Friday 31 October 2008
Monday 27 October 2008
wanted: dead or alive
funny thing was brought to my attention last night..
turns out the dutch have been on my hunt since september. something about my visa expiring and not hearing from me. it escalated into them going to my old apartment in search of me. i had no idea any of this was going on, i figured i followed all the rules, did what i was supposed to and left the country, leaving everything in order and peace, so one day i could return. well, obviously not. there was a grave mix-up in what i was told about leaving... anyway, long story very short, i have to send them some documents and i should be in the clear... turns out i am already in the clear since they went to my apartment and didn't find me... the guy said today that i had been under investigation. now i know. jesus! what a mess... and i only hear about it now. i could have cleared this up last month.
turns out the dutch have been on my hunt since september. something about my visa expiring and not hearing from me. it escalated into them going to my old apartment in search of me. i had no idea any of this was going on, i figured i followed all the rules, did what i was supposed to and left the country, leaving everything in order and peace, so one day i could return. well, obviously not. there was a grave mix-up in what i was told about leaving... anyway, long story very short, i have to send them some documents and i should be in the clear... turns out i am already in the clear since they went to my apartment and didn't find me... the guy said today that i had been under investigation. now i know. jesus! what a mess... and i only hear about it now. i could have cleared this up last month.
Sunday 26 October 2008
Thursday 23 October 2008
lucerna music bar
gareth dickson from scotland opened up, nick drake meets brian eno. good stuff, the kind where i would find myself alone, eyes closed, and in a very content dreamy utopian state.
juana molina was nothing short of amazing. she varied it up, some tunes from the new album (which incorporates the new band, and creates a rich mix) and some different older songs. beautiful! and just to watch her do her thing, mezmerizing, the sounds fill your head and leave you a bit dizzy, but in a happy, euphoric ind of way.
i've been listening to the new album in preparation for the concert, and its good stuff. a different type of sound, but very much true to her style. i recommend grabbing it, and just listening over and over and over.
juana molina was nothing short of amazing. she varied it up, some tunes from the new album (which incorporates the new band, and creates a rich mix) and some different older songs. beautiful! and just to watch her do her thing, mezmerizing, the sounds fill your head and leave you a bit dizzy, but in a happy, euphoric ind of way.
i've been listening to the new album in preparation for the concert, and its good stuff. a different type of sound, but very much true to her style. i recommend grabbing it, and just listening over and over and over.
Tuesday 21 October 2008
cults and such
i've been keeping busy working on cult and paste.
the site is in transition... i think tomorrow is should be up, it was rumored to take something like 2 days to switch the domain server. today i have been working on the flyer for the big day, it's involved playing around with the logo and business card... but i have been doing heavy research on past and current cults of fame... there are a gazillion something sects and cults out there. insanity. i'm getting some great ideas from brushing up though.. saturday is the venue tour day. i'm going to visit a few places around and then formally decide where we will debut ourselves.
i have a few favorite cults so far, i'm not even through the whole list yet.. of course those crazy krishnas will always be number one in my book, but i'm biased. i'm intrigued by malachi zodok york.... follow the awesome photo below to read more. good stuff.
the site is in transition... i think tomorrow is should be up, it was rumored to take something like 2 days to switch the domain server. today i have been working on the flyer for the big day, it's involved playing around with the logo and business card... but i have been doing heavy research on past and current cults of fame... there are a gazillion something sects and cults out there. insanity. i'm getting some great ideas from brushing up though.. saturday is the venue tour day. i'm going to visit a few places around and then formally decide where we will debut ourselves.
i have a few favorite cults so far, i'm not even through the whole list yet.. of course those crazy krishnas will always be number one in my book, but i'm biased. i'm intrigued by malachi zodok york.... follow the awesome photo below to read more. good stuff.
