Go Cards

Though I wouldn't call myself the biggest baseball fan, I'm all about the Cardinals tonight. Senior night out, Card's game. This is what the school does for us, give us some good times before we have to leave. Though the girlfriend won't be there, lots, of good kids will, so here I am pregaming with a Michelob Ultra Amber (much much more ultra than amber, stick to regular beer...it actually tastes like beer). Soon we're off to root root root for the home team, if they don't win it's a shame cause of their one, two, $100+ million dollars went to waste in the ol' ball game. I wish Tampa Bay had a good baseball team. Well, my rambling of the day ends. Love.

I just graduated

Well, not really. I just took my last final, so I need to wait for the grades to come it, senior week debauchery to begin and end, family to come in, and then receive my diploma. But for all intents and purposes, I have just graduated from college. Proud of me? You should be. College was an experience. The good and the bad, all were great experiences. The late nights, the 15+ page papers, the exams, the boring teachers, the inspiring teachers, the study abroad, the study at home, the hook ups, the girlfriend, the friends, the lack of friends, its all college. Its all done. Now off to the next stage in life. Well, thats a whole nother discussion, but for now just revel in my finishedness. I'm done.

Random Survey

whats your name spelt backwards? Ollitsac Egroj
What did you do last night? Movie, one whiskey, tv, all with friends and the girlfriend
The last thing you downloaded onto your computer? A game called 'Caramba.' Monica has since downloaded picaboo something-or-other
Have you ever licked a 9 volt battery? i think so
Last time you swam in a pool? spring break in vail, colorado
What are you wearing? basketball shorts and a jesuit high school t-shirt, glasses, socks
How many cars have you owned? one
Type of music you dislike most? lame tv jingles
Are you registered to vote? yes, in florida
Do you have cable? yes, basic
What kind of computer do you use? dell inspiron 8200
Ever made a prank phone call? yes, through Ariel's influence (the guy who helped pee on my back in the day)
You like anyone right now? monica
Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? sky diving. bungee, maybe...but i think i'm less inclined
Furthest place you ever traveled? Warsaw or Hawaii, which is farther
What's your favorite comic strip? the far side
Do u know all the words to the national anthem? yessum, thanks to orlando and 5th grade
Shower, morning or night? whenever
Best movie you've seen in the past month? lucky number sleven
Favorite pizza toppings? ham
Chips or popcorn? popcorn
What cell phone provider do you have? cingular wireless
Have you ever smoked peanut shells? um....no. what is that?
Have you ever been in a beauty pageant? no, but yes to a fashion show
Orange Juice or apple? florida orange juice
Who were the last people you sat at lunch with?
favorite chocolate bar? i sat with alarcon, juan rendon, adam, wong, and monica for brunch this morning. good group of kids
Who is your longest friend and how long? Patrick Burely for 19 years....i'm 22
Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? back when my bro was a freshman in college b/c his roommate's mom has her own garden and made tomato soup for us when we came to visit
Have you ever won a trophy? yes, in baseball, hockey, for being in a quince, a ribbon for fishing and track, and a glassed-in picture of a hotel for a hermit crab race
Favorite arcade game? spyhunter
Ever ordered from an infomercial? never, but i always wanted to. the ab-roller, the cooker that you 'set it and forget it,' some awesome never dull knives, george forman grillz, etc
Sprite or 7-UP? 7-up
Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school/work? yes...12 years of catholic education will do that
Last thing you bought at Walgreens? easter eggs and shaving foam
Ever thrown up in public? in a dumpster here in college, and on a person in nicaragua (nasty turtle eggs)
Would you prefer being a millionaire or finding true love? true love. i'm a sucker
Do you believe in love at first sight? nope
SPONGEBOB OR JIMMY NEUTRON? jimmy neutron
Did you have long hair as a young kid? i wished...and piercings and a goatee. none of which i could have due to being 10 years old and the parents
What message is on your voicemail machine? none, except that my name is jorgito
Where would you like to go right now? to eat.
Whats the name of your pet? mandy marie castillo
What kind of back pack do you have, and what's in it? a jansport i've had since 7th grade, filled with folders and one binder, and one book on feminist theology in latin america, pens, highlighters, a single decade rosary, and travel connect four
What do you think about most? what do i have to do next

Thoughts

When I think about my blog, I usually think about my brother. Curious about how often her reads it; what does he get out of it; what he wishes I could do, like write more; etc. I know, or think I know, others read this too, but I imagine that what I report thinking of him is what others might ask as well. I want my brother to know me well, to be a part of my life, and in doing so, others get to go along for the ride. I'm not saying that everything is exclusively aimed for or to him, but I'm always keeping him in mind.

