WUI

-Why is it so difficult for you? I mean, you only have three or four choices. It can't be so hard to choose.
-Well, I will try to explain it to you, but it won't be easy. In fact, I don't really understand it myself.
-Ok, I'm listening.
-Sure. Let me start asking you a question. It is not necessary you answer it, I'll do it.
What would you choose if you knew that there's no good choice, not good and evil, just a bad choice, no matter you decide?
-That's a difficult one, but...
-Don't bother. I told you I would answer it, and then you can tell me if you agree.
-Ok, keep going.
-I remember some tests I had to pass when I was studying. Sometimes, there was an option: none of the above. I'd love to have this option when we go to the polls. Oddly, when I found that option in the exams, it was a symptom of how hard the test was. Now, it is always hard for me to choose because there is not that option.
-So, you think it would be easier if we didn't choose.
-No, I'm saying that I'd like to have the opportunity to say NO to politicians. Why don't they allow us to do that? Is it because they are scared?.
-Now, I understand your position, and I have to say that I am sure they are really frightened about the idea of losing all the privileges they acquired along these years (working as "public servants"). And, of course, I agree. I would be one of them if I didn't.

This dialog is not an actual conversation, it is more a reflection of my thoughts about politicians, and the upcoming elections. I am going to hate these couple of weeks ahead. The political campaign has just started and I am already pissed off. I think it is a waste of time and money. Money that it is supposed to be invested in important things like trying to avoid people to be evicted from their homes, taking care of education and health care system, etc.
However, being realistic, would you care about problems that you do not suffer? Perhaps, but probably no, or at least not the same way you would care if they affected you. That is the problem with politicians, they have no real problems because they are special. Therefore, we should consider the possibility that they are not trying to find a solution to our problems. It is not their fault, either they do not see the problems or they do not really understand them, and you need to see and understand a problem to solve it.

P.S. I must clarify that I wrote this post under the influence (WUI) of Sinatra. I cannot believe it, I have listening Sinatra's songs for the last half an hour. I can tell that his music helped me to relax while expressing my opinions about this topic.

Paths

It is hard to choose a route among lots of them when you do not know your final destination. Some people trust their "guts" or their instinct, others act randomly, and others like me, try to think about the best or right way to follow. In my opinion, last option is the most naive because we do not have enough information, or any relevant information at all, even when we think we do.
Sometimes, we can get some sort of information about it from our older relatives or friends based in their experience, but they are just basic rules to make the journey more secure and comfortable, and those tips are not going to help us to find the meaning of life.
In my opinion, a device like a enhanced GPS would help us to make the right decisions during our existence. Such a device would tell us if we should play football or basketball at school, be obedient to our parents or not, to go to the university or to start working at an early age, to be a believer or to join atheism, to get married or to avoid a future divorce, to have kids, to look for a new job or to continue doing something that you do not really like while you get paid for it. Those are some of our biggest concerns, and we usually think a lot about them before making a decision, but very often we apparently do not make the right one (if we can ever know what are the right choices).
As far as I am concerned, the most interesting question to answer at this point is whether our choices matter or not at all in relation to the final result. Are our choices in life defining where we are heading, or it is true that all roads lead to Rome?
We can also think that it is more important to enjoy the journey than to focus on the destination. This is smart because we do not know how interesting the end of the journey is going to be.
There is one more thing I would like to write about this journey. Apparently, there are different kinds of fares because there are a lot of people suffering a lot during their existence, while others live like kings. And this is not always because of their choices, it can just be a birthright.
All in all, life is what it is, it is a mystery for us. At least, it is a mystery for me. And, it is perhaps better if it continues being that way. It could be like a magic trick when it is unveiled. Once revealed, there is not way back, and the magic is gone.

