Pinch, Punch, the First of the Month!

I can't believe it's already March. 2006 has definitely been quite a year, busy, and whatnot, but man...time sure flies.

For Christians worldwide, today marks the first day of Lent. For Catholics, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. Got a call from Mommy Hernandez today...turns out that while she was at mass today, she was suddenly reminded of ME! MnM and Ash Wednesday...hmmm...I do not see the connection! Lol! To be quite honest, the only connection that stems from this is the fact that Mommy Hernandez attended mass at our old elementary school alma mater and happened to sit behind the 8th Grade class. Apparently she sat behind a group of girls and she couldn't help but wonder who the Mommy Hernandez and who the MnM was in that group! Taking those strolls down memory lane with her are always SO much fun because it never fails to get us laughing at how simple, naive, and how cool we thought we were at the time. Okay, so we were all dorks, but in our own way, we WERE cool. She also mentioned that she was going to casually go up to our 7th Grade teacher to say hello until she realized that damn, it's been 20 years since we were in his class. 20 years! Would he even remember her? Would he even recognize her with a lil' one in tow? Egads...makes me feel really old and apparently her, too...cuz she never did say hello to him. Aiya...

Simple Pleasures


Sometime today, for no apparent reason at all, it hit me that it's been a while since I've heard anything about Dawson's Creek. I've been anticipating Season Six and with all of these new shows coming out so soon on dvd, it's about due. Now yes, I have admitted that I became a fan late in the game....hahah, like AFTER the show was almost done...but I am a fan nonetheless. I don't care what people say about how corny the show is and how unrealistic it is to have high schoolers speak in such intelligent diatribes who overanalyze and deconstruct anything and everything. But hey, after my move to MN and catching all of these reruns each morning, I got completely hooked. I have all of the seasons on dvd and have been patiently awaiting season six to add to the collection.

So I'm reading Consuela's blog and imagine my pleasant surprise to see DC Season 6! Can I just say that this made my day? Also had to add that I think Consuela is one of the few people who share my love of this show. Lol! And yes, we both think that Pacey is just yummy, too!

Dawson's Creek Season Six. Coming to stores on April 4, 2006.
(ooohhhh...just in time for MnM's birthday...)

Birthday Shout-Outs

- My lil' cousins Sha turns 20 today- much love and happiness to you, my dear!

God's Blog



For all of you blogger heads out there, this is an interesting read. The blogging world consists of people of all backgrounds and walks of life writing about everything under the sun. People write about their every day happenings, experiences, heartaches, hopes, wishes, disappointments...we write down our thoughts, our observations, our opinions, reflections, and whatever else we deem sharable under the curtain of anonyminity...well, for the most part anyways. If it were in any way possible, (and remember peoples, with God, ANYTHING is possible!) ...why would the idea of God having a blog be IMpossible?

God's Blogs is just like any other blog. He shares His joys (and there are a lot of them!) and His disappointments (and there are a lot of those, too...). It's such a creative way to see God in that kind of light...blogging, but that is. But it totally reminded me of a CrossRoads church service that I had attended a couple of times back in Minnesota called Sanctuary. Their whole theme is "embracing the ancient faith, experiencing the present Christ." Basically, it takes all of the truths of what the Bible and Church teach, but making it relevant in today's world...making us connect to God on a deeper level by connecting and crossing the time barrier. The worship services rock out like songs from the WB, but with a God-message in them...the stage area is surrounded by lit candles, and the pastor uses different media to make a statement and get us hooked. It's a totally awesome and innovative way to have Sunday service...and to be quite honest, if more churches follwed this type of repertoire, I almost guarantee that churches everywhere would be filled to capacity.

In any case, not to copy exactly what's been written from the book and risk any type of copyright infringement laws, I wanted to post a couple of thoughts/posts from the book that I find worth sharing. And even if you're not into God or the whole religion thing, check it out anyways...you'll find it's a good read and even at best, highly amusing.

- God's thoughts on creation:
Wow! I really started something this week- I created a Universe!
It's pretty cool!
Toward the end of the week, I made the most astounding creation...it's the closest to Me I've ever created. When my first human being opened his eyes and took his first breath, we just stared at each other in the face.
Then I started laughing and he didn't know what to do (mainly because he had never done anything before).
But he looked at Me and saw Me smiling...it was just natural for him to smile back (that's the way I made him).
It was great, but the whole time, I knew something was missing...and he felt it too.
What happened next almost made Me surprise Myself! I took a part of him and made something...something that made us step back in wonder. SHE was incredible!

