Words of wisdom #1

3 questions I can not answer

1. Would you choose food or sex?
2. Would you prefer money or fame?
3. What kind of music do you like?

La, la, la

Music is not my thing and I have no particular knowledge. Still, here are -in random order- the 10 songs that I kept listening the last two years:

1. Rapunzel - Novak
2. Oh well - Fiona Apple
3. Secret - The Pierces
4. Us - Regina Spector
5. Fairy tales - Cayetano
6. Her morning elegance - Oren Lavie
7. Siempre me quedara - Bebe
8. Rayuela - Gotan Project
9. La vida es un carnaval - Celia Cruz
10. Llamado de emergencia - Daddy Yankee

The day I've been waiting

I decided to study English Language and Literature because I wanted to combine my two loves -books and languages- and become a literary translator. Since 2001, I've been saying that one day, you will see something where my name will appear after the "translation" word. I had to wait long, but it finally arrived. Let's hope this will be the start, but even if it doesn't, at least I can now tick it off my bucket list.

You Don't Know What Love Is

You don’t know what love is
but you know how to raise it in me
like a dead girl winched up from a river. How to
wash off the sludge, the stench of our past.
How to start clean. This love even sits up
and blinks; amazed, she takes a few shaky steps.
Any day now she’ll try to eat solid food. She’ll want
to get into a fast car, one low to the ground, and drive
to some cinderblock shithole in the desert
where she can drink and get sick and then
dance in nothing but her underwear. You know
where she’s headed, you know she’ll wake up
with an ache she can’t locate and no money
and a terrible thirst. So to hell
with your warm hands sliding inside my shirt
and your tongue down my throat
like an oxygen tube. Cover me
in black plastic. Let the mourners through.

Kim Addonizio

On knitting & relaxing

Have you noticed the huge come-back of knitting the last years? Have you heard how relaxing and stress-free people say it is?

Well, I tried to learn. Stress-free and relaxing - are you kidding me? After 15 minutes, I wanted to scream, after 30 minutes I wanted to get the scissors and show the thread who the boss is and after 1 hour, I wanted to wrap the disappointing result around my throat and choke myself.

So, here is the truth: knitting is relaxing when you ALREADY know how to knit and it's no use if you need immediate solutions to get rid of your stress and nerves. (Sorry if I disappoint. I, too, had high hopes for this one).

Argh..

I'm telling you, if I get any angrier, my explosion will create a new universe (don't know yet if it will be a parallel one or if it will replace the one we are living in). But, you know me, I get angry for the little things*, like friends and betrayals.

I know, I know: the concept of “betrayal” differs from one another; there is no objectivity when it comes to personal relationships; blah, blah; but still! I think my two examples cannot be doubted.

No1: Gossiping behind my back, especially to the people they shouldn’t and especially when I explicitly asked them to keep their mouth shut.
No2: Hitting on my boyfriend – if you fell for him, come and tell me, we’ll talk it out and we’ll find a solution; even though some solutions might not keep the flame of our friendship burning (e.g. “Let the best one win”), at least you will never be accused of betrayal.

Anyway, it happened.
I thought about it for days.
I found one solution: be sincere and talk about it.
I did it.

Here is what I learnt:

1. You cannot have serious discussions with non-serious people.
2. It’s true: never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
3. Don’t bother with revenge, don’t fall to their level. Let karma kick their asses.

* I admit that sometimes I do get angry for the little things, like losing at games, but I have learnt to handle it and hide it and I don’t mind it that much after all, even though some people who know me well believe the opposite and insist to warn the others every time we play.