WHAT IS AJNITIS?

AJnitis is an AJ infection. AJ Rafael that is and Lauren has it really bad. She listens to his songs everyday. She waits for his posts on Myspace and Facebook. She reads his blog. She watches him on BlogTV and makes sure she types her name enough times in bold pink so he'll say hi to her during his shoutout song which he always does (Lauren, Lauren Boren, Bonky, Bonky butt). She makes sure she knows when he's coming back to Cali to do a show.

AJ Rafael is a very talented Fil-Am artist adored by many young teens in the SoCal and NorCal area. He also has tons of followers in different parts of the world from the P.I. to Hawaii to Canada to Australia. He attends a very prestigious music school in Boston called Berklee School of Music. Many alumni of the college are notable figures of the music industry such as Quincy Jones, Diana Krall, Melissa Etheridge, Gavin DeGraw and one of my favorites, John Mayer. He's from Moreno Valley, CA. His father was his biggest musical influence but lost him at an early age. He and his two sisters were raised by his mom. He directed the choir at his local church and through word of mouth started spreading his music into all our I-pods. It's nice to see that there are still positive influences out there that my daughter can look up to and admire (and stalk).

Joel and I first took her to see AJ and other artists back in November '08 at the F.A.M.S. show and she got to take a picture with him. She's had AJnitis from that point on.

We took her to the Feel the Beat show in Anaheim last Friday to watch him again along with other artists and dance crews from MTV's Americas Best Dance Crew. From across the aisle where she sat with her best friend, Shelby, I looked over and saw how happy she was to be able to watch him perform again.

Yes, we definitely felt old amidst all those screaming teens. Girls (and boys) screaming "I love you AJ", followed by another group screaming "I love you more" ... "mahal kita" ... "you're so sexy Gabe" ... "marry me" etc. Even Greg who was the youngest of all her "4" chaperones felt old.

After the last crew performed, we went out to the lobby and there he was. Meeting and greeting his fans. Of course, she had to take another picture with him but this time she got introduced by Greg (whom AJ wrote a song for his "secret" show) as his "biggest fan". She was speechless which for all of you who know her is not like her at all.

Coming out of the venue, we see rows of cars with parents waiting to pick up their kids. It's sad to see how many parents are not willing to experience something with their children or how many kids don't want their parents around. There's enough time when you get older to be on your own. Why not experience things together so you can relate to one another. We hit IHOP after and had fun eating and talking about the show. It was definitely a fun filled night with the Soriano boys (minus one ... maybe next time Donato & Jan can join us).

The following day we spent watching another one of her volleyball games and just vegging out at home. 6:30 pm rolls around and here she comes into the room and announces "I'm bored". I know what she's up to so I pretended not to hear her. She then asks me ... "Can we go see AJ perform in Rancho Cucamonga tonight?". I said "no, you already saw him last night" and she went back to her room real sad. But being a sucker for sad faces (sometimes) and stalker enabler that I am, we took her anyway. I figured if she could travel to Hawaii with me just to see Kelly Slater surf then I could definitely drive her 20 miles to see AJ. So off we went to Starbucks in Rancho Cucamonga and I must admit that I enjoyed this show because of the smaller audience and I didn't have 1300 teenagers screaming around me.

As we were waiting to get another picture taken with him I happen to be standing next to his mom and got to talking with her. Very nice and very proud mother. I told her how much we as a family admire his musical talents because it's a great feeling as a mother to hear positive feedback about their children. AJ came over to us and said hello and took another picture with Lauren. She's happy now and won't be bored anymore until the next time he comes to town. I'm pretty sure she knows exactly when she'll be bored again.

I guess if I had to choose the type of infection she would contract, it would be the AJnitis. She loves music, singing and she now wants to learn to play the guitar. I hope that AJ reads this blog someday and realizes what a great influence he is to so many teens and continues to be a positive one. Check him out at www.myspace.com/ajrafael or subscribe to http://youtube.com/ilajil To all my Winnipeg friends and their families, he's performing there on May 15th at the Prairie Theatre Exchange (3rd floor Portage Place) so show him some love and spread the word.

