TheRadicalReality

por aquí, por allá

2011-06-11T22:32:00.000+03:00

truly I am not sure I am here at this very moment

Looking out x you!

2009-01-11T00:16:00.002+02:00

Dear Reina,
If you see this message, please let me know where you shall be found (I hope in a very near future).
Traces of blog-talk I have collected around say you brought down your blog because of a job-change. Hope thing are going ok!

A special kiss x u in this 2009!

simple life makes life so simple (and cool, sometimes...)

2008-06-10T11:38:00.002+03:00

A mild, himid and rainy day, and here I sit on my coach with nothing ahead but the promise of listening to the light beat of drops falling on the outside and, even more enjoyable, to the dozen of discs collection of brazilian music (all the possible styles you can imagine), which I have borrowed from a brazilian friend I'm sure I'm going to like even more of what I already like by the end of the day. Believe me, a lighting might strike me today and I'd die happy.

Happy 2008!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-03T21:36:00.000+02:00

All best wishes x this brand new year!!! (and if you are reading this, a million thanks x still visiting this site)

Hope you enjoyed a nice x-mas with all your dear ones and that these first days of January have brought you a little something of all the wonderful things I wish you experience in the months to come - I'll check with the gods above to make sure you really have all your dreams come true, ok! ; )

Not that I am making any New Year resolutions, but I do hope to be around here a lot more than I have done in the last twelve months. I am currently working on a way to improve internet connection and "network" both PC's at home, so if everything goes ok, I might be able to connect soon to the web from my home PC (right now, only my girl's PC is connected and since she is usually working with it, it's not that I feel like interrupting - ¿what would I say, I mean... "Hey you, stop your damn job and lemme blog a littlebit!!"... I might try that, but then you'd have to read all sad posts about why she left me and that kinda things ; )

Anyways, I am just happy to have time to drop by and see how you are all doing... And don't take me wrong (like I am flirting with you or something like that), but I do believe your are all lokking superb this brand new year.

Besos & Kisses!

My trip to Athens...

2007-09-16T11:43:00.000+03:00

Yes, sir! That blurry thing all the way uphill is The Acropolis...
Greeks invented The Acropolis because, just like Romans and other ancient cultures, they loved ruins and gigantic stone buildings...

And they also had some really pissy Gods living up those hills, who really get pissed off if they didn't get their right share of temples and faithful adoration...
They also invented Piraeus and other ports because they really cracked their asses off with wars and that sort of things and, back in those old crazy Mediterranean days, there was no way to win a war -or even a tiny battle- without a decent navy...

Once they won their wars, they took money back from defeated enemies and went shopping around the beautiful streets of Plaka and Monastiraki...

Where they could always stop for a celebration drink, in a nice terrace...

Or enjoy delicious celebration meals!!!

They never stopped looking at the hills, though...
... just in case the Gods got pissed again and claimed for a new war!!

Some years (luckily) they prefered to stay in peace, just enyoing their wonderful panoramic views and keeping an eye on Athens.

I had the chance to enjoy a few days in Athens, a couple of weeks ago. It was for work reasons, but I made the most out of whatever second I had free to enjoy the city. Very interesting place. A bit huge for european city standards, chaotic and slightly polluted, but very attractive indeed. Loved the people and the food. I might be going back to work there again in a month or so. I'll see if I can get new (and better!!) pictures.

WTF!!!

2007-05-23T00:48:00.000+03:00

It took me eons to get to post this line... WTF has blogger done?...

... and so it will be

2007-01-23T01:07:00.000+02:00

Had everything gone right, I should have been leaving for India in about a week, a day more or less... But destiny's been a bit shitty with Mrs. G's health (nothing serious, guys, but she's gotta take it easy for some time), so she's been recommended to avoid long hours of flying (bye, bye Delhi!), watch out strictly what she eats –her liver on strike it seems- (bye, bye delicious and spicy Indian food) and to avoid unnecessary stress, like long rides in crowded trains and things like that (and who, in his sound mind, would want to go India and miss the excitement of what must be one of the most colourful train systems in the world)… AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

With that on our shoulders, after we had gotten our visas (bye, bye 150 euros!!) and all suggested vaccination (bye, bye other 50 euros!!!... but good thing we had not paid for our tickets yet), we’ve had to retrace steps and go back to Plan B… Plan B which, if chronologically intended, would not really be a Plan B, but more like a former Plan A, once abandoned… Summarizing, we’ll be heading for Rome and southern Italy, as soon as February kicks in. My millions of faithful readers (ok, maybe half a million or less) might remember that I was just about to go to Rome last year, somewhere around March, when I had to start on a new job and basically re-structure most of my life… Ok, I just had to re-structure my work shift and my work place, but you know that I enjoy travelling and planning my visits, so if one of them gets screwed I tend to excessive existential dramatization and really get blue, blue, blue...

Of course, I’m delighted to go to Italy… But I’d been a lot happier if nothing had intervened on the trip to India, I must confess. Reason for heading to Italy is that we’ll be making most of the travelling by sea (which can hardly be stressful to anyone, unless the Mother of all Storms hits your boat, but I seriously doubt that happens in a boring waves sea like the Mediterranean) and any inland connection (either by train or bus) can easily be adapted for short rides… Needless to say, it’s a destiny that we’ve also been longing for, for quite a few years now.

We’ll see what happens…

Kisses mucho, people!

-on another shitty note, I was just about to finish the first chapter for the novel I pretend to write and my PC died... cool, isn't it?... I guess I'll have to get a new piece of junk, but that will have to wait for after I come back (if I have any money left)... First things first, like grandmas like to say)

con todo mi corazón...

2006-12-30T16:11:00.000+02:00

Best season greetings for all of you, beautiful people, blogging out there!!!!!!
I'm currently on vacation, still in Barcelona, but getting ready to land on India, by the mid of January...

I swear to you I'd love to spend more time here, but now that I'm not working, Mrs G keeps me away from the PC with some menacing looks which read "Ok, you sit there and spend your time blogging, instead of with me, and you'll be sleeping alone ALL this winter", so that's how it goes.

I could also say on my defense that I've been doing some reserch and exercising my hand for a police novel I would like to write. This is just the beginning of the beginning of a project, which is yet very, very far of looking like anything that might resemble a book, but it's been lots of fun and incredibly time consuming... If things go right, and I'm able to organize myself, I' like to have the body of a first draft in approximately three months and and first "decent enough to let anyone read, but far from done" revised copy in about half a year from now...
If I manage to find time for translation, one thing you can be sure of is that you'll be the first lucky guys&gals to enjoy one of the try-out chapters...
Ladies & gentlemen, I gotta go now. Mrs is starting to give that look whenever she walks through the room and I don't wanna spend the whole winter without the pleasure of sharing warm, happy feet (and other things ;) )...

TAKE LOTS OF CARE!!!
AND MAY THIS NEW YEAR 2007 BRING YOU ALL YOU'VE BEEN WISHING FOR!!!!
BESOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

duh, duh, duh...

2006-11-05T13:03:00.000+02:00

Since I hardly ever have time to write here nowadays, I'm thinking of turning this site into a photo-blog or something like it... Wonder how that works... Maybe I should get a camera first, right?... um... Hey! what if I leave the blank spaces and you put the pics there!... um... Ok, I'm lazy, I know... Well... we'll see...

Oh yeah!

2006-10-29T19:27:00.000+02:00

It's Sunday, 18:30, Spanish time, right at this very minute, and I've been working non-stop (just the minutes for ONE cigarrete) from 8:00 am this morning... And no, I'm not leaving the office yet!! Hope this makes feel better anyone who stops by here with a crampy Monday face!!

Someday you will see

2006-10-15T14:46:00.000+03:00

Call me egocentric, if you wish, but I’ve always felt inclined to this particular theory that I am as important to the universe, as the universe it is to me. In other the words, I cannot fully reject the idea that the day death calls me away, the whole world as I’ve known it will also come with me.

I don’t say this to scare you, in case you are the kind concerned about Armageddon, or to stand defiant, in front of those who find themselves attracted to the answers of religions. Far from both of these ideas, I just say it because I feel it. And in feeling this way, I would dare to say I experience the vastness of insignificance and, at the same time, the insignificance of vastness.

And no, I am not religious.
And no, I am not searching for answers.

I am, therefore I am. And that’s all there is to it.

Life is bringing me to this sort of rubber band mood in which I might expand and expand and, even if I break, I know my essence will remain elastic. I if know what I am and I know what I will be, does it make sense to wonder how I should be? Why search the answers for questions which are not necessarily real, in the sense that they might belong to us for all the relevance we lay on them, but do not comply with our true nature? What else, if not our raw self, will remain closest and purest to what we are and, allow me to laugh on this, what we “should” be?

Every day I feel farther away from anything that might define me and, in taking this step, every day that passes I feel closer to myself, because I simply exist.

I exist.
I expand. One day I might explode. That would be fun. (and not as tragic at all as it might sound…)

TheRadicalReality

2006-10-04T00:33:00.000+03:00

"Sin saber por qué sabemos que la respuesta yace a la vuelta de la esquina...
Apuramos los últimos pasos, dominamos los nervios y, de repente, ahí estamos... Frente a frente
Ha pasado todo el tiempo del mundo desde que nos miramos desafiantes...
Creímos, ingenuos, que ya lo sabíamos todo. Que estabamos listos...
Supimos, absolutos se?ores en nuestra ignorancia, que teníamos la respuesta.
Lamentarse a estas horas, a pesar de lo que digan los perros, por supuesto que tiene sentido.
Se?or ten piedad de nosotros...
Cuando tengas tiempo, claro..."

Unfreezing fingers...

2006-09-03T15:38:00.000+03:00

It’s a beautiful sunny Sunday morning in Barcelona and, yes, my friends, here am I, at the office, supposedly, working. Supposedly is not much of a supposition, actually. I did come to work this morning, but I’ve finished my share of pending calls and reports and now I just felt like writing. Anything. Because I really miss not having the chance to spend more time in these whereabouts. And because I have those precious seconds…

Now it seems like the right time and the right moment. I enjoy a beautiful view over Barcelona docks and Frank Sinatra sings “That’s Life” on my improvised “sound-surrounding multi stereo system”, set up with my old rundown Sony disc-man and two lousy speakers, since the very first minute I took place on my new working desk, now a few months ago. I am the official and un-official, office DJ (no one else claimed for the position). I sometimes drive people crazy, listening to records, all working-day long, one after another. Most of the times, tough, I make them happy. I’ve got this sort of “musical sixth sense” and I’m ready to catch the moods around to pick just the right piece for the right person at the right moment. I deserve a Nobel prize, I think. But I’m in no hurry. All come to those who wait… Or so, they say (who is they?? By the way)

Time has certainly past since the last day I had enough minutes to be here and allow my thoughts to flow out. And I can tell you: Bloglessness is hard!!. Really hard, if you’ve never truly felt like quitting and you feel so linked to this lost, neglected, site on the web, that it’s virtually impossible not to spend a day without thinking or remembering about the things that you, crazy people, have done and are doing out there (I keep peeping on you, dudes). I know I’ve been out of your lives these past few months, but you’ve definitely not been out of mine. That’s for sure.

Things are not likely to change, though, for the time being. I’m still working on a “one day free a week, if possible” schedule and that’s not going to be different until we reach the last couple of months of the year, when most cruises make their way back home through the Atlantic and low season allow us to recover some breath. That’s the way it is and I did know it before I took this job, so there is no complaining about it. And truly, if I were to complain, I’d be being a complete phoney. Of course, my free time is nothing to envy, but I’m far from saying that’s limited my life in any way. I’ve had and I’m still having a great time at work. I’ve met lots of new and wonderful people, job related, but socially expansible and, on top of all, I’ve been to Amsterdam twice to assist on some new operations the company is developing (something I did not expect at all –so soon, at least- when joining in, but certainly did come as a superb surprise and a more than challenging experience)…

One more thing I’ve learned, as a direct consequence of my limited free time: “If the day is too short, you’ve still got the whole night ahead”. Make that hot, humid, crazy summer nights and the lesson is certainly worth taking.

(not necessarily related, but I went to see Pearl Jam, a couple of nights ago, and they were fucking amazing… I just had to say it… I think I lost like five pounds just jumping and sweating… which now leaves me with an overweight of… well, forget it)

life bits

2006-08-19T20:56:00.000+03:00

Pablito clavó un clavito...
?qué clavito clavó Pablito?

(a mi, la verdad, siempre me intrigó más bien cuántos...)

'Cause I'll never forget you...

2006-07-16T14:26:00.000+03:00

I would have never expected I'd come back from bloglessness (even if on a quick stop) to find you gone...

I read you are now in a different world and I can still not believe I have to believe this...

Thank you for showing us your world and allowing us to see through your eyes... almost literally.

I already miss you deeply and I can only imagine what those beautiful dear ones you have so close must be going through...

Thanks x all you shared with us, you wonderful girl.
I'll never forget you...

Good Bye, beautiful Jenn!

(anyone interested on discovering this amazing girl, follow the link on Tourist of Everything)

Todo el mundo busca el gol...

2006-06-09T23:17:00.000+03:00

As you might all know already, today it's the first day of the World Cup. Why do I write about this?? That's simple. I lack time for anything that involves meditating about a post, I've posted close to nothing in the last months and, last but not least, if I start thinking about what should I post about, probably I'm gonna run out of time and I'll have my millions of readers crying again, when they reach here and see a new page in blank... ;)
OK, as I was saying, today it's the first day of the World Cup and, even if I'm not what you might call a crazy football/soccer fan, I do enjoy watching the World Cup... And I join the feeling of those millions of human beings all over the world that believe that World Cup days should be a three-week international holiday, in which no one should be allowed to do anything but drink, eat chips and sit in front of a TV, rooting for their favorite team...
"C'mon!!! Are you in your right mind???" - some of you might say. No!, nope fellows, I am not!... Sorry, Yes, I am. That's what I meant. ??? These are the words of a wise man you are reading... Ok, maybe not a wise man, but not a dumbass either... Ok, I'll settle for a dumbass too, as long as you are not planning on spitting on me or throwing juicy coloured fruits, while mocking at me (still, if you feel like pursuing this latter, I'd appreciate it if you chose soft fruits and not hardshell things like coconuts or spiky fruits like lychies...)...
As I was saying... What was I saying???? Ok, I think I remembered... The World Cup... Yes, the World Cup... This competition, believe it or not, it's not rubbish or anything like... I truly believe it is probably the only worldwide sport competition that - unless you reside in the US or Canada - really keeps the world holding his breath... I've been lucky enough to contemplate development of this competition in different countries and people, well, at least guys, really live in another planet while the World Cup games are being held... This said, I do think it is definitely too the best moment in which a woman can ask anything to her mate, boyfriend, husband, etc, etc... Anything you ask, girls, you'll get it, if you ask for it while your man is watching a football/soccer match - and I mean any match, because one good thing about the World Cup - that not even the Olympics, and much less any other international sport event - have, it's that boys like watching every single game, not matter what the quality of the team or their sport history... Somehow, it's really weird... One way or another, we know that the World Cup is most probably gonna be won by one by either teams like Brazil, Germany, Italy or Argentina, but even if you have the chance to see a game like, let's say US v/s Canada, boys are still gonna see it and, not matter how improbable, even enjoy it... So girls, this is your chance... Ask your boys for a new dress and they will say "yeah, yeah, now move and let me see the game"... Ask your boys for the keys of his new car and you´ll hear the "yeah, yeah" again... Ask your boy for marriage, if you've meaning to, but he doesn't seem to catch your thoughts, and I'm sure that he´ll say "yeah, yeah"... It is a proven, scientific fact, that guys have no brains while the World Cup is being held, so go for it.

This thing last only four weeks, so you better hurry.

Believe it or not...

2006-05-17T00:13:00.000+03:00

... I exist.
Yes, I exist.
Life is keeping apart from this site, but I will not give up.
Trust me...
I shall return!!!!

- and of course it wouldn't hurt either if you spammed my boss's mail with requests for more free time and, why not, even a raise... ;)

(working like a pig, but happy, so don't worry...
Now that I think of, how hard can a pig really work???)

BESOS MUCHOS PEOPLE!!!

AARRRRRRGGGH!!!

2006-04-24T00:23:00.000+03:00

Believe me, I DO HATE not having enough time to drop by more often!!!
MISS YOU ALL! :(

Creánme, ODIO no tener suficiente tiempo para pasar por aquí más a menudo!!!
LOS ECHO DE MENOS!!! :(

THAT SAID, HAVE A GREAT WEEK! :)
ESO DICHO, QUE TENGAN UNA GRAN SEMANA! :)

Yuhuu!! anyone there???

2006-04-09T18:33:00.000+03:00

This is where I'll be working the days ships arrive...
Aquí estaré trabajando los días que lleguen barcos...

And here (that round looking building right in the middle) is where I've been laying my cute working ass, these pre-season days...
Y aquí (ese edificio redondeado justo en el medio) es dónde he estado reposando my simpático y trabajador trasero, estos días de pre-temporada...

More or less, this is one of the city views you'd see from my office.
Más o menos, esta es una de las vistas de la ciudad que verían desde mi oficina.

My first week at my new job is over. It's been lots of work. Along with another colleague, we need to set up and conduct interviews for almost 100 people, within two weeks. Aside, we also have to prepare a new training course that we'll conduct on the first week of May. Schedule will be tight. But the environment at the office is great and I'm really enjoying the process. Do not worry if you don't see me around much these days. You know where I'll be and what I'll be doing... :)

Mi primera semana de trabajo nuevo llegó a su fin. Ha sido un montón de trabajo. Junto a otro colega, necesitamos organizar y realizar entrevistas para casi 100 personas, en un plazo de dos semanas. Aparte, también tenemos que preparar un nuevo curso de formación que llevaremos a cabo la primera semana de Mayo. El calendario se nos harán un poco justo. Pero el ambiente en la oficina es muy bueno y, realmente, estoy disfrutando el proceso. No se preocupen si no me ven mucho por aquí estos días. Ya saben dónde estaré y que estaré haciendo.

Vivito y coleando...

2006-03-31T17:44:00.000+03:00

Howdy there! No, I have not stopped blogging! (for those of you who didn't read the small letter in my previous post)
If I've not been around these last few days it's because this will be my last free week before I start working and I've been way too busy... HAVING A GREAT TIME!!!
Most of my friends knew I'd be free this week, so the days have past pretty much answering the "hey, man, whatcha doing tonight?" sort of calls and going out almost every day to enjoy these first days & nights of Spring... I've drunk significantly (some would say excessively, not me ;) ... I've danced my ass off... I've attended two concerts (speed metal and flamenco fusion - go figure my preferences.. :P) and I've even had time to get up relatively early more and do the lazy lizard bit, enjoying a few bears, happily sitting on a terrace, with the sun hitting my face... And I'm going out tonight and tomorrow night too, so, most probably, you won't be seen my face until next week.
I've also had time to play Chef at home and Mrs G is already getting sad, because she knows that starting next week I won't be there at midday to spoil her with delicious home made food.
Last, but not least, I went to see my office on Wednesday morning for the first time and it is FUCKING beautiful! All windows everywhere, sun coming in by truck loads and the most amazing view over Barcelona's port. I LOVE IT; LOVE IT; LOVE IT!!!
Did I tell you I've been enjoyinf myself??? ;)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND...
and hope to see you all soon again.
:)

Goodbye / Adios...

2006-03-27T03:16:00.000+03:00

All things must come to an end. That’s a fact.
Todas las cosas deben llegar a un final. Es un hecho.

No matter how many good moments, how many new experiences or how many good friends one leaves behind, all things must pass.
Sin importar cuántos buenos momentos, cuántas nuevas experiencias o cuántos buenos amigos uno deja detrás, todas las cosas deben pasar.

There is a moment and place for everything.
Existe un momento y un lugar para cada cosa.

And also a moment in which we must move on.
Y también un momento en el que debemos avanzar.

Yes, I know there will be things I’ll miss…
Sí, sé que habrá cosas que extra?aré…

… but a man cannot be a prisoner to his memories.
… pero un hombre no puede ser prisionero de sus recuerdos.

It is now my time to go…
Es mi hora de marchar…

And try a new road.
Y probar un nuevo camino.

THIS WILL BE MY LAST POST…
ESTE SERÁ MI ULTIMO POST…

(… from my old job’s office… Starting April 1st, I’ll have a brand new desk on an office overlooking the Mediterranean, woohoo!!)
(… desde la oficina de mi viejo trabajo… A partir del 1 de abril, tendré un nuevo escritorio en una oficina con vistas al Mediterraneo, yupiii!!!)

Dedicated to the memory of all those wonderful guys & gals I’ve been working with, for almost two years, and who don’t even know this blog exists.

Dedicado a la memoria de todos aquellos chicos & chicas maravillosos con los que he trabajado, por casi dos a?os, y que ni siquiera tienen idea de la existencia de este blog.

GOTCHA???
;)

2006-03-22T07:53:00.000+02:00

Algunos dicen que estoy contigo, pero no es cierto.
Some say I’m with you, but it’s not real.
Es improbable.
It’s improbable.
Y faltaría a la verdad…
And it wouldn’t honor the truth...

Aunque tampoco podría decir que están mintiendo.
Though I couldn’t say they are lying either.

Es un buen día para olvidar…
It’s a good day to forget…
Incluso, si no hay nada digno de olvido.
Even, if there is nothing worth forgetting.

Es un día como cualquier otro…
It’s a day like any other…
Pero un día como cualquier otro, al fin y al cabo, es siempre un día distinto.
But a day like any other, one way or another, it’s always a day that it’s different.

Te recuerdo.
I remember you.
Y al recordarte, recuerdo de golpe cada momento.
And when I do, I remember at once every single moment.
Los tuyos. Los míos. Los nuestros.
Yours. Mine. Ours.

Y, evidentemente, (sobre todo) los que no nos pertenecieron.
And, evidently, (above them all) those that didn't belong us.

La nicotina raspa mi garganta, pero nunca duele.
Nicotine scrapes my throat, but it never hurts.
Compartimos el humo, compartimos la esencia...
We share the smoke, we share the essence…

Y no puedo evitar preguntarte…
And I can’t help asking you…
?Por qué el sabor del tabaco es tan diferente en la boca de cada mujer?
Why is the taste of tobacco so different in the lips of every woman?

Solo, con mi copa, me siento en la barra.
Alone, with my drink, I sit at the bar.
Y me acompa?an fantasmas que brindan felices, en cada taburete.
In the company of ghosts who raise their toasts happily, in each of the stools.
Por ti y por mí.
To you and me.
Por nosotros.
To us.
?Quién sabe por quien?
Who knows to whom?

Siempre es bueno tener amigos a tu lado con un par de copas...
It’s always good to have friends on your side with a couple of drinks…

Incluso, cuándo no existen...
Even, when they don’t exist…
O no son capaces de beber.
Or they are not able to drink.

Time-out...

2006-03-15T07:18:00.000+02:00

Temporarily out of service due to relatives visiting Barcelona. Hope to catch up in a week or so...
Have a nice week and thanks for visiting.

Temporalmente fuera de servicio debido a visita de familiares en Barcelona. Espero ponerme al día en una semana, mas o menos...
Que tengas una buena semana y gracias por la visita.

The day I forgot how to speak english...

2006-03-12T21:15:00.000+02:00

The morning of March 11th, 2004, Spain woke up with the tragic news of a series of bomb attacks over the train system that links Madrid with its surroundings. It was a hit right on the heart of the Spanish capital… And right on the heart of Spanish society. In just a few minutes, around 8:00 am, almost 200 people died and over 1500 were injured. It was, of course, unexpected and awfully traumatizing.

That morning, I woke up early and, as I usually do if so, I turned on the news. Half an hour later there was this breaking news report informing about an attack on Madrid commuter’s trains. Not knowing about victims or the brutality of the attack yet, it didn’t take me two seconds to exclaim “motherfuckers!!!”, immediately assuming that the Basque terrorist band ETA would be responsible for it. Something that, being Spain a country where Basque terrorism has been active for three decades (with almost 900 people dead as a result) probably millions of Spaniards thought exactly at the same time.

A few short hours after the attacks, the first official press release came out and the official spokesman for President Jose Maria Aznar government made it clear that they thought ETA terrorists were behind the bombings. People believed him. And considering the tragedy that Madrid was enduring, right at that very moment, I don’t think anyone would have suspected the government was not telling the truth. But…

As the day developed, new reports and TV crews started to depict a massacre that surpassed anybody’s imagination… and that it didn’t fit at all with ETA terrorist methods. Mostly reduced throughout the years to minor intensity bomb explosions and selective murder of politicians, police officials or opposing figures to Basque nationalism, the increasing number of victims and the brutality of the train attacks in Madrid soon started to look like too big a job for ETA’s hands (both in terms of intentions and capabilities). But a second official press conference took place that afternoon and the government did not hesitate in reaffirming his previous position: According to the facts they had, ETA was the number one suspect of the crime and the prior line of investigation.

That same afternoon, however, after two official declarations had charged suspicions on ETA, one nationwide radio station had the guts to break the silence about responsibilities most media had fallen into (in honest respect for such a painful tragedy and the investigation, in most cases, I believe) and aired a report saying that police forces were not precisely trailing ETA, but clues that most definitely confirmed the action of Islamist terrorists. This aired on the afternoon and I believe was just as shocking as the attacks themselves. Could the government be really hiding information? Were Spaniards being told the truth? What the hell was really happening on one of the most painful days in the history of Spain?

With elections two days ahead, on March 14, the nature of attacks being attributed to ETA or Islamist terrorists meant a whole different thing, at that moment. Being in government and with polls slightly on his favour, Jose Maria Aznar’s Popular Party (right-wing) had been heading for what most people considered a sure re-election… until those bombs exploded in Madrid. If ETA was to blame, that would have most probably secured his re-election or, at least, not played against his intentions. But if the attack was the work of an Al-Qaeda cell or Islamist related, that meant a lot trouble for Jose Maria Aznar and the Popular Party’s campaign. The strongest supporter of George W. Bush’s policy on Iraq, after Tony Blair, Aznar has decided to back up the invasion of Iraq with over 90% percent of Spanish society fiercely opposing his decision. So if those bombs in Madrid came out to be the work of Islamist terrorism, with only two days of campaign left, the road towards re-election would have, indeed, become a lot, lot more complicated.

As night approached on the day of the attacks, masses of people started to crowd the streets of most Spanish cities to protest with a simple cry: “?Quién ha sido?” (Who did it?). You could see the pain in every single face. Deep pain caused by the brutal murder of those innocent people in Madrid and a raging pain derived from seeing the essence of democracy stumble right in front of you. History proved not only that the whole world knew of the true nature of the attacks that same day (long before Spanish society could see it confirmed on their own media), but also that Jose Maria Aznar government insisted on blaming ETA almost for almost two days after the attacks and even when police investigation was confirming all the contrary. It was (and it is) one of the most despicable examples of people manipulation ever seen on a democratic society (not as much for the idea of politics manipulation itself, of course, but for the repulsive and unbelievable attempt to try something like that in such a delicate moment). Two days later, obviously, Jose Maria Aznar lost the elections.

During manifestations that same night, an American tourist approached me and asked me what was going on. I babbled a couple of words and then I just couldn’t go on. Of course, I felt horribly sad by the attacks. But I was even more pissed off and shocked by the government’s response… And I had not realized how desolated I felt until I went language blind and I just couldn’t link two sentences together in English.

I remember I did not shed any tears. But I’m sure I was crying.

Every Direction...

2006-03-09T07:11:00.000+02:00

(for any blogger's links, check on my blogroll, right there on the side...)

As this post will jump here, there and everywhere, I might as well use a decent post title and, at the same time, render a tribute to That Girl’s site "Every Direction". She is cool, she doesn’t like to freeze in the snow and I really like her blog, so I see no reason either why I couldn’t honor her with a warm tribute-in-title today. That said, I’ll now move on to another business...

I never really knew who really killed Laura Palmer… and truly I never really cared either. There is a TV channel re-running Twin Peaks, long past midnight, and I’ve been trying to watch it to see what is it that drove people so crazy when this show first aired on TV and… so far, I still don’t get it. And I like mysteries and detectives flicks, but…

The above said, I must also state here that I never really liked REM and I still don’t. The strange thing is that I can hear them with an objective mind and even recognize all the innovations and contributions they’ve made within their musical gender, but I still don’t like them. I think there is a case of bad chemistry associated with this and I sure as hell don’t know why…

Both previous paragraphs written, I now clarify that this is important information. I’ve often been given some serious menacing looks when I state either of the two things above and I would like to avoid disappointments in case my autobiography ever comes out in the market. No, I didn’t (nor wanted to) watch Twin Peaks! and no, I don’t like REM!. This sorted out, when time comes for you to read the recollection of my life, I do not want to hear any “What??!! You didn’t like Twin Peaks! You motherf***!!”

Biographically speaking, I’ve often commented to Mrs. G that I’m almost 35 and maybe I should write my own bio-book by now, but she usually looks at me in a strange way and just says “Yeah boy. Go ahead. Do it. And write all about your interesting life” with that tone in her voice that I (call me susceptible) feel is more appropriate for getting rid of pestering, little kids… I often tell her too that she should pay more attention to anything I say, because I have these moments when lots of ideas come out of my head and I’m sure more than one of them is probably a genius-like revelation that could make us rich and famous, but she usually looks at me in a strange way again and just says “Yes, maybe I should” with that same tone I just described two lines above and, BANG!, there she brings me down again … I’ve read that genius dudes pop out ideas out of their heads like water out of a crazy sprinkler, so who says I cannot become one if I keep dumping garbage out from my brain all the time???!!! (well, Mrs G is one who says no…)… About the bio-book, well, I’ve got a life, don’t I?!! And I’m sure there is a zillion things I’ve been through that people would just kill to read about! (“Yeah boy, bla, bla, bla…”)

These latter clarified, I now inform you that my mom called me yesterday and told me what a great time they all just had at Disney, last week. This was sort of a family reunion where all the penguins of my family (except for this penguin writing here) got together, so my beautiful mom kept me over an hour on the phone, giving me that careful and detailed story of adventures that all Grandmas let out when they talk about their grandchildren. I will not reproduce that “delicious” summary here, as I feel a lot of respect for all of you and, yes, I do want you to keep visiting this site. Truly important here is the fact that they had a great time and I KNOW, FOR SURE, that is undoubtedly due to the fact that Disney is within the realms of the Peanut Kingdom that our beloved Peanut Queen runs so smoothly. Majestad, thankyouverymuch and mil besos desde aquí!.

Speaking of penguins, it is also my duty here to grant the proper recognition to Brian (from the blog The State I'm In) for providing the right answer to the question posted on my previous post. Yes, dude, you rule! That penguin on my profile is called Opus and he was one of the main characters of the Bloom County comic strips, back in the eighties (he later reappeared on a strip called Outland and, if my fonts are not lying to me, he has made a new return to Sunday comics on a strip titled after him, which only runs on a few selected newspapers throughout The States). Na?ve, existentialist and good-willed, Opus was created by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, back in a lucky time when you could open Sunday strips on the US and read on the same page masterpieces such as Gary Larson’s The Far Side, Bill Waterson’s Calvin and Hobbes and Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury. A glorious (and intelligent) moment in the history of American newspaper strips that I often doubt it will ever repeat…

Well, seeing that I’ve mentioned two fellow bloggers in the last two paragraphs and another one in the starting lines of this text, I might as well keep on with it and dedicate a few words of farewell to our friend Happy and Blue2. If you’ve ever been to HB2’s site you know perfectly well then how much he will be missed. If you’ve never been there, well, you’ve still got his archives and (believe me) they are really worth reading. His departure from the blogosphere is certainly gloomy news, but I cannot do anything but wish him all the best in whatever he’s up to now (probably running deer with his bike or something like that…). We’ll miss you Happy. Best of lucks and Take care!

On the other hand… well, nothing on the other hand really… I’ve just got to put like a hundred stamps on some envelopes and, scientifically speaking, we could say I’m neglecting my duties…

We’ll catch up with conversation some other time! HAVE A NICE DAY!!!

(reading around, I’ve seen there seems to be some turbulent waters in some corners of the blogosphere. A special kiss to all of you who are going through some rough moments. Hang on!. It’ll soon be over. I’m sure!) ;)

Just a doubt...

2006-03-02T06:08:00.000+02:00

?How many of you know who that penguin on my profile is?
Just curious...

(happy Thursday BTW)
:)

YOU ARE NUTS!!!

2006-02-25T05:53:00.000+02:00

Can you believe it??!!!

I got home around 7:30 am this morning, after a whole night’s work, and these were the first words Mrs G said to me today!!

(OK. Insert flashback here)

- I get home by 7:30 am (without waking anyone up)
- I watch Sponge Bob on TV. (there is this 24 hours cable special going on)
- Around 9:00 am I go into the kitchen...

Half an hour later, a sleepy Mrs G swings the kitchen door (yes, ours is a crappy flat, but we do have a cool swinging kitchen door) and stands there staring at me with a “WTF you doing? Why aren’t you sleeping?” look in her eyes.

“What??!!” – I say . “I’m just cooking a Shrimp Soufflé and Spinach Risotto!!”

“You are nuts!!!” –she says, nodding her head, and then just turns around to go back to bed.

(Do you think she heard me watching Sponge Bob???)

So...

2006-02-23T07:58:00.000+02:00

... upon serious deliberation, finally decided:

- I'm changing jobs.

They need me to start on April 1st on the new place - so I'll try to get my ass outta here asap and see if I can enjoy a few free days before diving into action. Wooho!!!

Sunday mornings...

2006-02-19T07:43:00.000+02:00

“Despertó con una luz difuminada golpeándole los ojos. Despertó despierta, como no lo había hecho en mucho tiempo. Se sentó en la cama, abrazó sus piernas e, inconcientemente, se besó cada rodilla. Caminó a la ventana, miró a la calle y, después de dos segundos, posó sus labios sobre el vidrio. Se apartó un momento y contempló la marca de su boca, húmeda y fresca. Fijó la vista en los ojos de su propio reflejo y descubrió una alegre curva en sus labios que no sabía que sentía. Caminó unos pasos atrás y una brisa inesperada hizo que sus blancas nalgas se apretaran de frío. En el medio de la habitación, el aroma de Flower (de Kenzo), en su piel, se mezcló, de repente, con el recuerdo de aquel otro perfume que tanto extra?aba. A su mente vinieron también imágenes de desayunos en la cama, las ma?anas de domingo, con deliciosos bollitos de chocolate y una sabrosa torta de fresas. Una tibia ola de felicidad invadió su cuerpo y seis lágrimas corrieron por sus mejillas. Fue entonces cuando comprendió cómo es que siempre estarían juntas. Y que a pesar de la muerte, su amor por ella duraría eternamente…”

“She woke up with a dim light hitting her eyes. She woke up awake, like she had not felt in a long time. She sat on the bed, embraced her own legs and, unconsciously, kissed each of her knees. She walked to the window, looked down to the street and, after two seconds, placed her lips on the glass. She stepped back for a moment and contemplated the mark left by her mouth, wet and fresh. She held her gaze on the eyes of her own reflection and discovered a happy curve on her lips that she didn’t even knew she felt. She walked back a few steps and an unexpected breeze made her tighten her buns, out of the cold. In the middle of the room, the aroma of Flower (by Kenzo) on her skin, suddenly, mixed with the memory of that other perfume she missed so much. Images of breakfast in bed, on Sunday mornings, with delicious chocolate rolls and a scrumptious strawberry cake, also came to her mind. A warm wave of happiness run through her body and six tears run down by her cheeks. It was then that she understood how it was that they would always be together. And that in spite of death, her love for her would last forever…”

Not feeling that lazy, but short of time...

2006-02-16T05:01:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone!

Sorry I’ve been missing. It’s been only four days away from this site, but I do feel as if it were a lot longer.

Quick Update:
Had a few days off and I had planned to go to Rome, but trip got postponed for two reasons: Mrs. G had a bit of a work overload and I got a call last Friday to attend a job interview a couple of days ago, so our travel planning kind of messed up. Still, it’s not that bad. I think I can still gather a few days for Rome at the beginning of March and the job interview turned out to be an interesting proposal. It came from a cruise handling and port services company I’ve been working for on a part-time seasonal basis (aside from my full time job) on the last two years and now they got a full time position to offer me. Money is not a big difference really, but it is a very demanding, dynamic position that I’m sure I’d enjoy a lot and all the extra hours/days I got to make (cruise season it’s only six, seven months, but VERY, VERY intense) I would recover at a 1x1.8 rate (so, let’s say I worked 20 extra days per year, I’ recover 36!! –and not counting vacations yet). Most probably, I’d end up working seven months like a crazy dog, a couple of months at a normal rhythm (season opening and closing) and I’d have almost 3 months of free time adding up vacation and days to recover. What do you think? I’m probably giving them an answer by Friday, so I’m still on time for some feed-back.

Hope you are all doing great!

(Majestad: If you stop by, my whole family (dad, mom, bros, nephews, etc, etc…except me) are meeting in Disney next week. Could you contact your local Gods and make sure your royal county stay sunny and rainless for at least a week. ;) … I know you’ve got the power there lady! )

briefly...

2006-02-11T05:57:00.000+02:00

I'm a lazy (lousy) blogger...
I'm a lazy (lousy) blogger...
I'm a lazy (lousy) blogger...

Awright!!! That's it!!! Not any dessert for me tonight!!!

Feeling Op-Ed...

2006-02-09T04:29:00.000+02:00

There are two news that I just can’t shake from my head the last few days.

First is the current uproar generated in some Muslim countries by the controversy following the publication of a series of strips depicting Prophet Mohammed on a Danish newspaper (and later reproduced by other European media).

Second are George W. Bush’s words about America’s addiction to oil.

The first issue makes me think of the successful completion of a vicious circle. And the latter, about what terrible things could happen next.

Somehow I feel we have now reached a position in which we can summarize last years developments of the US-Middle East relation (and to some extent a significant part of the whole Global Scene) with three key elements: The tragedy of September 11th, the invasion of Iraq and this current upheaval propelled by Islamic radicals via Prophet Mohammed’s strips. Or as it might be put in other words, the World Trade Center attack as the golden opportunity for the US Government to install a new international scenario on the Arab scene; the Iraqi War as the proven fact of what that scenario would be like; and the strips’ riots as the demolishing conclusion that we have finally reached that moment where fire can be ignited even with the smallest fire.

