Even though some of it is blown out of proportion I thought you guys might enjoy it,especially those who've heard my family description :)

You Know You're Puerto Rican When....

You have been spanked with a folded leather belt and/or "chancletas" ...leather ones! You know your mom is sneaking up on you cause you can hear her "chancletas" flapping on the linoleum floor. Your mom yells at the top of her lungs to call you to dinner and you only live in a one bedroom apartment. You've ever called linoleum floor a "rug" You can get to your house blindfolded by the smell of the "chuletas." You say "Vamoj pa' encima" or "mete mano" instead of "Let's get started." You got scared whenever someone mentioned "el CUUUCO"!!! You remember every Christmas those "aguinaldos" that abuela used to sing for you. You've gone to titi's house and passed through the "bead curtain" in the living room. You know someone who owns a conga, bongos and/or a cowbell. You step into a house that has all those little figurines taking up every inch of space on the tv and under the tv. You have a porcelain cat/dog/rooster or frog on a doilie in your living room. You have a perpetually semi-drunk uncle. Someone in your family is named Maria, Charlie, Papo, Ana or Carmen. You call rug-carpeta , roof-rufo, parking-palkin, stress-estress, library-libreria (instead of biblioteca), boiler-boila, sucker-soca, or to knock-noquiar. You have told your kid not to walk the floor barefoot or they'll catch a cold. You need a cup of coffee after every meal, expresso boricua style "con leche". Your sister has hair on her legs and as much moustache as your father. One of your aunt's weighs over 300 pounds. You have one or more cousins in and out of jail. Your uncle has more gold in his mouth and/or neck than you've ever seen. You have sat in a two-passenger car with over 5 people in it. You put a big Puerto Rican flag on your car... an a PR bumper sticker. You have a picture of "Cristo" or a crucifix in your house. You actually think some names begin with "Ave Maria pur?ma, Papo." You walk around saying "chacho" or "chacha" or "ay,bendito". You have said, "no, hombe" instead of "no, hombre" to both sexes. You do that funny pointing thing with your nose and if the person doesn't understand you, you use the lips for emphasis. You can speak with your face: twitch like a rabbit to ask "what do you want? or nod your head upwards to mean "wassup?" You have driven a "cheby" (Chevy) or a "forito" (Ford)! You call all sneakers "loj tennis" and the Converse are "loj champion". All cereal is called "con-flei" All brands of diapers are called "pampel". You have ever ground plᴡnos and/or fingers for pasteles during Christmas time. Your car has fifteen speakers in it and you fix it every weekend. You remember when Heineken replaced Shaeffer and Schlitz. Your dinner consists of a "mixta"...rice and beans and some kind of meat. Your uncle has a wife and a "corteja" or "chilla". You've put a penny on your forehead to stop a nose bleed. Your mother has put a balled up piece of thread on your baby cousin's forehead to stop her hiccups. You have at least thirty cousins. You know how to drive "estandard" or "estick" shift. You can tell the difference between Cafe Rico and anything else. A coqui's sound has driven you crazy. Your grandmother thinks Vick's vapor-rub is the miracle cure for everything. You're proud to be Puerto Rican - and you pass these jokes on to all your Puerto Rican friends!

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I don't know if everybody will agree with this

MARTIN
M	is for	Mesmerizing
A	is for	Active
R	is for	Responsible
T	is for	Trustworthy
I	is for	Ideal
N	is for	Neat

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Kosher Rant

The worst part of starting school again is the fact of all the stinkin' temptation surrounding a poor Puerto Rican like me. I think Cassie Fritts put it best when we were in Mackinac Island on for the biking trip, "the hoochies are out today!" That's exactly how it is here on campus, all you're able to see is a miniskirt here, a miniskirt there, hot pants here and another pair over there...it's horrible I tell you. As a guy I'm always trying to fight the lust of the eyes and these girls dressing like hoochies/skanks/whores (insert appropiate term here) does not help any guy think of women in a positive way. Some women wonder why guys only view them as sex objects? Have they seen themselves in the mirror before they leave for classes? I mean, these women have "Sex" or "Sleep With Me" written on their foreheads. No wonder there's no more respect for the opposite sex anymore in this society, they dress up (more like dress down) so that they can get something that is only special in a marriage relationship.
I'm glad that the girls I know in the Church are modest in what they wear. I mean that because it shows that they have a respect for themselves and are willing to keep their brothers thinking clean thoughts :) That's always important too because if the ladies are showing off what God blessed them with then she's building a bad reputation. Again, thank you to all the ladies in the Church who exemplify modesty. A big stamp of approval on that :)
Well that was my big holier than thou rant for the day. It was just something that had been on my mind since the beginning of the school year. Like Kerr said, "if you gotta put your hand so that it does not show your underwear it means you're a skank." If only they would listen.