Monday 20 October 2008
Sunday 19 October 2008
absentee ballot, check
just received my absentee ballot through the "internets."
now, to find a place to print and fax it.. i'm a bit ornery to do it because of what that maniac from barcelona told me, about absentee ballots not being counted.
we shall see. we shall see.
hopefully this novella of election bickering will soon come to a close, it's been carried out to long and twisted over and over to the point everyone has missed the key, pertinent issues.
damn politicians and their secret agendas.
this is a report recently shown on al jeezera english, a youtube member renamed it "ohio is latin for 'pure class'," fitting.. though all this mumbo jumbo is making me a bit apprehensive to return to the states.
now, to find a place to print and fax it.. i'm a bit ornery to do it because of what that maniac from barcelona told me, about absentee ballots not being counted.
we shall see. we shall see.
hopefully this novella of election bickering will soon come to a close, it's been carried out to long and twisted over and over to the point everyone has missed the key, pertinent issues.
damn politicians and their secret agendas.
this is a report recently shown on al jeezera english, a youtube member renamed it "ohio is latin for 'pure class'," fitting.. though all this mumbo jumbo is making me a bit apprehensive to return to the states.
Friday 17 October 2008
zelda kaplan
zelda kaplan is awesome.
she recently hit the 90 marker and still is going strong, partying a minimum of 3 up to 5 times a week till the wee hours of the morning and hitting every social affair. she proudly claims to sleep in till two in the afternoon, because she stays up all night and mainly due to insomnia. she sticks to younger crowds because she said she was sick of older people droning on and on about age, sickness, and so on. she's fashion incarnated.
the icing on the cake: she's a top notch humanitarian and feminist. she used to be a ballroom dancer and a golf pro... but in her 50s she became curious about africa from a speaking by the anthropologist margaret mead. she still claims this was the most impacting thing in her life... she headed to africa shortly after and witnessed late 90s post-apartheid africa. she became a lead supporter for women's rights in africa... traveling across the continent raising awareness and giving workshops to small villages about the inhumane practices women must endure. she continues to raise money and awareness through her charity, and until recently was jetsetting back and forth to africa.
she's a definite force and has learned the trick of enjoying life to the fullest. i'm awestruck.
queen of lincoln road
irene williams: queen of lincoln road
i love her... she designs and makes all of her own clothes just for her own enjoyment. she's lived in south beach for over 20 years and doesn't leave the house without a hat.. she's just amazing. the kind of old person you would wish to be: witty and creative.
Thursday 16 October 2008
gomorra
roberto saviano is brave... very, very brave.
i have been wanting to read his book for a while, but in italian, so i feel that since i'm getting through il nome della rosa fairly decent enough, i would finally start to take a crack at it; plus umberto eco himself has called saviano a 'national hero.' saviano is a born and raised napolitano, who, despite the death threats from the comorra, still resides in napoli though armed with bodygaurds (from the italian ministry of interior affairs). a couple days ago there was another serious threat on his life, this time for december. it takes a lot of courage to reveal the truth and try to stir enough attention to change peoples' thinking or outlooks to what power they can have... awareness and solidarity can be attained. it's speculated whether the comorra is most upset at him for publishing the book, for all the people it has reached, or both. just recently it was released on the big screen and this is even more infuriating to them, making his life that much more difficult... it's tough work trying to help a city, country, and fellow countrymen.
i'll close with the blog from beppe grillo:
"Roberto Saviano has sent me a copy of his book: ‘Gomorra’ with a few words for me inside it. Reading it made me think of Pasolini. I’m thinking that Roberto is a courageous young man to be protected. Roberto has written a book that should be obligatory in the schools. A book that represents Italy today and that should be read in class in place of ‘Cuore’ by Edmondo De Amicis. Young people in Naples work on projects for the Camorra. They are cocopro {on short-term contracts} in the black economy. They are lost generations. They are the starting point to save Naples.
“They are signed up as soon as they are able to be faithful to the clan. Aged from 12 to 17 years old, many are sons and brothers of members, many others come from families of precarious workers. They are the new army of the clans of the Neapolitan Camorra.
They come from the historic centre, from the zones of Sanità , Forcella, Secondigliano, rione San Gaetano, Quartieri Spagnoli, Pallonetto and are recruited by affiliations structured into different clans.
