Coco and Albuquerque/Dream Theater

Coco

I went to see Pixar's newest movie Coco on October 27th (living in México for once meant being able to see a Hollywood movie weeks before the rest of the world, incluiding the US). I really recommend that movie to just about anyone. I really liked it. I enjoy Pixar movies a lot, and Coco managed to climb easily in my top 3 Pixar movies. I don't really have the Mexican culture rooted in me and still, I really liked the way they did it.

Albuquerque

On Sunday October 29th, me and Mari went to Albuquerque to a Dream Theater concert. The concert started at 7:30pm but we decided to go early to do some hiking. We did one small trail which was pretty cool. It had been a long while since I went out to hike, and it felt pretty good. Although I am terribly out of shape.

Then we went to another trail which didn't really have anything interesting and it was right next to some houses and there was nothing to be seen, so we decided to not do it. We went to Old Town cause it was kind of early for us to go to the venue, but we didn't really have that much time to go and do other stuff.

Then we went to visit Walter White's house. It had all these signs about trespassing. 

Then we went to eat and then to see Dream Theater. I always have a blast when I see them. This one was better still, cause they played their album Images & Words in its entirety, which is a really good album. They didn't have an opening band and played for 3 hours.

Then, we had to drive back to El Paso cause this guy had to work in the morning. Somehow, Mari managed to stay awake the whole way back and helped in me not falling asleep at the wheel. We got to El Paso at around 4am, and I got home at 4:30am and had to wake up at 7am. It took me like a full week to get my sleep back where it was. But it was worth it.

I remembered why I like going out of town so much, even if it's just for the day. I really enjoy it.

See you next week.

Caifanes & Board Gaming

This is almost 2 weeks late, and it's only my second post, good start.

Caifanes

So I went to see Caifanes on the 20th of October. I used to listen to them a lot when I was in secundaria, and I still heard some of their songs here and there, so I figured, what the hell, let's go.

The organizers or the venue or whoever did a terrible job. The concert started at 9, we got there at 8. Not that early, but definitely with some time to find a not so horrible seat. We stood in a line of several hundred people that are getting into the stadium one at a time. The line went around half the stadium. 8:30, still veeery far to the entrance. 9:00, still can't see the entrance. 9:15, we hear people inside the stadium yell. Yes, Caifanes just walked into the stage, and we are still not close to the entrance. "Viento" starts playing. I was very pissed. It was at this exact moment that the line started to advance faster. We missed two whole songs.

Overall it was a pretty good show. I realized then that I really don't know a lot of Caifanes songs. I knew like half of the ones they played. I didn't take pictures cause I was very far. They played for a little over 2 hours, which is pretty good. No opening bands.

Board gaming

Then I went to a board gaming meetup the next day. I love me some board games! It was at a house. The owner had hundreds of games!!! About half of them still in shrink wrap, the madness!!! We played a couple of new games (Kingsburg and Yggdrasil), both pretty cool games.

And then went back to Mari's to play some Harry Potter deck builder.

Good weekend overall.

See you next week.

Here we go again (incluiding the Feria and Carlos Ballarta)

Let's give this blogging thing another chance.... and I'm already late one day. Things can only improve, right?

I haven't blogged for the past years, and a lot of things have happened since then. But since this is (hopefully) going to be a weekly blog, and I actually did some things this week, I'll save some of the things from the past years for slower weeks.

Feria

On Friday we went to the Feria here in Juárez. It has crap tons of food stands, live performances, and mechanical rides. I don't care one bit about the performers, because it's usually popular music, which I don't really enjoy. A lot of people go for the food. I'm not one of those people. But I think most people go for the rides. Like me and my cousins.

And it's weird, cause I'm scared of big rides, specifically ones where you fall very fast, like roller coasters. But Mari forced me to go (haha, jk, I kind of wanted to go). We started the night by getting on this giant ass drop ride called the "Mega King Tower" that is over 250 feet tall. I was sweating during the whole line. I was nervous. I was regretting it. But at the same time I was a little excited. I knew if I managed to survive, I could do all the other rides no problem.