I read a quote that said "aspire to inspire before you expire". Hope you enjoyed my banter and hope you all contract AJnitis. It's painfree and no antibiotics needed.

til next time ... a hui ho ... teena

p.s. Doesn't he remind you of Emil?

CAN I HAVE MORE GREENS PLEASE? NO!!!

I know times are tough for a lot of people but some more than others. I've been truly blessed or "lucky" enough to have such great bosses that look out for me not just in the "here and now" but "to infinity and beyond". I'm reminded of this today because of an experience Lauren had this week. An adventure to another world she personally knows nothing about. Meeting people that are completely "alien" to her. A place that taught her to be more compassionate to others ... a hui ho ... teena ... here is her personal account of the day ...

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. I went on a school field trip to the Union Rescue Mission in L.A. ... yep ..."SKIDROW". We took a train from a local train station to Union Station in L.A. and a van picked us up and shuttled us over to the Mission. When we first got there we had to take an elevator up to the main floor and i think it was the most nerve wracking time that I have ever experienced. The way our teacher explained it, I thought it would be smelly, scary, and just gross but it was far from that. The first place that we saw was the cafeteria and the first group was already there washing their hands and putting on aprons and hair nets. We looked hilarious! My dad ended up coming with us and he also had to put these things on. My friends were all laughing because my dad wore a hair net but doesnt have very much hair to keep in it.

My job was to put plates on big trays the first two shifts. I know I got off easy. It was kind of slow because there wasn't very much action. During the first shift we served the men of the "program". The program is when these men from off the streets come into the shelter and ask for help. They get jobs, just stay clean and if asked they will tell you how long they have been off drugs or alcohol. Anyway, the second shift we served women and children. The people who were helping us were warning us about the ladies. They said that they can get very rude and catty but from behind the counter it didn't seem that way at all but obviously i was wrong. My friends who were serving said that they were very rude and not polite. The children were adorable. They were running around, smiling, and just being happy little children. After the second shift was over we ate lunch and took a tour. We ate exactly what we served which was Green chicken nuggets (Dad said it was green because of the seasoning ... I hope that's true), fries, greens, bread and water. It was pretty good but not like our cafeteria food at our school but it wasn't bad. After we ate, we hung out for a little bit and one of the guys who worked in the kitchen was showing us some tricks like coins tricks and belt tricks it was really cool. Then we took a tour of the building. It looked nothing like what i expected. It was a very nice building. We checked out the offices and talked to the big man in charge of the whole mission. We went to the clinic area and we also visited the rooms where the people slept. It made me so thankful that I have a bed to come home to every night. The last part of the tour was when we went to the roof of the building and took group pictures. It had an amazing view of downtown L.A.

After the tour, we did the last shift of the day. This time we were serving the men straight off the streets. The people helping us this time were very serious about making sure that we were safe because some of these men were very aggressive. For the last shift, I got to put bread on the plates. Yay, that was fun! After a while we started running out of food and we had to start doubling up on chicken because there were no more fries and it was just very crazy. While we were still serving the first group had to leave to go back to Union Station. A man in a wheelchair came up to the line and asked for another plate of food and the security guard told him no you already had one, but this guy kept asking and asking. The security guard was starting to get mad but he gave him the plate anyway but this guy was still mad. He was cursing and all my classmates that were still there were all getting scared. Then, the man went behind the rope (in his wheelchair) right behind my classmates and was gonna go through the line but security pushed him back. The head chef stopped the line and had my classmates come behind the counter because it was getting intense. Security was handling it but we were still scared. After a while the man just went away and just let it go. It's sad to see this happen just because he was still hungry.

