And THEN this guy starts dancing a jig!!! Uhm… my ettiquette is… weak… and I decided to look around and pretend as if I did not know him. *cough* It’s kind of… hard to do… when you’re standing right across from them. Bah.

Eight dance… another waltz, I believe, which I sat out because I wanted to. Actually, Cary and Maleah and I went and took pics elsewhere. Ninth dance was the pumpkin dance, and that was the best dance of all!!! There’s three chairs, and two lines leading up to slightly to the side of either chair, so the three people can see down between the two lines. The person in the middle chair holds a pumpkin, and they hand it to one of the persons sitting next to them and skip or something of the sort down the middle with the other person, and then the person with the pumpkin moves to the middle chair and one person from each line sits down, so you have no idea who you’re going to be paired with. It’s funny when the person in the middle makes a show of not being able to decide, puts the pumpkin down on the seat, and takes the hands of both persons. Especially when it’s three guys skipping down all together. Ahahahahaha.

So then, we had another break. Claimed the couches again xD OUR corner, no one else’s. And then when we came back in… Tenth dance was the shoe dance. All the girls take off one shoe and throw it in a pile in the middle, the guys charge down the gym and grab a shoe, and then the girl that they got the shoe of is their partner for the next dance. Jeremy got mine. Geez! So we all went around hunting for the guy that had our shoe, and Jeremy was like, “You’re kidding, right?” lol. Three dances in one night. What the heck. Honestly. Jeremy and I botched the 9th dance. Actually, no. We got it perfectly right except for the part where we’re supposed to promenade up the middle together… and he was attempting to spin me and failing totally. Alright, alright, that was my fault… Oh well! Eleventh dance, I sat out, I was busy taking pics. Twelfth dance was a waltz, and I sat that out, too.

So then we took group pics, there were 21 of us in the group. Funnnn. OH, I must tell about the dude I nicknamed ‘ the huzzah guy’. *nods* You see, there was one extremely enthusiastic guy there that just.. well. He was certainly dressed the part… and when Lord Scott was making his speech, this guy kept bursting out in loud “Huzzah”s left and right. At first, some people joined in, but come the end of the speech, he was the only one doing it. And then he burst out in random”Huzzah”s throughout the dance. And during the dances he was conducting people from where he stood waiting for his turn to move. Honestly. This guy freaked me out. Oh don’t get me wrong, he looked nice enough. But I did not want to dance with the huzzah guy. So I kept hiding behind the other girls during break. Rotfl ‘course they’ve seen him before, and they’re used to him and they say he’s quite nice and some of them danced with him, but not me. Period. So, yes, I successfully avoided the huzzah guy for the entire night, thank you.

I talked music with Cary most of the way home. And… we got home at 1:12 AM and I went STRAIGHT TO BED. lol. Anyway, here’s a bunch of pics from the dance –

That would be my hair. I had no idea how it looked till Dev took this picture.

I thought this would turn out too dark, but I guess not :D I like it.

~the beautiful job Mrs. M did with Dev's hair ~

Yes, that's ONE clip. I can't get over how she did it.

"Do something manly!!!"

*wow*

The group... minus Caitlin and Molly

10/12

I got up at like 10, Aiden had already filled Mrs. McIntyre in on the dance… hilarious… Omigosh and I still haven’t uploaded the videos!!!! AAARRRGHHHH I will do that later today!!!! Mass at 11:30, Dev was one of the lectors, and Aiden and Ian were the altar servers.

When we got home, we watched Return to Me. Nice movie, I liked it. It was annoying, again, but Becoming Jane was still eons worse, so. And then we went to eat at My Big Fat Greek. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS I can’t get over it. I’m spoiled for their Calzones now. I cannot have a calzone anywhere else, ever, ever again. Please agree with me that this looks absolutely decadent –

Florentine Calzone

– because it is. I can’t believe how much I ate.

At about 9 PM, Dev and I began our Bourne Marathon. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH. Lol it was absolutely hilarious… because after each movie, I was like, “What’s he got left to do? He’s already done so-and-so…” and always, after each movie, Dev would rub it in that he did have things left to do. And now I’m longing for the fourth. Haha. Oh, and I was predicting stuff and failing totally… EXCEPT when I predicted an explosion and then everything blew up and I yelled “I WAS RIGHT!!!!” but then my predictions were completely dead from there on. WE only watched the first two that night, we watched the third the following night… oh, we stayed up till 2 AM talking… a lot about Cafeteria Catholics, and again about our semi-parallel lives, and again about Catholic colleges, and Catholic families, and everything that you only hear from Catholic homeschooled teens and practically no one else. I cannot think of a single conversation that I have had with any non-homeschooled teen that was ever anywhere near as spiritually filling as the conversations that I have had with Catholic homeschooled teens, especially Dev. Isn’t that sad? and yet I suppose I ought not be surprised… but it can be so discouraging sometimes. Bleh.

10/13

I got up late… about 10ish… obviously. Haha, was so tired from that conversation… looked over Dev’s shoulder as she was editing her paper and then left at 10:40 for her english class. We went straight to Walmart afterwards, we needed stuff for dinner, and then we went home and had lunch, and then I started making the leche flan. Jeremy arrived as I was putting it in the oven, so we went outside at about 2:30 and started jamming until 6:45ish when the curry was done. We went through our iPods for things to jamm… I remember playing You and Me, Here I Am to Worship, Crazy For This Girl, Mighty to Save… and now I totally forget what else. Haha. Jeremy started playing songs he’d written and I followed. Meanwhile, even though it was rather chilly, John Paul and Ian actually played with the hose. (It was freezing!!!!!!!! They didn’t mind!?!?)

Devin had made her killer chicken curry (I could eat that for days. Seriously.) and Jeremy stayed for dinner, and the whole family was there and we had very interesting conversation at dinner. Let me see… baseball… and moving… and food… oh yes, food… oh, and how the removed thing works. You know, the whole, “my cousin once removed on my mom’s side” thing, I’ve always found that so confusing, but then they got confused with the Pinoy system (or is it only my family? ahaha), and we decided to stop before we got even more confused. Haha. Jeremy left at about 8:20ish? and then we prayed the rosary, and then we watched Bourne Ultimatum. Oh, and throughout all the movies we had been watching, we were snacking on lots of things… juice and brownies and pretzels and popcorn and apples and… yeah. Feasting. Haha.

10/14

We went and climbed mountains!!!!!!!! after Dev got home from her class, and then we went to the mall and oh here’s a picture of Devin driving –

– and of course I had to take pictures of all the sharp pointy things as we climbed mountains… wait, I just went backwards, didn’t I? So we went and climbed mountains because Mrs. M said I had to do something pertaining to AZ. Hahaha. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and the trail was not too steep, only tricky. We took weird videos. Haha. Oh, and on our way there, we were at a stoplight, and the cars in front of us were the perfect shade of blue and green… Devin and I are so weird. We began talking about bridesmaids dresses. Because of the colors of the cars. How do cars make us think of bridesmaids dresses?! rotflwtime. The green and the blue just went together… an olive green type… and a pastel-ish blue… lovely. Perfect for tablecloths and napkins and bridesmaids dresses. *nods* We decided to document our conversation while climbing down the mountain. I have to upload that video sometime… Oh, so here’s something sharp and pointy:

this is my country. seriously. SHARP AND POINTY is sooo aisa

And here are two gorgeous pics from the mountain, the latter using my incredibly awesome zoom… haha.

You know, I really think you should just go view the whole album. Here. And now we can move on… So we went to Walgreens and got drinks (I wish I could get AZ iced tea out here, it’s sooooooooo good) and then to the mall and had lunch there, and then we watched Kung Fu Panda. *KADOOSH* Hahaha. And then to Walgreens to hunt for pasalubong (although what I really ended up getting was a keychain and a scorpion for myself… but I did get a puzzle for the kids! … lol), then home for a quick bite of dinner, and then to Dev’s karate class. They made me do things. Ahhhh. Hahaha, I’m so out of shape. But hey, I had a good time. I liked everyone I met, they were very, very kind. But boy was I tired when we got home!!!!

I can’t remember now if we watched anything that night, or if we just talked and talked and talked… either we did the latter or we did both. Haha.

10/15

I asked everyone to sign my photobook. :D The whole inside front cover now belongs solely to the McIntyres. Oh, John Paul decided to give his horsey a haircut. *nods* I think Devin saw fit to take the scissors away after that… haha. And then they did the goodbye wave… and Mr. M took me to the airport… and then it was all over. I had a croissant and a cup of white hot chocolate at Starbucks and got some Cactus Jelly, Prickly Pear Jam, and Jalapeno preserves for Mum, and then… yep. The first flight was delayed… giving me half an hour to walk from Terminal A to Terminal C and I was not smart enough to use the shuttle thingy, so I ran and was out of breath with a stitch in my side… but I did not miss my second flight, praise God, and I got home safely… and yes. Here I am, an experienced traveler. Haha. Oh, and because it was night, the super cool fountain was off and there wasn’t time anyway. So yes, I regretted that horribly. lol.

Some final pics:

Ate, JP, and DD (if you pronounce Ate the way JP does, we all rhyme! lol...)

:D best friends... for six-ish/seven-ish years now! and counting :D not to mention matching shirts!!! lol.

:D byebye!

yayy

Karate tonight. 60 pushups, 100 leg-raises, 120 crunches… and then 50 front kicks, 10 jump front kicks, 10 jump side kicks, 70 round kicks, and 20 spinning hook kicks on each leg. I’ve lost my splits. I promise myself I will get them back before Battle.

*DEAD*

I am quite proud of that title. I have not been able to merit such a feeling for a long time. It began when Mum woke me up to help in the garden. In all honesty, I was in a very bad mood and was not pleased. xD

SO. I went outside. Bwaha! It was very good for me. I emptied seven 28 something L bags of soil into the designated plot, which required some lifting/dragging for most of them. I played a foolish little game, but I think everyone needs a little foolishness sometimes, and I really feel that it gave me strength. Anyone who knows me fairly well will confirm (or ought to.. haha) that I care very little for other people’s opinions in general. The only people I make any effort to please are those I think very highly of — my parents and some of my closer friends — most of the time, I could care less. The reason I am explaining this is because to anyone who does not know me, my game will seem like a very… oh, self-centered, self-conscious, whatever game. Trust me, it is not one typical of my personality. (Oy, any of my friends reading this, I better get some support. LOL!) Anyway, the game was, as I was attempting to lift/drag those very heavy bags of soil (the soil inside was moist — I’m pretty sure that had a lot to do with it), I tortured myself by thinking, “Oh My Heavens. What would [insert name of tough/strong person that is a good friend, usually a guy, ex: Sean, Ken, Andy, Aaron] think/say if they saw how much trouble I was having with these?!” And then I’d screw up my face and try harder. Yes, it is a very silly game. Sean can do 100 round kicks on each leg with 20 lbs weights on each ankle and a 40 lb vest. If I tried to kick with all that on… well, for one thing, could I even stand straight?? Bwahaha. But by heaven, I really think it worked. *sigh* Then again, I don’t suppose it was right to think of my friends that way, because I know they would never do that to me, especially Sean…

Well, anyway, as I emptied each bag, I continued the game. This part was more of a remedy to my bad mood rather than to my physical weakness. Each bag that I emptied was *for* someone that I miss in PA. No, it actually makes sense, for reasons I cannot really explain, but will make sense to some people who read this, I think. I thought to myself, “I am doing this because I want to see [name] in March.” Let’s see… I did… a bag *for* Sarah, Danielle, Kristy, Aaron, Andy, Kenny, and Sean. Well, that worked, too, and by the time Mum came ’round to see how I was doing, I do believe I was considerably politer. (She just walked by and asked me how I was doing. I’m not in a bad mood anymore. xD I love my mom.)

When I’d finished smoothing out the bed as best I could with the shovel (because I simply could not find that confounded hoe), I went inside, drank 2 glasses of water as Mum told me, and went upstairs to get dressed. I have not put on my black uniform since testing, and I put on my belt for the first time. Well, the second time. Daddy put it on me when it came on Saturday. You know, the ceremonial putting-on-thingy-watchamacallit. Lol. But that was over my regular clothes. This was the first time I’d put it on over my uniform, and the first time I put it on myself. Wow. It really hit me, how much thicker and heavier it was than color belts. Hah! I had a hard time tightening it; it was so stiff!!!

