i'm tired...

i've been opening the store almost every morning. tomorrow i'm off...

looking forward to spending the day with the jesus.

march is done, it's fired!!!

i don't get it... i don't fucking get it...

i just came back from the funeral home. my friend alysun's dad passed away last wednesday. he had ms.

i met alysun when she was a junior in high school. i used to be her leader at the student ministry in willow. we used to go to the streamwood games, to the plays, to hang out with friends that they wanted me to meet.

all through the time i've known alysun her dad was bed ridden - in many ways, this has been a relief.

and it sucks ass!!!! i really never met her dad. yet walking through the room and looking at the pictures i could tell that he led a full life.

there was the wedding picture - he was wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt, her mom was wearing a white pantsuit with a spaghetti strap flowy white tank and flowers in her hair. references to the beatles where everywhere. and his pictures with alysun said more than words would ever be able to. you could totally see that she was his pride and joy.

as the years went by you could see him deteriorating. the most beautiful pictures where the ones that ripped my gut appart and made me angry. there was alysun getting ready to go to a school dance with her date, and they are standing next to the bed her dad was lying in. there's a picture of all the crazy kids from streamwood high that i know and love, hanging out at alysun's place - and they are hanging out with her dad in his room. and there's a picture of alysun's high school graduation - and they were able to bring her dad in his bed.

it was beautiful and painful - no one deserves to have this as part of their life.

i love alysun. my heart breaks with hers.

this month is done. it's fired. no need for anything else to happen.

i'm looking forward to comfort food tonight. and looking forward to more hiding in jesus - i don't know how else to push through.

it's only been 10 years...

dear lord... ten years since graduating from high school...

i had what seems to be an unusual great experience in high school. my friend michelle and i met in 7th grade. our friendship has gone through everything, and in the midst of 2000 miles separation we remain very close.

this week i recieved an e-mail from ricky rivera, a guy we went to high school with. they have been starting a yahoo group to get a reunion in the making. in the last few days i've e-mailed with people i hadn't heard from in... well, 10 years, literally.

it is so weird and so comforting all at the same time. i wonder who they are today and how that compares to who they were 10 years ago. god knows i've changed so much from 10 years ago... i'm intrigued to get to know them all again for the first time.

i was talking to my friend michelle on the phone today and she said, "hold on a second, my daughter doesn't want to take a nap" (she has two girls). when she came back on the phone, she said, "that is still a little weird. i have daughters."

it still feels weird.

so far it seems like we're having a reunion in december. many of us don't live in puerto rico. i really want to be there. i guess i'll start saving up now. i wonder how all of our expectations and/or who we thought everyone would be/where they would be will clash in the same room.

there's some good drama in the making :-D

it is still so surreal...

i never was really close to laurie. i met her when she was a junior or senior in high school. i wasn't one of her direct leaders in the student ministry, but there was still that relationship, that smile, that hug - even after a year in mexico whenever she saw me she would find me and hug me and say hi. still she was one of "my students" - you have many students that are "your" student when you decide to do this ministry. and my experience is not so "individual". many of laurie's acquantances felt like truly her friends - that was laurie.

and her death has hit me like a ton of bricks. i can't start to imagine what her close friends are experiencing, her fiancee, her family. i don't know the whole story, i've only collected bits and pieces - and i can't quite put together what would drive anyone to such an extreme decision and take their own life. yet at the same time, chances are if i were in her place, circumstances, train of thougth, emotional weight, who am i to say i would've chosen differently?

one of the thoughts that sticks to my mind is the reality of incarnating with each other. being in and with each other's joys and sufferings. i've experienced that in what has been probably the longest four days i can remember. the community coming together has been powerful. what if we lived like this 24/7? maybe we won't have even an opportunity to breath into the lie that we are alone.

www.laurieboncimino.com

many of us know laurie and probably know she's been missing since last wednesday. please check the website and if you have any info LET THEM KNOW!!! keep praying...

what?!? a computer that works?!?!

that's right friends, i'm writing this from the comfort of my home!!!! i have a working computer and working internet!!!! i would like to thank the academy and my parents for all their support...

so stay tuned... more postings will be happening... so excited!!!

i feel like peter gallagher

i'm not the typical girly girl... if you know me, you know that pretty well.

all my life i've tweezed my eyebrows myself... call it a control issue, if you will. recently i started going to this one place in palatine where they thread them out and now i'm addicted to the pampering.

here's the dilemma: the hair in my eyebrows seem to grow at different rates and speeds... so for the past 2 weeks i've been letting them all grow out to see if in one sitting we can catch them all at the same time.

by now, i feel like peter gallagher... it's so disturbing. i was reassured by my friend meghan that i don't look like him. however, i still feel like him.

this friday is d-day. can't wait... until then, maybe i'll self-induce in a comma in honor of his non-acting in "while you were sleeping."

i'm hooked...

