filipino time

It's a well known fact that most Filipinos arrive fashionably late to any event. You tell a Filipino to come at 4, most likely they'll get there around 5. I'll admit it, I've been plagued by this disease since the day I learned what it meant to try to arrive on time. No matter how hard I try, I’ve been at least 10 minutes late to my destination. But my Filipino time is nothing compared to my family. My aunt and two cousins are the worst when it comes to Filipino time and it is starting to become annoying.
Today we were supposed to meet for lunch at 2 pm for my cousin M’s birthday. 2:30 rolls around and M and her family were no where in sight. My family hasn’t eaten anything because we were told we were going to meet at 1pm but later got extended to 2 instead. We should have known not to go to the restaurant at 2 but we thought it would be different this time. But nope, still the same ol’ Filipino time making its way to prove you can’t train an old dog a new trick. This family is known within the entire family that if they say they will arrive at 4, they will be there at 6. Yes, that bad. At 2:15, my sister called M to ask where they were. She said she was 10 minutes away. What time did she arrive? 3pm.
I joke about the term Filipino time because Filipinos are known to being late. But do we really want to be known as being inconsiderate to not even trying to be on time? I’ve been working on my tardiness, but as long as it’s not as bad as my cousins, I think I’m good. There are rare occasions where I am an hour late, but I’m usually at most 10 minutes late, and that is because of traffic. One day I'll be on time all the time, but for now, guess you can collect your thoughts for 10 minutes until I arrive.

my epiphany

I've finally come to realized I really need to change my lifestyle. Partying once a week on the weekends has given me the reputation of a party girl and I don't want that. And when I meet guys, they see me as a party girl and think that they can treat me like one. Treat me like I'm disposable. Call me only when there's a party. I was like the party hub. I always knew where all the parties were at and would take these guys to these various parties and never see them again until there was another party to bring them to.
I'm a good girl but by looking at my pictures, no one can tell that I am one. And I am ready to settle down with one guy. Casual dating is kind of getting old now. I'll probably still date multiple guys, but this time sorting through them to find THE ONE. Go out with them and do other things then drink and party. I want to be able to go out with a guy to dinner and a movie. You know, like old fashion dating. I'm an old fashion girl might as well date like one.
I believe that if I can settle down myself, I will find that one person that I can settle down with too. I believe God is telling me that since I'm partying so much, I'm not ready to be in a relationship because partying might take priority over my boyfriend. I remember when I was dating R, I would pick a party over him. And I don't want a guy to feel like he's second best to my social life.
Another thing is that the party scene is getting old. One night of partying requires me about two days to recover. When I drink, my insomnia kicks in and I tend to only get about 3-4 hours of sleep. So the next night I have to sleep early just to catch up on sleep. Then the rest of the week, I'm exhausted at work.
The past two and a half months have been great. I've made great friends and was able to finally let loose. I appreciate my parents for being patient with me in my partying stage. Now, I would much rather go to the movies, go bowling, go out to dinner, or have a night in with some friends. Let's have a board game night or have karaoke contests. Less drinking though. 2 months of drinking takes a toll on a girl's body. It's time to hang the party shoes indefinately.

just a little dream… (really long!)

So I’ve been having strange dreams lately and what’s surprising is that I remember them too! At the sight of a new day, I rarely remember what my unconscious self thought during the night. It all started two days ago when I woke up reminiscing on the sleeping thoughts I just received. From what I can remember, it was about me, my friends J, S, and C. We were in a car looking for something to do. We were bored out of our minds and were looking for something to occupy ourselves. Today, I decided to consult a dream dictionary.

Car
To dream that you are driving a car, denotes your ambition, your drive and your ability to navigate from one stage of your life to another. Consider how smooth or rough the car ride is. Whether you are driving the car or a passenger, is indicative of your active role or passive role in your life. If you are in the backseat of the car, then it indicates that you are putting yourself down and are allowing others to take over. This may be a result of low self-esteem or low self-confidence. Overall, this dream symbol is an indication of your dependence and degree of control you have on your life.

Friends
Signify aspects of your personality that have been developing and making you grow as a person. The relationships you have with those around you are important in learning about yourself, so look to the friends you dreamed about for signals of personality traits they have that you desire in yourself, and work on those things. Additionally, dreaming of friends sometimes foretells that you will hear happy news from them.

And like with many dreams, they are never constant. The next script that came to me during my sleep was that I was pregnant. I thought maybe I had this dream was because a lot of people around me are getting pregnant. My friend A just had a baby, my coworker is pregnant, and my friend K just found out she’s pregnant. But what was weird about this dream was that I was supposedly 9 months pregnant and about to pop but my stomach was not that big. Was I having a midget baby? I will never know because I woke up right when my water broke in the dream.

Pregnant
To dream that you are pregnant, symbolizes an aspect of yourself or some aspect of your personal life that is growing and developing. You may not be ready to talk about it or act on it. This may also represent the birth of a new idea, direction, project or goal.

Birth
The birth of a human child is a universal symbol for good news, happiness, and/or a whole new life. The birth of twins or triplets indicates wealth. If the birth involved friendly animals such as dogs, cats, horses or dolphins, then allies who will be of great assistance to you soon surround you. The birth of scary animals, however, such as predators of all kinds, indicates the opposite: Your adversaries are gaining ground and you need to strengthen your resources.

So from the interpretation of my dreams, I’ll be getting good news and maybe developing a new idea? It doesn’t stop there.

Last night I had just as weird of a dream then the night before. From what I can remember, I woke up and got a phone call from my friend E to come with her to deliver a pillow to her friend. I told her that I have to be home early because I have a test at 10 am. She gets me home at 9:30 and I still had to shower. I take a quick shower and race out of my house. The road turns to sand and I see people playing around the sand. I get out of my car and pick it up like it’s a toy car. Then a small bridge appears and I try to cross it, but I’m a giant compared to the bridge and it crumbles sending me falling towards the water. Before I know it, my alarm signals me to wake up from this bizarre dream.