God's Blogs by Lanny Donoho
www.godsblogs.org
check it out!

Lil' Mindless Tidbits

Because my blogging has not been consistent in any way...honestly, I've given up blogging via dial-up at my parents...there are so many instances that I can't pass up the opportunity to share, however minor or mindless they are. Some are thoughts, observations, are just whatever comes to mind. Hahhah...I think I'll keep "Lil' Mindless Tidbits" as a permanent part of my blog, adding to it whenever anything worth sharing pops up.

- Serious Gaming. I was at the Serramonte Starbucks last week, reeling from the fact that the barista in charge of making the drinks was extremely LOUD. I swear, the entire establishment would know WHO was getting WHAT drink, I mean, for goodness sake, on a volume control, he'd be off the charts. While I was patiently waiting for my name to be yelled out, I noticed this one guy seated in the corner with his headphones on wearing this serious look on his face. Since he was sitting sideways, one can't help but notice what he was working on and from what I could tell, it was a reconnaisance mission of sorts or possibly one of those SoCom-esque games. This dude was so into the game that he wouldn't have blinked if a lil' hootchie mama walked in barely dressed! I even want to say, though I'm not sure if I imagined it or what, that he was wearing some gloves without the fingers gloves. I mean, first of all, he was totally focused on his laptop complete with headphones...but he was doing it at a Starbucks! I don't care if it is free wireless, dude...next time, put your back against the wall and keep that lil' dignity you have left intact. I'm not against gaming at all...but as crowded as that Starbucks get, you just end up looking like a gaming geek for all it's worth. Ha.

- Starbucks Tidbit #1. I had NO CLUE that you could actually order your hot coffee drinks "extra hot." When I was about to order it like that for the first time, I almost said "super hot" which, btw, I think may have been somehow construed differently by the barista at the time. Hmmm...."extra hot"....who would've thought?

- Starbucks Tidbit #2. I'm addicted once again. During my SFState days, I was functioning on two coffees a day- one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. Shortly after graduation, I stopped..probably because it was an expensive addiction! Fast forward to last Christmas where my sister sends the hubby and me some Starbucks gift cards...which we totally took advantage of during the cold winter snowy nights! And after those cards rang out, we were right there to recharge them back up. Night after night, we'd head to the local SB and get our usuals. Now that I'm back in the Bay, psychologically I cannot function without a cup of hazelnut mocha. The news gets worse...I've graduated from ordering a TALL to a GRANDE!

- Shower Singing. My niece was taking a shower after school today and I had to stop and listen when I heard her singing. It wasn't the usual Disney songs that she's usually rocks out to, instead this is what I heard:

"Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you, I want to see you. Holy, holy, holy...holy, holy, holy, I want to see you."

Bless her heart, this girl was rocking out to some Christian songs!

- Weather Alert. What is with the tornado warnings in the Sacramento area today? We were bombarded with buckets and buckets of rain last night complete with horrendous winds that blew the doors off my sister's shed! Thankfully in our area, there were no hailstorms and lightning shows in our neck of the woods that were reminiscent of the anxieties that would come with those lovely tornado siren warnings we'd hear in the middle of the night. But still...tornadoes in CA? Man...talk about craziness!

- Il Divo. Okay, yes, I am obsessed with Il Divo, why aren't you??? Just had to share. My sister and family, and my aunties attended their concert at the Davies Symphony Hall in the city this past Sunday. They were blown away just as I was! But get this...my auntie hung out near the Musician's Entrance afterwards and got to see them AND get a pic with Carlos! OMG, OMG, OMG! Wow...man, I gotta start hanging out with my auntie more often! Lucky gal!

Il Divo


Some of you may or may have not heard of them. If your music taste buds have dipped into contemporary opera as of late, you would definitely know them. And even if contemporary opera ain't your cup of tea, some of you may know them simply as the four handsomely dressed guys (ok..downright gorgeous! There...I said it!) who could more than hold a tune. These guys' voices are clean, pure, and well, just plain romantic.

