Youth Appreciation Award – Apr 9, 2009 – South Philly Review | News, opinion, arts, food, real estate and sports in South Philadelphia.

So I’m writing this in the middle of week 7 (out of 11) of my first term in college. I finally decided to go to Drexel after I got wait-listed (and eventually dumped) by Lehigh *tears*. That officially marked my final farewell to its awesome Music Engineering program. Meanwhile, LaSalle was being stingy with financial aid, and Stanford conspired with UPenn; they both don’t want me. So here I am; a Business and Engineering major at Drexel. Btw, Business and Engineering is one major. I’m not minoring/double majoring, even though I love the feeling when people stare at me in awe saying “Double major?” 

So far, aside from the workload, college has been a complex and fun experience. I still remember crying in the ladies room sometime during week 2 just because my English professor was showing her mean side, and all the sudden I missed Mr. Gildea so much. I still can laugh at how my chorus professor complained about the fact that I’m  originally a violinist because “my jaws are too stiff”. And I still can feel the good relief when I laughed so hard that I burped at a friend’s face during a lecture, and we both just continued cracking up about it without any gross feeling.

Those are most likely the kind of stuffs that I will fill my next 4 years of life with. Times will get rough, tears will flow, but in the midst of all, there will always going to be good laughs here and there, good friendships that last a lifetime, and good memories to be kept for the rest of my journey. Most importantly, this is where my adulthood starts, and I’m ready to live it up!

GO PHILLIES, beat them Yanks!

I love different kind of pastries, but this ”Strawberry on the Shortcake” is my all time favorite. This Japanese TV Series aired for the first time when I was 11, and I just love the story which actually has nothing to do with baking. The main lesson is; “If you  have a shortcake with a strawberry on top, would you go for it first, or would you rather keep it and eat it last?”. Curious? Then go watch it yourself!

p.s: Thanks a lot to MySoju where I watched the complete version of this show =)

I know it’s been a long while since my last post. If you ever wondered what I have been up too, the title should explain. It’s been such a hectic final quarter of high school. Finals, AP exams, Mr. Sheehan papers (“MALEVOLENT!”), doing NHS service hours (I have to admit I was a last minute person for this one), and prepping for prom. What? Oh, for the last one; Yes, I finally did go with my best friend Chris Lai. Hectic moments, but we finally got everything just right in time. It took a lot of works, but we had a great&memorable time.

Senior week was a lot of fun. The breakfast, yearbook social, Dorney Park, basically everything. I enjoyed every moment of it. Practice was a lil bit hectic for me, since I was one of the offertory presenters (for the Baccalaureate Mass), and I sat on the stage seat for the graduation ceremony(Honors Graduate #16). The mass was beautiful&everyone would definitely remember that mass; the last Baccalaureate Mass celebrated by Bishop Cistone before he moved on to his new assignment in Saginaw, Michigan.

The following morning, we had such a majestic graduation ceremony at Liacouras Center. I love the fact that the band played “Phantom of the Opera”-medley as the special song for Class of 2009, it was beautiful! (Honestly, I’ve never described anything played by the SNG band as “beautiful”). I also enjoyed being “called” on stage a lot during the ceremony for being an honor graduate (I ranked 16th), for having 4-year of perfect attendance, for receiving various scholarships, for getting the gold medal in French, and for getting the silver medal in String Orchestra. Famous, you might say, but I’m still not as famous as Chris Lai, my best friend, eating-mate, study buddy, who is also Mr. Valedictorian (+Mr. Ivy League). His valedictory speech was awesome, the point is “You’ll be OK. Just dance”

This past March went pretty sad with two friends and a teacher passing away. So now, I’d like to dedicate this post in my loving memory of:

1. Phong Thi Ho, entered his glory on March 4th 2009

2. Sergio Roa Menayang, entered his glory on March 6th 2009

3. Ms. Madeline Regina Willette, entered  her glory on March 13th 2009

“Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight
Here One Day
Gone One Night
Like A Sunset
Dying With The Rising Of The Moon
Gone Too Soon” (Michael Jackson)

Those of you who know me well micht also know that I’m an active pro-life. This is actually my first time marching in DC on January 22nd; the anniversary of Supreme Court ruling over Roe v. Wade which denies the fact that we are all created out of love. The weather was great, march was fun, and the most important part is that I marched on the 2nd day of Obama’s administration. It’s been heard on the streets that they are trying to pass FOCA, and it just outrages me.

