leaving gram's nest?

so today my mom called to say my grandma was upset about my new house in san antonio. she's nervous because it's kind of across town.

since the age of 5 i've lived about 4 miles away from my grandma [minus being away in new england]. she picked my brother and i up from elementary, middle and high schools for the majority of our time there. even since i've moved up north and my brother's started college, we're always in the neighborhood on weekends that we're home. the church we go to is directly across the street from her neighborhood so its a guarantee we'll be nearby on sundays. if we were ever locked out or in need of a ride, grams has always been 5 minutes away.

now me, my mom and bro are packing up and moving west. we're staying in san antonio but definitely switching zipcodes a bit.

i think grams thought our move was partly to get out of the family net [never mind the fact that the majority of time i'm thousands of miles outside the family net]. that was totally not it at all. we just found a nice house that met all the requirements for a great deal.

it's cute and sad that grams was upset about the move. i know she loves us a ton, and this just emphasizes that. but also sad that she thought we were leaving her with our minor move across town. she's worried she'll see us less. oh gram.

[yes. my family is far closer than most other families i know. considering i talk to my brother, parents, cousins, and grandparents on a daily to weekly basis and see everyone at least once a month - we are special.]

stay tuned

i really do mean to write here more frequently, i just keep getting distracted.
there's so much going on in my life right now, and i want to document it all but sometimes i'm just too busy or too tired or too lazy to put it all into words.

i'm buying a house, with my mom, in san antonio.
i'm renting an apartment, with maria, in new york.
i'm working a LOT, at the same place i've been for the past 2.5 years. i never thought i'd stick around this long.
i have so many places i want to travel to, friends i want to visit. but. BUT. now i have two new homes to settle into. i don't want to neglect anything. i feel like every minute is packed and i'm already being torn.
i'm about to hit my quarter-of-a-century mark. i feel like the angst will start to hit me pretty soon. there's already a trickle of impending freak-out.

i guess this is growing up.

fiesta shoebox float parade

what i can only assume are confused/worried/loving parents have been furiously googling the words, "fiesta, shoebox, float, parade" and keep ending up at this post from last spring. which, honestly, does not give much detail regarding how to build a miniature fiesta float out of a shoebox. i feel bad about that. you, the googling parents, are probably very confused. so i'm writing this post, one week before the big fiesta kickoff to hopefully help out a few of yall out there furiously googling.

the shoebox fiesta parade a longstanding san antonio tradition. i was in elementary school almost 20 years ago doing the same thing. i guess that for non-native parents now living in san antonio, this is probably a weird phenomenon that the teachers are requesting parent participation in.

basically, all schools have a mini parade. and in this parade instead of the giant trucks bearing flowers or animatronic robots on top of flat bead trucks like in the macy's or rose bowl parades, what san antonian children produce is tissue paper and action figure decorated shoe boxes which they drag on strings through the hallways of the school.

sometimes schools have themes (like make it based on a book u read or a historical period) but usually the parade is straight up 'fiesta' themed and anything colorful or fun goes. supplies for this include a shoebox, construction or tissue paper, and whatever toys your kid feels like gluing to the top of this shoebox (transformers, barbie, spiderman, dinosaurs, etc). they can set up the shoebox to look like a car toting the grand marshall or fiesta princess or you can help your kid fashion a construction paper skyscraper and have spiderman swing off it. whatever.

dinosaur wetlands, mini alamos, rocket ships and knights on horseback - all been done before and totally cool if your kid is into it. basically, make a mini float. (ha! so descriptive!) but you know, make little tissue paper skirt around it, snip some green construction paper for fake grass, fold the bright colored paper to make a few flowers. whatever. its all good.

i wish i had pictures to offer for suggestions, but i don't. oh well. kids are creative. they'll think of something. just make sure they don't cut their f ingers with scissors or burn something with a glue gun.

happy early fiesta, everyone!

oh the drama

i'm working from a starbucks in the middle of old-money-ladies-who-lunch-land in san antonio. it's also adjacent to a small catholic university that rich kids go to.

eavesdropping on these convos is so funny:

• when i came in a bleach blonde woman and her plastic friend were discussing her upcoming vacation to miami. they're staying at the biltmore and the friend was saying how she always prefers the ritz because its closer to shopping. um. when i go to miami i just want to roast in the sun. but thats just me.
  
