Piercings vs. Tattoos.... or both?

By the time I was twenty-two, I had ten piercings. Eight of which were acquired in a four year time span. I have debated for years on getting a tattoo, but eventually I opt out of it. Not because I'm a chicken... pak pak pakah, but more because it's oh so.... "permanent". Technically, piercings are supposed to close up and leave no visible trail of their probing, right? Well, not everyone's closes up. A tat, however, no matter how much you pay to remove it, a tattoo leaves a mark.

I stopped getting myself pierced when I got hitched as part of a truce. He wasn't fond of piercings and I wasn't too fond of tattoos. If he got another tattoo, I got a piercing. Neither of us gave in.

Now, it's a different story. I've been itching to get another piercing or piercings and possibly get inked. I'm not the only one who's itching. My Mini Me has been asking to have his ear(s) pierced for a couple of years now. Aside from seeing all of my piercings, he became more intrigued when he sas a young guy with gaged piercings in both ears (similar to the photo). I was in fourth grade the first time I saw a fellow male classmate with a pierced ear. My Mini Me is close to that age bracket.

I'm ok with him getting his ears pierced IF he starts sporting shorter hair and avoids using gages until he's older. However, his dad isn't ok with piercings and I have to respect it. More so, because my Mini Me also likes tattoos and claims he wants one. Luckily, there are fake tattoos he can have airbrushed or moistened on. Yeah, there are fake earrings, too, but where's the fun in that?! Anyhow, he can make the decision to permanently tattoo his body when he turns 18. End of story. lol

I'm old enough to get inked, but am still not sure if I want it done. Four years ago, I'd designed a tat for myself and drove to a local tattoo parlor. I put a down payment to reserve a time slot and walked out. I never did go back and the tattoo artist kept my down payment. Currently, I'm good w/ not having gone through with being inked up w/ the tattoo I'd originally designed; much less w/ the location on my body it would've been placed on. We'll just leave it at that. lol

But she's your mother! *sigh*

Last night I did something I knew would upset my dear mother. I told the truth.

Today I was lectured about it and of course I retaliated.

Parents just don't understand!

What happened? You ask? In short, a neighbor of long, long, LONG ago stopped by my mother's place for a visit. My mom didn't notify me and knew that she'd asked me to stop by, too. I walk in and my mom mouths to me that So-and-So was in the restroom. First thing that crosses my mind is, "Why didn't you call me to tell me ahead of time?!" Because I had picked up dinner for 2 (my Mini Me and my mom... I wasn't hungry). It's RUDE not to offer food, right?

Anyhow, my mom offers So-and-So her meal and So-and-So declines. While I'm filling out paperwork for my mother (which is the reason I had to go over), So-and-So sparks up a conversation. It was the basic questions of, "Where are you living now? Oh, I thought you lived with your mom. How old are your kids?" Etc. Etc. Then, came my mother's most dreaded question addressed to me. "And your husband?" *sigh* Here's the thing, my mother lies about my life. She tells her people that I'm 'happily' married. I'm going on 2 years of being happily divorced! She wants to play up some crazy life that doesn't exist! The day I told her that I'd filed for divorce, she blamed ME for his cheating and why my marriage fell apart. How backwards is that?!

The point is, I'm a happier person and that still means nothing in her eyes. She'd rather I lie to someone who doesn't pay my bills or has no significance in my life, IN FRONT of my Mini Me, just to keep up with this idealized life she's envisioned?! Well, no thank you.

Superstitions

Salt spills. Panic arises. What do you do??! Oh my! In my world, you grab the salt and toss it over your left shoulder or else that pesky bad luck sweeps in and pulls the rug from under you. Where did I learn this valuable lesson? I don't know. Is it true? Well, it depends on if you believe it or not. It's irrational. I know, but it's what I do. It's become an automatic response on my behalf.

