Just....

            Last summer, my cousin asked me how people found out what we could eat. The only response she got from me was by eating it, of course. Now that I think of it, how did people find out what we can eat? I mean, did thousands of people die in order to find an edible fruit, out of a million? Then, suppose a few people wander off by themselves, they find a good looking leaf, once they eat it they die. But, since they are by themselves, no one sees what caused their death. Does this mean that people kept on dying, by eating the same plant? Were groups made in order to find out what people could eat or not?

            Today, I a memory came up. About one hundred years ago, well, eight, my friend and I were in her garden. She has one of the largest gardens I have ever been in. There are many different colored roses; yellow, red, pink and other flowers, as well. Since all those flowers were beautiful, I got the great idea of trying them out. My friend was willing to give it a shot too. So, we started plucking petals out of the flowers. In the end, we found out that they did not taste as good as they appeared. All of them were quite bitter. I am a huge fan of sour candy, but these flowers were just bad. Now that I think of it, we were very dumb, just eating any flowers that seemed good is not the best idea. We are lucky that we did not poison ourselves. But, I still think there has to be some flowers that taste as good as they appear. So now I will try many more, but with the help of this website: http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm. That way I don’t end up with an upset stomach, or dead....Ha-ha.

Hey....

Searching for something new, I came upon “Katzenjammer”. It’s an all girl, Norwegian band.  My first thoughts were hey! This chick has an afro, how cool!  After hearing “Hey Ho on the Devils Back” I was in awe. They sound very different, well, at least compared to the bands I usually listen to. “Hey Ho on the Devils Back” is a song about taking a ride on the devils back, well, not really.  It says how we are all human, so we make choices that are not the  best at times, and in the end, we just want our “souls” to be saved. It makes you think about all those time when you know you are doing something bad, but you do not stop doing it, knowing there is always a chance for forgiveness. Also, it reminds you a bit of the times when you have to give up something you really love, in order to save something greater. Even though it reminds you of things that are not so sparkly, it does not put you down. One of the things it does do, is give you the courage to walk through the big dark woods, even without a glowing stick. Some of their other songs that might end up putting a smile on your face are. “A Bar In Amsterdam”, and “Tea With Cinnamon”.

Hey Ho on the Devils Back

A Bar in Amsterdam

Tea with Cinnamon

The Straight Dope Makes us See....

             A few weeks ago, searching for an answer to a question I cannot remember now, I came upon “The Straight Dope”. It is a website that is a bit on the fascinating side. It seems as if they have the answers to any questions we might have, even the ones that we haven’t even thought about. Since they answer any question, no matter how nutty it might seem, it is quite interesting to just browse their database. By just clicking on “READ a random Straight Dope column” we can have some of our questions answered. Well, we can at least read the questions other people have. I find myself clicking this link all the time, in the end I find myself asking “Jesenia, why didn’t you ask this yourself? You obviously didn’t know the answer.”

            So far, there is one question that has caught my attention the most. It is “How did Scott conclude its toilet tissue lasted 28% longer?” While reading this, I asked myself “Why didn’t you; the person that used to question the sound of silence, ask this?” Seeing Scott’s commercials at least once a month, just makes me think: wow, I should get that kind to save a few bucks, never thinking about it being true or not. I never think about people actually doing research on this. But now I found an answer to a question I never had, and a greater question came with this. How do people end up with these jobs? Testing toilet paper seems fun. Well, this isn’t such a great question. Now another one comes to mind.

            Seeing how I don’t question such weird things like this, I ask myself “when did I stop being curios?” In the past I would question everything, I can recall a time when a teacher told us to be quiet; he wanted to hear silence. Like a smarty pants I asked “How can you hear silence?”  Now, I don’t question as many things as before. I want to know if this happens to everyone as they get older. Or if it is just my brain; letting socks in its drawers, without even asking if they fit.

The Straight Dope

THe Straight Dope: How did Scott....

Hmmmm....

“Boy, forget about the bling, here is a guitarra for you my little chavo, if you slave to kissing, you gotta play this thing. “  After listening to “Pala Tute” over and over again, I realized I am with Gogol Bordello on this one. It doesn’t mean that I believe anyone with mad guitar skills should go around kissing everyone, but that bling does not shine as much as someone’s inside. No, I do not believe guts and bones are shiny, I mean that other inside; the one that glasses can’t help you see. The inside that can only be seen, felt, by getting to know someone. It’s good to hang out with people who have mad guitar skills, or just people that can just make you laugh a lot; well, not just this but with many other qualities that cannot be bought.