Thanks being said I was thinking about his name: Jose Maria or Josemaria (I'm not sure how he spells it). Why did he choose these names? I can imagine a few reasons, speculate on a few more, and think of some bonus reasons that he might not of thought up yet. There are the names seperately, Jose and Maria. Jose is his middle name, keeps a remnant of his given name in his taken name. A memory of home, of his past, of my father and grandfather with the same name. Jose is also a humble saint, father of Jesus. A guy who takes on the mission of raising the son of God, with some struggle no doubt, and has no other recognition. A saint who every knows, everyone likes, but no one thinks about right away when people ask, "who's your favorite saint." I think that appeals to Orlando. Mary...not enough can be said about her. She is the humble servant of God, the vessel in which God brought the world his son. A woman who has had an image transform throughout her veneration. No one is praised more than her, to contrast Jose. He power to affect others is only surpassed by her influence on her son. She's cool beans. Now, there is also a saint, Josemaria Escriva. He wrote, "The true life stories of Christian heroes resemble our own experience: they fought and won; they fought and lost. And then, repentant, they returned to the fray." Basically, his schtick was that everyone can be a saint in any situation. You don't have to live the 'perfect' life, just life your life perfectly, and when you fail, which you will, try again. That's his motto, and I'm sure Orlando agrees with him. Escriva was also a big influence on my father, which brought some tension b/n my bro and him. This might be a subconscious or intended reason to include the name. I remember some of the arguements ending with Orlando saying basically I agree, but that is not the way I choose to live my vocation.

Then again, I don't know what goes on in his head. Anyways, I get to talk to him on Sunday and I'm pumped. He's a good kid.

Peace.

Back to Blog

So we all thought that I would blog more since the thesis is down and out (Orlando, a copy will come your way soon), but obviously that was not the case. I had spring break, I had Carnaval, and now I have two more papers to write and one exam in May and I'm done. Let's catch up in that order.

Spring Break:

Was great. Loads of good people. Some days were more fun than others, but the trip was amazing. Highlights include a fun night of drinking and playing games and singing and whatnot in Boulder, CO; we made friends with Old Chicago bar and grills, introducing them to 'baby guiness', a sweet-tasting shot that looks like a miniature guiness drink; I snowboarded, along with most of the other kiddies; Monica actually got pretty good at it too, which I attribute to getting her away from he partner on the mountain who was more afraid to get up than anything else; Mon, once free from the fearful rants, could actually conentrate and enjoy the boarding day; We all got pretty sunbunt; the roadtrip part was awesome--Colorado east of the Rockies is WORSE than Kansas....I know! Here are some pics of the trip.


Here's Maggie and me driving 'round the mountains


Here's a lazy day


Most of the boarders (minus Mon and me), and our pretty good-lookin' teacher. He's from New Zeland





Carnaval

Carnaval was a good show, as usual. This was my first time doing it in the BIG theater on campus, though the show was done there last year when I was hanging out with the O'Reagans in Ireland. I had some 6 lines in the skit, danced lambada-chacha (chambada, we called it), bomba-reggaeton (bombaton, it was dubbed), and choreographed the senior dance. All of it was pretty fun, though a time killer for school happenings. I really think that chambada was maybe the sexiest dance I've ever danced, and the most complex. It had a great mix of the form and elegance of cha-cha, a ballroom dance, with the primal, Brazilian hotness of lambada. The choreographers did a good job of putting it together. Bombaton was just fun. It wasn't an incredible complex dance, but the practices were enjoyable and the people rocked, so we had a good time. As for senior dance. Well, let's just say it included the following songs: Can't Touch This, Come n Ride It (da train), Apache, Thriller, Grillz, Shoop, and Latinos. People flipped out when we played Thriller, and we also had super-seniors interrupt the dance, looking like supermans and we chased them off the stage. Good times! Pics below.


The quintessential Chambada pic


Here's the end of Senior Dance, where we actually spelled Seniors '06 properly


Some Bomba goin' on






Rest of School

Well, to wind up the school year, I got a paper on women in liberation theology and how the feminist angle has contributed to its development/fulfillment, one paper on Jews in the modern world, and an exam in that class. I've just wasted my hour in the library where I was supposed to research, so I'll finish here and do some work so the day isn't s a total workless day.

Peace, y'all. Thanks for reading.

lazy

I'm so lazy right now. Damn being a senior. I think I kinda love it.

biasball

As I work on this thesis of mine, which has a lot of work left, I have come to realize how biased my parents are about a situation that they see one-sided. And on top of that, how biased people get when they are one step removed from a situation. Basically, everyone has a bias. This much is obvious. But how it comes out is interesting. Let's look at my thesis for example. The Sandinistas were bad news according to my parents, so I thought so too and only got wind of their mistakes.



