What a long week this has been, the work for this week has been horrendous, but I lived. Went to LA this weekend to represent San Jose State @ Friendship Games! We took first in S.P.U.F. (Spirit Pride Unity Friendship) out of 50 schools! First time a school in Northern California won in TWENTYFOUR years! Amazing! Congrats to San Francisco State for taking First in Games! TRI-FORCE!

I cannot wait to go home this weekend, a much needed rest. This week I had my cabinet talk about 3 DVDs that represent their lives. A good reflection I might say. Of course, I told them that I would not be able to sum it up in 3, this is what I had.

Man on Fire
Forest Gump
Brown Sugar

Notable Mentions: (Don't Judge!)
A Walk To Remember
Raising Helen
Road to Perdition

NEVERMIND. It's just going to get corny from here on out...

A lot of cramming also happened for me, as usual. Not the best habit, I really need to step it up. Lately my spirits have been higher than usual, just some self-realization on aspects on my life. I will never be perfect, but I must work on my imperfections and strive for EXCELLENCE. No such thing as perfection. I'm just happy to be alive and able to serve God and help others direct their paths. AGAPE for the win. Agape means Unconditional Love with wanting NOTHING in return. The same Love that the Man Upstairs has given me, I will do my best to imitate that. We live, baby.

Wisdom of the day:
Humble yourself and treat others better than yourselves. It is better to give than to receive.

Greater joy in giving!

Say Blessed,

-R

P.S. Keep all those affected by typhoons in your prayers please.

Response:

Great. The root of all these problems, I find myself here once again; a cycle per say. I try to pound myself about it I'm only human. Another sad imperfection which bothers me so much. Yet I have all the strength necessary to push forward. The Main Man Upstairs. Yes sir. He keeps my heart a beat, and nevertheless, a solid foundation who I can always depend on.

It's typical for college students, well for everyone, to think about the future, then worry and fear. When will I graduate? What kind of job ill I get? Who will I marry and when will I meet her?

Haha. And, in all honesty, which one do you think I'm most worried about?

Yep. The "one".

It's hard not to think about it from time to time. My perception of her has changed over the past summer. Another view was brought to my attention, and I am well aware. I had this idealistic dream that I would simply just not date anyone, and one day I will be blessed and the rest is history. Could I be crazy enough to be that patient? God willing. But I really don't know. But every day, I pray. Push forward. I still want that beautiful love story though. But my mind is open, and my heart is set.

So to my significant other,
I hope all is well with you. I can't wait (but have to wait) to meet you and I am looking forward to a wonderful time together. I'm praying for you.

School is school. Nothing I can change about that.

Oh yeah, I'm not doing my best to blog; I shall step it up.

Much love and peace.

Sometimes I need to step back and examine my life. Getting caught up in the busy-ness, I forget to enjoy life. I constantly have a lot on my mind throughout the day. I wish I could just relax, and be happy, just have a great day and enjoy. Stress free...drama free. Conflicts, trials, tribulations; all a pain. But unfortunately it is not that easy.

I know, I'm complaining. I shouldn't be. I have been blessed with many things in my life, and I couldn't be more thankful. Obviously, everything is getting to me. I wish I could just let go.

Two morals of the day that WE must learn:

We can't win every battle.

The best way to grow, is to surrender.

One day, I hope to grow old, and look back and say that I have accomplished the task that was given to me.

When I don't feel up to par, I watch movies. Movies that help inspire, movies that teach. Movies help me get my mind off things. I enter a facade. For those two hours or less, i'm sucked into a fake reality of unrealistic dreams. Then, I enter back in real life.

I have done my best to turn my selfish ambitions and my self-centeredness to into a selfless, giving life. I do my best to help others, in every way that I can. I know that my purpose in life is to serve others. I guess lately that has slipped at times. I know I don't personify the best representation of this, as you know, I am far from perfect, but I try my best.

Yes, I'm having a vent, ill finish this later.

R.

Sometimes, when I have a lot on my mind, feeling heavy hearted, or just depleted, when life is just being rough, I forget to be thankful. I do my best to have a positive attitude all the time, and it is not easy.

Life is such a blessing; I believe a lot of us neglect to appreciate what we have. We are not aware of how good we have it. Here we are worrying about our future, or responsibilities, or what do. We fill ourselves with worry, and stress; and we forget what is real. What we have should not be taken granted.

