12/31/2011

New Year's and other things that are kinda stupid

I had intended to write a book review as my last post of the year, but I'm feeling rebellious and I wondered why not write about the things I'd rather do tonight.

I don't know why, but tonight I don't feel festive or anything you're supposed to feel, I don't know it's just like any other day but someone decided that today was the last day of the year and that at midnight we start a new year. I think the new year should be on midday, you can do many more things on midday. Well anyways as I said this is a post of things I'd rather do today, like I'd rather be somewhere no one knew me and party like hell getting shitfaced before midnight or I'd rather be somewhere alone with no one else going to sleep whenever I wanted to not knowing if there was a new year or there wasn't, I'd rather go to some obscure pub where no one would be celebrating anything or to somewhere where people partied hard everyday no matter the day of the week.

But of course, I won't be able to do all those things because of family dinner and blablabla, instead I'll be dressing down and I've decided that the year will start whenever I want to, so maybe since the major change in my life was in October when I started my PhD my year shall start then and it won't be 2012 it'll be something else I need to count since my years will only start when something important has happened, so maybe I'll be in year 10 or 12 or else.

If you celebrate this new year then Happy New Year, if you want to join my idea you can do it freely.

For both...


Happy New Year (Frank Turner & Jon Snodgrass) by fthc

12/14/2011

"La Marató" much more than it looks like

Today I want to write about something that I doubt you've heard of before (unless you live in Spain). Each year TV3 (which is the Catalan TV) airs "La Marató" which is a TV program with the aim to raise money for research.

You may think that you've already heard of something like it, but I doubt you have. This edition, which will raise money for research on transplants and tissue regeneration, will be the 20th. Last year they raised almost 9 million €. This year they're hoping for more, and I can tell you all this money does go to research and since research is global all the world is getting benefits from "La Marató". Incidentally, everyone can donate too via internet, and in Catalunya also you can also buy a special CD and a book.

As I said this year the money will go to transplants and tissue regeneration research. Catalunya is one of the places where more transplants are performed and our hospitals are also pioneers in new transplant techniques, but all this progress is endangered because of the cuts in health budget that are being done by the government, so getting fundings is vital and I'm not saying it to you as a scientist but as someone who sees transplants as something really important.

I have the impression that I haven't explained myself, but I can tell you that thanks to the money that has been raised in previous editions lots of research has been done. So if you feel like and you want to help you can donate on the link in the start of the post.

12/12/2011

Music That I Got Lately

This is a quick update for two reasons: 1) It's late 2) I need to post the links really fast or you might miss some of the free music there is! So here we are.

Free downloads I got lately


Rin Tin Tiger is one of the discoveries I made lately somehow bizarrely, one of the bands I follow on twitter posted something like "Help our friends hit 1,000 likes and they'll upload a free EP" so I decided to give it a try and they hit the 1,000 mark yesterday, so if you want to listen to this amazing EP, go to their website FAST.

bauer this band is really new for me, I think the story is something like Mutineers started following me then Michael Reed started following me, and finally bauer started following me so I just followed them back, and then bauer posted this bunch of songs that, actually, I still haven't been able to listen properly, but they sound really good.

So that was it for today!

12/10/2011

Hypochondria, flashbacks and other things that happen to me.

I've always been a bit of a hypochondriac and the fact that I'm a biologist doesn't improve things, it's not that I'm usually ill or even sick, but as soon as I start feeling something weird on my body I completely freak out (when I say freak out it means start looking on Pubmed, once I even checked OMIM to see if there was a genetic basis for some of the illnesses in my family). And I know this is not healthy but in the end, there's nothing wrong with me. So why am I telling all this to you? Not only to point out that I've a medical condition for which I should actually seek help (ok, it's not that bad), it's because lately I've been having flashbacks and it feels really weird.

Have you ever had a flashback? I mean a real one, when you are doing something completely unrelated and suddenly you see something that happened some time ago. This is been happening to me, maybe I'm reading a paper or just talking to some friends and BAM I can see at some kind of detail something of my past, the funny thing it's that these flashbacks are always about places I've been, a street in Berlin, a church in Montréal, another street in Montréal. I don't know it's really strange, it's kinda like something that happened to me some time ago, but then I was doing something and then a story would come to my mind so I had to stop doing whatever I was doing and write. I know it's different but I guess that since now I've got so many things to think about when my brain need to relax instead of inventing some plot it just fires these pictures, but still it feels weird because they have special feelings linked to them. Luckily they are happy feelings, although I really miss Montréal and each time I get a flashback I want to go back, but I hope this kinda stops in here because I don't think I'll be able to handle it.

Another thing that happened to me the other day was that I was trying to sleep and I realized that I was singing two songs at the same time (of course not out loud, just in my mind), this made me think that maybe I'm getting to much brain stimulation and that I need some holidays. Still I know that I will never be able to stop thinking, I think I've never been able to stop thinking, you know like when they tell you to relax and stop thinking about anything, I just can't I start thinking about why I'm doing that and then I jump to another thing and finally I'm just so focused on whatever I am thinking that I'm actually more stressed out than I was before. Ok, back to what I was saying... two songs at the same time? I think that was way weirder than flashbacks.

11/30/2011

Music that I got lately

This post used to be called "Things that I got lately", but since the only things I get is music I decided to change it.

Music that I bought lately


This month has been my birthday and this means a couple of things: my friends know I want music but don't know what to get me so they give me an iTunes gift card, and my grandma gives me money (which goes directly to music).

So here's what I got:

Never Seen the Light of  Day (Deluxe Version) - Mando Diao 




Which fascinates me since you have songs like Misty Mountains or Never Seen the Light of Day, but also One Blood, which I completely love. I've been wanting to buy it for a long time already, but the last time I decided to buy music I didn't have enough money and it had to wait.

The Malevolence of Mando Diao - Mando Diao




Some will say that they are only B-sides, but... b-sides are never only b-sides, they are AMAZING songs. I'm particularly addicted to The Quarry.

Poetry of the Deed (Deluxe Version) - Frank Turner




Do I really need to say why I wanted it? Well I guess only Sons of Liberty would be a reason good enough, but also there is The Road, The Fastest Way Back Home and Isabel.

Free downloads I got lately


Frank Turner at The Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis

Ok people, this is f**king awesome. He really does feel it and he gives EVERYTHING on stage. Whether you know him or not you need to download this. I can't wait for seeing him in Wembley next year.

Young Science EP

Are you up for new music? Try this out, they are really really good and really uplifting. I can guarantee you that you won't fall asleep again during your commute if you're playing it.

All the Young

You can download a free live song from the link above (Facebook) and you can also get another one in their website. I saw them this weekend in Razzmatazz and they TOTALLY rocked it! And I'm serious check them, they are going to be great.

MySpoonful

If you don't know this website you're LATE, they do this amazing thing that is sending you three times a week some new bands (some of them are not so new). Some amazing bands I discovered thanks to them are The Soft White Sixties, Release the Sunbird, My Goodness, Moon Duo, Mister Loveless, Mister Heavenly, Little Deadman and James Apollo. But there are many more, so just make sure you check this out!

Well that's it for the moment! I hope I'll get more music for Christmas so I can do another one of this. I'm also hoping to get some books so I can do a "Books that I got lately". Let me know if you like any of this music!



11/26/2011

This last week

This is going to be a long and, maybe, boring post, but I need to reflect on how the things have changed this same week and on other stuff. But first I want to state something, which will make sense further on, I'm a catalan atheist scientist, but on top of all that I'm a woman.

As everyone knows yesterday it was the International Day Against Gender Violence, as a woman it affects me. Luckily I've never found myself on a situation like this, but every time I see women that are beaten by their partners or worse I feel there's something really wrong in this world, what makes a man have the right to beat or abuse psychologically a woman? The other day I was reading the newspaper and there was this story of a young afghanese girl who had been raped and became pregnant, they wanted to judge her for adultery as the man who had raped her was a married man! The other option she had was getting married to her agressor and then the family would kill her... This is only one story but the world is FULL of this, girls who have to get marry at a really young age only to find that when they don't serve the purpose of their husbands they are killed or mutilated or else, girls who are sold as prostitutes, women who think that being beaten is normal, girls that think that in a normal relationship they have to do what their boyfriend pleases (this happens in this same country). I'm not one of those feminists who thinks that without men we would live better, but I do think that we need to equiparate ourselves to men, in here we don't have to get married to whoever our parents want, but women still are abused by their partners and we still get less important positions in the companies than men. If we don't claim for gender equality who will?