i'm trying to get a new computer on ebay, a mac mini, and it's intense!!! i hadn't done ebay before, and it's addictive!!! my control issues are popping out over random strangers bidding for the same item!! aaarrrgggghhh!!! shake my fist at them in rage!!!!

the grammy's.

my friend drew loves alicia keys. no, you don't understand, he LOVES alicia keys. and last night i fell in love with her. sure, i've always thought she is great, but her performance last night was amazing!!! she was later joined by jamie foxx in a tribute to ray charles which blew everyone away!!!

the whole night fell like an amazing concert where all the celebrities collided into one huge room. it celebrated musical arts like i've never seen before...

except for jennifer lopez and marc anthony - painful!!!! yes, fellow puertoricans, but dear god!! she just proved she can't really sing - she's a performer/entertainer, not a singer.

and of course, u2. that's all i need to say about that.

overall, amazing night!! who won awards? who really knows, who really cares, the performances where worth the whole night!!

and oh yes, green day won one. it validates my musical taste in high school :-D

the apprentice

i said i was done after season 2. the idea of booksmarts vs. streetsmarts is dumb. however, i can't detach myself from the tv every thursday night. i can't seem to do anything else but want to watch this show... the assignments are lame, the people are bitchy, it's the worst television ever, and i'm hooked like there's no tomorrow... i'm addicted... and to think the martha stewart version is coming up next season... i need tivo.

movies to watch, just not before going to bed.

i saw last week motorcycle diaries... please see this asap!! but not before going to bed... the injustices that you witness along with che guevarra (beautifully portrayed by gael garcia bernal) will make you angry and for a split second you will also support the revolution the way he did. also, watch it and see if you find jesus in it. i did.

another movie to watch (saw it two days ago) - hotel rwanda. he did a phenomenal job and the actress who portrayed his wife really deserves to win best supporting actress. her portrayal grasps your heart and stays with you forever. why not to watch it before going to bed? dear lord, the inhumanity of it all is too much!!! i had to go home and stay awake til 3am in order to feel like it was a 6pm or 8pm movie.

but do yourselves a favor and watch these movies.

god releases...

and embarks you into new horizons...

the past few weeks/about a month have been a little of that in my life... and now it is official. i'll be moving to denver in june. i feel god calling me to keep growing in a different setting.

what's in denver, you ask? well, there's a bunch of crazy kids that i love that are planting a church - radius. that's where i'll be spending the next chapter of my life.

i'm extremely excited and sad about the people i'm moving away from... but no time for pre-grieving - we'll get there when the time comes :-D

go me!! it's my birthday!!!

that's right, this sunday i turn 27th!!!

which, let's be honest, it's the first time that a birthday sort faces me in the sense of, "huh, 27... that's almost 30..." not a big deal, just a weird thougth...

i'm having breakfast and hanging out with my friend kristin in the morning. we're picking up my friend michelle from puerto rico at the airport at noon, hanging out, having dinner with the above mentioned plus beth and sheryl, driving to grand rapids to hang out with lenski and tanya, coming back saturday to celebrate kristin's b-day (who by the way, we share a birthday and we've decided -suspending all rational thinking of course- that we will always live in the same town forever and ever in order to celebrate our birthdays together...) sunday, (my actual birthday) i'm having breakfast with my roommates and michelle, drop michelle at the airport - tear :-( do yoga, going out to a wine bar with the roomies - then monday spending the day by myself... not sure if i'm going down to the city or just staying in my pj's all day - we'll figure it out then...

love it, love it, love it!!!

happy birthday to me...

ps - i started celebrating two weeks ago and plan on keep celebrating for the next two weeks - it is a national holiday ;-)

oh, palatine...

my friend nick and i used to joke around saying that we all needed a monthly dose of palatine... for those of you outside of the greater chicago area, palatine is a suburb that offers nothing grandiose... hence the joke...

however, two of my favorite couples in the whole wide world, the worley's and the moorhouses live there, and they are only 10 minutets away from my place in barrington. so recently i've had more than my monthly dose of platine. in fact this week i even went to palatine high school for their concert, where kreg (mr. moorhouse himself) is their drumline director.

i spent the night at the moorhouses (too much snow and too much vino) and now i'm dreading to go out there since my car seems to be buried in the biggest pile of snow i've seen in a while.

i also had breakfast with the worley's this last wednesday. so much fun... i fell in their parking lot. i was stepping out of my car and the ground was so slippery that i really don't remember my foot touching the ground. i do remember my ass smashed against the ground, but not my foot touching it. the left side of my back is hurting like hell, but i'll survive.

oh, palatine...

the jim wallis interview...

is on the daily show website. well, an edited version... apparently him speaking of his 2 conversions doesn't make it to the funny category. anyways, still worth watching... www.comedycentral.com - look for the daily show page and the interview is on the home page.

why i love the daily show

yes, it has to do with my sexual, non-sexual, and intellectual crush with jon stewart... but last night's interview with jim wallis, one of the co-founders of sojourners magazine made me a convert all over again.

