swirly, swirly me

so, i didn't go to work yesterday because i was experiencing some vertigo. yep, i had these dizziness spells throughout the day. when i went back to work today i was still having them so i decided to call my doc--who turned out to be on vacation--to see what's wrong. i went to see another doc and he told me i had nothing. nothing. n-o-t-h-i-n-g and to come back if things get worse. so much for my brain tumor.

anyway. today i finally was able to meet with Tais. my Brazilian english-portuguese exchange partner. we met in harvard square and went to Crazy Dough for a slice of pizza. she is sweetest girl ever. so friendly and nice. we spoke english for the first half-hour and then portuguese. the third half-hour was mixed. then we walked to central where we parted ways. i had so much fun with her. can't wait for our next exchange. :D

Aljadaqui

i went to see an Aljadaqui show last night. they're a dominican rock band that has quite a following within the dominican community. i like their music and it was entertaining. although i have to to say that some of the lead singer's manerims came across a bit machista and/or disrespectful towards women in a way. i don't know why i feel that way but it's something i kept coming back to through the whole performance. i was right in front of him and maybe I was just reading too much into to. it's weird because i don't know that I like them as much as before I saw them. this was my first Aljadaqui concert but i think it was more detrimental than good. so ironic. anyway, at least I got a free t-shirt. he he (*_*)

on another note, my housemates took me out to dinner today for my birthday. I'm stuffed. we went to this small sea food restaurant near our house and it was delish. i love their crab cakes. they're such good people. i lucked out with them. i mean there are things that one has to adjust when living with other people but overall it's pretty good. God is wonderful.

i have to teach ESL tomorrow and that gets more exciting as the days go by. i love my students and seeing their dedication. looking forward to it.

I can't believe what has happened with Virginia Tech. This tragedy was completely out of this world. No one would have expected this. My heart goes to the victims' families, Cho's family and all the other people affected by this.
When I saw the video on the Internet that he left for NBC, I felt so sorry for that guy. He was definitely not all there and he was obviously deeply hurt by things and or people of his past.
It's made be a bit more conscientious of my reactions and treatment of other people. How many people could I have hurt with my words and actions. It's so sad that for him it had to come to this to have a outlet of some sort; hurting so many people and destroying so many families, including his own.
Hopefully this would be an opportunity for us to learn to hate less and reach out more. May the Lord grant us the discernment to cope with this tragedy as a society, and the peace and strenght to the surviving victims, families, VTers, and to the Cho family as well.

yez!

Freddy, Melissa, Johanna, Robert, Eliza.

New York was awesome. Julieta Venegas was awesome. My birtday was awesome.

Thrusday: took leaky greyhound bus with Eliza to go to NYC. uptown to Wilma's house to drop off stuff. she has a great view of the GW bridge. a-m-a-z-i-n-g. went to midtown to BBKing Blues club for the Julieta concert. while having dinner there we met this really nice couple, Lizzie and Eric, Venezuelan and Colombian respectively. great peoples; very funny. we changed emails, etc. Julieta was out of this world. she is such a great performer. sang all the great hits. me voy, limon y sal, tu eres para mi, etc. her dress was adorably cute, and so was her bass player.

after the concert we went to Ben and Jerry's and a bit later met with my friend Freddy, his wife and a coupl--friends of theirs. Havana Central had a nice live band and there was this gorgeous man standing by the bar whom I had to check out as I walked in. he he. The waiters--all wearing Guayaberas!--sang Happy Birthday and brought me a little flan cake with a candle. too cute. they also have killer passion fruit mojitos. it was a lot of fun.

Friday: woke up very late and then went to the Museum of Natural History on 79th St?, 'cause I had never been. Then went I went to Nolita to Cafe Habana. My Lord! The Corn! the corn! they sell these corn on the cob thingies covered with some type of cheese and spike paprika-like peppery powder. w-o-w. to top it off their cafe con lech was sinful, not to mention the cute waiter. ;) Later that nite we went to the NY International Auto show and afterwards to Falucka, this Moroccan? lounge/bar with hookahs. tons of fun.

Saturday: met up with some friends. went to Macy's. decided not to return to boston until Sunday and later that nite went to Cecarina & David's home where we stayed until about 4am, along with these two guys who brought a guitar. we sang all night long. it was so much fun.

and those, my friends, are the highlights from my birthday weekend in new york. i love that city. i'm totally moving.

happy birthday to me

so it's my birthday. yay!! i'm off to NYC to see Julieta Venegas tonight at the BB King Blues Club in Times Square. i can't wait! I love her songs. eliza and I are taking the bus and i'll be crashing at wilma's place. so excited!! :D plus i don't get to work until tuesday since monday is a holiday.

tragic love

My cousin Carol and her husband Niko came to visit from France. I spent a couple of hours with them the day before their return. Carol sent a thank you card weeks after and in it she included the following C. S. Lewis quote from The Problem of Pain:

God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us,

in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense. It is natural
for us to wish that God has designed for us a less glorious and
less arduous destiny: but then we are wishing not for more love
but for less.

Pretty interesting, no? I thought so. It's amazing to think that one can be loved so deeply and strongly by such a Being. If we could only keep this in mind every time something goes wrong, right or whatever, our state of mind would be in complete nirvana. But, of course, we only wish to be loved less I guess. The bible says that angels wish to be like humans; to be loved in such a way by our Creator. I imagine that they long to have had Jesus die on the cross for them. There is so much pain, passion and love in that act, and to be reminded that such love exists for me, makes my days much better. And I hope to embrace my 'glorious destiny' with such passion every day.