50

Fifty is just a number, I know. But, it is also an achievement for me. I did something I did not mean to do when I started writing here. I started this blog just to help me to improve my writing skills in English. However, after fifty posts, I think it has become something else, something important to me. Sometimes, it helps me to express my thoughts, to make up my mind, or to sort my ideas, and doing it I usually understand better the way I am feeling. It could be consider like a sort of therapy.
I started writing this post several weeks back, but I could not finished it because I needed something else to write about. At first, I intended to do something different to "celebrate" these 50 entries in the blog. I wanted a friend of mine, who is also learning English, to write something to publish here, but she could not find her inspiration, and she did not send me anything to write (it was lack of inspiration, or maybe fear of the blank page), therefore I had to write it myself, as always. But now, I think I have something on my mind to write about.
Three days ago, I went to the Official Languages School to pick up the certificate that certifies me as an advanced English speaker, listener, reader and writer. Being realistic, that only proves that I was able to pass all the tests, and I consider that I have an intermediate level, not advanced at all. However, I intend to keep improving. Anyway, I am very happy after getting the certificate because I was not very optimistic before doing the exams. When I took my first test, I just  had been once to the Official Languages School before, to fill in the sign-up forms, and I did not know pretty much about the exams. Fortunately, a friend of mine who was attending classes there lent me some notes from her classes, and that helped me a bit to have an idea about the level and the structure of the tests.

Now, I have to look for another challenge with my English. I am aware that I still have a lot to learn, and I need to keep practicing as much as possible in order to improve, or at least to keep my current level. The fact is that I am sure I will do, because I enjoy a lot doing it, and that makes it much easier.

Uncertainty

Human beings are designed to work for objectives, to live with a purpose. However, considering we do not know anything about what is our purpose in life, or our future, we usually cling to the first belief we consider as acceptable, I mean, the one that answers all or most of our transcendental questions about the meaning of life.
Some people decide to embrace some of the hundreds of different religions, others prefer to trust in conclusions obtained from the study of the objective facts (science). And, there are also people who pretend (in my humble opinion) they do not believe in anything. You also have quick service options like fortune-telling in any of its variants (reading palms, tea leafs in a cup, interpreting dreams, cartomancy, crystal ball, etc.). The only thing I can say for sure is that, apparently, nobody knows the universal truth, despite the fact that a lot of them guarantee that they hold it. At this point, I think there are two possibilities. Firstly, the ones who really know the truth have not yet released it, maybe because they are afraid that the rest of us will not understand it, or will simply ignore it, or about the possible consequences that it could trigger. On the other hand, it is also likely that the truth was already told and we are not smart enough to understand it, or even to listen to it. This last possibility is easy for me to believe because I am not a big believer in human race (even when I am part of it). I want to believe that there is a big potential inside us, but there is also a lot of confusion that lead us to make very bad choices, and these choices are defining the way we live our lives.

The uncertainty we are immersed in could be the reason for a lot of non-sense arguments, fights and suffering. Everybody believe (or want to believe) that they are right and all the others are wrong. Therefore, they try to transmit their ideas, to fight for them, or even to impose them.
Moreover, there are people more concerned about material things, but smart enough to use other people's beliefs in order to manipulate them, and to use them to obtain their own benefit, no matter what it takes.
We can see very often that there is some law or contract not perfectly defined, there is always somebody who is able to find the breach and invalidate it. The good thing about absolute truth is that there is no breaches, it is seamless. But, the problem is that we have to be able to analyze it thoroughly and without prejudices. And, we also need to consider the possibility that it could be better not finding it out. Sometimes ignorance brings you happiness. Anyway, I prefer to believe that everything makes sense, and someday we will be able to understand everything that has been causing so many troubles and pain so far.
I would say, emulating Socrates, that uncertainty is the only certainty. And we have to live with that, at least for now. So, enjoy uncertainty!

Friday night fever

I admit that this title can be a bit confusing. You can think that I am going to write about one friday night out partying, and I chose this title after the famous 70's movie 'Saturday night fever' starred by John Travolta. However, I think this title is more appropriate for my story than for that movie. Anyway, I am starting my story and after reading it you can judge yourself if I am right or wrong.
It is Sunday morning and I have been awake since 7:30 in the morning. This behavior is not very common for me. There are two reasons for it and I will explain them below.
First of all, I could not go out last night nor the night before despite having made plans. During Friday morning I started feeling sick, and I had fever. I spent all Friday afternoon lying in bed but my condition was getting worse and worse, and my body temperature kept rising. Finally, I went to the emergency room in the nearest health center at 2am. While I was there, I fainted and then I started to feel even worse. Therefore, the doctor decided to send me to the hospital. I reached the hospital by ambulance and I spent there the rest of the night, while the doctors were running several tests trying to find out the origin of my illness. When they got test results back, it was obvious that I had an infection. At that time, there was only one question left to answer, and it was about the focus of the infection. When they asked me about any recent wounds, I show them a blister on the bottom of my left foot and then the doctor realized that the foot was quite red and hot, so that would probably be the origin of the infection. He gave me a prescription for some antibiotics and some painkillers, and recommended rest for my legs during several days.

