defense [di-fens]
resistance against attack; protection; the team attempting to thwart the attack of the team having the ball or puck
Synonyms include: barricade, safeguard, resistance

Dad, Mom and Tin got their Christmas present early this year: a night of Laker basketball. I'd been wanting to do this for them for awhile now but could never really afford it during this time of the year. Thankfully, THIS season I had some leeway. I got my parents some Laker gear to wear tonight, Tin wore my Kobe jersey and I wore #5 for Jordan Farmar (Happy Birthday, Jordie!). I'm all about the the point guards! There's just something about the smallest player on the team who calls the shots on the court that I appreciate; Jordie, D-Fish, Deron Williams, Chris Paul - love them all!
So anyhow, Lakeshow took the game tonight, 112-99 to make their record 14-1. FSN West is replaying the Toronto game where Kobe scored 81 points. I'm watching it right now and I can't believe how different that Laker team looks next to this one. That Kobe even had to SCORE that much to win the game back then cracks me up because that isn't anywhere near what he's doing now. And man, talk about defense-less, as in the Lakers had absolutely none! They seriously might as well have laid out a red carpet to the hoop for the visiting team.They were so much fun to watch tonight though, as fun as it's been these last two seasons.

I love watching games live. It's one thing to be screaming at the tv with my dad, and another thing to be screaming at...well, everything with 18,000 other fans. The guy next to me must've wanted to smack me. I was yelling everything I could possibly yell during the game...

"DE-FENSE!" clap-clap "DE-FENSE!" clap-clap"

"L-O L-O, here we go, here we go!"

"M-V-P! M-V-P!"

"LUUUUUUUUUUKE!!"

"Let's go Lakers, let's go!"

And the most important chant of all?

"WE WANT TACOS!...WE WANT TACOS!"

We almost DIDN'T get our tacos because Toronto reached 99 points. When they hit that last 3-pointer, all of Staples Center gasped, it was hilarious! Hey man, saving 99 cents on two tacos during these hard times is no laughing matter. I've accumulated 7 coupons so far =) I GUESS I can share them...
Good times with the fam tonight! Hopefully I can catch another game this season. I'd like to go to AT LEAST 3 more. Come on...WHO'S DOWN?!

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

avant-garde [uh-vahnt-gahrd]

the advance group in any field, esp. in the visual, literary, or musical arts, whose works are characterized chiefly by unorthodox and experimental methods

Synonyms include: unconventional, innovative, vanguard, pioneering

Every chance I get these past couple of weeks, I'll pick up my camera and just start shooting...anything - my sister drawing on the floor, her charcoal pencils scattered across her sketchpad, camera lenses, jewelry, plants, etc. Having no formal training in photography (except for the tutelage of Ja Tecson), I've had to rely on trial and error to get me from complete amateur to amateur who knows something.

Photography has served me one purpose in years past, and I used it for one reason and, honestly, one reason only: to preserve memories. "Shutterbug," that's what everyone called me. I had unknowingly been designated early in my life, to be the permanent historian. I couldn't say I didn't enjoy this role, because I absolutely loved it. It didn't feel like an unwanted obligation. It felt like a privilege. The last few years, however, photography has had an entirely new purpose for me: Art. As in, art that I MYSELF could create. This past Sunday, I joined Leia, Leia's friend Janet, Andrew, Jason and Trevor for an afternoon at LACMA to see the Vanity Fair portrait exhibit. I was really looking forward to this, knowing that I'd see some of the most inspiring and culture-changing collection of images. I just didn't think I'd be SOOO taken in by it. The exhibit was nothing short of amazing. I was especially fond of photographs from decades and decades ago; photos that were taken before there was such a thing as Adobe Photoshop. Back then, there was no dodging, color correcting or even cropping. It was just the photographer, the subject, the environment and the existing lighting. Yet every photo looked every bit as perfect!