Se ven bien las cosas :)

I had written something a couple of days ago and saved the draft but I think it is so pointless that I figure I should just write an entirely new post. Not much has gone on the past couple of days here except for a few things here and there about small things.

It all starts off this past Wednesday night when I was headed to the Rec to play some basketball with a friend of mine and I put my student ID card inside my shoe (like I've done before) and started the whole 15 minute walk to that side of campus. So for some reason I decided to stop once we're about 5 minutes away from the Rec to check if my ID card was still in my shoe and to my surprise it wasn't (panicking mode!). So my friend and I retrace our steps all the way back to the dorm building and we weren't able to find it. So we decide to play ball at State Gym and had a good time. I didn't play my best but I came on strong in the latter part of the game. It always seems that it takes me a while to get going when I'm playing b-ball, as if I have to calm my nerves and anxiousness to do too much while starting out to play. Hmmm, I guess it's something I need to keep working on, although I'm happy that I have a more consistent jumper and my ball handling keeps improving.

After playing ball I came back to my room and checked my email and thankfully this girl found my ID card and all that although I'm still waiting for her to put it in campus mail or something like that. Not much has gone on since then, I've been working out a little bit every day so I feel good about that. I always feel better when I'm active in sports or some sort of physical activity, but I think I've been feeling better for different reasons though.
I've been more diligent in reading my Bible, praying and I can see the difference in how my day goes. That's not to say that I am doing everything right, far from it but I'm trying harder to put God first and see how all the chips fall in place. I don't know about any of you guys but that's probably been the hardest thing for me to accomplish in my life. I've always tried too hard to do things myself, when things became difficult I would kinda go solo and deal with things in a very fleshly, hard headed way (some of you out there are probably saying, "no kidding"). I'm still worried about how this year is going to go, life after-school, career, place to live, etc. I'm in a little bit of a panic mode because I want to know what exactly I want to be doing the rest of my life, where I am going to live (I don't know if I want to stay in the Midwest, move East or down South). A lot of researching and decision making that is going to be taking place in the next couple of weeks and months but I know it'll be ok. God will put me in the path the He knows is best for me, even if I don't realize it at the moment.
I had a great Sabbath too this past weekend. Something about it that made it extra special and joyful than the previous Sabbaths. We had a great sermon by Mr. Bryce titled "The Greatness of God, Part 2" which was wonderful and incredibly nourishing. Although every time I hear that there's a part 1 & 2 of certain sermons I'm always thinking that there's a remix involved, I guess that's because of all the R&B/hip hop I've heard in my life :) I'm always expecting like some DJ mixing up the opening music or something like that :) It's a wonderful sermon by the way and I highly recommend it for any of you out there who hasn't seen it yet. So I talked to quite a few people after Church but the plus was being able to talk to Sabrina on the phone. She returned my phone call from the night before and we talked a little while as she was driving back from Church to JMU. Quite an awesome conversation too, plus she digged the fact that my message invoice is in Spanish so nobody understands what the machine is saying. What can I say, I like to be different :)
All in all, it's been good and I just have to make sure I keep doing my part in everything while God takes care of the rest. Now I have to try and find a job right now to give myself some sort of income for this semester :)

Beginning of the end

So after starting the first two days of class I must say that it wasn't as horrifying as I thought. I started off with 3 History classes (*shudders*), 1 Political Science class, and a LAS (Liberal Arts and Studies) class for a total of 15 credits. Actually I didn't really start out with that many classes but I was able to add the classes that I needed to fulfill my requirements. The 3 History classes I'm taking are: Moderm American Military History (oh yeah!), History of Mexico Since Independence, History of England from 1525-1700. The military history class is the one I am excited about because I have been trying to get into it for 2 years now and it's going to be awesome. Plus, the professor had me when he said we could make as much fun of the French as possible (can it get any better than that? I think not! :)) The other 2 history classes are going to be interesting because it's two entirely different countries with stark historical differences. Oh well, I like to say that I love challenges so it's going to be quite an uphill climb this semester with just those 3 classes.
I did attend my LAS 350 class which was going to focus on World History in the 20th Century but I knew it wasn't for me when the prof, who is an old California lady, product of UCLA (middle of la-la land), proclaimed herself a "liberal, proud of it, part of a movement that gave the U.S. its civil rights, women rights, etc, and that she was tired of the abuse that the right has done." I'm not joking people, that was word for word what she said. Plus she asked if there was anyone from Texas because she doesn't understand why Texans think they're so great plus she is not very impressed with the current crop of Texans running the White House. So yeah, I basically left that class and went to the computer lab to see if there was a Political Science class that I could take instead of that because there is no way I can survive a course like that. Those of you who know me know that I cannot stand liberalism, their lies, their propaganda and everything they stand for (or lack to stand for).
I went to the computer lab in the Political Science department and found this course which focuses on International Security Policy which deals with the theory behind decision making, diplomacy, coerced diplomacy and all that jazz. So I ran up the 5 flight of stairs to talk to my advisor to see if the prof for that class had a good rep and all and she said he was awesome and it would serve me well if I wanted to choose that type of career or if I went to grad school. So I thanked her for her time and then went back down the 5 flight of stairs and added that class and dropped the liberal from California's class which would do me no good. So basically now I have 3 History classes and 2 Political Science courses for this semester. Probably my most challenging semester so far but I have to take at least 3 history classes because I needed 6 classes between this semester and next to fulfill all my history requirements. I think I'll only need one more Political Science course after this semester and the rest will take care of itself.
I'll need 18 credits next semester (as full of a load as anyone can get) in order to graduate on time but it's doable. I know it'll be hard but I think I can do it and I'll make sure I graduate on time next May (YAY!). Now the panicking is about what I am going to do after graduation. Is it going to be grad school or job for me?? Where am I going to live, work, etc...I know the key is not to stress out because God will work it out :) That's the biggest relief I have right there, that God will show me the way that I should go...I just hope He shows me soon :)

