oliviaofdoom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE! You're my favorite ever. We are getting pretty good at this "getting older" thing. Love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAP!

A few months ago, I began practicing and playing with a tournament hockey team called the Biscuit Bandits. Since then, my life has been full of shenanigans, sarcasm, and learning and playing hockey in an extremely supportive environment. This is all thanks to Cap Liz (and the AssCaps Business Erin and Goalie Wife Ulli). 

Happy Happy Birthday, Cap! My life is better with you in it, and I hope all your birthday wishes come true! Glad we all got to see the Sharks win!

(Also, I look very small in the last photo.)

Happy 40th Birthday, Annie! I am also confused how we have gotten so old. You're forever my favorite human. Growing old with you is my favorite hobby. Navigating this life together is my favorite adventure. Love you always!

I am going to miss you, Coach Gary. We are devastated by your loss.

I started training in PTK-SMF with Coach Gary in 2020 over Zoom sessions, alongside my brother. I had attended a couple of in person sessions with one of his senior members, but never got a chance to train with Coach before the rest of 2020 happened. We met once and sometimes twice a week for months over Zoom and would talk about anything and everything.

My Sunday mornings since meeting in person have generally been with Coach Gary. He was a friend, a Mentor, a Kuya, a cousin. We would talk about martial arts, about life, about family, about being Filipino. We would train hard but laugh even harder. I could always reach out to him if I had something to ask and he would always do his best to answer.

His family was extremely important to him. He loved his wife, his son, and his daughter so much. He was an amazing father, amazing husband, an amazing human. He was so proud of his kids, and we bonded over how much our families meant to us, no matter what the circumstances of the day or week.

Being Filipino was also very important to him. He had just continued his sleeve tattoo he was getting from Mel and was so proud of it. We bonded over silly Filipino family stories and traits. Being Filipino was important, as was doing a Filipino Martial Art.

The last training session we had was the Sunday before he passed. We had just messaged back and forth about some funny reel on Instagram, and about how he wanted to bring me to a PTK camp with him. I only was able to train with and get to know Coach Gary for four years, but I am grateful for every moment.

My training from this point forward is not only to continue learning the system he loved so much, but also to carry on his legacy. I will do my best to make you proud, Coach.

If you would like to help the family, please donate here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-the-pilapil-family

10 on 10/10! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KALAYO! We love you so much. It's hard to believe that you're 10! We are so grateful that you are our booboo, and are so excited to see the person you are becoming. We are eternally and forever proud of you. Love you!

2024 Life Reset

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March through July of this year was a whirlwind. Things started, things ended, choices (and mistakes) were made, layers and truths uncovered. I experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows, but luckily was there to hold together the pieces of me that felt fragmented and lost. To all my other fam that I reached out to (and vice versa) that helped support me (perhaps even realizing it), I couldn't have made it through without you. I give you my thanks.

There were many things looking back that I could/should have done much better, and I wish I understood everything. Even so, because of my belief in the universe, in myself, and in my community, I knew things would work out.

July was probably the worst month I've had for a long time, but I was in the Philippines with almost my entire immediate and extended family. It was the best place I could have been for things to fall apart for a few weeks. The beaches and sun and bodies of water helped me heal. I felt held and nurtured as I worked through my grief while on ancestral lands.

As July became August, I reassessed what was important to me, what I wanted to work on, to learn, to get better at, to prioritize, how to express myself, and who I wanted to spend my time with. I remembered that even if some people don't want me to be a part of their life, there are those that do. 

I've been working to move on and move forward. I started training more jiujitsu again and went back to helping to coach kids. I am refocusing and working to improve my bachata (thank you for the last beautiful photo and letting me be a part of it ). I'm working on advancing in PTK. I'm going to start ice hockey because I'm annoyed I was horrible when I tried it. I'm trying to figure out a new gym schedule and my daily food consumption because I want to get back in the rhythm of my health and fitness. 

I was due for a life reset. After a time when things were trending down, my life is becoming better than before, all with the support of Annie. Life is always full of ups and downs, of light and darkness. Let's all enjoy some time in the light together.

Huge congrats to , , .recio3 and the rest of the .ucsc team for the opening of Sowing Seeds at the . I'm so incredibly proud to be a researcher on this project and to have worked with the amazing team from .project and UCSC. I had the opportunity to collect an oral history from , who am I standing with in the first photograph. She is featured in the exhibit and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to get to know her. As a (sometimes) public historian, I strive to preserve and uplift the stories of Filipino-Americans (and others), especially beginning with our farm worker predecessors. I encourage you to ask questions about your own family history and how those stories fit into the diverse histories of the United States as a whole. Collect your family stories, before it is too late to hear them from your elders themselves.

Go see Sowing Seeds: Filipino American Stories from the Pajaro Valley at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, open until August 4!

Happy Birthday to my favorite, !

This photo was taken in 2008, when we were in the early months of being together. Our pictures these days tend to include Kalayo, and I always remember this one. Love you forever. Growing old with you has been my favorite adventure.

Congrats to Kiana for your second place finish at CCS! Kiana is on to the Finals!

As a Freshman, Kiana placed FIRST in league, FIRST in region, and qualified for State. I am infinitely proud of this young woman and look forward to see what she can achieve. Congrats Kiana and !

Women's Open Mat (and aggressively cuddling with friends)



Thanks all for coming to the women's open mat! It was awesome to see so many of my friends and so many upper belts. I didn't get to roll with everyone, but I definitely had a lot of laughs. Looking forward to seeing you all next time!

Bachata-Jitsu crew (with friends)



First dances of 2024 was a lot of fun. I like to tell anyone who listens that I think that if you do martial arts, that dancing is good cross training. Lots of reasons why, just ask. Thanks for being so supportive and tolerant of us as we figure Bachata out. I never thought I'd get into social dancing, but I'm having a lot of fun. Especially when I'm always hunting for take down openings as the music plays.