domingo, 28 de febrero de 2010
Bikin on Loverly Lady Luck
Outside of the center of town, I found that lines were tremendous in the groceries not too damaged and that the earthquake defeated buildings felt funereal in presence. I´m glad of course not to be waiting in hopelessly long lines to fill my gas tank as I empty the car of it´s fuel. There are many sad pods of homeless neighbors I´m glad not to be a part of and sad faces on the news that luckily are not mine, nor those of my loved ones. I have several places near by to restock on bread and toilet paper. I think I witnessed today the growing force of forgetting. There was dust and failed construction, sadness and sweet cream.
My heart, as it does exist, goes out to those hurt and endangered by this event, those nervously waiting to hear from loved ones, and those desperate for health attention and basic resources. I´m glad that the prisoners that escaped in the quake seem to have been recovered. I´m also achingly depressed in thinking of those trying to escape with their families via car as the tsunami swept away their traffic jammed efforts. I´m even sad about thinking that my life just isn´t that different now that they´re gone. Sadness could be consuming in Santiago at present, in Chile at large, or for anyone aware of the lives of others. And I´m still glad for a little sensitive in my coffee. I guess I´m just glad to feel alive and glad. I remember that life is a rich gift.
So is my bike.
Recently, Claudio took me to a place where Lady Luck was affordable and available. I took her home the day before the quake and I am so happy to be with her now. To break from yesterday´s fearful home lockdown, today I took the opportunity to ride the streets with my wonderful new bike around Santiago along with my camera to see how things are holding up. I started with some of the destruction sites from news shots that have been cycling through the news. Of course, destruction is a more interesting subject than normalcy and it happened to be what had brought me out doors, but I found my focus changing slightly once in motion. Life was almost normal.
So that´s the subject of many of my pictures. Life is just happening like always, people moving on. We were in the grips of a weird and shaky perspective, and then the danger lessened. Tension relaxed. People still enjoy a good ice cream cone and stroll. I found people moving like unmotivated half zombies and a few people gathering to photograph building crumbs, but most of what I saw just wasn´t what CNN had showing and it didn´t sound like it´s deathly sountracks either. Aint no body gonna hold Santiago citizenry back from walking through Plaza de Armas or eating sweets with friends. I appreciated a little normalcy and tried to capture both ordinary and less ordinary wreckage of my town before hygienic forces put it back together again.
My bike, as it turns out, is more present in my mind then all of the death and destruction in my residence. That which I see, feel, and use are the only things my mind can consider real and concern itself with. Even though my mind is undisciplined and wandering, imaginative and fanciful, it apparently rooted to simple restrictions of tangibility, and these days, glideability.
My heart, as it does exist, goes out to those hurt and endangered by this event, those nervously waiting to hear from loved ones, and those desperate for health attention and basic resources. I´m glad that the prisoners that escaped in the quake seem to have been recovered. I´m also achingly depressed in thinking of those trying to escape with their families via car as the tsunami swept away their traffic jammed efforts. I´m even sad about thinking that my life just isn´t that different now that they´re gone. Sadness could be consuming in Santiago at present, in Chile at large, or for anyone aware of the lives of others. And I´m still glad for a little sensitive in my coffee. I guess I´m just glad to feel alive and glad. I remember that life is a rich gift.
So is my bike.
Recently, Claudio took me to a place where Lady Luck was affordable and available. I took her home the day before the quake and I am so happy to be with her now. To break from yesterday´s fearful home lockdown, today I took the opportunity to ride the streets with my wonderful new bike around Santiago along with my camera to see how things are holding up. I started with some of the destruction sites from news shots that have been cycling through the news. Of course, destruction is a more interesting subject than normalcy and it happened to be what had brought me out doors, but I found my focus changing slightly once in motion. Life was almost normal.
So that´s the subject of many of my pictures. Life is just happening like always, people moving on. We were in the grips of a weird and shaky perspective, and then the danger lessened. Tension relaxed. People still enjoy a good ice cream cone and stroll. I found people moving like unmotivated half zombies and a few people gathering to photograph building crumbs, but most of what I saw just wasn´t what CNN had showing and it didn´t sound like it´s deathly sountracks either. Aint no body gonna hold Santiago citizenry back from walking through Plaza de Armas or eating sweets with friends. I appreciated a little normalcy and tried to capture both ordinary and less ordinary wreckage of my town before hygienic forces put it back together again.
My bike, as it turns out, is more present in my mind then all of the death and destruction in my residence. That which I see, feel, and use are the only things my mind can consider real and concern itself with. Even though my mind is undisciplined and wandering, imaginative and fanciful, it apparently rooted to simple restrictions of tangibility, and these days, glideability.
Living Life Like....
Santiago is almost without music. I realized today that tunes are missing in this town suddenly when the sound of a lively radio licked me from inside a decrepit building. I wasn´t expecting it. Street musicians and singing on buses for change, the lively beats from roommate's machines and the house radio are normalcy and central to my system. That radio was the second sound that shook and unrattled my somber nerves today.