Their number is a real army. There are multiple advantages for the clans. A really young person gets half the salary of an adult member on the lowest grade, and rarely has to support their parents, they don’t have the encumbrance of a family, no hours to keep, no need for a regular salary and above all they are willing to be constantly on the streets.
The roles are diverse and have different responsibilities. They start with the sale of soft drugs, mainly hashish. Almost always the young person is positioned in the most crowded streets. In time they start to sell pills and they almost always get to use a motor cycle.
Finally, cocaine that is taken directly into the universities, outside the bars, in front of the hotels, at the metro stations. The groups of baby-vendors are basically in the flexible sales economy because they are less visible, they sell drugs in between playing football or having a ride on the motor cycle and often they go directly to the home of the client.
Very often the clan doesn’t oblige the youngsters to work in the morning, in fact they continue to go to school, even because if they miss school it’s easier to locate them.
Often the really young members after the first few months of work, go around carrying weapons. A way of defending themselves and to give them status. A field promotion that promises them the possibility to rise in the ranks of the clan. Automatic and semi-automatic pistols that they learn to use on the rubbish tips of the province and in the underground caves of Naples.
When they become trustworthy and they have the total trust of the boss of the zone, then they can take on a role that is well beyond that of pusher. They become ‘pali’ {look-outs}.
In a city street assigned to them, they check that the lorries coming in to unload merchandise to the supermarkets, shops or salumerie, are the ones set up by the clan, or if they are not, they indicate when the distributor to a shop is not one of the “chosen” ones.
Even in the building sites, the presence of the ‘pali’ is fundamental. The contractors often sub-contract to building companies of the Camorra groups. But at times the work is entrusted to companies that are “not advisable”.
From ‘Gomorra’ by Roberto Saviano"
Wednesday 15 October 2008
ten rolls
happiness was just delivered to my door.
off to pick up the last 10 months of rolls today from foto skoda... hope it's some good stuff, i've forgotten what i've snapped since then.
peace and love
“this is a serious message for everybody watching my update right now. peace and love, peace and love.
i want to tell you, please, after october 20, do not send fan mail to any address you may have, nothing will be signed after october 20.
if that is the date on the envelope, it is going to be tossed.
i am warning you with peace and love, i have too much to do, so no more fan mail, thank you, thank you and no objects to be signed, nothing.
anyway peace and love, peace and love."
// ringo starr
Tuesday 14 October 2008
how will you meet your end
i'm at a loss for words much less emotional response.
this month alone 2 friends of mine have passed... the month before my grandfather.
i have coped fine with my grandfather's death, my parents took it much harder, granted as they knew him longer and had a deeper relationship with him. i just have memories of my grandfather in the basement doing paperwork and the occasional smart witted line... that's about it. we talked, but it was mainly one way conversation or constantly reminding him of who i was... i am still grateful of him attending my college graduation, and that i will always remember, along with the architect cut lines... he was an aeronautical engineer and didn't favor architects. so to cope with me becoming an architect he would make cracks. in the end after my grandmother's death i think it was surprising he managed to keep chugging along. after witnessing my great-grandmother, great-aunts, and my grandparents transitions or slight alterations in old age i have learned i will do things differently. i would not wish anyone to be cooped up in a home without familiar faces. there is no point in living at that moment. you become a distant memory and forgotten about, only to be called on major holidays if you should be so lucky.
the part i have a bit of trouble swallowing is kids so young passing. a friend of mine from high school recently passed from his battle with cancer... he was only 23. my heart breaks to know all he had to suffer, but he became such a source of inspiration to others... he passed his encouragement and stories to others. he was remarkable at such a young age. he will be missed, but to know he is no longer suffering is comfort in itself. i know he has made an impact and moved many people, myself included. i found out just today another friend also recently passed at only 25... for her it was more of a coming to terms with personal and deep rooted questions. they will be remembered for their amazing abilities to inspire those around them, creating surges of thought and reflection, they were both dynamic individuals. in the end, we all have our time and we have to make the most of it, through interactions and sparks. i remember them today and let their memories be directed to inspiration.
