Dora's Corner: Rewards: The Perks of Going to College!

Going to college is not just about taking courses and getting good grades, it is also about being social and making friends - hopefully you will make one or more good friends that you will have for the rest of your life.  My niece, who is enrolled at MC as I am, and I spoke about the topic of why people go to college: the different classes, the things we would change, the things we liked, our ambitions, our ups and down, etc.  Mainly, we highlighted the feelings that each of us was trying to overcome lately; the inundating feelings of melancholy.  I brought it up because I have not really been able to talk to many people about my feelings, not just the feeling of melancholy, but of some weird association of feeling like I am losing something special.  Maybe I haven't learned the art form of not allowing myself to get so attached to people and to things.  Maybe I just need to check myself and be more realistic; however, at the end of the day, I like who I am, and that I cherish things and people as I do.  Once you have lost as much as I have in my own life, you will learn the other art form of appreciation.  I do not overwhelm others or myself by caring too much, but I do put a lot of effort into anything I do or any relationship that I form.  
Each day that we get closer to the fall semester coming to a close, I do not rejoice, instead I get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Is it crazy for me to feel like this! (rhetorical)...  I am almost embarrassed to talk to other people, especially classmates, about how I am feeling because it seems that the more I am saddened about the semester almost ending, others are overjoyed about it; furthermore, some are overtly anxious and are counting the days until the fall semester draws to a close; to most of the overly anxious, college has become blasé and cumbersome.  Shame on them is all I can muster for now.  
I am so glad that I brought up the topic when my niece and I were riding back home from having watched the wonderful opera, Il Barbiere de Siviglia (Rossini, 1775), yesterday afternoon.  My niece drove while I basked in the comforts of her new car loving the new car smell which still permeated the interior of her beautiful car.  My bad....I went off on a tangent...  
Anyway, it was nice to finally talk to my niece (a.k.a. fellow MC student) who basically shared the same sentiments of melancholy that had been plaguing me lately.  We spoke of the wonderful professors whose tutelage we were (respectively) privileged to have been a part of this semester.  We also touched upon the many classmates that made us laugh and made some of the more difficult courses easier to deal with when the study material became arduous and demanding.  Of course, we delved upon the special classmates who provided more than humorous entertainment and study-group time, we spoke fondly of the few mates who we will miss dearly; those who provided an actual friendship to us when we needed it the most.  My niece agreed with me that she had made a couple of good friends in certain classes of hers - as I had done.  However, neither of us is certain if we will keep ties or communication with these people, we would like to, but as with so many things in life that have two sides, what we want may not coincide with what the other person wants.  In other words, we may want to keep a friendship going; however, they might not.  Simple math 1+1=2, but with people, that formula gets tossed and the end result is as vague, vast, and uncertain as is infinity ∞

Dora's Corner: Girl's Day Out: A Day at the Met (kind of): Il Barbiere di Siviglia!

So, my niece, who is also enrolled at Midland College, and I attended this afternoon's showing of Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini, 1775) at the Century Theater in Odessa.  There is a reason why we made the drive over there when Midland has better movie houses and one of them was also showing the well-known opera, but that's another topic for another post.  My niece is taking Music Appreciation at MC, and this opera was a requirement for her, and since I love the Opera, I was the lucky one to get to go with her.  It was a nice invitation and a nice event.  We both love all genres of music, might I add.
We both loved the screening of the opera, which was broadcast live from the one and only THE MET (NYC) via satellite to several theaters around the world (made possible thanks to a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation, with additional funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts).
We both also discussed going to NYC to see an opera live at the awesome Metropolitan Theater (lovingly dubbed "The Met").  Anyway, getting back to Il Barbiere di Siviglia, it certainly did not disappoint.  We highly recommend it to anyone interested in the arts.  If you have the grand opportunity to see it (or any opera) in NYC, do it.  If you are like us, and do not have the luxury because of lack of time (etc.), then, please do yourself a favor and look up the schedule and see when an opera will be shown live at a theater near you via satellite as we did today.  It was breathtaking, marvelous, and beautiful.  Oh, no, The Barber of Seville did not disappoint.  It was everything I had always read and anticipated and more.  Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy gets girl, but alas, maybe the union is not as solid...we have to now watch Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) to see how the marriage between the protagonist (Almaviva) and his lovely wife (Rosina) endures love's always changing ways.
My niece and I laughed because we each grew up watching Looney Tunes, and we both agreed that our first introduction to this awesome opera by Rossini was when Looney Tunes mimicked it with their version of The Rabbit of Seville (watch via MetaCafe) starring Bugs himself.  I guess today, we both grew up as did our taste in music.  LOL.  It's all good.  

Dora's Corner: Undocumented Immigrants: They Should Do What?!!

