#nopal text

[nopalrabbit]

Cooking fun and good - paneer tiki masala, green shakshuka - kale and sweet potato salad, thai green fish curry - pho with homemade seitan, turnip and egg rice bowl. Everything is made from scratch!

[hylianbugs]

my wife @anarchyeen fried nopales, jalapeños, and habaneros in a pan and created airborne pepper spray. now me and bok obama are trapped and hungry

[cranberrymoons]

i know it's really minor for buddie tpe but having read receipts and location sharing all the time, eddie needs to know exactly what buck is up to because historically if he doesnt buck is probably dying or dating someone new

the way this would activate both of their monogamy and domesticity kinks too, because they would Not be normal about it at all. they have read receipts on and buck has a rule that if he can't respond to a text when he opens it he should at least react to it so Eddie knows he's okay. and so it turns into a little game where buck picks the stupidest emojis possible like he's responding in hieroglyphics. buck is working an extra shift and Eddie texts him something kind of serious or even boring like something about the electric bill. or whatever. and buck will react to it with 🏟️ and Eddie says "you're on a call at the stadium?" and buck responds with ��🌵 and eventually Eddie figures out that what he's saying is 🏟️ <- cheering about the bill being lower this month, 🤖 <- predictive text suggested the stadium, 🌵 <- he is not on a call, he is at the station and stuck making dinner because no one on C shift knows how to cook. and he's making nopales tacos.

also yes location sharing, eddie looks at it a lot because. whatever. he's normal, okay?? but he doesn't mention it often, and whenever he does, it's always little things like he'll check it and see that buck is at cvs and just text him out of the blue "can you pick up toothpaste while you're there? we're running low" and by the time buck gets home with the toothpaste he is so horned up about Eddie stalking him that he tackles him in the doorway.

[kara-ltc]

poem not loading? text version available below (click on "keep reading")

*note: if you run it through a translator it won't notice that it's formatted like a poem, so it will be a little off*

Mosca by Kara

Quémame con líquido Hecho d'espinas Para mi Garganta Hasta que yo Apesto de nopal con Otro tiro d'este tequila

[evemoonky]

Cultivar y Cuidar

Siguiendo la definición de Red de Árboles, la siembra: "es aquella actividad en la cual se ponen semillas en la tierra para que estas germinen (..), empiecen a crecer y desarrollarse" (2022).

La siembra de alimentos es una actividad indispensable para nuestra dieta, sin embargo, muchas veces no se conocen los insumos necesarios para su cultivo. En nuestro presente, la siembra de organismos genéticamente modificados es un hecho, si bien estas modificaciones se hacen para el agrado del consumidor, ha representado consecuencias, pues las plantaciones transgénicas utilizan mayor cantidad de herbicidas, perjudicando a los insectos fundamentales para los ecosistemas 1.

En México, algunas plantas transgénicas que se cultivan son la calabaza, chile, maíz, papa, piña, soya, jitomate, trigo, algodón, entre otras. El cultivo de algodón por parte de empresas con estas nuevas tecnologías de productos transgénicos comenzó en 2010, pues desde 1996 iniciaban los estudios y ensayos sobre esta posibilidad en México; su impacto es tan grande que en " 2020 había una superficie potencial para su siembra de 1.5 millones de hectáreas" (Gobierno de la México, 2021).

Infoagro (2024). Comienza la cosecha del algodón 2024 en Mexicali.

Pero se ha comprobado que algunas desventajas de esa siembra en el ambiente perjudican a otros cultivos convencionales de algodón, principalmente a aquellos que se califican cómo ecológicos, pues se contaminan con los genes de los cultivos transgénicos y los herbicidas utilizados. También se indica que ese algodón modificado seguirá expandiéndose sobre las variedades locales, poniendo en riesgo la biodiversidad.

En ese sentido, no solo afecta a la biodiversidad, también a las personas que se dedican a la siembra y no están bajo el mando de esas grandes empresas como Bayer, Monsanto, Syngenta, BASF, Dupont, que "controlan el 76% de las ventas de herbicidas y pesticidas a nivel mundial" 2.

Con los anterior, se puede observar que el cultivo de alimentos modificados es una gran empresa pero que representa consecuencias medioambientales, económicas y también riesgos la salud. Por lo que cultivar en casa representa una alternativa de autoconsumo y responsabilidad con el medio ambiente, en mi casa mi mamá ha sembrado chiles, jitomates, tomates, nopales, chayotes, hierbabuena, cilantro y durazno por decir algunos. De igual forma, he ido al cerro a plantar árboles y regarlos.

Considero que plantar cualquier semilla requiere de mucha responsabilidad y cuidado, estar atentos a su crecimiento y observar que no tenga alguna plaga y de igual forma, saber cómo actuar ante una situación así.

