The Hemingway Challenge

Legend has it that Earnest Hemingway was once
challenged to write a story in only SIX WORDS.
The result was "For sale: baby shoes, never used."
(http://smithmag.net/sixwords/)

Here's an interesting and challenging activity. Try to compose YOUR story (the story of YOU) in EXACTLY six words (no more, no less). For some, this may be painful. (It's very hard to tell your whole story in six words.)

Dylan: Facing my Fears, Living my Dreams
Carin: Lives planned perfectly will imperfectly unfold.
Kayla: Fate lay in dreams yet realized.
Dre: Life's easy with your eyes shut.
Keigh: Appreciate mistakes for what they are!
EJ: Many pages turned, very little read.
Colby: A moment of clarity never rendered.
Moot: They've swollen, the size of softballs!
Herb: What sucks now will always suck.
Larry: I came, I saw, I drank.
King Iggy: Born to raise hell, then died.
Nicole: Life is full of little dissapointments.
Mike J: I wonder what else I forgot.
Mandy: The future starts today, not tomorrow.
Arie: Water is actually, with persuasion, flammable.
Kris: Live, love, dream, and be happy.
Jessica: All this work for one screw.
james: SALE: parachute, used once - small stain
Bagheera: I'm still learning how to breathe.
Brandice: Even teachers must never stop learning
Jason(PMIYT8,OTPD!) : Boobies shown, I died happy, yay
So Very...Kerry: I have taken, now I give.
Beau How did I pull this off?
Katiebug: Oh I'll think about that tomorrow.
Sam: I'm going to be a Daddy
Dina Marie: It's the story of my life.....
Dawn~ Taking one day at a time.......
Kim - Mother, wife, complete happily ever after
ileana: expect the unexpected; it WILL happen
Vicki: I live my life for me.
Paloma: Living the life of my dreams.
Michelle: Happiness is easier than I thought.
Shannon: Living though words that are written
pirate J: That bitch, she broke my heart.
pirate j: dumb funny, mother metaphorical fucker.
pirate j: I love life beyond any reason.
Miles - Arrived, tried to be happy, disappeared
SA: Born to live, live to die.
Handsome Duke: She lived with a virgin father
jami - subcutaneous structure served no purpose here
jesica - fuck jami, you cut my face
miranda - nevermind the blood in your sink
Xtine - Weak minded die at my feet.
doug- walked with many, seen so few
prissy miss chrissy - lather, rinse, repeat. (lather, rinse, repeat.)
prophetic jerk so able - Wages of sin: Hungover, dreadfully ill.
autumn-love like lightning, break like thunder.
abe- searching, and finding it in me.
phil - i'm the captain of my soul
rockie- was lost, but now am found.
Candice-Heart of Lion,Soul of Cub
Janet~ STRONG MINDED, weak hearted..getting better
philly phil - going out with bang like Hemingway
xochitl - My happily ever after is now.
ms. purity - I am a symphony of contradictions

this is me...

I know ~ I have a long way to go to reach my goals - but I am getting there slowly

I believe ~ everything happens for a reason, no matter how fucked up it seems at first

I fought ~ the desire to sell myself short too many times to count..and still do to this day

I am angered ~ by ignorance and selfish people

I love ~ the feeling I get when he holds me in the middle of the night

I need ~ a vacation (and a manicure)

I take ~ the problems of the world onto my shoulders and in my heart

I hear ~ my radio playing in my cubicle - Gnarls Barkley to be exact

I drink ~ green tea like its crack

I hate ~ the smell of smoke...yet I can't seem to quit smoking

I use ~ my smile as a defense mechanism

I want ~ to understand the reason for my existence

I decided ~ I am happy with life just the way it is at the moment

I like ~ sleeping in on the weekends - when my dog lets me

I am ~ finally registered for a class for my masters...finally

I feel ~ out of place in the world more times than I care to admit

I left ~ my feelings of inadequacy at the door this morning

I do ~ not know how to say no to people...even when I should

I hope ~ to some day make a difference in someone's life

I dream ~ of growing old with him...

I drive ~ a car that's been in the shop a 3 whopping times within the last month & a half

I listen ~ to the whispers and shouts of my heart, my mind, and my soul daily

I type ~ fast and furiously - albeit with many spelling mistakes (thank god for spell check)

I think ~ too much, non stop, never ending

I wish ~ war would be a thing of the past..though I believe it never will

I compensate ~ for my mistakes with a lot of heart

I regret ~ that I inadvertently broke the hearts of many people in my short life span

I care ~ too much at times about things I cannot control

I should ~ hang out with my girls more often..really i should

I am not always ~ the nicest person in the world - blame it on the boriqua genes

I said ~ "life isn't about finding yourself, its about creating yourself" and meant it...