this month alone 2 friends of mine have passed... the month before my grandfather.
i have coped fine with my grandfather's death, my parents took it much harder, granted as they knew him longer and had a deeper relationship with him. i just have memories of my grandfather in the basement doing paperwork and the occasional smart witted line... that's about it. we talked, but it was mainly one way conversation or constantly reminding him of who i was... i am still grateful of him attending my college graduation, and that i will always remember, along with the architect cut lines... he was an aeronautical engineer and didn't favor architects. so to cope with me becoming an architect he would make cracks. in the end after my grandmother's death i think it was surprising he managed to keep chugging along. after witnessing my great-grandmother, great-aunts, and my grandparents transitions or slight alterations in old age i have learned i will do things differently. i would not wish anyone to be cooped up in a home without familiar faces. there is no point in living at that moment. you become a distant memory and forgotten about, only to be called on major holidays if you should be so lucky.
the part i have a bit of trouble swallowing is kids so young passing. a friend of mine from high school recently passed from his battle with cancer... he was only 23. my heart breaks to know all he had to suffer, but he became such a source of inspiration to others... he passed his encouragement and stories to others. he was remarkable at such a young age. he will be missed, but to know he is no longer suffering is comfort in itself. i know he has made an impact and moved many people, myself included. i found out just today another friend also recently passed at only 25... for her it was more of a coming to terms with personal and deep rooted questions. they will be remembered for their amazing abilities to inspire those around them, creating surges of thought and reflection, they were both dynamic individuals. in the end, we all have our time and we have to make the most of it, through interactions and sparks. i remember them today and let their memories be directed to inspiration.
palin bingo
palin bingo
the only positive thing i can say about this woman is that she is sparking enough creativity in people.
hmm, is this muse the new black?
Monday 13 October 2008
preface to lyrical ballads
poetry is the image of man and nature. the obstacles which stand in the way of the fidelity of the biographer and historian, and of their consequent utility, are incalculably greater than those which are to be encountered by the poet, who has an adequate notion of the dignity of his art. the poet writes under one restriction only, namely, that of the necessity of giving immediate pleasure to a human being possessed of that information which may be expected from him, not as a lawyer, a physician, a mariner, an astronomer or a natural philosopher, but as a man. except this one restriction, there is no object standing between the poet and the image of things; between this, and the biographer and historian there are a thousand.
william wordsworth –preface to lyrical ballads, 1802
Friday 10 October 2008
Thursday 9 October 2008
tales from el prat
well, i made it back... finally. i missed my flight on sunday, spent 36 hours at el prat, paid more money for another ticket, met the colombian womens' junior football league, witnessed an obscene, obnoxious, old german man who seemingly had been stranded for a while at the airport, penniless left only to search for left/stuck public phone change, tourists from allover, mainly upper middle class america, fights with ticket offices, ... it was eventful at the least.
train to venezia... long. i left sunday at 17h21 and arrived 08h33. switched many times, finally at 00h00 we switched to trenitalia. we were warned of a scheduled robbery from 02h00-04h00... just to keep it in mind. the lady accompanying me in the compartment was an older czech woman, who spoke czech, german, and 10% english... she was stressing the entire trip after the warning, hassling the conductor every 15 minutes and asking me what to do. i told her to hide everything in the mattress linings. after enough harrassment, the conductor convinced the driver to keep going straight, not stopping for the scheduled heist in vienna. the woman proceeded to tell me that austria was now worse than bulgaria. she then gave the conductor a chocolate bar for his kindness. the next morning as we were pulling into mestre she filed a complaint. there was zero sleep to be had. checked in and headed across the bridge to kill time and get some espresso, surprise/chance running into pedro at santa lucia.
