Today's TLA is HNY.
Happy New Year
Well I can not believe it is 2005. Well looking back at 2004, I think it was a very good year for me. It was certainly a year of traveling, learning, growing, edifying, and experiencing my youth. It started off when Gil, Howard, and myself went to Rio de Janeiro, Brasil for new year's 2004. What an experience! Imagine 3 million people jumping up and down, drunk, all dressed in white, and partying all for the count down to 2004. If that didn't awaken some primal excitement, joy, and pure madness in me, then nothing ever will. The trip to Brasil started the addictive madness to travel, see, and experience the world.
Prior to this trip, it seemed that my robotic marginal world of Sunnyvale, California was the center of my human existence. Wake up, get coffee, work, eat some food, sleep and then do it again the next day. I had to change this uninteresting, boring, and vacuous lifestyle. The world is immense and God's work, love, and people exists outside your local area code. I realized I am in my mid 20's, I am single, I work, I live on my own, I don't have a wife or kids, I am young, and I remembered to have fun.
Six months after Brasil, I traveled to Peru, where I saw not only the beautiful ancient Incan site of Machupichu, but the beautiful Andean people and their beautiful Andean culture. In September, I traveled to Italy with my family. I saw the classic works of the masters. Their art is very inspirational. I saw it all this year. I started reading new books and teaching myself new ideas as well as re-emphasizing old ideas which I may have forgotten. I started writing so I can record these new ideas, thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
I found a really good church, (a good, caring, and friendly community of believers) after going through diligent research and study of my own Christian spiritual growth. God may not be my first and foremost priority at all times and at all moments, but He is now in the vicinity. I do not know at what exact moment God started coming back as a priority in my life, maybe it was looking down at the Amazon from Machupichu, or looking down on Rio de Janeiro from Corcovado, or taking in the beauty of Italian Tuscan countryside, but perhaps I realized throughout my travels and experiences this past year that God is always there, God is in all people, God is in control, and God is everywhere. This realization and focus is a definite improvement from the lost years after college.
I am learning how to be a spiritually mature other-oriented Christian Filipino American. I am learning to ignite the flames of my militant and idealistic youth to combine it with my realistic and good-hearted present. But 2004 was only the beginning. I want to continue to learn and grow even more from the past year. I want to set new goals, travel to new countries, meet new people, get to really know people I already know, experience new vocations, enhance my artistic knowledge, enhance my musical knowledge, take adequate and realistic steps towards getting an advanced degree, continue the spiritual maturation process, and love God and all his people. I am learning how to be a better Jonathan Moises Reyes.
My Top 5 moments of 2004 (And the quotations for the moments)
1. Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro (2 classic quotations)
"Gil whispers, 'Run dude, just run... it's the girl with the picture with kids in the background'"
"Howard asks, 'Do you have money?', Jonathan drunkly replies, 'What for?, Don't worry, I got it Howard. I got it.'"
2. Seeing Machupichu "Machupi-what?"
3. Last night in Cuzco "Eres la chica la mas bonita de todo mundo"
4. First day in Il Cioco, Tuscany "This is where my honeymoon is going to be"
5. Making someone smile. "She smiled... and I was happy that she was happy"
My Top 5 goals for 2005
1. New vocation.
2. Find my wife.
3. Be a better son, brother, and friend.
4. Take GRE.
5. Run the 10k in Philly.
Enjoy,
Jonathan
Happy New Year
Well I can not believe it is 2005. Well looking back at 2004, I think it was a very good year for me. It was certainly a year of traveling, learning, growing, edifying, and experiencing my youth. It started off when Gil, Howard, and myself went to Rio de Janeiro, Brasil for new year's 2004. What an experience! Imagine 3 million people jumping up and down, drunk, all dressed in white, and partying all for the count down to 2004. If that didn't awaken some primal excitement, joy, and pure madness in me, then nothing ever will. The trip to Brasil started the addictive madness to travel, see, and experience the world.
Prior to this trip, it seemed that my robotic marginal world of Sunnyvale, California was the center of my human existence. Wake up, get coffee, work, eat some food, sleep and then do it again the next day. I had to change this uninteresting, boring, and vacuous lifestyle. The world is immense and God's work, love, and people exists outside your local area code. I realized I am in my mid 20's, I am single, I work, I live on my own, I don't have a wife or kids, I am young, and I remembered to have fun.
Six months after Brasil, I traveled to Peru, where I saw not only the beautiful ancient Incan site of Machupichu, but the beautiful Andean people and their beautiful Andean culture. In September, I traveled to Italy with my family. I saw the classic works of the masters. Their art is very inspirational. I saw it all this year. I started reading new books and teaching myself new ideas as well as re-emphasizing old ideas which I may have forgotten. I started writing so I can record these new ideas, thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
I found a really good church, (a good, caring, and friendly community of believers) after going through diligent research and study of my own Christian spiritual growth. God may not be my first and foremost priority at all times and at all moments, but He is now in the vicinity. I do not know at what exact moment God started coming back as a priority in my life, maybe it was looking down at the Amazon from Machupichu, or looking down on Rio de Janeiro from Corcovado, or taking in the beauty of Italian Tuscan countryside, but perhaps I realized throughout my travels and experiences this past year that God is always there, God is in all people, God is in control, and God is everywhere. This realization and focus is a definite improvement from the lost years after college.
I am learning how to be a spiritually mature other-oriented Christian Filipino American. I am learning to ignite the flames of my militant and idealistic youth to combine it with my realistic and good-hearted present. But 2004 was only the beginning. I want to continue to learn and grow even more from the past year. I want to set new goals, travel to new countries, meet new people, get to really know people I already know, experience new vocations, enhance my artistic knowledge, enhance my musical knowledge, take adequate and realistic steps towards getting an advanced degree, continue the spiritual maturation process, and love God and all his people. I am learning how to be a better Jonathan Moises Reyes.
My Top 5 moments of 2004 (And the quotations for the moments)
1. Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro (2 classic quotations)
"Gil whispers, 'Run dude, just run... it's the girl with the picture with kids in the background'"
"Howard asks, 'Do you have money?', Jonathan drunkly replies, 'What for?, Don't worry, I got it Howard. I got it.'"
2. Seeing Machupichu "Machupi-what?"
3. Last night in Cuzco "Eres la chica la mas bonita de todo mundo"
4. First day in Il Cioco, Tuscany "This is where my honeymoon is going to be"
5. Making someone smile. "She smiled... and I was happy that she was happy"
My Top 5 goals for 2005
1. New vocation.
2. Find my wife.
3. Be a better son, brother, and friend.
4. Take GRE.
5. Run the 10k in Philly.
Enjoy,
Jonathan
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