Last night I was watching Saturday Night Live and I couldn't stop laughing...
This is the best political skit ever

Today was the first day back to school. I had this major realization that in less than a year I will have a book written, have taught my own class, and have a masters degree to my name. It was a scary thought. A moment when I worry and think I don't know what to do next.

I had my fiction workshop this afternoon. The professor is the newly hired Yiyun Li from Mills College. I had no idea what to expect and was nervous because last spring I requested her to be on my thesis committee without even taking a class with her. It was a risky move, but I love her stories and figured I would go for it.

Today I am so happy I made that decision. I can tell Yiyun will be an excellent mentor and instructor- she is anxious, funny, and knowledgable. In just three hours with her I was inspired to come home and write something new- no deadline, no assignment, just blank page. That has never happened before. I have not written all summer. But here is a start...to something new...not sure where or what it will turn into...but it is a start.....

The night I left, I snuck into my mother’s room while she was sleeping in bed with her boyfriend. He had one hairy leg that hung off the bed and out of the covers that melted into his upper thigh. His leg hair was curly and darker higher up on his leg. My cheeks turned red with anger and embarrassment under my sweatshirt hood. I knew he was naked, but didn’t look away. My mother’s room smelled stale like a pond unwilling to dry up at the end of a hot summer. I ran my thumb across the letter I wrote earlier and meant to leave on her night table next to the Tiffany necklace she always wore. She was capable of lying. She told me her boyfriend wasn’t serious and the necklace wasn’t from him. I picked up the heavy necklace and stuffed it into the sweatshirt pocket with my letter. I never kissed my mother on the cheek or looked at her one last time before I disappeared.
I’m sure there’s been a lot of speculation about what happened to me, but that’s the least of my worries. I sold the necklace, bought a pistol, and made it across the border. Sometimes I worry that only a fence divides me from my mother, that the land is really the same thing. When I crossed the border the sand didn’t change color, the dried yellow bushes were the same, and the freeway was even the same. Adelita tells me the further south I go the greener it will be. Adelita works at the food stands down the road from her house. Everyday after lunch I sit on her patio and watch as she heads down the highway on foot with her baskets filled with eggs and flour. I usually just sit on the porch, listen to the radio, and polish my gun with a dirt covered rag dipped in lard.
Five years ago, when I was ten, I remember my dad coming home from gassing up the jeep. I was ready and waiting. I had his M70 out and was rolling the bullets out of their new box, counting out twenty rounds. The bullets reminded me of the rolly-pollies I used to capture under the wet broken tree branches in our yard.
“Ready kiddo?” he said to me, walking up to our front porch of the house in San Diego. “I gotta pee; put the stuff in the car. Did your mom make us some sandwiches to take?” He didn’t even wait for an answer as he walked passed me and into the house.
I stuffed the gun, bullets, and a jacket into the back of his jeep. Even though I wanted to sit in the driver’s seat and test the steering wheel out like old times, I waited in the passenger seat. Dad came back outside wearing his hunting vest and holding a brown sandwich bag in his hand. Mother stood on the porch, watching us. She was a pale woman, blond hair cut short to frame her face, with a jade colored brooch hooked unto her pink sweater. The expression on her face was a mixture of hurt and confusion. Before she could say a word, dad turned on the engine and roared out of the driveway. I wonder if mom met her boyfriend back then, or what she ever really did when we were hunting.
When Adelita came home from the food stands she smelled like flour and burnt bread. She always had her black hair pulled back into a bun and complained how tourists in bikinis would buy a tortilla from her only to take a bite and throw it to the street dogs. We would sit on her tile floor and look at old catalogues. She was very fussy about getting my hair cut and insisted that if I was going to runaway I needed a new look. I didn’t get how a boy could change his look when his hair was already pretty short. Adelita told me she once knew a boy who ran away from Nicaragua. He had to dye his hair red and cut bangs. Adelita liked to talk about a lot of things, like drug trafficking, new hotels opening up, and who must have made it north across the border. She never asked me why I ran away or who I was running from. Adelita wasn’t worried that I had a gun and no passport. “It’s your decision, but south? Why south?” She would ask me in Spanish.
“I just want to have some fun,” I would respond, silently thanking my mother for sending me to Spanish immersion even when I resisted. I pulled at my sun burnt ear and stared at Adelita’s catalogues with the turned in pages.

This last weekend I was able to share one of the most amazing days with two people I care about so much. On Thursday I drove up to Redding to help Katie prepare, decorate for her wedding on Saturday. Even though I was extremely nervous about giving a speech it was so much fun decorating and spending time with Katie and her family. It was like old times and made me miss spending time with the Tower's family. I just feel so comfortable with them and it is always happy times.

The wedding on Saturday was the most beautiful wedding I have ever experienced- it was perfect. Katie and Paul are so perfect for each other. Their vows- amazing...they both wrote practically the same vow without knowing it and it just shows how they are meant to be. There was lots of good food, dinner, friends, family, and laughter. I met some of Paul's friends who were amazing and great people too. My speech went well...and I was happy I was able to say it to Paul and Katie in front of all their family and friends. Taking pictures through downtown Redding was especially fun and getting ready. It was great to get a manicure with Katie and just relax they day before. It was fun cutting out many oak leaf table placement tags, hanging strips of fabric in the orchard trees, and painting wooden wedding signs. The whole wedding was just the way every little girl should dream their wedding as being.

