Things I did for the very first-time over the long weekend (starting Wednesday):

1. Ate a bacon-wrapped hot dog (made by my brother, I have yet to go the street vendor route)
2. Played a drinking game with playing cards
3. Played over the line, a version of softball, at a local park with my brothers and some of their friends
4. Watched a bubble show
5. Played Pictionary (the actual board game)
6. Wore a clown wig
7. Attended a pro football game, but I have yet to tailgate
8. Visited Balboa Park
9. Tripped and fell in a restaurant (my knee is still tender)
10. Shared a hot fudge sundae with DB

After we broke up and we’d still talk occasionally, my ex would begin conversations with my least favorite question, “so, what’s new?”

If I was in a bad mood, I’d respond, “I hate that question.” It was too general. Besides, he could just read my blog and find out.

But the truth is, I write less and less these days about “what’s new” in my life. Maybe I’ll change that, maybe I won’t. For now, here’s an update.

1. I’m quite happy these days.

2. Aside from the longer/hotter days and outdoor concerts, I don’t really feel like it’s summer. I’m working the same schedule as I did during the school year. And since I don’t take classes normally, the summer doesn’t bring much different.

3. I’m applying for a dissertation proposal writing boot camp. The six-week workshop begins in August. By the end of it I shold have a draft of my dissertation proposal. I reallyneed/want to get in this program. I need the discipline and structure so I can be done with school before I’m 30. That’s the plan.

4. I cut my hair on a whim last Wednesday. It’s shorter than I’ve ever had it. I told Ana, my stylist, that I was cutting it in mourning for the Lakers’ loss. We laughed. A Latina getting highlights next to me looked at me with wide eyes as Ana snipped away and my hair fell to the floor. It was one of those “damn girl, you have ovaries” looks.

5. My parents’ home in Hacienda Heights look like a tornado went through it. Our entire living room and kitchen has been stripped of tile and insulation. All that stands is the wood frame and wiring. It’s kind of hard to imagine it becoming the kitchen of my mom’s dreams.

6. I’ve already done a lot of my typical summer activities in the first official week of summer, but sadly I won’t be taking a trip to Guanajuato. Funds are low.

7. Last week at the LA Latino blogger meeting, P3000 asked (again) when I’d be writing Ojitos-like stories about the ex and filling in the rest of the story. I alluded to the relationship a few weeks ago. Each time, I always say something along the line of “no, I don’t want to go there” or “uh no, that’d make me look bad.” Well, not bad just human. But still, I part of me wants to tell the story. Maybe I’ll write those posts and keep them as unpublished drafts.

8. My back was bugging me last week so I went to a Chinese massage parlor in Hacienda Heights. It was my first time paying for a massage since I usually just bug my brothers for a massage, they’re pretty good. The place charged $15 for an hour massage (not including tip). I’d definitely do it again.

9. I’ve been listening to a lot of N*E*R*D’s latest album Seeing Sounds these days. I can’t get “Happy” or “You know what” out of my head. The whole album feels perfect for summer.

10. I recently read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Drown by Junot Diaz. I was so into Oscar Wao that I ditched my cousin’s birthday luau to hide upstairs and read. If you’ve never read anything by Diaz, I’d suggest listening to him read from two of the short stories in Drown on This American Life.

1. I’m rarely on time.
2. I was tested and admitted to GATE (Gifted and Talended Education) in 5th grade. I think that’s when my life changed. Tracking worked for me.
3. I don’t drink coffee.
4. I prefer my hair short rather than long
5. I was separated from my mother at birth (briefly).
6. I rarely drink soda.
7. My sister says I overuse my iPod. I don’t think that’s possible.
8. I eat Altoids Tangerine Sours like candy
9. I did better on the math portion of the SAT and GRE than the verbal portion.
10. I’ve been reading Cien Años de Soledad for more than three years off and on.
11. My favorite types of apples are Golden Delicious #4120.
12. I have a complex about being too pale.
13. I have great vision but have wanted to wear glasses since I was a kid.
14. I blame 6 years of marching band for my bad hearing.
15. I’ve seen Café Tacuba live 10 times.
16. I’ve met the band twice.
17. I took AP Statistics in high school and loved it. Graduate school killed my love for statistics.
18. My favorite type of pens are Gelly Rolls. I was obsessed about owning all of them, but grew out of it.
19. I don’t like taking the bus, but I don’t mind saving money (or reading on my commute to campus).
20. I finished paying off my car in September. I thought that was cool
21. I still sleep in a twin bed (my room is kinda small).
22. My favorite book is In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.
23. My dad is my guitar hero.
24. My brother thinks I should start playing Guitar Hero songs on the hard level because I’ve mastered medium level.
25. I prefer Facebook over MySpace.

