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That strange feeling at the end of they year

As the holidays are about to arrive and people start getting ready for the long holiday vacations, 2016 also strikes in. And of course, new year’s resolutions can be a common topic around this time. Many people here at my work are counting the days for the holidays to start. I’m not. Although, a rest is always well received, I still don’t want 2015 to be over. I feel like time is going too fast. I still want to make the most of what is left of 2015, even if it’s only a couple of days.

I know that age and time are just numbers, but in certain ways, they always tick and remind me of my goals in life. This year was intensive, and I did many things during it. I really wanted to have my novel done in 2015. But I’m not there, and I will probably work on it for a couple of months more. In some way, I haven’t met this year’s resolutions and I can’t avoid feeling a little bit sad about this. Moreover, I’m finding it difficult to go back to my book. As you know from previous posts, I stopped writing for more than a month, and now, I find it hard to get back into the writing routine again. If it were me, I would try to finish the novel in these days. But I’m aware it’s not possible.

Do you usually have this feeling when it’s nearing the end of the year?

December 21, 2015
A Masquerade of Games

There are many self-help/improvement posts out there. I write a couple from time to time and read related posts whenever I have time. Mostly, they talk about the same life lessons and few actually catch my eye long enough to finish them. I believe that “layersofarose” did quite a good job with this one. With simple phrases we hear on an every day basis, the message stays true. I wanted to share it 🙂

December 7, 2015
I don’t give up

And I’m back. I’ve missed my blog so much. All this time I haven’t been able to write it because of an extra job. It finished and I’m ready to continue. I must confess it was hard, hard to stay ok these weeks because I was at the point of exhaustion and burnout. And many things in my life were left in a standby.

When you put so much hope into something, into a new career chance, it’s very hard to accept that at the end you didn’t get your chance. But life is like this. And I’m so grateful I had this opportunity because I’ve learnt I’m stronger that I think. I’ve learnt I can achieve everything, even if it doesn’t turn out like I always want. I’ve learnt that I can be as strong as steel and hardworking as million people together, and the most important thing I’ve learnt is that “I don’t give up”. I’m willing to accept those words are no longer part of my vocabulary.

I’ve learnt life is better when you learn things the hard way. It makes you tougher and ready for the next challenges. But mostly, I’ve learnt that this blog should never be left aside. I’m thankful for all the people I shared this blog with. I’m thankful that I have a way to connect to them. I’m thankful that my words are read.

December 3, 2015
Suicide Season

A monologue everybody should read and take into account…

September 25, 2015
Reading corners for booklovers

Most of us will grab our books from the bedside table at night and will probably fall asleep after a few quick minutes. But how could we not? Our bed is so comfortable and our day routines leave us generally so tired that our sheets, blankets and everything else lull us into the land of the dreams without even noticing. Unless of course you have insomnia or the book is so damn good that you’re afraid it’s going to be one of those nights where you won’t sleep… but that’s another topic. But let’s face it, unless you don’t feel tired, the bed is not always the best place for reading. And if you fall asleep while reading, how many times have you woken up to find the cover of your book bent, and twisted in between your sheets?

Reading is a special experience and I believe it’s a good idea to have a reading corner besides the bed. And if you have the space (you really don’t need much, that’s why it’s called “corner”) investing into it is definitely worthy.

We spend too much money in acquiring these magnificent couches to place them in front of the TV. Why shouldn’t we invest in a nice place for reading? A corner that drags you into this world of books and makes you want to spend Sunday afternoons or rainy days in it, with a cup of coffee on the other hand. And even if you don’t use it, they actually look awesome as decoration.

A clever idea is to find a place in your house/apartment/flat where you wouldn’t jeopardize too much space. If you have stairs, then you’re done. The pictures below can give you good ideas. Windows are also an incredible option. These images display some interesting ideas. I must confess I don’t have the proper credits for the pictures. They have resided in my computer for many years in a folder called “dreamed house” yeah, I know… but it’s good to dream (some day, maybe I’ll get to use all of them for real) Meanwhile, I continue feeding my inner interior decorator with the most tangible tool: Pinterest!

