// Personal blog post - 7/9/11//

Just finished reading: “Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio”  by Tony Johnston
One-sentence review: So very rare do I find books as genuinely written about what it’s really like to live the struggles of low-income immigrants of color in Los Angeles.

Now reading: “Soil Not Oil” by Vandana Shiva
One-sentence review: There is no way you should leave this book in denial of the interconnectedness of the food insecurity, peak oil, and climate change crises and how they have all been anticipated/forewarned consequences for centuries.

Going back to and actually finally planning on staying in the area that I grew up in in California has really also brought me to reevaluate all the thoughts and aspirations I had before and rediscover how freakin’ carefree and lovin’ life I used to be. My life has changed SO much and I along with it, but I’m very glad to note that now, having been through so many things I had never imagined - both wonderful and demanding-that-I-stay-resilient - and having finally completely understood why things happened/why I chose to make things happen the way they did, I’m gradually embracing all of what I had been and all that I still wish to be. :)

I also had a great time hanging out with one of my good friends since high school, Nuri, today at the beach. Next time I visit her, we’re totally hitting up the rooftop jacuzzi in her apartment building. ;D LOL Like how I say that as if we’re all hella privileged American teenagers? :P Inside jokes aside, I am so thankful for the handful of friends I have whom I can be as real as possible with. I don’t have to pretend like I’m anything more, less, or other than how I really am. There’s always loads of laughs, and honest to goodness, these are the very people I think about, besides my family, whenever I wonder about how well I’ve spent my time here in the U.S.

Note to self: I really should own my own diary. Written Benjamin Button style and chock full of epiphanies and affirmations.

Another thing I must also mention is how interesting it is for me to read posts written by friends who were born and raised here and travel to the Philippines over the summer to reconnect with and/or give back to “the homeland.” Without a doubt, the U.S. and the Philippines are like two different worlds, so I often find it rather funny whenever they experience culture shock. It also reminds me of how while I was taking a university course on global poverty here in the U.S., I also found it funny how time and time again we students were all taught to simply assume “the Third World perspective” when what I actually (naturally) ended up having to do was “the Third World perspective looking through the First World perspective looking through the Third World perspective.” lol Which reminds me.. I’m totally re-reading those course readers.

I’m glad to see how much my friends and I are learning and growing this summer.

Two months and six days more until I’ve officially lived 22 years on this Earth.