MERRY CHRISTMAS

I realize that this greeting is two days early (at least for those in the US), but I won't be home from the 23rd to the 26th, so my computer access will be to a minimum if not none. So, I just want to say

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!!

May God's love, blessing, mercy and grace be upon you and your loved ones this Christmas season!

I'M SO EXCITED AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT

AAAAHHHHHH!!! I'm being schizophrenic again!

God is so good!!! (I know this should appear in my religious blog, but being that the background story is my previous post and I can't very well put my previous post in my religious blog or else my crush would know I have a crush on him, I decided to put a sort of reflection post on this non-reflective blog of mine).

I just looked at that last paragraph and it looks weird. Anywho, so on with my story.

I'm not that busy at work today. The post doc I work for is not here this whole week, so I'm left with minimal work. That's why I had the time to read parts of the book I'm currently reading (Crossing the Tiber), and read the discussions on the Eucharist by Protestants/Fundamentalists and Catholics on Catholic_Defender's blog. That's how I ended up fancying that guy (that Harbie says looks like Rafe from Survivor) who can so articulately explain Catholic doctrines and beliefs.

So, today, I kept checking my email since I forgot to bring my book to work and I am a tad bored. And I saw an email from the Archdiocese of San Francisco stating that we have a new Archbishop. See, Archbishop Levada (our former Archbishop) left for Rome to replace Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Catholic Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when the Cardinal became Pope. And at the end of the email was a list of upcoming Young Adult events within the Archdiocese.

I clicked on the link and was directed to a "Calendar of Events" site. I wanted to see what types of retreats they have, or if they have interesting talks I would want to attend. I kept on seeing this "CSI: Liturgy and Sacraments" on their Calendar. And I loved the show, CSI, so I clicked on it. It turns out that CSI stands for Catholic Studies Institute, a program of adult faith formation and lay ministry training of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. You basically can take classes to learn more about the Catholic Faith. It's a certification type of program (Archdiocesan Certificate in Theological Studies and an Archdiocesan Certificate in Theology and Lay Ministry). I don't think I would want to be certified but I definitely would want to take some classes.

When I first started my "journey" to rediscovering my Catholic faith, I was reading Scott and Kimberly Hahn's Rome Sweet Home. Scott and Kimberly both have degrees in Theology and would spend hours reading and studying the Bible and other books. I was impressed and sort of jealous. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to spend hours reading and studying the Bible and other Theology books. I was so hyper and excited about it, I thought of enrolling in a "Master's" program in Theology. I went to the Berkeley Institute website to see how intensive their courses are, thinking I could study that part time (after work). But no, I couldn't. It's pretty intense. One needs to be a full-time student in order to fulfill all their requirements. So, I gave up on that one.

But now, God is giving me exactly what I wanted. A chance to take a course on Catholic Studies (after work hours) to learn more about my faith. I'm starting January 18. It's only a once-a-week, two hour class. And who knows, maybe in the end, I'll decide to finish and get the Certificate in Theological Studies. It's not as glamorous as a Master's Degree, but it's still a Certificate on Theology. :-)


*** I don't think this post made sense. I am really excited, but somehow my thoughts became jumbled (schizo) as I typed this up. Pray for me, please. Thanks!

I HAVE A NEW CRUSH

Pretty bold of me to write this on my blog, knowing that people read this, right? And before Kuya Junby reacts and says, "But she just told me 3 days ago that she finds guys icky," let me explain.

This is not the typical "crush," that I'd end up obssessing and daydreaming about day and night (that sentence sounded ironic). And this is not the typical "crush" I would dream of ending up, happily ever after, with someday. This is the typical "crush," where the word "crush" means someone I admire.

So, what can I say about him? Well, I don't know him. (you guys shocked?) but have read his blog. Apparently, he is a Biomedical Engineering student at Texas A and M (pretty smart guy ... obviously younger than I am, but seems like more knowledgeable and wiser than me).

So, what is it in him that I found admirable? Well, his knowledge of the Catholic Faith. (schizo, right?)

