the bad luck fairy

have you ever met someone with bad luck? i mean the real stuff, not the occasional oh-man-my-cell-phone-dropped-in-the-toilet kind of luck (6 months ago), but the kind of luck that produces superfragilisticexpialidocious stories? Hi, nice to meet you. i used to think i was exaggerating (who me?), but when i reflect on the events that have occurred in my relatively "short" lifetime, i have to conclude... this kind of crazy just doesn't happen to everyone!!

let's just start with one fabulous tale...

imagine... a beautiful summer day, my mother and i were shopping around baton rouge... we had been at it for hours, and i was exhausted. so, i stayed in the car. my mother gave me her infamous "i'll just be 5 minutes," which is actually mom code for 30 to an hour. however, i sat in the car in front of hobby lobby... i was in the fire lane but i wasn't parked, because i was waiting for my mother for "5 minutes"... then i saw a cop patrolling the parking lot, and i thought, "you know with my luck..." so i went and parked the car. as soon as i removed the key i heard a "vroo vrip" - that is a police siren, by the way - and realized that their was a patrol car stopped in front of the car and one behind the car. here i am, thinking.. oh god, this is because of the fire lane? i wasn't even parked... a policeman walks to my door, requests my identification, and asks me to step out of the car, he asks, "what were you doing about 30 minutes ago?"

me: well, i was over shopping on siegen with my mom...
officer: you're going to need to come with me
me: but.. what is this about? can i just tell my mom, she's in the store..?
officer: i don't think so, how about you get in the car..
me, crying as i get into the back of the patrol car: but.. i don't understand...
officer: you weren't at a bank about an hour ago?
me, realizing that this wasn't about the fire lane: no...i told you i...
officer: so why are you crying if you didn't do anything wrong?
me: because this doesn't just happen to people!!
officer: well you're just going to come with me for a bit...

at this point i'm wondering if this policeman was even legit, if i was actually being kidnapped, and wondering why i hadn't gotten my cell phone out of the car...

he gets on his radio and tells them he's picked me up and he is on his way to the bank... he drives me to the bank. when we get to the bank there are more officers and people standing around.

another officer opens my door and says to me, joyfully, "yup, that's her!"
me, crying hysterically, frantic: "no, sir!"
him, showing me a foreign passport: "this yours? you leave something behind when you tried to cash that fake check?"
me, now officially concerned and seeing my new criminal life flash before my eyes: "no, sir! that is not me!"

thankfully, the manager from the bank comes out and says, "oh no officer, that's not her, see this girl is wearing a light pink shirt, the other girl was wearing a darker pink" ...

REALLY? YOU CAN GET PICKED UP AND THROWN IN THE BACK OF A PATROL CAR BECAUSE YOU ARE WEARING A PINK SHIRT? officer #1 took me back to my car and all he says is "the girl had a ponytail like yours and was wearing a pink shirt. uh, sorry" YOU CAN GET PICKED UP AND THROWN IN THE BACK OF A PATROL CAR BECAUSE YOU ARE WEARING A PINK SHIRT AND HAVE YOUR HAIR IN A PONYTAIL?

at this point it has been more than 30 minutes, and i was imagining my mother in horror, shock, beside herself because i am not at the car... on the contrary, she was still in hobby lobby, oblivious that i had ever been gone... i found her in the flower aisle... and when i tell her, with tear-filled eyes, "momma, the police just picked me up," she LAUGHS... ever heard of the boy who cried wolf? apparently i need to stop joking around.

long story shorter, later that day my grandma found out and was so upset that she proceeded to call the police station and tell them how i'm an american citizen, and ask them how can they just pick someone up because they have a brown ponytail and are wearing a pick shirt? she then asked them how many other poor innocent girls wearing pink shirts were picked up.

moral of the story: grandma's are awesome, and don't mix pink shirts with brown ponytails, you may be mistaken for a criminal.

new era, same problem...

It still surprises me when I see how people treat one another with disrespect or hatred... I guess this is due to the fact that I simply was not brought up this way. In fact, there was a time that I was even obliviously unaware that "prejudice" existed.

As cliche as it might sound, I was never raised to see different "races" or "colors"... we are surrounded everyday with variations in hair colors and eye colors, but we don't take a second look because of it - we see that we are clearly different, but we don't draw barriers or define ourselves or others by these physical traits. Growing up, skin color fell along these same lines for me...

However, over the years I have learned that what I once believed to be an inherent trait, humanity, is just not so. That feeling that I have deep within to treat others as I would like to be treated (independent of ethnicity, skin color, religion, etc.) is apparently not a conscious thought that passes through everyone's mind. The motivation to treat everyone encountered with kindness appears to be overshadowed by self-centered actions and an outwardly display of indifference, at the very least.

Can we just relate through our similarities, learn from our diversity, and all be friends?

you don't know what you're missing

probably about #3 on my list of reasons why i miss brazil...

i would like you to meet acai, as nature intended it. please don't mistake this with that purple stuff that is supposed to be a super-miracle-food found in powders, pills, extracts, juices, and frozen fruit pulp at a health store near you... not the same. i don't know what they are trying to sell you, but trust me, that is not acai. this bowl of wonder is reason enough for you to hop on an 8+ hour flight down to brazil... and as an added bonus you can sit on the beaches of rio de janeiro while eating your acai, and samba the night away...

saudades.

things you would see if you looked at my recent bank statement

you can apparently learn a lot about someone just by looking at their receipts...