I chose a CD, got the boombox, and went downstairs to work the bag for the first time in God knows how many weeks. Total of… 30 windmills (yeah, yeah, I know. “So What??” But when you haven’t done them in a while, it does pull a little…), a bridge (I CRACKED MY BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS!!!!), and other stretches… and then 50 pushups, 80 leg-raises, and 300 kicks. 25 low-section front kicks, 50 mid-section front kicks, 25 high section front kicks, and 50 mid-section round kicks on each leg. Yes, I know it was nothing compared to Paula’s workouts, but I am still very proud of myself for my first proper in-uniform workout since testing.

SO! There. I was feeling dead and I’m still feeling slightly winded, but there. Now. I’M GOING TO TAKE A SHOWER!!!! Er, after Daddy. xD

Staff Forms

Me. And Danielle. And Mike. :D I messed up, yeah. Blehh.

BBT 9/23/07

Where to begin? I want to write down everything — everything — so that I may read it in years to come and remember as vividly as if it were yesterday. So much, so much… I don’t know how to get it all down without making a muddle of things… This post will most likely prove to be very confusing to those who are unfamiliar with how my mind works; it will be a collection of the usual observances one blogs and conversations written out as best I can remember. I am sorely tempted to jump around and write what comes to mind first… but that would be beginning too near the end… So let me try to keep my head on straight and not get too emo…

Friday, 9/21/07

 

We left the house at about 10 AM. I’d made a list of everything I needed, but that didn’t keep me from going over the list every five minutes. Believe it or not, I actually didn’t forget anything this time!!! I’ve always forgotten something before…

The trip was uneventful. I slept most of the time, and listened to music. We had sinangag for lunch.

As soon as we got to Unc’s house and had unloaded everything, Unc and jammed. :D That was awesome. He taught me a new song… kind of. :P I have to work on it. And we listened to music and he showed me the power tabs for stuff and some YouTube videos and stuff. We had nilaga, salmon and mushrooms, and asado for dinner. Absolutely delicious.

Saturday, 9/22/07

After breakfast, Mum and Dad and I went shopping. :D I found my Christmas dress!!! Yay!!! and two jackets (formal) and a denim dress with the most gorgeous flowing skirt. I’ve got to do something about the denim dress, though, because the top part of the bodice is this sort of net-like material with appliqués, but they look rather worn, so I’m going to replace them all… the netting, probably with a white sheer or something of the sort, and then we’ll see… Anyway, I had a good time.

When we got home, the kids showed us pictures of a turtle that they’d found while we were gone. It was huge! Hmm… I kind of forget what we had for lunch, haha. Leftovers, yeah, but there was something else, and I can’t remember what it was, now… That is not typical of me! Food is normally the highlight… sheesh. I’ll probably remember later. Anyway…

After lunch, I started sewing my flag patches on to my uniform sleeves. Unc sat by me and jammed. Everyone else took a nap, after which, we went to the 4:00 Mass. Before we left, though, Dad checked his cell phone and found a missed call from Paolo, at 10 AM. So I called and it turns out that he was at the CLP thingy or whatever, and so I got to talk to him and Gabe and Mariel and Kim for a bit…

We got home from Mass, I finished sewing my patches, and we made the most awesome dinner. :D Unc made the filling, and I rolled the lumpia. There was also more nilaga. That was the most AWESOME lumpia I’ve had in FOREVER. Yum Yum Yum.

After dinner, I went over my terminology, and then we watched the Matrix (just the first one). Ughhh that movie can get so sick. Haha. But it was motivating in its own way.

Ahhh I didn’t sleep well that night. Not nightmares, I just could sleep. I kept waking up and wondering what time it was and how many more hours I had before they would wake me…

Sunday, 9/23/07

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7970&l=0ce50&id=502520962

We left the house at 9. We prayed the rosary, and then I slept. When I woke up again, we were already in Dickson City, just past McDonald’s before the hill up to Jo Ann’s. What a sight. That place never changes. Do you know… up until March last year, I observed that I still got butterflies in my stomach on my way to the school. And not just to testing, I used to get that way for classes as well, for no apparent reason.. it was weird… but this time, it just didn’t happen. I wonder what that meant, haha.

We got to Wegmans. (Pics 1 thru 4.) Man, the view still hits me, it’s so majestic. There is still something so refreshing about mountains and trees.

When we walked in, I looked around and didn’t immediately spot anyone… Everyone went to get food, but I lingered and looked around again… and noticed someone looking at me. I tried to get a good look at the guy without being obvious, but he was most definitely staring at me… and with a jolt, I realized it was Lyndon. I ran and jumped and he stood up and caught me and we were just laughing so hard, I couldn’t say anything beyond, “Omigosh, I missed you!!!” I honestly don’t remember anything else I said… oh, except to ask if Sean was coming. Turns out he couldn’t; he had work…

After a few minutes, I moved off to get food, and right when I turn away from Lyndon, who should appear ’round the register, but Sarah, Danielle, and Katie!!!! Squeals galore. Hahahaha. In a few seconds we were all hugging and laughing and probably getting plenty of attention, we were so loud, but then we walked off towards the sushi bar (Lyndon and his girlfriend were behind us by this time) and Dad was there and shaking hands and hugging everyone, and Mum arrived and said she’d barely recognized Lyndon, it was so funny. I had a hard time choosing sushi…

Sarah: Aisa, how can you eat that?
me: What, it’s sushi… you’ll still like me, though, right?
Sarah: Gee, I dunno, I mean…. Hahahaha jk.

Eventually, I chose a dragon roll and tea, the latter of which I shared with Yena, who ended up drinking about 75% of it. I must’ve been too busy talking to notice, really… When we were all sitting down, we called Aaron and asked if he’d meet us there, and he said he’d get there as soon as he could.

Lyndon had to go to work, so he and his gf said goodbye, and it was just us four girls left… so we went outside for a photo shoot. (Pics 5 thru 15.) Hilarious. First, we tried some profile pics, and some candid group shots, with some still life somewhere in there. Bwaha, then we decided to do a karate pic. So I asked who wanted to go on the table… Katie was all for it. :D *cough* It didn’t quite work, though… So I asked who wanted to go to the school and take pics on the steps. This was about an hour and a half before testing. We called Aaron again to let him know that we’d be at the school, instead.

Oh, somewhere in the middle of it all, when we were deciding how to pose, Katie showed me some of Sip Soo. Ah, and when we were getting food…

Sarah: Are you scared?
me: Yes.
Sarah: I’m scared.
me: I’m so not in shape.
Katie: You look like you are.
me: Seriously, though, I’m not, I’m worried about how I’m gonna hold out…

When we got to the school, Aaron had opened it up, and Brian, Master Frank, and the guy who was recording the test were there, also. We brought our stuff inside, and hugged and said hi and all. It was HOT. Katie went and changed, and Master Frank started teaching her the sword form he’d made up for her. I watched some of it — it was SO COOL!!!!!!

Anyway, while they were working on that, the rest of us went outside and took pictures. That was awesome. Check ‘em out; Mum says we look like wanna-be thugs — pics 16 thru 23. Some quotes:

Pic 17:
Aaron: Let’s all be attacking each other!!
me: OK!!
Sarah: No, seriously?
me: Yeah! Go for it! *presses button and runs to take position*
Sarah: Are we supposed to be smiling?
…

Pic 20:
me: Aaron!!!
Aaron: What?!?
me: I SAW THAT!?
Sarah: What?
Brian: Did he stick his tongue out?
me: Yessssss!!!!
Aaron: I swear, I did not!!
Brian: Where is it…
me/Sarah/Brian: (varied cries of) Aaron, you ruined it!!!!!!

Pics 21 & 22:
me: wait… AARON! You didn’t kick!!!
Sarah: He didn’t?
me: Ok, fine, let’s do this again… Aaron, will you kick this time!?
Aaron: maybe…

But he did it the next one, as you can see. Haha. We went in and people started arriving… and of course, I started the whole squealing and hugging thing… can’t remember what order they arrived in, but here, check out pics 24 to 47, and… some snippets of conversation in no particular order:

Mexican Tom had arrived, and he and Sarah were sparring.
Tommy: Are you ready Sarah? Are ya?
(Sarah just keeps fighting.)
Tommy: Your name… wow… in gold letters… I don’t know if you’re ready for that!!
(Sarah’s answer; the highest kicks she can manage in jeans.)

Andy walks in.
me: ANDY!!! Do I get a hug?
Andy: Nope.
me: As usual!
Aaron: What’s up?
me: Andy won’t give me a hug. As usual.
Aaron: Aw, well, don’t be sad, I’ll give you a hug.

me: Dude, since when do you have an earring??
Andy: Since… like… last September.
me: WHAT?!
Andy: Yeah. So?
Ashley: You’re gonna want to take that out.
Andy: Why?
me: Cuz it’s gonna rip.
Andy: No, it won’t.
me: Fine. It’ll rip, though.
(He eventually took it out.)

me: Does anyone know how Shaun Taylor’s doing?
Kristy: Oh, he’s tall. (She indicates his height.)
me: Really??
Kristy: Yeah… I’m pretty sure he’s only a couple inches shorter than me.
me: What happened to Master Todd?
Andy: What? Who?
me: Master Todd?
Andy: Oh, you mean Lucke? (Says something about thinking I meant Erb.) I dunno. I never see him anymore.
Ashley: He’s in college…
Andy: Well, yeah, but so is Kristy.
me: And Danielle.
Amanda: Todd Erb got tall.
me: Oh, yeah, he told me he was like 6′ 2″ when I last talked to him, but I didn’t believe him…
Amanda: No, it’s true! I saw him at a football game! He was like… *indicates nearly a foot taller than herself*
me: Dude, are you serious??
Andy: Yeah, he is.
Aaron: (Something something that I didn’t catch…) … and he’s like “He’s fine. He’s not coming back.” (Said in an aggressive, angry sort of tone.)
me: Wait, what? Who is this?
Aaron: His dad! I saw him the one day and he’s just like, “He’s fine! He’s not coming back!” I mean, he just starts shouting at me for no reason…
(Laughter all around.)

Andy: I haven’t talked to you in forever. You’re never online.
me: That’s cuz you’re blocked. Duh.
Andy: What?! Why am I blocked?!?!
me: Cuz you always block ME, that’s why!
Andy: Well, you’re not blocked now!
me: Well, that’s news to me!
(Ashley says something about Andy blocking her, too.)
me: Oh, yeah, would you believe, the night I said happy birthday to him, he blocked me.
Andy: What? That wasn’t my birthday!
me: Yes it was!!!
Andy: No… oh, no, wait, you save conversations… right… Yeah, well, when’s my birthday??
me: December twenty-si–
Andy: STALKER!
me: Duh.
Andy: When’s my birthday?
Ashley: December twen –
Andy: STALKER!!! Now unblock me.
me: Why? You always block me, anyway!
Andy: Well maybe sometimes I actually want to talk to you!
me: Psshh. Whatever.
Andy: Unblock me!
me: We’ll see.

(Something about Ashley being crazy about Andy and proposing. Kristy laughs and says she’s going to tell Andy. She goes over to tell him. Ashley is somewhere behind me squealing in protest. Kristy goes to tell Andy. Andy mimes retching and comes over.)
me: Hmm… I could see it happening.
(I run and hide behind Kristy. Andy is looking murderous.)

me: Oy! How come she gets a hug, but I don’t?
Andy: Because. What are you talking about, I’ve hugged you bef –
me: No, you haven’t!
Andy: Yes, I have!
me: Oh? When?
Andy: I dunno… sometime!
me: Kenny’s coming, right?
Amanda: Yeah, where’s Kenny? He said he was going to be here!
me: He promised!!
Amanda: Yeah, he told me every day at school that he was coming!!
me: Then where is he?? The test is going to start.
Ashley: We should call him or something…
Amanda: Yeah! But… I don’t have his phone number!
me: I have his number.
Amanda: And I have my cell! What is it?
me: ***-****
(Ken picks up.)
Amanda: Where are you!?!
me: You’re supposed to be HERE!!
(Apparently, Ken asked who it was.)
Amanda: It’s Amanda and Aisa!
Ashley: And Ashley!!
(Amanda tells him to get over to the school. I take the phone.)
me: Ken? Hello? You said you were going to be here.
Kenny: Yeah, sorry, I forgot.
me: You promised. Where are you?
Kenny: I’m frying fish. What time does the test start?
me: Well, supposedly 2:30, but we’re running late.
Kenny: Ok, I can do that. I’ll come as soon as I’m done frying fish, ok?
me: Promise?
Kenny: Yeah, I’ll be right there.
me: Ok. See you.
Kenny: See ya.
(I give the phone back into Amanda. And then… I go into a blitz and slam into Andy. :D)
Andy: Oh fine, c’mere, you want a bear hug, too?
me: NO!!!! Andy! OWWW!
Andy: There. Now how do you feel?
me: Thank you.
(Andy makes some dismissive gesture.)

