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?