THE EARLY YEARS...
Well, I was born in Livingston, New Jersey on September 3, 1979.  (Which, for all you people who like irony, was on Labor Day.)  My first trip to the Philippines was when I was two months old.  I was present at my parents' church wedding in Guindulman, Bohol!  I moved to Cerritos, California when I was two and a half years old.   At the age of 5, I started pre-school at some Lutheran private school in Cerritos.  Then I went to a montessori school for kindergarten and finally ended up at St. Irenaeus in Cypress for the next 8 years.  In fifth grade I went to the Philippines for the second time for Christmas.  Lots of lots of fun!  I started taking swimming lessons at the age of 4, piano lessons at the age of 5, and along the way took jazz, tap, ballet, roller skating, tennis, and figure skating lessons.

THE MID YEARS...
At the age of 13, I went to Cornelia Connelly High School in Anaheim.  I joined the theater program freshman year and for 3 years they TRIED to teach me to act.  I also started singing in the school's choral and playing the piano for the instrumental ensemble.  I started taking figure skating lessons again the summer before freshman year (after being told to stop by my mom at the age of 7) and continued through high school.  I continued with my piano lessons through high school and took kung-fu lessons for about six months and received my orange belt before having to stop because of other time commitments.  The summer before my senior year I went to UCLA for summer school.  I took Math 1- ie: precalculus.  I got my first B+ in college.  I could've done better.  I got my first job at 16 working at the Knott's Berry Farm Steakhouse as a hostess.  I worked there for almost two years before I quit so that I could enjoy my last two weeks of high school and my last summer as an "innocent" high schooler.  During that time my grandmother died in the Philippines, so I had my third, unplanned, trip to the Philippines.  (My most eventful trip, by far.)  I learned how to drive a stick shift in a car whose passenger side door didn't open, driver's side window didn't open, had no power steering, and looked like it had been through hell and back.  I was also learning to drive in a field (a field!!!) behind the local elementary school.  My cousins tried to teach me to drive a motorcycle, too.  It didn't work out too well.  I crashed into a rice paddie.  Literally.  They had to pull us out.  Don't laugh!!!  Everyone in the town knew about it by the next day!  I decided I'd stay a passenger after that.  As a last act of fun before college I decided to take Kali/Arnis/Escrima/Muay Thai lessons at the local rec center.

THE LATER YEARS...
I began college at the age of 18 as a proud Bruin at UCLA.  I started two weeks early due to a program I was in called the Math and Science Scholars program.  We had a two week bridge program during which I lived in Sproul Hall, fifth floor, went to my first two weeks of Calculus and Chemistry, slept through my first two weeks of Calculus and Chemistry, went clubbing, stayed up all night long in the fifth floor lounge while playing poker, pusoy dos, and truth-no-dare, and made some friends I would keep in touch with for the next two years (and more).  Once school started I became an active member in UCLA's Samahang Pilipino, the Student Advocate Pilipino group on campus.  I became an intern at SPEAR, Samahang Pilipino Education and Retention Program, joined Tinig Ng Samahang, Samahang's choral group, and PCN, Pilipino Cultural Night.  In PCN I danced jazz and Maria Clara (GO SA-AD!!!), played backup synthesizer in the orchestra, sang in choral, and assisted the props coordinator.  I also joined a program called PREP, Pilipino Recruitment and Enrichment Program, which outreaches to high school students in the Long Beach, Carson, and San Pedro area.  During this time I also continued with my piano and figure skating lessons.  Towards the end of spring quarter I got a job working at a dental office in Santa Monica.  I was able to set my own hours and was making lots of money for doing almost nothing.  :)
I am currently in my second year at UCLA.  I'm a little older and a little wiser, but nonetheless am still driving myself absolutely loony trying to accomplish the following things by the end of the year: PCN props coordinator, PCN orchestra coordinator, Canyon Point A7 Activities Coordinator, and PREP's spring quarter Day In the Life co-coordinator.  I am also dancing mountain (or Igorot) for PCN, singing in Tinig Ng Samahang- yet again!, and am a member of Ja'a staff.  I am also TRYING to continue with my piano and figure skating lessons- although, not with much luck.  I just finished- yesterday!!!!- with my fall quarter finals and am planning on spending my Christmas break exercising, sleeping, watching movies, updating my webpage, reading the two Star Wars books I bought but haven't gotten to read yet, going to Disneyland, and hanging out with my friends.
UPDATE:  It's now almost the end of Winter Break.  I haven't gone to Disneyland and I haven't exercised much... but yet, I'm a lot more content than I was three weeks ago.  Thank goodness for the relative peace of home.

PRESENTLY...
Okay, so you wanna know what my life is like now. Well, I guess that'd be expected if you actually read this far. And I guess it'd be deserved too if you're this inclined to get to know me. Hmmm... okay then. It's now my junior year of college at UCLA. I finally decided on a major: Linguistics/East Asian Languages and Studies, focusing on Japanese, (yes, that's one major!) and two minors: Asian American Studies and Anthropology. What?! you say? Well, I'm a nerd, a dork, and an indecisive geek who can't make up her mind- so I decided to do everything.
As for the rest of my life, still no boyfriend... Although, that was kind of a conscious decision on my part for the year. I needed to raise my GPA. Which I did manage to do very successfully (pat on the back). So now it's almost time for PCN, and yes, I am stressing once again. I chose not to get AS involved this year- meaning I'm sticking to music. All of it. Choral, orchestra, and now add Rondalla. What was I thinking?? Needless to say I'm stressed beyond belief and I won't go into my frustrations and complaints here because, well, this is long enough already and some people might actually wander in here and read this that shouldn't. (I will be the first to admit that most likely won't happen, though.)
And so, my life for now consists of going to work, calling in sick to the hospital, going to my other work, going to class, actually doing homework, and going to PCN practices, meetings, runthrus etc. In between, I socialize by talking to freshman guys (who unfortunately are all extremely nice and very taken) and getting drunk when I have to be at work early the next morning. (Not a good idea!) And yes, it is choral (or should I say Randy) who introduced me to the wonderful world of alcohol. I do have an exciting summer planned, though, and if all goes well I will be traveling across the US for most of it. Wish me luck!