Harry Potter & Willow meet in Middle Earth

I think only fantasy geeks will truly enjoy the self-deprecation and parody humor going on here.

I'm sold! Now I wanna watch Extras...

Little Notes #4: Nothing's Gonna Change My World

... not even rain washing away my shoes.

This weekend was solidly interesting through & through.

On Friday evening we went to Plaza del Sol to get a broadband modem for the wireless internet service by Centennial. After the fiasco courtesy of Puerto Rico Telephone, anything looked better and more reliable than that. We got a visit by Pepe and Rebecca later that night, and one of our first internet hits was the following video:



Across the Universe by Fiona Apple (written by John Lennon)

The video is an instant classic, excellently made, and the song is wonderfully haunting (and by "haunting" I mean "the kind of song that sticks into your head and won't let you go"). I always disliked Fiona Apple a little bit, it was a visceral reaction, I guess. This video changed my mind: I might welcome her soon into my iPod.


I dedicated Saturday to sleeping, tidying up the house a bit more, watching a movie (developing a crush on a gringo in the process - that's SO unlike me!). The day basically was about me waiting to go to a Balún show in Taller Cé at night. It was worth the wait, although the incredibly annoying overabundance of bums and hobos wasn't. It's like Taller Cé is the only place left around for them to go beg to.

However, one thing was timelessly relevant about the evening:

Pitagora Suicchi!


... march with the ninjas! march, march!!!


Sunday was a Sunday like I hadn't had in a long while. I cooked a nice, comforting breakfast (scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, and toast, & coffee and orange juice) and then we went to Plaza del Sol to return the Centennial broadband router (a flopping failure, although without the bitter taste of rejection as was with PRT). We decided to go shop then for a fan and some other stuff for the apartment, and apparently in the meanwhile all heaven broke loose and cried a river onto Bayamón. I had to sprint across half a parking lot to get to my car, almost lost my slippers in the process, and had to do half that sprint barefoot. My feet still hurt.

I drove Eze to Borders (he had a 2-to-11PM shift) and I stayed a while keeping him company until his shift started. Found some nice flats @ Journeys (Volatile Demi Polka Dot, in red ... not shown above ¬_¬ no pics of my red shoes to be found anywhere on the net). They were on sale and they felt so warm and toasty!!! ^_^

And as soon as I felt the warmth enveloping my feet, somewhere in my mind a tiny Fiona A. sang:

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world

Trailer [Spaghetti] Confusion [Pretzel]

A few months ago I came across a trailer that set my body hairs on end and gave me something to really look forward to. My life at that moment was a mishmash blur or Battlestar Galactica, the Sci-Fi forums and Heroes. The trailer I watched that day reminded me of all the fantastic things I was watching and reading. I would afterwards realize I am indeed a natural science fiction freak, since I ate Dune up like it was melted butter.

I failed to save the trailer among my favorites in YouTube, though, and a week later I couldn't remember for the life of me the name of the movie. Several weeks later, someone mentioned Bridge to Terabithia in a local forum, so I went to look, just in case that was the movie... no such luck, other than it reminded me of yet another version of Chronicles of Narnia. Then The Golden Compass was mentioned, and I thought "This is it!", but when I looked I was ... well ... disappointed is not it, because it truly got my attention also, but I had been looking for the name of that movie for so long, it was beginning to seem like I had dreamt it up! Besides, I didn't recall seeing a talking polar bear in the trailer... However, I HAVE to see that! A talking polar bear as guardian to a little girl. I can feel tears galore forming under my eyelids already!

I sat this morning to breakfast with an old Wired magazine and I read a short interview with Bob Shaye talking about his latest film: The Last Mimzy... and it struck like lightning. This is it!

And lo and behold! It was!!!




Funny thing is, Bob Shaye is sort of the reason why Peter Jackson will not be directing The Hobbit, and he is also, I just found out,the producer to The Golden Compass. So there you go!




