cognitive dissonance

n. Psychology -A condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one's beliefs and one's actions.

Don't we all suffer from this?

NASAfied

We went to NASA last weekend.

It was pretty much awesome.

These are moon rocks. They look like blue cheese.

As a completely unrelated side note, I'm totally getting some of this:

It's caffinated soap. Awesome!

Jose's birthday yo

Tim, you were right. Here are the fotos. Jose's (34th) birthday!

Maybe I have a weird sense of humor

I don't know why, but I think these are so funny. It's just that there was this cheesy commercial in Spain about them and the way that the say the name in Spanish is hilarious. I feel bad about it. It's very insensitive of me to laugh at another person's incontinence problems.

Childhood Transgender Barbie Project

I've told some of my friends about this. I've wanted to write about it for a while because it is so funny. I wish I still had her/him, but I must have sold her/him in a garage sale (which is what I did with everything I owned as a kid...I needed that 50 cents!).

Anyway, this is the deal. When I was little, my friend, Tennille, and I liked to play "Cinderella" with my Barbies. However, I only had 3 of them and no Ken. So, we needed a Prince Charming, see? One day we had one of the best ideas that has ever occurred to a couple of 9-year-olds.

Now, I had this one Barbie that had lost the little swivelly part that is attached to the neck and makes the head turn (I know you know what I'm talking about. Who hasn't pulled Barbie's head off at least once?) Since she didn't have this particular part of her doll anatomy, we had to shove her head down onto her neck which gave her an extremely square chin, a weird, deformed face and an abnormally short neck.

Well, she was the chosen one. This is what we did:

First order of business: breast removal. We went to my dad's shop, i.e. the building in the backyard where all his tools were, and found the belt sander. I am sure that we were not even supposed to touch it, but ignoring that fact, we turned it on and sanded those boobs right off. Because I was a child, I mistakenly thought that Barbie was a solid mass of plastic. I was, of course, wrong. She is hollow, people. Now, Man-Barbie had to large holes in her chest.

Next order of business: new hair-do. We cut it all off. She looked like she had bad hair plugs. Prince Charming could NOT have bad hair plugs, and the horror of that possibility lead us to our next epiphany.

I had this knock-off Barbie that that I got in Knox City at a store called Perry's. It probably cost about a dollar. This fake Barbie was completely bald and came with three wigs. Of course, I had already lost two of the wigs (and the doll). The only wig that I had left was the blond fro. The wig was made of a thick plastic half-sphere. It looked more like a round, skin colored hat with hair coming out of it than an actual wig. Well, we glued it to Man-Barbie's head. He now had a blond fro and a permanent abnormally large noggin with an 1/8 inch ledge rising up off of his forehead (and around the rest of his head). It also covered his ears to half way down.

Viola! We had our Prince Charming! Unfortunately, we could never get the feet to stand flat, as opposed to the perpetual high heel stance. I could never think of any tool in my dad's arsenal that could fix that.

I wish I had a picture of this thing. It was like my Frankenstein's monster of childhood. It was probably the ugliest doll that ever walked the earth. Needless to say, though, Cinderella loved him and lived happily ever after! Every time.


Addendum: I also gave one of my other Barbies a short haircut and then proceeded to dye its hair black with a Marks-a-lot marker. That one I still have. Next time I find it, I'll take a picture.

Inspired experimentation

I was so inspired by the man on the travel channel that I went to a Mexican food restaurant and ate a tongue taco.



It was good.

Maybe next time I'll try a brains tosada...okay, maybe not.

It's official, Spainish foods are bizarre...

There is a show on the travel channel in which the host goes to different countries and eats the weirdest food that he can find. So, last week he went to Spain. Here is a list of what he ate:

* Angulas (baby eels)
* Whole roast suckling pig - - tail, ear, tongue, eye, brains
* Baby squid in their own ink
* Crunchy pig ears
* Snails
* Grilled octopus
* Rabo de toro (bull’s tail)
* Callos (casserole made of blood sausage and tripe)
* Ox
* Maruca eggs (dried fish eggs)
* Criadillas (bull’s testicles)
* Deep-fried pork fat
* Tripe
* Jamón Ibérico (air-dried ham made from black-footed Iberian pigs)
* Percebes (gooseneck barnacles)
* Clams
* Langostinos (large prawns)
* Red shrimp
* Rodaballo (Spanish turbot)
* Spiny lobster
* Buey "mustard" (giant Mediterranean stone-clam innards)
* Razor clams
* Deep-fried worms
* Crickets
* Horchata (beverage made with almond milk and tiger nuts)
* Calf’s brains
* Arros de pages amb crestes de gall (rice with rooster combs)
* Nitrogen-cooled sake sorbet with lychee nuts
* Pine-nut meringue

From this list I have eaten (or drunk) snails, grilled octopus, rabo de toro, callos, jamon ibérico, clams, langostinos, and horchata. I don't like snails or clams or callos that much, but the rest of the ones that I have tried are really good.