After the explanation above, I still did not clarify why I got up so early this morning. Well, I had to take my medication to fight the infection and to avoid bigger problems. Besides, after being lying in bed or in stretchers for more than 24 hours in a row, I really prefer standing.
In any case, I would have preferred to write about partying all night long, or even dancing (taking into account that my dancing skills are pretty bad).

Applesauce

Around my parents' house there are a lot of fruit trees, and now it is time for apple-trees to give us their gifts. That is the reason why I have been enjoying a lot of applesauce lately. It is very easy to prepare and it is really delicious. Yesterday, I even had it for breakfast.
There has been a long time since I wrote my Spanish omelette recipe here, therefore I am going to explain how you can cook the apples, and I am sure you will like the result as much as I do.
You will need some apples, the more you get, the more quantity of applesauce you will obtain. You have to peel and core them and cut them in pieces (the smaller they are, the shorter it will take to complete the recipe). Then put all the pieces into a pot with some water, and put the pot in the fire. After that, you just need to let it start boiling and try to stir the mix to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the pot. When you see that it is soft enough, you can remove it from heat and allow it to cool for some hours.
Finally, I will let you take a look at the result and the main ingredient. It looks tasty, and I can assure you it is actually tasty. You should try it yourself.

Dictionary

Several days ago, something odd happened to me. I was trying to find out if a Galician word should be written in one way or another. I should clarify that I am a native speaker in Galician language, however in last years a lot of changes have been made in our language and that encouraged me to look up the word I had doubts about in the online official Galician dictionary. I was astonished for a long while, apparently those words do not exist. I am starting to think that I am not a native Galician speaker anymore. I have been trying to improve my English level for years in order to become a trilingual, and now I discover that I should study Galician again.
It was hard to believe the situation explained above, therefore I decided to add a couple of self-explanatory images to this post.

It would have been understandable if I could not find the term I was looking for. Nevertheless, I should have looked for avó -oa instead of avó. It sounds a little strange to me, and from now on I will not trust this dictionary very much. Would you?

Just walk

Yesterday, I woke up at 8 in the morning, several minutes before the alarm started ringing. It was something strange because I had gone to bed less than 3 hours before, but I decided to get up and have some breakfast. At that time I was feeling a bit tired and quite sleepy, but I was thinking about to go hiking around my village. A friend of mine had told me about this activity a couple of weeks ago and then I was considering to attend. After having breakfeast, I put some comfortable clothes on and I left home heading to the park where the trail started. My home is about one kilometer away from the starting point, so I went there walking in order to warm up. In my view, it was a success in terms of participation because there were about thirty people ready to start walking at 9:30 on Sunday morning. The weather was a bit cloudy and uncertain when we started but it was getting better during the morning.
I enjoyed a lot this activity, however I have to admit that my first thought when I was told about it was boring. In the end, I had a good time walking around my village, I discovered some places that I did not know about, and I had the opportunity to chat with some of my neighbors that I do not see very often.
In summary, I am looking forward to doing this activity again soon. In the meantime, I will add some of the places we visited yesterday to my running routes. In particular, I will use a narrow path by the river that I consider a really good option during the summer because you can go in the shade during almost all the route.

