The Holiday

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” Carl W. Buechner

The holiday was eventful, full of family, friends and introspection. I got off of work on the 23rd and headed down the Rio Grande Valley to visit my family. The night I got in, I had drinks with my friend Rick and my friend JR. When you don't see someone for a while, you hope that you will have better updates, but mine felt pretty stagnate. In either case, it feels good being around friends and talking about life. We hit up my favorite bar and caught up.

Christmas Eve, a night my family used to celebrate Christmas on, not much was happening around my house. It is interesting to see how Christmas evolves each year, but this is becoming the norm. Ana's Rick invited me over to his house and I went over to celebrate with them. We had some good food and good conversation. I was very happy to have been invited.

Christmas morning I spent with my parents, and my father and I worked on a random project of mine of zero-ing out my shoes so that they wouldn't have a thick heel. It's a long story, but consisted of cutting part of the sole off and then grinding it. It is great to see that my father is willing to entertain my wild ideas. There were no children to do the Santa thing with, but that was never really a thing for us. Santa was, but actual presents from Santa I don't remember. Everyone showed up for lunch, meaning my sisters, their significant others and my nieces Bekkah and Jamie. My brother Abram was absent, because he stayed in Austin for Christmas and he was missed. After eating Christmas ham, we started to open presents. My dad got a chainsaw he needed, my mom and sister Eliza digital picture frames. Ana and Abram got Andriod phones and the kids got money from me. Usually I make an effort to get them actual gifts, but this year I was sure they would enjoy the cash. I got some great gifts from my family and was very thankful. Here is my mother and her all grand kids in front of the Christmas tree.

My niece Bekkah had found an apron that her and Jamie made with their mother, my sister Vero, when they were little. It said "Mom's Helpers" and had their hand prints and pictures they drew. She wore it and it really made me feel like Vero was part of the event. Bekkah thinks about her all the time and I'm sure she knows we do too.
Here are the photos from Christmas.

Christmas night, after all the family celebrating was done, I went over to my friend Cristina's place and had a few drinks with her and some of her friends. After, I headed downtown for a drink. This was my first time downtown on my own, but it just felt like the thing to do on Christmas night. I hadn't been there for a year. I went from bar to bar, keeping to myself, having a drink and moving on. It was very cold and I was dismayed to see that there were so many clubs now. I guess the demand for lounges is overtaken by dance clubs. I had some friends I thought I might meet up with, but things don't always work out that way. Nevertheless, it was an interesting night and just what I needed.

Sunday, the 26th, was my father's birthday. As per tradition, my family goes out to eat at Red Lobster to celebrate both our birthdays. (Mine being the 27th) After, I headed to Austin for the rest of my vacation.

As much as the actual theme behind Christmas doesn't mean much to me, what it represents as a tradition means a lot to me. There usually isn't a time during the year when you can truly value family and celebrate being together like you can on Christmas. It is a great part of the year even though it sometimes does come with unrealistic expectations and the eventual letdown. It does feel good to get people you care about presents and spend time with everyone. It is my favorite part of the year and always goes by too fast.

One of the lowlights of the trip was that my older sister's apartment was broken into on the 23rd at night. This was exactly one year after it was broken into last year, talk about bad luck. Luckily, the presents weren't there this year and no one was home or hurt. They still took a lot and nothing feels worse than strangers invading your space. This didn't dampen her spirits at all, which shows her resilience. I hate that she lives in a place where break-ins like this are more common, but all you can do is lock your doors and be careful.

This Christmas also made me think about a friend of mine. On December 13th it was my friend Maria's, from college, birthday who passed earlier this year after her battle with cancer. I think she would have turned 31. I could talk to Maria for hours and miss our conversations together. We have so many memories we shared and we used to love to talk not only about them, but about how life was going. So what really got me on her birthday was that I didn't know what to do exactly. I thought of her of course, but I felt like I should be doing something special. I thought about calling mutual friends maybe, but I just didn't know what to say. Maybe it is still affecting me in stages. I know she knows that I was thinking about her. I wish I knew a better way to honor her memory and to deal with the feeling of loss. I also think about what her family is still going through and it pains me. I look forward to seeing my college friends again and being able to talk about it, for some reason, talking about things make me feel better.

