Chanda's party

Chanda's 16th Party in Morgan Hill

Pretty fun. A lot of chilling and hanging out. Apples to Apples, Sardines, Basketball, Charades, and goood food.

It was a good way to end the month. This month went by HELLLLLLLLA slow though.

Pictures up later.

Multicultural Liturgy

This is one of my favorite liturgy's of the year. This year was pretty good. Opening to the AP Steel Drums band. Multi-languaged readings and petitions. There was Filipino singing, a Marianne Williamson reading of Our Deepest Fear, and Anjelica had a hula solo, too. There was agreat homily on embracing diversity rather than toleration. Overall, it was a good liturgy. I just wish kids can grow up and stop being intolerant of other languages and dialects. Which is kinda funny because I have a paper on why people are intolerant due the next day.

February 12th is the Red Hand Campaign against the use of child soldiers.

Time Management

Track season has started! Still deciding on whether I should play volleyball or do track&field.

Today was my first practice and I was kinda out of shape.

I've been getting better at my time management. Getting back into routine. This semester and first semester of next year will be my hardest yet. Having to balance sports & clubs, extracurriculars, community service, homework, and personal time is going to be a challenge. 

Anyway, I'm feeling good today. The day seemed to parallel with how track practice went. They both started of slow and difficult. I had to test myself and push myself through practice and through the day, I had multiple tests to take. As they both went on though, things seemed to get better. It wasn't any less difficult, but I proved to myself that I can handle the challenge. 

I came home today tired from a long day of school, practice, sisters basketball game (they won), and had to finish homework. Fortunately, I'm managing my time at home well, too. Finished everything without slacking, and found that I had extra time to relax. I even got to see Fringe! I'm going to start getting to bed earlier. I've realized how valuable and precious sleep is. Everyone try to get at least 7+ hours if you can!

Its was a good day. And tomorrow will be a new day with new challenges. Hakuna Matata.

Natural High

L.E.A.D.

A youth motivational speaker/comedian came to speak to our school tonight. His name is Dr. Matt Bellace, Ph.D, and he has been going around the country giving speeches to show youth the power of choice and self-empowerment. I thought his talk was pretty good. He was pretty funny, too.

He talked about the acronym LEAD:

Lean on Healthy People for Support

Express Yourself in a Healthy Way

Achieve Natural Highs

Don't Be Afraid to Take a Stand.

www.mattbellace.com

Lunar New Years!

Happy Lunar New Years!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Celebrated for the rest of the month!

Year of the OX. Chinese horoscope says that I'll have a great year this year. All right!

New Years was all right this year. I had dinner at my grandmas on Saturday. Econ is low so I didn't get much, but its all good. I'm happy to celebrate. I wish I could see how it is in Vietnam though. People go crazy.

I missed the EV Fashion show on Saturday night and went to Rowena's party instead. It was fun.

On Sunday, Ray invited me to go to D&B with him for his dad's co-worker's son and daughter's birthday or something. Hahah, it was cool. We played DealorNoDeal for tickets. It was kinda weird to be there because people wanted me to take pictures with them when I had no relation to be there. 

January Rain

The weather from the last week and this week has been a bit strange. Its been pretty warm for a winter season and then all of a sudden a week of rain strikes. Its all good though, the rain is good. Anyway, yesterday I drove by myself for the first time. Its kinda funny because my mom asked me to. Hah, I went to my grandma's to pick up some stuff. 

I haven't really brought my camera to school too often. Probably only  three time this whole month. Today we had a BRIC Brotherhood event. We played dodgeball. It was pretty fun. I'm thinking about cutting my hair back to the super short style or buzz cut. I've had hair or longer hair for the past 5 months now.

School is about to get pretty tough. I thought second semester would be a lot easier, but I guess not. I have schedule planning for next year and I don't know what to take. So far I am interested in taking Spanish 3, AP US History, Algebra2/Trig-H, Chemistry, and maybe AP English (maybe, maybe not).

I am starting to help Coach Jerry out with 7th grade basketball to get some more service hours. This year I'm going to shoot for 100 hours. I'm currently around 50 hours. On top of that, the International Showcase is around the corner in March and there is A LOT of planning to do. I'm participating in THREE different dances. Hah, I only signed up for one...

Spring sports are now starting and I've been really lazy to start. Lately, I haven't been able to decide on whether I should continue playing Volleyball or try Track&Field. Also, the spring musical is underway. This years play is The Sound of Music which has many many small scenes so I'm thinking of getting a one-line part. 

Spring is going to be tough to manage. Argh..

