Home Again, Home Again

Last week I drove down to Mexico with my mother and uncle. The mission: to collect my adorable grandmother at the border and bring her home (to good ole Dallas, TX) for Thanksgiving and whatnot.

Anyway, rather than to bore y'all with wordy details about driving endless hours to and fro, I present my trip in pictures. Enjoy!

Start of trip: 7 pm

 From 8 pm to 2 am: neverending highway with 1 stop for gas and then one stop for a tiny bit of sleep.

Utter darkness for like fifty years.

Sleeping for three measly hours.

 Then crossing the border at the nice hour of 6 in the morning.

That's totally what it looks like.

 Then, success: Grandmother acquired and taken.

Yay everyone!

Those were super fun border adventures (in which, we were criminals! :D).

My poor drawing skills no longer have to torture y'all: I took pictures on the way back home. I lost track of time in between, but it lasted like 500 years.

The beginning of the end.

Pretty skies with sheepy clouds!!

COTULLA!!

They're working on building a red building.

Uhm, San Antonio.

If there's a McDonald's, you know you've reached civilization.

Yay pollution!

We must be in Austin, so much traffic.

Traffic fun times.

More highway.

Cheese. My goodness.

Floating truck.

A li'l competition never hurt nobody.

American Indian head.

Somewhere along the way, we passed Waco. I was too excited looking for the CATERPILLAR, that I didn't care to take pictures of Waco. Sorry Waco, but you're not very interesting. (This is what Waco basically looks like.)

Cows, of course.

One hay rolly thing.

"Lotsa" hay rolly things.

CATERPILLAR!!!

Dome-y buildings!

Hi, CATERPILLAR!!

Yay Waxahachie :D

Good ole Dallas.

The end! :D

Remember, Remember...

"Remember, remember, the Fifth of November..."

Many people don't care about the significance of this date. Others think it's some part of the film "V for Vendetta." Others remember Guy Fawkes. I remember Poni. Poni and my lack of invincibility. My smallness and God's greatness. His immensity. His everything.

A year ago today, my Philosophy professor let my class out early -- only twenty minutes before our usual time. It was a lovely, pristine, November 5th, a Thursday. I was relieved to be out of that class early: I had to stop by a Pier 1 Imports to make a credit payment.

Drove down my favorite beautiful street, Hillcrest. Getting past the bottleneck-prone section right beside SMU. Driving on the left lane. Passing a rather large pickup truck with a trailer attached on its back, which was making a right turn on Hanover. I caught a glimpse of the thoughtless woman driving her unnecessarily large Lexus SUV. She had a stop. Common sense told me she would stop. She didn't.

R.I.P. Poni

I used to have an unimportant, unnoticed, piece of a car. Poni.

He had spunk. We knew each other well. I know it sounds weird, I mean, cars don't feel, they don't breathe, they are non-living things. Cars have no soul, but I could swear to you, Poni was something else. Knew when to slow down and when to speed up. Flashing cobalt blue right before your eyes. He was very basic, no cool gadgets or technological pizzazz. Had to roll down my windows. Manually open and lock the doors. Remember to turn the lights on and off.

The stupid (yes, she truly was stupid) woman killed my Poni. Hit me on the right. Airbag came out. If she had been going any faster, I don't think my doors would have opened. I could already see the crumpling effect on dear Poni. Engine began to smoke. Traffic began to accumulate. Called 911. It was only 4:55 pm.

A beautiful, clear, pristine day.

All alone. Instinct told me to set aside any tears and not think of how close I was to death. I waited. Mother, who had been seriously ill, drove all the way to the accident scene to take me home. To protect me. I had an interview the coming Monday. With Citi. Thanks, stupid woman, you did sort of interfere at the wrong time.

We waited until the tow truck carried Poni away. Left a mark at Hanover and Hillcrest. The mark is still there by the way, a memory of Poni, resistant to rain and snow and wind.

This wasn't my first accident. But it was my first, alone. Just the day before, I had gone to pick up my then four-year-old cousin from his house to babysit him at mine. In Poni. He had been Poni's last passenger. What humbled me then was thinking, "What if I had been in accident on that day? What would have happened to not only me, but my little cousin as well??" It's a terrifying feeling. I was close to death. God chose to sacrifice my poor car in order to save me.