Those who know me, though, know that the selling point in that trailer for me was the whole allegory to Alice in Wonderland and the white rabbit. ;-)

Meme (#001) - Ocho cosas

Bueno, esto me parece que ya lo había hecho antes (o cosas similares). Pero nunca está de más auto-evaluarse periódicamente. (Sí, porque para eso son estas cosas)

1. Cada jugador(a) comienza con un listado de 8 cosas sobre sí mismo.
2. Tienen que escribir en su blog esas ocho cosas, junto con las reglas del juego.
3. Tienen que seleccionar a 8 personas más para invitar a jugar y anotar sus blogs/nombres.
4. No olvides dejarles un comentario en sus blogs respectivos de que han sido invitadas a participar.


8 Cosas Sobre Mí Misma (o algo...)

1) Prefiero pasar frío que pasar calor. El frío se resuelve añadiendo ropa. El calor no hay modo de quitarlo sin desvestirse y meterse en una ducha fría.

2) Aprendí a nadar a los 20 años de edad en la universidad. Desde chiquita le había tenido terror al agua. Pasé muchas vergüenzas por eso mismo, especialmente en escuela superior y luego en la universidad. Creo que lo que me puso a considerar cambiar ese detalle fue un paseo con unos amigos de la universidad: fuimos al Yunque, a una charca que hay allí, y mientras todos estaban tripeando en el centro de la charca, yo estaba parada en una esquinita mirándolos de lejos.

3) Hay comidas que me han comenzado a gustar "después de vieja" (y que no pasaba de chiquita): el queso roquefort (o blue cheese), las setas y los pimientos rojos. Estos últimos me empezaron a gustar hace apenas 2 años. De aquí a 20 años más, probablemente mi dieta haya cambiado considerablemente.

4) Me da pereza usar lipstick, pero tengo una obsesión enfermiza con los lip gloss y los plumpers, al punto de que aun no consigo el "lip gloss perfecto".

5) Mi primer beso fue con uno de los hombres más encantadores que he conocido en mi vida, antes de que fuera un hombre hecho y derecho siquiera. Fue detrás de la cancha del colegio, temprano en la mañana, y me dejó las rodillas temblando. Lo besé nuevamente unos 13 ó 14 años más tarde y me causó lo mismo. El único beso que me ha dejado exactamente igual fue mi primer beso con mi pareja actual (y no, no lo estoy diciendo porque él lee esto).

6) Las películas de fantasía épica bien hechas, como la serie de Lord of the Rings o The Chronicles of Narnia, me hacen llorar de la emoción. También me ponen a llorar los documentales de animales y los muñequitos.






7) Mi primer sorbo de whiskey fue a los 3 ó 4 años de edad. Más o menos a esa misma edad mi papá comenzó a darme los desayunos con un vaso grande de café instantáneo con leche fría y mucha azúcar. Afortunadamente yo era una niña tranquila, porque si no, con ese combo hubiese sido inmanejable.





8) Me gusta el sabor de la sangre. Lo sé, suena gótico, suena a basura escrita por un niño emo falto de atención. Pero me gusta, especialmente cdo me corto el labio por falta de humectación, como ahora mismo. Si no me cuido bien, soy capaz de dejarme el labio en carne viva por la manía que tengo con pelarme los labios.

Bueno, ahora les toca a ustedes!

Ezequiel
Mika
Julio
Pepe
Kiwi
Chichi
Tattiana
Ricky (ahi está tu excusa para escribir algo)

Preview: Home Sweet Home

I haven't taken any pictures, I haven't even found my makeup among all those boxes. Our living room possesses a unique topography comprised of boxes of different shapes and sizes. Our soon-to-be "guest room" requires a navigational chart, and the bed that's supposed to be in that room is actually giving the "computer room" a "derelicte" feel (propped up against the wall).

I've taken to waking up to the sound of my cell phone's alarm clock (since my proper alarm clock is buried somewhere in a box), and these past few days have been the least vain in my girlie existence: no barrettes, no pins, no headbands (my hair accessories box is ... in a box).

Most of our clothes are in a dirty pile in the laundry, waiting for the first free moment I might get to wash them. As it has been, moving is quite an uncomfortable affair.

