A Dominican-American Female

Dear Santa,

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:21:44 GMT

I would like Christopher Meloni for Christmas.

Thank you,
mari

Patience is my friend!

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:13:14 GMT

So I waited... and I waited... and I waited... and I waited some more... all the while frustrated, at times doubtful, frightened, and at other times hopeful.

And finally, on El Día de los Muertos, I landed a job at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston! I am an administrative assistant to the administrator of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department. I have wonderful benefits and start November 12th! Additionally, I also have a place lined up in Jamaica Plains living with one of my closest friends, Anthony. All I have to do is wait for his room mate to move out and take that closet sized room for myself. He lives right on the orange line, so getting to work will be a cinch! And living with him, which we've always wanted to do, will be so much fun! Let's just hope we don't drive each other crazy by accident. One never knows...

So there you have it people. A little patience (and a lot of support) goes a long way! Eventually the stars just align themselves all at once to your advantage.

This just in: I a full of beer... again

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:24:40 GMT

So one of my best friends form high school is visiting form Philadelphia this week and we have been drinking much beer. I just got back from our great adventure today. We started by hanging out at the White Electric, a neat cafe across the street from our old high school. We then went searching for two teachers: Mr. Wemple (A.P. Biology) and Mr. Roberts (A.P. English). It turned out we were chasing ghosts, but it was nice to walk through the halls of our old high school. From there, we went to this artesan shop that sold mostly really neat stationary, which she and I happened to like. Then, we headed to the mall, walked around and made out way to Thayer Street, where we say my good friend Joanna. From there, we headed to Spats, a new sports bar on Meeting Street (?) and watched the first World Series game in its entirety. I really love baseball and I especially love the Red Sox. Needless to say, the Red Sox kicked some serious ass, beating the Colorado Rockies 13-1. Yeah. Youkilis was fucking AMAZING!! As was Josh Beckett.

Monday, I had an interview at Brigham and Women's in Boston which I thought was awful but it turned out the woman who interviewed me thought I was delightful and scheduled a second appointment for next Monday. I visted my good friend Kirsten, attended a poi (fire spinning) practice class and learned how to spin a staff. Yay! We then went dancing where everyone asked about me. On Tuesday, I interviewed at Barneys New York, where Kirsten works (for a part-time holiday job) and then I went home. I came home Tuesday afternoon, went out drinking with Ling, and then today I went to a doctor's appoint and then hung out with Ling again, as I stated earlier.

Yay! So far, all is good. Tomorrow, I will watch/listen to a piece by Anthony being performed at a local church. I'm very excited because he's a fucking genius! Okay, I think it's bed time. Good night!

Jeez Lu Freaking Eez!

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:04:13 GMT

Yeah! How about them updates?!

So August was a long, grueling month of what seemed like endless job searching, moping and feeling all together unaccomplished. The end of the summer when you feel you've been watering those fall crops for way too long... In total, I think I've applied to about 20 jobs. That's about 5 jobs per week. Not bad, I guess.

So today, things were looking up. I stayed up all night long because in addition to having consumed a chai tea, compliments of Joanna, I found a job on Craig's List that was absolutely PERFECT! Entry level health care administration position where the candidate would be schooled and trained on the job. Not only that, but it would be in a hospital setting in the surgical field. Come on! What more could I ask for? So the mere idea that I could even read a description of the perfect job amplified my already anxious system. In this all-nighter researching state, I decided that I needed to attain my permit. I made use of my insomnia, downloaded the RI Driver's Manual and read all 24-point font, fifty-five pages of it. When I finished at about 6am, I collected all the necessary documents for the zombies at the DMV in Pawtucket, making sure to have back-ups for everything I needed (always the way to go). I got there bright and early at 8:15am, waited 15 minutes in the chill of the morning to get my little ticket, strangely number 88 (if you went to Spain with me, or heard of my voyage in detail, you will understand... don't worry... it gets better) and sat down to await my announcement of my number. I was then, within about 3 minutes, attended by this dry-mannered, chubby man with a Peter and Lois Griffin sticker under his work ID photo (the only assurance that part of this man was still human). He, thankfully, accepted all of my documents (my birth certificate isn't quite an original. It's more like a photo copy with a seal on it. But, the seal makes it an authentic photo copy. Yeah. Go, Brooklyn...) and I proceeded to ace my test, grab my receipt with the date of my driving exam, grab my permit and be out of the DMV by 9am. I would have been out earlier if I didn't look over my answers. As for the date of my driving exam (this is another joke for those of you who went to Spain with me, or heard of my superstitious encounters) is on December 12th. That is correct. 12/12. 88. 12/12/. Seeing a little eerie connection here? Additionally, my parents were wed on December 12, 1980. Yup. Kind of freaky.

