Ender’s Game, John Mayer, and Cool Corners in Mexico City…

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Harry Brake

As the release of Ender’s Game occurred this past Friday at my favorite movie theatre, I rushed to see it. Ironically enough, I had seen someone, right before Christmas break, check this out at our school library and realized this is something I was not familiar with. I am eager to check out the book after having viewed the movie, I knew no plot going in but that did not ruin anything for me. The characters surprised me.

Harrison Ford was great in a role dominated by younger characters, and usually playing the good guy all the time, managed to slip into good guy / bad guy quite often and doing well.   The character that played Ender and Petra I thought did especially well, and it was actually nice to see some Spanish being peppered in the character of Bonzo.

The biggest walkaway?  When I first went to see this, from the previews I could only think of the film The Last Starfighter that I had seen in the theatre as well  I was enthralled that a video game was coyly used as a recruiting tool, and I fell into the plot quite easily with a memorable fondness for this film back in the 80’s.

What used to be the us versus them in films when it came to other countries has certainly changed.  War Games, Red Dawn and so many films fueled that anxiety. Ender’s Game refreshingly proves that as the fear of what happens when imperialism and tapping out resources for one culture and one culture only occurs, then the ruination of the individual occurs.  For once the concern for other countries, species, and communication instead of always justifying dominance and fighting begins to eek out of the screen.  If that can spill over into real life, then things will begin to change as they do on the screen for Ender Wiggin.  A good movie worth seeing, as I felt there was many interesting strands of plot that were supported.  I just am anxious to see how it compares with Orson Scott Card’s book.

Screen Shot 2014-01-05 at 7.44.47 AMGreat find, GREAT.  Itunes, online radio, John Mayer as guest DJ.  You need to check out his tips for the best songs he would recommend.  AMAZING collection of hits that I amazingly listened to like six times and still did not get tired of them. GREAT find.

As 2014 rolls around, I will begin to change up some blog categories as well. Instead of placing everything I read on the section of What and Where to Read, you can see this periodically with the GoodReads widget on the front page of this blog.  Instead, I will only add the interviews and special features when I meet authors about certain books on that page, and will begin a new link titled, Cool Corners of Mexico City, the unusual, and sometimes missed finds in Mexico City that are often overlooked, but worth checking out.  I think the first two you will find there will be worth the look, as I hope many more will be.  🙂

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Update From the CEO: Our Future in Washington, DC

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Harry Brake

Exciting changes in the D.C. Aquarium – I miss volunteering in Baltimore but exciting to see plans for a new move in the future!

 

–As a former volunteer at the Baltimore Aquarium for several years, while the facility outside might look aging, and I agree, it is aged, the amazing staff in Baltimore supplies workers and animals to aquariums all over the world and I would say is hyper sensitive to the needs of all the animals there, parallel to no other staff in the world – yet the opportunity to open a partner location in D.C. is exciting! I hope the funding that went into the renovations for the aquarium when it was taken over at the bottom of the commerce building will not be lost in moving and reinvested in a newer facility. Thanks for the detailed info to keep us abreast of everything and all things transparent! Harry Brake – Mexico City

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2014 Resolutions…

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Harry Brake

…ah, yes,  the most common thing to say, list, and cover for the new year.  I stumbled across this list from the Blog, Wander Outwards:

20 Resolutions For 2014

1- Stop telling yourself that you’re going to die alone… out loud… everyday.

2-Be more independent when solving your problems. You have 3G and Pleco now.  Not speaking Chinese is no longer an excuse for everything.

3-Cuddle with Harold more.

4- Spank yourself at least once a day.  Your ass was built by blood, sweat, and ripped calluses.  Recognize your achievements.

5-Be more comfortable with women hating you for no reason. Le sigh.

  • 5.1-… And stop trying so hard to be their friend. You’re not fooling anyone. Be excited that you’re crushing it so hard that you have haters. (THUG LYFE!)
  • 5.2-No really. They’re never going to like you. Seriously, just give up.

6-Never skip a morning workout unless you’re throwing up, having an asthma attack, or cuddling with an incredibly respectable man.

7-Wear your pollution mask more.

8-Pay it forward. Help everyone you can, whenever you are able.

9-Make a legit budget you damn fool!

