5K FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Hello, Family and Friends!

I hope this email finds you blessed and being a blessing!

You won’t believe what I and hundreds of others are attempting to do — walk/run a 5k race!!! I’ve never done a race before, so I’m excited and scared… but I’ll push through the anxiety because this race is for a very good cause!

This race is for My Refuge House, a charitable organization that rescues and houses victims of human trafficking in the Philippines. My Refuge House, along with several La Mirada churches, are joining together to host this 5k race on July 24, 2010, Saturday, at Redeemer Church, corner of Imperial Highway and Cordova; 15151 Cordova Rd., La Mirada, CA 90637; 8:00 a.m. – Registration; 9:00 a.m. – Race Begins.

All the money raised by sponsors of the runners will go directly to constructing the new building for My Refuge House in Cebu, Philippines (where my mom’s family is from). My Refuge House needs this building to house and care for the victims of human trafficking — women and children — after they are rescued from this deplorable slavery. If the victims don’t have a safe place to go to — or a My Refuge House — many of these same rescued women and children have little choice but to go back to their exploited lifestyles. And we want to stop the cycle of injustice! That’s where My Refuge House, several La Mirada churches, and the runners/walkers come in! I believe God literally dropped this opportunity on my lap last Sunday morning when I was praying that He show me where I could give more to others, especially to those who have been the victims of injustice. And I remembered My Refuge House! I went to their website to make a donation, and what is the first thing I see?! The 5k race! (Just the prior night, I was searching online for local races to join. This race is such a Divine Appointment, no doubt about it!)

If you would like to join me in this walk/run 5k (3.1 miles) race, please do! And get your friends to join as well! The more, the better. We will show the world that we are united in fighting against modern slavery, and we are here to support and care for its victims. It’s only $25 to register. If you cannot join this 5k race, please take the time to consider donating some funds — $10, $20, $50, or whatever amount you’d like — that will go directly to the construction of the new building. Not only will I appreciate your kindness, but most importantly, these exploited women and children will benefit tremendously by your generosity! You will be taking an active part in building a shelter where these women and children will be safe from harm… in their very own Refuge House!

• If you’d like to donate online to My Refuge House, please click here.
• If you’d like to register for the 5k race on July 24, 2010 for $25, please click here.

Thank you for all your support for these precious individuals!

May GOD bless you, Christine

P.S. Here are some links regarding My Refuge House and human trafficking in the Philippines. Please check them out – DR. MANUELITA BUENAFLOR OF MY REFUGE HOUSE

THANK YOU FROM MY REFUGE HOUSE

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE PHILIPPINES

“ You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.” - Psalm 10:17-18

I AM THE KARATE KID

Have you seen the 2010 version of The Karate Kid yet? My boyfriend and I saw it the first week it came out (we're big movie buffs; 1-2 movies a week! :P), and it is AWESOME! Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan do an excellent job, and this movie is going to be a classic for this generation and beyond easily! Yesterday my boyfriend called me The Karate Kid... but The Karate Kid BEFORE he became the awesome, underdog-turned-kung-fu-champion at the end of the movie. He was saying that I was acting more like the Karate Kid BEFORE he went through the heartache, turmoil, and basically self-discipline to become the winner he eventually became. The reason for this cute, sarcastic comment, you ask? I was super-duper tired, and instead of filling my gas tank, which was already angrily blinking "Empty" at me, I wanted to go straight home and just "take care of it tomorrow." After the name-calling, though (haha, just kidding; my boyfriend is my BIGGEST FAN, and he knows how to motivate me; he'll lovingly give me a kick in the butt when I need it), I sucked it up and did the hard thing: I took care of business right then and there, even though I SOOOOOOOOO wanted to just go home and flop on my bed! That brings me to this point: SELF-DISCIPLINE. I need more of it. I need to push myself through the discomfort and difficulty of staying on my steno machine for more than I currently do because I'm trying to get the steno machine to be an extra limb. I can't do that with half-hearted practice sessions. I have to put all of me into it... WHETHER I FEEL LIKE IT OR NOT! Practice is not always fun (don't we know it?!), but it IS essential. I don't want to be The Karate Kid BEFORE. I want to be The Karate Kid AFTER! And to get there, I have to endure the training of Mr. Han (not Mr. Miagi for this version). For a court reporting student, that means:

• practicing 20 wpm over my speed limit to gain speed
• practicing 20 wpm below my speed limit to maintain accuracy
• learning new briefs
• finger drills
• reviewing my theory
• learning common words
• staying on my steno machine longer and longer for endurance
• reading my notes
• analyzing my notes
• editing my dictionary
• eliminating hesitation strokes by writing a different way
• ...and sometimes the hardest part, KEEPING A POSITIVE, DETERMINED, I-KNOW-I-CAN-DO-THIS ATTITUDE THROUGHOUT IT ALL! :)

