Waxing

I've decided that I really need to try and blog more. Not so much because I need to get a higher readership or because I'm particularly worried about keeping you all updated on my life, but because in my day-to-day schedule I find that I'm not writing very much. And what I do write is for school. They say that every writer should at least make it a goal to write for 5 minutes every day. So start the timer.

Yesterday I got waxed. My legs and my eyebrows. Millions of hair follicles were gently coated in a warm, soothing wax, lulling them into a sense of false security. And just as things were starting to feel really nice, they were yanked awake in one swift motion, ripped from their home in my milky flesh and left for dead, abandoned on a strip of paper to be discarded forever.

The result? After an hour and a half of this repeated process my legs were smooth as a baby's. But did that make me feel any more attractive? Any sexier? Any more confident? Yes and no. The yes is more surface level and the no runs a lot deeper. Wax can't seem to pull out the insecurities and negative self-image I've let set root in me. If only that we're the case.

February?

I'm not sure if any of you are aware, but it is March now.  Yeah, March.  I'm not sure what exactly happened to February.  Maybe March ate it up like chocolates in a heart-shaped box.  Gobbled it down so quickly that it didn't even notice whether it was coconut-filled, caramel or raspberry-creme.  Just gone, like that, in a flash.

Well, over President's Day weekend Brian and I flew to Colorado to watch my little brother get married.  It's pretty crazy, but in a 6-month time frame my entire family got married.  My sister in August, me in November and Daniel in February.  All of us 3 months apart, can you believe it?

Of course, how could any of you know that considering I haven't blogged about it!  I'm so sorry.  The trip was great.  I enjoyed spending time with my family, especially my adorable baby niece!  My dad and I had some good talks over coffee, my mom took us out to dinner and my brother's wedding was simple and small, but very sweet.

The rest of the month was a blur of work and school and friends.  Some of us went out to a really fun piano bar in Salt Lake City called Keys on Main and had an absolute blast.  Our friends even paid to have the pianists play "It's Raining Men" and somehow coerced us to get up on stage and dance.  Well, either they coerced us or the cocktails did.  Probably the latter.  Then our month capped off with Oscar Sunday, which is by far the biggest and most celebrated gay holiday of them all.  We had a great time watching the ceremony with Brian's family followed by hot tubbing with friends.

So while February came and went in just one bite, it left me pretty full and satisfied.  Now we're almost a week into March... yikes.

Valentine's Day: For Lovers and Friends

I know this post is coming a little late, but Valentine's Day is an awesome holiday. I mean, it's no Christmas or anything, but it's still pretty fun. And I know all the single people out there like to call it S.A.D. (Single Awareness Day) and spend a lot of time crying about it, but even without a boyfriend or wife or whatever it is you're looking for you can find people to love. You just might have to broaden the definition of love.

For example, I love my little niece Amaya so I made sure to send her something for V-Day. And my mom loves me so she sent me a card with a gift card to Coldstone. I got a valentine from a coworker. A random classmate gave me a sucker.

Then there are my friends, who I love almost as much as I love Brian. Almost. We decided to celebrate Friend Valentine's Day on the 13th, and it was a huge success. We made each other valentines and bought each other gifts. And we spent the night together bowling and playing Taboo. It was a lot of fun and I think more people should do something like that. The world needs more love and less cynicism in my opinion.

Then there was actual Valentine's Day on the 14th. After class, Brian and I went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, where we had pasta and drinks, and then it was home for games and a movie and... well... other stuff.

To wrap up my little post, I just want to say that I love my husband. I love our life together and I love the way he makes me feel. I also love my friends and my family and everything that makes me happy. Life is good.

And if you're ever feeling depressed and lonely on Valentine's Day, remember that Saint Valentine was violently martyred on February 14th so things really aren't that bad for ya now are they?

A Conversation in Hearts

Or:  How a Guy Can Eventually Wear Down a Girl

—Let’s talk.