The first sound that brought light to life today was my roommate's excited cheering. Whatever he was saying in loud Italian was a happy awakening in a serious condition, a beat in today's march. Personally indifferent to most sports events, I was ready to cheer along side Seba while Napoli won 2 to 1 in their futbol game this morning. Having forgotten the sound of excitement and recreational cheer, Seba was momentarily my duel savior and best friend.
Thirdly was the sound of life in the midnight street of Ñuñoa. Popping laughter was newly refreshing to hear in the night´s dark; it announcing with joy that everything on the neighborhood street again seemed simple, tranquilo. The kids were doing what kids do without danger´s looming presence, picking on each other, giggling, and moving around. I felt like going outside and exchanging sounds and life with the neighbors, having nothing interesting in content to share, just wanting to enjoy in good company the show of lights.
The first sound that brought light to life today was my roommate's excited cheering. Whatever he was saying in loud Italian was a happy awakening in a serious condition, a beat in today's march. Personally indifferent to most sports events, I was ready to cheer along side Seba while Napoli won 2 to 1 in their futbol game this morning. Having forgotten the sound of excitement and recreational cheer, Seba was momentarily my duel savior and best friend.
Thirdly was the sound of life in the midnight street of Ñuñoa. Popping laughter was newly refreshing to hear in the night´s dark; it announcing with joy that everything on the neighborhood street again seemed simple, tranquilo. The kids were doing what kids do without danger´s looming presence, picking on each other, giggling, and moving around. I felt like going outside and exchanging sounds and life with the neighbors, having nothing interesting in content to share, just wanting to enjoy in good company the show of lights.
miércoles, 17 de febrero de 2010
Pleased
I am pleased to have found some recycle art fans through Facebook in my very town!
Lunas y Lunares is the name of my recent favorite artist. She makes papel mache art and jewelry and even welcomes others to join her in outer Ñuñoa, in Villa Macul. I probably won´t take advantage of the open offer, but it makes me happy to see nonetheless.
So as I continue to collect favorable arguments for the use of Facebook, I have to proclaim myself a fan of this woman´s site and of the other nuts I found through a Chilean recycling network. Additionally, I appreciate the connectivity of travelers and stayers. Through Facebook, I connected with the hostel in Valparaiso that I enjoyed staying in while Angie was in town. I hope to share photos through this connection and recover a lost journal.
Lunas y Lunares is the name of my recent favorite artist. She makes papel mache art and jewelry and even welcomes others to join her in outer Ñuñoa, in Villa Macul. I probably won´t take advantage of the open offer, but it makes me happy to see nonetheless.
So as I continue to collect favorable arguments for the use of Facebook, I have to proclaim myself a fan of this woman´s site and of the other nuts I found through a Chilean recycling network. Additionally, I appreciate the connectivity of travelers and stayers. Through Facebook, I connected with the hostel in Valparaiso that I enjoyed staying in while Angie was in town. I hope to share photos through this connection and recover a lost journal.
jueves, 4 de febrero de 2010
F.ing genius
So, since I am a genius and since I don´t have the assigned materials for making paper, since I want to reuse the newspaper that I have and create something new and wonderful, I spent an afternoon making one giant sheet of paper on my cooking tray. Today I could no longer pretend that the dulling color was anything but mold. Today I also discovered that my banana bread project had fermented without yielding anything worth tasting, smelling or touching. It´s mold day, wasted time and money day.
On the up, however, I did find a new apartment where rent is about half of what I pay now. With the money saved, I plan to buy lots of food and let it rot in my new room. It´s closer to my buddy´s house, which is wonderful. On top of it all, my friend Angie is coming to town. I´m so excited, I can´t sleep. Now THAT is saying something. Life can be really sweet.
On the up, however, I did find a new apartment where rent is about half of what I pay now. With the money saved, I plan to buy lots of food and let it rot in my new room. It´s closer to my buddy´s house, which is wonderful. On top of it all, my friend Angie is coming to town. I´m so excited, I can´t sleep. Now THAT is saying something. Life can be really sweet.
Embecinada
Es la palabra del dia. Nice word of the day, isn´t it? Sitting next to my Merriam Webster, dictionary.com, and urbandictionary words of the day is that of spanishwordofthedayatmylist.net´s EMBECINADA, meaning stubborn and determined. I like this.
Though I was thinking this morning, half alive before the sun came, that being determined doesn´t have to mean doing great things. I read an article about a 90 yr old Inca descendant who´s great marker of success and determination is existing as a relative of past leaders. Once you reach 100, determination is existing to eat birthday cake. As for me, a 20 something, success and determination ranges from consistently living with minimal sleep, producing academic work to just eating well and fulfilling my most basic promises. Right now my determination level is really modest, I guess. Still, I want to hold on to the word embecinada for the moments where remembering to be stubborn is most needed.
Though I was thinking this morning, half alive before the sun came, that being determined doesn´t have to mean doing great things. I read an article about a 90 yr old Inca descendant who´s great marker of success and determination is existing as a relative of past leaders. Once you reach 100, determination is existing to eat birthday cake. As for me, a 20 something, success and determination ranges from consistently living with minimal sleep, producing academic work to just eating well and fulfilling my most basic promises. Right now my determination level is really modest, I guess. Still, I want to hold on to the word embecinada for the moments where remembering to be stubborn is most needed.
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