Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Knack

Yeah,
my parents were quite glad to show me this as the HSC was approaching.
I crack up laughing every time I see it.
Now it's a phrase that we use(d) at home, say when I am needed to fix something that requires some technological skill of sorts. People would start yelling out "he's got the knack!" I thought it would be funny to share it with you guys/gals.

But isn't it great to be/becoming one?

I love my oldies

:D

Monday, March 29, 2010

Si me entiendes, quítate la camiseta

HMMMMM

Just about the only few things that currently bother me about blogging are:
> discovering ridiculous typos and bizarre grammar structure in previously submitted posts;
> writing huge posts of text with no images;
> the fact that I have to pay for uploading stuff, namely my pictures;
> that Blogger isn't WordPress.

Future post sneak-peek: The question with a complicated answer, Why do you blog?

Sunday, March 28, 2010

tres seis cinco (365)

When I started uploading my photographs onto Flickr, I thought that perhaps doing a photography project would be a fine way on perfecting my skills as an amateur photographer.
And one day I came across a photography project called the 365 Project.
Basically, it's all about taking a picture of yourself, a self-portrait to be precise, every day for an entire year.
It sounds like a great idea at first, but then it becomes a struggle to keep it up as the weeks go by and things happen and come along in the way.

I have to admit it.
I totally suck at taking portraits. But most of my suckiness is because I never really got the chance to actually do it, to actually test my skills and learn about such photographic format.

But the 365 project gave me an idea of how to do it. The only difference from normal portraiture is that I was the subject. So I had to learn about and appreciate my body and face from a photographer's perspective. Too bad I'm not photogenic.

It was a bit hard at first, then it went along smoothly, but then it went bad towards the end.
As I started university, I completely broke off from the project's rules. I stopped taking pictures of myself, I just didn't have the time to do it properly.

However, I learned quite a lot about the art of portraits within the scope of photography. It was quite a lot of fun, but it wasn't easy. I'd like to think that I am now able to take a portrait of another person, but I seriously just wouldn't know for sure. It'll just have to happen one day for me to realize of what I've learned.

Hence, I give you a few samples, perhaps the ones that turned out good, of the project that I began on the 19th of August 2009, and abruptly finished on the 29th of February 2010. Enjoy.





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Nuevas Texturas 01


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WOAH, tons of posts on photos that I have taken!

Title says it all.
I'm really strict when it comes to spending, so I'm stealing off signal from UniWide and uploading batch by batch of pictures that I've taken in the past weeks. >:D
I just cannot afford to blog and upload images inside college, it costs me to do so!! Uploads cost!! What a complete rip-off. A normal home contract with an ISP will give you free uploads. So then, what the hell???

One of the many daily "commutes", caught on fish-eye


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Fireball

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Friday, March 26, 2010

:)

IMG_7571-pola

Better get some pictures up... hurry up UNSW IT Services!! Get uniwide back up!

Oh, you've got green eyes.
Oh, you've got blue eyes.
Oh, you've got gray eyes.
And I've never seen anyone quite like you before.
No, I've never met anyone quite like you before.

New Order - Temptation
along with a background serenade of Bach's Air on a G String.

Last night was bad.
I knew it wasn't going to be a good night anyway, again that voice inside me protested and asked me to stay.
But I had never gone to such an event, so I decided to go. I held my head down low during the whole 3 kilometers we had to walk to get to The Palace. And oldie came by and tried to cheer me up, but understood that the situation was kind of out of his reach. After a single glass of beer, I decided to go out on the beach. I'm not drinking again for another week.

I don't think I had ever gone to a beach at night before.
People took their clothes off and dived in, then came back up to hug people. Meanwhile, some people gathered around for a chat, while in the distance we could see a few random couples (not from college) having some special time on the sand. Some people were thinking of running by to scare them off, but we asked them not to disturb the couples.
Well, it's not the first time I had ever seen such display of affection in a public place. Hah, I guess the first time was more of a surprise, considering that it was on New Year's Eve at frickin' Blues Point. I'm not going back to that place again, not in a loooong time.