We started the line again and there were still a lot of people in line and waiting outside but we had to leave. So the next chance we had we left right away because if we were to serve all the other people we would have missed our train. So we left and got to Union Station and headed home. Once we got back to our local train station the first thing we did was hit McDonalds. My best friend, Shelby, came with us because we were gonna drop her off at school. So we had a good time. It was a lot of fun and very good for me. I learned a lot while I was there. It was truly a great experience.

Well that's all for the Union Rescue Mission experience or as we call it URM!! Hope one day I can go back and all of you can come with me :D

PEACE, LOVE AND LAUREN :D

BUMP ... SET ... SPIKE

14 YEARS ... that's how long we waited for her to finally like a sport and actually participate in a team game. volleyball. trying out for her school team was out of the question but joining the local city league wasn't. go figure.

• 6 yrs old ... golf ... junior golf clubs $$ ... lots of time at the driving range ... buckets and buckets of golf balls $$ ... "dad it's all gone, can i get another bucket?" $$ ... "mom i don't want to hit anymore golf balls, can we go eat?" $$ ... that lasted about 6 months ... she didn't even outgrow her junior golf clubs ... she did hit a birdie once ... unfortunately it was a real bird ... on to the next one.
  

• 7 yrs old ... karate ... uniforms $100 ... (3) private one-on-one lessons $75 ... she finally was brought in to join the rest of the class after 2 weeks ... she was the smallest one there ... after an hour of karate chops n kicks, she said goodbye to her instructor, walked out and said "i don't want to do this anymore mommy, can we go eat?" ... expensive halloween costume ... next
• 9 yrs old ... tennis ... tennis racket $$ ... tennis balls $$ ... hours practicing with her dad ... "daddy, can you go get the ball" ... "i don't want to play tennis anymore ... i don't like running" ... racket collecting dust in the closet ... next
• basketball ... next
• swimming ... next

needless to say, we're very proud parents and we're excited to unveil her very first sport pictures. ta da! doesn't she look like she really loves it. she does. yay!!! go team lauren! Woooohoooooo!!!

league cost ... $125

shorts, knee pads and volleyball ... $60

smile on her face ... priceless

till next time ... a hui ho ... teena

LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD

happy 2009! i finally got our blog up. hope this finds you all in great health and have lost all the weight you've gained during the holidays. personally, i need a few more months.

looking back really quick. we truly enjoyed our oahu getaway last december. went to a lot of new places and back to old ones we like to visit. can't seem to get enough of that place and can't wait for our next visit. got to see kelly slater surf at the pipeline masters. we finally went to pearl harbor and that was a great learning experience for all of us. enjoyed the movie set tours at kualoa ranch. loved the majestic views at the pali lookout. had the best shaved ice at matsumoto's. yummy haupia pie and garlic shrimp at ted's bakery. best fried calamari at haleiwa joe's. yes...we love to eat. took a tour of university of hawaii and it's definitely #1 on lauren's list. four and half years to go and counting. tic..tic..tic... turtle bay resort was beautiful and we had the best time until the storm pretty much chased us off the island. great times.

the year ended great for me. my last p.e.t. scan came back clear and i've graduated to having that scan done only once a year now. Yay!!! i've reconnected with my old high school friends through facebook and even though our vegas trip got scrapped, i'm pretty sure we'll all see each other again soon.

holidays with the family is always fun. good food. lots of laughs. great memories. christmas is for kids and highly overrated when you're an adult. although i have to admit that i got the best present from my sister-in-law...a beautiful painting of waves.

the year started with lots of plans for our future individually and collectively. lauren tested for i-poly high school (a school within the cal poly university campus). a big step for her since most of her friends are going elsewhere. she is such a strong person and is ready for the challenges that the next phase of her life will bring. joel is taking the necessary steps to make sure that he achieves his goal of getting his nursing degree. keep your fingers crossed for us. i on the other hand have decided to slow down a bit. to make sure i have time to smell the roses and enjoy the breeze. to treasure every moment i have in this lifetime. that's the life lesson i've learned the hard way. now i make sure my family learns it before it's too late. hope you do too.

a hui ho (see you soon)...teena