This is not a late reaction

More and more kids are now qualifying for free/reduced lunch! (Gasp!) It doesn't surprise me when unemployment rates are up and considering this 'financial crisis' we are STILL going through today, more and more families are relying on government assistance and food pantries. Which, by the way, are running thin on food and supplies for these families. I think that things have got to the point where we are all wondering when things will let up. Now with our new President-elect, things will still take it's time to get better but we are sure as hell close to it as we ever have been before.

I heard this great news story on NPR one morning while still lying in bed and trying to shake my sleep off. It was a story of different reactions across the world 2 days after Obama was elected. Parents & kids in Africa were singing and praising Obama's new victory. People in Paris were relieved that he was logical, straightforward, and an 'everyday American'. People all across our nation high five each other, hugged each other, cried, and had to pinch themselves the next morning to make sure this was really all happening. The same reaction was happening all across the world, not just in my circle of friends and social circle! We all felt the same way!

My reaction to Obama's victory was simple. I was shocked. I was shocked that by 10pm we all knew we had hope. By that time I received text messages from my mother saying she was so happy she was crying, I knew it was real! My sister text me and asked if I was doing okay and how I felt now. i told her relieved. My best friend called and said in the most excited voice, "HE WON! HE WONNN!" We were all so relieved and happy! I felt like we, as a nation, stood up all together and said "Fuck this shit. Get Obama in the office". I was overwhelmed. The next morning I made sure to read the AP, NPR, and BBC (those are 3 news sources I completely trust) on Wednesday morning to be sure it was still true. I didn't want some crazy ass outcome that changed as we slept on Tuesday night that now pointed to the fact that McCain won. I was thankful it wasn't the case on Wednesday morning. We were safe.

Thankfully again, I was relieved. People at work couldn't help but smile at me. Workers across town were in a good mood. People were walking with an extra bounce in there step.

What I am trying to get at we are strong. We are all smart and very strong. We just don't know how much we can change things together and how much of an impact we can make on anything & everything!

That night I watched tv and realized Obama was our next president, I asked the bartender to turn it to CNN (the tv's were set on the Spurs game and FoxNews). He questioned why I wanted to see another channel and I got into the fact that I just don't trust every station who calls the election so I needed to confirm it on another channel. He asked me if I voted and I told him yes. He began ridiculing me for voting because my "vote doesn't matter either way! it all depends on electoral votes!". He said I wasted my time and that I was basically stupid. I am stupid for standing up, being responsible in getting myself registered to vote, and using my given right to vote for free & speak up and be counted for something I believe it. I am stupid because I was utilizing the tools given to me, by this nation, to practice democracy and have a visible count of what I think is right for this country. I had a voice. His voice only made sound amongest ringing half emptied beer glasses, loud tv's, and the clank of someone breaking the pool balls in the bar. His voice didn't matter and didn't count. At least, not to me.

I asked him if he voted. He said no. I asked the guy next to me, who was laughing at his jokes and the remarks he made at me, if he voted. He too said no. I asked them why not and they still both had the same stupid remark of "Its stupid, it's a waste of time." blah blah blah. I asked if they were felons. They both stayed quiet. I told both of them that I was not sorry for them. They made their choice to make a bad decision and they did it on their own. They decided that at that time, of whatever crime they decided to do, they felt that was the right decision to make and they followed through with it. It goes the same for my mentality of voting. I too decided that at the time of the election, I deemed it important enough for me to make a decision on my own, and followed through with it. I made a decision that thankfully, was heard by those electoral votes that mattered (despite living in Texas and the electoral votes would automatically be given to McCain), and as one vote in millions and millions, my county favored Obama in a Republican (ridden) state. Travis County, Bexar County, and a few others counties in Texas stood out for it's overwhelming support for Obama and we were heard! The state capital of TEXAS (where unfortunately Bush came from) voted for Obama by a landslide!
Regardless, my decision made a better outcome than those 2 idiots at the bar. Seriously, what do they know and why should I care what they think.