But I'm happy, comfy, more contented than I've been in a long, long while. Relieved. We've been exhausted to the point of tears, but we've been able to smile through the pain and bear it, 'cuz it's for us. Yesterday I paid the most I've ever paid for groceries and start-up items (like spatulas, coasters, glasses and ice cream scoops, etc). I remember a time when putting down my signature for a quantity such would have driven me mad in despair. Yesterday I realized that commitment does not include despair. There is a second glance, maybe even a joke or two about how we're gonna have to sell our asses after paying for this first grocery list. But the familiar anxiety over "how my bank account is gonna look after this" was finally gone.

Because it's for us ...

I'm finally home.

Pictures later (because the camera is also in a box).






BTW: I've got to thank a few people that helped, or meant to help (the intention was clearly there) in the whole process:

- Eze's parents, without whose infinite help this wouldn't have been possible for a long while.
- My mom, who pleasantly surprised me by getting deeply involved in the moving process (I guess it has more to do with the fact that this time around, it is MY home).
- My brother and sister, and Eze's brother: these three were the greatest last Saturday, sweating it out to the max, to the point of sickness too. My hat's off to you guys.
- Abdelouakil Sebanna (a good friend to the family), for the laughs, the lift of spirits, the organizational skills and a vehicle to transport the huge items.
- My Dad and Martha (his wife), because even if they were not physically here, they have been praying for this for a long while. I'm sure their prayers helped in the odd way prayers usually do.
- Pepe & Jerry (hahahahahaha!!! Ben & Jerry's no more!... sorry, sorry ....) Thanks to these two guys for immediately breaking our "Welcome Home" cherry, and bringing awesome company and acid-reflux-inducing pizza (which was yummy, btw, and I mean it in a non-sarcastic way)
- José "Banano", because I know he meant to help, that's just the way he is: sweet and caring, but trying for people not to notice.

Summer: To Job or Not to Job?

As I was exiting the gas station's mini-market (one of the few breakfast havens I have adopted in the past few weeks), I crossed a young girl (probably college-aged) attired so: head covered in mini-braids held back in a loose, low ponytail, huge, shiny sunshades, light-colored shorts, non-fashion (that means "practical") tennis shoes with thick socks, and a baggy, green T-shirt with a cheap logo across the front that read "Entretenimiento de Verano" (Summer Entertainment) or some crap like that. It took me 2 seconds to realize this girl must work at a summer camp. What drove the idea home was the blow whistle slung around her neck. And then I remembered, I truly remembered my summer of 1997.

I was 19, in college, studying commerce, most likely still debating myself between a career in accounting and a career in information systems. I didn't have a steady job, never quite needed it since I always fully qualified for a federal scholarship, but summer was always the weak link in that way of life: no scholarship meant no funding, no fun, no plans, no nothing. Summer was "the time to get a job" by excellence. The previous summer (1996) I had had my brief stint in a "healthy junk food" joint, lasted two months, had a miserable time (specially at the later hours of the afternoon, when kids my age would come into the establishment all sun-kissed, trailing salt and sand with their worn flip-flops - that was the year I met the bottled tan firsthand... never again!).

So, in 1997 I was ready for a breath of fresher air, and I let myself be led by a friend to apply for a job at a summer camp. I had never had any experience doing anything remotely similar to this, with the exception of babysitting my sister, and even that always brought skin-creeping memories. But I didn't think it through: I handed over a filled application and got a call a few weeks later. We had to go through a screening process, which meant that we had to prove that we would be good camp counselors and leaders, that we would be able to keep control of a 20+ group of [rich, stuck up] kids. Incredibly enough, I (who have never considered myself to be a natural leader of any sort) got picked for the job, as well as my friend and many others. It was to be 4 camp leaders to a group. I got chosen as part of the leader team for a group of 30 5-year-old girls. Thirty Daddy jewels. Thirty princesses whose parents would keep an eagle eye on us at all moments possible.

