Blithe

"No day shall erase you from the memory of time"

"The real violence, the violence I realized  was unforgivable,

is the violence we do to ourselves when we're too afraid 

to be who we really are."

-  Nomi  Marks (Sense8)

...

So much to write in one post. I'll try to keep it as simple as possible, without leaving any details behind! 

     Last time I wrote, I just arrived back from Seattle, WA. Although I was extremely happy at the opportunity to travel once more, a whole crazy month was ahead of me. Yes, I am talking about finals. I a beginning, when the first finals calendar came out, I was pretty relieved to see that I had time between one test and the other and that none interfered with my ComicCon workdays. But I study at the University of Puerto Rico and calendars are NEVER written on stone. Just as the last day of class approached, so did a 48 hour campus strike. 

Candela, candela. La iupi da candela.

     The strike could only mean one thing: finals and classes would be pushed back a few days. I didn't worry about studying time, but about how would that affect my Puerto Rico Comic Con work weekend. As feared, one of my finals was scheduled for Friday, May 22nd. I had to come up with something. As you may know, I've been wanting this job for over 8 months, I was not about to let it go. Thankfully, the final was of Chinese class. After a brief conversation with my professor, she agreed to let me take the test another day. You would think that would be it right? Nope. Life is not that simple. By another day, she meant "tomorrow", almost week earlier than planned. I waged my possibilities, calculated my grades so far and was pleased to see that I only needed a C to keep my A in class. I went for that and got... a C! Yes, mediocre, I know. But in the end I got an A on my final grade. Success!! 

This is pretty geeky, I know.

     Comic Con weekend arrived! Even when I knew some (5 out of 39) of my co-workers beforehand, I still was nervous about how would it all play out the first day. I was glad to see that everyone was incredibly nice and fun to work with. When the boss said "at ComicCon, we are a family", he completely meant it. Not one second I felt out of place. Not only everyone was awesome, but we were a great team (shoutout to Line Team A!). During the event, I got to meet Katrina Law and Jason Momoa. Let's talk about him a little more. He is amazingly handsome. He said, and I quote, "I love your hair". I acted like a total and absolute dork around him. I am so ashamed of myself. Not really. It's not like I will ever see him again. Bottom line, although completely and utterly exhausting, the Puerto Rico Comic Con weekend was one incredible experience that I hope to repeat next year! 

SOLD OUT!

     Funny story from the Comic Con. The week before the event, the staff got some Mad Max Premier tickets. After watching the masterpiece that was the movie, the staff decided that "Witness Me!" our whole staff slogan for this year's event. The thing is, during the event, someone made a cosplay of Immortan Joe. You can only imagine what this meant. Every staff member wanted a picture with him. Everyone stopped him and got all excited to see him. Some ( I ) went to the extreme and asked security to go find him and bring him over. Just imagine the face of that poor kid when he gets called by security to one of the entrances just to find 4 staffers jumping all happy because they found him. I got my picture, of course, and a good laugh out of it. 

Crashboat, Aguadilla PR

     Not the best picture there is of this beach, but you get the idea. I am sure I've told you before, but just in case, this is one of my favorite places in the world. Mainly because of all the great memories that exists thanks to it. So, what better place to say goodbye to the family for the summer than this one? My mom, two brothers, sister-in-law and I spent the whole day in Aguadilla enjoying the sun and some nice family quality time. Well, I spent it away from the water, but it still counts as being at the beach, doesn't it? 

Apple Watch Sport

     Remember last time, in my quick points, how I wrote about wanting the Apple Watch? Guess what?! Yes, I got one. My amazing significant other got it for me as a anniversary present. To be honest, I cried so much when I unwrapped my present. It wasn't the fact that it was the Apple Watch hat made me cry, it was that idea of him thinking about me. How, although he thought it was a complete waste of money, he still was thoughtful and got it for me. ENOUGH WITH THE CHEESE! 

     "Start spreading the news. I am leaving today. I want to be a part of it... New York, New York." First stop of the summer was nonetheless than New York City! I love visiting this city, although I would not like to live in it. It's so big and loud, so full of life. It can make you feel part of something and at the same time, a nothing. And I love all those feelings it gives me. 

     Leaving for the summer made me think about the day I move out of Puerto Rico. One sees it with so much excitement and happiness, but as it becomes something of a reality, sadness also settles. Leaving your hometown is not leaving behind that place you may love or hate, but it is ultimately leaving behind memories, friends, family and what you once considered your life.

Some fast and short dots:

• Can I put photos in here? Nope. They wouldn't look as good. So I will add any other photos I want to share at the end of this post. Click on them to see them bigger!

