These are my nasty little thoughts

No, the title is not a sex-related pun. What I meant was that I’m gonna try to leave some nasty and bad thoughts on the table and hopefully behind me (Fat chance, some might say). At least, from a cold, rational point of view, they are nasty, bad and dangerous for my mental and emotional health, but maybe they could mean something else too. Maybe a secret desire, a wish, something I’m not happy about… The possibilities are not endless, but most unknown.

I’m sick and tired of hearing everyone preach about how a man is not an island, how he’s not a complete self-sustainable individual, free to do as he or she pleases. “A man needs other men to understand life and find his purpose within society”, they say. It’s not that I disagree entirely with that idea. It’s just that it sounds too artificial and control-freakish to me, and I feel it diminishes and underestimates the whole current state of evolution (both social and individual) man has reached in the last two centuries. We have come to see that individualism, in various states of manifestation, is not just a theory for anarchism, liberty or whatever anyone might think individualism stands for. It’s not JUST a theory, its reality: We’re all living proof of that. It’s about one’s self-preservation and about the preservation of any thing anyone holds dear, such as family or others.

A man (and/or woman) is indeed an island, with its own climate, culture, ways of doing stuff and living life. And if for some coincidence, two individuals happen to share political, spiritual or cultural views, it’s only due to this same coincidence, especially nowadays. Never before in History have we lived an era so filled with options, (glorious) differences and various choices from where to guide our lives as we see fit. Liberty, therefore, does not come (only) from mere free thought or strength of will, but from the existence of options from where to choose the paths of our lives, along with the possibility everyone has to know them, accept or reject them and eventually exercise them. That’s why any over-controlling “authority” is the most unnatural thing in the world and as such, it’s an intolerable and potential evil and must be either eliminated or lowered to its very minimum. However, the idea of the “potential evil” (it would be too serious to use “inherent evil” this time, yet it serves the purpose just as well, or even better) any authority has within itself just for being an authority, is not an acceptable enough argument or excuse to stand in arms against it. As free individuals, we give others the freedom to choose their authorities or the lack thereof, wether it is their own minds, a book, an idea, a person or even God. No position or stance in the World is absolutely right or represents liberty better than the next one. There (must) can always exist a reasonable doubt.

However, and to continue the analogy, islands are not always a piece of land in the middle of the ocean, far from any possible civilization or contact with other people. Human nature, in my opinion, resembles something more like an archipelago, but never a continent or “mainland”. The importance of knowing is to realize the existence of “bridges” humans build between islands and even between archipelagos (A whole community is made of individuals who have come together under the same culture or cultural manifestation). These bridges are our connection to other islands, and so each bridge is unique, since every island is unique, even among archipelagos. Some bridges are stronger, more beautiful, more useful or more important than others, but all hold a special meaning or end for the builders of the bridge.

So, after considering this hypothesis or conception of humanity, the real question a person should ask is: ¿Why are there not enough bridges on my island? A man, in the end, needs other men to fulfill his own desires and reach his goals, so having as much bridges on one’s island, not immediately considering if they are strong, beautiful or even useful is an inherent need and desire, yet it is not a point that contradicts my point of view. You can’t force others to join others. Also, one should think of those people who are archipelagos all by themselves… Life’s not easy for them, yet their lives are everything but boring, and it’s not because others judge them as interesting or give their opinions about how boring or fun a person is for others to hear. Those lives are interesting and fun because those who live them have chosen to persist and resist in order to prove their worth to their own self, because self-preservation is the most natural instinct in human nature. Those that don’t matter too much or don’t represent a necessity are of little importance. Living for others and because of others is useless, dangerous, deceiving, frustrating and it eventually leads to emptiness and low self-esteem, or death (wether it’s physical death or psychological death). It is human nature to look after number one first, then after everyone else. Society is just a pact built by islands to remain as islands and still secure mutual support and help. Or maybe society can be seen as the effort individuals do, first for themselves, and then for the group.

Cheers!

Por aquellos… / For those…

En este Día del Armisticio, quiero dedicar unas cuantas líneas a un excepcional grupo de individuos: Los Veteranos. Aquí están esas líneas…

Por aquellos que respondieron al llamado del Deber. Por aquellos que se prepararon para enfrentar al Enemigo tantas veces. Por aquellos que entregaron todo, sin esperar mas recompensa que el placer de una misión cumplida. Por aquellos que pagaron el mayor precio de todos. Por aquellos que sobrevivieron para contar sus historias de heroísmo, perdida y humanidad a las nuevas generaciones. Por aquellos que aseguraron nuestra libertad y nuestra vida. Por aquellos a quienes les debemos tanto pero que tan poco les hemos entregado de vuelta.

