Vera - ProfilesArchive

About Me

"I feel no shame, I'm proud of where I came from. I was born and raised in the Boondocks." Being a country girl in the big city didn't work out too well for me, but being a city girl in the country is rather incongruous as well. I've found the conversation is rather soporific. However, I've been led to believe that geography has very little to do with enlightenment, so I try to make do. Forgive me for my judgmental attitude, but it is quite possible that I am better than you. "I am a golden god." Sarcastic to a fault I suppose, but so far I've resisted the urge to sleep my life away. Although mid-afternoon naps are mighty tempting. "I know you won't believe it, but I don't believe in miracles anymore." In the desert I dream of decaying thunderheads and red skies at dawn; in the concrete jungle I imagine the caustic serenity and stillness of ten years of drought. "I like the desert because it is clean." I don't actually pray. I get sympathy pains from reading depressing books or watching embarrassing movies, and when I walk, I look at the sky for clouds or the ground for flowers. Or shells. Or I'm reading as I'm walking, and chances are I'll miss my bus stop, hit a telephone pole and end up somewhere where living lonely isn't living at all. Unfortunately, my low pain tolerance inhibits my hero complex. "And also, I can kill you with my brain."

My Interests

Llamas. Stories with ambiguous moral statements, and people so painfully real that one wishes for the perfection of illusion. Sunsets. Photographs in which the whole world is in focus. Airports. Watching movie trailers on Saturday nights. Watching movies on Friday nights. Marginalia. The guilty pleasure of existential thoughts. Walks, only if the sum total of the vertical assent and descent is less than that of the meandering flats. Thunder storms. Getting (not giving) back rubs. Coffee shops and grocery stores. Hot springs in which nature is greater than nurture. Naps. Soft musings of greatness. Culture.

I'd like to meet:

Ferris Bueller

Music:

While I am unable to watch TV and do anything else, music allows me to multitask in a way that complete silence never could. Give me car rides with Disney soundtracks and sing-a-longs with bubble-gum pop. Give me a banjo, a fiddle, an accordion. A cappella gives me goose-bumps, reggaeton makes me wish I wasn't judia, gringa, y sin ritmo. Country when I'm home, with the windows rolled down, African Sound Celt when I'm not. Sounds of the 80's (shades of my misspent youth) at the gym, and the Rolling Stones pretty much any time.

Movies:

Thank you to Kazie for introducing me to Army of Darkness (THIS is my bang stick) and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (Clint Eastwood: I fucked 'em). American Beauty (I rule!). Old school Disney. Evolution. Willow (Wanna breed?). Garden State. LOTR. The Adventures of Indiana Jones. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Old school Star Wars. Last of the Mohicans (How can you go west at a time like this? Well, you face north, and turn left, real casual like). Gladiator (You sold me queer giraffes). Newsies. Spanglish (You don't have to get up yet, you just have to think seriously about it). Monsoon Wedding. City of God. Tombstone (I'm your huckleberry). Kung Fu Hustle. Election. Ferris Buller's Day Off (I could have been the walrus). Pan's Labyrinth.

Television:

Jeopardy with lunch. Simpsons with dinner. South Park with my dad. ANTM when no one is around to judge.

Books:

Mostly Science Fiction or Fantasy. Stuff by Orson Scott Card, Robin Hobb, George R.R. Martin, Kate Elliot, David Brin, Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson. "Fire Upon the Deep." "The Snow Queen." Books that make me hurt, like "East of Eden." Books that are too beautiful to be true, like "A Soldier of the Great War." Anything with dragons.

My Blog

Words from the Wise

"It is the world we create and renew that will define us..., and the footprints we leave for others; the notes tied to tree branches in passing; that we can choose the manner in which we are defined. ...
Posted by Vera on Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:29:00 PST

school's out for summer

Hello all,Summer's (almost) here, and I'm finally home! I got myself an edumacation from Georgetown, cum laude (take THAT Baimbridge scholars!), and I'm off to UCSD for my master's in August. In the i...
Posted by Vera on Thu, 24 May 2007 10:17:00 PST

and with the taste of freedom in my mouth...

Hello all,And then it was the last week of school. Great, now what do I do? Well, for one thing, I went to class, like a good girl.Um, yeah, class. In Development and Ethics we had a guest lecturer, o...
Posted by Vera on Tue, 01 May 2007 04:40:00 PST

A cocktail of bitters: My Senior Goodbye

It was second semester sophomore year, right after spring break. I was sitting in my ethics class, waiting for lecture to begin. It had been a hard semester for me. After returning to campus from wint...
Posted by Vera on Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:38:00 PST

Stealing ain't nice: my last commentary for The Indy

(This is a true story. Sorry about all the profanity, but it still pisses me off.)I have had one wish for the last four years: to punch somebody. No, not just anybody, although that would be pretty co...
Posted by Vera on Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:42:00 PST

(almost) gone like a freight train

Hello all,Are we done yet? Seriously folks. This has been my second to last week of class, and I'm so ready to blow this Popsicle stand. It was oh so tempting to stay in San Diego last weekend, and no...
Posted by Vera on Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:56:00 PST

my birthday is a palindrome

Hello all,It's been a bad day for the east coast: a 19 foot wave swept through downtown Mamaroneck, 33 people are dead at Virginia Tech, and we've got glowering skies and 15 feet of wind here at Georg...
Posted by Vera on Tue, 17 Apr 2007 04:57:00 PST

let's take a break

Hello all,Well then, that was a short week, but fraught with all sorts excitement and danger. Well, not so much danger, because my life really isn't all that exciting. Anyway&Last Monday I went to cla...
Posted by Vera on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:08:00 PST

I've got nowhere to be and all day to get there

Hello all, Isn't springtime wonderful? I've made the executive decision to enjoy myself, which entails not doing any work that isn't absolutely necessary. I guess the real reason I feel that I can aff...
Posted by Vera on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 04:01:00 PST

let's all get normal at the luau

Hello all,Sorry this is a day late it was a busy weekend and thus I got very little done. Aren't weekends for relaxing and catching up on sleep and life? No? Oh, okay then. Anyway, before I delve in...
Posted by Vera on Mon, 26 Mar 2007 03:04:00 PST