Now I should seriously take some initiative and start reading for some of my history classes...but of course that's what tomorrow's for :P

Hate It Or Love It

So I spent my first back in Ames last night and I can't really complain about the comfort and spaciness of my room. The loft is sturdy, everything is newly furnished and it smells clean!!! If any of you out there know me really well you'll know that cleanliness is a big deal to me. I think it's also the fact that the building is only 3 years old as opposed to Friley Hall which seems like it's been there since prehistoric times.
So we just had our first house meeting. I must say that at the beginning of every academic year I realize more and more how a lot of these people have no idea what life is all about. It reminds me of the final Christian Living class Mr. Weston gave at LYC 2005 when he talked about the search for the eternal buzz. He spoke on how Solomon basically did and tried everything that supposedly provided pleasure: jewelry, alcohol, sex, etc and it still wasn't enough. At the end of it all he realized it was all vanity and that's what I see in how a lot of these people see this life. They're out doing their thing, whether it's drinking, partying or having sex and that's how they continue the rest of their lives. Instead of spending 4 years on education, they spend 6 or 7 years because they wasted so many years on the pleasures of the flesh. I'm glad this is my last year of school as an undergraduate because I want to be able to finally seclude myself from what I have to see every day here at school. Whoa, I sound kinda preachy and although I didn't mean to I just had to put my say as to what I think of this whole college experience.
So Sabbath is near and I'm glad for it. It'll be the first time I would be in Des Moines since before L4T and only the 2nd time I'll be attending there since May. What can I say, traveling and all this fun summer stuff makes attending my local congregation very hard :)
Hmmm, I said on one of my earlier posts that I was gonna give my whole opinion of camp, L4T, stuff in general. So I'm tackling what I think is one of the subjects that is misunderstood when it comes up in guy/girl conversation. It's on the whole issue of lists. I'm going to explain it the way I think of it and I apologize if I haven't explained before to some of you when the topic has come up.
Each one of us has certain qualities, requirements, characteristics that we like in the opposite sex. Some of these qualities might be: intelligence, converted, sense of humor, hard worker, gentleman (or lady for the fellas), honest, trustworthy, athletic, thinker, etc. When we start thinking about the type of person that we want to share our life with, we have qualities that we desire, a sort of list of things we seek in the other person. I think the word "list" has a bad reputation when it comes up in those conversations and I admit that I am probably one of those who's helped give it a bad name.
Anyways, we have expectations of the opposite sex. We probably don't write it down and make it an "official" list but we have it in our minds. Following this train of thought, there are people we know that we consider friends that fulfill those requirements. Does it mean that because that guy/girl fulfills someone's requirement in a partner that a relationship will be conceived? OF course not because that's where the whole element of attraction and romance comes in. Certain people might have those characteristics that we like but that doesn't mean that we'll like them in a romantic way because there might not be that attraction that is needed. I know that personally, there are awesome Church girls who have all the characteristics to make an awesome wife but alas, there's no connection in a "more than friends" way. I'm sure that goes for a lot of you too. When I speak of a "list" or whatever that means the girls who have the qualities that I look for. There's no order to it or favoritism or anything like that, just girls who have awesome qualities. I know for a fact that I haven't really tried to explain it this way before and contributed to the hype of it. As long as you have a good reputation, you're doing the things that you're SUPPOSED to be doing, you treat the girls (or guys) with respect, and you don't make an --- of yourself then you should be ok. I know that I myself have done exactly the opposite many, many times and still reap the consequences.
Well I don't know if this post made any sense (especially the last part) but if I didn't explain something clearly then please let me know through your comments or email me too. The subject comes from 50 Cent and Game's song and I wanted to imply that "hate it or love it we all have some sort of list." OF course as I started typing this up I saw that it would sound insensitive so I felt compelled to explain. I know that I have done (and still do) my fair share of pigheaded things and I want to go and say that I'm trying very hard to put those days behind me. So I apologize for the harm I've caused in word or action to any of you. Hmmm, maybe I made this post too personal but I think that's what I said when I started this blog out. I'm guessing it's ok to be more personal on certain things but hate it or love it that's how I am. :)

Happy Sabbath to you all!

