April 2011 Update- A huge thank you to each of you! (yes, You who is reading this)

At 5 pm today,  I defend my capstone. Da, du, duhn.

Next Wednesday, is when I take my last final and also the day when I turn in the last paper of grad school (which I still need to start and finish), da, du, duhn.

After that I'm done with school-- at least with this degree until I don't know when. Hopefully I get into the Human Factors certification program. We'll see what happens from there.

I'm still getting this feeling I need to place a few more things under my belt.

Who would have thought that the kid who barely passed high school (literally) would be standing in front of a committee to defend and qualify for a master's degree, of all the irony in the world--a degree in Educational Psychology?

This may feel a bit reminiscent of giving an Oscar speech. I will try to make it less painful as an Oscar speech.

But what I do hope is each of you can feel my sincerity.

If I could give each one of you a great big hug I would but I frankly cannot afford to go to where each and everyone of you live. Besides, that would be like stalking right?

And thus begins my speech...

I've succeeded in so many things because of each and everyone of you who were there for me at the right time and right place. Here are a few of those examples (due to the time constraints given me by the producers, I am limited to these few examples. But please be assured that even though you may not "see" yourself in here, know I still love and appreciate ya!):

• The support I received as a high school sophomore shaking like a leaf while I sang my first solo, Caro Mio Ben.

• To those that were simply patient with me,

• To family that allowed me to be the hyperly-energetic kid with a bowl hair cut that played pranks on my grandma and grandpa and, to (much chagrin of) their friends,

• To friends who welcomed me with open arms in the 7,000 islands of the Philippines,

• To roommates who cleaned up after me in college without ever complaining,

• To those that drove me to far off places when I didn't have the means to do so and all the while enjoying it and not making me feel terrible about it,

• To strangers that fed me (who are now dear friends) while I lived and travelled far. From the islands of  Japan, to the comforting food of the Mississippi and the gentility that is Alabama,

• To you who help me see more than what I was capable of (not just because you were taller than me),

• To you  that introduced me to so much awesomeness, which I would have never gotten to experience on my own,

There is too many to thank, which I recognize, is a great thing to have.

Each and everyone of you who helped me see and realize my potential, I THANK YOU!


For those that did not, I still thank you. 


Now I don't know if you'll ever get to read this but just in case--

• You help me learn that life isn't always easy. Or that life has to be easy to enjoy,

• You allowed me to see the value in making choices,

• My experiences with you taught me the value of making choices-- carefully. It was hard at first but with the help of others, I was able to remove the walls I had built to protect myself,

• I also want to thank you for helping me recognize my self-worth is not based on your opinion or what I am capable of doing is limited by your feeble mind. 

• I learned I should build my self-worth on a foundation that is a lot more sturdy and reliable than the constant tide of changing opinions and insecurities.

I can now thank you for making my life miserable.

So thank you for being my clinical experience.

I have learned and will continue to place greater value in taking advantage of every opportunity.
At first because I wanted to get away from you.

But as time moved on, because of the growing love affair I began to have with learning (both formally and as a byproduct).

Yes, there are days when I wish I never met you and there are plenty of days I secretly hope to never run into you again.

But you didn't think I could only thank the people that I dearly love would you now?

Yin wouldn't be Yin without Yang (and vice-versa).

A once popular TV show's theme song best sums up what I am trying to say: You take the good, You take the bad... (everyone sing with me now)-- the Facts of Life...

But I digress. Back to--


To dear family, and friends within an arms reach or in this case, within social media's reach, a HUGE thank you!


So go hug the person nearest you, as a proxy for the great BIG bear hug I was going to give you.


And now I need to get back to reality once again...