Hurricane Update

EVERYONE!

This is Nick Lalla. I talked with Jessica over the phone last night. She is alive and well. They are planning on going to El Paso, Texas soon. Her mother, at last word, is working at Charity Hospital in the city. My Aunt Josie is at Memorial Baptist. Last we heard from them, they have not been evacuated even as waters continue to rise. Jessica was unable to get to a computer and she wanted me to post an update for her, letting everyone who cares about her know that she is okay.

I ask for everyone's thoughts and prayers. Donate to the American Red Cross. I am personally praying that my aunt and Jessica's mom make it out the city safely.

To all those friends from New Orleans: I pray that you and your families are safe.

Nick

Odd question...

Asked by whom? Nick, of course.

So, on my facebook profile, Nick asked me who I would bathe with if I could bathe with anyone(from anytime period) and why. I know it's a weird question, but what can you expect from him? He gave his top seven choices, so I guess I'll give mine. So, I want to take a bath with these people, mostly just to see and talk to them. Some people who seem unbearably unattractive to me, however intriguing they are, will not make this list. I don't want to feel sick just looking at them, that would be highly disrespectful. And, I get to wear my bathing suit. If I want to...

In order of increasing priority:

7. Marc Antony- Not the cheesy singer, but Julius Caesar's second in command. I would like to hear all about Caesar's conquest and assassination, and about the steamy affair he had with Miss Cleopatra. I have a thing for powerful men.

6. Ferdinand de Magellan- So in every portrait I've seen, he's insanely ugly. But I like to imagine that he was not so bad looking when he was like 22. Seriously though, in his case, it doesn't matter to me. He was the first to CIRCUMNAVIGATE the globe. HE NAMED THE PACIFIC OCEAN. How many men can you say that about? "Oh, he named that ocean." He also didn't directly destroy any native tribes, to my knowledge.

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart- Because I have a thing for brilliant men. And musicians.

4.5 NOT Fredy Omar, unless he comes Con Su Banda. But I don't think the jacuzzi's big enough for everyone.

4. Thomas Jefferson- 3rd President of the US of A, drafter of the Declaration of Independence. I know he wasn't perfect-- he kind of ignored that part about "all men are created equal" and owned slaves, but Ben Franklin, my fav founding father, is too fat to bathe with. Jeffy did plant the first tomato in North America, though, and I'm obsessed with tomatoes.

3. Geoffrey Chaucer- Author of the very dirty and sly Canterbury Tales... Who knows what this guy looked like? Who cares? He put the ENGLISH language on the map. I owe my MAJOR to him! And he's hilarious-- naughty stories about clergy get me every time!

2. Mary, Mother of Jesus- I have some serious questions to ask her. Who was Jesus? What did his life really mean for us? And-- even more pressing--Is she really on that billboard on Canal St.?

1.5. NOT a 21-year-old Paul McCartney! Do you even KNOW me?

1. Raul Gomez Rojas- obviously.

Next on Springer: "My man is a male prostitute!"

Jessica: Jerry, I've been lied to. He told me he was just a musician. He was always away for "gigs." He went on "tour." I trusted him Jerry. If he was having so much trouble finding money for school, he should have told me.

Jerry: So now you know he's been working as "an escort--" what do you want to say to him, Jessica?

Jessica: I'll tell him that he's a @&*%^ #&**%^ of *&%$##$! Bring that *&$^#@ piece of *@!# out so I can look him the eyes!

Jerry: Ladies and gentlemen, Raul thinks he's here because Jessica nominated him for "hottest man of the year." (boos from the crowd) Alright, Raul, come on out!

So, I checked out Raul's blog this morning. A lot of times when I have to read text, I go to this free translation website to get quick help for tough words. I know it's cheating, and believe me, if I depended on that website, I would pay a steep price for it. But today, the results were hilarious. So I thought my non-Spanish speaking readers might enjoy a little glimpse into Raul's life, thanks to the EVER-SO-ACCURATE website. See if you can understand what actually happened:

August 12th
Damned Nurse

I had to become a male prostitute TAC and the unhappy nurse hurt my right hand with the intravenous prostitute. So PROSTITUTE TAKES ME. I hope that it should lower soon the pain and the distension because I occupy to study violin. Unhappy tongue.....