1. running shoes and not just any running shoes, trail running shoes. i don't see myself running on mountains anytime soon, but this is a direct result of my frugality (they were the least expensive). and the extra 1/4 inch of tread on the sole is greatly appreciated, considering my recent loss of balance in latin dance class... things have gotten progressively worse since we moved on from bolero and started salsa... i find myself unable to stop spinning and consequently hysterical in laughter as i throw off the dance sequence and run over my partners...

2. biostatistics and biochemistry textbooks yuck and yuck. not looking forward to the subjects themselves, but i am looking forward to starting graduate school, which begins in four weeks... two days after graduation.

3. peacock eggs yes, real, hatchable, peafowl eggs. why? because mother's day is around the corner, and this is what my mother has requested. please keep in mind, my parents live on a farm now.

4. shorts because it is HOT and our air conditioning was broken for weeks... thankfully, now fixed. i'm actually a little cold now considering my range of temperature tolerance is extremely limited on both ends of the scale. on the plus side, i can now drink my cardamom tea without sweating.

5. a microphone for my iPod, so i can record lectures. i figure the $3 investment will pay off sometime in the next 5 years of education i have left...

6. a spice rack which I scored for $2.99 at the thrift shop - you can't even buy ONE spice jar for less than a dollar online or in stores. i couldn't be happier, it has been the object of my affection for the last three days. which, for clarification, directly relates to the fact that we are moving in three weeks, so i am nesting... p.s. i washed everything thoroughly.

blog stalking

have you ever noticed the thin line between following someone's blog and being a stalker? i've found myself addictively checking people's blogs recently... some of the blogs are from people i've known well for years, which is not what i'm worried about. no, my concern is with the people i've met once or not at all, and for some reason i can't get enough of their posts... to the point that i read their old posts from a time when i had no idea they existed. yesterday, i stumbled upon this blog and her recent post "carry that weight" just broke my heart. i then proceeded to read the rest of her tabs in their entirety and skim through her old posts... what can i say? i'm curious! but in all seriousness, the other day i was reading an article about how technology has made it so easy to get people's information. simply by having your cell phone on you can be located if you're within a 100 mile radius of a cell phone tower. not to mention, every time you do something online, sign in to any account, use your credit card...etc! this author "went on the run" for a year and dared his readers to find him. apparently he was found like 9 times, and that was with him using pre-paid phones, paying in cash, etc... just something to think about!

in other news, one of my younger sisters and i are obsessed with winning the 2010 HGTV green home. why, you ask? because we didn't win the 2010 HGTV dream home. all our time sending positive energy out into the universe was not enough. it's ok though, my sis and i decided that the chances that we would win a dream home AND the $80 million dollar lottery were slim, so it was probably better that we saved our win for the lottery. however, since we have still not won the lottery, we're refocusing our energies on the green home. don't enter the sweepstakes, it's ours. unless of course you're planning on giving it to us when you win...

speaking of green, you should watch the video i posted...

this.is.amazing

procrastination makes the world go round

as the end of the semester nears i have several things i should be doing instead of this, but it just wouldn't be the end of the semester without my old friend, procrastination. yesterday, as i began procrastinating in my usual way by listing all the things i need to do (which is a tricky form of procrastination since you can almost lead yourself to believe that by making lists you are actually doing something productive), i subsequently moved on from my list of things-to-do-until-the-end-of-the-semester to a list of things-to-do-for-the-next-5-to-6-years-of-my-life... the hyperventilation which followed was to be expected, as i counted away the next half a decade of my life and felt my youth slipping away in front of my eyes... i did, eventually, manage to calm myself down, but only after duly noting the plethora of things i have yet to see, learn, and conquer. in no particular order and definitely not limited to ....

1. travel the world (i have done my fair share, but i would like to point out that i have over 85% of the the world left to see)

2. learn several more languages (reasons behind this yet to come)

3. bungy jump, skydive, paraglide, etc....

4. find the courage to bungy jump, skydive, paraglide, etc...

5. revisit my viola/violin (and hopefully get past my regression to the 6th grade playing level)

6. conquer the guitar

7. dapple with my long lost love, art

8. write a book

9. meet Oprah (even if you don't like her you can't deny her influence on our generation)

10. act in something...

11. learn to like cooked carrots

12. perfect my culinary skills

13. win the lottery

14. find a cure for the major ailments of the world

15. world peace

16. run a marathon in 20 countries

17. go on the 'amazing race' with my little sister

and so on....

as you can see i have a lot on my plate. i would also like to point out a few key things about me...

1. i'm very passionate about what i believe to be justice and equality, and i do not like confrontation because i have this inherent need to please everyone ... which should be noted is a horrible combination and apparently makes me passive aggressive...

2. i have emotional issues with punctuation and capitalization.

i feel that "."s should be carefully placed, otherwise they seem mean and cold. this should explain my reoccurring "...", what appear to be run-on sentences, or overly zealous punctuation (i.e. ??, ?!, !, !!!) also, i find capitalization of letters to be less friendly. this being said, i would like to point out that my mother is an excellent and highly competent english teacher, who i'm sure is flinching at the sight of my post... i would also like to point out that i will not take any true offense by your choice of punctuation or capitalization, and that i do capitalize and 'punctuate' when need be :)

3. i hopelessly believe in the good in people and always feel the need to show the other side of a situation or argument, even if it isn't necessarily my point of view... i just can't let it go... i have to make sure everyone sees the whole picture. i'm pretty sure it's a serious problem. and yes, i know it can be annoying... i promise i'm working on it.