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| WebJournal - The blog will set you free News of no interest whatsoever except to very close and patient friends and family members and maybe people with no life |
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Saturday, January 31, 2004 I am off to Cecilia's for dinner now. Will upload more later on. 7:06 PM -- Oscar Wilde I couldn't have said it better. 4:05 PM 
3:22 PM
Que sara, sara, whatever will be, will be Years ago I had panic attacks. Only they were not called panic attacks. It was neurovegetative dystonia back then. I would be perfectly fine and then suddenly I could not breath, the world seemed to be closing in on me, my vision got clouded. The works. I had to sit down or else faint. First time it happened I was lucky enough to be taken to an emergency room where a doctor told me right away it was all in my head. For a while I was a mess. Couldn't really go anywhere or do much without hyperventilating. I started developing all sorts of phobias. No elevators for me thanks, No riding fast in a car. Absolutely ridiculous. I went for therapy, a short useless therapy of a couple of months or less. Lots of pills. At that time my mother was in and out of hospitals, my father had lost his job, JP's father, grandfather and dog had all died within a short period. I though I was just dandy but I guess I was not. Major anxiety eating at me. Eventually what really got me back together was dancing and working out. I would work full time, go to college courses in the evening and I distinctly remember a dance/aerobics class Friday nights at 11 PM. I started working out like there was no tomorrow. And it did help. Whatever the body secretes while exercising it give you a tremendous high and then it relaxes you like nothing else. I haven't head a full blown panic attack in ages now. Now and then, when I feel I might start to hyperventilate I can pretty much breath my way out of it. My history of phobias includes the classic fear of flying. I could not even watch a scene filmed from an airplane without getting the sweaty palms (yes, I tend to overdo everything, even phobias). Then I went for one of those panic clinics. This one was organized by Swissair. That was the beginning of a very happy plane hopping era. the fear was gone. I even enjoyed turbulences. They felt like riding a wave. And then today, bam! I was on the plane from Montevideo to Buenos Aires and it took all I had not to get up shrieking. It wasn't even that bumpy. It sure didn't help that the guy across the aisle from me seemed about to have his own little attack, eyes closed, legs going frantically up and down. I guess that, as in every single instance before this one, I am reacting to not being in control. I should really learn to let go and be a little more zen. But then again this whole zen shit is as far away from my true self as possible. 3:09 PM A perfectly ladylike subject for a blog Normal people pee when they need to. I pee when I am about to burst or too drunk to care. I hate public bathrooms. The hygiene aspect of it leaves a lot to be desired. And I hate walking to a place where everybody else can figure out exactly what I will be doing there. I live under this pretense that nobody else pees but me or, rather, that it's OK for everybody else to pee but it is somehow totally humiliating for me to do it. Airplanes flights are a special nightmare. I pee before I leave and then never again until I get home. It might be a 17 hours stretch. As I am writing this is has been already 7 hours (and several glasses of Pepsi, plus several glasses of water plus a couple of mini bottles of wine). I might wait for the whole plane to fall asleep or I might have to mace them all and then subreptitiously sneak into the john. My runs to the bathroom are legendary as I my "elevator syndrome" (the awful condition that gets me from a mild state of emergency into sheer torture upon stepping into the elevator, where I will be begging, pleading with God, cussing under my breath, trying not to assume unbecoming positions because there's a frigging camera broadcasting my every move to the doormen downstairs, all the way to my floor). Some times I make it, some times I don't. I hope they never install cameras in the hallways. When we lived in Switzerland JP would sometime rent Porsches and the likes on the weekends and maybe go to Germany so he could run on the highways. I would hate it, unless I needed to pee badly. Because stopping at a gas station to relieve myself was not an option he quickly figured out that if he wanted to race all he had to do was fill me up with liquids before leaving. 