(I hear something about Red Robin.)
me: Oh, right… you guys going after testing?
Andy: Yeah. You coming?
me: I dunno…
Andy: Why not?
me: Well… we have a two hour drive after testing back to my Uncle’s house… I dunno… Convince my dad.

Migi: Hail, Princess Andy!!
(Andy comes at me and kicks.)
Andy: You did it! I swear, you started it!!
me: What?? What??!
Migi: Hail, Princess Andy!!
Andy: YOU DID IT! You started it, I swear!
me: No! I swear I did not!! I didn’t do anything!!

me: Sir! Tang Soo!
Justin: Hey, how are you??
me: I’m alright, sir.
Justin: You ready?
me: Ehm… I don’t know, sir.
Justin: I’m sure you’ll do great, honey.

Sarah and I practiced our one-steps, and then she and Danielle and I ran through our staff forms. Oh, Kwan Jang Nim arrived, and I didn’t see him come in, but someone pointed him out to me, saying hi to the rest of my family, and I ran to hug him, dropping my staff somewhere along the way… It was funny; he picked me up, and then when he’d put me down again and asked how I was and all, he called to Bob, and was like, “Bob! See? This is how you’re supposed to say ‘Hi’ to me!” and we all just laughed. :D

Eventually, we all lined up and warmed up. 100 jumpingjacks, 100 crunches, the usual kicks and punches, and then 50 pushups for black belt candidates, and 35 for evaluators. (Pics 51 to 55.) Ahhh… that’s where I had to slow down a bit, yeah. Leonard had the hardest time of it, and we all cheered him on and counted with him, and when he was done, several people got up from their places to hug him or pat him on the back. What a family.

We all sat down after warmup, and Katie, Doc, and Tommy went first (was there one more person? I think that was it…), because Katie had to leave early. She had come from college, see, and since it’s her freshman year, she’s not allowed to have a car on campus, yet, so her parents had had to go get her, and she is two hours away and all, so she didn’t want them to get back home so late from dropping her off. :D Katie’s a good and thoughtful person, and I love her parents.

I can’t remember if they went through their techniques, or if they just went straight to forms. Anyway, I remember they performed Nai Han Chi Cho and Ee Dan, and Sip Soo. They also went through their black belt one-steps… I think 11 through 20 or something like that… I forget what else they had to perform. :P Must’ve had something to do with the butterflies in my stomach. I didn’t notice when Katie left, so I can’t tell you when she did… I felt a little bad that I didn’t get to say goodbye to her, but at least we’re constantly in touch over email and FB, so it’s ok, I guess.

When Katie and Doc and Tommy were done, BB candidates were called up. We went through hand and foot combinations… to list some:

Ha Dan Magki, Tuel Oh Choong Dan Kong Kyuck, Sang Dan Magki
Ahneso Pakero Magki, Tuel Oh Ahneso Pakero Magki, Sang Soo Ahneso Pakero Magki
Wheng Jing Kong Kyuck, Hu Gul Ahneso Pakero Magki, Sang Soo Ha Dan Magki
Choong Dan Soo Do Magki, Tuel Oh Choong Dan Kong Kyuck
Sang Soo Ahneso Pakero Magki, Tuel Oh Choong Dan Kong Kyuck
Ha Dan Soo Do Magki, Tuel Oh Choong Dan Soo Do Kong Kyuck
Ha Dan Soo Do Magki, Tuel Oh Kwan Soo Kong Kyuck, Choong Dan Soo Do Kong Kyuck

Danielle’s asthma was really bothering her somewhere in the middle of hand combinations, so she needed a breather, bless her. We had another quick breather before forms, and then we went through all Kee Cho, Pyung Ahn, and Bassai forms, and then Nai Han Chi Cho Dan. (Pics 56 to 58.) We were not asked to do Chil Sung or Sae Kee forms. (Pity, really. Sarah and I were both looking forward to doing our Chil Sung forms.) Then we got out our staffs, and we did the first two staff forms.

Several times, we were reprimanded for lack of spirit, and were given 50 jumpingjacks for not paying attention sometime in the middle of our up and down the floor combinations. Bah, I was making it through alright, but that took my breath away.

We sat down, and Danielle had to have her other inhaler… We were all eternally grateful for water. First evaluators were called up.

Andy: I thought they said first evaluators?
me: Yeah, they did.
Andy: Then what’s Justin doing up there?
me: It’s his first evaluation as a 2nd Dan.
Andy: Ohhh… I thought they meant, like, first, first evaluations.
me: No, they mean a first evaluation after any test, second evaluation after any test, so on.
Andy: Ah, ok. How do you feel?
me: Tired.
Sarah: I sucked.
me: You did not!
Sarah: Yeah, I did. Look. *looks down at her hands* My hands are shaking.
Andy: Sarah. Look. *looks down at his own hand, which is also shaking* It’s normal. You’re fine.
(I looked down at my hand. It wasn’t shaking. I’m the abnormal one. I didn’t feel like pointing that out.)
Sarah: My forms sucked. I was going too fast.
me: We all do that, girl. I know I was.
Andy: It’s just your nerves. We all look better in class.
Sarah: Yeah, but my forms sucked.
me: Mine, too. My legs were shaking.
Andy: What are you talking about; you’re one of the best ones out there.
Sarah: Oh, thanks.
Andy: Well, I meant you, too. You alright?
me: Yeah. Just tired, that’s all. Oh, I love this form! (They were doing Nai Han Chi Ee Dan.) Andy, do you know that… oh, wait, yeah, you do… (I’d just remembered watching him and Kelly perform that back in March.)
Andy: Yeah, of course I do. I won with that form. At the tournament you didn’t come to.
me: Oh, what, and you think I don’t regret that?? I’m sorry.

*shrug* I guess I was feeling a bit hurt. It’s not like I didn’t want to go or something, honestly…

(Justin was up alone, doing a form.)
me: He’s like Master Rommel, geez.
Andy: Who’s Rommel?
me: You don’t remember Rommel? Master Rommel?? Dude! He was like… How could you forget Rommel??
Andy: Who’s Rommel?!
me: Master Rommel was, like, the only one who could take on Master Todd! I mean, until Justin came… and besides Sa Bom Nim, of course.
Andy: What are you talking about? I can take Todd!
me: Pssh.
Andy: What? I’ve scored on him… once.
me: Yeah. Once. *grin*

Anyway, I’d finished my first bottle of water (it was actually Paco’s, I think), so I went into the dressing room to get another one. Must’ve finished three bottles of water during that whole test.

BB candidates were called up and we partnered up for one-steps; I went with Sarah, and we went through all of them without any major memory loss. :D I think we were the second pair to finish… Anyway, Sarah’s hands were shaking again, so I told her to look in the mirror and see who was standing in the lobby, and maybe that would calm her down. It was Ken. And then I kept her calm by asking her who he was talking to, which, even though I was facing him, I couldn’t see because I didn’t have my glasses on. I figured it was Tommy and Brian and Jonathan, and Sarah confirmed that…

I can’t remember if the evaluators were called up to do one-steps, or if we went straight to our water break. I can’t remember when second evaluators were called up… they would have to have been, I’m sure… bleh. Anyway, water break, I went straight to the lobby to talk to Kenny and Lyndon. (Link to the next album — http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8043&l=bf0dc&id=502520962. See pics 2 to 6.)

me: Yayyy you’re here!!
Kenny: Yeah, because you called me.
me: How could you forget??
Kenny: I was frying fish! Here, smell my hand. *holds out fist* (It really did smell like fish, btw. LOL.)
Amanda: Yeah, but you told me every day at school that you were coming!

LOL. Something something something, blah blah blah, I forget. :D I’m sure we talked about a lot in those few minutes, trying to cram everything we’d wanted to say in a long time and all… Eventually, we were all called back…

me: Ok, talk to ya later.
Kenny: Here, wait, gimme a hug.
me: Thanks for coming.
Kenny: Yeah, you bet. You could say I came just to watch you.

BB candidates were called up for sparring, so I went and got my braces and my mouthguard. Leonard and Mike went first, sparring Aaron and… oh, I think the other one was Andy, if I’m not mistaken… Gah, I’ll have to check the DVD when I get it. Anyway… It was just one-on-one at first. Danielle and Sarah and I went next, and I was partnered up with Kelly. In all honesty, I was much relieved. Kelly spars hard, but she controls it well, and I knew she’d be hitting me hard, but not like if I was sparring, say, Cara. (I think Sarah got Cara, but Sarah can handle her; she’s used to her.) Ahah, I’ll be perfectly honest — Sa Bom Nim and Master Frank forgot that they’d promised me that I’d spar Andy, and I didn’t bother reminding them. *cough* Now that it’s all over, I think it would have been ok to spar Andy when it was one-on-one, but not once we got to two-on-one… oh well, there’s always next time. (I promise myself, I will ask to spar him at my first evaluation, since that won’t be nearly as bad as BB testing.)

When I was sparring Kelly, I suddenly remembered what I’d heard Master Todd saying to Todd Erb… years ago, when he was telling Todd about sparring during BB testing, and how “… I know it’ll feel like 3 years have gone by, but you’ve just got to keep going…” and I finally understood. When Sa Bom Nim calls out the last 30 seconds, they feel like forever. Kelly got my right eye, so that watered up a bit, and Kwan Jang Nim had a talk with me… and then I had to keep going, and I got Kelly’s mouth (I cut my right pointer finger on her teeth)… When Sa Bom Nim called stop, I actually did not hear him. All I knew was that everyone had stopped moving, and we bowed, and then Kelly hugged me tight. I cannot express my relief in that moment. Now that I think about it, knowing that I would get Kelly’s hug at the end made it easier. I mean, I knew she would, because we’re like that, and somehow, that in itself was fuel… Oh, I heard Mum yell “There’s no spoon, Ais!!” somewhere in the middle of it… oh, no, wait… was that when it was two-on-one? Well, she did at some point, anyway. That made me smile inside.

When we girls were done sparring, we sat down. The guys were called up for two-on-one sparring. Kelly came and put her arm around me and talked to me about what I had to do when I was called up, about keeping the easier person between myself and the harder person. Yeni brought me water, and boy was I glad to get it.

Two-on-one, and I was up against Kelly and J. Whew! You won’t believe how insanely thankful I was that I got J! I mean, that kid spars hard, but I knew at least that I wouldn’t have a hard time deciding which one to keep away from!!! I think I did ok keeping J between me and Kelly. Kwan Jang Nim was still on my case about keeping my eyes on my opponents (that’s what the talk from earlier was about), but that was made slightly easier by keeping my eyes down on J, and just watching where Kelly’s feet were taking her. In terms of endurance, that match was considerably easier because it was mostly getting away. In terms of actually fighting back, by the time it was all over, I felt like I couldn’t lift my legs. I remember wanting so bad to kick and just feeling like I couldn’t. That was probably one of the weirdest feelings I’ve ever had, come to think of it.

I know I’ve been hearing for years and years the line “Line ‘em up!!!” and I’ve yelled it countless times, myself, at BB tests — I’ve only ever missed one BB test since September of ’01 — but that moment made it Real. I suppose when you read this, you’ll figure this is to be expected, but you don’t know the weight of it unless you’ve been through it yourself — in that moment, I had a new view, a new respect for every single one of those people that had a name on their belt. It was so profoundly different from anything I’d ever felt for any of them before. I know I’ve been inclined to be intimidated by the black belts I’ve known. I know that I’ve never felt any disrespect for any black belt that I’ve ever talked to, or had the honor of shaking hands with. I’ve honestly always been in awe of them, especially since I started watching their tests. But this was new. I have known the name of every single black belt that has passed through that school since ’01. This was what they had all gone through. This was what Dad and Paco and Migi had gone through. And it made me want to be like them. I guess for me, I’d reached that sort of point where you either make up your mind to go one way or another. Either you choose to quit or you want to keep going. I guess that was when I really decided to keep going.

