Googling

You've probably heard of the term. "To Google" someone is to type in their full name and see what pops up. It's good for a laugh, or interesting to see what you can find out about a person. Google my name and you get a whole lot of academic links because I'm a dork and apparently my fame is to be of the fleeting kind. Google my best friend's name and you get a photo of him the size of Alaska and about 15 articles on his year-long stint in Miss Saigon. So I'm not in any Broadway musical, but what's up with that?

RINGRINGRINGRING

Do you know the time difference between Texas and Spain? I didn't, not until this morning at 5:40 a.m. when my phone rang.
Just so we're clear here everybody (Mark), it's 7 hours.

Phone Calls, Meetings

Ancient and just about only Spanish friend Alberto called around midnight to tell me that he was accepted into an internship that will send him to Johannesburg, South Africa for a year. He's leaving the first week in October. We spent about thirty minutes on the phone, and as always we laughed a lot. I stumbled over my Spanish in happiness and from lack of practice. I hung up the phone and realized that unless I really make things change this Fall, I'm kinda Spanish-friendless and just a little bit more lonely.

Tomorrow is the meeting with Boss about my reduction to a more manageable 20-hour work week. According to Emily from work, I also should be negotiating my "You got shafted" salary as well. I've already mentioned it, but the outcome will decide if I'm staying in Spain or packing up my stuff and getting the hell outta Dodge. And what do I want? Shrug. As Alberto packs for South Africa and I look into a foggy future of Grad Schools and Spanish speaking, I like to imagine there's some kind of silver lining, some longshot hope that the last three months could make it all worth while. But at this point, folding t-shirts at the Gap Outlet is looking pretty appealing next to teaching English.

The Brawny Man

New and improved Brawny Man made headlines a little while back. Since then, Brawny has been all over their guy, groping and squeezing him to get as much publicity as they can. I saw some links to the Brawny website, and fooled around a bit after realizing it was much more than shopping for paper products. It's actually pretty well put-together and funny, although relevance to paper towels seems somewhat minimal.

Innocent Escapes

Dear Australia

I was thinking recently upon all you've given me, dear Australia. Although many of us have never visited your bountiful land, you've seen fit to provide us all with a great many things by your hand. Ah, your goodness.

Ian Thorpe Yowza. I'm starting to see what all the fuss is about. According to his online bio, 23 years old and loves to eat Uncle Toby's Sports Plus Cereal and blah blah blah. Really, the pics are the best parts.

Kath & Kim Only very recently have I caught on to this television show that's apparently in it's third season. The story revolves around Kath, a "fortysomething empty nester" and her spoiled daughter Kim. The funny is in the way they say things, not necessarily what they say.

Missy Higgins I thee dub The Next Big Musical Thing, Missy. Please pack your bags and your songs "Scar" and "They Weren't There", we'll be sending for you shortly.

Kangaroos Ever been driving down a rural road at night and suddenly a deer appears in the road in front of you? Imagine if deer were bouncing E-VE-RY-WHERE. Although it is the national symbol and all, and it's so darn cute... wouldn't you?

U.S. Foods I Cannot Wait To Eat, and May Possibly Devour Immediately Upon Arrival

Summertime Musings

I've been quiet because I'm still totally digging Madrid in the summer. My life without work has been uncomplicated and filled with ample amounts of pool time, although I foresee that money will become an issue before I receive my first paycheck in early November. I've also realized that I'm due for one more psychotic discussion with my crazy boss about reducing my hours and moving to part time status once and for all. After three trimesters of goofy yes-no-yes-no about my hours, I'm digging in my heels and refusing to budge. This uncompromising stance could theoretically make me jobless, which means that I may be returning home early. The problem is that I've spent too much time in Spain working to allow my final three months to be taken over by the demon that is English Teaching Abroad. I rue the day I met you, luring me in with false hopes of easy money!

In between time spent at the pool and time spent mulling over future possibilities, I've been preparing for my month-long trip back to the States. When I come back from that trip I'll have three months and then a tearful goodbye to Spain, which complicates the packing process. I've been feverisly playing the Gamecube because I have a feeling it's gonna get stowed away pretty soon. I've also gotten a little worried about seeing everyone for the first time in so many months. Not counting the Lightning Weekend in March, I haven't been home since Christmas (I say smugly). It's a bit like a test, or a challenge; holding your breath underwater. How long can I stay submerged in Spanish culture? Although really, it's not like I'm in Nigeria; my greatest cultural quandry is choosing over Burger King or Telepizza on my way to the swimming pool. And that's exactly the kind of culture I can live with.

Mindhunters

PUH-LEEZ.

The only way this movie could have been more nonsensical would have been to add a few musical numbers. But that actually might have made it interesting.

Such Great Heights

It's nice to know that ominous satellites are ready at a moment's notice to take a snapshot of your house. (via google maps)

The Swamp! Oh My!