3:08 PM Finally visiting my mother wasn't that bad. Probably because I was not alone, JP was with me and he took care of the conversation. For some reason, while I was leaving her room I felt this urge to run back and kiss her again, which I did. I hate walking away and knowing she will stay there, in the same position, doing nothing. For the same reason it makes me immensely sad to drive by her house. I will look up at her apartment, imagine her there wasting away and usually choke up. The mind is a funny thing indeed. A screwed up mind like mine works in even funnier ways. 3:07 PM Presents and purchases that define you I got a penis shaped soap on a stick from my sister (I thought it was a lollipop and immediately tried to lick it), a couple of bottles for wine and a mirror from my sister and mother. I am traveling with a bottle of homemade limoncello produced by an acquaintance of mine, I bought a bottle of Medio y Medio. I also got a sushi set and a Botero-like fat girl sculpture (I LOVE them, but they are very fragile, this will be my third fat girl) from Miriam and Liliana. All I am bringing from my house in Buenos Aires are a few pictures, a wine bottle holder and a wine set. Oh, yeah, and a whole bunch of books. You figure it out. On my wish list now: an Epson projector, a Toto bidet seat , some sort of keyless lock (I am waiting for a drop in biometric devices prices), anything by Roark Gourley (I've been lusting after his hearts forever), anything by Tim Rose or just about any piece of bright colored abstract kinetic art and a rapidograph pen . 3:06 PM Friday, January 30, 2004 Got up. Went to have a massage. Went shopping. Then to the hairdresser. Got my nails done. What a lousy life. I think I should get my own reality show. Yet, everything went bad in the evening. Finally we decided we were going to have a barbecue over at my sister's, the occasion being my birthday, or so the theory went. To cut a story short, it ended up being what I feared it would be: a political meeting. One guy monopolized the whole conversation and then another guy and JP joined in. Now, everybody has a right to talk about whatever they want but they certainly don't have a right to use me as an excuse and act all surprised if I am less than happy. I got so fucking bored that one hour into dinner I got up from the table, grabbed a book and went into another room with the dog. We just got back to the hotel and it's 3 AM so between 10 PM and now there was just one long stretch of insufferable tediousness. Remind me never to "celebrate" a birthday here again, ever. And, note to self, never ever go anywhere if I don't have the keys to wherever I am staying at. I felt totally trapped. And when I feel trapped I start counting the hours, the minutes, the seconds of MY life that I am allowing to go to waste. I am so pissed I could hit somebody. Tomorrow it's lunch with my mother. Yupee. Then, finally, I'll be going home. 1:14 AMWednesday, January 28, 2004 On my way back, running low on batteries. I am, once again, directly under the AC vent, across from the bar, on this boat that's taking me to Montevideo. Liliana will pick me up at the port and I hope to have a decent girl's nite out later on. I called my sister about seeing her tomorrow and maybe today and she very nonchalantly said "OK, tomorrow then" . Now I don't know if I have been blessed with a particularly disfunctional family or if this is normal procedure. Actually, I know the truth lies somewhere in between. Lots of families are worse than mine and lots are a lot better or, say, normal. The bets are on whether I'll get a present from her for my birthday. It is my duty, as her older sister, to show up with gifts every time I see her. I have to call her (I don't think she has ever called me, except for some family emergency and then she usually leaves a message for me to call her back). I have to pay her way when we go out. Wine her and dine her. At the beginning I did it because she was so much younger and it felt natural but now I realize I've created a monster - a skill that runs in my family. She takes everything I do for granted. . Obviously she forgot JP's birthday, same as my mother. Mind you, this is a guy who has always been at their beck and call from day one. Why is it that some people, and so many people in my immediate family, have this sense of entitlement? I went to see my mother last week. I walked in as a surprise, she went "Oh!" and then proceeded to dump on me a couple of hours of relentless complaining, the same exact gripes I get weekly over the phone. A little over two hours into this agony - I don't think she ever asked me how I was doing and I don think I ever got to talk except for a "Sure" , "Aha" or "Really?" now and then - her shrink arrived and she snapped her fingers at me and told me I knew what I had to do, as in "time to go now". I got up, the shrink remarked on my level of energy which is something I am very proud of and that is never more apparent than when I have to leave my mother's place. I said she had thrown me out, he replied that that wasn't his interpretation. Ugh. The moment the guy walked in she stopped whining and started smiling. She's probably in the middle of one of those doctor/patient infatuations. What are they called? I should not complain I know. On one hand, complaining turns me into another unbearable nagger and on the other these lousy relationships are as much my fault as theirs. Torn between not rocking the boat and raising major hell I choose to do nothing. Mea culpae. The good thing about going to Montevideo - yes, even this experience has a positive side - is going out with my girlfriends. There's