I’m almost certain that most history books (non-US) will probably remember George W. Bush as a jerk - maybe even one of the biggest jerks in the history of the US-. But I’m also just as certain that he is really far from being that dimwit Texan the media insists on portraying. Objectively speaking, we might even consider him as one the smartest fellows to reach the US Presidency in contemporary history; smart in the sense that he really gets to do whatever he wants and he has really mastered on the ability to take advantage of his position for his own benefit, or that of its closest circle. After what this guy has pulled, it seems almost a joke what Clinton had to endure with the Lewinsky affair, what Reagan swallowed for the Iran-Contra hearings or, even, how Nixon ended with that long forgotten Watergate tale. But there you have old George still surfing the national security paranoia waves, he so cleverly jumped to (and helped to maintain) after 09/11, apparently without the slightest possibility of taking a fall. I was opposed to the invasion of Iraq. And were I American, I would not have voted him either. But I certainly grant him the credit for having the balls to go after his own personal goals (which, I believe, are far from America’s real needs or concerns).

When the US troops invaded Iraq, I truly didn’t completely dig the supposed reasons that led to it. And I don’t mean the “massive destruction weapons”, “democracy for Iraq” gibber that the US Government imposed as a motivation, but the more probable implications that were behind the stage curtains. At that moment, there were lots of talks about oil control and the establishment of US forces on a territory of unquestionable geopolitical value. It is true that they sounded like a more plausible explanation, but how could that be it? It didn’t take an expert political analyst to realize how Iraq would become the uncontrolled bee hive it currently is and, much less, to understand that oil production requires of a minimum stability to be considered a profitable investment. I was sure the US Government might have decided to go after Saddam’s head pleading the worst reasons, but I couldn’t believe they didn’t know what was going to happen. I do not consider high spheres politicians stupid. Maybe egotistical, psychopathic, ruthless or, simply, selfish; but not stupid. Then, as confrontation developed in Iraq, doubts regarding the huge masses of money being moved because of military expenditures or security and reconstruction contracts, as well as concerns related to the rise of oil prices, started to come out into the light. And things started to make more sense. As curiously enough, all of these issues, far from becoming a threat, reported a substantial benefit to a select group of the President’s “inner circle” or “supporters”. It has always been said that war is good business. But when it started to look like the President’s business… something also started to smell rotten. As for those still wanting to believe on the US Government “good” intention of bringing “democracy” to Iraq, there are two simple exercises which can illustrate much better: one consists in reviewing the –by now- rather abundant (and redundant) evidence on how the war had long been decided before it was finally declared; the other, draw a simple “link words” game with the words “USA” and “Peace promoter” on two different columns, take the test outside the US and see how many people link the two terms together (do not be surprised if they are not linked, even if they are the only words on each column).

September 11th was the beginning of an era of a dangerously uncertain confrontation, certainly, not started by the US Government, but yet, regretfully, manipulated by the people on charge of the America's destiny. After that, American policy on the Middle East –with the Iraqi war as its most explicit, yet not the only, example- could as well be considered as either one of the most “misfortunate” chain of decisions, ever taken, regarding the Middle East relations or, just all the contrary, as one of the most intriguing, worrying and obscure plans conceived by the US Administration. And everything on this situation has violated the minimum standards of common sense in such an obscene manner that I cannot help leaning for the second alternative. Confrontation is the issue. Confrontation is the business. Confrontation is what makes everybody happy among all those who could really do something to put a stop to this craziness (but, of course, are the least interested). Mayhem originated by Prophet Mohammed’s strips sadly confirms that it could virtually take nothing to light the (always manipulated) masses on fire now. Basic intelligence calls for minimization of conflict whenever friction reaches a white heat point, but has anybody seen a display of it in these last tense years of collision between the US and the Muslim world? I don’t think so. And that’s why most Arab leaders –a bunch of egomaniac, authoritarian and corrupt fellows just as intolerable- are just as satisfied with this “keep friction going” moment as their American counterparts. Because everyone here is getting a share of the cake! Bush’s circle gets the big money from US contributors. Arab leaders -even “friendly” ones- benefit both from “playing radical Muslim” to gain popular support and, at the same time, reinforce their autocratic regimes as the only “valid” option to keep things under control (and this of course, without even counting the blessing that increasing oil prices represent). As for Muslim radicals or terrorists, well, it’s almost evident that this is a “dream comes true” situation. I might be wrong, but… do you see anyone losing here?

George W. Bush has now declared that America is addicted to oil. Once he also declared that America was at war. I fear both the results of Bush’s statements or of an addicts’ resolution.

Sometimes I worry.

My Private Weirdness...

2006-02-05T22:45:00.000+02:00

I saw these 5 weird habits going around and I felt like sharing a bit of what I consider peculiar in myself. I've not been tagged and I'm not tagging anyone either, so this is for pure, free, non-abiding reading. If you wish...

1. I’m a bread addict. Yes, I cannot pass a day without digging my teeth on a delicious piece of freshly baked bread and, if I didn’t put a limit on myself, I could probably spend the whole day biting baguettes. I just love bread! And I love walking around the streets, while breaking little pieces of crunchy dough to bring into my mouth. Probably this comes from the fact I grew up in Chile (a country with one of the highest bread consumption ratio per head in the world) and luckily I now live in a city where traditional bakeries are every two blocks or so. But, I’m addict, so when I have no access to freshly baked bread, I’ll most probably end up with my teeth on a loaf of industrialized bread. Of course, when on vacation, tasting different bread types will always be one of the first things on my list.

2. I love sleeping on the floor. No mattress or anything else to cushion my delicate body. This, however, is not something I get to enjoy as much as I would like, as Mrs. G does not precisely share this trait of myself and she much rather we sleep together on a bed, especially on wintertime. On summer, though (Barcelona is horribly hot and humid at that time), you can often find me having sweet dreams on the floor, with my cat lying somewhere close around (and the same thing usually happens when Mrs. G goes away for a couple of days and we, the boys, are left home alone).

3. I’m a public toilets fan. You know how some people cannot pee or… well, you know what else… unless they are home, well, for me it’s just the other way around. Everywhere I go I feel strongly attracted to visit the toilet and discover the true nature of the human race in one of its most intimate places. I cannot say I’ve seen the most beautiful sights of the world this way, but it amuses me and I cannot go anywhere without feeling intrigued about what the toilet will be like.

4. This one could be a bit gross for a lot of readers, but maybe it won’t seem that gross after the public toilet thing. I always taste my cat’s food. Whenever I open a can or a package of dry food for the furry guy, I always try it first (and believe me, lots of times it tastes a lot better than you would expect). I suppose I just don’t want him to think that I feed him stuff that I wouldn’t eat myself. I believe in a very fraternal interaction with my cool cat and sometimes I even lick him. I also used to carry him around by the neck, hanging from my mouth, when he was a little kitty.

5. I don’t stress and I can count the times I’ve really lost my patience with the fingers of only one of my hands. You don’t think this is weird. Well, try it and let me know.

So...

2006-02-02T05:40:00.000+02:00

As from today, I have finally got in my hands the national identity card which certifies I’m now an official Spanish citizen. Why do I say finally? – you might ask yourselves-. Well, I say “finally” because it has taken almost three years of document submitting and bureaucracy to arrive to this moment. And what does this moment mean? – you might also ask yourselves-. Well, it means that I have now got two nationalities: Chilean and Spanish (yes, I can keep both). Does this mean I now have my heart divided between these two countries? It could certainly mean that, but truly I don’t really give a shit about that factor. The important thing to me is that my Spanish nationality opens me a brand new door to move wherever I would like within the European Community (yes, I am now also officially a European Citizen) and that I will not have to worry ever again about renewing residence papers or getting my ass kicked out of this continent. I have spent over a decade in Barcelona (three of those years as an illegal immigrant) and now I can “finally” make a big bonfire with all the pile of papers I’ve been forced to keep and collect over the years, so as to prove that I had earned (with hard work and sweat) my right to remain here. And now, that big pain in the ass is “finally” over…

Anyway, whether you want it or not, having two nationalities makes you think about what you are, where you come from, where you go and all that kind of stuff… Despite having now a Spanish passport too, I know that deep within I’m Chilean and will remain Chilean to the last day of my life. That’s where I spent most of my childhood and university years, and that’s the place where I got formed (or deformed, for all it matters) - even if I’ve also had the luck to spend my teenage years in The States and the last decade of my life here in Spain. But isn’t curious how it works, though? I mean, I’ve been living here for quite a few years now, but yet I’m far from feeling a native (and know I’ll never feel like one), even if I don’t feel like a foreigner either. And the same works for Chile, because I know too that if I ever decided to return there, I’m not going to feel like the same “Chilean” person I was before my departure.

So, where I am going now? Got no much of an idea, but I feel FREE to move and that’s what I like...
I doubt I ever return to Chile to live (even if I know I could have a pretty good, comfy life over there), but I do not feel “tied” to Spain either… Barcelona is a wonderful city, but I feel exploring… And now that I “finally” have the freedom of movement for so long desired I think I’ll have to start thinking seriously about my future objectives…

By the way, I’m most probably going to Rome in two weekends from now…

(I’m on the search…)

Quality Time...

2006-01-28T06:22:00.000+02:00

Just spent all my afternoon watching Hitchcock's movies (To Catch a Thief, Rear Window and Rebecca) and eating GOTA* sandwiches... Simple recipe for a truly good day.

* GOTA: Garlic, Onion, Tomato & Anchovies
(Mrs. G says I ain't getting no kisses for a couple of days at least!!!... Do you think she doesn't love me anymore???!!!)

Some things are just like that...

2006-01-27T04:36:00.000+02:00

Isn't it incredible how good YOU LOOK when you look at MY blog!

To bee or not to bee...

2006-01-22T05:27:00.000+02:00

Otra historia de abejas... (y un título de post horrible, a propósito)
Another curious bee tale... (and a horrible post title, by the way)

La banda sonora de hoy es Blind Melon. Y esto se debe a un motivo sencillo, pero sugerente.

En mi post anterior, Kiwi Merlina me dejó un comentario diciendo que esperaba a que, con la imagen del post, estuviera escuchando a los Blind Melon… Y yo, en aquel momento, no entendí muy bien por qué... La verdad es que todo lo que alguna vez tuve en mis manos de los Blind Melon fue grabado o adquirido de forma “dudosa”, así que la carátula del disco que encabeza este texto hacia ya a?os que había desaparecido de mi cabeza (si es que alguna vez estuvo en ella). Hasta aquí, sin embargo, nada nuevo…

Lo interesante vino al día después. En mis comentarios le había preguntado a Kiwi Merlina por la razón de sus palabras, pero creo que ella no volvió a pasar por mi blog aquel día, porque no obtuve respuesta... Sin embargo, el destino se encargaría de darme la respuesta… Exactamente un día después del comentario, estaba dando vueltas por las tiendas de discos de Barcelona y en eso que me meto en un conocido local de discos viejos y lo primero que veo (entre miles de cd’s!!!) es a la extra?a abejita de este primer disco de los Blind Melon…

Para mí, no sé si para ustedes, me pareció una coincidencia increíble. Yo, personalmente, siempre siento que hay cosas en mi vida diaria que me recuerdan a ustedes o algunas de las cosas que han escrito. Pero creo que esta vez la cosa fue más allá…

Hasta hace un par de días, los Blind Melon eran poco más que un recuerdo. Ahora, seguro que, gracias a Kiwi Merlina, nunca más me olvido de ellos.

Por supuesto, esta vez, si que compre el disco.

Today’s soundtrack is Blind Melon. And this is due to a simple, but suggestive reason.

In my previous post, Kiwi Merlina left me a comment saying that she expected that, due to the pic of the post, I’d be listening to Blind Melon… and I, at that moment, didn’t really understand why... Truth is that any Blind Melon’s music I ever had in my hands was not “legally” acquired or recorded, so it had been a long time since the CD cover you see above had disappeared from my mind (if it was ever there, to begin with)… Up to this, however, there is nothing new…

The interesting part came a day after. In my comments, I had asked Kiwi Merlina for the reason of her words, but it seems she didn’t visit me again that day, because the doubt remained unanswered... But destiny, however, would grant me the answer… Exactly one day after the comment, I was browsing through Barcelona’s music stores when I happened to walk into a very popular old recordings store and the first thing I see (among thousand of CD’s!!!) is the strange little bee of this first work of Blind Melon…

To me, I’m not sure if to you, it looked like an incredible coincidence. I personally feel that there are always things in real life that remind me of you or what the things you write. But this time, I think things went a bit beyond…

A couple of days ago, Blind Melon was sort of like a distant memory. Now, thanks to Kiwi Merlina, I’m sure I’ll never forget them again.

This time, of course, I did buy the record.

(BTW, Kiwi Merlina is a wonderful writer who you better read now that she's blogging, 'cause I'm sure one day she'll be publishing and you'll have to pay to read her words... So now, go practice your Spanish and check out her blog afterwards... If you feel just like dropping and saying hello, you can always say "HOLA"!...)

The bee charmer...

2006-01-18T05:07:00.000+02:00

We were enjoying a coffee on a terrace of the Kazimierz District, Krakow’s Old Jewish Quarter, when a young little girl –ten years old or so- suddenly appeared in front of our table and muttered a few words in Polish:

“Lo siento, no entiendo polaco” – I said, unconsciously, in Spanish, not meaning to be rude.
“Do you speak English?” - She inquired again, very politely and very sure of herself.
“Yes, I do… Why?” – I replied, curious.
“I wanted to show you my pictures and see if you want to buy one. I draw them myself” – She answered in basic, but fluid English, without the slightest hint of hesitation.
“Ok, let us see…” – I told her, still surprised by her language skill, and she took a bunch of postcard size pictures from her pocket and laid them on the table.

Mrs G. and I started looking through them. And it was true; they were handmade with colour pencils. A whole zoo of zebras, hippos, giraffes, elephants, ladybugs, dogs, etc, etc…

We had a great time browsing through them. They were very child-like, but indeed beautiful. In love with the artist hand and, just as important, her determination, we finally selected a piece: the happy looking bee you see above.

“How much for this one?” – I asked.
“Oh… whatever you want” – She replied calmly and not the least eager or imposing.

I searched through my pockets and gave her 10 szlotys for the cute bee. She grabbed the coin, then picked the rest of her pictures, thanked us delicately and left for another café.

Once she was gone, Mrs G and I couldn’t help commenting with excitement about the “little artist”. She was no beggar or anything like that – in fact, she dressed very clean and looked like the kind of child you would think is all A’s at school-. Since our first day in Krakow, we had been talking about how we felt Poland was such a beautiful country, but you couldn’t help feeling moved all the time, just by evoking that not that long ago, in those wonderful cities, little towns or landscapes, there was probably not a single place where someone had not been running or hiding to save his/her life.

The Kazimierz District, as all European Jewish ghettos during World War II, was one of those places where horror struck in its most sinister forms.

The view of the “little artist”, in that same old Jewish neighbourhood, today, helped us to remember –and most important feel-, how the beauty of life can always shine again.

Today I'll be serious...

2006-01-15T21:20:00.000+02:00

Today is Election Day in Chile. President’s election, to be more specific…

If citizens so decide, tomorrow Chile will have the first woman President of its history as a country: Michelle Bachelet (who, in case of being elected, will also be one the scarce female leaders running a country (4%) on the global scene, we might add).

If the case is the contrary, Chile will now be in the hands of a multimillionaire business man that the media has baptized as “The Chilean Berlusconi”: Sebastian Pinera (the owner of Chilean main airlines company, a nationwide television channel and the holder of other important and various investments).

While Bachelet represents the “center-left” wing coalition governing the country in this moment, Pinera is the “center-right” wing candidate aiming to kick the coalition out of the government, after a decade and a half of being in power. And the victory of any of the two would be somehow significant:

- Bachelet’s for the obvious “female” factor detailed above.
- Pinera’s because he would become the first “right-wing” President to be elected since Chile’s return to democracy in 1988, when Pinochet’s regime was rejected by the masses in a plebiscite (a process, however, in which Pinera stood against the old dictator)

Truly, within the limits one can grant politicians, they are both valuable candidates. And, thus, it’s no surprise than polls prediction gives them a current 5% average difference (though it must be considered than Bachelet reached 46% all by herself, against 26% of Pinera´s, on a first round, of a election a month ago, with the presence of two other candidates).

Despite what biased supporters might say, Bachelet’s is not the “hard line red leftie” that conservatives claim she is hiding behind her smiles, nor Pinera is the “Berlusconi” his opponents try to portray (Chilean political, legal and finance controlling systems are by far more organized and less corrupted than Italy’s – and quite a few others “leading” developed democracies, as well).

The buoyant economy and political stability, most chileans’ top priorities, will remain the same, no matter who wins. Used to a standard of living continuously improving in the past two decades, Chile’s biggest challenge, in this moment, reside on a “much to be improved” distribution of richness and the implementation of a truly wide and effective social coverage system (both in terms of pensions and health related issues).

If I were in Chile, I would back up Bachelet’s candidature because I believe her election would benefit dealing with the most urgent needs of the country. I also consider here that in the case she got elected, it would also be the first time than both the Congress and the Presidency would be in control of the same coalition since the return to democracy and that would greatly benefit the impulse of long awaited social reforms.

On a more personal ground, I like her profile. On a country with a strong conservative tradition (which covers the whole spectrum from right-wing to left-wing individuals), the idea of a successful divorced woman, with three sons of two different marriages, appeals to me for all it represents against the oppressive conventionalism of Chilean society. And somehow feel that this is the first time Chile has got the chance to change (for the better) its view on a lot of things.

Let’s say, on this occasion, I think Bachelet is a much better bet than Pinera. And I think I know what I’m talking about...

After all I backed Pinera for a Senator seat, over a decade ago.

Why do I post all this???
Well, it doesn’t hurt that you know about it, does it???

Friday the 13th: A tribute to Jason Voorhees...

2006-01-14T05:48:00.000+02:00

I planned on writing a long, cerebral post to commemorate this flick, but I’ve got no time, so I’ll have to make it short:

Summing it up:
- I was not even 10 when the first part of Friday the 13th was shot.
- And I got a pretty good scare with it.
- But the funny part is that I didn’t even get to see the film (at least until a couple of years later, on its video version).
- The first time, I was told the story by one of my mom’s cousins who saw the film and enjoyed scaring the shit out of little children (he was a damn good narrator).
- Reason why I couldn’t see the film on a movie theatre was that, back in those days in Chile (and I’m not sure if still now) you had to be over 18 to see horror movies with explicit violence and nudity.
- Thing is that I really just caught up with Jason teenage-killing hobbies when I went to live to the US, a bit after the mid-eighties. And I loved it. Especially on Halloween re-run specials, when I spent all the night watching the guy at work and, at the same, devouring endless packages of Doritos. (There was this weird synchronicity between guys getting killed on the screen and the number of tortilla bags I ate, I think…)
- What can I say on my defense?… not much, I guess.
- I could argue that I like eating raw meat or admiring metal things like knives - or even keys and bottle caps openers-… but I think that just doesn’t help much in clearing my case.

