So Facebook has completely taken over my world which is why I haven't been on this site in AGES!!
I hope God has been taking care of you and your families.
Personally, I need to get back in touch. I've pretty much dropped out and there's no one and nothing to blame except for myself. It's not in faith, but in actions, nevertheless, it all ties together so every area needs work. Prayers please =/
My family is ok. My mom - ugh, just prayers please. My dad - has a couple health issues, but nothing bad. Thank God for that. My sister Esther (Orellana) - She's looking for a teaching job in Jersey and the search isn't going so well, especially with the economy the way it is; these baby boomers do NOT want to retire. Ernesto - in his junior year at NJIT. I'm so proud of him! He's had a couple set backs this year, but he's grown up and learned from the experience(s). Ezequiel - he's 13!! I remember when he was a couple of months old and I dropped him on his head! Thank God he turned out ok (I think), but geez he's grown up so fast! Next year he'll be starting high school and that's my biggest concern.

Prayers for them all please

As for myself, I will be graduating from Rutgers this upcoming May. GRE's are in my future - end of December to be exact. Plan on applying to grad school, but there are so many programs that I'm interested from MFA creative writing fiction to English to Film Studies, it's ridiculous. Hope I make the right choice in the end.

Oh, one of my best friend's got married a month ago. She's Pakistani muslim so it was kind of arranged, meaning they both agreed to marry one another and weren't forced into it. They married within a month and a couple of weeks of meeting! So far he seems like a really good person, but you never know how things may turn out once they begin to live together. Also her mom continues with her battle with brain cancer. I love this family dearly so prayers please

Well, here's to updating in another year, God willing

So it's been over a year since I've posted on this.
Main reason: stopped caring. Sorry, but it's true.

So I have since graduated with two AA degrees (one in Business and one in English). I am currently going to Rutgers U. in New Brunswick, NJ going for my B.A. and am glad to be able to meet some of my friends from MCC around campus. That means you Bruiser Mathews!! Oh, I'm an English major here specializing in Creative Writing. Still struggling with whether or not I want to go for a B.S. in Finance or just aim for the MBA, but I also want an MFA. Urgh, higher education - I just had to loooove school. Most likely going to be a professor though.

What else.... nothing out of the norm really. I met Junot Diaz about 2 weeks ago!! He's cool peoples. I played softball during the summer and met some of the greatest and most annoying people ever! BFFs!! Travelled around this summer for conferences and fun. Also, because I'm not at MCC anymore, I'm not working for Democracy House and a few of my friends have gone off to college out of state. I miss 'em - DH homies 4 lyfe!!! Booyaka Booyaka!!

The family you ask? They're doing good. I'll go one by one...
Ezequiel: He's becoming a lot like my mom. This is because he spent the whole summer at home doing nothing except talk about how he wished cam was a summer long. He still complains and what not, but he's a kid, so my dad only hits him upside the head to stop.
Ernie-Man: I don;t even know where he is right now. Actually, I do, but it's no concern of yours, nosy. Go ask the big one how he's doing. Ernie does talk about himself in the third person plural quite often, but not in public.
Esther: Graduated from Kean and should be receiving her Teacher Certification in the mail soon. My sister is gonna make an excellent high school teacher soon.
My folks: My father got injured on the job this past spring and so my siblings and I had to help maintain the home. Kind of a tough time for my dad, but he's pushed through it and has returned to work all better. I won't talk about my mom because a lot of you don't "know" her, but just pray for her, hahahha. One thing I will say is that my family and I have moved some 9 times (in my lifetime alone) and except for the last time, we got evicted/kicked out because of my mom. I love her and all, but she's something else kid, for real for real.

That should be enough for another couple months.
What's poppin' wit chu?

What do you see when you step out of your home and look at the world around you? Do you see the wonders that God has wrought or do you just walk to your car and drive off?

You can't save everybody, it's just not possible. That shouldn't be a purpose. I think one of the best purposes of life is to help those whom you CAN help. Remember, that doesn't mean everybody.

You know how there's sometimes that mystery year in college. The one that doesn't have a grade, yup, that's what I'm heading for. After I changed my major and doubled up, I found out I needed about 8 or 9 more classes in order to get my associate's. Lord willing, when I do, I will have the opportunity of attending TCNJ. It all depends on my career goals, bleh, that makes me feel old.

Can't wait for my Short Fiction Class to start or for NJ Camp!!

Soooo thankful for having been a part of Democracy House. Even more thankful for their support in all of my endeavors. You are my heart. Extremely blessed to have a family, flaws and all, like mine, as well as God.

I like driving with the windows down and the music blasting... that's just how I roll...

and Ernesto rolls right along with it...
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If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
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Turns out that I took a whole semester's worth of classes that I don't even need to graduate... Really maaaadddd, but a couple of them were worth it...
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House is under construction. Sleeping on the couch for 3 weeks. You can guess the state of my posture... and falling off isn't too pretty either...
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I LOVE it when brother Doug comes to preach! His sermons are awesome and I'm gonna take him up on remembering Ephesians 1.
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Thinking about pimping my ride... maybe Zequiel can draw me up a design...

He's a really good artist...

You should see some of his drawings sometime, I'll post them up soon.

Peace out cub scouts.

So school's gotten to me. Well, not really the work, but the classes. I dropped one because of problems with the professor (and I work with him too!). I'm glad though because it gives me more time to finish some projects.

Went to a few events in the past couple of weeks. Had another NYC adventure with my friend Kim and our cabbie was insane!! Headed out to another event this afternoon at the New Brunswick Center. It's a Hispanic Heritage month poetry & music thing and I'll be rollin deep with 5 other people. One of my favorite professors is speaking that's why I'm going hahaha!

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Got my Spring semester schedule all set up! Taking 1 Winter course but it's online.

El Dia del Pavo is right around the corner!! I didn't know it was next week until this morning. The day after is Black Friday, so I'll be meeting up a few of my friends at 4am at the Sears in Woodbridge Mall. It's going to be our first time EVER shopping on that day and we're putting it on video!! HAHAHA Yo, I can't wait. My boy Mike has the football helmets ready.

Tutoring at Roosevelt Elem. is going pretty good. Kids are way toooo grown nowadays. They know things at 9 years old that I didn't until I was 15. It's ridiculous, but we're trying to help them out as best we can and create an understanding of Community Service and its benefits.

Last month I went to TCNJ for a Bonner Congress Meeting and I joined a group about creating Interfaith Dialogue in our community service. I tried to get it set up in our program, but after several arguments and headaches later, I realized that even though it would help the kids we tutor, it would create segregation among the program. The thing is, a lot of these kids believe that no one cares about them and there's nothing more to life than the drugs & violence going on in the streets. I don't know how else to make this work...

Had more to say, but forgot what it was...

Oh yeah, Mark 10:31 "But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
I know this verse is mentioned other times, but what does it mean?