Liliana, the psychologist with the new boobs, Gabriela, the one who thinks her kid might be from outer space, and Miriam. Nobody can accuse me of having dull friends. Liliana is a teetotaler but she has owned and manned a bar, among the hundreds of things she has done. She almost got married recently but then reconsidered. She goes through men like I go through hair colors. She is very very bright and funny and a great friend to her friends. Gabriela is gorgeous but so nice you can actually forgive he. She too is a lot of fun and a little wacko. She teaches philosophy and has this new agey conception of the world. She can stare at you in the face and without any sarcasm talk about her latest astral trip, the color of somebody's aura or little Martians. The good thing is that she has a sense of humor about it so and doesn't mind if I roll on the floor laughing. Oh, and she is sex obsessed too, which is something I share with most of my girlfriends. Well, I am the barking kind who hardly ever bites but boy do I bark! Miriam is Liliana's sister, the girl who introduced me to JP way back when, and the mother of one of those kids I really like, Ro, who is now 15, extremely tall and talented and who will probably be designing a new front page in Flash for my site. 7:35 PM In a few hours I will be leaving Buenos Aires and going to Montevideo. I haven't lived here long and I am used to relocations, yet I feel a little heavyhearted. I am taking pictures of the apartment and trying not to pay attention to all the things we will be selling or giving away. Things that I have been shipping from one country to the next for years. I have dresses from high-school, for chrissake! While looking around yesterday for the things I'd like to keep I came across these old documents. JP's picture IDs of 30 years ago, when he was young, drop-dead gorgeous and full of promises. Young he is no more or at least not that young. He is still very handsome, but in a very different kind of way. His face really tells a story now, just like the scars on his body. Leaving is upsetting him too. This will be a major change in his life. Being the naturally and unsinkably optimistic guy that he is he knows he is just in a pre-euphoric state and that after all the chips fall he will be more than just fine. It's snowing in NYC. I am ready to go back. 8:56 AMTuesday, January 27, 2004 Yesterday I fell asleep when it was almost 8 AM. Tonight's already 3:45 AM. I was laughing histerically at Poop.Report.com, an extremely funny website devoted to poop. Great stuff when your mood is less than stellar. I am too awake to sleep yet too tired to do anything productive. JP asked me to edit a report he has to send in tomorrow morning. Not that there is much to edit. The paper is brilliant, as most of what he produces is. One really has to wonder how such a bright man can be so utterly clueless in his personal life. I've always tried to stay away from obvious generalizations (at least when it comes to men - this does not apply to the French though, who are notoriously dirty, evil and boring as a whole) because I'd like to believe men come in different flavors, yet I will have to concur with a friend of mine, a psychologist by trade, who calls all men "emotionally disabled", yes, even those you think are an exception to the rule. I'll be going to Montevideo on Thursday. I might have only Thursday night to see several friends so I am afraid I'll have to organize a large dinner somewhere. As for my mother, I saw her last week for a couple of hours and she seemed completely uninterested in my presence. Not that I am complaining. 2:31 AM Monday, January 26, 2004 Very cool indeed: Bill Bumgarner writes: �Not only does it have RSS feeds, but you get to create personalized feeds that can have custom quantities, genres, and whether the feed is focused on New Releases, Just Added, Top Songs, Top Albums, or Features & Exclusives.� Totally cool. [Ranchero] I am playing around with NetNewsWire's blogging capabilities. I have a feeling I am going to like this software. I hear some people really dig summertime. For the record: I abhor it. Haven't been out all day today. JP wanted me to go with him for a jog/walk/bike ride in the park just across from our place. I could not do it. I could not leave the house for dinner either. I've checked quite a few restaurants already and none have the freezing kind of AC that I so desperately need. If tomorrow is anything like today I'll spend it in the bathtub shouting obscenities at the top of my lungs. 11:12 PM  
10:33 PM