He could have easily chosen to take my life that Fifth of November. He didn't.

Why?

I must have a purpose. What is my purpose?

To realize what is important?

To realize where my heart lies.

To cherish every single day of my life.

To enjoy being with the ones I love.

To miss the ones I can't be with, not wistfully, but lovingly.

To understand how powerful and strong God's love for me is.

To realize that though I'm one human being, I am important enough to God to still breathe today.

To love.

And so, while I "remember, remember, the Fifth of November," I thank God for allowing me to experience everything that comes my way. The love I feel is beyond words. The renewed faith I now hold is endlessly profound. God, I love You.

Day off

A day off. A moment of forgetfulness.

Work is merely a distant dream.

A memory.

Morning sun awake before me.

Open eyes. carefree.

Warm, dark, perfect cup of

coffee.

Sitting, quiet, remember love,

for one fleeting moment.

A day off from work allows

remembering.

Take my time

Get ready.

Examine my face, the

minute changes at once noticeable and

Not.

Enjoying a tiny glimpse into a life of

Freedom.

No worries. No burdens.

Just being.

Love.

At least until tomorrow

Speedy

It's been a while, primarily because the vacation ended and I had to go back to work, but no worries, I'm still on the "happy train" right now, so today I continue the "Favorite Things" theme, shining light on my favorite movie (or film, if you wanna call it that) of all time: Speedy.

You've probably never heard of it. And it's not your fault, Speedy is a very early movie, a silent film from 1928. My favorite actor (or comedian?), and one of my historical crushes, Harold Lloyd stars in it.

A Tidbit of History

Speedy was Harold Lloyd's last silent movie (and in my opinion, his best), set in New York City. Lloyd, known as Speedy (both in real life and in the film) is a young man who always has his heart in the right place, but for the life of him can't quite hold down a steady job. He's always either a tad clumsy or daydreaming, or he's distracted by the New York Yankees' games and stuff like that. He lives with his girlfriend (Jane) and his girlfriend's grandfather (Pop Dillon), who has an old-fashioned (ha!) horse-and-buggy trolley thingy. Anyway, I'm trying not give away too many of the movie's details, but the main story is that some "big shot" businessman tries to make Pop Dillon give up his buggy rights so that he may begin developing new roads or whatever on Pop's buggy route. It's up to Speedy to save Pop's buggy rights and provide financial stability (simultaneously of course).

My Thoughts on Speedy

Personally, I feel Speedy has an air of innocence and good intentions. It's kind of funny that this film came out in the late 1920s, a little before the Great Depression, and it's remarkable how it's "dated" and fits in historical context. Coney Island shows up (which, by the way, I hope to visit one day, and which also shows up in one of my other favorite films, "Annie Hall"), and so does Babe Ruth (cameo appearance!) and (can you believe it!?) the Prohibition!!! History at its best, the film does a splendid job of being so natural in this regard. (Might I also be a historian at heart? ...)

One of my favorite scenes.

On a last note, Speedy hits a soft and dear spot of my heart for one more particular reason. You see, the first time I saw this film, we (my sister and I) were home alone. The air was heavy with summer heat, family-political tension, and an immeasurable foreboding of the terrible things that would occur later that summer of 2005. While my father supposedly worked all day long, my dear, resilient mother had secretly taken on another job, working almost every evening. It was my duty as the oldest daughter at home to keep things together. My younger sister and I would eat dinner, then we'd clean up (whatever had to be done) and wait for Mother to get home.

All summer. Speedy came as some sort of ameliorating escape from the brewing troubles. A sort of nostalgia, a sort of assurance that things always get better, and a sort of encouragement to persevere and enjoy all that comes our way.

Truly, if you get a chance sometime in your life, watch Speedy. While it has a deeper meaning for me (obviously), it is a lighthearted comedy as well, and very worthy of a viewing (or 500 or so!). Below is my favorite part of the entire film, Speedy's visit to Coney Island with his love, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies (I couldn't get the clip to embed on teenytinytidbits, but this link does provide a very high-quality version!!) Enjoy:

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=219159

Just for Fun!

I just thought this was cute, courtesy of "The Oatmeal." Enjoy and try it! How long would you survive, hmm???

