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Showing posts from February, 2023

Tired tired tired

Day 59 Mmm, not a day to write much.  Is 10PM and today I've only been thinking about sleep and rest. I try not to worry much about feeling tired but lately I'm feeling much tired than ever and talking with one of the coaches in the gym I let out that I think I might be a bit anemic. And well, that has been stuck in the back of my head for quite some time already, I should have asked my mom to take a blood sample and do proper analysis to me but well, I guess I'll have to wait until I go back home. I'm off to bed tonight, and by the way, I already got my copy of "Platero y yo" 😎

This "little" place called the Internet

Day 58 This post will be focused mostly on the internet and the websites I visit every single day and why.  Since 1996 or 1997 I've been using the internet for a wide variety of things and as many back then, all started with a dial up connection which was itself a hassle, but it was the technology available at the time. Nowadays the Internet is ubiquitous, and you can barely go through the day without using it made that be for pleasure or business.  Anyways, I just want to highlight some pf the websites that by Feb 27, 2023, I visit on a daily basis.  In no particular order the sites are: Remolacha.net - my go to website for Dominican news for the serious, not so serious and absurd things out of my country.  Is a mix between news and show biz. Mostly focused in DR but also major news out of the US and around the world. Yahoo.com - I've been using Yahoo ever since I started using the internet.  I still go there daily just because is a very easy way to gather news from all over

Platero y yo

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Day 57 I don't know why, but sometimes I just get way too nostalgic to the point where I just lay down on my bed and cry.  Yeah, I cry, weird huh? These past week I think I just had way too many good times between catching up with old friends, spending quality time with family, playing a great retro game (The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap) and watching a fun as hell movie (Cocaine Bear) but on the other hand had some stressful situations at work, one of the cats is a bit sick and to top it off I missed two major events with my friends in Miami: Julio's gender reveal and Annie's birthday. I honestly git very frustrated missing those two in part because I had promise myself, I will try as much as possible to create better connections with my friends and attending social events is well, a great way to do that.  In the past they have given me way too much flak for not participating on certain activities and well, is never too late to fix the damage done (but FYI, I had good excus

And someone is sick...

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Day 56 This is becoming more and more common: not writing at night but writing the following morning.  Ugh, technically it keeps my motto of "one post a day" but it is a bit frustrating that I feel is becoming a bit of trend but hey, not trying to make excuses but these past few days I've been very busy and a bit more preoccupied than usual and to top it off, one of my cats is developing flu-like symptoms. Anyways, lets jump into the good news, skipping CrossFit on Saturday was actually one really good idea, you see, friday some of my close friends from DR arrived in Miami and stay with me for a night, early morning we decided to grab breakfast nearby which was great but then another friend from DR who was in town joined us at home for a drink and a chat. Afterwards, with my family I hit the town and took them to different places they haven't been, and we literally spent the whole day driving and walking around the city, having amazing food, running errands, having co

We are family

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Day 55 What is family? For many is just something that is blood related or marriage, for some is just a thing they hate, for others a thing they love the most but one thing is for sure, everybody will have a different opinion on what it really is or means to them. I've been lucky enough to have two families: the one I was born in, and the one I've chosen for myself but that doesn't mean that is not a complicated relationship, it is and a very complicated one at that but the good thing is that independently of the ups and downs, there's love or some kind of support. I could talk for ages about my nuclear family or my extended one though but that will be another day, at the moment I feel more like continue playing The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap 😝 The family - between blood n decision.

When sleepiness play you a bad game.

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Day 54 Last night, while in bed, I started writing this post but sometimes sleepiness can play a bad game on you.  So, I was more than halfway writing the blog post when I closed my eyes for what I thought was 2 seconds, I had the phone in my hand on top of my face and when I opened my eyes, I noticed that almost everything I wrote and the main ideas of my post, were gone. I LEFT MY FINGER OVER THE BACKSPACE BUTTON. So, in my frustration I said "fuck this" I write after I wake up. This would be the second time that I did something like that, falling asleep while using my phone, and the last time was worse or at least worrisome, because I ended up sending a picture to a colleague at very late hours, thankfully the picture itself was nothing out of place but to a married woman, a colleague whom the relationship was strictly for work, sending pictures very late at night is not professional nor appropriate. Anyways, can't recall the main ideas of my post last night, so I'