Now, where is the cerebral part of this whole post, which I planned to talk about, in a longer post I couldn’t write, anyway…

Here it is:
- This post is against oppression.
- And freedom of communication (???) : P
- I should have been able to see this flick, at the movies, as soon as it came out.
- And thus I would have been able to internalize its violence in an appropriate manner.
- And I would have not turned into the sardine cans openers collecting psycho I am nowadays (*sob*)
- I blame it on the system!

Of course, nowadays, Friday the 13th is not even grosser that a lot of animated cartoons we see on TV daily… But, that’s another story… And this is a different era… And I like a lot of these cartoons too, so I’ll better keep my mouth shut…

Now that I think of, I’m posting this on Saturday the 14th (which doesn’t scare the shit even out of little babies), so, who knows, maybe I shouldn’t even have posted this…

Whatever…
Have a bloody good weekend, mates!!!

2006-01-13T02:25:00.000+02:00

HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!

A CRR Update...

2006-01-09T06:10:00.000+02:00

A week after being introduced in the country, the new smoking regulation has begun to affect Spanish society.

Forced now by law to decide whether their places would remain smoking or non-smoking, small bar owners have reached a decisive conclusion:
Almost 90% percent of them will allow smoking in their properties.

Reports say this is leading to some very peculiar situations:
(reconstructed conversation)

Non-smoker: Err, excuse me, would you mind moving your cigarette?
Smoker: What???
Non-smoker: I was just wondering if you could…
Smoker: This bar allows smoking, my friend!!
Non-smoker: Err… yes… I know, but I was just…
Smoker: It says so, right there on the sign!!
Non-smoker: Yes, I see, but…
Smoker: You want me to go against the law???
Non-smoker: No… That’s not what I meant… I…
Smoker: You were the guys who wanted a new smoking law, right?
Non-smoker: Yes… Hell, no! You are…
Smoker: If you want some fresh air, go grab some!
Non-smoker: err…
Smoker: You want me to call the cops…

Small groups of non-smokers have also been witnessed to step out of bars to catch a breeze of smokeless air.

Other fonts even speak of long time non-smoking people going back to smoke… To keep up their social life.

From Barcelona,
A Penguin with a Bow Tie, for CRR news.

(CRR is a registered trademark of The Chronicles of the Radical Reality; this text does not necessarily represents the editor’s point of view)

Of life and changes...

2006-01-06T22:03:00.000+02:00

If you like reading international news or checking CNN’s curious World updates, there is a very good chance you know by now that a new Smoking Law was introduced in Spain on January 1st. The most restrictive smoking legislation ever approved in this country (following the trend of places like Ireland and Italy), the issue has raised quite a public debate, not because of the measure itself, but mainly because of how well will Spanish society really adapt to the variation of one of its most traditional habits.

As you all know (I think, if not check up there on my profile), I live in Barcelona, Spain. More precisely, in El Raval. Quite a colorful neighborhood, in the heart of the Old Quarter, with an important share of immigrants. Among those, Pakistanis.

Before the new law, you could get tobacco almost anywhere. Now, it is absolutely forbidden to sell it in any place that is not a tobacco shop or an authorized machine in bars/restaurants which decide to allow smoking (if less than 100 square meters, it is up to the owner to decide whether the place is going to be smoking or non smoking).

Personally, as a smoker (even if a very light one), I just love what the sale prohibition and Pakistanis combined is bringing to my neighborhood. A new flavor, very much in the style of an old spy’s movie.

Pakistanis are really hard working people who come here, usually set up a small personal business of their own and then work as much as they can so that, one day, they are able to bring the rest of their family into the country or just move back with better possibilities. Lots of them open small food stores or mini-markets. And I’ve always loved their shops because I’ve got over a dozen close to my flat and, should I need anything, it seems as if they were eternally open. Of course, they also used to sell tobacco. And they made an important profit out of it. But now the law forbids them to do so…

So this is what has been happening, since January 1st, when I go… err… let’s say for “sugar” to my usual Pakistani shop:

Store keeper: Hello Amigo!!
MrG: How are you?...

(strange looks exchange, between us and around)

MrG: Well…?.
Store keeper: ummn…

Then the guy in front of me moves a hand quickly and leaves “sugar” for me, hidden behind some candies, on the corner of the counter...
Then I move my hands quickly and put “sugar” on my pocket, casually and “unconsciously” dropping a few coins, right behind some candies’ boxes, on the corner of the counter…

Funny, but when I get home, the “sugar” tastes just like my old Lucky Lights.

Introducing... 2006!!!!!

2006-01-04T05:42:00.000+02:00

Hola, hola, hola!!! (*trumpets*) Ok, lucky readers. Here you have my first post of 2006. I just got back from Toulouse yesterday night and, yes, I did have a good time (as you all did too, right?). Good thing about going to France is that I get to practice my basic French and drink lots of good wine. And the more wine I drink, the more I practice the language, and finally everything falls into some sort of vicious circle in which I do enjoy myself a lot, but probably give a lot of headaches to the poor native French trying to understand what I say… I remind everyone here that my French is very basic and that, being Spanish also a language derived from Latin, I do tend to make a up a lot of words which might mean nothing in themselves, but which I disguise with a poor imitation of a French accent and just go on with my life, while people keep darting me with these menacing looks of “bien, mon amie, vous etes plus agréable avec la bouche a fermé” (“well, my friend, you look nicer with your mouth shut”)...

Anyways, things worked out just fine. No messy confusions or anything like that. Only inconveniences showed up when trying to decide our lunch on a Chinese Restaurant on January 1st (yep, guys, French dudes owning restaurants were probably recovering from New Years’ Night, so only “ethnic” food was available on the streets that day, at least at lunchtime)… Why the problems? Well, just picture yourselves trying to understand a menu written in French… Got that? Cool… Now picture yourselves trying to understand a menu written in French of Chinese cuisine!!! When we understood the French part, we didn’t understand the Chinese one. And when we got the Chinese part down (you know, international things like low-mein and that), we got completely lost with the French part… Luckily they did have numbers on the side of the dishes list, so we made a random combination of odd and even numbers and ended up having a pretty good meal…

As for New Years’ Night celebration in itself, well I have to say that I was very impressed by the festive spirit of Toulousians. After all, the night was mighty cold and a bit rainy, but people just didn’t give a shit about the ugly weather and they kept strolling down the boulevards and intricate alleys of Toulouse’s Old Town, throughout the whole night, making the city extremely friendly and welcoming for any foreign visitors without any previous plans… (I don’t know what is it with Mediterranean people that they gotta keep moving while celebrating something)… “Bonne Année” shouts were heard on every corner and smiles where all around… When the clock reached twelve on December 31st, we were having dinner on a cute little restaurant (nothing fancy, but good and tasty)… On the first minute of the year everyone stood up and started sharing kisses and best wishes. We got kissed on both cheeks by everyone in the place and amused them back a bit with a few happy sentences in Spanish. Later that night, we did what most Toulousians seemed to be doing in the streets… That is, kept moving from bar to bar… A few hours later we were… (how can I say this), well… a happy couple, slightly drunk… But it was all for anthropological reasons… I swear!!!. ;)

Another year flies away...

2005-12-30T06:25:00.000+02:00

All right people. 2006 is just around the corner, so before New Year’s Eve is here, I’ll take a few minutes to land by mi blog and drop, at least, a few lines to wish all the best for the year soon to be here. Personally, I’ve got nothing big to complain about 2005. It’s been a good year. I’ve done my share of traveling; I got a raise at work; I received the visit of dear friends and relatives I had not seen in years; I think I’m healthy; Mrs G and Mr Gato still think I’m a nice guy, so I don’t think they are planning to kick me out of home; and, last but not least, I met a lot of wonderful people by taking the decision of introducing myself into this blogging universe, of which I knew nothing about, over a year ago (Yes, you are really an awesome bunch of guys and gals!!!. J )… Come to think of it, I believe 2005 has been so good to me that 2006 probably is going to suck like hell (he, he, he!!!)… It’s the law of universal compensation (or something like that they call it)… Whatever… No matter what 2006 brings to me, I want it to bring all the best for you. Hope all your plans come true and that you get to enjoy lots of beautiful moments with your loved ones… In my case, I’ve decided to start this new year on the move (which is one of the things I’d like to do for the rest of my life, I guess)… Instead of staying in Barcelona, I just bought two tickets this morning to go to Toulouse, in southern France, for a couple of days… This will give me a chance to see what French people do to celebrate New Year’s Night (probably lots of hugs, kissing and happy drinking, like almost everywhere, he, he, he!!)… I’ve got no idea what I will find there… But I want to keep moving… And I want to keep looking for new places and things to see.

Bonne Année!!!
See you next year!!!

Bueno gente. El 2006 ya está a la vuelta de la esquina, así que antes de que llegue la Noche Vieja, aterrizo en mi blog unos minutos y dejo caer, al menos, unas pocas líneas para desearles lo mejor para el a?o que pronto estará aquí. Personalmente, no tengo mucho de lo que quejarme respecto al 2005. Ha sido un buen a?o. He viajado un poquito; me aumentaron el sueldo; me visitaron amigos y parientes muy queridos a los que no veía en a?os; creo que estoy sano; Mrs. G y Mr. Gato todavía piensan que soy un buen tipo, así que no creo que estén pensando en echarme de casa; y, por último, pero no por ello menos importante, conocí a un montón de gente maravillosa con la simple decisión de introducirme en este universo de los blogs, del cual no sabía casi nada, hace poco más de un a?o (Sí, todos ustedes son realmente un grupo espectacular de flacos y flacas!!! J)… Ahora que lo pienso, creo que el 2005 me ha tratado tan bien que seguro que el 2006 lo paso como la mierda (ja, ja, ja!!!)…Es la ley de las compensaciones universales (o algo así creo que la llaman)… Sea cómo sea… Sin importar que me traiga el 2006, deseo que les traiga a ustedes todo lo mejor. Espero que todos sus planes se hagan realidad y que puedan disfrutar de muchos momentos hermosos con sus seres queridos… En mi caso, he decidido comenzar este nuevo a?o en movimiento (que es una de las cosas que quisiera hacer para el resto de mi vida, creo)… En vez de quedarme en Barcelona, compré esta ma?ana dos pasajes para irme a Toulouse, al sur de Francia, por un par de días… Así tendré la oportunidad de ver que es lo que hacen los franceses para celebrar el A?o Nuevo (probablemente, muchos abrazos, besos y borracheras divertidas, como en casi todas partes, je, je, je!!!)… No tengo ni idea de lo que me encontraré… Pero quiero seguir en movimiento… Y quiero seguir buscando nuevos lugares y cosas para ver.

Bonne Année!!!
Nos vemos el próximo a?o!!!

Cheers!!!

2005-12-26T06:35:00.000+02:00

"I have made an important discovery. . . that alcohol
taken in sufficient quantity produces all the effects of drunkenness"
Oscar Wilde

Believe me guys, this chap knew what he was talking about... I've followed his literary example these past few nights and I've reached the same conclusion...
Oh, Oscar, good thing you are gone by now... Because it would hurt my soul deeply if I turned the news one day and I had to hear about your death...

"He hecho un descubrimiento importante... el alcohol, si se toma en cantidades suficientes, produce todos los efectos de la embriaguez"
Oscar Wilde

Créanme muchachos, éste flaco sabía de lo que hablaba... He seguido su ejemplo literario estas últimas noches y he llegado a la misma conclusión... Ah, Oscar, que bueno que ya te marchaste... Porque me dolería profundamente en el alma si pusiera las noticias un día y tuviera que enterarme de tu muerte...

Lord knows why...

2005-12-21T07:12:00.000+02:00

Tobacco is giving up on me…
Even if I wanted, I cannot not handle more than three (light) cigarettes per day anymore…
And I’m not even trying to quit…
Truth is since I’ve never been a compulsive smoker, I’ve never really thought about quitting really…
But my body is not up to the smoke anymore…
And I’ve got no idea why…
Puzzles me…
Though this makes a cigarette more of an experience…
Sporadic. …
And thus more enjoyable.

El tabaco me abandona…
Incluso si quisiera, ya no aguanto más de tres cigarros (light) por día…
Y ni siquiera intento dejarlo…
La verdad, como nunca he sido fumador compulsivo, nunca he pensado en dejarlo realmente…
Pero mi cuerpo ya no tolera el humo…
Y no tengo ni idea por qué…
Me intriga…
Aunque en el fondo esto hace de un cigarro una mejor experiencia…
Esporádica…
Y por lo mismo más placentera.

Winter Tales...

2005-12-13T07:16:00.000+02:00

As cold weather approaches, I’m at risk of becoming a hostage in my own house!!!
Mrs. G and Mr. Gato don’t want me to leave home.
They say is cold!
And they want me to stay in bed!

This started a week ago or so, somehow like this:

Mrs. G: “Brrrr… It’s cold”.
Mr. Gato: “Brrrr…meowwww!!!”.
Mr. G: “Of course is cold… Winter is coming… That’s no news”.

Now, Mrs. G is a Scorpio and Mr. Gato is a cat, so, of course, they don’t like “clever” answers like they one I gave.
They like things their way.

So, what happened:
Next time I went to bed after that brief word exchange, I woke up with Mrs. G cuddled on one side of my body and Mr. Gato on the other one.
Both with their heads on my chest.
And my two arms trapped under their heads.

I tried to get up and they said:
Mrs. G: “Don’t move!!! Brrr.. It’s cold!!!”
Mr. Gato: “Meow!!! Brrr… Meowwww!!

Apparently, I seem to be the only being with internal heating system at our little flat.
And now… They don’t want me to leave home!

(BTW: Gato is spanish for Cat)

A minute to smoke...

2005-12-07T04:22:00.000+02:00

Unfinished draft from my tiny Heinekken Diary (this is an original size image)
Bosquejo Inconcluso de mi pequeno diario Heinekken (esta es una imagen tamano original)

Probably, October 21st. Afternoon.
Probablemente, 21 de Octubre. Pasado mediodía.

We had been street wandering through San Marco and Castello, when we arrived by chance to the promenade by Canale di San Marco. We thought it would be a nice minute to sit and enjoy a cigarette. Having one hand free, I thought it was also a nice view to remember.
-To the left, we can see the abbey of the Isola de San Giorgio Maggiore.
- In the middle, the dome of Chiesa de Santa Maria.
- And to the right, the entrance to Canale Grande, by San Marco.
Canale di San Marco forks into Canale de la Giudeca and the famous Canale Grande, right at the Ponta della Dogana, where you see the big church of Santa María.

Habíamos estado callejeando por San Marco y Castello, cuando llegamos por casualidad al paseo marítimo del Canale di San Marco. Pensamos que sería un buen minuto para sentarse y disfrutar un cigarillo. Teniendo una mano libre, también pensé que era una bonita vista para recordar
-A la izquierda, vemos la abadía de la Isola de San Giorgio Maggiore.
-En el medio, el domo de la Chiesa de Santa María.
-Y a la derecha, la entrada al Canale Grande, por San Marco.El Canale di San Marco se bifurca en el Canale de la Giudeca y el famoso Canale Grande justo en la Ponta Della Dogano, en donde vemos la enorme iglesia de Santa María.

Travelling...

2005-12-03T22:51:00.000+02:00

From my diary.
(well, not really a diary, but a small green Heinekken notebook that I got for free at a bar, and I decided to take along, just in case)

October 22nd. 21:00.
“We are on the way to Krakow...Our bus is full of young polish guys working in Italy (probably Rome), making their trip back home. They are quite a lively bunch. Noisy and happy spirited. Two polish girls, who also got on the bus in Venice, are now the center of their attention. Lots of flirting glances and smiles going around. Beer bottles run through the seats, back and forth. Two lucky guys have already been able to exchange seats and they are now sharing, each, a seat with the cute girls. This is starting to look like a college party and I’m sure some passengers are starting to get annoyed by now… But, personally, I enjoy seeing these fellows in such a happy mood. They are cool guys anyway. If you look at them for a couple of seconds, just out of curiosity, they even hand you a beer…

Right above the bathroom door, there is a hanging TV set no one is paying attention to (and those who really want to pay attention are probably having a hard time to do it, anyway); the movie on the screen is that flick where Jennifer Lopez teaches Richard Gere dancing lessons (“Dancing in Manhattan” or something like that I think… But truly I don’t remember the name of such a masterpiece). Of course, the movie itself is not the reason that draws my attention. The thing I’m really interested in is that the movie is in Polish. Well not actually in Polish, but with the original English soundtrack very, very low, and a guy, with a radio-like voice, translating to Polish the parts of all the characters… Kind of like instant translation on a conference. And a bit weird. And somehow spooky. There you have tiny eyed Richard Gere saying love words to beautiful J-Lo, and J-Lo replying with the deep same masculine voice, with that curious KGB sound that eastern European languages bring to the mind of anyone born before the fall of the USSR (*shivers*)… Now that I think of, I assume they are exchanging love words. After all I’m hearing a Polish translator and I can’t understand diddle shit…

We’ll soon be crossing the highest part of The Carpathians Mountains (which go all the way down from southern Poland to Rumania). There is no way you can hear Carpathians without thinking of darkness and good old vampire tales. Maybe that’s why I’m getting so suggestive…”

Cositas to the air...

2005-11-30T05:38:00.000+02:00

Para los que hablan ENGLISH...

"He used to leave home for school, every morning, around eight. He took the road by the highway, did a seven or eight minutes walk, and then reached the high school parking lot. A short little hike to fill his lungs with striking pure air, enjoy a few minutes of frozen time and sink in an incredible feeling of well being that shook him from head to toes, even when saggy eyes still marked his face and his mind kept fighting to overcome somnolence. In a way, he felt it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, as he had heard in his English class, just a few days ago. Yes, indeed, being that young, he felt life was worth every single minute. And the vision of that beautiful girl, approaching, by the same sidewalk, heading his direction, irrupted like the confirmation of the fact that things could always get even better.

She walked absorbed in thought - like she did every day-. She felt cold. Very cold. But a victim to her worries, she was not even able to decipher the shivering of her body, nor to search, among the thousand items of her handbag, for a simple scarf to fight the harshness of the weather. In her eyes, the gravel on the sidewalk, the houses on the sides, the huge trees outlining the road, everything, absolutely everything, melted in just one senseless constant blur. Her thoughts, had she wanted to hang with them, for just a moment of her particular trance, held the same threat that trying to jump on a spinning wheel, while still moving. When he crossed her view, like every morning, he said hello. Like every morning, too, she didn’t even notice him."

And now in ESPANOL too...
"Cada ma?ana, alrededor de las ocho, él salía de casa, cogía el camino que bordeaba la carretera y, después de siete u ocho minutos, alcanzaba los estacionamientos de la escuela. Un breve trayecto durante el cual el aire le invadía los pulmones con una pureza inaudita, los minutos parecían congelarse y una increíble sensación de bienestar sacudía todo su cuerpo; incluso cuando las ojeras continuaban marcándole los ojos y la mente seguía luchando por superar la somnolencia. En cierto modo, it was the best of times, it was the worse of times, como había escuchado en su clase de literatura inglesa, hacia sólo unos días. Sí, la vida, para sus pocos a?os, todavía era algo que valía la pena. Y la visión de aquella hermosa chica, caminando en sentido contrario, por la misma acera, irrumpía como la confirmación de que las cosas, aún, podían ser mejores.