I wonder ~ if the roadkill on the street are really successful suicides by depressed animals

I changed ~ my life despite the innate fears of change I hold inside

I cry ~ whenever the tears need to make their appearance

I am ~ a symphony of contradictions at times

I am not ~ as self-confident as I used to be

I lose ~ my cool in traffic (one hour commutes with no a/c in the summer is killer)

I leave ~ soul naked as a child...can you accept me for me ?


ganked from ms mickey glitter

tag..I'm it !!

Being that I am incredibly bored this morning at work & that I was tagged by erinblog yesterday, here goes another meme to entertain me...er I mean you!

Four Jobs I've had:
1. I was a matchmaking consultant for an upscale dating agency (I actually was responsible for 2 marriages!!)
2. I also managed condos in the Printers Row area in Chicago for a year in college
3. I helped managed free after school tutoring for children in need
4. Now, I'm a marketing database manager at Kellogg School of Management

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Frida
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. The Notebook
4. City of God

Four places I've lived:
1. Chicago, IL (north side)
2. Chicago, IL (west side)
3. Chicago, IL (northwest side)
4. You guessed it, Chicago, IL (near south side)

Four TV shows I love:
1. Sex & the City
2. The Simpsons
3. That 70's Show
4. The Boondocks

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Cancun, Mexico
2. All over the island of Puerto Rico
3. California (San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento)
4. Las Vegas

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Pizza, with extra cheese, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, and sausage. Yummy!!
2. My moms Arroz con Gandules with pork chops
3. Slow-cooked coutry style ribs
4. Homemade chicken fajitas with refried beans, cilantro, salsa verde, and lots of veggies

Four sites I visit daily:
1. BBC
2. Craigslist
3. Google (search engine, news, and g-mail)
4. Several sites listed on my blogroll

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. In bed, sleeping, with my arms wrapped around my boyfriend
2. On a plane, set to go on vacation (anywhere warm please)
3. At home, playing catch or tug of war with my mutt
4. Ditching work and sitting in some cozy and quiet cafe drinking green tea and reading the latest edition of the reader

Four bloggers I am tagging:
1. Mickey Glitter
2. Curly Girl
3. Mexirican
4. Jacqueline

false allegations...

Ganked from Cracked Chancla:

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, (even if we don't speak often or don't really know each other) please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL memory of you and me. It can be anything you want - good or bad - BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON'T ACTUALLY remember about you!

list of 7's

Taken from Normies World, below are my list of 7 things. Surprisingly, a few of the lists took quite a while to come up with, especially the first one. Please note, that in most cases, items are NOT listed in any particular order. :)


7 things I plan to do before I die:
1) travel near and far to my heart's content
2) not be rich, but well off and comfortable..ehhh, who am I kidding? "I WANT TO BE RICH!!"
3) volunteer in a 3rd world country for a year
4) Find a job that pays well and that I LOVE
5) get HAPPILY married and have babies
6) QUIT smoking
7) ask forgiveness from the only friend I ever truly wronged...

7 things I can do:
1) listen - really listen
2) cook and bake my ass off (they call me the mexirican betty crocker remember?)
3) write poems, songs, stories and in my blog - sometimes its better than other times
4) be a good friend to those I love
5) on the same token, sometimes be a total lunatic bitch to those same people
6) love and laugh wholeheartedly
7) swim - I am a fish in water (I even made up my own stoke named the mermaid!!)

7 things I cannot do:
1) FIND A FULFILLING & WELL PAID JOB
2) get out of debt
3) not get emotional in times of stress and sadness
4) forgive or forget easily (I swear this is a double edge sword)
5) kiss ass to get what I want. Despite hardships, I stick to my guns in situations
6) support W. Bush AT ALL (dumbass...enough said)
7) wake up in the morning to work out no matter how hard I try


7 things that attract me to the opposite sex/another person:
1) a great and honest smile (meaning fake smiles suck ass)
2) juicy lips (a double plus if he has a great smile and juicy lips)
3) a great personality
4) easy going/ easy to talk to
5) can you say "junk in the trunk"?
6) Intelligence
7) Loyalty