It was an amazing experience, though as harrowing as it would seem. I realized that I had it in me to care for other people's children. The girls grew onto me, we got close like family. A whole month of spending more than 8 hours a day with a child will automatically turn you into a secondary parent. Tending to their every needs, having to take it easy when at least 15 of them decide to scream at the same time for something they want, curing boo-boo's, identifying lice .... even identifying what they cannot say, as it happened once with another group's 2-year-old boy: he was crying and the girl in charge was to the end of her rope, she didn't get it. The little boy could not express that the heat outside was smoldering to him. I held some icy water to his face and he immediately calmed down and went into a deep sleep. I gained a fan for the rest of the day!

That summer was one of the most active I ever had: I got a natural suntan by just playing in the sun with the children almost daily. I was starting to date a total idiot who was however highly social, so the outings were frequent, and sometimes even fun. I was fully immersed in social activities and pop culture. I became one of the clan. I think this was the summer that had me assimilated into the commerce student culture. I had begun the month's worth of work with the idea that the $700 I got as payment would be used to get my first tattoo. By month's end, I had dropped the idea. It would be 4 years later that I would get my first tattoo. By then, the sun-kissed, carefree, sociable Diana would be gone in favor of someone much closer to her own roots.

Summer is a time in which no one is quite content: unless you have copious amounts of money, you either stay at home and be bored to tears by the repetitive, mind-numbing TV programming, or you get a job that will keep you from having all the fun you intended to have with the money you earned. That's the way it is for most college kids, unless they signed on for summer classes, in which case the misery is doubled because you have no time to earn money nor do you have time to chill out, and it will be something you will have to do also as soon as summer is over, so it annuls summer altogether.

I envied the ones that went abroad, though. But that took money, regardless of whether it was for studying or pleasure.

As a working adult, however, summer takes other undertones. Summer ceases to exist as "the free time you get between semesters". It becomes "a time which I may get free as well as I may not", and what you get is one or two weeks in which you try to cram as much enjoyment as you can, leaving you so exhausted that you need a vacation from your vacations. It's even more absurd.

That summer in 1997 was the last one in which I held a college-type job. After that, summers became a blur. I never got as sun-kissed again, nor as sociable. Truth be told, I don't miss it, however much I hold that memory in my heart. But it helped me recognize when people are having the same miserable fun at summer camp.

Animal Extravaganza

Yesterday someone posted a horrid video @ a forum I visit regularly. The video showed a live cow being fed to a group of tigers. Apart from the condescending nature of this activity, what offended me most was the obnoxious voices of gringos who were appalled at the fact that tigers (being the carnivores that they are) actually ate the cow. They were apparently rooting for the cow. Funny, though, that at the end of the snippet, a tourist trolley comes barging into the scene. I'm not aware whether the sides of the trolley are protected by acrylic sheets or if it's an open vehicle, but in the video (and with a little help of my overactive and morbid imagination) it almost seems like they're bringing in a bucket of fried chicken to the tigers.

The video reminded me, though of a video I had seen the day before:



The tables of nature are turned by sheer force of organization and team work. Watch the whole video, if you can. The end is very worth it.
EDIT: I hadn't noticed that I had blogged this video on my last post. If you saw the video on Tuesday's post, don't bother, it's the same one. Unless you're like me and want to watch it again! :-D

After that, I was hooked for the rest of the afternoon and the evening, and went through an animal video spree. These were the highlights (my favorites):


Sometimes we don't even amount to the other other white meat ...



Elephants are said to have a good memory. Big cats have attitude enough for an immediate response, for lack of an elephantine memory.

And talking of elephants...


All work and no play makes Dumbo a square peg in a round hole. Even elephants have their fun.



I had never seen or heard a bird such as this. And the fact that it can even imitate a power tool is awesome and heart-breaking at the same time.

WARNING! High Ick Factor Ahead:


As far as carpets go, I don't want one like the Deer Cave carpet. Thanks.

1 Buffalo, 2 Buffalo, 3 Buffalo

Nature will sometimes surprise us through organized action. Makes you think that perhaps, regardless of how civilized, and hence special, we think ourselves to be as a species, we're not so unique after all.



Empathy is, after all, another variation of "survival of the strongest".