Tigueres night out

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Day 53 What a weird day!  Have you ever had those days when things start or a relative bad thing and progressively gets worse and worse? Well, that was today until 7:30PM that things got really good. It started with one of my cats waking me up way early than usual, then a clogged toilet, then a low-tire pressure, then sort of emergencies at work, then a suffering at crossfit.  I honestly thought of today as an atypical day in my life thankfully. But even though it was hectic, I didn't allow the stress to get the best of me, and at every issue I had I looked for permanent solutions or at the very least tackle the problem face front.  It would have been easier to cry and complain, but that wouldn't have solved the issue in hand, so there's that. On a side note I just want to mention that I will start to advertise a lot more my blog via social media.  Nothing too crazy but I want some additional inputs and criticism towards it.   For what is worth, I would honestly like to bec

And it all started at a space vessel above Tallon IV...

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Day 52 I've said before, I am an avid gamer and one of the main reasons, beside the fact that I find them very fun and highly entertaining, is that it allows me to throw myself into a different universe and live a different life for a few hours. They allow me to live in a fantasy world and personally I find that extremely exciting and therapeutic because I can forget about my personal struggles and are extremely good at lowering my stress levels.  I like almost any kind of game but as everything in life, I do have certain exceptions: 1- It cannot be a mobile game (as in played on a smartphone) - I hate using touch controls, and those games are generally made to be extremely simple or highly addictive.  As a smartphone power user, I do find other better uses for my phone and its battery. 2- It cannot be too realistic - in the sense of trying to simulate real life things.  For example, I like racing games, I just don't like simulation type of racing games as in Gran Turismo, I ra

The pictures and the memories they bring

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Day 51 Very simple post.  Remember the story of my first trip to Puerto Rico?  The one I told ChatGPT to write about?  Well, when I went back home, I started checking some photo albums, and well, I got some a few pictures of that trip.  I will, as best as I can, write about the pictures and try to remember, as best as possible how I felt then, and how I feel now about those pictures. Without further ado, below the pics: This was probably one of the last days at the Guajataca Boy Scout camp.  I've been trying to find myself in this picture to no avail but probably I felt shy as fuck, back then I was really bad at making friends or feeling comfortable among people I did not know and on top of that, imagine me being the only one who did not have a boy scout uniform, well, for someone who had really big issues fitting in, that didn't help much.  That said, I did enjoy my time in Puerto Rico doing weird stuff I've never done before, and it was just the first of many adventures t

Chichiguas

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Day 50 Should have a been a celebratory day considering is day 50, but well, I guess I'll leave the milestone celebration when I reach day 182 or day 183.  What I can say though is that it has been quite the pleasure to relieve some moments through writing and also a bit cathartic to say the least, not without some challenges though the main one being writing on time and sticking to a schedule for it. Other challenge is that sometimes I'm not inspired or have anything meaningful to write about at any given moment, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.  This past weekend was a bit more moved than usual in between working out, beach, art festivals, videogames, party and meeting up with friends and family, but one thing in particular brought some nice memories. You see, the beach day was not really a beach day, I was more of a kite day at the beach, not me flying kites, but me attending a kite festival.  Checking all the kites around reminded me of simpler times when the mai

For my mom

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Day 49 Below my first recorded art piece Definitely don't know the exact date but by my calligraphy I can assume 1991. Times of innocence, times where my mom (or parents) were my all.  This particular drawing doesn't have anything special but does show my state of mind: pure peace and calm, just a typical summer day in DR: sun and rain enjoying their time together. Flowers, grassy plain and fruty trees. Sometimes I wish so hard to get back to simpler times, times where my relationship with my parents was more relaxed, times were I didn't overthinking everything, times were my happyness and well-being was totally dependent on someone else. May sound nice, may sound bad, but every now and then, I miss all that.

Allergies :|

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Day 48 Lacking inspiration to write and I think I have to "thank" my allergies for that.  One thing that drives me nuts is that once or twice a month I get allergies attack for no apparent reason. My symptoms are simple: runny nose and sneezing but sometimes they get so severe that you may think I'm dying of a terrible cold or the flu. Thankfully, since I've been suffering from this for many years already, I know how to differentiate between allergies and everything else and obviously the simpler solution is to have an allergy medicine, but I really hate to do it and in most cases I prefer just to ride out the allergies. The thing is that my allergies can last easily a full day, but if symptoms are mild, is fairly easy to ride it out but if symptoms are severe, the only viable solution is allergy medication.  Sounds like a fairly easy solution but the thing is that this type of medication really numbs me and makes me very sleepy which I guess is nice if I want to sle

Sleeping early? not happening!