I came home, exhausted, made myself breakfast, applied for the PERFECT job I mentioned earlier (after some toiling over cover letters, resumes, and attaching things with my buddy Tony) and passed the EEEFFFF out from 11am until 4pm. Five hours of refreshing sleep. I checked my cellphone and noticed I had a call. It was some female from Meditech or Meditac inquiring about my resume. Now, I've applied for so many jobs and I have kept track of 95% of them on a nice neat list and I had NO recollection of this Medi-whosey-whatsis so felt embarrassed to return her call right away because I didn't want to be the oaf who asks, "So what did I apply for again?" I dunno. I'll grow balls and call her back and make it sound like she wasn't specific enough considering a lot of job postings online will not list the employer. Or that I'm unfamiliar with online application systems because there are so many of them, etc. So yeah, hopefully a few more calls will stream in and I can land a nice job. Only time will tell.

Well, this shiny computer box is making me, I dunno, something, and I would like to be a girl and purchase products at my local Consumer Value Store.

This entry was brought to you by the numbers 8, 12 and the letter A.

Yes, I had a travel blog...

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:39:55 GMT

And then I became very familiar and comfortable with the local bars in Salamanca. Long story short: I had a very good time in Spain.

Now I'm home! Hooray! After some QT with the ol' BF and BF4L, I am now trying to fix my feet, head and hands onto a nice, steady, full-time occupation. Where? Doing what? Et cetera, you ask? Well, hopefully it will be in a hospital, clinic, or private practice doing office work right here in Providence, or out in Boston. I need to get myself pissed off working as a secretary while making money to take the MCATs so that while I'm being pissed off for not being the woman in the elegant lab coat, I can really stick it into my head that I'm going to medical school. No food service, no waiting tables, no custodial work. I need to work where my heart feels warmest and that is in the medical field. So there you have it folks. mari is looking for and applying to jobs. Tada!

P.S. mari is broke, son, so if you want to see her, the outings will have to involve little to no (preferably, the latter) money, unless you wish to be her sugar mama/papa and pay for the whole nine yards. She is also happy to host you in her humble abode. There is tequila, beer, a television, video games, an amusing young sister who is NOT for sale, or rent, access to the internet and a bicycle... maybe two. If you are excellent company, you have been privileged with the knowledge of her digits.

Travel Blog: España

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:12:22 GMT

Día Cuatro:
-After my alarm never went off and my body woke me up at 8:22am, I rushed to my first day of my Culture and History of Spain course and panted in at 8:40am. Oops! The professor is adorable and exteremely intelligent. Took a few of the girls to the supermarket and purchased a HUGE 5L jug of water for 0.54 euro. The tap water here does not taste bad, but it will mess with your gastrointestinal flora. Took a siesta, then a shower, wore something cute, which I haven't done the past few days due to getting adjusted and over jet lag. Went out for ice cream with the girls at La Plaza Mayor and had a small turrón flavored cone from Don Mauro's ice cream shop. Soooo good!

Me enjoying my ice cream while Missy judges my camera

-Returned to the dorm with the girls. My neighbor and closest friend on the trip, Caroline, and our über French buddy, Justine, had a super French gathering in Caroline's room, complete with bread, nutella and red wine. i told you it was über French.

Justine is adorable when she's French!

-After sharing two bottles of wine, we stumbled down to dinner, stuffed our faces and decided over dinner to go to La Plaza Mayor to see what was up. Upon reaching La Plaza and finding the usual individuals (one of my favorite people: Mario, Susana, Emilia, Saúl, Ángel, etc.) most of us decided that drinks and dancing was a good idea. And one can't start a night of dancing without stopping at La Chupitería.

Chupito de la Casa moment

With swollen knees and aching feet, the crew spilt up (Emilia, Saúl and Jonathan to their apartment and us to our convent) and went to their respective habitats.

Día Cinco
-Fourth of July and everyone is excited to have tapas (Spanish finger food) at the Hotel Casino that night at 8:30pm. I desayuné with a few of the girls from the exhausted dancing group last night, got to class at 8:30am and went to my following class on the Latin American Short Story at 10am. I love that class! Caroline and I, having read a bit of Spanish literature, seem to always bring up a piece of literature prevelant to the movement we are discussing. We're so cute! I return to my room, enjoy a nice siesta, head to lunch at 2pm and chit chat with the girls, making plans to meet up before heading to the "Inauguration Dinner" that night. I got ready early because there was word of a flamenco event going on that night at 11pm and I wanted to get tickets. After lots of walking with Jen and I (forgot her name), we eventually, much later in the evening, found out the tickets were sold out. Bummer. Went to Casion Hotel, everyone looked great, the batteries on my camera died, I looked spectacular, many pictures were taken, many tapas (some delicious, others gross) much alcohol was consumed by some...especially one Mario Trubiano. Ha!