Rearranging the Face (of Flickr)

Just to let you guys know I rearranged my main page @ Flickr: Now photos look bigger and there are collections! :-D Whoooo!

Anyways: go, visit, feel free to comment here or there (for better or for worse).

Beautifying the Beast

Well, since I spent my Sunday afternoon aimlessly ambling around the aisles at Walgreens (all the while cursing the dratted place for not selling packaging tape on Sundays), I decided to lift my spirits a bit by purchasing makeup replacements.

I was all out of pressed powder (I was dragging around small crumbs of face cake with the little sponge) and it was time to replace my mascara. Also, it's been a week or more since I last shaved my legs. After a lot of thinking, I decided to give up the razor in favor of a more "glamorous" way of getting rid of my leg hair. What got into me? Beats me! I just know I wanted a change in that sense, and after a lot of thinking, I decided in favor of waxing. At least you have to do it less often.

So I start looking for a wax that looks trustworthy and not too lethal. The variety of wax brands in here is fascinatingly sparse! My eye kept getting drawn to the tub of Nads, and in spite of the price tag ($20!!!) I ended up buying it.

In favor of Nads, I have to say that in spite of the bad rep, the thing does work. Most probably, a great deal of the people that have reviewed the product negatively have simply failed to note one detail in the instructions: when it says to spread a thin layer of the product over the area to be depilated, they mean thin. My first trial was with what i understood was a thin layer, and the strip took barely any hair at all. I was flabbergasted (and bummed out, since I thought it was $20 down the drain). But at the second try, Voilá! (and OUCHIEWAWA!) Lotsa hair off the skin! Yeah!

It will take a few days, since I don't want to overwork my skin (and I have tons of hair), but I will finish what I started.

When I got to my mom's home, I got handed this little particular tube:

It's a 'plumper', and the fucking thing works! It works at setting my lips on fire and making me look (and feel) like some superhero with spicy saliva gave me one fury-packed smacker! :-D Haha! Thanks, Tatts!

This morning I tried the new mascara I decided to buy:

Maybelline's Define-A-Lash Lengthening Washable Mascara (fucking long name!)
I wasn't wowed, but I wasn't disappointed either. And the little rubber brush is pretty funny to look at. Fun in the morning routine, yay!

Letting Out the Seams a Bit

Eze has been working nights and weekends during these past few weeks. It's his second jobs, @ Border's. He took it up so we could have extra income, specially since he still has a few credit debts to clear. I've tried to be understanding and supportive of him and this new situation, but unlike last time he held a second job, this time is a little rougher on me.

Why? Well...

[rant mode] For one, last time he held a job the hours weren't as long. It wasn't retail, so the latest he was out was at 10 o'clock at night. In the new job, that's the earliest he arrives home the days he has to work.

However, he was miserable back then. Most of the time he was assigned to work the booth at a famous, money-wrapped church building (the one with the dinosaur posted outside. Yes, that one). Now he works around some of the things he loves (books, movies, music? his LIFE!), and it's just like an extension of his Saturday hobby. He's happy there.

But I miss him...

Back when he worked at the dinosaur church there was also a buffer around the situation. At least during half of that time I received a long-ish visit from my dad and his wife. They kept me company, I didn't feel so lonely. I could go home and just chill with dad, it was fun! My mind was elsewhere (i.e. Dad's problems, which were bigger than mine), and my responsibilities were not that many.

Today my life is led to a different pace. Things at home are far from being the same they were back then. I don't leave the room anymore except to get some water. I quit the kitchen a few weeks ago. Communal areas have been abandoned for a while. "Estrangement" is this home's middle name. Dust has been gathering at the corners for a while, it's just waiting for us to leave.

So I have my breakfast, lunch and dinner out of the house. I've gotten incredibly fed up with fast food junk. You have no idea how cranky fast food will get you if it's the only component in your daily nutrition. I'm fucking missing salads. The summer heat is on the rise and it doesn't help either. I have taken Eze's advice and I've spent more time at Mom's. It make me feel less lonely, more at home. But it's not easy feeling at home when you've arrived all drenched in sweat in the 100-degree furnace you call a car... and you can't get a bath. (Well, I could, but I'd feel I was imposing. Water is not coming by cheap these days. Nothing is.)

