Hugs Kisses and Philosophy from Your's Truly

Hello my Loves,

So, today is el Dia de Amor y Amistad, better known state-side as Valentine's Day. Today, I find myself waiting in the town hall, looking up Carnaval pictures and the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games (which I didn't even know were taking place until I got onto Google). I'm waiting to talk to my mom and dad, with whom I haven't talked in a while, and whom I seriously miss...

I think a lot of people think today is a very important day. But for me, this day is nice enough, but I am a practical thing and confetti romance, or should I say commercialized love, it's not really my thing. Maybe I'll feel differently about that one day, but I honestly hope it's not necessary to have a day set aside to let the person that I love know that I love them by giving them a teddy bear (gag) and a box a chocolates (I wouldn't say no to the chocolates, personally).

I think tomorrow's more important, but that's just me :-P.

Speaking of tomorrow, where did 23 go? It just kind of flew bye. The years are getting shorter and I'm getting panicky. Not that I'm scared of getting older (at 24 I'd be a fool to fear it), not to mention the fact that I'm planning to live to 120 years old where I die in a tragic sky-diving accident with all of my health, a functioning body, and a smile on my face, but dude, the years are going crazy fast.

It seems only yesterday I was that chubby girl on the Dutch Broadway School playground fighting with the other saxaphone players (all boys), or that seventh-grade communist arguing with her Cuban mother over the idea and ideals of equality (I will not attempt to explain further my own political evolution, as I have no idea how I became a die-hard Republican (shudder) after that and then later to what I am now...) or that still somewhat socially awkward freshman learning the UNC Chapel Hill campus and all the possible paths between her classes so she could arrive at least 30 minutes early to each lecture. And as I look back, and look at my life, I can't help thinking that in ten years I'm going to be looking back on that girl sitting in an empty building on a Valentine's Day in Ecuador, pondering on where she's been and wondering where she's going.

There's this song by a group called Avenged Sevenfold, which I would not recommend to just anyone as they are a hard rock group that would grate on many a person's nerves (unless you have a keen ear for musical genius, as I do :-P), and they have a song called Remenissions that says, "A good friend once told me, 'You are memories--without them we equal nothing'". If the past is gone forever the moment it stops being the present, the future is a tantalization just beyond the reach of the moment, and the present is a vapor, I guess we are just memories, actions, and aspirations. That being said, I think we should live every moment to the fullest, build a set of memories that will be stitched on the very fabric of human consciousness, memories created through actions of merit, all the while following good and meaningful aspirations.

The thoughts of an almost 24 year old. Tomorrow I'll never be 23 again.

Happy V Day everyone, and chew a Hershey's kiss for me while you're at it...