I sat back down, next to Leonard, and Dawn was there, and congratulated us both. I was not feeling very proud of myself, actually. I was so so so thankful that it was all over, but that it really was all over had not quite registered yet, I think. I pulled my knees up and put my elbows on my knees and put my head into the darkness and just closed my eyes and breathed. I still had my mouthguard in. Then I feel a sharp tap on my shoulder, and I look up, and it’s Andy, sitting right in front of me. He holds his arms out. Funny — I really felt like I just wanted to be alone. But when I pulled out my mouthguard and said I was fine, he just looked at me and made this sort of gesture, like.. like emphasizing… oh, you know, he sort of… hmm, half ‘re-threw’ his arms out? Haha, how else does one say it.. Guess he could see that I needed it. I brought my knees down and sorta just fell forward onto his shoulder. I hadn’t realized before then that I was shaking, until he whispered “Don’t cry,” and then I really knew how close I was to crying. I didn’t cry, though, I just hung on… like I was hanging on for dear life or something, honestly. I remember saying stuff… No idea what that was, though. Something along the lines of being scared and not being able to breathe because of the mouthguard or something. What I do remember clearly is Andy saying stuff like, “Aisa, it’s over. You’re done. You did it. You made it. It’s ok,” and just patting and rubbing my back and stuff. I don’t know how long I stayed there. Either my eyes were closed, or they were open, but I wasn’t really seeing anything. (You know how you stare at something, but it doesn’t really register that it’s there?) The evaluators were almost done sparring by the time I felt safe to look up again and smile.

Andy: You ok?
me: Yeah. Thanks.

He stood up and patted me firmly on the head, and then we got called to line up for breaking a few minutes later. Lineup was Sarah, Danielle, me, Leonard, and Mike. How many times have I watched it done? A jump front kick to a board, a dive roll, and a hammer fist to a cinder block. Sarah broke her board on the second try, and her cinder on the first. Danielle made both on the first. Hah, my turn. Board on the first try… but I didn’t break the block. Bleh. I tried again. And then all of a sudden, they go, “Oh, no, wait, Aisa, that’s a concrete block. Here,” and they switch to a cinder block!!! Well, by that time, figures I was already starting to feel down… So I tried twice with my other hand. Nope. I try one more time with my right hand, and then Sa Bom Nim asks if I want a break, and I say yeah.

I walk away from everyone in the direction of the lobby. I guess I was aiming to stand by the wall where no one was, but I passed the mirror on my way, and Aaron and Andy were waiting for me, and I walked straight into their arms. You know what, I wasn’t sad. I was angry. I was frustrated. Not at anyone but myself. How that decided to come out in a long and looks-like-she’s-close-to-tears face, I don’t want to know. All I know is, they figured I was about to start crying. Yeah, alright, my eyes were watering up, but I was more frustrated with myself than anything else. Dad came over, and Aaron and Andy let go of me, and Daddy hugged me and told me to go from my dive roll. Again, I know I said stuff, but I have no idea what I was saying. I do think I was speaking in tagalog, though, because Dad was the only one talking, and everyone else standing around me were keeping quiet and just patting me on the shoulder. Dad told me that my power had to come from the dive roll, that I had to use the momentum to drive straight to the ground. He asked me if I wanted to do an axe kick and I told him, no, that I absolutely had to do it with my hand, that there was no way I was going to do it with my foot. (I do remember saying that part.) After a bit, Daddy went back to the judges table, and Andy took over until it was my turn again. He told me I’d broken it, that if it had been a cinder block, it would’ve broken easy, that it wasn’t my fault it was concrete block, and that by all rights, I had broken it. Again and again, he told me I’d done it. I actually didn’t see Mike or Leonard break (can’t wait to see it on DVD); I had my eyes on the floor until Andy gave me a squeeze and said, “Look! Leonard’s trying to break the concrete block!” I looked up and watched Leonard’s hand slam down on it. “See? Leonard can’t break it either! And you hit that first!” Not that it was funny or anything, because I honestly felt sorry for Leonard — I knew how hard it was — but I gave a weak sort of laugh, and Andy grinned. Eventually, Leonard broke it. I was up.

I went from the dive roll. Nothin’. I absolutely refused to do it with my foot. So Sa Bom Nim went to the back to get a holder so I could do it with my elbow. And then Kwan Jang Nim comes and says, “You want me to break this for you?” and I replied, “That would help, sir.” and laughed. But he actually did! And then Sa Bom Nim comes out and asks what happened, and Kwan Jang Nim tells him I did it, and we’re all laughing and I’m saying Kwan Jang Nim did it. Finally, Sa Bom Nim gets two boards and lays them without spacers on the holder. I went through them like butter. Oh, not to brag or anything, but what I mean is, I can go through boards like butter; it gives me a heck of a lot of respect for people who can go through multiple cinder blocks ‘like butter,’ which is a term we use often at Tang Soo; people like Master Todd (4 cinder blocks), Kristy (2), Katie (2), Amy (2), etc., go through everything ‘like butter’ and they just freak me out, honestly… And of course, every person who tested for black belt before Steve came along. See, before Steve came, everyone was required to break a cinder block, regardless of age, but when Steve came, that rule changed, and Juniors and Tigers only had to break double boards without spacers. Which I’ve always had problems with, because that meant people like Todd Erb and Christopher Dolinski made it through BB testing without having a go at a cinder block, which I know and everyone knows they could’ve handled easy, but just because they were still in the Juniors’ class… bleh. I can understand the rule for the Tigers, but half the Juniors, or at least, the guys, are perfectly capable of breaking cinder blocks. Not to put down the girls, I mean, but I’ll make more of an exception for them up until they’re maybe 14… Ok, sorry, no more side-tracking, haha…

So, yeah, I broke my double boards easy. *shrug*

We lined up again. I could not believe that it was all over. Kwan Jang Nim called Kenny over to sit at the judges table for the end; I don’t know if maybe he had not seen him standing in the lobby before then. Some of the judges stood up and spoke to us, and then we received our certificates. (Did I mention that our belts did not arrive in time??? Andy had said earlier that his belt hadn’t arrived in time, either.) When I went up, I shook hands with half the judges, and hugged the other half (dunno how it happened that I only hugged half?) and ran ’round and high-fived Sarah. What we have been through together… my gosh. Sarah and I have known each other since we were orange belts. The first time we talked was May 21st, 2005, when we competed against each other at the CSE tourney. She was in Black Belt Club by that time; I didn’t join until I was a green belt, but we’d hang out while waiting for her’s and Dad’s class to start. I remember us talking about getting our black belts. Wow. We had done it. You can’t imagine how I felt when we reached out to high-five each other. No long flowery sentences of congratulations, not even a hug (at that time), just a high-five. But MAN! I just.. I don’t know how to explain what it was like.

So. We Were Black Belts!!!! IOW, we’re white belts all over again. :D Hah! But my post is not finished! I must tell you what happened after; nearly 75% of the pictures are of before and after testing, after all!

I was a black belt. So you know what the first thing I did was, that I’ve never done before? I’d always run up to Sa Bom Nim as soon as we were dismissed, and asked him to yell for a picture. This time, I did it myself. “PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!!” BWAHAHAHA That was SO much fun to yell!!!! I loved it.

So we had a group picture, pics 7 and 8. Pics 9 and 10 are of us four black belts — Dad, Paco, Migi, and myself — with Sa Bom Nim and Kwan Jang Nim, our totally awesome instructors. I remember the day Kwan Jang Nim asked me when I was going to start karate, and I told him, most impertinently, that “I am a gymnast.” Haha!

I’d walked over to Mum and Yeni and hugged them and all. As I was walking away, Andy comes over and gives me a hug. While he’s still hugging me from the front, Kristy comes and hugs me from behind. I laughed so hard; they had me squashed between them, and the three of us pulled each other along a few steps…

Pics 11 thru 13: I was trying to find people for a picture. Andy comes up behind me and Danielle and puts his arms around both of us.

Kwan Jang Nim: Aren’t you feeling lucky?!
Andy: Yessir!
(We all laughed. We did a lot of laughing that day. I feel it necessary to record it all.)

Pic 14 is of Kwan Jang Nim and I.

Pic 15: Yena came and hugged Kwan Jang Nim. :D

Kwan Jang Nim: Oh, look! Hi, honey… Remember how she never used to come near me?

Pic 16, left to right — Migi, Kenny, Andy, Ashley, me, Sarah, Paco, and Amanda. I absolutely love that picture.

Pics 17 thru 26 is while I’m desperately attempting to get everyone together for a group photo because Mum is waiting. Hahaha. Pic 22, Andy’s starting to sneak up on me, pic 23, he picked me up as you can see. And scared the heck out of me in the process, and pic 24, I can’t speak for laughing so hard. If I wasn’t laughing so hard, I would’ve kicked him…

Pics 27 thru 32 are where I’ve finally gotten everyone to pay attention to Mum standing with the camera. It was hilarious when Aaron came and lay down, what a laugh. And then he picked up Migi and that was even more hilarious.

Pics 33 to 38, Lyndon came over and said he had to go, so we had a quick picture with Paco and J, and then you see me commenting on how tall Des got…

Pics 39 to 50 are of Migi and Paco (and Yena?) vs. Mexican Tom and Brian. HAHAHAHA. I found Brian outside, afterwards, sitting on the bench and not doing anything.

me: Hey, is something wrong?
Brian: It’s too loud in there.
me: Awh.
Brian: Your brothers wore me out!!

Pic 51. Take note that there are two embraces taking place. One is a loving sisterly “WE MADE IT!!!!” embrace… and the other is a trying-to-destroy-each-other hug. Rotflwtime. I believe Andy asked Migi for a hug, and Migi got close enough for one, but punched him in the stomach instead, and Andy must’ve caught him or something…

Pic 52.
me: You know, he looks so much like Tommy.
Sarah: What? Who?
me: Him… he looks like Tommy Renjilian.
(I talked to someone else for a bit. I guess Jonathan came over, then. So when Sarah spoke to me again, I was only half-paying attention…)
Sarah: Aisa, this is my brother.
me: Hi… Nuh uh!!! Your bro’s 35!!
Jonathan: What, I’m Sarah’s bro…
(I just laughed.)

Pic 53.
Andy: Aisa, your mom is taking random pictures…
me: Oh, yay!

And then you see that pic 54 is a random pic by Mommy. Hahahaha.

Pic 55. Red Robin again.
Andy: So are you coming?
me: I told you. Convince my Dad.

The rest of that album — more random pics by Mommy. She told me later that she was just taking random pics and hoping that some would turn out well. Hey, I do that, too. :D

Here’s the next and final album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8045&l=0564a&id=502520962

Pic 1 is of Brian, followed by Migi, followed by Des.

Pic 2 is of Kelly and Paco.

Pic 3 and 4 are of my certificate. :D I still have to frame it.

5 and 6 are more random pics.

While I was inside, I asked Daddy if we could go to Red Robin. Andy asked again if I was coming. I said yeah. But then I asked Daddy again while Andy was listening, and he said “Maybe,” and Andy starts going, “You lied to me!!!” and runs after me… with his bag and everything… lol. I ran outside to ask Mum if it was ok with her. She talked to Dad and they said sure. I went back inside and found Andy on the phone.

Andy: Aisa!
me: Huh?
Andy: You coming??
me: Yeah, I think so.
Andy: Ok, ’cause you’re Kenny’s date.
me: WHAT?!
Andy: (Into the phone –) Yeah, I told her. Listen, why don’t you tell her yourself?? *hands me the phone*
me: Kenny, what on earth is going on?
Kenny: Are you coming to Red Robin?
me: I dunno. Maybe?
Kenny: Well you better be — I’m going! And listen, you’re my date, ok?
me: OY! NO WAY!
(But he’d hung up on me.)
Andy: (As I was giving him back the phone –) What did he say?
me: He hung up on me!

Pic 7: So I walked outside, right, and there they were…
me: Oh snap! Don’t move! I gotta take a picture of this…
Andy: Wait, wait. *puts on sunglasses* Ok.

Migi and Paco started up the Hail Princess Andy thingy again, and Andy pointed to me and goes, “Oy! There’s my prince!” and everyone laughed — everyone being Jonathan, Tommy, Kristy, Aaron, and Gabi — and I just enjoyed myself, “What?! Oh. Well, yeah, I could do that.” Bwee hee I had the camera on one arm, and Tom was provoking me, so I was attempting to kick and hold on to the camera at the same time, and I chased him some way and yelled, “IF I WEREN’T CARRYING THIS CAMERA, I WOULD SO BEAT YOU UP!!!!!!” *cough* Not that I actually could, however, because Jonathan would side with him, and then I’d be dead… Oh! We had to jump-start the van!! with Kristy’s car. Once it was running, we went to Red Robin. I walked in and said I was with people, and they said I could walk around. So I walked around the whole place, but didn’t see Kenny anywhere. When I got back to the front, the hostess asked if I’d found who I was looking for, and I said no. So Mum and Dad asked for a table for 6, and I said I needed to reserve a party for 20. Then the hostess was like, “Oh! Right, the party of 20…” and I was like, “Oh, yeah, did Kenny already reserve, then?” and she said someone did, but they didn’t leave a name, so we got the description down to a young man in a black shirt, and then I asked if he’d left, and she said that Kenny might have gone somewhere, so I went outside to wait, and my family went and sat down inside.

