My trip to Mexico was great. There’s tons to tell. But I’m exhausted. But I promise that either tomorrow or Friday I’ll write long and well about it.
Kisses!
Somebody save me from myself
November 19, 2007 at 1:31 pm (Life)
Another night of insomnia. And I know exactly why: a) Still-present physical exhaustion from last week (yes, I know it’s odd, I’m tired but I can’t sleep), b) emotional exhaustion due to phone conversations with a couple of people this weekend, and c) today’s events.
For now, we shall focus on item c, because it’s at the forefront of my mind.
Today I had what could’ve been -if I hadn’t ruined it at the end- another wonderful Sunday afternoon. I had lunch with a friend, she helped me pick a nice gift for my grandpa in Mexico, and then I read for a couple of hours in a Barnes and Noble before going to mass.
Now, I have been working extra to make some money for this week, when I’m going to Mexico City for the Thanksgiving holiday. So, when it came time to buy the book I’d been reading at B&N I decided against it, thinking I could save the money and spend it in something more fun in MX. I did give myself a “veto” option and decided that if after mass I was still thinking about it, I’d go get it.
So, I went to church and in prayer I started reflecting on how weird it is that I sometimes feel lonely but then again love staying at home and how I feel that part of the reason I haven’t met a new guy is because I don’t go out much. I knew it’s part of social pressure, but I still wondered. Anyways, at the end of mass they had this announcement about a dinner for young people who wanted to make new friends. I was planning on coming home to walk Basil and just chill, but the stuff I had been reflecting upon came at me like a brick when I saw everyone gathered at the meeting point outside. I thought “I stayed at home last night. I am never going to meet anyone new -much less a man- if I never do anything like this dinner”. Plus (I have to be honest) there were a couple cute guys in the group, so I thought, “why not?” I struck up a conversation with two girls and we headed to the restaurant.
It was a buffet, and by the time I realized I really didn’t want to be there (the reasons were absurd and it was expensive) someone had paid for part of my ticket (they were trying to be helpful because in order to stall I was pretending to find my wallet, so they thought they were helping me by paying for me). Embarrassed, I paid the person back, checked my coat and went in. I had a nice chat with the girls I had befriended, but as I stared at the expensive food I was about to eat I realized two things: one, all my tummy love would go to crap because the meal was sure to give me an IBS flare and two, what I really wanted was to be home with my dog, alone. This, plus the realization that I was doing something out of panic and that in the end I had spent more money than the book would’ve cost, made me very angry with myself.
I wolfed down my meal and came home as fast as I could. After I walked poor Basil -whom I’d left alone all afternoon- I started to stress as I realized I hadn’t gotten some stuff done for school tomorrow.
Now it’s midnight, I’m not sleeping and I’m exhausted. Yet right now my IBS puffiness, school stress and generalized anger at myself for tonight’s stupidity are not letting me sleep. I’m anxious about school and angry at myself for spending money stupidly, trying to make friends when in reality all I wanted was to come home and when I already have a perfectly wonderful group of people in my life. I know I’ll be in a horrible mood tomorrow and my kids don’t deserve that. I also know I can’t call in sick because as it is I’m not going to work on Tuesday, so it would look horrible if I miss tomorrow too.
I hate that I’m so strict on myself that one minute I don’t let myself get one silly book, then an hour later I’m an idiot who spends money as if I was made of it. All because I listened to my insecurities. I hate, mostly, letting it all get to me like this, so that in the end I’m not even able to sleep.
Like I said, somebody please save me from myself.
Go choose a book
November 16, 2007 at 7:19 am (Book Club)
Kids, in case you haven’t put the Warriors site on your blogroll, I’ve updated it with the list of books that have been suggested. So go choose!
More phone fun
November 16, 2007 at 2:16 am (Dogs, Friends, Random)
NOTE: I’m an idiot, apparently (or just reeeally absent minded). Since I manage this site and the book club site, I posted this by accident there. Sorries. This is where it belongs. Me, I’m copying your comment so it doesn’t get lost.
