a lenten reflection

last year i gave up red meat for lent. it was a minor sacrifice. other years i have given up cookies, sweets, etc. they've mostly been food items, now that i think about it. they always feel like small inconveniences during the lenten period.

it's my understanding that these sacrifices (or small inconveniences) are supposed to make a person reflect on what it means to do without. i think that the act of giving something up is also meant to serve as a kind of atonement for sins that we feel we have committed (ways that we have behaved badly over the past year).

i have to confess that many years, lent has served as a kind of "diet" rather than a time for true spiritual reflection.

this year, i'm not giving anything up (except, of course, for requisite meat-free fridays). instead i'm going to try to attend extra masses and other kinds of spiritually reflective exercises. i hope that it serves less as a diet and more as a way to slow down and reflect on my life direction and ways that i can attempt to be a better human being.

a ver como me va.

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cinco cosas

la rebelde tagged me with this one. it was hard to think of things that people don't already know about me. i'm kind of an open book. this public blog probably indicates the openness of my life's book.

but! here goes (by the way, i'm writing this instead of an article that i should be working on):

1. i've had one black eye in my life. it was sometime during my early years of elementary school. my cousin vicky was a tomboy; she loved to be outside, climbing trees, running around. i was more of the stay-inside, nerdy, bookish type. she wanted to go out and play, and i wanted to stay inside and read my book. she tried to take my book away, i held on, a struggle ensued, and i came out with a black eye.

2. from second through sixth grade i was a serious competitor in the local catholic schools annual spelling bee. i won first place in second and third grade. in fourth and fifth, i came in second to bernadette r., who attended a rival school. in sixth grade, we were--again--the last two standing at the spelling bee. and i beat her. she missed the word "craftsmen."

3. my favorite kind of sandwich growing up was banana and mayonnaise. it was my mom's invention. i think that she had it once when she was growing up, and thought that i might like it. and i did! i haven't tried it in years, but it still sounds appealing to me.

4. my secret dream is to become a mariachi singer. but i don't know the words to many of the rancheras that i love. so this dream would take some work. and shouldn't dreams, by nature, not entail work?

5. my latest favorite TV show is everwood. it has been following the gilmore girls in syndication on abc family. almost every episode makes me cry. but i'm kind of a crybaby, so maybe that's not too surprising.

kind of random, but there you have it.

i tag joseph! let's see if he can come up with five things i don't know about him. ;)

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accidental paparazzo

accidental paparazzo
Originally uploaded by lamusa.

yesterday i decided to break away from the IE and meet up with a couple of girlfriends in LA. they took me to check out the shops and such around silver lake. it seemed kind of like a hipster part of town with lots of funky shops and restaurants. it reminded me a lot of austin actually.

we were perusing the silver lake cheese shop, and i was looking for subjects for my project 365 endeavor. i took a pic of cheese and a random sign before i decided to snap a picture of these cute little girls keeping company with their dogs.

a few minutes later, k. and v. came out of the cheese shop, and we started to make our way to the next store when, all of sudden, dr. alex korev of grey's anatomy fame crossed in front of us! he was taller and skinnier than he is on television, but it was definitely korev.

i blinked a few times as he called these two little girls--his daughters!--to go with him to the next shop. i was still clutching my camera in one hand, and he turned and looked at me (i was trying, probably unsuccessfully, not to stare). i could have sworn that he saw my camera and hurried his daughters into the next store.

i didn't mean to be a paparazzo, i promise!

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silent poetry reading

olga's most recent post reminded me that today is the second annual brigid in cyberspace poetry reading.

i chose the following poem by Teresa Acosta because i relate to the poem's protagonist. those of you who know me know that i love to dance, and, though my tacones are not always the most comfortable, a good baile is always worth it.

"Tacones"

Epiphemia mentions that
her tacones are worn sheer through
the core.
She rubs her palms against them, feeling
their rough edges,
their protruding nails.

Pero no hay porque temer.
Epiphemia will still make it to the baile. She has
a lot more pairs del Payless in her closet.

She thinks instead
about the new Little Joe CD
and the weekend debut
of his nuevo hits.
Her tacones will mark their beat on the dance floor,
doing neither the flamenco
nor the folklorico.

Instead
she'll pound the tacuachito across its length and width
this Saturday night.
For her tacones are primed to grip the floor.
They will slide and ride the fine thread that strings
los meros meros together.

Field to field.

-Teresa Palomo Acosta

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january come and gone

the first month of the year has flown by. i like that these pictures tell me where i've been and what i have been doing all month.

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