While we waited for Andrew, Jason, Trevor and Janet to arrive, Leia and I decided to have a little photo session outside the museum. Thanks for being my model, Leia Beth!
Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Art, I've learned, is at the mercy of the artist's desires. I took this picture of Leia because I loved how the red line painted along the curb draws the eye from left to right, or vice versa, somehow dividing the image from it's top and bottom. The red line's contrast to what is above and below it, is striking. It jumps out at you.

It's funny how when the color is taken away, what I'm drawn to is just Leia.

Manipulating angles is also fun to do! This block of lamposts is a freakin' playground for the camera!

Leia Beth...so easy and breezy =)

Here are Jason, Leia and Trevor outside. It was such a beautiful day to take pictures!

I call this "Lusty: Pensive."

And here's Andrew, our favorite, and probably most popular model of all. Can't take a bad picture, this guy.

I am forever affected by this exhibit. Seeing the vision of these photographers, from Man Ray to Mario Testino to the ever innovative Annie Leibovitz, just inspired me. I know that sentiment, as often as you hear it, can become trite. But from my personal perspective, it felt like reading Emily Dickinson's poetry or William Faulkner's prose for the first time: I wish it were me who thought of it first, but since it wasn't, I just hope that one day I could be just as good. Maybe someday, someone will think, Anna Gonda's work - I wish I had thought of that =)

Christmas Songs

I never let myself listen to Christmas songs until AFTER Thanksgiving. So to prepare for this coming Friday, I thought I'd look through the holiday playlist on my iTunes to make sure I have everything I need in there (OCD, I know). In doing so, I came across this song that I absolutely love but never fails to make me cry when I hear it...

WHAT THE HELL!!!

Oh man, I'm freakin' dying! who the hell thought this one up?! (Thanks for sharing this, Kay!)

Dude, my cousin, Kuya Ramon, went to a Laker game in this crazy get-up and he ended up in the OCRegister Rim Shots!

HAHAHAHAHA!! He was hoping to run into Vic "The Brick" but, sadly, did not. Get crazier with your outfit next time, Kuya!

Skillz!

Dude! This little girl can teach a load of NBA players a thing or two about ball handling!

stress [stres]

Physiology. a specific response by the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain, that disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological equilibrium of an organism; physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension

Synonyms include: affliction, agony, anxiety, tension

Oh stress. Some of us feed of it to get things done; but some of us, honestly, have the potential to die from it. It's the world we live in - this stressful society that thrives on the minute by minute dictation of our Outlook calendars and Blackberries. As children, we were taught that, "idle hands were the devil's playground," so we were raised to keep ourselves productive...as often as we could. As grown-ups, we keep our daily schedules packed, not only with our careers, but with our families, our friends, etc. These days, idleness doesn't have a fighting chance.

We had a stress management seminar at work today, sponsored by the Holman Group. They provide behavioral health care services for our company. It's funny what things Jane, the Holman rep who came to talk to us, pointed out about stress and the ways that we can deal with it. It all seems like common sense (meditate, take a breath, eat right, exercise, etc), but she pointed out that when we are placed in stressful situations, we often don't give ourselves enough time (if any at all) to DO any of those things.

So much more can go wrong when we react negatively to stress, and each of us handles it in whatever way "calms" us down. We can become irritable, closed off or depressed and cry; stress-eat, stress-shop, go on a bad decision-making rampage...whatever floats our boats . There are a whole slew of stress "symptoms" and I knew I was in a bad place when, upon Jane reading each one, I felt like I was placing mental checkmarks by each symptom.

