For my 24th birthday, a Greek friend of mine (Alexandra) gave me a book of poetry by Constantine P. Cavafy. I just remembered this one as I was eating breakfast and running late for work. Continue reading
Category Archives: Digressions
How long is a day in the dark?
My father’s favorite line from the English Patient is, “I’m not missing you yet.” I prefer the very end. I love the imagery of writing in the dark. Curiously, it is a line written for the movie only and not the novel. There are a couple of motifs in the movie that do not appear as clearly as in the book. These have to do with the idea of ownership, the absurdity of national boundries and identity, and love in general. When one writes in the dark, one is unable to write in a straight line for there are no boundries. Here it is . . .
Filed under Digressions
Writer’s block
It has been a few days since I have published anything new in Grave Error. I have a bunch of ideas for posts, but for some reason (or actually for a few in particular), I can’t get myself to complete a thought and put it into digestible terms. Let me explain . . .
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
Conocer y conociendo a Beatriz Russo
He ido conociendo a Beatriz Russo desde Formentera sin realmente llegarla a conocer aún. Es poeta (o poetisa dependiendo del siglo en que te apetece pertenecer) y escritora (entre otras cosas). Y en este post quisiera usar la metáfora de Sócrates de “being and becoming” para resaltar las diferencias entre Beatriz y yo y la ontología (o quizás cosmología) de nuestra amistad emergente. Por ejemplo, fijaros en Marcelo y como mira a Beatriz y como ella pasa del pobre. Me recuerda a mis problemas con las actrices. La diferencia es que ella está pasando y yo pareciendo pasar. ¿De qué estoy hablando? Me explico . . .
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family, Living la vida española
Smells like the Bronx
In honor of my sister’s birthday (it is also Cobra’s birthday), I write about a conversation I had with her the other day, when upon returning home, I noticed that my apartment building smelled like the Bronx. It had been a long day, and I, famished and exhausted, decided to follow my strict diet of not having time for dinner. The problem was that the entirety of my apartment building smelled just like the hallway that leads from the elevator to the door of my paternal grandparents’ apartment in the Bronx. And that smells pretty good . . . Continue reading
Filed under Digressions
Lo que no tengo . . .
Filed under Digressions
Formentera in the Time of Cholera
Garcia Marquez writes, It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.
And so I went to Formentera. I went with many objectives and none at the same time. I wanted to sleep, to release myself from thought, to turn off, and to discover something. I did not want to discover myself. I think that I have found myself, and that every day I am finding that same self in more and more places. Whereas Marquez writes about unrequited love, I was searching for the unrequited self. As a matter of fact, in Spanish, Marquez’s prose reads, “amores contrariados” meaning that love that has gone astray as opposed to being unfulfilled. So, I suppose I was searching for convergence, a place to periodically converge. A place to find what I lose on a daily basis. And so I set out with my trusted friend, Manolo, who was also in seach of something left behind, but that is his story to tell. Mine goes like this . . .
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family, Jazz
Formentera: Cuando este hasta los huevos de los huevos de los huevos
Acabamos de acordar Manolo y yo que cuando ya estemos hasta los huevos de los huevos de los huevos, lo dejaremos todo para establecer nuestro chiringuito en Formentera de Jazz y Chill-Out con Makis inlcuidos. De momento solo estamos hasta los huevos de los huevos y por lo tanto, Formentera tendra que esperar.
Perdonad la falta de acentos. Blogueo desde el Blackberry, por que por bien o por mal, no hay WiFi en todas partes aun.
Filed under Digressions
Life is fragile, so conserve water
On Saturday morning while taking a shower, I proceeded to wash my feet. That’s just something I do. I wash my feet with soap, I mind my own business, and don’t hurt anyone. All of a sudden, I started to slip and slide. My life didn’t flash before my eyes, but I did bump against the shower wall and then almost fell through the shower curtain. I no longer have the reflexes and balance as in days past, but I was capable of not doing any damage to myself. Once I regained my composure, I realized that I could have had a mortal accident. I thought, what would happen if I were to fall to my tragic and senseless death in the shower?
Filed under Digressions
Movies make life more difficult
There is something about movies that makes my life more difficult and frustrating. First of all, movies set unrealistic expectations of men. Did you ever notice that all of the male protagonists in every movie always have one or more of the following: cool car, cool apartment, or cool job? I have none of these. I have an “Abono Transportes de Cercanias“, which translates roughly as a second rate lamenated photo of myself that permits me to travel on the metro and bus in Madrid as many times as I want in any given month. Wow!!! But, there’s no shot-gun on my pass for passengers. It’s not like you walk around to the other side of the bus to open the door for her.
Filed under Digressions, Living la vida española
Grave Error 