On the other hand, and as also everyone must know, last Sunday was general elections day in Spain (I actually talked about it) and as everyone knew it would happen the right winged party won the elections. As you know the economy in Spain is not in its best and people thinks that maybe the new government will be able to fix it. In Catalunya we've had a new government for about a year and the solution they have had to fix the economy is cuts: health cuts, public schools cuts, etc. The other thing they are doing is raise prices: gas, university, public transport and medicines. Funny thing is that Catalunya is the region of Spain that is getting more cuts on everything, yet is the one that gets less from the state regarding what it gives (the data is something like we give €22,000 million and get back 1,000 million, maybe the figures are not right but I know it's something like this). I guess that know the new Spanish government are going to cut even more, and I'm scared mainly because being a PhD student means that we need public funding to keep on with our research and given the situation I wonder how long the public funding is going to last, I mean they are only cutting down the budgets, but what about stimulating the economy? What are they doing to do that?

Finally, this week the Catalan government announced that they want to tighten their bonds with the Vatican. The party that is now in the government is formed by two smaller parties, one of them being christian democrats, I don't care what they believe in, but for me the Vatican represents the Catholic Church and ALSO pederast priests. So being an atheist and being against children's abuse I do not agree with this. And taking into account they are only doing this because the Vatican is about to beatify Gaudí, so that's for interest. Still, I'm supposed to be represented in the government and they only care about what catholics think? I know that then they'll say that the majority of Catalan population is a catholic or something, but still...

I don't know if I can't make any conclusion of all this, but I can tell you all that in the years to come there will be more posts like this one...

11/16/2011

Spanish politics

This Sunday it's general elections day in Spain and I still don't know which party I am going to vote.

I've been kinda apolitical lately mainly because I don't trust politics anymore. This is because there are two main parties in Spain, one is "left" winged (PSOE, the one that is in the government now) and the other is right winged (PP, the one that has more probabilities of winning the elections). As I have said already in this blog, I live in Catalunya which means that if PP wins we get less things and our privileges are cut down, but anyways PSOE has usually promised a lot but done much less, I understand that you cannot always do what you want when you're in the government but electoral promises make me sick.

Why is that? Easy, most of the parties spend the months previous to the elections day promising lots of things that they know they'll never be able to fulfill, like now when all of them seem to have the solution for the crisis, but none of them did propose it when they were able to do something. Also I'm not interested in politics anymore because they keep fighting about stupid things and about important things instead of agreeing in important things that are meant to help the country.

Finally I don't like politicians because when I see them I cannot see their connection with me, like seriously most of the politicians in the parliament wouldn't even be able to read this, they need translators for everything, and still they get to represent me: a PhD student who speaks 4 languages. In real life if you don't know at least English you won't get a job, and yet they're there getting paid with our money when some are under-qualified for the job.

All this doesn't mean that I won't vote, on Sunday I'll go to the polling station and I'll vote for some party, I still don't know which, but I hope that, whichever it is, it will give solutions instead of problems.

11/09/2011

On the verge of 24

Today is the day before my birthday and as I've been doing for a couple of years I want to reflect on what has happened in my life this last year.

This year I've finished my MSc and started my PhD, I've learnt what working really means and what real responsibility is like and I've made a decision for the following 4 years of my life, which at this age is not that usual. I've had only a month of holidays and I believe I didn't actually enjoy them as much as I should. I've learned what it means to be out of college and that sometimes there is no answer for the problems you face and you've to find it. 

Also I've learnt some things in my personal life, mainly because of thinking too much and also from such a big change in my routine. I've learned what it does mean to grow up: not having time to read as much as you would like to, not remembering to reply to emails because your head is so full of things that you just keep forgetting about small things, realizing that not everyone will like you because, let's face it, everyone is kind of a dick sometimes, including yourself. I've also realized that I've kinda been old all my life, being responsible since I was a kid because it was the good thing to do, but now that I would like to do things a bit differently I just can't change. I guess it's just that I'm different somehow.

Unfortunately, this year I haven't done any big trip or gone anywhere out of the usual (well after Montréal two years ago and Turkey and Japan last year it was difficult), but I can tell you that I'm already thinking about next year and actually I know for sure that I'll be going to London the week after Easter. But just because I haven't gone anywhere it doesn't mean that I haven't had fun! I realized that you don't need to see people everyday to be attached to them and that it's really fun to meet college friends after a month or so of not seeing each other because there are always exciting news. On the other hand I've also started to appreciate quiet moments with my friends, though sometimes we're too quiet and acting way too old for our age (we need an energy fix or something, guess the apathy will pass). Finally this year I got to go to a Mando Diao's concert and I completely fell in love with it, I know it's stupid but this will be one of the best memories of this year, the concert under the rain singing and jumping with the people, almost crying and having this feeling in my stomach as if I had fallen in love.

To sum up it has been a year where I've grown older and more responsible, but it has also been a stressful year. 

10/29/2011

Things that I got lately

I've been really busy lately and that's why my posts are so scarce and so serious, but I wanted to show you what I bought myself earlier this month. 
From left to right and from top to bottom: Hunting High And Low - a-ha, United - Phoenix, Ode to Ochrasy - Mando Diao, Give Me Fire - Mando Diao and It's Never Been Like That - Phoenix.
I had some money from my name day or whatever you call it and decided to spend it on music as I've got a really long iTunes wishlist (38 CDs worth around 372 €). As you can see these are not CDs from iTunes but real ones, because there was this amazing offer from Fnac and I got all of them home for 33€ which is a bargain. I've got all of them in my car as since my iPod is broken it's one of the only places I can listen to music and I love all of them, at first I was kinda overexcited with Mando Diao's ones since I had been to their concert in Barcelona (by the way that was the most AWESOME concert I've ever been even if it was raining, and the best thing? It was for free!), but I have to admit that right now I try to listen to them all the same amount of time, not much because I don't get to drive for large distances.

It's a pity I can't get to buy all the music I want when I want, but I'm really looking forward to my birthday (this means more money to buy music! Hahaha).

I would ask you about suggestions, but I think my iTunes wishlist is large enough already.

10/22/2011

Violence leads nowhere

This week has been a "special" week, on Thursday two things happened, first: ETA (the terrorist group) announced that they were stopping their armed activity, second: Gaddafi was caught and killed. I just want to reflect on both topics.

ETA has been a huge problem here, in Spain, they would kill politicians, policemen and civils, because they thought that they would get the independence for the Basque Country like this. They have killed more than 800 people, and now that they are supposed to end they don't even show remorse about it, they just remembered their dead and their prisoners, I guess because they don't think they've done anything wrong. Let me ask you something, how can you be part of a group who kills people and not feel guilty about it? Anyways, it's a good thing they're stopping though it would be even better if they handed out their weapons and apologized for all the harm they've done.

As for Gaddafi we all know how he ended up, but I think they shouldn't have killed him. I know it's difficult to hold a crowd after everything that happened in Libia, but killing him was not the right thing to do. I'm against death penalty because I think that people who have done harm need to live all their lives knowing that they are imprisoned because of what they've done, killing them doesn't solve the problem. Well, back to what I was saying, Gaddafi had to be judged for everything he had done, because killing him has converted him in a martyr, his followers will think that he was murdered for fighting for a good cause and this will lead to more violence, maybe not now, but maybe in some years.

To end, I find it startling that we, humans, have such a need of killing each other for stupid things, I don't know maybe I'm too naïve or something, but I still don't see the point on it.  

10/12/2011

Hispanity day or why I don't feel Spanish

If more people visited this blog or I wrote in Spanish I would be expecting lots of negative comments in here, luckily none of the previous statements are true.

Today is the Hispanity day, something that is supposed to commemorate the day Columbus got to America and the "hispanity" of Spanish speaking countries, or something like this. Furthermore is "el Pilar" in Zaragoza.

This month a man in a die-hard pro-Spanish TV channel said "Catalonia is Spain! If they don't feel Spanish that's another thing! Madhouses are full of people who feel they're Napoleon and that's why they're in madhouses!". First this is disrespectful for anyone with a mental illness, it's a last century view and it's not helping people who is fighting against this to get integrated in the society. Second, he feels Spanish right? Why should everyone feel as him? Everyone has the right to chose.

I'm one of this people who don't feel Spanish. Why is that? First of all, I was born in a Catalan family, I don't mean a die-hard Catalan family or anything, just a family where everyone is Catalan. I was taught in Catalan, I speak in Catalan and I feel the Catalan traditions (not like I'm going to take part in Castellers or anything, but I like Catalan traditions). Spain is just not part of my background, but rather it was introduced afterwards because I had to learn Spanish at school. But I don't have the feeling of being Spanish. And yes, I'm kinda pro-independence, but not because I want to mess with Spain, but because I want the best for my country and this country is Catalonia.

I get that lots of you might not understand this, maybe you were taught to have a very strong national feeling for your country whichever it is (States, Canada, Netherlands, Germany,...), and you just cannot understand why someone can't feel Spanish but from a different region. Maybe you're from some region like Catalonia, that has a culture appart from the country's one. Anyway, imagine this, you live in a place where you do certain things and you speak a certain language and then someone comes and tells you that even if you feel part of this community you've to feel part of another bigger one. You have two options feel it or not. I don't feel Spanish, but I do respect people who is Catalan and feels Spanish, I'm not going to say they are wrong, just that I don't share their views. First I feel Catalan and then I feel European, there is nothing from Spain that I feel represented in.

I had to say all this, I just want people to understand that you cannot force a nationalist feeling on someone, it's something that it's given to you by your upbringing.

10/08/2011

Lovers by the sea

I haven't written anything for so long that I don't even know how did I end up writing this, it's not my best, but it's a restart. Also it's the first time I write something from a scratch in English (I promise I didn't write it in Catalan and then I translated it). I need to practice a lot to get to write something decent, and also for me it depends on my emotional mood sometimes it flows, sometimes it doesn't. Well yes... I hope someone actually can stand my impoverished writing, and I'm not being modest here, I just needed to post it somewhere.


They danced next to the sea shore, on the beach, the water licking their feet. They danced as if they were the last couple left on earth and they wouldn't have minded. They were stealing hours, they were using until the very last second, because they know they wouldn't see each other again. 


It had been intense, it had been crazy and it had been wildly irresponsible, that was why they shouldn't see each other again. And even if they knew that, and even after their experience, they couldn't believe they had to say goodbye. Once more. 


There are love stories so passionate that they end up exploding from the inside. That was what had happened to them. They meet in college, she was majoring in Chemistry, he was majoring in Arts. One day she was sitting on a bench under a tree trying not to think about anything and he approached her to ask wether he could make a drawing of her, she was flattered. After that she started modeling for him regularly and they ended up dating. They looked like the perfect couple, although they were the biggest narcissists in the campus. 


After few months dating their enormous egos lead to a big fight that ended up with some paintings thrown from a window. She was jealous and he couldn't understand anything else but his art. She promised to never see him again and transferred to an another college. After some time each of them married someone and forgot about what happened that time when they were both young and drunk during half of the week. 


But life has surprisses and they meet each other at that city by the sea, she was close to not going there, didn't feel like wasting a whole weekend doing things for her job, he was there because he said he needed inspiration, though it had long left him. And just like this, in a small café they meet again. She looked almost the same, her hair was a shade lighter but her brown eyes were the same chocolate eyes that he had painted so long ago. He looked much older, scarred after his fight with painting, with himself to get the magic back to the brushes, but she still knew who he was. He approached her and took her hand, saying nothing, she rose from her chair and followed him. 


-I need you- he confesed. 
-Well, that's a change, you didn't seem to need anyone the last time I saw you. 
-I shouldn't have said anything...- he muttered, then he started to head somewhere else.
-Ok! Stop! I'm being stupid here, we're both grown ups, and I must accept that that happened a long time ago.- she said embarrassed, then they sat on a bench facing the sea. 


-I want you to forgive me, I was being selfish, I should have thought about your feelings.- he said.
-We both know it wouldn't have worked, we were both too passionate and I would have ended pushing you to do something you didn't want to do, I'm not the most selfless person around, you know.- she looked at him in the eye, his eyes hadn't changed a bit either. 


She took a deep breath and realized that she had to go to her hotel for dinner, but he insisted on inviting her to a small restaurant he knew. She didn't return to her hotel that night, neither did her return for the following seven nights. 


On the seventh night she sat on his bed wrapped in a sheet and stared at him while he was waking up. 


-We have to stop this nonsense.-she said. 
-Which nonsense?
-You know what I'm talking about, this is going nowhere. We both have families and we both know that once the first month passes by we won't stand each other. 
-"We're both grown ups" that's what you said, we could make it work.- he told her. 
-No. I'm leaving tomorrow morning.- she was determined. 
-There's one thing I want to do.


And they went to the beach, where they danced in the shore, the water licking their feet while tears streamed down their faces. And they danced until the dawn came when they said waved goodbye afraid of touching each other for the last time. They said goodbye the only way they could do it, looking at each other eyes and turning away, trying to convince themselves that it was the right thing to do.

10/06/2011

Yet another genius leaves us. Thank you Steve Jobs.

You might like Apple or not, but you have to admit that Steve Jobs was a visionary, he did awesome things and revolutionized informatics. This cannot be denied. That's why today is a sad day, even if everyone knew that his death was close (he didn't look any good on his last appearance) no one expected it to be so soon. Steve was fighting one of the most mortal cancers there are, and he clinched to live for a long time, longer than anyone would have expected him to. But unfortunately his time has come and there's nothing we can do to bring him back. We can only remember his words and what he did for everyone (even if you're not using a Mac you owe him some things, and also Pixar).

I know that this video I'm about to post will be posted everywhere, but I cannot resist posting it again.




I'm using a Mac and actually my story with Apple starts a long time ago. The first computer I used as a kid was a Black & White MacIntosh Classic, I didn't know about Mac and Windows back then, I was 8, but I knew I liked it, it was easy to use and it had that awesome drawing program that I loved (I'm actually planning on using it again, just to remember how it felt). At school we used Windows and it never worked properly for me, it was not what I had learned. More than three years ago I got myself a white MacBook, it was love at first sight, and I still got it, running as smoothly as the first day. It's not that I'm an Apple fangirl or anything it's just that its products work for me. That's why I thank Steve, I may not be using it for anything elaborate, but I appreciate it when things work as they should.

I would like to finish with a song, is not the kind of song you would expect, but Steve did put a part of him on each of his products. And he will remain, he will be remembered.





Once again, thanks Steve.

10/02/2011

I'm getting grumpier every day

This weekend I went out with some friends to a place that wants to be kinda posh but actually everyone who goes there is just a rich wannabe. The place itself is not bad, but going there made me realize that I'm grumpy and I talk like my grandma in a way.

I was looking at people dancing at songs that I didn't even recognize and that sounded the same to me, and this made me think. I didn't know if the songs were bad because the music is crappier every day or its just my perception that has changed. The fact is that I was there complaining about how crappy the music was and how music used to be much better and I'm not talking about music from when I was younger (holy crap I'm 23 and I'm already speaking of a younger me?) I'm talking about music that was being played before I was even born (I'm waiting for Hunting High and Low to get home any day this week).

I don't know it's kinda depressing that I'm talking on this terms when I'm still young, apart from the fact that I can no longer stand going partying two days in a row or that I never go out on Fridays any more because I've worked all week and then I've got English class on Friday afternoon. Plus as I said I'm getting grumpier every day, I'm grumpy because the train runs late, because people plays music on the train or they talk way too loud, or a hundred of silly things... I'm not getting old gracefully, though I hope it's just a period of my life that I need to adjust to, otherwise no one will be able to stand me when I'm younger than 40!

9/29/2011

Bullfighting

Last weekend there was the last bullfight ever in Catalunya. This means no more toreros and no more bull slaughtered while people is watching and cheering for it to die. But it also meant controversy.

Why is that? If you've followed my blog you already know that we, Catalans, are a bit different from Spaniards, we have our own language and our own culture as well as our own government (which has existed since middle ages). Bullfighting is something that is deeply related with Spanish traditions and a think that we don't see as our own, also it is barbaric, they torture the poor animal for a long time before they get to kill him. The controversy comes because there is some people that believe that the ban is because of national identity reasons instead of animal rights reasons.

Let's make it clear I do feel Catalan, but the reason why I don't like bullfighting and I wanted it banned is because it is unethical and cruel and it cannot be called culture in any way. I don't care if it is a Spanish or a Catalan tradition, I just don't like to see how people kill animals that way just for "fun".

9/17/2011

Catalan, Spanish and the value of knowing languages

I live in Catalunya, this means that in here there are three official languages: Catalan, Spanish and Aranès (which unfortunatelly I'm not able to speak, mainly because it is not spoken in my region). At school kids are taught mainly in Catalan, using Spanish and English in their specific subjects. It has been done like this for 30 years (I think), but now there have been some parents (Spanish-speakers) who have complaint about this.

I know that most of the people who gets in this blog may not even know that in Catalunya there's a different language than from the rest of Spain, but there is, and it has more speakers (around 7 million I think) than some of the EU official languages. So it is not only a language that we have to preserve because of cultural richness but because it is alive and it was persecuted during the dictatorship years meaning that older people cannot write it correctly even if they understand it.

Teaching kids in Catalan is important because it helps them to integrate in the country, especially those whose parents are from other countries. Some people say that since we speak in Spanish too it is completely useless, but, as some of you might already know, the most languages you learn as a kid the easier it is to learn a new one afterwards. What's more if we had to learn languages only because of its usefulness many official languages of some countries would disappear because they are only spoken there.

I was taught mainly in Catalan so I can explain my own experience. Rising from a Catalan family, Catalan has always been my mother language and I only started learning Spanish about the same time I started learning English, which I think was when I was 8 years old, fairly late I have to admit this. Even after a late start I am competent in Spanish, I guess I should say more than competent, although I hardly ever speak it, not because I don't want to, but because I don't need to since I mostly speak in Catalan or in English. This doesn't mean that I don't value my knowledge in Spanish, it has prepared my mind to learn other languages like French, English or even Icelandic.

So this is a message to everyone who thinks that learning Catalan is useless and that Spanish should be the main language... go live to another country and ask them to teach your kids in Spanish... we'll see what they say.

9/02/2011

We don't value what we got

There are lots of things that we have and we do and we never value them, I'm not talking about things like a family or education or work, I'm talking about things we do unconsciously, like seeing, hearing, walking, breathing, etcetera.

I was really close to be sitting in a wheelchair for all my life, really really close, hadn't it been for a doctor that believed in himself and tried something different when I was born I wouldn't have been able to walk, but here I am walking on my feet as if it was the most natural thing to do. And it is but it could have not been, still as I said I walk without thinking and only sometimes I think how life would have been in a wheelchair, specially when I take the metro or the train, and I realize that I am lucky.

These kind of things that most of us take for granted aren't so for some people and we only realize how important they are when we have some kind of problem. Just stop and think how many of the things you do everyday you wouldn't be able to do if you couldn't hear, see or walk. I know that if I couldn't walk I wouldn't be able to go to Barcelona every day on my own by train, the train station I usually get out in doesn't have an elevator, or I wouldn't be able to take the metro, or maybe only in some places. 

The point is that we complain we have problems but we could have bigger problems, I'm not saying that being blind or deaf or wheelchair bound is something that you cannot overcome but certainly depending on the places it makes life a bit more difficult and we that don't have any of this problems don't value it as we should.

8/20/2011

15 bands/musicians I listen to that you might want to consider

This blog is not a music blog, that's why I don't usually talk about music. But since sometimes I found music recommendations useful that's why I'm writing this post. I got to know most of the bands through a german indie station named Indie Goes To Hollywood, some of them through collaborations between bands and some just because I came across them. I won't be posting videos, but just because I think it would make it too long and because everybody knows how to use youtube.

1. a-ha: Norway. I know it's not exactly a new band, but for me it's timeless music. Songs: appart from the obvious Take On Me, also Forever Not Yours, Shadowside, Did Anybody Approach You and Summer Moved On.

2. Apparatjik: England, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Apparatjik is not easy to describe, because is not like anything else and even if their members are part of Coldplay, a-ha and Mew, they sound nothing like them, except of the obvious fact that Jonas is the lead singer. Songs: Datascroller, Look Kids and my favourite One Less Thing To Worry About.

3. Mando Diao: Sweden. Well Mando Diao is Rock and Roll but now. Songs: Dance With Somebody, Gloria, Song for Aberdeen and All My Senses.

4. Sugarplum Fairy: Sweden. They raise from the same city of Mando Diao, actually their two lead singers are brothers of one of Mando Diao's lead singers, so I guess it all stays in the family. Songs: You Can't Kill Rock'n'Roll, In Berlin, Harder To Say I'm Sorry and Left, Right, Black, White.

5. Carl Norén: Sweden. One of the lead singers in Sugarplum Fairy, he decided to go solo for a while doing a completely different music, relying more on raw feelings, well actually I don't know how to explain it, so just listen to it. Songs: Going Out Tonight, That's The Way I Like It and Tired Of Running.

6. Viktorious: Sweden. He's Carl Noren's brother and also the other Sugarplum Fairy lead singer, he is going solo for a while too but the style he has chosen is not quite the same as his brother's as he went for some electronic-pop music, he did something he called "Viktorious Weekends" letting fans download for free some of his songs and right now he's doing Viktorious Weekdays posting acoustic versions of his songs on youtube. Songs: Scandalous, Save Me From Falling and Killing The Fun make sure you check the acoustic version of this one too.

7. Frank Turner: England. Frank Turner is, as I've read on some Youtube comments, god if god could sing and was so good looking. I must confess I'm completely in love with him, irrationally in love, but it's really easy to fall in love with him, his lyrics are mind blowing and the energy he puts on singing all his songs, the way he pours his feelings in them. Songs: Worse Things Happen At Sea, Photosynthesis, The Road, If I Ever Stray, One Foot Before The Other and The Fastest Way Home.

8. The Hoosiers: England. The Hoosiers are a blast of energy, it's the only way I can define them. Songs: Goodbye Mr. A, Bumpy Ride and Choices.

9. Young The Giant: USA, California. I don't know what to say of them, you've to listen to their music, that's it. Songs: My Body and Cough Syrup. Really, check them.

10. Barcelona: USA, Washington. Barcelona it's an amazing city and also an amazing band, they are about to release their second album. Songs: It's About Time, Come Back When You Can and Please Don't Go.

11. Two Door Cinema Club: Northern Ireland. They have been quite a revelation around here and anyone who has listened to them can see why, catchy songs and somehow different to other indie bands. Songs: Do You Want It All, I Can Talk, Undercover Martyn and What You Know.

12. Blackroom: Norway. They are not a well known band, but believe me when I say that Ole's voice is the best male voice I've ever listened to, ever. They used to be named Lorraine, but then they changed it to Black Room just before the release of their second album and to Blackroom after that. Songs: I Feel It (Lorraine), Twenty Years Under Water (Lorraine) and Italian Girlfriend (Black Room).

13. The Temper Trap: Australia. One of their songs was featured on (500) Days of Summer and after that on a lot of advertisements, it's trademark is Dougy's falsetto. Songs: Sweet Disposition, Fader and Science Of Fear.

14. Sigur Rós: Iceland. I guess most of you have heard of them, they are one of the most famous bands in Iceland and not only in there but also in other countries, and all this singing only in Icelandic or in Hopelandic. Songs: Hópipolla, Við spilum endalaust, Ára bátur and Goobledigook.

15. Jónsi: Iceland. He's the lead singer in Sigur Rós and he went solo last year to do a marvelous album completely in English, he did a song for "How to train your dragon" too. Songs: Boy Lilikoi, Tornado and Grow Till Tall.

That's it for today, I still have some left, but I think it's enough for now. I hope you enjoy them!


8/16/2011

Atheism

As I stated in several post already I'm an atheist, but I've haven't been one for all my life. I was raised as a catholic, my family is not the kind of family that goes to church every sunday, but mum believes in god though dad is an skeptic (he never said he didn't believe in god either he said he believed in it, and he's strongly against religion), I guess that since the only "kids club" (I don't really know how to say that...) was the one that was organized by the church I somehow ended up in there, singing church songs and all these things ending eventually in taking the first communion, but I don't know if this was because I really believed in it or because of the presents you got and the princess dress I would wear on that day.

After that I spent some idle time, well I mean idle regarding religion I was 9 nothing is idle at that time, and eventually realized that there were too many wrong things in the world for a god to exist so I guess that was the start of my atheism, though I'd never heard of the concept so it was just something unnamed. At some point I actually thought that buddhism was a better option than catholicism. Then there was a time I had a couple of religious weddings and while sitting in there listening at the priest I just couldn't believe all that. So I guess that I first acknowledged myself as being an atheist when I was 15. And since I've always been keen on Science I thought it was impossible to believe in something superior while studying life, evidence has always been stronger than faith for me.