Lo que cultivé es espinaca, es la primera vez que la siembro así que será una nueva experiencia llena de aprendizajes, dónde tendré que poner atención a su germinación, su crecimiento y bienestar, algo que se debería de hacer en cualquier cultivo.

Luna, E. (2025) Colección privada

Luna, E. (2025) Colección privada

1 Pons, Manuel. Los efectos del cultivo del algodón transgénico. Gobierno de México. 2021. 2 Amigas de la Tierra. "Agricultura y alimentación sin transgénicos". España.

Amigas de la Tierra. "Agricultura y alimentación sin transgénicos". España. [En línea]: https://www.tierra.org/agricultura-y-alimentacion-libres-de-transgenicos/#:~:text=Unas%20pocas%20empresas%20acaparan%20el,%2C%20Syngenta%2C%20BASF%20y%20Dow. (Consulta: 19 de febrero, 2025). Infoagro. Comienza la cosecha del algodón 2024 en Mexicali. Mexicali. (2024). [Fotografía]. LUNA, E. Colección privada. Ciudad de México. (18 de febrero, 2025) Macetas. [Fotografía]. LUNA, E. Colección privada. Ciudad de México. (18 de febrero, 2025) Macetas en casa. [Fotografía].

PONS, M. "Los efectos del cultivo del algodón transgénico", en Gobierno de México. Educación ambiental. 2021 [En línea}: https://www.gob.mx/semarnat/educacionambiental/articulos/los-efectos-del-cultivo-del-algodon-transgenico?idiom=es#:~:text=En%20M%C3%A9xico%20se%20han%20hecho,M%C3%A9xico%20es%20la%20del%20algod%C3%B3n. (Consulta: 19 de febrero, 2025). Red de Árboles. "¿Qué es la siembra y cuál es su importancia?". Colombia, 2022. [En línea]: https://www.reddearboles.org/noticias/nwarticle/699/3/que-siembra-y-cuales-su-importancia. (Consulta: 19 de febrero, 2025).

[gearstation-barista]

Everytime someone asks me if I'm from paldea because of my accent I die a little more inside

[outpost51]

Happy Blorbo Blursday! Your blorbos replaced The Plastics from Mean Girls, who is who?

NOPAL THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES

So, who are the plastics assholes that have been banned from every space chilis in Xatal?

That one there, that’s Cosh Pepperjacket. He is one of the dumbest motherfuckers you will ever meet. Dekdek once asked him to reply to a text for her while her hands were full. He asked her how to spell “o-k”.

That shifty one? That’s Rees Vidhesh. He’s totally NOT rich because he spends his paycheck the second those credits hit his account. Anyway, Rees knows everybody’s business. He knows everything about everyone. That’s why his pockets are so big: they’re full of secrets and shit he shoplifted.

And mischief takes a uknuk form in Dekdek Jumpycup. Don’t be fooled, cuz she may seem like your typical fluffy, wrench-wielding, whisker-faced little potato, but in reality? She’s so much more than that. She’s the mastermind! The star! Those other two are just her little workers. Dekdek… how do I even begin to explain Dekdek?

Dekdek is flawless. She has two degrees in engineering and a silver tooth. I hear nobody will insure her because she’s so prone to bodily harm… of other people. I hear she makes explosive devices. For fun. Her favorite movie is security footage. Of what? Yes. One time, she met Councilor Krron on a shuttle. And he didn’t even report her for stowing away.

One time, she punched me in the face.

It was awesome.

[elshells]

Happy WBW! What are the primary forms of communication (writing letters, sending stones, phone calls, things like that!) in the world of your WIP?

Hi, Nopal!! Happy WBW!

In the Harmont Heroes series, most people communicate through phone calls, texts, emails, etc., but ironically, it's not the form of communication that pops up most frequently in the story itself.

Before the events of Agent Ace, Harley lived with her eccentric uncle, Atticus Manalis, for six months. Uncle Kit (as she calls him) is an undervalued but genius inventor who fostered Harley's interest in robotics and offered to take her on as his apprentice. Because he lives pretty much in the middle of nowhere and refuses to rely on modern technology he didn't create himself, Harley communicated with her friends and family primarily through letters.

However, while she lived with him, they invented a new vessel of long-distance communication together. Atticus has a pretty serious case of agoraphobia, but he still wants to stay in touch with his niece through a faster, more convenient method of communication

Their invention is still a prototype, and has been dubbed the communication orb. Harley has one, and Atticus has the other. To properly communicate, both users must be able to speak and understand Morse code. One person taps the surface of their orb, and the other orb blinks light based on the sentence they just tapped. Communication can go back and forth, and the range is impressively long.