So this excerpt is for me and whoever else out there needs a little dose of self-discipline pep talk. I got this from one of my favorite books, Life's Greatest Lessons: 20 Things That Matter by Hal Urban. Here are some other excerpts from the same book that I've posted previously on my blog: THE BENEFITS OF SETTING GOALS REAL MOTIVATION COMES FROM WITHIN ANOTHER KEY TO ACHIEVEMENT

DELAYED GRATIFICATION: THE HEART OF SELF-DISCIPLINE

Play now, pay later! This is the way life works. Actually, this is the way life works for too many people. They look for the quick way, the easy way, and they play now. So they pay later. And, believe me, they do pay! That approach to life, no matter how many people get sucked into it, is backward. Real success comes when we pay now and play later. It's called self-discipline, and at the heart of it is the principle of delayed gratification: the willingness and the ability to postpone pleasure. It makes the work, the pain, and the sacrifice come now, and the good things come afterward. There's no such thing as instant gratification. There's no prize without a price. In an earlier chapter I referred to Scott Peck's wonderful book, The Road Less Traveled. The road he refers to is the one that he has a sign in the entrance saying, "Life is difficult." Those just happen to be the first three words in the book. That's why this is the road less traveled. Too many people are looking for the one without difficulties. They're looking for Easy Street. There isn't one. Peck says if we learn to schedule the pain and sacrifice first, and get them over with, we'll enhance our pleasure that comes later. Notice that he doesn't say avoid the pain; he says schedule it. Whatever the price is for getting something done, pay it first. You have to give up something to get something.

EMPLOY THE FOUR P'S

And what are those four P's? (Hint: For this CR student blog, they're not pirates and parrots... not this time! LOL!) They are: 1) Practice, 2) Practice, 3) Practice, 4) Persevere! The below article is by Stuart M. Auslander of the New York School of Court Reporting in North White Plains, New York. His "Four P's" is #36 from the book 61+ Ways to Write Faster: Speedbuilding Tips for Court Reporters and Students. To read another article from this book, click here. ENJOY, MATEY (emphasis mine)! :)

EMPLOY THE FOUR P'S

1. Good nutrition and proper amounts of sleep are essential to active brain function, thus enhancing the capability to process and record the spoken word accurately and expeditiously. 2. Repeat the same material at varying speed levels; that is, 40, 50, 60 wpm, with readback and analysis of notes at each speed. 3. Analyze notes during readback by identifying strokes that came just prior to drops or misstrokes. It might be that these preceding strokes caused you to hesitate and drop. 4. Practice takes at 20 wpm below your actual speed ability, striving for "perfect" notes. Accuracy is a must in order to enhance speed. 5. Set aside a certain time period to practice and at the conclusion do one more take for an additional five minutes each writing period. 6. Do whatever is necessary to eliminate mental distractions prior to practicing. Maintain a though mental outlook and always stay focused. Do not let the speaker get the better of you. 7. Always seek to expand your vocabulary. Familiarity with words makes them easier to record. 8. Delete from your system short forms that cause you to hesitate or misstroke. 9. If you have a problem with vowels, realize that the keys (left to right) do not go in in the same order as the alphabet (a, o, e, u). This causes some writers to misstroke because subconsciously they believe the keys would be in alphabetical order from left to right (a, e, o, u). 10. Maintain an even emotional level throughout speedbuilding. Don't get too high upon success; don't get too low upon failure. Stay levelheaded! 11. Practice, practice, practice and persevere.

EVERYONE'S GETTING A BLOG!

It seems more and more court reporting students are getting blogs to document their wonderful/frustrating journey through school. I think that's just awesome! It's great to know that you're not the only court reporting student who gets a little disappointed from time to time. Getting through court reporting school is not easy! Knowing there are other court reporting students out there going through the same highs of passing a test and lows of being so close to passing a test (like half a percent!), is, again, quite awesome! We need this community of CR student bloggers! :) I was inspired to create this blog when, several years ago, I was reading Fancy Pants Loves Binita. Binita went to New York Career Institute and graduated in 2006. She has been freelancing ever since. I was also inspired by Lady Steno. It seemed she flew by school, and I loved the drills and schedules she posted in her blog. She also now has a YouTube channel, which is here. Another great inspiration to me is Cheap & Sleazy. It seems Glen knows everything there is to know about stenography! He's always so helpful in all the different CR forums out there, too. My favorite CR agency blog is Todd Olivas' of course. I love all his informative articles, especially this one: Court Reporter Pay. How's that for inspiration?! Don't forget to check out Todd Olivas' Readback.org site, too! I recently found some new CR student blogs that I'd like to share with you and which I'm following. They are... Court Reporter Bound - A Steno Student's Quest -- Jenni is at the impressive speed of 190 wpm! She is in the last stretch of CR school. Court Reporting 101 -- An office manager by day, a court reporting student by night. Michelle is currently going through her Theory and acing all her tests! Life Before 225 -- Steno Diva is going through her internship hours and has already taken the RPR exam. She has a determined spirit, and I know she's going to be certified much sooner than she thinks! Lastly, Steno Wizard is a working reporter who is working her way to becoming real-time ready. She posts a lot of great conflict-free strokes on her blog. It's going to be great to be able to go along the journey of these fellow CR students from school to the working field, even if only through the blogosphere.

