Happy Thanksgiving

(I'll be away for eight days so I say this now and not tomorrow)

And if I really understood the meaning of this American holiday, it's about being grateful, right?

So GRACIAS everybody for supporting this blog and never failing to make me smile with your comments.

I was looking for the perfect picture to illustrate my gratefulness, but I couldn't find it, so I decided Sagat is always a success...

Mierda

Were you missing one of my "OMG my relationship is over" crises?

I personally wasn't, but my electromagnetic shit repeller is not working, so here's what you didn't order, sir.

And we're supposed to be traveling together for eight days starting tomorrow. Let me pack some more Kleenex.

Excuse me if I sound sarcastic about it, but I spent all day trying different approaches and none of them made me feel better.

Mierda, joder, cago en diez, coño... good old Spanish cursing...

Let's see what happens tonight when he comes back home.

Update: I guess I overreacted again... Things are calm now...

Double Shake

I have a confession to make: I'm a sort of Shakira fan. I guess every gay man has his share of somehow shameful musical tastes, but well, I really don't have to justify myself when Don Gabriel Garcia Marquez has already praised her talent.

I found Oral Fixation pretty weak, and I thought She Wolf was going to be more of the same. And then, through her MySpace, I've discovered there are more songs I like in it than I had thought, but well, I'm easily convinced with anything touched by The Neptunes. And contrary to my first impression, Shakira doesn't lose herself in urban electropop or whatever they're calling it these days, but she brings her exotic fusion and her unpredictable voice to the potluck.

Curiously enough, most of the positive reviews I've read on the net use words deriving from "ridicule". She indeed makes it very easy to make fun of her, she seems to care less and less about being articulate in English, the lyrics are twice as simple and shallow as those she wrote when she was eighteen, but she's doing all of that with a sort of conscious, unabashed playfulness. Come on, she even mentions Matt Damon and tries to imitate reggae voices in a song called Men in this Town (probably the most powerful song in the bunch).

Because music is also for the eyes, here are her last two videos, which maintains the same style as She Wolf, that is, mixing one really nice visual idea with other tackier choices. Is tacky the new edgy?

All I know is that Lil Wayne needs to take care of himself un poquito, and that Shakira can always say she was the first artist to appear in a video dressed as the Statue of Liberty with multiple Indian arms and Chinese cheap store lights.

THOUGHTS?

Early Thanksgiving

Today, when I called Mom, she was back from the burial of a distant cousin of mine. I didn't really know him, but I know his family and we grew up four blocks away.

This young man, 28, locked himself in the car and shot himself with the gun he used for hunting rabbits and partridges. No suicide note. His father was the one who found the tragic mess. My mother said that, when the police arrived, the father was clinging to what was left of his son and he wouldn't let it go.

Most of the time, we forget how horrible the world really is, and then something like this happening near us (geographically or mentally) somehow reminds us of how lucky we are. Anybody reading my posts will know that I complain a lot. I get easily blinded by worries, discrepancies, fears, flaws. Sometimes I feel part of my enthusiasm was lost somewhere along the way, and sometimes I wonder when exactly I became so bitter. How my sarcasm started backfiring on myself. Or how, once or twice, I caught myself copying my father's infamous words whenever he's really mad (at himself): "I shouldn't have been born".

I guess I need a good old smack in the face.

It sounds cheap and easy to feel lucky because somebody died and not us. It's like: "that cannonball hit somebody else, hooray!" It also sounds awkward to thank God for what we have when compared to others that apparently got a much smaller share of happiness in the divine master plan. But probably that's how our stupid little minds are configured.

So I thank God, yeah, even if when I finally meet him he'll have to explain to me a thing or two about his management style. But I especially feel like thanking my family, my friends, and anybody that has ever made me smile and forget at least for a second that living is much about walking in the dark trying not to stumble and fall.

Taller children

Through a classmate at the Academy, I've just discovered this Brooklyn-based pop-rock group, Elizabeth & The Catapult, and their album Taller children, released five months ago. The title song is cute, sweet and so true...

Enjoy.

Quick update: I'm going to be very busy working on my last project for the Academy, about which I've been shamefully procrastinating while exploring New York. Last night, I found myself having dinner with four fellow Canarios I just met here. The world is a handkerchief, they say.

I'm probably spending more money than I should on Thai food and exotic mojitos while T is at work, but Ms. Guilt, leave me alone. Because of our opposite schedules, I can hardly see my beau -how can you miss somebody you live with?-, and I can't always stay at home, can I?

Well, be good, my little BS-seekers.

Post-scriptum tale: a man was aimlessly sitting on a bench at Union Square and saw a squirrel climbing to a tree. He watched the cute little animal for a couple minutes, and that somehow gave him an idea for a book, and it became a worldwide best-seller. When asked about the best moment of his life, he said it wasn't when he became rich, but when he watched the squirrel and everything seemed to fit.

Pearl of Art

If you don't have the strength to watch this entirely (I didn't), just go to 4:07 when he gives pretty much of the synopsis.

WTF, Andy.

Copying questions again

Random picture: Pablo Picasso with Cowboy Hat and Revolver, André Villers

Well, this is the second questionnaire I copy from D-Place, one more and he's going to sue me, hehe.

The first questionnaire was almost five months ago, when I started blogging. Wow, I was young back then. Post #100 very soon, I need to get some champagne for that.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

My father.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Days ago, thinking I'll have to go back to Europe in about five weeks, which means going back to the LDR.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

Yes, as long as I turn the paper at a certain angle to compensate my left-handedness.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

Chicken?

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

No.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

I don't think we'd get to meet... Yes, I would.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS ?

Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

Yes, even if it kind of scares me.

10. FAVORITE OATMEAL?

Are there different types? Well, the one my boyfriend buys: Quaker Instant Oatmeal High Fiber Cinnamon Swirl.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

No!

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

Yes, in a way.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

Anything Häagen Dazs.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Hard question. I guess it depends...

15. RED OR PINK?

Red.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

Sometimes I'm not as proactive as I would like to be and I tend to sabotage myself with anxiety.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

My parents.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?

It would be cool if at least some used this for their blogs.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

No pants, no shoes right now.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

A slice of pizza.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

Criminal Minds on CBS.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

Orange.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Mom's kitchen.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOu TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?

Mom. OK, now I sound like a mama's boy...

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS?

Yes, his was one of the first blogs I started following.

26. ANY SPORT?

I go running, and I wish I could swim more often.

27. HAIR COLOR?

Dark brown.

28. EYE COLOR?

Brown, or according to some, hazel.

29. Do YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

Yes, for myopia and astigmatism. Bad genes.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?

Japanese, although I'm not a big connoisseur.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Both.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

No shirt or T-shirt now.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?

Summer.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?

Both.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?

Probably fried Oreo's with ice cream.

37. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

Dispatches from the Edge, by Anderson Cooper.

38. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

No mouse pad.

391. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?

The Wendy Williams Show.

40. FAVORITE SOUND

The sea.

41. GROUPS OR SOLO SINGER?

Solo.

42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

Hawaii.

43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

I hope so.

44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Canary Islands.

45. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW?

10:10 pm.

46. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PRAYED?

A couple nights ago.

47. IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING WHAT WOULD IT BE?

People's narrow-mindedness.