Continue reading →

Reasons why my 27th birthday was so enjoyable:

• See above. Rio surprised me with a birthday activity sheet. I printed it out and shared it with family at a small family BBQ on Friday night. They got a kick out of the trivia corner, but were a little lost when I mentioned the ghost of Corky Gonzales.
• Oso had his own little birthday greeting, with a photo of me doing a cara de fuchi.
• My sister, Lori, and her boyfriend gave me the coolest shades ever. There will be more goofy photos of me in sunglasses.
• Lori and I tried to beat the heat (triple digits!) by washing my car. Never underestimate the power of playing with the water hose on a hot summer day.
• Despite the heat, the family BBQ and night out at the Little Temple was a lot of fun. Thanks to DJ Anthony Valadez for spinning some excellent music and putting my family and friends on the guest list. There were several times when I wanted to sit down and take a break from dancing, but then was compelled to keep going because the music was that good.
• Partying with new friends and old friends alike. Lots of smiles.
• I got to see (well, more like hear since I couldn’t see the stage) Los Lobos on Thursday evening. I kicked myself when I saw them doing a post-concert signing and realized I didn’t bring a single CD. Damn.
• I got messages of folks singing/texting Las Mañanitas. Too bad I insisted on sleeping in.

Now… if only it would cool off a little.

Five things I’m looking forward to:

Los Lobos at the Santa Monica pier. It’s been a couple years since I’ve seen Los Lobos. I don’t think I’ll come away feeling as nostalgic as I did last time, but I intend to enjoy it. Oh yeah, it’s free.

My birthday. I don’t usually look forward to my birthday, in fact I kinda dread it, but it’s different this year. I’ll have a small family BBQ and then go out dancing at one of my favorite clubs/lounges. The DJ is a friend, so I know he’ll play good stuff and not the crappy dance music you hear in other clubs.

The Dodgers having a winning September and making a run for the playoffs, actually getting in to the playoffs; baseball playoffs in general; UCLA football and tailgating for the first time ever at the Rose Bowl.

The start of the fall quarter. Weird, I know. Still, the sooner fall quarter starts and ends, the faster I make real progress toward getting the hell out of grad school. I’ll also get to know the incoming class of students in the program I help run and welcome back the sophomores.

Café Tacuba’s new album, Sino, which will be released on October 9th. To listen to the first single, “Volver a Comenzar,” check out this e-card (have your speakers on). Yes, that’s the same song I posted a while ago on YouTube from a Mexico City concert. The official website hasn’t been updated, and the splash page points to their MySpace page. My friend Hector sent me a link to Este Encanto where you can download the single. A new album means new tour, possibly in December. Hopefully when los Tacubos play LA again, I won’t be able to predict the setlist.

I think I’ve done this one before, but Rio tagged me so I’ll do it again.

Rules of the game:
a) give eight random facts, chisme or confessions and post to your blog
b) tag eight other people at the end of your piece (I’m ignoring this one)
c) that’s it.

The Cheese

1. I’ve only been to one Dodger game this season. I didn’t stay for the whole game because it was way too hot and I had to get to a wedding. My friend Gabby would probably say this makes me a bad fan.

2. I’m still in grad school even though I threaten to leave all the time. I’m done with my coursework and need to take my qualifiying (quals) exam in the fall. I’m scared about that. It’s not my ability I’m worried about, it’s my own motivation to sit for a three-day weekend and write three 10-page papers. Yikes. I even had a nightmare about quals earlier this summer.

3. Some of my best friends are named Victor. I’ve never met a guy named Victor who I didn’t instantly get along with. The thing that sucks is that my four favorite Victors no longer live in LA. Two recently moved to Texas and the other two are in the Bay Area.

