I'm mostly posting this for diosa_iluminada, jeje. A story in the tradition of biblioteca/librería. ;)

Last night, Andres said he was going to clear off the coffee table so we could paint miniatures.

My laptop was right there in the middle of everything, so I asked him, "quieres que guarde mi computadora?" (do you want me to put my computer away?)

And he said, "no, porque vamos a hacer la aplicación primero" (no, because we're going to do the 'application' first).

So, let me say, in Spanish, "aplicación" means "application", but only in the sense of applying something to something else. Since my mindset was on painting, I interpreted this as "the application of a coat of paint".

So I thought he was saying, "don't put your computer away so we can paint, cause we're going to apply a coat first". Ummmm...okay, not sure I follow??

He repeated it 2-3 more times and laughed at me for being so dense before he finally realized what word he SHOULD have been using: solicitud.

Cause, what he was TRYING to say is that we were going to fill out the application for a lease on a new house before we started painting. Which, the application is online, so we'd need my computer for that. "vamos a hacer la solicitud primero". Magic! It all makes sense.

The moral of this story: Spanglish can be a serious threat to communication, kids. Employ it with care. xD

*Disclaimer: I LOVE Spanglish, but cases like these just make me laugh.

o.O This video actually makes Tucson look all metropolitan and sexy:

Downtown Tucson Partnership Promo from John Sears on Vimeo.

I also would never have believed that the Ronstadt Transit Station (read: downtown bus depot) could ever be portrayed in a graceful and attractive light, but I guess I was mistaken. xD

I went swimming with Matt again today! Apparently I can join the gym under his membership for a super low rate (as he has a grandfathered account there), and so we're going to do it! We hope to go back to the gym on Friday--it seems like getting out and exercising is really helping. :) Not making me totally better, of course (I mean, I was in pretty decent shape when I first started getting sick), but at least making me feel a little bit better overall. Or it could be a false correlation, but I hope not.

Send me good vibes! <3

This morning has been odd. I am completely on a nocturnal type schedule recently and can't seem to rectify this, so Matt and I have been hanging out a lot by night. At 5AM we ended up at McDonalds (I DO IT FOR THE HASH BROWNS, OKAY.), and I consumed two things that are almost certain to end badly for me, sickness-wise: well, hash browns, duh, and iced coffee. But afterwards I didn't just feel okay, I felt invigorated, and Matt invited me to go swimming with him at LA Fitness as he has a membership there. o.O; I was so so hesitant and reluctant but TEMPTED and he finally convinced me.

We did 300 yards in laps! And it felt GLORIOUS. :) I'm so glad I went. It was my first time swimming since the wedding in Texas last summer, and wow, I've missed it a lot. I think that part of the reason I've been so much worse/sicker this year versus last year is the lack of exercise, but it's also a Catch-22 because if I feel sicker then I'm obviously less capable of exercise or motivated to do it. But it's nice to catch a window of non-sick in which to actually do something physical and not IMMEDIATELY regret it. Good times.

It felt good to wear a bikini, too, in spite of the scratches all over me. xD

The only annoying thing is that even though I showered in the locker room, my hair is still kind of full of chlorine and nasty. But I think I'm just gonna say fuck it and go to bed. xD

dflkjfljdfs. No sleeping for Rachel..again. Apparently. Sadly, El Universal videos aren't working for me (again...), I'm too burnt out to read anything and absorb it, and my hands are DEFINITELY too shaky for painting, so...

Meme! Bwaha. Stolen from jetaimerai, only from Tumblr, heh.

( Yay wasting time. )

Yesterday I went to get myself an Arizona State ID since my Massachusetts one, which I've been using for ID for the past 5 years, finally expired. I was incredibly excited when I first received my new card, because I noticed that it has no expiration date. Seriously. In the spot where the expiration date should be, it's just a blank space. (And, really, that makes sense--driver's licenses for non-minors in Arizona are valid for ~45 years if you aren't arrested for anything, so it would follow that they wouldn't care about the renewal of non-driver ID cards...at all). Unfortunately, my dreams of forever-ID were shattered when I noticed that you have to register a change of address within 10 days. Seeing as we'll definitely be moving in August, that means that this new ID is also doomed to be short-lived. Which is kind of a shame, being that the picture on it was actually fairly cute and I NEVER TAKE CUTE ID PICTURES THIS IS A FOREIGN CONCEPT. But, oh well. Life goes on. xD
**It's also worthwhile to note that the infrequency with which such documents expire here, while kind of sketchy (at least in my opinion) has at least one positive side-effect: The DMV experience is *actually pleasant*. Like, you go in, and employees are cheerful and helpful and nice to you and don't appear jaded or frustrated at all. And it all goes fast. I have been to the AZ DMV twice and neither time did I wait more than ~30 minutes to have *all* my services completed. That includes time to fill out paperwork. Massachusetts readers probably understand fully why this is shocking and noteworthy--but I kid you not. When the place isn't necessarily exploding with people trying to renew everything all the time, it's so, so easy. *_*

