I saw War of the Worlds...but Tom still gets on my nerves!

I couldn't resist. I saw Tom's movie today. I also saw crooked-mouth Katie's Batman Begins when it came out (of course it's Bale's movie, not hers). I thought both movies were pretty good. I like the darker tone of Batman b/c it wasn't so cartoonish as the previous ones. The last Batman and Robin was just HORRIBLE...and I tend to like pretty much everything.

War of the Worlds is action packed from the beginning. I jumped a lot and teared up a couple of times... I'm such a rajona. The ending is kinda weak. More than anything, I liked Dakota Fanning. She's a great actress. She's so realistic and can scream and cry like no one else. I saw the behind the scenes stuff for Uptown Girls (I told you I like pretty much everything) and everybody commented on how professional she is. Lucky girl! She got to act with the Denzel. ¡Qué envidia!

¿Que onda con Cruise?

What is going on with Tom Cruise? He's kinda weird now. He has this nervous, fake, loud laughter on every interview. And he always has the chicle next to him. It's all good to be devoted and into your thing, but I don't like the way he asserts everything like he's THE expert. He may be very well informed, but it's obvious he has really bought into the "psychiatrists are evil and out to control the minds" philosophy of scientology (I don't KNOW about it, but I'm going by what I've read on the internet, which may or may not be true as we all know). Anyone who suggests studies showing that drugs can help gets the "look at who's done the studies" response...oh, yeah, those evil psychiatrists and drug companies! I agree that some ppl overmedicate and diagnose everything as some sort of illness curable with drugs. Painkillers are illegally sold on the street, too. Should they not be prescribed either? Let ppl meditate to make the pain go away, right? I've seen the good and bad effects of ADHD drugs in the classroom. It doesn't mean that they should be totally dismissed, just maybe more controlled. I don't know how to do this, so I guess my opinion is just as worthless as his b/c we're not really doing anything about it besides talking.

Some people just don't understand...

I don't like talking about political issues just like I don't like talking about religion. They're private and totally subjective because it's not something that is as simple as black and white. Everyone brings in a certain perspective based on your experiences and it gets too touchy. I was just talking to an old high school friend. She's a special ed teacher on the east coast (I'm in the southwest). We got to talking about student loans and it somehow got on to immigrants' rights (I don't know how). She started saying that she wasn't republican, but she understood some of the issues they have with immigrants coming here illegally and having kids and having to give them the same benefits and all that. Being the kid of immigrant parents, it was tough to swallow. I told her that you get the same benefits because you are American regardless of the situation. So she tells me that it's true BUT that you had the privilege of being American b/c your parents broke the law. I just don't like the "BUT" in there. I'm American b/c I was born here, PERIOD. Yes, what my parents did when they were 18 was illegal, but the reason I don't like discussing this stuff is because you can't make someone understand the "circumstances" behind that. I don't think I can even explain it b/c I didn't have to go through that, so I don't know that feeling of desperation that could drive you to risk your life and leave everything behind hoping that there's something better out there.

We're still as cool as ever (hey, real friends don't just nod and agree with everything you say). It's good to hear other opinions, but we ended up with more questions than answers and you can only answer based on what you know. There is no easy way to "fix" any situation. We just have to deal with what is there and work on whatever we want to see change (and, no, it's can't happen in one year). This is one of the reasons I became a bilingual teacher. I'm hoping that I can help my kids understand que sí se puede and that they learn to feel proud and excel in what they do so they can become nurses, doctors, mechanics, teachers, paleteros (according to my little cousin:) )or anything else they wish to become.

If I could just figure out how to fix that little problem of corruption, poverty and discrimination in the world...

¡¿¡Por que hay gente tan maldita!?!

¡Un pinche carro le dió un golpe a mi carro hoy por la mañana! No me gusta decir palabrotas en español pero este güey se pasó. Venia bien happy porque acababa de firmar mi contrato con el distrito nuevo en el que voy a trabajar. Recogí a mi mamá de la tienda y iba al lado. El babas que iba en el carril de a lado de repente se quiere meter a mi carril y me talló todo el lado (¡las dos puertas y la salpicadera!) Y el colmo es que ni se paró. Quemó llanta y se metió en la primer calle. Yo me di vuelta en la siguiente calle y lo busqué pero ni sus rastros. Me dió rabia no por el daño a mi carro pero porque ¿qué tal si me hubiera sumido la puerta y prensado a mi mamá que iba de ese lado? Llevé el carro a la agencia y la aseguranza va a pagar pero tengo que dar el deducible que es $500. Ese idiota me va a costar $500 de mi bolsa. Y ni placas tuve tiempo de apuntar.
I don't want to wish ill on someone else, but karma is a bitch and I hope the thought just tortures this asshole who hit me.

Apparently, I'm not much of a blogger...

I haven't gotten on here in a while. I forget to do this. Maybe b/c there's not much going on this summer. I'm just tutoring a couple of kids. It gets me gas and movie money and gets me out of bed before noon, b/c if I didn't have this, then I'd be sleeping 'til 2 pm. Mi amigocha y yo were talking about how it's getting boring already, BUT I'm NOT saying I would rather be working :) I'm cool just hanging out watching baseball, Law and Order and novelas. We need to schedule some trips to just chill like in the old days.

My mission is to do some productive, not-school-related (unless I have to) adult stuff. I've been researching what there is to do here and I've found some cool stuff and a lot of it it's free. There are art exhibits, demonstrations, outdoor movies, concerts, festivals, etc. I'm trying to read books NOT written by Robert Munsch or Eric Carle or dealing with whales or the rainforest :) I need a break from that. My friend posted about a summer reading list, and she put Isabel Allende on there. I started reading Hija de la fortuna by Allende before school ended pero no voy ni a la mitad (I need to get on that). It's pretty good. My tío also gave me Doce cuentos peregrinos by Gabriel García Márquez. Creo que los cuentos son más para mí. Por eso me gustan las telenovelas mexicanas...terminan rápido.

My apt. needs some major help and organization also. I have all the tools b/c every time I go to the Container Store I buy things that I think will help me get organized, but I haven't actually used them :(

I've been spending more time with the fam, which is important b/c during the school year I was so stressed out with the job that I really didn't get to see them much (and I'm in the same city now!). Abue is getting older, so I try to go see her during the day when she's alone while my parents and bro are working. I like hearing stories about her childhood or when my mom was little. I admire her so much for surviving. It's so easy to judge and ask why she put up with so much shit, but I've realized that I haven't given her the credit she deserves for surviving and raising some decent human beings.