The only not so fun part is that I got sick. Not too much partying sick- but a flu. I feel so icky and achy and not fun. At least the sickness waited till after the wedding but now I have to start school and it is not so much fun. I have orientations all week and today was a struggle. I just want to get better :(

The weekends fly by way too fast. I have alot to do and it is impossible to finish it all in a weekend, so then I stress. Last night I couldn't sleep from 2:30a-4:30a because I had way to much on my mind:

+rewriting a story to turn in before Thursday to be workshopped at Tomales Bay
+Paying my school fees (still crossing my fingers the refund goes through this week so I do have money to pay)
+Finalizing speech for Katie and Paul's wedding for this weekend and the gift
+Having minor freak out episodes of reading something I wrote out-loud at the wedding in front of many people
+Having minor freak out episodes of being able to TA and write a thesis starting next week

So after laying awake worrying for an hour I lost an hour in Juhmpa Lahiri's new short story collection. I admire her so much. I seriously can't think of a writer that can write a better short story. You just finish her stories and smile because her craft is AMAZING.

This weekend I did have fun which probably added to me not finishing alot of things which lead to no sleeping. Palina came home so we watched movies, played video games, went shopping, had tasty drinks, and ate the most delish sushi buffet lunch ever. We decided not to eat anything until lunch so we were starving and truely got our money's worth. I ate 16 peices of sushi on top of tempura. We had to unbutton our pants after that lunch.

Along with worrying I dreamt of things...
I really want this backpack (I've had the same backpack for 6 years- the zipper is broken and it is so worn down my back aches after wearing it) I do need a new one, but of course the one I love is not cheap:

I've been spending alot of time at my parents house- helping with the puppy. Jaime loves it, because his favorite place in the world is my parents house and now he gets to go on a daily basis.
Here are pictures my Pop took over the weekend:

Stumbled upon this picture today. Thought it was hilarious. The republican party makes me mad. I could rant for hours about many things, but I think this picture says it all: why keep it hidden? Good for Palin for drinking red wine and embracing her sexuality. Don't be a hypocrite about it and try to deny pictures like these. Also check out the McCain site and his new little video clip where he shines as a star through the summer of love. It is terrible.

I am also quite frustrated with the UC Regents. They could be just as bad as the Republican party. Like always they decided to raise tuition this year- I didn't think anything of it because since I started grad school last fall they covered all my costs. I get an email from my counselor telling me I need to pay my bill by the end of next week. I go what bill? I have not paid one bill to the regents since I started grad school. Only to find out that my grant only pays the amount they offered when I entered school last fall, so if the tution goes up that means I pay the difference. GRRRR....somehow I don't remember this in the small print.

Also....they are making me go through so much red tape just to get a reimbursement for the mendocino writers conference they were supposed to pay for. I submitted all the paperwork and receipts but now they say I have to do some mytravel crap online. I go online to log on and they wont let me because I am not authorized. So I call mytravel and they tell me to call the computer guys so I call them last Friday. They said I have two accounts: student and staff and the computer is freaking out because they don't know who I am. So I clear it up and they tell me they will merge my accounts so I can log on to complete the refund stuff. They tell me I will be able to log on Tuesday. It is now Thursday and I still can't log on. So I still can't get my money from the regents that will just be returned to them. Can't we just call it even and then I don't have to waste time to get money to pay them back with? GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Jaime can't bite the puppy- he know's "gentle"

Although the puppy bites him and Jaime tries so hard to be gentle

They're both a bunch of trouble

After a full week at work I have decided I am ready for school to start. Summer was nice, but I am so bored with working all the time. School is busy, but at least it gives me more down time. It was nice to pair my first week back to work with a long weekend. Every weekend should be a long weekend.

To get back into the American culture I went on a shopping spree at Target and bought some new cute sheets for my bed. Along with dog toys to spoil my pootch.

On Sunday I went with my mom and sister to look at a puppy. After a year of recovering from the loss of their border collie my parents were ready for a new companion. My sister found an ad in the sac bee, called the lady, and we were off.

We drove out into the country of sacramento (off 99) and up to a trailer home in the dirt. The lady told us the puppies were under the stairs of the trailer home. We walked up to find three curled up border collies sleeping in the dirt. We pulled them out one by one. The girl looked at us, irritated that we woke her up, and went to find shade under a tree. She ignored our calls. The short haired boy yawned and went back under the stairs. The long haired boy saw us, wagged his tail, and would not stop licking us. I got up and walked a distance away and the puppy ran and jumped into my lap. Within five minutes my mom said, that's the one. He has been waiting for us. I asked her if she was sure and reassured her we can wait longer if she isn't ready yet. The whole five minutes we were there she couldn't stop talking to the lady about Pablo. I wanted to be sure she was ready. My mom pulled out her check book and within ten minutes the new baby was driving home with us. It felt right. He totally chose us. It was like he was waiting for us. We all got a little teary eyed in the car, because the puppy totally looks like a baby Pablo. Soon afterwards we realized he has his own little personality and is quite mischevious.

Yesterday we took him to the beach with Kuma and Jaime. He sleeps most the time, but when he is awake he gets into trouble and Jaime is enthralled with him. Jaime just watches him like he is some amazing little thing- like there is something that could actually get into more trouble than Jaime. The puppy tore up some paper. While he was doing this Jaime was watching him like what the heck is he doing. As soon as the puppy left the paper Jaime looked at us to see if we were watching...as soon as we turned away Jaime sneakingly took the paper and ran outside. He wanted it so badly, but was trying so hard to be good.

So now we have a new member of the family...and we think we're calling him Sam.