Let me explain further. Through the convincing words of well-intentioned Christian friends of mine, I found myself in a position where I no longer knew what to believe in. I certainly didn't think the Catholic teachings were true any longer. I stopped praying the Hail Mary, believing the act to be a sin. I was confused and went to a xanga blog, Catholic Defender where Fundamentalists and Catholics discuss their divergent beliefs and traditions, hoping to get some insights and be convinced that the Catholic Church possessed the truth. And while some Catholics put up great arguments (like this guy I admire), I wasn't convinced. I, for some reason, found their arguments flimsy compared to the fundamentalist's arguments. I was in real danger of becoming a Fundamentalist myself, had God not intervened. In His goodness, God decided to lead me into a "conversion" site. This is not the "traditional" (in my mind) atheist turned believer "conversion," but more of Protestant/Fundamentalist turned Catholic "conversion." The access to this site led me to my journey of rediscovering my rich Catholic Tradition.

Since then, I've been reading books about Catholicism, mostly those written by Protestant converts to Catholicism. I don't know why, but I just have this bias against reading the writings of "cradle" Catholics. I guess I need to hear it from Fundamentalists, whose arguments almost led me to converting out of the Catholic Tradition.

Anyway, though I've read several books, if asked to discuss why Catholics ask the intercession of saints, I would be speechless. I think I understand it, but not enough to actually discuss it with a person who has a different view. But he explains Catholic positions concisely, coherently, and articulately. Not that Protestants or Fundamentalists agree with what he's saying, for their beliefs still diverge, but he argues in a way that Catholics would just admire his knowledge and patience and would end up wanting to be just like him - having a personal relationship with Jesus, and at the same time being able to explain away the views of the Church Christ founded. SIGH!

OF DESIRE, DREAM, AND WISH

~ Desire

I have this weird longing to live in the UK. I do not understand it, but I just do. I remember being asked, "If you were given the chance to live all over again, what nationality would you prefer to be?" I blurted out, "Filipino" because I was ever so loyal to the ethnicity I was born into. But now, I think I would shout, "British," just because I'm so fascinated with their culture.

About two years ago, I watched briefly an episode of "Eastenders," a popular British soap. I, of course, did not understand it having had no background on the characters and the story of that show. But, I still watched it to the end. And as they rolled the end credits up, they showed this magnificent English countryside. I am not much of a "country" person as I was born and grew up in the city. But despite that fact, I found myself falling in love with the English countryside and saying to myself, "I want to go there."

A year ago, I rediscovered the show Coupling, which some people not familiar with the sitcom dub as the British version of Friends. But it's not. Anyway, I saw it several years back on PBS at around 1 am. And I fell in love with the show. With the advent of TV on DVDs, I chanced in upon the DVD set of Coupling and bought it, watched it, and became a little bit more familiar with the British culture. And that's when the desire to live in the UK became more real to me.

~ Dream

I dreamt a couple of days ago that God was asking me which congregation Ate Maila joined for two years when she decided she wanted to live for and live intimately with the Lord. And then the word "Benedictine" flashed into view.

As soon as I got the chance, I searched for Benedictine Sisters. I am not called to the religious life, but I wanted to check it out anyway. The search took a long time as I had no idea what I was searching for. And I'm not going to list in detail what I found, and what I learned about the Benedictine order. I'll make this short and just say that I discovered that the Benedictine monasteries (or abbeys) were one of the first established in the UK. And I found a Benedictine Spirituality Center in London. They have weekly speakers throughout the year. And in their list of autumn/winter programme (British spelling), I found four sessions I wanted to attend. And I really wanted to be there right then and there.

~ Wish

On my birthday, my soul sister asked me what my birthday wish is. She said that God had never failed to grant her her birthday wish every year. She said that I should make a wish for God will surely grant it. I had to think for a moment because I didn't really have a birthday wish. And I didn't want to make an impromptu wish. I wanted to really think about it and make sure it's somewhat aligned with what God wants for me. I said briefly that I would love to live in the UK for a year. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a wish, as it was pretty vague and not really well thought of. But at the end of the day, I made a specific wish for my parents.

On my birthday, my friends gave me a book, "A Rough Guide to Britain." I was really excited. I haven't touched the book yet even though I wanted to read it so badly. Upon seeing that book, I felt (although I'm not really sure) it was God's way of saying, "I'll bless your desire to live in Britain." I have my rough guide to the country, and I know where I'd love to stay in Britain. God helped me make my birthday wish more specific. :-)

Now, this is a bit late for a birthday wish (apparently, one has to do it on his/her birthday itself, not before and not after), but something I'll keep in mind until my birthday next year. I wish that God will provide me with an opportunity, within the next five years, to live in the UK for one year, specifically in London near the Benedictine Priory of Christ the King.