This was supposed to be posted about two months ago. Stuff happens. But it's better late and incomplete than never, right? 

:)

Algid

There is more than road to get where you want to... 

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
                                                                                             - Dylan Thomas
...

It's pretty hard to keep a blog when you have no internet in your place...

     I always try to find time to write. I like keeping my memories unaltered and young. That's one of the main reasons I have this blog and a diary. I even make notes on my phone about thoughts I have throughout the day. But then again writing takes time and should not be forced. I admit, after more than a month I am a bit rusty with the whole writing thing. I shall review this post several times before I publish it to make sure everything is written correctly. I apologize in advance for the errors. 

What I enjoy the most about being human is
having the capacity to change, learn, grow

     Winter break in Puerto Rico is usually over a month long, so it gives us time to enjoy moments with family and friends, rest and travel. As I've said so many times, I simply adore travelling. My winter destination: Seattle, WA. Although I've been several times to Washington State, I always find something new and entertaining to do. This time around I went ice-skating, to the zoo, hiking, watched movies on IMAX, to the art museum, visited a graduate school campus, and just walked around the city. Do I even have to say I slept my other days out? It was some nice vacation with spectacular free home-cooked meals. It was a nice break from the day-to-day hectic life that I have back home during my semesters.

Survival mode

     The whole idea was to get to Seattle on Christmas day. I had arranged flights, made deals with people and everything so that I could get there at midnight. The day of my departure I noticed I'd left some important things back at my apartment (hiking boots, toothbrush, other stuff), so I left for the airport early. A few minutes out of the house I noticed I had left my apartment keys at my car, and just as I was about to turn back, I get a strange call. It was the airline. My flight had been delayed, which meant I would miss my layover in Miami and wouldn't make it to Seattle until late the next day. I was about to loose my cool real badly. I asked about earlier flights and, to my good luck, they had one that left in less than 2 hours. I had to be on that flight. There was a small problem though. I was 45 minutes away from the airport and still had to stop at my place. I had to decide: get to Seattle on time and buy whatever I required there, or not get to Seattle when planned and save up that money. Then again money comes and goes, good memories last a lifetime. I am glad I decided as I did. It was wholly worth it. 

It's hard to get up on ice

     It was not my first time seeing snow, but it was my first time having a one-on-one moment with it. I did not have gloves nor boots made for it. Somehow I expected the snow to be less cold than it actually was. My hands were freezing, but it didn't stop me from making snowballs while feeling the cold pain all the way to my bones. The trail to the Big Four Ice Caves was not easy for my Keds, my body or the people around me who couldn't help but to fall every 5 seconds. That constant falling made the 1.1 mile hike to where the caves were situated feel eternal. Once I got to the ice caves I didn't want to go back. Part of it because it was incredibly beautiful,  the other part because of how long the way was with a person constantly falling besides you. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching him struggle to keep up. It was one of the most adorable and funny thing I've ever seen happen to him. But the sun was setting and we were in a soon-to-be-dark forest walking. What if a bear came out of nowhere?!

Art speaks to me on many levels

     I have a love-hate relationship with zoos as with many other things on life. Who doesn't love to see "wild" animals up-close? But at the same time, who knows what happens behind the curtains? So many stories of animal cruelty in zoos have been out. I find it really hard to have a firm stand against it. Anyways, during my stay in Seattle I visited the Woodland Park Zoo because of elephant reasons. It was incredibly cold and rainy that day. Still, I get to see two beautiful elephants. Sad thing is I didn't take pictures of them. I really hope they are well fed and taken care of. Apart from the elephants, they had zebras, kangaroos, bears, penguins, hippos, ostriches, orangutang, owls and other animals I can't remember right now. The zoo in general is beautiful. The animals where pretty active considering it was cold and cloudy. I would advice you to go during summer though. A plus of going this summer will be the new attraction: TIGERS! 

I have a thing for large land mammals

     With Valentine's Day approaching, I decided to do something I've never done before. See, I am a firm believer that Valentine's is just a pathetic pretext for capitalism to have it's way by making us buy things we don't need for people who don't deserve it. Love and friendship are not things that you feed chocolate and cards once a year, but something you should care for every day. Still, I took it as a really lame excuse to  spoil my significant other. Although technically it will arrive before the actual day, in my mind it will still count as that first time I gave someone special a Valentine's gift. I'm so cheesy sometimes...

Frostbite: it's real

     Remember the whole "I will start meditating daily" thing? That ended up not work. I do try to live in the moment every day, but not in the form of meditation. I am guessing it has to do with the fact that I am not as organised in life as I should be. Eventually I am sure to get there. Meanwhile, I will let my mind fly moments before I fall asleep.

