Things I Learned in Orlando

1. Room service is golden, especially for breakfast. Waking up to bacon might be the best thing in the world, second only to cracking the spine in a new book.
2. Mickey Mouse is everywhere. He's the friggin' Pope of Orlando.
3. Don't call Mickey Mouse the Pope. People in Orlando will frown at you (and I suspect that's the same everywhere).
4. If you have to fall sleep, you should try to avoid doing so during a standardized exam. Not only may it affect your scores, but your snoring will piss off the other test-takers.

Song of the Week

It's Been So Long...

In the year that I haven't posted here, this is what has happened:

In June, I had a kidney stone. It was extraordinarily painful and took eight days to pass. I know, I know, TMI...but damn, it hurt. But that was nothing compared to what happened next.

On July 17th 2011, I was in a major car accident. The other vehicle ran a red light and was speeding. It T-boned the car I was in on my side. The car had to be cut apart to get me out. I fractured my foot and sustained head injuries. I am still receiving treatment for these injuries...which sucks.
The car accident has affected my daily life in pretty negative ways. For the longest time after, I could't function the way used to. I would want to lower the volume of the television and instead turn off the lights, for instance, and then stand there for a moment not understanding why the volume wasn't lowered. I misspelled everything, my speech was slurred, my cognitive skills went to shit...it was horrible. A lot of that is much better now thanks to time, therapy, and more time. I'm confident I'll continue improving.

In August, my cousin was born three months early. He weighed one pound, two ounces; he is still in natal ICU at the hospital.

In September...well, September was insane. So insane, I think I'll skip over it.

Actually, I think I'm going to pull a new moon and leave most of the winter months blank. Shit was cray.

In January, Panic! the parakeet died.

In February, Nana the parakeet died. Then my dog Poco died, which left me absolutely devastated. He was my best friend and to not have him here...

I didn't have long to mourn; three days later, a transformer in the neighbourhood blew, wires popped off, the surge traveled to my house, and it fried my wiring, the panel, my electronics, and the house nearly caught fire. Thankfully the only thing that burned was the television in one of the bedrooms; it actually stayed on the whole time it was on fire which, in retrospect, is hilarious.

Two days later my cat had to be rushed to the vet ER for an infection.

And here we are now. March 19th, 2012. So far, March has been fine. I have some exciting things in the works, including some college applications (keep your fingers crossed, eh?). I'm also still writing Mary, Full of Grace. It took me a long (long) time to revisit that story and an even longer time to get my writing mojo back. But it doesn't matter how long the journey took...

I'm back. Bring out the hookers and blow.

Mofongo

SOTW: Home

BBQ Ribs and Cotija Mashed Potatoes

SOTW: Mountain Man

Presents From Unicorns, Elusive and Otherwise

All from my lovely EU, Regina aka MaleficentKnits

Handspun from Christy aka Criosa. Because I had a serious lack of orange yarn in my stash.

SOTW: Power

Power (live) by Kanye West

Holidays & Happenstance

First and foremost, the latest chapter of MFoG is in the hands of my betafishie right now. Just in case anyone was wondering.

~*~

Since I have bee abnormally quiet these past few months, here's a nice little holiday recap. Our tree is pretty much on its last leg. Although it's only five years old, numerous tumbles, snags, leans, and punches have secured its place in the great big faux fir heap in the sky...or local recycling center. I hear they look the same.

Here's our tree, sans lights. I wish I could say the latter was due to a choice on my part but only half of the lights turn on anymore. Like I said, faux fir heap, here it comes.

On Christmas Eve I cooked the usual fare, except for the Arroz con Gandules (rice with pigeon peas) which my grandmother is in charge of every year. There's a reason for that:

Yes, it was as tasty as it looks. Actually, the whole dinner was delicious. I made my famous pernil and I had to beat people away from the oven with a stick. This time I left it in the oven for damn near seven hours. The result was a melt in your mouth garlic mecca.

Go big or go home, I say. My only complaint about the meal is that I didn't make enough pasteles (and I neglected to take a photograph of the goodness). No matter how many I make, it never seems like enough. My deep, dark secret is that I have a pair hidden in the back of freezer just waiting for a day where I need a pick-me-up. Here's what my plate looked like:

Out of all the presents given and got, my favourite was the shawl I crocheted for my grandmother.

I also gave myself a skein of wollmeise. Perhaps it's unorthodox to give yourself a present but I know what I wanted, I knew no one would get it for me, so I bit the bullet. At about $35 a skein, this is not a indulgence I plan to realize often...but my oh my, isn't it pretty?

The next day we headed over to my aunt's house where her husband whipped up the largest pot of sancocho I have seen...and I took advantage. Carbaholics Anyonymous be damned!

If you've never had sancocho, it is a seven meat and vegetable soup. I don't think our version had seven meats in it but I counted at least four, which is more than I usually add into mine.

Overall, the holidays were okay. They were as difficult as I expected them to be; between all the food and presents and laughter, there was an underlying melancholy I couldn't shake. It didn't feel like the holidays without papi. In two weeks I will have my first birthday without him; I expect the sadness will keep in step with me even as I struggle to move on.

But as long as we keep moving, right?

Happy New Year.

♥ Jess