• one boy was studying his organic chemistry (and staring out the window) when he ran into a girl from his class and they discussed their grades and studying techniques and the professors test style. it reminded me of a tams discussion that might have occurred for me 7 or 8 (!) years ago. made me feel old.
• now three women are gathered at a booth in the corner and are planning a gala for something. one woman was on the phone lecturing/counseling someone about the actions of her irresponsible daughter. another one is organizing her family's attendance at a wake later this evening. the third just arrived and is stirring sugar into her coffee. they're all dressed in cashmere cable knits, pressed oxfords, pearls and smart pumas or loafers. their wedding rings are HUGE. the big topic of conversation is the width of ribbon for something. its so foreign.

i need to focus on my own work/life. instead of listening in on others...

remember the alamo

my favorite
Originally uploaded by florajasmine

i like wandering around my city in the dark of the early morning, shooting things. even if it is a little chilly. good times until i came home and crashed at 830am and did NOT want to get back out of bed to save my life.

p.s. speaking of 'remember the alamo!' the other day i saw a car with one of those magnetic ribbon things stuck on the trunk that was red, white and blue and said 'remember the alamo'. breast cancer, the troops and the alamo? all available in magnets for your car. wtf? seriously? ok.

i really hope that person meant it sarcastically, but somehow i doubt it.

never knock the way another cat swings

some pre-xmas randomness:

• i freaking hate all stores and malls and commercial areas from dec1 through dec25. prob even through jan 2 or 3. they're packed. ppl are wasting money on things. kids are crying. america's debt is increasing. in a move to avoid all the junk that annoys me, i spent a chunk of my day outside in the sun finishing kite runner.
• i've put off reading this book for ages cos it was too popular and usually that means things are shite and overrated. but this book actually was a super read. i started reading it on my flight home on friday afternoon and finished it up today. charged through it. it kinda made me sick reading some parts on friday. that just meant it was well written. when a book makes me feel ill, or immensely sad, or even makes me cry - i love it. i love being moved by words. i finished this book today being happy that i finally read it. still not sure if i actually want to see the movie tho.
• that said... it's dec23 and i'm still not done with my xmas shopping. no surprise there. not too bad tho, b/c all that's left is to do the 'family' gift where we give the same thing to each chunk of the family.
• i took this picture yesterday morning that i'm really happy with so i'm going to print and frame it tomorrow x 10. hope everyone likes it...
• i saw 'across the universe' yesterday with my brother. (finally) i think i wanted to like it more than i actually did. it was a totally fun movie... just not all that i wanted it to be. i hate when that happens... cos i did like it, think i just wanted to LOVElove it...
• i remember not liking the beatles when i was younger... thinking - how is it that everyoneee can love them and i dont? now i get it. i dig them, just like 90% of the rest of the world. beatles made great pop music. and covers of it can be just as fun... turns out.
• today my favorite used bookstore in SA had all cd's for half off. so i bought crazysexycool for $2.49. as she was ringing up my purchase, the chick at the counter said, "oh, i remember when it used to be cool to listen to this cd." USED TO BE COOL? this cd has hip-hop classics. i only had the tape version back in the day. so this was a super find. um, it was awesome back when it first came out and when i pressed listened to diggin' on you again today - it is still awesome.
• i know. i'm cool. i need no confirmation.
  
