| (no subject) |
[Aug. 4th, 2009|04:46 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  nostalgic | ] |
nostálgico por España.
After a month in Barcelona, I still had to keep reminding myself that as a general rule, adjectives almost always follow the noun which works in exact opposite in english and after making the same mistake at the grocery store a few weeks earlier, I decided to perfect my Spanish and practiced the line "Necesito un sobre grande para estos papeles, por favor" over and over again as I lined up at the local post office.
what did I end up saying instead? "Hola, necesito un grande sobre por favor."
ughhh, not again.
The humiliation that I felt doubled in intensity when the kindly old man at the counter chuckled and proceeded to give me a crash course in adjectives in rapid spanish. I wanted to tell him that I knew the rule and i tried to follow it but my english mind didn't want to cooperate but instead, I just smiled and said "ah, vale" for fear that my flawed spanish may result to another lecture. I would have appreciated it but a lineup was beginning to form behind me and i didnt want to suffer its' consequence so I made a quick exist. I spend most of the days walking and always ending up in one of the museums in the city. I sometimes manage to get a Spanish audio guide in an attempt enhance my listening skills. I understood half of it but I always end up dizzy in the middle of each commentary. I somehow find myself in Las Ramblas at the end of the day to catch a street performance, my favourite is the guy situated in front of Gran Teatre del Liceu. He looks like a Beethoven statue and remains motionless until you toss him your change. I always save a euro for him.
Its been such a great experience, the locals turned out to be more friendlier than I have expected, especially the old ones. I get chatted up by an abuelo or abuela at the grocery store or on the street and it makes me feel less like a tourist and more like a local. I hope to return soon. |
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| london love |
[May. 28th, 2009|04:49 pm] |
london, you've been very good to me.
thank you. |
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| london calling. |
[May. 4th, 2009|07:08 pm] |
when you just crossed several timezones
and a few leg cramps on a 7 hour flight to boot
you tend to forget your sense of direction
jet lagged and disoriented i wondered the streets of london and forgot what left and right was
so...
i looked right when i meant to look left and vice versa
it's a surprise i still end up back to my apartment unscathed -nevermind the few close calls and not to mention, the bloody hells that followed...
odd things:
you can buy liqour off the grocery aisle
it's legal to drink on the street though, i kicked the habit years ago.
heathrow airport has a really odd, pungent smell to it.
and is it just me or either everyone is really friendly or really unpleasant over here?
AND its true,
it's almost always a cloudy day in jolly ol' london.
more soon. |
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| edit. |
[Feb. 25th, 2008|08:50 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
misusing words out of context and typing maniacally for 80 seconds straight results to: sentence fragments and horrible grammar.
and it seems to me that i have the tendency to make the boldest claims but never have a strong conviction in anything.
rightness or wrongness - more precisely, morality is nothing more but a popular opinion within a culture and this is probably why wolf's theory is doomed from the very beginning. perhaps the problem is not the accuracy of one's beliefs but the inevitability of acquiring them? but this merely suggest that we are at the complete mercy of causal forces rather than the very thing that initiates them. |
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| im stuck. |
[Feb. 20th, 2008|12:55 pm] |
Im becoming increasingly disheartened with my academic endeavors.
Im gradually discovering the limited capacity of my intellect. needless to say, i may not be as smart as i thought. and why am i having a hard time producing a coherent summary of this essay?
Im just an overachiever, bah. |
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| just zip it. |
[Feb. 3rd, 2008|12:41 am] |
Im starting to loathe this Weirob character. i mean, really, really loathe. as in, i-want-to-wear-a-brass-knuckle and punch her lofty ideas senseless. thats what you get for giving me a migraine at 1AM. first of all, your arguments are not even concrete! for an atheist, you put alot of emphasis on heaven. Why cant you form an argument on an afterlife in the ether? Maybe survival after death is the persistance of your conscious thought through time continuum, floating about in space or the ozone or the fourth dimension etc. i could have really taken you seriously then. really.
oh, and im back having livejournal conversations with myself again.
zzzzzzz. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 24th, 2007|12:02 am] |
CODEPENDENT ANGLER FISH - As soon as they mature sexually, male angler fish begin a desperate search to find a mate in the dark water 6,000 feet below the surface. As soon as they locate likely prospects, certain species of angler fish attach themselves to the females - literally. The male latches on to the much larger female and never lets go for the rest of his life. In fact, their vascular systems become united and the male becomes entirely dependent on the female's blood for nutrition. In exchange, the male provides the female with sperm.
how convenient. |
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| hepatitis b. |
[Feb. 4th, 2007|10:27 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  confused | ] |
i cant fall sleep again tonight.
so i decided to heat up a bagel, turn on my monitor screen and google salmonella -those tiny little critters that swim in your orange juice if you dont process it just right. okay, so no orange juice for me tonight.
the cops showed up at my front door and in my panic, i carelessly threw a blanket around the living room, answered the door and forgot that i have a tourniquet securely wounded around my left arm. to my relief, the cops chose to ignore that. no worries, just a friendly routine check on a noise complaint thats circulating around the ghettohood and im thinking, why me? the neighbors must have seen me around: black hoodie, unwashed hair, suspicious behaviour. yes, she fits the profile.