I first heard of Il Divo from my good pal, Oprah. I missed the actual show where they were basically introduced to America, but thanks to the wonder of technology, was able to enjoy (over and over and over again...) their performance online.

They were awesome. No wait...they ARE awesome.

The story of how they got together stood out, too. Simon Cowell, as in the sarcastic Brit who speaks the truth on American Idol, was responsible for getting these four guys together. Four guys from four different countries with musical backgrounds ranging from classical, opera, and pop. Take one from Switzerland, France, Spain, and the U.S., and you've got yourself one damn good looking all-male contemporary opera singing group who could sing like you wouldn't believe. Makes me respect Simon a little bit more than I already do. Lol!

Again, contemporary opera may not be your thang...but it's mine.

Okay...not only mine. The faithful following includes my sister, my bro, my aunties, my niece, my nephew, and myself. Talk about going through the grapevine...after I watched the Oprah performance, I immediately bought the cd and told Ate to get it. She did and then she told the aunties about it and I can only assume that they have spread the word as well.

Well, wouldn't you know it, their U.S. Tour has just begun...and they were scheduled to stop in Minneapolis. Hubby thought it would make a great post-Valentine's Day treat (and it WAS!)and bought us two tix to their concert!

The day of the concert happened to be one of the COLDEST days of winter in Minnesota. The day before, the temps fell into the negatives and basically stayed there. I want to say that the highest temps was -12 with a wind chill of -35. Ain't that bananas?! The concert was to be held at an auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus, but considering that we've never been there before, we didn't know that we'd have to walk from the parking structure to the hall.

And boy, it was FREAKIN' C-O-L-D! To our dismay, we didn't come prepared with our outdoor gear. Shame on us! Seeing that this is the third winter we've experienced, I'd like to think we would've been smarter to have at least our gloves. As we walked into the ass biting cold, a news anchor's voice rang in my ears,

"Exposure to extreme cold may result in frostbite within 10-15 minutes."

Totally NOT cool! COLD, in fact. And the walk from the parking structure left our fingers, ears, nose, and lips numb. Sometimes I can't figure out which is worse- being in the cold and having all those parts of your body numb OR going into a warm place after being in the cold and having those parts of your body get shocked back to life and defrost. Either way, there's an unspeakable pain that accompanies both. In the cold, besides the dull numbing of the fingers, there's a tingly sensation that convinces you is going to be followed by a snap and a crack as the appendage in question supposedly falls off to its death. In the desperate immersion into the warmth after being in the extreme cold, again there is a tingly sensation, but this time, it's as if the blood flow is too quick and that my body cannot adjust and it almost feels like a part of my body is going to explode. Makes me think of those deep sea divers who are warned about surfacing too quickly....ok, maybe not.

Bottom line- we almost lost our fingers for these guys.

(And it would've been well worth it!)

The concert itself was AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! It didn't matter that we were seated up in the balcony because I honestly believe that the venue couldn't contain the power of their combined voices. When I closed my eyes, it was as if I was listening to the cd...but ten times better! Their songs are just so utterly romantic and being that more than half of them are sung in a different language, it makes them even moreso. They sing in English, Italian, French, Spanish, and I think Portugese. Even though I can't follow what they say, hell, it doesn't matter. Their voices are enough to melt your heart...was it a coincidence that the majority of the concert attendees were female???

In any case, here's a pic that I was able to take via my digital cam. Not bad for being taken from the balcony, eh?



Left to Right: David (U.S.), Urs (Switzerland), Sebastien (my fave from France!), and Carlos (Spain). Notice the Greek columns going on behind them...tres romantique!

Do yourself a favor and check out their website.

*To Doh: Thanks for the awesome post-Valentine's Day gift! It was memorable beyond words.

LOVE Day in the Bay

The beautiful warm weather that we've been enjoying for the past couple of days has been replaced by incessant winds that are strewing the streets with leaves and branches. It's a hazard to be out and about really. With not only the crazy winds blowing, there are so many distractions that are making it almost impossible to drive down the street.

How about that guy standing on the corner sporting a huge cardboard sign that read in bold letters, "BUY HER FLOWERS!"

How about that lil' group setting up camp on the corner of Alemany and Geneva with loads of baskets filled with teddybears, flowers, and candy?

