Archive for June 2021
A Month in Puerto Rico Part I: Home and thereabouts
Dorado, Puerto Rico A Month in Puerto Rico Part I: Home and thereabouts In this post: I have spent about a month in Puerto Rico, mostly taking care of some family affairs like helping to take care of my mom and watching, with a lot of pride, my niece graduating from high school. In between family engagements, however,…
Read MoreRandom Thoughts and the Amazing Superpowers of Tarsiers
Random Thoughts and the Amazing Superpowers of Tarsiers In this post: Reasons for writing non-political, shallow thoughts about random mayors, and some revelations (?) about economics and the incredible super powers of tarsiers. Because politics can be exhausting but tarsiers are simply awesome! Many times, especially when things are stressful, I want to write just…
Read MoreWorking on happiness
Working on happiness In this post: I share my views on happiness, as simple as that. Everybody has her own idea of what it is and what it does and how it comes about. I do too. Here you go. People think that happiness is something that comes to you in the form of lucky…
Read MoreEverything you own, owns you
Everything you own, owns you In this post: A little over a year ago I was in Paris with my awesome husband experiencing, not romance as you would expect, but a sense of confusion. The renovation of our apartment had started a little before we had anticipated and we arrived home to find that we…
Read MoreBravery and a Heady Recklessness
Bravery and a Heady Recklessness In this post: What do driving in a construction zone, running errands, and Mission Impossible have in common? What happened last night? Nothing much. My husband called me early in the afternoon to tell me that the registration of the car was ready and that he had to go to…
Read MoreA long and convoluted dream
A long and convoluted dream In this post: Many people are obsessed with dreams but nobody really knows why we dream. One current hypothesis is that dreams are the way the brain integrates memories, or cleans mind-junk from our brains. The brain doesn’t rest during sleep, but it is active, too active, in my opinion,…
Read MoreOn hurricanes and open heart surgery
On hurricanes and open heart surgery In this post: I am a happy person, not a inherently happy person but a person who has worked hard for her happiness. Naturally, when life sucks big time I am as despondent as everybody else and I haven’t been able to catch a break since at least 2013.…
Read MorePeripheral Vision: A Short Journey in Poetic Prose
Peripheral Vision: A Short Journey in Poetic Prose In this post: Distractions, outrage, and cut flowers. Sometimes I write poetic prose. The thing with this type of writing is that it can mean a lot or nothing; it can be beautiful or just a weird string of words put together haphazardly. Meaning and beauty are created…
Read MoreEl Cazador de los Mosquitos (Mosquito Hunter)
El Cazador de los Mosquitos (Mosquito Hunter) In this post: There are things in life of which we don’t become aware until were are right in the middle of them; we cannot, for the life of us, tell when we started that road that sealed our destinies forever. On the other hand, there are times…
Read MoreA tiny Lemon Tree, Part II
A tiny Lemon Tree, Part II In this post: “There is no knowledge that is not power.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Society and Solitude” (1870). I love this quote, but this post is not about it. Another week starts, it feels as if it is suspended in time. There are so many things that are going…
Read MoreIntroducing Mustrum Augustin Picamore
Introducing Mustrum Augustin Picamore In this post: Before there was roxannalopez.com, there was this little known, little visited, and not at all successful blog rantinella.com which was not more than an expensive hobby that didn’t even pay for itself. I have since pulled the plug on it but memories remain and, except for the utter…
Read MoreCorona-Cat
Corona-Cat In this post: Not much, just a photo and a short paragraph but you know how they say that a picture is worth a thousand words. We were still living in Qatar at that time; the gilded cage that got even more gilded and more cagey in the middle of the pandemic. This is…
Read MoreCelebrating five ten
Celebrating Five Ten In this post: Another oldie but goodie from my former blog. RantInElla.com celebrates five and ten! Five months, ten posts of short essays containing stuff that nobody cares about! And we are proud of it. To mark this occasion, RantInElla.com’s Executive Director, Stick Person, and our Creative Team Lead, The-Voices-in-Your-Head discuss the…
Read MoreMoon Born, Teaser
Moon Born Teaser In this post: I bet you didn’t know that I wrote a book; it’s called Lizard-Monkeys and Other Stories and it is NOT for children. People asked me what is it about and I had a hard time trying to define it because it is about many things, mostly about identity and gentle…
Read MoreUncertainty and Change
Uncertainty and Change In this post: A book critique and a collection of seriously impractical advice for the fluffy-minded. A few months ago, I went back to read “Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change” by Pema Chödrön. Such a small book, such a long time to read. I bought this book last year in one…
Read MoreA Bonfire in the Desert
A Bonfire in the Desert In this post: Scorpions, snakes, fire, desert glory, sand, and secretive creatures. Also, I might have had MERS in 2018. A long time ago, somebody I knew told me that she only liked to go to places where she could be comfortable. We were talking about camping on the beach,…
Read MoreUs vs Cat
Us vs Cat In this post: He is aptly named Maj, his majesty the cat, and he owns his name as much as he owns his new humans and everything else that he wants around the house. I have mentioned before this stray cat that would visit us from times to times and consent to…
Read MoreLife and sticky things that will gross you out
Life and sticky things that will gross you out In this post: This post was originally published in 2017 and originally titled “Writing and the kitchen sink” and let’s just say that I have learned a lot since then—about titles and about stuff that lives in the sink. Last year I bought this thin, funny…
Read MorePanthera Leo
Panthera Leo In this post: In the African savannah survival favors the lucky. A new flash fiction long enough to be more than a meme and short enough to fit right in with the limited attention span of modern society. Hoof prints, fresh droppings, trampled grass and a bovine scent; the herd cannot be too…
Read MoreRoxanna Reads a Book About Astronomy
Roxanna Reads a Book About Astronomy In this post: I tell you a little bit about my ordeal and failure in the quest to hire a voice actor, and where that effort led me. Additionally, I’ll treat you to the sound of my mellifluous voice and my exotic Puerto Rican accent, while I read aloud…
Read MoreA Particle in a Box
A Particle in a Box In this post: This post occurs between a special set of boundary conditions, and on the intersection of science, art, and speculative language. You can think of it as one of my love poems to electrochemistry. Lately, I have been thinking on and off about electrons. Not all electrons of…
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