I'll be reading Growing Up with Tamales for story time at Blue Willow Bookshop, in Houston, on Thursday morning, May 15. Tell everyone you know with kids in the Houston area. How do you find and support local indie book stores like Blue Willow? By going to Booksense.
On Saturday, May 17, I'll be in Dallas, reading and signing at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, for the 13th Dallas Children’s Book Fair & Literary Festival.
On June 22, here in Houston, I'm going to do a poetry workshop. It's free and open to the public, y'all, and they're having one every Sunday in June, taught by local poets I love and respect. So come on down.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Thank the Baby JesusSo, last night at 2 AM I made a decision that removed approximately thirty-seven kilograms of weight from my shoulders. Namely? I decided not to buy a house. Not this year, at any rate. Next year, maybe.
Take care of yourselves, kids. If you find yourself becoming so stressed out over a situation that you stop worrying about the situation and start worrying about how you're ever going to cope with it... Then it's time to get out.
Next year I'll have more money and better credit, and more time to search. And, if not? Then I'll know for sure that it wasn't yet meant to be.
Like magic, another solution to my housing/schooling dilemma appeared before me. A much more manageable solution, that is. So I'm happy now.
Words About My Dad
I don't talk about my family members very often on this blog, because that would remove the focus from me, of course. But, in honor of tomorrow and my increasing ability to think outside myself, I'd like to tell y'all a few things about my dad. (For the purposes of this entry and for anonymity's sake, I will refer to him as Daddy.)
1. Daddy had some jacked-up stuff happen in his life. He was a sergeant in our Vietnam War, for one thing. People ask me where he was stationed and what he did, and I don't really know because he doesn't like to talk about it. All I know is a few details.
2. The scar on his foot is from stepping on a sharpened stake in the jungle. It went all the way through his boot. (I found that out when he'd had a few beers and then tried to watch a TV show about the war and it made him have a flashback.)
3. He used to play the saxophone, the flute, and the recorder before the war. Now he doesn't.
4. He saw his best friend die.
5. He wasn't drafted. He says he volunteered in the hopes that people who really didn't want to go wouldn't have to.
6. He learned some Vietnamese. He used to speak it with the convenience-store-owners in our neighborhood. One time he tried to ask for ice ("frozen water") but instead asked for urine ("yellow water"). Vietnamese, as we all know, is hard to pronounce just right.
7. He won't come with us to the Vietnamese restaurants.
8. But he's always very nice to my boyfriend, who was born in Vietnam.
9. Daddy has survived the war and other tragedies, and sometimes I think that's what's made him a very cynical man. And yet, at the same time, he's cynical in the wittiest way you can imagine. It doesn't matter what annoying, awkward, or boring thing occurs - my dad will always come out with a scathingly hilarious sentence that knocks us all out. There are things my dad has said that I've repeated over and over again, to friends and strangers alike, for years after the fact, and with no need for poetic license. He is an endless font of cutting perceptions of his fellow man. And yet, at the same time, I can't help but sense that he loves his fellow man, secretly, despite everything.
10. Daddy would give me anything I asked for: money, shelter, food, an unbending ear. But I don't like to ask unless it's an emergency. Usually, knowing that he's there for me is enough.
11. Daddy taught me to value people for their actual personalities and strengths - not for their money or social importance. Sometimes I wonder if this tendency has made it harder for me to become filthy rich. But even if that were the case, I'd never trade my dad's value's for anyone else's.
12. My dad gives me the best book plot ideas I've ever heard in my life. But I don't think I'll ever use them, because I probably couldn't do them justice. Maybe if we're lucky, my dad will take up writing...
13. Daddy knows how to read Tarot cards. He doesn't think they're a game, though. So don't ask. Unless you're me. And, even then - don't ask too often.
14. When Daddy, who is single, plays pool with ladies at bars, he gives them a good game, but still lets them win. (I only saw it happen once, but my brother filled me in.)
15. Daddy, although Mexican, can pass for Iraqi or whatever Muslim ethnicity is in the hated vogue. Daddy, although well spoken in English, can pass for a man who speaks no English at all. Although these situations enrage me, Daddy keeps his sense of humor when they occur. He even has a treasury of phrases at the ready. For instance, if someone asks my dad, "Do you speak English?" he might say, "I have a smattering of the local dialect."
16. Some people think Daddy looks nothing like me, but they are wrong. I have his eyes, his nose, and his mouth. It's just that he's brown and I'm beige, and he has wiry black indio hair, while I have my mother's brown Breck Girl locks.
17. One time, before I was born, near a college campus not far from here, Daddy serenaded Mommy with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". Her response was not appreciative, but he managed to marry her, anyway.
