Look at This Photograph

Like so many other technology users, I've had my fair share of tragic experiences with an array of devices. Ruined my Gameboy's start button by using the MissingNo cheat in Pokemon Red? Been there. Soaked my laptop to oblivion the day before a final? Done that. Dropped a cell phone onto any number of undesirable elements? Only about thirty times a day. 

While a significant number of these events have included one or more family members (e.g. the time my brother and I physically ripped my flip phone in half over a taco), I've been perfectly capable of ruining valuable things, be they mine or my family's, all on my own. If everyone has a cross to bear, mine is made up of waterlogged electronics, shattered screens and ripped cords. So when my dad ruined his camera's memory card last week by mistaking it for a piece of chocolate and chewing it repeatedly, I couldn't help but feel a little bit exonerated. I'd stepped on, dropped, misplaced, and tripped over, but at least I'd never nearly eaten my family's precious memories! 

The hilarity of my dad putting a Micro SD card in his mouth and not immediately realizing that it wasn't a piece of candy far outweighs the loss of those precious memories, but it's kind of a bummer that our Utah/ road trip photos poofed into oblivion the moment his teeth scratched the memory chip. In lieu of the real thing, here are some hastily made sketches of the photos you would have seen had my dad not gone after a third helping of dessert. 

Turns out that people in Ogden like free concerts, which is always a plus. 

This is stick-figure-Francisco trying a little indoor skydiving. It was hard to draw the way his cheeks flapped, so your imagination will have to do most of the work here. 

The five of us had a little fun taking family photos in front of the train museum in Ogden. 

This was shortly before Natalia got yelled at for Snapchatting instead of patriotically admiring the national landmark behind her. 

My dad took lots of pictures of pretty clouds and sunsets... so much Pinterest potential gone to waste. 

We'd considered photoshopping Ernesto and my brother onto this one for next year's Christmas card, but I guess we don't have to worry about that anymore.

Cue Nickelback.

List of Thoughts I Am Too Lazy To Make Into A Real Post

1. My dad and I got to see Andrea Ledesma in Munich! She and Jörg took the two-hour train from Neumarkt and spent Sunday eating white sausage and seeing impressionist paintings and drinking German punch with us. I tell you this so that you will think we are classy and cultured, when really the opposite is true because my dad and I spent Monday night watching Friends in German. Really it was just me watching Friends with a German phrasebook in hand trying to see what the laughtrack was laughing at while my dad was Skyp(e?)ing with my mom. Other notes about the trip..

-  ABSURDLY expensive internet ($6 euro per hour. PER HOUR!)

- ABSURDLY amazing Michael Jackson altar randomly sitting there on a street. I mean there is some seriously heartfelt fandom going on in Munich. 

The king of Bavaria is no match for the king of pop. 

MJ = Just another part of Munich. 

Speaking of Michael Jackson, this video does a pretty good job of showing exactly what I look like 90% of the time I'm in the kitchen. 

2. The latest Modern Family episode confirmed yet again that Cameron Tucker and I are the exact same person. Exactly. It is mildly terrifying. Even though I'm sure that none of you are in the least bit interested by the freakish similarities between me and TV's most loveable gay dad, I am taking notes to dedicate a whole post (with actual sentence structure) to this. The jist of it will probably be something along the lines of: Paulina Lopez and Cameron Tucker: Hypersensitive, passive aggressive, believe "the more you spend the more you save," invest way too much meaning on random events and cry for hours when others do not remember dozens upon dozens of these tiny but meaningful moments, own too many shirts, have an unhealthy relationship with food, etc.  Stay tuned.


3.  Why yes, I did see The Muppet Movie in theatres. Twice. I wouldn't want to see it a third time because everything about Walter makes me want to punch him in the face. Everything about Kermit makes me want to punch him in the face, too. It's the same feeling I got from Mickey Mouse, or Tommy from the Rugrats/All Grown Up, or Little Foot from The Land Before Time. There's something about these characters that makes me feel like I'm being conned.

4. I tried making a list of the top five worst Christmas songs, but all I could come up was Christmas with Weezer, the Christmas album my sister keeps playing around the house.



 I'm into celebrity Christmas albums as much as the next person, but whoever thought that a rock version of O Come All Ye Faithful and O Holy Night would be a good idea is doing the world a disservice.

5. I was going to write something about Herman Cain and Pokemon, but these guys say it best. Needless to say, I was crossing my fingers that he'd quote the ancient prophecy with the clever plot-twisting "ash" pun.

Postcards from Paulina

This was originally going to be a post about traveling in Munich with my dad (see the clever title I came up with?!), but like so many other times during this trip, plans have changed.

Obviously, if I wanted to write a post about my really interesting and educational travels, I needed to stand on the shoulders of giants by seeing how Buster writes his travel blog. So I went to Postcards From Buster and was browsing through some of his posts when I came across a little place called.. GUANAJUATO, MEXICO YEAAAAAHBUDDY!

 <-  Just a completely real, totally not fake picture Buster took. Here's what he had to say about the most beautiful place on earth

The coolest part of this post was reading that Buster met a mime named Sigfrido, which is remarkably similar to Sigifredo (Yes, Ernesto). 

In conclusion, PBS knows where it's at. Also in conclusion, Buster and I are basically the same person because we are both traveling with our dads and we use the exact same angle when photographing the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato.