Now that I am back from Marrakech, I am finally able to get back into my favorite Christmas caroles. I kind of lost the spirit when I went to a very non-Christmasy country. But, now that I am back and inshala on my way home for Christmas, I can return to those songs that annoy everyone other than me. Especially after having sung “Winter Wonderland” and “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow” at my company’s Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find good videos of “I’ll be home for Christmas”, “Have Yourself a Merry little Christmas” or “Winter Wonderland”. At least one has both Bing and Frank.
Back from under the Sheltering Sky
Now I will finally try to put together my thoughts and impressions from my trip to Marrakech with my brother which was also my first trip ever to Morocco or to the African continent for that matter. I have already told the story of Casablanca, so now to Marrakech. I suppose that I could summarize Marrakech in three parts: (i) full of fascinating people, (ii) amazing tones of red and orange under a sky whose blue is spectacularly infiltrated with streaks of these same reds and oranges as night falls, and (iii) a place that I could not fully enjoy until I had departed from her. If interested, here is my explanation:
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
Casablanca: As time goes by
As a child, I was similar to the majority of the world at least in that I knew of Casablanca almost exclusively through the film of the same name. Maybe even more so, for my father was a dedicated fan of the movie which he played repeatedly on video. I knew the screenplay almost by heart practically due to osmosis. Later in college, I had a very good friend, Samya, from Casablanca. From that time on, Casablanca would always be synonymous with her. It was only natural then that when traveling to Casablanca for the first time (in route to Marrakech from Madrid with the Comment Killer), I would think of her. Actually, I was also thinking of how excited my father would be that I was in the city where Rick had fled to because he had been “misinformed”. Thus, my plane from Madrid to Casablanca flew to the tune of “As Time Goes By“. Here is my very curious experience:
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
Marrakech
I have just recently returned from Marrakech (with my bro the Comment Killer), hence, my well-noted absence from the pages of this blog. Marrakech is a fascinating place to say the least. Once I have some free time, I will write down my thoughts, impressions, and other digressions related to my first trip to Morocco. Now, back to Arrested Development, which although completely addictive is less amusing to watch alone, especially without the Comment Killer’s commentary.
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family
Hysidro se apunta a Corrupción en Galicia
En un nuevo episodio de Galicia Vice, Hysidro también se sube al tren de la interpretación en el papel de poli de las Rías Baixas. Mientras Sonny y Tubbs (interpretados por Cobra y Berga) están en la calle clandestinamente en busca de los malos, Hysidro se queda en el sótano de la comisaría rebuscando pistas entre montones y montones de papeleó.
Filed under Friends / Family
Galicia Vice
Parece que nuestros queridos galleginhos Cobra y Berga ya empiezan a rodar una nueva serie de televisión llamada “Galicia Vice”. Para interpretar su papel de Sonny, Cobra está dejando la barba perpetúa de tres días.
Filed under FON, Friends / Family
Let there be light
The other day while hanging the laundry, I happened to look out into the small inner courtyard of the building where I have been living for the past five years. I had never really looked out into this courtyard before. I looked up at one of my neighbor’s windows and noticed a wonderfully painted room and a lovely lamp. This made me feel a bit envious. I don’t know when my apartment was last painted, but it should have been repainted years ago. I have done some minor decorating, but never anything special, just the minimum of making the place feel like it is where “I” live. So, I have some framed posters and pictures of family and friends. Because it is a rental apartment and I can never decide how long I will stay in Spain, I simply have not made the “commitment” to refurnish. But looking through the window into my neighbor’s lovely little space, I felt that I too needed to make my apartment a touch more special. Here is what I did:
Filed under Digressions
Thanksgiving with the Changster, Natalia, Regeneration and Depletion, and Coltrane
Like all things in life, weekends need a fine balance. I had wanted to write a few different posts on various unrelated topics, but instead I will summarize all of them here as the (abriged) story of my weekend:
Filed under Digressions, Friends / Family, Jazz
It’s not always that easy
This morning I got to thinking that it’s not always that easy. It isn’t easy being a son or a father. It isn’t easy being a mother or a daughter. Or an older brother or a younger brother. An older sister or a younger sister. It can’t always be easy being a husband or being a wife, or being in any relationship or being all on your own. It isn’t easy having people depend on you or having to depend on others. And it isn’t always easy having no one to depend on or anyone to depend on you. Nevertheless, I believe that if you stop and think about it a little, and really analyze things, everyone is out there is trying to do their best. Some times we succeed, but often we fail. And when you understand this is part of life, then there really is no reason for anyone to get too upset or to take things too personally.
Filed under Digressions
What’s always bothered me about Rudolph’s plight
Ever since I was a fairly young kid, I was always bothered by the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Yes, boys and girls, you know the one. Rudolph was born a smaller than usual sized reindeer and had an ackwardly shining red nose. As a matter of fact, had you ever seen his nose, you’d even say it glowed. All of his fellow reindeers used to laugh and call Rudolph names. Rudolph was subsequently ostrasized and kept from partaking in the social activities of reindeers of his age. Then one foggy Christmas Eve when Santa saw that his only real significant day of work for the year was going to be little more difficult than normal due to the weather, he came up with a brilliant and opportunistic idea: Hey, why don’t I put that freak-of-nature Rudolph with his nose so bright up in front of my cavalry like a hood ornament to gide my sleigh tonight. And here is what bothers me the most:
Filed under Digressions
Grave Error 