I was on the edge of my seat but I wasn't even on the edge because i wasnt even sitting down. EXPLANATION BELOW:
i had a set of syringes lined up on my coffee table and one stuck to an innocent orange. (yes, an orange was harmed in the event of this story.) what was it doing there? i was practicing my venopuncture technique for my clinical and oranges are supposed to be somewhat close to the real thing: tough surface and soft juicy interior. there seems to be a certain skill required in the process of sticking it in as opposed to just ramming the damn thing into someone's arm. steady, steady. then, BAM! good to know. im terrified of needles. and salmonella. oh, the irony of life. imagine giving that statement to the cops. yeah, i didnt think so either.
my attempt to a bachelor of science degree is becoming a gruelling task. tuesday night i was shacked up in the college library going over research articles and using up my credit points on the copy machine. i need a refill. or a book on knitting so i can fall asleep.
waiting, waiting.
still waiting. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 22nd, 2006|07:17 pm] |
the heart.
is about the size of a clenched fist. four chambers. three layers. four valves. approximately beats 75 times per minute. pumps over a million gallon of blood a year. its pretty amazing to me how this muscle is vastly associated with something other than its sole purpose of a pump. did you know? that it isnt necessarily an advantage to have a big heart? the force of its systolic pressure could put a strain on circulation and will compromise your entire system. so, a friendly thought: dont have a big heart. it will give you unnecessary stress.(insert inappropriate joke here)
have you ever wondered how its like to have someone's heart in your hands?
me neither
ive only experienced it, literally. |
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| Just gimme some nyquil or something |
[Sep. 24th, 2006|02:44 pm] |
according to nietzsche, our definition of truth is nothing but our own attempts to allude its' pure essence in relation to human beings. we form a thought, a concept which we might perceive as truth but its' the kind of truth that only exist within the limited capacity of our boundaries. its already been designated and defined to us by the detrimenting effects of language. language - which is a metaphor of our concept and concept -which is our metaphor for truth. man invented language to convey his reason and to articulate his thoughts but how are we supposed to find "truth" if its been (presumably) granted to us by default to begin with? we develop ideas through subjective logic, through personal stance and we project these collective ideas as truth in accordance to how it applies to everything around us. but truth, pure truth, according to nietzsche, is truth without consequence. to seek truth is to detach it's relativity in accordance to the human condition.
logical eonugh for my human understanding, i suppose. |
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| wait, there's more... |
[Aug. 5th, 2006|04:04 pm] |
pizza pockets you are my worst enemy
though, i happen to like airplane food
which brings us to the next question, am i the only one who does? i remember the flight home. i kept shifting in my seat as the flight attendant rolled out the food tray: air tight containers with tiny little compartments. some of its contents wrapped in aluminum foil. i couldnt wait to tear at the lid and chew on what seems to be a poor rendition of sloppy joes. i was informed later it was corned beef. corned...what? and then the high mile club rumour started. (insert face in the toilet, vomit in my hair and loud retching noises here) i must have occupied that bathroom for five straight hours. if only my relationships lasted that long. oh, you didnt see that coming!
some people talk about their failed relationships. i talk about my prediliction for bad food. maybe i should find another relationship to fail so i can start dealing with things like a normal human being. at least it can make a good subject for small talk.
for now, im heating, re - heating tv dinners in the company of my tv.
tv, tv dinners...its just you and me tonight.
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 20th, 2006|01:06 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  crazy | ] |
ouch, my thumb hurts.
back pains, check. runny nose, check. headaches, check. fun times? you bet! so, im sick as always and to top it off, i keep thinking i have a mental illness that is still yet to be diagnosed. for some reasons, the word hypochondria makes me laugh hysterically.
tell me, since when did guessing games of your ethnicity became an open liner for conversations? the other day, while i was waiting at the ministry of health (no intended 1984 reference here) to have my photo ID taken when i was accosted by a south asian man with poor english skills. take note: i didnt provoke this imposing interrogation. I sat there engrossed in my month's read with a "go away" sign pasted on my forehead so dont say it served me right. anyway, let the games begin: "Are you chinese?" No. "Are you korean?" No. "Are you from thailand?" No. "Are you japanese?" No. awkward pause. "Are you vietnamese?" i suppose he could have went on but by this time, ive succeeded on making him nervous by popping my thumb backwards coupled by unflinching staring contests that he finally got up and left.
fast forward to 30 minutes later: stand straight, back against the wall, dont forget to say cheese, you know the drill. the jamaican guy behind the counter looks at my papers, stares at me and says "So, are you portugese?" BA DUM PISH! there's your punchline.
on a sadder note, I think my thumb is now dead and i am in pain and wallowing in my own retardation. please pray for me...oh, and love me? |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 22nd, 2005|07:38 pm] |
on another note:
you know when you browse through hair magazines and think "ill never be caught dead with that haircut?" consider yourself lucky that youre not a manifestation of that nightmare. vidal sassoon just gave me an assymetrical bowl cut complete with an undercut on the side... normal people cant pull off that look without being assumed as deranged and you know im only halfway there.
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| (no subject) |
[May. 11th, 2005|06:32 pm] |
_
the fire exit was my great escape
so i quietly slipped into the back alley and headed east
but no one noticed that ive been gone for 15 minutes.
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i think ive gotten quite good at pulling these disappearing stunts.
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