Pillow
If you see a pillow in your dream, it represents comfort, relaxation and luxury. It may indicate laziness or, conversely, a need to take it easy on yourself.

Late
To dream that you are late for something represents your fear of change and your anxiety about seizing an opportunity. You may feel unready or unworthy in your current circumstances. You may also be conflicted over decisions about your future.

Bridge
Bridges often signify travel and transitions. Dreaming of a bridge over water suggests that you could be conflicted in your emotions. If the bridge was unstable or collapsing, it could mean problems in a friendship or love relationship.

Giant
To dream that you turn into a giant, indicates feelings of inferiority.

Test
If you miss a test in a dream, you are worried that you don't have what it takes to accomplish something expected of you in real life.

From this interpretation, I have a fear of change and failure and also feel inferior and lazy. Also a friendship or a relationship will fail soon. These are extremely opposite dreams in two days. One night I dream I’ll be expecting good news, the next night I’ll be expecting a friendship to fail. What’s crazy was that in each night, every symbol in the dream tied together with each other. The first night, everything in the dream symbolizes something positive might happen, whereas last night everything symbolizes something negative might happen. It’s funny how dreams can be interpreted.

board games can be fun

Who knew that playing board games can be fun when we are adults? I think I had more fun playing twister, taboo, and pictionary at 22 then when I was a teenager. Granted that the night included alcohol, but we were sober enough to have fun without thinking of drinking more. Friday was my friend R’s 21^st birthday but I wasn’t able to attend for I was having a fun time with Mr. T himself at Pure. So in order for me to make it up to him, he demanded I come to game night at our friend A’s ghetto storage home. Her parents own this home in the ghetto to store supplies for her dad’s business. It’s so ghetto that when I arrived, my friends told me to hurry my ass up because they don’t want to stay outside any longer for fear of a drive by. No one was allowed to go outside by themselves for fear of one’s own safety. We tried to convince my friend D that A dropped out of school and is working two jobs to afford the shack of a house. The story wasn’t as funny, but it was funnier when she believed us.

Anyway, so game night was on Sunday and we started the night off with pictionary because I’ve never played it before. I’ve always wanted to play pictionary because I see people on tv having fun drawing little pictures and yelling random words trying to figure out a Picasso like picture. When we opened the box, I was a bit shocked. I always pictured playing pictionary with a gigantic pad of paper on a tripod. Nope. We got tiny pads of paper. Did you know pictionary comes with a board? I always thought that you are just given cards and you just draw what the words on the card say. Well we ended up playing like that because we couldn’t figure out how to use the dice with the weird pictures on it. Yes, we are adults and can’t figure out a simple game. We had fun regardless of playing the game correctly or not. My team lost by 1 point, but the other team didn’t have “white men can’t jump!” Tell me how the hell do you draw “white men can’t jump?”

Twister was fun as well, but we cannot play that with 6 people anymore. We were only able to fit 4 people on that mat. My friend said that it’s because of my booty that we all couldn’t fit. It’s not my fault that I’ve got a booty that goes miles on ends. No, I’m just kidding, it’s not that big. But I do have a big booty and he likes to point it out. It was really fun and I want a rematch from Ro. He lost his balance and knocked me and D down with him. Cheater.

But let’s not play taboo again. That game is hard. I had “actor” and I had to explain actor without using certain words. Well R and his friend Ro are both aspiring actors. Actually, you can see Ro in the movie Gridiron Gang as a football player. So I tried to use them to describe actor. I said, “What they are!” And of course, my friend Al asked, “Gay?” With this group of friends, everything is fair game. We make fun of each other knowing that feelings won’t be hurt no matter how hurtful it sounds. From the outside looking in, it does sound like we are extremely mean towards one another, but we just show how much we love each other in our own special way. It was an eventful night where I’m glad I was forced to come. Just being able to laugh all night and relive our childhood was memorable. I want another board game night!

we are fighting

Dear Alcohol,
Why must you leave me in a euphoric state for a couple of hours just to leave me hanging as an insomniac later that night? I know we have lots of fun for those couple of hours with lots of laughing, dancing, and meeting new people, but why can’t you let me sleep like you do with other people? The past two days you only let me have a grand total of 8 hours of sleep. People are suppose to get 8 hours of sleep a DAY not 8 hours for TWO DAYS. I even struggled for those precious 8 hours. It took me an hour each night just to catch the bus to dreamland.
Also, when we spend time together, I get hungry. I feel hungry. But when food is placed in front of me, you chase my appetite away. Why?! I want to be a normal person around you. I want to be able to eat till my stomach is satisfied with the yummy goodness of artery clogging foods.
Next week, I’m taking a break from you. This week, I will catch up on my ZzZz and come October, we will reunite like old friends. Like old friends, we see change among each other and I want to see something changed with you. Ok? Till then, good luck and I’ll see you in two weeks.

Love,
M

an unexpected friend

Growing up, my sister had her set of friends and I had mine and they were never intertwined. Whenever her friends would come over, our vocabulary amongst each other didn't span more then the hello's and the how are you's. A couple of years ago, that all changed. You see, my sister went through this rebellious phase where she dropped everyone, all for a boy. A deadbeat. All her friends turned to me for updates on what was going on with her and of course I didn't know either for I was in the dark with them. Who knew that all her friends and I would become so close while my sister isolated herself from them.