THOUGHTS FROM DOWN SOUTH Been absent for a while now. Shame on me and curse on the dial-up connection. I am now on cable and back to the swing of things. Spent a couple of days in Montevideo this week and will be going back on Thursday. Managed to see a few people but not all of them yet. My friend L. Has gone through a few obvious changes. New boobs, new boyfriend. Both can be considered an upgrade. The boobs are perfect. Not too big and shaped just right. They don't look like balloons or soccer balls about to explode. They move naturally. They fall to the side when she bends backwards. They hang when she leans forward. They look fantastic and feel just a little denser than regular breasts but nothing too obvious, unless you are well versed in these matters. The scars are very small and well hidden under the breasts. All together, a great job. The new boyfriend is tiny, built like a jockey and has lots of hair on his back, which was a piece of information I could have lived without. Other than that he is handsome and friendly and seems like a nice guy, a tad anal retentive. He's a former fatso with a huge mother and a huge sister who went through a bodybuilding phase, learned everything he needed to learn about nutrition and exercise and is now one of those annoying success stories. Everybody here is getting the works done: boobs, botox, liposuction, eye lifts, etc . Even guy's faces and bodies are looking disturbingly taut while they are getting the silicone muscles and the surgically produced chin clefts. I am starting to feel unnaturally natural. So natural I decided not to go for the hair extensions. $ 1,000 seemed a little steep for somebody like me who will probably want to chop them all off within a couple of weeks. So far I dyed my hair back to its natural (???) color and had it snipped a bit. It's been several day already and I am yearning for yet another change: I'll probably get a few highlights. All this is of course a monumental waste of time, energy and money: the kind of weather we are experiencing only allows for one extended bad hair week. Saw "The Last Samurai" yesterday. Loved it and wept as expected. Afterwards JP took me to a bar. He made an effort and even danced with me for a while. I appreciated it even if it really felt like an effort. In the meantime we are going to lots of excellent restaurants, but it's too hot for me to eat. It's too hot for me to drink too. I cannot finish a beer, I cannot have wine. I am on a water and Diet Pepsi diet. A disgrace. Friday night we went to see a musical made in Argentina but left at the intermission. Personally, I could have left 10 minutes into the play. It was an absolutely horrifying piece of shit. Lousy choreography reminiscent of a beginners aerobics class. The music was like one long tune and they kept singing every frigging word. It was so bad it felt like a spoof. I've never read the book and only had a sketchy idea of the story but JP said the musical might as well have been called The barber of Seville or Footloose for all it resembled the original story. The really disturbing part it's that I researched the play on the Internet and only came back with words of praise. With the same words of praise over and over, a good indication of a certain lack of objectivity. I looked and looked but could come up only with one mildly critical article. Very fishy. Other than this I've been doing zero. I stay indoors the whole day. I don't feel like going anywhere and it's too damn hot anyways. I spend most of my day on my computer directly underneath the air conditioning vent. This is not to say I haven't been shopping. I bought a couple of extremely high heeled shoes (I'll post the pix tomorrow) and a couple of handbags. Also bought some stuff for the house and several books, among them: El libro negro de las marcas; Madres judias de gente celebre; Mi pais inventado; Las 48 leyes del poder; Despues del dia diez. 4:58 AM Friday, January 16, 2004 While the world is freezing out there I've been tucked in bed playing with the computer for nearly 7 hours now. Sometimes you have to wonder. Did I have a life before computers? What about before the Internet? I remember when I first saw a resemblance of a computer. A tiny little thing that looked more like a calculator. I was working as a secretary to a bunch of engineers and I was not supposed to touch it. I did, of course, every chance I got. All I could do was make it type "hello" or something as sophisticated as that. Then my first PC. An IBM System II. Dos. No Windows. Love at first sight. And the first time I went on-line. The Web was yet to come. Everything was text-based. Lots of telnet, lots of gopher. And IRC. I think I published my first personal webpage on January 1997 (there are still bits and pieces lying around on the Net). So here I am tonight. I downloaded a BitTorrent client and started playing around with it. I also downloaded VideoLan, as per Dani's advice. Mark Bernstein sent me a message yesterday. He tracks links to Tinderbox via Technorati and in so doing found this blog. I sent him my poor little iKey shortcut. I feel like I've contributed to the cause now. So ... I am almost on my way now. I will be flying back on Friday 30th, arriving on Sat. 31st. Sunday is my birthday and I found out today that Monday Feb. 2 is a holiday. Perfect. I might be recovering from an all-night party or I might be depressed out of my mind hiding in some corner. Today I also found out that I have an inordinate amount of unused days off. A whole lot of long week-ends are awaiting me this year! Besides, Don is going to Italy this year and asked me if I wanted to meet them over there. I just might. 1:10 AM Thursday, January 15, 2004 It's getting better! I almost froze my hands off yesterday night! 
