| one year and still standing 11.26.02 |
| I�d like to thank God, thank my loving family (who doesn�t even know this exists), my faithful fans (all three of you�I�m estimating), my lady rant icon (beijos!), the fast connection at different workplaces and my trusty (half of the time) 56K modem, Omulu Capoeira for your craziness which gave me topics to start off with, and last but not least, the Academy! Exactly one year has passed since I first created this journal and WOW, it is amazing to see how much time has passed since then. I can remember exactly how I felt at that time, with all the pressures and events of capoeira, the horrors of the Enemy, my crazy times with Q., and then the transition to leave SF and start anew in Sac, and then last but not least, the adventures and lessons of S�o Paulo and the relationship with M. Wow, what a year! I think I have written about this many times before, but again, as I look back at how quickly time has flown and how many changes I have experienced, I can�t help but just let out a Kirk Franklin-style �Hallelujah! Prrraise God!� to express my thankfulness to Him for not only this experience here in Brazil but just the past year. As I anticipate the �re-entry� of my spaceship back to Planet USA, specifically the California Crater, my stomach rumbles with nervousness�well, it�s probably my perpetual hunger, but I think it�s those nervous butterflies too. I start to get a little shaky about what there is in store for me. The tug of �home� pulls harder and harder. The peace that I felt before is being overcome by anxiety and worries, and I�m admonishing myself for not laying all those cares before God and trusting Him 100% that He will care for me. As a naturally impatient person literally from birth (just ask my mum), it�s like God has this sense of humor that He is pushing me to my limits to test my patience. I prayed for patience, and now God is giving me the opportunity to develop it. Not to have definite plans when I return makes me feel really antsy because there�s this huge question mark looming overhead�and I�m soooo anxious to replace that question mark with something definite, but I feel like God is calmly telling me, �Not yet, Mel�just be patient�just wait�� (And I�m sure He has this smirk on His face of loving amusement as He is watching me.) And I�m just like so anxious to rush ahead�but I can�t. I know that I shouldn�t. I also know that in a few months, or like in half a year, when hopefully I�m all settled into a job and have my regular schedule set, I will look back and realize that God did unfold His plan to me in His perfect timing and it is yet another demonstration of how His insight on the big picture is so much greater than our narrowly focused vision. Now on to a more lighthearted subject: this past weekend, I got stung by what we think is a marimbondo, which translates to hornet, but let me tell you, Americans, this isn�t a hornet like the ones I�ve seen! This �biggest mother� was larger than a quarter�way larger and had skeleton-like legs, large wings, and an exo-skeleton that looked unpenetrable. (is that the right word?) After swatting it like a mad woman with my shirt and literally beating it to death (not beating it with a dead horse, Marin) with the biggest book I had (my apologies to Calvary International Church for the misuse of its hymnal�hey at least it wasn�t a Bible!), it was finally dead. Little did I know, it either had a bit of life left or it already had its stinger out, but when I picked it up with Kleenex, it stung me! Gggrrrr!! My hypothesis was that I was going to either die of poisonous injection or turn into Scary Flying Insect Girl�Spider Man�s new enemy. Then I found out it was a marimbondo, which is actually the name brand of the leading capoeira-ware distributor in S�o Paulo. Then I thought (happily) maybe that means being stung grants me supernatural capoeira skills. Super cool!! Then I thought (unhappily) that maybe killing it means getting all my capoeira skills sucked out of me. Super uncool. Anyway, we�ll see what happens in class tonight. For the time being, I�m stuck with a slightly puffy middle finger. Where�s that snake bite/bee sting kit from Dorc when I need it?! |
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