It Is The Best Medicine

Act 22:

“It’s never too late… To Laugh At Yourself

Life is too short to take it too seriously. It’s easy to laugh at others – much harder to laugh at ourselves. But it’s more rewarding. It lightens our lives. It brightens other’s lives. It builds self-confidence and self-worth. It endears us to others.” – Patrick Lindsay

Quote in book: “Laughter is the best medicine” ~ Proverb

Laughter is the best medicine. I agree with Mr. Lindsay. Life is too short to take it too seriously. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you’re taking life too seriously. So, I embrace my dorkiness. In fact, most of the time it’s the dorky, lame, stupid things that we do that everyone loves about us.

Here are some of the things that I sometimes think... Gosh, I'm a freak. I just giggle to myself and just accept that that's who I am.

1) My complete obsession w/ anything GLEE. Seriously, I went to 4... count them 4... GLEE concerts. 2 were in one day! I had a GLEE-A-THON! Just to satisfy one of the acts. hehe. I know it's kinda crazy and I know what I would think anyone who was this obsessed was crazy.

2) My love of Musicals. I've seen over 100 musicals and plays. I average at least one musical or play a month. =) I see as much as I can. I have season tix to the Pantages and have a passport membership to Center Theatre Group. My condo is lined with posters and playbills on the walls.

3) I'm a complete pack rat! If you could see my condo right now, its a mess! I have this urge to "keep" everything. And No, I'm not a Hoarder... I'm a pack rat. There is a difference. Although, by looking at my place right now, you probably couldn't tell. Haha. My goal is to clean it up so I can have a dinner party!

4) On every trip I go on, I take a "chinese tourist" pose (and I make anyone traveling w/ me do it too)! I have the pics to prove it... You'll see!

5) I HATE getting my picture taken, which apparently is a departure from when I was little. According to my mom, I was a freakin' HAM when I was little. Now, I avoid the camera like the plague and actually make funny faces or do funny poses just to make the whole thing better.

I had no problem coming up w/ pictures to show you about how dorky I am. I have a TON of them. The hardest part was finding pictures where I'm being funny by myself. I wanted to respect the privacy of my friends and family, so I try not to post pics here w/out their permission. Mom, sorry I didn't ask first, but I know you don't mind! =) So, here’s me laughing at myself through some pics. Laugh along too!

CHINESE TOURIST POSE

My friend C.Boyd and I went to Vegas and took a pic where they implanted our faces onto the pic. I cut his face off cause I didn't get his permission to post his pic. I wanted to respect his privacy.

Standing next to a Hummer. Ya baby! We took this Hummer around in Alaska. =)

When I went to Arkansas for the first time, I saw a family in WalMart in their PJs. I was so perplexed that people went out of the house like this. I was informed that they are not PJs, but "Lounge Pants". So, I went to get some of my own! Here I am displaying my Snoopy Lounge Pants!

Rockin' the Paul Frank Monkey w/ a Monkey in Ensenada!

Gangsta!

Cleaning up the Party Foul

Dancing In Vegas

I was wearing my friend Laynie's Bracelet. I started doing this because I said there was "power" in the bracelet. haha

When I graduated from B-school, I was also wearing a bracelet, so I did the Power Bracelet Pose!

I was playing Farmville at a party for the UCLA/USC game. So, glad I'm done w/ that game!

Loving the towel animal left for me by the porter!

Real Life Emoticons! ;D

My favorite: Sliding on a Rock in Santa Barbara. Whee!

That was fun! So, take the time to laugh at yourself and all the silly/crazy things you do. Enjoy life and laugh a little cause it's the best cure for a bad mood!

Canaries And Finches

Act 21:

“It’s never too late… To Listen To The Birds

They link us with nature. Take the time to observe them. They manage to survive in our world. And they do it joyfully. They provide a gentle soundtrack for our lives. Listen to their songs.” – Patrick Lindsay

Quote in book: “The song was wordless; The singing will never be done” ~ Siegfried Sassoon

Anything that has to do w/ birds makes me think of my dad.

I grew up w/ birds in the house, so I’ve listened to a few birds in my life! My dad used to breed canaries (Yellow and white) and Finches. I remember Rainbow Finches, which were my favorite. I took a snapshot of one of my videos when I was little. I know it's a little blurry, but if you look closely in the background you can see birds in the cages. This is early early 80s.

I wish I had more pics from back then to show y’all (and I know we have some), but they're all at my mom’s house and I have none on my computer. I distinctly remember seeing one where I’m like 5 or 6 and holding a bird in my hands.