The one relationship that surprised me the most was the one with X (had to use a different letter just incase). She and I would never have guessed we would be so close. But for some reason, she was easy to talk to and vice versa. I would tell her everything that was going on in my life especially about guys. She is the only one that knows everything about me. A few days ago, my guy friend J whom I’ve known since he was about 3 years old and I was 9, said we should share personal stories. And I told him I don't share stories like that. And X interrupted us and yells out, 'she shares with me!' We find it funny that of all the people we are close to, we share our deepest darkest secrets with each other. I think why I tell her everything is because she doesn’t know a lot of my friends so she has an unbiased opinion.

A few months ago we were talking on AIM where I noticed something was wrong. She kept saying random things and every time I ask what was wrong, she would avoid the question. Then she confessed to me that she's confused and she thinks she has a crush on a girl. I told her that lots of girls like to experiment these days and not to worry. She said she’s worried to tell everyone and how judgmental they might become. I reassured her that if her friends were real friends, they won’t care if she’s straight, gay, bi, or whatever. She informs me that I’m the first one she's told. She hasn't even told N, her best friend, a best friend she considers her sister. I felt special to know that she can confide in me something as important as this. What’s funny is that N was the second to last to know. And she said, "Of all the people, you tell Monica first?!" And as for my sister, she just found out last night, a week after N.

It’s funny how the detours of life can sometimes turn out to be scenery to die for. Now that my sister is slowly coming back into society and trying to patch up old wounds, I would never have seen my sister, me, and all our friends together in a room bonding. Even though I’ll never have the same bond my sister has with her friends, I consider them great people and I’m glad life turned out this way.

but we aren't twins

Growing up my mom always wanted twins. I would hear the excitement in her voice when she sees twins running around in identical outfits. Twin kids of course. In college I saw two different set of twin guys who dressed alike with their other twin. That is bizarre beyond compare. Anyways, her desire to have twins was so intense that she dressed my sister and me in identical clothes growing up. I thought those years were long gone until last weekend. For my sister’s birthday, we had dinner with our friends. Our friends D and S were the last to arrive and were seated on the opposite end of the table from me. When they arrived all I heard were giggles from them. I couldn’t ask them what was so funny since they were on the other side of the table, and it was extremely noisy in the restaurant.

At the end of dinner I realized what they were laughing at. You see, D and S chipped in together to buy each of us a present. S handed me a gift bag. Laughing hysterically she forcibly said, “I hope you like your present.”

I thought it was a gag gift since she was laughing so hard. As I took a peek into the bag I saw something familiar. It took awhile for my memory to adjust to this familiar pattern. Then I looked up and focused on the patterns of my sister’s tank top. Of course, it’s the top my sister was wearing at that very moment! They didn’t even plan that because my sister had just bought that top for her birthday. They said we can be twins now! Oh no, the nightmares came rushing back that I thought were long forgotten. We haven’t dressed the same since we were single digit aged and we are not going to start again.

streaking, lap dances, drinking, and kissing

Yesterday was my sister’s 20^th birthday and we decided to go bowling since there’s nothing else to do in Vegas when you’re 20. I invited some friends so we can bowl under the influence. I threw the ball a few times before my friend A came and it was off to the bar. I decided to hang at the bar instead of the bowling lanes. I saw my friend M whom I haven’t seen in about 4 months and she decided to buy me kryptonite since she said I wasn’t drunk enough in my birthday pictures. Keep in mind that I’ve already had 3 other drinks before this. A Washington apple shot, jagger bomb, and a mai tai. She’s satisfied that I took the shot and I was pretty tipsy. I started trippin’ out on the cash register because it looked blurry to me. My friends reassured me that it was blurry for them, so I knew I wasn’t that drunk.

Fast forward and my sister and her friends decided to go home early. I wanted to drink more and T wanted to go sing karaoke. My friend J got off work and asked if we were still at the bowling alley and if we wanted to go to a house party and sing karaoke. We couldn’t pass up the offer because free drinks and karaoke? Life couldn’t be any better. Her boyfriend gave us shitty directions and it took us an hour to get to the house which could have been done in 15 minutes. A, T, and I don’t know too many people and it was more like a kick back then a party. But after 15 minutes we all headed out to another house but A ended up going home early.

More drinking happened. The guys decided to play pool where J and I got to pick what the loser had to do. I chose a lap dance because hello, T lost and he’s hot. J chose the loser gives the winner a lap dance. How funny is having a guy give another guy a lap dance? Not that funny. It was boring. They weren’t into it as T was with me. Then we did couples game and C got to choose what the losers had to do. Little did we know, we were all losers. I told him that I will not under any circumstances take off any clothes and J agreed. The guys, not so much.

T and I won the pool game but the feeling of victory was short-lived when he said that the girls had to either streak or French kiss each other and the guys had to do the same. But I won! Why do I have to participate in this when I won? The guys played another game while J and I tried to con our way out of it. Didn’t work. The guys finished playing and all 4 of them dropped all their clothes and went streaking outside in the cold night. And all I saw were their white asses because I refused to see anything else. Especially C, because he is all hairy and that’s gross. When they were running back, T's hands were over his head. Damn I wish I had 20/20 vision, because I couldn’t see anything.

Since the guys did their bet, they all hovered over J and me to go through our bet. We tried to convince them that we will do a peck on the lips. They said French kiss. We tried to convince them a longer kiss on the lips without tongue. They said French kiss. So we did a peck on the lips and they booed. It took us about 8 minutes to finally go through with it. How do I know 8 minutes? Because C video taped the whole thing on his digital camera! Pervert! Anyways, we kissed without tongue! They don’t know that. But they were satisfied. We kissed for about 5 seconds and J’s boyfriend got mad because we were only supposed to kiss for 4 seconds. He counted out loud and yelled out FOUR. Guess he’s not into the whole lesbian action. J and I were joking around before the actual kiss on who is going to make the move. We both wanted to initiate it while the other girl just stood there with her eyes close. We both wanted to be the dominant one and I ended up being the guy and took the lead. And she showed her boyfriend how I kissed and he’s like, now I feel like I’ve kissed Monica. I’ve only known J for a few months and we joke around now that this just made us a little more closer. We vowed to never speak of this incident outside of the house, so don’t ask me who is who, because I won’t tell. I like to tease you. But I learned to never make bets with C because no matter what, you’ll end up doing something even if you won.

bad luck contagious?

