Back To Chicago

I’m back!!
Back to posting and TV and House and Heroes and no parents around and electric stoves and friendly driving and no old friends and no shoes in the house and Target and no humidity and no mountains… but home, in the end.

What I did:

Leave without the boyfriend. Cook. Work the Mac out for four straight days until I finished all my Priman work. Spend some deserved time with the family. Play with the cousins. Eat, a lot. Drive like a maniac. See my cats again. See my friends, eat pizza and play Nintendo Wii. Steal a cat and then gave it back. Fell in love with a baby turtle. Run in those crazy hills every day. Amaze myself with the Rebel like crazy. Clear US Customs at Dallas in 7 minutes, 2000 minutes less than what I thought it would take; phew. Go to a costume Mexican Independence party. Go to a military parade. Oh and finally see Total Recall hahaha.

Also, and to my nerd relief, read four books: “Ensayo sobre la ceguera” and “El cuento de la isla desconocida” by José Saramago; and “Mujeres de ojos grandes” and “Arráncame la vida” by my new favorite Ángeles Mastretta. Such a good record.

Where I went to:

Downtown Monterrey, like a million times. Malls in Monterrey, like a billion times. Bookstores, like a millionbillion times. A smoky bar with a nice funk band that captivated me mostly because of their name: 60 tigres (FRIENDLY FREEBIE: DOWNLOAD THEIR CD! Plus, they have nice graphics!). The always problematic BBVA Bancomer bank. To see all my doctors feeling like a hypochondriac, but making sure everything was still good. My favorite enchiladas restaurant, but only three times. Not to museums or the big flag this time. And to see houses and apartments, no comments.

What I brought back:

The boyfriend. Retainers (jijij). Prescription eye glasses (sadface). Tons and tons of books. 20 kilos (40 lbs.) extra in our luggage, forcing us to either buy an ugly bag at the airport or pay a $100USD fee; sorry, we bought the ugly bag. Enough cookies to save the US from Mexican homesickness for a year. Lots of good times. And my you’re-all-never-going-to-hear-the-end-of-it wish to go back for Christmas :)

Gorgeous pictures coming up to Flickr later today.
I took like 2,589 so give me a little time.

Down In Mexico – Too Busy/Sexy For My Post

I have so many updates that they’re not updates anymore.

I’m having fun at home. We’re leaving this Monday so that’s sad times, but… BLAH BLAH. So unnecessary.

Anyway, being here is so much fun. Test driving in Peugeot convertibles and all. Oh yes.

There’s nothing new to say now, since everything that’s going on is so new and different and the same and comfortable and old, all together, and all great.

Last night was the second night in a row that we went to bed at 4am after hanging out with friends. Weird, but I didn’t introduce any girl friends to Jason at all hahaha Not because of “female reasons”, but because I don’t have any girl friends anymore. I’m so girly already that hanging out with girls is so confusing.
Instead, I only have guy friends, and I miss going out to do nothing, and not talking about other boys or clothes, or not having to dress up to go out, or plan anything. It’s like we’re 15 years old and we talk about movies and music and Nikes; and we get together to eat crazy amounts of pizza and play Nintendo Wii. Everything else and everyone else is banned.
Boys are fun.

I’m leaving again. See you Sunday before I leave (in which case I’ll attach a picture of me crying)… or Monday when I get back (in which case I’ll attach a picture of me crying). Good times dudes.

Down In Mexico – Mercados & Restaurants

No time to write anything. I just ate way too much cake and enchiladas and Coca Cola Light.
Too many fun things in Mexico :)

I’ll be back maybe Wednesday. Maybe not. But definitely next week :) / :(

Family Freud

I just came back from a 4-hour lunch-old-book-hunting break with my dad.
[glass shattering sound]
Boy was I naive about my extended family 4 hours ago.

We went downtown to a very Mexican restaurant. I had soup. I never.
Anyway, we talked for a while and I felt that I grew up just by listening to my dad talk about his mother.
We finally caught up on all the sad events that happened while I was gone. It was like breathing right again.

We also heard a guy yelling at the waitress for not having -again- “french bread”. It was a very very successful therapy session for him, because at one point he said “I was yelled at by my mother and the nuns when I was growing up, I don’t need to have a waitress yelling at me too”.

After “Freud times” we went to this secret street that I know where they sell really cheap books. Weird things like encyclopedias, Molière, Reader’s Digest, and Garfield comics, all together inside of a massive warehouse. I used to get all my weird philosophy things from there.
So we bought some books, and then went to a market to look for Independence Day outfits and we found this:

jejeje
My dad bought it for Jason but I said he didn’t need it, that he’s a natural mustachey boy.

