Happy New Year's from WNT!

Can you believe it? Another year has gone by! I'd have to say that 2008 was very busy, stressful, filled with both laughter and tears. Here's my "executive summary" of this year's happenings...

Happy 2008!

January, I rang in the new year with Kat and Israel, celebrating at The Loft in downtown San Jose. We were so indecisive that time, not settling on NYE plans, so we ended up there since there was no cover.

New Year's Day, I drove up to Watsonville to visit my friend Aya and her family at their Japanese cucumber farm and had some really good home cooked Japanese goodies...love them beans, Aya!

Partying, Travel, and Food!

February had a girls night out at Wild 94.9 Women's Only Event and learned how to bet on horses in Vegas.

Of course we checked out all the good eye candy at the Women's Only thing, but then realized the frustration with all these little 21 year olds pushing and shoving to get closer to the stage just to try to win some free stuff. GHETTO! That's why I don't go clubbing much.

In Vegas, Randall, Leong and I ate lots at the Bellagio and the Wynn. Lost some pounds walking around with these two. Randall and I tried out that roller coaster at New York, New York. Leong chickened out, but he did teach us how to bet on horses. No luck for me there. I also lost a lot of sleep listening to their snoring ensemble.

In March, me and the girls joined Jeanette's friends at Baker's Beach for a picnic. This beach is notorious for naked sun bathers and we glimpsed one guy in his birthday suit...((shiver)), but we did have fun playing with the sand and enjoying the sun and the waves.

April, we visited our old roomie, Enid in LA! We did a lot of touristy stuff, acting like picture whores taking tons of silly photos of ourselves. We caught a broadway show, Wicked! It was really good, I even cried at some points. We also spent some time at Enid's museum, The Getty Villa and we chowed down on some good Korean BBQ!

Modeling with Poe 'Ori 'Ori Pareo

In April, I had my first experience modeling with a professional photographer for my friend's pareo business, Poe 'Ori 'Ori Pareo, along with a couple of my hula sisters. This event really got me into the wonders of makeup, and celebrating being a woman.

Ringing in My Last Year in my 20's!

In June, I celebrated my 29th birthday with horse back riding at Garrod Farms in Saratoga. Every year for my birthday, I try to do something different and active. Last year was rock climbing and this year it was great being in the outdoors going horse back riding for the first time! The evening was a different story.

Sweat and Tears

July, I competed in my first big Tahitian dancing solo and group competition at San Jose Tahiti Fete with my dance troupe, Kawailehua. Solos took place at the Double Tree Hotel near the airport. I couldn't believe that I had been practicing all year for just this two minute solo. It went well. I didn't make it to finals, but it was a great experience being up there and freestyle dancing. I met some really cool people while waiting in line for my category.

Group competition took place at the Event Center at SJSU. With Kawailehua, it was an amazing journey leading up to this event from August 2007 with conditioning and tryouts, and sacrificing all my Sundays for these five hour practices perfecting our basic dance movements, memorizing the routine and positioning, learning how to dance from the heart and not purely focusing on the technical dance movements...it's still a work in progress. Kawailehua won 3rd place in O'tea, a first time for us!

Amongst all the commotion preparing for a whole year for this event, two days before competition, my family received word from the Philippines that my grandmother passed away. She came here to the states when I was little to take care of us. She was a tough lady, suffering from alzheimers in her last years.

It was a challenge mentally to focus on preparations for competition and packing for the trip back to the Philippines. In between work and last minute practices, the whole family coordinated getting the tickets setup, shopping, and filling up the balikbayan boxes with pasalubong (gifts) for the relatives.

We scheduled a late night flight out of SFO for the PI for the same day as group competition (10PM). My group was scheduled to perform at 2PM, so I thought that would be ample time to run home and head off to the airport. We told the relatives back home to extend the viewing and wait for us to arrive for the funeral.

The group competition line up was behind schedule an excrutiating six hours! 2PM came and went, along with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7PM! I kept my cool during those hours, but during that time, I was not a happy camper and it was very difficult to smile during the last few run throughs of the routine. The July heat didn't help either. I prayed to my grandma that I'd make the flight to see her and say good-bye.

We made it to the competition dance floor at 8PM on the dot. The whole routine was one hour. I was in a zone. Just for this one hour I would focus on the group and our performance. In between routines I called my mom and told her that it's almost done. She was screaming at me, "You better leave now or you're going to miss the funeral!!!" I was screaming at her, "I can't leave now! Just stop it, get Nene on the phone!" I calmed down and came to terms with missing the flight and told my sister that it's okay if I missed the funeral because I was able to see grandma a couple years ago before she passed.

Thank you, Lord for The Girls (Jeanette, Aya, Harms, Stacers). They were the only ones who came to support me at this important event and they are the ones that rushed my butt to SFO! After leaving the competition dance floor and waving good-bye to the judges, I rushed to gather my costumes, ran through downtown San Jose in my coconut bra with the girls to jump in Jeanette's car and head off to the airport. Jeanette made it to SFO in a record 30 minutes while I was in the back seat taking my cocos off and changing into plain clothes (not sure how the cocos would have looked in the security scanner).