Ella caminaba absorta, como cada día. Sentía frío. Mucho frío. Pero presa de sus preocupaciones, su cerebro era incapaz de decodificar los temblores de su cuerpo y rebuscar, entre las mil cosas de su bolso, por una simple bufanda para atenuar las inclemencias del tiempo. Frente a sus ojos, la gravilla de la acera, las casas del camino, los imponentes árboles que marcaban la senda, todo, absolutamente todo, se fundía en un barrido constante y sin sentido. Sus pensamientos, si es que en algún momento de su particular trance hubiera querido detenerse en ellos, encerraban la misma amenaza que intentar subir a una rueda giratoria, en pleno movimiento. Al pasar frente a sus ojos, como todas las ma?anas, él le dijo “hola”. Como todas las ma?anas, también, ella ni siquiera le vió."

Bolero-mood

2005-11-28T07:51:00.000+02:00

Bésame,
bésame mucho...
Cómo si fuera esta noche,
la última vez...

Chapter Numero Uno...

2005-11-20T21:36:00.000+02:00

OK.
Finally!!!
A bit about what my vacations were like…

ON THE ROAD TO VENICE…
I left for Venice by the mid of November. The original target of our visit was Berlin, but given the fact that Mrs G and I had at our disposal two weeks of uninterrupted holidays together, we thought it wouldn’t hurt us at all to do a few stops before getting to Germany. This settled, budget minded, of course, we looked for the more convenient option to suit our purposes. And it came out to be a flexible “europass” bus ticket that would allows us several different connections between 30 European cities, within a 15 days period, for the very reasonable price of 236 euros (each). Not that we were going to need more than 4 or 5 connections. But at that price there were no two thoughts about it… At least until we got on the bus and did the 18 hours!!! ride from Barcelona to Venice and we started to remember (especially our delicate butts) why is it that traveling by bus with Eurolines coaches sucks:
- The seats are great, if you are a 12 years old kid’s size;
- You cannot reserve numbered seating (so we had to do a significant part of that first trip separated);
- For some weird reason, through the night, drivers stop every two hours for coffe breaks, thus making it impossible for anyone to just fall deeply asleep and forget about the tiny, painful seats…
The one good thing about all this (not counting the price), any place you finally arrive to after a ride like this you are bound to like it!!! Make that place Venice and then you are in rapture. (if you ever hear about Mrs G dumping me, do not be surprised if anything related to my travel preferences comes out in the conversation)

Anyway, we arrived to Venice. And what can I say about it...
I’m not sure how other people who’ve been to Venezia feel, but I just think I can’t describe it without feeling ridiculously far from the impressions I felt (and ridiculous, in general, just at the attempt).
Whoever thought of building a city that looks as if it were floating on the sea??? Who were the first brilliant minds that saw in a bunch of lonely islands the dreamlike city Venice would turn into??? Because Venice is not just a city built full of beautiful channels and intricate dark alleys (there are other places in the world that would also match that feeble description)… Far from that, Venice emerges from the water only the way The Atlantida would… Majestic, mysterious, often decrepit, but yet so astonishingly elegant, beautiful and captivating… A magic place that sinks deep into the most glorious past and, unbelievably, seems to be born again, every day, plethoric of life and new vibrant energy… Thanks the God I don’t believe in that it wasn’t high season and the place wasn’t crowded with tourists (Italy’s number one plague)… And yet, I doubt even all the tourists of the world could ruin a place than more than a city seems a divine creation…

Again, I repeat, where can I begin to tell without feeling ridiculous … Palaces, channels, monuments, gondolas, vaporettos are all there for real and, luckily, immortalized in million of pictures for the world to see… But Venice is such a surreal display of unlimited marvels in every single detail and every single corner that it becomes also impossible to try to conceive it as a universe of separated elements… Did I like Piazza San Marco??? Of course I did… Did I walk through Rialto Bridge? Sure… Did I take a vaporetto to cruise the Grand Canal? Most certainly… But… Did I enjoy these experiences more than a cigarette sitting by one the countless old water wells and piazzas??? Did I enjoy them more than having a bottle of grappa at night, talking with my girl on any of the stairs and passages leading to the dark and lost water channels??? Did I like the breathtaking statues and amazing building facades better than going into small run down bars, where old Venetian men had their red wine glass with one foot on the bar and the other on the outside, so that they could have a cigarette and not break the law that forbids them to smoke in public places??? Is there anything I enjoyed more than just simply admiring the beauty of simple things like iron window holders or door knockers???? YES!!! NO!!! TRULY, I HAVEN’T GOT THE FAINTEST IDEA… Venice confused my senses and it had me walking though its maze of waterways and alleys like an enchanted zombie in love… So much ordinary and extraordinary beauty than it hurts just trying to remember…

TO BE CONTINUED (AS SOON AS POSSIBLE)

TheRadicalReality

2005-11-15T06:28:00.000+02:00

Just for info sake of anybody thinking I'm still on vacation or maybe that I could have passed away...
I got back to Barcelona about 10 days ago, but I've had no time to sit in front of a PC and write without being interrupted either by work or other life events...
Hope I can share impressions of my trip ASAP...
In general, the summary is I had a great time...
I'll try to catch up with all your lives as soon as I get a chance.
Not that anybody would care, but I'll let you know for now that I've grown a beard (wow! that's what I call a surprise!)

:)

Going around...

2005-10-24T23:25:00.000+03:00

I left Venice 2 days ago and I'm currently in Krakow, Poland, before I proceed to Viena and Berlin... I'll let you know details once I get back to Spain. Thanks for all the best wishes. KISSES TO ALL OF YOU!

I'M GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-10-18T16:49:00.000+03:00

Leaving for Venice in approximately 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry,
Can't help it! I've got a smile all over my face!!!
:) :) :)

Ciao a tutti!!!

So, this is what's been happening...

2005-10-12T06:24:00.000+03:00

Sorry, I haven't been the greatest blogger these last few weeks...

I've had loads of work and Mrs G deeply believes that any free time I get I much better invest it on our relation than sitting in front of a PC to check on what people "you haven't even met"- in her words-, are doing in the other corner of the world... We bloggers (even lousy ones like me) are not easily understood, as you have probably all experienced, at one point or another of your blog life... The same rule, however, does not seem to apply when Mrs G spends a whole night beating the shit out of other guys in FOREVER lasting online chess games, but, of course, she knows she's a damn good player and that I feel proud of her when she tortures other players in the black&white board, and that's why she takes advantage of me and she's got a healthy online life, and I do whatever I can...

Hierarchy pyrammid at home is quite clear, of course:
1.Mrs G
2.Cat
3.Me

All the above said, I cannot really say I've been banned from using our PC... A significant part of my online time of the last weeks have been spent browsing through hotel accomodation and transportation sites... You wanna know why... 'Cause this dude here is approaching a 2 weeks vacation (YIPPI!!!!) and will be soon taking a well deserved break from work and the city itself... For those who know the problems I had to exit the country on my last vacation, allow me to tell you that I have a newly RENEWED passport on my hand now, so I should not face any complications this time... Now, what about the itinerary?... Well, let's say Berlin is the target and that we wouldn't mind stopping by places like Venice or Prague, if they get on the our way by... I'll try to confirm details once we've got them settled.

I'll leave you now, again, 'cause I'm supposed to be working, so I must resume my duties...

BESOS PARA TODOS!
:)

Ain't he a beauty?...

2005-10-05T02:42:00.000+03:00

This cute fellow is responsible for the heating of my feet during wintertime... He is well worth a portrait, so here you have him.

Always the best go first...

2005-09-28T04:33:00.000+03:00

Looking at the current state of things, somehow I believe things were way better back when 86 took care of the threats of the international scene.

Looking back...

2005-09-25T05:28:00.000+03:00

Self portrait 2.
A decade ago. No tail and different glasses nowadays... and I hardly even smoke anymore.
(this is self portrait2, 'cause there is a Numero Uno way back in my first posts)

Happy Sunday, 'vribody!

just a pic...

2005-09-20T07:28:00.000+03:00

Bored with Paint, N? 1

The way I see it...

2005-09-07T07:07:00.000+03:00

Unbelievable...

2005-09-06T04:43:00.000+03:00

Would he have said NO to Cuban Help?

Well, he'll never have to worry about that dillema anyway!
(Cuban offer to send 800 doctors with first- aid kits, one hour flying distance away, 3 days ago, is still pendant of an answer)

Did they have to wait 5 days for their Government to ACCEPT international help from the European Community and the UN? - (not "enemies", as far as I know).

Looks like there are mostly kids on this pic, so what would they know!

Anyway, on TUESDAY, Mr President flew over the place and checked things out... "The... recovery... will take... years" - he had said (very slowly) the day before.

("So no need to hurry" - he must have thought)

TheRadicalReality

2005-09-04T07:55:00.000+03:00

well, not that I had much time to write, but I felt like wishing you all a good week start, so HAPPY MONDAY everybody!

Weekend Figures...

2005-08-29T06:15:00.000+03:00

... a new approachment to life.
(my life details' numbers between Friday 8:00 to Monday 8:00)

46
Total hours worked.
15
Total hours slept (direct correlation with above item, as you can see)
3
Approximate hours I was blogging, while I was supposed to be working. ;)
1.5
Hours spent on public transportation.
3
Rhum shots I had.
1
Glenfiddich shots I had.
2
Pacharan (Sweet Basque Liquor) shots I had.
6000
Approximate number of people I saw go in front of my eyes, at work.
50
Approximate number of workmates I worked with (and, yes, I know every single name).
78
Spam mail on my mail account.
0
New mail from my contacts on my inbox (I must be loosing my charm, I guess)
6
Nationalities of people visiting my blog this weekend (canadian, dutch, american, indian and chilean). Thankiu all! :)
8
Lost calls on my mobile.
3
SMS on my mobile.
9
Cigarettes smoked.
9
Liters of water drunk.
3
Number of ships I was on.
15
Approximate number of espresso coffes I had.
45
Minutes spent at ordinary "hello-how are you-let's have a quick coffe" conversation with people I know that I run into on the streets.
2
Newspapers read by day.
6
Showers taken.
2
Egg yolks required for a dutch type sauce I was making a couple of hours ago.
4
AM. Approximate time I finished my dutch type sauce, while I was working... and NO, I don't work in a restaurant. (why was I making this sauce at work will remain a mistery...)
15
Minutes I've got left to finish my shift and go home.
1.000.000 or more
Times I had to get my cat off me, while I tried to get some really needed sleep this weekend.

Face-lift

2005-08-25T07:56:00.000+03:00

Is it just me... Or do I really look younger with this new template?

Please make sure you've got your passport with you...

2005-08-21T19:27:00.000+03:00

I should have posted this right after my holidays, but, well, I had a lot of things to do when I came back to work and then, due to events some of you already know, I did not feel much like finishing what I had started writing, so ... anyway, the original post went somehow like this, so I think I'll post it now anyway in the state it is and what the hell, if you feel like reading it, fine, and if you feel like I should not post old stuff, fine too... you are free welcome readers, so do whatcha wanna do!

OKAY... next time you see me, just take me to a guillotine and cut my head off... God knows I'm dumb, so he'll be kind, understanding and have mercy on you... Asamatteroffact, if you see me walking down the street and you feel like approaching and saying "oh boy, are you dumb!!!!", that's fine with me... I'm dumb and I should get what I deserve!!! (if you've got a guillotine or head removing gadget of your own, you can use it too!)

What's the story????
The story is simple:
I'M DUMB (to put it mildy).
... And what brings me to this glorious reflection... Read the rest.

Barcelona. By the end of June, 2005:
Mr G (that's me, in case you are a first time reader) knows his holidays are on the way, so he's been checking on possible destinations, accommodations and all sort of travel related issues. After deep deliberation, Lisbon, capital of Portugal, has been selected as the appropiate place to visit. The "Heart of Lusitania 2005" tour is about to begin. Final arrangements are decided. Mr G and his girl pre-book a nice room in a small, little hotel in Lisbon's Old Quartier (looks fine on the web). Transportation means research has led the intelligent girl and his dumb couple (that's me, again) to select the Madrid-Lisbon train connection as the nicest way to get there (that offers them the chance to spend a couple of lively nights in Madrid and then enjoy the views of central and western Spain all the way down to the portuguese border, while pleaseantly tumbling on a reasonably rated luxury train wagon). OK. Ready. Set. And... AAAAARGGGGGGGHHH!!!!!!

YES!!!!! Fear creeps from deep within Mr G's bones. All is set to go, but our hero (????) suddenly checks on one last thing and the F*** word breaks the silence of the night. Mr G has forgotten to check on his passport... And you know what?, HIS PASSPORT IS EXPIRED!!!!!... So what?, the world replies... So what that with an expired passport you can't go anywhere... So what? renew it!!, the world re-replies... So what, that that'd be easy if I had a Spanish passport (which, despite having been granted spanish nationality already, I've been waiting for authorization to obtain for over half a year now!!!), but I'm still holding on to my old Chilean passport as my only valid travel document... So what? A Chilean passport is still a passport, so renew it anyway, you DUMBASSS!!!!, the world once again emphasizes... So what that I cannot do that right now, because Chilean passports are being updated to a new format and there is no way I can get a new one, if living abroad, in less than a MONTH or a MONTH AND A HALF!!!, at least!!!! F***, F***, F***, F***.... And YES!!, the Lisbon trip goes to hell!!! Midway down the road to failed holidays depression, however, my girl lifts my head from the toilet and says tenderly to me: "OK, Mr Don't Worry, We've got it all ready, my passport is just fine, so I'm either going to Lisbon all by myself or we'd better start looking for a national destination rightawayyyyy!!!"... Intelligent as I feel at the moment, I just look at her with a DUMB face, while I keep pondering whether I should put my head back in the toilet or start banging it against the walls... "What about the Costa Brava?", she says... "What about what?", I replied keenly... "The Costa Brava!!!, dear", she says (no, she did not say dear)... "It's only a couple of hours away and we are always saying well, we can go one of these days"... "Ummmmmmm, OK", I agree... And thar we head!!

So that's how we end up visiting and staying in good old Girona, with its wonderful views and beautiful bridges and channels...

... its charming and intrincate medieval jewish quartier... And a magnificent spanish gothic cathedral which rests over the pillars of what was once nothing less than a enormous roman temple.
To say the place is gorgeous is still far from the closest definition. To land in Girona's old quartier is like travelling through a time hole which will take you centuries ago. Considering I already felt like shit for having allowed my passport to expire, I felt even worse when I got to this jewel of a city and I realized how stupid of me was it not to have visited before. And there was more to come. Both to my pleasure and to my shame...
Because look down to see where we headed next...

The cool little mediterranean village of Cadaqués !!!

What's the deal about this place... The deal about it is that it must be probably one of the few places that remain this nice on the spanish coast, considering it's been one of the hot tourist spots of the Costa Brava for decades and especially after surrealist painter Salvador Dalí took it as his home town in the seventees (with the crazy bunch of worldwide famous artists, musicians and other strange creatures that always used to hang around him, while he was still alive).

Of course, nowadays Cadaqués is not the same lively, eccentric town it was at Dali's time, but it still keeps an atmosphere of its own and quite a few local artists reside here. However, what I enjoyed most about the place was the sense of feeling absolutely relaxed... Seemed like no one was in a hurry to do anything and the only thing you were meant to do was to grab your vermouth, sit on a terrace, and debate endlessly about whether you should go dip your toes in the pebbled beach or just stay on your seat, trying to figure out the different shades of blue the sky turned to and how long it would take for the sun to hit the horizon sea line (sounds stressing, doesn't it?).

Anyway, being here, we couldn't let go off the chance of visiting old Salvador's museum-house of Port Lligat (a small bay, 20 minutes from the town)... and you know what, once we there, I realized that even i f you have never been here, chances are incredibly high that you probably know what Port Lligat looks like... Wanna know why? Because the window views from Dali's house work as the bay background scenarios for a lot of his paintings!

Check it out by yourself:

La madonna de Port Lligat and The specter of sex-appeal.

Young woman and a window and Gala and the tigers

or the world famous Persistence of memory and...

Dali's particular Last Supper...

Yes, all these paintings depict a Port Lligat bay background... and there are quite a few other masterpieces with the views Dali enjoyed right from his window(s).

After enjoying the peaceful environment of Cadaqués for a few days, I can tell you Dalí and his friends sure made the right decision when they decided to come live here.
I did not get to Lisbon (and still get pissed when I think how DUMB I was)... But I cannot say a I regret for a single minute the way this vacation finally turned like.

Ayyy, la vida!

2005-08-15T03:23:00.000+03:00

Remember I told you I had been offered a new job.

Better paid than the one I currently have.

Well, my boss just told me on Friday the company is willing to raise my salary and level the offer I received, because he wants me to continue working with them.

If it was tough before, right now it's even tougher to make a decision.

Money out of the subject, these are my options:
1. Stay in a place I feel just fine and have met some great people, or
2. Go to a new place which, though in the same line of work, could be quite different, but yet more demanding and interesting in terms of future possibilities.

What would you do?

Mistery shot...

2005-08-14T06:55:00.000+03:00

I met these guys a few decades ago... And they insisted we took a pic together...

Had I known they were gonna look so serious, I would have declined the proposal.
A few friends tell me they became big shots over the years. Could be. See if you can figure out which one is me. (Just a clue: I've never been much into dome-shaped hairdos).

No comment...

2005-08-09T01:52:00.000+03:00

I'm long overdue for a post about my holidays (which I've been writing on the scarce spare time I've had these last weeks), but last two days events have changed my mood deeply.

Saturday night:
I got mugged. Lost a back-bag with nothing but a book and useless papers inside, but was left with a few bruises and an aching body instead (not severe, but still extremely irritating).

Monday morning:
Got a call for an interview about a job. I arranged to meet the same morning (with light bruises on my face) and, believe it or not, everything went swell. I've been offered a much better deal than the place I'm currently working at, but THEY NEED AN ANSWER RIGHT AWAY and they want me to start in 2/3 weeks at most... This means tomorrow morning I'll have to have a very unpleasant talk with my boss... It's vacation's season and my departure, in case it happens, will fall like a bomb among people I've really enjoy working with... I just hate these close-timing situations and short notice decisions!!

Monday night.
I'm taking a walk trying to clear my thoughts and suddenly a motorbyke runs over a small little dog right in front of my eyes. There is a vet clinic only 50 meters away, but the poor little thing doesn't even resist the few seconds it takes us to get him there. When the vet opens the door, the little guy is already stiff. The vet try to console us saying the collapse must have been really quick (it doesn't help the shock, but I guess it's true)

Right now I feel like shit.

See you soon!!!!

2005-07-04T06:33:00.000+03:00

oh, boy!!! am I tired!!!...

