I’m taking a break with a hot cup of earl grey tea and an oatmeal cookie with raisins…yum my favorite. Despite the muggy day outside, the office is ice cold. Brrr.
The last couple of days, in thinking about my novel, I’ve been thinking about how limited our resources really are. You see, I’ve been trying to imagine a world were oil has been used up. No more oil. What would that look like? We would not be able to produce any more cars, have any gas to run cars, have fuel for the large machinery that filters our water but what about the day to day products. No more new plastic products. No more lotions, hair product, the containers that contain them. At least nothing new would be able to be produced. What we will have to contend with is the tons of waste that we have thrown away. I wonder if we would learn then to actually re-use those containers that we throw out without much thought.
It’s odd, this shifting perspective to imagine how the world would look like. No fuel for trucks would mean, no one carting away our walls of garbage. Where would it go? The few times the garbage companies went on strike in our lifetime, the smell of a week’s worth of garbage piled high along the sidewalks come to mind. Aren’t other countries now dealing with such a dilemma? There is much more in my head than what I’m actually writing out.
There would be no more jobs…not the kind where you bring home a paycheck. And once the mobs and scavengers have snatched up as many supplies as they can, then what? How do people survive? In a city setting, where are food sources going to come from? A little plot garden? Not sure that would sustain the masses. Would people stay in cities…or would they leave out into the suburbs where they can raise goats and chickens and lots of veggies. It does my head in to start thinking this way. I sometimes think that I will see this in my lifetime. Eek scary.
Anyway, my sister laughs at me when I want to save glass jars. They make a good place to store dry goods once they’ve been cleaned and dried thoroughly. Why throw them away? I think she worries that I am turning into a hoarder. I’m not hoarding…I’m conscious of the impact of our garbage lately. This is not to say that I’m perfect about this, in fact it’s a work in progress…but I grew up in the 70’s and I remember when we used wax paper and brown paper bags for our lunches instead of plastic cling and plastic bags. I remember real efforts to curb waste. I think the lessons sunk in deep and now I’m thinking about the future generations. How will they fare?
So for my very small part, I’m going to start giving up products. No more make-up, no more cosmetics (I will allow myself eye-liner ‘cause a girl needs something), no crazy skin cleansing products. I’m sticking to environmentally-friendly soap and witch hazel. No more hair products once I finish my hair gel. No more dying my hair. I’m going to go back to a natural dark brown color with a little grey instead of the red-tint that I seem to live on. I’d really like to give up deodorant but I’m sure my family, friends and office mates will complain very loudly. I’m just thinking about all the chemicals in just these basic products as well as the containers they come in. Ergh. I know my small contribution is like a drop in the ocean but so be it. I’m keeping it simple.
Peace and hair grease,
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.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Uhm, yeah!
This weekend I went to see Oliver Stone's Savages. Eeek! The violence was a bit more than I could bear. I should know better from Stone but I was intrigued and wanted to see...now I wish I hadn't. Ergh. Oh, and I have to say that I really don't like movies that gives two endings, come on! What a freaking cop out. Choose one and go with it!! My preference would have been the first version. And Salma Hayek was AMAZING! And Benecio del Toro was uber-creepy and reminded me of some family members...weird but true.
It's early in the morning and I had some time to kill before I had to hop on a train to go to work so I thought I'd post an entry. Better now than later. I went to bed early last night...I'm starting to feel a bit under the weather. I'm not sure if I'm coming down with a cold or my hypochondria has kicked in. I visited my mom in the hospital on Saturday. She had knee replacement surgery done. Poor mami. She was in a lot of pain the first three days. Ergh! By the time I went to see her on Friday night, she was feeling better. Altho' that visit taught me that I should never, ever be a nurse 'cause I tried helping her to the bathroom and managed to bump her bad leg three times. Oops, sorry mami.
On Saturday, I stopped by and kept her company for a couple of hours and Ces and her kids stopped by. Around lunch time the nurse came in with a tray of food and my two youngest nieces sat right next to my mom because they wanted to eat too. Really?! Hospital food? Yes, indeed-y. They ate bread with butter and managed to eat the boiled carrots and slices of roast beef. Well the nurse took pity on us and gave us an extra tray of food. LOL! My nieces are scavengers...LOL! Very funny to watch. They reminded me of a swarm of locusts...once they finished they went back to watching cartoons.
My mom's church lady friends stopped by while she was away doing her physical therapy so there I was trying to entertain these older Spanish women. They bombarded me with questions since they barely knew me...I felt like I was in the middle of an inquisition. My grandmother jumped me and save me from having to answer too many personal questions. Go grandma! She's old school, not into sharing too much personal info with people because she thinks it'll be used against you. Hehehe. At that moment, I sure appreciated it.
