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January 1, 2007 · 11:03 pm

New Year, New Books

One of the first things I buy when I go to the States are books. I prefer to read in English rather than in Spanish (with the sole exception of Spanish literature). Furthermore, there is a greater wealth of novels translated into English than into Spanish, and I generally read literature from around the world. Here are my most recent purchases (and gifts) to start off the new year: Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, The Last Song of Dusk; Paul Bowles, The Spider’s House; Amos Oz, Fima; Tahar Ben Jelloun, The Last Friend; Amin Maalouf, Samarkand; Naguib Mahfouz, Midaq Alley; and P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves (not appearing in the picture). Of course, I can’t get started on any of these until I finish The Idiot, but luckily I only have about 7.5 hours left if I can stay awake. Oh yeah, and there is the problem of working 12 hours a day and not having free time to read.

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January 1, 2007 · 8:37 pm

I’ve been home for Christmas

At the risk of getting my family’s hopes up for nothing, I must admit that there really is no place like home. Life is always easier at home. I enjoy living in Spain and in Europe and all that it has to offer. As a matter of fact, when I have the time to sort through my thoughts, I will write about my impressions on how the US is starting to lag behind Europe in many things and is becoming some what antiquated (yet not completely, Europe still has a lot to learn from the US). But, there is something about the climate, the vegetation, and the food of home, where ever that “home” may be, that makes being there special. This was the first trip home since moving to Spain six years ago that I felt that I was not ready to get back to Madrid.

As mentioned in one of my earliest posts, the aesthetics of home are what I dream of in my times of stress. I love the size and shape of the sky, the trees either bare or lush depending on the season. And unlike in Madrid, on the East Coast of the US, there is water everywhere, be it the ocean or rivers, streams, creeks, and ponds. I am content to just drive around taking everything in. Like my brother’s dog, Dixon, I can sit at the window for hours on end and watch the world as if it were squirrels to prey upon. But now I am back to Madrid and back to my life here, at least until my next trip home.

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January 1, 2007 · 12:25 pm

A Bronx Tale

I just got back from a quick trip to The Bronx to visit my grandparents and a short stop in New Jersey where I got to see my cousin Charlie and meet my new cousins Will and Elyse. As mentioned in a previous post, my father is from The Bronx and his parents still live there. Ever since I was a child when my family and I would visit my paternal grandparents, I would especially love the drive into The Bronx that commences when crossing the George Washington Bridge then continuing onto the Cross Bronx Expressway and finally onto my grandparents’ street. When I was younger, we would see the abondoned cars that would almost immediately be stripped to their bare bones and the empty, dilapidated buildings. Things are nicer now, but there is still a definite feel of New York being an ancient yet modern city with parts in ruins.

In the first video, you can see the Cross Bronx Expressway, and in the second one, my grandparents’ neighborhood which is also where my father grew up. Please excuse the fact that the image is a bit bumpy, that’s just New York City’s smooth ride.

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December 29, 2006 · 3:44 am

Rose Superstar a por la Copa de la Reina

Nuestra querida Rose Superstar ahora va a participar con su equipo el Barça en La Copa de la Reina los días 5, 6, y 7 de enero que se celebra en Jerez de la Frontera. El Barça está pasando una temporada regular de momento, pero ahora tiene una muy buena oportunidad en la Copa. Y el 11 de enero el Barça viaja a Israel a jugar contra el Elitzur Ramla en la EuroCup.

Finalmente, para los grandes aficionados de Rose Superstar en Madrid, el Barça se enfrenta al Estudiantes (el ex-equipo de Rose) el 21 de enero en la capital.

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December 28, 2006 · 4:07 pm

The Good Tidings bring Dirty Tides

I remember from back in my days as an environmental attorney when I used to work on water pollution that a huge percentage of water pollution is directly the fault of average people, not waste water treatment plants or big industry. Just by the fact that we exist, eat, drink, consume, and produce waste (both natural and synthetic), we cause damage to the environment. As a matter of fact, seemingly natural and organic substances (such as nutrients) are also pollutants, especially when they are entered into an ecosystem in quantities above their sustainable levels.

