Contrite

My diary (translated from Spanish)

August 23, 2006

     What a f***ing sh*t!! I always have to pay for other's sh*t. Mom can not blame me if things are not going as she wants them to. She lashes out on me all the time. First she makes me cry, just to give me what I asked for in the end. It's always the same. Whatever, I have to love her anyways. She is my mom after all.

     Let's begin with the only good things that have happened this week. I started school on Monday and I already get along with everyone. I love the school, and there are some really cute guys. Teacher's are really cool. I never imagined I would be taking a class with one of my old crushes, Sean. He is really fun and treats me nice. The school and those in it are amazing. I would have never imagined I would like it so much!

...

     "Valerie, do you have a minute? I need to talk with you." Words that I've heard twice this week. It doesn't matter who says them, your heart always stops for a second when you hear it. You start going back, blaming yourself for so many things and then ask yourself which of those things are the ones they are blaming you for. Then you hear an apology. You see, I have mixed feelings with apologies. They are necessary for both parties involved. They are not easy, but they help heal and grow. But at the same time it doesn't change what happened or erases the consequences it had. Why wait until you've wronged someone to say sorry? We are humans, and what differences us from other animals is the fact that we can think logically, reason if you must say. Use that head of yours to analyze your future actions, so that way you don't have to atone later.

     This week I went out to drink and dance, better known as "clubbing", with some new friends we made in our last hangout (refer to Boil). They got out of work at 1am, and since in Puerto Rico clubs don't close until 5am or so, my best friend and I decided to take them to our favorite club. My best friend (K from now on) and I don't like to go clubbing that much, but we do have a place we like for when we get the urge. It's a nice, not that fancy, late 20-something place where we know people and have a great time. Before going to the club, we decided to pregame on a small bar near that had cheaper drinks. One of the guys we were with got drunk within the first 2 hours. It was so funny seeing him with his cheeks all pink and eyes half closed (or where they fully closed...? I will never know). He then started saying he wanted to listen to his "jam" which, to our surprise, was Happy by Pharrell. When the song came out he just stood up and started dancing. It was the funniest thing. After that, around 3am, we headed to the club. Our friends have never been there. We were lucky that night; no cover entrance. It was full and the music was not that bad. We danced like no one was watching during what was left of the night. We knew other people there, so the group got bigger and our new friends got to dance with other girls. I got home and the sun was coming up... just to get a drunk call.

     K and I were supposed to go to the beach tomorrow, but apparently that won't be possible. My work got extended through July (yaaay!) and now I have to work tomorrow. But I have Wednesday free, so maybe I'll be able to get my car's A/C fixed and finally go to the Comic book store and get some comics I've been wanting to buy. Since I'm already there, go and visit a few family members I haven't seen since I got back from China. I can see all the questions about my return coming at me. Take a deep breath Valerie...

Other things about this week:

1. K and I went furniture window shopping. We need new things for our new place.

2. We bought some pillows. First thing you do with new pillows? Pillow fight in front of the store. (We are such grown ups)

3. I dreamt I was in Las Vegas. Can I have that now?

4. I love you.  :3

     I forgot to tell you a story about last week. So, all university students out there know what it is to just have $16 in your account, a empty fridge and not knowing when more money will come in. For emergency cases like this, I have a credit card. So my K and I decided to go get some groceries to survive until the next paycheck. We both have the same credit cards, so the plan was to slip the bill and put it on the cards. Because of my cholesterol problems, I can't just go buying whatever cheap thing I find on the stand, I have to go with more healthy things, and sadly healthy equals expensive. We got the basics.. fruits, yogurt, whole wheat pastas, chicken breast, fish and such. Time to pay! Total: $80. Perfect. We take our cards out just to hear "Sorry. We don't accept that credit card." We are talking about a big brand supermarket, how could they not accept it?! So what to do...? We decided to leave out simple snacks and downed the bill to $60. Then proceeded to pay in 3 separate ways. Two cards and dollars. The cashier looked at us in disbelief, to what we replied "Student life. You have to work with what you have."

The struggle people, it is real.

(: