The Onion Ring Story

The other day I was talking to a friend who I know since middle school and we were remembering and laughing about the time when I had a crush on this boy and he had a crush on me. One day some of the kids in our class went to eat to a burger joint. To my surprise, the boy I liked pulled out an onion ring and said in a serious voice:  Would you like to marry me?  His friend who was sitting next to him stared at him like he was crazy. I froze for a little while not knowing what to say and my cheeks turned pink, but then we all started to laugh, a nervous laugh.  Oh boy, I knew everyone was probably going to tease us.  Sixth grade was going to be a long road. 

The Nature of Friendship

 

Nature of Friendship

 

Friendship can be like a seed,

It can grow and change,

It can change and rearrange,

It can get strong and bloom.

 

Friendship can be like a rainforest,

It can be soothing like nature's sounds,

It can be peaceful like the rain,

It can be warm and inviting.

 

Friendship can be like a storm,

It can be loud and confusing,

It can have thundering words,

It can have lighting emotions.

It can get calm after the storm.

 

Friendship can be like a volcano,

It can get hot tempers erupting,

It can have toxic feelings,

One can feel the smoking anger,

It can explode and be destructive.

My Time as a Smurfette

Recently,  I purchased a very cute blue shirt.   After wearing it for a day, I got home and when I took it off my whole body was blue. Not cool.  The dye of the shirt had turned me blue, just like a Smurfette.  I immediately went to take a shower but it still was not completely coming off my skin.  I still looked blue for another day.  Only after two loooooong showers, it finally came all off. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I was not ready to live my life as a Smurfette, even though she is pretty cute. 

My first and only time as a thrill seeker

 

When I was in 6th grade, my class went to a camp retreat called T Bar M for a couple of days.  There you could go on canoes, swim and climb a rock wall and go on a zip line.  We did trust building exercises and other fun activities.  When it came time to climb the rock wall and go down the zip line some of us were ready to do it, others were not sure and some decided not to do it at all.  I was a little bit scared but at the same time I wanted to do it to get over the fear. They had a lot of safety belts and spotters and people to coach you how to go up safely.  Still, the rock wall looked very high and scary.  I don't know how I managed to get the courage to go up, but I did it.  The view from the top was beautiful.  Then I had to go and do the zip line because that is the only way to get down. I started going down and it went very fast, kind of like a roller coaster.  It was scary but exiting. When I think about it now, I don't know how I did that.  I would never do that again.  Never!

The Fifth Element

 

There are four elements in the "Avatar: The Last Airbender" anime show. They are airbending, earthbeding, waterbending and firebending.  When a friend and I talked about this show we discussed what would be our favorite element if we could have one.  I think he said he liked "airbending" best.  When he asked me what was my favorite element, I thought about it for a little while, but then I said I like "rulebending", because I'm a bit of an expert at it.  That is my kind of element, ha ha ha. My friend laughed and laughed and he said, I like that one too.  

My slight "Candy Crush" addiction

 

Before the pandemic I used to play Candy Crash occasionally, but during COVID I started playing it more often. All of a sudden, I spent more and more time playing this game because I was bored, at home and more and more bored.  One day during a zoom chat with friends they asked me what had I done over the weekend. I said I had played Candy Crash and had nothing else of substance to say. I started getting a little worried about it. Soon after, I had a terrible nightmare where the Candy Donuts were crushing me and hitting me hard.  I woke up in a panic.  Was I addicted to Candy Crush? Me, my wonderful self, addicted to a game?  Nooooooo!!!!  The next morning I went "Cold Turkey" and deleted every game app on my phone.  GAME OVER!!

My Puerto Rican Thanksgiving

 

For Thanksgiving, sometimes I travel to Killeen, Texas to spend time with the Puerto Rican side of my family.

A Puerto Rican Thanksgiving is very entertaining and fast paced.  When one arrives to my uncle’s house, everyone rushes to greet you, they scream with joy and kiss you and hug you.  They all start taking at the same time, so when we get together there are only two volumes; loud and louder. Everyone is going from English to Spanish, back and forth, at lightning speed, so it is a bit of a juggling act to follow the conversation, and things can get a bit confusing. Not only that, but the TV is always on, either showing football or a Spanish “telenovela” for Grandma when she was around. Even the TV switches languages on you when you least expect it.

For the meal, we have a mixture of dishes from different cultures. There is the traditional turkey but also Puerto-Rican style roasted pork, mashed potatoes and rice (arroz con gandules), a ton of sides and even some Mexican dishes because my uncle is married to a Mexican lady that cooks heavenly. So, for this type of meal you need a stomach for your stomach.

This kind of Thanksgiving is not for the faint of heart or a weak stomach, but it is a ton of fun. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!