Everything and Nothing ...you decide.

Cold Hearted Apparently

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I was invited to a show by a coworker of mine, a flamenco dance show. When asked, I quickly turned it down. I thought to myself, not my thing. But in reality, it is my thing. I enjoy going to shows or just going out in general. But what usually ends up happening is I respond yes to an event in the moment and as the event approaches I hate myself for saying yes to the invite. I don’t know why, but it happens almost all the time. Days prior to the event I spend time thinking about why I said yes. Then, I begin conjuring up all sorts of excuses to get out of going to the event. You know the standard ideas such as I got a flat, the repair person is coming, I don’t feel well, my toilet broke, a family matter came up, and on and on. This time I decided to change things up and say NO immediately to help spare myself the future dread.

But then

I saw my coworker in the hall and she mentioned that the show was only two days away and she still had one ticket left. So naturally I said I would go and of course Monday rolled around I was like damn why did I say yes at the last minute and how can I get out of this. Be as it may, I actually ended up going to the show cause I felt bad AND I enjoyed it except for the kids performances.

The Kid Performers

There were two groups of kid dancers, the older ones between the ages of 8 and 12, and a younger group from 5 to 7 years of age. As the kids danced their way through the performance, a co-worker seated next me expressed how adorable she thought the kids were. But when I looked out onto the stage all I saw was a bunch of disorganized kids trying to keep uup with their leader, the instructor, who was off to the side. Kids were turning in wrong directions, or could not follow the steps, and were looking to each other as to what to do and all the while the audience was screaming “Bravo!” “Bravo! Ellena!” All the while I was thinking, are these people blind or what? Did they see something I did not? What wonderful things did they see? I kept thinking this is terrible and what in the heck made them think to put these unsynchronized kiddos on stage?! As one group of kids finished the next flamencoed their way in. It did not matter the age, the performance did not improve. Terrible, disorganized, chaos on stage and yet again the audience howling and praising how wonderful they were.

These people need glasses.

At the end of the show, we awaited our co-worker to come out to offer our congratulations on her performance. Which by the way was merited, unlike the kiddos. While waiting my other co-worker once again commented on how she thought the children’s performance was sooo wonderful and adorable. And that’s when I said, “ OMG they were terrible and there was nothing cute about it.” “It was awful.” Immediately all eyes were on me and my co-workers began saying things like “OMG! How can you say that?” “That’s so mean.” “That’s a cold hearted thing to say.” I looked at them in bewilderment. “Really?” I replied. “Sorry but no.” I said flatly. I then proceeded to explain my thinking, but yet again I was met with “that’s so mean.” “ You are so cold.”

Umm..ok. I shut my mouth.

Get some glasses folks.

For the record, I absolutely disagree with them. First of all, why is it wrong to say the kids’ performance was terrible? Is because they are kids. And just because they are kids, are we supposed to appreciate, applaud and tolerate their horrible performances? I think not. The ticket I purchased was not free nor was the performance for families only. It was a public event. There are expectations and requirements if you are going to perform on stage with a public audience, I’m sorry. Disorganized kids jumping around a stage like if it were a gym class gone wild does not even begin to meet the minimum requirements.

Second of all, we are not doing these or any children any favors by allowing them to think that their horrendous performance was acceptable standard. One can support children in their endeavours and encourage them for their effort but also let them know they still need to develop skills and talent when needed. If you applaud, howl, and shout wonders at terrible performances then there is no need to think improvement and work is still needed. And as instructors, we should not subject the public to these performances because not everyone will think they are adorable, especially no familial paying audience members.

In the end, I made my cold hearted comments when the kids were mentioned and I did not attempt to explain my thinking as no one was interested in hearing it.

I wonder why?

Book Review – Fallen Idols

Non-fiction

Fallen Idols by Alex von Tunzelmann delves into the sticky topic of statues. If you are a history buff, you may be not be too impressed with this book, but if you are someone like me who only knows the history that you were taught in school, then I would recommend this book. Tunzelmann examines the colorful history of twelve men. George Washington, Saddam Hussain, and Cecil Rhodes to name a few. Tunzelmann compounds the reasonings for and against the tearing down monuments erected in the name of prominent men of history.

Much information is omitted from history lessons in school in order to paint a rosy historical picture of ones nation, so that one can be proud, but this colored version of history gives us a skewed view of history. Fallen Idols not only gives a more complete picture of twelve particular men but points out that perhaps we must do our research in order for us to have a more accurate picture of our history. So the next time you look at a monument in your town or city ask yourself, what do I really know about this dude and what else do I need to know?

Happy Reading!

