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[taken on our first day]
It's November 11th. It's already been ONE FULL YEAR since me and Hazel became official. I must say it's been quite a year. We've gone through so much in such little time. Trips to Michigan, IL, North Caroline, Chicago, and such. From a 10 hour drive away back to 20 minutes away. Almost everyday is spent with each other. We probably gross so many people out, but we don't care. Now, looking at us, I guess people can easily think why we are the way we are about each other... both Filipino, both from Jersey, both in to B-boying (I'll have to double check on this one), both of our nicknames surprisingly sound good with the word "Purple" in front of it, both look good wearing purple (scratch that, I mean look good wearing almost everything), both have FRESH wardrobes that can match each other EASILY, both have VERY similar relationship cycles, both love our family, both very cultured, but didn't grow up in towns full of Filipinos, and pretty much have had very similar upbringings. But to be honest, there's a lot more to it. There's a history that a lot of people don't really know about. Little do people know, this story has been over 5 years in the making. So I'll try to briefly go through our story.
2004 - So back in the day, in High School, I stumbled upon a site called generazn. It was a social networking site (before social giants like myspace and facebook). Like the name implies, it was centered more towards the asian population. Being from West Orange, my school was very diverse, and I tried to look outwards for friends. But not only was the site for pictures and profiles, there were games and a LIVE chatboard, so a lot of my friends in HS (that weren't asian) would go on for the games and stuff. Anyway, so I checked who on the site would be from NJ as well. Eventually, I encounter a "Baby_Haze" from NJ. I'm like "whoa she's interested in what I'm interested". We befriend each other on generazn and xanga. Later that year was East Coast Overdose. I remember seeing a girl on the bleachers and being like "whoa she looks pretty". Later during that event, along with some other b-boys and friends I had in NJ, I was introduced to that girl. That night, when we got home, we would hit each other up on AIM. I hit the "profile" button while IMing and I saw she had a xanga. When I clicked it and tried to subscribe to her, it said I was already subscribed. Little did I realize that, the cute girl I met on the bleachers was the girl I was friends with already (kinda) and by the end of that night, I was already sweating her. Little did I know (only in 2008) that she in actuality was feeling me the way I was feeling her. Unfortunately, nothing had grown from there, because my girlfriend back then completely WILD OUT on her stating "stop hittin on my boi, i saw u flirtin wit him at ECOD. (Wingz)" and "how about this stay away from my bf.. cuz he thinks u are so hot n u are like the bitch of the world.. he likes u n u dont even kno it. If u dont stay away from him then u can have him"... HAHAHA... that AND looking at the guys she was interested in (she didn't start having a decent taste in guys until college) and then looking at me, 1. bad taste is usually a turn off, and 2. I figured I wasn't her type... but it was all good we were pretty cool.
So 2004 was my graduation year. Along with me, my friend NJ (who everyone knows as Nobel), who I've been friends with since I was REALLY LITTLE graduated as well. My family attended his graduation party, and at his party I saw her there, and was like "WHAT?!". Turns out, just as my family has been friends with NJ's family since I was little, her family was ALSO friends with NJ's family since she was little as well. So we got to hang out again, we even got down a little in NJ's basement, and I tried to showoff, oh well. Later in August, I had my graduation/birthday party, and she was able to come to it. I remember a bunch of my guy friends asking about her back then... funny how that works out.
2005 - Throughout the year, I attended practices almost every week at Montclair State University on Thursday nights. Every once in awhile, she would drop by. By the summer, she had graduated, and I attended her graduation party at her house with the twins. We played basketball with the uncles (we actually lost) and I even ended up singing some Stevie during karaoke, haha. I remember thinking to myself (keep in mind, I was from West Orange).. "holy shit this is far away... shit's like the middle of nowhere". Little did I know I would end up driving there pretty frequently nowadays. Later in the summer, we would run into each other again at the Filipino Fiesta.