Spies

I have just realized that in days when I feel physically exhausted is when I feel more inspired and I need to write or to express my concerns the most. Today, I have been reading thoroughly the newspaper while I was having a cup of tea after lunch. The bar where I usually go to have a coffee or a tea after lunch was quieter than usual. There is a good explanation for that, there are two main events in the surroundings. Firstly, today is a day of celebration in the neighborhood. On the other hand, in the nearest town there is a major event, widely known, and a main attraction for a lot of foreigners and locals. This two celebrations and high temperatures in the area last days contributed to keep people in bed having some rest after a long night, or enjoying a day sunbathing on the beach.
My situation was a bit different this year, therefore I went to bed quite early last night after a long hard day. This morning, I decided to go for a ride on my mountain bike, and I was pedaling for two and a half hours. When I got home I was considerably tired and, after having lunch, I had to take a nap to recover. Then, I went out and I had my tea while reading the newspaper.
After these lines explaining why I am writing this post, I am going to briefly make a comment about one thought that came to my mind while reading. I have found an analogy between spies and journalists. They are always searching for information, they always want that information before anyone else, when they publish some information the effects can be unpredictable, and they are not really independent because there are a lot of economic and politic interests involved and big companies own all or part of the shares in main communication media all over the world. In conclusion, when we read and article in a newspaper we should not expect to find the truth, just one of the sides' version. This is a bit different when there is a military conflict, then the winner takes it all (like Abba sing in one of their songs), and writes history from his own perspective. The more I think about this subject, the more similarities I find between spies and journalists. Maybe the main difference is that journalists are in the public eye, while spies prefer to keep their identities hidden in order to make their job easier and safer. Another important difference is the area where they focus their attention. Spies usually trade with classified data from big companies, or compromising information about governments or well-known politicians and businessmen. The explanation for that behavior is all about the money, spies are a kind of elite team of mercenaries available to obtain, or even create, the information necessary to carry out some sort of plan. In summary, they both do a similar job but with a different goal in mind.

Words

I should not be writing this post. What is the point in writing or talking if you do not communicate or transmit something (an idea, some knowledge, feelings, etc.)? It does not make sense at all, does it?
Why do a lot of people talk and talk without saying anything that deserves to be heard? I have a theory, based in my experience. I think they love to hear their voice, maybe the same way when I enjoy listening to a singer playing a song.
It is nice to enjoy a good conversation with other people, but it is not very interesting when somebody talks about something without any interest or when tries to impose his or her ideas, or to manipulate you using their speech. Another bad use of words is when they are used to tell lies. When you do not want to share something with other people, you only have to remain silent, there is no need to lie. You can use your imagination for other more productive tasks.
I consider these behaviors unacceptable, but apparently they are widely accepted among public opinion.
I have always been quite cautious about expressing my opinions, and I like to think about what I am going to say before actually saying it. Sometimes, I would like to be more spontaneous, but the fact is that I am not. There are things that never change, for better or worse. I love to share my thoughts with other people, and I also like to hear other people's ideas, especially when they disagree with me. Then, I have to analyze what I heard and I usually learn things that I did not know or another point of view. If you take the time to listen to other people's opinions with an open mind, you will show your good education and you will likely learn something new.
In the end, it looks that I had more to say than I actually thought. I hope you think this lines deserve to be read, otherwise I am sorry to waste your time. Anyway, it was a good exercise to continue writing in English. I have to take advantage of every chance I have to write. I admit that some of the post are more interesting than others. That is because my inspiration is not always the same.

Results

I have been waiting for this day for a whole week. I was expecting the moment when I could see the results of my English exams. I would have considered a success if I only had passed at least 2 out of the 4 exams that I had to do. However, my happiness is complete now because I passed all the four exams. Besides, considering that I think that I could have done it a bit better, it was an excellent result from my point of view.
I know that I have a lot more to learn about English language, but I am more confident about what I have already learnt. Moreover, I must say that I enjoyed a lot taking the exams, mainly the one focused on oral expression. I felt a bit nervous at first, but after a little while I started to talk in a more relaxing way, just how I usually do with my friend Paul.
After obtaining these successful grades, I can give advise to some friends of mine who are learning and trying to improve their English skills. I have already tried to help them, but now I know that the way I am learning really works. So, the most important trick about English learning that I can share with you is that you must find ways to learn and improve while you have a good time. Otherwise, English learning will become a hard work or even a torture, and you will probably give up, sooner or later.
Finally, I would like to add that nowadays you can find all you need to learn and improve on the Internet. You can read books, newspapers or magazines online. You can also watch TV online (news, documentaries, movies, series, etc.) and listen to radio programs of all kinds. If you want to improve your writing skills, you can start a blog like this or find a web site that helps people to improve their writing style. There a lot of possibilities, you only have to do some digging.
It worked for me. Hopefully, it will also work for you.