Another unconventional method of communication involves a pair of headphones that they reconfigured to simulate a form of synesthesia. As someone who hates city life and has a fascination of music, Atticus gifted them to Harley so she could 'escape from Harmont' whenever she wanted. Every time she puts them on, the sounds around her (traffic, wind, rain, voices, etc) transform into an orchestral song.

Now, by that definition, the headphones are not a method of communication. But on the train back to Harmont, Harley swore she could hear a voice speaking to her through the headphones. But, of course, that has to a glitch. Telepathy is impossible. Right?

[nopalrabbit]

Thinking about taking out all my old book arts books and photographing them for tumbly... but i need to figure out a nice place and lighting... wanna get into book arts and binding again so bad.

[xbsundaymatinee]

Sunday Matinee #63 is coming

Sunday April 16th from 4PM

Sunday Matinee #64

In no particular order: Kristoffer Lislegaard (Oslo, Norway)

A common thread in Lislegaard’s multidisciplinary work is the exploration of different methods of sound creation, i.e. through instrument design, programming, improvising, recording, reworking one’s own material, collaboration and incorporating other art forms. A fondness for atmospheric, layered and texture rich soundscapes is prevalent in all of his artistic work.Check out Kristoffer work here: https://www.kristofferlislegaard.com/

Teresa Riemann (Berlin)

Sprung from the dark caves of the collective german subconsciousness, forging an outlet via the Berlin Noise scene, Berlin based musician, poetess and performance-artist Teresa Riemann explores, through her creative output, the darkness and even more-so the light, which can be found in the spaces we like to keep locked up far away from where anybody can see them.

After being taught how to play the piano in a classical way, excluding all passion from pure perfection, she started to evolve a genuine art of playing by learning the instruments by herself, starting with the electric guitar, later discovering drums. Read more and listen here: https://www.teresariemann.com/

Dept. Of Justice (Berlin) Dept. Of Justice" plays a collection of interdimensional radio hits. Founded by Capt. Trips and carrying forward. This endeavour features two Drummers, Jim Sykes (Parts and Labor, Grooms, Martin Bisi Band), Oliver Rivera Drew (SUSU, Paro, Mary Ocher and Your Government, Martin Bisi Band), on electronics: Diego Ferri (China Woman, Paro, Martin Bisi Band), and on vocals: "The Empress ".

https://soundcloud.com/oliver-rivera-drew/deptofjustice1?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

—>>> and Some DJ will show up and play music in between sets, how's that?

—>>> and delicious vegan food provided by Los Nopales Tacos!

**2G rules no longer apply in Berlin, however, we would be very glad if you test yourself before coming, and if you have cold-like symptoms we suggest you having a cup of tea and stay put! thank you**

**The Sunday Matinee is smoke free, children friendly, wheelchair accessible**

**Check out the Matinee double cassette mix tape here. Copies are still available and can be purchased at our events https://thesundaymatinee.bandcamp.com/album/the-sunday-matinee-sampler-1

[nope36]

I was having a movie night with my RM friends and I exclaimed how a lowrider is my dream car, after having seen one in the movie, to which my friend replied “That’s so ethnic of you” because lowrider culture is significant to west coast Chicano culture and Im from California. Which was hilarious because if he had not also been Latino I probably would have blown up on him, but it was something about how he said it in a way that wasn’t familiar to me because usually when some comments on my ethnicity they do so to demean me. So I decided to create a piece around it.

I knew I wanted to include a lowrider on it and I knew I wanted nopales.

I searched for like three hours for an image of a lowrider but couldn’t find any, so I had to settle for a regular red chevy impala (which I changed to green) which is my favorite model for a lowrider. At first I wanted to create a colorful kind of psychedelic piece that resembled a kaleidoscope, but I hated how the text looked on it, so I went online shopping to clear my head and saw a t-shirt with a race cars on it and I was “boom that’s what I want my snippet to look resemble”.

But like Michael Bierut my attention span and my tendency to go with the first thing that comes to my mind really hindered me when completing this assignment. I finished like three different versions of my snippet which sucked because I already wasted so much time on figuring out what text I wanted to use, and I had like no time or patience when making my second snippet, but I got it done.

I came up with the text of my second snippet (well more like my sister did) literally the day before the assignment was due. I was gonna go with an inside joke with a friend but that was kind of boring, and I don’t like my work to be boring or like basic. Like Alexander Isley said humor can help engage people with a piece.

As I was explaining to my sister about how I was having trouble she was like “You’ve been saying “Good Soup” literally for the past week just do that”. So, I immediately thought about soup spilled on the ground in the shape of the text because good soup spilled on the ground is tragic. I found the perfect tile texture, the perfect soup, and the perfect bowl. I finished the piece but hated it so much because it looked boring all put together. The tile just threw everything off and I hated how the tile looked too realistic compared to the bowl and spilled soup. So, I rewatched the “Good Soup” scene and decided to mimic the look of a diner table. I still hated it because it looked like a cheesy and poorly made photoshop piece, but after looking at it more I felt like it made the piece a little bit more entertaining and added to the goofiness of the piece, so I added the coffee that didn’t match the lighting quite right, and the napkins that look like they’re lowkey floating.

