"feast of love."

an hour or so ago, in celebration of fat tuesday...dub, arthur, christian, pat, ray amador, rachel, tiff, and i went over to rowland heights for some crazy delicious korean bbq. for many of us, it would be the last time dining out until after lent. but for all of us...it was yet another good eating adventure.

over in yucca valley, there's a lot of downtime in between patient care and paper work. and so...tommy, kristen, ej, vincent, and i have turned to rock, paper, scissors for entertainment. while this is utterly random and childish, it is also totally awesome. hahaha...there's all sorts of rules, an rps (yes, we abbreviated it for coolness) champion, and seeds #2-5. maybe the desert (and boredom) is getting the best of us, but we're making the most of the situation.

ash wednesday is almost here so i'd like to wish all Catholics a good and prosperous lent. although i will not disclose all my lenten sacrifices and promises, here's one of them...i'm giving up this blog! so on that note...take care and much love.

until Easter - jl.

"hell to the yeah!"

to everyone who is emulating shepard fairey's obama poster...please stop unless you're either giving props to obama or the artist himself. i'm sure there's other ways to be cool with more mass appeal and less disrespect to substance.

anyways, friday night was mighty pleasant. went over to dba256 in downtown pomona with 112 and tiff for pat perez's birthday gathering. saw plenty of people i haven't seen in awhile (nim, melinda, pare, senpai, chris, bojie, romes)...and one i haven't seen in about 4 years (rachel bohrer). still recovering and still tired...it was a good way to spend a friday night out and about. by the way, a police chase ended right outside the bar and the guy got caught next to my car, preventing us from leaving early (not that we were going to if a chase didn't happen at all). it was a reminder that just because dba256 was nice...we were still in pomona haha.

i had the pleasure of attending nick's birthday party the next night. packed house filled with good friends and loved ones. had a great talk on literature with noel, rachel, and john john...i seriously need to get back into reading. 2k9 and street fighter 4 inside the house with guitar playing, cranium, poker, and black jack in the garage...everyone had something fun to do.

earlier today, i had the honor of doing the invocation for my student trevor's eagle scout court of honor. i didn't think it was going to be huge...but there i was sitting in the front row with mayor peter rogers and representatives of congressman gary miller, the chino valley fire department, and so forth. it was a great experience and i developed a greater knowledge and respect for the boy scouts. i'm most definitely proud of trevor and it's been a pleasure being his teacher.

spent some time at jojo's pizza for the kabalikat society fundraiser and then headed over to daynee's birthday dinner @ yard house in riverside. i wouldn't miss celebrating my postage stamp's birthday for the world...i apologize if you don't understand the inside joke. plenty of good laughs to go around and i'm glad to have been there.

and here i am, back at home seriously loving the fact that i don't have to venture off to yucca valley tomorrow and that i can get the "no alarm, have the phone off, and not be disturbed" kind of sleep.

a good day indeed...and a good night to all! - jl

"i'm ill...not sick."

last weekend was a great valentine's day weekend. nothing romantic at all, but i'm not hatin'. i spent it loving life and the people in it as planned. 2/13: bj's in brea for pat's birthday. over 50 people in attendance...it was awesome to chill with friends from multiple facets of my life. 2/14: at pat's house for the "closing ceremony." haha...just the usual good times. went to my cousin patrick's house in the valley for his birthday the next day...it's always a pleasure to chill with my cousins and relatives. i miss sam woo chinese food.

after such a busy and cold weekend, i should have expected to be a little under the weather. however...i was caught by surprise with my worse sickness in recent memory. the rain/snow/slush in yucca this past monday did little to make me feel any better, but working out and having korean bbq with anavie and mike in buena park sure did. just when i thought i was on the road to recovery...my fever spiked tuesday morning upon arriving at the hospital. i was sweating (in 40-degree weather), i was losing my voice, and my face got swollen up and red. instead of taking care of patients, i had to focus on myself. luckily, the swelling went down and i regained my voice a little bit over the next few days. slowly but surely...i'm getting back to normal. this wasn't a good week to get sick (there's really no good week to get sick) because i needed this week to prepare for my final this morning. regardless of my weary condition, i finished renal with an A! chyeah! nothing raises the spirits up more than success...and having no school next monday. ah...God is good and i'm one step closer to the prize.

that's all for now...take care and much love! - jl.

"self-care deficit, at risk for."

this valentine's day...i encourage everyone to spend the day relaxing and taking in all the love in their lives. love from family, from friends, from classmates and peers, from that special someone...wherever the love in your life comes from, spend this saturday like every other day in your life, aware of your blessings and ever thankful. and don't forget to love yourself no matter what. i was reminded of that through a barneys new york ad out of all places.

have faith in believing love starts with you...
and have hope that others believe love starts with them.



to paraphrase andre 3000...every day is the 14th! keep loving it up!

xoxo - jl

"newton."

THIS is the reason why sara bareilles is on point.



i already loved the song...but the video made it much more beautiful.

hope you enjoyed that. take care - jl

"all the girls standing in the line for the porter potty!"

as another monday approaches, i'm reminded of how much i look forward to the weekend. it's my time to catch up with friends, have some fun and excitement, go to places besides school and hospitals, and get a lot of much needed and desired sleep. this weekend was no exception and the rain didn't stop me from having a good time.

friday night was spent with love, resonate along with meagan, sibs, and tiff. chilled @ starbucks on grand and peyton before migrating over to barnes and noble. dono sushi for dinner before we all parted ways.

attended my nephew justin's birthday in fontana. always a pleasure to see my cousins and their families. the place was bananas...children running everywhere and having themselves a rowdy time. afterwards, i went to heat @ ucr with tiff and dennis. caught some parts of she wants revenge. vibed out to some good house music.




the highlight and main reason to go was n.e.r.d. of course.





they started things off with anti-matter and finished off with she wants to move. although they didn't perform truth or dare and the way she dances, it was great to hear rock star, sooner or later, kill joy, lap dance, you know what, brain, spaz, everybody nose, and my favorite...run to the sun.



they had an awesome set and they're great live. without a doubt...n.e.r.d = sashimi status.

after the concert...we ventured all the way to rowland heights for some coconut bay. it was interesting to be there at around 2am and pretty much be the only customers.

and to top it all off, the celtics lost and the lakers beat the cavs. i can only hope the next 21 weekends until i graduate are like this.

take care, much love,
and happy birthday to jennie and betty! - jl

p.s. get well soon kobe.

"kickin' it."

this was definitely the weekend i needed. it was a very costly weekend but everything i did was worthwhile. sushi, karaoke, shoppertainment (it's an actual word apparently), disney, the steelers winning the super bowl, pleasant evening walks, tons of lobster and crab, chinatown, and of course...catching up with loved ones. i have come out of this weekend very content and happy for sure. tomorrow is the start of renal and i still don't know my final exam and class grade in neuro. but, i haven't gotten a call telling me that i didn't pass so that means i move on and i can live with that for now.

free grand slam at denny's tomorrow. i'm sure i know where my clinical group is eating for lunch.


the current music therapy:
jay-z feat. santogold - brooklyn (go hard)
diana ross - missing you
swv - right here
hell rell - do it for the hustle
ray lamontagne - let it be me
keane - love is the end
father mc - i'll do for you
the ting tings - be the one
madcon - beggin'
moloko - time is now

and a guaranteed way to increase the heart rate...



here's to classic punk and caucasian afros.