heartwarming [hahrt-wawr-ming]
gratifying; rewarding; satisfying; Causing gladness and tender feelings
Synonyms include: cheering, encouraging, exhilarating, gladdening, heartening, heartfelt, inspiring, joyous

There are friendships that begin strong but phase out quickly and sometimes painfully, and there are friendships that take time to grow, but when fully developed are the rocks that provide a lifetime of refuge. There are high-maintenance friendships that require constant cultivation and re-assurance, and then there are low-maintenance friendships that require no more than occasional phone calls, spontaneous evenings at Coffee Bean or BJ’s, and of course daily emails. No one relationship is better or worse than the other - just different, and strategically placed in each of our lives.

I have learned much about friendship in my lifetime, but moreso in the last year. For what I have seen and experienced, I feel blessed to have friends who don’t question your intelligence, don’t doubt your strength; friends who are the first to bring comfort but are last to give pity; friends who refuse to let bad feelings fester, refuse to let you make mistakes but refuse to let you punish yourself after; friends who leave and keep in touch, and friends who come back into your life so seamlessly that it’s like they never left. Nothing warms my heart more than knowing that my life is filled with this.

Chats that made me LOL

ME: RIZA HAD THE BABY!
JOE: nice
JOE: what kind
ME: what kind of baby?
ME: human stupid
JOE: boy or girl stupid
ME: hahaha

CILE: tell me to wash my face
CILE: and brush my teeth
ME: cile
CILE: NO
CILE: hahahahaha

JAMES: i lost all my guitar tabs = (
ME: what the heck? how?
JAMES: i was cleaning up my desk top and i thought it was just a shortcut
ME: oh no, you didn't sweep the top did you?
JAMES: i did, so i think i lost a couple of songs i wrote
ME: oh no
ME: how messy was your desk that you couldn't go through each item on it?
JAMES: computer desktop
JAMES: computer folder with .txt files
JAMES: not my actual desk
ME: oooooohhh
JAMES: haha!!
ME: i asked you if you swept, like swept across your desk!

ME: ok i'm gonna go take a nap
ME: befor emass
ANDREW: alright
ANDREW: emass? is that online?
ME: hahaha…I meant before mass

ISA: what do u feel?
ME: feel or felt?
ISA: feel about how u felt?
ME: hahahahaha!

CILE: we get you
ME: you do
CILE: i got you
CILE: like you got me
CILE: swoop me out of there
CILE: lol
ME: and i didn't even need to say anything to you
CILE: and i'll swoop you too

Happy Birthday,

Fernie!!

What a great birthday present - NO ISSUES! hahaha!

NEW FAVORITE TERM:

bitchassness [bich-as-nes]

Term coined by Diddy on Making the Band. Overall stank actions towards others through words, facial expressions, and/or song. A type of negative emotion; hateration; to be/act like a bitch or a coward about a situation. Symptoms include: thinking you're better than those around you, not speaking your true feelings, throwing large amounts of shade.

Hmmm, I think it's time to go on http://www.seanjohn.com/ and do some shopping...=)

MTB4 fans - July 7th, Nokia Theater...you there?

Pasqua Felice!

Happy Easter!!!

penitent [pen-i-tuhnt]

feeling or expressing sorrow for sin or wrongdoing and disposed to atonement and amendment; repentant; contrite

Synonyms include: apologetic, regretful, remorseful

In elementary school, we went to confession every month (if not every other week) like clockwork. When I got to high school, a priest came to visit and hear confession every Ash Wednesday. When I got to college, confession turned into something that I only did if I missed Sunday mass. For me, reconciliation has become the neglected sacrament. Next to holy communion, it's the sacrament we can receive as often as we want to...so what's with the oversight? How about self-righteousness, ironically mixed in with a little guilt and shame? Talk about the perfect recipe for confession.

On Wednesday night, my family and I attended a penance service at church. Hundreds of people attended this last chance to clean out our hearts and souls before Easter Sunday. Not having gone in a year, it was difficult to sit in that box, think of the year's worth of sins, and then unload to Fr. Joe. Who likes admitting to and then apologizing to God (Who already knows we did it) for everything they've done wrong? But there lies the silver lining after: forgiveness.

When debris left from wrongdoing have collected to create a pile of revenge and hatred, our first instinct is to leave it there because we think it'll protect us; but what it really does is keep us from realizing that we were hurt or that we hurt someone else. I've learned a lot about forgiveness in the last year, through situations excluding even my own, and I found that whether you're asking for it or offering it, it will always provide way more protection for our hearts and souls than the alternative ever will. Forgiveness uses love to defeat hatred and turns foes into allies.

"The weak can never forgive.

Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Yay Jovi!

Happy, Happy,

Happy, Happy!!!

Oh my gosh, look what I have to wear for 2 weeks! hahaha!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

EVERYONE!!!

annoyed [a-noid]
To cause slight irritation to (another) by troublesome, often repeated acts
Synonyms include: displeased, enraged, exacerbated

It's bitchin' and whinin' time...

