An Assessment of My 2009 Resolutions

The end of the year is quickly approaching and I thought it would be a good idea to go over the resolutions I set for myself at the beginning of 2009.

The following is the list of my resolutions. I stroke through the ones that have been accomplished or are in the making. I have also added comments to some of them.

1. Apply to & get a scholarship - Never applied
2. Handle my finances (responsibly)- This has actually been a very irresponsible year when it comes to finances. However, I am finally starting to plan my financial moves and save my money. 
3. Travel to a new place (hopefully out of this country) It was going to happen and got canceled last minute. :(

4. Get my driver's license (finally!) I still wanna get this done before the end of the year.

5.Get my personal training license and start my own business I had no money to invest in this.

6. Get in top-notch shape (go to the gym at least 3 times a week) Still working on it

7.Read at least 50 books for pleasure, not school Hahaha Not in my wildest dreams. I wish I had the time.

8.Give time to my sister

9.Decorate my new room (Paris themed) I changed my mind about Paris, but I decorated my room.

10. Make my relationship official (2/12/09 :) ) One of this year's milestones 

11.Learn to play video games (start with Guitar Hero) I can't believe it, but I actually did this. I even mastered Guitar Hero...at least on Easy Mode. Hehehe

12.Run a 5K or 10K marathon Again, another one I wish I had done.

13. Volunteer

14. Start a diary/blog (apparently I already have)

15. Visit NYC and Canada Got canceled :(

16.Get an amazing 25th anniversary present for Mom and Dad (8/8/09)Well, I helped prepare a big party for them; but I didn't have money for the gift.

17.Get a pet turtle

18.Buy a professional camera and start developing my own pictures No money, my friends

19.Learn to use PhotoShop, professionally

20.Get A's in all my classes So far, so good

21. Hydrate my skin and hair, drink lots of water and take my vitamins

22.Learn to ride a bike

23.Go to the beach, and get a tan Here's another thing I thought I'd never do.

24.Learn how to walk in high heels I didn't really LEARN, but I can walk with them.

25.Return to my belly dancing classes

26. Grow my hair down to my waistline Still growing and getting close

27.Get a car It has to be fixed, though

28. Celebrate my birthday in a unique way I got engaged and had a Hawaiian party with my friends. I think that is very unique.

29. Go to Disney World and Halloween Horror Nights I didn't go to either, but I went to Epcot. 

30. Pierce my ears (again)

31. Go on a spiritual retreat

32. Learn to play a sport

33. Learn a new language (Italian) I learned Portuguese instead

34. Get more than 7 hours of sleep, weekly (j/k!!! every night, of course)

35. Get my pictures taken at a studio
36. Go to a museum or art gallery
37. Try food from another country
38. Cook more
39. Go to the opera/theatre
40. Always have flowers in my room
41. Go dancing and have a movie night at least once a month
42. Celebrate my month-aversaries and finish the scrapbook
43. Go to Vizcaya at Night
44. Go to a concert
45. Start wearing what I have in my wardrobe and stop buying clothes and shoes I'm never going to wear.


24 out of 45, not so bad LOL

When you lose it all...

What is there to give when everything is lost? What is there to find when there's nothing at all? When everything is lost we have no ties to hold us down. The future, the past...they are both gone. Only the present lies in wait for us to write it and with the soles of our shoes blaze the trail we will walk on. When you lose it all, you have to wonder, if the only thing that's left to lose is hope. When you lose it all you gain the freedom to start again on a blank slate. When you lose it all, I'm starting to believe, you win the world.

The busy life of a bee

I have been seriously thinking about the chances that in my previous life, if there is such a thing as reincarnation, I might have been a bee. Of course, not a queen bee, but a worker. Actually, a really hard worker.
It was because of all my hard work that I was promoted to my current position, or should I say positions? I am a full time college student, daughter, sister, grand-daughter, niece, girlfriend, friend and a part-time writer and accountant. Not content with all the labors I must have performed in my past life, God decided to assign more responsibilities to me. Sometimes I think that He finds it comical to see me juggle so many things at the same time.
However, I have been thinking that facts such as being "booked" for weeks on end, and handling more than I ever thought would be possible, are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. All those burdens are but menial tasks, and God must have assigned them to me because He thought and knew that I would be capable of handling them, and, why not, enrich the lives of others and grow a little bit more in the process.
After all, no one is born a superhuman and we all have to confront our fair share of trouble. At least I am not another number suffering from starvation and AIDS in the African plains. I am not a child enduring the mission of searching for my next meal in the perils of South American dumpsters. I am not an orphan or a victim of genocide or discrimination, and for that I am grateful.
I have so many blessings that cannot be counted. I have been given the gift of carrying my own loads and of alleviating the backs of those whose burdens have been too heavy to carry on their own. I have been given the blessing of the working bee that sees her honey production grow and her honeycomb prosper. It is a sweet honey that shall be enjoyed by everyone and will sweeten the life of the bee who shared it.