7 things that I say most often:
1) Peace and Love (as a salutation)
2) I don't want to go to work
3) to the dog used interchangeably "TAZ!!! LEAVE IT" or "GOOD (or bad) boy!!"
4) "I love you". I make a point to say it to everyone I love daily
5) in shock, disbelief, or anger: "I don't think so!!!"
6) when angry "muthafuck (Him/HER/IT)"
7) again when angry (in traffic) "MOVE IT , GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

7 celebrity crushes:
1) The Rock
2) Brad Pitt
3) Johnnie Depp
4) Oscar De La Hoya
5) Nas
6) Denzel Washington
7) Larenz Tate

7 people I want to do this: Your Choice
1) Mickey
2) Erin
3) Ms. Piscessoul.
4) Kerry
5) you
6) you
7) and you (only if you want)

first times make the world go round

My mom used to say there's a first time for everything. So many in fact, that we spend almost our entire lives experiencing a portion of life for the first time. I never really thought about it much until this past year, at 26 years of age, finding myself doing and experiencing things for the first time in my life (most of them are hard knock lessons, but nonetheless important). Rooting from this, here are a few of my most memorable firsts:

My first crush: While in preschool, I had the hugest crush a lil white boy by the name of Tommy. I still remember, he had green eyes, a beautiful smile, and he used to give me his cookies in return for holding my hand. We used to go everywhere together.

My first concert: My first concert was with my best friend in 6th grade. We went to go see New Kids on the Block. I know, I know..they suck ass, but what can I say? I know I wasn't the only one in love with Jordan Knight's gay ass!!!! Needless to say, my taste in music since then has improved immensely.

My first slow dance: I was about 11 years old when my brother graduated junior high. He had the hugest party ever, filled with family members and friends. I remember this night like it was yesterday because I had such a kick ass time and we all danced the night away. Quite early into the night, a boy by the name of Jose asked me to dance. It was "if you don't know me by now" by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. I felt like I was in a movie!!!

My first kiss: My first real kiss was with above said boy in a game of truth or dare. It was quite grand, end of story.

My first day in a public school: I was in 2nd grade and was scared shitless of all the kids, which seemed to tower over me (I have always been petite). While walking to lunch, a HUGE FAT boy pushed me into the cement and stole my strawberry shortcake lunch box. I was traumatized.

My first car: My first car is still the car I drive today. It's a dark blue 1996 toyota corolla with a spoiler. Unfortunately, I just had my first (and hopefully last) accident with it last week, and its in the shop as I type, but I digress.

My first brush with racisim: Me & my brother went to get our haircuts at the local Great Clips (it might have been Hair Cuttery, who knows?). I must have been 5 or 6 years old and for some reason beyond my understanding, the lady wouldn't serve us. We waited for over an hour while everyone else came and went about their happy little lives. I didn't know at the time, but it was because we were brown and the two ladies behind the counter were some ignorant white hicks who wanted nothing to do with touching some nappy ass hair on a lil brown girls head. My brother, god bless his little heart at 9 years old, told them off before we left. When he explained it to me what had happened, my jaw must have dropped. That day forever changed my worldview, made me question the color of my skin, and left a permanent scar on my brain.

My first gig: I worked at Kiddieland, a local amusement park in Chicago which catered to the little toddler and small children population. For half of the summer I made cotton candy in a steaming hot little 12X12 shack and the other half of the summer swept the entire park out with a broom and a standing dustpan. After a full shift of making cotton candy, I used to come out looking like the pink abominable snowgirl. The cotton candy would get everywhere: in my hair, my clothes, and other orifices that boggled the mind as to how they got there. It would take me a full 15 minutes of rinsing in the shower to stop seeing the pink. And to think: I actually used to love cotton candy when I was little, but after that summer, I can barely stand the sight of it.

My first sexual experience: To preserve the integrity (and sex life) of a certain individual, he shall remain nameless. I was in high school, and he was in college. All I can truthfully remember from this horrid experience is MTV playing in the background and feeling like sex was kinda like that time my aunts dog tried humping my leg. It was, OH SO, boring and over in less than one music video's length. OUCH!!! In retrospect, I now know what a bad decision that really was and how BADLY he sucked in bed.

My first apartment: My first apartment is actually my first house, where I now own and live. I moved into it in the later part of last year. It took me a long while to move out of my parents' house: with school, work, and saving for the past few years. God knows I wanted to move out a lot earlier in life, but my own stubborn ness would not let me pay someone else mortgage. And truthfully, my parents weren't so hard to tolerate so living with them wasn't as hard for me as it was for some. So, here I am today, a homeowner, with tenants and everything. I feel so grown up!!