2006-2007 - So after her Senior Year of High School, she went away to Michigan State, so we never really ran into each other again. But I couldn't help checking out her facebook and myspace pages and leave comments once in awhile. Keep in mind, you gotta know how my mindset was/works. So I figured that she was pretty and I figured she knew that, so I absolutely did not wanna sound like a herb or have in ANY way seem like I was interested in her, so I would try to leave comments, but make sure they were very subtle like "nice pic" or "YEAH PURPLE... that's how we do now? lol ". Nothing out of the ordinary. And apparently it was the same way when it came to her comments on my page
2008 - This was the year I moved to Dover in Morris County. I don't know ANYBODY from Morris County. Then I remember "Oh yeah, Hazel's town in in Morris County" so I in January I leave a post saying "guess who's residing in Morris County for now.." and she replies "homie!.. lol.. too bad im currently in MI a trillion miles away.. hahaha.. but fo sho i'll visit you when im around". Even then, I think nothing of it. Then, in May, when she returned home from MSU, she asks to go session. At that same time, Alvin decides he wants to learn as well. So we all decide to meet up at Hazel's to practice. So when we got there, I still had that mindset, I did NOT in ANY WAY want her the privilege to get ANY vibe of me being attracted to her in anyway. Even when we went out to eat, I went to the bathroom and discussed that I wasn't really trying to sit with her, lol. Afterwards, there was a session in Old Bridge that she went to. I rolled up late of course. Not that it meant I tried harder with her around, but I can't say that I wasn't trying to showoff a little (lol), but STILL did NOT want her getting any vibe from me. Eventually we started practicing every week, got each other's phone numbers, and starting saying basic texts to each other, not even flirting cause again, I did NOT want her thinking I had anything for her. One practice in Clifton, we met at my house, and drove together, and got to talk and know each other better in the car ride. Although, I tried to keep my composure, I know I was feeling vibes, but I kept trying to deny it to myself. A few weeks later we decide we should have a fun day along with the twins and NJ at the beach, and then go clubbing. We met up at my place, since it was in the middle of all houses, and she arrived first. So we just chilled, and at a point, started whacking each other with pillows, but it was still all for fun, I didn't really think anything of it. After a fun day at the beach, we got ready at my place, and met up to go to the club (both of us wearing our "Purple" outfits). Throughout the night, we would chill as a group, and me and Haze would mostly only dance with each other to HANDLE intruders. At the same time, I didn't want to give her the impression that I wanted people to think we were together, so I'd keep my distance, but I always wanted to get near her. Eventually, there was one point she grabbed my hand, it interlocked, and we went to the dancefloor and started dancing really close. This had completely irked me in the back of my mind. Anyways, afterwards, everything was the same and normal. The next day, we decided to watch The Eye together at her place pretty closely. After that, we started hanging out more and more. I remember one time, being at Borders and she picked up a magazine to look at the horoscopes. I went over her shoulder to see what she was reading. She said "where's my horoscope" and then proceeded to point at Taurus. This had COMPLETELY tickled the back of my mind, and I said "you're a TAURUS?!?". I couldn't get it out of my head for the rest of the day, as I told her that I was a Virgo. Now I'm not really into Astrology, nor do I know who or what a Virgo is supposed to be, but I do know it's match. Now I always knew that the perfect match for a Virgo is a Taurus, but I didn't wanna weird her out with that shit, so we kept it to ourselves. As days went by, the two of us would just get closer and close and eventually lines were crossed and I was SKY-HIGH. I NEVER would've imagined it. Here I was looking at certain previous guys (back when I remember her having bad taste AKA High School) and thinking "eh, there's no way this is happening, cause I'm not her type", yet she tells me that she's always had a crush on me since High School. I'm like "NO FUCKIN' WAY..." I was sweating her since the day we met, talking about her at the lunch table and everything. So we spent the summer going everywhere together. I was dreading for summer to end, because I knew she would have to go back to Michigan. I was afraid, that I was just going to be that "thing" she had in 2008. After she left, we still kept in touch by calling, texting, IMing, even video-ing on AIM... and even with the miles of distance, nothing really changed. After I visited MI, we decided to make it official.