For those who don’t know what FOCA is, click www.whatthefoca.org

See, taking it a little further than Roe v. Wade, it also denies parents’ right to know what’s going on with their children, paramedic’s right to use their conscience in saving lives, and it also unrightously uses tax payer’s money for free abortions. Seriously, WHAT THE FOCA??

“Life must be protected from the moment of conception until natural death” (from “Evangelium Vitae” by  Pope John Paul II)

100. Succesfully bake the “Steamed Cupcakes” from scratch

99. Crochet a blanket

98. Finish a paint-by-number painting

97. Get a henna tatto that says “Musician” in Chinese character

96. Try out for American Idol

95. Learn how to do my own make-up

94. Drive a two-door convertible car

93. Nail down the “correct” vibrato technique

92. Try bungee-jumping (and a lot of other things of that nature) in Bali

91. Dye my hair gothic black

90. Go to DC for March for Life [DONE!]

89. Play in a community orchestra

88. Donate my blood

87. Donate my hair

86. Line up for the Geno’s cheese steak on a burning-hot summer Saturday afternoon

85. Build a snowman

84. Watch a Broadway show

83. Collect water from 5 oceans

82. Write a message in the bottle

81. Ice-skate at the Rockefeller Center

80. Do the “Rocky Run” in front of the Art Museum

79. Finish watching every episode of “Friends”

78. Have a professional photo-shoot session

77. Go skiing

76. Plant a tree

75. Try the Rita’s sugar-free water ice and blendini

74. Watch a falling star

73. Watch a meteor rain

72. Gather all my medals and trophies in one classy showcase

71. Join the crowd at the Time Square on New Year’s Eve

70. Go used-textbook hunting

69. Get my high school’s and college’s class ring

68. Re-organize and re-construct my lifetime memory box

67. Go on a super early Black Friday shopping madness

66. Ride a horse

65. Switch to contact lenses

64. Be in four places at once

63. Have the Mont Saint Michel’s omelette for dinner

62. Dine in an authentic Japanese sushi bar

61. Visit all points of Jersey shore

60. Drink at an Irish pub

59. Learn how to play mah-jong

58. Finish watching every episode of my favorite Asian TV series which are; Long Vacation (Japan),

57. Nodame Cantabile (Japan),

56. Itazura Na Kiss (Japan),

55. Strawberry on a Shortcake (Japan), [DONE!]

54. At the Dolphin Bay (Taiwan),

53. Meteor Garden season 1&2 (Taiwan),

52. My MVP Valentine (Taiwan),

51. Endless Love (South Korea),

49. Shining Days (South Korea),

48. Princess Hour (South Korea),

47. Bizzare Bunch (South Korea),

46. Living with Lydia (Singapore),

45. Phua Chu Kang (Singapore)

44. Go to the DisneyWorld

43. Finish my “Kitchen Heiress Cookbook”

42. Get another violin; either specially-ordered from a violinmaker or anything better than my Carlo Robeli

41. Ride a speedboat,

40. and a banana boat

39. Go rafting

38. Pamper myself with the fishy pedicure

37. Scream “I Love Life” from the top of the following buildings; Monas,

36. Eiffel Tower,

35. Petronas twin towers,

34. Merlion

33. Get a self-painting

32. Be a Singapore Airlines frequent flyer,

31. and fly first class at least once in my life

30. Throw three coins into the Trevi fountain

29. Get a book and have the author sign it

28. Have a sakura blossom picnic in Japan

27. Go on a cruise vacation

26. Visit all the 7 wonders of the world

25. Graduate from a high school [DONE!]

24. Graduate from a university

23. Visit all the places mentioned in the Bible

22. Float on the dead sea

21. Get actively involved with the alumni association of my high school and college

20. Taste a hundred kinds of water at Collete Restaurant in France

19. Learn new languages with Rosetta Stone

18. Bake and decorate my very own birthday cake from scratch

17. Land on a super-fabulous high-paying job

16. Learn how to golf