My sister's boyfriend, Amir, was waiting for me at the gate with my passport and boarding pass. I still can't believe how my family checked me in earlier without me being present. I rushed through security and greeted my mom and sister with a deep breath and a smile, "I'm finally here." Our flight was delayed one hour anyway, wooo.

We were in the Philippines for 9 days, so we tried to make a vacation out of it too.

Some Relaxation, Work, and School

August was relaxing times. Kawailehua was already making preparations for next year's competition. I spoke to my Kumu about not doing group competition. I was already burnt out and I wanted to focus on finishing up my Master's degree and continue doing solo competitions. Work was always busy with reviews and travel. I finally got my promotion! And I competed at Kawailehua's annual Manahere solo dancing competition. I didn't place, but my dancing is improving.

Now tonight, I'm going to celebrate the forthcoming year with good friends and music. It's been an amazing year spending time with you all. Thank you! And let's look forward to what 2009 has in store for us!

~Lorace

Thanksgiving

I have everything to be thankful for!

I have a stable job and I'm doing good at it! With the economy nowadays, I am very thankful for that. I'm working hard, getting paid, I can pay my bills, put gas in my car, and enjoy life comfortably. I cannot imagine being in a position to not have a job and to add to the trouble, foreclose on a home. The economy will recover from this mess, but not soon enough for those unfortunate.

I'm blessed with great friends! Like coffee, laughter keeps me going throughout the day and my friends always provide that. Last night, I was studying with two good friends and we always end up laughing so hard about something so silly.

I am always thankful for my family! It feels secure living so close to family. Their presence makes me whole. For the first time in years, we're having more family come over tomorrow for Thanksgiving lunch.

I am thankful for my good health. Aside from eating better, falling in love with Tahitian dancing keeps me physically and mentally healthy. Exuding your joy and happiness through dance and sharing it to those around you is a wonderful feeling.

Thank you everyone and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

What Not Thought Cannot Sleep!

It's almost 3:30AM and I cannot sleep! I've been laying awake for the past two hours, so I thought maybe some blogging therapy would do the trick. Maybe I need a treat.

Okay, I'm pathetic. Maybe I have a lot on my mind about a new potential guy, my solo dancing competition coming up in the next three weeks, assignments due, my projects at work, the fact that I haven't found enough time to go to the gym, trying to find time to tutor my nephew. If only counting sheep would work. Baaa.

I slept early last night. I was working on my probability homework while tucked into my nice warm bed. I didn't get enough sleep the night before. Yes, it does add up and I have to get up early again for my morning class.

Maybe it's the fact that our Fractures professor will be returning midterm exams back today. I think I did well. Mohr's circle...>>shiver<<

Think zen...think vacation....Europe...care free...sleeping in 'til noon...pastries....yum....>>Zzzz...<<

Hey AT&T, YOU SUCK!

I was playing with my coworker's new 16 GB iPhone today. I looked at my new LG Shine and I felt so...inadequate. My mind was convinced. After hula class today, I was getting my iPhone!

After hula class, I ran home to get my receipt, charger, and original packaging and drove down to the AT&T dealer to return the phone. It was really quick. The sales associate, Jesus, called customer care, let them know what I was planning to do, took the phone back no problem (except for the manual I forgot to return. They kindly asked me to bring it in tomorrow, which I'll do). And they had me out of there within 20 minutes. Sweet! Gave me an hour and a half to drive down to Oakridge Mall Apple Store, which after five phone calls, luckily had the 8 GB iPhone in stock.

I had plenty of time. The Apple lady greeted me and I asked her if she had the 8 GB iPhone available. She said no at first, but I mentioned that I called in earlier and the guy on the phone told me it was in stock. She kindly checked the back no problem.

This really cool blue eyed guy helped me with setting up my new phone. I told him what I did about returning my old phone about an hour ago and how Jesus already set me up and called customer care. The Apple guy called up Jesus to confirm everything then called customer care and explained to Stephanie, who sounded like a man, what I wanted to do.

Stephanie that sounded like a man, put me on hold for about four minutes when he/she said it would take two, and got back on the phone telling me the Apple guy can't activate me since an AT&T manager needs to override the system to allow me to upgrade to the iPhone so I can buy it at the $199 prices instead of the $399 price.

I thought maybe I can go to the AT&T store, have the manager do her thing, then go back to the Apple store so the Apple guy can activate me. Stephanie that sounds like a man, said that I couldn't do that. It has to be done in one transaction and how Apple is really touchy when it comes to their products and the only way for me to get the phone at the discounted price is to go to the corporate store dealer. I was explaining to him...uh, her, that the reason why I went to the Apple store is because they were the only ones that had it, but yup, she/she said the only way was to go straight to the wizard.