[wanderingmagician613]

The Arcana Ambience Masterlist (WIP - updates to come)

Study and/or sleep like a Vesuvian!

I’m in the process of making ambient-borderline-ASMR-audios of Arcana locations and uploading them to my YouTube channel! Below the cut lies the currently incomplete list of all the ambient tracks I have made and plan to make in the future.

The ones that don’t have a link to share yet have been crossed out until I make the audio for them. The ones that I have made the audio for, however, have the links attached and have been put in bold text so they’re relatively easy to spot. As you probably expect, I’ll update this list with every upload.

If you’d like to keep up with the project, the easiest ways would be to either (A) subscribe to my channel and turn notifications on (omfg I never thought I’d be that guy xD) or (B) join my Arcana Discord server and ask for the Notification Squad role. I have a bot setup in the server so when I post a video, a notification goes out in a specific channel. It’s more reliable than YouTube notifications, honestly, and the server is full of amazing people, so I personally recommend option B over A. :3

=VESUVIA=

The Abandoned Garden

The Canal

The Cave (Regular - Light)

The Coliseum (Entrance - Arena - Box - Dungeon)

The Community Theater (Backstage)

The Docks (Day - Night - Hideout)

The Flooded District (Day - Night)

The Forest (Regular - Light)

The Lazaret (Exterior - Interior)

The Magic Shop (Interior - Exterior - Backroom)

The Marketplace (Day - Night)

Mazelinka's House (Day - Night - Bedroom)

Muriel's Hut (Interior - Exterior)

Nopal (Interior - Exterior)

The Red Market

The Rowdy Raven

The Slums (Day - Sunset - Night)

Town Square

Vlastomil Mansion (Interior - Exterior)

=THE PALACE=

The Ballroom (Regular - Masquerade)

The Bathing Chamber (Regular - Masquerade)

The Dining Room (Bright - Dark)

The Dungeon (Passages - Elevator - Dungeon - Office)

The Garden (Regular - Masquerade)

Garden Entrance (Day - Night - Masquerade)

Garden Fountain (Day - Sunset - Night - Masquerade)

The Guest Room (Day - Night)

The Hallway (Regular - Masquerade)

The Library (Library - Julian’s Desk)

Lucio's Wing (Hall - Bedroom - (Haunted) Bedroom - Dining Room)

Nadia's Bedroom (Day - Sunset)

Nadia's Tower (Day - Night)

The Palace Exterior (Day - Night)

Portia's Cottage (Day - Night - Interior)

The Salon (Day - Evening)

=THE ARCANA REALMS=

Asra’s Oasis (cause I don’t know which category to put this under ‘^^)

Death's realm (Magic Shop)

The Devil's Realm

The Hanged Man's Realm

The Heirophant's Realm (Exterior - Interior)

The Magician's Realm

The High Priestess' Realm

The Star's Realm (Labyrinth - Lighthouse)

The Tower’s Realm

[bardic-dreaming-zine]

Creator Spotlight: Nopal Moreno

We asked our zine content creators to tell us a little about why they love BomBARDed, and what they’re excited about in creating this zine! We’ll be spotlighting some of them over the next few weeks while they’re busy creating wonderful art, stories, and music.

[ID: soft-textured purple background. Lined paper with black text (the quoted text in this post) appears to be taped to the right side of the background with pink tape across the upper right corner and indigo tape across the lower left. The bottom right corner has “Bardic Dreaming” in blocky teal text on a white cloud. To the left of the lined paper is Nopal Moreno’s profile picture, in a purple circle with dashed purple lines in a circle around it. It is a photo of her looking directly at the camera, with two of her character drawings in squares pasted over her image in the upper left and lower right. Under her profile picture is her name in large, dark purple text; her pronouns in smaller, grey text; and her instagram handles in even smaller, plum-purple text. All the text is in an italicized, rounded font. End ID]

Nopal Moreno (she/her)

Instagram: @nopalmoreno or @ohjazjazmin

“My favorite thing about bombarded is the real friendship between the guys, it translates so well to the story. And the music is so good ,my favorite song is ‘The river flows where the mountain leads’

I’m so excited, I’ve never participated in any kind of art project and in a way I’m glad because I can start with my favorite dnd podcast. I will be making a digital art piece, a rendition to my favorite characters.”

[oscars-wifeyyy]

Chapter 12 (The Innocent)

Now the group started to not believe Jamal, but Elizabeth did believe him. She had to go home so she bid everybody good night, but turned back to Cesar.