Por aquellos héroes inmortales, un humildísimo tributo en su honor. Nunca serán olvidados.

*o0o*o0o*o0o*o0o*o0o*o0o*o0o*o0o*

In this Remembrance Day, I want to dedicate a few lines to and exceptional group of individuals: The Veterans. Here are those lines…

For those who answered Duty’s call. For those who prepared their selves in order to face the Enemy so many times. For those who gave everything without expecting any reward besides the pleasure of an accomplished mission. For those who paid the ultimate price. For those who lived to tell their stories of heroism, loss and humanity to the younger generations. For those who assured our liberty and our lives. For those who we owe so much but have given so little in return.

For those immortal heroes, the most humble toast in their honour. They shall never be forgotten.

- Imagen y enlaces cortesía de Wikipedia. / Image and link courtesy of Wikipedia.

"If", by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream -and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -which is more- you'll be a Man, my son!

Sláinte!

Funeral Blues, by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message “He is dead”.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

¡Sláinte!

¡The sexile roommate contract!

Desde que entre a Derecho, ha crecido mi fe en la Ley y en la posibilidad real que esta tiene de permitirnos ser mas libres, más completos y de ayudarnos a alcanzar nuestras metas individuales y colectivas. Es poco lo que puede decirse en contra de esta carrera, sino mas bien de quienes habitan y cohabitan las salas de la facultad de derecho de la UDP. Se bien que escogí bien. ¿Es eso es suficiente? No, porque me faltaba encontrar una expresión del Derecho de este calibre (¡Me disculpo de antemano con quienes se ofendan!) y aquí esta para Uds., escuadrón de graciosos y caricaturescos personajes del mundo de los blogs:

P.D.: En el titulo hay un enlace hacia una versión más grande del contrato.

¡Sláinte!

Mi respuesta para Flo

Leí el artículo sobre los “gringos” en el blog Deuda Razonable -perdón, DUDA Razonable, jejeje-, y como me interesó mucho el tema, decidí poner mi granito de arena en la conversación que allí se desarrolló.

No obstante, al terminar de escribirla, me di cuenta de lo mucho que había escrito, y consideré que seria un tanto descriteriado colocar todo eso en un espacio donde se supone uno comenta un poco y luego debate, así que decidí publicar mi respuesta en mi propio blog. Voilá:

I’m not much into writing the whole thing in english right now, so…

Nunca me han interesado sobremanera los gringos ni los Estados Unidos. Podría pasarme la vida entera sin ir y claramente no me importaría. Se me ocurre (ingenuamente) que Europa es más simple y menos… paranoica y egocéntrica. Ahora, puede que mucho de mi impresión de los gringos y sus formas de vida se base injustamente en las experiencias que he tenido en Santiago, por no decir Chile. Respecto a eso, espero comentarios y criticas.

Mas de una vez, como todo buen santiaguino que se mueve mucho por los barrios concurridos de la capital, me he topado con extranjeros. Actualmente me puedo acordar de árabes (de países árabes, no de Recoleta), europeos varios, israelíes, africanos de diversas naciones, sudamericanos de toda clase, canadienses y por supuesto, gringos (Ojo que tampoco estoy usando este termino peyorativamente, sino para diferenciarlos de los británicos de la isla y los de las colonias del Pacifico) con los que he tenido el gusto de conversar y practicas los idiomas que conozco, como el alemán.

De todo el grupo anterior, con las evidentes excepciones presentes en toda cosa en la vida, puedo decir sin pelos en la lengua que quienes menos esfuerzo hacen por entender y darse cuenta que están en OTRO país, en OTRO lado del continente, en OTRO hemisferio y en OTRA cultura, son los gringos. Por alguna razón, que desconozco profundamente y que tampoco ha nublado mi juicio en cuanto a los “otros” gringos con los que he tenido el placer de hablar en la calle, esta especie de snobs no habla una sola gota de castellano, no lo intentan y mas encima (obviamente) se dirigen a los demás en ingles, tal como si le estuvieran hablando a un compatriota y por lo bajo esperando que aquí sepamos tanto de su idioma como ellos.

Ahora Uds. dirán: “Es que esos gringos están aquí con otros que si hablan nuestro idioma”, o “Es que esos gringos están aquí por primera vez, en América Latina / un país de habla hispana / Chile…”, u otra opción viable. Todo eso es valido y es absolutamente plausible.

