Another survey...

1. Were you smiling when you woke up this morning?
No.

2. When was the last time you met someone new?
Last Saturday night, at Starbucks LBTC

3. What is irritating you right now?
someone playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” on piano over and over and over……

4. When was the last time you ate pizza?
2 weekends ago. At Universal Studios.

5. When was the last time you held someones hand?
Last Saturday, I shook someone’s hand.

6. Do you have any famous friends?
Depends on the level of fame. hahaha I consider Orlando Bloom a friend, even though he has absolutely no clue as to who I am.

7. When was the last time you laughed?
A week ago. I was revisiting Monty Python’s “Quest for the Holy Grail” on DVD (”‘Tis a silly place, Camelot”).

8. Last words you heard spoken?
“gross” by Given

9. Have you ever kissed anyone with brown hair?
yeah

10. Besides your bed, what is your favorite thing in your room?
my television

11. Do you enjoy piercings and tattoos?
not really.

12. What was the last thing you watched on TV?The Tyra Banks Show this morning, before heading off to work.

13. What are you wearing on your feet?
my brown ballet flats

14. What is/are your favorite pair of shoes?
my Wuggs (wannabe Uggs), they’re sooo warm and comfy. haha

15. What are your plans for tonight?
going home and watching some Heroes.

16. What was the last thing you ate?
teriyaki chicken and rice

17. What were you doing before this?
finishing up payroll

18. What’s the closest item near you that is blue?
my favourite blue pen

19. What instant messaging service do you use?
Meebo (it has AIM, Yahoo! and MSN)

20. What is your cell phone provider?
AT&T

21. What’s the most abnormal thing you’ve done in the past 4 days?
Everything that I do would pretty much be considered slightly abnormal. But for the most part, it would be singing along to music on the Yamaha Music Education repertoire when the group classes are going on…

22. What do you wear more jeans, sweatpants or slacks?
jeans

23. What is the last movie you watched?
On DVD? It would be The Holy Grail. At the cinema… Transformers, I think.

24. What do you currently hear right now?
“Pirates of the Caribbean” that we’re showing on the school’s TV in the lobby, and piano playing here and there.

25. Car, train or bus?
It depends on where I’m going.

26. When did you last take a picture with someone?
With Nicole at work last Saturday (it was her last day at work *tears*)

27. What are you doing for HalLoweEn?
working, then head home and scare away the kids who are trick-or-treating.

28. Whose house did you sleep at last?
mine

29. Where do you shop the most?
Forever 21, Target, and the 24-hour Walmart next to my apartment

30. Where did you get the shirt you’re wearing?
Old Navy (I used to be their poster-child)

31. What will you do after this quiz?
finish up stuff here at work.

32. Where was your default picture taken?
my living room

33. Why did you pick your background?
because I like simple, basic, clean, no frills stuff… I guess I’m a minimalist in that sense.

34. Missing someone right now?
yes

35. Where is your number one person on your Myspace friends list?
Make it #2 which is Prel - she’s probably still at work.

36. Describe the background on your cell phone:
the Union Jack - I’m a wannabe Brit, what can I say? (another abnormality, I suppose)

37. Describe your pillow case:
pale blue and white square patterns

39. Is there someone on your mind that shouldn’t be?
Nope.

40. Do you burn easily in the sun?
Nope.

41. Do you speak another language other than English?
Yes, Tagalog (which is my native tongue). Would like to learn French too.

42. What did you do last weekend?
I worked from 10am-6pm. Went to Starbucks and studied for Sunday School, met new people who are also Christians while I was there, and hung out with my friend Vanessa until 10:30-ish.

43. What was the last text message you sent?
“Where are you? Are you at Jer’s church?” (to my cousin April yesterday)

44. Are you a good cook?
hah! I try. I can get by, I guess.

45. If you could get a tattoo where would it be?
right ankle or right between my shoulder blades.

"Autobots, roll out!"

Yes! I got it! Transformers came out on DVD yesterday, and naturally, I had to go out and buy it! And I still get giddy whenever I see Optimus Prime come out of the backyard pool. Gosh, I’m such a geek!

Things that make you go, “hmmm…”

I hope they don’t mind me posting this on my journal. I just thought this was very interesting. Something for all of us to think about.
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it
does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up,
bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel
discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to
me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto.
In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters
celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a
manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If
people want a crche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred
yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t
think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people
who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have
no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist
country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved
down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from
that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as
we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there
are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the
America we knew went to.

In light of recent events…terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.
I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body
found recently) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said
OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The
Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as
yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when
they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might
damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert
should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why
they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill
strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it
long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do
with “WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.”

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why
the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but
question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and
they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the
Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and
obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is
suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to
many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what
they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about
what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you
think it has merit. If not then just discard it… no one will know you did. But,
if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad
shape the world is in.

My Best Regards
Ben Stein

Strange.

