27 May 2016

Travel Writing - In Your Own Hood - Skillshare Practice

This was an exercise for my Skillshare class - Narrative Travel Writing: Capturing a Sense of Place taught by: Christopher Clark, Travel Writer & Wanderer 
 
 
 
“Ten dollars for this shit. Each.” John says as he sits down beside me, placing two lowball glasses on the cold metal table in front of us. The drinks look pretty but there is obviously more ice than liquid in them. “Cheers,” I say flatly as I reach out to take a drink. The drink is cold and taste more sweet than anything. “I guess this is what rakia is.” I’m careful not drink too much of the apricot brandy cocktail all at once as we don’t have the money to be buying more. Around our table groups of friends and couples mill about the patio. Some hover around waiting for us to leave. Lauren arrives and slaps her own cocktail on the table. “This cost me $12. It better be fucking amazing.” She takes the two thin black straws in her mouth, gulping down a big sip. I see her swallow and wait for her response. “Nope, not worth it.”


____________________________________________________________


The Lone Star District sits ten minutes south of San Antonio’s downtown. The focal point and namesake is the now defunct brewery that was named after the pride and joy of Texas - its flag. When the brewery was operational, the neighborhood housed factory workers who would partake in their yeasty product after clocking out. It was a working, middle to low class neighborhood full of Mexican immigrants who worked at the brewery or opened their own businesses: mechanic shops, bakeries, hair salons, restaurants.


When John and I first moved back to our childhood neighborhood three years ago, it was very much as we had left it. The bakery I remember walking to when I was younger was still there on the corner of our block. It brought back memories of the mornings my mom would stop before dropping me off at school for a sweet treat. Now, the smell of baking conchas and galletas was enough to make me stop before work for a totally unhealthy, albeit delicious, breakfast. The same laundromat was still there - the oversized washers and dryers broken more often than not. Its only change was the color of the building and the graffiti on its dumpster.


About a year after our move, we slowly started to notice small changes to our neighborhood. A once vacant warehouse was suddenly painted red. New shiny bicycles were parked outside while indie music blared from speakers somewhere within. A raw organic juice bar popped up where once used to be a spray paint shop. The chalkboard sign out front always exclaiming “Free Shots!” hoping to guilt the money out of those gullible enough to think they were referring to liquor.


At first the changes weren’t enough to warrant a real reaction from either John or me. Rather, we’d joke or place bets on how long it would be before they realized their business was in the wrong location, location, location. But as we sit drinking our expensive raika cocktails, at a bar we couldn’t pronounce, there was no denying that the dynamic of our neighborhood was changing. In fact even from our position on the patio you could see The Bottom Bracket Bicycle Club and the expensive bikes parked in a rack and secured with a heavy duty lock and chain. There were people out in front enjoying the winter night. They wore nice wool or tweed coats. Their jeans were dark blue and rolled up so as not to get caught in their gleaming bike chains. A few were eating overpriced Mexican street tacos from a nearby food truck, talking and laughing.


“So, what do you know about this place?” Lauren asks as she takes in the open warehouse doors displaying the brass silos used to create the expensive brandy. “Not much,” I told her. “I do know how to pronounce it now though.” Lauren looks quizzically at me as John laughs quietly. “Apparently it is not called dor-cull as I’ve been telling everyone but rather dor-shull,” I emphasize and accent the last syllable. “A super nice asshat corrected me the other day,” I say sarcastically. “I think it’s special pronunciation is how they weed out the posers from the high-and-mighty. It’s amazing we got in at all.”


The night is getting colder and there is no more pretending anything but ice cubes are left in our glasses. Those who have been standing waiting for our table side-eye us harder. The DJ stands over his Mac but doesn’t seem to be too into his song choice. From our table we can see the bus stopping at the railroad tracks to ensure a train is not speeding past the barriers. As it passes our patio, those sitting inside can be seen. They are mostly people getting off their late night shifts, returning home for a few hours sleep before they get up and tackle household chores tomorrow. The bus’s brake lights turn on as it pulls over a block away from us to let some passengers off. A man goes to the front of the bus to get his bike from the rack. It is clear, even from this distance, that his bike is old. Its paint is chipped and you can tell it only works at all due to the rider’s need to keep it so. He throws his leg over and rides off the other way, turning down a road with a busted streetlamp.