In any event, here is an article fromt the Associated Press about how levels of certain ingredients from the most popular holiday treats have been found in the Puget Sound:

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December 27, 2006 · 11:45 pm

At Home: A vacation from my problems

I am at home for the holidays, and like in What About Bob?, I am taking a vacation from my problems. Not that I have so many real problems, but I have totally disconnected (yes, pun intended). I have received barely any work emails (or personal for that matter), and I feel as if all of the petite malaise have vanished from my body.

While at home, I barely do anything of consequence. I have not really allowed my body to adjust to jet lag, so I wake up almost every morning at 5:30 am. And although I wake up early, I never feel particularly tired. I spend my days eating and occassionally, I take a drive either through my home town, Potomac, Maryland, or I go into DC. I love to simply drive through the streets and look at the house, buildings and vegetation. On the East Coast, the vegetation follows the opposite life cycle as in Spain. In Spain, everything is green (although barely) in the winter and dry in the summer. Here, the trees are barren in the winter, and lush in the summer. The rest of the time, I spend with my parents, save some time I had with my brother (his girlfriend and Dixon), and a few visits with some friends. I have felt little to no interest in even boring the readers of this blog.

Because Christmas has passed, I no longer listen to Christmas Caroles, and am now back to Jazz. On these two videos, I am listening to John Coltrane’s The Complete Africa/Brass Sessions (“Greensleeves” and “The Damned Don’t Cry”, respectively). First, I am driving down 35th and P streets in Georgetown. In the second video, I am going through my favorite short-cut in Potomac along Kendale Road. As is obvious from both videos, I am not even much of an aficionado, but so is life.

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December 22, 2006 · 6:03 am

Dhafer Youseff

Dhafer Youseff is one of my favorite artists, introduced to me by my friend Fadi. If interested, I particularly recommend Eletric Sufi.

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December 22, 2006 · 5:46 am

Great music, not so great hair

Trying to change the subject after my past few blogs, here are two great songs by artists with questionable hair. The first video is Sly and the Family Stone before Sly was completely ruined by a combination of drugs and his outfits.

Jimi Hendrix, one of my all time favorites from when I was a kid, is known for his elaborate electric guitar solos. Nevertheless, I am particularly fond of this blues piece he plays on his acoustic guitar.

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December 19, 2006 · 12:47 pm

Fears we hide in

While in Marrakech, I had a few words from my favorite lines of The English Patient running through my mind constantly like a song I just couldn’t get out of my head:

We die, we die rich with lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed … bodies we have entered and swum up like rivers, fears we have hidden in like this wretched cave…

Maybe it was just part of adjusting to a new, unknown place located on the fringes of the “comfort zone” or simply a period of self-reflection ignited after Casablanca. But I was focused on how too often anxiety, in all of its subtle ways, defines the decisions that we make and actions we take. How if we were to analyze the things we do and cease from doing, the things we say and the things we keep to ourselves, how deep down inside our actions and ommissions are predestined by our quiet little fears. Allow me to continue:

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December 17, 2006 · 3:32 pm

The Idiot

Last year at the end of November, I decided to read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. I had always wanted to read The Idiot, but after having gone to Wiesbaden, I was pretty close to reading The Gambler instead. Nevertheless, I was still convinced that I would relate more to an idiot than a gambler, and so I chose The Idiot.

After about two weeks of intense reading, I was totally absorbed by the story. Dostoevsky has an incredible power of description and to detail the psychology of a large number of characters right from the beginning. This unfortunately is also a problem. Reading Dostoevsky (like Tolsoy) requires great dedication and concentration. It is like going to the gym. Once you miss a day or two, you have to start all over from the beginning. And that is what precisely happened to me with The Idiot. At the beginning of December 2005, I was busy for a few days and was not able to read. Those two days turned into a month, and the next thing I knew, I was engulfed in working at FON — where amongst another 19 things, I did not have time to continue with Prince Mishkin’s tale. So I had left the Prince a little more than a third into his story (around page 320). Allow me to continue:

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