12:14 PM
It's snowing! It's snowing! I love it! Came back from shopping and dinner at Cecilia's. I bought essentials like black lacy thongs with pink ribbons and bows - an absolute must - ,$20 toothpaste and some hairproducts. I also bought yet another black turtleneck sweater. 12:15 AM Wednesday, January 14, 2004 Brrr ... it's freezing cold ... Tuesday, January 13, 2004 What was I doing today (actually yesterday, given that it's already 3.15 AM) at 8 AM? Watching the Sex and the City episode I missed yesterday, naturally. And to my absolute delight it was the one I saw shooting, where Charlotte and Henry were filmed - over and over - coming out of a Tasty D-Lite (see my post for Wednesday, October 22, 2003). How exciting! People are coming back. Monse is here now. We have three new colleagues (one guy, two ladies plus an intern). Nicol�s is back too. Pilar will be on Thursday. We now need a party. Monse might take care of that on Friday. Yupee! Went shopping after work today. Fell in love with the salesgirl haircut and asked if I could take a picture of her. She said yes. Now I have to show the picture to the hairdresser. Unless I get the extensions, that is. Bought a few things, among them a perfectly ladylike white sweater but also a completely slutty corset-like top that I am not sure I will ever have the guts, or the lack of shame, to wear. I also bought a skirt for my sister. Might go back for more tomorrow. Maybe I could get shoes. Lots of shoes. For some reason I keep using the ugliest pair I own. It's time to get new pretty AND comfy ones. It's also time to try to get some sleep. 3:02 AM Sunday, January 11, 2004 The Bollywood class was fun and I am totally out of shape. There was a time were I would take two or even three classes in a row, and much more demanding ones at that, now I was dead halfway through this single one. But never mind, I'll build my stamina back up again. After the class I did go to Ikea and, as expected, did not buy the rugs nor anything else that could have been half useful. Instead, I got a lot of colorful "accents". Today I had lunch with Cecilia and Silvio for his birthday and then watched the kids while they went to the movies. We played a lot of silly games, I made them up as witches and eventually bathed them and made them dinner. I was almost the perfect babysitter, emphasis on the "almost" part. Somehow I thought it would be funny to hide from Anastasia when she went to the bathroom. Problem was that she came back, looked for me just about everywhere except where I was hiding and started to freak out. I realized the game had gone too far when I heard a piercing wail coming out of her. I might have to foot the bill for the years of therapy it will take her to work through this traumatic experience. Missed Sex and the City again. I sat transfixed watching the latest horror show. The people on the show are so weird that Tammy Faye Bakker stands out as the normal one. Go figure. I managed to finish an iKey shorcut that will create a Tinderbox note with whatever text I highlight. I did have a little trouble because of a bug that would not let me paste with the command-v key combination, but I just used the menu feature and it's now working just fine. 11:08 PM Friday, January 09, 2004 Back from drinks at O'Neils and dinner at an Italian-Hungarian place with a blind pianoman/singer, a huge matronly Hungarian waitress (and probably owner) and a mafia like clientele. The whole thing had us in stitches. I could not stop laughing. Now I am back home. The heat does not seem to be working and we are having frigid 7 degrees weather (with a "feel like" of -6 degrees). It's so cold outdoors it hurts. I gave my dead iBook to JP (who is the constant recipient of my discarded technology). Here the repair would have have cost me a minimum of $350 and up to $600 or so. In Argentina they will do it for $170. Instead of installing new parts they repair the old ones (some repairs are minimum and don't really warrant a replacement). Wonderful. He gets a new computer, I'll transfer all my data to my new iBook and install Panther on his. He gets the Airport card and I have my Extreme card so we can both connect to my wireless network at home. And, to top it off, another person switches from Microsoft to Apple, and we all know there is no turning back afterwards! 