I came back to college, and felt incredibly tired. I "passed out" on the common room, snored lightly for a bit, and apparently got up suddenly without saying a word, walked into my room, shoved the stuff on my bed to the side and fell asleep with the lights on. No, I wasn't drunk, even though that is the most common answer a drunk person would provide. I still felt really bad when I rose from bed at 8.30. And my room smelled strange. I think I was sweating profusely in bed, I might have had a nightmare or something. Or it might have been the clothes that I borrowed last night during the party. I can't remember clearly what happened the few minutes before I went to bed.

My body hates me now.
I guess I just need more sleep.
And I need to get more pictures up.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Hmmmm

I feel sick.
I've got a case of the Fresher Fever, that which occurs during the first weeks of coming into college. I can tell it's going to last a bit. I am the second last person to get it, it's just a matter of time before the newest fresher in our section gets it and completes the cycle. Everyone else in my section has had the Fresher Fever already.
At the end of the day I feel very tired, not really sleepy but rather exhausted because of the simple fact of being awake and having my mind active all the time.

But a cold like this won't bring me down.
'Cos there's still plenty of stuff to do, and the world hasn't ended yet!
I'll keep on rocking!!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

On my dreams

IMG_7581-pola

Back in the day, I had this huge double bed (practically a queen size bed) with an electric blanket all for myself.
It was the best bed I had ever slept in in my life.
On that bed I witnessed the generation of streams of the most vivid, plentiful and beautiful dreams I ever had. I know that I can't remember most of my dreams, but I remember well those which shocked or amazed me. And some of those dreams that I had in that bed were good, or just plain weird that I remember them well.

Now I have a single bed.
I think its length is just a bit longer than my height, so my feet tend to stick out sometimes.
But I'm not sure if I'll have that same explosion of dreams again while I live here.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I just haven't been paying attention to the dreams that I've had, and forgotten most or maybe all of them. Maybe I haven't been sleeping right, or maybe not my required hours.

I'd like to have a really good dream one day of these.
Dammit, I feel like I'm getting sick.

Somos humanos

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Estos son tiempos volátiles.
Hay que tener cuidado con lo que uno dice, piensa y siente.
Pero aún así el mundo conserva su integridad, no todo se ha colapsado o ha perdido su sentido. El planeta seguirá rotando alrededor del Sol y nosotros creceremos, evolucionaremos.

Nuestra existencia está marcada por errores, fracasos y éxitos.
Somos humanos.
Hay algunas cosas que nos podrán tomar por sorpresa estando en un grupo de personas, porque quizás no tenemos idea de la magnitud de la profundidad del universo dentro de cada individuo.
Eso es lo que nos hace una especie muy interesante, eso es lo que nos hace diferentes de las bestias y plantas, eso es lo que nos hace humanos.

Sonríele al Sol, que muy seguramente saldrá del horizonte el siguiente día, bendiciéndonos con la oportunidad de estar con todos una vez más en este frágil planeta.
Sonríele al espíritu que tienes por dentro, que por eso tienes forma humana, que por eso eres lo que fuiste, eres y serás. Reconoce que tú eres el autor del libro de tu vida.

Somos humanos.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Lonely was never the new dance party

I've come to realize something about my music collection.

During the four month holiday after the HSC, I spent most of the time on my own, working for a meagre amount of money every week and sometimes struggling to make ends meet. Those were desperate and dark times. Meanwhile, I started collecting music from a record label called Ghostly, whose most prominent artist, The Sight Below, I was quite interested in. Some months ago I wrote about this particular artist, about his strange blend of shoegaze harmonies and the consistent drum beat which made his songs have an up-beat feel to them, while at the same time containing a rather beautifully sorrowful song within.

Almost every time I listen to his music, now that I've started a new life here at university, I feel sad and highly contemplative on negative things. Would this be induced by the music's dark feel, or by the fact that I spent most of that period of solitude and darkness listening to such music? Nowadays, I try to not to play his music, fearing that I might return to my previous state. Regardless of that, I admit that his music isn't bad, it's quite an original repertoire of alternative-techno-ambient music. Now I'm just listening to new artists and getting immersed in new genres which I wasn't quite fond of before.

