New Blog - Nuevo Blog

It's been a rather long time since I blogged in Spanish. And given that I've realized how active Spanish-speakers are on the internet, not only worldwide but in Australia as well, I've decided to create a blog where I write in Spanish. It will be similar to Dot Counterpoint Dot, but not as artistic, I suppose. It will be mostly focused for Spanish-speakers in Australia and those who live abroad and would like to know more about this country.

Once it's up, I'll see how I adapt myself to own two blogs at a time.

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No me acuerdo muy bien de la última vez que escribí en español de manera prolongada desde que terminé el bachillerato. Por eso decidí crear un blog escrito enteramente en español, donde comparto similares historias que escribo en Dot Counterpoint Dot, pero son, más bien, específicamente escritas para hispanohablantes y para aquellos que viven aquí en Australia. Veo que hay bastante actividad de parte de personas que bloguean en español en el internet, así que decidí unirme a ellos con la creación de mi nuevo blog.

Todavía no está listo, pero ahí les va el link:

Mi Vida en Sidney

Progressing onto the Golden Gate Bridge

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Another Facebook group has been formed in response to the anonymous guy's postcard from San Francisco.
This time, people are gathering at the Golden Gate Bridge to paste print outs from all of the comments posted in the other group, as well as other messages.
This just keeps on showing how many awesome and beautiful people out there are willing to help someone. I'm impressed by how massive this has become, and I express my respect and admiration to everyone who has so far been involved.

Please don't jump

Every Sunday I check PostSecret, a blog where postcards with secrets of anonymous senders are posted. It's a blog about the beauty and sadness of our humanity; and it always makes me sad when I visit it, it makes me laugh every time, it makes me feel empowered, it makes me filled with awe, it makes me recoil in horror, it makes me feel guilty, it makes me feel human.

Today, an anonymous sender from San Francisco had his/her postcard featured.

The postcard has since sparked a lot of reaction from the internet. Emails poured into the PostSecret website in response to the postcard. Twitter reported the creation of a Facebook group in response to this. Since its creation, more than a 1000 people have sent messages pleading the sender to not jump, to give a chance to life and to a better future.

Ending one's own life is the worst mistake one can do, ever. It will not solve any of your problems at all. It will not make the world a better place. Choose life, and you will see the beautiful and great things that you would have otherwise missed out on. I've been there. And I know how hard it is. I've pulled myself from the pits of darkness, and good things have happened to me! But, please man, or gal; please do not jump. For there are many good things in life to come. There is hope. You are not alone. And you do belong. It may not seem so, but there's always a place where you belong to. And if life seems sad and dark to you, at least realize that all it takes is making a few good decisions, sticking around with your friends, letting them know of your problems, and getting help to solve those problems. And you will feel like a million bucks. I do not know you, but please, at least know that there are people out there who care and are willing to help you. I care. Please, for your future's and life's sake, do not jump. BE STRONG. CHOOSE LIFE. DO NOT JUMP.

Please share this link. Join in, and send a message.
Let's just hope that this guy is still around with us, and is aware of what people from all over the world are writing to him, showing him that people care, that he is not alone and that there is hope to solve his issues. It's incredible how the internet just connects such beautiful people to do such wonderful things.

God bless.

Interestingly...

I am able to check from where some visits to my website originate from (button on the sidebar, has a graphic of a squiggly line around a blue sphere), and I am a bit amazed by how some people actually come across my blog.

One of the ways for people to find this is by a single Google search on a phrase in Spanish: "la mujer más triste del mundo". In English it means 'the saddest woman on Earth'. I've only used that phrase once in the title of one of my posts, back in 2009. I don't even know if that woman that I saw such a long time ago was actually sad, or was just having a rough day. I don't know.

But ever since I wrote that post, about +10 people from many places on Earth, mosly South America, have come to my website.

It's a bit strange having my blog found in a Google Search through such a depressive idea.

Twitter

Oh, I said that I would never enter the perilous domain of the fail whale at Twitter.
I was so wrong.