Again, since that day last year, we've been through so much, and have done so many different things. If you wanna see, just go to my facebook, and go to "View Photos of Reiner" and view all 77 pages worth of pictures (that's a whole lot). It's awesome to have such an awesome story, but the pages are still being written.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HAZEL MAY ATIENZA
I don't care how much of a herb I sound like, but I honestly do hope for plenty more... hehe... LATER.
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| long time no update!
one coming soon... probably a long one
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| Wednesday:
Class in the morning, then went home to get a couple of things ready, watched a few episodes of Deathnote, then started getting ready to head out. Drove to Newport to hangout with Eras, grabbed some coffee, and went shopping around for some gifts. Afterwards, we grabbed a bite in JC before dropping her off at her apartment. Afterwards, I went to Trade's to meet up with Odell who just returned from Cali. Mad people at his house cause he had a Street Fighter Tournament, so I didn't know nor give a fuck who was downstairs, lol. Upstairs, it was me, Odell, James, Jose, Ron, Emile, Jess, and trade chillin' upstairs until the people who were downstairs bounced. Afterwards, attempt at getting glory FAILED due to people loading accounts with over 10000 gamerpoints and then the internet FAILING. While the internet was down, we watched James play the Wolverine Origins Demo... HOLY SHIT... that game is something else, but not really on my "to buy" list. When the internet finally came back, me, Trade, James, and Emile caught glory for awhile until deciding to head back.
Thursday:
Woke up, got ready and got a fresh cut at Jersey's Finest. Went to pick up Odell at Trade's, and then we headed to Flemington to hit up the outlets over there. After being done at Flemington, we drove to Garden State Plaza to shop around some more. After our shopping outing, we went to Trade's, got money from everyone, and then drove to shoprite to buy ingredients. When we got back to trade's we [Iron Chef Rez and Soiu Chef Reign] made pasta for dinner with Jose, Ron, and some girl. After dinner, we decided to watch the MLG/ESPN TOP 10 videos. After getting hyped, me, Trade, and Teej decided to get some glory in. But before doing so, Jose came back, apparently, someone had went into his car (while it was in the driveway), and took his TomTom and PSP... after hearing this, I went to check my car, which had also been broken into. My iPod Mini had been stolen along with ALL that I had shopped for earlier that day (at the outlets and at GSP). After being heated, just DEMOLISHED people in HALO until 3AM. After getting home at 4, tossed some clothes in the laundry while trying to get things ready for leaving the next day. Then took at nap at 6AM
Friday:
Woke up at 8AM, packed up the rest of my clothes, and went over the Chapters and stories for my final at 11:30. Got back home at one, finished getting everything that I needed to be ready
took off for Michigan at around 3PM... and after the 10 hour drive, I arrived at Michigan a little before 1 and met up with Haze, Ren, Evonne, Kevin, Bobby, Ian, Dennis, and Brian at Asia House for some Pho. After Asia House, we arrived at Hazel's at around 2-3 ish, and went to sleep at 4, only to be woken up again at 7.
Saturday:
After getting ready, Hazel's entire family met up at the apartment for brunch.
 Hazel in her graduation gown [along with a PASS & Honors sash]
I believe around 11:30 - noonish, we left for the commencement ceramonies. Since I was left with the D40, I followed Kevin and Ian around, taking pictures all around the stadium, as they gave me hints on how to use the camera [Thank You]. If the pictures turned out halfway decent, Haze'll probably post them in a few weeks, maybe months.
After the commencement ceramonies, we caught "wreck"s at Potbellys for lunch, along with browsing Grand River at Urban Outfitters for awhile. After taking a few pictures at the Spartan Stadium, we went back in to the apartment where me and Haze knocked out for an hour in the corner of the room until dinner time. For dinner, we all met up with Catherine and her family for dinner at Golden Wok along with their friends. After dinner, me, Haze, Ren, Evonne, Catherine, and her sister, hit up the NCG to watch STAR TREK... I must say... QUITE IMPRESSIVE... they did a good job... after the movie, we got home around 1, and fell asleep at 2.
