Yesterday night, for whatever reason, I found myself attending one of the arbitrary family dinners to which I often find myself prone. It was rather typical; we ate pasta, my cousins and I stared at each other, and when our parents got too obnoxiously loud, we left the room. My extended family gathers quite frequently, and whether or not that is ( Read more... )

I've just realized that what my last name needs is an accent on the "e". From now on, I will be the terribly pretentious yet ghetto-fab Melissa R. Négro. I like that much better.

In other news, I only have to read 234 pages a day to finish Rising Up and Rising Down before leaving for Canada ( Read more... )

After the excitement of the Vespa-like-escapades, I of course, went to sleep. It was morning. Then the blood relatives came and woke me up and we went to Kevin-hasn't-completely-failed-middle-school-semi-celebratory-lunch-type-outing at a Chinese restaurant. It was rather dull. We kept fighting and by "we" I mean everyone and Kevie ( Read more... )

Today after school, I was too distracted to do anything of use, so I watched TV for maybe an hour and half. On WYBE i saw these two old women who were painstakingly going though the steps of proper quilt-making. Once they had completed a quilt of a certain size, the produced a pattern and proceeded to make a vest out of the quilt. I laughed ( Read more... )

Today my amazing grandmother sent me three pairs of leg warmers in the mail in my favorite colours (pink, black and white)! I'm going to be very '80s very soon.

This morning I awoke to the cacophonous screech of our fire alarm and the smell of smoke. I figured that (a) my mom burned something while she was baking or (b) it was all part of an elaborate plot to get me out of bed before 8:00 (keep in mind that last year, they started hammering stuff outside my door until I got up). Neither was quite ( Read more... )

So, its Christmas (in case you weren't aware). I didn't expect it to come so soon, yet here I am. I've just returned from my Grandmother's house. It was nice; I like my family well enough. Nothing was extraordinary though. I think the highlight had to have been when my dad and uncles broke out the suction-cup bow-and-arrow sets and plastic was ( Read more... )

I have made several half-attempts to begin writing about the seven days I spent away from this little town but none have been successful. I hope that this one is and that I can, at long last have it all written down, unpack all of my belongings and begin my summer. Since I haven’t kept a journal but I do want to capture that week with words I ( Read more... )

I haven't been updating, though I'm not surprised - I never do, though I really should. It's stupid for me not to. Just because many days don't fall into the realm of ones I would refer to as ideal doesn't mean they're not important because they are. I will never live them again - no one will. Fucking weird mood. I'm afraid I won't get to ( Read more... )

Today, Elizabeth left.

STOP. REWIND. It is time to digress.

One week ago today Sunday March 16, 2003, I woke up slightly early to go to the Museum of Anthropology and Archeology at the University of Penn. Elizabeth joined my blood relatives and I, which officially began the end of our brief estrangement. It was a nice day and I enjoy that ( Read more... )