-After the festivities, during which I chatted with a few new people, Kristen, Molly and Kelsey, Rita and I (she is awesome, by the way) headed to La Plaza Mayor, after changing our painful shoes, sat down for food and drinks (I had me a coffee) with some of the girls from the UMASS group, they departed, and then the girls showed up to have dinner on La Plaza and I joined them for a beer. Som professors show up, one of which who does not teach any of my classes, is a real sweetheart, Prof. Guitart, who is Cuban and calls me "caribeña." Mario shows up with his best friend, who is an extremely intelligent professor, Ángel, and un Prof. Casanova, and Mario proceeds to drunkenly and admiringly introduce me to them more than once. It was very sweet. So the crew and I decide to go out for more and drinks and dancing because the flamenco event is sold out. After some time, we decided the clubs were way to fucking American tonight and head home early (which for us is like 2am. Ha!) I get home, chat online with my yummy Chris, write him a postcard and hop into bed.

Travel Blog: España

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:32:46 GMT

Hola, amigos y amigas! I have arrived in Salamanca, Spain, now with access to internet, so I will be updating here whenever I am not too tired from walking around the city all day. My first update will not be too detailed, but will include photos.

Día Uno:

- Two gin and tonics, a tearful goodbye to my boyfriend at Logan Airport and 6.5 hours later, I landed in Paris. Note: Duty-free shop in the Charles de Gaulle airport for some reason smelled of farts and feet.

Here I am, awating my flight from Paris to Madrid, Spain.

-flight to Madrid is gorgeous! Landing a little messing, probably due to the wind blowing off the near by mountains. Flew over the Pyrenes Mountains and a large French river, which I am yet to figure out its name.

Pyrenes

French river

-Got to Madrid, was very tired, got lost looking for my luggage, went in through the "out" way to get my luggage, got my luggage, waited for the shuttle to my hotel room, called the hotel and then realized that i had to call the hotel to get the service... bummer...

-met up with roomate, Liz Viera, very sweet girl, in the hotel room, and then we decided to take a mini adventure to Madrid's Avendia de America at 10pm. Yeah. Almost got lost in the ghost town area of where our hotel was, but was saved by a taxi and a persistant security guard. Also, ate chinese food. The chinese people spoke Spanish. Very awesome and a little out of this world.

Día Dos:
-I left the hotel room at 9:30am, had a nice 6 Euro "Buffet Libre" breakfast, complete with delicious coffee, cold cuts, cheese and various cookies. Caught my shuttle at 10:30am to go to the airport, gave my seat up to a couple because there was no space and I didn't need to be back at the airport right away. Get to the airport at about 11:30am, met with the rest of the URI crew (Caroline, Emilia, Saul, and others I met there), including the director of the program, Mario, his wife, Susana, and their daughter Ivera-Lucia. Waited on a "VIP bus" (inside joke) to leave for Salamanca, left late because someone got lost at the airport.

Yeah, she's pretty cute...in pictures!

-Stopped for lunch and I murdered my first plate of paella! It was sooo fucking good and the shrimp had eyes.

Paella!

-Got to our Residencia, which is a convent! I have my own room with its own bathroom. The nuns here are extremely sweet. I get Breakfast, lunch and dinner, which is sometimes nice and sometimes not, but it's nice of these people to do this for us. We also do NOT have a curfew.
-After getting settled, I met Emilia and Saul at La Plaza Mayor. Gorgeous place at night. Then, Susana, Mario and their daughter show up. I had a coffee, played pirate vs. little girl with Ivera-Lucia, running about the plaza, Mario bought us Sangria.

Me in La Plaza Mayor, in which I ran many laps pretending to be a pirate behind a little girl

-I was given a tour of some of the nice bars, had a delicious and almost messy "Chupito de la Casa" or "House Shot" (shot glass, plus mini chocolate coated waffle shot cup, Bailey's topped with whipped cream) at "La Chupitería" (it's a shot bar!). Stopped in Camelot, happening dance club where people who can't dance go to look stupid (people watching there is amusing). Showed an astronaut on a cathedral (yes, you read correctly!) and was told of a frog hidden in the details of the door to La Universidad de Salamanca. If you find it, you will have a good school year. Was dropped off at my dormitory and I went to bed.