I sat there for three minutes. Then who should drive up, but Kenny! with Andy in the front seat, I recognized the blue shirt before I recognized the face. It was hilarious — guess what was playing? That horn intro fanfare whatever thingy. I stood up and walked toward them and go, “Dude, I’ve been here 9 minutes!” and Kenny goes, “Yeah, but I got here before you! And then I had to go back for Andy!” :D

The rest of the pics are at Red Robin. Pic 8 is of Aaron, Kristy, Gabi, Brian, and Andy. Pic 9 is of Jonathan on the other bench, all alone… why was he over there…

Kenny and I were standing were standing next to the desk.

me: Oy.
Kenny: Wha?
me: I’m not your freakin’ date.
Kenny: Hahaha, ok, it was a joke.
me: Yeah, it better have been.
Kenny: Look, here in PA, we have TVs in the floor. Watch, watch, imagine if I fell through. *jumps on the screen*

Pic 10:
Andy: Shoot, I don’t have any change. Does anyone have quarters?
(Everyone goes something along the lines of “No, sorry.”)
Kristy: There’s a change machine right there…
(Laughter.)
Andy gets change and starts playing… oh, whatever, the claw thingy. Kenny’s helping him. )
me: I’ve never won at this game.
Kenny: Wha? I have.
Andy: When?
Kenny: On the cruise.
me: Yeah, I bet the motion of the waves had something to do with that.
(Kenny actually laughed. *shrug* haha.)
Andy: (After three quarters –) That’s it, I’m not wasting any more money on that.

When Mr. Parry arrived with the rest of the gang, we all went and sat down. Our table (or, rather, our four tables that had been pushed together) was near where my family was sitting, so that they were directly across from the last table in our set. Kenny called for me to sit by him, anyway. *shrug* Ok. And then he goes, “Oh, look! It’s your family! Hi, Aisa’s family!!!” Bwaha. So we all got around to ordering… and then talking, of course… As we were ordering, Kenny caught a glimpse of our waitress’ name tag.

Kenny: Wait, what? Her name is America.
me: What??
Tom: No, it’s not…
Kenny: Yeah, it is, look…
Tom: You idiot! It’s AMANDA, not america!!!
Kenny: Oh, well… it looked like America from where I was…

BAHAHAHA. So Kenny ordered Dr. Pepper with some terminology that was unfamiliar to me, and apparently to the waitress as well, because she had ot ask him what he meant. Turns out he wanted a Dr. Pepper without ice. Good thing Amanda was a very friendly waitress, because later, when she was asking if any of us needed more drinks, Kenny asked for an ice water.

Amanda: Without ice?
Kenny: No, with ice, this time.
Amanda: Ah, ok. I was going to say… Lemon?
Kenny: No, thank you.
Amanda: Ok, an ice water with no lemon.
Kenny: Thank you. You’re amazing.

As she walked away, he muttered, “Now what’s your phone number…”

Oh! Hahahahaha. When we were deciding on drinks, everyone was joking about ordering alcohol. What a laugh. Kenny was saying he had a fake ID, and did we think he could pass for 21? It didn’t look anything like him. It was absolutely hilarious. Oh, and when Amanda did come, she started at the far end of the table, and Tom was sitting across from me, and he yelled out his drink, and Sarah smacked him and was like, “SHUSH!!! You’re supposed to wait your turn!!!” When she finally did come, he ordered a Margarita with a straight face, and she just looked at him and grinned, and was like, “Sorry, no can do.” and so Tom ended up ordering a sprite.

Jonthan: Tiny Tim. Tiny Tommy.
Tom: No! GRANDE!!
Sarah: Andy, he’s saying “Grande!!” again.
Andy: Mexican Tom.
Tom: I am not Mexican Tom!! GRANDE!!!

Pic 11:
Sarah: We didn’t get to do Chil Sung forms!
me: Yeah, I know! Why didn’t they make us do them??
Andy: ‘Cause they don’t have to make you do EVERYTHING.
me: But I LIKE Chil Sung forms!
Sarah: Yeah, me, too! That’s not fair!
(I think Andy gave up.)

Pics 12 thru 18 are of Kenny. He’s like Gabe. Honestly.
Kenny: Can I see your camera? (prononced caMEra)
me: Why?
(Something about taking pictures of himself.)
me: Um… fine. Go ahead.

Pic 19 is of our waitress, Amanda. Kenny took it and he made me promise to send it to him. *shrug* I tagged him in it on FB. LOL, don’t ask why…

Pics 20 and 21 is of Sarah and Mexican Tom.

Oh, haha; Tom said something to me, and it was sort of with this either very respectful or very condescending tone. Turns out it was respectful. Bother! I can’t remember what it was… but, anyway…

Tommy: I am trying to have more respect for you, now.
me: Uhm… ok. Cool. Now, is that because I’m now a black belt, or is it because I’m a girl?
Tommy: Both.
me: Ah, ok. Good. Thank you.
Kenny: Wait, what?
me: I was asking why Tom is attempting to treat me with more respect.
Kenny: Ohh, ok… I thought I heard you say, “Is she a girl?” and I was like…
me: Uh… huh. Right… *cough*

Pic 22 is of Tommy and Jonathan.

I cannot remember how we came to be talking about it, but somehow, it came out that Danielle and Jonathan and I are Catholic, and Tommy isn’t, he’s Protestant Christian, and he was arguing…

me: Yes, I’m Christian. I’m Catholic.
Danielle: Roman Catholic?
me: Yes.
Tom: That’s not Christian.
me: Yes it is…
Jonathan: Yes it is.
Tom: No, it’s not.
Jonathan: Yes, it is! Now stop talking about things you don’t understand!

Oh, no, we weren’t fighting. We were having a good-natured argument. I mean, when Jonathan said that, we laughed, if you need an example of how easy we were meaning it to be.

Kenny: This is the black belt table.
Brian: I’m not a black belt.
Sarah: Neither is Tommy… or Jonathan… or Gabi…
Kenny: Oh… so there’s only like three black belts… (In reality, there were seven.)
Andy: Red belts suck.
me: OY!!!!
Andy: What? You’re a black belt.
me: Yeah, but I didn’t get it, yet, so…
Andy: Well, you earned it.
(Inside, it wasn’t really that I hadn’t gotten the belt, yet — I followed Andy’s argument — but it was more like, being a red belt was fun. I was trying to stick up for Brian and Tommy and Jonathan. Heh, I failed to get my point across.)

I asked people here and there to sign my autograph book. Kenny decided he wanted to write something besides his last name, which was all he’d written the first time around, so I let him have it, and he wrote down EVERYTHING. Seriously — his cell, his home phone, his address, his birthday, both screen names, his other nicknames, and his social security number. What the heck. And then he…

me: You still have my Mom’s number??
Kenny: Wha, yeah… it’s right… oh, no, wait. I don’t have it anymore, ’cause it changed.
me: Oh, right.
Kenny: What’s your number?
me: Hmm? I don’t have a cell.
Kenny: Oh. Well, what’s your home phone?
me: ***-***-****
Kenny: Ok.
me: Wait… what?? Oy! You misspelled my name! Spell my name right!
Kenny: A-I-S-A. There. I spelled your name right.
(Andy laughs.)
Kenny: What, she told me to spell her name right…
me: I meant on your phone!!!

Eventually, I took it and put in my name. Properly. Haha. The trouble I had… couldn’t figure out where the freakin’ backspace was. :D

Ah, Kenny asked Mr. Parry if he’d been to Japan, and so we listened to them as they talked about Judo and other styles in Japan, and the things Mr. Parry had seen there. He laughed and said that he thought our school was good… until he went to Japan. Seriously, the descriptions he gave were awe-inspiring.

Danielle and I talked about cooking, because her brother has extremely severe food allergies. He’s allergic to peanuts, to the point where if he simply smells them, he could die. So she was saying how everyone in her family learned to cook, and she was telling me about stuff that she’s cooked, so I said…

me: Ok, then we are so taking over the kitchen when you guys come over.
Danielle: Hey, sure!
me: Sarah! You wanna take over the kitchen sometime when you guys come and visit?
Sarah: Hey, yeah, I can cook!
me: AWESOME!!!
Kenny: What’s going on?
me: Ohey! You should come, too, since Andy won’t!
Andy: Wait, wha??
me: Hmm? Oh, nothing.
Andy: No. I saw a finger pointed at me. I heard my name. What did you say.
me: Nothing, I just told Kenny he should come over next summer, since you won’t.

Earlier, before testing, I’d randomly asked Andy to come, and he said he had work all summer and that he was going somewhere for a month, something something, blah blah…

Pics 23 to 28 are group pics that I asked Mum to take of us… On my side of the table sat Danielle, me, Ken, Brian, Gabi, Kristy, and Aaron. On the other side sat Mrs. and Mr. Parry, Andy, Sarah, Tom, and Jonathan.

Kenny: Aisa, Aisa, we have to smile. Smile!
me: Wha?? (I was chewing. I ended up sticking my tongue out. :P)

And then the last two pictures are of everyone digging into Aaron’s bday cake.

Kenny: Excuse me, Amanda?
Amanda: Yeah?
Kenny: You see the scientist in the black shirt over there? It’s his birthday. Could you bring out the crew and do the whole thing?

I’ll never know if she actually believed him, because she asked if he was pulling her leg, and Ken said he wasn’t. Well, they ended up bringing doing the whole thing… but I honestly don’t know if she really believed him.

Tom: You know, with all the “birthday”s Aaron’s had, he should be about 50.

Kenny was re-telling the story of Aaron’s “birthday” at Texas Roadhouse back in June.

Kenny: And you know what, it was actually my birthday then.
me: What?
Sarah: What?
Kenny: Yeah, it was June 25…
me: And your birthday is June 26. Why didn’t you say it was your birthday??
Kenny: I did! But they thought I was pointing to Aaron…
me: HAHAHA. Well, that sucks.
Kenny: No, actually, I thought it was hilarious!!

Eventually, Paco came in to get me, so I said I was leaving, and Kenny gave me a hug, and then Danielle, and then I got out of the booth. I turned and half hugged Jonathan, but Andy came up and gave me another bear hug that hurt but made me laugh, and when he’d put me down again, I turned to Jonathan… I suppose to complete the hug that I felt was only half-given, but as I hugged him, he said, “Oh, cool, I get two,” but I only half heard him because I went to hug Tom, and then Sarah, and Mr. Parry, and Mrs. Parry, and Brian, and Gabi, and Kristy, and Aaron, and then one last hug from Andy, and I said goodbye to everyone and… I walked out of Red Robin, with Paco trying to put his elbow on my shoulder. :D

Goodbye to Dickson City.

Until Next Time.

Gonna catch up

cuz I got a minute. I went around the neighborhood twice in my bike today. The length of the journey downhill, no pedaling and just enjoying the wind in your face, makes up for the fact that it isn’t as steep or exciting as at 415. So, I believe when I am in a bad mood, either one would do (if I could just go to one or the other when I felt like it), one would give me a feeling of triumph because of the daring and skill that it takes and it makes your heart race; the other gives me a sense of peace and calm. Both are good, sometimes I’d rather have one or the other. Eh, they’re good. Anyway, here’s the catching up part. Journal entries:

March 7, 2005

‘We’re home. Mrs. Naderman reminds me of Ms. Bates. Saturday we sang –
Zombie
La Isla Bonita
Kokomo
Another Sad Love Song
Breathe Again
Physical
YMCA
I WILL SURVIVE
Killing Me Softly
Beauty and the Beast
A Whole New World
Livin’ La Vida Loca
Quit Playin Games With My Heart

soooooo many. The Best Part was dancing w/Archie and Yena and Sarah. We were square dancing, me, tita Maribel, Tita Annabelle, and Sarah.‘

I do believe I meant, “line dancing” because I cannot remember ever knowing how to square dance!!!

