Feliz Navidad to Everyone & Happy Holidays to the Non-Christians

(Unlike this guy, my Spanish comes from my parents)

    So today was Christmas.  My family, and I officially start celebrating Christmas since a week before due to the extensive preparation of food.  What kind of food takes a week long of preparation, you might ask? Tamales, mole and all those delicious and high caloric foods your innocent little minds could dream of.  Christmas is a time for giving, and it's also a time to abandon your Weight Watcher's diet, in order to taste those amazing platillos your grandmother has been simmering in the wee hours of the morning.  You know you're not done eating until you have tasted everything on the table.  Why feel guilty?  Like my grandmother always says "una vez al año, no hace daño" which translates to "once a year, doesn't hurt."  But if you're Mexican, you know that the former is not really the case, because  those gut-busting occasions occur more than once a year.  In the end, food and family are the best part of celebrating Christmas, as well as praying the rosary with your abuelita for the birth of baby Jesus.  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and happy holidays.  One question remains though, 45 degrees with clear blue skies on December 25?  What's wrong with Chicago?!!!  Either global warming, or we're getting ready for another Snowpocalypse.  Either reason, snow seems to make Christmas legit.  I'm dreaming of a white Christmas in my head...  


Peace & Giggles, 
-Zodiak

My Full Introduction

My name is Zodiak.  No, not the serial killer, or the zodiac signs...just Zodiak with a K.  Anyway, I always find it difficult to introduce myself in "1200 characters"...how can I do that, when I have lived 20 years?  In a world that values efficiency and brevity, I guess I shall concede.  Ok here it goes..."Once upon a time"...no, my life is not a fairytale, right.  Alright, I'm a student at a university in Chicago, studying Political Science and Sociology.   I've had this blog for a while now, but I never had the motivation to write anything on it...I guess I thought my life wasn't interesting.  But alas, after getting tired of reading people's Facebook entries aka "Twittering" in disguise, I decided to write my own stuff. Moreover, I decided to write, because I feel that blogging gets the mental gears going.  It also gives me a purpose to recognize the little things that happened in my day, and reflect.  Now I am not saying that I'm a good writer at all...no siree!  Nevertheless, I don't think writing blogs should be monopolized by the good writers, after all everyone has an opinion right?  Besides, if people can have blogs about "what color socks the President wore today" and "how to communicate more effectively with your teacup pig"...then I can write too.  I am most interested in sharing experiences, poems, music, art and anything that moves me, and imho seems worthy of sharing.   I just hope to grow as a writer, and become a more creative individual that can really live life.  I feel that my "old soul" sometimes gets the best of me.  I often joke around with friends and say that I'm green, and that I'm an immature recycled soul...it always makes them smile.  Furthermore, I have always been compelled to know who I was in a past life, or if I ever had one for that matter.  Maybe I was a lobster (images of lobster lady from Dinner for Schmucks flood my mind lol) or a necromancer, or a Nascar racer; the possibilities are endless.

In brief, I just want to be creative again, like I was once in my angstier years.  I want to embrace creativity, and really grab life by the horns...and paint them :)