Ok, that's enough of my firsts. What memorable ones do you have ?

what do you call your boobies ?

My Boobies' Names Are: Mork and Mindy - HAHAHAHA!!

Get your own Boobie Names

From this day forth, Mike shall address them by saying "Nanu Nanu"!

I got this link from erinblog and just had to pass it on.

who knew i was an idealist ?

You scored as Idealist. Idealism centers around the belief that we are moving towards something greater. An odd mix of evolutionist and spiritualist, you see the divine within ourselves, waiting to emerge over time. Many religious traditions express how the divine spirit lost its identity, thus creating our world of turmoil, but in time it will find itself and all things will again become one. Idealist 88% Cultural Creative 75% Romanticist 56% Existentialist 50% Postmodernist 50% Modernist 50% Materialist 38% Fundamentalist 19% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

quiz via farkleberries

what star wars character are you ?

damn! I was secretly hoping I would be Master Yoda....

my personality revealed ?

I tend to stay away from personality tests most of the time, but with work slowing down, I got sucked in to this Personality Disorder Test via Kerry. It helps pass the time.

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Low
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	High
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

My reation? Geesh, just because I answered that I rarely like being alone, suddenly I am labeled dependent...

a few things you didn't know about me

I got this idea from thought 4 the day.


Last fight?
It's too much drama to get into specifics, but the last fight I got into (well it sorta was kinda a physical fight with hair pulling and a single punch) was when I saw my old friend who was also happens to be in love with my man and utterly hates me for being wit h him. It was at the movie theatre and I was gettign ready to walk in to see Harry Potter (the first one)...I know, DRAMA. I being the better woman, walked away from it all. Not without giving her a piece of my mind though. For more specifics you need to get me drunk.

What makes you cry?
Call me a llorona (cry baby) because there are so many things that make me cry. Pretty much anything that causes another human pain & agony. War, child abuse, poverty, Bush winning again...

Describe the moment you came closest to death.
I almost drowned once as a child on the fourth of July. I don't remember how old I was, but I since learned to swim!

Most dangerous friend?
I must be old, because none of my friends pack nines or slang crack. So, on to the next Q...

Is there anybody you miss?
First & foremost, mis abuelitos. There is so much I could have learned from them. Now gone, I wish I took the chance to back in the day.

Craziest fear?
Ever since I was a child, I always had this innate fear that my loved ones were going to die. I remember getting anxious when my parents stood out late and I guess it just stuck and multiplied to everyone else.

A food you're ashamed to admit you crave?
Cereal. I'm a fanatic. I can eat it morning, afternoon or at midnight...dry or with milk. Just bring it on.

What humbles you?
Life...and my mother.

Biggest lesson learned?
Love thyself. I spent 3/4 of my life trying to be everything to everyone. In essence, I have learned to love myself as much as I love others.

What disappoints you?
When intelligent young teenagers give up & give in to life. Even if everyone has low expectations of you, you should always high expectations for yourself. It's the only way to get anywhere in life.

Famous people you find disappointing?
J Lo, because she did not present a positive image of Latinas in the least bit. Between her collection of engagements/marriage to her flaunting her booty to just about the whole world, I just shake my head. Ok, let's not even go to the long list of reasons, just know I really tried liking her just for the fact she was a fellow boriqua and she just fell waaaayyy short.

Famous people who inspire you.
Lauryn Hill, Michael Moore, Oprah, Sade, ?uestlove from the Roots, Barack Obama (illinois representing), and Quentin Tarantino.

Goals?
In the near future: To complete my masters degree, getting a kick ass (decent paying) job doing something which makes a difference in the community/world. Long term goals: I would also like to one day publish a book of my poems & short stories. Lastly, I hope to one day own a few properties so I can retire and enjoy life.

Favorite song right now.
Zap Mama's joint ft Erykah Badu...'Bandy Bandy'

Loner or social butterfly?
Mostly, I am a loner. But at times I can be a social butterfly as well. Just like the rest of you, it really depends on my mood, where I am at, and who I am with.

One book most people would be surprised you read?
Men are from Mars, Woman are from Venus. I know…I'm not proud. What can I say? I was really young und utterly confused when it came to men...actually, I still am, but at least now I know a book can't explain them to me.

One movie most people would be surprised you love?
Movies...movies, movies...none come to mind. How about tv shows? Design on a Dime, Friends, Bob Squarepants, and I can't forget good ol' Tom & Jerry.

Last ten songs in your iTunes?
Blah!!! I don't use it. See below post for my rant on ipods.