Gone to Austin.
Friday, 12/26/03 - 11:11 pm.

I'm writing this as an entry for tomorrow (today?), because we're going to Austin tomorrow. I know I said I didn't want to go on any trip, but I made myself enjoy the single idea. And I got to do it. I mean, one has to live life, hasn't one? I'm hoping everything will be alright. I'm pretty excited now. Like she said, I am really enjoying Houston. So I might as well enjoy everything that comes in the package, I know a lot of people would die to go on a road trip and all. Going to other cities and stuff.

My parents are going to Guatemala for three days, and us children are happy to know that. They're very attached to us, so they get very emotional, especially now, with the holidays and four out of five children abroad. They certainly need to take a break, I hope they have a great time.

I went to the mall today, bla, bla, bla. I bought a choker. I also bought The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for my nephew Renan. It was very cheap, and he doesn't have any original Beatles record, so why not? I had the feeling he was a little hurt for not getting a Beatles CD for christmas, like Rebeca (his sister) did. Hell, even I was a little jealous when she opened the present and I saw it was Yellow Submarine Songtrack (I'm buying my own, of course, and I wasn't THAT jealous...I mean, I was just instinctively jealous, the primal layer of jealousy, that's just natural and spontaneous...I just made that up, but you get the point).

I'm almost done with buying presents for family and friends (that dumb tradition of bringing presents when you come back from a trip). Then I'll see how much money I have left and maybe I can spend some on clothes. It's a wonderful feeling, when you have more money than you thought you had, but that doesn't mean I'll go on a shopping spree. I always remember I come from a 3rd world country.

One thing I find very sad is stores where you can buy hats and such for your pets. I love animals, and they sure deserve the best from the human race, but I think dressing them up is pathetic and useless. "Come see the wealth of this society, that just can't find a way to spend all the money they have", my brother said, inviting me to PetsMart (see, he's always saying things like that one, like when he said "it's the United States, you HAVE TO get presents for everybody", but hey, it's the truth). I refused to go. I hate pet shops, anyway. I might go, because the kids are getting fish and they want me to help them choose. Like I say, I remember I come from a 3rd world country. Dogs get sweaters for christmas while a barefoot child who ran away from his "home" (after being beat up by his drunk stepfather every night) sleeps on a sidewalk on christmas' eve. I suppose it's not the fault of people who buys hats for their dogs, but I still think that's a waste of money, and a stupid idea, putting hats on dogs.

I jut finished Catcher In The Rye. It's not exactly what I was expecting, but I don't like it any less than I thought I would. One voice in my head said it was a very "carpe diem" book, but I don't quite grasp the meaning of that idea. I liked it, though, and I found myself agreeing with many things, and every page brought some kind of thoughtfulness I happen to enjoy. I'd certainly like to meet someone like Holden, but I'm not sure I'd be up to his expectations.

And that's all the time I have. Not really...I have some more, but I'm going to wrap up this before the crowd comes back from PetsMart. I haven't had a little solitude for a few days now, and it's nice to be in a quiet home here and there. I'm the quiet type of spirit, if you must know. Sometimes I feel my eardrums' stillness when there's silence all around. You feel relaxed, really.

Now that's all, for real. Wish me luck on tomorrow's trip. No, wait...don't wish me luck. It's true, "good luck" has an obscure meaning...good luck, as if "you can't do it by yourself, you'll need luck". I was surprised when I read that "good luck" line (from Catcher In The Rye), because I never thought somebody else would think like that. When it's time for an exam or something, my friends say "success", instead of "good luck". I don't like the way it sounds, though, the word success. It's like a VH1 word or something. But anyway....anyway.

Now I'm really, really stopping to type, I'm going on tangents already. Tomorrow I'm going on a big, fat one, as well. A tangent named Austin, which, as John Lennon said, shall remain nameless.

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