Actually, Spaniards do eat a lot of strange seafoods. It is a peninsula, after all. If you go to the fish market, you don't just see fish, you see all of these weird kinds of marine animals too, many of which are still alive. It's like going to a macabre aquarium. Jose used to chastize me for going up and touching them all the time.

My friend saw the show and she said that the host didn't like horchata. I couldn't believe it! It's not the same kind of horchata, made of rice, that you get here. Like it says in the list, it's made of tiger nuts (chufa). Let me tell you, it is sooooo goooood!

Since I have a little experience in this field of study, I want to add a few other foods to the list that the host didn't try. He didn't go down to Andalucía after all! One thing that he didn't have on his list, which is something that my in-laws eat, on occasion, in there own home, is something called "sangre frita." That is, "fried blood." It's coagulated chicken (or pig) blood fried and mixed with a sauce of tomatoes, onion and peppers. At least that is how my mother-in-law makes it. I tried it once and didn't like it.

Another dish that comes directly from Granada is called "tortilla de sacromonte" or "Sacromonte omelette". This omelette has brains and testicles of lamb in it. I never tried it, nor do I desire to. That's mad cow disease just waiting to happen.

The other "bizarre food" that Americans find gross is morcilla. However, I love it. Yum! When Jose and I go back to Spain to visit, all we want to eat is jamón, morcilla, and cheese. And me, I also want to drink wine.

Well anyway, the host has been to places where the food is a lot weirder...do any of you know what a balut is? It's a delicacy in the Philipines...check it.

Monthly post

My friends had the nerve to get hitched in Jamaica and then just have a measly party for the rest of us here in Austin.

Actually, the party was great. beautiful. awesome! For reals, it rocked. I was so mad at myself for not taking more pictures. There were people there that I hadn't seen in years and years. I just didn't FEEL like taking pictures (yet another reason why I shouldn't let my emotions rule me).

Well, anyway, here's the happy couple and cute Nico:

Aubony envelops moi (for a change):

Here's what a woman pregnant with twins looks like (NOT me, her):

Of course I took more pictures that that. Or, I should say, that Jose and Tori took more pictures than that. I think I might have taken one.

On a slightly different note, sorry for the scant posts. I've been chillaxin' over at Myspace. At least I'm doing better than Jada. As of now, she hasn't posted in over 2 months. I don't feel so bad. Thanks Jada! I'll try to live a more interesting life and then post about it.

Star Trek is...

Okay. Jose and I just watched the very last episode of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and I cried.

I cried, people. THAT is how much I love Star Trek.

Cool evangelical (oh my!) magazine online

Check it. Geez Magazine. Linked to the simple way people that I talked about earlier.

2 things

1. Last night I saw a U-haul trailer driving down I-35 with a vacuum duct taped to the side of it. I guess the trailer was just too full for the vacuum to fit. I can just hear the conversation, "Oh no! The trailer's full and the vacuum is still not packed! What can we do! ...I know, hand me the duct tape!"

2. Jose came back from Sweden and brought these little gummy candies that the Swedes like so much. Some of them taste like salty licorice, which is something that those crazy Scandinavians love. I never thought that I would like it, but I have to say, it's growing on me. It's strangely additive...

And finally, here's a little something extra:

The Simple Way

Don't go to this website if you don't want to have your lifestyle challenged.

I went to church with Jada last week and the Sunday School teacher read from a book called The Irresistible Revolution (order it here or here). The author, Shane Claiborne, is a part of this group/organization/community called The Simple Way. His book and the way that these people live is causing me to really examine the way that I live. I want to live the gospel instead of just studying it. I want to impact the lives of the people living in poverty here in Austin. I want to help them and show them that they are loved. There are so many men and women on the street corners with next to nothing. How can I justify buying the things that I want without thinking of those who have nothing at all?

The quote that has been most on my mind from the book is a quote that the author says came from the mouth of Mother Teresa.

"We are called not to be successful but to be faithful."

I want to be faithful to God and live in a way that glorifies HIM.

Jesus says that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. What does that mean in my life?

