...we can be heroes just for one day...

david bowie's song is utterly beautiful and i've liked for ages, but now it keeps ringing on my head because of my most recent obsession: the tv drama series Heroes.

my friend Xai gave the first 4 episodes on a disc, which he had downloaded... but it didn't work in my computer.. so i did the next best thing and watched the show through youtube.

and

i

love

it..

LOVE

IT!!!

why?

1. superheroes.. i grew up with (names used in Costa Rica): Mazinger Z, Capitan Raymar, los SuperAmigos (a.k.a. Justice League), Thudercats, the one about the falcons in space (what was the name??), Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc.
then el fo started lending me his comics: Justice League, X-Men, Sandman (he is a hero.. sort of), Astro City, The Inhumans, Watchmen, etc.
and hector hooked me on Crimson, Promethea, and more Allan Moore comics.
ok, these are all comics but, what better place for heroes than on the mass appeal of graphic novels and comics??

2. it is a sign of the times. i truly believe so. because a) we are waiting for the end of the world, one way or another.. the big trial, something that will attempt end this screwed up world.. and have someone bigger than us save it. and b) who doesn't want a superpower? for real..

3. the cast is amazing. i have to admit that Milo Ventimiglia lured me (i'm a big Gilmore Girls fan and i always rooted for Jess), but then.. wow, the rest of the cast is amazing..

4. the plot. it has kept me glued to youtube for hours... and i don't have such a fast internet connection, so it takes me a while to download a whole episode. i must admit that i have anticipated certain details about the overall plot, but as a whole, it is promising.

5. HIRO!!!! i love the character... he is the epitome of what is pure and positive. he struggles, he believes in destiny, he hasn't lost his faith and he is willing to learn. this is a clip from Masi Oka's appearance in a tv show.. ok, i know that i'm mixing character with actor, but i must admit that Masi Oka appeals to me just as much as Hiro.

http://www.heroestheseries.com/masi-oka-on-craig-
fergusons-late-show/

I HEART HIRO

I HEART HEROES

bits and pieces

this is just for fun... Dave, Guy, you'll really like it:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2243176

apart from that...hmmm.. i just wanted to post something... i should post more often.. ok, here it goes..

1. i'm absolutely freaking out about the teaching gig.. for real.. i actually had a nightmare in which i call stupid one of my students.. that doesn't really bother me, well, of course it does, but it was just a bad dream.. what bothers me is... ok, i'll place it in the form of a question: do you think i make a good teacher? CAN I HANDLE IT FOR GOD'S SAKE????

2. it's been a week since the office christmas party and every working day someone has come up to me to tell me how cool my hair looked. ok, i know, i'll post a picture but, what, do i really look that bad in the office that i get some hairspray and some makeup and everybody notices me?? here are the pictures:




















so, ok, i looked great, hehe... well, i had to... this is my last party at the office... but i didn't win the tv.. and someone stole the gift they gave us at the entry... bastards!!!

3. i think so much on the thesis... i'm literally stuck... should i be bold and wing it with the graphic novel topic (and if i choose it what would it be, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, what!!??), of play it moderately safe and go for Hallucinating Foucault?

4. the other day i saw Casino Royale, the new James Bond movie and i must admit that Daniel Craig makes a rather yummy James Bond (my picks were with Robbie Williams actually) and the movie is quite gripping and i got to see a Bond that my generation didn't know but would like to understand better.

so yeah, i guess this is it so far... i kind of lost thread, duh.

take care and good night.

now i tell you what i want, what i really really want

wow, so it's been almost 2 months since i last posted... was very busy with work and the last month of classes... lots of papers and stuff to read and to do...

many things have happened...

i got a job. teaching english lit at a private highschool.

i'll start next year in february.

i told my boss that i was going to quit... i'll work just weekends during january and then my last day will be superbowl.

i need to get a car, re-learn how to drive and re-validate my driver's license.

so i was thinking on how i do get the things i want... and how sometimes i just don't..

like, i get the things i want to achieve for myself... but that's where things stop.

with time i've come to realize i'm a very stubborn person and that when i set my mind into something i'll end up getting it.. i've done it with courses, papers, jobs and even relationships.

so that's why i feel so frustrated when i cannot get what i want from people...

i've tried to live my life by one rule: treat others as you would like to be treated..

