NINA FARINA

Amazon is making it very easy to donate to the red cross in order to help the victims of the Tsunami

Life Since Quitting

I quit smoking Tuesday, December 21st at 5 p.m.. I know the exact day and time because I had just handed in my final paper for the semester and smoked the last bit of my last cigarette. Rather convenient that I finished them the day before I said I would quit. Since then I have been doing a ton of fun stuff (this is really my first full vacation in a year where I don't have some form of academic work leaning over my head).

1. Went to mom's house and both of my brothers and sister were there. While in Middletown I spent a ton of time with my dad. If you know me you know this is a miracle. My father has had so much personal growth and hopefully he is still going. We all (minus mom, they are divorced) went to dinner and saw Meet the Fockers (maybe I found it even funnier cause I am gonna be in that position soon), the next day we went Christmas shopping (yes I shopped on Christmas eve) and it was just generally beautiful/ a little stressful and a lot of fun to be hanging out with my dad again. If you are the praying sort please keep my dad in them.

2. Christmas day was a blast with the morning at mom's house, where she spent too much money on me seeing as her and dad are paying for my bar exam prep course. We stayed there and had lupper (between lunch and supper). It was nice we had lobster and steak and both of my parents sat at the same table at the same time and nobody fought (part of me wonders if maybe one of the other adults (Dianna and David are 14 and 11 respectively) slipped a sedative into the meal. We then shuttled off to my aunt's house for the Christmas Coquito (woohoo!) and cousins.

3. The next day was very lazy and boring and involved my incredible journey from Middletown to NYC. Shortline buses decided to cancel the 7:50 without telling their customers so I had to take the 9:50 didn't get to my apartment till midnight had to finish packing got 3.5 hours of sleep before I had to get to the airport. Even though there was shitty weather everything took off on time, which really shocked me as I planned on spending hours delayed.

4. So I have been in my Southern home for the past few days and it has been lovely and relaxing. I made Chicken Picatta for the first time and it was good. It has been lazy and lovely. Yesterday was just wonderful with John and I spending the day in Tom Brown Park roller blading and walking. I saw lizards and fish and paw marks of some ferociouous animal in a stream bed and some herons and the weather was perfect and so was the company.

Last night we celebrated his grandfather's 84th birthday. John's grandparents are a hoot and I don't know if they realize what a blessing they are to me. I never really knew my abuelo (he has lived in P.R. most of my life and is rather difficult to talk to) and the rest of my grandparents have passed away. It is rather neat to have some grandparents back in my life, especially ones like Joseph and Julita (yes I will be screwing it all up and will be the only non J in the family). I asked his grandfather if there was anything he wanted to do before his 85th birthday and he said he wanted to go back to Paris. I adore John's grandfather and now have to figure out how I am going to take him to Paris before next December. Best memory from the day, watching John's grandmother looking up and smiling at John's grandfather as we sang him happy birthday. I almost cried it was so beautiful.

5. I still haven't had a cigarette but last night I dreamed I was smoking. How yucky is that?

Merry Christmas

Trying to do this correctly so

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

From the Family of Imram

[3.45] When the angels said: O Marium, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (of one) whose name is the '. Messiah, Isa son of Marium, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near (to Allah).

(Marium is Arabic for Marie and Isa is Arabic for Jesus if you couldn't figure it out and God is God regardless of name)

So Merry Christmas because regardless of what you believe around 2,000 years ago a baby was born, who turned into a man who went around telling people to love one another and that's always a good thing.
LOVE YOU ALL

Woohoo!

The semester is done and the paper is in. One more term and I'm a lawyer bitches!

Hey Ya!

1) I have two smokes left and tonight I will be attempting to quit for about the fourteenth billion time since college. I plan on drinking a lot of water and working out a ton cause when I work out I can actually feel the difference that not smoking makes (I tend to stop working out when I am smoking.)Does anyone have any suggestions?

2) I will be leaving on the 23rd for my mother's house and from there I will be going to Tallahassee. I will not be back till Jan 9th (but I am sure that I will be posting). This is the first winter break since law school has started where I will have no school work to do. Hopefully I will get certainwriting projects done for myself wish me luck.

Other than that Have a Merry Christmas!

Okay these are random thoughts i have had over the past few days
hope you enjoy

1. update to post on Con Ed

Con Ed has been fined by OSHA for two work place deaths that occurred last year at a man hole
in Yonkers. As I am watching the news the list a series of Con Ed mishaps that have occurred
in the last year. The mentioned the Yonkers incident, the incident where that Columbia grad
student died last year (from getting electrocuted by exposed wires) and an explosion in Herald
Square. They did not mention either of the explosions that have occurred in Loisaida. This is making
me sick


2. I can't decide how a feel about the future of cell phone uses on planes. I hate flying but at the same time I have had so many wonderful conversations with random strangers on planes. I also see so many people in business suits sleeping after trips, I'm sure if their phones could be ringing, they would be ringing. Must we squeeze every once of work possible out of people?