Everyone says that bad things come in threes. Have you heard of three people who had a streak of two bad incidents each happening to them? It seems like bad luck is contagious among people I know. It all started a couple of months ago when my friend T came back from California for a friend’s 21^st birthday. The next day I invited her to lunch but she ended up telling me some bad news. She was stuck in Barstow with her boyfriend with a flat tire and needs to replace all 4 tires, which costs about $300! I asked if she needed me to wire her some money because it’s Barstow. There’s nothing there and it’s kind of scary. I send her some money and they are able to buy spankin’ new tires for J’s spankin’ new Scion Box car. You would think that everything is better, but it gets worse. A couple of days later, they were driving in J’s hometown when some dumbass runs a red light and hits J’s car. New tires and all were totaled. You would think that the Scion Box was too square to roll, but it rolled. It rolled real good. It’s a good thing no one was seriously hurt, but the car! The tires! All that time and effort to scrap the $300 to buy 4 new tires went down the drain. Well, there’s more bad luck.

The next streak of bad luck happened to me. If you read in the previous posts you already know my bad luck. It all happened when I over withdrew from the wrong bank account accumulating massive charges that would be more useful on say food or gas. Then the next bad luck was my speeding/running a red light/no seatbelt ticket. Oh the horror of hearing those charges! In my defense, I was wearing a seatbelt. I was so nervous and didn’t know what to do so I took it off and looked for my paperwork. Judgment day is on October 23^rd, so pray that I have a reduced charge.

The third streak of double bad luck happened to my parents. In my house, we have two garage doors where my mom and my sister share a two car garage and I have my own one car garage. A week ago my dad noticed that the two car garage was sounding louder then usual. It would make a big bang at the end when it opened. It ended up breaking and they had to buy a new garage door opener. Good thing for me was they bought me one for my garage door also. But the bad luck doesn’t stop there. Yesterday, on their way home, I get a phone call that they’re going to be late because they got into a car accident. A few cars were giving this truck a chance to make a left turn when my dad wasn’t able to see him. So the truck swerved and hit a pole and my dad hits the back tire. The cops say it’s my dad’s fault and gives him two tickets. The court house will have a wonderful time having father and daughter in the court house next month.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that all three of us had a double streak of bad luck? Do you think it will end with my parents? Hopefully it ends there, but isn't it interesting how they all kind of revolved around cars? I need some good luck to come my way.

where were you 5 years ago?

Today commemorates the 5 year anniversary of what America experienced as the annihilation of the World Trade Center. Every year on this day, I always look back on the day it happened. It was my senior year of high school and I was doing my daily routine of watching the morning news for any current events to bring up for Government class. And every channel was focused on one thing, the Twin Towers.
I didn’t want to go to class worried I would miss them falling. As I walked through the halls everyone was gathered in their cliques talking about the biggest event of our generation. No one wanted to be in class. Everyone wanted to sit with their loved ones and glue themselves to the tv.
When the first period bell rang signaling to get to class, we convinced our teacher to let us watch the news. For that one day, everything and everyone stopped and was fixated around the television. Teachers didn’t mind if students were absent or late. They didn’t mind that we didn’t have our homework done in time. It was all about what was on the television and nothing else mattered.
By fourth period, an announcement was made that teachers were to turn off the television for fear students would become scared witnessing this horrifying event. By this time, we already saw the second tower fall and all was silent during the halls. I remember teachers explaining how every generation has a life altering event and that this is our generation’s event. This is the event that would forever be permanently written in our mind. Everyone knows that I have an awful memory, but it’s amazing how this incident is able to let me remember even the smallest detail of that day. They say when people are struck with an ordeal that is life altering; they remember every detail of that day. This day is one of them, and I’ll never forget it.

endless shot night

My 22^nd birthday has come and gone and I didn't even learn my lesson from the previous year. I partied like it was my 21^st birthday by reliving it. I was living in parallel with the previous year. After dinner, we headed to the bar to meet my friends and the first thing people asked me was, "Can I buy you a shot?" I would like to call this night, the endless shot night. Shot after shot, I was pretty drunk in about 20 minutes and was only asking for water after that.
After the last friend arrived at the bar, we headed to the club where I lost track of what happened. A friend of mine has pictures of me on the stripper pole and told me I danced on it twice. In between asking for water, I was rushing to the bathroom to throw up. Last year, I never made it to the bathroom. I had to throw up in the casino trash cans.
When I'm drunk, I become very friendly. I was told that I kept hugging people and telling everyone how much I loved each and every one of them. I also have a tendency to keep introducing myself to people I don't know when I'm drunk and my friend J said that I introduced myself about 10 times to her boyfriend. And what made it more funny was that he introduced himself using his real name and his nickname. So I kept telling J that I'm more confused since he's using two names.
I was so wasted Friday night that when I woke up on Saturday I was still drunk. But the one thing that shocked me was when I was browsing through my camera, there was a picture of my friend Laura and me in the bathroom. She and I have the same birthday so she was probably at the club celebrating her birthday too. I haven't seen her since high school and of all the places, I see her at the club and I don't even remember it.
After the club, I needed something in my stomach to stop throwing up so we went to Fatburger and like my 21st birthday I ordered fries. Which of course, I couldn't eat anything. The lack of appetite was from throwing up so many times. After a few fries I pretty much passed out on the table. Seems like every birthday from now on I’ll pass out at restaurants. The one thing that was a big difference was that I didn’t throw up at the restaurant. I was able to make it to the bathroom this time. I’m improving each year! But overall, I had a great time and everyone said they had a great time as well. I’m glad everyone was able to make it even though a lot of my friends had to leave early due to early rising obligations. Maybe next year I won’t take a 2 week break from drinking and won't turn into a lightweight. I might have left a few things out from that night only because I don't remember. I saw a few pictures already and I don't remember them being taken. Without those pictures, I wouldn't be able to piece together the whole night. Thanks everyone! You are the best! And of course, I love you!