..it hasn't been working like that lately..

well, yes and no..

i guess that i have to take care of myself like that, alone.

when i was 6 years old....

..i fell in love with david bowie..
















..while watching "labyrinth"..
























..and 20 years later, it remains my favorie movie..
















..and bowie/jareth is as dreamy as ever..

Un diamante es para siempre

Entre tu y yo

por El Norte

Esa chica enamorada
que me mira y no se aclara;
es la chica de mi vida,
es el sue¤o que buscaba.
Quise que me recordara, y que nunca me olvidara.

Entre tú y yo
un diamante es para siempre,
entre tú y yo
nuestro amor es para siempre.

Todo en ella me fascina
su mirada me domina,
cada vez que yo la veo
pienso cuanto la deseo.
Quise que me recordara y que nunca me olvidara.

Entre tú y yo
un diamante es para siempre,
entre tú y yo
nuestro amor es para siempre.

I guess I'm a recalcitrant bitch

"please could you stay awhile
to share my grief
it's such a lovely day
to have to always feel this way.... "

ramdom thoughts of a compressed mind
deprived
hushed
controlled
weeping
vying

blue cuz that's the color of sorrow

not green, nosir...
that's the color of hope..

so, make your bet cuz yeah!! i'm still a bookie!!

i guess i've never had luck
or is it that i'm jinxed?

void

void

void

the little things that make my mood are gone..

apparently the whole country ran out of them..

so I dream of babies

and Italy

pathetic and butchy

i wear lipgloss to paint my insecurites

so my lips are sticky and shiny..
it is my secret weapon!!!

the song goes "i'm not okay.." hahaha

can't

you

see

it?

wishful thinking

i want one... maybe on my shoulder.. maybe on my back..

gotta love cat and girl

..oh, literary humor.. one of my favorites..

the practicality of learning English

as an English student, this video was too good to not pass on. enjoy!!

http://www.glumbert.com/media/english

"c'mon toshi, c'mon!"

blah, blah, blah

So, it's been a while since i last posted... i've been working 30 hours a week at the Quality Department at the sportsbook... it's exhausting and my ears hurt so much from having my glasses and the dj-styled headphones. Actually, i shouldn't be bitching about it... i need the money to pay for the credit card and for school, since this semester i'm not TAing so i don't get a scholarship. I also went back to the Lehmann bookstore for the consulting job, but only once a week for 4 hours, so i won't get much from that, and the progress seems to be going quite slow.

then yesterday i found out what the 2 courses the masters will have for next semester. one i already took, and the other, well, it's XX century poetry.... i'm not quite excited with the course, but it would be my last 3 credits before i start working on the thesis, so i don't know if i should take it or wait one semester to see what else they are going to give... i could work on my thesis during that time, but, well, first i should delimit my topic and that has proven to be quite exhausting.

but so far, the two courses i've been taking (a seminar on Bahktin, and a course on Hispanic literature in teh U.S) have been interesting.

Mariella is coming in december, to stay in CR for a month, so i'm looking forward going to Quepos with her.

i'm sorry but my mind is elsewhere and now my sister asked me to burn a couple of cd (before i go to work in a couple of hors) so i think this is it for now.

one month later

so the highschool gig did not come through... oh well.. who has heard of a possible employee looking after the possible employer?? i mean, afterall, who--in their right mind--wants a real, serious, grown-up job? arggggggggggggg... well, if i want to get another piercing in my face, well, now's the time, i guess..

