Harlequin

HOW SELFISH WE ARE

2010-01-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was not feeling good. I was in a blue mood. It was one of those days that you wake up and you know is going to be a hard one. One of those days in which all the things that are worrying you come to your head and do not let you see the lightness. The weather did not help either. It was cloudy and rained all day long.

In the afternoon, I had arranged to meet some friends. Not really “friends”, just people you know and you see time by time, but not the kind of friends you do not mind to meet whatever your mood is. And I did not feel like spending my time with that people yesterday, but I could not reject their invitation again. So I went knowing I would have to pretend I was happy to see them and I was interested in the evolution of their lives.

To take matters worse, when I was waiting for them where we had arranged, they phoned me saying they were half an hour late. I was tempted to say “ok, sorry but I have a lot of things to do, I go home, we meet another day”. But I did not. I decided to wait patiently for them and try to calm my angriness. And then was when I saw a blood donation van. I thought that way not, how I could while away my time better than donating blood. So I went in the van and let the professionals take half a litre of blood from my arm.

Everything was ok and I left the van after drinking a juice and eat some biscuits in a much better mood. If I were not human, I could think that the time I was lying in the stretcher waiting my blood to fill the bag helped me to relax and think more positively about life. But I am afraid I am human and the fact that I felt proud of myself for helping and having a gesture of solidarity, the fact that I was feeling good with myself for what I had just done, was what changed my mood yesterday. Sadly, this is the human condition, but sometimes it is of use to somebody.

See you Almudena!

2008-08-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Almudena Cid.
Congratulations for your 8th place in the Olympic Games.
Congratulations for your 4th Olympic Games.
Congratulations for your effort and professionalism.
And, of course, congratulations for your gymnastics career.
We hope you continue it in some way, because Gymnastics needs you.

Almudena Cid

Her Sunday afternoon

2008-06-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday after lunch. She has a lot of things to do, but she does not want to do anything. Today, she does not feel like cleaning the house, studying or visiting her parents. She only wants to sit on the sofa and watch the TV. And rest. And do not think. After a while, she finds something to watch. It is a film. She has seen it before and she knows that she likes it. So it is ok, it is going to make the time pass and she is not going to be disappointed.

But today something is different, because the film makes her cry. She has never cried before with this film, but today she just cannot stop crying. She asks herself why, the film is not a weepy. Maybe now, being older and more mature, she see aspects that she did not see the last time, or she understands new things that were hided for her before. She continues seeing the film with a weird feeling. She does not like being sad, but it is like if she is getting something off her chest. She asks herself again why today these scenes are making her cry.

The film ends. The final music sounds. She cannot read the credits because she has her eyes filled with tears. But she can listen to the song, Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton, and she realizes that she needed a Sunday afternoon like this. She does not ask again why today the film made her cry, because she knows it was not the film.

Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton: http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=VRsJlAJvOSM

THAT'S CHINA

2008-05-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Because of the earthquake, in some Chinese areas more of the 80% of the buildings have been smashed to pieces.

The new Olympic Swimming Pool in Beijing is one of the most advanced constructions from the architectural point of view.

Changes

2008-03-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

Do you welcome changes? Do you like not knowing what is going to happen? Or do you prefer a quite and under control life?

In the last time I am living changes. Not in my particular life, but around me, in my environment. Changes in other’s life. Maybe it is a sign. Maybe it is my time to change, to make my own changes, those that affect directly my life.

Changes usually frighten. I think this is the reason that makes us to have monotonous lives. I do not think I have a boring life. Of course I do change things, but they are superficial and little alterations. I need more. I need that big change that can make me feel excited, nervous, that makes me look forward to seeing the results. I need to give that step that differentiates your old life from a new one, the life you want to have, in which you are who make decisions. The life in which you decide when to change again.

So, definitely, I am talking about changing my life. That is a frightening one.

The new benches

2008-02-25T07:20:00.000-08:00

I like sitting on the new Diagonal subway stop benches, on the platform going to Cornellà. Have you sat there? They are very high, there is a big distance between the seat and the floor. So, even if you are a tall person, your legs hang and your feet do not touch the floor.

Your feet are free. You can move them forward and backwards, making circles, every foot in a different direction…You are not tied to the floor. It is like when you were a child. Wherever you sat, you had your feet in the air. You could move them, and you were not connected with the world. Now that we are adults and we are supposed to be serious and responsible, we have to have our feet quiet.

I like sitting there because I can feel like a child, moving my free feet as if I were free again.

AN UNCANNY STORY

2008-01-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

I gifted to my cousin a ticket to one hour of a reflexology massage (this kind of massage in which the practitioner can access to all the body by touching your feet).

The day she decided to go, she asked me to go with her, because we get on very well and we usually do things together, and because I had to pay for it. So I did, and while she was in the massage room I waited patiently reading magazines. One hour later, we came back home, she with a pleased face and me with a little less money in my wallet but with a little more knowledge of celebrities’ life.

I wanted to know how it was, so I asked her how do you feel when someone massages your feet, and she answered “well, it’s been very good, very relaxing, but I don’t know if it’s true that they can operate over the whole body, because the masseuse said that she felt something weird in my abdominal area, and she asked me if I have pain in my stomach or intestinal problems, and the truth is that I don’t”. So we walked home thinking that the reflexology massage is relaxing and makes you feel better only because they touch a very sensitive part of the body, the feet.

What was my surprise when, two weeks later, my cousin phoned telling me that she was five weeks pregnant.

2007-12-11T12:41:00.000-08:00

The Death Penalty

2007-12-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

It is obvious to everybody that there are several reasons to refuse the death penalty. For instance, the number of murders has not decreased (but increased), the murderer's death does not stop the victim’s family grief or that it is not clear if the person who receives the death penalty is going to suffer because of the mechanism used.

Personally, what I think is that one of the most important reasons is that a lot of people are found guilty by a miscarriage of justice. I will give two examples:

· People who do not have enough money to pay a good lawyer (or any lawyer): in the North-American trials it is very important to convince the jury of the defendant’s innocence with “beautiful” words said by a good lawyer. We just have to see the films and we will realize that this is sometimes more important than the proof.

· People who are Black or Hispanic: only because they are Black or Hispanic (or because they are not white) they have more possibilities of becoming guilty. People still have prejudices and a lot of persons really believe that no-white men and women are more dangerous or they can commit a crime easier than a white one. And, why do not say that, most of the society is racist.

Sadly, the two previous conditions usually go together, and poor Black or Hispanic people are a good target to show that the justice works and the “baddies” are caught.

But we have to remember that the death penalty is not only used in North-America. Although we like to criticize the US, we should consider also other countries’ ways of “doing justice”.

Conclusions

2007-11-28T04:45:00.000-08:00

"... you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference."

"Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle."

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

"Stay hungry, stay foolish."

Early Morning Country Road

These are the conclusions of the three stories Steve Jobs tells in his speech, and the final piece of advice he gives. They are beautiful and good ways of thinking in life (at least, they work for him).

My favourite is the last one -stay hungry, stay foolish- because I think it is the way of being young and alive.

What is your favourite? What do you think is the better piece of advice to follow?

NATURAL ... DISASTER?

2007-11-10T02:27:00.000-08:00

Something strange happened yesterday. After two weeks of heavy storm, a group of lightnings fell along the Mediterranean Spanish coast at the same time. From the north of Catalonia to the Strait of Gibraltar, all the cities were affected, being the worst effect in the most tourist regions, like Salou, Benidorm or Marbella, because the lightnings fell on big touristy hotels located beside the beach. The lightnings, that were more powerful than the ones we usually see in a normal storm, completely destroyed these hotels, that were smashed to pieces.

But the consequences were not as bad as it seems. The lightnings did not affect houses or public places. And, luckily, nobody was killed or injured because the hotels were empty (all the bookings for this week had been cancelled because of the terrible weather that is affecting the Iberian Peninsula in the last fortnight). The only damage was caused in the hotels and, obviously, in the hotel's owners wallet.

The people who usually live in the affected cities or villages are very shocked, but we have asked some people their opinions about the "disaster", and that is what they have said:

- Oh, well... it's not a disaster... you know? Now we can see the sea again, and sit and feel the breeze.

- Yeah. My father says that we'll loose money without tourists, but I think I'm on the same wavelength than my friend. Maybe now we can enjoy our villages and beaches.

- Yeah, yeah. And my neighbour, that's studying Biology or something like that, says that it's better for the "coast health". I don't know, I'm sorry for the people who worked in the hotel, but...

The scientists are trying to find a logical explanation for this weird phenomenon but, at the moment, they can't. Catholic people say that is a God's act, which is punishing the human behaviour. Naturalists say that is the Nature that is punishing humans for the way they exploit it.

We do not know what and why could cause that lightnings rain, never seen before. But maybe the golf courses owners should sign an insurance before another natural disaster takes place.

Piano and I

2007-10-18T11:06:00.001-07:00

"Piano & I". It is an Alicia Keys' song, from her first album "Songs in A minor".

I do not really like Alicia Keys or that song. What I like is the meaning: Piano and I. It is how I feel when I sit in front of my piano. It is, I play the piano.

I have an upright piano, and I love it. It is my first piano. Well, in fact, I first had a keyboard. But this is my first string piano. But my dream is to have a house with a big sitting room to put a big grand piano in the middle, with a maroon velvet sit, as brilliant as the piano.

I have been taking piano lessons for several years and I arrived at the point where you have to decide if you want to dedicate your life to play the piano, and spent a minumum of six hours per day perfecting your skill. I decided not to do this. I think I know enough to play the piano when I feel I need to play it. It is just a way to relax and enjoy the music. I like play the piano, but it is not my life. I think it is better: it is part of my life, and I can choose when or why to play it.

I have composed some songs. I let my feelings escape through my fingers and... a few sounds become a "song". Then, I put the notes on the stave. It is weird to see how, when you are sad, the new song is slow and low, and when you are happy, it is faster and more high-pitched.

Most of my songs are very bad, I admit it. But they are mine, and I like them, because they are my one's day mood or thoughts. And some of them are not so bad.

The truth is that I do not know how to compose. I would like it, but I do not know. It is like poetry. You have to be born with the talent. You can learn, but it will never be the same as people who have the talent.

And I do not have the talent to compose.

But I can play my piano.

2007-10-16T03:22:00.000-07:00

Presentation

2007-10-16T03:06:00.000-07:00

Harlequins are mysterious. They are smiling but, at the same time, they are crying.

Harlequins cannot speak, but they can see and hear, and it is enough to understand what happens around them, and to understand this complicated world.

The circus is where Harlequins feel better. But not simple or false circus, with two-head-women or bullet-men. No. Beautiful circus, incredible ones. With jugglers, magicians, trapeze artists, men who play with fire, women who make impossible human figures... and, of course, clowns.

In this kind of circus, full of colour and lights, Harlequins do their mysterious act. Not so funny as clowns, not so magical as magicians and not so risky as trapeze artists, but it is a lovely act which always makes people smile and feel affection towards them.

Harlequins are smart, well-dressed, serious. They are creative, dreamers, lonely.

And, at the end of their act, they are always trapped in an invisible box.

Maybe like me?

Welcome

2007-10-15T03:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Harlequin's blog.