Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Leary: the Buddhist thought of the day

in my personalized google page
i've included a gadget to get
The Buddhist Thought of the day
interesting that today's thought was by Timothy Leary

If you don't like what you're doing, you can always pick up your needle and move to another groove!
- Timothy Leary...

funny, & so right on!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Willkommen in Deutsch 101!

Wie geht's?
today i had my 1st german class
it is a great satisfaction to go back to a college level class

an empty classroom in Mesa College - from tonight
today i learned that:

- Mein Name ist Berenice
- der Professor Name ist Doris Herwig oder Frau Herwig

she seems like a very nice lady
from the south of Germany
a little town 45 minutes from München
named Augsburg
also, she said that cows wear a bell in the south of Germany
but not in the North, i wonder if that is true
and that

DAS - is the neutral article
DIE - is the feminine one
DER - is the masculine

and Das Alphabet sounds
the letter ß
and the infamous use of the Umlaut

also, unlike in Spanish
there is NO way to know which nouns go with which article
so there is a lot of memorization to do!
no wonder germans are so crazy, heh heh

we had also little conversations among students
where we asked:
a: Wie geht's dir?
b: Sehr gut, danke. Und dir?
a: Prima, danke.

it was fun!
me mexican and the american kids
we were all the same a little confused

anyway, i am exhausted but i feel refreshed
to put some german knowledge
and for that matter any sort of knowledge
inside this hard head of mine!

my new books here (a little pricey)
Neue Horizonte
a freaking $117.00 book, ouch!
I feel the most expensive part of education in the USA
is the books
but at least this one includes the lessons
for another 2 semesters, for German 102, and 103
so... i still have to get the Laboratory book
another $50 dollars, and a good dictionary
still never best money invested than in education
i just hope i really can learn
a hard language, 5 credits for the class

it is sort of strange to sometimes still think in Spanish
specially while i am too tired
so today my little head had to translate a couple of times
from Spanish to English (the lessons are in English of course)
to German... hmmm? rather interesting how this brain thing works

luna llena


and again
here she comes
with her bewitchment light & fullness
to haunt our little lives down

one day, we'll be together
during a full moon

Monday, August 27, 2007

simple


"Simplicity is an acquired taste. Mankind, left free, instinctively complicates life."
- Katharine Fullerton Gerould

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
- Leonardo Da Vinci

genius, philosophers, and others, all seem to agree
yet
it seems so a big challenge
to just "keep it simple"...

life smiles at me these days
even if i am sick & tired
because of your presence
but i miss you
this distance seems to never end

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

the strawberry fields - remix

a bit weird, but I think is cool



and if you are up for some more from the same author
enjoy his/her version The Three Little Pigs
it is fun!

Laurel and Hardy at Spreckles


this monday night
and with my mother visiting town
we decided to go for an evening walk

we started driving towards
San Diego's Embarcadero
where the big ships are parked...

but on the way there, and as we drove
by Balboa Park
we decided to stop there
and walk this beautiful place at night
since there seems to be a lot of people around

when we got to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion
we found all these people around

there was a Free Laurel and Hardy silent movie event!
they showed 3 of their early silent movies

1. Puttin’ Pants On Philip
2. You’re Darn Tootin [the full length!]
3. Two Tars

with organist Dennis James
it was great to find this event
live organ music with
these 3 great films
I do love Laurel & Hardy
specially their silent era
what a lovely surprise!
a fine summer night

above was the view
right before the projection started
the arc structure holds the pipes of the gigantic organ
and they put a screen on front

and...
a little chunk of
PuttingPants On Philip

Friday, August 17, 2007

tea & fat chances

once a month or so
i order teas from specialteas

i am waiting for some i ordered a couple of days ago
this morning i checked the tracking of the packages
and voila!
to be delivered today

so i arrive to work
and in one of my running around to the main office upstairs
i see this kid from fedex running with a little package in his hands

packets are to be delivered to the main desk
no matter the name of the recipient
and we crossed paths a bit afar from the office

so there was no point on me telling him
hey! those are my teas, you don’t need to go further ahead
i saw him and by box full of teas walked by

and yes…
15 minutes later
i got a phone call from the main office

a: your teas are here

b: yes, i know, thank you

a: what you mean “you know”?