4. I just got a new nickname. Flower. As in Flower the skunk from Bambi. I think I like it.

5. If there’s a fire in my apartment or in the building, I can be pretty certain I’ll get out safely. As I’ve been interrupted three times in the past 10 minutes by the smoke alarm. It keeps going off because my roommate burned bread in the oven. Oops. Oh well, at least we know the batteries in the smoke alarms are still good.

6. I used to have a very low tolerance for alcohol. My friends made up a rule: Cindylu gets two. Luckily, I’ve built up my tolerance over the years but I still have to limit how much I drink because I usually need to drive home.

7. As I walked in to Kerckhoff, the student government building, this afternoon I noticed that the photos of the student government officers and members of governing board for the student union and student media had been changed. The old members are now gone and in their place, just the names. Soon enough, the names will be accompanied with photos of all the students. It made me sad that I’m no longer up on that wall. I liked seeing my photo on that wall with the title External Vice President. I miss the travel and being in on all the University of California chisme. I even miss the conference calls and day-long meetings. I miss my stipend too.

8. My favorite song to play on Guitar Hero II is “Let’s Talk More Rokk” by freezepop. However, as of yesterday “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses might creep to first place ’cause playing it allows me to do the cool Axl Rose dance.

I know, I know… that wasn’t all too juicy. I save the real chisme for the one-on-one communication.

It’s Easter Week and as Catholics we’re supposed to go to Confession. I didn’t go, but here are some innocuous infractions. Committed recently or in second grade.

1. I donated blood for the first time in a few years on Monday. My motivation? I wanted a cookie. Now I have a bruise where the needled was.
2. I carry around a brush in my bookbag, but don’t bother to use it. I still believe combing my hair is a waste of time. Friday was the first time all week that I combed my hair.
3. I’d rather have short hair, but el novio likes it long. To be fair, I like his hair long too.
4. I’ve seen my roommate about 3 or 4 times in the last month. It seems that when she’s in town, I’m away and when I’m in town she’s in Costa Rica or Mexico.
5. In second grade, I ditched a reading lesson with Mr. Cantu, the third grade teacher because I didn’t want the 3rd graders to make fun of me. I didn’t know how to use a dictionary or write cursive.
6. I want to have a party just so I can play Ozomatli’s new album Don’t Mess With the Dragon.
7. Since Lent began, I’ve had three dreams about eating tortillas. What should I eat to break my 40-day tortilla fast?
8. I’ve got over 5,000 songs on my iPod, but most of the time I use it, I’m listening to podcasts. My favorites are This American Life, Latin Roll, and PRI’s The World GeoQuiz.
9. I was really looking forward to enjoying the nice spring weather in Chicago next week, but it seems like it’ll be a cold April. Meh.
10. I read for several hours at the Coffee Bean in Westwood last night after missing the screening of Volver on campus. Too many of the songs the baristas were playing were also on my iPod. Maybe my music taste is kinda trendy and mainstream. Oh no.

One
I’ve gone two weeks without tortillas, tortilla chips and tostadas. The most difficult days were the first few when I was at receptions where they had quesadillas, tortilla chips, and tortillas to make tacos with fajitas and carnitas. Both of those receptions were on days where you’re required to abstain from meat too, so it was even more difficult because I couldn’t just have chicken fajitas or carnitas with arroz y frijoles. I think I miss tortilla chips more than tortillas.

Two
I’ve conducted four interviews for my study on Latino science students. I need several more students, but just thinking about having to transcribe their interviews makes me lazy about doing some more recruitment.

Three
I went to Houston a month ago. I miss it. Rather, I miss my cousins and taking shots of tequila with my tía Nellie and tío Jesus. There’s just something really nice about being with people who you feel completely at home with yet rarely see.

Four
My mom is already back at work and has already bought our tickets to Cancun for our family trip. Woo hoo.

Five
I spent a lot of time late last night reading up on Turnbull Canyon for my contribution to blogging.la’s list of Top 25 LA Legends (here’s the post). Can I just say it’s not a good idea to read creepy stuff right before going to bed?

Six
I had a dream a few weeks ago. In the dream I was shamelessly flirting with Marcos, one of my parents’ ahijados (godson) and long time friend. At one point Marcos made a move and I freaked ’cause I couldn’t kiss him since that would be cheating. The dream was weird on a few levels and I told my friend about it. She told me not to worry since being a flirt was simply a part of my personality. I heard the same comments later. I think that bugs me.