So as a bet I told the bartender there would probably be only 1, if at that, person in that whole bar of 40 people, had voted that day. I asked him to ask the bar for anyone who shows me their "I Voted" sticker regardless of who they voted for, I would buy them a drink or a shot of their choice. The bartender was surprised I did that for I am not notorious for buying shots much less for anyone in the bar. He smiled, made the announcement, and guess what the outcome was?

Only one man came up to me and showed me his "I voted" sticker. He smiled, shook my hand, an we took a shot called "Braveheart". He voted for McCain and I tol him regardless, I was happy he voted. He explained he had not voted in 20+years but he felt it was important to him that he be heard. He felt strong against Obama and he needed to have a voice for McCain. We both respected each other for our choices and most importantly for the initative that we took to be heard. All other 38 people in the bar, they were all Mexican or black. None of them could prove they voted for me. Granted that perhaps they did some early voting but judging by the many men who came up to me and 'pretended' they voted and lied and said their stickers were at home or this and that, none of them could tell me what prescint they went to to vote". They stumbled on their words and had no quick response to where their nearest precinct was.

I am happy. I feel relieved. I am looking forward to what kind of work will be done and how much more ethical things will be done with our government. It was due time for Obama to be elected. Everyone is just so tired of the stupid games and shit that came down on us these past 8 yrs.

Hope is powerful and hope is here.

"you're the kind of girl i don't pay attention to""

Sometimes I just don't get why people do the things that they do like carry a 12gauge shotgun while you are on a school property whilst drunk and forget that perhaps you are done with school because you're now 68 years old. Yikes. What the hell was he thinking?

I was also thrilled to learn that perhaps herbal medicine is always the best cure for whatever symptom you are dealing with at the time. Echinacea works the best for me when it comes to colds.

Things to do soon:
- change lightswitch face plates
- make a mix CD for Bob w/insert
- find some pictures to put up in office for name plate that will be displayed outside of my office
- respond to emails
- figure out Xmas list and what I will do/make/purchase for my family/friends
- hike at the green belt
- buy some wheat flour
- get some more cool drinking glasses
- stop making lists
p.s. dia de los muertos, and my sister's birthday, was fun. i had never been to Mi Tierra in SA but I did enjoy it. I hated the beans but the rice was good. :o) I just wish they had more vegetarian plates.

I will be better at maintaining this blog

it has been awhile since I have posted anything. My apologies.

I have moved into a new place now and I am still trying to settle in still! I have been here for about a little more than a week.

Work is going great and my running is still in full swing. I mostly work out on my own and not so much with my team anymore. I feel really guilty about it but on the days I don't work out with the team I am usually working out with my friend. She has a big problem getting out on her own and has no motivation to so when she does phone me I know she really needs my support. I have been keeping a consistent schedule (not so much after moving in) in my running and am more conscious of what I am eating.

I am on a mission to start cooking alot more for myself & trying to bake as well. I want to make the transition to being a little more vegetarian but it is definitely hard. I like chicken too much. However, I did make my first veggie & cheese pizza from scratch last night! I have pictures to show! :)!

ACL Music Festival came and gone and boy did I have a good time. I saw Beck, Foo Fighters (this was their last show for awhile--they are going on hiatus), Man Man, The Kills, Spiritualized, the Fratellis, the Racontours, Mars Volta, Manu Chao, Mates of State, tegan and sara, Black Joe Lewis, Conor Oberst, Erkyah Badu, Jenny Lewis, and others. I had a great time and cannot wait until next year. Here are some ACL vids that a friend--Adken, whom tagged along with me at the festival, took & put together. Check it out. They are all pretty cool ! My favorite has to be some of the Racontour videos.
Here are some of my pictures from ACL:

Mates of State:

Vampire Weekend:

Jack White of the Racontours:

More catching up later...

raising politics and how you can apply it at your breakroom in your office!

Today I ended up speaking to my mom for a little over an hour. I called her because well, I missed her and rainy days always make me think of the times she would open all of the windows in the house and let the cool breeze come in and hit our feet as we walked through to the kitchen.

In this conversation I realize I have grown. Yeah, a little late in making this realization but trust me, it really hit me today.