I know these posts have been photo-heavy and word-lite recently, but I'm just feeling that way. I did come across this photo in my Internet browsing sessions earlier this afternoon, and immediately was reminded of hacking through the forbidden swamp near the house as a child, swatting mosquitoes and trying not to step on the snakes. Whenever I tell people stories about my childhood, I try my best to make it sound like I grew up on the edge of the Amazon. Alligators! Alligators eating puppies! Poisonous snakes! Swamps! Torrential rain! Grits! People are always amazed by the stories; I think they're really trying to get their minds around the fact that people voluntarily settle an ecosystem that's actively trying to eat you.

Baby Discovers Foot

A Night To Remember

If we're gonna be all nostalgic about the past, can I confess that I've been wearing out iPedro with Cyndi Lauper's 1989 offering, A Night To Remember? I'm such a geek.

Becoming

When I was growing up in South Georgia, there wasn't a whole lot of diversity. Things have definitely changed since my day, but many times I was the only little Hispanic in my class. The funny thing is, I was sort of discount Hispanic, a knock-off mixed kid who barely knew how to tell Nanny I was hungry in Spanish. This didn't stop the whities around me from asking "What are you? Cuz you don't look totally white." I remember being chosen in Chorus Class to sing La Bamba in front of the class because I was the most ethnically appropriate. Ay ay ay!

Times change. I grow up, some real life Mexicans move into town, and I realize I'm a kinda watered-down version of the real deal. I hit puberty and became more and more Caucasian. We were brown children when we were little, but my brother and I have completely metamorphosed into white guys with faint Hispanic traces. Even though my sister's held onto her ethnic looks a bit, the Puerto Rican genes have been sifted through so many generations that her Baby came out super white. My mom sighed in disappointment at Whitey Junior's complexion. For the most part we've physically grown out of our heritage even as we emotionally pull ourselves closer.

So I'm just going to take a few smug moments to relish the fact that I'm getting tan, getting darker, and that the outside's starting to match how the inside feels.

Sun City

I like August. A lot.
The first ten days of this month have consisted of lazy trips to the pool and a barrage of movies and video games. I've found a new friend, good Lawrence from camp, who is just as jobless right now and extra bored since his girlfriend is at work all day. My typical day involves getting up whenever I want and doing whatever I feel like for the rest of the day. I'm getting dizzy from so much fun and freedom.

I mentioned before that I would be trying to visit the pool, working on my tan and trying to accomplish some physical activity during the day. The visits to the pool have been especially interesting. I was aware that in Europe topless women were a given at the beach, but I was taken completely off-guard by the sheer number of boobies being flaunted around the pool. TOPLESS!GRANNIES! Yikes. And some of these boobies were not a healthy color; I don't think they're supposed to be well-done, more like medium-rare. The males hardly fared better: a high proportion seem to prefer speedos to trunks. Scandal!

Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell

Rows and flows of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air And feather canyons everywhere I've looked at clouds that way But now they only block the sun They rain and they snow on everyone So many things I would have done But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way that you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now it's just another show
And you leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love
Really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

Oh but now old friends they're acting strange
And they shake their heads
And they tell me that I've changed
Well something's lost but something's gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life
I really don't know life at all

Tubettis

In response to the self-posed question,
"How many tubettis can I possibly eat today?"

Um, a million? No really, how many are in the box?

Ways To Spend Your Weekend (Numbers Edition)

5 episodes of Scrubs
4 hours of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
3 episodes of The 4400
1 Miss Congeniality
1 Dark Crystal
1 Zoolander
1 The Island
1 hour of Mario Kart

4 Motion Sickness-related headaches

On Being Back

The camp bubble has burst, and I've landed unceremoniously in the real world. As the dust settled a bit, I've found that it's a bit anticlimactic to be back. Everything has returned to normal: I paid the rent, sitting through the landlady's retelling of her latest woes, watched movies with friends, downloaded music, went shopping. The first days back were nice though, as visiting friend Nick came for a few days. In celebration of his visit, these past few days I've been hemorrhaging money I don't have into expensive restaurants and wine. Most of the teachers from camp spent some extra time in Madrid before they left for their various homes, and it definitely was nice to be able to see them outside of such a confined environment. People are much nicer when they don't sleep in a cabin with you for 30 days. Someone should do a study on that. Anyways, and I said it before, although in a tiny "I can't believe I'm saying this" voice: I really think I do miss camp. Could it be that my job involved watching Desperate Housewives and eating cookies?

I dropped Nick off at the airport this morning and I spent my afternoon introspectively examining my summer life, which has led to the realization that it's only just begun. Unfortunately for me, I literally do not have a single plan for August, so if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears. I will admit that I'm eyeing the local swimming pool and thinking about suntans and the tiniest bit of a return to fitness (I don't dwell on that subject because I tend to be self-defeating with it). Probably the nicest thing of all about this moment in time are all the possibilities, with no worry of work or deadlines or places I have to be. Trust me, I'm savoring every single second of it all.