I am lucky, I've never had any problem for being an atheist, actually there are plenty of atheists in here though there is some religious people in here. Actually, some of my distant relatives are really religious, though is usually only during "special" occasions, and I don't think they know I'm an atheist since we hardly ever see each other. Anyways as I said no one points at you on the street if they know you're an atheist, it's just not a big deal, that's why I'm surprised that in some places atheists are treated as if they were scum, as if they were inmoral people or worse. I've never treated religious people like this, I mean sometimes over religious people, like the ones that thinks god is going to solve all their problems or the ones that are always quoting the bible get me on my nerves, but I never go to them and tell them they're crap or that they should never ever have kids, of course I think that what they believe on is wrong but not for that I point at them on the street.

I know I cannot convince anyone of becoming an atheist, everyone has to become one for itself. For the same reason no one should try to convert an atheist.

8/12/2011

Love and me

Ok, you got here knowing nothing about me, I guess you just followed some crazy link or were looking for something different, but hey... here you are. First of all you have to know this post comes out on a sleepless night, I don't know why but I've been having some of them lately...

My love life has always been a disaster, but I guess I can sort out different disasters, and who knows, maybe it will help me sorting out things. As most of girls I've loved some times, but it took me longer, I guess that at first I wasn't really interested, also I didn't have the confidence nor any of the boys around me looked interested in me. But well after a slow start... it came a slow development, I guess I still wasn't confident. And now I'm in a steady phase, it is weird because I don't love anyone right now, of course I like some guys, but it's not the same it's not like I'm in love with any of them, dunno it's weird and since my writing ability relies on my sentimental status this is leading to a blank period. Anyways, this post is to talk about the kinds of "love" I've had in all this years, if you already feel like in a teenager diary you can skip this post and read the other ones if you feel like (I promise they're more mature than this one, but... I told you I can't sleep!).

1. The guy you think you love. When you are a teenager, specially if you're not a popular one, you like people who thinks you're awesome, so picture this, there is this guy who comes from nowhere and starts flattering you, well you will feel liked and you will think he's really nice. Eventually you'll fall in love with him, but how couldn't you? Then one day he disappears and you realize he's a dick. I think this kind of guys are the ones that you meet when you're still in highschool and you're naive... or actually anytime in your life.

2. The guy who's close to you. Picture this: you've got a really close friend who's really funny and you feel really good when you're together. Then you start to think is something more could happen. Well... no. I'm not saying it cannot work sometimes, but in most of the cases it doesn't work this way. Friends are one thing and tend to last longer than boyfriends.

3. The guy you would... I guess this is not exactly what we call love, but physical attraction. Sometimes this guys are not even your ideal of beauty, but there's some strange chemistry in the air. Still relationships with them won't work, it takes more than only physical attraction to get a stable relationship.

4. Love at first sight. You meet this guy who is just perfect, he makes you laugh, your legs shake when he looks you in the eye and he seems to like you. You can tell it by the way he looks at you. Still... how can you be so sure about this if you've just meet him. You can't it takes a long time to get to know a person. I guess that love at first sight only happens because we want it to happen at least once in our lives.

And well this would be it. As you can see I haven't included a long term relationship, which I guess will happen someday... when I find the right guy... ha! Screw this... I think I'll be happy living short termed intense relationships, so I better start looking for these!

8/10/2011

The pope is coming... again

Last year I wrote a post because the pope was coming to Barcelona, unfortunately it is in Catalan, so I guess most of you wouldn't understand it. This year the pope is coming again, this time to Madrid.

I don't know why he's coming and I couldn't care less, but today on the news they were saying that to accomodate the people who's going to see him they are using public equipment and they are not paying for it. Let's make something clear, Spain is supposed to be a non religious country, therefore there shouldn't be benefits for one religion and none for the others or for non religious people, if I want to go to a evolutionist fair I will have to pay for it myself, the state won't pay for it, then why if these people want to go to see the pope we have to pay for it?

Moreover, it is said that the whole thing is going to cost 50 million €, that's a lot of money. So aren't catholics so giving and everything they say that make them better persons? Why don't they give all this money to charity? Why does the pope need all this security and all that gold in everything he uses? I mean I'm not going to go where he is and punch him on the face, if he wants to believe in god and all this is okay to me, but I think that there's no need of spending so much money on believing in something and there's no need for everyone in the country to pay for it, even if they say that it's only money from the believers every year the church gets money from the government, and the government gets money from the people and most of the people just don't care about what the church says.

I'm positive that there's some of this people who work in charities and everything, but still the Catholic church makes enormous amounts of money that they are not using to feed the poor or all these things they are so proud they do with a small amount of the money they get. Seriously to talk about a religion do you really need to live in a palace?

I guess I'm biased in here, but it makes me angry to see how they are spending so much money in something now that there is economic crisis, of course you could tell me that we could say the same about concerts and festivals, but these things generate benefits as people pays to go and pays for a place to sleep. I don't know I guess I have to stop watching the news...

8/06/2011

Arto Paasilinna

I've been thinking about writing a post on Arto for a long time already. Arto Paasilinna is a Finn writer, unfortunately he's not really known here in Spain, I first came across him while reading a blog which I don't remember anymore whose was, the fact is that in that post there was a review on Arto's book "A Charming Mass Suicide" (Hurmaava joukkoitsemurha), the time passed and I never looked for it actively, but one day while reading a literary magazine my mum gets every two months that book was there and I decided to buy it. If you've never read Paasilinna you should be warned, he doesn't take seriously things like suicide and death, his books are not dark novels, they're just another insight to Finn society. As I was saying I got A Charming Mass Suicide after some days and I really liked the style, it was so different to everything else I'd read before that it made a big impression, surprisingly I laughed more than once understanding that you can actually find the funny side of almost everything and that it is good to laugh about ourselves. 
After A Charming Mass Suicide I had a Paasilinna-less period 'til I stumbled across The Howling Miller in a book shop, it was a pleasant surprise since I had long lost the hope of finding more of his books. The style was the same though the topic was different, but it is funny to see that what makes a person sane or insane is just the judgement of other people in some cases. 

This time I actually started looking for more of Arto's books, but the search was fruitless, it was really difficult to find anything, 'til I found "The Sweet Poison Cook" and "The Year Of The Hare", loved both of them though they are really different. After reading all these books I feel compelled to tell everyone to read them, they are a good read and they make you see things from a different angle. They you think. And this is good.

7/27/2011

The Kingkiller Chronicle - Patrick Rothfuss

This is the first time I'm going to talk about specific books in this blog, I cannot believe I've never done it before. Actually I wanted to write an e-mail to Pat telling him everything I'm going to write in here, but he says in his website that he's busy writing and I really need another one of his books (I would say to keep living but that's too dramatic). But let's begin from the start.

I came across The Name of The Wind almost two years ago thanks to my mom as she gave it to me as a birthday present, and it was completely unexpected. I'll explain myself, my mom and I don't share much, she's more fond of psychological books and all this stuff and I'm into fantasy and science fiction. So when she gave me the book I didn't know what to expect, sure the critics were great and everything, but still I thought that maybe she grabbed the first book she saw without even looking at it. I loved it. Really, I kept reading it, I don't know how long it took to me to read it, but being in Spanish as it was I guess that 3 days at most. When I finished I was sad because I didn't know when the next one would come out. Still I was lucky because I didn't have to wait much.

The Wise Man's Fear came out this year, I bought it via Amazon on the same day and I got it home in 3 days. This time it was in English, the language of its origin. Believe me if you happen to know the language in which a book is written go for it, lots of things got lost in translation. This time it took me 4 and a half days, and believe me its a thick book, I read on the train, on the metro, while walking, while cooking, I couldn't take my eyes of it. And as The Name of The Wind it left me wanting more and more and mourning because there will only be 3 of them, because I won't have any more Kvothe after the third book.

I'm currently rereading The Wise Man's Fear, it is the second time I read it and I still laugh when there are funny things, I still gasp, I still get sad, I still think that I should warn Kvothe about the things he shouldn't do, but I know these things have to happen because otherwise it wouldn't be the same book.

Also, there is one thing that native English speakers do naturally, without thinking, which is a lot of expressions which us, poor English students, do not get across with unless we are reading in English and even then. I thank Pat for all these expressions I came to know while reading The Wise Man's Fear, I decided that I'll buy The Name of The Wind in English to so I can practise.