Okay, it is time for me to get on my almighty soapbox, but believe me, this rant is well worth my time in writing it, and hopefully the time of whatever audience this blog generates.
While waiting for a meeting with a professor, I overheard the prof talking to a student, actually, the prof was tutoring (or trying to tutor) the student.  The topic that they were reviewing from the student's essay involved undocumented immigrants.  The student kept referring to them as "illegals" while the prof kept trying to get the student to change the wording.  Regardless of the student's lack of empathy for the negative and difficult position which undocumented works find themselves, she should have at least refrained from using such derogatory language for the academic audience for which essays are written...
The student argued with the prof on several stances.  The prof was getting agitated, but I have to give the prof high praises for keeping her cool and still getting her point across.  The prof was merely trying to explain the rhetorical method and proper writer's craft to the student, but the student was too hell bent on insisting that: "those illegals need to go back to Mexico"..."they are mooching off the government"..."they are taking all the welfare benefits from Americans that need them" (BTW, dear student, people from Mexico are Americans)...and lastly, the most typical, over-used, and incorrectly used assumption: "those illegals are taking jobs from us in the United States."
The student is suffering from a naivete that I won't even try to justify with a reply or a debate.  The student needs to read about the causal effects and why she needs to avoid the rhetorical fallacy, hasty generalization, personal attack/loss of audience, questionable authority, false analogy, either or fallacy, red herring, slippery slope, stereotyping...all the wrong things that one should avoid while writing in the cause and effect mode, well, this student managed to incorrectly include many of the "don't(s)" in her essay.  No wonder the prof seemed a bit perturbed when she tried to explain what the student was doing wrong (the student hardly did anything correct, it seems), and how to fix it for an academic audience, but the student was not listening.
It took a lot for me to keep quiet.  I wanted to lash out at the student for incorrectly stereo-typing the undocumented immigrants because there is more behind why people from Mexico are in the United States.  The area is vastly gray; however, the student just saw black and white (another incorrect process in an essay).  The other thing that upset me was how the student kind of disrespected the professor.  I like this professor; she has taught me a lot, and I have enjoyed our conversations in and outside of class.  I respect the professor because she has gone to college and put in her time towards becoming an educator; she has earned the right to be respected and treated well.  The prof is younger than I am, but that does not matter to me...she should be respected.  She never disrespects others - even when other people act like asses.  Another reason I stayed quiet was the obvious, the conversation was between a professor and a student, and did not include me.  I mainly stayed silent in respect for the professor - not the lame student, with the one-sided point of view that had no rhyme or logic to whatever rhetorical mode she was incorrectly trying to argue.  Give me a fucking break, ignorant student.  
BTW, I can use the personal attack...it's my blog, and I'll attack if I want to.  #ROTFLMAO!

Dora's Corner: Youth Is Wasted on the Young: Wishing I Knew Then What I Know Now!

I agree with the adage by the mighty George Bernard Shaw: "Youth is wasted on the young."

Lately, I have come to question many decisions I made in my life beginning from when I was in my 20s.  I made some terrible decisions, but still, the good ones outweighed the bad ones.  The biggest regret was not finishing college at Texas Tech.  Those were wonderful times, yet, they were often muddled with clouds of uncertainty and fear.  Those, my friends, were my obstacles, if you will.  I have had some really terrific jobs/careers which afforded me the ability to travel the U.S. and Canada.  It also afforded me the ability to see the country sometimes with loved ones in tow, who in turn, also got the opportunity to see several parts of our beautiful country.  The pay was always substantial (in abounds at times) and that is all I need to say about that.  My regret has little to nothing with how much money I have made; monetary issues are obsolete in this point I am trying to make; however, I do regret that I did not take up other opportunities that I had along the way through to the maturity level of today.  That sounded weird, but I am going with it.
If the youth of today (20s) had the ability to travel forward into time, the ability that unfortunately none of us has, then they would see how taking things for granted and not pouncing on certain opportunities would be something they would well regret.  Had I had a time machine (oh, Jules Verne: Où étiez-vous avec vos idées de science-fiction!  and Isaac Asimov, the same question: Where were you with your sci-fi ideas?).  
Sure, I am back on track after several years to complete a certain educational journey which long eluded me or rather I eluded it.  I am back in college for the umpteenth time, but this time things are extremely different, and with God's help (I'm really not that religious, but I acknowledge His existence), I will succeed this time around.  
One piece of advice to the younger crowd at MC, stay in college, get a degree and definitely allow the world to be your oyster.  Do NOT be stupidly stupid, arrogantly arrogant, and for certain, do NOT believe that you know more than anyone else.  I can assure you that you are not intelligent the minute you close yourself off to the idea of learning from others.

Dora's Corner: Paranoia Will Destroy 'Ya! Guns in the Home!