 Hearing this wonderful song, made me realize how there are many times when we let money stop us from doing something. We think that money is a must, that we cannot have any fun otherwise.  We can have the same amount of fun with or without it. Instead of staying home because we are broke, we should invent things to do with our friends.  Next time, when someone invites us to do something and our pockets are empty, we should try to say “Let’s go run around with brooms instead.”

Pala Tute

I Shall Start Eating Fish

So I’ve noticed that my memory is not what it used to be. In the past, by just hearing something once I would be able to recall it a couple of months later. I remember talking about some the things we were learning in U.S History, a month after we took the Advanced Placement Exam. Now, I can hardly remember the names of the people I meet. Just last week I tried to get my friend to ask girl what her name was. This is a tad sad, since I am the one who introduced them. This isn’t that bad though, what is bad is that I can’t remember how to solve my math problems…arrrgghhh, this sucks too much. Names aren’t that important, you won’t be tested on them, well not as harshly as those stupid math problems. I have been forgetting simple stuff too, like lyrics to all the songs I like. I used to be a mean, song playing machine. Now I can’t remember the ABCs, well never mind I can. Now I am just confused on what I have been forgetting, since I can’t remember what I forgot hahahaha.

I’ve been searching for the cure, well a cure I guess, the cure would mean just one, there’s always more than just one thing I think. Finding the cure instead of a cure would probably just remind me of The Cure and then I’d get depressed because one of the songs I forgot was by them, so instead of searching for the cure, I would just look up some lyrics……..Well  today I didn’t listen to The Cure but my mother brought me some fish. I t reminded me that supposedly it helps you with your memory. Now that I think about it, I used to be a fish loving gal, not as in having them for pets, but eating them whenever I had the chance. Maybe that’s all I need, maybe just maybe, eating some slimy fish will cure my memory disease. Well it isn’t a sickness, but hopefully I'll get rid of it. Eventually remembering, how to use this wooden spoon, never mind I use forks.

A Duck or an Eagle

            As I was checking my e-mail, I came upon “Un Pato Que esta Luchando Por ser una Aquila” (A Duck that is Fighting to Become an Eagle).  I asked myself “what shenanigans did my aunt send me this time?” Well, I was soon going to find out. It is a story about a man who gets into an awesome taxi. This taxi was sparkly clean.  Not only was it super dandy, but its driver was a jolly man, that was willing to feed the man anything he craved. At this point, I thought the man who got in the taxi, was dead. That the driver was some sort of angel. His mission was to taking him to paradise. Besides thinking this, I was confused….How can this be about a duck that wants to be an eagle? Well, as I kept reading I began to understand. In the past, the driver was a bitter man, complaining about everything, until he was enlightened by a story he heard on the radio. It was about how some people are like ducks, they only make noise, others are like eagles, flying around, enjoying their surroundings. The ducks end up with bad days, but the eagles with awesome ones.  Why? Unlike ducks, those who are much like eagles wake up thinking that they are going to have a grand day, so they actually do.  The ducks just see the negative things, so that is what they get .After he heard this story, the driver changed his ways, he began taking care of his taxi, and adding premium services, like a coffee machine. This gave him a lot of new customers, and a pretty full wallet.

            I wasn’t confused anymore; I now wanted to be a shiny eagle, or at least one with working wings. So the next day I woke up, thinking that it would be an amazing day, not complaining about getting four hours of sleep. Later on, as I was eating, I looked up, seeing Eugene Hutz on TV. It ended up being a great day indeed.

Remembering How Things Add up

                This summer I went to Mexico, and realized I have a really weird aunt. Well, weird to my family, she is perfectly normal to me. She was telling me how she would go dance at a cemetery, with a band of Indians. I remember asked her if she was scared of the dead chasing her, she just told me no, that they were actually there to take care of her. I just told her “okay” and wondered if the weird maracas were what she called that dead with, but I don’t think they do call the dead. I guess they just welcome the dead to dance with them, or something like that. One day it was raining, so we just started to talk. She told me that she had learned how to do tantric numerology. At first I was like “wow, that sounds great, but I have no idea what it is”, she just told me that it would help me out; somehow. I told her that she should totally do my numbers then. About a week later, she remembered, and got numbers out of my birthday. She added some up, and according to her they meant my soul, my weaknesses, strengths, and gifts I had received from a previous life. Now, that just confused me. I told her to keep on going though. After giving me all the numbers, she looked them up. Some of those numbers were correct in many ways. Like my weakness was that I am lazy, I can definitely see that. One of my gifts was that I was a prophet, ha-ha I asked her about that one though. She said that it means I say real weird stuff. Another number said that another weakness was that I am hard to understand. I really see how that can be true, at times I say real cool stuff, that just makes you wonder, but other times I just confuse people too much. Another of my qualities was that I had the ability to make people laugh easily, which is true, well sometimes.  All of this left me wondering if numbers really do mean something else. Since it is 10-10-10 today, hearing them say that a lot of people got married, because it was lucky, reminded me of my aunt, and her interesting interests.