I didn't take pictures of it, but it's the one on the right.

So there I was, sitting on the seat of the tower, feet hanging, so close to crapping my pants. There was no turning back. And just like that, it began to go up, very veeeeeery slowly. I felt like it had been going up for half an hour and I turned up and we were only halfway there. Why did I turn up? Why was I on it? Why????? And then it stopped. I could see half the city from up there, it was a very nice view. I was starting to enjoy it....until, that is, the fall. I felt my stomach up in my head next to my brain. I was hanging on for dear life, certain that my face was going to smash on the ground. But it didn't, it didn't!!!! It slowed down, I survived!!!! And that's how that ride was, haha.

The next ride was a...big stick with seats on both ends that rotated spun really fast.

65mph, 150 feet tall.

This was the one I enjoyed the most. You start going up slow and then all hell breaks loose. You're just falling and rotating and at points you're not even touching your seat, cause you're upside down and rotating. Then it goes in reverse and does it all over again. Fun stuff.

Next was one that was a little similar than the previous one, but shorter, although they do leave you hanging upside down for a while. But it was milder than the previous one.

Then we got on a very crappy roller coaster with no big drop and it physically beat you up with all the shaking on the turns and shit.

Then another one, where you spin around and the seat you're on also spins up and down. My body had gotten used to all of it and it felt like nothing, but it was fun spinning around every which way :).

And that was it for the feria.

Carlos Ballarta

On Saturday we went to see a comedian called Carlos Ballarta. He has a special on Netflix. He was pretty funny. I like him.

We hung out at Diego's before and after the show. We were supposed to play a board game before the show, but we didn't finish cause we kept discussing useless stuff like we always do, and Claudia got there and we mainly started talking.

After the show we also just hung out talking about music like we often do, and the same bands we always talk about haha. But I enjoy it :).

Sunday

On Sunday me and Leonardo (my two year old son) spent all day at my parents'. It was a chill day, watching football and we watched a Netflix movie: The Babysitter. I liked it. Not kid friendly, haha.

See you next week.

Small Talk

After reading Mari's post where she mentioned small talk, I got the inspiration for this post.

Why is it expected of me to say hello to every single person individually when I arrive to a group of people? Hell, I don't even like to say hello unless they're expecting me. If you only act a certain way towards people because you're expected to...does that mean you care more for them? Like, if I arrive and don't say hello to everybody, do I like them less? And if DO say hello to everybody cause it's the social convention...do I like them more?

If I work with a person that's indifferent to me, am I supposed to talk to him/her just because I see him/her everyday? What if we don't share any interest at all? What if they start talking about the great time they had the previous night dancing with his/her friends? I don't like dancing, I don't like to talk about dancing, I don't know his/her friends, I don't consider what he did fun...am I supposed to keep the conversation going? Am I rude if I just say "cool"? And that's being a hypocrite, cause I don't even think it's cool. Other way around, am I supposed to tell him/her (let's say they're a Graphic Design major) about how I ordered a programming book and started to learn a lot of new stuff?

Say I get into a weird situation where I have to give a ride to a friend's friend to his/her house. It takes 20 minutes to get there. Do I have to make small talk? Ok, it's uncomfortable to just sit in silence with a person you don't know, but I am PERFECTLY okay sitting in silence knowing I don't have to think about what to talk. I prefer listening to myself think than to listen to some dude talk about how they're in love with their partner (just an example).

If I go to the store and buy some chips (crisps for our UK friends :P, jk), and I bump into an acquaintance in the way back...do I have to offer some chips if I have already opened them? Am I wrong to think that if they really want some, they'll ask for some? But even worse, if I'm the acquaintance the other person bumps into, and they DO offer some chips, do I HAVE to say yes? What if I really don't want any?

If somebody walks in, and they're carrying 85 bags of groceries, do I have to offer assistance? Am I wrong to assume they don't need assistance cause they're not asking for it?