I am always surprised by the power of music.
How is it possible that bare mechanical energy that gets translated from sound to electrical impulses inside the brain induce someone to feel something he or she has never felt before?

Last night I went out with my college to a club. Although I had donated blood the other day, and I was not in a 100% condition to be involved in such activity, I was still able to party hard during the majority of the night. But my body succumbed to tiredness and ached. I looked authentically drunk: I was sweating real bad, my walking pattern was irregular, I couldn't stand straight. But I wasn't drunk at all! I had enjoyed being in company of such cool people and with such good music (it was ok) so much that my body just couldn't take it. I had such a great time.

It makes me ponder on how my music collection reflects on my emotions and thoughts, maybe even my past.
Right now, I've never felt so good, so happy, in my life. And the music that I'm coming across here in college is just great!! Good memories shall reside in the new collection I'm currently building.
This is just too good to be true.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Orgullosamente jarocho

A pesar de que nací en la Ciudad de México,
pasé la mayoría de mi juventud en Xalapa, la capital de Veracruz; el estado más bello de México.
Y pues, es interesante que llegue a estas tierras lejanas para tener una mejor vida, a pesar de las cosas bellas y mágicas experiencias que Veracruz me ha ofrecido. Desgraciadamente, mi futuro no queda en México, sino en un planeta Tierra sin fronteras. Aún así, me considero orgullosamente jarocho.

Yo nací con la luna de plata 
y nací con alma de pirata.
He nacido rumbero y jarocho,

trovador de veras,
y me fui lejos de Veracruz.
Veracruz, rinconcito
donde hacen su nido
las olas del mar
Veracruz, pedacito
de patria que sabe sufrir y cantar
Veracruz, son tus noches
diluvio de estrellas, palmera y mujer.
Veracruz, vibra en mi ser,
algún día hasta tus playas lejanas
tendré que volver.


Agustín Lara - Veracruz

Saludos a toda mi gente!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The worst night ever... at least for my conscience...

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I really hope that this night I can sleep well.
Because last night I was up until 3, smelling like cigarette and with the worst mood you could possibly imagine.

It was St. Patrick's Day, and as such people from around the place were more than happy to spend some money on alcoholic drinks. Fair enough. I never celebrate St. Patrick's because I just don't really get it, what the ultimate purpose of such day is, besides getting drunk.

Anyway.
It was past midnight, and I was just getting ready to go to bed. I was trying to do some homework, but my brain just wouldn't work. So I just thought of going to bed. But then I saw a couple walk into a bedroom, not to far away from mine. They were holding hands, and I just knew what was going to happen. It's one of those situations where you just need a single bit of information and you know on the spot what it implies and what is going to happen.

I was correct, but it all just went way too wrong.

Naturally, I could hear the action from two rooms away. A few bangs on the wall, a few sighs and yelps.
And then it started getting rougher. The girl actually started sobbing. Very. Loudly. And she hadn't even climaxed yet. Her voice began to break apart, changing from wailing, to screaming, to weeping, as if going from pleasure to pain really quickly. It was like chamber music gone completely wrong. It was unlike anything I had ever heard coming from a human being in my life.

To describe what I heard, to the extent of what my ability in the English language can offer to me, it was like every single particle of her soul and essence fragmented from her being, exploded and materialized into sound. It all then became the Guernica of sound when she got to the height of emotion.

I just sat on my bed, with my hands on my head, thinking "JESUS CHRIST, what the fuck has he done?!" Then, the sobbing stopped, and she started running. Running really fast, yelling muffled profanities. She cried and cried outside my room. I was shell-shocked. She ran by, banging on the walls and fell onto the ground. Then she got up again and ran back in to the bedroom.

I started looking for my cigarettes. I couldn't find them where I would normally place them. My mind was just becoming a storm inside, with extreme shock from what I heard and filling with anger for not finding my cigarettes. I had never really felt what being without cigarettes really was like until then.