I am a person of habits, so... quick points!!

• The court viewing for the whole alimony thing will finally come to an end in a few days. I won't lie, I couldn't be more nervous.
• Any ideas for spring break?
• I need to officially submit my change of major.
• Got pretty nice grades last semester. I guess all the stress and wanting to crawl under my desk was totally worth it.
• I miss China. More so now that I can have a conversation about food with people.
• I want some Pho or Thai. I don't know if restaurants of the sort even exist in Puerto Rico.
• I did some research. There are a handful of Thai restaurants in Puerto Rico. The best one is far away from San Juan. I will make plans to go and will let you know how good it was.
• If the basic class of Chinese was hard, the second part is just... I just took a test and the translation part was something else.
• I want to go to back China so badly. It's such an interesting country and culture. 
• Been sick twice this semester and it hasn't even been a month of it.
• I use my Facebook as a memory timeline to write my post.
• That Seattle SeaHawks SuperBowl lost was heartbreaking. My jersey... it hurts.
• My car is a constant disappointment. I fix one thing, it breaks down elsewhere. I honestly don't know what else to do with it.
• I ate a snail (I am so sorry Gary!) and I liked it. The consistency felt like shrimps and mushrooms put together. It was a whole new experience. 
• I got some really cool StarWars leggings for Christmas (among other things).

Somehow I expected this to be a longer post...

(:

I consider myself a really lucky person.

Not because I have a perfect life,

but because I have amazing people in it.

Mislay

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

I identify myself with that picture so much. For me it portrays a deep yearning that may be interpreted wrongly as a creepy need for someone. Creepy love, my kind of love. I can't help it. 

...

Staying over at my mom's place, so no diary entrees or old stories. 

     Feels like so long ago the last time I sat down and wrote. Maybe it's because I've been stuck in my own head thinking about (darks) butterflies and rainbows. I've binge watched many tv series and dramas, read a bit here and there and spent time with friends and family. Above all I've slept. So much. 12+ hours a day. Laziness, I love it. That is, after classes ended. Before that studying was all there was for me. It's difficult to put a whole month worth of "stories" into words without leaving important details behind. I always say the same, I know. Some things never change...

     Winter is upon us! Not really. Benefits of living on a tropical island is that you don't have the need for any cold clothing. It's also something I dislike. I love winter clothes. 

     Time passes so fast. Just one year ago I was running around buying winter clothes and doing my luggage to embark on the biggest adventure of my life (yet): my first trip to China. I still remember the nervousness that had to be hidden, reassuring my family that everything was going to be alright while I myself doubted my survival. A new country, unknown food, language, transportation and culture in general. I am just happy that we did it. Learned so much, grew so much. Can I go back?

     Three more days for Christmas! I am not big on Holidays. To be honest, I pretty much hate all Holidays except Halloween. But Christmas means I get to see my boyfriend and spend time with him. Long distance relationships are not as fun as people make them seem, but (let me be cheesy here) when you find the right person, it's totally worth it. 

Swift dots! (I didn't want to say quick points. Let me be.)

• Got 3 A's and 1 B this semester. Still missing one grade. The most important one. Fingers crossed for another A!
• There's something about two girls dancing together that attracts guys like bees to honey. It's stupid and pretty weird. Stop it. Honestly.
• My younger brother doesn't want me in his room just because I didn't take him to the skatepark. He is so spoiled... (and it's totally my fault)
• That Legend of Korra finale. It was just epic. (SPOILER ALERT!!) For the first time in history we see a same-sex couple in a children's tv series. Don't try to fool yourself by arguing otherwise, Korrasami is an actual thing.
• So far I've gotten 2 amazing gifts from my friends and roommates A & K. K got me a red lightsaber (“Only at the end do you realize the power of the Dark Side”). A on the other hand got me a Chinese clay tea set. They are awesome. I know.
• I am an official Puerto Rico Comic Con Staff!! Although I know the chances are real slim, I am hoping to meet Jason Momoa at any point. Fingers crossed.
• I need to get on a plane soon. Please. Send some money my way with a letter signed by you saying that it was a donation for travelling purpose that way I can take it to court and show my dad that I don't waste money on travelling. I know it's not wasted money, but he doesn't thing the same. Patience and Wisdom.
• Went to the Social Security Administration to get stuff. I felt like such an adult. Didn't like it. 
• I started at the gym this month. May the gods bless the humans that assist to that place. They are flawless. Just the perfect motivation. 