I'm praying for it each and everyday. Will you pray with and for me? :-) Thanks!

REMINISCING

My co-worker, Jean told me of a dream she had about taking a reagent that should be kept at 4 oC at home and keeping it at room temperature. And I laughed at her silliness. She told me that she usually have weird dreams like that and that it was worse when she was still in school 'coz she would dream of taking exams.

That's when I remembered that three years ago, during my last semester, I almost missed taking my final exam for a class. It was my final semester in college and having taken all the requisite classes to fulfill both my major and minor, I decided to take an easy class. NS10, Introduction to Nutrition, a class offered for freshmen. It's a huge and popular class. About 750 students take that class each semester. It was and still is held in a big auditorium. During the time I took it, they also had it webcasted. So, I usually skip lectures and just watch it at home. Anyway, usually, all finals are scheduled the 2nd and 3rd week of May. That's considered the finals week. But for this class, the professor decided to schedule the finals the last day of lecture instead on the finals week. So, it was supposed to be regular lecture time. But I got confused about my schedule on the day of the finals. See, after lecture I go to a discussion session for that class. And for some reason, I switched the schedules (there was no discussion session that day) and thought the class started later.

I took my time reviewing for the finals in the library. Then 20 minutes to the hour, I walked to the auditorium. Usually, there would be a lot of students waiting outside the auditorium to get a good seat. And I thought that since this is finals day, there'd be more students waiting outside, studying. But the hall was completely deserted. I spent a couple of minutes pondering why nobody was there and no one was coming, when I realized what an idiot I was. I realized that the exam started 45 minutes earlier, and I only had 15 minutes to take my test.

I came rushing in to the auditorium. I think a couple of people looked up. I had this look of shock on my face as I approached my TA to ask for the paper. She looked at me sympathetically and asked me to sit close to where she was proctoring. That was one rushed finals I took. When the bell rang, I stood up, crossed my fingers, and turned in my paper to my TA. She gave me this look of pity and said to me, "I can stay here for 30 more minutes and give you more time to work on your finals." Had I known that, I wouldn't have had rushed. But I was done anyway, and because I was still in shock I knew I couldn't take a look at the test anymore, so I just thanked her and left.

I walked out of the auditorium stunned that I forgot the time of my finals.

Hehe. First and last time it happened to me. I might go back to school someday (not anytime soon) and I hope that won't happen to me again.

BROADWAY/MUSICALS

When the Phantom of the Opera went to San Francisco, my mom and I grabbed the chance to see it without having to travel all the way to New York or London. We used my dad's birthday as an excuse to see it. My dad, not an avid broadway/musical fan, was not happy with the gift we gave him. Hehe.

It was a great show! And after that, my mom dragged me to a lot of broadway/musical shows. So, I'm going to give my 2 cents about each.

1) Phantom of the Opera - Two words to describe it! Great over-all. It's probably the best one I've seen because everything was spectacular. The costumes, the set, the props (the falling chandelier - it gave us all a big fright), the performers were all great! Brad Little, the one who played the Phantom has this magnificent soothing voice. I fell in love with his rendition of "Music of the Night," that I bought their CD. But it wasn't Brad Little who sang in that CD. Shucks. Anywho, I believe that this show is one worth-seeing!

2) The Lion King - I had difficulty imagining how they could turn an animated movie into a musical. I mean, the animation's only limitation is the animator's imagination, right? But to actually portray the Lion King movie on a stage, was a bit too much, right? I thought they wouldn't be able to do it. But they did not disappoint. The Lion King had amazing set, props, and costume. The performers really looked and moved like animals. And, I was impressed with the way they did the stampede scene. You have to see it for yourselves and be amazed like I was. The singing wasn't that great! But, it was still a good show!

3) Evita - I really don't want to go on about this. I didn't like this one. The set was bland, pretty much empty for the most part. We watched this after the Lion King, and I was really disappointed, I guess because I saw two wonderful, extraordinary shows. The singers were good. Overall though, it didn't do much for me. I remember wanting to go to sleep halfway through it.