... And moving day is at hand, and until now, I've felt a little on the lonely side dealing with the idea (and with the boxes, and with the dust). Yesterday I got mad at a commercial institution (a convenience-pharmacy with a name starting with 'W' and ending with 'algreens') because on Sundays they cannot sell (by law) certain items, among which was included the one item I had been needing for the past few days to start dealing with boxes: packaging tape. When you get mad at an inanimate entity, something's really up with you. It's the same "something" that causes road rage and distasteful graffiti.

So weekends like this come and go without pain or glory, and then a week like this one starts (week #3? #4? of eating crap 24-7) and I start misfiring at my boss on the job. It's not his fault, it's purely mine, because god knows how the system fails here, it does! But that doesn't give me the right to talk back to a fellow worker.

So I need a vacation. I need to move and I need a vacation ... [/end of rant]

... and a salad.

Taking off on July (explained)

Like I hinted at in my June 5 post, I will be taking off in July. To be more exact, on July 24, with return date: July 30.

Where am I going?

San Diego ComicCon, here I come!!!
Yes, my friends: joined by Ezequiel, Pepe and Maricarmen, we will take San Diego, CA by storm. We will see tha Pacific Ocean and pee on it. We will dishonorably not give up our seats to old women in the trolley. We will go to that convention and sell our collective asses to Kevin Smith in exchange for a single autograph. We will beat a path of drool for the Battlestar Galactica cast. We will look incredibly dumb shouting "YATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" in unison to greet Masi Oka. Hopefully we will come back in one piece. Hopefully, the temperature in San Diego will not go upwards of 80 Farenheit (we like acting stupid in comfortable weather).

So there: it's all out. I'm happy. I'll bring back pictures, stories, merchandise and maybe more ...

Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to go make this tongue ready to start licking Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff on first sight.

Father of the Bride

I just finished watching the 1950 version of Father of the Bride. I've always been a Steve Martin fan, and quite liked the 1991 version he starred in, so I had to see the original version, see how the most recent one pitted up against it.

Apart from the glaringly obvious changes and updates in style (from the fact that the original movie is in black and white, down to the old-fashioned model of Osterizer we get to see in a scene in the kitchen), there are also other changes that have more to do with politics, something I found to be quite interesting to watch.

To begin with, in the original version, the Banks family has a black maid. This in itself would cause a ruckus nowaday, given the political correctness that is demanded of the media (even if events of more violent nature due to racism occur on a daily basis). Even more interesting was the fact that it is implied that the Dunsts (the groom's family) are of a higher station, not only because of their bigger house, but because they have a white maid. I think I don't even need to say that no maids are to be found in the 1991 version.

In the 1950 version you never see the characters get messy, unruly or dirty. The movie is carried with the glamour that characterized the 50s: mother, daughter, father, beau ... not a hair out of place in their carefully lacquered coifs. The 1991 version shows most characters suffering the ups and downs of a wedding planning down to the dark circles under their eyes.

The 1950 version portrays what I would guess would be a typical 1950 family: father and mother, obviously the mother is a housewife (even though the cleaning and cooking is left to the maid). This is the kind of couple that, when he gets home, she's up and ready in her pumps and pearls to take the suitcase off her tired husband's hands. Both sons have leeway to leave the house whenever they please without so much as the bat of an eyelash, they're both in school, and no one worries about them. It is never clear wether the daughter is going to college (but apparently not, she's just being "kept"), and the father goes into a tizzy as soon as she announces that she's leaving for a date. She's the whole of his worries, to the point of keeping him awake at night. I think the 1991 version made the brother-sister contrast easier to deal with by making the only brother much younger than her. However, they updated the bride character by making her a young career woman who has just come back home from her solo trip to Europe (where she met her beau). Obviously, feminism has had a big hand on how we portray female characters in the media. By the way: mom and dad? Total busy wrecks, but it's cool! They look to be a co-op couple.