the biennale was good... though i have to say not as great as 2006, though i still walked away with a few things to think about. it was great to be back in italy, my italian has greatly improved... i'm very happy for this. in fact i'm halfway through il nome della rosa! ran into genova kids and rice. i felt the whole time i was back in genova mode. highlights would have to be the un studio video installations, droog's installation, italian housing studies, the italian pavilion, ... disappointments would have to be venezuelan pavilion (total propaganda), spanish pavilion, belgian pavilion (though we made the most of a building full of confetti), the fact frank gehry was alloted space for a wooden trash heap, fuksas' overrated computer generated living conditions, the gondola video exhibit....
roma was great fun. we got to stay in the waldorf-astoria for free, obviously you can imagine we were out of our element as everyone was over the top diplomatic or posh, and then there was pedro and i with our backpacks... it was a sight to behold! it was a bit out of the way, on top of the mountain, but we managed to find our way in the middle of the night... lucky for us there were random people still stirring around town. met some interesting people at the ciampino airport... our flight was delayed 3 hours! so 1 hour was spent just standing in line, as 10 minutes turned into another 10 minutes, .... until an hour had passed and we realized we were still standing in line. go figure. arrived to beauvais quite late... listened to old italian men telling tales about the french. long bus ride!
i somehow remembered the way to mathilde's flat, 3 years later... but conveniently forgot the codes. no phone, no card for the public phone, ... , i was planning to camp on the street when a young guy passed by heading into the building, i convinced him i wasn't homeless and was actually a friend. got in, but rang the wrong doorbell at 3 am, as i was exiting i saw the note and the bulging door mat. saved! an hour later the guy who's bell i rang came home. i woke up sick! this was basically my week, sick but trying to enjoy the time. met with alex, his flatmate fred, the straight fashionista... gibert's birthday shindig... met all of paris' brightest, newly declared medical professionals... domique perrault exhibition at pompidou... world's best falafels... second hand romping... farewell party to a newly befriended medical internist.
plane to girona. bus ride to barcelona. nocturnal exploration. nightcap with a napolitano and an ex-cia opperative, who pushed my buttons polically, as he was publicly declaring his conservative republican views, admiration for mccain and his attraction to palin. jesus! the blood pressure was ticking. he basically ridiculed me for being a green party supporter and my belief in global warming. he made racist comments against black people when i answered his questions about moving to jamaica with the pc. yea overall, good friendly hostility.
barcelona is amazing, once you escape the mad tourists and the traps which try to lure you in. the mix of cultures is so diverse, the neighborhoods and districts all different and enjoyable for something distinct. i met so many interesting people, saw some good local performances, and am ready to move when pc is over. i'm sold. catalan sounds like a strange mix of portuguese, french, and a drop of spanish. but it adds even more dimension to the city when you hear all these different sounds. my hostel was full of italians, brasilians, and canadians. made friends fast. went out the last night with my roommates, some girls from rio who were studying in salamanca. i'm also a big fan of the parks. i got hassled more so than in italy... but all you can do is laugh it off. nothing offensive. i also got cornered by a mormon on my walk to the forum... i told him it was a shame i spoke only italian, lucky for me, he was italian and filled my bag with all these italian pamphlets. only me of course. i made an effort to try to experience all the different neighborhoods and see all the different types of living environments. quite informative. thoroughly loved park guell.
missed my flight the next morning, as i was convinced it was at 13h00, yea pretty sure it was at 11h00... so had to camp out in el prat waiting for confirmation of another flight. so began my intensive observations, random interactions, and strange coincidences.... and above all a very long wait. i filled myself with sesame bars and cafe con leches to keep sustenance... like the majority of my trip. had a long talk with some colombian guys, who favored me as soon as i had some nice things to say about their motherland. life is tough, they made this that much clearer to me. i passed the whole night and early morning hours with them, and once they left i had a lot to process. i witnessed a lot of thought provoking actions, scenes, and discussions in that airport... amazing you can pick up so much in a space for so many hours.