Sorry everybody... I'm on vacation again (the last two weeks I had scheduled for this summer)... I've not been able to blog-comment much, but I try to read your blogs on a regular (vacation) basis... Thanks for the comments you have left here too... I have not been around much and I really appreciate that, in spite of my absence, you still stop by to check what's going on with this site... Well, if things work out fine, I'll most probably be visiting Lisbon in a few days... My girlfriend and I have lost countless hours discussing probable destinations and we have finally set down for Portugal's capital, because it sounds like quite an attractive city and very convenient in terms of finding a quality/relaxed stay for a reasonable price (and we are not the "hit-the-beach-on-summer" type either)... Originally we had thought about going to Berlin, but ended up discarding it, due to the fact that we have considered moving there in the future, and if we go for a visit we would like to go for more than a couple of weeks, so that we can really get a hold of what the city might be like... Rome was in our aim too, but it was also discarded because it must be crowded and prices grow shockingly abusive during summer season... Well, as I said before, Lisbon is the chosen... However, don't be surprised if I return to blogging telling you about a wonderful journey to Prague or Southern France... It wouldn't be the first time we changed our minds just in the last minute... Truly, I believe the last word is always said once the bags are packed and we cross the door on our way out...
ASI ES LA VIDA!
SEE YOU SOON

TAKE CARE EVERYONE!!!!
:)

Short weird story...

2005-06-28T08:20:00.000+03:00

One thing I hate is that I often find myself with no time to write a decent post... I mean reasonably long, well thought-out and one which could result of a certain interest to anyone dropping by this blog... Today, unluckily, it's no exception... But so that you don't think I'm lazy bum - well, yeah, I am sometimes, and I quite enjoy it too ;) - I'll share with you the very brief story of how the book "The confederacy of dunces" came to my hands... People like reading and writing about books... And people usually get books because they buy them, they steal them from libraries, they borrowed them or if they've got someone who loves them they might get them as a gift... Well, of course, I've gotten books in several ways... But I consider the way I got (and read for the first time) The confederacy of dunces somehow particular... This happened like a decade ago, on the year I arrived to Spain... It had been a night of wild party and I ended very happy and drunk in Catalunya Square (Barcelona's heart spot) to get some rest lying on a bench... After a few minutes I saw a figure coming my way from all they way across the square... As the figure approached I realised it was a very old bum, all rags and dirt, walking decidedly toward my bench... The place was not really crowded that late at night, so it was obvious he was coming to meet me... Once he got next to the place I was sitting, he saluted very politely and said something like this: " excuse me, I don't mean to bother you, but I just found this book over there (pointing behind his back with his thumb) and thought that you might like to read it".... What???? I answered not very clearly and a bit confused (Id had a few drinks, remember)... "Looks like a good book... But I can't read and I think you might like to read it", he added.... Well, Thankyouverymuch!, really, thanksalot!, have a good night!, that's very kind of you, I replied very impressed and happy for that unexpected gift... And then the old man just turned and went his own way... The book, of course, as you can all figure out, was "The confederacy of dunces"...
I had no previous idea about it, nor what it was about...
If you have read it, you must know then that it's quite a weird, original and interesting piece of writing...
Getting it the strange way I got it seems just like if it all were part of the novel itself...
If you haven't read, I do recommend you do it (and you'll probably have to, to understand the real meaning of this short post).

That's all,
HASTA LA VISTA!

Back to work... and OFF to have more FUN!!!

2005-06-23T19:32:00.000+03:00

when night turns into day...

Sant Joan's Night has arrived!

Yep, folks, that's the way it is. Tonight is Sant Joan's night, this meaning summer is officially here, kids start their holidays, the summer solstice brings the shorter night of the year, crowds of people will be hitting the streets once the sun sets today and no one is gonna be able to close their lids and get some sleep tonight (pretty heavy fireworks will be flying over the city all night long). As you can see from these pics from last year, the beach will be quite a lively place to stop by and catch a glimpse of this festivity's spirit... You can obviously guess there'll be herds of drunk guys and gals sleeping there tomorrow morning... Most probably, city authorities will just have to sweep them up and only god knows how the hell they are gonna be able to get back home...
The city of course, of course, has taken measures to face this night of happy souls wandering everywhere in such a crazy mood... For example:
- All subway lines and commuter's trains will be running until dusk, with a frequency of 10-20 minutes or so.
-Beach bars will be allowed to open until 5am.
-People celebrating have until 6am to sleep at the beach... And by 10am, a massive task force of garbage men should have the shores clean and ready for anyone wanting to dip their toes in the Meditarrenean.
- Live music shows will only be tolerated where officially scheduled (HA, HA, HA!!!!...)
- Bonfires will also only be tolerated where officially scheduled (Double HA, HA, HA!!!...)
- People are asked not to store firecrackers in their pockets (Triple HA, HA, HA!!!...)
- People are also asked to drink and celebrate in a responsible manner (any comments needed???)

1 thousand tons of different fireworks have already been sold already to celebrate this night (start imagining the noise)...
A similar amount of Cava (catalan champagne) is also waiting in mostly everybody's house to start blowing their corks once the night gets here...
Once I finish work today, I'll be off to have a great time!!!
BTW, I'm back to work... (and therefore blogging)
For a week at least...
KISSES TO EVERYONE!!!!
HAPPY SANT JOAN!!!
I'll make a toast to all of you out there

:)

Dichotomies... and off we go!

2005-06-05T04:51:00.000+03:00

off to see the tree...

OK, two faced, ying-yanged, good side of the force/dark side of the force (yes, I'm on Lucas payroll too), life pretty much goes like this...

1) I have just been offered an undefined contract in the place I'm working at, so this means...

A. It's good, because if they ever want to fire me, it's gonna take them a lot of thinking to come up with a good excuse... and a susbstantial amount of money to convince me if they want me to go without making a fuss about it.

B. I don't really care that much about this new contract, because I know I would love to move to another european city as soon as I get the chance to do it.

2) Due to the change on my new contract, they tell me I can take a two weeks vacation (correspondant to my previous contract) starting right now, asamatteroffact, if so I want it, so this means...

A. Great. You know I have been quite busy and I can certainly use some time off.

B. Ummm... F**K... My pockets are basically full of bread crumbs in this moment, so it's not like I'm gonna be able to get very far from here.

3) Also due to my new contract, they tell me that I can also take another two weeks break in July, which is part of the summer holidays I'm entitled to on my new arrangement, so this means...

A. Great again... So I'll be off for two weeks now, then I'll come back to work for a week or so by the end of the month, and then I'll have two more weeks to keep relaxing.

B. Ummm... F**K again... I'm not sure I'll have time to save enough money to hit Rome or Berlin with all these days off coming suddenly so soon... August would have been a lot better!.

4) One way or another, I'll end up having like a whole month vacation over the summer, so this means...

A. Not bad at all... Lots of people would kill to have all that free time in a city with the beach right there.

B. Unluckily I'm not one of those "lots of people". I hate CROWDED beaches!... so staying here to go water my feet on the shore is not much of an alternative.

5) Well, I'll have a lots of days off anyway, so this means...

A. I could spend endless time in the kitchen and try out a lot of recipes I've been keeping on my "waiting list".

B. My girlfriend is in one of her "I think we should loose some weight" moods, so it doesn't look like that's gonna be possible.

6) People who complain about all the free time they are gonna have really suck, so this means...

A. Yeah... True... I admit it... I suck, but....

B. Even if I suck, my blogging PC is my working PC, so all these days off mean that probably I'm not gonna be much around here and I'll miss you all and all your wonderful posts...

Mais, ces't la vie... as egyptians used to say.

I'll probably have more reading/commenting time than posting time... but I'll try to visit as much as possible...

Take care everyone!

I'll be back ASAP

PS: For those wondering about the Koala pic... well... he's a cute guy, isn't he?... More than enough reason...

What are your favorites animals BTW????

Summer prelude...

2005-06-03T06:23:00.000+03:00

So here I was the other day, having a drink with my girl at Plaza Real...

The place was full of people and the evening was just beginning... So I started thinking and said to my girl: "OK, fine, I know this place is lively and hip late at night, but what the hell is all this people doing here now and where the hell do they all come from???"...

Summer night at Plaza Real...

You may say what's to worry about and there isn't really anything to worry about... Plaza Real is a cool place to hang around and if you are ever in Barcelona I certainly recommend you have a few beers here... You've got plenty of bars and restaurants, a young and happy athmosphere from all the guys staying at the budget hostals located in the square, one of the best jazz clubs in town and a couple of dancing clubs where you can prolong your night frenzy... Of course, you've also got a lot of beggars, small hash dealers, pickpocketers, drunk guys and street musicians/jugglers/artists all out to work and get some tourists' money... (ocasionally you see some police officers too, but they just walk around, letting the breeze come into their lungs and not doing much else really)...
The thing is, as I was originally saying, it was probably no even 6 pm, in the middle of the week on a working day, and the place was CROWDED. Aside from that, most of the people enjoying the moments seemed to be locals and not the herds of tourists that bring Barcelona to a boil once the summer season opens. Put all of this together and then you won't be that surprised over the fact the I was seriously wondering who was really working at that moment in the city, if everyone seemed to be on the streets, their faces all happily looking to the sun, and having a great time... My girl, wiser than I, as girls usually are in relation to their men, just said to me: "It's the summer mood. It's already here"... And yes, I realized it was true... The heat, the humidity and the sun are already here... So, no wonder people just want to skip their duties and go out to enjoy the city...

A bit later I got even happier at the idea that summer is finally approaching... May has been an exhausting month for me in terms of work and I really need a few days to pick my batteries... The marriage of two friends and the birthdays of four others has also left my pockets empty, but my stomach full with enough food and alcohol as to avoid starvation at least for a couple of weeks, even if I didn't had anything to eat in the time being...
There is chance I can take a few days of vacation pretty soon...
I'll start checking the web for some cool destinations I can afford with a very limited budget...

Enjoy the weekend everybody!
:)
A bit la

The Llama Rider...

2005-05-25T08:15:00.000+03:00

After a couple of days off, I should be catching up with all your wonderful posts… But a man is a man… And a man must face his responsibilities…
Double tagged as I find myself in this moment of my blogging existence, I am long overdue for a reply to the “If I could…” list I got involved into by our lovely Peanut Queen and our lively DBdoberman…
General rules are, I quote DB, “From the list of occupations below, select five (5), and write a post on your blog, on how you would perform each, if they were your job. When you are done, add a couple of occupations to the bottom, and ambush five other fellow bloggers to prepare a list”
I subscribe too to another condition DB has added, which I completely agree with: “IF you have already participated, and want out of doing it again, it is up to you find somebody to pass it off to, and it CANNOT be me, not ever again! “… This repeated by me now means you cannot send this back to me, but it certainly does not imply that if you feel like you can go on now and hit DB once again with this wonderful list (he, he, he)…
OK,
I choose as follows,

1) If I were… a Llama Rider… Well, if you saw the pic at the beginning of this post, you pretty much get an idea of what I think… Yes, I would fit my llama with a customized leather jacket, red-yellow blazes painted on the sides, I’d buy her a pack of Marlboro and we would hit the road… The wind hitting our faces while speeding up other fellow hell’s angels with a grin on our faces; the sun always unreachable on the distant horizon; the sweat of our leather jackets running in floods by our bodies; the dumps of my llama lining up behind our backs as a proof of those places we once came from and we might never, ever, see again… We’d pick up plenty of fights and beautiful girls (ocasionally I’d pass my llama through a car-wash service, just to make sure the “beautiful girls” don’t get scared by my llama’s funny smells… My llama would probably try to do the same with me, I guess…)… When in fights, I’d have nothing to fear, for I will know my beast is loyal and whoever thinks a llama is furry, stupid animal, is somehow mistaken… Llamas can kick back as hard as any horse and, on top of that, they can throw hard spit balls with a precision that a sniper would have nothing to envy to (believe me, I’ve been a target of their aim!)… You might think all of this is ridiculous, but it’s not the first time the thought of being a Llama Rider has crossed my head… “Riders on the storm, riders on the storm… Into this world we’re born, into this world we are thrown”… Coming from the desert and the harsh hights of Los Andes, a llama is certainly one of the beasts who knows all about this.
2) If I were… a homeless person… Believe it or not, this one is one I’ve always felt like experiencing and do not feel very anguished by the thought… As a matter of fact, when I was like 4 years old, coming to visit us, my grandma once found me under a bridge close to our house, where I was sitting with a cloth bag tied to a stick, just like a runaway… Of course, she almost panicked when she saw me there… But she always reminds me that I didn’t look the least worried… Ocasionally, I must confess I still feel like hitting the road (no llama this time, he, he…)… And my girlfriend’s sister is almost convinced too I must have been a bump in a previous life due to some particular traits of my character like: I love sleeping on the floor (which I do not do as much as I’d like to, because my girlfriend prefers we use a matress); I could go on and on for days just feeding on bread and water; I love walking LONG distances; I can fall asleep anywhere, no matter the noise; I feel no attachment to material things; I work and earn my living, but I couldn’t care less about money or the lack of it; for me, life is just as beautiful whether you look up or whether you look down; I do not feel the least attracted by many of the so-called “comforts” of life; I’m not the least nostalgic; I don’t give a shit about social classes… Often I think the hardest part about leaving home would be how could you say that to your loved ones without breaking their hearts.
3) If I were… An astronaut… Ok, if I had the chance to get shuttled up all the way up to the stars, I’d love to set my foot on the moon and paint a mega-giant-size mural-like painting that could be seen from any place on earth… it wouldn’t even have to be my own creation… Imagine the moon with a huge Monalisa on one side and Van Gogh’s sunflowers on the other, for example (we could even drag an international voting process to select the masterpiece)… I’d just love to be there and be part of the painters… It’d probably take a long time, but it’s not like I can contribute much to any investigation taking place on the universe, so I might as well just spend all my time painting.
4) If I were… A woman for one day… This is easy. If a woman, I’d be the “femmest” of all femme-fatal ladies… I’ve always thought women have all that’s needed to turn any guy crazy, but many of them just don’t let themselves go as far as they could go and enjoy the fact of “having the force” with them… Of course, I mean femme-fatal in the classy, elegant, dark-dressed, cold blooded kind… I would make men drool and kiss my feet… And by the end of the day, probably I’d wanna be a woman for another day…
5) If I were… a Chef…. Ummm, I got this one sort of thought out already, so basically I’ll be detailing another one of my stupid plans… If I were a Chef, I’d use my prestige and abilities to set up a chain of LOW STANDING restaurants… ??? … What do I mean… I mean I’d make the greatest food on earth at the cheapest prices… Just the contrary of High Standing places… Reason for this, to enjoy food and just to show people what wonderful creations they could try for a reasonable amount and how they usually get cheated and awfully robbed when attending most of the “trendy” and exclusive joints in town.

I’m not sure whom could I tag, or if I can tag five bloggers, who have not done this already, and who could be willing to do it now (my links list is not that long yet…he, he)
Well, for the time being, this are the tagged bloggers:
- Happyandblue2
- Extraordinary Woman in a Mediocre Life (if you happen to be back to blogging)
If I make up my mind about anyone else, I’ll let you know ASAP.

If I could be a scientist...
If I could be a musician...
If I could be a doctor...
If I could be a painter...
If I could be a gardener...
If I could be a missionary...
If I could be a chef...
If I could be an architect...
If I could be a linguist...
If I could be a psychologist...
If I could be a librarian...
If I could be an athlete...
If I could be a lawyer...
If I could be an innkeeper...
If I could be a professor...
If I could be a writer...
If I could be a llama-rider...(by Ogre)
If I could be a bonnie pirate...(By Teach)
If I could be a service member...(By Jeremy)
If I could be a business owner...(By Blue 944)
If I could be an actor... (By Blue 944)
If I could be an agent...(By KelBel)
If I could be video game designer...(By KelBel)
If I could be a comic book artist...(By Stoli)
If I could be a hooker...(By Pollo Loco)
If I could be a crack addict (by Elizabeth)
If I could be a porn star (by Elizabeth)
If I could be a mime (by Garrison)
If I could be a domestic engineer (by Rick)
If I could be a chimney sweep (by laine)
If I could be a masseuse (by laine)
If I could be a taxi driver (by Brian)
If I could be a priest (by Brian)
If I could be a fighter pilot (by Sara)
If I could be a homeless person (by Sara)
If I could be a biker (by Walker)
If I could be a mortician (by Walker)
If I could be a marine biologist (by DB)
If I could be a garbageman (by DB)
If I could be a rich girl...
If I could be a witch...
If I could be a racer...
If I could be an agent...
If I could be video game designer...
If I could be a comic book artist...
If I could be a hooker...
If I could be a homeless person...
If I could be an astronaut...
If I could be a child again...
If I could be invincible...
If I could be a superhero...
If I could be a man/woman for the day...
If I could be a legendary fantasy figure or warrior...
If I could be a vampire...
If I could be an animal...
If I could be a radio talk show host...
If I could be a successful inventor...

MINE
If I could be a moviemaker…
If I could be a miner…
If I could be a hunter…

VHmood

2005-05-20T05:53:00.000+03:00

"girl, you really got me now...
you got me so... I don't know where I'm going..."

feeling in a Van Halen mood...
share with ya' another quick Paint masterpiece
(if anyone knows anyone involved in cheap software deals, please get me a decent drawing software and I'll send you my savings)

I feel a cool weekend approachin',
enjoy it everyone!
:)

More blue thoughts...

2005-05-19T07:53:00.000+03:00

Task forces at work...

I appreciate your efforts and suggestions in answering my last post doubts...

However, I've come to realize that if an international emergency were declared at any moment, let's say 'cause a bunch of wicked aliens has landed on our planet and unexpectedly poisoned all of our food, with the single exception of the blue food, which being so scarce they didn't even bother to look at, well... as I was saying, if en emergency were declared on these premises, probably there wouldn't be enough blue food to feed us all and people, as people usually do on these situations, would just start running in a state of complete havoc, desperately trying to get their hands on some damn blueberries to survive until better times once again enlighten our destinies...

This being the dark forecast, I've send my task forces to start bluberries recollection in anticipation of future catastrophes...

Needless to say, I'll share some of them with you, dear fellow bloggers, in case the need shall arise...

However I would urge to keep this prediction in utmost secrete... This being the only warranty for the safety of this incredible plan and, of course, of our future survival...

Blue thoughts

2005-05-14T07:46:00.000+03:00

You've probably been thinking a lot lately... One thing about thinking is that, whether we want it or not, we'll always end up doing it anyway... You've probably been thinking about your life, the weather, what to do on saturday morning, how awfully short is a weekend, that great place you are gonna go for dinner tonight, that cool girl/boy you are dating with, the things you avoided doing on friday the 13th, the food you need to buy for your dog, cat or zebra, hunger in the world, the state of things in Uzbekistan, how beautiful spring is, the things you never learn, etc, etc, etc... You've probably been thinking about all the things in the world... But I'm sure there is one thing you have not been thinking of... and which I've been wondering about almost for a whole day, without yet coming to an answer... So, I'll share this with you, and I you feel so, I'll gladly accept feedback on the matter...
It's not a brain eating dillema, but it's not that easy to answer either, I think:
?Is there any sort of food which is ORIGINALLY blue?
I mean, I can't pic any sort of meat, veggies, natural beverages or even fruit (crazy coloured in every combination almost) which are ORIGINALLY BLUE... I mean no dyes or colorants... 100% absolutely, originally PLAIN NORMAL BLUE...
I can't think of any... And I'm starting to get worried about it. How could nature/god/whover/however creation started like could forget this???? I don't know, but it gives a bad feeling.