“You ready to go?” Lauren asks shivering slightly. “Yup,” I respond. The three of us get up, our metal chairs scraping loudly against the concrete. Those who have been standing swivel their heads to see how many seats we are vacating while calculating how fast they’ll have to sprint to secure the table for themselves. “Wanna go back to our house?” John asks Lauren, “We have some Lone Star.”

 

13 January 2016

2016 Wishings



Last year I had six goals for the year. I was able to pay off my student loans, I cooked and baked more, John and I went to New Orleans, and I got more blog followers. So I think I did pretty good.

I always like to keep my goals simple and general. Makes it easier to say I accomplished something at the end of year. This year, I have many of the same general wishings and goals.



Budget

Once again, things happened that meant we weren't able to save as much as we like. I would like to have a little nest egg.

Cook at Home More

This kind of ties in to the budgeting thing. But if we cook at home more, we'll be able to save money by not going out. Plus, cooking at home is always more healthy. I cooked quite a bit last year and I would like to continue that trend.

Work on the House

We've fixed up our house a little bit since we've been here but I would really like to do bigger projects to make the house look a little better.


Read More

I didn't read half as many books as I wanted to last year. I know that a lot of that had to do with my school readings but I hope I can read at least A LITTLE more than I did this year. I feel like there were a lot of good books I missed out on.

Exercise & Eat Better

Sitting at a desk all day isn't the best way to achieve a slim figure. Hell, not even a healthy one. This year I really want to start working on getting into a regular exercise regime. Along with that I would like to eat better. Overall, I just want to be healthier.




What are some of your resolutions and goals for the new year?

04 January 2016

2015 Blog Goals - How Did I Do?


At the beginning of this year, I made some blog goals that I thought would be pretty easy to achieve. Now that it's the end of the year, I think it's time to look back and see what I did and didn't quite get around to.


1.) Get More Followers - I can honestly say that I was able to accomplish this! I'm so happy. I still don't have thousands and thousands of loyal (or hell even occasional) readers but I do have more followers over all my social media accounts. So yay!

2.) Make a Sitemap - Nope. This one did not get done. At all.

3.) Do a Guest Post - Yes! I did this one. I actually did a few guest posts this year and I totally loved it.

4.) Post More Recipes - I did this one also. I cooked a lot more in the beginning of the year but I was able to post more than I did last year. Win!

5.) Get Personal - I'm not too sure how to judge this one. I feel like there isn't much in my life to discuss but at the same time I did feel that I got a little more personal. Maybe this one will roll over onto next year's goals too.

6.) Amazon Associates - I did become a member of Amazon Associates but didn't receive any money from it. Still, I consider it a win.


There were a few things I accomplished this year (blogging-wise) that I never set out to do so I thought I'd update you on those as well.


  • Sponsored Posts - I did about six of them in all and I really loved it. It helped me tie in products that I actually use to anecdotes that fit on the blog. It was a lot of fun and I was able to try out some really neat products. 
  • Media Kit - I did my first media kit this year. I don't have a lot to put on it yet, but I like the way it turned out. Hopefully in this next year I'll be able to work on it more and send it out. 


There were a few things I need to work on in the next year. Most notably the amount of posts I wrote. I was doing really well in the beginning of the year but after leaving my job(s) blogging kind of fell to the wayside. It probably would have been the best time to focus on the blog but that's not the way my mind works. So hopefully this year with a job, and a routine, and more planning and organization I'll have more posts to share.


What were your goals for the year? Blogging or otherwise? How did you feel you did on those goals? What are some of your goals for next year?