I found them, in one of my clothes. At least there was somebody else comforting that girl, but she was still crying and yelling "I don't want to wake up!!! I don't want to wake up!!" Something really serious happened there, and I was an indirect witness of it. I heard it all. That is just absolute brainfuck.

To hell with everything, I said. I grabbed my cigarettes and lighter, donned my black hoodie, and walked outside. I couldn't see the girl nor the guy nearby, they must have gone somewhere else. I didn't care, at least I didn't want to come across them. I got out of the dorm and smoked two cigarettes. Another couple came by to have a smoke as well. I just minded my own business for a while outside, then walked back in.

Back in my dorm's common room, I sat down and just tried not to think about what happened. The guy came by and asked if I had seen the girl. I told him I didn't. Minutes later, the girl came by. And lo and behold, she appeared extremely calm, after such a storm within her being scared the hell out of me. I acted neutral to her, but inside I was going WTFISGOINGONHERE.

After that, I just went back to bed. I couldn't stand it anymore. I stank like cigarette smoke, I was tired, and very likely looked suspicious with a black hoodie and only boxers on. Goddammit. I hope I never get to hear those noises ever again in my life. Seriously. Just... dammit. I can't believe it.

You know what, I'm just going to bed. That night was just ridiculous, and my head is still in a wtf state after I saw both guy and girl today, they just seemed extremely normal, despite the savage events that happened last night. I can't even look at them in the eyes anymore. My conscience has been greatly corrupted and damaged, possibly for some weeks.

UPDATE: Both of them were completely off their faces. I'm not drinking any alcohol for two weeks.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Late night ranting

Hace unos días estuve conversando con una de mis amigas aquí en la universidad.
Tenemos la misma edad, ella me gana por algunos meses, pero ella ha estado en la universidad por bastante tiempo, prácticamente 4 años. Y yo acabo de empezar mis estudios aquí.
Es extraño.
Yo tuve que atrasarme un año y medio por motivo de las diferencias entre sistemas y años escolares. Además, el fin del bachillerato aquí es muy importante, así que quise estar lo más preparado posible. Mientras tanto, ella había terminado el bachillerato a muy temprana edad, y aún era una menor de edad cuando empezó la universidad (eso creo). Para describirla en pocas palabras, ella es muy buena onda, pero esta super ocupada.

En fin, le estaba hablando de cómo me sentía al principio de mis estudios universitarios.
Todo me parecía como un sueño: perfecto, con muchísima gente alrededor (en todos mis sueños siempre hay mucha gente), muy divertido pero con un reto que parece al principio ser enorme.
Todo me parecía demasiado perfecto, como si en realidad mis sueños de estar estudiando en la universidad se hubieran vuelto parte de mi realidad. Había estado esperando, preparándome, llenando formularios y circulares, mandando emails, haciendo llamadas, visitando embajadas, etcétera, todo para poder estar en tierra firme australiana, tener mi ciudadanía y estudiar en una universidad australiana.

Mis ojos se humedecían con el simple pensar que todo lo que había hecho anteriormente recreó la realidad que tengo ante mí, y que todo ese esfuerzo y paciencia en realidad valieron la pena. Finalmente, un ciclo largo y laborioso fue completado, y otro más está empezando.

Pero me puse a pensar de las consecuencias que también me trajo el ser un estudiante muy dedicado a mis estudios (ahorita estoy bastante desorganizado como para considerarme dedicado académicamente). Todos esos años como adolescente, teniendo y aprendiendo únicamente lo que la escuela me podía ofrecer, pero viviendo de manera solitaria y aislada, sí que han tenido su efecto en mi personalidad. Si te pudiera decir en resumidas cuentas qué fue lo que hice en todos esos años como adolescente fue simplemente ir a la escuela. Naa' más. Entonces, cuando llegué al continente oceánico, no tuve muchas habilidades sociales. Aún así me integré a la sociedad escolar y local muy bien, y aprendí bastante de mis errores y éxitos.