She tells me how my dad and herself have taken enormous pride in raising my sister and I. What provoked this comment?! I had to ask. She said she is reading Avery Johnson's new book, a biography I believe, and she wanted to mention how he teaches his kids to be respectful of others and yourself & how people can perceive so much in the way a child acts or behaves in public. She tells me that whenever she would pick my sister and I up from relatives, day cares, summer camps, etc she would always get the compliment of how quiet, refined, and even well-behaved we were during our stay. They would ask what the secret was and she would say, "Respect...teach them to be respectful". Simple, right, she asks me. Sure. I never have known any other way.

One thing about the way my sister and I were raised was how admit my parents were devoted in teaching & making us understand our sense of self. We understand each other, we listen, we care, and we love. That is all we know. That was all we were taught. My sister and I have an undying love for each other. I cannot think of a time where we have had a fight. I think the last was probably when we were kids or something...if at that. We were taught to never fight with each other. Love one another because we are all we have. Unconditional love that never stops regardless. The little things shouldn't bother us because we are sisters...because we love. I kind of explained it this way for my mom (w/more or less words) whilst talking to her over the phone today. I heard her smile.

Then we went into the world of politics. She was telling me how ignorant people at work sound in the breakroom when they say that Obama isn't patriotic bc he doesn't wear a flag on his lapel or hold his hand over his heart during the National Anthlem. I ask her if she says anything and she says she would rather not. She told me how frustrated she has been these past 8 years. War, monetary problems, she's changed occupations 3 times so far in the past 4 years, and just in general how hard it is to get back into school, get a loan for a home and school, etc. I encouraged her to speak up when people said ignorant stuff. I reminded her that unless she opens her mouth she will continue to hear this ignorance all around her from her 'own people' as she called them (mostly Hispanic who work with her). I heard anger and disappointment in my mom's voice tonight. It made me sad and it made me feel so useless.

When do you think things will change? When do you think people will realize that that party that sits in the White House is the reason for our 8 years of just 'barely making it through'?! When will change happen?

I asked my mom that same question and she said, "Well, I guess when someone speaks up and tells them to educate themselves!" I agreed. I told her to speak up and educate them with the same notions my parents taught my sister and I--respect.

Well, I did it. I ran fucken 6.22 miles in yesterday's 10k!

It was tough but I did it! I got through the majority of it without much injury, in fact with no serious injuries. I am a little sore today but nothing I can't handle. I was that I was able to get through it and smile my way home knowing I did it!!!

All day I had been mentally preparing myself and physically getting ready 2 hrs before the race. I had a lot of anxiety, nervousness, anticipation, and even a feeling of 'oh shit! i am really doing this!?!". I was also bummed because about 2 hours before the race, my running & training partner was flaking out at the last minute. I am not sure what the exact reason was in flaking out last minute but he mentioned something about his kids wanted to eat dinner so he was just going to spend that money he was going to put for the race to feed his kids. He wasn't there so there in lay another realization that I would have to do this whole race on my own and without anyone anyone's push.

By the time I arrived to the run site I was nervous as heck. I tried not to drink much water before we stepped off because I didn't want to run the chance of my bladder begging me to empty it. I stretched, listened to some Kayne West to pump me up and situated myself in the middle of the group.

Because there were so many people running in the race, by the time i stepped off and away from the start line around 6:38pm. Miles 1-3 weren't too bad but the hills sucked along the way. Here's the map of the course:

All in all I made it through and stopped at every water stop to drink at one and the next I would pour it over my head. The cooling stations were really nice and so were the bartenders who stood outside the bars with super soakers who wet us as we ran past.

Towards the end I saw a man in a wheelchair and was clapping along he sidelines rooting us on as we ran. At the time that i saw him I was walking and as soon as we made eye contact I made it a point to pick it up and start running the last 2 miles. I saw him around the 4 mile mark.

When I turned the corner and saw the big red box that said "FINISH" across the top of the frame I knew I was home. I knew that I would soon be able to stop my legs from moving fast and get some really nice cold Gaterade. As I approached closer to the sign I felt all of these tingles all over my head and throughout my body. I felt instantly happy and had this natural high. I know at some point I wanted to cry and when I realized I wanted to cry I noticed I was crossing the finish line and the Nike staff was taking pictures of us all.

