LA is M.I.A in NYC

For the record, I know I have been M.I.A. for quite some time.  I did not fall off the face of the earth although at times it kind of felt that way. My life has been in serious need of some adjustments.

Although, I wanted to start my own editing business...things have detoured a bit from that plan. Instead I landed a full-time permanent gig working as an executive assistant. God! to have decent medical coverage again makes this such a huge relief.  The people I work with are genuinely decent and respectful folks and I'm really grateful for the work and the steady paycheck. It also gives me breathing room to deal with some ongoing health issues as well as time for my creative writing.

I wish I could say that these past few months I have been writing up a storm but alas, I spent a lot of time curled up in the fetal position unable to face making decisions on my novel, on what my next move would be, on what I wanted for myself...you get the picture.  I spent time tutoring (homework duty) with my young nieces (6 year old and 8 year old), binging on two seasons of House of Cards, catching up with my reading, taking care of an ailing body. Basically, trying to sort myself out. Hibernating inside my crabby shell.  

March 3rd I started my new job and my day-to-day changed drastically. I am learning the way this office works, learning new systems, trying to gain adequate access to half a dozen different applications. The stress level is low which is really good. My days are full and by the time I make it home, I've been crashing.  It's been an adjustment but I'm hanging in there. Yay!

Let's see, so much to catch up on but I'm going to pace myself today.  
I'm currently reading an anthology of short sci-fi stories.  It's okay...nothing has excited me quite yet.
The last movie that I saw and that I thoroughly enjoyed was Spike Jonze's HER.  Loved it!!
Just saw the finale to the sc-fi show Helix.  Lots of interesting questions are coming up and I look forward to another season in 2015.
And last week's episode of the Good Wife and Being Human (US ver) left me in a state of shock.  Yes, I am completely hooked.
The three songs that I have on heavy rotation are Pharrell's Happy, Hall & Oates' ManEater, Dawn & Hawkes' cover of I've Just Seen A Face (I've attached the song below in case you wanna listen).
The last play that I went to see was The Architecture of Becoming...it was a collaboratively written piece (never a good idea) Altho' it had some decent moments, what connected the stories was flimsy at best.  I wanted more of the surreal elements they promised at the beginning of the play to play out in a grander way but by the end is was all a big let down.
I know I'm late to the party on this one but I just started watching Game of Thrones, Season 1. Really enjoying the twists and turns...I know there is more to come but I am taking my sweet time with this one.
I've also started writing up a sketch of a monologue. A tiny ember of an idea is surfacing and I wrote what I could of it earlier today.  More to come.
I've also had some groovy dinners with friends: Katt, Yoav, Christine, William, Brenda and skype visits withTony...so glad they are in my life. :-)

Gosh, so that does it for me.  I am going to try to get back on a weekly schedule with these blog entries again but no big promises. In the meantime, I am getting back to work on my writing schedule as well as trying to figure out a decent exercise schedule.  All for now.  

Peace,

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2014 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.

Gluten-Free Feast

I spent the holiday weekend upstate with my best friend Tony. Buddies since college, we now share similar food restrictions so it was great to see the very many options to change up my one note menu.  He cooked his heart out and I was his sous chef for one or two recipes.  We had homemade vegetarian Indian food which included Mooli Koftas (shredded radishes) with a green sauce, Raita, Dhal where we substituted tomatoes with red bell peppers, Chickpeas in a spicy sauce, brown basmati rice…I know I’m forgetting something but it’ll come back to me.  He showed me how to change up and substitute ingredients to get a similar taste and texture from original recipes.  The biggest one was substituting red bell peppers for tomatoes and adding a little lemon juice/citric acid to give it a bite.  I made a lentil dish that’s so delish that I need to make it again as soon as possible.  