March 8th, 2006

http://gukkhser.wordpress.com/2006/03/08/keeper-by-mal-peet/

http://gukkhser.wordpress.com/2006/03/08/to-kill-a-mockingbird-by-harper-lee/

‘tears of shame are all we have
tears of shame are all we ask
tears to wash away the blood
tears to wash away the past
tears to somehow bring to light
what went wrong and what went right
tears to somehow end the fight
and take the fear out of the night
tears to show the love we feel
tears to show that love is real
tears to help us understand
just how fragile it is, what we hold in our hand
tears to erase the anger and sin
tears for the innocence that cannot win
tears to erase all bitterness
tears for tears and nothing less
tears that one day hope to heal
tears that one day hope to seal
tears that take the place of rain
tears that take away the pain

for not all tears are an evil
estelio han, estelio veleth

tears to wash the blood away
tears released, at peace I lay
tears that linger, tears that last
tears that wash away the past.‘

March 9, 2006

‘Mom and I went to Melting Pot yesterday.‘

March 10, 2005

‘Tuesday I saw Todd E. We had free sparring and I sparred Sean, Todd, Cristhian, Lyndon, Brian, Christine, and one more I forget who. Todd and Dana and I were playing around, haha nuts. Yesterday I invited everyone at choir and I think John, Kelly, Brandon, and Genie can come. I hope so. I’m gonna call Britt tomorrow. I saw both Todds today and Todd L. was wearing red. He looks good in red… Anyway, Todd E. was the one who started it today. He back kicked me! We were laughing. I went over orange and green belt one steps w/him. Then on my way into the dressing room, he hit my back! I ran towards him and his dad was there and I cried, “he hit my back!” and his dad said that he’d hold him and so he held him and Todd tried to do a back kick and I was like “no, no…” so his dad said “ok, then I’ll just get him” and he hit Todd’s head. Todd turned towards me the minute he was free and I said “Todd. c’mon it’s time we ended this dispute. Friends?” and I held out my hand and he’s like “no” and his dad said “wha… uh uh” and Todd laughed and said “ok” I said “good luck Saturday… oyeh I’ll see ya tomorrow!” and he left. Sean asked me to go over Ee Dan w/him before I left.‘

I had a thing back then for writing down conversations. LOL.

March 11th, 2006

http://gukkhser.wordpress.com/2006/03/11/6/

March 12th, 2005

‘TESTING!!! I’m a 7th gup. quotes from today:

Me – Kenny annoyes me twice as much as you do.
Todd Erb – In that case, I have to give him a high five… ‘

‘Me – Kenny… what happened to your foot?
Ken – I hit her elbow with a round kick and I couldn’t stand.‘

‘Me – I haven’t seen you do that since May!
Todd Lucke – That’s because I haven’t done it since May!
——————————————————-
Ken – But wait! Where do you go to school?
Me – Kenny. I’m homeschooled.
Ken – What? Oh… well doesn’t that suck? Oh well noo… I guess that would be cool… But wait, how old are you?
Todd Erb – 11
Me – 11? Oh… I thought you were 10… You never told me that.
Ken – 10? Will you look at him? 11… he’s taller than me!‘

Muahahahahahaha the thing was, Kenny was 14 at the time. And as for what Master Todd was doing — he went and did a round-off back lay-out. I didn’t write that down, but I remember. LOL.

March 13th, 2006

http://gukkhser.wordpress.com/2006/03/13/a-single-shard-by-linda-sue-park/

http://gukkhser.wordpress.com/2006/03/13/7/

http://gukkhser.wordpress.com/2006/03/13/8/ 

http://gukkhser.wordpress.com/2006/03/13/9/

Karate tonight.

We did the same circuit as Tuesday. Then we worked basic and Pyung Ahn forms. I… don’t feel like blogging any more. I mean, for tonight, anyway.

ACK i’m dead.

hee hee hee. Karate today. Did a total of 30 jumpingjacks, 60 pushups, 20 front kicks, 20 round kicks, 20 side kicks, 60 leg-raises, 120 punches (20 high, 20 low, 80 middle), 60 squat front kicks, 60 crunches, 20 front stretch kicks, 20 inside-outside kicks,  and 20 outside-inside kicks. And then, after all that (it was circuit), we sparred. a-WOOT!!!! That’s the first time I have ever landed a backfist on Daddy. It was pretty awesome. And then I had to go spar Daddy and Paco, and considering that they were going easy on me just so I could get the concept, I did not do very well at all. I got dizzy running around. And there is not enough space in that basement. Ah well. Accckkk I’m gonna be feeling that in my thighs for a WHILE.

Valentine’s Day and Youth Camp

So…

Thursday night, daddy came home. WHEEE!!! Mom went to pick daddy up, and then they ate out, so we kids stayed home and watched movies (and I made pork chops)… until we got a call! from mom to be ready to go as soon as they got there. So… we got ready to go… and their surprise for us was that, we slept at Holiday Inn! It was mom and daddy’s gift to us for Valentine’s day. So we watched TV and ate chocolate… watched the food network and the history channel. So I got in about an hour and a half of science, and then nearly three hours of history (I stayed up till who knows what time watching the history channel with daddy; learned about Kennedy and Nixon). School work!!! WOOT!!!! Ain’t it great? HAHAHAHAHAHA.

We got up early and ate breakfast downstairs, then we went home and I started cramming my talk. Hehehe. It wasn’t hard; I didn’t have to do any research besides looking up a couple Bible passages. I just used stuff that I’d learned already from The Great Bible Adventure, Life of Grace, and from reading the footnotes in my Bible. I took a break and chatted with Ate Mary for a bit, and that was heartening and encouraging and all. I wish she’d been able to come, but it’s ok. There’s always next time… Anyway, I finished before lunch (Salamat sa Diyos!!!), and I went sledding with daddy and the kids for a bit afterwards. Daddy and I took turns with the camera, and I got to go down with all the kids. AND THEN I WENT DOWN THE HILL WITH DADDY!!!!!!!! which was pretty awesome, hehe!!! Woulda been fun if we’d wiped out, but we didn’t… but it was still awesome. LOL.

Paco and I got dropped off at Tito Leo’s house at around ten to eight. On the way… Oh, I dunno… deja vu, I guess. I saw Wilkes-Barre and Italy. Our service team meeting went very well… ehm, for the most part, anwyay. Gabe explained our duties, Paolo went over the sched with us, Ate Candice gave us a quick summary on speaking God’s Word, and we had our tongues’ workshop. So I learned about being what I was expected to do as a facilitator and we had mock pray-overs just to get things straight (which was where things got a little… awkward and uncomfortable in some places, but I shan’t go into that). Paolo stressed the importance of EATING QUICKLY during breakfast and lunch and breaks, so that we could have a LONG DINNER. And I forget the rest of it. Because that was the only part that was MAJORLY stressed, and so it was all that stuck with me. I ignored the rest of the schedule except for the part with my talk. LOL. And then, the tongues’ workshop, which was more for Gabe and Mariel’s benefit; we who’d been able to attend had already had a mini-workshop the week before during CLP. Overall, I suppose it was a very satisfying night. :D

Mummy had packed the bento box for me, and so while everyone was having doughnuts, I had… SUSHI!!!!!!!! a-WOOT!!!! That I’d prepared myself. *sigh of contentment* Then, Tito Leo drove us girls (except for Kim; she went home) over to Mariel’s house and we got some sleep (definitely less than ten hours ;-).

So, yeah; me, Gabriella, Candisse, and Mariel… HAD FUN!!!! and missed Kim a LOT… We recorded ourselves… having fun. LOL. We were singing/dancing to High School Musical, Avril, and Kuya. We were being really really really crazy. ‘Course, the videos aren’t going online; they are only for our personal documentation. But they were great. We were jumping up and down and yelling (with consideration for the others in the house, so I don’t suppose you could really call it yelling, because we were just… yeah.) and dancing and rolling around and falling over on purpose and begging Gabriella to join us in front of the camera (which, girls, turned out to be not in the frame of the camera; I was too low) and saying random names and diving all over the place and… yeah. Great night. Haha. And then we went to sleep and woke up at like 6, but went back to sleep and woke up again to get up at around 6:30-ish.

Paolo had, the night before, STRESSED the fact that we NEEDED TO BE THERE BY 7:25 AT THE LATEST!!!!!!!! So, yes, we were there on time. We had breakfast (all of us together), and while the others ate more doughnuts — among other things, but that’s what stuck with me, lol (pero hindi naman nakaka asar masyado) — I had RICE and the pork that mum sent with me. *sigh* One simply cannot live without rice. Doughnuts are just… NOT filling. :P Hahaha. Oh! Unless. UNLESS. They come FRESH and WARM from Krispy Kreme. (I MISS KRISPY KREME!!!!!!)

We went downstairs and had our morning prayer and worship. Gabe on bass, Mariel on electric, me on acoustic… and I think Paco and Candisse and Kim joined in eventually? I mean, while we were practicing first. And then we went on…

Participants arrived in the middle of it all, I gather…( don’t know; I was just downstairs until all that came before everything started were there. there were a couple that came in the middle of the first talk…) we had a total of six participants; Gloria, Gwen, Morgan, Frances, Alexis, and Karen. So… I got introduced to them (by Gabriella and Kim) and we were all screaming with pleasure (well, not all of us…) because there were a total of seven homeschoolers at that camp….. WOOT!!!! Me, Paco, Gabriella, Kim, Morgan, Gwen, and Gloria. AWESOME-NESS!!!!!!!! We brought them down and taught them some songs for worship, and then we sang…

Then, the intro was given… and then Kim gave the first talk, with Gabriella sharing. Ehm… a bit emotional. (Which wasn’t at all bad, of course; it really… I don’t know… but it had a really good effect, I think.) We had our discussion, which went well…. I took Gloria and Gwen and Karen, and Gabriella was with us. Mariel took the other three. Now that I think about it, I think we were split up by age… but I can’t be certain, because aren’t Gwen and Alexis the same age? I think.. Ahem.

Then, we had an ice-breaker… ‘over the mountain’? Wheee it worked. Pretty much the same concept as ‘do you love your neighbor’ just a little different. I think it was mostly the service team that ended up in the middle, but… eh, it wasn’t bad. Only… Paolo kept on saying his name and the last name was kinda starting to get old… HAHAHAHA. Eh, it was fine. :D Masaya naman, so.. that was good.. and then.. well, we had a break, at any rate. I was anti-social and went over my talk… and then I was prayed over and then I gave my talk… here it is…

I. Intro -

Living a Christian life on our own is impossible. Only through the strength that we have in God, the strength that we have in Jesus, can this be possible. When we hear of how great God’s love is for us, I think, many of us genuinely want to respond to Him by loving Him back and living a live that’s pleasing to Him, but it’s difficult to live a life that’s pleasing to God, if we don’t have a personal relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. And so, like any relationship that we have, with friends, with family, to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we have to know who He is. So, who is Jesus Christ? Well. What do we know?

II. Who Is Jesus -

A. impact in history

Well, first, let’s take a look at His life, and how He has affected our history. First of all, we know that He was born in a stable some 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, in Judea, which is in what is now Palestine. So the first glimpse that we have of Jesus is in a stable. Ok? A stable, a place where animals live and sleep and eat and do everything that they need to do. This is where our Savior was born. In a stable. Take Bethlehem next. Bethlehem was a very small, poor, unimportant town. In the Bible, where they list the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel and how the land was split up and everything, Bethlehem didn’t even make it on the list, because of the fact that it was so small and so unimportant; it wasn’t even worth mentioning.

Then, there’s the fact that Jesus grew up trained as a carpenter. He was not a king as other Kings were; ruling their people from a distance. There’s something that separates a king from his people; because a king grows up rich and wanting for nothing, he can never fully understand what his people go through. Jesus isn’t like that. He is a King who totally understands His people, both the poor and the rich. He is God, and that is power at its highest point; no human could ever reach that high, and nothing can go higher than that. But He also understands what it is to be poor; when He became Man for our sake, He did not choose to live in pomp and splendor and riches. He truly Lived! among His people. He lived in a community, knew his neighbors, the way you and I do. And so He understands our needs, our hopes, our fears, our dreams. He truly became one of us.

Around the age of 30, Jesus’ public life began. For three years, he traveled, preaching the Love of His Father. He genuinely cared for those who were lost, for the sinners, for the sick, for those who were unclean, for the ordinary people.

Jesus was charged with blasphemy, and was also seen as a political threat at the time, and so He was crucified as a criminal at the age of 33.

