PAVEing a Blog

I have gone to Tom Petty, Phil Collins, Jimmy Buffet, Van Halen, Slash, George Strait, Amy Grant, The Eagles, Sheryl Crow, Clint Black, Hilary Hahn, Michelle Branch, the Hooters, lol, Tom Petty, Bruce Sprinsgsteen, the Dixie Chics, to name a FEW, met them talked with them, attended as a concert goer – and well, I have to say, this is a FIRST – attending a Ticket master…

…event of someone that is the SISTER of the performer.  (Mane de la Parra) I have to say, this concert was unlike anything I had ever seen.  That is a tough act to fill, ranging from classical, to rock concerts I have attended, how can one, be everything. Yet it was.

“I have your ticket for you, do you want it now?” Camila came up to me Friday and gave me her brother’s ticket – and I asked, “My gosh yes, when is it?”  “Tonight!”  (Tonight I thought?  Really?)  I have a Sound of Music ticket tonight and realized I just made a donation without being able to go to Saturday’s concert.  Sure enough, I had my night switched, not upset, but hoping I could even find the Metropolitan Theatre, even though  knew enough that is was in Centro.

It’s funny, not knowing an artist is not why people usually go to concerts, they have a background before attending.  Being on the opposite side of that equation, well, I have never been in that situation, so not having expectations was a whole different story for me, and set up me taking in the audience before the stage would be set.  The audience was made up of mostly people in the 30’s at best – (as the oldest) some 50 ‘s alot of teens, I was impressed.  I thought, “I have NO IDEA” what I am about to see (lol).

I have to say, you take all those artists I mentioned at the beginning, and truly, you had that in one stage.  I honestly did not think that would be possible, for someone that is an actor, musician, guitarist, and singer to name a few, the whole package was at the service of all attendees.  I counted 11 supporting musicians at one point.  ELEVEN.  Add six dancers that came on at intermittent times, then three  more supporting singers later on in the show, and oh don’t forget, during the show at least three Mexican celebrity singers that made appearances, and you have a 2 1/2 hour concert that no one could touch.  I mean NO ONE COULD touch.  Period.

Audience members were up and dancing, and I have to say, the music ran deep – not just on the surface.   Have I seen better concerts?  I am not sure I have seen the depth and caliber, no.  Bringing someone up on stage from the audience and serenading them, as well as bringing 5 audience members up and having them as part of the dance group, on top of everything mentioned above, you find yourself EXHAUSTED when the end came, but smiling from ear to ear.

The Metropolitan Theatre instantly reminded me of Pittsburgh’s former Syria Mosque.  I had seen Duran Duran there and the place was breathtaking, I mean BREATHTAKING.  Same with the Metropolitan Theatre, the rising pillars, lighting, and architecture in general, is easy to miss, but once you take it in, you will never forget it.

So think about this, being the grandson of Yolanda Vargas Dulce, (if you do not know her, stay tuned but you need to do some research on her impacts on Mexico) and my student’s (Camila de Parra) brother, Camila is the editor in chief of our Repentino., can you imagine what things are in store when Camila goes off to her adventures after graduating this year?  We haven’t even talked about her sister yet.  Normally, you would think this would put pressure on her…yet, she has nothing to feel pressured about, knowing what can be done, even if she planned small or not at all, the future will be amazing with the enthusiasm and energy her family exudes. It’s funny, all I could think about at the concert was how hard it will be to let her go at the last Open Mic and graduation…crazy stuff. Her brother, amazing….:)   I find I can’t share the discoveries of Chapel Branch and Tesla in this blog post, as this one is strong enough on it’s own, and through the conversation in this blog, I have enough for the next 6, so remember…. Yolanda Vargas Dulce, research.  Stay tuned for the next fee discoveries that will make a change or that have already.

Sitting in the Upper School Library today April 16, 2013, in walks a VERY familiar face and I am trying to place where at ASF she works, then it HITS ME….Jodi Kastafanas DOES NOT teach at ASF – she is at SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY!  It took me awhile before I realized the SRU student teachers are HERE, having flown in YESTERDAY – whoa!  I almost fell off my chair, I was so excited – funny it stunned me and took me awhile….and then Mr Gordon I met and all of a sudden, all the SRU students were there – like crazy – I was like jumping out my skin so excited.  Sometimes you get this inner discovery that some of the places you came from, are some very good places and you would not be the person you are today had you not come from those places, – very exciting discovery that often is taken for granted.

I have to look back to yesterday, walking Kinah through the park on Alvaro Obregon, and seeing Louis Cotto-Vasallo, an awesome and talented writer I met through the American Legion Open Mic Night in Condesa.  We just sat (not knowing for long time we lived one block from each other) and his stories just pilled out.  AMAZING stories of his positions as Immigration Officer and so much more – and just fascinated.  I discovered some of the best nights and time spent is when you push what you THINK is important and spend the time with friends that make those things LESS important.  The time hearing others’s stories is PRICELESS.  😉  I am HONORED to have one of his photos in our magazine this year….