Anyway, mami comes out of the hospital on Wednesday. I'll go trek down to Brooklyn tonight for a visit, then hop on the express line back to the Bronx. I've got a long day ahead of me so I may as well go get my day started.
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.
It's early in the morning and I had some time to kill before I had to hop on a train to go to work so I thought I'd post an entry. Better now than later. I went to bed early last night...I'm starting to feel a bit under the weather. I'm not sure if I'm coming down with a cold or my hypochondria has kicked in. I visited my mom in the hospital on Saturday. She had knee replacement surgery done. Poor mami. She was in a lot of pain the first three days. Ergh! By the time I went to see her on Friday night, she was feeling better. Altho' that visit taught me that I should never, ever be a nurse 'cause I tried helping her to the bathroom and managed to bump her bad leg three times. Oops, sorry mami.
On Saturday, I stopped by and kept her company for a couple of hours and Ces and her kids stopped by. Around lunch time the nurse came in with a tray of food and my two youngest nieces sat right next to my mom because they wanted to eat too. Really?! Hospital food? Yes, indeed-y. They ate bread with butter and managed to eat the boiled carrots and slices of roast beef. Well the nurse took pity on us and gave us an extra tray of food. LOL! My nieces are scavengers...LOL! Very funny to watch. They reminded me of a swarm of locusts...once they finished they went back to watching cartoons.
My mom's church lady friends stopped by while she was away doing her physical therapy so there I was trying to entertain these older Spanish women. They bombarded me with questions since they barely knew me...I felt like I was in the middle of an inquisition. My grandmother jumped me and save me from having to answer too many personal questions. Go grandma! She's old school, not into sharing too much personal info with people because she thinks it'll be used against you. Hehehe. At that moment, I sure appreciated it.
Anyway, mami comes out of the hospital on Wednesday. I'll go trek down to Brooklyn tonight for a visit, then hop on the express line back to the Bronx. I've got a long day ahead of me so I may as well go get my day started.
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.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Chilled out Chicana
I started to write this entry yesterday but quickly became sidetracked.
I treated myself to two days off and made a long weekend of it. Hung out with my buddy Tony up in Oneida and he made yummy meals for me. He turned me on to a gluten-free Hard Cider from Vermont called Amber Woodchuck (or something like that). It’s so freakin’ good. He also forced me to watch a couple of episodes of the UK comedy, The IT Crowd that made me laugh so hard that even today, three days later, I’m still laughing as I recall one or two scenes from each of the episodes I watched. It was good fun. We also watched Felicity Day’s The Guild…also very funny in its own geeky way. I’m not much of an online gamer so some of the references went over my head but it still made me laugh.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the quiet, being away from the city, being back upstate which is really my second home, just reminded me how much I want a quieter life. He taught me a French dice game called Dix Millett on the last night and we stayed up until 2:30 am playing it. Very addicting game. Now I have to teach my sisters to play it so I can have someone to play with.
Let’s see I also wrote a little, walked around a little, slept really well for the first time in weeks, sat on the porch and drank Cider and listened to the rain fall, chatted a little, listened to a little music, cut up lots of veggies for lunch and dinner, and had a hell of a good time doing it all. I felt closer to being my old self (the one in the good space), a settled content soul. What a difference just a little peace and quiet makes.
I also appreciate Tony friendship and it was good to catch up with him. I hadn’t realized that it’s been two years since we’ve seen each other in person. Skyping has fooled me into thinking I’d seen him sooner. Yikes, it’s been too long and I’ll probably head back up there again very soon for a writing jag. I’ve been thinking about moving out of NYC and heading north for a long time. Maybe it’s time to pull myself together and look at job opportunities in Syracuse and Albany or Burlington, VT ‘cause this dog-eat-dog life is wearing on my very last nerve.
Yesterday morning, I was still feeling relaxed and pretty gentle after such a quiet time. Of course, today I’m back to calling rude bumping people, “tool” and “douche bag” after 2.5 days and my Chicana temper is back into full effect. Ergh! I thought it would take a little longer than that. Bummer. By the way, what is up with people walking around and texting in the midst of a crowded sidewalk? It wouldn’t be a big deal, if said people were walking at about the same pace as everyone else but Noooooo, instead you have them either walking in a weird robotic way because they can’t walk and text at the same time OR they are not watching where they are going and they ACTUALLY get annoyed when they bump into oncoming walking traffic…WTF is that about?! *sigh * I have no patience for self-absorbed a**h***s. I am this close (forefinger and thumb very close together) to slapping away the cell phone from their hands every opportunity I get. Hehehe. Made me giggle, cause it’s true.