Speaking

Today has been a special day for me. I had my first oral English exam at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in Vigo. Actually, today was the first part of the exam, the speaking. As you can imagine, it is all about speaking English.
I got to the school quite early because I thought I could have problems to park my car. However, I parked my car quickly and right next to the school. In fact, I even had time to have a coffee and read the newspaper before going to the building where the exams were going to take place. There were a lot of students there with their notes, trying to study until the very last minute before entering the class to take the exam.
The exam was a complete mistery to me. For that reason, I asked one of the students to tell me about the exam, mainly about the way it is usually carried out. She told me it consisted of two parts. Firstly, I would have 10 minutes to prepare a small script for a presentation about a subject I would choose among three possible options. Then, I would have to make a presentation in front of two teachers who would evaluate my performance.
The second part of the exam would involve a discussion with the teacher about a different subject. I would have to defend my point of view and express my disagreement with teacher's opinions.
The subject I had to talk about was technology and, more precisely, how the communication media evolved in last decades. I talked about the Internet and the effects, positive and negative, that this global network is causing in people and how the world is changing because of it.
After finishing my presentation I had to talk about nuclear power plants, wind generated energy and solar panels. I decided to focus in the big risk that the nuclear energy represents. In my opinion, the risks attached to nuclear energy should be prioritized over all the advantages it provides. So, I think we should try to obtain energy from other clean sources like the sun, the wind, ocean tides or any other practical options that don't involve any kind of risk for the population living next to the power plants.
The exam was not too long, however it was quite intense. I think I could have done it better, but I hope I did it well enough to pass the exam. Anyway, I will have to wait until June 13th to know the results. Besides, I still have to take the other exams next Monday (reading, listening and writing). Wish me luck.

Best candidate?/¿El mejor candidato?

Today is supposedly a day for reflection before the municipal election. I have been thinking about the actual situation in relation with politics in general. Unfortunately, the conclusions I have reached are not very encouraging. In fact, my view about this subject can be considered as quite pessimistic.
First of all, I would like to list the qualities that I consider politicians should have at least (minimum required). Honesty, humility, sincerity and justice should be basic features that all politicians would have to possess in order to be candidates in an election.
From my point of view, honesty means trying to do things right with the aim of obtain the best possible result for all the citizens that you represent, without taking your own interests into account or expecting any kind of profit in return -except your assigned salary.
On the other hand, humility represents the ability to consider all the opinions, trying to understand them and taking them into account when it is necessary to make a decision. Besides, it is important to respect all the points of view no matter whose they are. In fact, nobody owns the absolute truth, and it is always positive to treat a problem from different points of view.
Another thing is about justice. A good ruler have to be fair and must to make fair decisions even if they are not very popular.
Finally, there is something called sincerity. Basically, this means fulfill your promises and do not tell lies. Moreover, if you make mistakes (because nobody is perfect), admit it and do not blame others.
After all explained above, I hope you understand my concerns and doubts about the decision I, as a voter, have to make tomorrow. In my opinion, most of the candidates do not meet the minimum requirements I mentioned before, and probably none of them meet some of the qualities requested.
In conclusion, tomorrow I will have choose among all the candidates. However, I will not choose the one I consider the best for ruling the council. In fact, I will have to choose the one I think will be less harmful to represent the interests of all the citizens who live in my town.

