April 14th is my birthday (37 ouch!)
and it is also Tiffany's birhtday
happy birthday Tiffany!
yeah! i was born still on the glory and confusion of the 60's still
the last chance and a kabbalistic (i like this spelling better) number 1969
man on the moon (that might explain the space-cadet behavior)
woodstock, hippies and the damn whole thing
right on! no wonder why i came out like this
so for my birthday I won’t be home
(alone to
My grandma Mami Pera as I always called her
and Esperanza for the rest, didn’t talk to her until I came back,
she was upset thinking I wouldn’t come back)
as you all can imagine, I did come back
Apart from being alive (well my dad had to do with this too)
I owe my mom the sense of travel
(my dad doesn’t travel much, or at all! He just likes to seat
And do wooden things and be lazy, the wood and laziness
And the laidback and silly smiling all times I did get from
That very handsome man: my dad, yes very handsome still)
Anyway
When I became 18, I went to
Exactly on my birthday, arrived and things were staring to take shape
I started formally the little birthday tradition:
Going to a
Each year in my birthday
Never been there before
We (my cousin Juan Carlos) drove from
And ended at the MOCA and Little
And apart from stepping in Angelina-land for the first time
I did see a couple of original Warhols and Lichtensteins
I was thrilled! What else can a so-called modernist designer ask for?
Then lack of money and a stable job, that freaking long unemployment
kept me closer to home for the coming years
Yet last year I re-started the little tradition
with the amazing-most-famous-city-in the world!
La Ciudad de Nueva
I got myself a ticket to go and see M83 my favorite band of those days
I tried to visit the Guggenheim on April 14 but it was closed!
So I ended at the astonishing Metropolitan Museum of Art
Splendid and the feet so sore
At least 6 hrs by myself getting lost among art from all over the world
From all over the times from all over the minds of the masters that put together
This sometimes-lovely sometimes-terrible world of us
what could I have seen more interesting than that place?
Then from Manhattan, I called my mother in Autlan, in an emotional rush to say
Thanks for bringing me to this world, so we wept and sob on the phone
And left a similar message to my dad
Those two if it wasn’t for their attraction one day… o well…
Probably the Manhattan-Autlan telephone connection doesn’t happen very often though
and and and the Strand bookstore 18 miles of books
I didn't count them but boy it was big!
(thank you forever Mike for taking me there) wow!
El cementerio de los libros olvidados, the most delightful place in the world
for literature fiends, como yo...
(One of the most wonderful times of my 36 years, again thank you adorable host)
And the lack of money are keeping closer this year
I was expecting to be in Boston by now
Instead, I am going to Julian, California si señor!
(as Linda appropriately-enough named it)
Of a new city each year is still going ON!!!
And I am so thankful for being able to keep it
Julian is a lovely town, for what I heard
An hour drive from home
Apple pies and miner town
to Julian I am going solo, and alone
well, the little voices in the head are coming too
Ok & some books too
To a peaceful weekend
To stay at the Julian Hotel, the oldest continuously operating hotel in Southern California
As they claim, built by a former slave and his wife when gold was discovered in the San Diego area, long long ago
And I know in Julian probably the most exciting thing that could happen
Is me OD-ing in apple pies or seeing an imaginary ghost of
An old miner whispering to me ‘stop smoking, stop, you are not that young anymore’
Jean will say the same on Sunday anyway heh heh
However, I am thankful overall of being alive and of making it this old!
Considering the health issues that I have been dealing with since 2004,
so happy to make it this far!
Reading this flowing silliness
just to know I have friends to die for!
Since I have all of you and I am still freaking alive!
Unbelievable sometimes!
but please don’t stop yourself if you want to send a note
Or some presents on the mail
Or some cash
Or something so you a similar foolish e-mail next year
O happy Easter too!