BCP vs SFHS Basketball

SFHS Lancers go 4-0 for the night!

Freshman A&B win.

JV wins 57-56.

Varisty wins 71-68.

JV and Varsity were some pretty intense games.

I really wish I brought my camera :(

JV- Lancers lead most of the game. It ended with BCP down by 2 getting fouled with 5 seconds to go. Bell makes both baskets and tie the game. Inbound play thrown to half court with a clear fast break to the rim for the score....but gets fouled from behind. Tied game, two baskets to win with 1.7 seconds. The first is missed, along with many Ooohs and Awwws. The second is made! 57-56 with one second left. And the Lancers hang on to win! There were about 15pts made off of halfcourt pressure steals.

Varisty- A close game as well. Packed house. Fans cheering was like surround sound. The tension was palpable (<---vocab. word). Floors vibrating. The first half was pretty good. SF never lead by more than 7. There were a whole lot of blocked shots. I had to go home early though, so I missed the step performance again. Watched the rest of the game online. Second half was crucial for fouls. Both teams went into the bonus in the middle of the 3rd. It became a rebounding and free throw shooting contest. SF came out as winners by three. Led by Shawn Grant. 16-0, undefeated.

Inauguration

Tuesday, January 20th 2009

8:56am PST

The day after MLK day. The start of the inauguration.

I think I'm going to remember this day just as strong as I remember the death of Pope JP II.

I can remember myself waking up to this day as a celebration. I knew it was going to be a special day. I went to school earlier this morning with a radio in my hand. I didn't think I was going to be able to see or hear the inauguration during school hours because classes were going on. Little did I know, at the start of the day,  I hear an announcement in my first period that we will have the chance to go to the Gym to watch, on live broadcast, the inauguration. The time came to go to the gym and a felt myself getting anxious.

As I walked into the dark gym, I saw the broadcast on the screen in front of me and I went towards the front and sat down with my boom-box radio in hand. It wasn't the clearest broadcast, but it was decent. Throughout the whole thing, this screen was flickering on and off. People were beginning to get annoyed. Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduces the candidates. Joe Biden was sworn into office, followed by a music performance.  At this point, the broadcast was really bad.

Next, finally came the moment. Barack Obama being sworn into office. He went up and kind of messed up his words (Can't blame him for being nervous). And as he was being inaugurated, the screen went blank! At the worst time. Luckily, I had my boom-box radio with me. This next part is something I will surely remember.

With 1,600 students surrounding me in a dark gym, I turned on my radio, put it on the highest volume, and raised it over my head. (I'm not sure if everyone could hear, but the people around me and I listen)We listened to the inauguration together in that gym from a single radio. Haha, what a story? Not too great, but I'll remember it. It was me. 

Eventually, the broadcast came back on and we finished the rest of his speech. It really was a great moment. Something that will be recorded and saved for history. Obama's speech was pretty great. Referring to and using the words of Washington. There was also a poem written and presented just for the occasion by Elizabeth Alexander.

Saying the pledge of allegiance was a bit different today as well. Do you ever actually listen to what you say during the pledge? Take the time, its worth it. Anyway, not to seem like lecturing or anything, but we should remember out National Anthem. Star Spangled Banner? Hearing from Fr. Romi's homily a few months ago, it stuck in my mind, we take our national anthem for granted. Much granted. We need to remember to reason and purpose behind it. Be proud to sing and hear it. There are many other people in other countries who would literally die to hear an anthem like we do. Our anthem has gone to the point of entertainment where we yell and scream and cheer, not for the anthem, but to the entertainer, at peak points. Sing the anthem with purpose.

Go America? We have work to do.

MLK

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

-No school

-Sick with a cold

-Saw Defiance with my dad. 

Its about Jews in hiding in the forest during WWII staring Daniel Craig. Pretty good movie.

I hope to get better.

Eureka

Fairfield, CA
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church
Eureka

First Eureka was pretty all right. I started the day waking up at 9am. I met up to trade my Tiffs and Rayguns for Sharks, 99 V's, and some money. Then, I headed to SJB. Eric and Quan were there recording a basketball game.

CFC-Y Southcoast wore blue. I rode up with James, Matt, Kevin, and Crisann. When we reached Fairfield and the church, we went to mass. Eureka started right after. We ate then had open worship. Then we had some discussion and a slideshow. Broke up for Brotherhood talks. Then reconnected. And then had worship again. Eureka, all in all, was pretty all right. It was a bit dry for me though.

Although, I do think it is really great to be a part of CFC-Y. Seeing everyone come together was amazing.