b: never mind, i’ll be right there, thanks…

and so it goes the music of chances
the little coincidences of life every day
that are little a bit amusing

that’s why i love authors such as
Haruki Murakami and Paul Auster
they sort of wake up your radar
to be in tune with the miniscule
and petit delights that make
one’s little & humble life worth living

teas delivered in sunny mild Friday mornings
and fat chances…

Thursday, August 16, 2007

decaffeinated

i guess you know you are in a bad mood
when you are drinking
bad instant decaffeinated coffee
over 9pm at night

i don't even like instant coffee!
well just those lovely espressos
from european nestlé

anyway...

today i was in a strange mood
the whole day
nothing seem to work quite right
nothing was too bad and nothing was too good

tonight
i can't focus on anything
not on the pix
not on replies
not on the e-mails
nor in or outline

my head hurts a little
and sadly
die Welt ist groß

yes, all feels so afar...
and i wanted to be close

the lack of good sleep
maybe that's why i feel
and a bit dark, moody
and over-sensitive, i guess

so i guess the best remedy
is rest...
tonight i just
'forget about it...'
log OFF and go to bed

but before
to you, here reading
i leave a smile, a hug
some good-time wishes

and this little photo

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

the croton plant

i got this little croton plant
the 1st month after arriving in san diego
back in 2001...
it has grown so much!

lately, it has been blooming
ah! nice
i think she's happy w/me

from last night here a picture
of its little flowers

my plant has been my friend & roommate for 6 years now
wherever i live, i always take it with me
we have been sharing this Californian life for a little while now


ok! ok!
i had the "too many versions" problem again... heh heh

pd. i miss you...

Monday, August 13, 2007

lunch-time

& mister grasshopper
is back again!
he was having his lunch
i didn't take more pictures
since i assumed he needed his space
to digest his branches salad
and after all i didn't want mr. grasshopper
to think
that i have become a grasshopper paparazzi!
click on the photo to look closer at him



for you!
since you like these little stories

ah! and so nice your Stimme...

Sunday, August 12, 2007

do you know how it is like to be a tree?

i found this neat little animation on youtube
based on a little hike of a 6 year-old kid talking about
how it is to be a tree
he says he was a tree once, in his 1st life
a cute little tale
hope you enjoy



here a description from the author
A rotoscoped animation using unscripted footage from a hike in the woods with my 6 year old brother Julian. I rotoscoped it by hand drawing every frame, using a wacom tablet, even the titles. If you have time, visit my illustration website at:
http://vocaleyes.com/benarthur/

Thursday, August 09, 2007

black and white


close up of plants, outside your kitchen
camera nikkormat - black & white film, iso 400


of a rainy morning
early

the plants outside the kitchen
suffer of morning maladies
they are gray
'cause
i portrait them B&W

there's mild rain
a little warm
gray's the sky

warm is your breath
warm your hands, too

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

i miss...

1. you
2. this cloudy morning
3. being w/you in amsterdam

home or flying, morbid text



Some days you are in
Some day you are out
Matter of how you feel
Or of luck, I guess

Anyway
I was just thinking
Wondering
Where the servers of Gmail are at
And what if?
They all get hurt
All of my gmail conversations would be gone

Just like that one time
While working in Mexico City at the Hard Rock Café
When by mistake I re-formatted a whole hard-drive
From a Mac
Full of designs and information
Those were the days when back-ups weren’t as common
Just a dumb mistake
But a very strange sensation of liberation as well
The data that was driving me crazy
And that absorbed many hours of my attention
In a jiffy… gone!
How fragile is information
And life for that matter, even more…

