So I just saw United 93. I was a little fearful of the feelings it might elicit, but I actually didn't have a breakdown like I thought I might. Ever since 9/11, I've shied away from anything too emotional that would make me angry. Had the movie Pearl Harbor come out after 9/11, I probably wouldn't have seen it. It's silly I know, but that day, the whole week following it actually, put me off to so many things, sad movies and crocheting, for example. Like most Americans, I was glued to the television for a week following 9/11, crocheting an afghan while crying the whole time. Even at work, I don't know where we got it from, but we pulled in a small tv into the crib (it's the room behind the nurses station), waiting and hoping the search and rescue teams would pull out survivors. Unfortunately, there weren't many.

I think this is actually the first time I've written about this day, and it's been over 4 years. I don't even think I wrote about it in my journal, in fact, I think I've written in my journal about once a year since then. Maybe it put me off to writing in my journal as well. I guess the magnitude of that horror made my petty problems and concerns so miniscule, I just felt silly writing about them when the world was seemingly coming down around us. If it weren't for this blog, my silly little corner of the internet, I wouldn't be writing much at all.

My cousins in Mexico don't seem to understand the fear we Americans have now, just how much we've changed. They think because I'm brown and speak Spanish and yes, I call myself Mexican, the terrorists weren't after me. The fact of the matter is that I am an American citizen, and quite thankful for it in fact. I always thought of my ethnicity and nationality as two separate concepts, and even though I've always been a little too patriotic for what most people think I should be, I guess I never realized just how American I am. I'm not just talking about the material things. In fact, in that regard I'm not that after the American Dream. It's the old-fashioned stuff, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Each and every one of those things is why my mother came to this country, why she worked her ass off. She knew what it was like to have her life determined for her on the day of her birth. The color of her skin, her genitalia, which part of the state she was from, all these things she had no control over determined who she would be had she stayed in Mexico. But I digress...the point is that I am Mexican but I'm also an American.

My sister worked at the World Trade Center in LA for 14 years, and now works in the 2nd tallest skyscraper in downtown. Had the WTC in LA been a target on 9/11, my sister might very well be dead. If what happened in New York and Washington hadn't made me angry, just the thought of what might have happened here in LA just gives me chills. It really could have happened to any of us. It DID really happen to all of us in a way.

Anyway, like I said, no breakdown here. I just wanted to get my thoughts out. And before you go on to Fugly or Pink is the new blog, let's all just say a prayer that everyone on this planet can just stop trying to kill everyone else, no matter how justified we all think we are.

News on the Fake Tooth

I should be getting it in a couple of weeks. I spent half the day driving around mid-Wilshire and Beverly Hills, from my periodontist to the dental lab, but it's worth it to get my shiny new toof. I'm really hoping I'll be pleased because so far I've had a decent experience.

And just when I began to despair that my time with my adorable bald periodontist was coming to an end, he offered to do my general work as well! He doesn't have to waste his time on my measly fillings and wisdom teeth extractions, especially since that's not his bread and butter, but he's just a cool guy like that. I heart him.

You get what you pay for

I hate my {free} blog. It's always broken. I finally updated the damn thing yesterday, complete with visual aids, and it's off into oblivion, again.

Aargh.

I've been remiss

in my blogging duty. I've just been busy doing very boring things like working and planning a brunch. I did have a bit of excitement in April when I went to New York with my family and some friends. We did the usual touristy things like go the Empire State Building, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge (with my 72 year old mother leading the way!...she's a bad ass), visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and walked from Brooklyn up to Little Italy for a hysterically dismal lunch.

The highlights included walking through Central Park on a beautiful spring day and getting a backstage tour and meeting the stars of Wicked!!! It's no secret I'm obsessed with Wicked. Not like stalk-the-actors-and-memorize-the-minutiae-of-their-lives obsessed, but just good old-fashioned-listen-to-the-CD-almost-every-day obsessed. When we mentioned to Eden Espinosa (who plays Elphaba), that we were from LA, she said she was from LA as well. We were so starstruck (which we normally never are), that we just stood there like a bunch of morons going, "Oh cool." Duh! She could very well have been from our neck of the woods and we just stood there like dumbasses. Oh well, it was a good time and we've have many laughs about it since.

In other news, my niece Gabbie starred as Miss Hannigan and her brother Jacob made his debut as Rooster Hannigan in their school's production of Annie. We were quite proud of them.

And last, here's a picture of Gabbie in the dress I made for her school project on Queen Mary I. Oops, guess it was a bit too long after all.

Oh, almost forgot to mention, I actually went on a date. It wasn't horrible, so I may do it again. Who knows. I may just get lazy and annoyed again, but for now I'll just go along for the ride.