Yesterday I also finally finished my second read-through of Elena Poniatowska's Hasta No Verte Jesús Mío, throughout which I was careful to make a written note of every single word or phrase that I didn't completely understand. Or even words that I *did* understand, but wanted to add to a list anyway so that I could practice recalling them rather than just recognizing what they mean. Right now, I'm on page 22 of the book out of 317, and my list of words and phrases is already 84 long. AHAHAHAH. There are going to be thousands. But oh well, I'm ready, bring it on. After all, that just means that there are going to be thousands more things that I newly understand after I finish this project! Yei. :3

I guess I better go back and work on that, eheh. >.>;

Bwahahaha, so last night/early this morning I found the following song, and I think it sums up like 75% of the frustration that I have with learning Spanish. Everywhere you go, any word you know probably means something different from the definition you learned for it, and therefore your vocabulary always carries the potential of getting you into trouble. The best part is that these guys are from Colombia...I feel so vindicated that people who actually speak Spanish do realize that this is a huge problem for foreigners, haha. This video is going to potentially be long and tedious for people who don't know or care about Spanish, but if you do like Spanish, I highly suggest you watch it!


My transcription and translation are below. The [bracketed] parts in the actual transcription are parts I couldn't get on my own, or parts that I changed/refined after looking up lyrics. In the translation, the brackets indicate the English meaning of the previous word (a lot of the jokes depend heavily on keeping the Spanish word there).

I didn't get everything, of course, but I was really pleased with how much I *was* able to understand, given how they put on a bunch of weird accents and go pretty fast. @_@/ Anyway, my translation doesn't do the song justice, but I don't think *English* does it justice being it's about the craziness of Spanish. Still, if you like languages, wordplay, and language problems, you might find the translation funny too, idk.

( Spanish )

( English )

This is also part of the problem of trying to learn Spanish and living in the US, too. One of the lines is "si lo aprendes [el español], no te muevas de region"-- "If you learn [Spanish], don't move to another region", because people will use words completely differently there. But in the US, there are tons of Spanish speakers from everywhere! How do you "not change regions"? I guess you just have to learn Spanish from one person and never talk to anyone else. Or something similarly silly, lol.

Also also self-serving change of topic, but...! Tonight Andres and I went out to a fancy Mexican restaurant where I think the waiters are instructed to speak to you with Spanish thrown in, even if you obviously can't speak it. (They always do this--maybe it's in order to seem authentic or exotic? idk) The Spanish addressed towards me always encourages me to gather all my courages and actually respond in Spanish, and today I just went for it and the waiter seemed surprised, but happy. When he brought us our check at the end, he asked me where I'd learned Spanish and that "lo tenía muy bien pronunciado". It made my night!!!! And possibly my week/month ^^; I normally notice all the ways in which I fail at speaking (in any language, including English) or how much I suck at, well, everything, so getting a compliment like that about my *pronunciation in Spanish* of all things from a random stranger was, well, pretty great. :) I feel like little moments like tonight are what make all sorts of struggling and anxiety and self-doubt suddenly worthwhile. <3 I'll never give up on Spanish, ever. In spite of all the difficulties and frustrations it's something I find worth fighting for.

Today was a good day. In spite of not being the healthiest day, the people in my life went out of their way to make it a really special time for me, and I'm so, so grateful for that. :) I love all of you. And you, too. <3

I didn't end up going to sleep until around 9 in the morning, since the previous night I stayed up chilling with my roommate (1AM McDonalds runs go!), and reading El Universal. Sleep between 6.30 (when Andres wakes up) and ~7.55 (when Andres leaves for work) is pretty much impossible on any day, because I can't sleep very well over the sound of the shower and I usually decide to stay up and hang out with him for the remaining 30-40 minutes he has at home and help him prepare his lunch and stuff anyway.

So the day started around 2.30 when I dragged myself out of bed. xD Whoops. At which point I proceeded to...do chores?

Things got a bit more interesting after Andres got home. We went out to dinner at Sauce, my favorite pizza place (the only place where I would actually choose to order pizza over anything else...thin crust, delicious cheese, awesome veggies...mmmm...), and then he took me to get a bubble tea afterwards. /o\ I feel so pampered!

A few hours later we went to Fry's in search of my holy grail--Boston Creme Pie, ~3,000 miles from Boston. I know I've looked for it in Tucson before and been disappointed (not that I could help trying again...), and I was so happy to discover it this time that I almost cried. xD It really was the best thing I could have asked for! My birthday miracle? Yes please. The cake wasn't the right consistency and there was way too much chocolate frosting on it, but they tried. I don't even care, actually, I'm just so happy I found something along the right lines. :) <3 Nom nom cake~! <3

All in all, it was a productive, happy day, with just the right amount of special mixed in. <3 Andres really treated me like a queen, I'm so happy to have him by my side, even though things are hard.