Created by Oatmeal

Social Scientist?

Going along with my "Favorite Things" theme, I thought I'd start off with a light and cheery peek into one of my hobbies, our society.

Yeah...

Society is truly a fascinating subject, there are just so many layers and levels of depth to analyze, and even more thrilling and exhilirating is the fact that you and I are both components of this subject. Isn't that amazing?? Perhaps it's my good old SMU education, or maybe it was all chance or coincidence, but the courses I took exposed me to several diffirent aspects of society. My favorite course, for example, was on the History of Sex in America, from the beginning (colonial times) through the 20th (and beginning of the 21st) century. It was baffling, to say the least, actually slightly overwhelming, that we as human beings, components of our society, create and construct categories and characterize (and sometimes blindly enforce) sexuality. While social and sexual revolutions do take place over time, I find (and this is the part that truly fascinates me the most) that even though some social constructions deteriorate, new ones are born and so the cycle is renewed.

After that course, I had the lovely opportunity of taking two more interesting courses, "Dumb White Guy Politics in America" and "Troubled Youth." Perfect complements to my fascination with society. While these courses didn't focus on the social constructions of sexuality (they did brush on occasion with this sub-subject), they did allow for a more well-rounded overview into our society. While at times it seems that sexuality and gender roles play a major part in our society's behaviors, it turns out that social constructions exist everywhere. It's all breathtakingly amazing. I love society. I love human beings. I love social constructions.

Sometimes I wonder if I majored in the wrong thing, but then I realize: I am a social scientist. I'm an economist, and I will find a way to amalgamate my interest in social constructions with my passion with Economics. I've got a feeling that a major study is going to break through both fields of Economics and Sociology, perhaps behavioral Economics?? :)

Till then, enjoy the following clip. (A special thanks to my "Troubled Youth" professor!)

Approval, Necks, and Favorite Things

Good evening, all.


I think I've reached a new level of understanding and approval with my mother, with regards to the love of my life. Here's the story, and I'll try to be sweet and concise: 

So here we were talking about my friend, the love of my life, and it wasn't some serious conversation or anything, but I guess my mother, with all her motherly wisdom knew that I still love my friend. She austerely asked, do you like him? I said, all cool and clearly, yes. But that being his girlfriend (or stuff like that) isn't my priority. I'm okay either way, with or without title or whatever. She asked then, does he plan on staying in (let's call it) City X, and I said, I've no idea. And then, I kid you not, it was like that moment in "The Little Mermaid" when King Triton is about to turn Ariel into a human so she can be with Prince Eric, and my dear mother started saying, I think you're going to leave us behind, in a sort of wistful but accepting tone. I in turn said, no! I wouldn't want to live in City X permanently, maybe Boston, but not City X haha! After this weird and peaceful moment of understanding, I continued and finished the story that had to do with my friend, and my mother reacted more positively.

Could it be? Has she finally let go of the bad impression she had of my friend?! :) Now I can love without guilt!

Necks.
So, because of Fall's nostalgic atmosphere, every now and then I remember my friend's aroma. I can't explain it, and I feel like a total "goofy" "doofus" (yes, I actually used those words!) because what I remember most is, well, his neck. Not like I ever touched it or anything. But yes, the neck. It's there. I want to see it in person soon. I sure miss terrible times with terrible people. And their necks. (Or in this case, his neck.)


Lastly, for this evening, my mother's implicit approval has lightened things up for me: I feel that I can't go wrong in anything. I am simply content with life, and it doesn't matter that not everything is going the way I would like it to, I have my love and that's all I need!


That leads me to the last portion of this post's title "Favorite Things." I think I'll go ahead and write a post about one Favorite Thing for the next few times, I find that if I focus on the good things, the things that agree with me, the things that cancel the bad things (I'm very well aware I've used "things" too liberally tonight), I generally get along in a better mood and attitude. You should give it a try.


Brief example: Instead of saying, "I hate it when stupid drivers merge in front of me and drive slowly," I now say, "I love it when everyone drives appropriately," or "I love it when I find a way to get home in a good amount of time."


So come on, enjoy the beautiful Fall weather, enjoy your love, enjoy your life!!! :)