Touching in (roller coaster).

Photo from here.

Life is crazy.

Crazy good.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for projects, trying to keep myself busy, looking for a good "story of my life" to relate to friends and family back home as I was about to visit.

Today things are very different. I wish someone could have warned me.

Roller coaster life. 

New job possibly maybe, most likely.

Tons of things to learn. New schedule to adjust to.

Looking for time to update you guys in between.

The wave is rolling high.

Thinking about you all the time.

I will keep up my promise of Mexico posts, lots of thoughts to relate about my visit there but have had no time to sit down yet.

Have been swept up my feet! 

Focusing on enjoying the ride (in between the panic attacks, that is). 

Hope you are well.

Lost of hugs,

R

Everybody's Fault.

Picture and more info about the SAF here

Early this morning the San Andreas Fault woke me up with quite a rattle.

The bed was shaking and I could hear the room creaking.

Having grown up in Mexico City, I am quite familiar with earthquakes (most notably I experienced this one when I was just a girl). So, it was funny for my sleepy self to think that all that shaking was caused by an epic raccoon fight on the roof.

The quake was over very quickly, giving me no time to get up or react.

I was back asleep in no time at all.

The way I see it, it is best to have periodic smallish quakes often rather than not to have them in a while, as the energy of the earth's plaques is released with fury when that happens.

This one, however, is the strongest I have felt in quite some time (4.0). After all I was, quite literally, sleeping right on top of the fault!

Have you ever been in an earthquake?

What was your first thought about what was going on?

I would love to hear your stories,

R

PS. For an interactive  map of the San Andreas Fault click here, and for a comprehensive explanation about how the Fault shapes the San Francisco Bay Area visit here.

December redux.

I can confidently tell you that December is, by far, my least favorite month of the year.

If I could dig a hole deep enough, I would spend the month in there, waiting for January to come.

Then, while reviewing my latest photos, I realized that this December brought some serious fun.
Besides parties with good friends and lots of yummy food:

There were magnolia buds,

Cows,

And a parade of lighted tractors.

We discovered a persimmon tree on our back yard,

Played with fire,

Had a beach all to ourselves (and lots of birds),

Saw Elk,

And ate the freshest of crabs.

I suppose I should be reconsidering that "least favorite" label.

Hope you are having fun!

R

Deep water wonder (Hydrothermal Worm).

Life is full of wonder and will always surpass our imagination. A good proof of that is this little guy recently discovered with the help of a FEI Quanta electron microscope.

You might be relieved to know he is one of the smallest multicellular living things (enhanced over 500 times his real size in the photo) and meanders underwater near hydrothermal vents.

Still, I would love to see him!

I bet Guillermo del Toro would agree.

Image by Philippe Crassous for FEI  found via Huffington Post

Androgynous beauty.

 

Photo from here.

"She is the Boy and He is the Girl" 

photos by Michelle Du Xuan for Carbon Copy.

I just discovered the most beautiful, androgynous creature. Andrej Pejic is a 19 year old model that has rapidly become a muse for major designers and who models both menswear and womenswear. Sadly I heard about him because a photo of him on the cover of Dossier Journal has created some controversy. Here it is:

This photo by Collier Schorr and the controversy story found here.

Some retailers want the cover of the magazine to be covered up (like a porno magazine would be) because of Andrej's feminine looks. To me, that approach is absurd and simplistic but raises some interesting questions. Why do "manly" men are expected to show their muscles while Andrej's body is not acceptable? And even further, why can men expose their torsos while females can't? It is complicated and unfair. I look forwards Bitch Magazine's take on the whole issue (if you have not read Bitch you should!).

For now, I am glad someone like him is out there to make the world more interesting and beautiful.

And of course I will but that issue of Dossier (with the added bonus of a David Lynch article!).


9/16/11 UPDATE. New York Magazine has an interesting article about Andrej. As it turns out, he is not only beautiful. but has a great sense of humor.

More Cues.

We must be on the right track, since life keeps sending signals to confirm it.

Here is what I stumbled upon after writing my life as a Wave update:

Image from here.

 You can buy this here

Isn't it wonderful?

So on we go...
and today we get the keys to our new home!

Cinco de Mayo.

Oaxacan embroidery by RR

Growing up in Mexico I don't remember celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

Not once.

So when I moved to the States I found it very puzzling that it is the ultimate Gringo-Mexican celebration and, frankly, it used to irritate me (just search for images about it on line and you will find tons of incredibly offensive stereotypes). Even more annoying was that people attribute the date to the Mexican Independence, which is wrong.

Why celebrate so excessibly such a random date? That I know of, maybe just Puebla celebrates cinco de Mayo, but for the rest of Mexico it is just the anniversary of an 1862 battle against the French mentioned in passing at school.