01 January 2016

2015 - In Movies & TV



January


  • Detachment - Tony Kaye
  • Maleficent - Robert Stromberg
  • The Maze Runner - Wes Ball
  • Supernatural - Season 8 
  • Peaky Blinders - Season 1 

February 


  • 10 Things I Hate About You - Gil Junger 
  • She's All That - Robert Iscove 
  • 8 Mile - Curtis Hanson 

  • Supernatural - Season 9
  • Transparent - Season 1 
  • Awkward - Season 1, 2
  • Great British Baking Show - US Season 1 
  • Broadchurch - Series
  • Downton Abbey - Season 5 
  • Switched at Birth - Season 3 

March


  • Gone Girl - David Fincher
  • The Boxtrolls - Graham Annable  & Anthony Stacchi 
  • Juno - Jason Reitman 
  • Lucy - Luc Besson 

  • Awkward - Season 3 
  • Hannibal - Season 1 
  • Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season 1


April 

  • The Fast and the Furious - Rob Cohen 
  • 2 Fast 2 Furious - John Singleton 
  • Tokyo Drift - Justin Lin 
  • Fast & Furious - Justin Lin 
  • Fast Five - Justin Lin 
  • Fast & Furious 6 - Justin Lin 
  • The Imitation Game - Morten Tyldum 

  • Parenthood - Season 1, 2

May

  • Interstellar - Christopher Nolan
  • We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lynne Ramsay 

  • Call the Midwife - Season 4
  • Mr. Selfridge - Season 3 
  • Parenthood - Season 3, 4, 5 



June 

  • Project Almanac - Dean Israelite 
  • Serena - Susanne Bier 

  • Switched at Birth - Season 2


July


  • My Neighbor Totoro - Hayao Miyazaki 
  • Howl's Moving Castle - Hayao Miyazaki
  • Jurassic World - Colin Trevorrow
  • Unbroken - Angelina Jolie
  • Ex Machina - Alex Garland


  • Orphan Black - Season 1, 2 
  • Sense8 - Season 1 



August

  • True Story - Rupert Goold
  • Leap Year - Anand Tucker

  • Rectify - Season 2
  • The Newsroom - Season 1, 2
  • Under the Dome - Season 1, 2
  • Parks &  Rec - Season 1, 2



September


  • The Age of Adaline - Lee Toland Krieger

  • Parks & Rec - Season 3, 4, 5, 6
  • The Fosters - Season 3.1


October


  • Straight Outta Compton - F. Gary Gray
  • Cinderella - Robert Stromberg
  • Ride Along - Tim Story
  • Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - Lorene Scafaria
  • Homeward Bound - Duwayne Dunham 
  • Back to the Future - Robert Zemeckis
  • Back to the Future II - Robert Zemeckis
  • Back to the Future III - Robert Zemeckis
  • Big Eyes - Tim Burton 
  • Get Hard - Etan Cohen 
  • The Road Within - Gren Wells
  • Tomorrowland - Brad Bird
  •  Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - Alfonso Gomez-Rejon 

  • Gotham - Season 1
  • Gilmore Girls - Season 1 


November 



  • Max - Boaz Yakin
  • Southpaw - Antoine Fuqua 
  • Inside Out - Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen
  • Pride and Prejudice Miniseries 


  • Gilmore Girls - Season 2, 3, 4, 5
  • The Returned (French) - Season 1
  • The Blacklist - Season 2
  • Master of None - Season 1 


December 



  • Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials - Wes Ball
  • Mulan - Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook
  • The Incredibles -  Brad Bird 


  • Gilmore Girls - Season 6, 7
  • Black Books - Series 1, 2 
  • The Detectorists - Series 1
  • Supernatural - Season 10 
  • Mercy Street - Season 1
  • Making a Murderer - Season 1 



MOVIES 


New Favorite: Maze Runner (I & II) 
Old Favorite: Mulan
Surprise Like:  Maze Runner, Straight Outta Compton 
Surprise Hate: Serena, Max 
Favorite Documentary: Making a Murderer? 
Overrated: Mad Max (didn't finish) Serena
Underrated: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Ex Machina 
Made You Laugh: Get Hard
Made You Cry: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl 
Good Weird: Ex Machina, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Bad Weird: Mad Max (didn't finish) 


