An uncle and his niece make the same mistake.

I don't remember how old I was, but I do remember I still misunderstood many things about money and pricing of items in stores. Let's just say I was around eight years old, maybe nine. My father, brother and I went to a pet shop. I loved all the dogs I saw, particularly one- a dalmatian. Ever since I had remembered I wanted one, maybe because of the movie. I saw the price tag and was happy to see that it cost only $3. I told my father, "when I have $3 I want you to bring me to buy this dog". I don't know which is more sad, that I actually thought it cost $3, or that I couldn't even afford such a low cost. A shame to be a kid and not have that kind of money, (as if $3 is a lot). The true price of the dalmatian was $300.


Today, my mother watched over the girls. When she stepped out two go to the post office, she asked me to watch over Issabella. I called Alyssa to me however and gave her $1, and told her it was for candy. But then, that doesn't really buy today what it did when I was a kid so I gave her another dollar. With $2 then she left happy, but when she got to the store with "grandma" she told her she didn't want candy. Alyssa decided she wanted a toy instead, and so she chose goggles and a snorkeling tube. My mom bought it for her with her $2, except that it cost $8.99. Alyssa being so proud of buying it with her money "grandma" never said it cost more.


So two kids, make the same mistake. Misunderstanding the concept of items and their prices. Lucky for Alyssa her misunderstanding was much smaller in cost so she got what she wanted, I didn't get the puppy.

Watch Out For Dreams.

I had a dream. I had a dream the other night. In the dream my right hand had a soaring pain. Excruciating. But it wasn’t just a dream, I could actually feel it- or I thought I could. The dream felt real, or the pain of it did. I woke up the following day for work. As usual I did everything normally; I’d forgotten the dream. At around 9am I felt a pain on my right wrist, a throbbing that came and went depending on how I moved my wrist. I clothed it with a rag for some support from the pain. By the afternoon I was fine.

Was it just a coincidence? I don’t think so. I don’t think the dream told me the pain would come though. I think I was actually sleeping wrong, on the hand somehow. And it wasn’t just a dream that my hand hurt, it actually hurt. Only I didn’t realize it was real. Haven’t you ever had a dream that seemed so real, and in the end it was? Haven’t you been sleeping and suddenly, within the dream, need to go to the restroom? You wake up, and realize that if you don’t go to the restroom right away you’ll take a leak in bed, so you run. If you can.

Two co-workers of mine gave me there stories. One had a cousin who dreamt he was been choked by a snake wrapping itself around his neck. When he woke up…. He was choking himself with his own hand. The other coworker had a friend who dreamt she fell off a horse. When she woke up…. She had a broken arm. She doesn’t know how it happened.

Donut.

My brother, Joshua, sent me a text the other day. In it, he asked me if I remembered something, which I did. We were kids, maybe nine or ten years old, and our sister a year older. Our bedroom door often got stuck, if you were inside- you might have been locked in for five minutes, or you could have been stuck longer.

This particular time, my brother got locked in, for more than an hour- how much more after that I can’t remember. My sister and I were watching television. We wanted a donut each with milk. We went. We took. We ate and drank. Joshua wanted one too but he was stuck inside, and of course he said he would wait until he was free to get it. We wanted to be nice, against his will mind you. He was upset for what we did, but we only want to help. We took the donut and put it in a sandwich bag. We took some milk and poured it into a sandwich bag as well. The door had a small gap between the bottom of it and the floor, though not a big gap. We passed him the milk through the gap. Fine. To get the donut through? We had to smash it, and then we pushed it through the gap of the door. It goes without saying that he didn’t enjoy that donut. Haha.

Spring.

As I sit here, I am listening to music I haven't listened to in some time. Music that I listen to during this time of year. It also makes me reflect. With winter the old seems to die away. Spring is indeed the birth of the new.

A new life, that is what it is. And this Spring, I have someone to share it with. I am thankful for it. As I said in my last blog, it's been seven months. Times like this, it's nice. It's nice to be able to share it with someone. I don't want today to be yesterday. Until we're one. Then, I will want tomorrow, and today can be yesterday. Because tomorrow is forever, and forever is better than today.