Turns out the conservatives and the church hierarchy also made some questionable decisions, and so much government has failed in the country because of failing to work together. Also, I noted that I ended up getting aggressive against the bishops of Nicaragua in my writing, which I guess what a way for me to counter my bias. In proofreading, I've tried to calm down both ways and just present the points of good and bad decisions by FSLN and the hierarchy a little more objectively. Writing is hard.

relay, babee

Today is relay for life, a day to celebrate cancer survivors and raising money to help find a cure.

Hopefully the event will be entertaining and fun, though 6pm to 6am doesn't sound too appealing, especially after training for Uncle Joe's from 10am to 6pm. I'll be up for a while, but if I can get in a nap or two, I'll be fine, especially for the lunch I am going to tomorrow afternoon. Our team, which is actually Monica's residents' team, 'Fo Fo Fo Life,' took on a Hollywood theme, so we'll see how we rock it. Anyways, I got to get out of here. Training calls. Peace.

been a while

Sorry I have neglected my blog for so long. It will probably be a few more weeks still until I can be regular. Thesis is due March 10 and now its crunch time. I'm writing a conclusion tonight and reading some stuff to add to the 'secularization' section. It's coming along quite well, I think. My advisors are MIA, though, which sucks. I do have two non-Political Science kids reading it in order to tell me which are the most confusing parts so I can be clearer and whatnot. Then a trip to the writing center to look at intros and conclusions. Most of all, I have to fix up the section I wrote all last week (5-6am nights...not too fun).

Orlando, I'm glad you are feeling better about your discernment. Don't minimize your feelings of confusion, but it is good to know which feelings you should pay more attention to and which to not. Like Sunday, I was feeling pretty down and blue, but I realized it was just the day. Sometimes its just the day....or the week...or whatnot.

Here are some pics of Celeste. She's adorable. Amy likes prayers, so send 'em. Love ya, readers :)

Well I'll be Darn Tootin'

I'm not actually sure if that's how the phrase goes. I'm not excellent when it comes to cliche's. As a matter of fact, it's part of my charm, butchering sayings. But I makes said remark because it has come to my attention that there is an international audience to my emails. All the way from across the pond, some good Irish kids are tuning in to find out about Jorge. That's huge! I miss my Irish buds and hope all is well in their world. I just sent one of them a postcard because she was one of the most important and memorable people I met overthere. Sweetheart like no other. And she liked me despite my uncoolness at times. She's a winner in my book.



Speaking of Ireland, Kate brought us down to this shop one day for a nice little afternoon snack after seeing the ruins in Cashel. That is where I learned my name in Irish. Good times, Kate, and Katy who was there with us, and for some reason I think there were more of us, but I can't remember who. Maybe one of the sis's. I recall tumbling down hills (in honor of Monica who made me do it once at Wash U), almost killing a small child who wanted to copy us, much to her parents discontent. Life is good when you got time and good friends. I miss ol' Eire. I miss my Kates. I don't miss overcast days nor random rain, but you got to take the good with the bad.

Well, Monica seems to be the only other person who reads this, assuming that Tito has already begun, let's shoutout to her. She's in the show shown above in the Performing Art Department of Wash U, her first PAD show to date. She's some crazy old lady who gets attacked on suspicions of witchcraft. According to my sources (Kathleen O'Malley) she has come full circle in her acting career, having played a similar character in the Crucible as a senior in high school. As I've never seen either, it's new to me.

I am fine. Procrastinating from the thesis stuff. The topic, so you know, has been refined to examining the comunidades eclesiasticas de base in Central America to identify secularization in the society and to analyze its tendencies (i.e. religious authority is pushed away? falls away? transfers? etc). I have tons of reading and writing still to do, so I'm really getting behind. Anyways, I'm out. Stay cool, kiddies in cyberspace.

Oh yeah, if you are a cyberspacer that stumbles upon this page and want to show me yours, I'm very weary of some links. If you include something in your comments that show me that you've actually looked at my site and aren't just copying and pasting a note to lead me to your spyware infested porn kingdom, I'd be more inclined to check your sites out.

Peace

New Leaf

Well, boys and girls, whoever still reads this site, which is probably just me right now, I will be writing a little more frequently from now on, at least once a week. Why? B/c now I know my brother in Peru can read this now and again and it's an easy way for him to see what's going on in my life and catch up with me. He can't write me, but c'est la vie. He probably will be able to in a year or so. Just thought I'd fill you all in. I wish I had downloaded some pictures from the break from my computer at home to my computer at school, but alas, I have not. Nevertheless, keep checking back here now and again to see what I'm up to, what the mood is, how far the thesis is coming along, etc.

And Happy New Year!

Monday Afternoon

Wow! I had big cleansing conversations last night. It felt so amazing. First, Mon heard me rant about differnt thoughts I had been having, being very calm and wonderful and listening and feedbacking and just being all around awesome. Then Juan came on by to talk about his experience, stopping a relationship that he wasn't ready to get into, stopping at the friendship zone where they both can be comfortable. It's a pretty great feeling when you feel you did the right things. When you communicated with the ones you love so they can know where you're at, so they can share more in the experiences that you feel. Life is good when that happens.