10-Have at least 2 different types of VISA options at all times.

11-Continue to write and have confidence in your voice.  People are listening.

12-Make breakfast for all overnight guests.  You weren’t raised in a barn.

13-Hug everyone you part ways with.

  • 13.1-Eh, eff it. Hug everyone who will let you touch them.

14-Read those articles your mom keeps sending you.  She cares about you enough to send them.

  • 14.1-You should probably skype with her more too.
  • 14.2-Some more texting wouldn’t hurt either. The woman brought you into the world damn it, she deserves attention.

15-Stop freaking out about money all the time.  All of your bills are/will be paid.  Be grateful for everything you’ve already been blessed with.

16-Only surround yourself with people who can handle the spectrum of emotions that is “Vanessa.”  If people can’t handle you at your worst, they don’t deserve you at your best OR YOUR AMAZING DESSERTS.

17-Kiss more.

18-Continue to spread the teachings of CrossFit and paleo around the world.

19-Have some effing standards.

  • 19.1-Date busy men. You are not responsible for their happiness
  • 19.2-Stop dating men with “Daddy Issues.”
  • 19.3-… or guys named “Alex.”
  • 19.4-… or Colombians.
  • 19.5-… or guys who don’t workout. Seriously, you spend most of your time at the box/studio, hanging out with your friends from CrossFit/Yoga, or planning what you’re going to do at CrossFit/Yoga. It. Just. Won’t. Work.

20-Continue to develop yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally.

 

However, I did have my own list!  – Some I cannot reveal as I am superstitious about repeating and them not happening.  At the New year’s Eve party, I did take the 12 grapes and and 12 powerful wishes/resolutions that are personal, important, and vital.  I will have to leave those unpublished due to my superstition.  However these are important ones I need to follow this year:

1 – In light of negativity in the form of attitudes, comments, and actions, I will dig deep and be positive and be the beacon of the opposite of negativity, for my own sake and for others around me.

2 – I will develop more my creative writing side, devote more time to myself in this area and attend Creative Writing Workshops.

3 –  Internalize the Spanish language more on a personal level.

4- Develop a strong retirement/investment plant that takes into consideration my overseas experience.

5- Develop time in developing personal business/project pursuits that benefit others.

6- Resist the possible inclination (if there is one) to study anything further as a degree, (after Two Master’s Degrees, I am honesty, TIRED).

7- Get my amazing dogs to see distant locations.

Ta da!   Not your normal list, but it took some time to think about and come up with obtainable resolutions.  What are yours?  Hope everyone has a positive start to a 2014 New Year!

 

 

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Getting the shakes after Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine? – It is to be expected.

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Harry Brake

In seeing the trailer of the new Woody Allen film, Blue Jasmine, I thought, Street Car Named Desire!  In seeing the film today, yes!  It is interesting to see the background to the lead character, Jeanette (Jasmine) through Walter Mitty-like flashbacks, and this version of Streetcar’s  does in fact go into areas that could have been explored more.  The statements made that indicate Jasmine is a user when convenient, is evident to Streetcar’s plot, yet the absence of the uneasiness caused by the affair that occurs in Streetcar is replaced but the uneasiness caused by the volatile state Jasmine is in, as well as the deceptive paths she stumbles into. As watching the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, I think I remembered watching this in the Shakespeare Festival in Canada with my Slippery Rock class years ago, I left the theatre shaken and stressed, my nerves tight as a drum.  However, the objective of the film, was achieved in presenting unsettling situations, being somewhat dealt with,but not well.    

In talking about Andrew Dice Clay and Cate Blanchett, (I felt the actresses that stood out the most), I am amazed at the depth and volume of emotion that rolls out from the stage.  Cate Blanchett seems to be everywhere, and where she is, success seems to follow.  Alec Baldwin never does seem to put on a full stream of emotion in his acting, yet he seems similar here, where he played a role that did not require his full intensity, and yet, it worked with seemingly the most emotion coming from Blanchett and Sally Hawkins.  I haven’t seen Andrew Dice Clay in years but his role works very well and effectively.  The strikingness between Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Dice Clay was not lost on me at all.  Unlike Streetcar, I was drawn to Sally Hawkins (Ginger) as the foil of Cate Blanchett and sympathized with her at times more than her disturbed estranged sister in law, Jeanette. 

This whole connection and series of plot difficulties was well pulled off, but you might want to have the same Xanex or place of refuge waiting as, it is that good! 

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GoodReads Choice Awards!

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Harry Brake

This is awesome and worth checking out and a look back on the past year!

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https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2013

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What is the reality of our life? Your life?

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Harry Brake

In discussing with a former student that has graduated from the school here in Mexico, I discovered comments that I have to say, surprised me out of my skin.  See below:

“I’ve discovered… I don’t know. Like I see the differences between the little bubble that ASF is and the actual city.

One of the man things is how at ASF we are taught to basically hate Mexico and we never actually see its wonders

Ever since I started going to school and moving throughout and actually getting to places by myself has been amazing, I see the little things in life all the time

If you stay in Mexico, you’re a loser

and it’s like omg Mexico is so wonderful, and you have to make the best of it. If you have that idea from the beginning, well yeah, then you’re going to be miserable

And we’re also taught to “follow a path that will take us to success. Just do it. It will happen” but in reality we’re so focused on the result rather than the process of learning, that we’ve lost perspective of what surrounds us at a specific moment. We’re never present, we’re always living in the past or in the future.

(Many reflections from my years at ASF, it may not be true for everyone)”

In previous weeks, I had similar conversations with another top seated student that graduated and comes from a crazy talented family, and heard the same concern, she didn’t know Mexico, she never had time to discover what the real Mexico really was, she felt stranded and confused by not truly knwing what being Mexican was, and what is ironic is that I just finished the text, Labyrinth of Solitude, and feel in love with some choice quotations…

“The American lives on the very edge of the now, always ready to leap toward the future.  The country’s foundations are in the future, not in the past.  Or, rather, its past, the act of its founding, was a promise of the future, and each time the United States returns to its source, to its past, it rediscovers the future” (370).

“To avoid new disasters, we Mexicans must reconcile ourselves with our past: only in this way shall we succeed in finding a route to modernity” (373).

“Not only do we “others” make up the majority of the human race, but also each marginal society, poor though it may be, represents a unique and precious version of mankind. If the United States is to recover fortitude and lucidity, it must recover itself, and to recover itself it must recover the “others” – the outcasts of the Western World” (376).

Then, after finishing Octavio Paz’s text, I bicycled home on the EcoBici and thought these thoughts:

Similar to the trolley car and the Ecobici – both can share a part of the road designated separate from the motor vehicles yet, when you see the trolley bus in the lane coming down the street you are traveling up, you want to give way.  J   At first, this uneasy feeling of being on an Ecobici, competing with the other forms of public transportation give you a lack of confidence.  You stick to sidewalks, you avoid being a part of the flow of traffic.  Then, voila.  You just try it one day, you are more confident, and there you are!  Riding with traffic, going with the flow, you are part of it like it always was! 

I feel like a lot of that way, the way of the Ecobici (confident and now I can be a part of the street!) with the way I approached the Spanish language when I arrived in Mexico.  Nada.  I had no prior experience except Un memento por favor from a telecommunications job (low paying but I thought not so at the time).  However I often stalled, froze, was scared.  I realize now, I throw myself into it, like I do forcing myself to be accepted as part of the traffic, I get it, I get confident, and I feel I begin to earn a right to learn, and make mistakes, and freely look on it afterwards and learn more.  Hence. The confidence is gained with being a little more confident in oneself, and looking fear into the eye and knowing you are bigger than any fear you might have. That in itself is scary.

Back to the trolleycar, Ecobici, and vehicle lane analogy.  Somehow I see this as Mexico.  It is considered by many, by the auto lane, to be antiquated like the trolley car, as seen fro the car. Yet, have you ever been to Pittsburgh?  I love the trolley cars.  They represent a truer identity of the past. And still tie to an indentity of many, of the present. Kind of like Mexico, I see the trolleycar not being of the past and ridiculous, but I love it, it is an option and convenient.  For the longest time, I thought the best way to get to Home Depot through Doctoros was my truck. Then I laughed as I discovered, by trying the trolleycar with a friend who had JUST arrived, (I had been here three years) and realized, I could be there in  less time, energy, and hassle with the trolleycar!  The trolleycar had been right close to my delagacion too!  Things can be learned by the newe, old and the obvious every day, and the stereotypes of wealth – symbolized in the difference between a car, a trolley car, Ecobici, and metro are created in our minds.  There are no lesser forms of existence or wealth, they all serve a purpose if we let it.