“Go to my house after you drop off Monse,” Elizabeth smiled, “you’re crashing with me and my mom knows,”

Cesar grinned at his friend with Monse, “thank you, mana,”

“I got your back always. Oscar doesn’t need to know and he usually doesn’t come over, but if he does then there is a window out to the backyard through the window,” Elizabeth winked and walked out.

Oscar stood around the corner and raised an eyebrow at the sight of his girl walking alone with her attire. He started to go towards her to walk next to her. She turned to see him, but turned back to look forward.

“Bebe, I’m sorry. I don’t know what went through me when I said those things so please forgive me,” Oscar sighed.

Elizabeth sighed, turning to her boyfriend, “Oscar. I forgive you, but the next time you snap at me because things are ‘rough’ then it’s over. Relationships are teamwork, not whatever you think a relationship is,”

Oscar nodded with a smirk on his, “now tell me why you’re walking home alone with that dress,”

“Shut up and walk me home,” Elizabeth laughed and continued walking.

When they got to her place, they stood in front of the door and just gazed at each other with the look of adoration on both faces. Elizabeth, however, had to go inside and get the guest room ready for Cesar and Leticia knew this so she opened the door.

“Hey, Oscar. Happy New Year! Now I gotta get Elizabeth inside. We’re doing something for her. Breakfast tomorrow morning though! Be here at 9 am. Do not reject either,” Leticia grabbed Elizabeth’s hand, “good night and thank you for walking her home,”

Oscar chuckled, “Gracias, ma,”

Leticia closed the door and rushed her daughter to the guest room to rush the process so when they were done then everything would be ready for Cesar. It was right on time because when they heard the knock they were done with the room so Elizabeth rushed to the door and ushered the little brother in. She led him to the room.

“Here is your room and Oscar is going to be here tomorrow morning at 9:30 am so you should probably be out by 9 am,” Elizabeth smiled.

“Thank you, Eli,” Cesar smiled sadly at his best friend.

“No problem. Now go to sleep. You probably got a big day tomorrow with Jamal and Monse,” Elizabeth closed the door behind her.

The next day came and Elizabeth was up at 8:30 am and decided to make Cesar a little breakfast before his adventure with Jamal, Ruby, and Monse. When she was done it was 8:45 am so she walked into Cesar’s room and jumped on the bed to wake him up.

“Eli! It is 8:45 am...oh,” Cesar chuckled.

“I made you breakfast so eat up and get ready, puto,” Elizabeth laughed and walked out.

Cesar walked out and ate breakfast with Elizabeth sitting next to him cracking jokes. It didn’t take long for Cesar to be done so he washed the dish and put it on the drying rack, hugging Elizabeth before running out of the house to meet with the rest of the crew. Now 15 minutes later, Leticia and Elizabeth were awake and in clothes that weren’t their pajamas, cooking breakfast with the music on high, dancing away. A knock interrupted the dance session so Elizabeth ran to the door and opened it to see her boyfriend there with his “Spooky” face, but it dropped when he saw Elizabeth. He walked inside and smelled the food, making his stomach groan at the nice smell. Elizabeth gave a kiss to his lips before gesturing to the chairs and table and going back to dancing with her mom and the music on blast.

Oscar sat on the chair and smiled at the sight of his lover and her mother dancing away as if there were no stresses, cooking for the three of them. Soon after, breakfast was done and the three sat around the table enjoying the food and each other’s company.

“Oscar, what are you going to do today?” Leticia asked with a smile.

“I’m gonna relax and chill with the homies. What about you, ma y mi amor?” Oscar turned to his Elizabeth.

Elizabeth’s phone dinged so she looked down and saw it was a text from Ruby telling her to meet up with him and Olivia to go help Cesar, Monse, and Jamal. “I am going to help Ruby and Olivia with something,” she stood up and kissed her mother’s cheek before moving onto Oscar, “I’ll see you guys later. Oscar, I’m gonna go with you to the bodega for your party,” Oscar nodded before she left the house and to Ruby’s. When she got there, Ruby was there looking sad and angry while Olivia looked a little sad. “What’s up with you guys?”

“I’m tired of having nightmares and ptsd! I just want to live the normal life before the shooting,” Ruby ranted, “you got shot because of your boyfriend’s gang! When is our life gonna be ok?”

“I don’t know, Ruby. Why aren’t you at church with your family?” Elizabeth asked.

“I don’t know if there is a God. This shouldn’t have happened to us. No shooting was supposed to take place,” Ruby shoved passed the girls and started the journey to Monse, Cesar, and Jamal with Olivia and Elizabeth following.