3 of my co-workers got into 3 separate car accidents in the past week. Something’s up with October. I’m trying to be very cautious on the road right now, because no matter how careful you try to be, there are some people out there that just doesn’t seem to care whether they hurt anyone or not. I always pray that Lord-willing, I will not be harmed on the road. Anyway, all 3 are OK, praise God. One of them, her car flipped over 3 times, and she came out unscathed! I told her, “God was totally watching out for you.” It’s a miracle she’s still alive!

EKG Conference.

I woke up fairly early this morning to attend a Sunday School teachers’ conference called EKG (Empowering Kingdom Growth) at our mother church, North Long Beach Christian Fellowship. I arrived a bit late, maybe about 10 minutes (it started at 9am), but thank the Lord I didn’t really miss much. After the morning general session, we all broke up into our seminars according to the age-group that we teach (I teach elementary-aged kids, from 1st through 6th grade). I wasn’t expecting much really. Actually, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But our seminar speaker/presenter, Ms. Helen Harris was wonderful and engaging and you can tell that she knew what she was talking about. You can see her passion for teaching children as she spoke to us, encouraged us and gave us ideas on how to involve and engage our kids during Sunday school. But the main thing that I came away with after the seminar is the fact that I am playing a small part in introducing these kids to Jesus Christ and making them understand who He is and what He can be to and for them. It’s such a big responsibility, but it’s something that I’m excited to take on. I just need to be prayerfully prepared for each Sunday, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. I shouldn’t worry about minute, insignificant things, as long as I have the enthusiasm and the passion to talk to these kids about Jesus Christ, God will do the rest.

Honestly, I was a bit hesitant to go to this conference, but now, I thank God that I did.

Whoo-hooooooo!!!!!!!

Heroes, Season 2 premieres TONIGHT!!! How am I gonna handle this?! Aaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Trying to have some semblance of sanity in the midst of chaos.

It’s been quite a chaotic, well, hectic couple of weeks. That’s why I haven’t really had a chance to update at all. Open house has begun for the new semester here at work, and so I had to deal with never-ending phone-calls and walk-in inquiries. This is on top of the usual stuff that I have to do, plus driving out to our La Habra and Chino Hills locations 3 times in the past couple of weeks. Yeah, it’s been kinda stressful, especially lately. But I won’t get into that now. Yet again, I’m cast as the “bad guy” and I don’t think I deserve it. But I digress. Anyway, walking almost everyday helps relieve the stress though. Yes, I have started walking again. I haven’t gotten to the point of running yet, but I will, hopefully sooner than later. We’ll see how long this will last this time around… hahaha Anyway, I’m trying, “trying” being the operative word here.

Well, a couple of friends got engaged this past week… congrats to them! I’m not sure if it’s OK for me to post their names here, so I’ll just keep their anonymity intact for now, until they tell me it’s OK. They know who they are anyway. And I’m very happy for the both of you!

I guess that’s all I have to say for now. Oh, “The Jane Austen Book Club” is going to be in theatres soon (if it isn’t already). Anybody wanna see it with me? My Jane Austen friends, perhaps?

Man, I can’t get enough of “Pangarap na Bituin” right now! Sheesh! It’s a Filipino soap (a.k.a. “teleserye”) that I watch on The Filipino Channel everyday! Dang you TFC! Dang you! hahaha

In remembrance.

Never forget.

God bless.

Awww....

Someone broke into our work today. Smashed one of the glass doors and took 4 brand new keyboards that we just acquired. Our area is becoming more and more dodgy. The city needs to do something about our area, since they’ve been getting a lot of complaints about hit-and-runs, theft, and vandalism in the past year or so. The cops used to patrol our area quite frequently, but they haven’t done so for about 2 years now. Anyway, got a temporary replacement for the glass door. What a day this has been.

The return.

It’s been more than a week since I last posted, almost a month that our internet connection at work crashed, 2 weeks since my car got hit. What’s new since then? Well, I finally got my signal and brake lights fixed, thank God! My friend was able to hook me up with a great deal to fix the electrical wiring for my rear lights, now they are working perfectly fine. I just need a new cover for my right rear lights because, currently, it’s covered my red plastic. haha
Our office is falling apart. One by one, our computers are slowly breaking down. I really wish we would hire a professional who could actually hook us up properly, and not rely on “home remedies” which clearly isn’t working at all. How can we run a business without a properly functioning office? Oh well… I just hope we get new computers or something.

I just recently got back from a weekend up north for a couple of concerts with Papuri, and we didn’t even have time to go around and just take in some sights. We had a friend along who’s never been to San Francisco. It was her first visit, so we were hoping to take her around, but we just didn’t have enough time. Maybe some other time. Just visit SF without singing obligations.

On a different note…

Why is it hard for some people to accept the fact that they just need to move on? Look to the future. The past is just holding you back. Trust that God has something better in store for you.

On to more trivial stuff…

Anyone want to see The Last Legion with me? Colin Firth-y as (King) Arthur… C’mon now! I gotta go see that!

Heroes (Season 1) is coming out on DVD this Tuesday, Aug 28th!