3. yogateer is a terrible toy. If you haven't see it is a yoga mat that comes with a spinner similar to twister. This is wrong on so many levels. First of all yoga is more than an excerise, it is also a spiritual practice which goal is internal balance. Leave it to a corporation to turn it into a competition violating so many of its core principles. Secondly, and merely on a physical level you are not supposed to do a pose without its counter pose. This can actually harm your body. So not only are you violating spiritual principles thousands of years old you are putting children at a serious risk of injury, internal and external. Yipee!

4. The scott peterson juror that is speaking out, that strawberry haired chick, may be the case for appeal. The defendants can site to all that she has been saying and she is saying entirely too much. Shut the fuck up!

5. People have been pontificating that Howard Hughes had OCD and Turrets and they have been saying that his life would have been easier if he lived now. I think if he lived now he probably wouldn't have accomplished half the shit he did in his life cause they would have overmedicated him and sucked out all his creativity

6. That book, James Paterson Santa Kid, sounds utterly terrifying. If they couldn't make two commercials they could have at least gotten a different voice over guy for the Santa Kid book.

There's more but i can't remember it all

Where has she been?

I have been here http://www.jigsawnyc.com

studying for my finals and writing my paper so
if you would like to see me come here and say what's up.

Then you can buy some wonderful merchandise to give to your family members (with the
added bonus that you will support Ben Jones)

What's it gonna take

Laying in bed at 3 a.m. sound asleep and I am woken up by an explosion. I didn't need to be told what it was (though for a while I was scared that my building was on fire and I was wondering how I would figure that out). Here is how the Daily News reported the story, as there is no coverage from the New York Times.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/breaking_news/story/260105p-222765c.html

I really thought that the "new mix" in my neighborhood would bring more coverage to this issue, but it hasn't. So here it is. Periodically there is an explosion at the Con Edison plant on Avenue C. This is not a random or occasionally incident. It is periodic. A few years ago the explosion was so big that soot was on my Tia's balcony and the apartment is two blocks away from the plant.

Occasionally you hear massive rumbling like there is going to be an explosion. It last for about fifteen minutes and then it stops. To me, it is terrifying. And I guess the people in the neighborhood have just learned to deal with it.

I laid awake listening to sirens, my room filled with flashing lights, turned on the TV and there was no instant reporting on ANY of the channels. This morning it took a substantial amount of time before I even heard anything on the news.

And I am wondering what it is going to take. With the newest influx of people (read "white" people) to my nieghborhood I thought it would get attention but it didn't. NYU is going to build a dorm on Avenue B and I am thinking, maybe if a few freshmen get injured with the next explosion the city/state/EPA/ whoever will actually deal with it.

Till then it is all the same in Loisaida. We go to work sleepy and the city doesn't care cause the power didn't go out.

spirituality aside: right now i am in class and my brain is doing the mental equivalent of spinning around and around in a chair.

On Religion?

I don't really know where to start this post so forgive me if it is rambling but I have been meaning to write it for a long time.

I believe in the universal. If spirituality is like a food, then my spirituality is a sancocho (stew) and Christianity is the broth. I often wonder if this is merely because I was espoused to Christianity first but reality is this, I don't have to answer that question. There are too many other questions to answer.

When I say I believe in the universal, I believe most in that which I find in all the varying religions I have studied. So what I really believe is this. There is an energy that is in all things and that connects all things. Call it God, Allah, Yahweh or smitty the invisible chicken. I really don't care. In the Yoruba tradition this energy is called Ashe. Everything you send out comes back to you because it is what you are putting into the world. So you have to be cautious what you send out.

Here is something else I have found. God is love. Slap whatever name you call your favorite diety in front of "is love" and it should fit. We are supposed to love one another and we are supposed to take care of one another and those are really the most important things we are supposed to do. I have found that the happiest people I know are the people who choose to serve man.

I think, most of the time, we don't intend to do the worst things we do. The evil eye, jealousy, that is another thing that I have found in most cultures. We all have charms we wear to guard it off. Jews have jewelry with eyes, Italians have the horns, Latinos have varying charms featuring onyx or a hand. The scary thing about the evil eye, is that sometimes people don't even realize when they are coveting and I still think it causes bad things to happen. Watch what is in your heart.

So you are watching what is in your heart and you are loving one another and you are taking care of your fellow man and really that is what it matters to me.