What is going on in your mind isn't always reflected on how you want to feel at a certain moment, but it is real. So are the spectrum of emotions we go through daily. I'm glad I had another great Christmas break.

was not your joy

My Cousin Laurie's Wedding

"The middle years of marriage are the most crucial. In the early years, spouses want each other and in late years, they need each other." - Rebecca Tilly

This Saturday was my cousin Laurie's wedding in Dallas, TX. She is one of the youngest of the cousins on my mom's side and her marriage only leaves 4 unmarried cousins out of 14 left. I don't know why that is a relevant fact, but I mention it anyway. Laurie grew up in Dallas and has always reminded me of a Dallas girl because of her accent. People used to say that her and my brother used to look like siblings when they were little. She has a great insta-smile that shows her happy disposition. I had a great time. Here is Laurie and her husband Vic.
But before I get into it, real quick, the answer to the question in my last entry is no. I'm not the type of person that owns a juicer. I just didn't have it in me to juice daily. I finally decided that powdered wheatgrass would have to do and I returned the juicer. The machine was great, you could put it together easily, but with the time of actual cutting of the grass, plus juicing, plus clean up (which is fast, but not fast enough), it was just too much of a ritual. Then throw on top of all that trying to grow the stuff and keeping track and watering, it was just too much. I guess that is how I learn my lessons, by trial and error. This also shows how lazy I can be. My brother made a good point when he said, "you think that making a sandwich is too much trouble."

Ok, back to Laurie's wedding. Abram and I drove up to Ft. Worth on Friday after work and made it just in time for the rehearsal dinner. We got to see a lot of family that we hadn't seen for quite some time. A lot of Tias/Tios and cousins. I stayed the night at my Tia Mati's house which is by my standards, huge. It was very kind of them to host us. I was feeling sick, so I crashed out early.


Saturday, I slept in a bit, had some family time and got to see my cousin Adam and his wife Kirby. They are expecting and I'm very happy for them. We made it to the wedding and it was a very nice church. My mom got to read a passage from the Bible during the ceremony and my sister Ana helped out too. The priest almost forgot to do the "you may kiss the bride" part, but caught it just in time. Laurie looked great and her two sisters, Melba and Monica (my cousins) were bridesmaids. It was a nice wedding.


Then for the party. We headed to the reception where I got to visit with more family. The hall was impressive with an elevator you could see out of and a high ceiling. The little kids had a blast going up and down. They had an open bar which made me very happy, but since I was under the weather and driving, I didn't get to take as much advantage as you might imagine. Here is photo of my family.


During the wedding, I got some more great news. My cousin Rino, who is getting married next year, asked my brother and me to be groomsmen in his wedding. We happily accepted and I was honored. I'm looking forward to that.


The night ended around 10pm and we headed to my Tia Mati's house were we hung out and had a few drinks. I felt like a wet blanket because I called it a night at midnight due to the beer not fixing the sickness. Everyone else stayed up and had fun.


Sunday, we had a get together at my Tia's house and then Abram and I headed back to Austin. The trip seemed longer on the way down for some reason. It was a good experience and I was glad to be invited.

hawaii

Am I the type of person that owns a juicer?

“It is well for the heart to be naive and for the mind not to be.” - Anatole France

I feel like I have a mind that doesn't stop. It is always thinking, analyzing, planning and this surprisingly can lead to less action than just doing. This past month though, things have quieted down, I don't feel any real stress and have been able to focus more on big picture thoughts and plans. I like to use times like this to pick up new hobbies and start focusing on things I have been neglecting. So I'm running each day despite how cold it is, getting back to my guitar lessons, training my dog and trying to eat a little bit better. I have other hobbies I'd like to focus on more again as well, like golf, dancing and rock climbing, but I find if I try too much at once, it is easier to get discouraged.

Over a year ago, my friend Oscar told me about wheatgrass and how nutritional he thought it was. I had heard other people talk about how good it was, like Christina, but it just wasn't something I was that interested in at the time. While I was reading Born to Run, wheatgrass was mentioned again when talking about ultra marathoners, so I decided to buy it in powder form to try it out. I took it in the morning before work the first time and I found that I had a lot more energy than I normally have. This alone makes it worth the trouble because I don't drink coffee and I always feel sluggish until about 11am and have always wanted a pick me up. Being happy with the powder, I decided that it was time to move up to the real thing. I wasn't ready to start growing it yet, but I wanted to try the actual grass, so I purchased a plat of wheatgrass from a local produce company and ordered a juicer. I tend to really involve myself in my projects.