Raul dice: Let's just keep this going. Whatever it is.

Raul has a space on MSN now. You can see all of the pictures from my time Costa Rica on it. And if you know a little Spanish, you can read about his life, too. He's in the process of making some important decisions about his career and his future. Recently, I read some of Raul and I's older msn conversations, so I figure now is a good time to share a little bit about our relationship .

I met him on February 25th. I won't say that it was love at first sight, because that's a fuzzy, non-scientific concept, and I'm obsessed with rationality. But it's a fact that I totally lost my mind the moment I saw him and haven't recovered it since...

I knew him only a weekend in New Orleans, and I knew he was returning to Costa Rica. I felt insane for feeling the feelings I was feeling. But he was feeling them too, and it felt right. The picture above was taken on 2/28 at the airport, only a couple of days after we met, the morning he left New Orleans. I don't think we've gone two days without talking since.

Yes, I am in a long distance relationship-- and that's an understatement. Really, it's an International Affair. When it comes up in conversation, people often tell me that I'm crazy. And as I mentioned before, that's completely true. I am totally out of my mind. But at some point in the initial month after we met, I realized that I don't really have a choice. I tried to doubt, tried to question the logic of it, but I couldn't. Raul reassured me that he believed it was "worth it"-- on March 13th he said "let's just keep this going. whatever it is."

What we felt for each other, after spending only one weekend together and even 1500 miles apart, was so strong that I planned a two-week trip to Costa Rica for June. And those were the best two weeks of my life. I've had great moments before, but never so many in such a short time. Being together during his day-to-day life, we realized how extremely compatible we are. And I think it's amazing, because not only do we have some typical differences like those found in any couple (e.g., our parents are totally different, he loved calculus and I'm a reading nerd), but also we have different native languages, are from different countries, and were raised in different cultures. But we had suspected all this and thought about it much earlier, as this conversation from March 28th shows...

jlo says: I feel like I really, really understand you, even though I haven't known you for very long
Raul says: I think you do
jlo says: the way you think, although it's a little different from my way, makes so much sense
jlo says: and we seem to arrive at the same conclusions
jlo says: even though we've taken different paths
Raul says: We're both from the same planet
Raul says: I think that's it

And that's still the best explanation I can come up with. In short, I feel like it's a miracle that we met. In Raul, I've found a man who's intelligent, open-minded, honest, caring, confident, strong, ambitious, and dedicated to improvement (not to mention HOT). He's just finished his bachelor's in music performance at the University of Costa Rica, and right now he doesn't know where he'll be next month or next year. We plan to see each other again for Thanksgiving, and that seems like a quite while from now. But to answer all of my critics, that's not important to me. Right now what's important to me is growing and becoming the best person I can be. Raul helps me with that, and encourages me. And he makes me smile. So it's worth it to me. And I want to keep it going. Whatever it is.

I suck!

Raul, a man after my own black, black heart:
A couple of posts ago, I said I was going to eat less meat

-- a lot less meat.

I had a plan. I failed.

Not only did I NOT eat less meat, but I felt cravings for meat like I have never felt before. I hit rock bottom yesterday at Cafe Freret, and ordered the "New Orleans Steak Bomb Sandwich." I was starving, and ate it greedily, at a table by myself without witnesses. That's right-- Steak BOMB--even the name sounds excessive and evil. I mean, what could I have been thinking when I ordered? I should remember-- I probably blocked it out of my mind like a memory of Auschwitz. Let's create a likely scenario:

Well-meaning Jessica to Self: Hrm... what should I order? Don't want to order meat-- it's a step backwards in the battle against world hunger... That veggie wrap looks nice.

Deviant Self to reasonable Jessica: I want COW.

Shocked and apalled Jessica to Self: Come on, Jessica, don't be so selfish.

Self to Jessica:* I'm not Jessica. I'm the devil. Now kindly undo these straps.

Nervous Jessica to "Self": Um, what?! Ok, be reasonable... the seafood poboy could be reaaaaaaaally good...

"Self" to Jessica: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! spins head 360 degrees, vomits split pea soup*

Jessica to "Self": Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

"Self" ranting:* You killed your mother! You left her alone to die! Bastard! in a high voice, face contorting Why you do this to me, Dimmy? enraged Keep away! The COW is MINE!