So you’d expect that like any religious or political leader of the time, Jesus would have been forgotten, faded away, maybe? But He hasn’t. After 2000 years, He’s still being talked about, argued over, sought for in terms of understanding, respected… 2000 years later, for us, for we who believe in Him, look at us, 2000 years later, we still call Him our King. No other person has had so many books and stories about them. The book that we accept that tells His story, the Bible, is still the #1 best seller of all time. Then there’s how History has been split up into B.C. and A.D. We’ve all been taught historical dates with B.C. and A.D., haven’t we? B.C. stands for Before Christ, and A.D. stands for Anno Domini, which is Latin for In the Year of Our Lord; we’ve been taught historical dates that have been split up according to His life, it’s just been recognized that that’s how dates are split up.

So, yeah, Jesus is… everywhere. Literally in every sense of the word. So, you know, there’s just so much that’s said about this guy, so what was He really like?

B. misconceptions

I mean, there’s just so many misconceptions, people portray Him in so many different ways. So let’s take a look at some of the things people have to say about Him.

Some say he was a weirdo, a freak, even. I mean, really, some guy just starts telling you, “Love your enemies.” and “If someone slaps you, turn the other cheek.” I mean, really, if we’d lived back then, ‘course there’s more than just a small chance that we would’ve been weirded out.

But, obviously, weird as some people might think Him, there was something about Him that attracted people. Mark, Chapter 1: 16 – 20, reads, “As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther, and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.” And so, for them to just get up and leave their life behind; because, I mean, they were fishermen. This was their trade, this was their life, everything that they knew. And they left it behind to follow Jesus.

Some people call Him weak, because He allowed Himself to be tortured, gave in to all the persectution.

But let’s think about that. First of all, what got him there? Obviously, there had to be some reason for people to think Him worth torturing. So He must’ve done something that some people thought was bad. And Jesus openly stood up against the known authorites of His time. In Matthew, Chapter 23, which I’m not gonna read, because it’s quite long, but Jesus criticized the scribes and the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites. And now, the scribes and the Pharisees held a great deal of power at the time. These are the people that brought charges against Jesus that resulted in His death.

Now, does this make Jesus weak? Well, first of all, who said that He had to criticize those people that were in power. It takes a great deal of boldness and courage to openly criticize people in positions of power. He didn’t have to do it. But He did. He preached and stood up for something that made these people angry, because they felt that His teachings threatened their position. He didn’t have to do it. He is certainly not weak. There were many chances for Him to be weak, but he proved to be strong, in that; He chose to preach the Good News, even though He knew very well the dangers of doing so. He did NOT lie his way out of the charges. And who can call a person weak, for having a chance to get out of a brutal death like that, and didn’t take it. He ACCEPTED it, He accepted His death. Willingly.

Some say that Jesus was confused or unsure of Himself. But He wasn’t confused. He knew exactly where He was supposed to be in any given moment. He knew where and when He was to be captured and sentenced to death.

Some say that Jesus was an unsuccessful leader. But, like I said, after 2000 years, He is still our King. What King has ever been known to reign 2000 years, and then some. He’s not done. Christianity’s thriving.

C. the best way to know Jesus

So, if we are finding it difficult to know what to believe and what not to believe about Jesus, why don’t we focus on what He tells us about Himself.

See, Jesus claimed to have qualities that belong only to God. Matthew, Chapter 28, verse 18 – “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” So, He claimed to posses all authority in Heaven and Earth. Only God has that authority. We see that nature reconized this authority that Jesus claimed to have, when in Luke, Chapter 8, it tells of how Jesus was in a boat out on the lake, and there was a storm, and the waves were tossing the boat around… and He calmed the sea. He rebuked the wind and the sea, and they were still.

Second, Jesus forgave sins. You have to understand how strictly people in that time believed that God alone has the authority to forgive sins, which is perfectly true. And so Jesus claimed to have this authority also. (Luke 5: 17-26)

Jesus claimed to be a judge. That is a right that is exclusive to God’s supreme authority. (John 5:21 – 23; 27)

Thomas worshipped Jesus when He saw that Jesus had risen from the dead. (John 20; 24 – 29) Worship is for God alone, as we know from the First Commandment.

Lastly, Jesus claimed to give Life. (John 5; 26) Only God has that power. It’s all about power and authority. Jesus claims to have the power and authority that we know belongs only to God, and so if we are to believe in these claims, then we accept that Jesus, while He was fully Man, He was also fully God.

III. our response

So now that we have a basic idea of who Jesus Christ is, through what we know of Him through the Bible and the way He has affected our world for over 2000 years, how do we respond?

Jesus Christ claimed to be the Son of the Most High. The Son of our Creator. The Son of God. That is a majorly serious claim. It’s either blasphemy, or it’s the Truth. Jesus’ claims are so different from the claims of others; for example, Buddha, Mohammed, they never claimed to be THE Son of God. And so, Jesus’ claim being so serious, we need to honestly consider if we truly accept them, or if we reject them. Because that choice, if made in the depth that it needs to be made, will affect our whole lives. It will affect everything that we are.

And while we’re on the subject, the one thing that we cannot do, is to not accept that Jesus is the Son of God, but STILL think that He’s a good person. You just, you can’t. Either you accept that He’s the Son of God, and a totally wonderful person altogether, or you don’t. And if you don’t, if He is NOT the Son of God, then He is a blasphemer and you can’t get any worse than the claim that He made, so if He’s not the Son of God, then a good person is the last thing that He could possibly be.

So, if we believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, that He IS God, was fully God and fully Man, we cannot just… leave Him in the corner of our lives like some people do. Jesus, ultimately, God, CAN relate to us. He understands what we go through in every aspect of our lives. And so, knowing that He can relate to us, to follow Him as our Lord and Savior, we need to accept the personal relationship that He offers us every day of our lives.

IV. personal testimony – hand it over to Candisse

V. conclusion

THE WORLD’S GREATEST CHARACTER

Jesus and Alexander died at thirty-three,
Once lived and died for self; one died for you and me,
The Greek died on a throne; the Jew died on a cross;
One’s life a triumph seemed; the other but a loss.
One led vast armies forth; the other walked alone.
One shed the whole world’s blood; the other gave his own
One won the world in life and lost it all in death;
The other lost his life to win the whole world’s faith.
Jesus and Alexander died at thirty-three.
The Greek made all men slaves; the Jew made all men free
One built a throne on blood; the other built on love
The one was born of earth; the other from above
The one won all this earth to lose all earth and heaven;
The other gave up all that all to him be given.
The Greek forever died; the Jew forever lives.

So… God Loves You. He loves each and every one of us and calls to each of us by name, because He wants to be friends with us, He wants to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us. He knows the depths of our souls. He wants us to know Him.

And then we had our discussion… oh, wait. I can’t remember if we had the angel game before or after my talk…

TAPOS!!!! Hehe it was shorter than I thought it would be. Ok, anyway… another discussion… same people, ‘cept Ate Candice was with us this time around. Which was good; her sharing was very inspiring, and I love how she illustrated her relationship with Jesus. Lovely. I need to remember that..

Another break. Well, lunch. I had chicken. And I was anti-social again and sat in the dining room talking to Tito Herman, Tita Laura, Tita Doris, Tito Leo, and Tito Joe. Oh, Kuya Mico was there, but he didn’t say much… and I think he’d already eaten. And then Paolo left. *wah* Oh, I think we taught more songs somewhere in the middle of it all. And all the participants learned easy, so it was fun. It was mostly fast songs… only a few slow ones here and there.

Kuya Vin gave the third talk (WHICH WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PAOLO’S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahem. lol. he went to a bowling tournament. no one blamed him. wel… kinda. jk jk!!!) and then, instead of discussion, of course, they did the letter-writing, and some went to confession at All Saints. (Oh, Mariel and Gabriella took the ones ten and under upstairs and gave them the talk separately because some of the stuff we were dealing with was a bit too heavy for them. And then they joined in for letter writing.) I stayed behind (most of the girls [girl service team] stayed), and I had the time to conduct a one-on-one, and also to have a nice long talk with Gabriella. Mariel also did a one-on-one at that time, and then I jammed for a bit with her and then by myself… Having a talk with my sisters and jamming other stuff was a good break from everything… and the younger ones were downstairs playing 8-ball I think? So they were fine…

Everyone came back from confession, and Mariel and I conducted two more one-on-one sessions, jammed with Kuya Vin (once he’d gotten back from.. buying guitar strings? with Gabe), checked that participants were doing their letters, and handed out the sheet-thingies to-be-filled-out… what were they? oh right! contact… info. er… yeah. And hung out with… ppl. We were on break. I think Gloria and Alexis were building a two-foot high snowman. :D

We had some games… the fruit game was awesome!!! APPLE!!!!!!! And Morgan and Gwen showed us the Tornado… (“Hurricane” – Paolo)

We started working on our programs with our teams. AHHHHHHHH that was SO much fun. It was Karen’s idea to have a sort of charades-with-sound. And then we had to think up movies. THAT took us a WHILE. Haha. But that was a good thing, because by the end of it, we were all much more comfortable with each other (my team was the same as my discussion group), and we were all cracking up and just having a heck of a good time. We were all rather… hesitant… and a bit rebellious.. about having to give a presentation, but in the end, we just had SO much fun. I’m glad we did it.

The service team had a quick worship and meeting, and then we prayed over Gabe. We had dinner (a LONG one, just like Paolo wanted), and then we practiced a bit more. Oh, Mariel and Gabriella and I took the participants aside for a bit during dinner… After dinner, we all hung around, and practiced a bit more and finalized stuff, and then while Gabe and Paolo were practicing their performance, I hung out with the girls (service team; participants were downstairs having fun) and some of the adults, and we were just talking about music and stuff.. good times. “… so, darling, save the last dance for me…“

We came down, I think we taught a few more songs, and then Gabe gave his talk. We didn’t realize that Karen was missing until the middle of it, so Gabe just contuned and some of the service team went on a search for her… search found her asleep. (I guess she was knocked out from all the excitement.) So Gabe finished his talk… and that was where things stopped going… as smoothly as they had been. Shan’t go into detail… but we sorted things out… and there was a lull in action and it was a bit awkward, but we got it all right in the end. A few more personal talks, pray-overs were conducted, and then came the PROGRAM!!!! Which was awesome.

Kim, Mariel, Alexis, Morgan, Frances, and Candisse did a silent skit. It was good! Their skit was related to the talks and how we cannot do much on our own, but with God’s help, nothing is impossible. It was very good. Morgan and Alexis were the ones that needed “help” and Kimberly was trying to “help” them on her own, but it didn’t work, and then Mariel came along with “God’s Message” and the ones that needed “help” were “helped.” And then, yes, Kim explained how the idea behind it was that we cannot do anything by ourselves, but with God’s help, nothing is impossible. (Sorry to sound repetitive; I just thought it was SO good.)

Then, Gabe and Paolo performed two songs as a sort of intermission. I recorded the first one, but not the second. The first was a “sort of tribute to YFC” and then.. I dunno exactly what the other one was supposed to be. But it was good, they were both good. Hilarious. (Did I mentioned that Karen’s parents were watching? They’d come to pick her up.) LOL.

Paco went and performed Jin Do, which I recorded (counts as P.E.!!!! and my talk counted as Speech… HOMESCHOOLING ROCKS!!!), and then it was our turn…

So the first one scene that we “charade-ed” was from LotR, where Gollum was arguing with Smeagol… and then the second scene was not exactly a scene. The five of us just kinda stood in a line and I started singing “you must be swift as a coursing river…” and we had this hand action thingy, and then they (the audience) guessed it before I could go on. Hahahaha. And then they simply would NOT do the third scene until I sang something, which drove me nuts, so I was cooperative and indulgent and sang the Reflection song, just the first stanza. Which satisfied them, and then the next scene was from Titanic. Karen was kneeling and Gloria was standing behind her, and Gabriella and I sang My Heart Will Go On, and we hadn’t gotten past the first line when it was guessed. Eh, I guess we picked easy ones, eh? Hehehe. Anyway, fourth scene, Gloria and Karen held Gwen tight (they were soldiers), and Gwen goes and says, “WEDDINGS! I love weddings!!! Drinks all around!!!!” and then she would have gone on, and I was supposed to be Norrington… but, heh, yeah, it was guessed pretty quickly… Eh, it was fine. I had fun.

And then… did we teach more songs? or something… but, yeah, whatever we did, we had our Praisefest and just let ourselves go and… yeah. No words to express the feeling. Just.. beautiful.