An awesome third discovery was the attendance at the play “Woman in Mind” – Mr Webber’s experiment in community theatre with many of my colleagues in it!  I was in seconds surrounded by my colleagues’ children and we had a blast!  LOVED IT!  It is so exciting to see this develop and remember, tickets are still available this Friday, Saturday, Sunday!  Imagine the tension of relationships, the thrill of creative lives, and strength to fight back, and the disappointment of life as well, all wrapped together, carried by some committed actors, and the Off Broadway theatre feel, and you have one play worth attending!

Three is enough, right?  For now?  Kinah needs walked, I need to finish my Mansfield Grad work, and I STILL can’t believe SRU is HERE!   YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH   🙂

Until the next post of discoveries, remember…”Don’t let your meat loaf!”  – (Someone wrote that in my yearbook).

Continuing with the Discoveries series, here we go!  Several to mention – but before I forget – 40 – FORTY days old, are the puppies…revelations…webbed feet – well not like a DUCK, but the puppies, have connected digits, on their paws like, yes that is right, like a LABRADOR so people were half right, yes a Retriever but a LABRADOR Retriever, lol…if you would see the SIZE of these puppies at freaking 40 days – I mean, seriously, it is liked they have been sponges soaked in water and keep soaking it IN!  LOL….see?

Okay – so Discovery 2, 3, 4, and 5 all in one blog!  (A 4 for one special, how cool is that?)

One of the most caring and conscientious places for your dog – has been the company Lucky Dog, literally taking Canine care to the Scientific Level.  After visiting Cynthia Kaplan in Parque Mexico, and her team, as always, being amazingly generous and inquiring about Kinah and her puppies, providing me this for Kinah and the puppies –

they LOVE IT.  I said it once, and I will say it again, ANY and every time I have given Kinah and now her puppies food from Lucky Dog, I have seen a completely dog appear – in the shine and quality of their coats, their appetites, as well as their energy.  This is by far a quality find if you care about providing the best possible for your canine, hands down based on several trial runs!  Thank you for the amazing kindness every time I have encountered Lucky Dog!  

Speaking of dogs, (I sense a theme) – while we were in New York, of course Kinah received a little shopping time – an amazing boutique for dogs called Canine Styles established in 1959.  With some help, I chose some stylish feeding attire and an amazing sweater I had been looking for.  Funny, I had NO idea what size, yet, the one I chose initially would fit the owner, lol as she stated.  So I decided one size smaller and no kidding, PERFECT!  What do you think ?

This is an awesome visit as they had so much to pamper you pooch, including a stylish grooming area in the back.

So onto Discovery 3 – While in New York, and honestly unconsciously, I gravitated towards a place that made me feel at home just like it had a year before – Oren’s Daily Roast – let me tell you, this place KNOWS muffins, chair tea, coffee, EVERYTHING.  And service?  at 7:00 AM in the morning the staff never, ever fails to make you feel like a KING – last year and this year sealed the deal.  I could not walk past the store without going in, hands down undeniable. Their agreement to take a picture that early in the morning…

…this is the place you want to be at 7:00 in the morning if you have to be UP.  They ROCKED the state of coffee in New York.

Okay, so finally, let’s try to find a fourth discovery to stop at.  Definitely not in comparison to the above, by any degree, but, ever wonder (if you have cats) WHY your canine has this urge to get into the room where the cat litter is?  Me too, I thought I had some serious psychiatry time need for Kinah when in reality…

The cat litter dilemma and your canine…what the heck?

Okay, I can’t even really talk about that anymore, I am sorry I brought it up, but, um, it WAS a discovery…

I will close for tonight but you will definitely – DEFINITELY want to check out tomorrow’s series on discoveries 5, 6, and 7!  🙂

Happy Easter!  I get the question lot, does Mexico celebrate Easter!  Of course!  🙂  Predominantly Roman Catholic, you can imagine how important this is in Mexico.  What is called Semanta Santa, is our break, which starts Palm Sunday and lasts to Easter Sunday, so our Spring Break from school ranges about one week prior to everyone’s in the states.

Meaning, on March 24th was a half day for us at school, and we go back April 2nd to school.  A couple very good links explaining places to go, and what /how Easter is celebrated can be found below:

Pascua – (Easter) in Mexico

Mexican traditions with Easter

Reenactments and diets associated with Easter

More on Traditions and the “Burning of the Judases”

Wherever, and whatever your plans dictate, enjoy today!  I think I miss the marshmallow chicks, peanut and chocolate eggs, and the variety flavored jellybeans the most – let me take that back, I miss the jello eggs we used to eat and by brother Randy’s, (really Harry)  – that was a family tradition.