"Self"-posessed Jessica to waiter: Yes, I'll have the Steak Bomb sandwich
please. Thank you so much.

I feel sure that's how it happened. I know it's all a blur to me. Seriously though, I think I became overzealous in my quest to lead an environmentally-sustainable lifestyle. Maybe Keke will forgive me if I can't cut the meat out. Maybe I'll be more reasonable, and try to eat it
just once a day. I guess it's not such a big deal that I slipped. As you can see, Raul doesn't have a problem with it. :)

*References made to The Exorcism, of course.

Lovin' me some Old Love

For those of you who don't know, I work weddings. I love it. Everyone is happy and hope-filled. The brides glow when they are called Mrs. So-and-so for the first time, and even if the new in-laws are a little cranky, the champagne usually smoothes out conflicts. Pretty soon everyone is in a circle singing "We are Fam-i-ly!"

Yet, I often find myself feeling a tinge of skepticism. Sometimes, (forgive me!), I look at my giddy new couple and wonder "Is yours the one out of two marriages in our country that's gonna end with custody fights, alimony battles and tears?" We are making big hoop-law (is that how you spell that? :)) over a fairy tale that has a good chance of coming to bitter, not quite so happy ending.

Today was a different celebration of marriage: a fiftieth anniversary party. This couple fell in love at first sight, and got married less than a month out of high school. A slide show played at the party revealed the details of their past: three kids, a modest, happy home, and many years of running an ice cream shop together.

Now, it's possible for a miserable pair to mope through the years into their seventies. I wouldn't admire anyone for just rotting away over time in a disgruntled, lethargic stupor. These two have truly shared their lives with one another. Every, and I mean every day, they exercise together. They jog, they bike, they play with their grandkids. They volunteered for many years with Kiwanis. They save money to travel with their friends.

Just from the looks of them, they are very warm, friendly, and happy together. A daughter related how they've always left love notes for each other around the coffee pot or on the car steering wheel in the morning. He calls her "sweet" and treats her like a queen; she drops whatever she's doing if he needs her help. Two very strong and healthy individuals, they went out of their way to show appreciation to ALL of their guests. They didn't seem to be particularly wealthy, but the generousity they showed to each other and to all of the people around them seemed truly genuine.

And when they danced together, I cried.

Tell me what you think, is this lame?: I saved an invitation to the party that I found lying on a table. I'll put in on my mirror. I want to remember them, because I want to be just like them.

Nick has a blog!!!!!

Finally! This should be very interesting............

For those of you who don't know Nick, let me introduce him to you:

Here he is. As you can see, he is a quite a character. Complex, intelligent, some might even say "quirky"... but definitely friendly (despite that fact that he shot me the bird in that pic) and always insightful. And, in the bottom left, you can see his cool new hair. I bet he has some AXE too, and is too embarassed to tell me.

The pictures in the top right and bottom left hand corners give you an idea of adapting to winter weather in Chicago must have been like for the poor New Orleans boy. I wish I would have been there to see it!

Anyways, I think he's a very witty, clever writer-- and I'm not just saying that because he thinks and writes like me. Really. Because he doesn't-- he doesn't think or write like anyone....except himself. People say that "everyone is unique." Well, maybe that's true in some cute way, but trust me when I say that Nick is very unique. In a good way. Trust me. Don't let my cheesy dribble be a reflection on him--check out his blog!

On a more serious note, I could never be where I am today without him. He's like a brother to me.... actually, he's more like a father. He encourages me to be my best and has helped me through many bad times. Despite whatever harsh, cynical, morbid and/or sarcastic things Nick may (or may not) write in that monkey wildnerness of his, deep down inside, he's just a really sweet guy.

Wasting time... and energy...

and water.... and food... and space... and other resources...

Check out the link ^

I took the quiz; here are my results...

YOUR TOTAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
15 ACRES
IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3.4 PLANETS.

OUCH.
I don't know how accurate this quiz is, but I know there's some truth behind it.
THIS is why I feel constantly guilty. What can I do?

I think I'm gonna eat less meat. Like, once every other day TOPS. I've been reading a lot about it for the last few years. The costs of meat production are ridiculous. It's a very wasteful process; with all the water and grain we use to raise livestock, we could be feeding hungry people. Plus it's not all that good for you.

Please don't take my word for it.