On another note, Christmas (and other, less Christian holidays, though they rock too...except we have a better soundtrack) is quickly approaching. Don't forget about those that aren't close to you physically but were, at least once, part of your circle of friends. Yes, I am talking about Orlando Castillo. Send him a post card. The address? You don't have it? Well, here it is:

Orlando Castill aka Hermano Jose Maria (either and/or both)
Urb. Los Girasoles de Huampani
Av. Circunvalacion/Esquina Las Orquideas
CIB LOTE 8
Chaclacayo, Lima 8
PERU

There is no excuse. It cost 70cents to send a postcard. Don't slack. He's a good kid. He wouldn't slack on you.

And no, the token picture of the message:

Here's to Procrastination

There's the picture of the day. And now, for more procrastination...

(c/o katy murphy-lubowicz)
Ever:
1. smoked a cigar – no
2. crashed a friend's car – mom's
3. stolen a car – no
4. been in love - yes
5. been dumped – 8th grade
6. dumped someone - yes
7. taken shots of alcohol- yes
8. been fired - no
9. been in a fist fight – no, but i shoved a kid into a shed once
10. snuck out of a/your house – no-ish. more like snuck in
11. had feelings for someone who didn't have them back- yes
12. been arrested – no
13. made out with a stranger - not really. did something else, though
14. gone on a blind date – no
15. lied to a friend – yes :(
16. had a crush on a teacher- no
18. seen someone die – no
19. been on a plane – yes
20. thrown up in a bar - no
22. miss someone right now - yes
23. laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by - yes
24. made a snow angel – yes
25. played dress up – no
26. cheated while playing a game – yes, but not recently, except when i play putt-putt
27. been lonely – yes
28. fallen asleep at work/school – all the time
29. used a fake id - no
30. felt an earthquake – no
31. touched a snake – yes
32. ran a red light - yep
33. had detention – yep
34. been in a car accident - yes
35. hated the way you look – yes
37. been lost – men are never lost
38. been to the opposite side of the country – yes
39. felt like dying – no
40. cried yourself to sleep – no
41. played cops and robbers - yes
42. karaoke – absolutely
43. done something you told yourself you wouldn't – yes
44. laughed till some kind of beverage came out of your nose- i accidentally drunk from a straw up my nose
45. caught a snowflake on your tongue - yep
46. kissed in the rain - yes...only good in warm rain
47. sang in the shower - when do i not?
48. made love in a park - not yet
49. had a dream that you married someone - i don't remember. i don't think so
50. glued your hand to something – to my other hand
51. got your tongue stuck to a flag pole - no
52. worn the opposite sex's clothes – yes
53. Been a cheerleader – spirit club count?
54. sat on a roof top - yes
55. talked on the phone all night - not strictly speaking, but yes enough
56. ever too scared to watch scary movies alone - yes. Exorcist iii
57. played chicken fight – always
58. been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on - yes
59. been told you're hot by a complete stranger – yes
60. broken a bone – no (knock on wood)
61. had a 3-some? - nope. but i have been licked by many dogs and puppies all at once

Thanksgiving Time

So we approach the time to go home and appreciate our gifts, our families, our homes, etc. I'm going home to just my folks, which is kinda sad considering that at one time my house was filled with 9 people living there permenantly, not to mention guests we'd have. Yet, I might be making it down to Miami for thanksgiving, to spend time with the family there. Sounds good, but it will be weird not being home. This Thanksgiving will be different. My birthday is November 24. My grandmother's was November 22. She passed away a month ago. I'm over the loss; she was 87 and not enjoying the state she was in. Yet, we always threw a party at our place and invited the usual Nicaraguans. Maybe not this year. It's a shame to end such a great tradition, but so it goes. I guess it's time to start a new tradition.

On another note, Monica is the gal I love. She's not doing so well b/c school is frustrating her into apathy which frustrates her cause she's not an apathetic person. She is overworked, underappreciated, and feels like she's drowning. There are great things in her life, like her friends, her situation, (eh hem) her boyfriend. But it is so hard to appreciate those things when times spent with them are cancelled or retarded due to work, meetings, rehearsals, etc. I hope Thanksgiving break is good to her. She, as far as I know, is staying her because it's prohibitively expensive to go home. It sucks to be away from her family in such a time, and it sucks that a lot of friends won't be here either. Hopefully she'll make it to Decatur and hang out with her illini family, the Koniches, or with her STL family, the Garcia-Maciases. She's loved no matter where she is. I love her a lot. Isn't she purrrty:)




She's gonna kick my ass for including this picture!