We got back at SJB at about 1am and went to In-N-Out for food. A couple of us went to Bobbie's. I got home around 230am.

Now, I'm sick with a cold... First of the year.

QUICK 09

Quest Into Christian Kinship, aka QUICK.

The 7th grade retreat/Lock-Inn is finally over! Saturday was probably one of the longest days of the year thus far. I'm glad to say that all of the hard work paid off. We put on a good retreat for the 7th graders. This time around was a lot different. We had a Lock-In style type thing instead of a camp and there was WAY too much team. It was a 2:1 team to quickster ratio, literally.

Anyway, I had a lot more to do this time around since being a member of the senior team. More planning and getting things done while showing leadership. I played the role of God throughout. All of the younger team members got experience by being part of the quickster families. I was probably awake for about 25ish hours? It was a long retreat. Anyway, we woke up in the morning because someone vandalized the Pavalkis Hall at around 5am. Someone threw a brick through room 1A window. Luckily, everyone was safe upstairs sleeping.

All in all it was very fun. Hanging out the the Senior team and having jokes and sharing experiences. I miss it already. I came home and crashed for hours. I probably had about 6 hours of sleep from Friday to Sunday.

More later. Homework time.

Pictures up later.

Long Week

I've had a pretty long week since school started again; having 12 hour days.  I've been getting home at about 8pm on Tues, Wed, and Thurs and 9pm on Friday. Retreat meetings and confirmation have been taking up my time. Good thing the retreat is this weekend! Hopefully, it turns out well.

My Psychology and New Testament classes are super boring... Today, on Friday, I basically had 2 classes for the day! I had a substitute for Spanish so I literally slept for a good 45 minutes. Then, English and Bio before I ended the day relaxed in Steel Drums.

There was a potluck during the retreat meeting on Thursday. There was lots of food.

Back to school

Snap, back to reality. Oh, there goes gravity...

Back to school, back to school. I guess I'm ready to return to school. Not too excited but not hating it at the same time. I got my schedule changes and new classes. Some GREAT news. My Spanish teacher left! So I have a replacement for the remainder of the semester! Its so great that we got rid of my old teacher. She didn't know how to teach anything. All her Spanish 2 class averages are like a C-. Anyway, I'm thrilled for a new teacher.

I am also taking Behavioral Psychology and New Testament this semester after finishing US: Colonial and Living the Life. I've got to say, I really like my first semester classes better than my second. Both of my new classes are pretty dull, while the other two were pretty exciting.

Bell Day

Haha, so SFHS doesn't have school today and everyone else does. I decided to go spend a day at Bellarmine and see what its like. It was pretty cool actually. Pretty laid back, maybe too much, but its all good. I met up with Mark Luciano during his free fourth period right before lunch and we chilled. During lunch I met up with everyone else and surprised some people. Haha, they had great reactions. I got to spend 5th period with Troy, Russ, and Brandon in their WH class. The teacher was pretty cool for letting me stay. I went with Russ to Spanish after.

The day ended with a some of us going to Matt's after school and just hanging out.

I say the day was pretty successful besides the fact the Christian Mara flaked again...Hah.

If I could, and I wouldn't mind either, I'd like to go to Bell for a semester. Although, I still like SFHS and I don't think its so bad, if not better, it would be fun to go to Bell for a semester and then transfer back. 

Come to Saint Francis!

Relax

Saturday:

Didn't do much today. Watched the first road of NFL Playoffs. Arizona over Atl, and SD over Colts. Russ came over and we went to MHS for the basketball tournament. Visited Ray. Then Catap and Russ came over afterwards and we chilled.

Friday:

Matt invited me to Cheesecake for Krystina Leung's birthday. Caroline's and Victoria's birthdays were there too. Hit up Santana Row afterwards.

These past few, last days before break ends have been relaxing. Even though I may have been bored, I can't complain that I didn't have time to just do nothing when school starts. Waking up past noon everyday and then hanging with friends at night. It's been relaxing.

First of the Year

Its a new day, and a new year.

First meal of the year: Chips, cookies, soup. Hahah

Well, I spent the first few hours of the new year at my cousin's house and spent the night watching Freedom Writers. In the morning, I woke up and watched college bowl games and the Rose Bowl. USC(5) vs. Penn St(8) it was a show down of who had the better defense and I guess USC showed by going up 31-7 by half. Hahah, we need a new BCS system, one-up?

Anyway, I had dinner at my grandma's to celebrate the new year and then I headed off to downtown for the last day of Christmas in the Park with D-Team. Well, not everyone, just Kevin, Vee, Lynn, Victoria, and me. We watched Bedtime Stories.