Or how about them crazy, yet brave souls who walk in-between cars at the red lights with armfuls of red roses that hope that in the minute or two that you're waiting that you'll actually have time to reach into your wallet, choose a nice, decent bunch, and pay the guy all before the light turns green?

Or better yet, how about all of them lovey-dovey couples who are constantly making out while they are driving? Yup. That's my favorite. I swear, if their windows were open, I'd love to yell, "Get a freakin' room, people!" These people shouldn't be on the roads. Okay..maybe they're on their way to get a room, but still, it's a freakin' hazard in the meantime!

To avoid any kinds of hazards that might result in a car accident, I found myself at the beach today...that's no big surprise. Because of the strong winds, I cursed the sandstorm that I had to drive through. And to think that I just washed my car over the weekend. Crap. I made it in time to watch the sun go down...and it was beautiful. As windy and as sandy as it was, the beach was pretty crowded. Not many people walking about, just a whole bunch of parked cars. I decided to park up near the Cliff House instead and was wowed at the sight of the dropping sun. I'm thinking that not too many people know about that parking spot past the Cliff House, but then again, good. Let the crowds take over the restaurant parking and the usual oceanside views. Thankfully, without the sights (and sounds) of people making out, I got to enjoy my sunset.

There's something simply beautiful about watching a sunset. It is, after all, my favorite time of the day. To watch the sun drop slowly into the horizon, to feel the warmth emanating from the last rays of sunshine, to look in wonder as the colors blend into the most beautiful palette you've ever seen, and to see the skies overhead slowly fill with bright stars...man. Simply beautiful. Just beautiful.

Happy Love Day, everyone...

Found this and realized that I never posted it. Had a good laugh about it...and I hope J does, too!

January 16, 2006

It's All Love

Got a call from mah homie J the other day...and the first thing out of his mouth after not having spoken to him in a long time was,

"How could you? How could you rag on your heritage like that?"

I was totally taken aback...and probably because I was already tired from such a long day spent with my family, I was SO not in the mood to have to explain myself over something that I wrote. Now albeit J has a tendency to be the biggest brat in the world and can oftentimes be relied on to be a devil's advocate...he can also be the one who will argue for argument's sake...I suppose you can say that I was not up to playing the game tonight. This isn't meant to totally rag on J for ragging on ME about MY blog, but dude...where the hell did all of that come from?

He is referring to my post where I whine and wonder why on earth my Lolo would want to live the rest of his days in PI. Now I whine and wonder out loud, but inside, I KNOW why he wants to. I KNOW and yet, I thought it would be interesting to share. Hah...silly me. J goes on to tell me that living in PI is not as bad as I portrayed it. He says that the mail system is not as backward as I make it out to be because the delivery mail people just happen to know everyone. I ain't knockin' it...I was just in shocked awe at that fact that I didn't have to write a typical home address that I'm so used to writing. And as far as the health care is concerned, I wasn't making any of that crap up about having to pay first BEFORE you're treated because well, J, that is a reality. Now maybe you thought, hey, it's been a while since I've talked to MnM, this is easy fodder to give her a hard time about or maybe you were deeply offended about what I wrote and to this I tell you (like I did on the phone - chill out. I did not begin writing that post with the malicious intent of ragging on my heritage. And even if I did, it's one of those situations where I could make fun of my heritage and no one else can deal...know what I'm saying? For a quick moment, I felt like I was being reprimanded and getting a slap on my wrist for what I wrote...and after a quick second (and I mean QUICK), I got that WTF mentality. Again, it's been a long day and I'm tired, and honestly, I'd appreciate the whole "hey, how are you doing, it's been a long time since we've talked" small talk before getting into the whole bitch, whine, and get on MnM's case for God knows what. Know what I'm saying, dude? Yes, yes, I didn't have to write this whole explanation to justify anything because, Good Lord, it is a freaking blog and I could write anything I choose, but hey...maybe I thought, what better way to give the firemarshall a hard time since I haven't talked to him in a while and/or maybe, I was really offended that you were offended by what I wrote. Hmmm...know what? Who cares? If J wants to be a big brat about the whole thing, then so be it...it wouldn't be the first time! Lol! (It's all love, homie!)