Mondays are for Whiners.

Hehehe. Seriously. I’ve spent the better part of the day listening to folks bitch and complain about one thing or another. I need a tea break and an escape route. It’s going to be a short week for me. Off to upstate NY to help T. out with his last craft show for the season and some quiet time to work on my novel. Sweet Jesus..I need to finish this draft by year’s end.

I’m still reading Highsmith’s bio. I came up to the chapter on her racist views of Jews, Blacks and Puerto Ricans. It left me in a quandary. I wasn’t sure I wanted to read on. I just don’t understand how an intellect can be a racist. Won’t delve too deeply into my own thoughts on that right now. Some friends encouraged me to keep going with the bio and keep in mind the context of the socio-political-economic atmosphere of her times. I’ve pushed on and am now reading about her life in the late 1970s. I’m almost done with this book. As much as I want to read every book she’s ever written…I may hit just a few more of her most noted novels to see the progression of her craft. It will be interesting to see how her work unfolded and her writing developed in her lifespan. I’ve also jotted down a list of books that influenced her work. May read those as well.

On Friday, I went to see Nilo Cruz’s play, A Bicycle Country at Theater for the New City in the East Village. The first half of the play was much better than the second half. His writing is so beautiful, it’s poetic. A few lines have stuck in my grey matter. There was supposed to be a Q&A with the playwright but alas he cancelled out. One of the actors said, she thought the play was a hopeful piece. Oh my gosh, I completely disagree with her. It’s the antithesis of hopeful. In fact, the second half goes to such a dark place that I expected all the actors to each take a knife and open their veins right there on stage. Gruesome visual but true sentiment nonetheless.

On Saturday, I met up with my writing group at our monthly meeting. I think we need to find a new venue. Our current location was so filled with a tour group that we could hardly hear ourselves. Afterwards, we went to a wine bar for a little catching up. I’ve been to this place once before, Amelie down on West 8th Street. It’s so cute and I had a lovely glass of Cote du Rhone wine. I actually had several glasses of wine but the red was my favorite. Yum!

Alas, all this socializing has left me a little off-track with some of my healthier eating choices. Drat! But today I’m back on track. Yay!! I’ve hit a bit of a plateau but I’m not worried as long as the scale doesn’t start trending back up again. I am steady with 19.5 lbs lost. I just need to break the 20 lb mark ‘cause I have a long way to go.

Tonight some yoga and a light dinner and I’ll be good to go. Working on strengthening the muscles around my crappy knees. Hehehe…that made me giggle.

Mmm, I picked up Mumford & Sons new album, Babel. Really good album. I still like Sigh No More much better but maybe I just haven’t listened closely enough yet. We shall see.

All for now.

Peace,

L~


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Hooray for Grey Days

It’s been damp and grey the last couple of days. Yesterday, I took a walk down by the Lower East Side and came across this wall of urban painted pictograph on E. Houston. I had to take a pic. At first, I wanted a shot of it straight on but I liked the details on this piece. The paint was running down the wall. Unlike ancient glyphs, there was no etching into rock for longevity. Instead, the temporary aspect of the piece made me pause. The city keeps evolving and changing each year with a quickening pace. I looked down to see if the paint had reached the sidewalk but the rain seems to have washed it away.

Anyway, I kept walking, listening to Ani DiFranco on my iPod, and on Lafayette something caught my eye. On Bond street, there is this amazing iridescent green building that I haven’t seen before. I was trying to get a decent pic to show off its colors but alas I only pinned down a corner. The building has a stone gate that reminded me of Gaudi. Lovely.

Enjoy the pics.

L~
 
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2012 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.