Lakers lost today...we lost the first place spot on the Western Conference standings...there are now 4 players on the injured list and all of their return dates are shady...As a fan, I still have hope, but James Landas, if you say one word about this to me for the sole purpose of gloating (and gloating IS always your one and only purpose), I will burn every article of Canadian apparel you own. DON'T TEST ME.

My foot's going ok. Actually, it's a bit moody. I could walk around and barely feel any soreness, and then there are those other times when it's the exact opposite.

I was on my computer today and OUT OF NOWHERE, the chair gave out, I hit the side of my bed and my glasses flew off my face. Seriously, why not just run me over with a car...

I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A FABULOUS WEEK because mine has started out swimmingly...

enlighten [en-lahyt-n]

to give intellectual or spiritual light to; instruct; impart knowledge to; To give information to; inform or instruct

Synonyms include: acquaint, advise, educate, familiarize

"Knowledge is power."

I concur. The advantages we have these days in acquiring information is so amazing that the words, "I don't know," should always be followed by, "but I'll find out." Remember when "looking something up" meant going to the library and getting our hands on some books or micro-fiche archived periodicals? Now all we have to do is type out (if it's not already your homepage when you log on) http://www.google.com/ on our browsers, punch in some letters in a box and click on Search and an endless list of sources is displayed for our perusal.

The philisophy that "what you don't know can't hurt you," is silly. As easy as it is to play dumb, sometimes you're compelled to look something up, no matter how trivial it seems. What flowers bloom in the fall (Dahlias, chrysanthemums, and tropical hisbiscus to name a few), how many different silhouettes can a skirt have (straight, rectangular, triangular, A-line - there's like 10!), what the hell are orthotics and how to they help align your foot with your leg (an orthotic is used to bring the ground into even contact with the rest of the foot. This allows the entire foot to support the weight of the body. I JUST GOT A PAIR!), what time is it in Singapore (6:33 am), how much can $5 buy me in Europe (not much - hahaha!!!)...

Information technology...GOTTA LOVE IT!

It's Sexy Jean's 30th

Birthday today!!

Woooooo hoooo Jean Llano!!!

forte [fawr-tey]

a strong point, as of a person; that in which one excels

Synonyms include: expertise, aptitude, strength

The tendons are in the -itis mode again, swollen and painful as ever. Last Wednesday, I was walking into the office building and I stumbled over the bottom part of the doorway and I felt it. Oh wow, did I feel it. I knew then that pain around my right ankle was imminent...and I was right. In less than 24 hours, the swelling around the area where my leg meets my foot began to surface and next thing you know...imflamation! BOOOO ON MY WEAK ANKLE!!!

It is times like these when I feel the most fortunate, having so many people around me who know so much. My two favorite people this weekend because they know so much? Larnie (our personal athletic trainer) and Rochelle (our 24-hour on-call pharmacist). As often as we tease these two geniuses of the human body and its limitations, I feel safer knowing they're around.

Ever since I'd felt wrath of tendonitis, Larnie has single-handedly taught me (through conversation over the phone, in person or AIM), in very clear layman's terms, what it is I've been experiencing; from the anatomy of the tendon, to the treatment of its inflammation (which, by the way, she has had a hand in herself), SHE KNOWS HER STUFF. And then Rochelle, who I feel like I call with the same questions every time, has been the doc behind the drugs. From the effects of NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) on my stomach, to its safest dosage in a 24-hour period, Rochelle's understanding of the pharmaceutical science is unfathomable.

All I have to say is...thank God for friends in the medical field!

Happy Birthday to my cousin,

CHRISSY!!!

Happy 30th Birthday,

EDWEEEEEEN!!!

HAPPY, HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

LARNIE!!!

I'm a Gryffindor!

FUN!!!

Another great email...

Points of life

1. Faith is the ability to not panic.
2. If you worry, you didn't pray. If you prayed, don't worry.
3. As a child of God, prayer is kinda like calling home every day.
4. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
5. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.
6. Do the math. Count your blessings.
7. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.
8. Dear God: I have a problem. It's me.
9. Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.
10. Laugh every day - it's like inner jogging.
11 The most important things in your home are the people.
12. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional. (Preach it!)
13. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open. Come on in.
14 A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.
15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead.
16. We do not remember days but moments. Life moves too fast so enjoy your precious moments
17. Nothing is real to you until you experience it; otherwise it's just hearsay.
18. It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again Just be sure to flush when you are done.
19. Surviving and living your life successfully requires courage. The goals and dreams you're seeking require courage and risk-taking. Learn from the turtle, it only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.
20. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

Leave gentle fingerprints on the soul of another for the angels to read. I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

GIMME A HEART ATTACK,

WHY DON'T YOU!!!!!!!!!

Yay Mark & Diana are engaged!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!