Year Ender 3 - Fave Events in 2008

My Top 5 Favorite Events for 2008

STI 25th Anniversary Celebration

25 Years of quality education is what STI brags about. Not only does STI do wonders in the field of education but when STI handles events expect it to be a monumental one. Celebrating SIlver was the theme and the event was a culmination of a month long celebration in honor of STI's 25 years of Quality ICT education. Just read the events that happened on that day.

Celebrating SIlver - http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/09/sti-25th-anniversary-celebration.html

SINTA

Many years ago Dulaang Sibol recasted the longest running stage play in the country-SINTA. When I was in High school i was a long time understudy of some roles and eventually got to play some in the later part of the original casts run in the early 90's. I was just so happy to be invited to perform and mix it up with the young one's. Most probably Sinta will have another run this February.

Blog Story - http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/02/sinta.html

OUR LADY'S LITTLE PRINCESS

This event is all about our family! I thank my Mom, Lola Mae to the kids for making things happen. SHe was the moving force in making my neice Ma. Angelica "Bujoy" Garrido win this event. She was on top of every solicitation, follow up and everything. Also, if not for my brother Arnel and his wife Timmy, Bujoy would have not gone far. Next stop, other pageants hahaha.

http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-ladys-little-princess-2008.html

BELLY DANCE FESTIVAL

What used to be a dance recital eventually became a show and then as the years passed they gathered the best belly dancers in the country and staged the event in Glorietta for all to see. The show was long but seeing one of my best buds dance and show off her belly dancing skills was enough for me to enjoy. Unfortunately the day I went to watch I was so tired and spent that I went home right after the show.

Highlights of the BellY Dance Festival http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/07/belly-dance-festival-2008.htm

ATENEO ALUMNI HOMECOMING

For me, the best part of the event was SEEING and TALKING to friends I have not seen in years. Like what I mentioned, so much people to talk to so little time. I enjoyed the stories and even just hanging out with friends who I use to have fun with and even the ones who had fun at my expense. I was not even in High School when this jubilarian batch was there but I have lots of friends from their batch. Like what I said, this early I am already looking forward to the next Ateneo High School Homecoming.

http://mhelgarrido.blogspot.com/2008/12/ateneo-alumni-homecoming-2008.html

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Our Lady’s Little Princess 2008

Like any other family mine is not perfect, in fact it was only when we were getting old that my siblings and I became closer to each other. We are six with the older three with kids while me and my other younger siblings without any fruit. Being childless is okay in a way since there are 9 kids in our house. My older brother has been blessed with six lovely kids who we love very much and are happy when they achieve even the littlest of things. Our family has gone through a lot of challenges the past decade and we are very happy we weathered those storms. That is why when the latest challenge came to us, we were certain that we will be able to get past it and at the same time come out on top.

Our family lives in Quezon City and we make it a point every Sunday to be in time for the 9:00 am mass at the Mount Carmel Church in Project 6. I am a product of the Jesuit system and since I have been to numerous Days with the Lord Masses, I took it upon myself to bring my family to the dela Strada Church or even the Gesu for Jesuit inspired masses. But when a change in the Project 6 Parish Priest happened, we found ourselves attending the mass at our own parish instead.

Enter Fr. Aloy Aliño, I honestly do not know where he served last but I believe we are one in saying that we are lucky to have him in our Parish. He introduced himself to the Project 6 community as a priest who cares and gives out one of the best homilies every week. The way he conducts his homilies makes me remember one of my favorite Jesuits, Fr. JJ Jesena S.J whose eloquence has always given me enough to make me live a Christ like week. Fr. Aloy’s homilies are similar, the difference is that he delivers it in such a way that even the ordinary person would be touched by what he shares. Because of this his homilies takes around 30 to 40 minutes which results in the 9 am mass ending a little beyond 10:30 am. But I don’t care, you only go to mass once a week and if for me if I miss his homily it seems like my week is not complete.

Because of this he has spearheaded numerous projects in the parish and one of this is Our Lady’s Little Princess. This project is actually a fundraiser for the church which will be celebrating its 50^th year in 2011. In preparation for that, they are have created this fundraiser and hope that the proceeds in recent years and the years to come would help in building a new building in the Parish. Our family through my mother wanted to join last year with our apple of the eye niece as the little princess. Unfortunately, there was already a representative in our area and so we were asked to defer for another year.

Last April my Mom informed our family that we will join the fundraiser and that our niece, Ma. Angelica “Bujoy” Garrido will be the representative of our Zone and will vie for the title Our Lady’s Little Princess. We immediately set up a target of P 100, 000 for we believe having so many friends chipping in for a worthy cause it will be easy to ask for donations from friends. Unfortunately there were a lot of factors that made the target harder to reach, for one I was sick almost the whole of June and hardly had the time to solicit money since I was trying to cope up with lost time in the office. That is why we owe everything to our mom who moved heaven and earth to solicit money.

The fundraiser had three canvassing dates, one in May, one in June and the final one in July. The first canvassing also had some programs which introduced the candidates to the whole parish. The first night saw all the lovely ladies parade in their casual wear, sports wear and summer wear. The evening also had numerous energetic performances of the Parish Youth Ministry. The second canvassing was talent night of the candidates as the kids whose age ranged from 4 to 12 showcased their talents in singing and dancing.

Come the final canvassing night, all votes/money were turned in and lo and behold we discovered that we were a little off from the target that we set, we ended at P 98,700.00! My mom was quite sad that she did not fulfill her promise to Fr. Aloy that we will raise 100k for the church but on the brighter side, the amount was enough to give our niece the title of Our Lady’s Little Princess.

Life as they say has lots of challenges, a simple challenge like this was made all the more happy because our family came together for one important cause – Our Lord God. I thank my mom for making things happen, more than winning it was the experience of helping each other that made this challenge all the more exciting. I thank my niece who served as the symbol of strengthening our family’s ties which made this challenge all the more enjoyable. As they say, God gives your family lots of challenges, this one is something worth reminiscing in the next few years.

Presenting, Our Lady's Little Princess Ma. Angelica "Bujoy" Garrido and her court of cute gurls.