Blessings.

I'm not much of a writer, nor have I ever been. But sometimes I feel the need to write without knowing what I should say. That's how I feel right now, I want to speak. Since last I wrote, life has changed for me in so many ways. Last September I was blessed with a girlfriend, and we're going on 7 months together on the thirteenth of this month. On January 6 my sister was blessed with a second beautiful girl.


My girlfriend, life has been great with her. Each month we've spent together has flown by. We've had so many great moments. In December we saw The Nutcracker on stage, it was nice- something we'd like to do again. Just last night we went and played miniature golf. Sometimes, just going out for ice cream is enough. As long we are together I have no complaints. Through all this, I am learning. Up until now I've always been "Me" but now it is "We" and "Us"- something I admit is taking me time to get used to. But with time, I'll not forget it. Learning about each other, and our differences isn't easy either. But who said it would be? Two worlds are colliding, and I am enjoying it. Together, we'll continue.


My niece, beautiful healthy girl. Given to us on the Hispanic holiday of The Three Kings, (though I've never celebrated it). Her birth was also just one day before my mother's, (and her mother's, my grandmother's), birthday. So following Christmas, it's rather expensive for gifts. Just five years ago on February 6 we received our first niece, and now my sister gives a second. Two beautiful girls. One, identical to mommy. The other, identical to daddy. Both precious little princesses. She will also be my Goddaughter, for which I am very thankful- I've wanted this for years. I love my nieces, both of them. Very much.


For all of this, I thank God.

Kids do the darnest things.

Well, it's been some time since my last posts. I can't say I've had much to say really but I thought it was time I write again.

I was driving to work the other day, and I remembered something I used to do when I was nine years old and in the fourth grade. Prior to this age it was my mother who combed my hair, and so when I began to comb my own hair I had the idea that it was horrible- not realizing my mother wouldn't let me go to school if it were that bad, she'd fix it!

Well, everyday I would arrive to school. My sister went with her fellow fifth grade friends and my twin brother would go with his class. So I was left alone, and the first thing I would do before I got to me friends: Pass my hands through my hair to mess it up. I preferred to have a messed up hair rather than be "badly" combed. I know it doesn't make sense, but I was only nine years old- a kid!

I was also not the best of students that year, I started wonderfully but when they changed my teacher I began to act up and my grades suffered for it. So several after warnings and such my mother was asked to come into school one day. She went in the morning, so that day I didn't dare mess up my hair, didn't want my mother to know I'd ever done that. She talked with the teacher while I went inside the class. There was this girl in the class, a friend of mine, I rather had a crush on her. When she saw me, "Jose! your hair!" She liked it, it was actually combed. I was happy she liked it. And of course, I never did mess up my hair before class again.

Thinking back on it I think it was rather dumb of me in the first place, but as I drove to work I couldn't help but laugh about it.

Movie: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

On Friday, opening day at 5:10pm, I saw this movie. From the moment this movie was announced I grew interested, Disney/Bruckheimer was clearly trying for another Pirates-type success. Being a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, I of course was all for it. Then the pictures started releasing, and then the trailer.

I started to grow uninterested in the movie, because it seemed like much of what made Pirates popular was missing from Prince. I let it settle down and realized, this was never gonna be as good. I gave it a chance and I am happy that I did. While the movie has its flaws, it is an enjoyable summer blockbuster, thought I must say I haven't played the game. I'll be buying it when it hits DVD.

Jake Gyllenhaal was great, funny when he had to be and action when required. I think he delivered well, considering I was skeptical of how he would do. Ben Kingsley without a doubt was terrific.

If I had to compare this to Pirates of the Caribbean, I would rank as follows:

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

So this movie did proof to be better than two Pirates at least, I was wrong in this aspect. Hopefully it manages to get out of the hole it seems to be in an makes a profit. I want a sequel.