Friday, October 10, 2008

Mema, movies and medicine

This week is done and so am I.


I still feel like crap and it is most likely allergies although today I have an odd pain in my mouth. It's as if there is a popcorn kernal wedged into the bottom lower right, back quadrant of my gums and at times it feels like it is slicing my gums open repeatedly and slowly. I've tried flossing, brushing and rinsing over and over again - even with warm salt water. Did you throw up in your mouth a little? Kate, my sister from another mister, was kind enough to answer my plea for office-friendly remedies that included the gargalling of warm salt water and I even tried it this evening and the other day at work.

So, it was a week. Watching a close friend lose her mother is about the most heart/gut wrenching thing ever and I have to share what an amazing job her daughter and granddaughters did honoring this amazing woman. Her kindness and thoughtfulness was encapsulated and displayed beautifully in a funeral mass - complete with Mariachi's and a beautiful slide show highlighting all moments of her life. She will be greatly missed and has passed on her greatest attributes and legacy to my friend Regina, her daughter Ashley and her neice Veronca. Later, at the gathering, Ashley, Regina's daughter had the mariachi band play "Mariachi Loco" for me after we were chatting about the movie The Heartbreak kid. I love that kid, she's totally got my sense of humor. There is nothing - NOTHING, like live music. Oh how I love hearing Mariachi's. My love for Mariachi music came at an early age when my parents would take us to a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant - La Chinita, where they had Mariachi's perform weekly and afterward we would crank up the car stereo played a tape featuring Linda Ronstadt (yes, that Linda Ronstadt) singing with Mariachi's, I was hooked. The music of the Mariachi's evokes such emotion, it is really quite beautiful. One of my favorite songs Linda sings is The Charreada. Mariachi's bring me a lot of good childhood memories and memories of Mema.


Tonight, we watched Ironman and it was great watching the magic that is Robert Downey Jr. I have been a fan of his since Less than Zero - he looks fantastic and I am elated that he was able to conquer his demons. It was fun to watch a movie that featured ACDC and Black Sabbath. Gwyneth Paltrow's role was cute, however - she needs to stick to being a blonde, red is not her color.


Work is keeping me insanely busy and I really feel like I am in a good place, with good people and good benefits. Does it get any better? I guess it would if I could become a parent, maybe? I am happy to not be parenting right now - did I just really type that - crap, the Catholic guilt is telling me to delete that last sentence. Must. Stay. Strong. It would just be so very, very difficult not impossible, but difficult (and would probably send me to an early grave) to parent on top of this new, demanding position, pass the CSET, complete Graduate school in a successful manner and actually retain the knowledge being crammed into my brain and manage to put on clean underwear each day. The baby thoughts or rather the attempting to make a baby thought is sprouting once again as I read through my open enrollment materials this evening and have come to the conclusion that we will, more than likely, stay with Kaiser and re-visit infertility treatments once I get hired as a teacher. On the fost/adopt front, we have not heard anything from the agency, which is fine. I have absolutely no leave balances on the books at work and as described above, no time. I guess I know the answer to the question " Can today's woman have it all?" Few, very few and not this one.


Next week will bring me 2, count them DOS days off. YIPPPEEEE. I have Columbus Day (or as the people of South Dakota and myself like to say - Native American Day) off and Friday is my 9/80. Ahhhh, three day workweek, woo-hoo.


Here is my P.S.A. - Please, people, - read and learn about the candidates. Did anyone see the McCain supporter who was attempting to address McCain and during her statement proclaimed that "Obama is an Arab"? McCain corrected her, but still - HOLY CRAP. The scary thing is - she is probably registered to vote.

My favorite song this week - Fruta Vermelha by Apollo Nove, reminds me of sitting on beach and everything that summer has to offer.

5 comments:

Jules said...

Obama is an Arab?! Because his middle name is Hussein? OMG this election is going to kill me. It will absolutely kill me. We are surrounded by crazed zealots--or at least those are the ones who make it to TV.