he just wrote a book called god's politics: why the right gets it wrong and the left doesn't get it. jon stewart was asking him extremely great questions in the midst of his satire and "subtle" contempt - and all that wallis did was affirm him, me, and america that the loud voice of conservative american christianity is a minority in the biggest scheme of life. made me feel able to embrace evangelicalism.

last night show will be rerun tonight on comedy central at 10:30 pm central as well as 12:30 am central. tune in earlier and catch today's brand new show at 10pm/midnight central - you won't regret it.

also, go to comedycentral.com and watch two videos on the daily show page: under jon stewart - councilmen throws metal and under stephen colberg - this week in god: fanatics.

it's beautiful, i tell you...

kitty porn

our cat is in heat. full blown heat. she wants to get some action and there's nothing stopping her... it's funny, sad, disturbing, all at the same time. i try to empathize with her. i tell her, "sweetie, you and me both would like some action and are getting none." it is so disturbing that at times it feels like she's some sort of kitty porn star - no need to go into more details over this medium.

she's getting the surgery thing done monday. hopefully she can last til then. hopefully we can last til then.

it is so disturbing...

missing you...

i miss my working computer... i miss having internet at home... and i miss tivo, even if i never had it before...

i'm at the library and i can't upload pictures from my camera to the web... what the hell?!?!?!

oh well, i guess i'll go back to living in what feels is like 1992 - i was a sophomore in high school. i didn't like that year... oh well...

by the way, i'm turning 27th the 30th of this month. woohoo!!! no clue how i'll celebrate it. any ideas?

these are a few of my favorite things...

i'm in st. joseph, michigan, a little town on the southeastern coast of lake michigan. i come to this town at least once a year to get away from everything and spend some time with god, jesus, spirit, the trinity...

i vowed to myself that i wasn't going to communicate with anyone else during this time... however, i need to let you all in what's going on...

i've had the best time so far. nothing major has happened. no earth shattering event, no major wall breaking down...

i'm just being - my empty, lonely self, my happy, complacent self, my ambitious self, my little kid self, we're all hanging out with "the letter 'g'" (another name i give god) and we're having a blast!!!

it's been so much fun to be, not to have to fix anything, not to rush into the what's next, we're right here, right now, in one of the most beautiful places in the world, even when covered with snow...

by the way, i think i'm the only person who drives east in the middle of a winter weather advisory. i was literally following the storm. driving southeast in illinois, it was fine. driving straight east in indiana, pure hell - at least three semi's had crash and one explorer was totalled. and driving northeast in michigan, also fine... yeah, i don't think i would willingly drive in that kind of weather again, but it's been worth it.

come visit st joseph. walk around state st. and all the fun shops, including the south haven chocolate museum and coffee house - love it!!!! and if you can't come all the way out here, please make sure you take time in your life to just be, it's the best gift you can give yourself.

ps - tomorrow i'm going to the lakeshore - i've never been at a snowed "beach" - i'm excited to see what that's like - even if the water has no salt :-)

almost a new year...

the holidays this year have been very different for me... good, and very different...

here's a tiny background on christmas/holidays in my mind: they are all about families... you spend time with the people you love, the people you've grown up with, and you can create the craziest party, yet all around what you see are your family and loved ones...

and here's a sucky reality - my immediate family, not so good at the whole loving part. they mean to do it with all of their being, but most of the times it doesn't translate as love - probably one of the saddest realities ever. so this year i decided that i was going to try having christmas without my parents - an event that promised a lot of hope and also a lot of pain...

so i did. i spent christmas with the miller's, probably one of my favorite families in the whole wide world... those of you that know beth, greg, jacob, and caleb have no need for me to explain any more. those of you that don't, well, you need to get to know them. i couldn't have asked for a better christmas day. i felt so loved... and in the midst of it all i still was wondering what it would've been like to be with my parents. last year was so painful that i didn't want to repeat that. the miller's made me feel like i was a member of their family, "crazy miss viv" if you will. my sister spent christmas with her in-laws, and she also said the same thing, "i didn't think it was possible to feel so loved during this holiday!" - sad, so sad...

now we're getting ready for new year's. yet another milestone of not spending it with family. i'm looking forward to a small get together at my place, with people i love (even though some of them can't make it, so sad!!) - i guess i'm trying my best to still have the family feel that goes hand in hand with the holidays. i'm already having a hard time with decorations coming down before 3 kings day on jan 6 - in puerto rico the holidays last until jan 12 or so... this has been a culture shock, a new learning, a new found freedom, a new layer of grief, all enfolded into a not-so-nice little package we like to call the holidays.

my birthday is coming up on jan 30th - i tie it along with the new year - it's a celebration of life and opportunity. i'm turing 27 and i'm excited to see what's ahead in my life. as i look ahead to a new year, a new celebration of life, i look at how different i am from last year, at how i've grown in many ways, at the way i live life... just one thing to say - bring it on...

ps - when i was living in puerto rico, not so weird to see decorations coming down around my birthday... see, yet another culture shock...