Almost done

Merry Christmas readers, hope all is well. I am at home, in Mexico City, enjoying a balmy 19 degrees, so yes its cold, quite cold for Mexico. But it is the day after Christmas and I am done with the two administrative things I needed to get done here, getting my work visa done and renewing my passport. The first one was a sad reminder of the difficulties in the relationship between Mexico and the US, and my personal relationship with my chosen place of residence. Yes it is sad, but I have never felt more violated, in the sense that I had to wait for 4 hours to pay 100 USD and get a visa. Yes I know that is the process, and I am happy in the DC and all that, but when a consulate anywhere in the world puts you through a 5 hour process just to renew a visa, well it pisses you off. But I am done and I am trying to focus on the positive.

Mexico is cold but beautiful, a huge city which plays to my main advantage I love to plan ahead, and in this city, if you do not plan ahead you get nothing done because the distances are so big that one needs to arrange for transportation. So far I have not managed to send the belated Christmas cards, or bought some gifts, but I saw my friends from college and my family.

I was planning on writing this long essay on immigration and stuff, but after getting some lunch and sitting for a bit I have decided that it is not worth it, I just wanted to wish everyone the best for New Years, I hope you all enjoy the reminder of the year and I will see you all back in Washington next week.

Still here

Finally home, no christmas cards yet ... will have to change the format this year.

Only had 3 hours of sleep, had to go to renew my visa and my plane got in late more tomorrow

MIA

Hey, today I am running around all day doing errands - code for shopping, wish me luck cuz I am going to need it. I am on my way to the mall as soon as I get some work stuff done from home, see I am not that bad after all.

Unhappy morning

I had some funny storied, but I forgot them instead will tell you the little problems I faced this morning, riveting I know:

1. Don’t you hate when u have not put on your contacts, and realize too late that the plastic shower liner is outside of the tub, and not inside, and that you have made a mess of the bathroom, hours after the cleaning lady had cleaned it? It happened to day, as I was happily shaving away away – I have been shaving since I am 12, so I can do it with eyes closed hence the lack of contacts in the shower – I realize that the both shower curtains are on the outside, which mean a little sea of water awaited me as I stepped out to put on my contacts and realize my stupid mistake. Argggggg

2. Hate coming home late from a last class graduation party, having to park all the way around from you usually park and then have to walk to your car in the morning carrying, a bagel, coffee and your work bag under the rain? Yes another beautiful way for me to start my day.

3. The today show, I turn it on to check the weather but always manage to waste 30 minutes of time following a story on random things such as how to trim your Christmas tree, no pun intended, I know how to trim see above note on shaving, I am too lazy to do it, that is a different story all together, or an interview with Mohammed Al-Fayed. This 30 minutes mean that I get in at 9 and not 8:30, but today because someone was building something in McLean, it meant I got in at 9:30, wasting a total of 1.5 hours driving. To top it all off, no interesting NPR story to post about, how fair is that ?

On other news yesterday was the 475 anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe – do not be afraid, this is not another religious posting – and mention it because officially in Mexico at least this means the end of the year or what we call the Bridge “Guadalupe-Reyes”, in Spanish when we refer to this bridge we mean the month between the 12^th of December and the 6^th of January, when the holidays are celebrated, and nothing, gets done. So as of today we should all be going to parties, getting in the spirit of the season (yes that includes Taylor and the Scientist) and just merrily stop working till we all come back in January and try to go to the gym at the same time.

Friday Miscellanous

Because here at knitting we also attempt to be cultural, like at Gay Canuck, today, for your consideration, and because I am lazy and have no time to post, I am notifying you that archeologists have found in Rome what appears to be the sarcophagus of St. Paul. This is important to me because Paul is Pablo, and that is my name. Ooops there goes my anonymity, oh well. I have always liked St Paul not just because we share a name but because he was the saint, who westernized early Christianity and who basically sold it to the Roman Empire outside of Judea, so he was pretty important in coming up with all the basic concepts that have formed the western world. It is because of this that when you go to any Catholic Mass, on of the reading is always from a letter of Paul to so and so. This man wrote profusely, and then someone managed to keep these letters for thousands of year. But seriously, he wrote to the Corinthians, and the Thessalonians and many more, and unfortunately he was the one who started many of the negative ideas of the catholic church, such as the unequal treatment of women and the hatred against other religions and he basically set up a network of churches across the Mediterranean Sea from which the Church could grow, and indeed it did. Ok, enough of the history lesson, if you want to know more click in the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6219656.stm

In other news, this weekend and next are going to be crazy, not sure when I am going to get all the things I need to get done, done and then manage to go on a couple of dates. Ahh the life of the modern homosexual!