Okay, I'm a patient girl. I asked Stephanie if I could use my old sim card in one of my old phones. She said it would work fine. Thanks Stephanie that sounds like a dude! I tried using my phone and the sim card is unregistered. I can't make and receive any phones calls!

Sucks to your asthmar AT&T! YOU SUCK!

Quest to iPhone enlightenment continues....

I love My Garmin Nuvi 260!

Today, I was driving home from work in Sunnyvale and had to make a stop over at Costco to get a birthday cake. I was pushing through traffic on 237, on my way to my usual Costco on Hostetter Road in San Jose. I'd have to continue on 237 going East becoming Calaveras, then merge onto 680 South and exit Hostetter Road. Long trek, yeah? Not with my Garmin Nuvi!

I know I shouldn't have been doing this, but as I was driving I grabbed Garmin out of the glove box, switched it on, and typed in a search for nearby Costcos in my current area. It found one off of Lawrence Expressway approximately 2.8 miles away. Sweet! I clicked on the address, then clicked "GO!" snapped Garmin in place on my new sandbag stand and away I went!

It pin pointed where ever I was on 237 and gave me turn-by-turn directions with audio on where to go, assisted with a nice map that highlighted my route in hot pink.

I took Garmin with me on travel a few weeks ago in Indiana. It took me from the Indianapolis Airport to Bloomington, to Crane, and back to Indianapolis with no problems. It did take a few minutes to coordinate with the satellites to find my position, but it sure saved me time from getting lost!

I've had Garmin for about three months now (my parents bought it as a birthday present). I don't use it every week. I'd say I've used it a total of 8 to 10 times to get me to and from unfamiliar places. There were two occasions when Garmin took forever to locate the satellites. One was from my house in Milpitas and I'm not exactly sure why that happened. The other time I was in an area in San Jose coming from Garrod Farms and I was trying to get to University Chicken in Santa Clara and it never communicated with the satellites.

Come to think of it, I do remember another occasion when I was trying to find the shortest route from work to my gym, Bally Total Fitness, in San Jose on Capitol Expressway. I did a search for Bally Total Fitness and it couldn't find it! It did find some in SoCal thought...haha!

Okay, so it's not perfect and I guess I have to give Garmin some more time to prove itself to me. It did save my ass in Indiana and it did help me save gas today taking me to a Costco nearby.

Sentimental Moments, Nostalgia

My friend emailed me at work today and was telling me that we Filipinos are very sentimental people; feelings of tenderness, love, nostalgia. She attached a link to a popular love song she liked.

It's amazing how a melody to a song can instantaneously change your mood, especially those songs that bring you back to, hopefully good, memories. Sometimes during those drives from work commuting home, you hear a song you haven't heard in such a while. The outside traffic noise slowly fades and somehow you're protected in this warm bubble, hearing only that one song, memories becoming more vivid that you can even smell the scents during that moment.

To me in a sense, it's therapeutic. It's sad to think I don't have "that" anymore, but I'm so looking forward to the moments when I will have "that" again. It's an amazing feeling. It's the most incredible feeling to live in those moments.

Now moving from the sappy love stuff, how about those songs that make you go "Heaay!" You know what I'm talking about! You're a 29 year old getting your groove on in a club after a one year hiatus when the deejay mixes the next song to "One, two, three, into the four, Snoop Doggy Dog and David T is at the door..." And all the old school folks start waving their hands in the air (waving like they just don't care) and dippin' to the rhythm of the bass.

Kind of brings you back to high school, huh? I'm feeling it more now that my high school reunion is coming up (one in which I'm debating on going to).

Twilight

It was like a breath of fresh air.

At that moment, the only thing that ever mattered was you and him. All sounds becoming silent, eyes only speaking, hearts racing.

Twilight reminded me how love use to be. It took me back to when love was so tender and innocent, much different from how it has evolved over the years for me.

Each page drew me in more and more. The noise from the coffee shop I was sitting in deadened and the words on the page became more vivid. My heart fluttered with Bella when Edward touched her face. I glanced at my watch to find that an hour already past. I was just getting to the good part!

I first heard about Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books on a CNN online newscast I was watching during my lunch hour at work. I was really skeptical when they mentioned that this was a teenage romance book with vampire themes. I was thinking how cheesy that was! Only teenagers would love that, but when they mentioned that even 20 and 30 year olds were reading this, I became curious.

Amazon.com customers gave the Twilight books excellent reviews. I got sucked in. I drove down to my local Borders Bookstore and grabbed me a paperback copy.

I didn't stop reading...until the last page of the last book of the series Breaking Dawn. Damn were those books good. Why didn't I hear about them sooner! Twilight, the first book of the series, came out in 2005! How could I have missed it?!

It was honestly refreshing to read these books. I felt like a young teen again (I still do, but I won't admit it at times). I rushed home from work to read them and found myself continuing late into the night, having to wake up early the next day. I couldn't put Bella and Edward away until I knew that they would be okay.

Now that the series is over, I didn't know what to do with myself...until now of course.

Stephenie, I can't wait to see your next project! Thank you so much for bringing Bella and Edward to us!