Over the summer, my family and I went on vacation to the Philippines. It was a beautiful experience; cheap food, tropical weather, I was able to re-meet and get in to contact with my family. I had a lot of fun. But I also experienced life in the third-world: No car, traveling by jeepney or taxi. No hot water to shower (boy, was it cold...but I got use to it). Living around poverty. It was disappointing. Even thought the cost of living is cheaper, it is so much harder to live in the Philippines.

No, we shall not compare lives with others. But understand that we take so much for granted, and we don't live life like it supposed to be lived.

"Live every day as it were your last."

Yeah, I'll be honest, I don't do this as often as I should. But if everyone did, there would be so much more peace and harmony all around us. You don't know when you will be taken away. Can you say that if you are gone tomorrow, you have lived a successful life? Can you say you have served your life with purpose? If you lived your life everyday with such an attitude, I guarantee you your life will be so much better.

Now, you are probably thinking, "this is too much positive thinking", or "i'm no saint! I'm not good enough to do this". You might even think this is impossible. But I kid you not, you have to power and strength to do it.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13

So here I am, I am thankful for life, and I appreciate everything that is given to me. Good or bad.

You are blessed, be thankful.

R.

Do you ever feel like you have so many things going on in your mind, and so many things you have to say, that you are so overwhelmed? I've held myself back so much because I did not want my blog and my posts to end up as ranting or complaining. I want to spill my heart, and at the same time I don't want to offend anyone. But I will, because I said I would.

I love my life, and I appreciate it. I know I am blessed, and I am very thankful. Sometimes life is hard for me, and I feel like crap, but I find a way to smile because of God. But a lot of the time, I just hide how I really feel, only because I feel that my position as a leader, I need to be a stronghold. But my foundation is God, so I know I am taken care of. Ah yes, disclaimer: please do not feel offended if I speak up about my relationship with God, I respect everyone's beliefs, and I hope that what I believe in does not stop you from reading my blog. I usually want to cater to people as a whole, but it bothers me if I don't mention Him, because like I said, He is my foundation.

I am not perfect. It is hard for me to embrace it fully, not because I think I'm perfect, but because being in my position, I am under a lot of pressure and scrutiny. Forgive me if you feel like I am acting self righteous, those are not my intentions at all. If I am to be a representative of the Almighty, I must conduct myself in the highest manner. I struggle with it. It is not easy at all. There is a code of conduct that I want to uphold. I apologize if I let you down. I know I have tackled these issues with myself many times. At times I ask myself why am I to do this? But I know that everything in life serves its purpose. I only know partially what to do. I'm still waiting and praying for answers.

I don't want to say this was a "bad" week or day, because I believe everyday is a good day when you are alive. But I guess I've just had a rough one. A bit busy, as usual. Details will come soon.

I know I was sent here to serve, and my heart is set on serving. I apologize for going around, lol I believe the writing term for what I'm doing is "unpacking". But i'll probably bounce around like this for my first few blogs. If you have any questions, or you want me to speak on a topic, please, drop me an email.

Thank you for reading
Much love and peace

--R.

Today is the birthday of my new blog. I've had many blogs over the past years, none that I have been able to stick to. Don't get me wrong, tumblr is nice, I just don't feel at home anymore. Blogspot was great, but I felt like I only kept it to keep in touch with people. And Xanga... hahaha didn't everybody have a blog during those days?

Great. Here I am, starting over. I love fresh starts, but I love consitancy better. I've had problems blogging in the past. I've had too many guards up. Today, with this blog, I will try to put them down. Expect the heart on the sleeve. These past years I have been struggling to let my mind out; afraid to offend, afraid of being judged. Hopefully, I will be liberating my mind, heart, and fingers of typing.

Before, I thought blogging about my boring life was enough. Then I started writing to inspire. Which turned into pride because I wanted to impress my readers. I crumbled, and shut down that blog. I tried to start up a few times, but I just couldn't get it going. Well here it is. My love for writing has finally kicked out the laziness. Haha.

Maybe your here to learn more about me, or you enjoy my writing. I am thankful. I hope that we can be friends and share our stories of life. I hope that you get to learn the real me, and learn more about yourself. This is a place for growth. For the heart, mind and soul. A shelter, and a piece of mind. A place to let feelings out, and to get voices heard. So lets do this.

Many blessings-

R