So after that we went to the 70s and my dad told me all these stories about my family that I had no idea but always wondered.
Now please, don’t go thinking I have some “Uncle Murder” and “Aunt Kidnapper” relatives, it’s just shocking to see how society changes and goes back to the same patterns. Like those horrible 80s fashion trends.
It is also shocking how people quickly forget their own closet skeletons and very easily criticizes when new people do the same things 50 years later. Sigh.

I know our very human mind makes us believe that we’re more special than everyone else is, but still, I am one very lucky girl.
And I’m still having a lot of fun back home.

Down In Mexico – Riesling We Heart You

Comostás

More pictures of Comostas, the turtle. Much love.

Down In Mexico – Store Findings

As seen in El Palacio de Hierro, Soriana, and HEB.
All in Monterrey, all good. And bad.

Cat with mustache like the Monopoly guy

Orange sign: “Selling house in…”
Green sign: “Selling engagement ring”

The Marvel Guess Who? game!
- Does your guy turn into something green when he’s mad?
- … Damn it!

Hehehe

Down In Mexico – Day 01

First things first:

De Viaje!

Hi kids. I’m off to Mexico… as in, I’m-off-to-Mexico-in-16-hours!

No Internet all Friday because if airlines now charge you for breathing, I wonder what will happen if I dare to use their wi-fi.

Post you there :)

Inmigrantes: No Inmigren!

…O algo así como “caminante no hay camino.”

Me estaba esperando para escribir esto, más que todo por decencia bloguil, porque de por si ya le echo mucho a los United… pero sentía que debía escribirlo rapido antes de que, o vinieran por mi en la noche, o me lanzara a una manifestación de las muchas que hay (y luego vinieran por mi en la noche.)

En fin, supongo que ya lo han oído: El gran plan de Self-Deportation, la única respuesta al hecho de no tener respuesta a los problemas de inmigración a Estados Unidos. Como Bush está ocupado…

La idea de esto, (ahí les va rapido que el tiempo es dinero, y dinero aquí no tenemos, así como tampoco tenemos mucho tiempo), es que los inmigrantes indocumentados con órdenes de deportación se entreguen tipo Bambi al gobierno para vivir sin la amenaza psicológica de arresto, detención… y deportación.
Total que el que se entrega, tiene derecho a 90 días para poner sus tiliches y asadores y gallinas y demás clichés Mexicanos en orden y orale, de regreso!

Yo escribo esto con mi mucha simple opinión, y creo que el problema (por no decir el ___ ____), es que ese ni es el problema.
Los que empezaron el desmadre ni tienen por objetivo buscar a gente que se deporte, ni buscar gente así nomás. La verdadera meta es perseguir indocumentados con historial criminal y ahora si, deportarlos. Y ya. El problema es que se está buscando una solución para algo que ni es el problema original. Entendimos?

Ahora resulta que por no encontrar futuros deportados criminales, la nueva es buscar de todo. Atrevidos!!

Que no es lo mismo pensar que si te quieres auto-deportar pues nada más vuelas, corres, [te aceleras], manejas o pides ride a la frontera, la cruzas y ya?

Este programa (que dizque experimental) comenzó este mes en cinco ciudades: Chicago, San Diego + Santa Ana California, Phoenix y Charlotte y terminó hoy. Si funciona, lo usarán otras ciudades. (Estoy buscando cuántos se aventaron, creo que nomás 6 joojoj.)

Ahora bien… se supone que la ventaja de auto-deportarse es que ya no tendrás miedo a que la migra te pesque a media noche en tu casa, te arresten (y a tu familia también [y a tu mamá, pos también!].)
Ahora piensa, quién ve beneficios en estos términos después de haber pasado un infierno de flojera en México y otros países? Después de haber dejado a tu familia, amigos, casa, carrera (licenciaturas y demás), gatos, perro en la azotea, primos, tíos, panadería, carnicería, estanquillo de tacos, peluquero, gimnasio, quitakilos, Vips y demás?!
Te arriesgas de todos modos yendo a trabajar todos los días. Te arriesgaste hace 10-20-30 años cuando te viniste a vivir aquí. Ya qué!

“El programa no ha tenido mucha respuesta”… pues claro!
Qué ganas de ir a las oficinas de estos güeyes un día (con maletas, triques y toda la cosa.) Ya me veo parándomeles bien digna y heroica, aventando las maletas en el lobby (plah!), ondeando una bandera de México (swoosh!), haciéndoles la mueca de “orale!” con la barbilla, lista para deportarme. Se me hace agua la boca como cuando como tamarindo con limón.

Y peor, al estilo de usar estrellas en la manga izquierda de la camisa, una vez que te entregas, tienes que usar una madre en el tobillo, de esas madres electrónicas que hacen bip bip mientras te rastrean a cada minuto. Así como Lindsay Lohan. Qué denigrante.

Y ya, mejor la dejo aquí… No vaya a ser que por tanto Googlear el tema ya estén en camino a mi depa, y yo que ya ando en pijamas.