Ok, that's a lot of questions, and not surprisingly my answer to all these questions is: NO. I know I'm probably wrong in some of them, or maybe all, I don't really know, I don't really know other people's point of view of my actions...or lack of. But that's just my point of view towards these situations, I don't like socializing with people I barely know, or don't know at all. I don't like the idea of having a conversation that I know won't lead to anything interesting, or that I will ultimately think it's a total waste of thinking time. If I don't act like myself in these situations it's only cause I don't want to assume the other person will find it interesting or maybe they share my point of view.

Being that as it may, I will answer if you ask me something, I will probably ask you some basic stuff so I at least know if there's hope for a real conversation, I will give you chips if you ask me for some, I will give assistance if you ask for it. I just don't like to assume what people thinks or feels.

It can also mean that I'm really shy and very lazy.

On a kind of related topic: Don't ever send me to the store to bring you something "sweet" or something "refreshing" or whatever I get...if I go, I want to know EXACTLY what you want, and what to get if they don't have what you told me, cause I will not improvise and will not assume you like something just cause I do. Same goes for movies, there are seldom any movies that I just go out and recommend to everybody I know, I just don't know your tastes in movies, so I don't know if you will like it or won't...I will tell you that I liked it or that I didn't, but that's it.

Of course this applies to people I don't really know, or that I lost touch with ages ago. That's just who I am, and I don't like to talk about it to people that don't think this way, cause they will not understand. But if I do know you very well, then go ahead and socialize with me :D

The end of an era

Ok, so as you already know I moved in back with my parents.

There are a number of reasons why I chose to do it, but there's one in particular that made it clear: money.

Ok I'm going to be more specific...I wasn't really having financial problems, I had enough money to pay for rent, services, food and whatever debt I may have, but that's it...back in august, when I moved out, I had money for all those things plus some money for myself. I knew it was going to be tough living without my parents' help, but I could still afford the little stuff, like going to the movies every week (I looove going to the movies), going out to eat occasionally, buy a game, etc.

But then it happened, my car died...majorly, so I had to get a loan to pay for the repair, and it started taking whatever money I had for myself away, and I mean all of it. But that was in January, why wait three months to move back? If it is true I didn't really have any money, I really didn't mind most of the time, I could get by fine, and I was really comfortable living where I was, it was a nice centric location, a couple of blocks from school, about 2-3 miles from work, it was pretty awesome.

And then it hit me: my Visa expires in June, after 10 years, it's finally going to expire, and I want to renew it, but yes, it costs money. I need my mexican passport first, which I don't have and also costs money. About 300 dollars for both.

But it wasn't only about the 300 dollars, but the fact that if something happened which required money, I wasn't going to be able to pay it right away. I want to take a couple of classes in summer, how would I have paid for those and my tuition for next semester. How will I save enough money for the epic trip we're planning?

It may seem like I don't have what it takes to make it on my own, but I don't see it that way. I could've lasted ages not having any money to pay for stuff, and at some point in my life I have lived like that even while living with my parents, my debt is going to end, sooner or later (if I don't accrue any more, by September I will have paid my Laptop in full). But right now I HAVE a choice to move back with my parents which will make things easier. There may be a time when I don't have that option (and I'm counting on it), where I may not live in the same city or even country as my parents, but I hope that past experiences will have taught me well enough to avoid big mistakes when the time comes.

My near future plans all require loads and loads of money, and as difficult as it is for me, I have to save up money for those things (I had started to save thanks to Angie, but it had to stop cause no money was really left for me to save :S), and I'm not going to win the lottery or anything. I know that moving out to another country as is my plan (Spain!!!) requires lots of money (and lots of other stuff, I'm aware), and I'm not that young, so I don't want to postpone it one second more than needed, like I would have had to do if I hadn't moved in back with my parents. I want to go on that epic trip we're planning, I will need some money for that I presume? It would also help to get a job that pays more, but if I can do something on my own, I intend to do it.

I am going to miss living with my friends, I had a hell of a time with them, well, Tenampa more than anyone else, we did lots of stuff we wouldn't have done otherwise, and I don't regret anything. But I'm an overly optimistic person, so I will only see the good out of all this :D