The only thing keeping the day from being truly perfect arose actually only a little while ago, when Chipo and Piño began fighting. It's looking bad--this is the way that Chipo and Kage started fighting before we had to separate them forever--and I've tried everything I can think of to try to appease them. I added extra hay after they'd already gotten fresh hay today, and I gave them both carrots (the most coveted of all coveted treats!) and they ate happily side by side... But, after a few moments, they went back to fighting and squealing again. Finally, I grabbed Chipo out of the cage held him firmly still, hoping to assert my humanly dominance and scare him out of his desire to fight. I know the conflict is ultimately his fault...he doesn't get along with Kage, obviously, and he was quite mean towards Melo on the one occasion we introduced them...I can see Piño running away from him and he consistently being the one to instigate violence and press the issue. It makes me *so angry*. Pinche Chipo culero por qué tienes que andar de cabrón y arruinar todo para todos?? Con una re. chin. ga. da. (<-- lol taking out my frustration with All The Spanish Profanity). By the time I returned Chipo to the cage Piño had already curled up inside one of the pigloos, and things are quiet now because they have yet to encounter eachother again. I really hope they get over whatever little snag they're having, because I'm kind of scared to go to bed now and wake up to find that my babies have torn eachother apart :S

I guess if I have to stay up, I could use the time to answer all my bazillion texts and Facebook messages from all my wonderful friends as well as from people I barely know, if at all. xD Hrm. Or, I might just put that off til tomorrow anyway. >.>;;; Heh.

EDIT: Ugh, they're still at it. Thus Chipo gets to sleep in the doghouse tonight (aka, the pet carrier with a little water bottle strapped to it). Hopefully sleeping on a pile of half-fleece half food and barely having space to walk will mellow him out...but it probably won't. -_- I don't want to think about dealing with tomorrow right now.

I just realized that it is, in fact, my birthday, because two of my awesome Guatemala friends sent me birthday text messages at exactly midnight. (Awwww ^^)

My watch claims it's March 1st, though.

I wonder who's mistaken.

So, this might just be because I had a cup of iced tea tonight followed by a glass of Coke after like. Almost a week of not consuming much caffeine, but...I have so much energy right now. A shaky, slightly-sleep deprived sort of energy, but energy nonetheless. And I feel a fragile sense of well-being, like maybe I'm kind of *okay* right now and maybe this would be like, the *perfect moment* for an adventure.

Too bad it's 5.45 in the morning...wouldn't be the first time my body has had awful timing, I guess. :\ The most annoying part is that the odds are very, very good that in 6 hours when everyone else is awake and wanting to do things, I will be back to my sickly, exhausted self and totally useless. *le sigh*. I am crossing my fingers that it doesn't work out that way, though. :)

I mostly just want to *do something* with this energy. Something useful or productive. I would music, but that would wake everyone else. I would art, but I actually arted last night for the first time in ages and frustrated myself with my limitations, again. I think I need to come up with a new approach to or mental framework for art so that I can actually start to enjoy it again. Crafting seems too ambitious for my current restless state of mind.

I have actually (possibly unfortunately), been suffering corruption from my awesome Esperantist LJ friends who have been tempting me to actually pick up Esperanto-learning resources for the first time in 10 years. Tonight alone, I worked through 30 super-beginner lessons on lernu.net and I want so desperately to do more. Unfortunately, by #30 my brain was starting to twitch and turn itself inside out, so I think in the interest of actually absorbing anything, further investigation should wait. I'm not sure why Esperanto seems like a good idea right now--possibly because of how familiar it is, plus how quickly I know it's possible to make progress. I am so frustrated with everything else right now (mostly with Spanish, because I feel like I keep fighting and fighting and the reward is: stagnance), so a change of pace and scenery is kind of nice. We'll see how long it lasts...I feel like unless I can actually find a real life friend who is willing to practice and speak Esperanto with me, I will inevitably start getting lazy and ultimately lose interest. But we'll see.

Totally unrelated, but the Melo is growing quite large. He is starting to really get noticeable weight to him, which I notice as he crawls across my lap or when I support him with my hands. I should probably take some pictures and post them here before he turns into a total and irreversible fatass like the other three. xD He's a cutie.

Super apologies if this isn't really all that coherent. I'm probably not even half as awake as I think I am.

Bookmans, a bookstore chain in Arizona, is holding a voting contest on Facebook for different videos produced by elementary schools in Arizona. A bunch of my friends have been working on gardening and farming projects at one of the competing schools and they say they need all the votes they can get. The winning school will receive $15k and it would be SUCH a huge help for this school and this neighborhood!

So please, watch this video:


And if you think these guys should win the money, please go vote for them here:
https://www.facebook.com/bookmans

If you don't think they should win, well, don't vote for them, but please don't tell me, haha, cause it would break my heart. xD

Thanks so much!! Also feel free to signal boost/please do! :)