Spain was more than i expected, but as expected, it all went oh so fast... the highlights: Benicassim of course (minus the camping); seeing Mari's eye watering during the Pixies' concert; the homey italian dinners cooked by Ale, Mari's roommate; museums gallore, sharing a ciggie with Elisa; mexican dinner with Em and Anna; el Prado, Anita and her apartment in Madrid; and seeing Oscar at the airport.

of course San Jose is not Barcelona... it was great to spend some time there... i felt too serious in Barce, and i feel too couch potato here... i'm back in school and the two classes i'm taking are great and i'm super excited about them... i also went back to work at the sportsbook and i guess i'll be there for a while... the only plan i have, and well, i set my mind about it since before the trip, is that i seriously have to save money... now i have one more big incentive, but that's going to be a secret for now... but anyhow, saving money should be the smartest thing i should do now...

so that's life one month after departing for the old continent..

oh!!! and i have a new cellphone!!! a super cool motorola with itunes, hehe.. it rocks!! gracias ñoño..

barcelona and benicassim.... so far so good

ok, so here´s the deal in a nutshell...

my flight from caracas to milan was delayed for an hour, which caused me to lose my flight from milan to barcelona, and to top things off, my bagagge was lost and got it back 3 days later...

but finally i got my bag at 11pm... just hours before i left for benicassim...

now benicassim...............wow as in WOWWWWWWWWWWWW

friday i saw PIXIES and THE STROKES.... pixies, can you imagine????????? my friend mariella was flipping out cuz she´s like her fan number 1...

saturday i saw MORRISEY and FRANZ FERDINAD and JAY JAY JOHANSON..........amazing music...

now, sunday.... i was alone, cuz my friends didnt but the ticket for this day... i went early cuz i wanted to see SHE WANTS REVENGE... they rocked!!!! i even think that the singer even saw me and pointed at me... well, dreams dont cost a thing....

then i waited some hours before the next comcert.... i made my moves and i was able to get to the second barrier (there was a problem during the pixies concert so they had to separate the public into 2 barriers)......... so the thing is that i saw DEPECHE MODE and PLACEBO almost first in line....

DEPECHE was amazin, they rocked the house big time... it even was martin gore´s birthday and everybody sang happy bday to him...

then PLACEBO............ my god.... they opened with "infrared" and i almost cried.... i had goose bumps..... brian molko and stefal olsdal were amazing.... i´m sooooooooo happy you cant imagine...

i took some pictures and videos during pixies, but since i was alone and didnt know where i was going to be during placebo, i didnt take my camera (i know, i know, i´m such an idiot)... but you can go to youtube and search for fib heineken 2006 and see some videos...

on thursday some of my friends are coming to barce so i´ll try to post later...

love y´all, take care.

..cuz i'm leaving on a jet plane..

so that's it my friends, tomorrow i'll be crossing the atlantic and on thursday i'll be in Barcelona.

to say that i'm super exited is overrated...........

i'll miss my ñoño... (there are 2 songs that are stuck in my head: "secret smile" by semisonic, and lisa loeb's version of "leaving on a jet plane")

i'll try to keep you guys posted :-)

aluka goes to hollywood

nah... i'm just kidding...

ok, so here's the deal... i haven't written in more than a month... so there's a lot to tell you guys...

officially, i finish the semester next monday when i present my final paper for my Literary Theory II class... and after i finish tabulating all the freakin' evaluations... so that's it, no more TAing for me, i-am-done... D-O-N-E!!!

i'll pursue something different... maybe teaching... college, highschool... who knows??

for my seminar on the novel i presented a project called "El comic como novela: una lectura bajtiniana de Watchmen de Alan Moore" ("The Comic as Novel: a Bajtinian Reading of Alan Moore's Watchmen"), which was great, i mean, now i know i can use Bajtin to prove that comics are indeed novels--in the traditional sense. And that had been my topic for my thesis... or at least what i wanted to do... but in reality, and this really sucks, it's a poor choice... because there's no one in the university, at least in Modern Languages, who could guide me (a.k.a. thesis advisor) and that my friends is trouble... so i was talking with this professor who has office in the same place as me, and she was advicing me to maybe choose a different topic, so i pulled out my plan B which was Patricia Duncker's Hallucinating Foucault. It is uber cool and interesting and it deals with obsession and, well, Foucault.. so, i'll see... i'll try to re-read it and see what i can do..

and then there's Barcelona... oh yeah, it's B day minus 10 days..

hope all is well with y'all..................

how i think my bday is going to go..