I am not sure what it was that hit me as soon as I saw that finish line closer and closer as I ran and ran to it. Seratonin? Perhaps...but I can tell you this. I feel really good today despite sore thighs and a shinsplit feeling in my right leg. I did it. I did my first 10K and I was the one that pushed myself to do it.

Trust me, I had second thoughts about it about 3 hrs before the race but I knew that all of the training I did, the runs, the miles, and the hard work I did was not going to just be pushed aside so I could miss one of the largest running events in the world!

I read there were 13,800 runners in Austin! :o) I stepped off at 6:38pm with one goal in mind--get my ass across that finish line regardless of time. At 8:08pm, I crossed the finish line with a huge smile & those 6.22 miles under the drawstrings of my running shorts. :o) I did it, muthafunkers!!! :o) HELL YES!!!

....now I start boot camp tomorrow at 5:30am to get ready for the Austin Half Marathon in February! There is more to come. This was ONLY THE BEGINNING! :)!!!!

less than week for the race! AHH!

well, it is officially one week until the Nike Human Race. I am getting butterflies and very anxious about this coming Sunday.

the run today was pretty awesome. i was surprised at how well i did and realized that my endurance to run in longer periods now is pretty decent. I did four miles in just a little after 45 minutes. it was a great day and i was super happy that my body was ready to run. i think i had a lot of stress and the relief of running made me surprised at how my breathing was going and the fact that i was able to get a veggie wrap at the finish line too! :o) last time i missed out on food because there were a lot of people there and i guess i fell behind in time.

i am very surprised at how time flies! geez. it's already close to the end of the year.

other news and things i have been checking out lately:

• dr. dre's son was found unresponsive by his mom. he was 20. this is sad.
• get the fuck out of here! four ways you know you have encountered an 'undateable woman'?! i have so much response to this article it is fucken ridiculous!

1. She Dates Around: "Warning bells should go off if a woman doesn't seem to have any particular type; it indicates that she's not looking for that certain someone so much as she's looking for that certain anyone."
So basically if she has been in a relationship with all different types of guys she is a slut and she is not worth anytime?! Never mind that this can be seen as a double standard for some guys all around. I don't know one guy who has dated a consistent "type" of girl. All the guys I know date around and fuck around despite what type a girl may be. This just doesn't make sense. Guys, wake the fuck up! Who gives a fuck who and what 'type' of guys she has been with. Consider the years she has committed to a relationship. Consider her faithfulness to one guy...not 'types' of guys.

2. She's a Micromanager: "She has everything planned: this weekend, next weekend, the color of her future bridesmaids’ dresses, the names of her hypothetical children, everything." Now granted I do know a few women who have their career planned out, their continuation of school (getting their masters, going to law school, etc), have vacation time set aside for November, and even has plans with me this weekend to run in the Nike Human Race but the article going to an extreme of 'color of her future bridesmaid's dressed' is stupid. I guess AskMen.com's audience are filled with dumb idiots who think a woman who 'has everything planned' is not a good thing. define 'everything'. Please...what are we in, the 1950's?!

3. Cats & Dogs: "The key is to watch how she interacts with her pets. Doting or obsessive behavior might indicate a desperate need for affection. Are her pets substitutes for people?" Let's get somethign straight, just because I love my cat doesn't make me think he is 'my kid'. A desperate need of affection is cat calling done by the men that live in my fucken apartment complex as I walk my trash out to the dumpster. Just because a girl has a cat or a dog (or a few), doesn't mean she is 'desperate'. This means she has a life long friend. Now, if the girl has a sickly pet or is known for just 'dumping' her unwanted pet after it gets old/sick/etc, then you should run. Run far far away. This means you are desperate. (stupid idiot)

4. The Push Over: "At first, it seems like a good thing -- she wants whatever you want. She thinks whatever you think. Soon though, you'll realize that she's just playing at compatibility in an attempt to convince either you or herself that the two of you are meant to be together." I have never known a woman to waste her time on stupid boys. If she agrees to do whatever you want to do then so be it. Maybe she DOES really want to do what you want to do and will probably expect you to do what she wants to do some days too! Chill out. don't worry...she doesn't obsess over you like you think she does or like this article makes you think. You're an idiot if you think she revolves her life around you. And if she rubs you the wrong way or you notice she is revolving her life/plans/goals around you, then talk to her. Tell her what you think and what you two should do. Communicate motherfucker. Don't trust this article.