I remember all the nesting cages in the laundry room and all the bird supplies. I remember helping check the nests for eggs and switching them out w/ fake ones until the time was right. I remember feeding the little baby chicks once they hatched. I remember helping tag the birds w/ a little leg bands. In our home in Stockton, my parents even built an aviary, with a side room where my dad would breed the birds. Ahh the memories.

My dad also collected bird stuff, in particular bird stamps. He also loved ducks. It must've rubbed off on me cause, I actually remember rescuing a duckling, who we named "Pakita". In Tagalog it means "to show" (I think). He and mom also collect Owl figurines. There must be at least 1000 in the house (ok.. maybe only 500). Everywhere I go, if I see an owl, I get it. This last trip to Vegas, I actually bought one for my mom.

However, the best thing about my dad, with respect to birds, was that he loved to bird watch and he knew his SHIT! He could see a bird fly by and tell you which kinda of bird it was. Oh Look! That’s a Wood Thrush or a Red-Breasted Flycatcher or a Blue-footed booby. He knew them all! He loved them all. I know that he belonged to this bird watching website where he made his house a watch sight and whenever he saw a bird, he’d post to the site to help w/ migration patterns.

I love the sound of birds chirping, even if it wakes me up. Birds chirping is such a happy and soothing sound to me. This morning I actually woke up at 5:30, because I couldn’t sleep. I went back to sleep and was awaken by birds chirping at 7:14. I thought it was very appropriate considering that was today’s act. How amazing is that?

So If I Love Ya A Little More Than I Should

Please forgive me I know not what I do
Please forgive me I can't stop lovin' you
Don't deny me

This pain I'm going through
Please forgive me
If I need ya like I do
Please believe me
Every word I say is true
Please forgive me I can't stop loving you

Act 20:

“It’s never too late… To Forgive

Forgiving releases us. Until we forgive, we’re imprisoned. It allows us to look ahead. It empowers us. It gives us positive energy. It opens up the future” – Patrick Lindsay

Quote in book: “Good, to forgive; Best, to forget” ~ Robert Browning

The minute I saw today’s act Bryan Adam’s Please Forgive Me starting playing in my head. It’s playing in the background as I type this.

I’ve heard that giving forgiveness is hard for some people. For me, I don’t feel like it’s that hard. Going back to my Myers Briggs results. I’m a super “F”. I can’t find my paperwork – so I went to Wiki “Those who prefer feeling tend to come to decisions by associating or empathizing with the situation, looking at it 'from the inside' and weighing the situation to achieve, on balance, the greatest harmony, consensus and fit, considering the needs of the people involved.” I suppose that’s why it’s easy for me to forgive. Forgiveness is the easiest way to inject the balance back in the relationship after the balance is throw off by the offender. It helps everyone to get along.

My thing about forgiveness is… If the offender is seeking forgiveness, then they’ve realized they’ve “offended” or made a mistake, and at the end of the day, we all make mistakes. We all deserve forgiveness for the things that we are sorry for.

But that’s the key phrase for me… They have to be sorry or have to be seeking forgiveness. If they’re not sorry or not seeking forgiveness, in my mind… they don’t want to restore the balance in the relationship, so why forgive in that case? The only reason to still forgive is if it helps YOU in some way to forgive that person. If it gives you peace of mind, then do it.

Forgiving is the easy part. It’s the forgetting that I don’t really ever do and this is probably where it gets tricky. Should you forgive someone over and over and over again, if they keep making the same mistake? If you keep getting hurt? How many times must you beat your head against a brick wall until you finally walk away? If you forgive and forget, then you open yourself to future heartache. You open up yourself to repeat offenders w/ no hope of changing their ways, because you’ve forgotten their past transgressions. Is that realistic?

Was it Albert Einstein or Rita Mae Brown (there’s a debate) who said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This is how I feel about forgiveness and second chances. I have been known to forgive a lot of transgressions against me, but only to a certain point. Once you’ve crossed the line, you’re cut off. No amount of “I’m sorrys” or “Please forgive mes” will help, once you’ve been cut off. I’m just a bitch like that. But to be fair, I do give many many many chances and my capacity to forgive is quite large. So, you'd have to be really really bad or hurt me an awful lot for me to cut you off. So, most people are safe.

