we were another lesson in love lost and mourned I tried everything to make it work even where it was past our expiration date I never wanted our children to be products of a broken home but even my best efforts could not fight how different we were or our long term story of incompatibility it wasnβt your fault or mine we were just both too stubborn to see what was in front of us a friendship that shouldβve stayed platonic but you fell in deep for me and I was tired wanted to settle and we made it work until one day I realized it wasnβt enough
When I think of a good leader, I think of the good bosses I’ve been lucky to have. In my opinion, a good leader treats their workers with respect, is compassionate while also holding their subordinates accountable for their errors. A good leader also challenges and encourages their subordinates to evolve and improve. An example of a good leader is my gen-z boss at Kroger who’s always been kind and respectful to me and who has gone out of his way to accommodate to my scheduling needs when my life got crazy. He also gave and my other coworker a $100 gift card for Christmas. At 23, he’s more mature and way better than some of the bosses I’ve had who were way older. It makes me want to always work hard at Kroger. An example of shitty leader is Joe Biden.βIMO, my genz boss would make a far better president than Joe Biden.
my drunk face at bad bunny dance party in January 2023
a drunk driver hits an ambulance- and there is outcry, an uproar over the craziness of it all we all judge and hate the drunk driver without compassion without looking in the mirror, without acknowledging how most of us have made alcohol a staple, a must need for celebration- a must have for everyone no matter what social class youβre in
I still wonder who Peruvian Me would have been-probably not wearing this beanie…lol
if my parents hadnβt chosen america as their new homeland I wonder who I would’ve been a woman of priviledge married to a man who loves me for me or would it have been inevitable for me to turn out as a rebel whoβd cause many scandals would I have take my education more seriously because of the pressure from society and my parents or would I have still struggled with my ADD and said fuck it I wonder who Peruvian me would have been if I didnβt have a bilingual and bicultural identity
In an ideal world, I would reduce a lot of clutter in my life if my emotionally supportive ex husband moved out. I can’t kick him out though cause my children would cause a ruckus and hate me. Plus, I’m trying to be patient and give him time or find some way we can live apart (I’ve been set on this goal for years), I guess I could find other ways to reduce clutter. I could go through my closet and dresser and get rid of clothes I don’t wear anymoreβand donate them to goodwill. I could also go through my bookcase and donate books. Honestly, I need to go through my room and the entire downstairs of my house and do a deep decluttering and cleaning. I could also through my google storage and delete the videos, pictures, and files I don’t need since I’m always running out of google storage so this is something I really need to do. My problem is that with little free time I have off, I like to get lost in writing poems, reading, or watch TV and have no desire to do adult things unless I absolutely have to. I guess I could add it to my 2024 goals.
They laid him on my breast and told me, βMeet your baby boyβ and I was in shock the alien on top of me is mine? this wasnβt supposed to be part of my adolescence I’m only seventeen and some days I barely remember to brush my teeth and now I have this great responsibility and his beady and angry eyes questions as to why his comfort was disturb-he already hates the world and I think , same, kid, same
WordPress, twitter Instagram, facebook (ew) tik tok (cringe) and email(when necessary) and occasionally tumblr itβs how I share my art, my beauty, my vulnerability with the world
I go between contacts and glasses to fit my different personas- in my contacts Iβm a pretty woman with makeup and a dress I become the kind of woman men are nervous to be around or get intimidated by In glasses I donβt care to capture the male gaze or even mine itβs when I work that second job or Iβm at home itβs when I allow myself to just exist not caring about the pressure to be attractive or allow my social conditioning to take over and tell me since Iβm this crazy, I need to be pretty, sexy, charming to validate my existence Lately I prefer my glasses, lately I want the freedom to just be
I remember being super excited and happy going on this bus ride because going to Oxapampa has been a dream of mine for quite some time. Oxapampa is the town my dad was born in and raised. When my dad talked about it, it always seemed picturesque and like something out of a fairy tale. I was also excited to meet my dad’s relatives (aunts and uncles) who helped raise him and the cousins who he played with. His relatives also seem to be larger than life characters who were genuine and good people according to my dad’s description of them.
my feet and legs on the most comfortable bus trip I’ve ever made
when I think about my most memorable road trip, I think of my 10 hour bus ride I made from Lima to Oxapampa when I went to Peru last spring. It was memorable in a good way. The company we booked the trip with was wonderful and me and my son were mostly comfortable. So the trip to Oxapampa meant going up into a high altitude of 5951 ft above sea level from the 528 ft above sea level altitude in Lima. We were advised to consume coca leaves before going to prevent motion sickness so we went to the pharmacy and they gave us coca leave in pill form.
the pills we took to prevent motion sickness
Our seats themselves were super comfortable and we could recline into an almost bed so we slept super comfortable. They also had screens where we could watch American movies dubbed in Spanish. One reason we were super comfortable was because we were on the upper deck of the bus which had more space for seats. Of course, we paid more for this V.I.P seating but damn , it was well worth it. Unfortunately and fortunately, it didn’t have WIFI so I just listened to my downloaded spotify playlist. There was a lot of Conan Gray and Taylor Swift I played on my way there. We went at night so we slept most of the way there but I did manage to capture some short videos of what I saw outside the video. We went through a lot of provinces and small towns. Here’s a short video of going through Pasco. This was shortly before we arrived.