BiBamBop-November 2013
Pic taken by Antony Galbraith, Stolen by Lily

 On another night, T cooked up a host of Korean-style side dishes to make BiBamBop.  It included pickled jalapenos, spinach with garlic and sesame seeds, hijiki, cooked pea shoots, fresh bean sprouts, cooked mushrooms, pickled radishes, kimchi that he made from scratch the week before and rice.  He reminded me how easy it is to cook with food restrictions in mind that doesn’t include breads or pastas.  I sometimes get stuck eating one or two meals over and over again because it’s easy and quick to make.  The problem is the lack of variety makes me fall of the horse, reach for a slice of pizza which only causes my symptoms to flare up and pain to hook in.  A slice is just not worth it. 

He even made a modified Thanksgiving feast that included a tasty pumpkin pie without crust topped off with a dairy-free whipped cream made out of coconut milk, yum! We had squash with a mushroom gravy, a bread stuffing made with gluten-free breadcrumbs and parsnip mash. Ooo and a faux wine made with berries, grapes and celery that he juiced...YUMMY!  I did have a freak out moment when the stuffing came out of the oven and it was sitting on the stove and I saw the chunks of bread peeking out it.  I said, “Oh my god, I can’t eat that, it has bread in it.”  T just laughed at me and it occurred to me that it had to be gluten free bread.  His food allergies are a bit more extreme than mine. 

I went home with a small jar of kimchi and a loaf freshly baked bread made from bean flour. I had a cashew butter and jam sandwich last night and it was delish.   I know this whole blog entry revolves around the food that I ate but for the past couple of months I’ve been living in a bubble of all the foods that I am not supposed to / allowed to eat. [No gluten, no dairy, no tomatoes, no potatoes, no peanuts and no alcohol.] So to have a little leeway, to see other possibilities of what this new diet entails helped LOADS!!  A big shout out to Tony for being such a great friend, for cooking up such a feast, and for playing board games until we were cross-eyed. I'll include a pic of our Korean banquet when I get home tonight. 

Peace,

L~

 

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 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.

A New Day

I am starting my own business.  There is much to do but I am working up a business plan and some real workable and substantial goals to make it happen.  By next spring, I am going to open up my very own Editorial Service for Creative Writers.  I have both the education and the work experience in publishing to copyedit, proofread and give creative writers feedback.  [The only genre I won’t be able to work in is science-fiction.  Unfortunately, it’s too close to the genre that I currently write in.] I am still in the early stages of working up a plan but I wanted to get the ball rolling and let folks know what’s coming down the pipeline. 

The next five months will be about writing up my business plan, setting up the website, setting down some standard rates, getting the word out, and test piloting the plan. I’ve been doing research on my down time and making lots of notes for myself.  I am also using a couple of resources to help me plan things out. [I love this part.]  I’m sure I’ll also send some updates via my blog and social media to keep everyone up-to-date on how things are moving along. I am very excited about this new endeavor. 

*****

In the meantime, I am also still writing.  I spent Veteran’s Day working on my novel for about five hours. I enjoyed it and felt some satisfaction on the changes that I have made with this revision. It’s an excruciatingly slow process when in the midst of creating while revising but can't seem to do it any other way.  Mostly, I just want to make sure that the intention of the sentence is in line with the intention of the characters, without trying to be too precious with the language.

I wanted to mention this odd thing that inspired me recently.  Edward Burns has a commercial where he talks about his first movie and how he had a stack of rejections from Hollywood.  He talked to his dad because he was bummed out over the many rejections and his dad reminded Burns that he made the movie because he enjoyed the process. 

For whatever reason, that story gently reminded me that despite all my complaints and whinging in the past that I really do love to write. I write all the time.  In my journal, on my blog, I write to my friends long meandering emails about what’s going on with me and then I write notes to myself reminding me about something that happened in the past, something that bubbles up from the depths of my psyche.  I enjoy the feel of language beneath my pen and under my key strokes, on the page and in my head, always in the midst of trying to transmit and articulate.  I feel incredibly blessed that I have the freedom to do so in this time.  I am loving life on this cold November day.   

Peace,

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 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.