—What now?

—U-R Hot.

—Wow...

—Red hot.

—Oh boy.

—It’s true.  Crazy 4 U.

—I’m sure.

—Hug me.

—I’ll wait.

—U + me, babe.  Kiss kiss.

—Time out.

—One kiss?

—Next time.

—Why wait, foxy lady?  Now.  Now!

—Save me!

—Say yes...

—Why not?

Blank Verse for English 3440

Pride

by Jack Garcia

 

I look upon the tree which proudly stands

with orange lace and bright maroon cravats,

bedazzled, dressed in jewels of autumn; gold

upon his fingers stretching out to me.

I wonder where the sycamore retreats

as winter’s snow invades his closet there

and throws his precious costumes out the door:

a crimson handkerchief, a hat, a glove.

Invading spaces that were never hers,

the winter wind has stripped the tree of pride.

Work-Inspired Tanka for English 3440

 

Ramblings on My First Week of School

Are you aware that we are about halfway through the month of January?  Did you know this?  I just now realized this and I'm thinking to myself, "Damn, Jack.  You haven't written a single blog post this month... heck, even this year!"  I better get on that.

School has started.  Much too quickly, I might add.  I barely had time to breathe after the rush that is Christmas and New Year's before plunging headfirst into another school semester.  I'm taking four classes this year--a full load--and I'm a little worried that I'll kill myself before the semester ends.  Full-time school and full-time work can be challenging.  Although, one of my new classmates was bragging about taking 7 classes last semester all while working full-time as well, so maybe I'm just a baby. 

Or maybe she's just a bragging b****.

Brian hates when I put asterisks in place of swear words.  He's a b**** too.

Anyway, I'm taking a Steinbeck class and I'm pretty excited for it because I've never read him before.  Yes, you heard me right.  I'm an English major who's never even read The Grapes of Wrath.  Somehow I skipped over that in high school, although I do remember falling asleep on my desk while watching the movie.  I had a string of drool connecting my chin to my trapper keeper.  Very embarrassing.  But I'm taking the class now and I'm on the brink of discovering one of America's most celebrated authors, despite what certain literary critics might say.  My classroom smells like an auto body shop though, considering it's in the Sparks Automotive building.  Perhaps it will help me to connect to Steinbeck's down-and-out, working class characters.  Or the fumes might get me high.

I'm also taking a poetry class.  Poetry's not my strong-suit, but we'll see.  The teacher seems interesting, but unfortunately one of the annoying kids in my American Literature class last semester has waddled his way into this poetry class as well.  That's mean of me, isn't it?  Waddled.  Not nice, but he is a bit hefty and penguin-like.  He gets under my skin because he has diarrhea of the mouth and a strong need to be the teacher's pet.  He literally serenades the professor.  Literally.  He sang a whole Gregorian chant for us in class on Thursday and I honestly have no idea why.  It was very strange.  In all honesty though, what bugs me most about him is his confidence.  Because no matter how socially awkward he might be, I'm jealous that he seems to live his life without fear of what others might think.  It's a trait I lack.  You couldn't pay me enough to sing in class, yet here he was, just singing his heart out.

My lack of self-confidence and worry over the opinion of my peers (or my "pride" as Brian calls it) gives me anxiety whenever I'm asked to openly participate in class, and my Rhetoric professor has made it her life-long goal to get students talking about themselves.  I hate talking about myself in class.  Or sharing my opinion.  I don't mind that sort of stuff here, on my blog, where I can't see anybody... but in real life with people I don't know, I'm pretty closed-off.  So that class is going to be an interesting one.  As is my fourth class, Spanish, where I'll not only be required to talk a lot but I'll be asked to talk in my second language.  Woohoo.  Or as they say in Spanish:  el woohoo.

Interesting fun fact about my Spanish class.  It's on Saturday mornings and it apparently started last Saturday and not today.  Oops.  I'm already a week behind!