---

Hoy es supuestamente un día para la reflexión antes de las elecciones municipales. He
estado pensando acerca de la situación actual en relación a la política en general.
Desafortunadamente, las conclusiones a las que he llegado no son muy alentadoras. De hecho,mi visión sobre este tema se puede considerar bastante pesimista.
En primer lugar, me gustaría listar las características que considero que los políticos deberían poseer como mínimo. Honestidad, humildad, justicia y sinceridad deberían ser rasgos básicos que todos los políticos tendrían que tener para ser candidatos en unas elecciones.
Desde mi punto de vista, la honestidad se muestra intentando hacer las cosas del modo
correcto con el objetivo de obtener el mejor resultado posible para todos los ciudadanos que representas, sin considerar tus intereses personales o esperando ningún tipo de beneficio personal más allá del salario que te corresponda.
Por otro lado, la humildad representa la habilidad para considerar todas las opiniones, intentando entenderlas y tenerlas en cuenta a la hora de tomar una decisión. Además, es importante respetar todos los puntos de vista independientemente de quién sean. De hecho, nadie está en posesión de la verdad absoluta y siempre resulta positivo abordar un problema desde distintos puntos de vista.
Finalmente, existe algo llamado sinceridad. Básicamente, esto significa cumplir tus promesas y no mentir. Además, si cometes errores (ya que nadie es perfecto), admítelo y no culpes a otros.
Después de todo lo explicado anteriormente, espero que entendáis mi preocupación y dudas sobre la decisión que yo, como votante, tengo que tomar mañana. En mi opinión, la mayoría de los candidatos no cumplen los requisitos mínimos que mencioné anteriormente y, probablemente, ninguno de ellos cumple alguno de ellos.
En resumen, mañana tendré que elegir entre todos los candidatos. Sin embargo, no elegiré el que considere mejor para gobernar el ayuntamiento. De hecho, tendré que elegir el que piense que será menos perjudicial para representar los intereses de todos los ciudadanos que viven en mi pueblo.

Blood

After seeing the title you may expect a bloody story related with murders or some very old vampire living among us. However, I am going to write about something perhaps less interesting but much more important in my humble opinion.
A few days ago, I was driving around in the nearest town to where I live and I saw a coach parked in front of the council. It was CTG's coach (CTG stands for Centro de Transfusión de Galicia). I was not very busy at the time so I decided to park my car and to make a good action. When I entered the coach, I realized that there weren't anybody inside but the doctor and two nurses. That was perfect because I didn't have to wait in order to make the donation.
The doctor asked me to enter in his tiny office and to answer some questions (always the same) about my health and life habits. When the doctor finished to check if I met all requirements, he sent me to talk with one of the nurses who made a little cut in one of my fingers and tested my blood to see if my level of iron in it was ok. Everything was fine with my iron, in fact, I should stay away from magnets (I am joking). After that, the donation started and it took me a while to fill the bag with my blood, almost 10 minutes. I drank a bottle of water during the process to recover the fluids my body was losing as soon as possible, and another one after finishing the donation. I also ate something.
In about half an hour of my time I made a blood donation. That is all I needed in order to help someone who needs it and, at the same time, I feel happy being able to help.

Groundhog day

Yesterday, I was watching the news on TV and they were talking about Groundhog day. I had heard about this day before but this year I decided to investigate a little bit to know more about this holiday in the United States and Canada on 2nd February.
There are several theories about its origin but where there is no doubt is about where is the largest celebration. This one takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. It is a very popular tradition and now it is well-known in part because of a movie released in 1993 whose title was "Groundhog day" starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.
The basic idea about this tradition depends on the behavior of a real groundhog called Punxsutawney Phil, the true weather forecaster if we believe its neighbors in Punxsutawney. Apparently, if the weather is cloudy when Phil goes out its burrow and it can't see its shadow, then it will go back to continue sleeping at home for at least six more week and that will be the time that winter-like weather will continue outside. On the contrary, if when Phil steps out his burrow the sun is shining in the sky (it can see its shadow on the ground) then winter is coming to an end soon.
I thought that we had strange ways to make weather forecasts using small rooster toys and saying that bad weather is coming when some body part is aching. However, I have changed my mind and now I think we are not strange people, we are just different. In my opinion, these traditions make TV weather forecasters more reliable and, believe me, I am not a big fan of them. Anyway, if you have a doubt, you can find a groundhog and ask it.