Hell, YES, I am political as well!
Anyway, during my usual viewing of tele in the morning before my day explodes into a hellish start, I like to watch certain shows (news, sports, political, financial - never reality shows, but that is a topic for another post).  I should explain first that, on Sundays, I like to start my day off being productive in order to enjoy the afternoons with family and friends doing whatever is on the agenda, but mostly I like to have my evenings free to catch episodes of two of my favorite tele shows Madam Secretary (CBS) and The Newsroom (HBO).  
Well, this a.m., I started off by watching an episode of Take Part which is an informative show that discusses politics, culture, finance, social issues, and other topics in a nutshell.  It was recently added to our cable subscription line-up, and I have personally enjoyed it.  One of the topics for this morning's episode (not sure if it was live or a rerun) touched upon the ever-weaving, ever-controversial, gun-control issues.  I am a proponent of allowing people to carry guns, but I am by no means a card-carrying member of the much- too-radical NRA.  I believe in the Second Amendment, but to a point.  The main exclusionary proposals/rules/regulations which place a limit or much-needed block on this beautifully-crafted amendment are too complex for me to list here.  
Getting back to the topic regarding today's episode, Study Finds More Americans Believe Having Guns at Home Keeps Them Safe, it was revealed that an alarming amount of Americans find that having guns in the home make them feel more safe and better protected.  63% of Americans subscribe to that theory...that's 6 out of 10 households!  WOW and SMH! 
I do not believe 100% in gun-toting, but I neither knock down others who exercise the right...as long as they do not stockpile, sell or buy illegally, break any laws with firearms, or break any laws in the 2nd amendment that state more clearly and effectively the provisions and exclusions.  
I might/might not have a weapon, but it might/might not be situated in a place that no one can get to it besides the people who live in our home.  Too many young ones (family/friends) come over at any given moment, so we must be careful in this household; I would hate the idea of one of our younger family members or friends to get injured because of an unproperly stored weapon in our home.
Before I end today's post, I must add that I subscribe to the other theory that most people who carry weapons are more likely to get killed by them.  Just sayin'!

************************************************************************* 

Here are the figures that show who favors guns in the home (according to political affiliation) more details available via Gallup Poll:
Democrats remained steadily in favor at 41%
Republicans jumped 28 points to a not-so-surprising 81%
Independents increased 14 points to 64%

Self-Indulgence: Days of Wine and Roses: A REGEDIT FIX!

Days of Wine and Roses

One of the things that I love to do, when I have the time, is to watch old movies on TCM.  It is a reward to myself especially after a tiring and trying day/week; a moment of unadulterated, self-indulgence, if you will.

This a.m. I was up early as usual, but I had to perform some dire updates/maintenance on my HP desktop.  During my early morning maintenance ala fix-the-damn-system, I made myself take a deep breath, turn on the tele, and watch an old movie starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick.  The movie was “Days of Wine and Roses,” and it was also the muse for today’s title post.  I had to do something to get myself away from the computer so that I could focus on the issue then develop a proper fix later.  Plus, I had to forget the awful experience I had last night with the MS technician who tried (in vain) to help me restore my MS Office 365.  The tech was friendly, but not very knowledgeable, and needless to say…she did not help with my 365 issue.  So, I had to plan to wake up early this day in order to fix the issue on my own.  I had to run my comp in safe mode, create a system restore point then run it, manually uninstall/install (no RevoUninstallar) MS 365, then  I had to use the property data files of some software programs that I installed as a college course-related beta-project, to fully uninstall those cumbersome and (negatively) infectious software programs and apps.  Yeah, I used their own property data to get them the f--- out of my registry and system.  THEN… I had to manually fix the regedit.exe (registry) in order to properly reset and assign default associations to certain programs (i.e. MS Word.doc).  It was a handful to jot down, can you imagine actually having to perform each and every single action. 

Anyhooowwww…

The movie I mentioned just had me shaking my head for most of the duration, and I kept uttering the word “disgusting” to myself – sometimes out loud.   The synopsis of the legendary movie with the legendary troupers: a young couple happen to meet by chance (isn’t that how all romantic movies begin? LOL!); they have a misunderstanding; they fall deeply, madly in love (is there any other kind of love in CINE?); they get married (“boy gets girl” and vice versa – thank-you!); they, of course, have a baby; they develop marital issues (they should have) that stem from the booze that they both equally love; they separate (the separation is not shown, but rather is implied by time-elapsing sequences); then as one tries to get sober, the other does not even want to try; lastly, the movie ends with you kind of pitying one person in the failed relationship but feeling disgusted with the other; for certain, one feels badly for the child.  Don’t get me wrong, through-out the entire movie there is equal disgust for the couple, but at the end of the movie, you can at least forgive the one who is trying to change for the sake of the child among other obvious reasons.  It was a good movie - as always, thanks TCM - for the wonderful movies of days long past.  In conclusion, the movie serves as a reminder of how good things still are no matter how bleak they may appear on any given day or moment.  At the end of the day, at least life is not as mucked up as the lives of the two nutcases in the movie. 

