I was thankful for a lot...

The pie that almost was but wasn't...

Thanks for ruining my pie. REALLY.

The freaking "clavo"

Recently the expression “un clavo saca otro clavo” has become extremely popular. Apparently everyone around me with even mediocre mastery of the Spanish language has felt the need to say that to me these past weeks and lately I’ve started to listen…

This past month I’ve cried a lot. I’ve lost weight. I’ve left my home looking like death warmed over. Needless to say, the demise of my “relationship” with HWMNBN is something that I’ve grieved in ways I never thought possible…I guess that I really did (do) love him…

But life goes on. And I’ve come to realize that I have to recover from this so when the “clavo” showed up the other day in the form of an IT developer who shares a moniker with a famous athlete and my love for books and interesting conversation, I said “YES YES YES!”

So we went out and shared some laughs over beers and bar food.

For the first time in a month, I found myself enjoying male company. I examined the curves of his face. He said he felt my heartbeat when holding my hands and I blushed. He flirted, I flirted back and at the end of the date I agreed to see him again.

Of course, I didn’t think that “again” would be at 10:00am the next day…but it was…shortly after I arrived at work I got an invitation for a mid morning coffee and again I was like “YES YES YES!” and it was then, during this coffee break that he blushed, and talked and talked and talked and started by saying that he was seeing some girl and concluded by saying that he was living with the aforementioned girl.

But he is in an “unhappy relationship” and he “really does like me” and he hopes we can “work around this” so we should “go out this weekend”.

NO NO NO!

There went my faith in the male species…again…

I should have known he was full of shit when he said he could feel my heartbeat when he held my hand…I’ve been told things such as that before and there was a time when my heart beat so intensely you could feel it in my hair but I don’t want my heart to beat like that…not for anybody else anyway.

Excuses Excuses...

Sorry I haven't been writing...I've taken a break in support of the Writer's Guild of America.

Frustration...

For as long as I've known Dominicans I have been shocked and amazed by the patriotic ways of the vast majority. Sometimes I've looked down on this patriotism because I don't think of a place as much more than a place, but a good portion of the time I wish I could be a little more like that. As I've stated before, my Dominicanness is not something I feel I have ingrained in me but something I am by mere coincidence.

I see people as people and places as places. In my opinion, where you are from means nothing but the kind of person you are is everything and a place can be lovely but where you are is more relevant than where you are from or where you have been.

I was raised to believe that when bad things happen you should always help regardless of where these things are happening. You should be proactive and share yourself as well as everything you have to offer to improve things. I have always tried to live in this way. This time is no exception.

Tropical storm Noel pounded the Dominican Republic a few days ago. It caused an incredible amount of damage and hurt a lot of people. After talking to my family and getting a grasp on the situation that nobody will ever get by watching CNN alone, I decided to raise some money and send it back there. I didn't set out to raise a million dollars, but I figured that if every patriotic Dominican I know gave up their morning coffee for a day we could make someone's life a little bit better.

So this morning sent an email to every Dominican and DR lover I know here in Miami as well as
in other states and I waited for their response.

At first it seemed promising. I managed to raise $200 and get pledges for some stuff within an hour but then it stopped. Nobody will even talk to me- at least not about that...

The irony behind all this is that the people who have made a donation and those who have pledged to help aren't even Dominicans (except for like 2 people). I don't even know if they donated because I asked them or because they actually care...

It's nice to say you feel certain things but sometimes you have to literally put your money where your mouth is. I wasn't asking for $100...I appreciated $1 just the same!

All of the Dominicans I have met here have been part of a privileged bunch. They still have a few days left to join me in my efforts. I hope they will show worthiness of such privileges by helping their compatriots in need.