A treasure

There is a hunger that not even the most abundant of feasts will satiate; a thirst that no beverage shall quench. It is the most precious of treasures. Thousands of maps point at its scattered pieces. Those who don't seek it live ignorant lives. Those whose greed for it grows out of proportion are driven to madness by its pursuit. How not to become mad, when a thousand maps point nowhere, but to themselves?
Men can never accumulate too much of it. They cannot buy its exclusivity. They cannot own it, only borrow it, and be stewards to it, like a gardener is to a frail flower that will surrender to the sands of time.
Some do not understand it, while, in the meditative words of Sir Francis Bacon, only a few grasp the essence of its divine power.
No division is necessary to share it, nor does the person who offer it lose it. Those who gain it might never use it. Some might boast about it or let the cobwebs build a barricade around it. Even then, while its containers erode, degrade and disappear, its essence remains pure, untouched and everlasting.

A tribute to writers

A writer is not just a person who has been gifted with the talent of words. A writer is a web of experiences, a conundrum of emotions that, somehow, find a way to touch an impatient piece of paper and turn it into love. A writer does not know what love is, but creates it.
A writer has the power to build and to annihilate by joining a couple of words, and sometimes by using none. In the ordinary a writer finds inspiration. Where a gardener sees a flower, a writer sees the lips of a woman. Where a sculptor sees his finished masterpiece, a writer sees the beauty of the rock yet to be carved. And where everybody sees the approaching storm, a writer sees a rain of hope.

The All-consuming

Source of light, source of heat, source of power and misery in reality and myth. I can feel you burn so close to me, like Prometheus, friend of man, must have once felt the beak of that cruel eagle which tortured his liver day after day.

I feel you, like the caveman, discovering for the first time that necessary comfort to call his cave a home. I can see you rise, making shadows on a moonless night with a backdrop of forests and animals, overlooking tribal dances and worship. I can see you destroy dreams, castles, cities.

You have the power to burn ideas, to bring civilizations to their rise and demise, to erase history…to make it. You warm families and forge the weapons which will later destroy them.

Fire, all-purifying one, without you we would be nothing, but are we really anything?

A poem to my Sis, with all my heart :)

She’s a very unique woman
As special as could be
She’s strong and independent
She’s responsible, yet free

She’s wise beyond her years
She’s patient, also kind
She’s understanding and caring
Always keeps an open mind

She’s always the best of listeners
And will give you good advice
If you only stop and listen

Her love will transform your life

Her smile has the endless power
To light up the darkest room
And know in the darkest hours
She will be there for you, too

Her sense of humor is priceless
Her innocence like a kid’s
She’s intelligent and humble
Never loses faith in me

She’s my sister, she’s my best friend
She is my partner in crime
Don’t you dare mess with "The Jenny"
'cause you’ll have to deal with “moi”

My New Year's Resolutions

Everyone writes down these ones at some point of their lives. Sometimes, tired of failing, our resolution becomes to never make another resolution again; but that is OK, because out of my 65 item list from last year I accomplished more than 1/3. So this year the list shrunk considerably....NOT!!!! Well, this is it.

1. Apply to & get a scholarship
2. Handle my finances (responsibly)
3. Travel to a new place (hopefully out of this country)

4. Get my driver's license (finally!)

5.Get my personal training license and start my own business

6. Get in top-notch shape (go to the gym at least 3 times a week)

7.Read at least 50 books for pleasure, not school

8.Give time to my sister

9.Decorate my new room (Paris themed)

10. Make my relationship official (2/12/09 :) )

11.Learn to play video games (start with Guitar Hero)

12.Run a 5K or 10K marathon

13. Volunteer

14. Start a diary/blog (apparently I already have)

15. Visit NYC and Canada

16.Get an amazing 25th anniversary present for Mom and Dad (8/8/09)

17.Get a pet turtle

18.Buy a professional camera and start developing my own pictures

19.Learn to use PhotoShop, professionally

20.Get A's in all my classes

21. Hydrate my skin and hair, drink lots of water and take my vitamins

22.Learn to ride a bike

23.Go to the beach, and get a tan

24.Learn how to walk in high heels

25.Return to my belly dancing classes

26. Grow my hair down to my waistline

27.Get a car

28. Celebrate my birthday in a unique way

29. Go to Disney World and Halloween Horror Nights

30. Pierce my ears (again)

31. Go on a spiritual retreat

32. Learn to play a sport

33. Learn a new language (Italian)

34. Get more than 7 hours of sleep, weekly (j/k!!! every night, of course)

35. Get my pictures taken at a studio
36. Go to a museum or art gallery
37. Try food from another country
38. Cook more
39. Go to the opera/theatre
40. Always have flowers in my room
41. Go dancing and have a movie night at least once a month
42. Celebrate my month-aversaries and finish the scrapbook
43. Go to Vizcaya at Night
44. Go to a concert
45. Start wearing what I have in my wardrobe and stop buying clothes and shoes I'm never going to wear.