a year older, a year wiser

Well today I turn the big 2-2 and I realized that the year flew by very quickly. They say that happens after you turn 21. Well in the past year, I had a grand time and I learned a lot. I am a little wiser from all that has happened to me this past year.

I learned that no matter how long you’ve been friends with someone, they can still stab you in the back over and over again and not feel any remorse. I learned that even though we’ve been friend since jr. high, it’s time to let that friendship go and go our separate ways. I don’t regret any of it. I learned to forgive. But of course I won't forget what she did.

I love how I meet people I went to school with in high school but don’t meet them until after we graduate. I’ve met awesome people this past year that went to my high school, but I never saw them during my 4 years of schooling. And also I love how I loose touch with friends from jr. high and high school, but this past year, I reconnected with quite a few of them. Mostly thanks to myspace.

I learned that I have an addictive personality. I tend to get addicted to things and it’s not pretty. I gave up myspace for 40 days to fix this addiction. It only made it worse. After 40 days, I needed a fix and now I’m on there almost all day.

I learned that with good friends, time passes by faster then a speeding bullet while you are together, but among each other it feels like it stood still. I am so blessed to have great friends that I love sharing my rapidly passing time with them.

I love how whenever I get together with my God Sister, whom I’ve known all my life, we always reminisce about the past. And the one memory that we always share is when we were growing up we would jump on the bed and my sister would always end up falling off the bed. My sister hates that memory, but we love reliving that memory in our heads. I love how my sister would get mad about sharing that memory that she would share a bad memory of each of us.

I learned that Marilyn Monroe’s quote “If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything” is true. I was once head over heels over a guy that I didn’t realize I was neglecting my girlfriends. And I’m so impressed how mature they handled it that they were easily forgiving when we ended our fun. And I learned my lesson to never let a guy come between my friends and me, no matter what. Unless he’s super hot. No I’m just kidding.

I learned that I can burn and also get a tan. I got my first sun burn this past year. I was shocked! But I deserve it, since I was out in the sun for 6 hours without any sun block.

I learned that blood does run thicker then water. To everyone, I only have one sister, but to me, I have over 30 brothers and sisters. My cousins mean the world to me. We all grew up together and saw each other many times a year. Going through many guy problems this year, my cousins were my rock. Especially my cousin K, who experienced the same break up as I did. So in conclusion, guys suck! No I’m just kidding. Just the one’s I meet.

I learned that hard work does pay off. How many 21 year olds can say they have a bachelor’s degree? Even though I hated my major more then I enjoyed it, I am glad I stuck with it and was able to graduate at 21.

And one thing I learned since turning 21, never mix your drinks. I learned that the hard way. It makes me more nauseous then a pregnant woman. And my memory is worse then an Alzheimer’s patient. And to also have enough food in your stomach before you drink. Nothing is worse then throwing up stomach acid.

I’ve experience so much this year and through each experience I learned valuable lessons along the way. Life is all about lessons where you learn from them and I did learn a lot. I’m very grateful for the loves of my life for helping me through everything and for sticking with me. I know I can be a handful, especially when I’m drunk. But I am only 22 and the night is young. So let’s go celebrate and maybe I’ll learn something new.

best pre-birthday gift ever

While I was at work, I realized I needed a few essentials for Friday’s big bash so I went to Target during my lunch break. I got back from Target in 45 minutes so I ate my lunch that I brought. Eating some spaghetti and surfing the web, my boss comes in my cube. I didn't want to get caught myspaceing so I close my browser like there's no tomorrow. It wouldn't matter if he saw me myspaceing, I was on my lunch. And plus, he's a cool boss because you know why? He gave me the best birthday present ever. A day off on my birthday! You don't understand how awesome this is. I've only been working for 3 months and he gives me a day off. Most people have to wait an eternity (6 months) to get a sick day off, and I was able to get off within 3 months! He just told me to email him saying I feel sick and that would be it. He is awesome! And so is my aunt. She gave me a $100 check. My boss and my aunt have set the bar pretty high for everyone else on gift givings. I'm just kidding. It is the thought that counts in a gift and I will appreciate all my gifts. I can't wait for Friday. Having dinner with good friends and then drinking and dancing with lots of awesome friends. I'll be sure to post pictures from my bday.
For now, here are some pictures from dinner.

Eww. Major tan lineage going on there. I need to start tanning in the nude. At least I can say I'm not that white. I'm able to tan and there's proof!

my sister's adventure with a dress

I love long weekends. It represents a time to go and splurge on everything from shopping to eating, my two favorite past times. And of course, with holiday weekends comes sales. I went to the mall with the intentions of buying clothes that were on sale. As I browsed through all the clothes, of course I fell in love with practically all the ones that weren’t on sale. And to top it all off, my whole purpose of going to the mall was to buy a hot outfit to look hot on my special day. Instead, the majority of the clothes I bought were for work. I did buy a dress, but that is reserved for the week after my special day for a semi-formal gathering to celebrate a wonderful woman’s 80^th birthday, my cousin’s grandmother. I was ecstatic when I saw the dress because it was 75% off and it looked hot. Too bad my hotness will be wasted on a family party. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures to showcase them on myspace.