I share the following, as it had me laughing for quite a while after it happened.
The background: One of my best friends from high school also lives in the US, so we talk on the phone a lot more than we email. Two of the many things we have in common are living with stomach problems and owning terrier dogs. Hers is named Athos, like one of the musketeers.
This was how our conversation tonight ended:
Claude: OK, babe, I have to go cook dinner. It’s been good talking to you.
Me: Allright. I’ll send you those IBS websites, ok?
Claude: Please do so, and I’ll… Damn it Athos! Stop humping your fucking bed!… I’ll send you the book I mentioned. Kisses! Bye!
I love her.
It’s done!
November 15, 2007 at 6:57 am (Book Club)
I’ve just created the Book Club blog. Warriors of Amazon is official.
Book clubbers, if you haven’t emailed me your Gmail address, do so please, so I can add you as authors. 
Some of you have been thanking me for doing this. Makes me blush, but there’s no need. I’m a total geek, so having an excuse to read and talk about it is all I need to get going.
The pleasure of surprise
November 15, 2007 at 3:34 am (Family)
Reading Arjewtino’s post today has inspired me to share a fun story about surprising someone who thought you couldn’t understand them.
It’s not my own story, it’s my dad’s. But it’s still fun.
A couple of years ago my dad and I went to the movies and had behind us two people who talked and talked. My dad had to ask them to shut up. When we left the theater, my dad told me how he found it odd that the talkers always came to that theater and he always had to shut them up. Then he told me his favorite story:
(Background info: My dad is Mexican, super Mexican. He does not live in Mexico, but in another Spanish-speaking country, so his Mexican accent gives away his nationality).
He was sitting in the theater and there were about 4 Mexican teenage boys sitting behind him, talking away during the movie. He turned and politely asked them to be quiet. He did not say much, so his accent wasn’t obvious. The kids shut up. For about one minute. Then one of them started to talk again, but this time in a heavy Mexican slang, saying something along the lines of “who does this old dude think he is, refereeing the movies. I’ll talk all I want to talk” etc.
My dad, then, turned around again and very calmly, and in his deepest Mexican accent, using even more slang than the kid, told him that “this old dude has paid for the movie and would like some silence from a kid like you”.
I know, a lot of the fun is lost in the translation here. But you get the point. The kids did not say another word the entire rest of the movie.
Bureaucracy + Customer Service = Madness over the phone
November 14, 2007 at 9:58 am (Random)
Ring, ring….
Female voice: Thank you for calling Fancy Publishing Company. Your call is important to us, bla, bla, bla. Please press 2 if you need assistance with online textbook material
—-2— Nice elevator music plays… After about a minute:
Male voice: This is Stan
Me: Hello, this is [my name]. I teach at Awesome High School in NYC and we use one of your textbooks. I can’t access the online site because nobody sent me the instructor pass code I need to access it.
Stan: Sure. What is your name?
Me: [my name]. It’s spelled with an I.
Stan: All right. That was an E, right?
Me: No. An I.
Stan: I apologize. Let me get someone to help you
—pause—
Stan: Hello. Let me transfer you to our sales rep.
— call gets cut off. I redial.
Female voice: Thank you for calling Fancy Publishing Company, etc…
After about five minutes:
Female voice: This is Annie
Me: Hello, this is [my name]. I just called and got cut off. I teach at Awesome High School in NYC and we use one of your textbooks. I can’t access the online site because nobody sent me the instructor pass code I need to access it.
Annie: Sure. What is your name?
Me: [my name]. It’s spelled with an I.
Annie: I’m sorry, what was that again?
Me: XXXXIXX
Annie: Allright. Let me get someone to help you
Female voice: Hi. Annie says you need a pass code?
Me: Yes.
Female voice: Sure. What is your name?
Me: [my name]. It’s spelled with an I.
Female Voice: OK. Let me spell that to you again: X-X-X-X-E-X-X, right?
Me: No. An I.