Seriously, I even researched it  – before leaving for New York – and was PUMPED after realized it did not exist in Mexico, believe me..I asked…

FOUR different Mcdonald’s in Mexico for the Shamrock Shake, nada, they looked at me like I was crazy and I had to settle for a Oreo Blend shake.

Imagine how disappointed I was when I got to New York, MARCH 19, TWO DAYS after St. Patrick’s, and went to four different locations, and no, one, I mean NO ONE, had the Shamrock Shake.  It was freaking travesty.

Heck, even one McDonald’s had the sign up FOR the Shamrock Shake, yet no shake there at all.  Nothing.  I was so upset, so I did come close, at Mel’s Burger’s I ordered a Mint Chocolate Chip shake, it was DELICIOUS, but it was no Shamrock Shake.

Seriously?  TWO DAYS after St. Patrick’s ?  I still am burned about that as that was the ONE, single thing, I was looking for.  Thanks to this amazing recipe posted on Facebook, I would settle for this, but alas, trying to find rootbeer in Mexico?  Um, wow.  Dead end.  So on my to do list next week?  Make homemade rootbeer, make a homemade Shamrock Shake (Thanks Mrs Dixie!) , and make the recipe below.  Who’s with me?  We’ll make a day of it….:)

No kidding, this sounds amazing – and if you love rootbeer floats, um, DUH!?  WHOA!  Okay, so I was disappointed and trust me, even though tis was a HUGE, HUGE letdown, the trip overall with the amazing people, and being surrounded by an amazing staff?, it took the cake, so to speak.  So all ended well.  😉

“I want to know about Malaysia!”.

I am a numbers person, but I dislike Math, long story about a teacher who gave us hall passes all the time in Middle School and…but okay get this…

721 more views on my blog before I reach the big 10, 000 mark.  I am very honored to have that many, in just 2 years time, of NEVER doing a blog, and BAM!  Whoa!  I am hooked!  Here is another stat – 7 more views to meet the highest view this year, which occurred in January, and this is only March.

The only problem with this is – after March, um, I think there might be a slight letdown, so I might have to use more puppy pictures…:)

In very sad news I realized Chinua Achebe passed away.  Some of you might not know who Mr. Achebe was, and neither did I in my Master’s at Slippery Rock.  Then I discovered this awesome class of World Lit, and I was HOOKED, I mean hook, line, and sinker, on World Lit, Multiculturalism, all things involving the other views, than the common Western World point of view and Chinua Achebe was one of those first authors.  A great tribute to Chinua Achebe from NPR does exist as well.

It took guts to defy the common writings people from outside Africa had written, and the said, “Hey!  This is MY country and this is the voice that my country has, not the voice other countries choose to give us!”  He was one of the most respected writer I came across and helped define a whole new world of literature that changed my reading, as well my my perception of how countries are perceived, and who they are perceived by.

To find out more, definitely check out the Shelfari look at Chinua Achebe, one of the finest writers that impacted issues of Multiculturalism, maybe next to Edward Said.

…as we remembered the little details that made New York, well, New York…

There is an AWESOME ice cream store called The Big Gay Ice Cream Store on East 7th Street, and MYGOSH, the flavor Salty Pimp is the BEST – I mean, AWESOME! – Thanks to Camila for the find, and Ana/Natalia for jumping in and all of us for enjoying it!  I saw flavors I didn’t know existed from their slide show!

The MOMA closes at 5:30 PM – at least on the weekend we went, Saturday, so make sure you go EARLY!

The Naked Cowboy still exists and roams Times Square!

There is another HUGE hostel right off of Amsterdam, called the International Youth Hostel.

The Pizza place Two Boots is a great way to eat before lining up for The Newyurocian Cafe, and they have many celebrities’ style of pizza, including “The Newman!” (delicious!) (Not Paul Newman, but Newman (Paul Knight) from Seinfeld!)

Mel’s Burgers has a variety of fries, appetizers, and one of the THICKEST milkshakes EVER….:)

Oren’s Daily Roast is on the way on Columbia, and as soon as you walk in, you are greeted like you are family.  AWESOME muffins, AWESOME chai tea, and just awesome people…

La Famiglia has awesome pizza, stromboli’s and salads as even 1:00 in the morning and welcomes everyone in!

Carnegie Deli has perhaps the largest Ruben known to man!  (And the largest pickle!)

Cubby Graham, of Charity Water, demonstrated the water pumps they place all over the world, and they have a tracking device to monitor amount pumped, if there is a problem with the pump, to make sure that country is taken care of – not just a drop and leave situation for that country.

There is such a thing as Off Broadway, and even Off Off Broadway shows!  Thank you Ms. Rachel Reiner!)  All about the seating…:)

There are many more discoveries we made but these will let us reflect on many of them!