Día Tres:
-went to a mandatory meeting at El Colegio Amor de Dios (I think that's the name) at 8:30am, went to sit in a class at 10am (Modern Spanish Narrative) and another at 12pm (Post-war Spanish Novel). After that, I had lunch, walked about the deserted streets for a bank during siesta (bad idea... don't so it). Returned to my room, found the internet was working, went back out. Western Union sucks, as any one else who exchanges money does. Went to the supermarket and bought stuff for mad cheap. Found la Libreria Cervantes where I bought notebooks and the post office where I bought stamps. I did all this on my own. Returned to my dorm, chit chatted, played on the internet, went to dinner, was forced to go out with the girls at around 11pm, had two shots at La Chupitería (Perfecto Amor y Tequila), went to Camelot, made fun of people from afar, danced with the girls, left at 11:45pm, ran into and greeted Emilia, Saul, Susana, Mario, Ivera-Lucia, Prof. Basanta, Roberto (assistant director of the program) and a few professors I did not recognize. Went to my dorm. Here I am now.

And there you have my long winded update! More to come!

Queridos amigos,

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:52:58 GMT

From today until perhaps the beginning of August, you will not be hearing much from me.

Fate and family support has allowed me the opportunity to spend the next month in La Madre Patria, know to most plebians as Spain.

I will be taking my last two courses with the Study Abroad Program for URI in Salamanca, Spain in order to finish my Bachelor's of Art in Spanish.

This is where I will be for most of the entire month of July. I will also participate in excursions to Segovia and Barcelona at a four star hotel (i.e. swimming in the Mediterranean, sucka!)

I am sure I will have many things to share with you when I return. I expect someone else to throw a party for me because I'm just that awesome.

Enjoy your July!

After a little reading...

Thu, 17 May 2007 08:18:24 GMT

I learned that:

(a) 28 Weeks Later received some pretty positive reviews. People thought this movie was terrifying. Okay, sometimes... but "exhaustingly terrifying"? I think that's a bit of an exaggeration.

(b) It made second place, bringing $10 million to the box-office on its opening day, before Spiderman 3, which by the way got some pretty bad reviews.

...and

(c) The director, Danny Boyle, of the original movie, 28 Days Later announced in March of this year that he would be directing a "third chapter," possibly titled (you guessed it!) 28 Months Later. Here's hopping he does a super job and gets a better soundtrack.

In other news, Resident Evil: Extinction is due out in September! Can't wait! I hope it's as dorky as the second one with its cheesy video game references.

Did someone say Rage?

Thu, 17 May 2007 07:25:53 GMT

I hate to offend anyone who has seen it, but 28 Weeks Later paled in comparison to its predecesor. It had it's scary moments (the kind that make you jump in your chair, as all good horror movies should include) but I decided that zombie movies that include shit loads of explosives and guns are just not as frightening. There's something about a man in a zombie movie with seemingly infinite ammo that makes me feel more at ease with any impending doom. It's definitely a movie worth making fun of (big controlling American soldiers protecting feable British victims). Don't get me wrong. It was clever, it was wild, it utilized some really awesome/fun/cool camera shots, it was at times suspenseful, but once is enough.

And yes, my friend Bruce, his friend Eric and I were those annoying people at the movie theater who would not shut up. It was just that much fun to make fun of. Recall: Poseiden featuring Furgie. I had a ball making fun of that movie with Anthony and Joanna last summer.

Do yourself a favor: if you're going to watch this movie, bring goofy friends. It will make the experience a little more bearable and entertaining.

Note: Please take into account my reluctance to watch any horror films for I am easily frightened by fantastical movie monsters. My imagination is wild and emulates things it doesn't need to (i.e. zombies lurking in the darkness). Take my opinion with a grain, or two, of salt.

P. f*cking S.

Tue, 15 May 2007 04:07:33 GMT

I'M STUDYING IN SALAMANCA, SPAIN IN JULY

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Dear everyone!

Tue, 15 May 2007 03:53:57 GMT

You are all cordially invited to the University of Rhode Island 121st annual Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 20th in honor of Mariela's accomplishments. Following the hour of 12:30, she will be receiving her Bachelor's of Arts in Spanish. Please, feel free to join her and her loved ones on the Quadrangle in the celebrations of such a proud day! Al la carte refreshments will be available in the Memorial Union Ballroom from 10am until 4pm.

Congradulations graduating class of 2007!

Sincerely,
Mariela

You know what's kind of lame?

Fri, 11 May 2007 04:06:05 GMT

Being underestimated.

Yup.

That is lame.

Yann Tiersen is the man!

In need of mojo alert!