Faster

World is getting faster and faster. People is stressed and suffer a lot of pain derived from our new way of life. Our health, physical and mental, is fighting a new battle against the speed of life. I think that stress is a symptom of not being able to keep the pace of life. I would compare that situation with somebody running in a treadmill and when starts to increase the speed, at some point, he needs to slow down or stop running because it is not possible to keep running at that speed.
I am completely sure that stress is a consecuence of speeding up our life, but my question is, who is going to decrease the speed of our "treadmill", modern life. When you are running at gym, you can stop as you get tired, however, when you are suffering stress in your life, you can't stop your life and simply get off.
Two or three decades ago, life was more peaceful than now. There were a lot of problems, of course, but everything happened slowly, and you had time to think and realize what was going on. In these days, there are a lot of things happening right now and we will probably never know, and all the events that we are involved in, sometimes we are merely witnesses, because we do not have time to react and think about which should be our response to those stimulus.
The main diference is that, back in time, we had much less information to process and communication means were slower than now, so we had much time to think, if we wanted or needed. Nowadays, we can communicate with anybody at any time and anybody can communicate with us whenever they want. So, things happen faster, kids grow faster, fashion trends last an instant. So, in summary, we do not have time to assimilate all the changes that occur in our lives and, eventually, our body, our mind or even both crash.
Taking all above into account, maybe in some years the only human being capable of keeping the pace will be Usain Bolt.

John Doe

Do you know John? That is what I thought. Let me tell you something about him. He is 21 and is living in Gorebridge while he is attending to the School of Economics at the University of Edinburgh. His hometown is Sunderland, a city near to Newcastle, but he moved 2 years ago when he started at the university. He uses to go back home at least once a month to visit his parents, his younger sister Mary and friends, but he is really happy with his life as it is now. He is doing quite well with his studies and has a lot of new friends to have a lot of fun when he is not studying. He has a driving license but he does not have a car and only drives his dad's car when he is visiting his home. He usually uses public transport when he is in Edinburgh or, if wheather is good, his bike.
John likes sports a lot. He practices basketball and football often and goes to the swimming pool and to the gym once or twice a week. His closest friends call him "Blondie" because he is so blonde he looks like Swedish or German. He has a lot of friends because he is outgoing and friendly, he is quite funny and girls love him because he is handsome and witty. He is thinking about going abroad for 2 or 3 years after finishing at the university and maybe learning a new language like French or German, meeting new people and maybe getting a good job.
For now, he will continue living with two other students in a rented apartment in Gorebridge, a village about 30km away from Edinburgh. During the week, he wakes up at 7am, has breakfast and takes a bus at 7:45 to get to Edinburgh. There, he goes to the library and stays there until 11am or 12am studying and at that time he attends some classes until 3pm or 4pm. After that, he uses to have lunch with some of his friends and during the rest of the afternoon he attends several optional classes and spends one or two more hours in the library. At the end of the day is when he uses to practice some sport, before taking the bus back to the apartment to have dinner and go to bed at about 11pm.
During the weekend things are different. On Saturday, he wakes up not before 10pm because he uses to go out the night before until late. Then, after having a light breakfast he uses to go to the swimming pool for at least an hour before lunch. During Saturday afternoon he uses to make plans with some friends or with some girl, and usually those plans extend late into the night. So, Sunday morning almost does not exist for him and he usually spends the afternoon having a coffee and chatting with some friends or flirting with some girl. When he goes to visit his family he does almost the same but changing the location and people involved.

Need

Here it is again, this irrational need that raises from the bottom of my soul. I do not understand why this is happening to me and how long it is going to last. I am trying to handle it the best I can, I have managed to control it and take advantage of it, but I am a bit concerned because I do not know if I will be able to keep it this way or not in the future.
So far, it has been something good for me. It helped me to improve my skills and I am more confident, but the future is a mistery, it could change. This is the reason why I defined it as irrational in the the beginning of this post, because I can not figure it out what is the reason why this has been happening to me. It sounds a bit crazy but this is the way it is.
This impulsive feeling makes me write about anything that comes up to my mind, and when it occurs my fingers just start to type and words appear in my laptop's display as from nowhere. I could try to ignore it and avoid writing but it helps me with my English and, above all, I enjoy a lot doing it. So, I prefer to continue writing this crazy posts in my blog and I hope somebody enjoy them. If you read some post in this blog and you like it or dislike it, I invite you to leave some comment.