• fam reunion tomorrow night - yay.

no white christmas for me

office view
Originally uploaded by florajasmine

funny that i left snow covered boston yesterday and flew south to arrive in san antonio where it was 60 degrees warm 1030 at night.

fantastic. my toes do need to defrost a bit.

a ton of family time over the next week- the main thing i'm here for. and some presents and christmas festivities and the stuffing of my belly.

yay. home is good. i like my december with a side of palm trees.

also... i hope my flights back up to boston next sunday go as smoothly as they were yesterday... pleaseeee. i hate flying now...

so... i'm still alive and other things

wow. i haven't written here in a bit, eh? considering i go some periods with 1 or more updates each day... having nothing to say to the internet for a whole 2 weeks. like, whoa dude. :p

probably havent posted lately due to the fact that most of my waking hours are spent: at the office, in a car, at the airport, eating unhealthy foods, outside with my family, inside with my friends, or laid out with eyes half open trying to watch the new season of some show on the tele...

yeah. living la vida loca, that's me.

um. no. not quite.

work is still ok-ish. might be getting better, hopefully wont take a turn for the worse. i'm actually interested in what i'm starting on now and i think this is definitely related to something i can work with long term. more than developer code and data tables. only, weird thing is... that stuff is still sometimes cool to me. i'm so strange.

traveling sucks. straight up. the back and forth is long and i get delays and missed flights and random nights spent not where i'd prefer... during the next month i'm cutting my flights down to every other week so it'll be alot better for my sanity and a little better for the earth. i really feel so bad about all the flights i'm taking and all the trees i'm killing. (yes. environmental guilt. i'm full of it.)

however. seeing the family every weekend has been fantastic. i love it. i love them all and this is why i asked for the transfer and why i am ok with the delays and long hours spent in airports. cos at the end of it i get to see the most important people a lot more often. so cutting back on the flights is going to kinda suck cos it means i'm cutting back on this texas family time i'm just sinking my teeth into... hmm. boo.

but. i am saving money. which now... two years into the working world i'm actually putting an effort towards. mostly cos i have a goal of buying a house asap. i feel like i need a big investment. and real estate property is it. living with my mommy lets me save money at a faster rate then when i flushed it down the toilet every month living in boston, aka paid rent.

living at home with the fam is good. i know a lot of kids my age say they couldn't handle being en casa with their parentals again after leaving the nest only a few years ago. maybe i'm different since i havent really lived home-home full time since i was 16. dunno. i like it. they're nice to me, they love me, they feed me, they let me take naps when i want- it's a good arrangement for now. we do have our squabbles where we yell or cry or i pinch them to show my displeasure. but then we get over it and make up. it's all very normal i think. only apparently this child/parent relationship i've got going on is abnormal compared to the scenes of my peers... hmm. don't get it.

so yeah.

i'm in boston or san antonio or somewhere in between 100% of my time. looks to be the ongoing plan for the next few months. i can handle it. i can make it fun. i can make it enjoyable. i can.

tomorrow night: san antonio heat and southtown's first friday with my bro. we have to do some surveying of the scene/ market research for my other big goal i'm working on/saving for... to be announced.

the poop continues to flow

casey reyes-jimenez
(1996-2007)

one more time i've hated myself for being thousands of miles from home.

my dog was put to sleep today. my mom called me yesterday afternoon to say he was acting weird and sloppy yesterday and at the vet today they said it was cancer. it would have been lots of pain and lots of money to even try to help him through this. and it might not have even helped.

so today i told my mom to go ahead and let him go while standing on the street trying not to cry in the middle of coolidge corner. i was laying in my bed face down when she called crying to say she, daddy and baby had all said goodbye to my casey. i was on the steps of st.ignatius when i asked my mom to bury him in the backyard by my bedroom window.

i feel horrible. most of casey's life i was living in dallas or boston. when i was home in san antonio i never spent enough time with my ornery, fluffy, little puppy. last month while i was in town my mom mentioned he was acting weird but he had seemed fine when i played with him so i didn't take him to the vet. i don't know, but it might have helped.

i hate being so far away.

its the finals

i love my spurs.

went to dinner at white horse. the pre-game show started while i was there. abc was doing a profile of tim duncan and had a video of him just sitting there. a guy at the next table wondered aloud, 'i wonder what duncan looks like when he's excited..." his friend answered, "that is duncan excited."

yeah. i love him. i love them. also, i love when the camera pans over to david robinson. cos i LOVE david. so much. since i was like 10. i remember being in 5th grade and declaring my love for david robinson.

spurs pride runs deep. it's times like these that i really wish i was home in san antonio. besides my family there's just that city pride that i miss during times like these (aka spurs in the finals). boston during basketball season sux mostly. people here only care about sox. and bruins and pats. no bball love. all they know is larry bird. lame. east coast poopers.