The biggest thing for me is intent. I’m much less likely to forgive, if there was malicious intent. Most of the time people don’t mean to hurt you and it’s easy to forgive them. I have a hard time forgiving those that maliciously set out to hurt someone else. If they did it on purpose, it almost always means they aren’t sorry for it when it’s over.

So for me, forgive those who want or deserve to be forgiven. Stay away or walk away from those who don’t.

S-A-F-E-T-Y

Safety DANCE!

We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine
I say, we can go where we want to
A place where they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
And we can dance

Act 19:

“It’s never too late… To Dance

It’s a celebration of life. Of freedom. Of joy. Express your feelings. Dance for your partner. Dance for yourself. Release yourself. Savour the moment.” – Patrick Lindsay

Quote in book: “Fine dancing, I believe, like virtue, must be its own reward.” ~ Jane Austin, Emma

I love to dance, even if I look like a complete dork when I do. I think most people would say that I’m a decent dancer and I have been known to find a beat or two. Actually, I am a really good "seat" dancer! I'm really good at busting a move to the songs while I'm driving or sitting at my desk or the couch! Haha.

I asked around and was thinking about what I was going to do for this act. Someone told me to post a video of me dancing. My response: "Umm. Hells No!" However, I changed my mind. You get me dancing. I think you have to turn up the volume to really hear the music. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrY7IlkerIk

Haha… not what you expected, huh? So, I was right! Right?? I do look like a complete dork when I dance… but I thought it was a decent try and I did find the beat once or twice! =)

Another suggestion was to go to a dance class. I dunno. I’m not sure I wanna subject others to my dorky dance moves. Also, I feel weird going w/out a partner. So, if there’s anyone that wants to go w/ me, I’ll go. I wanna learn Salsa…. Any takers?

However, The ORACLE introduced me to www.learntodance.com. I can learn how to dance in the privacy of my own home. I can learn at my own pace AND I can keep watching the videos over and over until I get it right! (I’m a perfectionist, so sue me). What shall I choose? Salsa? No, I still think I need a partner for that. How about belly dancing? Uhh, took a Belly Dancing class one summer during B-school. Shout out to the two members of the Monkey Mafia (Clyn and Fisch) that took it w/ me. Anyway, that didn’t go to well. My hips just don’t really move like that!! Awkward!

I decided on Line dancing! I already know how to do the Electric Slide, so I’m doing the other one. Lover Lover! I have never heard of this! Have you? Although, after watching the video, I’ve seen it before and always wanted to learn... so there you have it! I’m learning to do the Lover Lover Line Dance. I'll give myself the weekend to learn it. Whoo! Ok, when’s the next wedding, so I can bust out my sweet new moves??

Secondary goal: I've always wanted to be able to do one of the dances in GLEE. I haven't decided if it's gonna be Slave For You or Safety Dance. Or maybe I should start w/ something easier?? I'm open to suggestions. By the end of the year, I WILL be able to do a dance from that show!

So, what’s dancing w/out music and songs?? Guess what time it is?? Trivia Time!!!

10 Points: Name the original artist of the song at the beginning of the blog (Saw the GLEE Cast do this in concert… awesome!)

10 Points: Name the original artist of the song I’m dancing to in my video

5 Points: Name the dance made popular by Chubby Checker

5 Points: Name the dance that swept the world in the mid 90s sung by Los Del Rio (Now I have this song in my head….argh)

10 Points: Name the man known as “Lord Of The Dance”

10 Points: Name the artist responsible for one of the Best dance songs ever Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) – (I know your dancing right now cause you can hear the beginning of that song! – Dance break!!)

EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!

10 Points: Name the artist that released a 1997 Live album called The Dance

10 Points: Name the musical where the song Dance: Ten. Looks: Three is from

10 Points: Name this song and artist

She says she's no good with words but I'm worse
Barely stuttered out
"A joke of a romantic" or stuck to my tongue
Weighed down with words too over-dramatic
Tonight it's "it can't get much worse"
Vs. "no one should ever feel like.."

I'm two quarters and a heart down
And I don't want to forget how your voice sounds
These words are all I have so I'll write them
So you need them just to get by

20 Points: Name the artist – Another “album” song that wasn’t released – Hint: Song title is Dance Inside

You don’t have to move
You don't have to speak
Lips for biting
You're staring me down
A glance makes me weak
Eyes for striking
Now I’m twisting up when I'm twisted with you
Brush so lightly
And time trickles down and I'm breathing for two
Squeeze so tightly
I'll be fine
You'll be fine
This moment seems so long
Don't waste now
Precious time
We'll dance inside the song

What makes the one to shake you down?
Each touch belongs to each new sound
Say now you want to shake me too
Move down to me, slip into you

Hundy Points up for grabs… Who’s the big winner?