     I'd like to think that so far I have been to two Christmas parties. Truth is the two parties I've been to had nothing to do with the Holidays. One was the "End of Semester" house party where we played Super Smash Bros, Cards Against Humanity, "Jenga" and __ pong (keeping it family friendly). M and I killed it in the pong. Good times. The second was a kind of charity event for a baby that has to undergo a heart surgery and needed help. It was a really good activity and venue. Had an amazing time. I can't say it has been a bad winter break. Sure, ups and downs, but it's been good.

     I don't think I will be writing before New Years. I will be spending some much needed quality time with my boyfriend and family. I feel so irresponsible with my blog. I am really sorry. It's not easy to keep a blog, specially when you have a lazy life and do nothing. What am I suppose to talk about when all I do is Netflix and sleep?!

(:

Deter

Dec. 29, 2011

My diary

February 12, 2007

?

I don't know what to tell you

...

I have so much school work this week, I just shouldn't be writing the blog.

     I feel like it will be a good week. How can it not be when Tuesday started with us watching Ip Man in our Chinese class? I watched this movie a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Add to that the fact that there was a table full of Puerto Rican traditional candy for sale at my Faculty's lobby. The fat person that resides inside me was so happy.

     After a little incident that happened this week I feel the need to make something clear: (if I write about you) don't take things so seriously. Since I was 15 I've always used writing as a way to let out  some steam and organise my thoughts. Originally I started this blog because of my experience as an Au Pair, but now that I am done with that, I just write of random life things and thoughts. It's like a supplementary writing to my actual diary. Raw things are usually written here. So once again, don't take it so seriously.

      Now... this week is Halloween!! Do I have a costume? No. Do I plan to go to a party? I may do something at my place (I will let you come if you bring drinks and chocolates). Do I plan to dress up? I always do. Best part about Halloween is the day-after-candy-sale at stores. My sweet-tooth goes crazy buying chocolates. Mmmm... peanut butter Snickers... *drools*

     Wednesday was an unexpected free and alone day. I had no class (or at least I didn't go to my morning class), so I stayed and took a day off to treat myself to Netflix and other streaming sites. I really love spending time with myself. It gives me an opportunity to both clear my head and think about life. I wish people could see more the beauty in silence, in being alone from time to time. We live such hectic lives nowadays. Slow down, take a deep breath, relax, think a bit, keep going.

     My weekend was not so fun. I think part of what made it that way is that I didn't have my partner in crime with me. K was out having fun in Universal Horror Nights while jobless and busy me was stuck in the apartment studying (such responsable person). Okay, I did study but I also went out. Let's start with Friday...

     I had to drive home to leave my car there. It has been heating up a lot lately and some other car related stuff needed to be done. Had to stop and wait for my mom at the hair salon. I decided to get a haircut since I was there. After, my mom decided to head to the mall and buy some sexy halloween costumes for her so we could go out on Saturday. Later, I was happy to find out that my boyfriend "by mistake" had bought and sent me the book Gone Girl. Finally back to my apartment. The rest of the night was... complicated. Drinks, music, people, kisses, arguments, conversations, messages, calls that never came. It all ended with a feeling of anger burning in my chest. 

     I remember hearing once that when women go out, they should only pay for the first drink. I've seen how many of them just stand there, flirting with guys who look like they could pay for a drink. The thing is that most time it is the guy they don't like who buys the drink. It angers me how they aren't polite enough to hold a five minute conversation with them. Yes, I know that a free drink does not mean you have to talk much less sleep with anyone, but as a good gesture just thank that person and at least ask for their names, even if you forget it the second after they tell you. It takes courage to buy someone a drink, and I consider it a big compliment. I feel that the least I can do is smile, give thanks and have some small talk. It doesn't kill you. It makes you look approachable and polite. "Good" men like women, not spoiled girls.

That's enough words. Now quick points!

• Dressed as Cruella Devile for Saturday's costume party. Taking advantage of my half blonde, half black hair. 
• My mom was a sexy nurse that same night.
• I've never dressed as sexy something. I guess I didn't get that from my mom.
• I have a hand-in test tomorrow that I will probably hand-in Wednesday.
• Marx... Lenin... Dos Santos... I will never finish this.
• I don't have a test on Wednesday. Yay! (I live by rule #32)
• Benedict Cumberbatch as The Sorcerer Supreme made my day.
• Do any of you want to pay me a trip to Seattle? I will be forever  grateful and will pay back with stuff.
• Can this week be over?
• Can this semester be over?
• Can I be New Years Eve already?
• Even if "NO" is the easiest answer, say "YES" please... 

Time to read. Sadness.

(:

Maybe we should project this out into the world...