mtlanda

[mtlanda]

What makes you nervous? Succeeding.

[mtlanda]

Forget the Alamo

Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting. For the last 25 years, I have lived 10 minutes from the famed Alamo. I have walked past it, around it, and even through it. But I have not visited it. “Visiting” includes experiencing, learning, thinking and appreciating. The Alamo, as it is currently presented, does not inspire any learning, thinking or…

[mtlanda]

With a little bit of help from my friends

List five things you do for fun. I’m not as much fun these days. At least I’m not fun like I used to be. In a past life, I was the one who got everyone excited about stuff. Today, all I see is gloom and doom. So I am not much fun anymore. Fun is staying home and far away from people. I find that people are annoying and rude. So I stay home and read. I also write. I also cook. I also watch…

[mtlanda]

GenX Life in 2022

GenX Life in 2022

Less like the Breakfast Club and more like Driving Miss Daisy Influencers of the 1980s were found in magazines like Tiger Beat, MTV videos, dancing on American Bandstand, and in John Hughes movies. Every teenager who watched The Breakfast Club, for example, related to one or more of the cast of characters who had violated some stupid school rule, did something terrible, cheated on a test, or…

[mtlanda]

GenX Life in 2022

GenX Life in 2022

Less like the Breakfast Club and more like Driving Miss Daisy Influencers of the 1980s were found in magazines like Tiger Beat, MTV videos, dancing on American Bandstand, and in John Hughes movies. Every teenager who watched The Breakfast Club, for example, related to one or more of the cast of characters who had violated some stupid school rule, did something terrible, cheated on a test, or…

[mtlanda]

GenX Life in 2022

GenX Life in 2022

Less like the Breakfast Club and more like Driving Miss Daisy Influencers of the 1980s were found in magazines like Tiger Beat, MTV videos, dancing on American Bandstand, and in John Hughes movies. Every teenager who watched The Breakfast Club, for example, related to one or more of the cast of characters who had violated some stupid school rule, did something terrible, cheated on a test, or…

[mtlanda]

katsaridaphobia. It's not a thing anymore....

katsaridaphobia. It’s not a thing anymore….

Brown roaches always seemed to be around when bad things happened to me. He would find himself a little corner on the wall or a table or the back of a chair and perch itself there while misery came to me. The night my father’s backhand swung across my mother’s face when I was 6 years old, there was the roach, watching the event unfold. He then turned to look at me and grinned his evil grin.When I…

[mtlanda]

Missed the bus

Flash Fiction I was not on the bus that crashed into the streetcar that day. I always followed her from school to the bus stop. Sometimes I rode the bus- which went in the opposite direction- for two stops just to be close to her. But that day, I did not get on the bus. She was with a boy. I was jealous.I saw her get on the bus. Then I saw the bus crash with the street car. People ran past me to…

[mtlanda]

Tony became Toni

I watched him walk past my house every day carrying his tattered Trader Joe’s shopping tote. He smiled at me. I smiled back. Sometimes I would wave and softly say hello, he returned the gesture. This was the extent of our distant but warm 5 year friendship.One day I noticed he did not walk by. Then another day and another day went by and I did not see him. I thought maybe he moved away. I would…

[mtlanda]

Reluctant Fantasy

“I can’t do this anymore,” she said to herself in a desperate whimper. “There is no point in doing anything anymore. The whole thing is one big farce.”She wiped her tears, pulled her sweater down, shook her head as she inhaled the deepest breath she would take all day and opened the door. She stepped inside to the sounds of loud children, clanking dishes, her grandmother coughing in the distance,…

[mtlanda]

Late in the evening

Late in the evening

I stayed up late into the evening reading, writing, smoking weed, waxing philosophic about love, humanity, peace and the best strategy to win the Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right. It was a long night. It’s always a long night when she leaves. I love being alone, but I love her more. When she returned late the next day, tired and drained, she wore the same clothes she had on when she left.…

[mtlanda]

Breaking Point: GenX could learn a lot from GenZ

Breaking Point: GenX could learn a lot from GenZ

Protests of 2020 reminds us that in times like this, one comes to realize how little we pay attention to the nuances and details of our daily lives. Or maybe it is that we pay too much attention to those details that we lose sight of the big picture with its overlapping themes and issues. Even though the current state of events are shocking- but not surprising- different generations are…

[mtlanda]

Breaking point 2020: A GenXr's perspective

Breaking point 2020: A GenXr’s perspective

    Protests of 2020 reminds us that in times like this, one comes to realize how little we pay attention to the nuances and details of our daily lives. Or maybe it is that we pay too much attention to those details that we lose sight of the big picture with its overlapping themes and issues. Even though the current state of events are shocking- but not surprising- different generations are…

[mtlanda]

Butter tacos, magical coffee and cottonwood trees

Butter tacos, magical coffee and cottonwood trees

I woke up late. The alarm on my phone went off but it did not wake me up. I heard it, but I heard it in my dream. In my dream, it was a phone that was ringing. I answered it but it just kept ringing. I looked for another phone to answer but I could not find one. It just kept ringing. And ringing. I finally woke up. I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling for a moment trying to decide if I was…

[mtlanda]

Frank and Beans

  The morning was crisp and the air was light when Frank arrived at the half marathon site. This was standard weather for South Padre Island at 5:00 am. By 7:30 am the sun would be hot and the air would be humid and thick. It is no wonder the Annual South Padre Island Half Marathon started at 6:30 am. The runners benefit from a cool start but they finish the race fighting fatigue as well as…

[mtlanda]

The move

The Move

She was 12 years old when they moved from Mexico to the U.S. It was a hastened move and it shook her. She didn’t know how she would handle life in the U.S. This was her home. She grew up here. She had gotten her period the summer before and had been kissed by the cute boy in the neighborhood at her doorstep.  Her life had been good here. But all that was about to change. She and her family would…

[mtlanda]

My baby girl agreed to do a Golden Girls dubsmash with me. Made my day!