El punto es el siguiente: Si están aquí con otra gente, ¿para que salen solos a la calle a comportarse de este modo (porque tampoco buscan pasar piola, no no...) y esperan además no ser el objeto de algún fresco maleducado de PESIMA FE que les roba o los agarra “p’al webeo”? Security, my butt. Este es solo uno de los casos plausibles que pueden pasar en el Chile actual. Por otro lado, si esta es su primera visita a Chilito, deberían asegurarse como personas inteligentes que son, de al menos aprender un poco del idioma local, a fin de que les permita entender de que les habla el chileno medio a fin de estar mas cómodos y confiados en que no les podría pasar lo que de otra manera sucedería por no saber hilar adecuadamente una oración simplísima como “Hola, estoy buscando esta dirección…”. El acento (y la pronunciación) es prácticamente irrelevante, porque nadie pide que además se oigan como chilenos. Ya no se ven y ya no pasan piola por la estatura y otras características físicas y el atuendo, como bien lo coloca Flo, es obvio.

Todo esto no lo digo para evitarme la lata de tener que lidiar con este tipo de gringos, sino para que se eviten problemas a ellos mismos y disfruten así su estadía en lo que yo creo es un país muy bonito e interesante, pero provincial al fin y al cabo. Es parte del juego entender las reglas antes de empezar a jugar, sea porque uno tiene donde quedarse, entiende como se avanza, sabe el idioma, cual es el objeto del juego, que es lo esencial que se debe saber del país al que uno visita, etc. Chile es uno de los países con la gente más amable y generosa que hay. Seremos flojos, pero somos en su amplia mayoría honrados y de buen corazón. It’s just that we don’t speak english. Some of us do, but we’re not as much as we could be, and some of us don’t even know how to speak our own language in the first place. It’s easy to get (self) tricked into something weird or dangerous.

Ahora, mas de alguna vez he atendido a esta especie de gringo en locales en los que he trabajado. Siempre me dirijo a ellos en castellano como es obvio, e insisto en hablarles en castellano durante la transacción si es posible. Por supuesto la crueldad, a pesar de ser una característica mía, nunca la uso con un evidente inocente, y me enfoco en dilucidar rápidamente si el gringo en cuestión esta puro tonteando y siendo arrogante (Cosa que nunca pasa cuando está solo), o bien, si en realidad esta un poco urgido e incomodo, situación en la cual le hablo instantánea y calmadamente en ingles y le ayudo lo mas que puedo. Mas de alguna vez he tenido agradables intercambios con ellos, pues me han visto con esa misma cara de “Thanks for saving me” que Flo nombro, y aprovechan no solo de comprar algo, sino de pedir direcciones, datos y otros tips.

En otras ocasiones he tenido la oportunidad de hacer otro tanto con alemanes, pero son las menos, pues estos se preocupan bien de “blend in” y de hacer las cosas correctamente. Ellos son educados, deferentes y estratégicamente inteligentes.

Saludos.

¡Sláinte!

Una verdad es descubierta.

"It's hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head" (Es dificil pelear con un enemigo que tiene puestos de vigilancia en tu cabeza).

Sally Kempton.

¡Sláinte!

¡Snickers: The lingo of the XXIst Century!

1. Nougatocity \nü-gat-ä-st-tE\ (noun). A heightened yet fleeting state of accomplishment that makes you realize how unbelievably unmotivated you normally are.
2. Peanutopolis \pE-nut-ä-pu-lis\ (noun). A state of mind making you feel very strong and powerful, almost mayor-like.
3. Substantialiscious \sub-'stan(t)-shu-'li-shus (noun). The weight of something when you weigh it with your tongue.

¡Sláinte!

Bush Memorial Progress (...So far)

Dear Friends and Relatives:

I have the distinguished honor of being on the committee to raise $5,000,000 for a monument to George W. Bush. We originally wanted to put him on Mt. Rushmore until we discovered there was not enough room for two more faces.

We then decided to erect a statue of George in the Washington, DC, Hall Of Fame. We were in a quandary as to where the statue should be placed. It was not proper to place it beside the statue of George Washington, who never told a lie, or beside Richard Nixon, who never told the truth, since George could never tell the difference.

We finally decided to place it beside Christopher Columbus, the greatest Republican of them all. He left not knowing where he was going, and when he got there, didn't know where he was. He returned not knowing where he had been, decimated the well-being of the majority of the population while hewas there, and did it all on someone else's money.

Thank you.
George W. Bush Monument Committee.

P.S.: We have raised $1.35 so far.

¡Sláinte!

If I had my own world...

I'd build you an empire...

AvA

I-Empire

Fall 2007

¡St. Patrick's Day! ¡Bottoms Up!

Hola a todos:
Espero que estén muy bien, empezando adecuadamente el año académico, escolar o profesional. Por supuesto, se nos fue el verano, pero todo tiene que terminar. De lo contrario, carecería de sentido.

