Las estrellas means "the stars" in Spanish. I was supposed to fly out of San Jose at 6am on Tuesday, but I had a strange reaction to the meds I took the night before and literally could not wake up. I was dragged out of bed, tossed in a car, pushed up to the flight desk and thrown into a wheelchair and rolled up to secruity all while I was "asleep." Really, I could not wake up. Finally, I woke up enough to know that if I had to be in a space as enclosed as an airplane, I would probably die of heart failure (or vomit on the person next to me.)

So I cancelled that flight and flew out of Sacramento that night. Sunsets in Sacramento are beautiful. However, red eye flights are a nightmare for me except for one thing...

...las estrellas. Seeing the stars from the air was a thrill. I hope I never forget them.

So after two nights of no sleep at all. I was quite crazy. I tried to go to class right after I came into Maryland, but I had to leave lecture mid way through. I ended up sitting on the bathroom floor sobbing and crying hysterically. Unfortunately, I can't remember what I was crying about. I do remember trying to convince myself that the tears in this instance were nothing more than a product of adreneline, and over stimulated brain chemistry. But that just made me cry harder.

Eventually, the lights turned out automatically since I wasn't moving that much. I, of course, am afraid of the dark. So I went out to get some sun before going back to the classroom which was by then empty except for my stuff.

As I was sitting in the grass, behind a bush, under the sun, a dog came up to me. Now this is the dog that the professor who teaches the class just before the one I had left owns. She takes the dog to class. She takes the dog everywhere. And later that night it occurred to me that I should get a dog.

I didn't make a call to anyone while I was weeping on the floor in the bathroom cause I didn't want to scare anyone, but I think a dog might be able to see me cry without freaking out. So now, I'm seriously praying about getting one. Hopefully, I can train it over the summer because I probably shouldn't get it before then.

And so, I want to name her estrellas - las estrellas.

The only problem is how to pronounce that. A lot of my Spanish training is from an Argentin friend. They pronounce the double ll's like sh (estre-shas) as opposed to the rest of the Spanish speaking community (estre-yas) One of the songs I sang on Easter was in Spanish, Via Dolorosa. I kept on mixing up my accents so I need to decide how I want to call my dog if I get it.

I was telling my brother about the whole idea this morning. Last night he picked me up from school, made me dinner and bought me pink tulips. (Note to self: do something nice for my nice brother.) When I said the name I wanted it naturally came out the Argentin way which as I said is how I'm most familiar with speaking, but he didn't understand it till I said it the mainland Spanish way.

Well, when and if I see her I'll know how to call her. She probably won't mind either way.