El Bl@g: October 2004

Memorias de mis putas tristes

Or memoirs of my sad whores, is the title of the latest fiction work by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which I just read in a single seating! It has been a while since I do that with a book, and I must admit that I am very pleased I did. It was a good book, though it is not available in English yet, I recommend it to everyone.

Almost two weeks have passed and I am fulfilling my part of the deal, I hope you guys remember to come back and check my blog every now and then. I have been busy; working a lot and getting ready for grad-school! Filling out applications is a pain in the butt, and making sure everything is in order with the ten thousand requirements for each school is even worse.

Here are the candidates: University of British Columbia (guess who goes to school there), Simon Fraser University (both of them in Vancouver), The University of Texas at Austin and San Antonio, and Texas A&M University.

I regret not having worked hard enough as an undergrad to keep my GPA higher, an although it is too late to dwell on it, I can at least tell you that I have learned my lesson. Some of you are still in school, and I guess you won't listen (I don't blame you, I didn't listen either) but YOU SHOULD WORK YOU BUTT OFF AT SCHOOL IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMEWHERE! And yes, GPA does count, and you never know where life might take you, so just shut up and listen: STUDY HARDER!

That being said, I can go back to be my normal self. Things with Jenn are going great; we are trying to figure out the cheapest way to fly to Colombia to my sister's wedding, and this involves a lot of bartering and bargaining, trading frequent flyer miles here, buying frequent flier miles there, and it even includes a couple of car-washes to Jenn's dad's car if we end up using his miles.

She will be in Houston in early December, so I will probably begin a count down soon!...As my sister says "Que bonito es el Amort" (yes, with a T, although that is a misspell).

Ok, I think I need to go back to my Statement of Purpose (for my grad school applications), and I hope all of you are doing well. Tomorrow is Halloween, and I will go to a couple of clubs in Houston to take Black and White pictures; I'm very excited! I'll take my digital camera too, so I'll probably post some images here....though give me a few days, I'll be studying for the GRE, which I will take on November the 20th.

Oh, I took the THEA exam (the one required for the teacher certification, and I did well except on the math part...no surprises there) I think teaching will not be an option for the next six months, since in order to get the certificate I must take courses for one year, and I want to start my Master's in September. I'll post my grade when I get it (or maybe I wont!)

Old Friends

It seems like many friends have reappeared since I published the blog and emailed it to everyone on my list! I'm glad to hear from all of you, and thanks to those who commented on the page and the pictures.

A couple of people have had trouble posting comments, there should be a blue icon right at the end of this entry that says "0 COMMENTS", I hope it is working! Apparently, once someone has posted something, you have to click on it and scroll to the bottom of the comments to find the Post option.

Thanks again to all of you, I will make an effort to keep the blog entertaining...It almost feels like opening a back door to my life when I post my thoughts for everyone to see, but I kind of like it, and I hope you enjoy it too. More pictures coming up soon! And I might delete some of the old ones to free up some space, so if you liked them, save them before they're gone!
Cheers!

Read this first

Hello Everyone!

Since I don't seem to be able to return phone calls or emails from all of you, and many have not heard from me for several months, I have decided to start this blog. I'll try to post updates on a regular basis. Those who know me well are aware that (when I write) I write long, never-ending messages, and since there are so many new things that have happened in my life in the past few months, I've simply decided to list them and post a picture for now. I plan to add new blog entries to let you know a bit more about some of them.
Tell me what you think!

Jenn

I would like you to meet my girlfriend. Jenn and I have been dating for several months; she recently moved to Vancouver to get her Masters and I just came back from visiting her. We are very much in love and are making plans to be together soon.

My Apartment

I moved out of my house in July and rented my own place. I'm still in Houston and I love my apartment. . . I know I need paintings or posters to hang over that blue sofa; I'm working on it! More pictures coming up soon.

Me

I let my hair grow. Not that it is very important (or that it is very long, for that matter) but most of you remember me with an almost shaved head. For those who thought that it never grew and didn't believe that I had it cut every three weeks, I hope you enjoy the picture.

My sister is getting married in January! She finished Law School in Colombia and just moved to Houston where she is studying Health Law.

I'm studying for the GRE and plan to apply for Grad School next Fall. Option #2 is to get certified as a Teacher, for which I am studying as well. Somehow one of these options is going to work out with Jenn's PhD. She will be applying to several schools. Once we find out the outcome of both applications and my teacher certification, we'll decide where to go from there.

My trip. What happened? Many of you should be asking what ever happened with my trip around the world! Well, sadly, I had to postpone it. I had everything ready, and was only waiting to get the US citizenship in order to be able to leave Houston for as long as I wanted. But the Immigration service did not consider that I had "resided" in the States for five consecutive years, since I did an exchange program in Colombia in the year 2000. Even though I was still enrolled in school in Houston, they said I had broken the "continuity" and needed to wait until January 2006 to re-apply. (Hence, the new apartment).

Everything else remains fairly unchanged. My family is doing well, I still work at the bookstore and I am looking forward to get a teaching job soon to get out of there, and I just finished setting up a black and white darkroom in my place! I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I can't think of anything else. Please use the comments option at the bottom of this text!Check my blog often; I hope to update it at least every two weeks.Cheers!