Sunday:
We woke up at 6, the rest of her family arrived at 7 and we attended the 8 o'clock mass. After mass, we grabbed some things at the apartment, and Hazel, me, Ren, and Evonne headed off to Chicago.
 On the drive to Chicago
 Pit stop in Indiana
 SOMEONE knocked out on the way [NOT a Surprise]
 The CHI
So we left East Lansing at around 9... drove for 4 hours... and arrived around 12. Little did I realize we had gone through a shift in time-zones, so going there, we gained an extra hour. After driving through, we arrived at the Raffaelo.
While Ren was finding parking we waited in the lobby. After checking in, we went to the room, which was BEAST... Flat Screen TV, waterfall shower, and everything.
 including a shoe buffer
 our hotel room was RIGHT across the street from the John Hancock Center
 and that would be the structure to get IN to the Parking Structure
After settling in we took a cab to the Chicago Bruhaus. The cab ride went from downtown to a bit of the hood, and then to the location of the Bruhaus.
 the cab going from downtown...
 ... to going through the hood
So we finally arrived at the Chicago Bruhaus... we walked in there was music going on and a lady with her daughter dancing as we walked and headed towards the bar. We each ordered a different kind of sausage along with...
 DAS BOOT
After picking up the tab, we took a cab back to the Raffaelo, and we KO'd again until Haze and Ren's cousin arrived. She took us for a walk through some of Downtown Chicago to Millenium and Grand Park.
 Philippine Consulate
 @ Millenium Park
 The BEAN
 The Guys
 The Girls
 fountain @ Grand Park
After touring the parks, it got chilly, so we walked over to Rockit Bar, so that they could chat and grab a few drinks. Later, Dennis picked me and Hazel up along with Michael and his brother. We waited at the Hotel for Ren, Evonne, and their cousin to arrive. After meeting up, we walked a few blocks to Gibson's steakhouse. The steak turned out to be about $40 - $50 a Steak, but it was good... and AGAIN, I consumed a GOOD AMOUNT of mashed potatoes... OH BOY... after dinner, it was time to KO.
Monday:
We woke up around 8, got ready, and checked out of the Raffaelo to do our last tourist stops before heading back.
Our first stop was the United Center, and took pictures by the Michael Jordan statue. Afterwards, we drove to Wrigley's field, to get a few shots outside the stadium and grabbed some coffee at Starbucks before heading out. Before leaving Chicago, we grabbed breakfast/lunch at IHOP. We left Chicago around 12, and arrived at East Lansing a little before 5 (losing the hour that we gained coming to Chicago). We all took an hour or two nap before finishing up loading the three cars with Hazel's stuff. We headed out at 9, and made 5 stops on the trip back to Jersey.
 
taken at the first stop in Ohio
Monday:
So we drove back in 3 cars... Hazel's Parents in their Acura SUV, Me and Haze in my car, and Ren and Evonne in the Jetta. Most of the time, alternating... I drove 9 hours, Hazel drove 1 hour
 what went on during most of my 9 hours of driving
We arrived back in Jersey around 8. What took hours to pack, took approximately half an hour to unpack at her house. After unpacking, we had breakfast at the diner before heading our separate ways. Finally arriving home, I took a 4 hour nap, then studied with my remaining time for my final.
One more final to go, and then I'm done for the year. Carnival this week in West Orange, the Twins' graduation this weekend as well. Quite possibly entering World of Dance b-boy competition next month, I'll keep the details of the poss. squad on the low though.
School's out and the girlfriend's back in JERSEY! Good times heading this way.
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| What an awesome weekend, unfortuately, pics aren't up yet.
So we've been planning this weekend for quite some time now. Basically, the main event was Prelude on Saturday [yesterday], and Hazel was going to arrive Thursday night. Turned out, she was able to finish all her classwork and hand it in early to leave MI on Wednesday [a whole day early!]. So while waiting for her... caught IMMENSE XBOX glory, cause I knew it wasn't happening for awhile [UNTIL TODAY!]. She got to my house at around midnight, and I cooked some soup cuz I figured she'd want something to settle her stomach after some 5-hour energy drink.