And then we hung out until bedtime… and that was interesting… Jon was paying me compliments left and right and it was freaking me out… I was beating on people as usual… Gabriella and I had a talk… Paolo ‘apologized’ for something but then when we shook hands it turned out that his hand was freezing cold and wet from the snow so I went and got him for that… Gabe was running away from me/helping Jon with compliments… yeah.

Oh, compliments from Jon; “You’re beautiful.” (about six times over. Yeap… that was just.. .wrong… ahem.) “You’re hair shines like the hair of the magical unicorn in Terabithia.” (whoa?! Besides. It’s not like he’s read the book or even watched to movie. That was pathetic. But hilarious all the same. And just plain freaky.) “Your eyes are as clear as the water in my toilet bowl.” (now, THAT was so Jon, so it wasn’t freaky at all. It was somewhat relieving because the other compliments were just so freaky.) Oh, and he apologized to me for all the times he was mean or hurt me. (WHAT?!)

And… yeah. We had fun. Recorded stuff. Lotsa Stuff. Took Pics. Good times.

And then Alexis, Candisse, Gloria, Mariel, and I went to Mariel’s house… and slept there… tried to. I ended up sleeping in the other room cuz I couldn’t sleep. Alexis was scaring everyone. I was half-asleep and all of a sudden I hear “CANDISSE!!!!!” and screams and squeals of “DON’T DO THAT!!!” and such.. but eventually I fell asleep… they were all still scaring each other. Oh, Paco had come down to say goodnight while I was taking a shower (Paco slept upstairs with Gio; Gabriella, Kim, Gwen, Morgan, and Francis slept downstairs at the De Velas; Paolo and Jon and Gabe slept in Gabe’s room, I guess), and when I came out, everyone was going on about how I just HAD to love that kid!!! cuz he came down to say goodnight to his Ate (they were all majorly impressed with the “ate”), and he gave them all weapons to protect themselves, and left one for me.

So… we got… even less sleep than the night/day before. About six hours. I guess it was alright. We had breakfast… and Mariel was talking about how Paco’s alarm clock didn’t wake him up and so she had to go wake him, and Paco protested, “I was sleeping like a dead man!!!” and after further questioning, “A dead man still twitching!!!” which just made us all… crack up. LOL.

We had morning worship at the De Velas, and then Mariel gave the fourth talk and Ate Candice shared. Mariel did great!!!! We passed out identification cards and letters from parents next. (Hmm, off to the side, there were a few things that came up that were somewhat… amusing. I suppose all these “shan’t go into detail” things that I’m mentioning are just notes to myself so that I won’t forget.) Then, we had break, and hung out and ate and stuff… Gabe got his ID, too. (He didn’t get one last year….!?) and Paolo printed out names to glue on and everything… (muttering something about “wasting trees, should just do this all on one page…” so on. All in good fun, of course. [Correct me if I'm wrong??? :D Salamat...] And then.. yeah.) and we all had fun… until the parents arrived and we had our closing prayer and worship and everything.

Mass was at Good Shepherd’s. It was perfect, too; Paolo and Tita Flor gave us Holy Eucharist. We all sat together in a section.

Then, lunch/service team meeting at Kenwood Mall. Pictures and fun… We discussed what we’d been through and plans and suggestions and improvements for future… Covenant Orientation is to be sometime in May, or earlier. Next Youth Camp tentatively first weekend in August. Our next household is this Sunday during CLP. Mariel and I are to head two lower households. We have yet to discuss how the new YFC-ers will be split up. Week after that, we’ll have our first household with them. All of us together for the first one, and then we’ll be split up thereafter, I gather. YFC GAs are to begin… sometime. Households will be every week for me and Mariel. High household and lower households to be alternated week by week.

After it all, Gabe left for practice (at Evan’s? I guess) and Mariel and Kim and Gabriella and Paolo went ’round the mall, I think, and Kuya Vin joined us for sledding. We had such fun!!! I went down with Ate Candice and Baby Rain by turns, and Rain just had so much fun playing in the snow!!! I recorded mum and dad sledding, and then mum recorded me going down with daddy. Aaackk my legs were hurting from climbing up the hill so many times!!!!!!

The Tolentinos joined us for dinner at our house. We jammed and talked about YFC plans and the Pinas and stuff. Yummy dinner by mommy!!!

The Tolentinos left, and then we spent some family time together. We had our prayer and laughed over stuff. Good way to end the day.

And I thank the Lord for giving me what I need right when I need it. I had glanced at the time, and I realized that Gabe and Mariel and Paolo were all at the concert… and then we went and prayed and Mum said thank you for me and Paco choosing to stay home and be with the family. And I was ready to break down, I was just so happy that I made that choice. Goodnight to everyone, and then I went downstairs to use the laptop…

and ended up chatting with Devin!!!!!! WHEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was just a totally wonderful weekend. Dev and I played 8-ball until I had to go and sleep. *another long sigh of contentment*

So.. here we are. All caught up on blogging and I think I’ll go have some chocolate. LOL!!!!

a-woot.

100 jumpingjacks, and then the usual quick stretch. I did 15 count ten times over, and then all forty one-steps, working a set of five at a time, ten times each set. Finished off the class with 10 pushups, 30 crunches, and 50 more jumpingjacks. Paco bowed us out.

Today, I went out and shoveled snow. It was worse than the last one, because although it was not even half as thick, last time, at least, the snow was still very light and fluffy. This snow was more or less just all chunks of ice, a heck of a lot heavier, and it didn’t help that it was raining. Ah well. While I was shoveling, I was moving the snow in such a direction, that I happened to be watching a person using their snow-blower. I thought to myself, I wish we had a snow blower. But then I thought, Oh pfft; doesn’t take much muscle to push a snow-blower around. Hah! and so contented myself with the thought that I was getting more or less a karate work-out, and it helped to ki-hap every time I lifted a shovel-full of ice, and hearing the good ol’ karate music in my head.

At the end of the driveway, I got to a point where the ice was awful hard, and I had to chip it first with the shovel. But even that didn’t put me down, because suddenly I paused and thought of the good times I had working side by side with Paco and Dad, chipping the ice on the driveway back in PA, and listening to the clank of the shovel that’d ricochet ’round the neighborhood and come back at us like a boomerang. Same story as when anyone in the neighborhood bounced a basketball; you’d hear echoes all around. ‘Cept, ‘course, it took more out of us to chip ice. LOL.

So overall, while shoveling ice (and I’ve still two-thirds of the driveway to go), I allowed myself to be happy, thinking, Pfft. Snow? Two inches of ice? Compared to what I’ve lifted? (Images that flash through my head:

)
You people ain’t seen NOTHING yet.

so right now…

i’m burning music for our next karate class… and we had karate tonight, hooray… we did circuit and i was like ready to collapse at the end… and my instep feels like it’s been cut, presumably because it is no longer used to hitting the wavemaster so many times in one night…

hooray, paolo was on earlier so i got to chat with him… and i’ve posted poems on multiply and gotten comments lol…

i’m on fb right now… woohoo lotsa friends.. kinda weak, eh? hahaha… now let me see.. ahhh this computer is slow because it is burning something… grrr…  now… let me see here… friends on fb…:

kuya junix, kuya judd, dana, deni, lisa, gina, elise, kelly, abbey, katie, alex, amber, kyle, shannon, christen, gabe, mariel, amanda, kaylin, steph, asher, mike, zach, paolo, kelly, lydia, meg, kelsey, alix, eric, brennan, kimberly, uhm the other kim, michelle, stu, christina… and the other christina… jared, brian, gabriella, ashleigh, will, liz, lizy, sean, todd, ate mary, chelsea, danny, dev, ate nikki, ate rissa, jenny, kate, molly, candice, ashley, ate amanda, vlad, prachi, tommy, terhi, lauri, the other molly, the other kyle, adam, graylyn, ronald, kristy, jenna, josh, the other adam, scott, rachel, amy, the other amanda, john, eileen, lyndon, felicia, kuya mico, sharon, aliza, and jessi…  woot that rockssss….

oh yay the cd is done burning and now i can go sleep. awesome. so i’m working on a post that’s more or less a book review for I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and then another post being mad at the song Mary, Did You Know, and then i’m also working on my sharing for Sunday at the CLP, woot… g’night all.

woot

we did karate earlier. :D!!!!!!! which was good. and i’ve been at despair.com and laughing my head off. and no, i am not being.. despondent… or anything of the sort. i’m quite happy. listening to social circle and talking to pao which is freaking awesome :D cept pao left and gabe was online but left so that was weird.. and i guess everyone’s offline cuz it’s time for bed and i love my new template and i love wordpress woot woot!!!! lol. kk gotta sleep cuz mum and dad need my help tomorrow with cleaning…

11/10/06

Daddy went to pick up Ninong, so Migs stretched us out. The usual. URRghhh it felt good to do frog splits again. Then I took over, just for punches and stretch kicks. Daddy was home by the time we were done, and he took Migs and worked forms with him. Paco and I practiced one-steps; I went through all 40 and he went through his 10. It was kind of hard, because I’m obviously used to aiming high with my blocks and kicks, so now I had to watch him carefully… I definitely needed that.

11/06/06

well, we did karate last night… nice long warmup, stretching, and then basic punches, combinations (whoa paco tried to confuse us with high, low, middle/low, high, middle, and then back to the usual high, middle, low/low, middle, high… GRRRRRRR insane) and then stretch kicks and inside-outside/outside-inside kicks and paco made us jump stance a million times between each one… and then paco and migi worked off to the side on self-defense, and daddy worked me from kee cho hyung il bu up to pyung ahn sam dan, each form twice through. focused on keeping it level and using the hips, so on, so forth, techniques and everything… ‘cept i didn’t get around to focusing on keeping my toes in the right direction. ah, we have a new system: daddy focuses on me and yenyenners on mondays, migi on wednesdays, and paco on fridays. grrrrr i am losing my splits. not good.

for the love of the game

or the love of the sport. another trip to PA for testing. we got to the school before master eric did. kelly and shawna and krystal were teaching the little dragons. we hung out for a bit. shawna left, but kelly stayed to watch awhile. master eric arrived some time later, along with miss paula. ms. barb had to leave in the middle of our test.

we started out with warmups, naturally. it was quick. we went straight into up and down the floor techniques. WOW i got tired. but it was good. then came forms. i went first, of course. i did pyung ahn oh dan, bassai dae, and nan chi cho dan (nai han chi cho dan; nae bo gin). the boys did their forms, and then dad attacked for my one steps. sa bom nim went over the one steps with the boys and dad. i did a two station break; jump back kick, forward roll, spinning back hook kick.

what a surprise. i was double promoted. cho dan bo.  yikes. i’m testing for my black belt in september. and i’m scared.
dear nicky. he stopped by. but he missed the boys by about 4 minutes. they left me to help out with the special needs class.

what an amazing and inspiring class! surprise after surprise. and i was just… thinking about it, and you know, they have to put more effort and focus harder than we ever have to. just to do the combinations, the punch punch front kick, how long it takes them to learn! and yet, once the learn it, how well they do it! and we can never comprehend how hard they have to try! when i think of how tired i got at testing, and then i think of those dear kids, working so hard just to jump… they couldn’t jump when the started karate, and now when i watch them, i’m amazed with every step they take. just think; the focus and effort it takes them would equal, what, more than i put forth in breaking, at least! and just, their willingness, and their determination… truly an inspiration. one can’t help being fond of brian and matthew, they are so precious! God bless them…

the family returned a couple minutes after the class was over. dad drove the crossfire,  and we went to sa bom nim’s house for a bit, before going on to colarusso’s (YESS!!!!!) and there we had the most lovely dinner with miss barb, sa bom nim, miss paula, and paula’s niece, j. haHA i finished all my food, and dad and i had the exact same orders, so imagine that! *grin* i’m a growing child. and i’d just tested. lol.

miss barb gave me the loveliest necklace. i love them all so much!!!!  i was a bit sad, though, that kwan jang nim couldn’t join us. but i wrote a short note, and miss barb said she’d give it to him. i do miss kwan jang nim!

a very long letter shall go to tang soo at the end of this month. along with a couple of my poems. which reminds me, i got a new composition journal tonight. the last one didn’t even last a year! lol as jo march says, “Genius Burns!”

back to OH tomorrow. lol whenever i’m in OH, i long for PA, and whenever i’m in PA, i’m homesick for OH, and always always always i miss MO and the pinas. ah well, i’m never really sad, i suppose, just fond of all the places i call home. i can’t wait till december!!!!! and yet, i can wait. with everything else that’s going on.. i can wait. after all…

time flies.