Whatever...

2005-05-12T07:41:00.000+03:00

Don't you ever feel...

like a beast stomping on the flowers????

Just a thought...

Anywaysssss
HAVE A GOOD DAY

100 detalles del Sr.G...

2005-05-05T08:08:00.000+03:00

Sorry, sorry... I've had loads of work... and not much time for blogging....
I hope this post makes it up for this past week's lack of words,
:)

100 Detalles Sobre la Vida del Sr.G
(db... you are in charge of translations from now on, he, he...)

1. I was born in Santiago, Chile.

2. I grew up in an industrial neighbourhood (plenty of
factories and good moments, in my opinion, though most
people tend to think it must have been depressive as a Ken
Loach´s film)

3. I have two brothers. One a year older. The other 14 years younger.

4. I get pretty well with both of them, despite being all completely different (my older bro is the serious married type, my younger bro is the reflexive, sensible kind and I’m the sociable black sheep of the family).

5. When I was 14, my mom was sent to work to the US. I
finished high-school there and I have spent close to six-
years of my life living around the New York area, adding up
different times of my life.

6. I have been living in Barcelona for a bit over a
decade now.

7. While in Santiago and in The States, I used to go
everywhere in my bike. (Luckily in The States I always
lived in nice, little towns, but Santiago is a 5 million
people city, with a crazy traffic, and riding a bike there
was a hell of an adventure)

8. I spent all of my education (from primary school
until the end of the university years) drawing on my
notebooks, while absently minded paying attention to my
classes.

9. Most of my teachers thought I would pursue a career
in Art or as a cartoonist.

10. I love drawing, but I’ve never loved the idea of
making a career out of it.

11. Though I didn’t pay much attention at school, I was not a bad student.

12. I ended up studying for and becoming a journalist.

13. After a few years working as journalists, in
Chile, my girlfriend and I got a bit bored of living there
and decided it was about time to leave the country and see
the world.

14. We left everything we had there and bought a ticket
for New York. (I don’t think we’ll ever regret taking such a decision).

15. Our life would probably be way easier and more
financially stable if we packed our things and moved back
to South America.

16. Luckily, we can accept money is important, but it´s
not what moves our hearts.

17. In the next couple of years, we would love to move
to Berlin. Other possibilities: Marselle, Amsterdam, London
or Paris.

18. Personally, I would love to live in Istambul too.

19. The first job I took when I got to Spain was as a street salesman.

20. The most interesting job I’ve had in this last 10 years was as a store manager for an easyInternet shop located in the heart of Barcelona. (I met literally hundreds of people and most of the crooks and thieves from the downtown area)

21. Irrational as it might sound, I have enjoyed every single work experience in my life.

22. I currently work for a hotel chain and a cruise port side & shore services company.

23. I love working with MASSES of people.

24. I enjoy dealing with conflict.

25. The first girl I had a crush at was the prettiest girl of my class (I was 10 years old at that time).

26. Once I had to stay late in school waiting for my parents to come out of a Parents & Teachers meeting. She had to wait for her parents too. Suddenly she grabbed my hand and told me to go take a walk around the school. It was only a one evening thing, but I have never forgotten that wonderful moment.

27. My first wet dream was with a young Sofia Loren (boy, that was a blessing, really!!)

28. I begged for that dream to repeat several times, but with no success.

29. I have never had any dream twice, BTW.

30. It’s not often that I remember my dreams or that I have nightmares either.

31. I have killed my mother seven times in my dreams, though. Bizarre, isn’t it?. I love my mom and we have a great relation.

32. I don’t think I’ve ever killed my father or any other relative, anyway.

33. My first sexual experience was in a funeral services house (not on a coffin though).

34. After 31, 32 and 33 I guess saying I like horror movies doesn’t really sound that impressive.

35. As a kid, I used to think crickets were sort of like vampire bugs that would suck blood out of your neck (I spent many night sleepless because of that)

36. Needles to say I love vampire stories.

37. Sharing a few drinks on a stormy night in Barcelona, our flat lit only with candles, my girlfriend and I dressed all in black and the two only paintings hanging on the wall being Bersley’s Salome’s Beheading and a Vlad Tepes' impalements engraving, a friend visiting our next door neighbour thought WE WERE VAMPIRES and she left the city the next day! (unbelievable, but true).

38. Those two drawings are one my favourites, BTW.

39. I like painting in general, but dutch painters in particular.

40. Leonardo’s John The Baptist is also one of my favourites.

41. As a kid, I was the fattest kid of my class.

42. I was pretty much the same, until the end of my teenage years.
43. At seventeen I was a 5.9 feet high and 230 pounds metal header.

44. If I happened to be carrying a baseball bat, lots of times no one would dare to sit next to me in a bus.

45. All those times I was just carrying that baseball bat because I loved the game (I still do BTW).

46. I’ve never been much into fighting.

47. As a matter of fact, I believe mostly everything can be talked out.

48. I’m patient to an extreme that sometimes can irritate other people.

49. Believe or not, I don’t think I’ve lost my patience more than fives times in MY WHOLE life.

50. Still, I loved seeing the scared look in the eyes of people when they saw me sitting in the bus with my bat.

51. Though I was pretty fat all of my childhood and most of my teenage years, weight has never been a traumatizing thing for me.

52. I still love eating and I’m a great cook.

53. Despite I love trying out recipes, my favourite food is bread.

54. I love milk too.

55. My liver is probably iron coated. I can swallow a whole jar of mayo and I will hardly feel a bit “heavy” afterwards.

56. I can do some pretty heavy drinking too, but I don’t really care for it anymore.

57. My favourite alcohol drink is rhum, BTW.

58. My favourite soda Pepsi Light (I will also prefer normal Pepsi and Diet Coke, instead of a Coke)

59. I love banana flavored milkshakes with real banana and milk.(No ice-cream).

60. I love coffe. My favourite being a ristretto (a dark, thick double coffe charge that drips slowly into your cup).

61. When I say coffe, I mean “real coffe”. Not instant coffe or american type coffe pots (I don’t dislike them, but they simply are not the same).

62. I love teas too.

63. I like animals in general.

64. The first time I returned to Chile (after 7 years had passed) my dog recognized me straight away and the first thing he did was to lie on his back so that I could caress his tummy the way I had always done when we lived together.

65. I left home when I was 19 to go share a flat with my girlfriend (the lovely girl I still live with).

66. Now we have a cat and I love taking long naps with him resting over me.

67. Sometimes my girlfriend interrupts those naps, kicks the cat out of the room, locks the bedroom door and forces me to undress and perform sexual activities (you know how jealous girls can get, ha, ha, ha…)

68. I’m a mess when it comes to keep things tidy at home (the kitchen being the exception), but awfully organized when it comes to my workplace or work activities.

69. With years I’ve learned to appreciate all sort of music, but deep in my heart there will always be a special place for hard rock and heavy metal.

70. Iron Maiden is my favourite heavy band and I almost died in ectasy when I had the chance to see them live, here in Spain. (they never toured close to NY when I was in The States and the only concert they were ever going to have in Chile had to be cancelled because of political pressure of the right-wing and the catholic church)

71. I’m a Beatles nut too.

72. I would have loved to be a rock guitar player.

73. I can play some tunes with the guitar, but I’m FAR from a pro performing level.

74. I’m thinking of buying an electric guitar again, but my girlfriend knows nothing about it yet (keep your mouths shut, plissssss!!!)

75. When I was a 17 years old metal header beast, I once attended a Paco de Lucia concert in this chic elegant theatre, being the only one there with long hair, jeans jacket and not wearing a suit&tie. I had spent all my money to get a ticket right in the middle of the first row, so I got plenty of curious eyes looking my way. The concert was awesome. (Paco de Lucia is the top flamenco guitar player of the world BTW)

76. A bit older, but still a metal header looking beast, and air-hostess thought I was a band player (only God knows which one!!!) and she kept smiling to me and refilling my glass with various sorts of spirits throughout a whole flight.

77. If I had the money, I would have a collection of electric guitars and bicycles.

78. I hate buying clothes.

79. I love listening CD’s at stores, but I prefer to download music from the web.

80. I like to collect vinyl LP’s too.

81. If you promised to keep this one secret, I’ll confess to you I love Cher’s Do you believe in live after love.

82. Add this to the fact that one of the first tapes I bought as a kid was a Village People’s recording and the “gay” alarms might jump off (ha, ha, ha…)

83. Nope, I’m not gay (at least until now, he, he)… But I don’t think I would mind if I were… I believe relations can be anyway and not necessarily have to be built by two people of different sex.

84. I’m very, very open minded BTW.

85. And not a bit jealous.

86. If my girlfriend decided to have a sex affair with someone (man or woman, for all it matters), it’s not something I would hold against her.

87. I would be hurt though if she decided to hide this from me.

88. If she decided to give details, fine. If not, fine too. I hate sticking my nose into other people’s business.

89. I’m awfully reserved in terms of personal issues and a tomb when it comes to keep a secret.

90. Watching TV sitcoms I have learned several kitchen tricks, like:

91. Breaking an egg with a single hand,

92. Opening any tightly closed jar’s lid with four hits of the bottom part of a knife

93. Flipping pancakes with a single move of the pan.

94. Throw spaghettis to the wall to check if they are ready.

95. Spitting grapes and catching them back with my mouth (well, I’m not sure if this helps cooking at all, but it’s cool anyway).

96. I love All Stars sneakers.

97. I don’t believe in God.

98. I don’t believe in Elvis.

99. I don’t believe in Lennon.

100. I just believe in me. (HA, HA, HA)

LecciĂłn NĂşmero Dos...

2005-04-29T08:13:00.000+03:00

All you need is love... La, la, la, la, la,,,

Just time left for a quick entry to continue with the spanish lessons started a few blogs ago...
I figure you'll pretty much find the way to say hello and get a coffe all over the world, so I'll upgrade these lessons just a bit and teach a couple of classical sentences that might come in handy when dealing with the opposite sex (wow!)...

1.Sentence for the Girls:
"Es esa una pistola en tu bolsillo... O es que te alegras de verme?."

2.Sentence for the Boys:
"Francamente querida, me importa un pepino!".

Translations:
1. "Is that a gun in your pocket... Or are you just happy to see me?"

2. "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!"

I know with these sentences chances of scoring are way much higher for the girls, but... what the heck!... Life is not always fair.

Hasta maĂ±ana!
:)

Your faithful evil server...

2005-04-25T00:16:00.000+03:00

ÂżHave you ever danced with the devil beneath a pale moonlight?

This little devil here is now going home and won't be back to work until thursday (yuhuuuu!!!)... I'm not sure if I'll have that much time to blog until then, so I'll leave you with this interesting TEST to find out the religion that best suits you and which I happened to run into at JustAGirl's site.

I came out 100% atheist and 96% satanist. My grandma would have a heart attack if she knew about it, so please keep this quiet.

:)

A tale of books & roses...

2005-04-24T07:58:00.000+03:00

This is what Barcelona looks like on San Jordi's Day...

Pretty roses everywhere...

and loads of loads of books to browse or buy.

This is one day one would love it lasted forever!!!

A reader's paradise...

2005-04-23T08:31:00.000+03:00

I haven't got that much time to write. But luckily I do have one nice thing to post about. Today, April 23th, San Jordi's Day is celebrated here in Catalonia. Catalonia is the region of Spain where Barcelona is located. And, in my modest opinion, this local festivity must be one of the nicest thing one could ever see.

Why is it so nice? Well, basically because San Jordi is a celebration halfway through between Lover's day and Book's day. And what does this mean? It means that today all the streets of Barcelona (ALMOST EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!!!) will be filled with stands for the sale of books and for the sales of roses. The tradition being that men will receive a book from the women who love them and that the women will receive a rose from the guys they love... Yeah, yeah, I can hear a lot ladies out there crying out what a shitty thing (the man gets the book, the woman just a rose, puff!!), but bear in mind that I said "tradition", this meaning the original concept, something that time has luckily taken to more modern stages, transforming San Jordi in a day where books and roses come and go from hand to hand, without really mattering who is a boy or who is a girl (or not even if you are in love with anyone).

To my knowledge, I have no reference of any other place where International Book Day is celebrated like this. Imagine a whole city of 3 million inhabitants completely taken by books and roses stands, with people happily and quietly strolling around them, beneath a superb mediterranean blue sky, in the search for their old time favorite books, new material or, most probably, something special they want to surprise someone with. It's truly a MUST SEE. And it's not even an official holiday (but people just walk out from their jobs and take a couple of hours to enjoy the wonder of all this).

It's not the day to take your car and go visit your friends. As the streets will be crowded to the extreme by legions and legions of enthusiastic lovers and readers.

Not a single bookstore or publishing company (Barcelona is the main publishing place for the spanish reading market in the whole world) will miss this celebration. Of course, they will be the ones supporting most of the stands. But what it most interesting to readers, they will make sure they can get a signature from their favorite authors, visiting one of the hundreds of book signing sessions that are held during the day almost in every corner of the city...

I'm off from work now and I'll get a chance to see how the city wakes up with the stands getting ready to face this beautiful day. It's gonna be nice walking home this morning. And I wish all of you were here to see it.

Happy Saint Jordi to all of you, readers and lovers, throughout the world.

:)

Could I see your ID, pleeeeease!!

2005-04-22T05:38:00.000+03:00

We blog, therefore we are!...
But what the hell do we look like???.
Blogging around, seems like quite a lot of people are going into images and pictures sharing.
Itâ€™s interesting. Itâ€™s nice. And, of course, itâ€™s comprehensible.

Here we are a bunch of people sharing life on a daily basis, but whose faces, on most cases, we can only imagine, I suppose many times influenced by the pictures on our profile. Something, by the way, which only goes to show how weird and erroneous our perceptions must be. Considering that those pics frames are rarely a portraitâ€¦ And that most of us have this tendency to fill them out with crazy stuff.

In my case, identity is a curious issue. I can recognize to all of you that I still havenâ€™t got the guts to post my pic. But thatâ€™s not all there is to it. It is also due to the fact that I can hardly keep the same look for over six months. And nope, Iâ€™m not a fugitive and much less a famous starâ€¦

Reason for look changes is plain self image boredom. Which, anyway, doesnâ€™t mean that the changes have got to be radical (no crazy haircuts, dyied hair or staff like that). Just basic stuff: mustache on, mustache off; beard on, beard off; hair long, hair trimmed to zero; tailed hair, loose hair; colourfoul clothes; dark clothesâ€¦ Simply things which added to a curious capacity to loose or put on weight (a lot less or a lot more!) can give you numerous combinationsâ€¦

To give you an idea, I can tell you that at different points of my life Iâ€™ve been told I look like all the guys depicted above. The â€śChewyâ€ť years were mainly back in school days (I was big and heavy for my age at that time), but the rest of them, and other looks too, have been pretty much coming and going at different stages of my life.

Of all of them, maybe the Lennon look is the one I feel more attached to (though itâ€™s not the one Iâ€™ve got now). The funny thing about this resemblance is that my girlfriend has also got a Yoko likeness, so whenever Iâ€™ve decided to grow my hair long (and stay thin) it is not unusual that even unknown people address us like the famous couple. We are talking here about different cities and different countries. And the most memorable moment being, of course, at Central Park, New Yorkâ€¦ A day in which I almost dropped a tear out of the emotion, being the Beatles nut I am.

On the negative side, I can tell you that whenever I have the Lennon look people also seem to think Iâ€™m some sort of drug-dealing hippie or something like that. I have nothing against the personal decision of using soft drugs, but it does get a bit annoying when I cannot have long hair and walk into the party scene without someone approaching me and asking if Iâ€™ve got â€śstuff to sellâ€ť. Itâ€™s happened to me zillions of times. Bars, parks, private parties, public parties, walking on the street, travelling by bus, music concerts (of course) â€¦ You name it. Even once in the middle of a huge lake, where I was rowing Tom Sayer style with a couple of friends, when another boat suddenly appeared from nowhere and the guys on it came straight to me asking me if I â€śhad some stuffâ€ť. My friends, knowing my previous experiences of this kind just laughed their asses off. As for me, I canâ€™t still figure out how these guys got there and why.

In relation to Uncle Fester above, occasionally I have also been told to bear a resemblance to Cousin It and little Pugsley Adams. I guess this makes the Adams family home a place where I would probably fit in very well. Funny, isnâ€™t?

Last but not least - so that you really believe how serious this identity issue can sometimes be-, Iâ€™ll let you know that I was once retained in an international airport because of the way I looked. The guy at the customs check point just didnâ€™t want to believe I was the guy on my passport picture. To some extent, he was right. Due to the fact that I havenâ€™t got a single ID card (of any kind) in which I look exactly the same and I donâ€™t usually look very much like the one I should need at any given moment. Luckily on this occasion, they understood my situation. I ended up showing his supervisor all the documents I had at hand, at that moment, with my name and different pictures of me, and they finally let me through.

A few months ago I published this quick Paint made self portrait below on my blogâ€¦

Right now, just add a mustache and chin beard, trim the hair a bitâ€¦ and there youâ€™ve got meâ€¦
In a few monthsâ€¦ Who knows?

Holy pollution

2005-04-19T06:00:00.000+03:00

Nothing new on the Vatican, except for the first clouds of black smoke, polluting a bit more the Roman skies and announcing yesterday's first voting disagreement of the conclave reunited for the election of a new Pope. I know a lot of people just don't give a damn about what's now taking place in the Vatican, but let me tell you that, even if I try no to turn my eyes that way, I cannot help being worried about what the outcome of this process will be. If what most analysts comment becomes true, the new leader of the church might stick to former Pope's conservative hard line and, maybe, even take it farther. I pray the God I don't believe in that this does not turn real. The Church, in my opinion has long lost its credibility as a pilestone for the search of common sense and understanding; and even more if we consider that what is done by the higher spheres of the institution, for the improvement of this world, is hardly proportional to its real economic potential and political power. Plenty of dogma there if you like it, but a return to truly christian principles would be something better appreciated and most beneficial to common street people. Sorry if a spoiled you a moment with my groaning, but I just had to get this off my head... Hope you have a good day!

Against the clock....

2005-04-17T08:18:00.000+03:00

In five minutes I'll be finishing my day (night, really) at work, and I'll be off for a couple days of well deserved rest...
Well, actually my girl's got thought out a million things for me to do at home, so I'm not sure I will get any rest at all... (change that shelf, fix that plug, wash the cat, cook me something cool, take your clothes off and get in here... You know, usual house stuff)...
My worry, though, is what can I say in five minutes that can be significant about my life and that will satisfy the quality standards my thousand of readers have gotten used to... (Besides I just blew the definitions of my template while changing the color, and I've lost quite a few worthy minutes adding back all the links I had again - (if anybody who was there is missing, please let me know!!!)...
The thing to say must be brief, precise and concise.
So here it goes:

Last summer I received a phone message that went something like this:

"MrG, I just spend a couple of hours in Barcelona and I tried to reach you, but I couldn't. My train is now leaving, so I know it's not gonna be possible now. Well, I just wanted to see if we could meet and, well, anyway, I just wanted to thank you for everyhting you did for me". End of the call.