WE WILL GET TO 225 WPM TOGETHER! :)

WHERE TO GET STENO BRIEFS

Just wanted to share a website that I've been frequenting lately for steno briefs. It's Briefpedia.com. Simply type in the word or phrase you need a steno brief on, and not only does this website give you a steno stroke for your query, but SEVERAL alternative strokes, PLUS possible conflicts, so you can adjust as needed. Also, you don't need to log in to the website at all, which is a great time saver! I think Briefpedia.com is an awesome, very useful website! However, if you need briefs on the go (BUT only if you have an iTouch or iPhone), Marc from Simply Steno has released Version 2.0 of his iSteno Brief Machine. The application costs $6.99, and I'm sure it's totally worth it! Click here for more details. ...and may you enjoy the thrill of finding new, necessary briefs! :D

THE STENO ALPHABET

I thought this was such a cool pic! Imagine having to learn THIS as your alphabet! Oh yeah, we steno students have! YAY! Hehe.

MISC. BRIEFS I'M LEARNING

A actively - TIFL activity - TIFT admonition - DMIGS adopt - DOPT agriculture - AG allegation - ALGS allege - ALG alleging - ALG* anger - ANG angry - AENG as a matter of fact - SMAFT as a matter of law - SMAFL as a result - SARLT as follows - SFOLS ASL - AS* assault - SAULT assault and battery - SAUB assault with a deadly weapon - DWEP B behavior - BAIFR beyond a reasonable doubt - YARD beyond all reasonable doubt - YAURD beyond every reasonable doubt - YERD bottom - BOT bought - BAUT C clue - KLAOU comfortable - KFRBL compromise - KPROM computer - KP-R conclusion - KLAOUGS confide - KWAOI confided - KWAOID confidence - K-FD confident - K-FT confidential - K-FL confidentiality - K-FLT consequence - KWENS consistent - SKINT contact - KAK conversation - KFRGS corner - KRORN credit card - KRARD criminal - KR-L cross-examination - KR-X D data - DAT database - D-B demeanor - DMOR denial - DAOENL deny - DAOEN depend - DEND dependence - DAENS dependent - DAENT detail - DAOET direct examination - DR-X disregard - DRAR disregard the - DRART E efficiency - FIRBS efficient - FIRBT emergency - M-RJ enable - NAIBL energy - N-RJ entitle - SBAOIL except - KPEP exception - KPEPGS exist - KPIF existence - KPINS expect - KP-P expert - SPERT expert testimony - SBIT expert witness - SBIN F finish - F-RB for example - FR-X G gradual - GRAUL gradually - GRAOEL H his or her - HOER honest - HONS honestly - HOENL honesty - HONST honor - HON honorable - HONL human - HAOUM human being - HAOUB humane - HAOUM* I identify - OIF identity - OIT if any - FAOEN if anything - FAOENG include - KLU independence - NAENS independent - NAENT injure - N-J injury - NAOEJ interpret - TERP interrupt - TRUP J judge - J- (initial) M malice - MALS malicious - LIRB N neglect - GLEK negligence - NEJS negligent - NEJ O object - OBT objected - OBD objection - OX observation - OVGS observe - OBS observed - OBZD on the one hand - TWAND on the other hand - TWRAND opposition - OIPGS opposition to - OIPT P peculiar - PEK pedestrian - PED pedestrians - PEDZ petition - PIRB petitioner - PRIRB possess - PES possessed - PES/D; PEDZ* possesses - PEZ profession - PROFGS profile - PRAOIL province - PROFNS punitive - PAOUF punitive damage - PAOUFD punitively - PAOUFL purport - PURPT R regard - RAR S senior - S-R senior citizen - S-RZ strength - STRENG strengthen - STREN surrender - SURND surround - SROUND T terror - TROER terrorist - TROERT transact - TR-T transaction - TRX transport - TR-P transportation - TR-PGS trespass - TREP V valid - VALD valued - VAL/D voir dire - V-RD W with regard - WRAR with regard to - WRART within - W-N Y your Honor - YURN