The best explanation I have heard about the randomness of the holiday is that the American government did not feel right to celebrate any of the major Mexican Holidays like Febuary 24th (Flag Day), September 16th (Independence Day) and November 20th (Revolution Day) because they commemorate Mexico's sovereignty and thus observing any of those dates could give all the mexican immigrants a reason to up raise. 

Their solution was to choose an "innocuous" date (but is it realy?).

Voilá, Cinco de Mayo!

As time has gone by I have come to embrace the holiday (as well as burritos, something else that was completely new to me when I immigrated to the States).

After all, any excuse is a good excuse for a party.

And a Mexican party? Even better!

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

Tequila image from here

The Wave.

Hokusai's "The Great Wave of Kanawaga".

Remember those doors I mentioned before?

They are life changing experiences that leave you wondering what is waiting for you on the other side. Usually, what awaits you is not what you thought, and I strongly believe everything (good or bad) happens for a reason.

When I began this blog I was facing the unknown (more than usual, that is), and that was a major factor in my deciding to write my daily rants. I have not been explicit about this, but last December I was laid off from my job. It was scary and uncertainty was eating me away. 

Since then life has not been easy, and J and I have been through a lot.

Our lives have been a roller coaster. 

What seemed to be the worst experiences (losing my job, not finding another one straight away, stress and uncertainty) have all lined up to set up what is the most exciting thing that has happened to us in a long, long time.

J has found the P E R F E C T job. He is so excited! People at his new workplace are very happy about him joining their team, he will use his skills in a very cool project (he will start from zero an organic edible garden and a small farm for a winery) while he will learn tons of new things about vine cultivation and wine making.

It was him -who was not really looking- and not I who found a new job, and because I have not found one yet it is easy for us to relocate. We have found a lovely new home and cannot wait to explore the beautiful area we are moving to.

Life has a funny sense of humor, and it loves to play with your head. 

I see it as a huge wave that tumbles me around at its will and have learnt to trust it because, 

in the end, everything works out just fine.

Let's fly away!

Don't you sometimes feel like taking off?
Leave everything behind?

Here is our answer!

Up-inspired house  by The National Geographic Channel (via Mighty Girl, via say YES! to Hoboken)

The National Geographic channel has enacted Pixar's film Up as part of an upcoming series called How hard can it be? to be released next fall.
Isn't that amazing?

I hope I dream about being in that floating house tonight...

Bowerbirds.

, 

photo from National Geographic by Tim Laman

I recently discovered the peculiar Bowerbirds and their unique nesting habits.

To woo their ladies, these little birds from Papua New Guinea decorate their intricate nests with everything available, even colorful bits of trash. No two nests are alike, and they are all incredible.

See for yourself:

photo from here

photo from here

You can read the whole National Geographic article about Bowerbirds and see more photos here.

Ojos de Perro Azúl.

"We Have the Blues Together (2011)" by George Rodrigue

I just found one of my favorite short stories online!

Ojos de Perro Azúl (Eyes of a Blue Dog) by Gabriel García Máquez is a beautiful story that has haunted me ever since I read it for the first time a long time ago. 

I still think about it after a dream filled night, specially if those dreams involve "strangers".

I hope you enjoy it!

R

PS. I can't believe how adequate George Rodrigue's painting is to illustrate this post. I would love to ask him if he was somehow influenced by Gabriel García Márquez' story, as many of his paintings include blue dogs.

And how weird is it that García Márquez' birthday happens to be tomorrow?

Happy birthday Mr. Gabo!

Stitched.

Last weekend J cut his finger with a knife while preparing scones.
We had to spend all morning at the ER, and he came out with 7 stitches. The doctor was surprised he did not damage his tendon, as the cut goes all the way through his finger, and looks almost like he had no bone. Like one of those magic tricks where people get sawed in half.
While I am sorry he cut himself, and was worried sick about him, now that he feels better I am enjoying seeing him heal.
The body is the most amazing thing! It just knows what to do, and does it so efficiently.

Cue.

Life has funny ways to let us know we have hit one of it's nerves. Sometimes they come as small hints that you could walk right past without noticing if you are not paying attention, and sometimes they hit you right on the face.

I ran into one of the latter today, or rather, it ran me over.

Remember what I said yesterday about death and the loss of conversations it implies?

Here is what I found this morning when I opened my book at a random page (and I will leave it at that, since the story says it all):

Why I don't keep a daily Planner, 

by Stace Budzco.

Written on his calendar

on the day of my

father's death, these

words: Call son.

Vintage Blue Children's Toy Telephone from Carolemarie on Etsy

It came from a great little book titled Hint Fiction, and anthology of stories in 25 words or fewer, edited by Robert Swartwood.

You can find more information about the book and Hint Fiction at Robert Swartwood's website, and I also strongly recommend that you listen to the feature that NPR's Weekend Edition had about it here.