Admití que a veces me pongo a pensar de las cosas que posiblemente perdí viviendo de tal manera, ya sea ciertas experiencias, amistades y amores. Mi amiga me corrigió inmediatamente, diciéndome que era innecesario y ridículo que pensase tan negativamente ahora que estaba en un nuevo mundo. Que de aquella soledad y dedicación se creó la oportunidad de venir aquí a esta universidad y de convivir con tales amistosos y divertidos compañeros. Después de todo, estando ahí en la universidad se puede vivir más que nunca en cualquier marco de tiempo en cualquier otro momento de la vida.

Le sonreí en aquel instante.

Hace poco me dí cuenta de lo verdadero que es aquello que mi amiga me dijo.

Aún tengo que agradecerle por la plática que tuvimos, se me aclararon muchas cosas que llevaba en mi cabeza desde hace mucho tiempo. Me siento aliviado y sin remordimiento.

Sabes qué? Le voy a escribir una nota. Sé que está muy ocupada, pero ella tendrá tiempo como para leer algo breve. Lo pondré debajo de su puerta.

Por lo pronto, la vida va muy bien.
Espero que muy pronto pueda organizarme BIEN para mis estudios aquí, porque por el momento casi todo es un desmadre.
Buenas noches, mis queridos ciudadanos del mundo.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Double Rainbow

Double Rainbow

Perdido en la ciudad

StillI was coming back to college yesterday and the traffic onto the bridge was appalling. I had never experienced so much traffic while driving. My GPS was barking at me in an Australian accent to head over to the Eastern Distributor, but I knew it was going to be just as congested as the bridge. After juggling turns and following retraced routes for half an hour, I surrendered and let the GPS guide me home.

The sun light was just barely going past the sharp-edged edifices of the city, and the air was frozen still. Cars rumbled by, as if enraged by the dying of the day and fighting for each passing second. At least I wasn't suffering from road stress, and I still had a long night ahead, so I could take as long as I wanted to get back home.

Near the Cross, I came to a traffic light and took out my camera. I knew that with such a strong low angle sunlight, many objects would appear starkly dark, and that it would look cool if photographed. Without thinking too much, I pressed the shutter.

Call me crazy

There are instances when you just realize what you are doing, you stop and call it quits. There are other times when you just keep on going on, pressing on, until you get what you want despite the discouragement from other people or the environment.
There are times when you just go crazy. And not always because of something, but also perhaps by someone. (It may not be a bad thing anyway) [no tl&dr here]

It happened to me one day that I decided to meet a friend, call him J, after a lecture, while another friend of mine, call her N, went over to the university's library to do some work.

I couldn't find J anywhere, he was just nowhere to be found even though he had given me a precise place to find him. So then I decided to go back to N, who was at the library. She had told me that she was going to be at a corner, somewhere, doing her work. Fair enough, so I thought. The library has plenty of corners but it should be easy to find her among the books and computers.

But I was so wrong. The library is about ten floors high, each floor almost identical to the rest. The furniture, the color palette on the walls and furniture, the book stands, the computers, the windows; all of them identical, as if the architects did Ctrl-C Ctrl-V all throughout the building. I went through the first four floors, investigating and searching through every corner of each floor.

At the same time, I came across some friends who I worked with while in high school, some whom I hadn't seen in years. I spent a few minutes talking to them while my dizziness evened out. But once I got up to the fourth floor, my head was spinning. Fast and Hard. No pun intended.

With my body sweating, I decided to call it quits and went outside. The cool air refreshed my mind, and in my madness, I decided to do one final thing. If it didn't work, to hell with the world and all, I would just go to my dorm to drink some really cold water and have bite or something. But that madness, that little flickering flame engulfing my chest and burning my mind, told me to keep on searching, despite the ridiculously minuscule chances of actually finding her in one of the thousands of corners that the library has to offer throughout its many floors and chambers.