Btw, I was asked to post the answers to the previous trivia, so I’m gonna go back and post the answers to the previous ones in the comments section of each entry. From now on, I will wait at least 1 week to post the answers to give everyone a chance to think and/or consult The ORACLE for the answers (even if that is cheating)… Thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea?

Let's Plant A Forest!

Hello. For those that are new, welcome to my blog. Over the last two weeks, I’ve on been blogging on a different topic (act) every day, see the May 16^th entry. My topics (acts) come from Patrick Lindsay’s book It’s Never Too Late… 172 Simple Acts To Change Your Life.

Act 18:

“It’s never too late… To Plant A Tree

Think of it as putting something back into the earth. Most of the time we take from it. Help redress the balance. Plant a new life. Nurture it. Take pleasure in watching it grow. After you plany one, you’ll want to plant more. Nurture them. Encourage others to do the same.” – Patrick Lindsay

Quote in book: “Nature never did betray the heard that loved her” ~ William Wordsworth

What an amazing idea! I don’t have a yard or any place to plant anything, but I still wanted to fulfill today’s act. I, of course, consulted The ORACLE (internet). The ORACLE pointed me to www.plantabillion.org. The Nature Conservancy is trying to plant 1 billion trees in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil by 2015. Their motto: One Dollar. One Tree. One Planet. For every dollar that’s donated on their site, they will plant a tree. How awesome is that? Right now they are a little over $9.4M – That’s less than 1%!!! This project started in 2008. They have a long way to go.

I wanted to help! So, I went to the website and donated $50. It took me less than 5 min. Here’s my proof!

That’s 50 trees, but I want to do more and want to give everyone else a chance to help out… So, being goal-oriented… I came up w/ an idea.

My pledge to everyone: For every $10 donated to The Nature Conservancy for their Plant A Billion Trees project, I will donate $5, up to $1000.

My Goal: To get 200 people to plant 10 trees or hit $2000. There's a $10 minimum. I had a different plan if they let you donate $1. That's 2000 trees. Then if you add my $1000, that's 3000 trees! I think that 3000 trees makes a decent size forest, right?

Deadline: I’m setting the deadline for my semi-matching extra donation to Father’s Day, June 19, 2011! This is my gift to my dearly departed father. I think he’d want me to do something good to honor him.

How to get to 3000: I will post the donation link to my Facebook & twitter pages and email everyone I know. I’m hoping I will inspire some of my friends to ask their friends to get me to 3000, because I won’t get there w/out help!!

Please help me out by forwarding to all your friends and family! Every dollar and person helps!

How to donate: I started a fundraising page on the site. Please go there and donate money. http://support.nature.org/goto/lilfaust

Leave me a comment in the guest book (even if you leave a fake name), so I can count you in the march to the extra $1000.

As soon as Father’s day comes, I’ll come back and update this page to see how much we got. I know $10 is a lot, but just think... it's 10 trees and it's tax deductible! 200 people seems like a pipe dream considering I know the economy has hit everyone hard, but you gotta dream big! I’ll be happy if we get half that (or even 1/4 that). =) Let's try anyway!

Note: If you want to actually plant a tree instead of donating money, let me know by contacting me or making a comment to this blog and I’ll count that as 5 people or $50 and donate $25 for you instead of just $5!

Go out there. Plant a tree. Hug a tree! I did.

Yes, that's me hugging a tree. Thanks to E. Russell for taking this pic of me being a tree hugger! =)

We’re Going On A…

Act 17:

“It’s never too late… To Take A Trip

Change the scenery of your life. You don’t have to travel far. It’s an adventure. A chance to refresh. To learn. To compare. To meet new people. To make new friends. To view things anew. To grow.” – Patrick Lindsay

Quote in book: “Travel broadens the mind.” ~ Proverb

I’ve been on a lot of trips in my life. Every year my family went on a vacation and yes, we mostly went to Lake Tahoe, but we did go a lot of other places: Florida, Hawaii, Japan. Since I did a lot of writing yesterday, I’m gonna take you on a photo blog of the trips I've been on the last 8 years, with the pictures I have on my computer.

2003: Bahamas - This was the first time my family went on a cruise ship. Even if we didn't sleep on it, it was a test run for all the cruises we were to go on in the following years!