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Day 47 Is one of those days, where my mind is a bit blank and because of the time I can't recall any great memory or deep thought about anything. But well, is past midnight, and as usual I'm still up and this is a behavior that I should have corrected ages ago. Going to bed really late (to wake up really early) has been something I've been doing since my senior year in high school and by now I should know better. The thing for me is that the 24 hours of the day are never enough to do all the things I want to do.  I spend around 10 hours in work related activities, then I need to go to crossfit, cook dinner, play videogames, study german, watch tv, play with my cats, work on side projects, socialize and on top of it, I have to sleep a good amount of time??? I need to learn to manage my time a little better and also learn how to stick to a sleep hour.

Eres

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Day 46 Can life be any weirder? So yesterday's post was mostly about Gloria and today, on our high school chat group, she sends some old picture of my classmates. I ask her to send more and she sends the following: Oh the cringe and "embarrassment". This is just one of the many poems we used to write to each other as some tame and stupid jokes among ourselves. Below a transcript: Tu eres el amor de mi vida  eres la luz de la vida  eres la estrella dorada eres la luz de la mañana Eres el sol del risueño  eres mi sol entresueños  eres el agua de la vida  que enfrias el fuego de mi vida Eres como el diablo en candela. que quema apenas ya que en realidad eres un angel con ganas de arrullarme Si no fueras así  no to quisiera a ti ya que eres como medusa  con un gran secreto bajo la blusa (no seas mal pensada) Omar Terrero  14-9-2000 ------------------------------------------------- This was over 22 years ago and well, I lot has passes since, but I can't help to laugh about

A stupid day called "Valentine's"

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Day 45 Oh, Valentine's Day but call me cold-hearted and alike, but I've always, and by always, I mean ALWAYS, have thought that this day is purely commercial and not as innocent and pure as many thinks.  Initially my cynicism was due to simply being cold, but I quickly realized that it was all purely commercial and all the couples going crazy for a day and then they would be cheating on each other.   In my youth it was mostly known as "day of lovers or love" but then turned into "day of love and friendship" just to commercialize the shit out of it, not only with lovers, but also with friends, so call me a pessimist but that is the main reason I don't really care about this day, but also don't get me wrong, I would participate in Valentine's related things just for the sake of having a good time.  With all that said, I want to share one final thing related to this day, and it was time I was in Colombia on Valentine's Day: This was exactly 9 ye

My little frustrated dream

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Day 44 Languages, a sort of hobby for me.  Learning languages has not always been something I wanted to do, but as I saw myself surrounded by so many different people and cultures, I kind of took an interest in them.   Growing up in the Dominican Republic has, like everywhere else, its ups and downs.  In a city like Santo Domingo, which is the biggest and most important city of the country, the expats are almost non-existent, it would be very rare to meet someone who was not Dominican up to the point where if you were not from there, your nickname would be your country of origin.  Is a fairly common thing for us to do, and please note that we don't mean disrespect or any kind of ill sentiment, is just how we are and try to make things easier for us. While I lived there, for all the people I met, very few were not Dominican.  In school we had Liu, el chino or the Chinese, while technically he was actually Taiwanese, Irayda, a Peruvian Dominican, Werner who was fully German and Gabri

The crazy "cat lady" me.

Day 43 As I said on the post of January 9, I'm the proud owner of two cats: Taco and Pepe, but even though I won't be specifically writing about them, I will be talking about the cats that have come into my life through the years.  The big bulk of them has been after 2020 but, I've been fond of cats (and animals) all my life.  Below a list of the cats I've owned or taken care of at some capacity: 1- Putica (literally translate as "the slutty one") - circa 1993 - was the first cat I ever owned.  She was a stray that we adopted at home.  She got her name due to her tendency to be in heat and well, fooling around with other cats.  She was a free roaming cat and one day left home to never be seen again. 2- The Angora - circa 1996 - this one did have a name, but I can't remember it.  It was a male "angora" cat, FYI, in the Dominican Republic, if a cat has fluffy long hair, automatically is referred to as "an agora cat" even though technical

