stop being GAYcist

"Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fundfiled legal briefs defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and attempting to forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 5, 2009, with a decision expected within the next 90 days."

Okay first of all, Ken freaking Starr! Second, stop this madness!

"The Courage Campaign has created a video called "Fidelity," with the permission of musician Regina Spektor, that puts a face to those 18,000 couples and all loving, committed couples seeking full equality under the law."

We lost the first battle but we have to try and continue fighting.

Please watch this video and sign the letter to the State Supreme Court

http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/divorce

for your entertainment

wow, MWE laid off 60 associates and 89 staffers: http://abovethelaw.com/2009/02/nationwide_layoff_watch_mcderm.php


i know i know..but i'm addicted!


kinda hate miley cyrus


umm....go for the gold michael?!!!

50-50

The first twelve years of my life was spent in the Philippines. The last twelve in the United States. I reached what I call a 50-50 part of my life because this is the first time since moving to America when I have lived equally as long in the Philippines and the United States. In a couple of months, I will be turning twenty-five years old and I would have lived in the United States longer than I lived in the Philippines. Does that make me more American and less Filipino? I’m not really sure why I split my life into these two distinct parts but I just do.

Moving to America was such a significant moment in my life not just because of geography but the awareness of privilege and inequality at the same time, the realization of limitless possibilities that America has to offer but then looking at the color of my skin and realizing the barriers. America is so ironic....or maybe it's just confused. We claim to believe in one thing but continue to do something else. We preach equality and liberty abroad by bringing out guns and billions of dollars in funds but our home, our own country is filled with homeless veterans, majority white and male CEO's, and health care system that doesn't even exist for all Americans.

All these years the question of identity remains the same, it’s still a question. I am Filipino living in America. I guess that makes me Filipino-American. I can't deny that this country has grown on me and I have began to affiliate myself with being American more than being Filipino even though I still don't know the lyrics to the Star-Spangled banner (but what percentage of "real" Americans actually know ALL the words?). Everyone claims that going back to the homeland makes you realize how American you were and they were every bit correct. I have never felt ashamed of my accomplishments and blessings than when I went back. I was surrounded by houses made out of cardboard boxes and thin pieces of plywood, "child" vendors selling cigarettes, my driver paying the cop 200 pesos to get out of a ticket, and my grandpa, a 50 year chairman of the board for Tanay Water District, dying of cancer without health insurance. Maybe America isn't so bad afterall?

I guess I’m just at a very reflective state with all these writing and re-writing of personal statements, supplements and addendums. I’ve accomplished a lot in the past twelve years but never really look back to what I have done the first twelve years. Was I just too young to remember? Did I not accomplish anything when I lived there? Maybe I really did leave my childhood in the Philippines. I think I grew up when I was twelve.

what do you do when

your friend is in a really bad relationship but she is too blind to see how horrible her situation is?

Although there are not clear cut signs of abuse there is plenty of evidence that shows neglect, being taken advantage of, and disrespect.

It feels hopeless because she doesn't even want to help herself.

This is going to be long, random and probably full of nonsense (hmm sounds like my personal statement!)

Weekend update (before my rant about my personal statement)
After a long week at work (including a 14 hour shift on friday night which is the only thing I remember from this week, probably because it was the most recent, most tiring day ever), i was most definitely looking forward to the weekend.

my plans were..........................to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

oh okay, that was a lie...what I really meant was to do absolutely nothing work related.

Friday night was wine, wii and pizza. Saturday was cleaning our house (hey, it's therapeutic), laundry, gym and a little bit of shopping with shell (oh and I tried working on my personal statement but i failed at that!), and some more wii. Today was bible study, church, lunch with Marc and his sisters plus the kiddos, then I finally worked on my personal statement(i still have nothing!) and hellboy.

I must say this was a very productive (except for my failure at writing a decent draft of my personal statement) and relaxing weekend...finally.

You don't have to read this part because it will be long and probably won't even make sense.
So anyway, my main reason for blogging tonight is not because I want to bore you with the details of my weekend (but it is my blog and I will write whatever I want) but because I need help/really need to vent because I am so frustrated at myself.