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 02:19:32 GMT

Quick! Someone! Anyone!

MOTIVATE ME!!

I've been losing steam and it's not doing me any good!

A rhino bit me...

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 05:20:35 GMT

He is known as the rhinovirus in Upper Respiratoria...

Yeah, I've got a cold.

My nose is pink from all the tissues I've used.

Poop.

Reason #65: Why life isn't so bad...

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:19:02 GMT

...The music of El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico.

Finally! I have quieted my hispanic nostalgia!

Oh, glorious summer!

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:00:34 GMT

Where have you been, my glorious Summer?! I am starving for your long, sunny days and burning heat!

"And the future's on the bound"

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 04:38:36 GMT

When I'm angry, I listen to Fiona Apple.

"I don't know what I'm doing
Don't know should I change my mind
I can't decide
There's too many variations to consider
No thing I do
Don't do no thing
But bring me more to do
It's true I do imbue my blue
Unto myself I make it bitter"

Rock stars think I'm cute!

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:44:14 GMT

Meet Simon Petty (lead vocals/guitarist) and Malcolm Cross (percussionist) of Minibar. Natalie and I had the pleasure of having a photograph taken (by the bassist, Sid Jordan) with them at the Avalon in Boston, MA on March 19th after the Pete Yorn concert. They opened up for Pete Yorn and were a strange mix of Jesse Valenzuela of the Gin Blossoms meets the Wallflowers minus that weird organ. I kind of liked them in that ice-cream-at-midnight-is-comforting kind of way.

Sir Cross was the fellow that commented on my cuteness.

::beam::

Sometimes...

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 01:12:39 GMT

Just sometimes, I feel like a failure in some way or another.

Not all sexy men age beautifully...

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 06:05:10 GMT

After returning from a movie date with my handsome boy man (by the way, catch the movie Babel if you know what's good for you!), I got to talking about Clint Eastwood to my friend TIm online after he brought up wanting to see Letters from Iwo Jima. Then I realized, "What happened to the strapping young man that used to be Clint Eastwood?" Nowadays, he kind of looks like the skeletal child of a mummified zombie. I mean...

Look at this face!!

But look at it NOW!!

The Smiths fill me with glee!

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:17:43 GMT

It's funny how you go your entire life not knowing good music exists until you meet people with incredible taste that are tasty. ::raises eyebrows suggestively:: The Smiths found me and I am madly in love with them! When I get the dough, I will buy more of their albums. Until then, The Queen is Dead will do.

In other news, I took my sister out for dinner at Johnny Rockets which was very pleasant. I never really get to take her out, or leave the house in her presence. Yes, we spend practically all day literally at arms length from each other. However, this involves staring into our respective computers with little words being exchanged between us. Hooray for leaving the house!

Currently, I'm listening to Sloan's Pretty Together album which I also purchased today. It's...different, probably because they're from Canada. I guess I'm the easy-listening-with-a-quirky-twist kind of gal. If you like Canadian dork bands, Sloan is the band for you!

Unfortunately for those of you who do not wish this vacation to end on Monday -specifically everyone attending the URI during the Spring 2007- classes start on Monday. I am tackling 15 credits this semester, six of which are honors course credits, and three that are graduate (i.e. does not count toward my GPA). I think everything will be okay.

For those who apply to the above criterion, see you Monday morning! To the rest of you: keep it secret! Keep it safe!

The most genius invention!

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 08:40:24 GMT

The new Nintendo Wii!!

Seriously, the most fun I've had in a long time with video games! My cousin who had just received this amazing gift form his mother on the ride here, gave us the pleasure of being able to experience what the Wii truly is. You can make little virtual people, called Mii, who show up in games and you can also play as. For example, in Wii Sports, during a baseball game, when you choose to play as yourself, you will be the pitcher and your Mii friends will be outfielders. Here I am at bat as my Mii-self!

I even made a Mii of my boyfriend:

And this system does sooo much more, if you have Nintendo Wi-fi USB connector. But boxing...

...works up an insane sweat!!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!!

Then and Now

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 03:02:49 GMT

This is where I used to live:

160 S 1st St. Brooklyn, NY

This is where I moved to when I was 7 years old with my family:
22 Burnside St. Providence, RI 02905

It's actually the house next door to the one they're pointing at...

Then I moved here with my mom and sister:
86 Daboll St. Providence, RI 02906

And finally, not too far from the last two:
58 Laura St. Providence, RI 02907

Yay!

¡Jesús, María y José!

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 02:24:21 GMT

Seriously, Jesus. Look the fuck out!

"Virgin births" for giant lizards

Srsly.