Starting

I am collecting a lot of information about French learning. I am going to start reading as much as possible to adquire vocabulary and get used to the language. I will also start listening to some basic dialogues related with what I read.
This is the first step to fulfill my New Year's resolutions and I intend to carry out all of them. So, in order to do that, I will start as soon as possible and I will be patient and constant.
This situation makes me understand people that is starting learning English now and I am feeling that I have a lot to learn. It seems a huge task and it is indeed, but I know that it is worth it, and I only need to spend a small amount of time every day in order to learn step by step and enjoying it. In my opinion, this is the best way to learn a language or to learn anything. If you spend a good time while doing something you will keep doing it and that is what you need to learn, studying a bit every day. So, I am going to follow my own advice and will try to learn some French, while continuing to improve my English.
This is also going to be the year that I am going to quit smoking after a few years being a passive smoker. This would have not been possible without the last government's law against smoking and, of course, of all the smokers that are smoking outdoors now. I think that our lungs will be grateful, and will work better from now on.

Injured

It hurts and I think it is going to be something serious. The pain started in the morning and it was growing and growing during all day. I applied a pomade hoping that tomorrow in the morning all this pain will be gone. However, I have to admit that I do not rely on this happening.
I am pretty sure that I injured my knee the day before yesterday while I was running in the rain. I did not feel anything wrong then, but apparently something bad had happened to me. I put some ice over my knee trying to reduce the inflammation but it is not working very well until now.

Now, it is the day after and I have a diagnosis. Some of the fibers in my left knee have been torn and I have to avoid doing sudden turns and, unfortunately, I can not run, cycling, going to gym, or even dance. This last thing is a good one because I am a very bad dancer. Nevertheless, I have to admit that I would like to be in a good condition now, even if I had to dance during all night long.
It is not the first time I have an injury and I presume it will not be the last. So, I know that I have to be patient and in a week or two I will be running, cycling, or even dancing again.

French

I have just finished watching "The tourist", a film whose main characters are played by Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Have you heard about them? I am sure you have. Well, I have to say that, in my opinion, the movie is interesting and, above all, entertaining. I thought that it would be an action movie, but it is more a kind of thriller with some action scenes and, of course, a love story behind.
I am not going to write about this movie, though I have mentioned it because something happened during the first minutes of the film. I watched it in the original version and, at first, all characters speak in French for a while. This circumstance made me feel a bit annoyed and encouraged me to start learning French with more enthusiasm, in the same way I usually learn English.
From my experience, I know that it will be really hard in the beginning, but I need to be pacient and do not give up. I realized that I only needed a bit of motivation to help me to start this journey into the world of French. Someday, I could be writing other blog like this in French or translating this one into that language. I wish I could do it now. Instead, I will start learning the basics and trying to get used to read and listen to it.

Silence

This is a kind of poem that I have just written after listening to the song "Enjoy the silence" by Depeche Mode. Do not ask me how. I am not sure if I know how to answer that question. But, the fact is that I wrote it and I hope you like it.

Solitude gives us silence,
a chance to speak to our soul,
a chance to listen to our thoughts.
Silence gives meaning to speaking
Silence is sparse in words but
there is no words without silence
Sometimes silence means more than words
Sometimes words mean nothing
Talking is not only speaking words,
it is more like speaking words of wisdom,
it is more like sharing thoughts,
it is teaching, it is learning,
it is communication, it is knowledge
Silence means nothing,
and silence means everything.
So enjoy the silence!

...and enjoy de poem.

New Year's resolutions (III)

I am sitting here, eating grapes and chocolates in New Year's day. I am a bit tired because of a long, long night out but I am trying to write something about my goals for this brand new year.
First of all, I would like to keep all good things that I got during 2010. And, of course, to prove that I am smart enough to avoid repeating the mistakes I made.
After being a long time without doing workout, I started going to gym one month ago and I am feeling much better now. I hope not to have injuries for a long time.
My interest in traveling continues, and I would like visiting other cities, mainly located in Ireland or United Kingdom.
In regard to my English knowledge, I will try to study a bit and apply for EOI exams next June. Besides, I will keep improving my conversation skills while enjoying chats with my teacher, and writing posts in this blog as often as possible will continue being a priority for me. I also try to learn French a bit harder because, during 2010 I just made a first approach.
I will try to learn new things, enjoy new experiences and meet new people.
I have to say that in 2010 I almost fulfilled all my resolutions, except for learning French and taking dance classes. There are 364 days left to try to achieve all this goals. I hope it will be long enough.
I would like to wish everybody a very happy New Year 2011!