Which reindeer are ya ?

Ok, so reading I was Taylor's blog and he had this little test about which reindeer you are, I am comet, see bellow, but which reindeer are y'all people, I want to know. Also I am really busy, so no time for posting. Thanks Taylor!!

You Are Comet

A total daredevil, you're the reindeer with an edge! Why You're Naughty: You almost gave Santa a heart attack when you took him sky diving Why You're Nice: You always make sure the sleigh is going warp speed

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

It is the little things, indeed

It is Wednesday and it’s a bleh day, yes nothing going on, stressed about the holiday’s and all the stuff that needs to be done before they arrive. This is the one year where I have not done much yet, so need to get gifts, and write cards and pack and prepare documentation – yes we non alien residents always have to prepare documentation when we travel, because you never know what Immigration will ask for at the point of entry when we are coming back. It is all overwhelming and stressful, last night; I left the office at 6 pm, got home at 6:50 or so with a throbbing headache. So there was no gym, or nothing, it was cold out, so I stayed in and pondered. This does not sound like me you say, well indeed it does not, when have I stayed in voluntarily, never, except that I was already in my pj’s by 8, listening to the food network and wasting time online.

But this morning I open the Washington Post and read that there is going to be a new Mexican Restaurant in town, it will be called “Casa Oaxaca” and it will be in Adams Morgan. Suddenly all the worries fade away, because it will be run by the same people that run Guajillo in Arlington, and that alone is a promise of real Mexican food. Yum, yum, yum, I mean real Mexican food, not Lauriol Plaza Mexican food, not fancy over priced Rosa Mexicano food, no Taco-Hell imitation food, but real Mexican food. It will be open for Valentine’s day next year and you betcha I am having a date with myself as soon as I can get myself down to 18^th street to patronize my people.

As usually this piece of news, will keep me going for a couple days until I either get my shopping done, finish what I am doing for work or start mailing cards.

The power of music

I have never been a big fan of concerts, never been a music junkie, or someone who will go out of his way or pocket to go see an artist perform live. Call me cheap, but that is the way I have always been. As a teenager, I would shrug at the idea of camping out of Mixup (Mexico’s version of Tower Records) to buy an album or get tickets for a concert, especially if the price was astronomical. I never got it. I remember my friends going to see Madonna, or the Metallica – yes there are some rockers in Mexico too, I now will not accept any association with them, but some of them were my friends – or whomever and I just never cared.
In the last 7 years in DC, I have been to concerts, but I prefer theater to concerts there is something about sitting there listening to music I am not sure I am going to like, that makes me cringe. Maybe it’s the sitting down and doing nothing that drives me nuts, you knows? Yesterday, the cowboy invited me to a Christmas concert, at the DAR Constitution Hall. I have always loved holiday music, it’s the fag in me, I have always been excited by shiny things and nothing brings back memories of Christmas and ornaments and good time as carols and Christmas standards. Of course I said yes and even left work a bit early to make it to dinner before the concert.
We got to the Hall, and being the cynic I am my first thought was how do I get in with the Daughters of the American Revolution? What kind of club are they? Where do I fill in my application? Then I proceeded to check everything and everyone around us out. The Hall is pretty, the lay out is different, at least from the concert halls I know. So we sat down, the Boston Pops all were seated waiting for they very gay director, Keith something or other, who should not wear red blouses, no man should, but his red blouse was just not pretty. All these ideas are going through my mind when all of a sudden the music begins. The lights dim down, and the orchestra starts playing I could not recognize the music, but then the chorus starts, and it was the Gloria, beautifully done. And my attention was focused; it went from all the little details, to the music itself. After a couple of songs, one of the blockbuster songs of the evening was interpreted, none other than Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah, and then in one instant I was reminded why people pay to see music being played live. As the chorus rouse and sang:

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
> >Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

I got goose bumps all over and my mind started following the music, up and down, up and down. It was powerful; it put me at ease and made me realize how powerful and emotional a good live staging can be. So there, I am now converted, not that I will start going to concerts all the time, but I finally got why people keep going to concerts halls instead of staying at home with the ipod or the cd player.