Boarding Gone Wrong!

My perfer mode of travel is by plane. Its usually quickest way to travel although not necessarily the least stressful way especially during borading.

Usually I am not one to board a plane right away nor do I tend to take things on board because I do not want to be fighting for space in the overhead compartments. But on this occasion, I had to do both; board early because I was taking carry on items. As I sat and waited for the other members of the row to join me, I began to observe all the happenings of the boarding process.

One of the first things I noticed was that a lot of people that morning woke up and forgot how to count. People kept passing their rows and ended up having to double back, which of course mucked up the boarding process, causing congestion and some uncomfortable touching. I sat there mystified because these people had their tickets in hand with the row number on it and yet they still seemed to pass up their assigned seat. Then, there were those whose bags were too cumbersome for them to handle and struggled to place them into the overhead bins. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why people pack bags that they cannot carry or handle. At this point I checked my watch because I felt some time had passed and we had not made much progress in boarding. We were already 30 minutes in and half the plane was still empty. At the same time, I began to wonder where my row companions were, as the seats next to me were still unoccupied. Perhaps they were stuck behind the person who could lift their bag into the overhead compartment or rubbing butts with someone because someone was doubling back to their missed seat.

The most entertaining boarding event I witnessed was the window aisle seat switcharoo! You know where a person sits in the aisle seat because they have a window seat or vice versa. Why for the life of me do people play such games? Why not simply take your seat then ask if anyone would mind switching. It is obvious that you are faking. The letters A and C and D and F look nothing alike so confusion is not justified. There are little pictures next to the letters too to help avoid confusion on seat assignments but yet there are still lost soles sitting where they should not be. Finally, there is the I am not seated next to someone because my seat assignment is way over on the other side of the plane problem so I decided to sit here. This really is a biggy as it holds everything up as this requires multiple participants. Not only do you need to involve the person sitting next to you but you may need to involve passengers in the next row or even rows aways. Once you find a person willing to switch seats then you have the whole carry on bag issue. What about my bags? OMG just sit down! You will have to wait and be inconvenienced at the end of the flight just like you are inconvenincing everyone right now. I looked at my watch and thought wow 45 minutes into boarding how much longer is this going to take?! I was about to recheck my ticket for the estimated time of departure when my row mates showed up, a young couple. As they sat down and we tried to figure out which belt buckle belonged to who, the man mumbled to his partner “Just in time, best way to fly is with no carry ons so you can board at the end not have to worry which leaves room for more preflight cocktails.”

Noted.

Yes, We Should!

There has been lots of talk about what and how history should be taught within the United States. Local, state, and national leaders are weighing in on the topic. Many don’t think we should incorporate the topic of race into the national school curriculum for the fear of portraying America or individual white Americans to be racist at heart. The fact of the matter is race is part of our history, why erase it, or hide it, or pretend it is not intertwined? Good or bad, it is part of who we are.

The Tulsa massacre of 1921 along with Juneteenth are two topics that have been recently brought to light, and there are countless others. We criticize, let’s say, China, for being a closed society and “brainwashing” its people because the government controls what is taught and how it is taught. Unfavorable history is left out of their curriculum. Is that what we want for us? Do we want to only teach what a particular group thinks is favorable for fear it may paint a poor picture of Americans? Are we not then just as those other governments we shun for doing so.

Here’s a simple idea. Teach the facts, all the facts, even the ugly ones and let the children who we are teaching decide for themselves who we are as a nation. We are trying to teach our children to be critical thinkers, to analyze information, and to draw conclusions based on the information learned. So why do we need to skew our historical content? Just teach it and let them decide. Yes, there will be those who walk away thinking America is racist and race issues are ingrained into our modern society, and there will be those who think that is all of the past and yet there will be others who think something else. What is important is that all the facts are presented and the humans we are raising and teaching make a decision for themselves instead of letting a group of politicians with their hidden agendas decide for us.

What Is Everyone Talking About?!

A bunch of sissies I tell ya!

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I got my first covid test. Well, my second, if you count the one I did at a drive through pharmacy window. I was plesantly surprised. Not at all as I had expected. I guess its because I have heard only about how uncomfortable it is or how it hurts a little. I gotta tell ya, for me, it tickled. I mean, like, flat out tickled. I could not control my laughter. It was ridiculous if I say so myself. I think the whole lobby heard me laughing so hard and yelling, “Take it out! It tickle it tickles!”