In my house I have a piece of stained glass with a dove on it (symbolizing the holy ghost; I also have a dove tattoo), I have a calavera reading a magazine (symbolizing the lack of distinction between the living and the dead) and a very happy white ceramic Buddha. It's like my spirituality corner. I have altars to my Santos (Santos, Orixas, whatever you want to call them is fine with me). And really when I find something that I agree with I just add it to my stew.
On the small of my back I have a lotus tattoed on me. There was a yogina who taught that, there is "one truth but many paths." God (Allah, Yahweh, Smitty the Invisible Chicken) does what "it" has to do to pull you closer to the truth.

I was lead to Christianity at 14, I was lead to Yoga at 18 and now I find myself exploring Buddhism more. I don't think they are exclusive. God knows what I needs to "find my quiet place inside". And he leads me to it. And maybe your quiet place isn't quiet. Maybe it is the drum beats in a concert. I still think it is all the same "God" and I still think he wants us all to love one another.

P.S. I also believe in a soul. This belief is more grounded in science than any other belief I have. Energy never cease it changes. There is a tremendous amount of energy that goes into maintaining a human body. When you die it has to go somewhere and I believe that that energy becomes your soul. What happens in the afterlife is a different post.

Something New

I already knew the information in this article but maybe you don't so you should read it, it is about the war on drugs and what a failure it is. http://www.cato.org/dailys/12-02-04.html


Something Old

I am reposting this for obvious reasons and to answer some questions. SO here it is, Yes I am wearing a diamond. It was originally John's mother's ring so we did not help the diamond industry out in anyway, shape, or form. And Yes I plan on getting John a ring. I just need to get some money together.

Originally post Monday, December 01, 2003 (because of cut and past the paragraph breaks have changed)

The Ads at the top of the page--Why I hate Diamonds I am pretty sure they base the ads at the top of the page on what words are in the text of our blogs. It made me very happy that for a long time I didn't have a single ad up there. The other day I clicked on my page and there were two ads, one for jewelry and the other for diamonds. Eegads! Where did they get that idea from? I really normally only wear one piece of jewelry, the Indian ring my abuela gave me. The other thing is that I AM ANTI-DIAMOND. Completely and utterly ANTI-DIAMOND. Diamonds fund warfare in Africa and seeing as they are a complete luxury item, I don't want one. If I ever do get engaged I really hope it is to someone that is creative enough NOT to get me something that everyone else has. Because if he buys me a diamond then he doesn't know me. Politically-- Guerilla groups in Africa get control of the diamonds mines and use the money to buy weaponry. The tactics these groups use are very brutal. Amputations are rampant and not just of other soldiers but of children. It is part of psychological warfare. There really is no way to monitor where diamonds come from. There have been attempts to monitor where diamonds come from but they are so small it is just too easy to smuggle them and to lie about where they came from. So I ask you, is your diamond worth a childs arm and leg?Seriously, think about it. Picture an 8-10 year old child that you love. That you are really fond of. Picture a diamond ring on her/his finger. But, picture her/his arm lying on the ground not attached to her/his body. That is the cost of your little bobble. Get it, okay. Here is the 2d level for why I am anti-diamond. As to the engagement aspect--Those things cost too damn much. It is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. You could buy a house or go around the world for what engagement rings cost. Seeing as I have never left the country--take my ass around the world and get me a cubic zirconia. Also, I don't understand why women are the only ones who wear engagment rings. Poor guys get gipped. In a cynical light, why should I wear something that shows I am taken without my partner having to wear an equal item. So, if i do get married I will be buying him an engagement ring too. Fair is fair. You know I may have written about this before and I don't care. It is really important to me.

BATHE BITCHES!!

I didn't take a bath yesterday, I admit it. I had to finish a paper and go upstate and take care of some family stuff so the day began and ended without a shower. I did shower this morning however. Why am I making this public declaration of my cleanliness?

Because some of my classmates are slobs!

I have noticed throughout my time in higher education that during finls my classmates decide that they don't need to bathe. And while I will not crucify people for going a day or two without bathing some of my classmates get down right smelly. I don't know how many days you have to go without bathing to get smelly but some of them get really fucking smelly. Once during a lunch seminar I actually had to switch seats cause someone smelled so much.

It is as if they are trying to brag via their odor (this problem is not exclusively a Columbia problem, Wellesley women would get just as stanky). They want to show off how hard they work and they do it by smelling like ass.

Get over yourselves people. You aren't studying that much. You are playing spider solitaire, and IMing friends and just generally bitching about how much work you have to do. Take a bath! and while you're at it brush your hair.