They were about to walk past Oscar’s place, but Ruby grabbed Olivia’s hand and motioned for Elizabeth to follow, she didn’t know what to do except follow her friends. There was a hope inside of her for Oscar to stop them and ask how they were doing and it was answered.

“Hey,” Oscar called out, “Hey! I’m talking to you,”

Ruby stopped and turned so fast to walk towards the leader and kicked the crate that Oscar’s foot was resting against, “What?”

“Just wanted to check up on you. You good?” Oscar asked.

“No, I’m not good!” Ruby freaked out.

“Yo, chill out,” Oscar frowned.

“Chill out? That’s all you got as you sit there on your damn throne? I got shot! Your girlfriend got shot! For what? Nothing! Nothing but some cullshit beef that means nothing! And that night won’t stop playing on auto repeat in my head, and every time I move my arm, which is often because I’m a gesticular, it kills, furthermore reminding me of that night, thanks to you so don’t tell me to chill out!” Ruby ranted as the Santos looked at each other.

“You must be in the anger stage,” Oscar took a sip from his Redbull while Santos laughed.

Olivia went to meet up with the other three friends while Ruby and Elizabeth went to the bodega with Oscar. They had walked in with Ruby holding the basket and Oscar walking close to Elizabeth.

“How many times can I say I’m sorry? I know I stepped out of line,” Oscar grabbed a Corona from the fridge, “but I really don’t have time to be your valet.”

“We need a few nopales,” Oscar continued walking.

“We need a cart. This is getting heavy,” Ruby complained as he tried to keep up with Oscar and Elizabeth.

“Do you ever not complain?” Oscar looked back.

“Well, no one told you to bring me,” Ruby said.

Oscar smirked, “what else don’t you like about me?”

“Nope,” Ruby denied, “I’m not falling for that,”

“It’s not a debate. What else don’t you like?” Oscar grabbed something from a hook.

“Is this like Queen for a Day sitch?” Oscar stopped and looked back confused, “it’s a legal expression whereby someone can say anything they want and their words can’t be used against them,”

“Speak, Queen,” Oscar turned down an aisle.

“Well, you guys call yourself ‘the Santos,’ the Saints, and yet you hurt people, so what’s the point of you, really?” Ruby raised his voice at the end.

Oscar turned so fast while Elizabeth had her eyes wide open, “you’re coming at me! But I didn’t start this war,”

“Yeah, said the complicit one,” Ruby glared at the leader.

Oscar dropped a bag into the basket, “you like history?”

“World or American?” Ruby asked.

“Freeridge. Doesn’t get more American than that,” Oscar started walking the freshman back, “Back in the day, the pinches Prophets terrorized Freeridge. Didn’t matter who you were. Paletero trying to make a living. Viejita coming home from church. You were a target. They went to the cops. But you know how that goes. Until, finally, Lil Ricky said, ‘no más.’ This neighborhood is his familia, and you don’t mess with family. He started the Santos to protect the hood.” Oscar motioned outside.

“Great,” Ruby spit, “now you have two groups terrorizing the neighborhood,”

Oscar leaned in really close to Ruby’s face, running his hand down his mouth and chin, “terrorizing?” he grabbed the bag behind Ruby, “you mean protecting. It’s complicated. The Santos are a family. Families are complicated,” Oscar walked to the fruit section.

“What do you know about family? You threw your own brother out!” Ruby spit.

“I said it’s complicated,” Oscar yelled, “Cuchillos made that call and no one questions Cuchillos.”

“Cuchillos can suck a dick!” Ruby yelled at the leader, but everyone turned in horror, “look, all I’m saying is if you’re a saint, then save people. Don’t kill people,” Ruby’s phone started ringing so he shoved the basket towards Oscar and answered it, walking away to get some privacy.

Elizabeth turned to Oscar, “thank you for taking it easy on Ruby,”

“Of course, mami. You ain’t the only one that got shot for my brother’s mistakes,” Oscar stood really close to Elizabeth who put her hands on his chest.

She just rolled her eyes before kissing her fingers and giving him a soft slap on the face while he chuckled at her alternative to kiss him rather than actually doing it. Ruby came back and the three went back to Oscar’s house and, by the time they got back the sun was down. Elizabeth stood next to Ruby, on her phone, looking through her email to see one from UCLA providing all the steps she needs to take for the future classes she is going to take.

Oscar looked at the way Ruby was cutting limes, but stopped him, “learn how to cut a lime. You cut like a serial killer,” Oscar showed the right way before giving Ruby the knife back. Ruby did it the right way causing Oscar to nod, “good. You’re excused,”

“I’m excused?” Ruby asked confused.