You don’t need too much furniture to improvise corners like these ones. Take advantage of some cushions with vibrant colors and textures. (they say bright colors are better… I couldn’t agree more). If you don’t have the possibility to have a window in the chosen space, you could install some lights under the stairs. In fact you don’t need a complex electrical installation, there all sorts of LED lamps and LED candles out there. Be aware you might also need curtains if you’re near a window, sometimes the reflection or the lightening from thunders (yeah, I had to think of all possibilities) could interrupt your reading. Or maybe you just don’t have a nice view, and you don’t feel like staring at a brick wall or having the sensation that a neighbor is eavesdropping at you (again I had to think of all situations here… please feel free to add more in the comments if you come up with something I haven’t thought of). Overall, when you build/install these corners, take into account two factors: lighting and comfort; this will help you submerge into your reading without any distractions.

Additionally, take into account that chair or couch you use is as comfortable as possible. You could take advantage of modern designs or retro chairs that could be as different as you want from the rest of the room, not only in design but in color as well. To enhance the place, you could use one of those standing lamps that not only look terrific in their design, but also help at the time of reading.

Another brilliant idea is to adapt your wardrobe or wall spaces, and make them into hidden and comfortable reading spaces for you. You can use them to distance yourself from the rest of the world, grab a book, and spend hours in it. Add some shelves and cushions inside this space (I bet you’ve realized that I love cushions) A lamp installed in the wall will also be a perfect addition to this reading closet.

And you, do you have any reading corners in your place? any other suggestions for these reading corners I have not taken into account? I’d love to hear from you.

August 20, 2015
The Pope is coming and I think I was an Eskimo in a previous life…

This may be one of the most random posts I’ve ever written. It’s just an ensemble of news/updates/internal realizations.

First, it’s quite surreal these days here in my country. Those days when you suddenly turn on CNN and the reporter is talking about the Pope visiting Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. You see, we’re never on the news, unless something terrible happened, and this time, we’re on them because of something good, for a chance.

Of course, everybody is excited, but I’ll just follow up all the events on TV. I happen not to live on one of the cities where the Pope will be arriving. And even though, many people are travelling to those cities (La Paz, Santa Cruz), at this point it’s very hard to organize a trip because everything is sold out (plane tickets, hotels, etc.)

Although, I’m a bit worried by the Pope’s arrival in El Alto (4000 meters above sea level… oh I may need to convert this for some readers 🙂 13123.36 feet above sea level (according to Google)) He’s scheduled to arrive this Wednesday and then go down to La Paz 12,087 altitude and then in less than 4 hours go back to El Alto. Did they think this well? (more…)

July 6, 2015
11 Hilarious jokes for this April Fool’s day… according to me

This is a fun post, no analyzing the depths of my soul, my writing struggles, or doing thorough reviews of movies and books (actually my reviews are far away from that …)

So April’s fool day is not known in my country, but since we’re all now “globally connected”, we can’t avoid getting exposed to it.

I loved these ones for this year:

This one is from Tesco. Wouldn’t it be cool not only to reach the top shelves by jumping but also to navigate the supermarket with long strides? Of course, I can imagine when the place gets crowded, you could risk of bumping into another with a “little bit” of impulse/force.

A smart knife? We may laugh now but who knows! maybe the knife could tell us the amount of pressure to cut something, or the number of times we need to finish cutting an onion. Maybe the knife could alert us when we’re cutting those tomato squares wrong, or when we’re grabbing the handle wrong … I can start imagining a sort of app with the gravatar of your choice that tells you: You missed that! That chunk is too big! 😀

Ever been to the London Eye? Well, it’s absolutely amazing! but it takes aprox. 40 minutes to take the whole ride around. It’s not boring … but I wouldn’t do it twice. Wouldn’t it be better to have a zero gravity feature inside each capsule? I think it’s time to update these capsules! Only one tip, as girls we’ll have to be careful not to wear dresses or skirts on our visits… unless you don’t mind flashing underwear 😀

This one if from Virgin Trains. Now, I seldom use trains, but I know many places where people use them everyday to commute. On long journeys, it’s nice to delve into a book, but sometimes, the time spent there could be more useful… remember how we always seem to find the “no time” excuse for not going to the gym? Well, how about a gym on wheels while we commute back home? (It could be on the way to work, but showers would need to be a must inside the train) It’s actually a cool idea.