Anyway, but there are these days
When you ask yourself
About your properties and states of material states
I mean, you move from cities
Some friends keep and stay
Some people in your life just come easy
and then easy go away
Some others, luckily, stay,
Same with some family members
Lovers and friends…
All changes
even the things that don't move
they change, because they don't
paradoxical or stupid
but it is true



But there’s always this hard-to-let go feeling
Always the lost
And the possessive character of humans
Among the metaphysical, metaphorical and/or tangible properties
Always hard seems to be to change
To permute into another phase of yourself

So as I wonder where are my almost 2 GB of gmails living in this world
[I think close to the San Francisco area is actually where Google lives, so I guess around there…] anyway
I wonder too,
How wonderful might be the final let go of death!
I mean, I worry about if there are scratches on my CDS
Or if my photos are too dark
Or too bright
Or if I wrote you the proper lines for you to know how much I care
Or if I made the changes to the catalog OK
Of it was a bad decision to skip the gym today…

But one day…
All won’t matter anymore
One day
Like it or not
I will have to let go
No more problems with the bills or the money
No plans, no worries if I feel fat or lean,
No worries if the sony is fully charged
Or if I owe the IRS some more cash
No worries of my Mexican past
Nor of my American present
Nor of the future, even less, of course!
Of the future
I guess there’s no future once you are dead
Hard to tell…

One day
Just like that
No more worries
No more checking e-mails
No more balancing out the color levels of the pix
No more buying gas for the automovil…
No more veggies no more meat
One day
Kaput and just like that

Wonder if they have heaven-web-mail up there
Or an inferno-intranet…
I will wait and then check
Too bad, I don’t think I can come back and tell…

There are days to fly
There are days to face home

gummy crisis!

oh I ran out a while ago of the
Haribo Vampire Fruchtgummi mit Lakritz
the Vampires are my favorites
and of the
Katjes Tappsy - Licorice Pandas
of these guys
I like better the ones with white head
they are softer and yummy!
the ones with darker face are fine too!
Oh what I would give for any of these now



I tried to replace them with regular
gummy worms from a 7/Eleven store
and I love gummy bears and worms
but... I miss the Lakritz
& the company & smile that came with these nice
Lakritz candies...

Saturday, August 04, 2007

mehr der ghost-town

ghosts come & go at free will



sie scheinen wie glückliche Geister

sony alpha-100 campaign

or sony stunnin's make u stony

oh! my sony camera
my DSLR
i usually don't post many pictures of myself
but today
[and i already sent some
today i am stupid a bit...]



but these portraits show the happiness!!
came out like a sony alpha 100
in-altered-states campaign

so if you are a space cadet
as myself heh heh
the camera is a sony alpha-100
ah! so many hours of happiness
as shown



& danke! für alle deine Empfehlungen
deine Geduld und deine Zeit,
wenn ich es erhalten geholfen
ah...

Friday, August 03, 2007

lumps and smiles

amsterdam seems to hold a rather interesting population
unexpected conversations
little drops of others lives
mixing while traveling
confusing stories to recall
from the other world



some days pass easy
mainly when you have little aspirations
and a face to smile to

some other days get stuck in your soul
like a giant invisible lump
so hard to tear down
since not visible it is, you know?

as today, if i put together all those hours
all of my memories
all of my tears, my embraces, my smiles
the good and the bad times and
all of these mine stubborn words
that i have been writing for a while
then i have a little life to acknowledge
as today, 38 years
of smiles and lumps
i count

and my life’s so different
from what i picture it would be
not better, not worse
just different
and i wonder… how it will end
and where…

i just hope that stuck to my face
that last day of existence that i will encompass
will be a smile, some teeth shinning
on an open wide mouth
and not a lump of desperation
fixed on my eyes

i hope
i can always share
better if with you
one last smile

und dieses andere Pferd sagt...

ich bin ein Geistpferd auch!



ein weißes...

& then, he smiles,
for the photo, you know?