15. Visit all the 50 states of America plus Guam, Puerto Rico. and Virgin Islands

14. Explore the whole island of Singapore

13. Learn how to surf

12. Go on a long European vacation

11. Get a cool internship/co-op job during college

10. Learn how to knit

9. and knit a wearable item for myself

8. Get married before turning 28

7. Have children,

6. and be the one who introduce them to the wonderful world of music

5. Celebrate a gold wedding anniversary

4. Kiss under the stars

3. Learn the basic figure skating tricks

2. Try to only eat sushi for a whole month

1. Live a long wonderful life out loud

Well, face it. It was over last week. It’s officially autumn now, with all the rain and feels-like-high-60s temperature.

Senior year has been kinda fun yet demanding so far. A little newsflash: I was accepted into the NHS after all that rigorous application process and a 5 minute devastating interview with the  faculty council. What a nice accomplishment, but with that blue-and-yellow ribbon comes a new set of responsibilities. But I believe it’s going to be a rewarding experience.

Today was the FACE retreat day. For those who are not familiar with FACE, it’s a marketing campaign that I’m involved with. It is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to raise people’s awareness of Catholic education. If you are a big fan of either bagels, an hour of statistics presentation, web-editing, supermarket brand Italian meatballs, ComedySportz (an interactive improv comedy kinda thing), or an early Phillies game (4pm), then FACE retreat is for you. I bet you get the translation. This retreat is suppose to be the worst part of our job because plenty of exciting stuffs, other than a recommendation letter from His Emminence Justin Cardinal Rigali, are coming soon. “The Gift of Innocence” premiere at St. Joe’s, web launching, movie project, Operation Santa Claus, what else can beat that?

BTW, I scored 28 (out of 36) on my last ACT. I boosted my English score to a 33. Yay me!

First day of school is finally here! The day that used to overly excite me now brings tears to my eyes. Forget the gold lanyard and all its commotion for a sec, below is a laundry list of answers if you ask me why:

1. This day officially marks my final year of high school career. Sad, isn’t it? I can’t believe I’m graduating in less than 10 months,

2. I knew I wouldn’t see Mello standing among us in the auditorium, neither in the music room, nor anywhere else in SNG,

3. I knew that after dismissal, I wouldn’t hang out with my crews; most of them were in college, another was at work, and another was sleeping tightly in Indonesia,

4. Preluding the mass, the organist played Pachelbel’s  “Canon in D”; a classical piece that we hiphop-remixed last year. It brought back memories of Mello, 07/08 string orchestra, and our joyous year,

5. The song “Christ be Our Light” was sung for communion. It will always remind me of the class of 2008 Baccalaureate Mass; the last time SNG string orchestra was conducted by Mello, as well as the moment Mello claimed to be her proudest moment of her life.

OK, I’ll end the list there. Let’s wipe our tears together and start new with a peek on the bright side. So Mello’s position is replaced by Mr. Baker. I think he’s OK, but I don’t think saying “cool” in like every 3 seconds will make him that cool. I just could hope for the best.

The whole NHS process is kind of intimidating me. Especially it’s due the DAY BEFORE my ACT. THE DAY BEFORE! Oh, please. Let me go through this without cutting my sleep

a.k.a ROSTER. Woaa, I finally got it in the mail.

1-Honors Theology IV (Dwyer)

HR- A7 (Palermo)

2- Physics (Yanez)

3- Honors Business Law (back to Palermo)

4- AP English (Sheehan)

5- Lunch =) (Cafetaria Ladies)

6- Honors French II (Saukaitis)

7- Advanced Strings (“I-want-Mello-back”)

8- AP Calculus (Tomaszewski)