going through Pasco…
I also want to mention that going on this bus ride was also kind of exhilarating because some of the roads are treacherous and narrow and sometimes we were going on terrain that was high. That meant if the driver lost control of the vehicle, we were SOL. Haha. It’s a good thing that a lot of drivers in Peru start driving between the ages of 12 and 14. There’s probably more I will write about this trip. So when we arrived, my great Aunt picked us up and we stayed at her air b&b on her property. Where we stayed had this rustic and magical vibe. I’ll probably write more about this trip that was life changing and healing in so many ways but for now, I’ll just answer the prompt for bloganuary about memorable roadtrips.
the sign for my great aunt’s air b&bthis long entrance looked like something out of fairytale…like going into a magical forest
kid krow by Conan Gray-This album was on repeat in 2023 and it either hyped me up or destroyed me -it was wonderful
music and lyrics have always given me a sense of home- itβs how Iβve grown and evolved Itβs how I learned to express my emotions when I couldnβt make sense of anything it fills my soul with love and creativity it makes me feel a sense of belonging in this world that looks down on dark and tortured souls it eases off my loneliness that sometimes makes me crumble and leaves me in shambles
if I’m going to be a mess, might as well be a hot mess
does someone have a voodoo doll of me and stuck pins inside my head- inside my heart-because lately Iβm finding it hard to breathe as my emotions consume and control me- and I feel like the biggest failure and imposter for allowing it to happen even though I still function well enough to mask the mountain of turmoil and grief thatβs currently residing me
A crazy business idea I came up with this morning is making custom made piΓ±atas. Theyβre not any old piΓ±atas. Theyβre piΓ±atas of things or people you absolutely hate. I would also have a private and safe room where you can beat the shit out of the piΓ±ata. Iβm not sure if theyβre anything like this out there in the world. I have seen a piΓ±ata of Trump online before so who knows. I imagine that people with anger issues and disposable income would maybe go for this idea. The safe room Iβd provide to beat up the piΓ±ata would include music tailored to the clientβs taste or my own personal rage playlist. I would also decorate the room according to the clients needs. I know that there are things like rage rooms out there, but, do any of them have custom made piΓ±atas?
Jealousy is a normal emotion of the human condition and shame shouldnβt be associated with it everyone feels it I used to run away from it but now I sit with it ask what it needs Sometimes itβs me projecting an insecurity or sometimes itβs a legit feeling And thatβs okay too- and jealousy doesnβt have to destroy anything as long as I know how to acknowledge it and donβt allow it to consume me
An item of my youth I was incredibly attached to was my doll Dandee. I actually had two of these dolls given to me as a young child. The first Dandee was given to me by my aunt shortly after me and my family immigrated to the states when I was 5. This was in 1986. What happened to the first Dandee? Well, itβs a sad story of trauma. When me and my family first moved to the states, we moved into the apartment next to my aunt C and her family. The living situation there was not ideal. Actually thatβs the understatement of the year. Hereβs a poem I wrote about her:
Anyways my aunt C owned the apartment we were renting so she was our landlord. She was also the one who was giving sponsorship for our green card. At the time we immigrated, we had done so four years earlier than we were supposed to so we lived undocumented for four years. So my Aunt C took advantage of the situation because A) with a call to immigration she could deport all of us back to Peru and B) she was our landlord so she also held control and power over where we lived. It was a terrible situation. Aunt C had a massive 3 year old son J. He was probably one of the most terrible toddlers Iβve ever encountered. Aunt C would not control him and when he would bully me, either hit me or take away my toys, Aunt C would say, βdejalo, es chiquitoβ which basically translates to βallow him to do whatever because heβs smallβ. It was hard for my mom to say anything to her or protect me because of the living situation we were in with Aunt C. The best she could do was take me somewhere else. Shortly after Dandee was given to me, he became my most favorite toy in the world. He was given to me by my favorite Aunt Luz. That toy went with me everywhere. However, one day, Dandee was taken away from me by my cousin J, and he wouldnβt give him back. My aunt didnβt do anything to remedy the situation. According to my mom, this broke my little 5 year old spirit and I was inconsolable and cried and cried for days. My papi was upset that my mom wouldnβt say anything to Aunt C. He hated to see me cry every day for that damn doll so even though they really couldnβt afford it (it was an expensive doll), papi went to the toy store and bought a brand new Dandee for me. I was a happy child again taking that doll everywhere with me. Playing with him and my imaginary friend Calincha. Anyways, a few months went by and I was at my aunt Cβs house with my mom. I was playing with Dandee and my cousin J came up to me and started trying to take the doll away from me. The adults werenβt doing anything and I got angry. My five year old self could not take the bullying from J anymore and was not going to allow him to take my doll away from me so I punched him and he fell to the floor. I wasnβt punished for it and went back to playing with my doll. My mom tells me that her and my aunt C were surprised by what I did and had no idea until that point that I had a temper. I was always such an obedient and quiet child, it was shocking to them that I had it in me to fight back. Needless to say, my cousin J never messed with me after that day.
So fast forward to 37 years later, that Dandee sits in my bookcase in my room next to the baby Yoda I bought for my youngest son a few years ago (that he didnβt want anyways cause it looked creepy). When I look at Dandee, Iβm reminded of my fierce and fiery spirit at 5 years old that Iβve carried with me since then. When I told my sons the story of Dandee, my oldest son said, βDandee carries your 5 year old warrior girl spiritβ and that felt empowering to me. Dandee taught me a lesson in how to take my power back from a situation I thought I had no power or control in.
when it comes down to it, my mission in life is simple, it’s to be a good person and a good mom.βthat means being able to sleep at night with a clear conscious at night and knowing that I have done my best that day. that means giving my children the best of me most of the time.