Yes, That's me w/ cornrows.... Gosh I look so young! I remember my head was so itchy after a couple of days, but I think I kept it in for two weeks!

2004: England & France – I spent two weeks w/ my Homegirl. I am very thankful she didn't kill me on that trip, cause I know she wanted to. Love you girl! I remember I spent my 25^th birthday with a view of the Eiffel Tower. I LOVED Paris and I can’t wait for the day that I go back.

Shakespeare rules!

I know it’s blurry, but this is one of my favorite memories from this trip. Going to King’s Cross and pretending to go into Platform 9 ¾. If you don’t know why that’s so exciting… where have you been? Please go out and read the Harry Potter series. You won’t be disappointed.

Working where I do...Going to see the Prime Meridian was a MUST SEE in England

I spent two days at the Louvre

Speaking of Harry Potter - We watched Prisoner of Azkaban in Paris! The subtitles were in French and I thought it was so cool that we were essentially watching a “foreign” film in another country and I didn’t need the subtitles!

Had to put the pic of us at Eiffel tower. I think this is actually the ONLY pic we took together the whole trip.

2005: Cruise to Mexican Riviera - Technically our first cruise!

This is one of two photos of me that I have… Going through all these pics made me realize how much I HATED having my picture taken back then (and really even now)

I think this my first introduction to towel animals.

Cabo Wabo… enough said!

2005: Philippines for the South East Asian Games – to watch my brother compete on the Philippine National Team. He was such a Rock Star.

The Philippine National Team wore those rice paddie hats during the opening ceremonies

I was so close to Former President Cory Aquino! It was exciting. We were VIP, baby!

Subic Bay… My uncle’s private entrance to the beach. My mom took this photo

I just really like this pic

2006: Thailand My mom and I went to Thailand for my bestest buddy’s wedding!

Can’t show pics of my trip to Thailand w/out this one! Real frickin' Tigers!! How jealous are you right now?

2007: Hawaii (The Big Island)

This one always makes me think this is a postcard

Seriously?? This was the pool area at our hotel… Hilton Waikoloa Village – makes me want to go back. Who wants to go w/ me? we’ve got a time share there!

Waipio Valley

At the Kilaeau Volcano

2007: Western Caribbean Cruise – Family Reunion! Probably one of the best cruises we ever took, because I never spend anytime w/ this side of the family, so getting to spend a week w/ them was awesome!

I actually got to get in the water w/ these sting rays

Cozymel Mayan Ruins

2008: My trip to Europe for my International Residential. It was so freakin’ cold. I look like I didn’t change my outfit the whole time, cause I’m wearing the same beanie, jacket, and scarf in all my pics! Haha. When I got back from this trip, I was sick for almost an entire month!

Vienna, Austria

Two huge eggs! This makes me laugh everytime I see it.

Prague, Czech Republic

How awesome is this? A restaurant called L.A. Finger Food! I wonder why LA doesn't have one of these in LA!

This sign seemed so out of place, because there were no houses around anywhere

This door is just my size!

Moscow, Russia

We had two cars in the way of our tour bus (trying to make a tight turn). The guys in our class got out and moved the cars. Here’s the video I made to commemorate the event!

I ate at the Mickey D's this was pointing at

Have to give a shout out to my FEMBA 09A classmates. Love you! Miss you!

St. Petersburg, Russia

KFC baby! (well, sort of)

I wasn't really ever going to throw some of that stuff in the toilet, but after seeing this I really wanted to throw a syringe in there!

This is how see-thru our hotel room bathroom was. Time to get NAKED! Don't look! Don't look!

2009: Booze Cruise to Ensenada w/ the FEMBA ’09 crew! We took this trip right after graduation. It was so much fun.

I love the fact that cruise ships have mirrors everywhere!

2009: Alaska

I love that Kiss Me I'm an anteater shirt! Zot! Zot!

2010 – is the first year that I can remember that I didn’t actually take a vacation. I worked so many hours. My family was scheduled to go to on a cruise through Italy and Spain, but my dad got sick. My mom, bro and I are planning to go on that trip this summer. Italy and Spain… here we come!

I hope you enjoyed my picture blog of my trips from the last 8 years. That took soo much longer than I thought it would. Uploading all those pics took forever! Anyway, I encourage everyone to go out and take a trip somewhere, whether it's for a weekend or for a little longer. Take lots of pics, you won't regret it. I had a good time reminiscing while going through all the pics.