 Further, I see the coexistence of these forms of transportation all important to identifying an amazing country I have been realizing as Mexico.  If the U.S. represents the vehicle again, looking across t the trolley car lane, I wonder what the thoughts are of the passengers?  Dangerous? Confusing?  Not worth it?  I see these ideals in the newspapers and articles when I was in the United States, yet, now, being in Mexico, in that trolley car, experiencing the freedom of the Ecobici and the air in my hair, the freedom to decide what street, when to turn, etc, is exhilarating  I realize the idea of what Mexico was and is from afar was wrong, and I am so much better for it.  I feel more excited about what other countries are in compared to the United States, and now see that I am more critical of the United States, my home country, and how other countries have been painted and tainted according to that history book, and am grateful for realizing there is a different reality to the identity of countries, and not that one painted by the United States.

 And here I am, on the cusp of the 2013 year and a new 2014 year, and I am amazed.  I am constantly amazed at what I think I knew, or know, and do not.  Back when I had Dr. DiMarco in Slippery Rock University,, who opened by eyes to multicultural authors I never knew existed, at the end of my Master’s and I wondered, “How had I missed all these?!”, I realized, multicultural literature is showing me something I never knew existed…I found that amazingly exciting.  I have been fortunate to see a different side of Mexico thanks to the opportunity to escape one view only and see from both eyes.  It is shocking to see how other countries are painted by the United States when you are in that country itself.  I think it would be a crime to also convince individuals that are brilliant, from a host country that they need to escape their country to get a better take on life.    I love this link by Matt Damon that addresses the need to speak out, and step up.

Mexico is so breath taking in so many ways, and few will ever realize it unless they look through a different set of lenses.  I have had that chance, and as an educator, I think it is my, and many others’ duty to show the importance one one’s country for sure, but to also recognize the strengths of others countries, that allow a home country to be strong in the first place.  I have had so many opportunities for success being from the United States and being educated in the United States, and now I have that chance in Mexico as well.  It is so vital, VITAL, as Octavio Paz says, to allow the criticism to occur on a home front as well towards others, to improve and change.  To me, that is what I need the United States to be about, to allow the world to cooperate and recognize what others bring to the table as well.  2013 has much to be thankful for, and much to move towards in 2014.  

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2013 in review

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Harry Brake

Thanks for making this blog a HUGE success!  I am trying to reach a total of 15000 views before the start of 2014, so stay tuned with today’s posts !! See this year’s report below!:

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,200 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Last Vegas, not what it seems…

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Harry Brake

Of course “Las” and “Last” but the film Last Vegas, along with having Kline, Deniro, Freeman, and Douglas would seem to be a no brainer star-studded movie going grabber, but there is more…

I thought this would be an all out comedy, and let me tell you, there is many parts that will have you rolling….Morgan Freeman especially is HYSTERICAL – but underlying the comedy plot – you walk out realizing…

…friendships, true love, and living life through the years and aging can be amazing, if your perspective is right.  How to make sure?  This film will leave you with the things you have done wrong, but realizing there are many things done right that made it come out all right, and that they still can.  Amid the scandal that Las Vegas is known for, Last Vegas certainly is able to separate the mirage of life with the reality it can be.  There is also the amazing addition of a female role that makes all the difference in this film as well.  Definitely worth the admission price  🙂

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You asked for their pictures, so here they are…

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Harry Brake

…and warning you, they had it their way – so – this is the crazies for you that have been asking me…:)

Okay, HI!! I'm trying to evade the camera and enjoy this vaca so Happy New Year from the nuthouse!

Okay, HI!! I’m trying to evade the camera and enjoy this vaca so Happy New Year from the nuthouse!

They want to see me? I'm chillin' for cryin' out loud.

They want to see me? I’m chillin’ for cryin’ out loud.

Whoa, check HER out by the fountain!

Whoa, check HER out by the fountain!

Surf's up dude! Have a rockin' 2014!

Amaya here, yes, we look alike, I mean, Wriggley and I ARE related you know!