"Someone call the ambulance
There's going to be an accident
I'm coming up on infra red
There is no running that can hide you
Cos I can see in the dark
I'm coming up on infra red
Forget your running I will find you"

--Infrared, Placebo

oh margot!! i'm 26!!

half-unemployed

at least i was able to save the money for the plane ticket to Spain... because that's the big chunk of money for the trip... oh, i'm going ahead with the story... oh well, the thing is that i finished all i could do for now at Lehmann bookstore, and they'll call me whenever they need anything, so practically, i lost one of my jobs. I still have the sportsbook gig, but that's crap and i've found myself being a jerk with customers (the ones who really, really deserve it)... i get tired and as soon as i step into the office, i want to get out. this is the start of my fourth year at the sportsbook and i think that's enough... i hope i can change jobs when i return to CR on august.

and i have a new plan now... as soon as i return and in whatever job i will have, i'll start saving... not for a trip this time, but for either a) the bookstore, or b) an apartment.

i said before that i never plan ahead, or at least in the long run.. but i hope i'll make it this time.. i mean, this will take me at least a couple of years (the same that took me to save for the Spain trip).

so all i need is a decent job.. i even sent my resume to my old higschool, just in case they need someone in the future. and maybe the english conversation courses will call me to teach after august at the university. i wont be a TA anymore.. i need a real job please..

Spain!!

ok, so there you have it... i'm going to Spain... from San Jose to Caracas, Caracas to Milan, and from Milan to Barcelona...

i'm terribly happy... i'm actually procrastinatingly happy (i just made up the word, which for me means daydreaming about the trip instead of studying)...

anyhow... i'll leave CR on july 17th and arrive to Barcelona on the 18th. Mariella is picking me up and on the 20th we will be at the Benicassim Festival.

I'll get to see some of my favorite bands (Placebo, Pixies, Franz Ferdinand, Depeche Mode) that i don't quite believe that i'll be there... this is so surreal... i'll get to see Brian Molko... omg..

after that, i'll go back to barcelona and hopefully, i'll see my friends from WAC: Anita, Anna and Elisa.

and of course i'll be with my Lela (en la matita, jaja).

then i'll head to Madrid so i can check up on the museums (i'm really looking forward this!)

then, on august 3rd i'll head back to Costa Rica.... looking forward to be back with my ñoño..

that's it for now... i should study, you know... but have so many other things in my mind right now (like, i just had an offer to work for the university for a conversation course--remember, i have 2 jobs already--, or that i'm reading Watchment so i can figure out if it's good enough for my thesis material, and of course, the never ending Bhaktin reading i've been dealing for the past 3 weeks..)

esmirandamiamor!

los vere el domingo, felicidad total!!

"el destino me ha dado
corazones desequilibrados
tu palabra me nivela
y detiene mi caer"

--Don

yo amo mi ciudad

porque a mi tambien me encanta San Jose, desde el Parque España con su fuente del conquistador, los churros de crema pastelera de manolos, mora books en el omni, aprender a esquivar gente caminando por la avenida central, la panaderia samuelito ahi por la parada de Tibas (y cuando hay plata, pasar por Giacomin por unas galletas de herradura o un masapan), la ruta que agarro siempre para ir a la Lehmann, o la que agarro para devolverme, Marito Mortadela y su dulce sabiduria (como cuando me pregunto que si tenia mama y al responderle que si, me dijo que la quisiera mucho), la avenida de adoquines sueltos, el edificio de correos y el camino al apartado postal 52-1000 san jose.. yo entiendo lo que luis chaves quiere decir.

a continuacion, el comentario de luis chaves publicado en la seccion Ancora de la Nacion del domingo 12 de marzo del 2006.