“Yup,” Oscar said, “I listened, you listened. We’re good. You can go,”

Ruby glanced at Elizabeth, “uh...ok,”

Oscar opened a beer and setting it down in front of Ruby, “or you could stay,” Ruby took the beer as Oscar grabbed an octopus tentacle, “taste it,” Ruby made a disagreeing noise, “expand your palette, homie,”

Ruby ate it then his phone dinged telling him that a text came in so he unlocked it to see a text from his mother, “damn. Yo, get off me already. It’s my mom. She was on me about going to church, on me about hanging out with friends. Now she’s just blowing me up wondering where I am. Can I just be left alone already?”

“Pressures of the privilege,” Oscar said.

“Privileged,” Ruby scoffed, “I live in a house with bars on the windows. With two parents inside and a college future waiting outside. Don’t whine to me about your mom. No one took care of me and Cesar when my mom was out there,”

Ruby looked down, ashamed, “I didn’t mean to-”

Oscar cut him off, “be ungrateful? I get that you and Eli got shot, but why do you think no one came to finish the job, huh? ‘Cause of me. Think about how fast that truce happened. Me, again.”

“I’m sorry,” Ruby said, “I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, there are a lot of things you don’t know,” Oscar chopped the food, “like what it’s like walking into a job interview with a record. You think Walmart’s gonna hire someone with two strikes?”

“See, I wouldn’t work there. They have poor employee satisfaction,” Ruby said being a smart ass, again.

Elizabeth flicked his cheek while Oscar let the knife fall, “it ain’t a joke, Ruby!”

“This shit’s real! That’s the kind of stuff that makes a man snap! But being mad at the world ain’t gonna help you. It’ll only hurt you,” Oscar went back to chopping.

Ruby decided to leave then so Elizabeth walked to Oscar and made him stop chopping food to wrap her arms around him. The two stood like that for a few minutes until Oscar had to turn the food over and the two of them had enjoyed a nice dinner before Oscar drove Elizabeth home and stayed with her since Leticia wasn’t home yet.

[hectic-hector]

Daily Coco Screencap #230

Meh, just a random pic from a random scene.  Fun/odd fact: the brass plaque toward the back of the trolley says Dept. of Family Reunions. This is interesting because 1. it implies that the department is so large that it requires public transport, and 2. the sign is in English. While most text in the English version of the film is in Spanish (including the large red sign on the side of the trolley advertising El Gran-Nopal root beer) a few words here and there are in English for the convenience of the audience. Why is the Dept. of Family Reunions sign in English? It’s so small and easy to miss, and carries no significance in this scene. 

[wenotaboutlove]

prom night

To start this blog I thought I should start with my earliest memory. This is a sweet yet cringy one, so buckle up!

Prom. A night to remember. Throughout high school I always imagined myself going to senior prom with a hot guy and loosing my virginity to him. Tale as old as time. For me that boy was Sean. Sean was very out of my league. Tall, smart, quiet, popular, athletic, and oh so hot. I only ever spoke to him thrice, but when I did my heart would skip a beat. He had a nonchalance about him, a je ne sais quoi. For some reason I held on to the hope of him asking me to prom. Spoiler alert, he didn’t ask me. No one officially asked me, actually. Instead I “went” to prom with a friend of a guy who wanted to go to prom  with my best friend. I say “went” because we didn’t arrive together, there was no corsage, no limo, nada! We met up at prom and had awkward conversation. Plus there was another girl, a lower classmen, who was continuously flirting with him. I let her have him- I later heard she gave him head at an after party. So Jeremiah, if you’re reading this, you’re welcome. 

During the dance I was actually invested on another guy who was also named Sean. I was hoping he would notice me but he didn’t. My friend and I decided to leave the dance and head to an after party. At that point I was feeling the prom night blues. I didn’t have an actual date. No guy was dying to dance with me. My friends were lame and didn’t want to throw that ass in a circle. Not to mention my makeup lady did me dirty and I looked a hot mess. But it was alright because there was still an after party. My friend and I hopped on an uber and we were on our way! 

I’d like to start by saying we didn’t know whose house we were going to. A friend of a friend sent us the flyer to the party. The uber ride took a shockingly long time. We went from Buckhead to Bankhead real quick. When we arrived we were confused. There were about 10 people there. We thought maybe we had the wrong house. We decided we would give it 20 minutes. If more people didn’t arrive then we would leave.

Thankfully people did start to arrive. We didn’t recognize any of them but hey, it was starting to get lit. Being the social anxiety lil bitch I am, I was a wallflower. I will say i do regret not dancing my ass off, because if I were dancing none of the shit I’m about to tell y’all would’ve happened. 

A group of Hispanic boys are standing and talking next to me. And let me just paint y’all a picture. There I am, full face of cakey makeup, sitting on the floor, wearing my friends tshirt with no bra because apparantley you’re supposed to pack an after party outfit. All of a sudden one of the guys comes up to me and says “ You tryna fuck with my friend?”. Although I was flattered for being considered I politely declined. Eventually two of the boys and I start sparking an actual converstion. I ask if they were coming from their school prom and they said yes. I’ll admit I thought one of them was pretty cute.