The details and small stories around the wedding planning are pretty much timeless, however. Obviously, the price tag has inflated from 1950 to 1951 (pretty much! I mean ... a $400 wedding cake nowadays is a steal!). But problems with the flowers, dresses, boudoir, fittings, bridesmaids, wedding rehearsals and so on will exist as long as weddings exist. However, the 1991 version tinges the situations with more than a little humor, while the 1950 version's humor is more subduded.

One character, the caterer, was taken advantage of and exploded in the latter film, though, and I think this is what made the movie a fine candidate for a sequel. Martin Short in the character of Franck is simply fascinating, very funny, and totally un-PC! Forget the black maid, now, this guy is outrageously gay! And I think most fans of the movie totally loved him. He's the reason Father of the Bride II exists.

There is but one very redeeming point in the 1950 version, one thing that won me over: the night before the wedding, Stanley Banks (the father) has a nightmare. A sequence fit for any 1950s horror movie, it was excellently made, I loved every second of it, and relished the fact that they found a way to fit in something so dreary in a picture that was later remade to glorify one of the scariest moments in a person's life. I wonder why they left it out...

Steve Martin made Stanley Banks his own characteer. The hysteria and the mushy-dad moments are all his, all made in his own particular style. In comparison, Spencer Tracy's Stanley Banks is perfectly ... glum. Sorry ... I'll keep Steve Martin as a dad any day over Mr. Tracy.

But I won't have a wedding.


Although, one can always dream a bit ...

Little Notes #3: Moving Days & Cruel Summers

Summer's here (to my brother's chagrin, he's convinced that summer is jinxed for him), and there are plans around, waiting for the right time, the right moment. There's, for example, a group trip in the plans (for which I will furnish more details later). Closer still is our moving day. The date has been set for June 16th. Thankfully we don't own all that much shit, and we're basically moving our room only, so it should be a pretty simple (or at least short) affair. There have also been talks of going to the beach, going kayaking, a few summer-y things to offset our shut-in natural habits (Eze's and mine). In short, summer promises to be interesting at least.


Moving Day is at Hand (Diana & Eze Edition)

There are a few things I've been meaning to do as soon as we move. It's not so much that I can't do them at our current living space, most of them I can, but I never felt comfortable doing them. Besides, living out of a darkened room (in which only the distant, indirect rays of sun alighted dimly through the half-closed window shades) is at best a glum way to lead a Sunday afternoon.

Things I mean to do as soon as we set new camp in our own apartment:

1) Retake Yoga - it's been more than a year since I last did yoga. I'm sorely missing it... literally. I can feel my bones misaligned (one of the main reasons why I love yoga so much: there are some positions in which my back cracks, and that feels SO good!)

2) Give myself a pedicure and a manicure - my limbs need some TLC. They're dry, cracked and flaky. A nice Sunday afternoon spent soaking hand and feet in soapy water is just what I need.

3) Spend a Saturday morning with a huge coffee mug and a piece of warm bread with margarine in front of my laptop surfing the net, in nothing but my underwear... in the dining room ^_^ windows open to the morning breeze! YAY!

4) Take my sewing machine to be fixed. We'll have space for it now. Maybe I'll finally learn some sewing basics through hands-on experience. If you run into me in a misshapen dress, you'll know it's under way.

I probably have many more plans in my subconscious to carry out as soon as I finally feel "at home" somewhere. And I'll probably blog about them too ... or not.



It's a Cruel Summer

It's been years since I last went to the beach. I don't mean the occasional, full-dressed visit in which you stand at the water's edge and just breathe the salty breeze in, and talk about how pretty the water looks; or you just munch on a greasy fritter while contemplating pork's immortality ("contemplando la inmortalidad del marrano" is one of my favorite pastimes). I'm talking about the all-out, bikini-clad, sunscreen-stinking, sand-in-your-underwear, insecure-in-your-cellulite kind of visit. I haven't bathed in seawater since I got together with Eze. July 24, 2004 was the last day I went (to Playa Ballena, with Jorge Juan, to be exact). I spent all day thinking about the first kiss Eze gave me (the night before, while nursing a bad case of "drunk Diana"). A smile was permanently pasted on my face for the rest of the day. Maybe I would have dedicated a few more minutes to the water and the sand and the sun, had I known "being with Eze" would mean "you will never step toe on the beach again, missy!". ^_^ (I'm just kidding! I like teasing him that way)