Today, my Mini Me spilled salt at a restaurant. Guess what happened next? I passed on my belief. **big grin** My son thought it was funny and was happy to toss the salt over his left shoulder. =D

I have another "salt superstition" and this one comes w/ story. Yay! Storytime! Once upon a time, my roommate, Carlos, invited me over to dinner at his mom's house. He, his brother (Matthew) and I sat down to eat at the coffee table. Unfortunately, I don't remember what we were eating, but apparently it was lacking salt. So, I asked Carlos to pass me the salt. As is common with most folks, he picked up the salt and attempted to hand it to me. I asked him to set it down on the table because.... guess?! YES! Because it's bad luck to pass the salt from one hand to another. Muah ha ha ha ha ha. Both he and Matthew turned to look at one another and busted out laughing. Then, in order to taunt me more, guess what the two silly boys did?? They started handing the salt to one another back and forth and chanting out loud that something bad was going to happen. I rolled my eyes, shrugged my shoulders and said, "Oook," and proceeded to have my meal. After the taunting, Carlos had stepped into the kitchen to grab his plate of food and returned into the living room to eat with me when CRASH! His plate fell and broke on the living room floor. Guess who laughed hardest? ME! From that day forward, he and his family called me a Bruja-ja. What can I say? Boo! ;)

My mom has passed on her "religious" superstitions, which I would call as curandera beliefs. If you're in a rut and are having a lot of bad luck or have been terribly spooked, then it all means that you need a cleansing.What does that entail? An egg, a glass of water and the Apostles Creed. The bearer of bad fortune lays quietly on their back with their arms extended while the "curandera" passes a raw egg over the body in a form of a cross beginning w/ the head. The "curandera" continuously passes the egg over the body while reciting 3 Apostle's Creeds. Then, cracks the egg open and pours it into the glass of water. If there are threads from the egg yolk rising from it, then the bearer of bad luck truly had bad luck and has been cleansed. I know that I've always felt better afterwards as my Mini Me has. Whether or not it's true depends on the believer. In essence, it's a form of meditative prayer that helps relax the bearer. And heck, thoughts become things. If you think you're cleansed, then you are. ;) Below I've embedded a video that depicts what these eggs may look like after a cleansing.

My list of superstitions:
1. Spilled salt: Toss salt over your left shoulder to prevent bad luck.
2. Passing salt is a big no no because it brings bad luck.
3. Do NOT leave purse on floor or the devil will steal your $.
4. Bite your tongue when your ears ring to stop people from speaking ill about you.

There are tons of superstions that I'm aware of but do not necessarily cling on to. Unlike most folks, I actually find Friday the 13th as a comforting day(s) out of the year.

There was another instance with my former roommate, Carlos, that truly led him to believe that I was a witch. LOL But I'll save it for another storytime.

Restrictions?!

Things around here keep getting interesting. Last night, the city of El Paso, made it mandatory to its citizens to ONLY use water for drinking purposes. No more showers, using car washes, laundro mats and I'm guessing, no more flushing toilets! And please don't forget to boil your water before you drink it because some folks are getting contaminated water. In my opinion, boiled water isn't very drinkable... well, not immediately. *joke*

Since the city has critical water shortages and mandatory restrictions in place, my mini Me and I rushed over to the nearest Walmart to stock up on water. People were walking out w/ 1-2 carts full of water. Granted, my lil place hasn't run out running water, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Besides, if things improve, we'll have more than enough water to throw an H2O party! Woo hoo! ;)

On another note, my mini Me doesn't have school again tomorrow due to all of the restrictions and shortages. I, on the other hand, will be working my lil booty off. *sigh* Ten hour days for two weeks just to make up for last week's El Paso Ice Age days. :/

Oh, and for those of you that noticed that I went to my least favorite store for water: My experience at the Walmart I went to was GREAT. No sarcasm intended. The isles were clean, it was spacious and organized, the store set up was comfortable and there was a handful of folks! So, IF I have to make my way to another Walmart, I'll drive 20+ minutes to this particular Walmart vs the Walmart I have 1 block away (which makes the 11s on my forehead way more pronounced than they need to be).

Acclimating

Here's another little post about the weather and how I'm currently adjusting to it.

