Category Archives: Digressions

Being and Perception

Nicolas Barba.JPG

A few weeks ago, Nicolas (FON’s bearded Canadian) and Borja organized a barbeque with the official office hoser doing all of the cooking. I was not able to attend. Today, I finally saw some of the photos and was shocked at the realization that:

When I am not around, my co-workers continue to exist. They are live human beings that breathe, eat, and do all sorts of things even when they are not in the office or in my presence. Of course, I wasn’t there to witness any of this, but unless the photos were part of a covert conspiracy to make me believe in their independent existence, they do actually exist outside of my perception. And they all appear to be enjoying themselves in the photos. Maybe I am not the axis upon which all else revolves.

This is just a preliminary thought, though, and is not meant to be conclusive.

1 Comment

Filed under Digressions, FON

Naked!

Menorca 001.jpg

Menorca has some of the most beautiful beaches and calas (typical Mediterranean coves) that I have seen anywhere. Traditionally, it has been a very hippie island with some Catalan tourists, while most mass tourism was directed towards Mallorca, Ibiza or other Mediterranean destinations. Also most of its beaches are protected biospheres, have no hotels and are accessible only after a 10-40 minute walk from distant parking lots.

So when I arrived in Menorca (my third trip there), I was expecting some kids on the larger beaches and many hippie nudists in the more remote calas. I have always hated a couple of things at the beach, all of which include audio and visual distractions, such as people playing paddle, listening to music, or putting up big tents and umbrellas. You usually don’t have these problems in Menorca, at least that was what I thought. Continue reading

5 Comments

Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family

Emta Hata’raf

Here comes another post that will interest no one other than myself, but a few weeks ago I wrote a post where I mentioned that I was looking for the original version of the song “Emta Hata’raf” by Asmahan. And then just now (while procrastinating at work), I found this video on YouTube of a film with her singing “Emta Hata’raf”.

Asmahan was a Syrian Druze who made a name for herself singing and starring in Egyptian films, but died suddenly and mysteriously in a car accident in 1944.

Leave a comment

Filed under Digressions

Page One and Podcasts

Henderson Page One.jpg

While on the farm in Menorca this weekend with William, Yasmine, Sanaa, Waya, and little Leo, William put on Joe Henderson’s Page One (with McCoy Tyner on piano!), and I loved it. William was also telling me about how he subscribes to and downloads podcasts from iTunes onto his iPod. He has pretty much the same taste in radio and news as I do, so once I got back to Madrid, I decided to go through the iTunes podcast library to see what I could find.

What I found were some of my favorite shows that I always look forward to seeing or hearing whenever I am back home. In particular, I enjoy watching the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS every evening at 7:00pm with my father. They just don’t have news shows, debate and analysis this good anywhere on European TV. Next, I love driving in my car and listening to NPR. Once I subscribed to my favorite stuff, I then proceeded to download Henderson’s Page One. I am afraid (figuratively, not literally) that the music and podcasts will distract me from finally finishing My Name is Red. Anyways, here is a list of the podcasts I have just subscribed to (if you have any other good ones, let me know): Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family, Jazz

Preservatives

Pharmacy Madrid

At 11:00am this Saturday morning, I found myself in a farmacia sweating through my green “Getting Lucky in Kentucky” t-shirt, with my sun glasses on, iPod blasting Roland Kirk’s I Talk to Spirits, and asking the pharmacist for Fortasec (a diarrhea medicine), a tooth brush, and preservatives. And this wasn’t even the first pharmacy I had entered this morning. Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under Digressions, Living la vida española

Mine Virgin Eyes

Morning in Bethany.jpg

After many complaints about nightmares caused by the Qtip earwax image, I am putting this photo of a beautiful morning in Bethany. Thus, virgin eyes won’t be exposed to the golden earwax right upon opening Grave Error. Please scroll down to be digusted.

1 Comment

Filed under Digressions

Orange is the Color of My True Love’s Earwax

Earwax

Earwax is kind of cool, especially after just reading about it on Wikipedia. Why did I read about earwax? Today I went to the otolaryngologist. No one ever says I have an otolarynogologist appointment in English. We usually just say ENT (“ears, nose and throat”) doctor. But in Spain, they actually use the full term “otorrinolaringólogo” or otorrino for short. As a matter of fact, on my way to the doctor’s office this afternoon, I realized that I had completely forgotten my doctor’s name. That meant that I would have to ask at the Hospital’s reception desk for the otorrinosaurus or whatever it’s called. I couldn’t remember the name for the life of me, and even if I could, I knew there would be no way in the world that I would be able to pronounce “otorrinolaringólogo”.

Luckily when I entered the hospital, there were signs indicating the various specialties, and there I saw that magically inarticulable word! I could easily find my way. Then when the doctor asked what he could do for me, I wanted to tell him my story. Continue reading

7 Comments

Filed under Digressions, Living la vida española

Ministry of Silly Walks

I was just rapping with Hysi Hy (“word”) on the East Side, and he was watching this Monty Python video clip of the Ministry of Silly Walks. This is probably my favorite Monty Python sketch.

1 Comment

Filed under Digressions

Social Mores and Changing Times

Lempicka Rythme

Europeans often look at Americans with great wonder, especially in terms of Americans’ quirky puritanity on certain moral issues. In particular, Europeans can never quite understand why Americans are so concerned about their leaders’ marital fidelity.

I just read this op-ed, “Our Ready Embrace of Those Cheating Pols” in The Washington Post by Pamela Druckerman. Druckerman goes through the recent history of how the general US public has viewed both presidents’ extramarital love lives and marital infidelity in general. According to her piece, Americans have become stricter in their expectation of fidelity, while previously such “cheating” was considered a mere pecadillo.

The most interesting argument in her article about why Americans have become more demanding of their spouses and presidents’ sex lives is due to the fact that women are more economically independent from their husbands. Thus, women are simply no longer willing to stay in cheating relationships, especially because they no longer have to. Thus, what appears to be prudish and uptight to Europeans is actually a sign of a more egalitarian society, at least in terms of women’s issues. In any event, here is the op-ed: Continue reading

8 Comments

Filed under Digressions, Essays

Dildo

Washington Dildo

They say you learn something new every day. And sometimes while teaching something new, you also learn something new. Yesterday, and I don’t quite remember how the conversation came up, someone at work mentioned the word “dildo” . Apparently, it’s a term that has been incorporated into Spanish, but there was some debate about its actual meaning (whether or not the term also included vibrating devices). That was when I was asked to enter the conversation to give some of my native English insight. Continue reading

3 Comments

Filed under Digressions