Lugar Común: San José

Luis Chaves
chaves.luis@gmail.com

El josefino y sus primos cercanos del Gran Área Metropolitana piden a gritos una capital donde se vean reflejados, una que les devuelva un poco de identidad, de autoestima...

Se dice que San José fue una de las primeras ciudades con electrificación en el mundo. Habría que investigar. Cierto o no, este es un dato anodino si se enfrenta al siguiente hecho: San José es la capital que más temprano apaga las luces. Una capital con horario de zona rural. Recientemente, sin embargo, diversas actividades culturales (Papaya Fest, Transitarte, Naderías) trasladaron y concentraron la atención y la energía de miles de personas al centro de Chepe. Por unos días, la antigua Villanueva dejó de ser una ciudad de paso.

Y la gente volvió a San José y ocupó sus aceras, reconoció sus sonidos, comió churros o boca de salchichón, tomó fotos mal centradas frente a monumentos ecuestres, pegó chicles debajo de los poyos del Parque España, tocó la nalga de la gorda de Monumental, tomó birras sin hielo, caminó incluso nueve cuadras sin montarse al carro o al taxi. Y la gente vio que todo esto era bueno. Solo bueno. Entonces la gente descansó.

Parece que el josefino y sus primos cercanos del Gran Área Metropolitana piden a gritos una capital donde se vean reflejados, una que les devuelva un poco de identidad, de autoestima. Aunque también puede ser que no se trate más que de un espejismo y que la aspiración del tico promedio de la urbe siga siendo un condominio cerrado cerca del mall. Pero por si acaso, aquí van once razones por las cuales San José centro debería convertirse en una capital habitada.

1. Porque -empecemos por lo obvio- aunque su apariencia, sus ruidos, sus olores, sus complejos y sus costumbres son las de una capital de provincia, San José es la ciudad capital del país.

2. Porque es una de pocas capitales en el planeta que se puede cruzar a lo largo y a lo ancho en menos de un día.

3. Porque el rumor tántrico de los bolsinistas en la esquina de Monumental es la verdadera música folclórica de Costa Rica.

4. Porque el arreglado especial de Chelles reduce los triglicéridos.

5. Porque el mural sobre plywood del bar Morazán es una genialidad y el salón de karaoke de La Vasconia es la puerta de entrada a una realidad paralela.

6. Porque en la esquina este de la Casa Amarilla está Ñ, la galería-bazar administrada por exintegrantes de la Selección Nacional Mixta de Nado Sincronizado. Una exquisitez.

7. Porque todos los buses llegan a San José. Trate en cambio de trasladarse, digamos, de Curri a Tibás. 8. Porque graffiti tipo "Chichi te amo demaciado" (cortesía de Sugar) o "Colacho fuma piedra" devuelven la felicidad hasta al misántropo más acabado.

9. Porque la única manera de combatir la paranoia colectiva alimentada y explotada por nuestro periodismo fascista es recuperando los espacios públicos capitalinos, sobre todo los nocturnos.

10. Porque si en todo caso uno llega a ser víctima de asalto, sabe que fue un compa con necesidades inmediatas y no a manos de un dueño de bar del Estado Separatista de Escazú que cobra dos mil colones por cerveza.

11. Y porque es preferible la muerte por asfixia antes que ir a tomar unas Pilsen a Cartago.

acceptance

tomorrow i'll start a new semester at school. one more and two to go, in theory, so to finish the academic credits and start on my dissertation. with this thought on mind, i go to sleep thinking on how much i like to create things and on how much i need to create. perhaps taking the first step towards my thesis is dreaming, dreaming that in a couple of years i will have created the proof to the world and my academic peers and professors of what i am, and of what i'm capable. but it's a long, hard way.. or at least that's how i see things sometimes at the very beginning, at the verge of creation.. when i'm sitting in front of my computer, fingers aching to type, to pour down my mind... and i give thanks, because there were so many roads that took me to where i am, many people who guided me and pushed me towards here.. i wouldn't be nobody without support, inspiration and advice. my love to y'all.

mañana 14 y adelante. gracias amore.