TV SHOWS


New Favorite: The Detectorists, Master of None  
Old Favorite: Gilmore Girls, Mr. Selfridge 
Surprise Like: Making a Murderer
Surprise Hate: Jessica Jones (didn't finish the season) 
Worst Ending: Making a Murderer
Best Ending: Parks & Rec
Overrated: Supernatural 
Underrated: The Detectorists 
Made You Laugh: Master of None, Awkward
Made You Cry: Making a Murderer
Good Weird: Black Books 
Bad Weird: Under the Dome 
















30 December 2015

2015 - In Books



Well, I totally slacked on this year's challenge. But in my defense, I had a lot of textbook reading to do. On the plus side though, I reviewed a lot of the books I read this year. Then, I kind of slacked on that too. So anyway, here all the wonderful (and not so wonderful) books I read this year. You can click on the links to be taken to their reviews.




  1. Saint Anything - Sarah Dessen
  2. What She Left Behind - Ellen Marie Wiseman
  3. 10 Days in a Madhouse - Nelly Bly
  4. Thorn - Intisar Khanani
  5. Edgewater - Courtney Sheinmel
  6. Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon
  7. Keeping the Moon - Sarah Dessen
  8. That Summer - Sarah Dessen
  9. The Truth About Forever - Sarah Dessen
  10. The Wrath & The Dawn - Renee Ahdieh
  11. Ruby - Cynthia Bond
  12. Every Day - David Levithan
  13. Burned - Ellen Hopkins
  14. Shatter - Michael Robotham
  15. Black Moon - Kenneth Calhoun
  16. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
  17. Sloppy Firsts - Megan McCafferty
  18. Lucas - Kevin Brooks
  19. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
  20. The Vanishing Season - Jodi Lynn Anderson
  21. Isla and the Happily Ever After - Stephanie Perkins
  22. Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson

Favorite: The Wrath & The Dawn 
Least Favorite: The Vanishing Season, Black Moon, Ruby
Surprising Like: The Handmaid's Tale
Surprising Hate: The Vanishing Season (I liked Tiger Lily so much!)
Beloved Re-Read: Sloppy Firsts (always!)
Would Re-Read: The Wrath & The Dawn
Wondered Why You Bothered Finishing It: Black Moon
Made You Cry: Lucas
Made You Laugh: Isla and the Happily Ever After
Want to See it Turned into a Movie: The Wrath & The Dawn
Overrated: Ruby
Underrated: Thorn
Best/Most Promising Series: The Wrath & The Dawn
Started Good But Petered Out: Black Moon
Started Slow but Stuck the Landing: The Handmaid's Tale
Author to Watch Out For: Renee Ahdieh
Best Book Cover:  The Wrath & The Dawn
Bad Cover, Good Book: Lucas
Made You Think: The Handmaid's Tale & Lucas
Guilty Pleasure: Isla and the Happily Ever After & Shatter
Best YA: The Wrath & the Dawn
Best Adult: The Night Circus
Favorite Character: Shazi & Khalid
Least Favorite Character: Susannah from Edgewater
Most Hated Antagonist: Old-school psychologists from 10 Days in a Madhouse
Most Hated Protagonist: Maggie from The Vanishing Season
Fictional Crush: Josh from Isla and the Happily Ever After


What were some of the books you read this year? Which should be on my first-to-read for 2016? Leave them in the comments!

26 November 2015

Thanks Giving



Since I'm currently jobless at the moment, I have the fact that I can spend the entire holiday with various family as a reason for thanks.

Some other things I've thankful for this year include:


  • Still being able to pay rent and bills! 
  • The fact that we adopted Lana Lane into our home. 
  • I started school again and my first semester is almost over. 
  • I've made some new friends. 
  • John's still stuck by my side for another year. 
  • Scientist said that carbs are the key to a long life (just kidding!)


I hope you're having a good Thanksgiving or just a good Thursday. Even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving there's always time to give thanks. So, what are you thankful for? Also, what's your favorite recipe for this holiday season? I need more in my repertoire.