Female Voice: I apologize. Where do you teach?
Me: Awesome High School
Female Voice: All right. Please hold
—pause—
Female Voice: I’m going to transfer you to Susan, our sales rep for your area
Susan: Hi. I understand you need a pass code?
Me: Yes. Nobody gave it to me at the beginning of the year.
Susan: Sure. No problem. What is your name?
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Book Club update v. II
November 13, 2007 at 10:12 am (Book Club)
Yes! We’ve finally come to a decision. Based on sheer democracy, it seems “Warriors of Amazon” has won. The margin is small, but it’s a winner.
With that, unless the people who didn’t vote for the name are so opposed that they wouldn’t join the club if we use it (hey, there are some passionate people out there), I’ll be creating the blog tomorrow. I’m going to pick a basic template, so we can all feel comfortable, and we’ll change it if the feeling is we want something different.
So, kids who are in the club, (Me, San, Gewels, Jen, Sitcomgirl, and Jarod) email me at the address listed on the right, and tell me your emails (they have to be Google accounts) so I can add you to the list of blog authors.
Finally, we need someone to volunteer to start us off with a book. Any takers?
Bellies, babies and miracles..
November 12, 2007 at 10:37 am (Friends, Life)
I may not be anywhere close to having babies, but many important people in my life are. Some by design, others by mere miracle. Either way, I am thrilled to be witness to it.
Exhibit one: My friend the MBA, who got married last June and whose wedding I attended as the unofficial maid of honor. We met in grad school, when I was doing my humble MA and she was doing her MBA. We became friends by accident and grew to be very close (I didn’t really know how much, until she told me that she needed me to be by her side one week before the wedding to be “something like a maid of honor”, because I was the one who could help her feel sane through it all). She married a very sweet man and four months ago, they announced they are pregnant. Today, she sent the first “belly” pictures and I could only stare at the screen. There are no words for me to tell the joy I felt at seeing her so happy, holding her belly. She and her husband are amazing people and I feel blessed and honored to be included in their joy.
Exhibit two: My favorite cousin in Mexico -we’ll call her the Archaeologist. About four years ago, she was diagnosed with cancer. At the absurd age of 21. After two surgeries and treatments, she wound up with only 1/4 of one ovary that the doctor left in there to prevent her from going into early menopause. She knew that the chance for the cancer to come back was there if she kept the ovary, but she agreed with the doctor. She was told the chances to get pregnant were pretty much null, but that she had to be on the pill anyways because it was a good way to prevent the cancer from coming back. Of course, my darling Archaeologist, being the free spirit that she is, after a year on the pill and with the cancer in remission, decided to not take the birth control pills and let her body just be. After all, she was not going to get pregnant anyways. Or so she thought. In April, when I went down to visit, I was greeted with the surprise that she was pregnant against all odds. She was told to be careful, she might have unforeseen risks because of her health history. But nothing happened, and on Thursday, Nov. 8, with only the tiny complication of it being two weeks early, she gave birth to a beautiful baby daughter.
My cousin, my favorite cousin, who survived being premature herself; who had to wear those funky metal attachments on her legs to make sure she could walk properly as a child; who survived cancer and was told she would never have kids, is now a mother. I am walking on air.
Time to pick a Book Club name!
November 8, 2007 at 9:26 pm (Book Club)
Allrighty kids,
We are officially starting our Book Club and you have two days to vote.
The following names have been suggested:
- Warriors of Amazon (for amazon.com)
- The Best Book Club Ever in The History of The Universe
- We are Women, Hear Us Read
- Reading Babes
- Bitchin’ Book Babes
- Guttenberg’s Children (this one is mine and I acknowledge that I’m a nerd by thinking it, but where would we be without his inventing the movable type and printing press?)
All these (except no. 2) work only if we are girls and I’m still waiting to hear if Jarod takes up Gewel’s invitation to join us.
At any rate, please comment back with your vote for what name you like best. If there’s a tie, we can have a run-off.
I’ll start us off by providing the first comment-vote.