Pero no desesperen. Para despedir el verano y recibir al invierno como Dios manda, se acerca el Día de San Patricio, o mas conocido mundialmente como St. Patrick’s Day. Este día cae el 17 de marzo, y es el día nacional de Irlanda. Por esas casualidades de la vida, ese mismo día esta de cumpleaños una amiga mía, Katherine Strauss. Un gran saludo para ella.

Para celebrar este día las opciones fuera de casa, y las que más me han gustado son el festival de St. Patrick’s en el Flannery’s o el mismo día en el Pub Dublín de Provi. Aquí les dejo el itinerario para el Festival de St. Partrick’s en el Flannery’s. Espero verlos ahí el viernes o el sábado, sea cual sea el día que yo vaya a ir, cuídense mucho, nos vemos. –PEACE.
Flannery's Irish Geo Pub
Dublin Pub

¡Sláinte! ¡Erin Go Bragh!

P.D.: ¡Feliz martes 13 de marzo, 2007!

“Tu haces que ese baile se vea nuevo...”

Pocas veces se encuentran canciones sin mucho contenido lírico que pueden evocar sentimientos, recuerdos y sensaciones de profunda satisfacción y realización. Admito que el video que Uds. están a punto de ver fue también particularmente evocador en cuanto a ciertas cosas que yo era y siento que muy adentro, innegablemente, sigo siéndolo. Que son esas ciertas cosas? Eso es algo que solo yo y los muy entendidos y quienes me conocen bien saben y necesitan saber. El resto es accesorio, o transitorio. De mas esta decir que en el video vuelvo a encontrarme con mis dígitos favoritos, pero que importa... Sigue siendo muy bueno...

¿Es normal que con los sonidos posteriores al primer coro me acuerde de mis días de niño bueno y acérrimo jugador de AoM? Por alguna agradable razón me acuerdo que cuando los oí, cerré los ojos de manera refleja y me vi jugando con el ceño fruncido, mientras terminaba de construir muelles y botes de comercio y pesca... Buenos, excelentes tiempos. Me echo de menos y creo que seria bueno volver a esos días...

Cuídense mucho, y ahí se ven. –PEACE.

You make that dance look so new
And I'm in awe.
A face like you've never seen.
I'm yours tonight,
So come on…

Light on the stage
So we can all take off,
Anywhere.
We'll never come back,
Ever…

You wear that cast so cool
And I'm on.
A face like you've never seen
Before, around…
¡So come on, yeah!

Life of the stage
So we can all take off,
Anywhere.
We'll never come back,
Ever…

Lie on the stage.
You picture all of us, everywhere…
We'll never come back, Ever…

¡Sláinte!

¿Waking predictions of death?

When I was about 16 and in high school, I suddenly started seeing these images in my head about me in a funeral, wearing the school uniform, sorrounded by my classmates and attending the mass at a church I had never visited because it wasn't near my home but I had seen it when driving by with my parents.

Anyway, one Monday morning we were told that classes had been suspended because our Religion teacher had had an accident and to put on our jackets because we had to go to her funeral. I was shocked because she was very nice and because the visions were coming true! All of us, in our uniforms, going to a funeral! When we got off the bus that drove us there, I was even more shocked to see it was the church I had seen in my visions! My friends must have thought that I cried so much because of our teacher, but I must confess that I was more upset because I was living what I had seen for months while taking showers, walking in the street, or just while silently going about my business. Of all the churches in the city, this was exactly the one I had envisioned.

Some years later I was in college and studying very hard, and it must have been August when I started having new visions like the other ones, only this time I was with friends in a funeral in another church of the city, and I felt so sad and alone when I had these visions. On Halloween night that year, one of my best friends had a car accident with her boyfriend and another friend of ours, and they were hospitalized. My friend was in a coma for several days, and finally passed away. I was stunned when on top of everything, I learned that her funeral would be held at exactly the very same church I had pictured all those months, when I didn't know who would die, how or when.

A psychiatrist once told me I had just imagined everything, while other people find it hard to believe that the images come to me while awake, because they have only heard of premonitory dreams. But I know what I saw or pictured, and I hope that others who have had similar experiences don't doubt themselves and enjoy the time with loved ones for they might leave any second.

- Annonymus.

¡Sláinte!

U2 - "Window In The Skies"

The shackles are undone, the bullet's quit the gun.

The heat that's in the sun will keep us when there's none.

The rule has been disproved, the stone, it has been moved.

The grain is now a groove. All debts are removed.

¿Oh, can't you see what our love has done?

What it's doing to me...