Loved the Linda Ronstadt clip! That reminds me of being a little kid, too. El Torrito had Mariachis, and my parents would always ask them to play tangos. :)

Kara said...

I totally forgot about the Mariachi's at El Torito - that's right. Remember La Chinita?

As I was playing the Linda Ronstadt clip last night, Duane reminded me about how I begged my parents to have Mariachi's at our wedding reception. That probably would have been the nail in the coffin at the Victoria Club.

I am still in shock we got away with the Horah!

kate said...

Ahem. Yes, I did in fact barf just a little. The saltwater thing always makes me gag.

And yes- mariachi music is awesome. I grew up in the land of mariachi (central Texas is HUGE for mariachi- San Antonio especially), and was even in a mariachi in the 8th grade (complete with charro suits, scarves, and hats for the ladies). The college I went to back in Texas has a HUGE mariachi program. They host a massive festival every year for kids from the valley to come and compete for scholarships to the program. And when our orchestra toured Scotland, we brought the Mariachi with us. It was really cool to see a bunch of rural Scots dancing their legs off to the Mariachi. Very fun!

I am glad that work is going well for you. And I think it's totally okay to feel like life is too busy right now to be a parent. I mean, if you were a parent right now, you'd be making it work as best you could, but even then you could still rightfully say that being a parent was hard while you are so busy. I'm in the same place- there's a grad program at Wake that's super cheap, and has amazing classes and is in the evening, so I could go while still staying home during the day to take care of a baby, AND not go into any debt to complete it. BUT, it's a master of arts in "liberal studies", which (even admittedly called so by the university) it's kind of a useless program. I guess it would be something I could complete to get some grad school experience and then later, complete a different MA, or even go to law school. I don't know. There's just a lot to think about lately, as I'm sure you read over on my blog.

And COOL for having 2 days off. I get 2 days, too, because of our fall break. Of course, WFUs fall break is on Friday of the same week, so it's not like H and I actually get to go anywhere (not to mention that we've got another 5k next weekend, too.). Sigh. Someday I'll get to go away again!

And yes. I cannot believe the latest thinly veiled racist crap that McCain's allowing to be spewed at Obama. It's such horseshit. I wholeheartedly agree that people need to read and LEARN...

And I will have to check out that song. I don't believe I've heard it before. I think in an iPod exchange, I had always imagined that I would send my iPod to someone who would add a song, who would send it to someone else who would add a song, etc. But then I realized that everyone on the list would have to not only use iTunes, but would also have to use the same platform (mac vs pc). And that's a logistical nightmare. So, I'll have to come up with another way to share music legally, I suppose. But isn't that the fundamental struggle at the core of now-defunct groups like the original Napster and Kazaa, etc.? Sigh. One problem at a time...

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry that you're feeling like poo. I don't really have any office friendly remedies (aside from staying home) but someone suggested ricola cough drops and if your throat is sore they're great.

I actually thought that McCain handled the arab comment lady well - I mean it was about time that he said something but I thought what he said showed backbone. It still wouldn't make me vote for him (if I could vote of course) but it was probably the first thing he's done the campaign that I liked. That said its still scary shit that someone thinks that.

Hooray for days off! And btw I think if you were a parent you would so be kicking ass in this time crunched situation too. Kara you are so fab you can do anything!

Alyssa said...

Oh, allergies. How I hate thee. If it makes you feel any better, I'm in the same boat. Do you use Allegra-D? That is a wonder drug for me. And if I'm in really bad shape, I add some Nasonex, too. (Sorry for the TMI.) AND...my chiropractor just gave me some probiotics to take and they have been remarkably helpful. I'm just sayin...

About your tooth problem...This sounds a lot like what my husband went through a few years ago. He had never had his wisdom teeth removed and there was a gap between the tooth and the gum. Food particles would get stuck in there and get all infected-inflamed. (Sorry, gross, I know. Sorry sorry.) Finally, he got sick of it, had the offending tooth removed and problem solved! Just thought I'd toss that out there.