There's one last thing that I came to realize after reading these books and its... I love redheads and I'm dammed because there aren't many here in Spain, I keep looking for someone with flame in his head and I blame Pat and Kvothe for this one!

Thinking about what I've written so far I feel that I've been a bit sloppy and that I wouldn't earn a good mark for it at English class, but since it is not English class... I'll keep it as it is.

So as an ending I just want to say that if you haven't read these books go to your bookstore and get them (there should be emergency bookstores)... and if you're Pat... Hi Pat! I'm flattered to see you in here! (Though I don't think he'll come 'round being busy as he is).

Remember: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One The Name of The Wind  and The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two The Wise Man's Fear  

7/15/2011

Things that are important and things that may not be

I guess that most of you don't know which is the situation here in Catalonia, you might know that in Spain is not looking good, but you might not have info from Catalonia. Well the fact is that since there is no money the government is doing budget cuts to some areas: culture, health and education. Yeah I'm right, health and education. This means that there are less beds per hospital, less staff, less surgeries being performed and actually some hospitals are getting closed, sure as you read it, we have right now less doctors per habitant. It looks crazy and it is.

On the other hand there is some kind of fashion convention going on in Barcelona right now and the government says they're going to support them... I don't know if they'll get money, but the idea is to make Barcelona a reference on fashion.

I don't know if you can see where the problem is, but mainly if the health assistance is not good enough more people will be sick (and I have to say that catalan health system was regarded as one of the best), if people is sick they won't be able to work, if people is not able to work they won't be able to buy fashion among other things. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that fashion is not important, though most of the people who know me would say I'm not a fashionista, but I'm saying that I'd rather have the reference in medicine that the reference in fashion as capital.

7/04/2011

Family

It's not the first time I talk about family in here, I guess that this is because of the kind of relationship I've got with mine. Well if we can call that relationship.

Being as I am it is difficult to me to have my family around, I don't like people and I don't like people coming into my room every five minutes to tell me nonsense or to ask me things I don't want to answer. It's annoying to get home and hear all the "blablabla". I know I don't sound like an outgoing person, but I am, I only need some privacy when I get home and no one has realized yet, and they have this awful tendency to just wanting to be together when I don't feel like and then telling me that I never want to be with them, what about doing something I like?

Another reason why my relationship with my family is difficult is because they never listen, sometimes I'm talking and they keep talking about their things or just plainly don't listen to me and then they tell me I never told them anything. Sometimes they ask me about something and then no one listens while I explain it, and then they tell me that I never explain them things, like HOW?

And last but not least they've always pushed me to get to the top, I always had to get good marks and be a good girl, nothing else would do. They never rewarded me for it, of course they bought me things and everything, but nothing that would say "Well done, you deserve it", sometimes not even a congratulations that was actually true. They got used to prime and it was taken for granted.

I know everyone at some point of their life has had difficult relationship with its family, but I don't see a way to solve this, except of course leaving home. I don't know I just couldn't stand it today.

6/16/2011

Spanish revolution... part two.

As you might know the Spanish revolution has moved from the public squares to the neighborhoods and also to some specific places in certain moments. One of this places was Catalan Parliament yesterday. Lots of people supporting spanish/catalan revolution went there on Tuesday afternoon and camped outside Ciutadella Park- for those of you that don't know the Catalan Parliament is inside Ciutadella Park- because the police didn't let them in. The objective was to prevent the members of the parliament to get in so they couldn't vote on the new economic measures, which are pretty bad for everybody. The fact is that some people shook some of the members, shouted at them and other things. I don't know how many people was involved in these acts or even if these people went there only to look for trouble, still I think that the first mistake was not letting the members of the parliament in, incidentally most of them got in anyway.

Why I am saying that? Well I think that the best thing would have been just sitting outside of the parliament not saying anything, maybe setting a corridor for the politicians to pass through, but saying nothing. Not letting them work is just doing the same thing the politicians made when they didn't want people camping in Plaça Catalunya, and since democracy means also the right of doing what you want and what you believe in, not letting people do it isn't democracy. And democracy is not chasing people from their works nor humiliating them in public. Let's be smarter than the politicians for once.

I just want to state that I think that spanish revolution is a good thing, but some people are just taking it as their own and this is not a political ideology it is just a cry for a change.

5/30/2011

Want to earn money? Become a politician

Most of us have studied for years, we went through high school, through college and maybe through grad school. We have studied English so we could reach a level good enough to be able to write long texts in English, maybe we have learned other languages too: French, German, Chinese. We have been abroad to improve a language or to do an internship. Then we work 40 hours a week or more, 'til we are 65-67 when we get retired getting a miserable monthly pay.

But there's another option, you can become a politician work half of the days of the week, get payed reasonably well and if you're lucky and you get to be in the government you get a life-long pay and you can even work again. And the bonus is that you don't even need to have studied that much or know any language!

After knowing all this I feel as if they were laughing at me. Specially now that they're asking the people for efforts and they are still getting the same pay-check or even higher! When people in Spain are getting evicted from their homes because they cannot pay! When lots of youngsters are looking for their first job and they cannot find anything! When hospitals have to close some sections because of health budget cuts! And I know that even after college, after a MSc, after all these years studying English I'll never make as much as they do just for sitting on a chair and messing around with the country, because it's all they do, but that's something that I rather explain another day.

5/27/2011

Plaça Catalunya

You might now that there is a concentration in Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona to show the discontent about democracy in Spain. Until today people has been in the square for almost 15 days.

As you might now there is the big Champions League Final in Wembley this weekend.

What's the relation between these two independent events? Well usually FC Barcelona wins are celebrated close to Plaça Catalunya and the government was afraid that something bad could happen. So what did they do?

Evict them, forcefully and violently from the square. They said that they wanted to tidy up the square and take out the dangerous things (tables, chairs, computers,...) so, in case there was some celebration, football fans wouldn't be able to hurt the demonstrators. There were to kind of police involved, the Barcelona's local police and the autonomic police known as Mossos d'Esquadra. The last ones weren't all cool about it, so when people decided that they wouldn't leave the place they started pulling them and hitting them and shooting some kind of balls that are supposed to be used agains angry crowds, except demonstrators weren't offering violent resistance, they were only sitting on the floor.



You can see what happened in the video. Right now Plaça Catalunya it's full again, because we need politicians to listen to us!

5/21/2011

Spanish revolution

I guess that right now most of you already know what's going on in Spain, maybe there is people camped in your city claiming for a real democracy. It's a historic moment and I very proud of being a little part of it. I still haven't been to Barcelona in Plaça Catalunya camp, I wanted to go this afternoon, but maybe instead I'll be going to the one in the city close to my town. Anyways I wanted to explain a bit what's it all about.

As you know Spain has some difficulties in getting out of the economic crisis and some of its politicians aren't, how can I say that, completely honest, also lots of youngsters who have just finished their degree cannot find a job. The general feeling is that only the working class is paying for the crisis since all the former ministers are getting their "retirement" pays and the active ones keep getting the same money for the same job even if they don't go to the parliament half of the days they ought to.

So on May 15 there were demonstrations against the political system which tends to favor the biggest parties and against the corruption, this demonstrations ended as a camp in Puerta del Sol in Madrid, and then in Barcelona and shortly after in many other cities in Spain, and then in other countries.

And what are they asking for? Mainly a change in the politic system making sure that politics work for the people and not the other way round, also a change on work conditions so more work places are created, better conditions to rent/buy a flat, better and more efficient public services (health, education), more control on banks and finances (I guess that's straight from Iceland) and more things that you can find in here, I can't get in the English Manifesto but it ought be working.

As I said I'm really proud this started in here, I used to complain because no one asked for their rights, but now seeing this and the magnitude it has got... I feel proud and I'll be going this afternoon to give support to the people who is going to stay in Granollers.

Here you can see a world map of the camps... http://pastebin.com/wEthj72Z

So the only thing I can add now is: #spanishrevolution #yeswecamp

5/15/2011

Midnight in Paris, literature and lottery

Yesterday I went to see "Midnight in Paris" with some friends, and I have to say that I loved it. It's not that I'm a fan of Woody Allen's films, I've only seen Match Point and Scoop, but I guess that it's because I'm completely in love with Paris. So yeah, I really liked it, I would watch it again, my friends enjoyed it but they didn't love it mainly because of the fantasy part of it, but for me that was one of the best parts. If you've seen the film I have to tell you that I completely fell in love with the Hemingway in the film, even if he talked a bit too much. Also I really liked the message of the film, it makes you think that we might not be enjoying the present as much as we should do. 