Music update: Jack White has a new video out for Freedom at 21 which is by far my favorite song on his Blunderbuss album, (Love Interruption still high up on the list). However, the video is so stupid that I won’t even put it up. Grinding half naked women on Jack White just does NOT do it for me. Sorry. I think he even channels some Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp ticks when he’s captured in solo shots. I like the cuts of him riffing on his guitar and if I could splice the video to just those images I’d do just that…but alas…it goes to some weird extreme of a car chase in the desert, female officer arresting White and putting him in an all-female jail, then the grinding begins. Yep, not my cup of tea (as I clutch my pearls). LOL!
Jumping music, Tony made me a watch a couple of Kimbra videos that are so cute and creepy at the same time that they should be checked out as well. Settle Down video below. I have to say I really like Kimbra’s voice. She reminds me of an upbeat, bubbly P.J. Harvey. Is that sacrilege? Hehehe.
Last but not least, I cannot stop listening to Lianne La Havas. The video that I put up last week still remains my favorite but another tune called LIAR really gets to me too. Check ‘em out.
That’s all she wrote.
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.
I treated myself to two days off and made a long weekend of it. Hung out with my buddy Tony up in Oneida and he made yummy meals for me. He turned me on to a gluten-free Hard Cider from Vermont called Amber Woodchuck (or something like that). It’s so freakin’ good. He also forced me to watch a couple of episodes of the UK comedy, The IT Crowd that made me laugh so hard that even today, three days later, I’m still laughing as I recall one or two scenes from each of the episodes I watched. It was good fun. We also watched Felicity Day’s The Guild…also very funny in its own geeky way. I’m not much of an online gamer so some of the references went over my head but it still made me laugh.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the quiet, being away from the city, being back upstate which is really my second home, just reminded me how much I want a quieter life. He taught me a French dice game called Dix Millett on the last night and we stayed up until 2:30 am playing it. Very addicting game. Now I have to teach my sisters to play it so I can have someone to play with.
Let’s see I also wrote a little, walked around a little, slept really well for the first time in weeks, sat on the porch and drank Cider and listened to the rain fall, chatted a little, listened to a little music, cut up lots of veggies for lunch and dinner, and had a hell of a good time doing it all. I felt closer to being my old self (the one in the good space), a settled content soul. What a difference just a little peace and quiet makes.
I also appreciate Tony friendship and it was good to catch up with him. I hadn’t realized that it’s been two years since we’ve seen each other in person. Skyping has fooled me into thinking I’d seen him sooner. Yikes, it’s been too long and I’ll probably head back up there again very soon for a writing jag. I’ve been thinking about moving out of NYC and heading north for a long time. Maybe it’s time to pull myself together and look at job opportunities in Syracuse and Albany or Burlington, VT ‘cause this dog-eat-dog life is wearing on my very last nerve.
Yesterday morning, I was still feeling relaxed and pretty gentle after such a quiet time. Of course, today I’m back to calling rude bumping people, “tool” and “douche bag” after 2.5 days and my Chicana temper is back into full effect. Ergh! I thought it would take a little longer than that. Bummer. By the way, what is up with people walking around and texting in the midst of a crowded sidewalk? It wouldn’t be a big deal, if said people were walking at about the same pace as everyone else but Noooooo, instead you have them either walking in a weird robotic way because they can’t walk and text at the same time OR they are not watching where they are going and they ACTUALLY get annoyed when they bump into oncoming walking traffic…WTF is that about?! *sigh * I have no patience for self-absorbed a**h***s. I am this close (forefinger and thumb very close together) to slapping away the cell phone from their hands every opportunity I get. Hehehe. Made me giggle, cause it’s true.
Music update: Jack White has a new video out for Freedom at 21 which is by far my favorite song on his Blunderbuss album, (Love Interruption still high up on the list). However, the video is so stupid that I won’t even put it up. Grinding half naked women on Jack White just does NOT do it for me. Sorry. I think he even channels some Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp ticks when he’s captured in solo shots. I like the cuts of him riffing on his guitar and if I could splice the video to just those images I’d do just that…but alas…it goes to some weird extreme of a car chase in the desert, female officer arresting White and putting him in an all-female jail, then the grinding begins. Yep, not my cup of tea (as I clutch my pearls). LOL!
Jumping music, Tony made me a watch a couple of Kimbra videos that are so cute and creepy at the same time that they should be checked out as well. Settle Down video below. I have to say I really like Kimbra’s voice. She reminds me of an upbeat, bubbly P.J. Harvey. Is that sacrilege? Hehehe.
Last but not least, I cannot stop listening to Lianne La Havas. The video that I put up last week still remains my favorite but another tune called LIAR really gets to me too. Check ‘em out.
That’s all she wrote.
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.
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