So, what are yours?

2008: My Review

As this chapter of my life closes, I look back at it and review it as the great film it was.
It had everything you could ask for: romance, drama, comedy, terror, mystery, adult content, science fiction (why not?) and plenty of technical difficulties.
Starring: my family, boyfriend, old and new friends, those who walked out of my life but not out of my heart, and of course, simply because I want to feel important: ME. After all, not often does the spectator get to participate in the movie.
In only one year I had a spectacular job, started university, made the best of friends, and finally grew some derrière.
I had a psycho teacher who liked watching vultures eat the Thanksgiving leftovers, an English professor I called Weed-Land, and a teacher who couldn’t pronounce “Darwin” correctly.
I developed an addiction for Starbucks hot chocolate and stopped freaking out about my waist size (although I have my regressions every once in a while).
I realized I want to become an editor, and climbed a tree (even though one thing doesn't have anything to do with the other).
I donated blood while dancing, or did I dance while I donated blood? I don't think anyone could tell the difference.
This was a year of firsts. I got a 4.0 in my first college semester, searched for a Torch-of-Knowledge that looked like a coconut, went to a football game, swam in a pool while wearing boxers and had the coolest lab class.
For the first time in my life I stopped going to class completely, and still got an A.
I learned how to play Taboo, saw a friend run naked around Brickell Key, and got my first sunflowers.
This year I turned into an environmentalist and bought more peace sign jewelry that I can wear.
This was the year when my cousin, who was the apple of my eye, passed away.
This was the year when Heath Ledger and more than 5000 dollars also passed away, and I honestly do not know where those 5000 went.
This year I fell in love with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, had my first anniversary, and fell out of love and back in love again.
This year I played pool and scored three stripes.
This year I realized that the probability of getting a D on a math test that you didn’t study for after spinning the cube is…well (I still can’t calculate it) very high. I also learned that if you try hard and you have Saleh as your professor you can still get an A on the class regardless of that D.
This year someone very special took me to the place with the best ice cream: Via Venetto.
I learned that the best way to pull an all-nighter at the FIU library is having your best friends by your side.
I also learned that Wendy’s is really cheap, and I regret not having learned that earlier (maybe I would still have those 5000 dollars).
I learned that having plenty of money in your PantherID card can save your friends’ butts.
I learned that sometimes it’s OK to leave your comfort zone and order something other than turkey sandwich at Subways.
I learned that ignoring your problems doesn’t make them go away, and saying you are sorry and crying because you truly are don’t mend a heart.
I learned to go by my book and not anybody else’s, and stopped doing what I wanted to start doing what needed to be done.
I told everyone, just for the record, that I don’t have a penis.
I nicknamed myself Dr. I Blow, and it stuck (no pun intended).
I acquired a new baby iPod.
I learned that everything happens for a reason and nothing is a coincidence.
I got a reason to remember the 5th of November.
I studied the interesting life of a herpatic chancroid.
My laptop broke and I finally bought my dream Sony VAIO laptop (which also broke and miraculously came back to life on its own).
I fell even more in love with Coldplay’s music.
I turned 5 (leap year!).
My friends and I made a video to solve the FIU parking problem.
I walked barefoot across the UP Campus.
I was 30 minutes late to lab.
I cried myself to sleep.
I laughed so hard I cried.
I had the best private driver in the world.
I had my first journalistic assignment.
I took a nap on the floor of GC.
I baptized Nerd-o-Land, Crappola and Whistle with their names.
I dressed up as an angel on Halloween and danced on FIU’s lawn.
I blamed everything on Polly Phillips and Sarah Palin.
I supported Barack Obama’s election and tackled Javi to get his vote (which got me a broken toenail)
I took more pictures than I can put up on Facebook. Yeah, I also got addicted to Facebook and posting notes as a way of expressing my feelings.
One month I had to pay $16 dollars for text messaging charges, and for the first time went over my minute limit by 27 minutes (still waiting for that bill).
And then there was this bear...
I stayed up crying on the phone until 5 in the morning.
This was also the year of the longest silences over the phone... because no words were needed.
This year I realized how little I know myself and how much I have left to grow.
This year I learned that procrastination is detrimental (hahaha I learn that every year, just that the lesson never sticks).
I learned that sometimes you just have to trust people—especially yourself—and stop questioning their motives.
I learned that I must be beautiful, because apparently that’s what a ton of biased people who love me want me to believe.
This year I became someone’s Miss Independent.
This year a star saved my life.

To all of you, my friends, those who are gone and those who still remain, I want to send my deepest gratitude for making 2008 memorable. This was a film I needed lots of popcorn and handkerchiefs to get through, but I’ve made it. We’ve made it together. A toast to that! But please, make it a shot of tequila (at least for me).