Now before we go any further I need to tell ya’ll something about me and Hispanic boys, more specifically Mexican boys. I don’t date them. I will date anyone else but Mexican boys. Before ya’ll call me racist let me explain. I’m Mexican, and I mean I was born in Mexico and had to cross the goddamn border. I don’t go for fellow beaners because they all either look like my brother or my cousins or my uncles. It makes me uncomfortable. Plus, for the most part, Mexican guys are not my style. They’re all so cheesy and corny, it grosses me out. So there. 

Anyways, of course the boy that I was somewhat interested in didn’t really pay attention to me, but his less cute friend did. By that point I was willing to take what I could get. His name was Patrick. Odd name considering he had “el nopal en la frente”. So there we were. Patrick and I being wallflowers at this random after party. I was tipsy at that point after eating some alcohol laced gummies- yes those are a thing. We talked and talked. Well, I talked and talked. I think I told this guy my whole life story. It was getting late and I was thinking “ is this it? Am I going to have sex with him?”. I thought it over and decided that I wouldn’t. He asked to kiss me and I just felt gross, my makeup was droopy, I felt very gutter slut. I said no to the kiss. 

I will say he was a very sweet guy. When I got cold he put his jacket over me. He walked me to the car when my friend’s mom came to pick us up. I caved and gave him my snap. On the car ride I did feel a little gitty. Someone out there liked me, even if I wasn’t too crazy about him. I felt like a teen. All throughout high school no boy had ever showed interest in me. I had never felt wanted. With him I could tell he got butterflies around me. It felt nice. 

The next day at school I was more than excited to tell my girlfriends about my “crazy” night. They were so happy for me. I had finally found a guy that liked me, I was finally validated. My friend told me that he asked her if “my baby had gotten home ok”. He called me his “baby”! I had many thoughts rushing through my head. “Is he going to be my first boyfriend?’”, “do I actually like him or the idea of having a bf?”, “I don’t care, I’ll finally have a bf!”. 

We texted back and forth. I can’t quite remember what we actually talked about but it was nice to have someone to text. Then one day I get a text that says “I have to tell you something”, not sure why but I automatically knew what he was going to say. It all clicked, he’s not 18. I never asked his age, I just assumed he was 17 or 18. He then says “ I’m not 18, I’m 16″. Massive yuck! Any maniscual feeling I had for this boy went out the window. I have a thing where I can not date anyone younger than me, even if they’re just one year younger. I instantly see them as a fetus. I told him it was ok, we could remain friends. He goes on to say that we should still go out. I informed him that it would technically be ilegal, considering I was almost 18 at the time. He was presistant. He said no one needed to know. Umm hecky no, I was not trying to catch a case, especially since I barely even liked the guy!

He did not care. He then proceeds to drop the L word. The freakin L word! I told him it is impossible for him to be in love with me, he didn’t even know me! We had only known each other for about four days at this point! He goes on to say it was “love at first sight”. I came to the realization that he was just a boy of 16. He had no experience. He didn’t know what love is. He was just eager to find someone, a complete stranger. Someone to try and make him feel nice, wanted. I sympathized with him. I agreed to a date.

Now, this date wasn’t for us to further our “relationship”. It was to make him see that he didn’t love me. We are completely different. I saw this date as an oppurtunity to let him down and teach him a few things. 

Lessons on my agenda:

-Veganism. How it can aid in global warming and sustainability

-The crisis in Venezuela. Most people are dying of hunger

-Gun violence

Yes, I did indeed talk about these and only these topics. And of course he was more interested in getting to know me but that wasn’t going to happen. We had decided to meet at a cupcake shop and I strategically got there early and bought myself a cupcake. Prior to that he had mentioned how he wanted to pay because “that’s what gentlemen do”. I guess he wanted to show me that chivalry wasn’t dead. But the awkwardness was alive and well. The whole time he could barely look at me. I could tell he was nervous. I didn’t make it easy on him considering the fact I dressed in the cutest little outfit, I wanted to really make it hard on him. I saw it as an opportunity for him to really grow. We walked for a while and he was bold enough to make a move. He very swiftly grabbed my hand and I very swiflty snatched it away. The date came to an end shortly after that. My parents came to pick me up. My mom always remembers him and ask when I’ll see him again, even after years. After that I made it clear to him that I was never going to date him. Seems harsh but I knew I would never come around to like him. Our texts became dry. Until eventually we stopped talking. 

I still think of him fondly. The first guy I ever went on a date with. His curly hair. His bashfulness. His Irish name. Patrick, thank you for starting my dating career, even if you were underage.