Closure... (finally!)

Written sometime in early April…

Sunday night… Damien Rice songs flow from the TV… Yep, somehow I watched the movie “Closure” for the second time, definitely walking through dangerous grounds given it's context. However, this is an excellent way to end this weekend, realizing as well that it marked the shift to a “second stage” of my integration in Madrid...
This movie is one of the most “aggressive” tales I have seen about modern relationships, as we can visualize the transformations happening nowadays and how these are pulling us to two opposite extremes of how people relate...

Accomodating relationships…
… for fear of the “future”, of ending up alone, many of us are accomodating and choosing to stay with someone that, although sometimes is far from a perfect match, is good enough to make us feel ok... both from people inside a “Joker-relationship” and also from people from outside, desperatly adjusting, trying to find someone. Making a parallel with our professional lives, there is still the same pattern, many people still clinging to the idea of one job for life, even if it doesn’t fulfill them at all, but hey, living to work or working to live, all is the same… isn't it???

Not making that extra inch…
On the other hand, I am hearing a lot of stories about long relationships going bust, about giving up to soon on someone, not willing to make the extra-mile to try to make it work… Sometimes it is true that it is just not meant to be, however I wonder, is all of this freedom causing as a side-effect a lot less commitment and effort to make things work then in the past…?

Are these two trends totally opposite or somehow closely connected? Is the second a consequence of the first? Regardless, I believe all of us have the tendency towards one or the other

I knoooooow, I am definitely deep in “desert crossing mode”, starting to over-theorize about these topics… However, watching this movie and dealing with the memories it brings, made me feel like writing down a couple of conclusions from this past month…
… I am now integrated in Madrid, with several groups of friends out there with whom I am having good fun!
… To try to sort out my life equation, I have already enough uncertainties to make this stage quite interesting, professional, geographical, motivational, etc. Not having “her” as an extra variable at this stage is definitely an advantage to freely make my own decisions
… however, I am finally over ghosts from the past and slowly returning to spontaneous and refreshing oasis stops… And on that front, Madrid is one of the best scenarios to hang out!

As for YOU!? CONGRATS!!! For having the guts to…
- bust out of a 10 year relationship that just wasn’t working out…
- to have the courage yet again to make the EXTRA mile and to again crash into a wall… (somehow all this will make sense in the future!)
- to endure all the hurdles and propose to your “One” for the rest of your life… That is definitely the jackpot we are ALL aiming for! (also, for allowing me to have ideally 4 stag parties in 3 different countries this summer!!!)

Carpe Diem!

PS - off to the Asturian mountains for a 4-day weekend ;) Check it out!

Visions 05-06 (I) - Family!

The newest acquisitions of my family... "I-look-just-like-uncle-Nuno" Manuel and "I-am-hairy-like-my-sister-that-also-looks-like-uncle-Nuno" Rita!

My sister celebrating her 40th anniversary with a "Surprise-party-for-myself", with her Uni gang... Still Partyin' HARD! Definitely an inspiration ;)


Uncle APPROACHIIIIING!!!!!!! (although... when they pack together, physical domination is no longer possible.......)

CARPE DIEM!

Wrong turns in the dunes...

Sometimes in this desert walk you never know what’s behind the next dune… a couple of examples in this stage of exploring different groups of friends and meeting “different” people!

After the Almodovar movie...
... time to go out for a drink with my friend Y (female, nearly married!) and “friends” (turn out to be 3 dudes!). After a first stop in a cool bar, good chats along the night we move to a different place and eventually end up in Chueca, the gay neighbourhood of Madrid. During the walk, she eventually lets me know that we might be going to a more “alternative” bar and I finally understand why… Yet another unconscious dip in the Gay community here!
In the day after, one of my gay colleagues sees me in the hall and approaches me with a I-know-what-you-did-last-night smile (you can only imagine…), claiming to have seen me in Chueca… Obviously I confirm and add that actually had a good time! So…? (These dudes can sometimes be more stereotypical than us!)

Good intentions…
During a coffee with my good friend S. (female, nearly married), eventually she mentions that she lives with 4 medicin students (girls with variable marital status!)… I believe somewhere in the Human Rights Chart there is an article about not invoking “4 female medicin students” in vain! Somehow, and NOT through my initiative a dinner is setup for the following day in my all-time favorite Bairro Alto… Expectations are set, she asks me to bring interesting dudes and we are set for dinner. Conclusion… eventually she shows up with a 3X 1Y tactics, slightly different than initially expected :)) Lessons learned:
. DON’T ever trust a female friend, however well intended she might be!
. DO go to a place with a back-up plan… Oh well… The good thing is that dinner & drinks in Bairro Alto with good company is always a good choice!

But no matter where… no matter with whom… always… always…
Carpe Diem!

Spring => Summer!

In the break of yet another spanish class I realise that yesterday we were already enjoying 26-28'C between 9 and 10 PM... As promised a few posts back, spring is over and the torrid summer has arrived to Madrid. Good thing that this weekend I am going up to Asturias, for the mountains, to clean-up spiritually and phisically some of the recent excesses :)

Still, fortunately, Spring was able to fulfill it's mission... :)

Carpe Diem!

A groovy week...

Sometimes I even surprise myself...

Wednesday 20th - "tuga" dinner in a friend's house... until 1 AM with an above average level of wine by the end... spoke about 3 of my theories, so I was clearly getting there...
Thursday 21st - PG Department dinner... after a mild hangover, went for dinner (good wine) with colleagues on the 30's until 3 AM, finishing with a nice cubata!
Friday 22nd - Official dinner at AIESEC conference followed by party... no further comments needed...
Saturday 23rd - AIESEC party... no further comments needed...
Sunday 23rd - M.'s bye bye party (part I), VERY nice dinner, VERY nice beers, ETA home 2 AM...
Monday 24th - M.'s bye bye party (part II)
Tuesday 25th - Chill hooooooome, a quieter night to close this week :)

I am glad this is an exceptional week... or else...

Carpe Diem!

Spanish movies

Sometime in the end of March I did the obvious "movie experience" in Spain, went for an P. Almodovar movie, in this case, "Volver". Yes, definitely Penelope Cruz (cousiiiin!) was already motivation enough to check it, but beyond that watching one of his movies here, in a non-dubbed theatre was a "must" experience. This is my movie suggestion of the week together with "The insider!"... Cool movies! ;)

Meanwhile…

SPRING HAS ARRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVED!! :)
... few weeks of optimal weather and then... from Invierno to infierno…… Ideal time to visit, while the weather is just right ;)

Carpe Diem!

PS - Post written sometime before the end of March… (slowly getting back to regular posting rythm)