Amaya prefers the hair back in the breeze look.

Amaya prefers the hair back in the breeze look.

Wriggley has of late liked the California look, so be it, he gets it.

Wriggley has of late liked the California look, so be it, he gets it.

Hangover, Helen Kang's feline, has made his home quite lived in!

Hangover, Helen Kang’s feline, has made his home quite lived in!

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Dewey claims her spot! 🙂

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Compounding Promises…I mean possibilities, (see, changes are possible)

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Harry Brake

It’s funny, life.  If “played” right, the unplanned become the most exciting aspects.  Yes, yes, examples in order with a statement like that in the morning, right?

Dreams.  Do you think dreams can make you money?  I mean, you know, the real elaborate dreams, that we often let go, never do anything with.  Can you imagine if we recorded everyone one, not analyzing them or looking at them in the way of, “What does that mean?” but a chance to say, use them in National Novel Writing Month in November each year and see what we come up with?  I bet each one of use, if we combined all our dreams together, and put them towards such an event, we would get a mad mix of something that would be off the chart.  Just a subtle inkling I had when I woke up with what was a dream I had going on and on, and this one, not a happy, go lucky, sappy one, a kind of dreading what happens next one.  Yet I forced myself to get into the computer as quickly as possible, amazing at how much you know a password in your computer, and no matter how much you type it in the morning, it refuses to open the computer as your dream fades away (there is a start for a NANO story) – and why did I wake up so bent on NANO this morning?  If I personally had to start analyzing my dream, my morning, it would be my things to do are haunting me and turning into a maybe story of dread/drama that needs to be solved by finishing them, so I better go onto my next topic to finish this blog I meant to do last night…:)

Taking the Turibus was enlightening(not amazing, but it was).  I have lived here in Mexico City three years, and never took the Turibus, not once, and when I did yesterday, I rode it TWICE.  yeah, twice.  I realized I caught an awful lot in Spanish, but not all, and I wanted to not miss a thing.  So on the Coyoacan Historical Square  IMG_0546part, I stopped, I bought earphones for 80 pesos (they better last for awhile), and inserted, and wow.  I had caught alot but also missed alot, it added tons to the experience.  It was also amazing how the city fit together in front of my like a puzzle, seeing how the various delagacions fit together, all the while, me trying to imagine in from a metro, metrobus, and walking. This helped alot and painted a different picture.  Also, realizing the malls, murals,

IMG_0489 and parks that were around me that I never realized, also a revelation.

There are these pet peeves I have been listing in my head lately, and not sure why.  But here they are – (I think they make for a good blog posting).

1- People that walk right towards you on a sidewalk, when you are walking three huge dogs, and refuse to move even when you are positioning yourself to miss them.  it is like they target you, directly despite the efforts you are making to avoid them.  (I want secretly to teach my dogs how to ATTACK!, and see how they move THEN!).  Not that this happens to me, just hypothetical of course  🙂

2- What is the deal with watching my dogs poop? (Darn, I just gave myself away there).  I mean, what is the special deal, is it because they have to go and they are living through my dog externally?  Is it that they never saw my dog poop before?  Do they like Poop?  I am going down a path I do not want to experience here, so I am will leave this one, but I mean, seriously, I might flash out a camera, a Polaroid since we do not see those much anymore, take a picture, and give it to them, since they are waiting it out while my dogs do their thing, and say, for you!

3- I get it.  People like dogs, they like my dogs, they ARE different.  Golden, tall, Afghan, but a mix of Retriever, long tail, yet retriever coat, it IS different.  Now imagine being stopped by these individuals, who realize this, in a say, 45 minute walk.  What what is SUPPOSED to be a 45 minute walk.  That almost 2 hour journey makes ME want to go the bathroom, right in front of someone, just to prove the point of the above points that drove me crazy.  Gross I know but um, let me let you take my dogs for a walk, and I want to analyze you afterwards, see what you think.

Okay I have more but I think I might put a damper on a perfectly good day, so, we’ll just stick with it being dog themes peeves and how is that?