What the hell.. I said. Let's just do it.
I walked to the nearest elevator and pressed ten, the highest floor that the elevator could possibly take me to. The guys in the elevator where possibly wondering why I was squinting my eyes so hard, while I held my palm against my forehead during the entire ride. Meanwhile, in my mind, I was telling myself: DUDE, just lemme find her!! I'm almost out of my mind here!!

Tenth floor, my head still spinning, and I was the last person to leave the elevator. I was amazed that there were actually people up in that floor, minding their own business like normal library-users. I guess they might have been wondering why on God a short-haired guy decided to charge in and walk furiously through each of the corners of the highest floor in the library with apparently no purpose.

I kept on searching. Nothing. Nope. Not there. Not here either. Ohh.. maybe? Nope, not her.

Finally, I had inspected the whole floor, except for one bit.
In my mind, two processes were running: If I didn't find her I would just gotten the hell out of the building and never come back again. But if I did, I would have exploded and the Pope would have come by and call this a miracle.

And just guess what, just seriously, what kind of trick was being played on me? Like.. OH MY GOD.. WHYYYYYYYY??!?!!!
There she was, on the edge of the room, at the uppermost floor, silently doing her work with such unperturbed tranquility which is only replicated in art and silence. She seemed like one of the most serene persons I had ever seen in my life. Well, I'd be damned. I mean, there she was, 100% herself! No fakes, no copies, no nuthin'. And there I was standing there with a whirlpool in my head, sweating and my heart in my throat.

I double facepalmed myself, while my brain was being crushed by a hammer inside my skull. I wasn't angry at her, not at all, but I was rather amazed by my determination to find her. I swear, I didn't know that I had such in me. Normally, people would quit from the first floors. But no, I did quite a lot of search and played dice with my last floor search.


If that was an act out of craziness, then I surely must have gotten it wrong. Something besides that must have kept me going. Maybe I'm just waaaay too crazy? Seriously, something interesting developed right there.
As for now, good night to y'all, keep on rockin'.

Monday, March 8, 2010

New World @ UNSW

IMG_1543
Finally!!!
Ok, tl&dr at the bottom.

This project that took about 4 years of planning and waiting has finally come to its end!

Four years ago I was walking along Circular Quay in Sydney, and saw an advertisement from the University of New South Wales. This add was particularly about an open day. I, in my still youthful and fresh mind, back when I was 16 years old (really? I feel so old now...) decided to check it out. I found UNSW a really incredible university, just ... wow. The buildings were astonishing, and every where I went there was always some interesting activity on. I just loved it from the first time I saw it.

But before moving on, I'd like to put that moment in context with my personal world.

I was just finishing year 11 and was beginning to think ahead, trying to see far beyond the little world I lived in back home in Mexico. I was always the top of my class, and had started to feel limited by how everyone else dragged me from pushing the classes forward, learning new stuff, etc. The education system over there is not flexible enough to let and encourage the better students to really excel further than every one else.

So I just started to think about what university I would go to:

If I stay and start uni here I'm not going anywhere. My life would just be sh#t. Even if I worked overseas, all my professional titles would be considered useless.

I can go to the States and study over there. No big deal, no problem. I'd do just fine and have a good time + life. Just that maths is really bad over in Mexico, so I would be kind of disadvantaged.

I can go to Australia. Australia... kangaroos, koalas. Not much really?


I knew enough about the US, but Australia seemed quite exotic to me at that time. I decided to take on the challenge and the adventure of going to a country where people drive on the wrong side of the road and speak weirdly.

Although it was tough adjusting to this country, I survived and prevailed. I'd be damned, I did much better than anyone would have thought. My life here has been awesome. And I've met the most beautiful and friendliest of people ever.

Those dark years of being educationally limited are gone.
Those dark years of waiting for becoming an Australian are history.
Those dark years of hoping to get into university in Australia, a dream that I thought to be far too complicated to achieve and unrealistic according to the education I have received in my life..

gone they are as well.

I'm in university!!! FINALLY!!
I can now call myself a university student! This, this is just...
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!


---tl&dr---
I am a university student.
I am overloaded with happiness. :D
That is all.