When we woke up the following morning, I cooked up a breakfast REIGN style.... rice, Vienna Sausage, Tomatoes, and Eggs while baby made coffee (I don't know how to use a coffee maker). At 11, we headed off to get "my new haircut". We went to Jersey's Finest to get it done... got the low to 1 fade. Since Haze was sleepy, we went back to the house just lay and watch a movie. We ended up watching Twilight... heh, lol... it was pretty alright... not bad... so afterwards, first time in awhile... SHE was the one waiting for me while I had class. I got out of Calc early and we drove off to pick up Saigon at Penn Station. On the way to New Brunswick, we hit traffic in almost every road getting there. So we finally started getting down and practicing, and met up with Allen. After practice we hit up the grease trucks, drove Saigon back, and called it a night.
The next morning, my uncle cooked us up some breakfast before we headed back to CCM for my 11:30 class. After some brief errands, we met up with Ren and Evonne at their place. We stuffed ourselves and hung out at Penang, grabbed some bubble, and met up at the mall. After our mall ventures, we drove through to the city to support Josh's mini-jam at SVA where I was able to introduce Haze to some fellow Jersey proteges. The invited judges were late, so I was asked to be a back-up judge for most of the first round until the judges arrived. We had already planned to meet up with Alvin and Steve earlier, so we left early to make more elaborate plans. We decided to meet up in Palisades Park for Korean BBQ... it was Haze's first time, and even though we probably weren't eating it the "right way"... we were impressed... ended the night with some bubble after planning out the following day.
Saturday morning, my Tita Gigi and Tom Tom came over. We ended up having lunch before we all headed out. After numerous errands yet again, we met up at Alvin's and we drove to Journal Square and took the PATH to 34th to pick up our tickets at the venue. We had some time to kill, so we decided to grab some grub at GRAY'S! After our snack we decided to line up for the venue (while noticing many people wearing the same shirt as Al) . So after the LONG line, we climbed SEVEN FLIGHTS OF STAIRS... by the 4th flight, I was already starting to wear down as THE YOUTH were beginning to pass me. When we FINALLY reached the 7th floor, we walked into the venue... the ballroom was HUGE, but the seating arrangement was pretty whack. With such a huge competition with many people attending, the seating was not theatre/stadium style... just lined up chairs... which the people on the sides, probably missed a few chunks. Of those seats, the 3 of us, held 5 more seats for Carlo, Angela, Tank, and friends. The performances were pretty good... sucked there were a few technical difficulties. NOW... I won't say TOO MUCH... but let's see... some groups, I won't talk ANYMORE of, hahaha.... MAD OUT-of-TOWNERS (from places like the Bronx, Boston, and Montreal) handled BUSINESS. But I'm glad Rhythmology and Project D were able to hold it down for Jersey. Lemme see what I can remember...
Ridunculous: I was impressed at what an IT school can accomplish
Irratik: HOLY SHIT... these jailbait girls RIPPED IT... HOLY SHIT... I think they did better than their other Montreal family counterpart that ended up placing.
Groove Theory: CLOWNS... literally... I was too focused (disgusted) at what they were wearing/how they looked that I couldn't even focus on their dancing
Ven15: Alvin "yo, you that's Jenn's cousin"... I was like "who?"... I looked up and it was Pisa! didn't see that coming, but good job nonetheless
Choreo-Cookies: DOPE... MAD CLEAN... they made even the simplest shit DOPE...
Bryan East Project: didn't see it coming, but I like it, got to see people I know do their thing. Exposing Funk, Popping, and Locking the way they should.
RhythmCity: MAD HYPE! even after the technical difficulty, they still handled business. Wasn't a shock that they placed 1st, but that dude with the straightened hair needs to chop that shit off ASAP.