We have a friend who's keen into internal tourism. He likes to spend weekends visiting places most Puerto Ricans take for granted. And he's been inviting us for a long time to join him in his trips. He's been wanting to go rappelling, something which Eze and I could marginally do given that the ropes don't break under the stress of our weight. Another thing our friend has suggested is kayaking at the bioluminescent bay in Fajardo. That's a night trip, that's what Eze calls a "boring" trip (mainly 'cuz he can't swim)... that's what I call "an offer I can't refuse". This is one thing I hope to be doing sometime this summer.

The other thing our friend has been insisting on is a trip to the beach. This vexes me a bit: my body is nowhere near "beach-ready". And I know I'll hear my friend's voice protesting because basically that would be product of one of my complexes. But let's talk truth here: my thighs are host to a valley of cellulite. Cellulite has invaded and conquered my thighs. And as much as I can hide and conceal this fact in my everyday clothes, that would be a no-can-do in a swimsuit or bikini. Which would leave me with two options:

1) Terrorize women and small children (plus gross out all those whose eyes are not tolerant of alternate realities to those sold by beer commercials)

2) Dress up in the boricua bestial makeshift beach-going attire par excellence: lycra biker shorts and a huge t-shirt. Which would make me incredibly ridiculous and would probably set a few individuals my way to ask for "el caldero de arroz con pollo" (the cauldron with rice and chicken).

I think I'll opt for #1 if we ever get to go to the beach again. At least people will recoil in horror and get away from me (i.e. leave me alone), instead of the other way around. ^_^


Take-off in July

(More information later on) ;-)

Coming Full Circle is a Coin with Two Sides

June 2nd, 2003
The bad news: My home burned down. I was left pretty much homeless, peniless, with only the clothes on my back and a brand new car to pay for. My four dogs died in that fire, probably burned, most likely asphyxiated by the smoke. I was left desolate, depressed, feeling lonely, and mourning my dogs like a crazy woman.
But the good news was I was alive, I had survived, and my family was there to support me, if not financially, at least emotionally (which is the priceless side of things). I literally rose from the ashes, and come 4 years, I had arrived full circle.

June 2, 2007
The good news: Eze and I have just acquired our first owned home. This has been the definitive step in our relationship, making our commitment concrete as a house. This is one step in life my parents haven´t taken yet, one step toward security, our roots finally taking hold somewhere. Curiously enough, the day chosen to sign the contract is the 4th anniversary of my total loss. I arrived full circle. But full circle is a coin with two sides.
When I arrived home to pick my car up and go to my family to celebrate my brother´s birthday, the bad news were awaiting lying on the pedals of my car. Pucho had stealthily sneaked into my car last night as I arrived home. I didn´t notice. No one missed him. No one found out until I opened that car door at 4PM. The unvented heat in that car at midday must have been unsustainable. He died a heat death, he died an asphyxiated death. Just like my dogs 4 years ago. In the same car that had been the sole survivor property of that fire.

I don´t know how to pay homage to Pucho. I am well aware of the differences inside our household that stemmed from the habits around caring for him. I am well aware that after a while, at least for me, Pucho had become a nuisance more than a pet. But I never wished ill on him, much less death. And as irritated as I allowed myself to become by him at times, I could not speak ill of an animal that was just that: an animal, with needs and perks like any other.

And more than an animal, Pucho was a very affective pet. He had enough love to show around the whole neighborhood, and that is something that cannot be erased or obliterated by simple circumstantial situations. Pucho was not only cute because he was a beautiful kitty. He was cute because he was a devoted kitty. He will be remembered and mourned, much more so by his rightful owners than by me, but it doesn´t mean I don´t feel sorrowful too by his death. My deep condolences to his two equally devoted owners (you know who you are). I share the sting of the broken heart his departure leaves.

Coming full circle can be sweet, but it can be sour as well.