18. Daddy chose not to baptize us because he wanted us to be free to make our own religious choices. I still haven't made any, but I'm grateful for the freedom.
19. Daddy, more than anyone I've ever known, can pull philosophical themes out of the worst TV shows and movies in the world.
20. Daddy taught me to speak in tangents. The older I get, the more I appreciate his.
21. Daddy reads this blog every day.
Happy Fathers' Day, y'all. Feel free to make a meme of it and tell me about your dads. 10:08 PM #
Comments:
Oh, just lovely. I'm going to do this one, too.# posted by
tina : 11:18 PM
The suburbs lament the loss of a cool potential neighbor, but delight in discovering that you have found a happier solution :-)
# posted by
Yvonne : 8:49 AM
Hey, That was beautiful. Your Dad sounds alot like mine- wonder why? Wish, I could have told him- I guess I could write it and he will read it from above. The house thing seemed too stressful and maybe for wrong reason- 'cause of trying to put kids in the right schools. I know you may not want to pull out the "Race" card, but it might help you. Go to HISD web or call schools and request an MTM transfer for both kids. It is called Majority to Minority- after all they are half-Hispanic. There are too many at their zoned schools and they can get transfered to one that needs more.
Good Luck.
# posted by
monica : 10:40 AM
Tina: thanks.
Yvonne and Monica: I'm renting a house in the suburbs, actually. This will be my House Owner Training Course until I buy.
Monica: Yeah, your dad's another... He also said things that I'll remember forever. My fave: "Jesus Christ was a goddamned charlatan."
Also, you know Houston is too full of Latinos for that MTM shit to work inside the Loop anymore. So is CyFair, for that matter.
Plus... the rats. Remember our apt complex has rats now? God wants me to rent this house. I'll invite y'all to it very soon.
# posted by
Gwen : 11:13 AM
Gwen, good luck with the house renting. I'm glad you're feeling better about the whole thing.
# posted by
kate : 8:33 AM
I'm glad you found a solution without losing your mind. It's sounds like it will work out well for you. It will still be great to be in a house, that's for sure.
Your Dad sounds really great, by the way.
# posted by
lisal : 12:02 PM
"I have a smattering of the local dialect". That is FUNNAY. I'm glad that you decided to skip the house for now - what is the point of losing your mind? You'll be happier the next time you do it and you'll know that much more right? Good for you.
# posted by
Joanne : 2:29 PM
Yeah, I like it. uh huh. A practice house!
You are a dear. AND Kudos to you for having the flaming drama of a melt down and then having such cool logic.
Oh and the Daddy list was too precious.
HUGS
# posted by
pixielyn : 4:20 PM
I started to write a similar list about my dad for my blog, but I became too emotional and was unable to finish it. Suffice to say, my dad was my hero and I miss him.
# posted by
R.T. Lemur : 5:14 PM
Good decision if that makes you feel calmer. I'm sure that it's the right one.
Loved the blog about your dad. I wrote something about my dad. Ironically, I had a "Father's day" experience even though I don't celebrate Father's Day. It just happened that it happened on Father's Day.
# posted by
ShoeGirl : 9:48 PM
[repeat]
"I have a smattering of the local dialect."
Haha...I almost did a spit-take with my nacho when I read that!
# posted by
Datty : 10:40 PM
18. Daddy chose not to baptize us because he wanted us to be free to make our own religious choices. I still haven't made any, but I'm grateful for the freedom.
I've thought alot about being baptized into a religion. Honestly, there is no religion that a true Godly person should be baptized into. Religions are man made. You should only be baptized into Jesus. If you ever decide to put true faith in Jesus and God, go to a swimming pool and have another true christian baptize you.
That was very nice about your dad. I definately will not ask about the tarot cards. They certainly are not a game. Unless you like playing with demons.
# posted by
Rebekah : 2:47 PM
Kate: Thank you. (Stay tuned, though.)
Lisal: Thank you. (But, seriously - y'all know by now how dramatic and changeable stuff always is in this blog...)
Joanne: Yes. You're right. And it's like everybody says - trying to buy a house is an education.
Pixie: :) Thanks for appreciating the meltdown. I think they're so efficient...
RT: Sometimes the posts that break you down are the very best ones.
Shoegirl: Thanks. Wait - y'all don't celebrate Fathers' Day either? Are there any holidays at all, or none? (No hate, just curiosity.)
Datty: He has others, too. I'll make him say them next time we're all together.
Rebekah: Thanks for the advice.
Sometimes I *do* like playing with demons, though. Is that so wrong?
# posted by
Gwen : 8:10 PM
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