For some reason, I absolutely cannot write a personal statement. Oh I have tried, I have maybe 14 drafts, all one pagers, single spaced, all a variation of the other, all absolutely worthless. So why do I want to be a lawyer?? What is so awesome about me that even with my crappy LSAT score and mediocere gpa, a good law school should take me??!!!! The most frustrating part is the fact that I can come up with plenty of reasons why I want to be a lawyer and why I think they should take me but none of them are good enough....now I am starting to doubt myself because if I can't even articulate who I am and what I can offer, how can I even make a good lawyer?

I know I know, LSAT scores and even gpas, awesome law school blah blah blah do not necessarily translate into a good lawyer but even so, I still wish that things didn't have to be so difficult. I hate excuses and I hate sucking at this. Can I just have a moment of enlightenment and write this damn thing??? I'm definitely running out of time...................

So I will just freewrite...maybe it will be less intimidating when it's a blog vs. a word document?

I realized I wanted to be a lawyer.........
-When I was in the 8th grade, after a year of being in the U.S. My eight grade government teacher chose me to defend the person accused of murder in our mock trial I lost that case even though I prepared for it so well and got an A. Jury favored the popular guy in my class who barely worked on his argument. I hate failing....
-In the 10th grade, my mom took me to an immigration lawyer to help her translate some legal terms and the lawyer was amazing. It seemed like she actually cared about my family's situation.
-Freshman year of college when I was first introduced to Ethnic Studies, PASS and many social injustices, I realized that I want to do my part.
-Junior year of college when my dad was injured on the job and due to instances beyond our control he had to retire from work. S
-Same year, our tenants sued my parents (we eventually win this case after several thousand dollars later in attorney fees, equity loss etc, I promised myself that no one will take advantage of me, anyone in my family and friends ever again.)

And I really want to be a lawyer because
-there is nothing else out there that I want to do
-I work crazy hours at work, see the bullshit associates have to put up with, know what kind of people lawyers turn into (and some I can say are just awful), basically I know exaclty what I'm getting into and I STILL WANT IT
-the law is absolutely beautiful and ugly at the same time..the interpretations, the context, the consequences..it's just amazing what it can and cannot do
-I KNOW that this is what I was meant to do...everywhere I look, injustices happen and I know I have to do something about it and the only way I can I think is to become a lawyer.....

hmmmmmmmm and I still have nothing.

battery is dying..better save draft/publish post...more later on........

"We are not dealing with a scientific problem. We are dealing with a political issue."--Samuel Epstein, M.D.

GWhile I only knew of them indirectly, their lives and the fact that they ended so soon have made an impact in my life. Both 24, both died of cancer.

I'm still in awe. We live in one, if not the greatest nation in the world. With that said, one would think that we have the ability to raise the money to fund research, medicine etc. to cure certain diseases. But we don't. We have billions of dollars to spend on pointless wars. We have gazillionaires wasting their fortunes away on random junk. Heck, our government can't even agree on whether or not stem cell research is ethical. Who am I kidding, we don't even have universal health care.

Even though I understand that God has a purpose for everything, my heart breaks for the opportunities missed and dreams left unfulfilled, for their loved ones left behind. Just goes to show that you really never know.

To Craig and to Anthony, may you both rest in peace. To their families and friends, my prayers are with you and may God give you strength and comfort in knowing that they are no longer suffering.

Lesson(s) learned in 2007

2007 (and partially 2006) has given me plenty of hits and misses so in order to properly celebrate a new era in my life (blogspot, being 24, PARALEGAL promotion and I suppose the new year) I present to you a list of my lessons learned:

DO NOT get drunk at your holiday party
DO laugh about it on your first day back at work and sheepishly use being "young" as an excuse

DO NOT fly hungover across the country (and especially DO NOT sit in the middle seat if you chose to do so!)
DO bring plastic bags

DO NOT curse out loud assuming that you are the only person in the room
DO bust out with your most adorable smile when one of the partners tells you sarcastically but kindly that he did not hear anything

DO NOT allow yourself to be prey to PERVERTED and OBNOXIOUS superiors.
DO warn all your fellow female co-workers

DO NOT send an email with the subject: I need assistance. Why? BLACKBERRIES translate your message to "I need ass".
DO roll your eyes at the superior that laughs at you

added on 1/2/08

DO NOT eat fish tacos in Mexico
DO carry pepto =P