girly note: cavs player pavlovic is hot. and made a hot basket. thats nice. still...

go spurs go. forreal. i originally said spurs take the series 4-2, but i'd rather 4-0 at this point. safer.

also i like how they keep mentioning how the spurs are the winningest sports franchise in the last decade. oh yeah. still no respect. lame-o.

beanie weenie

back from texas.

flew in to san antonio friday morning. after what-a-burger i logged on and did work. then the first of 3 lyssie events.

bbq at my cousin's house. it was so nice, and yum with food from rudy's. my cousins alec and luc played guitar for alyssa and alec said some stuf. and told bad jokes. my favorite line: people all around the world love cash, but here in texas, we love johnny cash. it had not much to do with anything besides the fact that we were in fact in texas, but still funny and so alec-y.

it was great seeing all my cousins and aunts and uncles i hadn't seen in ages. a mini-family reunion. the addition of 6 kent-kids running around definitely made things livelier.

saturday morning was a b-fast back at the kents, then ma and i ran some errands and went to fetch the boy from austin. i love my brother and his crazy clothes and his crazier hair. really.

made a slightly late entrance to the final lyssa party but did get to see a great slide show of my baby cousing growing up. and i got to laugh at david getting dragged around the room by my gram, earning his place as #1 grandkid.

home to pass out, wake up early, b-fast with ma, pa, gram and baby before heading to the airport and flying back to the bean.

it was a quick and hectic trip but i'm definitely glad i was able to go down. i got to see my lovely family and celebrate alyssa's graduation. and soak up a little more texas sun and love. and even though i didn't get to watch the spurs beat the suns, but knowing i was in the same city as the victory was still good.

so in conclusion, yay family and go spurs go!

one of my hobbies

i love to look at graffiti (in case u haven't noticed). it's kind of the most consistent and long-lasting hobby/interest i've ever had. blogging is probably a close second or third.

most people i know, particularly close friends and family, are aware of my love of street art. i periodically have tags and stencils as my desktop wallpaper at work. i take pictures of random graffiti i find while walking to lunch with my roommates. i even spent an evening showing my grandma banksy pictures in a book... and she was interested. getting other people interested or even understanding and less offended by graffiti is enjoyable for me. i also think it makes people be more appreciative and aware of their surroundings. noticing street art makes you look up to see the highest roof edges and low to the bottoms of streetlights which in turn just makes you LOOK. which is huge sometimes...

so while home in san antonio last week, my dad took me around to visit a couple of areas he'd spotted in his travels that he thought i'd be interested in. from a bridge underpass to a huge warehouse on the side of some railroad tracks, and a jogging path in the park- they were all great. after posting some pictures, getting feedback and doing a bit of googling i found out that two of them were "clogged caps" locations. huge organized graffiti showcases. i remember reading about the clogged caps 3 movie a few years ago, probably in the san antonio current, and i was annoyed that i missed the showings they had. so while i still havent seen the movie, i'm glad i got to visit two sites in one day. and i'm glad events like clogged caps exist. (and also makes me think more opportunities like this would cause less need for stringent and annoying graf laws like what they're pushing for in SA right now.) i would love to attend one of these next time around. really. it'd be awesome and so smelly.

here's an article i found about the event last year, for your education and my history: http://www.austinundergroundfilm.com/2006/08/12/clogged-caps-5-aerosol-art-fest/

-- on a different note --

show i love: workout. i started watching it with my mom last summer. last saturday on the plane i watched like 3 hours worth. (oh jetblue and bravo marathons!) brian, one of the trainers, is adorable. he's so country-cute and jock-y. even if he is balding- love it. none of the trainers at my gym are as country as him. if they were, i might go more often. :p

it's playoff season, kids

spurs are in it. about to start game 4 (up 2-1) in denver. i love my spurs.

tony parker is so hott. i hate that i still think this, but there's no denying it. i love tp.

and charles barkley on tnt. this is also a big reason for me loving basketball on tv. he cracks me up. i wish steve kerr was here with him. oh steve.