Seven
I’ll be going to Chicago and DC in April. Who wants to hang out? If the Chicago bloggers made time for HP, I hope they make time for me.

Eight
I think it sucks that the LA Times cut La Cucaracha from the comics page. It’s definitely one of my favorite comics. They also cut another one of my favorites, Candorville. Lalo Alcaraz, the author/artists behind La Cucaracha, was rightfully pissed and his plea for help was on LA blogs on Monday. By Tuesday afternoon, the LA Times had responded by bringing La Cucaracha back to the funnies. Woo hoo. (more)

Nine
I have two presentations next week, two papers due the week after, at least three interviews to finish transcribing and lots more to do. I don’t want to do any of it. I’m tired of school.

One. I woke up late. Okay, we all know I’m not good at waking up on time, but I woke up late and missed a work meeting at 11:30. You know what’s worse? I thought the meeting was at 1 pm.

Two. I stubbed my toe. Twice! First time was getting in to the shower. Not quite awake, I kicked the shower door sliding thingie. Later, I opened up the closet door and hit my foot. At least I didn’t throw up on el novio (thanks for reminding me, Joel).

Three. I was offered another job. Okay, that sounds like a good thing, but in my case it’s a bit problematic. I already have a half time job on campus. Grad students are only allowed to work 50% because the other time we should be taking classes and doing research. Not a bad policy. My current job is great, but it lacks one important thing: fee remission. Academic apprenticeship positions (teaching assistants and graduate student research assistants) get their fees and health insurance covered and still get an hourly or monthly wage. In order to take the job, I have to pull some strings. I guess my advisor was right, I do get everything I ask for.

Four. As I drove home from work, I switched between the Dodgers/Mets game and NPR’s All Things Considered. Neither radio broadcast made me smile. Arnold Schwarzenegger made another statement on assimilation today that reaffirms why I don’t like him.

“And that is very difficult for some people to do especially, I think, for Mexicans because they are so close to their country here so they try to stay Mexican but try to be in America so there’s this kind of back and forth and what I’m saying to the Mexicans is you’ve got to go and immerse yourself and assimilate into the American culture become part of the American fabric. That is how Americans will embrace you. That was my, I think, the secret, if there is one, to success.”

Some other bloggers and politicians already responded with the same thing I would have written (Political Muscle, San Jose Mercury article).

Five. The Dodgers lost against the Mets. They’re now 0-2 in a best of 5 series. I have a ticket (yeah, just one) for game 4. I really hope I get to use it.

I’m going to write something real and substantial soon. I promise.

• Yesterday, as I waited in the group C line for my Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to LA, I realized something astounding. I won’t have to travel anywhere in October, well for business. Exciting.
• I miss Oso and literally keep missing him. I think my travel has something to do with it. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get that bananas tshirt.
• As much as I travel, I keep being reminded that the place I love most is home. After 6 years of living in the same apartment, I still feel odd calling it home. Home is the 3-bedroom house where I grew up in Hacienda Heights.
• You know what makes home even better? VR/Papas, our dog. I love hearing his collar jingle as he rushes to the door to greet me.
• I’ve dragged my feet on really figuring out some important things… like what I’m going to with my life. I thought I’d be able to do that during the summer, but classes start in three weeks and I’m still lost. The good thing is that I’m being less of a weenie about facing some of these tough issues.
• One of those substantial topics I’m going to write about will be the strip club half a mile away from my house. I don’t like it or the fact that the strip mall it’s located in is now called “Showgirls Plaza.”
• I’m also going to write about rafting in the Kern River with my cousins and our brush with death. Well, not really, but it was scary, risky and dumb. I haven’t had that much fun in a while.
• I dressed up like a pirate last weekend for my roommate’s second theme party Surrender the Booty (the first theme party was Black & Gold). I love dressing up in costumes and am a little stuck on this year’s Halloween costume. Any ideas?
• LA has been pretty hot lately, but nothing abnormal for late August or early September. However, San Francisco is the opposite. Folks on the streets were wearing coats and scarves I don’t get out until December (if at all). I love San Francisco, but I don’t like the cold. I like sun.
• I found out about the National Latino Congreso rather late and didn’t end register or attend. Does this mean my Chicana activist card gets revoked?

That’s it for now.