2009 - My Personal Take (Part 1)

2009 was a year of ups and downs for me...There were good moments, and there were sad moments. 2009 was a year I got reunited with friends old and new...a year that will always be remembered as the year Michael Jackson passed away. This year, I've seen friends move away for economic reasons or for their own personal reasons. A year I got drunk more than any other year since my NAVY days (a girl will do that to you)and the crazy all-nighters we did as friends.

*SEPARATE WAYS (WORLDS APART)

I started off the year wanting to go my own separate ways from a lot of people. It wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had, but I needed to find myself, touch the walls so to speak, and just distance myself from the people I love...I felt a certain emptiness about myself. I did a lot of Skiing and Snowboarding up at the Big Bear Mountain Ski Resorts in early January, to get my mind off of things...you see, I have a Passion for skiing and I was very good at it (I still am.) But sometimes going your own separate ways can have a certain downfall...you feel very lonely.

*Heart2Heart AP Foundation

This was a blessing in disguise. My dear friend Candy, calls me up to tell me that she had purchased a ticket for me for the Heart2Heart Arnel Pineda Foundation Dinner Party. Not to sound mean, but at first, I was a little skeptical about going to this event. It wasn't the people I was worried about...it was myself. I did a lot of Skiing around this time of the year and I went Skiing the morning of the party over at Snow Valley....it would be a decision I would soon regret.
I came to the party exhausted from the brutal Skiing I just did at the mountains. I attacked all the double black diamond courses at the ski resort and then ran into traffic going to the party in Anaheim.
The party/event went as follows...I met with people I haven't seen in a long time and I met new friends that will stand out to me as friends for life. We all had a nice dinner, there was an auction to raise money for the H2H event and we got a live video feed from the man himself, Arnel Pineda. I loved the conversations I had with everyone that attended...I remember taking something like over 200 pictures of the event. But I have to admit, as tired as I was, I was having the best time I've had all year...and it was only late Febuary. Unfortunately, I left the party very early because of how physically exhausted I was and I will admit..to this day, it's been eating me up inside because I kinda found myself that night and I wanted to be a part of something special.

*The Fall and Rise of the AP Site

I won't go into detail of what happened here but from what I've heard, the guy that was running the original "Arnel Pineda Ning" web-site, embesseled money that was suppose to go to the AP Foundation so Arnel Pineda pulled the plug on that site and encouraged people to join his new improved web-site at "ArnelPinedaRocks.com". A problem arosed as there were people that had their own personal Web-Pages there and didn't want to let go of them. To them, it was more important to have a personal Web-Page at the old site then to remember the principals as to why a lot of us left the old site. On a personal note...it is so easy to make your own Web-Page (This Blogger is a fine example of what I'm talking about)
My personal take is, I think the new site is better than the old one and Arnel has some pretty good and loyal people watching over the site...myself included (I Moderate the Chat Site or SB shout box for short).