While I was looking for a dress, I ended up picking out a stunning dress for my sister and prayed that it fit her. I wanted her buy it so I can borrow the dress when in that rare case I gain enough weight to move up a size. If some of you know my sister, she is a going through that transition from being a tomboy to a minimal girly girl. She will wear fitted jeans, but not a skirt. She will wear baby tees but not a spaghetti strap. So 5 minutes in the dressing room I yell out if everything is ok. She yells out in frustration that it doesn’t fit. So then I get excited and yell out, ‘maybe it runs small and it might fit me!’ She quickly changes and comes out of the dressing room signaling me to try it on.

Excited, I enter the dressing room and see the dress sprawled on the chair as if my sister was so pissed off that it didn’t fit that in her frustrations, she threw it there to teach it a lesson. I picked up the dress and to my surprise the zipper was still intact. I yell out to my sister and ask if she unzipped the dress.

My sister asks, “What? There’s a zipper?”
Me laughing hysterically, I forcibly say, “Uh yea! Maybe that’s why it didn’t fit!”

I tried on the dress and unsurprisingly it was too big. So I exit the dressing room and tell my sister to unzip it this time and to try it on. When she came out, it fitted perfectly. Although she said it’s a little tight it's not noticeable. She ended up buying the dress and I’ll be sure to take a picture of her in the dress, only because that occasion is rare and I need evidence to show people that she wears dresses on special occasions.

are you a mom?

My sweet tooth has been deprived for almost a month now of those chewy and soft chocolate chip cookies. A guilty pleasure, that is only to be eaten on special occasions. So what’s the special occasion you ask? I’ve been craving cookies for a few weeks and that is a world record. So to celebrate the world record, today was that day I finally gave in and decided to buy the ingredients. With the shopping list in one hand and the other navigating the uncooperative cart, I searched for various foods. While I was in the section where you wouldn’t find a vegetarian in sight, yes the meat aisle, I parked my cart on the side. As I contemplated on what meat to buy, I have this conversation with a boy of 10 years old.

Little boy: “Excuse me, are you a mom?”
Me: Shocked at the question I crack a smile and say, “Uh no.”
LB: With a big smile on his face he asks, “Oh, then can I have your number?”
ME: Even more surprised by his question, I laugh hysterically and said, “Uh no thank you.” And I walked away pretending to look busy.

Is that the new pick up line going around these days? When I was in the aisle of heaven, yes the ice cream aisle, he ran into me again and said with a huge smile, “Heeeeyyyyy there! I’m back!”

He’s such a persistent little boy. All I can do is laugh because I’ve never been asked if I was a mom to be used as a pick up line. I wasn’t even with a little kid, unless you count my younger sister who is only 2 years younger than me. I should have said, “Yes I am a mom,” and point to my sister and said, “And that is my daughter.” That would have been hilarious just to see what his expression would be. I thought I’ve heard every pick up line there is, I was wrong.

september baby

September starts tomorrow and it's that time of year again. Birthday month! Out of all the months in a year, September for me is the month with the most birthdays and it's the 2nd most expensive month, with December being first. Hmm...let's see who's birthday is coming up:
Cousin L - 4th
Uncle R - 5th
B - 6th
Me - 7th
P - 7th
Uncle J - 8th
Coworker A - 11th
Coworker E - 13th
S - 13th
Godson A - 14th
S - 15th
M - 15th
Sis L - 15th
R - 23rd
M - 23rd
K - 25th
Coworrker M - 25th
G - 26th
I - 28th
R - 29th

Now that's a lot of birthdays! I may be missing a few people, but that just means they aren't as important to me. I'm just kidding. I have a birthday reminder on my computer and I put the above birthdays on the calander last year. I'm not the only one who thinks September is a busy month for birthdays. A lot of my friends agree that September is a popular month for birthdays. I wonder why? Women must be very thankful for the Christmas presents they receive from their husbands/boyfriends that they decide to get pregnant in December. Or maybe people don't go out during the winter because it's so cold that they find other resources to stay warm. Now that's my kind of resource. People, stop having sex in December. I'm going to go broke in September from buying birthday presents every day! But hey, at least it will give me an excuse to party everyday.
So on September 7th, I'll be expecting that my hands be occupied holding liver-poisoning concoctions. And my lovely friends will take many pictures of everyone having fun just incase the alcohol becomes my very own mind eraser and suddenly develop amnesia don't have any memory of my birthday. At least with pictures, it will give me some idea of what happened and what I did.

polygamy, not for the faint of heart.

According to MSN; the polygamist leader for the Mormon Church Warren Steed Jeffs has been captured in Las Vegas. Reading this article brings back so much memories of high school when I knew so many Mormons. Ahh..the good ol' days. I went to a school where the student body population was probably about 75% Mormons. And you know what? Almost all of them tried to convert me. Yep, one of them even gave me a picture of him from prom with in which he wrote on the back, "Monica, I know one day you will become an LDS." I think he meant an LSD addict because I would much rather be an LSD addict then an LDS member. I can see why they wanted to convert me though. They wanted me to join in on their polygamist ways and give my children 50 brothers and sisters and 50 step mommas. No I'm just kidding. They don't believe in polygamy anymore. Well most of them don't. And if they did, they are probably hiding out in Utah somewhere. There's nothing but desert in Utah. You can't even buy hard liquor there. That is probably why they have so many children, there's nothing to do over there! Just kidding!