I know the experience is different for everyone and my experience does not invalidate all others, but I really was surprised. I started to think why did I think it was going to be terrible? Well, I guess its because most people I have spoken to, who have take a covid test, said it was extremely uncomfortable, or just plain awful. “It doesn’t hurt, but it is just a really uncomfortable feeling. “

Well I am here to let you know there may be another outcome to your experience, it could tickle too!

Stay safe!

New WhatsApp Feature

Revolutionary!

WhatsApp the popular texting app, for mostly those outside the US, has incorporated a speed option for voice notes! Amazing! And, can I just say, this was absolutely needed! I, for one, tend to send voice notes because I’ve got shit to say, and sometimes it’s a lot. Texting just takes too long for somethings plus you lose the attitude or sarcasm in a text. So a voice is needed. Or, it could be that I am from back in the day, you know, when phones were used to communicate via voice.

This speed feature was a wonderful surprise for me on this day, especially because my friend Karen sent me a voice note. Her voice notes tend to be a bit long winded, interesting, but looong winded. Today I was able to reduce her 8 minute message down to half the time. Granted she sounded like tape being eaten by a machine, but I understood the message and it was quick. I of course, used the fastest speed which is 2x, but you can listen at normal speed,1x, or at an in between speed of 1.5. With an 8 minute message on a 5 minute break you can see why and how this new little feature is handy! This feature also comes in handy for messages that you just really don’t want to listen to but have to. Now you can just speed up the note and cut down on the annoyance.

I, for one, am celebrating this added feature. Now if WhatsApp could add a feature of sending things to the self because there are times I need to send things to myself and can’t. Hopefully soon though!

Is China Really a Threat

Or is it Self Sabatage?

Update: a pedestrian bridge and a residential building have recently collapsed. I think it’s time we start holding our politicians / government accountable.

Infrastructure spending, free two year college and health care for all. Radcial ideas. Have we gone mad?! Are we in Kansas Toto?! No. We are not. This is The United States of America, and you know what? We can’t seem to get our shit together!

Our report card is in. C- is our grade. According to the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, a C- is the grade that the American Society of Civil Engineers gives us for infrastructure in America. A C- is all we could muster up. Sad really. Cs and Ds is the grade that we have be getting over the years, since 1998. Here are some simple reasons why:

Our roads either stink or don’t exist at all. 43% of our roadways are in poor or mediocre conditions. If you live in New York, you surely can experience these poor road conditions on a daily basis driving around on the 495 or Sunrise Highway. Spending on improving our roads has been in the decline for some time now.

Now, let’s take a look at water. We waste water. Did you know there is a water main break every two minutes, and we lose 6 billion gallons of water EVERYDAY. I wonder what the residents of California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona think about this? I am sure the states that suffer drought conditions and water rationing don’t appreciate hearing that little fun fact.

Despite the popularity of parks and outdoor recreation, spending on parks is also down. Which means deteriorating parks, parking areas, and drinking water systems within parks. Less parks are also being planned for. Oh well, I guess our kids can play in those run down streets of their neighbors.

It seems our educational system is not fairing too well either. Well I think. I am not really sure. Why? Well it seems to be a lack of information/data on this topic. What we do know is that state capital funding fell 31% for schools between 2007-2018. That equates to about a 20 billion dollar cut. We also know that 53% of public school districts report the need to update or replace multiple building systems. We also know teachers are not getting paid enough, but a topic of discussion for another day.

And lastly let there is our health care system. If you search for information on the ranking of the US health care system you find varied answers. We are ranked last among the top developed countries or we are ranked at 22 or we are ranked at the bottom of a list. It depends on what is being compared which makes the answer to the question where do we rank a bit complicated. With that being said, one idea that does not pop out is that The United States has the top health care system. Nope. We are not aces or tops, not number 1 or even great.

If you look at our report card over the past years, you will only see Cs and Ds and an F or two as our overall grade. Imagine if your child continued to to get Cs and Ds year after year. Some of us would call into question why this was happening, start looking at the different components that contribute to the possibilities that lead to your child getting a constant C or D. We would demand changes. Shouldn’t WE be doing this to our own systems and politicians that are in place.

Is China or any other country for that matter a threat to us or are we just self sabotaging? We have been hearing how we have to make America great again. But how can we make America great if we can’f fix or improve upon our basic problems. We don’t want to spend on ourselves. Currently there is talk about the budget and spending but there is also a lot of noise out there too. This noise, is a distraction to move us away from the real issues. This noise is to create a divide among us. This noise, is precisely what is stopping us from making us great. The powers that be do not have our best interests at heart. If they did, we would not be cutting spending on education. We need our people to be educated, ALL, our people and EQUALLY, not just some . Instead they are distracting us with issues such as immigration, illegals, benfits to the illegals, crime and the list goes on. BUT what about our own, our own that are homeless, jobless, without health care, without proper education, our citizens. They WE are hurting too, hurting even more I would say. How can we be great if only SOME OF US ARE GREAT ? It’s not like we don’t have the money. We do. We just don’t to spend it on us. Why is that?