This picture is what the juicer I ordered should have kind of looked like, but the wrong one came in. It was a cheap plastic one that just seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I tried it out and made my first wheatgrass shot. It wasn't as bad as I imagined, but it did not have the nectar of gods type taste one would hope. Maybe it helped that as a kid I used to gnaw on grass every now and then. It took a long time though and I decided to order a real, better electric juicer to see if that works. It is a work in progress. Here is a picture of the wheatgrass I'm working on.
Now I will admit that after reading up about wheatgrass on the internet, it sounds like people really overstate its benefits. The good thing is that it isn't bad for me and any placebo effect is always welcomed with anything I try. It has helped knock one coke off my usual routine which is a big deal for me. Ok, well I'm done with this for now, I'm sure I'll have an update later, or I'll just forget about all this and never mention it again. It is not magic, but it is better than what I was I eating before.


In other news, I took my cat Koki to the vet last Friday. I feel like I have had a lot of vet stories recently, and I know it isn't real exciting, but I'm not used to taking pets to the vet. I've had Koki for most of my adult life and anyone that knows her knows that I take good care of her. It started when Koki was sneezing, so I figured it would be a good time to take her in and get a follow up on the tests they ran on her last time. The sneezing wasn't a big deal like I suspected and was only a cold, something she has never had and now all my cats have. The bad news from her tests was that Koki might be having liver failure and her urine shows that she is dehydrated and is still not getting enough water. I have 3 water stations set up and 2 extra full water bowls and I have never seen Koki take a sip. That worries me. I was told to monitor her and take her back in if there were any problems. I have started adding water to her "prescription" wet cat food in hopes that she will get some water, but that isn't a real solution. How can an animal dehydrate itself to death? I'm going to try not to worry too much, but it is hard not to. She seems fine to me, so other than the new steps I'm taking, I'm just going to treat her like she is fine for the time being. She hasn't peed on my sheets in some time which is a great news, but I did catch her peeing on dirty laundry the other day. I read that that means that she is stressed. She has always hated her litter though no matter how many different types I try.


Speaking of pets, I've been working a lot with my dog Chloe on getting her trained. I'm watching a video course on how best to do it. She is so hyper that it is a challenge, but it also means that without training, she won't be able to have as much freedom as I want for her. Our runs each day she enjoys, but she clearly wants a lot more. I worry that I'm doing some things wrong and being that they are counterproductive, its not helping the dog, but I am trying the best I can. She is a really good dog.

You know, if you read all that, thanks, cause I am not one that enjoys reading about other people's pets, and I know they are like dreams and kids, "only interesting to the person that had them."

I read this article the other day on factors that contribute to a successful marriage. I find this topic so interesting even though I'm not even sure where I stand on the topic and it has no relation to my current life. So here is what I learned:

Among the factors that contribute to marriage success: making $50,000 or more annually--as opposed to under $25,000. Those who do experience a 30 percent drop in the risk of divorce. People with college degrees enjoy another 25 percent decrease. Coming from an intact home decreases the risk by 14 percent. Other factors that affect marital success for the better: waiting to have kids until after tying the knot, and having a religious affiliation of some kind.

Looks like I'm in good shape, except for that religious affiliation part. Now if you avoid marriage, you avoid divorce completely. Then again, Divorce And Health: Splits Make Men Fitter, Women Fatter. That sucks for women, but I always view divorces as women wanting to get out of an unhappy situation, so I don't really get the getting fatter part.


I also recently came across this blog which had me laughing most of the day. I mention it today because of all the pet talk. It is called Cat Versus Human Here are some of my favorite examples of the types of comics it has.

My cats sometimes sleep on my bed, but I don't like it when the person I'm dating has animals that sleep in the bed. Double standard, maybe.


Maddie loves laying on top of laptops and Koki likes getting in front of the computer. That and books I am reading. This was hard during law school when I didn't need much distraction.

This reminds me of Chloe, my puppy. Such a great site I tell you. I can't help it, they are so good, here is my last one.

I lock my cats out sometimes and I know what this is like.
(all comics are linked directly from the site and are of course not my property.)

A wintertime visit