I've restarted my twitter account given that some of my friends have discovered it and are using it. I wasn't pushed or anything, I thought that perhaps it would be interesting to do something different online. I haven't found any usefulness to it yet, but perhaps it'll change.

Now I've added an app on the sidebar, hope it works fine. You'll see me there tweeting random things, don't expect any enlightenment. XD

By the way, today I completed all my application procedures with UNSW.
I'm moving in next month! I'm so happy, yet so worried and afraid! It's a new era in my life.

TWLOHA

As a person who endured the dark hours, weeks and months of depression and suicidal thoughts, I am proud to be a supporter of To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA). TWLOHA is an American fundraising/community support/volunteering group whose focus is on suicide prevention and depression treatment. TWLOHA is also seeking expansion in Australia and in the UK.

Many people in the US, and in the world, don’t seek for professional aid when in depression, let alone with suicidal tendencies, for multiple reasons. To help those in need, but who can’t get help, the Internet has shown its bright side by helping to close the gap of the affected to the source of help with this project.

TWLOHA is about to attempt to launch a live online aid service, with professionals running the site and answering help calls from people. Most depression-riddled individuals don’t seek for help, but with this project, help is much closer to them. For this, TWLOHA requires funds and has entered a charity competition to win $5 millions dollars. And in order for TWLOHA to win, it needs your vote.

Use your Facebook account to cast your vote for To Write Love On Her Arms by clicking on the link/button on the sidebar, or by clicking on the link below. You are given 5 votes, so please vote for other charities in the leaderboards towards the jackpot.

God bless you.

You’ve got to be joking Australia

Ugh.

Once again I hit my bandwidth limit. My family, and specially me, is an active internet citizen. I use it way too much I think (well, what else would I do to entertain myself?). The connection itself when I am under the limit is perfect, quite fine. The problem arises when we hit the limit, then we really realize just how difficult it is to even do normal stuff on the internet, like FB or Youtube or stuff. What used to be an approximately 5 Mb/s connection becomes suddenly a 60Kb/s link. 60 Kb/s for Christ’s sake!!! That’s just like dial up! But it’s just worse since every single web page that I visit carries heaps of data.

And I thought that Australia was moving beyond the frontier of ADSL connections to what Europe, or even the USA, has. Of course, Australia is always inferior on being at the same level as those countries (no, Europe is not a country ok?) when it comes to technology and its use by consumers. What really grinds my gears is that Unlimited broadband Plans in Australia were all terminated about 2 years ago. I understand that heavy internet demand is a pain for ISPs, but it really shouldn’t be a semi-limit to our freedom of access to information. And specially now when internet websites are very multimedia-based, dial up just isn’t enough, not even fair for us.

Luckily, we’re right near the end of the month, so by NYE the connection speed will be established to normal conditions. Yay for good timing.

But, hey, what am I saying? I need to get out more often.

Happy New Year interzens (internet citizens).

You’ve got to be joking…

Since the past 5 years I have been an avid listener to Last.Fm, what was once a free music streaming internet service that introduced me to tons of new music genres, artists and styles; completely revolutionizing my own musical spirit.

Sadly, today I discovered that I now have to pay for a subscription to use the service (unless I lived in UK, US or Deutschland, or used a crummy proxy). I was listening to some shoegaze artists, and suddenly this came up:

And I was like

  (( ° Д °)’’’’’’’’’’’  oh crap oh crap oh crap

I’m screwed!! >.<  What am I going to use now that gives me the same flexibility as Last.Fm?? I checked out Libre.Fm, but it’s just not the same thing. Maybe I should go back to Myspace and do what my friend does, check the musicians’ friends to listen to more music. But it’s just, once again, not the same thing. I can’t get the same excitement and semi-randomness that Last.fm has.

So then… what’s next?

I should just shut up and pay for the goddamn thing, 3 bucks a month may not be too much. BUT I’M SO POOR RIGHT NOW. I guess I’ll go back to Myspace.