Love makes strange enemies. Makes love when love may please.

Soul in it's striptease. Hate brought to it's knees.

The sky over our head, we can reach it from our bed.

If you let me in your heart and out of my head.

¿Oh, can't you see what our love has done?

What it's doing to me...

Please don't ever let me out of here...

I've got no shame, oh no...

¿Oh, can't you see what love has done?

¿Oh, can't you see?

What it's doing to me...

I know I hurt you and I made you cry.

Did everything but murder you and I.

But love left a window in the skies,

And to love I rhapsodize.

¿Oh, can't you see what love has done to every broken heart?

¿Oh, can't you see what love has done for every heart that cries?

Love left a window in the skies,

And to love I rhapsodize.

¿Oh, can't you see...?

¡Sláinte!

Less Than Jake - "The Rest Of My Life"

I fell asleep last Saturday
Underneath polluted skies.
I walked alone on those Jersey nights, and I
Saw the boardwalk start to fall.
The emptiness starts to drown
The quiet corners of this town, and I
Late last night, I made my plans
It was the only thing I felt I could do.
Said goodbye to my best friend.
Sometimes there’s no one left to tell you the truth.

It's gonna kill me: The rest of my life.
Let me apologize while I'm still alive.
I know it's hard to face all of my past mistakes,
It's gonna kill me for the rest of my life.

This is my all time low.
Somehow it feels so familiar,
Somehow it seems so familiar.
I feel like letting go.
And every second that goes by
I'm screaming out for a second try.
Said goodbye to my best friend.
Sometimes there's no one left to tell you the truth.

It's gonna kill me: The rest of my life.
Let me apologize while I'm still alive.
I know it's hard to face all of my past mistakes,
It's gonna kill me for the rest of my life.

This is the mess I've made,
These are the words I can't erase,
This is my life support
Shutting down for the final time,
And it twists like a blade,
And kills me for the rest of my life.

If you won't forgive me, the rest of my life,
Let me apologize while I'm still alive.
I know it's hard to face all of my past mistakes,
It's gonna kill me for the rest of my life.

Dedicado a los amigos a los que les dije “Adiós”: G.G., P.Q., G.C., J.A., C.V., I.O. y a todos los que he pasado a llevar y me han pasado a llevar. Ya llegara el día en que nos veremos de nuevo, y si no, al menos sabré que si me disculpe y que yo los perdone, aun si es tácitamente.

¡Sláinte!

AvA - "Valkyrie Missile"

- “¿Can you hear me out there?, I can hear you…”
- “I gotcha, I can hear you, over.”
- “ It feels weird, it feels strange…”
- “Wanna wish for something new…”
- “This is the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life…”
- “¿Who do we think we are?”
- “¿Angels & Airwaves?”
- “I’m gonna count down till 10:52…”
- “I can see the sun coming over the horizon.”

- “¿Can you hear me,...?”
- “The one thing we're good at, is destroying.”
- “Afterburn…”
- “I think you can blow them up, and believe…”
- “I wanna wish for something new…”
- “This could be big… It could destroy a nation.”
- “¡Burn 'em up!”
- “I'm coming along...”

Everyone, everyone will listen,

Even if it hurts sometimes.

If you will, come and hear the message.

Everyone wants to learn to love again,

Open up and come alive.

And you will, ¿can you hear my message?

Leave your pain on the bedroom floor again,

Bring a smile to survive.

¿And do you think that you have that in you?

If you're here and you're all alone tonight,

Then I'll give you a free ride…

Take a chance ‘cause I know you want to…

If only you'll hold on,

Just hold on.

I'm here and I'm with you,

I'm here too, I feel you,

We'll get through.

I know this, I've seen it,

A hundred times, a thousand times.

Just one more time, with you and I,

I'll pull you close and then we'll say

Goodbye.

I gotta lotta whole hell a lot to say,

Even if it hurts sometimes,

And if you will, come and hear the message.

Everyone, everyone will hope and pray

That the best will sure survive.

And if it's true, then you'll feel the message.

A perfect life for a perfect brand new day,

And we're the next in line.

¿And do you think that you have it in you?

So if you're here and you're curious tonight,

Then I'll give you a free ride…

Take a chance ‘cause I know you want to…

- “This is it…”
- “¿Who would've thought it would've turned out this way?”
- “This is the closest thing to a mission I've known.”
- “I've never seen anything out here like this…”
- “Alright, I'm coming back around.”
- “It feels like we're moving faster...”
- “The threshold’s about to give.”
- “We'll leave after the explosion.”
- “¿Who do we think we are?”
- “We're Angels & Airwaves…”

¡Sláinte!