Today, my place of employment is open and I had to make an appearance. Knowing that I work in an old, historical building, I layered up as much as possible and have yet to shed any of it off. Better yet, I found myself some old leggings that were stashed deep in my drawers of happy warmness. It's almost fair to say that it's probably as cold indoors as it is outdoors. It's challenging to type with gloves on; as can be seen in the pic over on the right side. Yeah... those are my gloves. And no! Before you say it, my fingers aren't nubs. They're bent down in a typing manner trying to find the right keys. lol

The city of El Paso, TX is still undergoing Rolling Blackouts, which means that while I'm typing, my computer and little heater might shut down.

Last night, we lost power for about an hour in half hour increments. Luckily it returned just in time to watch Grey's Anatomy. Boy! That Callie was a riot, wasn't she? Pregnancy makes some women a lil crazy. Not me, though. I was a great pregnant lady in my day. :D

Anyhow, my Mini Me hasn't had school for 3 days now. He's currently trucking around town with his dad trying to find some place to have breakfast because there are power outages throughout the city. They both sat and ordered their meals at a local Denny's only to have the electricity shut down as they'd received their drinks. They were then told that it'd be 2 hours before their meal was ready! So, they left and headed out to lunch instead.

Right now, I'm wondering if my co-workers would think I'm crazy for dragging a heater into the women's restroom to heat up the toilet seat. Ha ha ha ha!

It's insane how our lives have been affected with this single digit weather and how much we all rely on our utilities. Thank goodness we have a roof over our heads, warm blankets and food to keep us acclimating. ♥

Baby, it's cold outside... and INSIDE!

In all of my years of living in El Paso, I'd never experienced single digit degrees with a "feels" like negative double digits. Those types of temps belong up north! Last night's 10 o'clock news showed us at 8° F while both Chicago, IL and Buffalo, NY were at higher temps. El Paso is known to experience all sorts of weird weather all in a single day, though. We can go from sunny and hot, to cool and breezy, to rainy and snowy with a chance of dust sandwiches. What's not normal, is reaching a high of 7°! lol

Yesterday, we had "Rolling Blackouts" that were supposed to last 30-45 minutes. Ours lasted 9 hours beginning at 9:30 in the morning. Schools and most places of employments were closed for the day, including today, in order to conserve energy. A lot of folks in the surrounding areas were also without water and gas. We were out of electricity, which controls our heat and stove, so after a while we opted to hang out at Walmart for a few hours. Not only was I able to charge my phone, but I got to spend my day off at Wally World!!! **sarcasm completely intended**

My mini me and my roomie's son spent the day building forts with cushions and blankets pretending to be attacked by humans (mainly me). After a while, they both began to watch the snow fall outside and were quickly hypnotized. The snow kept beckoning for them to, "Come out... come out wherever you are....". And so, after not believing their mommies that the temperatures outside were too low, they dressed themselves for the best fun they could have outdoors. After 15 minutes of being out in the fun 9° weather, they came trucking back indoors full of ICE and wanting to take a warm bath. Muah ha ha... no baths for you cuz we told you there was NO electricity! Sometimes, they have to learn on their own, right?



Anyhow, despite the lack of electricity, it was memerizing to watch the snow fall from the comfort of out own lil home. ♥

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention. Since we didn't have electricity for so long, we stuck our fridge essentials into an ice chest and left it outside in the cold. lol Things froze!

Blog Management

Apparently, I'm the only one that finds myself so interesting that I have to split myself into 5 blogs! Hardy Har Har. Well, today I've decided to condense my enormous ego into 2 blogs. One to rant and rave in and the other to post all of my creative outlets. This blog will remain as is. My Eclectic Endeavours Blog will acquire new neighboring visual stimulation.

Initially, I'd set it up as an exclusive club where only my photos could be members. One of my many voices said to me, "You should allow access to your Jane of all Trades side instead of insisting to manage 5 blogs. This is why you have Squirrel Syndrome; due to lack of time management!" Sometimes these voices of mine can really grab my attention. Instead of thumb twiddling today and waiting around for snow to fall, I'll take on this lil self-appreciating, attention seeking project. ♥