As I said I fell in love with Hemingway and I soundly regret I haven't read any of his books, so that might be the next thing I'll do. Actually I realized that in here we are not taught real literature, most of us haven't read the classics or anything decent when we finish high school, actually I know I've read lots of books but a few universal classics, I've read Huckleberry Finn, Dorian Gray, some Poe, Lord of the Flies, The Catcher in the Rye, and some spanish classics like Miguel Delibes, but I haven't read Hemingway, I haven't read Kafka, Dostoyevsky or Tolstoi, and I definitely should. I've read plenty of new literature, but not everything was really good, and most of the people I know will never think of reading anything that is not light literature if they get to read anything at all. 

This takes us to lottery, last Wednesday at English Class we were talking about what would we do if we got to win lots of money on the lottery, most of the people said thinks like travelling, buying a house and other things like that. But I think I wouldn't do anything like that, of course I would travel, but not like for a year long, maybe a couple of weeks every year. What I was thinking about was setting up a bookshop, not a normal bookshop but one on which you could find the best books of all times and also incredibly underrated authors, a place that would look like grandma's library in her big house in the countryside, with sofas to sit down and have a coffee while reading the book you've just bought and where you could find the original versions of some of these books, in hardcover. I can imagine shelves full of the best names of literature, the air smelling a mix of new and old books, soft carpets on the wooden floor and a shop attendant who would actually have read all them. Of course I wouldn't give up my work in research because I love it, but the shop would be mine and I would be able to go there on Saturdays or at late afternoons just to check how is it going and enjoy the atmosphere. 

5/09/2011

e-books and I aren't made for each other

My mom got an e-book not long ago and, since she's not using it right now, I've been using it lately. When I say lately it's a few days short of a week. And from my experience I can say that it's not my favorite piece of technology, sure it's good to have hundreds of books in a tiny gadget, but you can only read one book at a time, so what's the point on having all those books at your fingertips?

Let me explain myself, I know that many of you like your e-books and you will tell me that I'll get used to it, eventually I will but it's not the same. I love going book-shopping somedays I just go into the bookshop and look at all those books imagining what will be inside of them, most of those days I just don't buy anything but the days I do I just can't wait to start it. And then the smell of a new book and the sound while passing the new pages, it's one of the best things there are in the world. Also, if you're using a normal book other people can see what you're reading and you can see what other people is reading which is kinda difficult with an e-book. And finally reading on an e-book is much more slower!

I think that as soon as I'm done with a couple of books I've got in there I'll go back to average books (I miss them already)

5/05/2011

Things I don't like about myself...

...but I don't know how to change them

I've been thinking a lot lately and I came to the conclusion that I'm a difficult person, also that there are lots of things that I do and they're not really nice, so here's the list. 

1) I have this kind of OCD-like behavior sometimes, like when I'm walking in the train station and I cannot touch the lines between the floor tiles or I have to step only once in some tiles, I know it sounds funny but I end up walking weird. I also do it at work, and the other day I was on the street and I was doing it. I tend to do it when I'm walking alone and I actually feel bad if I step on a line, when I'm with someone else I guess it's not so bad because I'm not focused on what I step on. It didn't use to be so bad, I only did it in a place where there are some different colored tiles, but now... I do it everywhere. I do some other things but none of them are this bad (like setting the volume ALWAYS on a even number and things like this).

2) I have an overdeveloped sense of guilt and believe me it's not good. I feel guilty about things I do, I feel guilty about things I don't do, I feel guilty about things I did a long time ago, I felt guilty about feeling guilty. It's horrible really, it's like carrying something and it only weights more and more, the burden of responsibility or something. And I guess I'll feel guilty about writing this post too. 

3) I get upset when things don't go the way I planned, only that when I say upset it means really upset and when I say things it means silly things. Still don't get it? I get upset if my iPod runs out of battery or if I wanted to go home and watch a TV show and I have to go somewhere else because someone of my family needs me to pick something. This kind of things, or I should say this kind of insane things?

4) I don't like people. I really hate it when on a empty train someone sits next to me it makes me feel uncomfortable, there are times that I really hate getting on the metro because it is so full of people that I get anxious (luckily it's only one stop), I hate it when people talk on the train, when people listen to music and I can hear it, when babies cry (everywhere), I hate it when people won't let you out of the metro because they want to get in. I don't think I could ever stop saying the things I don't like. I know that most of you might not like most of the things I said, but really... they make me mad.

And I think that's pretty everything I wanted to say for today. Next on the story of how my precious MacBook came back home... wait for it!

4/28/2011

Monarchy or how to spend money in things you may not need.

I'm a catalan republican atheist, which would have had me killed 50 years ago if I happened to be brave enough to fight for my ideals, which I can tell you I believe I wouldn't be. Why I'm saying this? Well because I'll be talking about monarchy (aren't you surprised about it?).

Well I guess you all know that tomorrow is THE wedding, a prince and a normal girl are marring, hurray! Ok, so what makes kings be kings? Seriously, at first they were supposed to be chosen by god (no way I'm writing it in capitals I'm sorry but there are plenty of gods out there...), but then there where wars to get the crown and everything so kings are from different families, and now why kings are kings and why are they supposed to be superior to other people. And yes, I'm serious about it I want to know why we have to pay for their things if we haven't chose who is our king. And no, I don't buy the "chosen-by-god" reason.

Also, wouldn't it be better if we could chose who is the head of state, yeah, I'm talking about Republic in here, even if I'm a bit disappointed about democracy, mainly because of the results in Spain where most of the politicians are not even able to speak in English which I think is capital for foreign relationships. I like the Republic idea because you change your head of state every 4 years or so and if you don't like it you can vote for another one, and maybe you can vote for the most able. I know that people who is pro-monarchy will say that kings and queens where brought up for international relationships, but there's lots of people who is spending their own money on getting their education and will never have the chance to show it because in this country the only one who gets an opportunity in these fields is the one that knows someone from inside.

I don't know what do you think, but I cannot relate to someone who lives in a palace and has always lived there, I cannot relate to the princes and the kings that marry to perfect girls, and even if these girls are "average" girls I cannot relate to them because they are perfect looking and everything. And also I don't feel like spending my money on something I don't believe in (I guess that if I could vote there I would go to France, Germany or Finland).

So main conclusion here: do we really need royalty? (Taking into account that Middle Ages were over centuries ago...). Just think about it...

4/23/2011

Saint George and the books

Not so long ago I promised to explain something about "Sant Jordi" which is Catalan for Saint George, I guess that all of you know the story more or less, just in case I'll explain it shortly.

Once upon a time there was a kingdom, as all the kingdoms it had a king, a queen, a princess and a dragon. Ok, maybe not all the kingdoms have a dragon. This dragon was bloodthirsty and it needed to be feed a young girl every now and then, one day the girl that had to be eaten by the dragon was the young princess and the whole kingdom was desolate, but they had to do it so they handed the poor girl to the dragon. Fortunately a brave knight named Saint George was passing by and killed the dragon with his sword and roses bloomed from the blood of the monster. And I think he married the princess or something like this.


So which would be the morale of all this? First, that only the powerful get saved because all the other girls that were handed to the dragon ended their days into its stomach. Second, that it is okay to kill endangered species as long as they're menacing your life. Third, that guys have to give roses to their loves on April 23.


Look at it... Could you kill it?

Fact is that Sant Jordi is a really popular "holiday" here in Catalunya, guys give roses to girls and girls are supposed to give books to the boys. The book thing may be not as old as the rose as it was not so long ago that not everyone was able to read, and because it is the international Book Day. Anyways I happen to like this day, you go on the street and everything smells of roses, there are thousands and thousands of bookshops on the street and people is actually buying books, too bad that in the open one cannot feel the smell of the books. I know that here is one of the few places, or maybe the only one, in the world where all this happens, so I just wanted to share it with you. If you never happen to be here for Sant Jordi go to Barcelona and wander around Rambla Catalunya, I'm sure you'll love it!

P.D.: I would upload some of the pictures I took today in Granollers (I couldn't go to Barcelona) but I don't have my Mac and it would take forever with this computer.

4/05/2011

100 days in the office

The 100th day of a new government is always seen as a point when it has shown what it will be doing for the next, almost, 4 years. Tomorrow is this date for the new catalan government, and as usual everyone started evaluating.