i finally got to my flight a million hours later.. it was full of upper class, older spaniards. i sat next to 2 couples who were friends going to prague for the first time. the man next me hated flying, but decided to give it another try. we talked the whole trip about traveling, spain, history, prague, and the czech republic... i'm sure i sounded like a cavewoman speaking spanish. it was a mix of italian and spanish, and many bo's. regardless, i think i attracted attention, all the rows around me started asking for information about prague, asking me to draw maps and write down names for them... as soon as we were passing the alps everyone ripped out their cameras flashing pictures left and right, and before i knew they were making me pose by the window so they could remember the girl who helped them. why? i can't imagine their expressions when they return home and begin reviewing their photos to stumble upon a dark eyed white girl smiling next to a window with the alps in the lower background. anyway, at baggage claim i got hugs and kisses and promises that if we ran into one another on the streets of prague i would be in for a dinner or drinks. i thanked them kindly, and broke it to them we may not, but to enjoy the trip anyway.
i made it to the metro, but unfortunately attracted the attention of some homeless, white pill-popping drug addicts, who kept staring waiting for me to make a move. i tricked them into getting off at mustek, but the damn backback with the spanish tag set all of the prague petty thieves on my trail. long, long way home. got tricked into trivia night, which we scored another 3rd place, damn shitty music and movies, and a 2 point penalty for teams of 5 people. finally made it home to pass out around 1hoo. more than 48 hours awake at that point, i don't know how i figured i would be good at trivia without sleep and sickness prevailing. regardless, good time had by all, despite our losing.... usually takes a few hours to overcome we've lost.
made it back in time for prague's designblok. looking forward to checking it out today till the 12th.
train to venezia... long. i left sunday at 17h21 and arrived 08h33. switched many times, finally at 00h00 we switched to trenitalia. we were warned of a scheduled robbery from 02h00-04h00... just to keep it in mind. the lady accompanying me in the compartment was an older czech woman, who spoke czech, german, and 10% english... she was stressing the entire trip after the warning, hassling the conductor every 15 minutes and asking me what to do. i told her to hide everything in the mattress linings. after enough harrassment, the conductor convinced the driver to keep going straight, not stopping for the scheduled heist in vienna. the woman proceeded to tell me that austria was now worse than bulgaria. she then gave the conductor a chocolate bar for his kindness. the next morning as we were pulling into mestre she filed a complaint. there was zero sleep to be had. checked in and headed across the bridge to kill time and get some espresso, surprise/chance running into pedro at santa lucia.
the biennale was good... though i have to say not as great as 2006, though i still walked away with a few things to think about. it was great to be back in italy, my italian has greatly improved... i'm very happy for this. in fact i'm halfway through il nome della rosa! ran into genova kids and rice. i felt the whole time i was back in genova mode. highlights would have to be the un studio video installations, droog's installation, italian housing studies, the italian pavilion, ... disappointments would have to be venezuelan pavilion (total propaganda), spanish pavilion, belgian pavilion (though we made the most of a building full of confetti), the fact frank gehry was alloted space for a wooden trash heap, fuksas' overrated computer generated living conditions, the gondola video exhibit....
roma was great fun. we got to stay in the waldorf-astoria for free, obviously you can imagine we were out of our element as everyone was over the top diplomatic or posh, and then there was pedro and i with our backpacks... it was a sight to behold! it was a bit out of the way, on top of the mountain, but we managed to find our way in the middle of the night... lucky for us there were random people still stirring around town. met some interesting people at the ciampino airport... our flight was delayed 3 hours! so 1 hour was spent just standing in line, as 10 minutes turned into another 10 minutes, .... until an hour had passed and we realized we were still standing in line. go figure. arrived to beauvais quite late... listened to old italian men telling tales about the french. long bus ride!
i somehow remembered the way to mathilde's flat, 3 years later... but conveniently forgot the codes. no phone, no card for the public phone, ... , i was planning to camp on the street when a young guy passed by heading into the building, i convinced him i wasn't homeless and was actually a friend. got in, but rang the wrong doorbell at 3 am, as i was exiting i saw the note and the bulging door mat. saved! an hour later the guy who's bell i rang came home. i woke up sick! this was basically my week, sick but trying to enjoy the time. met with alex, his flatmate fred, the straight fashionista... gibert's birthday shindig... met all of paris' brightest, newly declared medical professionals... domique perrault exhibition at pompidou... world's best falafels... second hand romping... farewell party to a newly befriended medical internist.