Project D: I must say, I'm definitely impressed at the way this group has grown a lot from their earlier performances WITH battery powered-tees.
Rhythmology: Had dope props and I appreciate them trying to represent hip-hop for what it is... definitely have my support. Representing Jersey with 2nd PLACE
SO when the event ended, we met up outside, and decided to grab some food. We were originally going to eat at FRIDAY's, but after being sat without menus, we decided that it was going to take too long, especially since we were going to take the PATH back, and then drive back in for the afterparty. So we got a quick bite at Wendy's where we met up with Steve before we parted ways with Carlo and Angela. So we walked a few blocks to the PATH station again, went through the turnstiles, and was inside the train when we were missing Haze's SLR bag with around $1,700 worth of equipment, so I BOLTED BACK... on the way out I bashed my theigh into the turnstile which sonned my left leg for the night... I gallopped all the blocks back to Wendy's and the bag wasn't there... I was going frantic asking almost EVERYONE in the restaurant, then I ran into Friday's looking for it... it turned out Pisa's group was sitting at the table we were, but they didn't see a bag. Then a lady sitting at another table told me that the staff had found a bag, so the manager took the bag out of the locked room... THANK GOD... However, by then, not only was my left leg was FUCKED UP, but my asthma had struck me with a VENGEANCE... so the entire ride back to Jersey and back again to NY was painful... So let me just say, we drove in, TRAFFIC in NYC was kinda a bitch around Bowery AND PARKING WAS A BITCH... so we ended up deciding to park in a lot about FIVE OR SO blocks away. Now, I know it may not seem like 5 blocks is a lot, but when one leg is disabled... it sucks... so we got to Boulevard and saw two lines. We were like "what the fuck?" so we come to find out the line on the right was ACTUAL a PLAYPEN for the KIDDIES (those under 21), hahahaha... damn that sucks... you have a major event where to be honest MOST of the attendees were either under 21 OR Titos and Titas, and then have the afterparty 21+.... NICE... so anyway, I was in pain for most of the night, but I fought through it and enjoyed the night with the gf and my dudes. I was even able to get down a little just to show a lil "sum-sumthin" along with Suitkace (I commandoed him in 1 run, but have no idea what he did). So due to certain events, I turned out being the one to drive us to Chicken and Rice, and man did traffic suck ONCE AGAIN. Apparently, they closed down the Holland Tunnel. Anyway, so we finally got to chicken and rice around 4, but the lines were GIGANTAMOS. So Steve and Hazel were KO'd in the car, so me and Alvin went to wait in the Gigantic line... by the time we were done it was almost 5... so daylight was beginning to rise as I got out of the lincoln tunnel going home... So pretty much, me and Haze were fucked cause... I had work at 10 AND my leg was fucked AND she chose to drive home when I leave...
So yeah, this morning... before we went to bed, we decided to eat the chicken and rice and OH MAN was it worth it... it was SOOOO GOOOOD... MAN... so after that we KO'd around 6:30 only to be waken up by an alarm at 8, so I could call and find out when I was working (my dumbass forgot to check earlier). So once I found out it was at 10, KO'd... to wake up half an hour later to get ready and head out. We both kissed goodbye and I went to work... So my leg was STILL killing me, and this new sign system sucks, but it's cool... mad GAMES on sale for 10 bucks... too bad they didn't have SoulCalibur4... woulda hopped on that IMMEDIATELY... but it's cool, I copped RedAlert3 and Quantum of Solace for 10 bucks each... and the 007 game came with a free 007 t-shirt... NOT BAD... NOT BAD at all... I wanna buy Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2... but gotta hold back on that spending...
ANYWAY... yeah... SO MUCH this weekend... and I gotta go from THAT.... to.... A Java Program due Tuesday morning... a whole chapter's worth of Calc hw due Tuesday night BEFORE taking the exam for that chapter... and then a paper due on Wednesday along with an extra credit paper due as well. I guess it's alright, my leg is still fucked up anyway.... OH BOY... BACK TO BUSINESS..
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