I've been thinking about it lately, but I don't want to criticize anything or anyone, I've just been thinking about how naïve all the politicians seem to be, always saying that they could do much better if they were on the government, but actually being there is a much more difficult thing. Reason being that now you're in charge and anything that goes wrong is your fault and you cannot blame anybody, you could blame the previous administration, but still would it be worth it? Moreover there are lots of problems to solve for sure you'll need to implement some unpopular measures, or maybe you're lucky enough and the country is on a good season and you don't have lots of work to do. But if you know how the economic situation in Spain is right now you know it is not the case.

It has to be really difficult being in charge of the country nowadays, you need to solve lots of problems and at the same time because of the measures you're creating new problems that you'll have to solve eventually. I guess that most of the presidents are just hoping for the economic crisis to end so they can put their country in order.

By the way, I'm curious about the way the Spanish crisis is seen from other countries, so if you happen to read everything to this point and are eager to answer just hit the comments section (I read other countries newspapers -mainly American- but I don't have as much time as I would like to have). Thanks! 

4/02/2011

The best way not to get a boyfriend

I'm quite a pro on ruining relationships even before they started, so if you don't want to get a boyfriend you'll need just to follow this simple steps.

1) Be a dick (girls can be dicks too right?). Everyone told me that to get a boyfriend I just needed to be myself, but it turns out that I'm a complete jerk, I can't stand people in general and boys that insist on me liking them in particular (not that it happened a lot actually).

2) Be yourself. Like all the times, even in occasions when you wouldn't be yourself. If you're stupid be stupid all the times, EVERY TIME, EVERYWHERE.

3) Don't take care of yourself. Don't go to the gym, don't go on diets, don't care about what you wear (buy the first thing you see on the shop whether if it fits you or not).

4) Don't wear make up and if you do wear way too much.

5) Be too late or too early, if you're too early you'll be able to brag about it, if you're too late you'll show that you have better things to do.

6) If you go out with a boy always decide what you're going to do or never do it.

7) Tell the boy who likes you about your male friends and how funny they're or how good they're at something.

8) Go everywhere with boys (regular friends): partying, dinning, etc.

9) Meet a boy you cannot go out with and idealize him making other guys look like nothing in comparison.

10) Look at every guy as if they weren't worth the effort (I guess this is related to #1)

Well this is my guide on how not to get a boyfriend (and this is the result of a week with a stiff neck)

3/26/2011

Procrastinators

That's what we all are, just a bunch of procrastinators (and losers too somehow). We spend our whole lives planning things just saying "when I get to high school/when I get to college/as soon as I end uni/when I leave my parents house/next summer/when I get a boyfriend/when I get the right boyfriend/after I retire/before I die, I'll...". We plan hundreds of things, things that we might be able to do just now but we keep telling ourselves that the future is the perfect moment for it. So as the years pass by we realize that we haven't done any of those things we wanted to do and that maybe it is too late.

And don't tell me it hasn't happened to you, and you know it and you want to change it, but you never do so, just thinking that everything will be awesome in a future and that you'll have all the time that you want to travel/learn to do something really useless but that you'd love to do/whatever, and all those things are left behind while we lose our time doing nothing. Wouldn't it just be nice to do the things when we plan them for a future instead of... uh never? Just imagine how many of you wanted to go somewhere but didn't because "Hey, there's a chance I can come here with someone really special" and I say f**k this what's wrong on going to a fancy place on your own? I know there's people who does it and I want to do it too!

And still I know I won't do it because I'm a procrastinator, just that I'm procrastinating my own life (like most of the people...)

3/21/2011

People you don't know

Everyday we share moments with people we don't know, we share the same train, the same bus, we walk on the same streets, maybe we take the same elevator in the office, we eat in the same place, we may see one another everyday and never know each others name.

Imagine what would happen if one day we decided to talk to some of this people, just tell them that we see them everyday, our name and that we're pleased to meet them. And imagine they don't think we're crazy, but they like to talk with us. So what if we did that only one day? Who knows how many people we could have meet right now? Maybe the person we're looking for all our lives is just the guy or the girl who takes the same train we do, or maybe our next best friend is the one that leaves the gym when we get in, or who knows? Is it because there's too many people or because of what the society has taught us?

I've been thinking about this lately and, I don't know, I would like to be able to talk to some of these people eventually, ask them about the things they know, meet them in places I wouldn't expect to see them... I'm a romantic at hearth.

3/14/2011

Reading

I've always been a pasionate of books and stories, when I was a kid and I couldn't still read I always asked my mom for a story and sometimes I actually told her what I wanted in it. When I learned how to read I started reading my own books, I remember a book about the story of Saint George (it's quite big here in Catalunya I'll write a post about it eventually) which I got exactly on Saint George's day, I believe it was my first book and I was six or seven, by 5th grade (so I was ten) I was reading my mom's books, before that my parents used to buy me a book a week, buying the thicker they could find. When I got to high school (spanish one, so from 13 to 18) we were given books to read and I hated them, I found them dull and childish, when I was 14 or 15 I read The Pillars of the Earth in 3 days, I must say that's a record. I've kept the pace, but unfortunately I haven't had so much time lately. After reading all I could in Spanish I moved to English and that's where I am right now.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, last week I got The Wise Man's Fear (that's The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day Two) and I couldn't take my eyes off it, I wanted to know what happened I needed to know and when I was finishing it (four days and a half after) I thought that I would not be able to wait till the next one, and while reading it I was happy it was almost a thousand pages long so I would have more to read. Most people doesn't understand this, they don't like reading, but I was brought up among books and when I've got a new book I rather read it than watch TV, I even read while walking or while eating.

And now I don't have anything to read! I need some recommendations, I want to read Dostoyevsky and Kafka, but I also would like to read some Sci-Fi (I bought Foundation Series last year) or Fantasy (though I know nothing will be able to compare to The Kingkiller Chronicle if you haven't read it do it NOW!)

3/11/2011

日本 we are with you

This morning I woke up and went to work as usual. When I turned up the computer I checked my email and then I checked the news. And then I found out. I found out what happened in Japan, the quake, the tsunami, everything, and as the hours passed more and more news came.
I went to Japan this summer, it is a lovely country, I was amazed by their people, their food, their culture even if I could stay only for two weeks and I was rushing most of the time. I know they're prepared for this, but this was too much, way too much. I could not help but thinking that 7 months ago I was in Tokyo, for sure close to some of the buildings that have caught fire because of the quake. I've seen pictures of Yokohama and there have been some problems too. Still I didn't get to go north so I've never been to the most affected zone, I've never seen how they live and I don't know how much they will be affected by the consequences of this disaster.
I would love to be of some help, but I know I'm not, I don't think I could be of much help even if I was there. But still I don't think praying is the solution, it may smooth the feelings of people like me, but still it's useless for the people who are suffering, and since I'm an atheist I don't think my prayer would do any good. So instead of praying I'm writing this, to let them know they have people who cares, who's backing them at least emotionally.

3/03/2011

English

I'm studying English at an academy, I go there once a week for 3 hours and improve my English. These lessons are aimed for students that are planning to apply for CPE, but there are also lots of students who are not willing to do so. As if I could hear you... so what's the problem? 
I don't want to do the exam this year and maybe I won't even do it next year and sometimes things are too exam specific, most of the times it is okay, but my problem are writing tasks. Why? Because when you've to write a report or a proposal most of the times it is related with college, sports in college, food in college or accommodation around college, I'm not saying it is not useful but I would appreciate other topics that helped us widen our vocabulary or just use our creativity, it would be nice to write short stories in English wouldn't it? (Saying that I might try to write something like this)
There are many ways of learning English and wether if I take or not the exam I would like to keep improving it (shame most of the people here doesn't think like me)

3/01/2011

Uni days

The other day I was thinking about my first year at the university and how everything passed by so fast. When one starts the university feels that the end of the degree is in the far future, but now back in hindsight I feel that it was just tomorrow when I started it. I just realized that more than 5 years of my life had flight in a blink... and I feel old, because the older I get the faster the years pass. And I kinda miss those days back then when the only thing I had to do was going to class and when no one knew anyone and everything was new and bright. Of course things changed because nothing stays new forever, but it was a good change after all those years in the school, and I can recall that those years passed by much more slowly.
If I could start again I would live things differently, I don't know exactly how, but in another way for sure...