http://gabriellaopaz.com A Collection of Random Thoughts Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:22:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Have you ever held a dream close to your heart, but realistically accepted that you most likely will never do it? I've secretly wanted to be a professional athlete, or dancer, since I was a child, yet life took another route. While I dreamed of the uneven bars, my parents ... http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=63 This is a question that's been gnawing at me for quite some time, and to be honest, I'm no closer to the answer now than I was 5 years ago. I keep thinking that life will throw me a bone, a clue-stick to know when someone is screaming "help" behind ... http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=60 You know you're a shitty blogger when you don't even remember the password to your own blog. What's worst, I'm approaching the anniversary of my Dad's birthday, almost one year to date when I last posted something on this thing. What's stopping me you ask? Much like the young adolescent ... http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=58 This is Isabel's first day as a third grader.  She admitted to 'butterflies in her stomach' before school started. Cameron, her 5 year old brother, is still confused after stating, "Sister, why did you eat butterflies?" http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=56 Yesterday, while taking the train down to Barcelona, I came across a Ted Talk that I felt was absolutely astounding. Philip Zimbardo a past president of the American Psychological Association and a professor emeritus at Stanford, Zimbardo retired in 2008 from lecturing, and has not only researched the psychology of ... http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=49 These statements were taken from a book called "Disorder in the Court", and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place. Sent to me by a ... http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=41 I adore oil paintings, as there is something intrinsically beautiful about the medium. I love stumbling across an oil painting with such vibrancy and life that I can't help but smile. Color that jumps out of the painting and literally grabs hold of you, leaving you completely breathless, is a ... http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=28 You always said that I was different, following some internal voice only heard from within. And looking back, I can only imagine how frightened that must have made you - perpetually wary of my choices, of my path, of getting to some final destination in one piece. But ironically, no ... http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=18 In my oh-so-memorable days of high school, I compiled a mental check list of excuses I could conveniently access whenever my overweight and heavily mustached gym teacher required a 1 mile run from us. They ranged from my stomach pains offset from the pre-packaged bologna laid passively between two white ... http://gabriellaopaz.com/?p=3