Because sometimes the only person that can make you laugh and smile is yourself…

May 10th, el día de las madres. A special day for all of Mexico. Today we celebrate the important women that impacted our lives for the better. If you had a mami like mine growing up, she rubbed your tummy when you got sick and if you ever fell and hurt yourself she would say “sana, sana, colita de rana”. There could be blood gushing everywhere, but it didn’t matter because the blessings of some mysterious frog’s ass somehow made everything better.
I am thankful to have a mother like the one I have. I owe my sense of humor to her. She’s always joking, laughing and is blessed with a great smile. My dad is a lot more serious [...] Continue Reading…

I find it kind of ironic that after writing about “Why I Write”, I go on a one-and-a-half month dry spell before I write my next blog post. I’ve always been a believer of practicing what I preach and I intend to do just that. In the last couple of months I’ve transitioned into a new job; one that has basically taken over my life. Though I haven’t published new blog posts as of late, it doesn’t mean I haven’t jotted down notes or made social observations. A new workspace always leads to fresh and new social observations that inevitably captivate my curiosity. Observations that are always worth writing about.
Last month there was an article on CNN that discussed [...] Continue Reading…

If you’ve never taken the time to sit down and write, I highly recommend it. Even if you don’t publish it and leave it hidden in a notebook for nobody but yourself to see, do it. The rewards are endless. If writing for you means drawing pictures to portray your thoughts (like a comic book) that counts too. The point is that it is a healthy exercise. Why? Because you get to express yourself! If you want to express yourself through silence and being sedentary, cool, but just check yourself for mono because that may be the source of that expression! But this post is about writing and tapping into that writer within you. The trick is to express [...] Continue Reading…

It’s official. I have met too many people named Jose and Maria. I bumped into an acquaintance I met long ago and just to mess around I said, “What’s up Jose.” His response, “I didn’t think you would remember my name, how are you?” You gotta be kidding me, I didn’t know that was his real name. Dismissing it as a coincidence, I tried it a second time with an elderly woman that lives by my house. I’m always courteous and say hello to her when I pass by. This time I stopped and decided to start a conversation. “Hello Maria, how are you?” Her response, “call me Jazmin, nobody calls me by my first name anymore…” Get. Out. [...] Continue Reading…

So being the random, but polite, social butterfly that I am, I went up to this girl at a barrio rendezvous and said, “excuse me, you have a little cupcake frosting under your lip.” She looked at me surprised and says, “cupcake?” She then took a quick swipe with her tongue, moves it around her mouth and replies with, “no, that’s my make up.”
Stop it ladies! It’s getting ridiculous with your 22 layers of make up!

I made a bet with a friend back in high school. A one thousand dollar bet. We had agreed that whoever was the fattest in ten years (or most overweight compared to our high school body proportions) would have to pay up. We would appoint neutral judges to confirm the winner.
I still remember the day we made the bet. Moments after shaking hands and making the bet official, I took a look at her, then at her mom, then back to her and one last look at her mom. I took a deep breath (big sigh) and thought to myself, “I should have raised it 10 thousand!” I know, I know, don’t be mean Payazaro. Looks can be deceiving, [...] Continue Reading…

I have a compassionate heart. I care for people and their well-being. Over the course of my years in Mexico, I have loaned some family members money knowing I would not get it back. Sometimes employers don’t pay their workers on time and so that leaves their families without money for food, diapers, or any other basic necessity. OK, I guess that’s a good reason to open my wallet. They promised to pay me back, but I knew it wasn’t within their reach in the immediate future. Or so I thought…
I had a cousin (we’ll call her Penelope) call me today telling me her difficult stressful situation with work, bills and life. Penelope makes a decent living, pays for [...] Continue Reading…

I was talking with an uncle and he was asking when was the last time I had deparasited (I don’t even know if that’s a word). He wanted to know if I had taken any medication to get rid of the parasites we develop over time. Never heard of it until I came to Mexico. I’ve heard of people detox and do “cleansing” programs that were all natural like going vegetarian for a bit and drinking tons of water and tea. But actual medication? I was starting to feel like a pet for the criticism I received for potentially having parasites in my tummy.
I didn’t take my uncle seriously until he said we have parasitic worms inside our stomach [...] Continue Reading…

Unfortunately for me, we live in a chocolate biased world. From an early age, I can remember family stuffing my face with chocolate cake, candy, shakes, ice-cream and any other chocolate goody that I could possibly imagine. For me though, it never hit the spot. Yes, my taste buds appreciated the sweet flavor of chocolate and the sugars that seem to possess the rest of the chocolate loving majority, but if chocolate were to become extinct and no more, well so what? Life goes on…
Vanilla, on the other hand, just makes me wanna sing that Shaggy song… “She call me Mr. Boombastic say me fantastic, touch me in me back she say I’m Mr. Ro…mantic…” You see, chocolate lovers [...] Continue Reading…

I used to think checklists were overrated. They’re not. Maybe my memory is not as efficient as it once was when I was still in school. I never needed them and I made fun of you if you had one. I must say that I underestimated the power of a checklist. When you have time to spare, even sending an email can take you all day. Having a checklist will remind you that the email you just spent the whole day on should have been completed a long time ago! I’ve noticed that when I don’t make a checklist of “things to do TODAY” chances are I didn’t get everything I wanted done.
I know I’m an extremist, but sometimes [...] Continue Reading…