Blank mind

Day 42 Feeling like the weekend is going by in the blink of an eye and I won't make excuses for missing last night post, my mind was somewhere else, and I put this on the backburner.  Nevertheless, here we are.  Last night, just as now, my mind is in blank space, no ideas are coming, and it is a bit frustrating to feel like this.  If I wouldn't want to write, then perfect, but I do.  Isn't this what real writers call "writer's block"? I'll google that, but anyways, not feeling very inspired or creative at the moment and the "fun" part is that I think it has to do with one of my cats. You see, Pepe, of whom I still have to write a full-blown post about him, suffers from asthma.  I took him to the vet yesterday for a regular checkup and was given some medicine for his condition, he was totally fine throughout the day, but last night he was a bit out of himself: 1- Not wanting to be around me 2- Hiding under beds/sofas 3- Most importantly, didn'

Hey, k lo k pueblo

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Day 41 Tonight,  I'll be "short" - below the first email I wrote to my friends after I moved to Miami. Date: January 12 2008 and at this point I've been living in Miami for 10 days already.  Below the email in its original form: Mis hermanos.. k lo k .. como va todo? Diablo cono, tanta vainas k contarles, tanta vainas k he visto y he hecho,, y CUANTO trabajo he pasado, pero na .. parte del entretenimeinto.  La uni es una lokera, eso no tiene comparacion con nada.  To los edificios son inmensos, que van desde torre de apartamentos hasta museo, gimnasio, areas de investigacion, invernaderos, estadios de futbol, etc etc etc...   La vivienda,,,  mierda cuanto trabajo hemos pasao con eso... lean, fue antes de ayer k me nos mudamos depue de ver mucho sitios y darle la vuelta a miami.  Donde nos mudamos ta aperisimo... es un tercer piso en doral, un residencial bien apero, calmado, con piscina, canchas de tennis y raquetball, gimnasio, y un maldito lago de patio...el apartam

Finance and my lack of knowledge

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Day 40 Money management, something I'm good at but at the same time causes me a lot of stress and is the base of some of my insecurities.  First, a little bit of background (and many topics will be mixed together but I'll try to focus on the money portion): growing up in my household and considering my family origins, money and financials was/is a topic of discussions with my parents and definitely a case study for future generations. A few things on the table though:  1- I never lacked anything that was a primary necessity: good education, plenty of books, food at home, a place to call home, etc.   2- I never had a regular allowance as some of my friends did, in the contrary, I almost always had to beg for some money. 3- Saving was ALWAYS encouraged, especially by dad and MORE importantly after I moved to Miami. 4- Financial discussions were rarely had in front of me, and investment knowledge (any investment knowledge) was rarely passed from my parents to me even though bot

How many pets are too many?

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Day 39 As mentioned at the end of yesterday's post, I'll be writing about pets a bit more frequently starting today and the main reason is simple: animals have been part of my life ever since I was a kid.  You want proof? Well, here you go: Is very hard for me to pin-point the exact date of that picture but I was definitely very young and was prior to 1991, that I know because of the dog.  Additionally, I can tell you the following details: It was in the front side of my childhood home (same place I was recently visiting), we used to have a lemon tree in the front, now days a type of palm tree, but most importantly is the oldest picture of myself with one of my pets. This one was named Flash (and I think that technically this one is Flash 2) and I'm pretty sure my older brothers have best memories of him, I hardly remember Flash since I was very young at the time, but I think is a good exercise to mention all the pets that have been around me, in certain order of remembranc

To be (organized) or not to be... that's the question.

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Day 38 Organization, one of my great strengths but also one of my biggest weaknesses and let me explain.  If for example I need to do multiple things: my task management skills I feel that are very in tune with the tasks at hand, and depending on the situation I would start with the easy ones all the way to the most difficult ones or vice versa and I think that, so far, it has worked fairly good for me. On the other hand, as a weakness, even though I'm very organized with tasks, and fairly disorganized with things and even though I try to keep my things (office, room, workspace, etc.) organized, I normally fail miserably. What I have learned though, is that at least once a week I try to pick/organize all the mess I might have around that means throwing away old papers, folding clean laundry, putting things away or back to their place, etc. but I also do this on my computer.  Most of the time it gets to a point where my desktop will look like a big mess, so at least once every two w