Birthday and Retreat!

Hello, everybody. This was a spectabulous week. So much happened. The highlights were of course my birthday, my SM101 presentation, and the St Mary retreat. Other stuff happened here and there as well, such as the weather flirting with Spring but not quite, but yeah, whatever.

(My Birthday gift from my awesome Michigan Mother, Mrs. Seromic)

BIRTHDAY!!!!!
So my Birthday was pretty good for the most part. I was super busy. I didn't have time to breath. So, just for you guys to know, my birthday is April 2nd, so I just had it this past Wednesday. And I am now 19! Yeah! I woke up early, studied. Went to class. Studied, studied. Went to Basketball practice. Got back up North Campus. Studied, studied, studied. Then I worked on the Website a little till it was finished. And then I headed over to the Blue Apple where I cleaned dishes from 9pm till close, which was about 1:45 am. Then I went back and crashed. Yeah, it was a killer cool birthday. I was really happy to turn 19. I got a lot of wishes from friends. And facebook went crazy. I was getting an email on my phone about a new wall message at a rate of a message every 5 minutes. It was insane. And I got over 80 birthday wishes! You guys did great! Lets see if we can top that off next year! So for the most part, my day was cool. When John, the dude who runs the Blue Apple heard it was my birthday, he said, "Daniel, why are you working out tonight? Why didn't you get a sub? Why didn't you go to Canada and do stupid things like everyone else does?" And I was like, "cause I don't do stupid things, and plus, I work hard." "That you do, Daniel, that you do," he said laughing away. So yeah, it was pretty funny.

Presentation

My SM101 presentation went fantastic. My group went first, and I was really pumped about it. The rest of my group did fairly good, they were really organized and on top of things, but they were a bit bland in their actual speaking. People were looking tired, but that had more to do with it for the fact that they did not want to be there and rather be sleeping. So anyhow, I went up there, full of energy like I usually do. I was going off, not even noticing my note cards. I showed them the website and pretty much went of there. We finished and they all thought we did really good. Our Teacher, Mrs. Donahue, said that we really set a high standard, so that is a good sign. Everyone thought our website was awesome, and so do I :)
Check it out here: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dpinedo/WC_Home_Page_index.html

Laudatio Retreat
The St. Mary Retreats never disappoint. I lead the first one I ever went in October last year and it was so good. For those of you who don't know, I am a Catholic, and I love the faith. God touched me so much the last retreat. Well, I got on way beyond the registration deadline, and I am glad I did, because once again, it was awesome. Had a lot of fun with all the talks, my small group, and playing ultimate Frisbee in amazing weather, and being a goof ball all the time. The retreat was about the beatitudes, and my group leader, Mikey, was "on those who are persecuted." I had great group people.

(Mikey and me in the middle, in between two other cool people, Maggie and Brian)

(My awesome small group...our theme: Blessed are the persecuted...and in this case, it is Mikey...)

There were 53 people in the retreat, including me, much larger than the 24 from last time, so there were a lot of new faces and for the most part, I didn't get through all of them. I know, I feel bad about it, but what can I do? I hung out with some of the older people, the seniors, like Andrew, and with Devon of course, a junior. I hung out with my German buddy, Annica. She is a graduate foreign exchange student with an awesome accent and will unfortunately be leaving for good in 4 weeks. I also meet this cool girl named Laurel, and she just joined the church on Easter Vigil! The mass we had Saturday night was only her 3rd time to share at the table. I thought that was so soo cool.

(Annica sitting next to me and Laurel in the back couch)

(Me and some friends at the retreat)

And I hung out with a lot of other friends, like Albert and Sarah and Mike and and and... yeah, a lot of other dudes. I had a fantastic time. I was really being crazy. Saturday Sarah made like a little Mohawk from Andrew's clayish gel right before her talk, so I went in to do my own creation, because I could, and plus, it was a retreat, so I could get away from it...but, it didn't quite work. My hair is really weird and Nothing would work. So I just made a pointy thing in the centre of my head, but it wouldn't stand. So I grabbed one of those small drinking/rinsing cups, cut everything but the bottom of the cup, and then cut a hole in it. So I put this ring of cup around my pointy hair thing to hold it up while it hardened. Well, later I found out that it didn't work so well, so I looked stupid for the entire day. Haha, plenty of pictures to go around on that. So yeah, great retreat, a lot happened, the weather became awesome, and I cant wait for the next retreat!

(The 2007-2008 NCSA Council)

(me just being stupid)

Well guys, I could go on forever, and when I mean forever, I mean forever. But, fortunately for you guys, I will not. Sorry that I went picture frenzy on you guys. I will say that I love the weather! It is awesome! It is 60 degrees with the sun out and a light Northeast breeze. Oh my gosh! Amazing! I went for a run and was just staring at all the trees and great nature stuff to be seen. I cant believe I go to Michigan when it is cold and come back to South Texas when it is hot. But that is cool, because in exactly 2 weeks from today, I will be back home in Corpus. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is cool. So I am excited for summer. I told you I could go on forever. One more thing though -- I calculated that the number of days I have for school including classes and finals is 6 days...yeah, 6 says. Rediculi. I cannot wait. But the amount of work between now and 2 weeks is huge! Comon Daniel, only 2 weeks, you can do this....

Cheers guys, and I pray for an awesome 19th year -DP

(Who's your Daddy?!)