Mom says "Run to the Bush"

On a sunny Saturday, my mother and I were walking back home. We were waiting to cross the street, when we heard a lady scream “NOOOO!”  I looked back , to my left, and saw that the lady was running downstairs, carrying her son. My mom told me to hurry up, so we crossed the street in a flash. Once we reached the other street, we heard about four gun shots. I kept walking, lowering myself to the ground. My mom did too, but instead of running behind a little wall, she went under a bush.  My mom kept telling me to go under the bush with her.  I chose not to listen to her, well, I was too scared. Then, about twenty  seconds later, we see three guys running our way. One of them ran to the alley, another behind a bush, and the other one was standing in front of me. He was tall, dark, and anything but handsome. At this point I was super scared. I remember saying “Go the other way”, or at least thinking about it. Eventually, they all left. Three minutes later, I was still scared and shaking a bit. Once I calmed down, I told one of my friends what had happened. He then told me that next time, I better listen to my mom. If I would have listened to my mom, I wouldn’t have been so scared. I wouldn’t have thought about them,  coming back to shoot me, because they knew that a pink haired girl saw them running away from the scene.

Start Wearing Purple

So, today I realized I love Gogol Bordello. It is one of the greatest bands, I have ever listened to. It all started with their song “Start Wearing Purple”; once I heard it, I was just amazed. It was just so original; I usually like pretty weird songs, so I just thought it was amazing. It just brought my spirits up. Then, I heard “American Wedding”, that song just awed me, there’s a dancer who is quite amazing. If you see this dancer, he will put a smile on your face. Once you see that video, I am sure you will know who I am talking about. I have no idea how I ended up finding them; well, now that I think of it they were mentioned in a magazine. The magazine said everyone should hear this band. Frankly, I agree. Their songs never seem to disappoint.

Today, I felt like listening to a new song; so, I ventured off into YouTube.  I saw the video”Immigraniada” (We Comin' Rougher). Seeing this video made me realize that I love this band. Seeing them work in factories, restaurants, and washing dishes made me see them in a new light. It showed me that they still care about where they come from. After seeing this video, I saw a link to an interview. At first I was confused, the interview is from PBS; in order to stop the confusion, I pressed the link. It led me to the discovery that my idea of this band being amazing, is true. It shows that this band actually does things to help. It has helped poor; tuberculosis carrying gypsies, improve their community. This is just such a noble thing to do. At the end, I noticed he has a bracelet with crayons on it, as if their good deeds weren’t enough, this put the icing on the cake.

Immigraniada:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKoQgODwveE

Need To Know|PBS (interview): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq6ogJiYF1M&feature=related

Crystals in the Air

                Walking around, I saw an interesting little tree for sale. This tree is not your average tree. Unlike normal trees, this one does not need water.  But, like a normal tree it needs sunlight. It charges off sunlight and even moonlight. What kind of tree is it? It is a gem/ crystal tree.  Its branches are composed of wires; each wire holds a crystal or gem. In total, there are thirty-three gems and crystals. Each one has a purpose. From curing a cold; to improving your self-esteem, according to http://www.peacefulmind.com/stones.htm , they can help you do it all.

                Crystals and gems are believed to have healing powers and positive effects on your life. They each give off different vibrations; these vibrations are the ones responsible for all the deeds they perform. There are some who say crystals can cure fevers; that, they even help you remember things! I think that is amazing, if I find the right gem I will be able to get straight A’s.  At least it says that in: http://healing.about.com/od/crystaltherapy/a/crystaltherapy.htm .  I have no reason to believe if this is true or not. Maybe it is just a lie, one that will make you fill up your room of gems and crystals. Can crystals and gems really help you out, by just sending good vibes? I mean, when you go somewhere feeling bad vibes, the outcome is usually bad. Can it be the same for these? By giving you good vibrations, can they improve your day? Can they really eliminate all the bad vibes you gather daily?  Will they be able to give you good health, while bringing good luck, and even love? I guess the only way to find out is by trying it. So, I bought this peculiar tree. In a few weeks I will be able to see if it changes anything. Maybe, just maybe it will. Maybe someday, when a bird is about to evacuate its bowels on my head, a crystal might be able to deflect its little surprise.