All joking aside, this man's name is Warren Steed Jeffs. I knew a Mormon in high school named Jeff Steed. Hmm..coincidence? Just kidding, this man doesn't even look anything like Jeff and plus, Warren Jeffs looks like he's 50 years old. Hmm..maybe his father? Ok enough joking around. Back to the serious issue. He's not wanted for his polygamist ways though. No sirree. He's wanted for forcing a lot of teenage girls into marry older married men. Even girls as young as 13! This sicko needs to rot in hell because come on, who marries a girl who is only 13? Oh wait, John Mark Karr did. Was it John Mark Karr who married this 13 year old? Probably not, he only had 3 children. That's not enough kids for the Mormon Church. In order to be accepted into the Mormon Church one must promise to have at least 6 children. (I once knew a girl who had 13 brothers and sister. That's a lot of kids in this day and age.) And probably keep up with the minimum quota of recruiting outsiders into their church. That's why they need so many children, so they can have their children recruit their peers. Oh, yes, I know their secret now.

His father had about 65 children and Warren himself has about 60 children. Talk about competition. That is why polygamy is illegal. At that rate, you might fall in love with your own sibling. Man, I would hate to be in that family. For every guy I meet, I would have to ask if we are related. That can traumatize a girl. Knowing I've done things with my own brother. Polygamy is not for the faint of heart and I'm glad it's no where near me where I can witness it.

in love with the word like

At the age of 21, I am the first among my friends to embark on the journey of adulthood. As a recent college graduate with a degree in computer science, which is one of the most difficult fields in college, it took me about 5 months to find the perfect job. A stable job with benefits, and a 401k. Who has a 401k at the age of 21? Adulthood here I am and yet I still feel like that 16 year old in high school. Physically I still look like a 16 year old and I’ve been told I talk like one too. Well not necessarily a 16 year old, more like a valley girl.

About a month into my new job, my coworker who busted his butt getting me this job (that’s another story, I promise I will tell later on, it’s pretty good) confronted me about the way I speak. Apparently, whenever I speak, I sound like a valley girl and say the word ‘like’ too much for the adulthood’s taste. I never noticed it and my coworker said it’s probably because all my friends say it just as much as I do. He suggested that in order to succeed in the real world that I should try and sound more professional and drop the word ‘like’.

At first I felt like my coworker is trying to mold me into someone he deems appropriate for the real world. First he got me this awesome job and now he’s trying to change the way I speak. I was pissed off. Then I did notice I do say ‘like’ a lot and I can’t seem to stop. I’m in love with ‘like.’ Well, I was in love with it, but we need to break up. A few weeks ago, I met this girl who said the word ‘like’ way too much for me to handle. While she was talking to me, I didn’t really pay attention to her. You know how in tv when someone is talking and the other person is daydreaming, or thinking out loud that you can hear their thoughts? That’s how I felt. Over the many ‘like’s’, I contemplated on how my coworkers felt when I talked to them. Do they daydream when I speak to them too? Do they count the number of times I say the word ‘like’? After meeting this younger version of me I want to change. I need to go to one of those anonymous meetings and confess my addiction to the word ‘like.’ “Hi, my name is Monica, and like I can’t stop saying the word ‘like’.” Someone please help me break up with ‘like.’ I want to like sound grown up.

oh i wish...

Well, my birthday is fast approaching. I'll no longer be 21 years old. I want to do something for my 22nd birthday, but I just don't know what to do. I know I want to party, but where? I'm thinking Blondies. Since last year I went clubbing for my birthday. And a few of my friends are over the clubbing scene already. Let's just not party as hard as I did my 21st birthday. I want to remember this one at least. I only remember bits and pieces of the night of my 21st birthday and they weren't pretty. Out of all the times I've drank, I've only thrown up twice and my 21st birthday being one of them. Let's just say that before my friend Apple, I was holding the record of throwing up the most among my friends. And I can never go back to Denny's again. No they didn't throw me out of the restaurant; I'm just too embarrassed to show my face there again. I've marked my territory with various contents of what laid in my stomach all over the restaurant. I'm not making this up. Although if you ask my friends Moises and Natalia, they will not talk about it. They don't want any memory of that night. I was told that right after the club, I passed out and only got up to tell everyone I needed to throw up right before it happens. Hey I was polite enough to warn people. Drinking can be a learning experience and I've learned to never mix my drinks. Well I guess it takes me two times to eventually learn to not make the same mistakes. The other time I threw up I mixed my drinks too. But never again will I mix my drinks. Okay, enough reminiscing about my 21st birthday.

My family always asks me what I want for my birthday. Usually I say money so I can buy the things I really want. Then I saw my sister's wish list for her birthday this year so that made me want to make my own wish list.

o Pink mini ipod (just wishing) - I like listening to music while I'm at the gym.
o Digital camera (wishing harder) - Sony Camera
o Cute tops/clothes/gift cards (size small or med)
o Help/finish my Friends dvd collection (i still need seasons 2,3,5,6,7,10)
o Workout ball (a big size - 65cm or bigger)
o Toning ball (6 lbs+)
o Flip flops (I'm sad that my favorite flip flops are gone...anna!..I need some more..size 6 please)
o Sushi dinner..mmmm or any food.

happy 4th birthday jj

What I love about my family is that I have a huge family and it's always someone's birthday. I just want to say happy 4th birthday to my nephew Julian John. He is the cutest and sweetest little boy I know. I remember before this picture was taken, we were walking hand in hand to the pool. While we were walking, I thought he said something so I leaned over and asked what he said. His response in a cute little voice, "What? I didn't say anything. What did you think I said? I'm just walking to the pool." Kids say the cutest things sometimes. My sister was trying to take his picture with her phone today and his little sister Gizelle ran in the picture with the biggest smile on her face. She always wants to be a part of everything. Even if it's JJ's day, she wants to be a part of it. JJ didn't mind, he just put his arm around her and smiled. I wish I could just freeze time and keep them small forever.
I am just so proud of JJ for being such a strong little boy. The first couple of years of his life he was in and out of hospitals. Constantly getting sick and my cousins worried he wouldn't make it. JJ wouldn't give up the fight. He always got better and fought even harder for the next battle. He is allergic to almost every food nature has given us, but at the age of 4 he knows what he can and cannot eat. He can't run around too much or else he will throw up. He has a weak immune system, so he is prone to getting sick. He has overcome so many obstacles and I'm just thankful he is here with us. As fragile as he is, that never stops him from having fun. He is so full of life and I love him. Happy Birthday JJ.

i'm not alone!