Loved the past few days in a chance to not only be invited for Thanksgiving, Christmas, but New Year’s to some amazingly funny, spontaneous and optimistic people.  You need that.  It helps you recharge.  Then there is the food.  Ohmygosh the food.  yes, say ohmygosh real fast and you will get the swing of it.  I will actually be gaining some poundage the next few days, yet, I have never gained weight in ,y life and well, my friends helped manage that.  It is not the same as family of course, I do miss the so much, yet, it is funny when friends, new and frequent, start to become your family, and it seems to me that happens much more in an international situation, as thins are different. In being different around you, you all cope differently with things, an then, well, it causes a different set of conversations to originate, and before you know it, you are brought closer with the creative ways of dealing with those!  For me, it was setting a personal record to see how many restaurants I could go to, name, record with pictures, create as part of an overall blog to leave behind for others, to change the persona of Mexico of what I thought it was before I came, and for others, to take adventures into the movies and see what is good, bad, and ugly, see parts of the city I live in and get to know it well, well, well, before taking on the large world outside what I have come to known as Mexico City, (sounds like Prince), be able to explore my creative side of writing and do something with it, take ideas that float around and turn them into something substantial…OH!

I DO have a 4th pet peeve, but to your relief, not dog related.  Conferences.  Here, (or hear) let me officially label it below:

4- Conference.  I LOVE conferences, LIVE for them.  Yet, I see myself living for them for different reasons than most.  I get it, a chance to get away, go to some place huge, exotic, unknown, feel like a guest in a hotel, all of that.  I LOVE that too.  Yet, when you come back, I have this panic, urgency to want to share as much as I can with everyone, somehow.  Yes, we all know we cannot present at every meeting and the luster of the magic of what we learned fades within days after coming back, hard to show others.  BUT yet it seems people that go, and then come back, and do not do ANYTHING with that, I mean, am I the only one that gets bugged by that?  I mean – it is like, going on the Pony Express to deliver the mail, and coming back with the mail, just because all you wanted to do was ride the Pony (I so made that up just now, but um, yeah, same thing).  I HATE the fact that visibleness of conferences that in the beginning, that are made to sound so elaborate of why you should go, end up with this Poof! – nothingness.  It brings the visions of seeing the people get together at these things, and dreading the meetings, workshops, and ideas, and pushing towards, “Where are we going tonight to PARTYYYYYY?!” and seeing them live for the party, and neglecting the very reason why they are there!  How about some PARTTTTTAY!!!!!!  after some major kickbutt accomplishments?  Could that occur sine you came all this way?  That is the geek in me coming out, yet, pet peeve as it is, there it lies.  So this is a broader statement worth passing on…

Life – is so much what you make of it – it could be the lame things that pet peeve you to death (OHYGOSH, PET peeve, and I did three about my PETS – HELLO!  How ironic is that, and yes, it is 7:21 AM and I JUST get that connection –

but life is like the PET Peeves that get in the way, about the promises of what you will experience when you go to a conference and decide to bring nothing back for the good of others or bring back info that many people might ignore, but MIGHT just make someone’s day in hearing, about the details that exist around us and we push aside and choose to take for granted.  I fall and have fell unto all the above somewhere, yet realizing this, helps me change.  Life is so amazingly and very few have time to want to admit it, but do want to take time to complain about it.  I fall into the same category, yet, LOVE that I have this ability to take those things, and have them motivate me to be a better person, push others to do the same, and want to make the change in myself. I life that, that things can compound each other in a positive way, if we just have that perspective.

I tend to complain and be angry and just be negative if others around me do it alot. It is like a human barometer for me.  Hence, often, I sometimes have to go on my own.  it is just my way, maybe a by-product of coming from a large family, yet sometimes being an only child at home alot, I swear it is true.  However, the exciting this is what we can do with those possibilities, and being able to start a spark in someone else and seeing them take that spark, turn it into a fire, and ultimately, someone makes a SMORE, which we ALL can share and love.  (I love SMORES, but the true reality is some people do not like to share).

Sorry for the hilarity it this post, but honest, there are some truths in there too.  By the way, I love the fact that I have this amazing gold cup in front of me,

IMG_0229from La Liga, but like even more the fact that one J.P. does a great job of running La Liga football fantasy.  I have never played until  last year, and the two years I have learned so much about it, so major Kudos to J.P., and Happy Belated Birthday Joe E., I took a monster nap last night….sorry!

 

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