Frustated Already

So tonight I decided to play some basketball since I had absolutely nothing to do. So at 9 I changed and walked over to the student parking lot since I left my basketball in the car and after I went and got it I headed off to the State Gym since it's literally the building next to the one I live in. To my surprise a bunch of curry-smelling Indians are playing the most physically challenging sport known to man: badminton. The thing is, they're hogging the whole gym and causing quite a stench. So I head off to Beyer Hall which is across the street from State Gym and they have nice courts as well but of course they're resurfacing the floor so that means nobody can play there. My last attempt is to walk 15 minutes to the Rec Center where they have innumerable basketball courts and they're open until midnight. As I approach the Rec Center I remember that I left my Student ID card in my room (since I didn't need it to get into State Gym which is where I originally wanted to go) and they won't let you into the Rec without your card. Of course I go in and they ask me for my card and I say I didn't have it with me but I knew my card number, I offered my SS number....anything just to shoot hoops for an hour or so. Of course they won't let me so I walk 15 minutes back to where I live and it's already 9:40 or so ad I haven't played at all. So I attempt to go into State Gym again knowing that they close at 10 and it's still smellin' like curry sauce...nasty smell I tell you. So I'm only able to dribble around for maybe 15 mins and then the lights go off. What a crappy deal. Why in the world can't the Rec accept my card number as proof that I am a student? Why are smelly foreigners clogging up the State Gym already at the beginning of the moving in process? Thus it is why I feel this way. Can't even let the guy paying an exhorbitant amount of money shoot some hoops to get his mind off of things. Anyways, 3 post in one day...I feel like I've got a lot of catching up to do :) Good night to all

Hmmm, learning how to do some major blunders :)

So here I am in my first night back in Ames! I think I've been pretty productive so far in the whole *moving* process. I brought back all the stuff I had in Omaha and stuffed it (literally) all into my little Ford Escort and stayed in Des Moines last night at the deacon's house. I had a pretty good night's sleep and woke up mysteriously at 6am without the need for an alarm :P So I talked to Mr. and Mrs. Blackman for a bit and then headed off for Ames with my packed car. Of course with Des Moines being under construction at every single turn I got lost for about 20-25 minutes trying to find the right interstate exit (why do I always feel like I'm going around in circles in that city without getting anywhere).
Anyways, I got to Ames at about 8:30 and I was glad I decided to do this early because there was barely anybody here. No stressing over parking, no inadvertant running into idiots who don't look as to where they are going...no idiots whatsoever. So I took of my backpacks and sling packs and checked-in and went to the pimped-up suite room I have this year. Of course Mike Dorothy was sleeping and I woke him up and he helped me in taking my stuff up. I love having elevators instead of going up 4 flight of stairs like I was used to doing in the old building. So after everything was loaded out of the car I started unpacking everything. After a couple of hours I got everything set in order and the computer running (yay for technology!). So of course after getting the laptop running I didn't do anything productive the rest of the day other than check my email, reply to a lot of people that I wasn't able to write to in a long time (due to my summer exile), watch some tv, read the news, all that unproductive stuff that I didn't do during the summer.
So as 4pm came and went I did some light working out and I went to grab a meal to eat at the Dining Center but to my surprise apparently there was no dinner being served because of the freshman orientation stuff going on today!!! Arrgh, I was kinda disappointed because I skipped lunch thinking of grabbing a big dinner but it didn't work out that way. So I grabbed a somewhat decent sandwich at the Student Store and some tortilla chips and tried to subdue the hunger. Hmmm, I should have checked the online menu to see if dinner was being served but alas I'm becoming more and more like my best friend Jonny G :) Absent mindedness is a contagious thing you know.
Hmmm, I have the urge to go and play some bball so off I go to work out a bit more. I'm not a big fan of school but I'm glad I have communication with the outside world :)

Back for some more punishment

Well here I am back in Ames in preparation for my final year of college! I'm not going to make this a long post since I'm still getting things ready in the room and making sure I have all the things I need. It's good to be back in civilization with super fast Internet connection and be able to update my blog. I'll post about camp and other stuff later on tonight. I guess I just wanted to write something "new" to my blog since the last thing I talked about was how stoked I was for meeting Grant Hill :)

*Off I go to be productive*