I was doing my daily blog readings when I read "grammar gaffe friday" written by fish. I thought to myself, 'I'm not alone!' Fish was venting out how she gets so irritated when people misuse I's and me's, especially when labeling pictures in let's say, myspace. (Yes, I'm a myspace addict too. Don't blame me, I have an addictive personality. I get addicted to things easily. That is how I got this blog.) It's very coincidental that she wrote about this topic because I was just talking to my friend about how annoyed I become when I see myspace pictures title 'my friend and I at the beach.' Whenever I read that, it's like running your fingernails across the chalk board. Instead of hurting my ears, it hurts my eyes and my head. Have you seen those shirts that say, "Poor grammar makes me [sic]?"

I need one that says, "Poor grammar hurts me." Granted, I don't have the best grammar. I'll admit it. Don't believe me from my past posts yet? Just keep reading my blog and you can point out all my grammatical errors. I blame it on English not being my first language. And don't tell me that studies show that people who took ESL usually have better grammar then people who grew up having English as their first language. I'm a rare case. Anyways, back to what I was talking about. Grammar. Yes. Grammar and I don't get along sometimes. But there are times where he goes easy on me and allows me to correctly use I's and me's. Why can't he be kind to others? I have no idea. Maybe they didn't go to ESL.

Here is a picture of my sister and me jet skiing at Lake Mead.

Got that? My sister and ME. Not I. Okay. That's enough venting...

Vegas Not The Drunkest City?!

According to Forbes.com, Las Vegas came in at 14 as the drunkest city in America. Shocking isn't it?! Even the title of the page shows how shocking they were that Las Vegas didn't come in first. So who beat my home town? MILWAUKEE! Wait, what? How? I guess since they don't have gambling, low-key prostitution, and 24 hour wedding chapels, they might as well drink.

Las Vegas, you've let me down. People come to you to drink and have fun, and yet you come in at 14?! I would understand if you came in at 2nd. Hell, I would be happy if you came in at 10. At least you would be at the top 10. But 14?! That is unacceptable.

We even have a motto for our city. "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Having a motto says number 1 drunkest city. What's Milwaukee's motto? "We beat Vegas by 13 cities?"

I need to have a word with my friends and tell them that we need to help Las Vegas get to first. We aren't doing a good job. I'm very displeased. As for now kids, drink up! I know I sure will. I can be drinking right now, after all I do live in Vegas.

August Is Just Not My Month

Have you ever felt that it just wasn't your month? Well that's how I feel as of right now. It all started when my mom decided to make me start paying for my car. I've always talked about how 'spoiled' I was growing up because my parents would never let me pay for anything. But I did offer to pay a portion of it last summer when I was working for my aunt. Of course they didn't take the money because they said it was my money to spend. I believed them when they said I don't have to pay for anything. But it's no biggie for me since I get paid pretty well. But after the news of paying for my car, everything went down hill from there.
I got paid on Friday and was excited to see some money. After paying for my car and giving my sister some spending money, I was in need of some cash. What I love about my job is that I get automatic deposit straight into my savings account. Love it! I am so lazy when it comes to banks. I will always put off going to the bank until I really need to go. Anyways, after work, my friend calls me and we were doing what girls love to do...gossip. While I was talking to her, I decided to go to the ATM machine and withdraw some cash for gas and for my sister. I'm such a nice sister, I give my sister money every paycheck for her spending needs. She goes to school full time so she doesn't have time to work. That's how our parents have us do. I was busy gossiping that I didn't realize I withdrew from my checking instead of the savings. I only had 60 some dollars in my checking and the freaking ATM still let me withdraw 200 dollars! I withdrew on Friday and didn't realize the over withdrawl until yesterday! And the overcharges are almost $50! That's $50 down the drain. It just kills me that I have enough money to withdraw $200 and yet I withdrew from the wrong bank account. Lesson learned is never talk on the phone while withdrawing from the ATM, especially if you are gossiping.
But it gets better than that!
Today I was already in a bad mood from yesterday so I was counting the minutes till I got off work. I left work about 2 minutes to 5pm. I was coming up the light when it turned yellow and I went for it. It turned red right when i was half way making my left turn. Oh well. Everyone does it. Well, a cop saw me and decided to stay far behind me watching my every move. And if you know me, I tend to speed to 60mph whatever the speed limit is. Well it was the cop's lucky day to add another tally to his monthly quota. He pulled me over. This is my first time getting pulled over and all I could think of was Friends when Rachael and Ross got pulled over. I wish I pulled a Rachael and flirted with the cop but I was already in a bad mood. I didn't even know what to give him. What a registration even looked like. I know lame. But my dad puts all that good stuff in my car for me. After I handed him the papers, he asked me if I had any weapons in my car. WTF?! If I did have a gun in my car, do you think I would honestly tell you, "yes sir, I have an AK 47 in the back, would you like me to show you how to shoot it??" He wrote me up for running a red light and going over the speed limit of 46mph in a 45mph zone...At least he was nice enough to mark my speeding down to 46? Who gives a fuck. My mom says I have to do traffic school.
I just want this month to get over with. No more partying till I get money. My next two paychecks will probably go towards my car and my ticket. Damn you August! Damn you!!!