stuff half my ancestors like.

hi friend.
it's been a busy monday.

luckily, all the negatives and stupid events that could get you down have been vastly overshadowed by a few new fascinations.

1. disturbia. i just saw this movie over the weekend. i put it off for a long time, mainly because many of my students highly recommended it. these are also the people who raved about "the hills have eyes 2" and are clamoring to see "step up 2 the streets." word. nevertheless, i caved and spent part of the weekend savoring teen angst, romance, and sketchy voyeurism all set to an equally angst-ridden alternative soundtrack. my roommate can attest to the fact that i was squealing at the tv while curled up in our armchair, and peering through my fingers (and a haze of tangible fear) at our tiny screen. i simultaneously hate and love scary movies. i love the idea of them but hate the actual "being scared" part of watching. when i'm at my parents house, if we watch something scary, i will literally refuse to enter my bedroom until my father has gone in and closed the blinds. no joke. i can't watch a scary movie without talking myself through it for fear of a self-induced heart attack. and yet i totally buy into the appeal of being terrified. am i alone in this? to sum it up, i was pleasantly surprised and entirely mortified at disturbia--and i as much as it pains me to say, i have a new respect (and secret love) for shia lebouf.

2. things white people like. i discovered the amazingness thanks to a co-worker on friday and spent the better part of friday night barking questions like "how often do you wear t-shirts?!" and "do you like bottled water/A Tribe Called Quest/Mos Def?" to my bewildered white colleagues while downing glass after glass of wine at happy hour. Take a moment and check out the website that has taken my precarious half-mexicanness by storm and brought back to the surface painful memories of my very own childhood identity crisis. Which, according to my new fave site, makes me pretty darn white. Just in the past few days, they've added the #85 thing that white people like: "The Wire." it's true. all the white people i know love The Wire. drop me a line if you're a white person who doesn't like it.

3. guava paste. it's AMAZING. much like the above link. i've been eating it on crackers, in pastries (that i made MYSELF. keep in mind, it's an accomplishment when i successfully make toast.), on bread, plain...does this make me less white and more mexican? white people don't really eat guava right? if it helps, i also often eat tortillas, enjoy margaritas and an occasional enchilada, spent a summer in oaxaca, was sometimes called "media mexicana" by my good friend maria in grad school, and i used the word "si" today when speaking to a student.

where's alice cooper?

i don't want to have to teach tomorrow.

it's not that i dislike it--i actually find it really exciting and blah blah blah. but really? 5:30 am wake up call? i've really enjoyed the past week of sleeping in until 5:50 am. it's been special. also, i've been able to actually partake in viewing the rising sun from the comfort of my apartment window like a regular human being. today i went a little crazy and bought myself a hot chocolate. slow down there tiger!

but beyond the extended wake up time, i have that "sunday night dread" of the regular week, only times 4 right now. which is doubly lame since it's tuesday. it's 11:14pm. i should've been in bed over an hour ago--thanks for an hour of time wasted, "The Office" reruns on tbs! but syndicated television aside, i'm wired. not as in "The Wire" (which yes, I am slowly getting into. i hope we can soon have meaningful conversations about McNulty and the wider implications of this gritty show, but really i'm only on episode 7 of season 1. i still can't keep all the characters straight. i hope to some day be as well versed in the trivia and character arcs as you already are, friend), but as in first day of school nerves!

you'd think that after a good four years i'd be so over the first day jitters. especially seeing as it is january, and decidedly not the first day of school. but any time i get a brief reprieve from the work grind, i get nervous about going back. like when i take that F train down to york street, i am marching to certain death. or at least severe teenage angst and grumbling.

look--i am so distraught i forgot to consistently use proper capitalization, friend. keep me posted if you have any words of wisdom, similar stories of back to school blues, or a fancy red pen with which you plan to correct my multiple grammatical errors.