It was a girl, speaking in english, with an american accent.
And I had no idea who could it be.
She addressed me by my name in the message and she sure knew I lived in Barcelona.
I almost never forget the face or the voice of anyone I've met. Much less if I did something so "helpful" for them.
I never got another message from this girl, so I never found out the solution of this mistery.

Spooky?
Strange?
Coincidence? (a guy with my name in the same city)

The truth is out there...

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

2005-04-16T07:51:00.000+03:00

Sorry Guys. Blood stopped flowing to my brain after injuring myself yesterday, so I'm not feeling very inspired today. I'll leave you with the following...

TOP TEN LIES OF EVERYDAY LIFE...
WE EITHER USE, HAVE USED OR FACED CONSTANTLY AT ONE POINT OF OUR LIFE.

First Suggestions:

1. Sorry I didn't answer. I was in the shower.

2. Whatcha mean you didn't get it???. I sent you a mail!!! - (mobile messages and Xmas cards are also valid)

3. Oh, boy!!! That traffic was really something today.

4. Yeah, Mom/Pop. Don't worry. I've got money.

5. Nooooo!!! I'm telling you. We did not have a fight. WE ARE JUST FINE!!!.

5. I didn't do it - (your fingers pointing at your brother/sister/husband/wife, etc...)

6. Of course I know where we are!!! - (usually said 20 minutes before opening that stupid map)

7. Oh, yeah, sure. I'll call you.

8. Don't worry, I'll bring condoms.

9. Uuuauuu!! You look FAN-TAS-TIC in that outfit!!!!

10. Well, we really appreciate a lot what you are doing here... (but we'll fire you anyway, so get lost!!!)

Injured blogger...

2005-04-15T05:33:00.000+03:00

I JUDD CUDD MY DDONGUE CLODDING AN ENVELOPE... AND IDD HURDD LIKE CRADDZY...
COULD ANYONE DIAL EMEDDGENDDCIES...
DDANK YOU!!!

Childhood innocence...

2005-04-14T06:25:00.000+03:00

Reading today about The Peanuts Queen hilarious story on evil marshmallows, I took a detour toward Steve's Nude Memphis Blog and found another great story, this latter about a broken old rotary phone and man who still hangs on to a weird childhood fear.... Well, you can visit their sites and see all the details... The thing is that Steve's memory brought also a similar memory to my mind and I thought I'd tell you about it...

LOOOONG, LOOONG time ago, when I was probably less than 10 years old, I was playing with my older brother at home and in one of our ordinary "thrash around the house" and "wreck the hell" out the place routines we happened to be chasing each other and ended crashing against this huge cupboard, coronated on top with a horrible and old ceramic jar which had been up there forever. Or at least, for as long as we could remember...

Aside from being ugly, the jar had also a considerable size and was baroquely decorated to the extent of wondering who, on earth, would put such an ormanent in his/her house. The answer, in this case, was my grandma (it was a gift from her younger days). And since we all knew she had been the one to place it there, the jar pretty much stayed on top of the cupboard more or less like a picture in a museum. That is respected, unmovable and overlooking the scene.

My brother and I, being kids, had never liked the damned jar. Kids sort of have a talent to know what antique things just ruin the whole aesthetics of a place, and probably the reason why we really crashed against the cupboard, it was because that jar was meant to fall and we were meant to fullfill such a destiny. Of course, as you can imagine, the ugly jar fell from the heights and smashed when hitting the floor. My brother and I suddenly growing pale and exchanging desperate glances of fear...

Just a few seconds after the tragedy ocurred, we started to think about what the hell we were going to do, all the points scored to a WELL DESERVED AND LONG LASTING punishment. Time seemed to freeze. My brother yelled at me: "It's your fault, ASSWHOLE!!!!". Something completely untrue, but that he felt that he could say, with that stupid sense of authority he usually threw at me, because he was a year older. Then, he yelled again: "Do something, ASSWHOLE!!!!" And my lights went on...

I told him we could fix the jar. He looked at me like "yeah, sure" and I just told him back: "Let's get some office tape"...

At this point, I'll just make a short stop and let you know that I sort of knew what I was doing. For my short age, I had always had abilities with my hands (painting, clay sculptures, even fake signatures...) and was usually NÂş1 in my Art classes at school.

With extreme patience (that sort of trance you experience when involved in artistic creativity) I put back all the pieces of the jar and managed to tape them from the inside. It wasn't that firm if you pressed it when I finished, but it had so much tape inside that it would hardly fall apart again easily. The "masterpiece" done, we climbed again the cupboard (yeap, little boys don't use folding stairs) and place the ugly jar back on its majestic place. Luckily enough not much light got on top of that piece of furniture, so we figured it would take a few days before anyone noticed the jar was cracked. At least, a few more precious days of freedom before submitting to punishment... Or that's what we thought.

Fortune smiled on us with more kindness than deserved. The days went by and nobody did seem to notice anything strange about the jar. My brother and I had always known the jar was a piece of shit unworthy to even set your eyes upon. But we weren't quite sure if our parents felt the same... Days continued to pass. Then weeks. Later months. And finally years... The jar being alone as high on the cupboard that nobody even cared to reach a chair and dust up there.

Three years later, approximately, a big earthquake shook our city. Our house was undamaged, but most of the things on high places ended up down on the floor. The ugly jar, of course, was no exception. Our father started cleaning the mess and suddenly he came across these broken pieces of ceramic all sticky with office tape. He was puzzled, but a father is a father and he smelled we had something to do with it.

There was no denial from our part and we explained him the whole thing...

He had a great laugh.

Those kids!!!!

2005-04-10T19:45:00.000+03:00

Baby dunking... New addition to the olympic games???

It's not usual that my girl and I go out with couples with kids. Not because we don't want to, but basically because the only thing we have to take care of is our cat (not much different from nasty kids I know, anyway) and, second of all, because most of the couples we know have not yet decided to make that BIG MOVE (us, included, of course)...

On the other hand, here in Spain nightlife, bar hitting and free time is sort of like a religion for lots of people and, things being that way, it's not really unusual either that the "Baby" talk arises way past your thirtieth birthday (yeah, guys, face it, it's not that you are old at thirty+, but hangovers grow worse with years and many people start getting these funny pains from their liver and, sadly, discover that it's not indestructible... And I would also add that you don't enjoy TV cartoons by the morning, as much as you did before)...

Anyway, yesterday afternoon, it was different. We have this friend who teamed up together with a divorced guy with a 7 years old boy last year and, being so long since the last time we had met, we decided to get all together to share a few happy beers and update with the latest of our lives....

The kid was allright. Very intelligent and mature. There was no need to watch out on what you said, as he already knew things like what a transsexual and a travesty were, and believe me that once you hear words like these coming from an kid's mouth, you feel somehow relieved... Well, to sum it up, the afternoon was very pleasant and my girlfriend decided to give the kid a "cerbatana" as a gift (for those who don't know a cerbatana is a blowgun and, considering that we are not in the jungle here, I'll just clarify that my girlfriend got it from a "souvenirs from the world" kind of shop)...

The things is, once she gave him the blowgun, there were three kids instead of just one. The original one. His father. And I. And this is were I really wanted to get. Because whenever some toy of this kind is involved, most men behave just the same, no matter what age they are. You see the big tube. You see the darts. You can almost hear that whistling sound of the blow calling on your primitive nature... YES. IT'S FUN!!!! AND WE WANT SOMETHING MOVING TO BLOW THOSE DAMNED DARTS AT!!!!!

Later at night I decided to get serious (we can all do this, if we wish with all of our heart!) and reflected a bit on human behaviour when related to men interaction with little boys playing (not girls, I clarify). Not that many minutes past, I rounded out my thesis to the following: Unless a feminine presence is dominating the scene, when it comes to kids, men usually act just as mature as their little boy fellas or they simply treat them like a pet (a loved pet, nevertheless)...

OK, OK, OK... I can hear some fathers out there claiming they are good caring parents and that sort of stuff... Take it easy, pals. I'm not saying you are not... I just believe that, whenever wives/girlfriends/women (yep, mothers count too) are there, we just don't behave the same... We usually just jump into the fun more restless and careless or we use the boys to get a good laugh or a good time (not much different of what you do with your dog when throwing sticks in a park and nothing to regret, if you ask me)...

I'm not a parent, but I've got a brother who was born 15 years after me, so I know what interaction with a little boy can be like... My older brother and I did everything with the little guy from disguising him, making him cry for stupid stuff, convincing him two run 40 times up and down the stairs, or sending him on weird errands (when he was a bit older), just to show a few examples... We had a great time out of him and, curiously enough, he still loves us a lot...

LecciĂłn NĂşmero Uno...

2005-04-09T08:15:00.000+03:00

1.- SiĂ©ntese delante del ordenador y proceda a desvestirse.

ha, ha, ha....
Don't freak out.
Just pulling your leg... In case you read blog headings only...
I haven't decided to move to spanish yet...

Those curious enough can check the meaning of instruction NĂşmero Uno with a Free Translator...

Hope you are ready for instruction NĂşmero Dos tomorrow... ;)

Hola a todos!!!!

2005-04-08T08:05:00.000+03:00

If your spanish is worse than basic, let me just tell you this means HELLO EVERYBODY... Why do I post this... Well, a small, but annoying reason really...

I've been blog-surfing last night (my index finger numb of "next-blog" clicking) and I've come to realize than blogs written in spanish are scarce and, when you happen to run into one of them, they are usually just terrible...

OK, maybe I shouldn't complain that much, since I'm not writing this blog in spanish either. But spanish is one the five most widely spoken languages of the world and I believe that, one blogger less or more, the spanish blogging community should still be proportional to the amount of people who speak it daily. Maybe it was just bad luck. Maybe not. Still, the whole thing is a bit sad and dissapointing...

I guess could try writing this blog in spanish and just force you to learn the language (after all, knowing languages is cool and it's always good to improve one's personal education)... I'll see what I do... Until I decide anything,
HASTA LA VISTA (see you later)

*start checking prices for dictionaries, just in case*

Real house warmth...

2005-04-07T04:26:00.000+03:00

Nope. It's not my birthday yet... And come to think of it, if it were my birthday, I would go for the traditional cake and candles stuff when celebrating it. Reason for the pic above is simple and down to earth. I have bought myself a new toilet lid. Incredible, right??? I knew you would understand it.

OK,OK, I'm not as stupid as this post might seem so far (well, maybe we could discuss about my stupidity, but this post is serious, I swear...). Let's do a bit of background
info, first...

For YEEEEEARS and YEEEEEARS, I had this toilet with a PLASTIC TOP. Big deal, you say. And you are right. Probably a majority of this planet shares the same bathroom experience. But I had a reason to change. And that makes this a WHOOOOOLE different story.

If you have read my profile, you must know already that I live in Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona is a great city. Lots of things to see, great cultural activities, an amazing nightlife, close to wonderful mediterranean beaches, tasty food, a cosmopolitan environment, etc, etc... But despite all this, like any other modern european polis, when winter times hits the calendar, YOU FREEZE YOUR BUTT. Hold on to this last statement, and explanation for this post will become clearer than water in just a few lines...

As I said, I live in Barcelona. And more precisely, I live in Barcelona Old Quartier. A colorful, mixed and attractive neighborhood where OLD really means OLD and the building you inhabit might well have a few centuries when it comes to determine the moment someone decided to lift it up. As a result, you have got plenty of small flats where the bathroom is in the house, but your toilet is separated from the main estructure of the place, by a small private corridor (because the toilet was probably added decades after the original construction). I live in the Old Quartier. And this is my case.

For YEEEEEEARS and YEEEEEARS, comes winter, my potty attached on the outside of my flat, I had been freezing my butt whenever I felt the call of my human needs. It was horrible. And at nighttime, it was even worse than a nightmare. Until providence crossed my road and enlightened my brain just a few days ago...

I was browsing by IKEA, searching for some bookshielves, when I came into the bathroom section and I my eyes, suddenly, diverted toward a WOODEN toilet lid. I felt puzzled and I wasn't really sure why. But my thoughts quickly reorganized and showed me why and the vision I should have had YEEEEEEARS and YEEEEEARS ago:

PLASTIC LIDS absorb the cold and FREEZE YOUR BUTT!!!!
WOODEN LIDS reject the cold and SHOULD NOT FREEZE YOUR BUTT!!!!
AND I HAVE BEEN LIVING ALMOST A DECADE WITHOUT EVEN THINKING ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!! (I remind you, once again, that debate over my stupidity remains open...)

Needless to say, I opened my wallet, took out the 19,90 euros and bought that glorious toilet covering. As soon as I got home, I proceeded to install it right away. What followed after that, you can imagine... And let me tell you... THE LID IS A GODDAMN PLEASURE!!!! (And contrary to the pic above, a lot safer when it comes to warm our delicate behinds).

By the way, I run into this strabge TOILET MUSEUM site when writing this post. Check it out, if you'd like...

those daily mysteries

2005-04-04T00:15:00.000+03:00

Hard day at work today... which sadly means (in my case) not much time for blogging... However I'll just post a quick entry, reflecting on one of those of things which always happen and only gods know why...

As I said above, I was quite busy all day... And what does this mean??? It means that for a strange reason this is the sort of day most of your friends choose to call you up and see what's going with your life... Plus the addition that this will also be the day your girlfriend (wife, couple, etc...) suffers this sudden urge to be constantly communicated with you to ask you even about the most insignificant stuff...

Of course, all this social interaction is not something to regret at all... But I work mainly face to the public and sometimes you just feel a bit weird when you have a bunch of people looking at you and you keep answering the phone to answer your mates (many of whom, also realize you are up to your neck with work, and decide it's just the perfect time to joke a bit and pull your leg for a little while)...

Now when a girlfriend call comes in, things can be sometimes harder... That might go from the "why are you being so cold to me (the "honey I got crowds of people here" message not getting across)" or that classic "c'mon, say you love me" thing that you cannot avoid responding and which, I must confess, will always make me blush in front of someone with a funny smirk on his/her face...

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm a extremely sociable guy and have this diplomatic touch that usually helps me to deal very well with these situations... And what really surprises me it's not the considerable amount of calls, but just the strange fact that this things will always take place on "work your ass out" days... Is it just me???

Not to say he didn't try...

2005-04-02T05:48:00.000+03:00

And then you wonder why he couldn't find anything...

It's hard to go through the news and not to take a moment to talk about results just turned in by the US Congress Comission about Massive Destruction Weapons in Irak...

If you have heard about it, you must know by now than after a year of investigation all evidence leading to believe that Irak had enough of these weapon to wreck the Middle East has shattered to zero (or very close to that, at least).

Conclusions say that intelligence information provided by official US agencies was either wrong or not properly certified. They make it clear, though, that it was the spies fault and that the Bush administration could not help that. Whether you want to believe this or not -especially after all this time and what this war has meant to the international community-, it's up to you.

Regardless of where you stood when all this war craziness started, I cannot help but wonder how will american people will face this.

It is not about being pro-war or against-war anymore. The thing is it has taken a full year for a official comission to state what 90% percent of the world population, plus all UN and independant inspectors were almost desperately shouting, before the bombs began to fall. Take this and sum it with fiasco of the most advanced intelligence services in the world, supposedly, providing such crappy data on such a crucial situation and you cannot stop your head from nodding out of consternation.

Can the people in the world really rely on what their governments tell them?
If I were in the US, I would start thinking seriously about it.

Are the threats from places like Iran or North Korea something that should really be taking into account?
A couple of years ago, the international community could have discussed or disagreed about
it. Now, nobody will know what to believe or what to attain to.

On a more local american ground, can anybody really overlook all that people's tax money so foolishly spent on lousy spying services and useless investigatios comissions (not to count war propaganda) ?

A few years ahead, however, looking from a strict chronological analysis, George W. Bush thesis might be quoted as real and coherent: He invaded Irak to destroy massive destruction weapons. A year later, there were no weapons of this kind in Irak... Forget about the fact that they were not there before... And there is no contradiction in all that.

(believe or not, pic from above is from a real archive)

Want to shake the established media??? Follow the example

2005-04-01T03:30:00.000+03:00

Just checking on the news I run into this little piece I thought you, fellow bloggers, might find interesting...
I do not consider CNN the standard for deep alternative news treatment, but yet I think this note about korean Citizen Reporters - blogging/reporting live from wherever they are- is still worth taking a look at, if not by its form, definitely by its content.

TIME HAS COME FOR US TO HOLD UP THE MIC... AND SPEAK UP!!!!
(Don't you guys feel a little bit like this, whenever you start one of this blogging sessions?)

Happy Eastern Evrbdy!!!!!

2005-03-27T08:01:00.000+03:00

Another Mystery Pic by MGsings

The origin of the Easter Bunny?

Who knows...

These serious stone guys are called Moais. They were raised by natives centuries ago in Easter Island, some say as guardians of the seas. Easter Island is isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, halfway between South America and Oceania. That means, literally, thousand and thousand of miles away from anything resembling a continent... How could a bunny get there?... Not the slightest idea.
By the way, Easter Island natives call their land Tepito Te Henua. That is: "The Navel of the World".

Happy Easter to all of you...

Hope you eat so much chocolate as to roll over the floor!!!!

Do I really need to know all this????

2005-03-26T05:58:00.000+02:00

Facts:

1428 -
The year Vlad Tepes was born (the real rumanian prince who inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula).

5567133 -
The first telephone of the house where I lived as a kid.

If attacked by a crocrodile, try hitting/biting them in the eyes -
(zebras do and, if not always, sometimes they get away (alive) with it)

If in tigers territory, try wearing a mask on backwards or a mirror like device on your back -
Weird as it might seems, apparently tigers don't like to take a bite out of beings looking straight at them, nor looking at their own scary reflections.

Gordon Mathew Summers-
Sting's real name.

Ali Agca -
the turkish guy who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981

Pete Malloy-
The police officer character of old Adam-12 TV series

Harding, Coolidge and Hoover -
American Presidents between 1921 and 1933

11.000 meters deep -
The Mariana Island Trench. Supposedly, the deepest place of our little planet.

Riverdale -
The place where Archie's Comic Books' characters live

Reason for posting this... Just a random display of useless information stored in my brain and which had been absolutely irrelevant to my life for at least -sometimes even longer- twenty years...
The weird thing about all of this is that I can recall any of these facts in fractions of a second, but sometimes cannot even remember what is it that my girl asked me for whe she calls me on the phone, tells me to stop by a chinese restaurant on the way back home and bring some delicious food for dinner... (and I just hate it when I have to make one of those "err, honey..er, you know... er you wanted that spicy chicken, right? ah, yeah, yeah, duck,, yeah,,, that's what I meanT!!!" sort of humiliating calls)...
It's not that I have a bad memory (not bad at all, I think)... But I just don't get why sometimes our hard-drive acts is such a bizarre way...
I would gladly delete some of my rubbish files (and believe me, there is PLENTY!!! of them) and just get some free-space that, if not meant to improve my memory, at least would enhance the data processing input and output operations...

What the hell,
Life is just plain weird I guess