Check out how your state is doing. What grade it is earning?

Time and Thanks

It’s the end, al fin. Not of a movie, a song, or of time, although for some it may seem asi (as though). It is the end of yet another year. 2020 has been like no other. Different, uncommon, particular, distinctive and peculiar or you can just say plain old raro (strange/rare)! As unique as 2020 may have been, I look back and see that I have discovered or rediscovered many new and exciting things that will most likely affect me for a long time to come, if not forever.

Whether you wanted to “Make America Great again” or are looking for a “Time to Heal,” unlike other times, politics most certainly got my attention this year. I had voted in previous elections but I can not say I was the most informed voter, actually I wasn’t informed at all. I basically voted for the person that “sounded” good. Hay que pena! How embarrassing, I know. But not anymore! Toy al dia! I am up to date, on most major issues that is. Am I an expert? Certainly not. But I am an informed citizen who listens more closely to the words our elected officials speak about policies that affect our daily lives.

Woke and Enlightened are two words that have been used to describe me this past year. The unjustifiable murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor along with the Black Lives Matter movement most definitely caught my attention. White privilege became a topic of interest. Why is it incorrect or insensitive to say all lives matter? Why do we call attention to “the first black” anything? and are black citizens or people of color really treated differently than white citizens by the police? What is racism, prejudice and discrimination? Needless to say, I became a student of this topic and other topics and issues related to people of color. Ojo! I am considered a minority, but by just looking at me and talking to me, you would never know. I have benefited from this white privilege that exists and didn’t even know it. Now I do. I have changed.

Politics and white privilege are the two most recent topics of interest but food is where my enlightenment really began. I got on the topic of food because I had decided I wanted to eat healthier as I discovered that the true magic of getting thin was not exercise but food. Yes, exercise helps, but it is what you eat that matters most. As a result, I began investing in how to eat and what to eat. I took a free online course at Coursera on the topic of nutrition and Ayyy Papa! that got me going! I bought and listened to books, watched documentaries, I could not get enough. I investigated food, where and how it was made. The information is worrisome and the things the food industry hides from us is scary. If you have not looked into this topic, I highly recommend that you do. It could save you a lot of health issues in the future.

My rediscovery of books has brought me joy. Prior to this pandemic, I read books only related to my profession. There just was no time for material that was classified as reading for pleasure. Time after time, I would walk into a bookstore, buy a book, go home, read the first few pages, put it down and pick it up months or years later. But 2020 has changed this bad habit. To date, I have read 18 books. Everything from politics to romance, from biographies to humor, even works from notable foreign authors. At the beginning of 2020, Goodreads asked me how many books I would like to read this year, as a goal. I posted 3 books. At the time I thought, ta duro eso (that’s a hard one), but my goal got met!

Over the course of the year, I continued to do things I typically did but I did it for longer periods. I continued to exercise. When the gyms closed, I brought the barbell and plates home. Netflix continued to be a staple activity, Hulu and Prime were added on. Did you know, there are 22 seasons to Law and Order SVU? When the pandemic hit, I made a goal to watch all 22 seasons by the end of this year, but I found other things to do. I did get through 10 though. My cooking, let’s just say is at otro nievel (at another level)! And of course, family time, that increased and will be a topic of a future blog. Stayed tuned.

For all these things written here and many, more I am thankful.

But before we part ways, what about you? Que has hecho (what have you done) with your time this year? What have you discovered or rediscovered in this peculiar year?

Thanks for reading.

Conversations

“There’s a dead girl in the pool.”

“What?” “What are you talking about?”

“Could you show some concern? There is a dead girl in the pool.”

” umm…We don’t have a pool.” “ok..So, who’s the girl?”

“On no, it’s a song.”

“ah.”

Why?

Elated and dazed

Do you know

you are in control?

If you ask of me,

I eagerly comply

And yet no reciprocation

Why?

Why can’t I…

Have another kiss?

Ask what you are doing?

Ask where you are?

Have a selfie?

Or just ask Why?

And you comply

Could it be…

respect

lack of

from you of me?

Perhaps, it’ s just trust

I enjoy what goes on

Though one-sided

But not the confusion

That lurks within me

Not Kid, but Realists

No fantasies needed

Just clarity

Habla!

Alto y claro!

Because why?

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