plane to girona. bus ride to barcelona. nocturnal exploration. nightcap with a napolitano and an ex-cia opperative, who pushed my buttons polically, as he was publicly declaring his conservative republican views, admiration for mccain and his attraction to palin. jesus! the blood pressure was ticking. he basically ridiculed me for being a green party supporter and my belief in global warming. he made racist comments against black people when i answered his questions about moving to jamaica with the pc. yea overall, good friendly hostility.
barcelona is amazing, once you escape the mad tourists and the traps which try to lure you in. the mix of cultures is so diverse, the neighborhoods and districts all different and enjoyable for something distinct. i met so many interesting people, saw some good local performances, and am ready to move when pc is over. i'm sold. catalan sounds like a strange mix of portuguese, french, and a drop of spanish. but it adds even more dimension to the city when you hear all these different sounds. my hostel was full of italians, brasilians, and canadians. made friends fast. went out the last night with my roommates, some girls from rio who were studying in salamanca. i'm also a big fan of the parks. i got hassled more so than in italy... but all you can do is laugh it off. nothing offensive. i also got cornered by a mormon on my walk to the forum... i told him it was a shame i spoke only italian, lucky for me, he was italian and filled my bag with all these italian pamphlets. only me of course. i made an effort to try to experience all the different neighborhoods and see all the different types of living environments. quite informative. thoroughly loved park guell.
missed my flight the next morning, as i was convinced it was at 13h00, yea pretty sure it was at 11h00... so had to camp out in el prat waiting for confirmation of another flight. so began my intensive observations, random interactions, and strange coincidences.... and above all a very long wait. i filled myself with sesame bars and cafe con leches to keep sustenance... like the majority of my trip. had a long talk with some colombian guys, who favored me as soon as i had some nice things to say about their motherland. life is tough, they made this that much clearer to me. i passed the whole night and early morning hours with them, and once they left i had a lot to process. i witnessed a lot of thought provoking actions, scenes, and discussions in that airport... amazing you can pick up so much in a space for so many hours.
i finally got to my flight a million hours later.. it was full of upper class, older spaniards. i sat next to 2 couples who were friends going to prague for the first time. the man next me hated flying, but decided to give it another try. we talked the whole trip about traveling, spain, history, prague, and the czech republic... i'm sure i sounded like a cavewoman speaking spanish. it was a mix of italian and spanish, and many bo's. regardless, i think i attracted attention, all the rows around me started asking for information about prague, asking me to draw maps and write down names for them... as soon as we were passing the alps everyone ripped out their cameras flashing pictures left and right, and before i knew they were making me pose by the window so they could remember the girl who helped them. why? i can't imagine their expressions when they return home and begin reviewing their photos to stumble upon a dark eyed white girl smiling next to a window with the alps in the lower background. anyway, at baggage claim i got hugs and kisses and promises that if we ran into one another on the streets of prague i would be in for a dinner or drinks. i thanked them kindly, and broke it to them we may not, but to enjoy the trip anyway.
i made it to the metro, but unfortunately attracted the attention of some homeless, white pill-popping drug addicts, who kept staring waiting for me to make a move. i tricked them into getting off at mustek, but the damn backback with the spanish tag set all of the prague petty thieves on my trail. long, long way home. got tricked into trivia night, which we scored another 3rd place, damn shitty music and movies, and a 2 point penalty for teams of 5 people. finally made it home to pass out around 1hoo. more than 48 hours awake at that point, i don't know how i figured i would be good at trivia without sleep and sickness prevailing. regardless, good time had by all, despite our losing.... usually takes a few hours to overcome we've lost.
made it back in time for prague's designblok. looking forward to checking it out today till the 12th.
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