and now a word from our sponsors...

Corn holding

Looking though my pictures the other day, I realized that I'd (inexplicably) been taking photos of corn on the cob holders.  

My life is pretty exciting, I know.  

Try not to be too jealous, ok?   

Anyway, it struck me that they're probably a good guide to personality.

Somehow.  

Which would you choose?  

 (I don't even own any.  I'd rather burn my fingers than waste that extra minute and a half trying to puncture the cob.  Read into that what you will.)

the classic (the sort we used to have when I was growing up)

The adventurous roleplayer

The overpriced European

 

The quintessentially American

    

thanks

Oh, hi.
It's just me.  It's been a while, sorry.
 Been working too much, caretaking for two count 'em two parents (ahem)
and, oh, nursing a vicious case of the post-breakup blues.
It's been exhausting.
I haven't had the energy to even post a single stupid picture. 

Meanwhile, thank you all out there...oh, and happy thanksgiving.

I Thank the Virgin...

One of my favorite sites is the wonderful I Thank the Virgin, which is a repository of sorts for retablos from various shrines around Latin America.

Here are a few that I love



St. Jude Thaddeus, thank you for sending me happiness. One day I was walking to Cuernavaca and I wanted some cold beer. I went to a bar, and there I met Ernesto. This young man dragged my attention right away. Also I liked his mole. In short we started talking, and now we’re a couple. I won a lottery with this guy. We are madly in love.

Edgar Alvarado
Temisco, Morelos, 1965

Thank you, Saint Charbel, for sending me the love of my life. Let my friends be critical about me for he’s much younger than me. But it’s not important because love sees no age. I want to open a restaurant for him because he’s a chef, a marvelous chef. Thank you, Saint Charbel.
Antonio Manzanarez
Mexico City, 1960

Dear Saint Augustine. We believe that having a female Pope is a great idea, and we give thanks to God for her. Equality is an important lesson in the Bible and of Jesus, and finally the Church is following that lesson. We only hope that the next Pope will be gay – then we will feel that there is equality.
 
 

Saint Jude Thaddeus, thank you for the happiness you gave me—for The Cheeky. Every day on my way to the bakery, I saw a guy who stared at me. I always looked away and ignored him but one day I noticed that he was following me. Another day he slapped my ass. I felt embarrassed and became very nervous. That’s how I met Sotero and we became a couple.
Isaias Lugo
Guadalajara, Jalisco, 1960

 Saint Jude Thaddeus, I thank you for your support. My masochistic partner had a doubt about his desires. We argued heatedly about it, until the day of the breaking up came. However, four months later he couldn’t stand the separation, and thanks to Saint Jude we returned to each other. He realized what he wanted and accepted who he was. So now, before going to sleep, he asks me to spank him really good.

Mariano Larios
Mexico City, 1960

thought for the day....

Ten years...

I saw this old weather worn sticker the other day on the back of a stop sign. I had to stop. It's from the Book of the Dead.

So, ten years ago today, I was lucky.  I mean, in the space of a few hours, I lost my home,  everything I owned, both sentimental and material, my job, my very place of employment...good friends to other cities, and two relatives to death.

But I'm still lucky.

 I'm grateful for the friends I still do have, that the city is even better in some ways than it was before, but most importantly that my parents are still here.  I just hope ten years later I can say the same.

thought for the day...

Did I mention the heat index projection down here is like 124 degrees today?
(I might have missed a couple of zeros there, however.)

and now a word from our sponsors...

Eight easy steps to losing weight and getting free food

 Brought to you by today's lunch:

1. Order something light, like grilled chicken sandwich
2. Split it with your dining companion.
3. Get distracted from eating by the hot guy across the bar, in the too tight shirt.
4. Remove any cheese or bacon or mayonnaise (from sandwich, not guy)
5. Find a hair on bun, (on sandwich, not guy), a short and red hair
6. Put sandwich down.
7. Stop eating completely as lady in Lexus crashes into dining room because she overshot the parking lot.
8. Get meal free!  (No, I won't be needing a to go box, thanks)

Ain't nothing going on but the rent

Did I ever mention seeing Jessica Lange at the grocery store?  Well, it was a while back, and it was completely uneventful.
I guess that's the point.  It's no big deal any more.
The point is these Hollywood types (and such) are driving up my rent.

Thankfully, my landlord allowed me to renew my lease a while back.
 I begged and crawled, but I'm a very good tenant.

My rent has gone up however, a good bit.
My salary has not.
My last "raise" was a gift card for a free meal at Popeyes stapled to my contract.
But I'm not complaining. That's more than I've seen in the past five years.
woo hoo!



Anyway....

When I went down to my landlord's plantation mansion to re-sign the lease,
I met the guy who now lives below me.

He was paying a full year's rent in one fell swoop.
Who has that kind of money???
Oh, wait, lots of people.

 He works in the film industry, it seems....wafted in from Hollywood.

It's all good for the city, of course.  It's not the city it was ten years ago, and for that I am grateful,
but, sheesh, I'm just trying to not be driven back into the suburbs by all this gentrification.
ahem


Hit it Gwen: