Random Nothings

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Boyfriends

Do they always have to be so different than me?
Why can't they love animals the same as me?
Why can't my dog be allowed in their bed? Even if it means not being able to share that bed with me?
Why do they have to sleep twice as much as any human needs to and when they're awake not do things that need doing?
Why do they insist on keeping a position at work that does nothing but stress them out that they don't benefit anymore from?
Is love worth the same recurring conversations that go no where and do nothing because neither one will change their minds?
Some days I think I need a male me clone... other days I think I would drive me crazy. Yeah.. anyway.. I think I'm done.

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.::. Tota .::. 1:12 AM
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Stressification

So I've been stressing out a lot lately with the new living arrangements and conditions, the state of my house (which is steadily getting better) among various other things. I started getting used to all that and my almost constant state of brokeness and then my car develops a clunking noise and my dog develops a limp.
Sunday night after work my car refused to move, well, I take that back, it moved from the parking space I was in to the parking space right in front of where I had been. It died three times getting there and took probably a good ten minutes. I found another ride home at that point. I got it to my mechanic the next day using the towing service I pay for with my car insurance. I explained to my mechanic what had been going on with it and he said it sounded terminal.
I decided at that point I -really- had to take my dog to the vet. She's not terminal, she's just genetically mutated. Her groove on her left back leg where her knee cap is supposed to sit and stay in is too shallow. It slips out and then gets swollen and that's not comfortable for her, or for my wallet. Over time she could develop arthritis. She's on anti inflammatory medication now and I am going to put her on a suppliment for joints as well with Glucosamine. The vet said it would help over time, at least a month before I see results but the anti inflammatory stuff should show marked improvement in less than a week.
Bad things happen in threes right? Well, the third thing is that ... well... I can't think of a third thing right now. So, I'll keep waiting. Hey look! Two blogs in the same month! Someone quick, notify the media! Though I think no one is reading these they got too used to my silence. It's okay, it's good for me to write something again. Keeps my fingers in practice for when I finally break down and finish that novel I started forever ago.

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.::. Tota .::. 2:33 PM
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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Blogging so Amy doesn't delete my blog and because I can't sleep.

So, ages and ages and ages ago, back before the most recent changes to my life story I was getting too much junk mail and taking up all of Amy's (of superamy.com's) space for our websites and emails. So it had to go. Now I'm using minxytota@gmail.com. Not as cool, but still functional and amazingly enough it doesn't get over 100 junk mails a day!
Well, now we get to the most recent changes to my life. I'm, obviously, back from the Peace Corps. I no longer work at Ryans, I am now full time employed at Sykes. I answer phones for AT&T and talk to angry people, confused people, happy people, etc people. This would be a fine job for me, but come to find out (though I've known it deep down all along) that I hate people. It's okay though, because it pays my __________ and it's very important that my _________ gets paid.
My __________ in the previous sentence is my Mortgage! That's right, you read it, I have a mortgage. As in, I own my own house and I'm paying the bank a certain amount each month for the next thirty years to keep it.
I was going to rent, but with my dog and our space requirements it was easier just to buy a house and in the long run cheaper because I can turn around and sell this for a profit instead of just throwing money at someone else. This is an Investment. Oooh, bet you never guessed I'd think long term huh?
So, now I have a full time job and a house (that I'm still cleaning. Yesterday I was dusting, went to dust off the washing machine because I fold clean clothes up there right? That needs to be clean! Well, my damp rag came away soapy... come to find out what I thought were stains on a washer and dryer that came with the house were actually deposits of old laundry detergent that had dried and gotten dirty and turned brown... I had to take a paint scrapper to it.)
You also learn a lot when you finally move out for good (Bolivia doesn't count, I always lived with people and didn't have a house full of appliances to make mistakes with). I learned this evening, and my nose is still suffering for it, that you can't microwave chocolate. Especially not on high. Now not only did I not get the liquid creamy chocolate I wanted to dip pretzels in but I'm also out of a Tupperware container (still have the lid though) and my house smells bad.
I'm all ready for Christmas, just got one present to wrap and I'm waiting on two to come through the mail. I got a four foot tree and two strings of Christmas lights. I'm rather proud of my first very own Christmas.
So, anyway, I've been typing for a while now and I think I should run away to bed. If you want to visit or get my phone number or something you should email me at the above address. I also love showing off my house, so do come over!

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.::. Tota .::. 3:04 AM
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Earth Hour

http://www.earthhour.org/home/

I'm gonna do it. Will you?

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.::. Tota .::. 11:55 PM
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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Soy una floja

So, I haven't blogged since I got back from Bolivia. I'm back, like officially, I've been here for forever. Most people that read this have seen me by now, if you haven't then you should probably work on that. I brought my puppy too, she's a whiny butt, but I love her. I'm working at Ryans again, but I think it's time for me to find a real job. If you know anyone that's hiring for more than minimum wage do tell! I speak Spanish pretty much and I'd love to work with hispanic kids (no offense to American ones, but I think they kinda suck). I also saw a honey bee the other day ago and now I wanna start keeping bees here, if I can find a colony and capture it. I don't want to actually buy bees with the whole Colony Collapse Disorder going on (if you don't know google it), but I'd love to have bees. Okay, it's a really odd hour for me to even be awake much less blogging. So, I'll talk to you guys lata.

Chou

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.::. Tota .::. 2:59 AM
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Santa Cruz and the Adventures of Miski, not in that order

Well, I had a bus ticket Sunday night, which would have put me here in Santa Cruz Monday. I just got here Tuesday, why? Well, my bus left at 4:30 from Sucre, so I was being good and packing. Miski, when we're at my hotel in Sucre, basically has free run of the hotel. There's a patio and she never shows any interest in leaving her family and friends to go out in the street. So, I was alone and packing with my door open so she could come and whine at me for not playing with her and then leave again as she wished. Well, the last time she whined at me was between three and three thirty. I thought nothing of it and finished packing at about fifteen ‘till four. As I was bringing my stuff down the stairs I realized that my puppy hadn't come out to see what the ruckus was about (she normally likes to attack my bags on wheels). So I hollered for her and snapped my fingers, normally enough to make her come running. No puppy. I then began to search every room of the hotel that was 1) unoccupied and 2) unlocked, all the while yelling for my dog. Still no dog so, I called Roxanna, the lady who runs the hotel and is like my Bolivian sister (we spend a lot of time together and she always takes care of Miski when I wanna go out and can't/don't want to drag her along). I was pretty sure Roxanna had left Miski with me when she went out, but just to be sure I called Roxanna who told me that she didn't have my dog and she would be right back to the hotel. I waited chewing on my nails and my trenza (you guys will see when I get home) and still randomly making rounds of the hotel opening doors and calling for my puppy. Roxanna got there and started to chew me out for not taking care of my dog but a flood of Spanglish (I only mix the languages when I'm upset) got her to start looking for my dog too. While she was rechecking the hotel I went out to start looking in the streets. I asked the store owners around the hotel that know me if they'd seen here and two of them said they had. I'm not sure if they did or not, I don't think they did. They lie to make you feel better a lot in Bolivia, so if they'd seen her or not, the fact that I was upset made them say they'd seen her. Then I went back to hotel and Roxanna said that Miski was probably in the open air market near the hotel, we always go there to buy her meat for her soups (that Roxanna loves to cook and spoil her) and the lady we buy meat from always throws a chunk of raw meat down to Miski. The market was closed though, so we stood near the door and hollered a bit. This brought two small boys and their guardian father type figure to the door. Roxanna explained our situation and at first the guy was like, no we're closed I can't let you in, but after a bit, being Bolivian (they're good at bending rules) he said he'd let in just one, Roxanna went in while I watched her six year old son Antonio. Roxanna came back puppiless and we went back to the hotel. Roxanna was talking about how we could go to the radio and the television stations and put out a reward for her to get her back. Well, about that time the door bell rang. I went to the door and there were two guys and a chick. They asked if the landlady was there and I hollered for Roxanna. When Roxanna showed up they asked if she was missing a dog. I was like, “Yes!” and started to describe her. Then Roxanna butted in and said it was her son's puppy. I gave her a look that said, “What?!” and she gave me one that said, “Shuddup.” So I did. They said that a friend of theirs had her, but he wanted to be paid before he returned her. Roxanna started to whine and say it was her son's puppy and she didn’t have much money. They said that he just wanted four hundred bolivianos and he would give there dog back. He wanted to sell her in another town, thought he could get two or three hundred dollars for her. Roxanna was like, no, she’s sick; he could never sell her for that. She then went on to craft a story about how the dog was given to her by a tourist who couldn’t travel with her because she was too sick. I was still a little confused as to why they were claiming my dog was theirs, but after a bit I figured it out. If they had known it was my dog they would have wanted a reward in dollars and not in bolivianos. Well, to wrap it up we finally got Miski back for 200 Bs. Once we had her we kept up the game that it was Antinio’s puppy until we were well out of site of the bad guys. Then I took Miski and chewed her out in Spanglish while Roxanna laughed at me. I’m not sure how that group got my dog. I’m pretty sure all four of them were just out to make a quick buck, or B. Like I said earlier, Miski doesn’t go outside by herself. It’s not something I trained her to not do; it’s just something she doesn’t do. I think they convinced her to leave with food or something like that and the fact they knew were she lived, but not who she belonged to, makes me wonder even more. If they knew where she lived, but that she wasn’t mine despite the fact that I’m always running around with her, yeah, just seems fishy.
So now I’m in Santa Cruz. I don’t like this city. It’s big, hot, and humid and I know absolutely no one. But, just gotta finish today and most of tomorrow and I’m good. So, I’ll be online Friday when I get home. Talk ta ya.

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.::. Tota .::. 4:30 PM
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Sunday, November 16, 2008

Living, though barely

I´m still alive and fine, mostly. I got a nasty cold. My head hurts, my body hurts, I have a cough and a fever. I also get to spend about ten hours in a bus to go to Santa Cruz tonight. I may or may not make it there seeing how there are mudslides along the road, though the lady I bought the tickets from (one for me and one for the puppy) said that the flotas that left last night got in this morning fine. I leave here Thursday so I´ll be stateside sometime Friday. I need to come home, don´t want to, but I need to. So, I´ll be seeing some of you.

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.::. Tota .::. 11:44 AM
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Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Oh, and!

I was asked recently by Megan what I looked like these days. So here's a picture from Lima, Peru of me being excited about Dunkin' Doughnuts. Peru volunteers have it easy 'cause they have restaurants like that and can get good sushi what with the ocean being right there and everything, so here's a picture. I almost always wear that hat and the green thing hanging down on the side of my head is a trenza or cimba or latino hairwrap depending on what language you wanna talk in and where you're from. So, here's a picture:

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.::. Tota .::. 2:36 PM
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Que tal?

Well, I'm still fine other than a nasty cold I got in Lima, Peru that won't go away and is giving me an ugly cough. I got my puppy back, she was really sick. She had a stomach/intestinal infection so that she didn't want to eat because it hurt and couldn't get nutrients out of what she did eat. She's been shot with antibiotics and is now eating fine and putting on weight. When I got back to Tomina she was almost a skeleton. I'm currently in Sucre getting stuff done and will be heading back to Tomina tomorrow or Friday at the latest. I really should leave tomorrow but I've got stuff to do and now that the other volunteers are coming in I'm happy and don't really want to leave. I have a meeting planned Saturday though, so I'm going back. Letsee, what else is new, I got robbed the other day of all my money and identification except my passport. Mom has really helped me out with that and didn't even say I should just come home. I'm still not sure when I'm coming home. I figure I'll stay until the beginning of November and then get my butt in line and start working on getting home. I don't really want to come home, not that I don't love you guys, but I'm happy here. I fell in love with the culture and made friends with an entire town, it's not something you leave easily.
Not that I'm not working for Peace Corps I can take donations without going through loads of paperwork, so here's the soliciting part of my blog:

I was invited to a party one night. It was cold and the party was being held in the street. So they were making hot alcoholic drinks they call carnelas over a fire. I hung out for a while, chatted with my friends and was shocked when a mother passed a ten year old a glass of carnela, she said it was to warm him up. Carnelas aren’t strong, they don’t have high alcohol content, but it’s still alcohol, for a ten year old. As he gets older he’ll be passed more drinks and learn to go the bars that even a small town like Tomina has plenty of. He can’t really avoid his family’s parties, but we can keep him out of the bars. With a ball he can play in the local, easily accessible basketball court or soccer court.

I bought some sports equipment and as soon as word got out that I had there wasn’t a single night that someone didn’t knock on my door and ask to borrow a basketball or futsal ball (futsal is like a game of soccer, but they play it in a basketball court with five people and slightly altered rules, the ball is also slightly smaller). Through this process I became friends with a group of jovenes, or young boys, they range in age from 14 to 22. They love to play. Every night they would look for me and ask to borrow my futsal ball, they would pay ten bolivianos an hour for the lights to be turned on and would play for an hour or two. One night I went away and wasn’t there for them to borrow my ball. I got a phone call asking where I was and when I told them I wasn’t home they wondered if the ball could be gotten out of my room. I told them it was locked and I was the only person with a key. They said, well, okay, we’ll see you when you get back and hung up. About two hours later I got a phone call from Amante, one of the boys who, is 15 years old, he was drunk and wanted to know if I wanted a beer. I joked with him and then with the other boys when they were passed the phone, but it bothered me that my athletic little friends were drinking in excess at such a young age. When they have access to the equipment to play then they don’t drink, but when they’re bored and can’t play they do.

Two girls, Anna and Angelica like to play sports, and like to dance. They know drinking is bad for them so they try not to. Unfortunately the only places and times to dance in Tomina is when there is a party. They try not to dance and say no countless times to invitations to a glass of whatever alcoholic beverage is being drunk. We all know about peer pressure though and it’s a lot of work for two fifteen year old girls to keep saying no to their friends. Really, they just want to dance, but after a while they get warn down and have a glass, that turns to two, or turns to three. Luckily they’re smart girls and leave before they’re drunk, unlike their dance partners, but as they learn to drink and they’re friends learn they can be pressured into drinking who knows what will happen. I asked them one day if they preferred to dance or to play and they explained to me that they would rather play because there wasn’t the pressure to drink, but like many young people in Tomina they don’t have much money to buy sports equipment.

I would like to buy sports equipment for these kids, air pumps to inflate their balls, and balls to play with. I am a volunteer in a Bolivian community call Tomina. Drinking is a way of life and the kids start young. They need other direction in life. I discourage them from drinking when I can, but the best way I have found to keep them out of the bars (which don’t have a law about minors) is to keep them on the sports courts and fields. The only way to do that is for them to have equipment to play with. I will not be living in Tomina forever so I can’t keep letting them borrow my balls. I would like to be able to give them balls to play with when I’m not there anymore. I’m asking for about 500 dollars in total, any donation will help with about forty dollars you can buy a kid a good quality ball that will last and encourage him or her to play rather than drink. Please help in my endeavor.
Thank you.

I'm not sure how payments will work at this point, you can get in touch with me or my Mom here with ideas.

Thanks and lovings,
Tota

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.::. Tota .::. 2:24 PM
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Will I ever make an impact or will my life be spent bouncing before I felt I've made a difference?

Well, I'm in La Paz, Bolivia. Just so all of you know it's a really, really long trip from Lima, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia. I was in a bus for around abouts 30 hours. Tonight at 6:30 a bus is leaving to Sucre that I'm going to be on. It's going to be another over nighter. But once I'm in Sucre I'll be homeish and I'll hang out there till Friday I think at which point I'll actually go to Tomina and stay a bit. I have no idea what I'm going to be doing there, just trying to wrap up loose threads I guess. Get some closure or something. Being a normal person and not a Peace Corps volunteer is weird. I keep feeling like I have to call and tell them where I am, then I realize they don't really care. Though, all the staff have made it very clear they'll be there if we need them. Anyway, I'm gonna close this up and I'll keep you guys updated more or less as I can.
Chou

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.::. Tota .::. 4:40 PM
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