4) Grease - I didn't see the movie, so I had no idea what this was about when we went to see it. The songs were familiar to me, which was nice. This is a good one. Good set, costumes, props (grease lightning was on the stage). The performers were good, especially Kinnicky (i think I spelled that incorrectly). It was like seeing the movie performed on the stage, but without John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

5) Cats - Oh! I hated this one! I couldn't understand what the Cats were singing about. I had no idea what the show was about, so I really had trouble following it. And it seems like the performers weren't into performing that night. I went with an uncle who has seen this before and he was truly disappointed. He said the performance wasn't as lively as he remembered it. Set was good. Singing was mediocre. The dancing was terrific though. But overall, it was just too disappointing.

6) Les Miserables - Didn't see the movie with Claire Danes, but was familiar with the songs, especially On My Own, I Dreamed a Dream, because I think I saw parts of the Les Mis concert (20th anniv) where Lea Salonga played Eponine. They had a minimal set (nothing beats the Lion King and the Phantom for the set) and a revolving stage. Costumes were great! But nothing beats the singing! All performers had powerful and beautiful singing voices. The songs, in and of themselves, were very powerful. This is truly moving show! It's charged with emotions. You can feel them through the performer's movements and in the way they sing. I loved this one! Truly a must-see show.

7) Mamma Mia - Just saw it last night. My friend loved this show. I thought it was slow at first. But then they sang Dancing Queen and Chiquitita, and I found myself having the time of my life. It's a comedic musical. It'll keep you laughing all through-out the show. One person's voice was so nasal and high pitched, it was irritating. But, other than that, it was a great show. Minimal set, but it worked so well for them. And costumes were fabulous. Very colorful! The choreographed dances were great to see. I guess, because there was so much dancing and acting needed for this show, the singing wasn't as great as in Les Mis. But it was a great show, nonetheless. I'm still laughing when I remember certain scenes.

FRUITFUL SUNDAY

It's a busy Sunday for me today. Though I slept late (12 mn is already considered late by my standards) and woke up early (5:30 am), I'm surprisingly wide awake!

I chatted with a bro. as soon as I got up. And I got to share to him something I'm going through. It was nice to unburden it to someone. And it's nice to know there's someone praying for me. :-)

Then I went to hear Mass with my parents at 6:30 am. Bilis ko mag-ayos no? ;-)

Then we went to have breakfast at Bayside Cafe, where I pondered the further deindustrialization of the US. Hehe. Pa-impress lang. Feeling smart, kuno!

And now, I'm at work. There are more experiments I needed to finish.

Then, tonight, my mom and I are watching the last show of Mamma Mia (a musical based on the music of Abba).

Then, I get to rest to get ready to start the new week ahead. :-)

Enjoy your weekends! God bless!

THE ONE WHERE NO ONE WAS READY

My goal right now is to finish watching all 10 seasons of FRIENDS. I was never into it. I guess I never did like doing something just because everyone's into it. So, I never watched it while it was running, nor did I start watching it when the DVDs came out. I didn't see the big deal. I liked COUPLING better. It's dubbed as the "British" version of FRIENDS just because the cast involves 6 friends - 3 girls, 3 guys. But it's nothing like FRIENDS. Maybe there are similarities, but the humour is different.

Anyway, I decided to give it a try because my cousin, Daryl, and my cousin's boyfriend, Johmar are so into it. And if you look back into my HP Imax Experience post, you'll see that there's 6 of us (cousins and a future cousin-in-law) - 3 guys, 3 girls - who bond all the time, and we call each other "FRIENDS." We each have "FRIENDS" names. I'm Phoebe Buffay, by the way. Fits me, right? Schizo!

Anyway, they talk about it all the time. And I can't be Phoebe if I don't know who Phoebe is. Okay, that's a long introduction already. So, I'm going to get to my point.

I watched Season 3 Disc 1 yesterday and I want to write about the episode, "The one where no one was ready." It's where Ross would be making a speech at the Museum and they have to be there at 8 and no one was ready by around 7:15. And Ross was stressing out, pushing everyone to get ready. He shouted at Rachel and Rachel almost didn't go because she was upset Ross humiliated her in front of her friends. So, that's the episode.

It was supposed to be funny. But I didn't find it funny. I was agitated for Ross. I knew exactly how he felt. I really felt his pain. I could imagine him thinking, "Don't they care at all that I'm going to be late? Don't they care that this is an important event for me and I don't want to get there late?" I'm really particular about time. I guess I got it from my late grandfather, who would wake us up at 5, so we can leave at 8. :-)

I guess I'm really that uptight. Something I probably need to change. Hmm ... another one to add on my "things I want to change about me" list.