11:43 PM I am seriously bored. Seriously, seriously bored. So bored I am actually looking forward to going to Argentina. Spoke to my friend Liliana yesterday. She will be arriving in Buenos Aires on Saturday. Another friend will be going later on too. Sunday is JP's birthday and I have every intention of either having a party or going somewhere fun. Then Monday or Tuesday I'll go to Montevideo for a couple of days. In the meantime I am trying to arrange a happy hour today after work. In the dreams department, I, the one who never remembers her dreams, dreamt of a dance class yesterday. There was a little funny looking older man dressed in a powder blue leisure suit who did a whole nutty funk routine with me. I most definitely need to get to that Bollywood class tomorrow! And after the class I'm going to IKEA to get new rugs to replace the ones that were totally ruined by repetitive partying. I am also sure I wll buy all sorts of things I could live without and not buy the closet I so desperately need. 12:30 PM Wednesday, January 07, 2004 If you go here and then click where it says "V�deo: Avance" you'll get to see one of my nieces, who plays a part in this Spanish series (more about it here). Valentina is also an accomplished equestrian and I am a bragger. 11:43 PM Woke up at 3 AM with the most horrible, horrible nightmare. Never really got back to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes the nightmare would keep going. Not coming back from the start but rather just continuing its horrifying path. One of those stories of impending death, terrible in its commonnes. No frills, no special effects, only the inevitability of goodbyes. I never ever remember my dreams, why the hell can I remember this one? 6:25 AM Tuesday, January 06, 2004 Oh, yeah! Great massage. There I was, wrapped in hot towels with this lady climbing on top of me and working on me with her elbows, her feet, her knees. I almost screamed in agony a couple of times but then again, I had asked for the hard deep tissue massage and that's what I got. I must like pain. I certainly like the way I feel now. This place is most certainly a keeper! I am feeling chatty now. I'll call a friend in Uruguay and then try and pull another early early morning tomorrow. Good nite! I am slowly transferring all the pictures to the new server. 10:15 PM I made it. The alarm went off at 4 AM and I sort of got out of bed a little before 6, but I was at work at 7 this morning and was extraordinarily productive up until a couple of hours ago. Now I am pooped and I just want to go home. I have an appointment for a full hour massage this evening which I hope will get rid of my neckache. The place is supposed to be very good and if it's anything like its reviews I will probably turn into their most recurrent customer. Change of life style: now that my favorite party companion is away I must find a solution for my dance cravings. I checked Crunch's new classes and I will definitely give the Bollywood Dance class a try. Who could resist "The sounds and energy of the Indian film world come alive in this dance-based class. The fusion of classic Hindi & Hip-Hop moves and music make for an exciting calorie burning journey"? I will probably also go back to a several-times-a-week funk routine. This morning I found myself dancing in my office while waiting for the computer to start up, at 7 AM! A sure sign of dance deprivation that must be taken care of. 4:02 PM Monday, January 05, 2004 I found a couple of interesting links related to what happened at Tony's seminar on Sept. 11th. First, I finally located Asad's website. He is the (extremely attractive :)) Pakistani guy who stood up and said it was retribution time. I also found a link to the transcript of Larry King's interview with Ann de Solar, the girl who lost her fianc� in the World Trade Center and who was at the seminar too. Also worth remembering is Larry King's interview with Tony (as well as Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra) after 9/11. Enough with the proselytization ... but you should really watch the dvd ... 10:38 PM A light beer with Francia after work and I am home already. I gotta be back at work at dawn, if I can make it, so I'd better not stay on line all night. 9:51 PM 
9:18 AM
I forgot to watch Sex and the City! What's wrong with me for chrissake????????? 12:46 AM Sunday, January 04, 2004 I have had the worst pain/headache for several days now. I need a back rub. Badly. Or maybe less stress and less humidity. Yesterday I finally bought JP his digital camera. Beautiful little thingy. Given that I have given him an almost professional regular camera a few years ago I would expect him to at least take a frigging picture now and then. This has yet to happen. I wanted to take him to Moby's place for lunch but I never found it. The headache was certainly not helping. We went back to Zoe's. I also tried to get my rubber boots but my size was sold out. Shit. One of those days. After JP left for the airport, Cecilia and Silvio dropped the kids at home and went off for their night out (they went to Moby's show over at the Planetarium and highly recommend it). The kids stayed overnight and even slept in my bed (am I the new Michael Jackson?). Being the classy baby sitter that I am, I had lobster raviolis delivered for dinner, as well as a chocolate mousse cake. We ate and watched Roger Rabbit on HBO. We also had middle-of-the-night giggling fits. Today we picked up Melissa for lunch at the Vegetarian Dim Sum House before going to the movies. Melissa, Anastasia and I watched "Peter Pan" while Silvio and Cecilia stayed with Nina, who had seen a trailer and was too afraid to watch it. Personally, I was glad she did not come. The movie is scary for little kids and even I found it a tad disturbing (some people never really get over it). It's back to my regular life now. Or almost. In a way, it's a relief. I have a couple of weeks to go before flying home ... home? But home is most certainly here ... 