Heady

Been a while. A lot's happened in the past few weeks. Most important of which is that JD, Jolegs and Dexter kept me company during my first spring break. It's probably not a good idea to be writing about this two weeks after the fact simply because the experience is not as fresh anymore. We did have fun though. In one week we were able to watch a concert of Monteverdi's Vespers, watch the regional finals of an a capella competition, have dinner with Fr. Manoling Francisco and his cool Jesuit brothers (I guess that's what they're called?), dance in a club (right after watching the Monteverdi concert!) and well, eat, eat, eat. But that's "telling and not showing," as my English teacher often likes to point out. Blah.

So that was two weeks ago. Last week was basically the teachers returning our midterm exams. I did exceptionally well. But even that is not worth showing nor telling.

So hmm.

Went to New York last Friday. Woo! Boo from Lorribeth though (Lorribeth is the name of my STOMACH --- don't ask). All that JD and I (oh yeah, JD was there too) did was walk, walk, walk. We even got lost in the subway system. Which we found cool. Count on ACS people to find something like that cool and see it as an opportunity to SING (which we did a lot, to the amusement of the New Yorkers around us). So now I know what 5th Avenue, Broadway, and SoHo looks like. Woo.

While in New York, I took the opportunity to watch an opera. Yes, you heard it right. I watched an opera. Der Rosenkavalier. Was, um, nice. I'm sure the rest of it was nice too (slept through most of the first act). No, seriously though. Apart from my Act 1 snooze, I actually did appreciate the show. I'm not sure when my next opera will be, but at least I could say that I've now seen an opera, right? At the MET, no less. But that's just the "cultural climber" in me talking.

***

I'm not the only Eleria in Massachusetts. Now THAT is worth writing about. A few days ago, while researching on autism, I came across a link to someone named Anna Eleria. Now considering the fact that I can count the Elerias I know with the fingers in my body, this was a BIG deal. So I emailed Anna to try and figure out if we're relatives. Turned out we were! We ARE, I mean. Her dad Anghel is the second cousin of my dad. How cool is that?

Anyway, I had Easter dinner with them yesterday. They are very nice people. And I feel quite good about the fact that I'm meeting all these cousins and am starting to find out that I do have quite a huge family. We just don't like to interact. Hehe. Well Anna, my other cousins and I are gonna do something about that. Probably gonna spend my next Christmas break with them in Minneapolis.

Right now I'm just simply exhausted. I didn't sleep till 3 am today, which makes this past weekend the longest amount of time I've stayed awake. I was awake from 1030 am Saturday IN New York till 3 am Monday IN Boston. Nice.

And I couldn't sleep because I couldn't stop thinking about old friends, how much I miss being around them, life and how much of it I am yet to make the most out of, and family, how much more of mine I am to meet, to love and to be proud of.