I don’t know how useful is this one from Domino’s pizza. But hell, doesn’t it look awesome? I could definitely see myself ordering pizza just to have one of this cool robots delivering pizza to my place. They kind of look like Eva on a bike from the Wall-E movie right?

This one is where you say: “Oh come on! you’ve got to be kidding!” yep, I would never see myself liking or using this. Unfortunately, our technology frenzy times are so crazy, that I can see some people actually thinking about developing this reversed toilet… Just one tip, never use the camera with this, come on, is disgusting!

Actually, I see this one being developed in the future. Many people out there are obsessed with tanning (not me) and I know these spray showers exist everywhere (even the girls who go to these beauty pageants use it! grr…) But no matter how against I’m into this, I can see some shower appliances with an extra feature for adding the tanning spray and I definitely see people buying it.

Lol! I would buy this one for all my friends who are on diet! just to see their faces (the evil inside me 😀 ) what I really like is the message attached to it “Because it’s not always what’s on the inside that counts”, yep but the interior of my Toblerone is sacred! 😀

Of course, this one is stupid, but it’s just so ironic! In our empty-brained digital social media era, I just can’t avoid feeling that this could actually happen sometime in the future (less the Holiday win, if that ever happened, I would just give up on Humanity) Just an irony of what’s happening in our daily lives as we see ourselves influenced and almost totally controlled by the power of social media.

Now, don’t laugh! Some people actually love the smell of their favorite smoking hamburger and wouldn’t mind using this perfume … (Not me I swear!)

Now, this one if my favorite! This one is from shoe store Miz Mooz (if the store wasn’t that know before, now it’s got it’s fifteen minutes of fame) It’s just so damn hilarious, and stupid, and funny. It’s a satire of how ridiculous we look when we take selfies (Yes, I’m not into selfies…)

Which one do you like the best? which one was the worst? Did you get a hold of another one that was also hilarious?

April 1, 2015
The X Files is coming back!

The X Files is coming back! Yeah you heard it, it’s not April fool day (I double checked that) but it’s just one of those news you expect to live in your fan/geek hopes. I mean, I was a teenager when the show was on and it was a cult series, the sort that had people going nuts everywhere. I think it was one of the first TV shows that had a cult following on internet. I was so nerd about it that I’m already starting to reload all my geek/nerd genes to start freaking out again!

I think every XPhile out there (the name of the fans) must be celebrating right now, not only because we’ll have more of Mulder of Scully but also because we’ve always wondered: what if they decided to come back and do the show again?

When the X Files second movie came in 2008 (I want to believe), there was a mix of feelings, many were excited about seeing their favorite TV show ever, but many others were not totally convinced with the movie storyline. Let’s face it; it was not that good, not even for me. But we deeply craved for more of the X Files. Many out there were keen to say, this does not work as movie, but the TV series will always work better. Well, now you’ve got your wish come true.

And, although this blog may not be for those who are hardcore fans of the X Files, I wanted to take the opportunity to invite you to a new blog dedicated to the TV series: The X Files 2015 where we’ll start reviewing the episodes in much anticipation for the coming new episodes (which will be next season, according to FOX: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/03/24/x-files-officially-returning-to-fox-in-summer-2015/ ) and if you’re not a fan of The X Files but you know who might be, please share the blog 🙂 Thanks!

March 24, 2015
February is for slowing down…

February is for slowing down….

Slow down, should be my mojo for February now. Sometimes you can be so motivated, so full of energy, that you don’t pause to breath and risk of wearing yourself out.

February 4, 2015
2014 in review – according to WordPress 🙂

I liked this WordPress report, the comparisons amused me, but more than anything I liked it because it felt optimistic and true. I got another report on Facebook but I didn’t like it, it felt odd and just related on how many social gatherings and pictures I had uploaded, since I haven’t done much of that, a couple of ads where people tagged my name appeared on my report, weird…

I intended to write a huge inspirational blog for this end of the year but I think I will just summarized it to this:

2014 was my best year ever! I grew as a person, I discover who I wanted to be for the rest of my life, I got the courage to start pursuing my dream, and the best part of it, I persisted! achieving wonderful results, getting a full manuscript of a novel, getting a wonderful blog, and connecting with awesome people around the world who have been supportive and have encouraged me to pursue my dreams.

So, I just want to wish everybody A VERY HAPPY AND WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,100 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 52 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

December 31, 2014