The Boxing Lesson is a great local band that I have had the chance to catch whenever I saw the Lemurs or ran into them whilst roaming around downtown. The drummer, Jake Mitchell, has been labeled a Narco-terrorist under the Patriot Act. Again, this country has gone way too far! Read the article and if in Austin, go to their gig at Emos on Wednesday. This will be Jake's last show before he heads to federal prison for growing pot. It's just marijuana idiots! Damn.

Also, I went hiking with my good friend and got rained all over. It was the best day I had in a long time. We even had sushi and it was my first time having it. Keywords on how everything else went and my favorites of that day: 2 white tailed deer, rain in the woods, hours of talking outside of Borders on the white pavement, smiles, closing of the Olympics while eating some really good sushi, posing like the statues at the sushi place in the lobby, having my door opened everytime i went to the car, etc, etc, etc, etc.

I was a cool kid too at the sold out show

I am very fond of contests. Contests online, relays, running races, arm wrestling--all of it! (I challenged our HR rep to an arm wrestling match today to compete on whom would be a rep for the department at some agency meetings that are monthly. She shied away but I was serious). That being said, I won some tickets to the Emos show, The Cool Kids, courtesy of Covert Curiosity, a blog I highly recommend on reading if you love indie music and want a fantastic opinion on the stuff that plays in my ears on a daily basis.

I decided to take an old friend, Wil and despite how tired he was, I was glad he stuck around to enjoy the good set from my favorite DJ (ever!!...basically), DJMel. He is the coolest dude I have ever seen spin. Mi gusta mucho :)

First off this show was sold out. After standing in the 'will call & hard tickets" line, I realized we were in the wrong line the whole time. We should've been in the line for 'cash only & guest list'. (Damn, the bouncer who wasn't specific on telling those standing in line that the guest list does not mean will call! jerk).

There were so many hipster looking kids and underage too! I felt bad for them when I saw that they were being marked with HUGE letter O's on both hands and possibly ruining any chance for them to sneak a beer or two in between resting their eyes during the lasers (from the Hyper Crush set). I thought that surely all of these kids were cool enough to see The Cool Kids, but I was wrong. They were there for Hyper Crush. I caught some of their set and was pretty amazed at how many lighting effects they had, cool laser gadgets (they had a laser hand glove), and was impressed with the guy who played the day-glow Keytar. All in all, it was too much for me and plus, I felt like I didn't fit in because I wasn't wearing some cool old school colorful Nike kicks, a wide rimmed hat, nor had tight pants on.

The Cool Kids were awesome! I loved their energy and they definitely made a fan out of me! It was a little hot outside and humid (damn Emos for their outside shows!), but all in all with a nice cold Lonestar, I was dancing and throwing my hands up at their bad ass beats and shaking my ass! I gotta get the album! Check out their myspace and hear some of their songs. My favorite songs are Pennies and Bassment Party. Hell yes! p.s. I love their lyrics. They are so clever.

So I have realized I have about a week and a half until the Nike+Human Race 10k! I am nervous and excited. Also, today at work, I have made the commitment to run the At&t Half Marathon to raise money for the agency I work for, Communities in Schools. The training for this marathon begins September 2nd--two days after the 10k Race. (sigh) I think this will be excellent for me though! :) p.s.s. this marathon is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon (this is not my goal but it just gives you to what degree this marathon is!) translation: it's a big time marathon, son!

Other than that, the weekend activities will include more training on Saturday morning (with RunTex) and soon thereafter, head out to SA to visit my best friend and perhaps go to Six Flags to see a couple of shows with the parents.

Also, I am thinking of heading out to Emos on Sunday and seeing Talib Kweli, NYU educated rapper. I think that would be a show I would regret in missing. Stay tuned, folks!