Oh, you guys

Jose has been in Sweden visiting Manolo & Co. for the last two weeks. How have I spent my time you ask? Well, I have NOT spent it cleaning up after myself. That's for sure. My apartment was so messy. I had time today to pick up, wash dishes, wash clothes, etc. Life is so hard.

I am forming an ugly Myspace habit too. That site is like crack. I can't get off of it. I have looked up just about every name in my brain.

While I am thinking of it, I have a question. Do you people notice the crazy spam email titles? Besides the ones about finding people to have sex with and the ones that tell me I can have a bigger wee, the rest have the funniest names. Here is a short list:

snuck outdid
or seep it say
The go draftsman
seemingly derive
her chromatography he waylaid
it my prone
if also panel boy republic

Interesting...One time I saw this website where this guy would take these random subject lines and illustrate them. It was really funny, but I can't find it now. I personally like "her chromatography he waylaid" the best. I think we need to collect the funniest ones and when we have enough, we can write an entire play using only spam subject lines as the dialogue. Then we can put in on Youtube. Awesome idea!

And finally, not to be snuck outdid by my friends, it was icy and cold about a month ago and here are my pictures of it:

Ooh, la la la la la

I have succumbed to the incessant and overwhelming pull of the monster called MySpace. I have a myspace page. There. I did it. Enjoy it.

Olive! Shoes! Lovin'!

Jose! Yellin'! In the background!

Interesting investment made by Jose

Jose bought a whole bunch of movies the other day for $1.99 each. Some of the discs even have two movies for the price of one! Here are the names and some taglines:

Kill, Baby...Kill!
Creature-"Death is no escape from an alien nightmare!" [wise words...]
Warriors of the Wasteland-"Can mankind survive without humanity?"
Alien Contamination-"A new plague on Earth will come from the stars!"
Slave of the Cannibal God-"A bloodthirsty cult that hunts for the taste of human flesh!"
Devil Girl from Mars-"Mankind's greatest threat is a single woman!" [Condoleezza?]
Bronx Executioner-"The fate of the city belongs to one man..."
First Spaceship on Venus
The Killer Shrews [my favorite so far]

I actually watched some of Bronx Executioner and I have to say it is really, really bad. Jose just sits there watching all the bad parts over and over again and laughing.

Embarassing moments...brought to you by a 12 year old

Last night we went to the airport to pick up Tori. As we were standing at the baggage claim waiting for her suitcases, a beige colored bag was coming down the chute and Tori said, "That's an old lady's bag."

So, I was under the impression that she actually saw an old lady with the bag so I asked, "Really? How do you know" Did you actually see an old lady with that bag?" She said, "No it just looks like an old lady's bag."

As these words were coming out of her mouth, an older man reached out and picked the bag up off of the carousel, looked over at Tori and said, "it's NOT an old lady's bag!" He was smiling and laughing, but Tori was so embarrassed! She turned bright red. It was funny.

Manolo, Jose's Cousin...has come!

Manolo:

Manolo's ugly twin:

Happy New Year.

For New Year's we went to my mom's house. She lives in a little town called Munday, Texas. There's not a whole lot of things to do there. You wouldn't know it from all the pictures we took.

We went to Knox City, which is about 10 miles West of Munday:

Memories! From the corners of my mind...! My grandma lives here and I basically grew up going to Knox City and doing country bumpkin stuff.

We went to this store in Knox City (it's called Pepper's, if you ever want to go there):

Where you can buy stuff like this:

We also rode a Ryno. It's like a souped up golf cart. And camo!

We went all over the cotton fields behind my mom's house. It was so fun, especially going over bumps.

Jose told me to take a bunch of pictures of him on it (this isn't even all of them):

How many pictures did he take of me, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Two:

The flatness:

These are cotton modules:

See our tracks?

Amber rode it too:

And we saw some pigs:

Since we didn't go for Christmas, we opened Christmas presents:

Amber in the jungle:

On New Year's Eve, we played an eternal game of dominoes and ate grapes (a Spanish tradition). Jose said "boobie storm" (ask me about it). There are no pictures from that momentous occasion.

On the 2nd of January, 2007, my mom was sworn in as Treasurer of Benjamin County. Congratulations Mom! In the afternoon, we went to Witchita Falls. On the way, there is a camel ranch. That day, three of them were out by the road. So we walked up to the fence and, lo and behold, one of them decided to come closer and check us out. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera so we didn't get to take any pictures (I got this picture off of Flickr). The camel that came up to see us was white. It let us pet its nose, but it tried to bite me twice, too. It was so cool!

On our last night there, we ate ice cream at Dairy Queen:

AWESOME.