To paraphrase the words of one Rain Man…”it was definitely, definitely” 3 out of 5 stars.

Dora's Corner: Mourning A Loved Ones Does Not Make One Weak, It Proves You Are Strong: Missing My Mom!

So, my wonderful, beautiful, caring mother passed away one week before Thanksgiving three years ago on the 17th day that November.  I should add that Thanksgiving was mom's favorite holiday.  "It brings us all together" is what she often would say.  I was with her when the doctors came in with the devastating news on Valentine's Day morning (2011) that changed our lives forever.  She was given a few months to live, and I grieved; I grieved from that point on until the day she went home to meet her Maker - still to this very day, I grieve.  I did not grieve in front of mom because she asked me to be strong on that bleak Valentine's Day, so for her, I made her and my sisters and other family members laugh as much as I could.  When I had a moment for myself, I grieved.  But that is something I do not wish to elaborate on for now.  I kept memoirs of the event, and maybe one day I will share it with everyone.  Not sure yet.
Anyway...a college friend asked me the other day about my mom, and I had wonderful things and stories to tell him about her.  I am a chatter so heed my warning when I say that if you get me started on a topic that I love, well, just be ready to spend a lot of time listening to me.  Just kidding; however, I do like to talk, and I love to meet people and "pick their brain."  
During the conversation he asked me something that kind of shocked me because the words he uttered in questioning me were unnatural (at least they were to me).  I soon realized as he tried nervously to explain that he did not have a good mother like I did; his mother was mean to him, and they were estranged.  
I humored him (and I felt badly for him) as I answered his question (paraphrasing):
"Do you miss your mom all the time, and do you think about her often since she passed away?"
My reply was simply this (verbatim):
"I think of Mama and miss her everyday that ends in a 'y' and every second that includes a number!"   
Corny response?  Heck, NO, not to me!

HOLIDAYS: FAMILY GATHERING PLANNED for THANKSGIVING DAY!

...Thanksgiving this year at Betty's home at 2 pm.  

Please know that you are all welcome!

Help spread the word to everyone else in our family.  

If you would, please let Betty and me know what you can bring.  

I am cooking a couple of turkeys, my sis Aurora is making the stuffing, 

... that is all I know right now.  

If you want, call Betty and check with her, 

but still let me know so that I can keep updating the info  

on our Dominguez Family Blog and via Facebook for those on that social media site.  

Love to all and 'cannot wait to see each and everyone of you.

Dora's Corner: Butterflies Waiting to be Set Free: If You Like Someone...Tell Them NOW!

"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye."

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

One of my college classmates was telling me of a recent event that has created quiet a quandary in her life of late.  She is seriously attracted to one of her other classmates.  The problem right away is the fact that they are of the same-gender; a fact that I see no problem with because as I told her: "love is love!"  I must admit that I rather enjoyed my conversation with her.  I loaned my advice only upon request.  I told her that the worst thing that could happen if she reached out to this person was that the person did not return the same affections, but at least she (my friend) would know the truth.  IMO, the unknown is often worse than the opposite.  Unrequited feelings is something that will probably bring angst to my college friend's life, but in due time, she will overcome and life will revert to normal.  Whatever that is this thing people dub "normal"!
I told her about the synopsis surrounding the love story about the butterflies.  A brief explanation...there once was a young man who liked this other young man, both in the same grade in high school, but he never had the guts to approach him because of being of the same-sex.  The first young man eventually graduated college and became a successful attorney (never married), but still he thought about the other young man.  One day, while the first young man (now a man in his early 30s) is waiting for his train to arrive at the depot, he spots his crush.  The other young man has turned into a dashing gentleman (also in his 30s), and is dressed quite debonair.  The first gentleman approaches the man who long captured his fancy, and it turns out that the second man also had an attraction to the first man.  I told my friend that I was not going to tell her the ending because it is not yet known...the two are still together and are very happy.
Bottom line, I told my college friend to just approach the other person, and go for it.  I told her to be mindful, respectful, and gentle.  If the feelings are not mutual, she needs to accept it, and whatever relationship is mutually attainable at that point.  But, to be ready to lose a friend in case the other person cannot accept such a revelation, and freaks out.  A true friend might freak, but will eventually return to the nice, safe domain of a true friendship if such ever did exist.  
Notwithstanding, if things do go well between my friend and her crush, upon certain feelings being exposed, then kudos to them both, and may they be as happy as butterflies no longer waiting to be set free.
Here is a link to a funny story I read a while ago: How to Tell if You Genuinely Like Someone