11:30 PM Saturday, January 03, 2004 This is so cool. I've installed Romeo on my iBook and Veta Universal on my Nokia 3650. I can now control my computer with my cell and I no longer need my infrared remote. If I write some scripts for Indigo I will even be send commands to my home automation system. I also plan on doing something creative with the proximity range feature. Message for Nicol�s: s�, he le�do tus comentarios. Gracias. As� la cosa es un poco mas interactiva. This past weekend and a few other days, briefly: Train to D.C. on Sunday. Cab from Union station straight to Pam's parents' for brunch. Ghego, Julie, Pam, the kids, the parents and us. Lots and lots of food. For Ghego and me wine and whisky too. You just can't help your true nature. Ghego is still exactly the same. He does not seem to age at all. Well, maybe just a little. He has some gray hairs here and there and maybe just the slightest roundess to his face. Other than that he's still the same guy he was at 17. You sure can't say the same of me! He is also very much the same character-wise. Still very silent, very introverted and very stressed underneath it all. He drinks like he needs it and he has totally ruined both his thumb's fingernails by constantly tugging at his cuticles. He seems to be always tuning out everybody and everything, lost in thought. Still, I do like him very very much, even after all these years. He's a really sweet guy. A very difficult one to be married to I am sure, but a sweet, nice guy. Julie was her usual friendly self and the kids were adorable. Matteo wants to come to NY and stay with me again and I am flattered. We told him that he could come if he makes decent grades in school. In the evening we went for a walk which included a visit to a sex shop (only Julie and I went in) before drinks downtown and dinner at a good Italian place with a real Italian chef (a friend of Pam's) who kept sending excellent food our way. Janis and Athina, a friend of Julie's, joined us. Sunday night we slept over at Janis' parents' with Pam (they are away and she housesits). Monday Pam, JP and I had lunch at the Peacock Cafe and then met Ghego and family at the inevitable "Wake up little suzie"'s. After a while Ghego and I (and JP) headed to a nearby pub (actually the same one I was at recently with M.A. and Pam) while everybody else stayed outside. I almost managed to start a conversation with him and I probably would have managed to do it had I had more time to badger him. Eventually he got us to the train station. New Year's Eve: We went to Cecilia's. I made some "gambas al ajillo" following what I remembered of M.A.'s instructions and Cecilia made pears with roquefort and lasagna. It was way too much food but fun. Their house is looking really nice now. Full of color and uncluttered. On January 1st JP and I went downtown. I fell in love with a pair of Tamara Henriques rubber rainboots that I now HAVE to have (they might have been knocks off though). We had lunch at Zoe's and liked it very much. We then went looking for JP's Xmas present, which seems to be sold out everywhere (he wants an extraslim Casio digital camera). Tomorrow Saturday JP will be flying back. I, for once, will stay home and babysit Cecilia's girls so she and Silvio can enjoy some time out and I can enjoy the kids. Works out perfectly. Sunday I'll probably take Melissa to the movies. Hey, everybody, hurry back! 1:38 AM Friday, January 02, 2004 OK, no sweat. I found the number. 4:30 PM Nicol�s, please!!! I know you are reading this. Quiero llamar a Monse para su cumplea�os hoy y no encuentro su n�mero de m�vil en Madrid. �Me lo puedes mandar a mi direcci�n privada, por favor (no a la oficina porque el sistema no funciona hoy)? Pilar, si me lees lo mismo vale para ti. �Gracias! 1:51 PM Thursday, January 01, 2004 I've installed this PHP photo album script on the new server and it rocks. It will take me a little while to transfer all the pictures but in the meantime I am adding more. I am up since 8 AM. JP has finally woken up now. It's a beautiful day: let's get out! By the way: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EACH AND ALL! 12:18 PM |
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Still, I am working with the window open. I fell asleep too soon yesterday, woke up at 11 PM and stayed awake untill 5ish, so I really need a blast of cold air to keep me going. Hope it's not too cold to go shopping later on.
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