oh yeah, that timmy guy. he's got game. HA. timmy. please squash melo yellow and yank on one of iverson's tight tight braids. thanks.

wouldn't it be so cute if iverson and carmelo came out with matching braids for game five? all the spurs are shaved or cropped close. i wonder if popovich makes them do that...

ok, watching the game now.

happy

happy cos i'll be in texas in two days with my family. it'll be warm there too. and i won't have to do work for a week.

it's fiesta week and there's tons of stuff going on. a luncheon, a wedding, and a baby shower. parades and festivals. hiking trips, movie dates and graffiti explorations.

i lived in san antonio for 16 years. then on and off for the last 8. (even though i've been working in boston the last two i still consider myself only here part-time.) every trip home is great and especially now, i haven't been home since x-mas- almost 4 months- it's like a big re-connection for me.
i need to charge up my 'hometown' batteries. climb a giant hill with daddy and just cuddle with mommy. pinch baby david. get full of shrimp fajitas and whataburgers and cherry limeades. it will all be good for the soul, ya know. it'll help me get over the grey slump of current life and get more pumped for spring in boston.

i'm so happy. feel like singing a pat green song.

(i feel happy like this only when i stop watching the news and don't troll the internet for the latest updates. still. the latest news today has me sad about the families of the dead, sympathetic to all the vtech kids, worried about all the outcasts at american college, and horrified by the number of people killed in iraq.)

back in the bean

i flew home last week. and by home i mean, i went to austin and then my dad picked me up and we ate at what-a-burger and then we drove home san antonio. whataburger is my most favorite fast food burger joint as of late. totally. i order a number 7 (whataburger jr) w/ dr. pepper everytime. just my size and my favorite drink. with a side of fries and fancy ketchup, obvs.

home was good. hanging with my momma and baby and daddy 99% of the time. saw grams and gramps and aunts and uncles and cousins galore. it was good to see people i hadn't seen in ages. i love my family cos they're so familiar and we all resemble each other physically and but also we're all so very different. family is awesome like that.

thursday i got my wisdom teeth pulled out. i was loopy and on drugs the rest of the day and the next. then saturday and sunday i was in pain. i cried a lot and my mom rubbed my back and my brother brought me salt water and daddy gave me jello.

feliz navidad
christmas eve was good. after a childrens mass w/o fr. francis, we visited jourdanton and saw all my mom's clan. there were so many yummies. turkey and 2 kinds of ham and pies and sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy and everything. i could only eat the mushy stuff and even then my mouth hurt like whoa and i was drugged up.

christmas morning we visited grandpa and in the evening mommy daddy davey and i went to mass in san fernando cathedral.
i love that church. the fact that it was the 275th christmas mass celebrated in that building. and the archbishop of san anto was the celebrant. and the incense all around. and that i saw the burial place of bowie and other alamo heroes right before in the entry way. it was great and i'm glad we went there. i love christmas mass, even when its bilingual and i dont catch all the spanish parts. then leaving as we exited downtown we saw all the christmas lights on the church and all around- so pretty and so san antonio. i love it.

after mass, on our drive home, we noticed that sonic was open so we went and got grub. i got a chili dog. and cherry limeade. man i love those things too.

the rest of my time home was spent hanging out, sleeping, crying in pain, and then hanging out some more. it was not as great as most only because i couldn't eat all the delicious things i love but there was so much lovely family time and hugs and kisses that it was all fabulous anyways.

and then
i flew back to boston and it was cold and rachael picked me up from the airport. i worked from 6am to 2pm today and my mouth was sort of semi throbbing in pain the whole time. not so awesome. then i came home and watched oprah and got depressed over poverty in america. thanks oprah. I’ve been lounging around, chilling w/ rachael tonight in our cold living room. watching this texas high school football special on dateline. it brings back memories of my early childhood in jourdanton. Where our fridays were spent on the field and i wore red and white all the time. goooo indians!

anyways…
I have to go to work at 6 am again tomorrow. and then again on sunday. on new years eve i have to work. grrreat. at least i get monday off. thank goodness.