And then, we took this test - a measure of the likelihood of us getting sick due to stress. We were given a list of circumstances, each assigned a certain number of points, and were asked to circle each one that applied to the last 12 months of our lives; circumstances like career changes, marriage, planning weddings, having children, changes in living situations, in diets, etc. A score under 150 is ideal and gives the highly unlikeliness of getting sick. A score of 150-300 gives a person a 50% chance of becoming ill. A score of 300 and above gives you a 90% chance of getting sick. I think I need to schedule some Anna alone time soon because my score was...drumroll...440! HAHAHAHA!!!! Freakin' ridics!

point of view

A position from which something is observed or considered

Synonyms include: standpoint, perspective

I watched The Wizard of Oz tonight. Funny how differently the story runs through my mind now after having seen WICKED. Crazy. I don't want to kill it for anyone who hasn't seen the musical yet (though a lot of us who saw it these last couple of months feel like we were literally the last ones who hadn't seen it), so I'll just leave it at that. I have a feeling there'll be talks of a film version soon, if they haven't been discussed already. Hmmm, hope they don't kill it...

2 years ago today, we left home to...

Climb that...

...pray...

...get lost...

...chase pigeons...
...grate cheese in a hat and scarf...

...cook in our own kitchen...

...learn a new language...

...drink a lot of wine (like A LOT)...

...eat in the middle of a giant shell...

...travel by train......get weary from traveling by train...
... be revived by history...
...make a wish to return...

foreshadow [fôr-shād'ō]

To present an indication or a suggestion of beforehand; presage

Synonyms include: forsee, bode, foretell

Knowing a couple from their beginning to their new beginning is something I've been fortunate to experience. Joe and Riann are one such case. I've known Riann since she was a 7th grader. I live in her old house actually. And Joe I've known since freshman year in high school. Since they got together in 1998, I never thought their wedding day, though technically 10 years in the development, would come so soon. I'm so happy I've been there to witness practically everything.

Here's the happy couple with Michelle and Earl - maid of honor and best man (pair 1). They got to say their speeches at the rehearsal dinner. Upon bringing tears and laughter to Joe and Riann, you can tell why they were given such an honorable part in the special day.

And this is Earl's daughter and Joe's goddaughter, Malia. Oh my goodness, have you ever seen such an adorable baby?! We were playmates for a few days due to all the wedding activities. DON'T YOU JUST WANT TO PUT HER IN YOUR POCKET?!!!

Wake-up time on the day of the wedding (for the girls anyway) was 6:30 am.

Had to get our faces put on and our hair styled for sassiness.

With 7 attendants, talk about shoes galore...

Riann's been wearing two rings for the last year and a half.

One from the people who gave her life,

and the other from the person who's giving her a new life.

I couldn't resist sharing this picture. While Michelle's curly hair was setting, she had to run some errands. Don't you just want to call her "Tita" when you look at this? haha!

But then she transformed into this...

Here's Maria (known to those of us who love her as Pin),

looking on as Riann gets ready...

Aaaah, more beautiful bridesmaids: Jamie, Jenn, Rachey and April

...and Cile.
Check out the husband and wife team: Bev and Ja Tecson =)
Oh babygirl, you were truly one of the most beautiful brides I've ever seen!
Here are some of Joe's knucklehead groomsmen after the wedding,
looking kinda handsome in those barongs.

Cocktail hour time, baby!

Pat and Kay enjoying the open bar =)

Riann's bouquet

Matron of honor and best man (pair 2), Pin and Edwin. Memorable speeches!
Joe and Riann cutting their guava custard wedding cake...

Check out the cake-topper. Was Riann previously engaged to

Barack Obama? hahaha!

The Landas Shot. Thanks for the lesson, James.

Iya, Bobbers, Cile and Me - looking forward to next month's wedding =)
Check out Kay dancing away with the groom. Hahaha!

Dancing Queen was out that night!

Thank goodness Ja and Bev got a break for the reception. Otherwise, Bev might've been found in the corner with a camera in her hand looking like this...

...or this...

...or this...hahahaha! Oh Bev, you had pregnant ladies clowning you in your sleep!

On Sunday night, Joe and Riann were off to their honeymoon in the Caribbean;

Turks and Caicos to be exact.

CONGRATULATIONS, RIANN & JOE!!

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!