SOPA

Everyone’s talking about SOPA now!

Let’s analyze this for 5 minutes.. if I steal your car, then you don’t have a car anymore, if I copy your car, then you still have your car and I have a car also. So how can copy something be made illegal?  It seems we have redefined the word stealing to fit the economic interests of the 1% up there. They used to burn books now they close websites.

If I remember right (that’s how much research I’m putting into this entry) there are something like 200 countries on this planet and 5% of them actually cares about copyright laws, USA, UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, and a handful more, the ones that are wealthy enough that they don’t need to worry about surviving anymore and can worry about making life difficult for those who are still surviving.

So the other 95% of countries on this planet, including the one I grew up in, the one I’m now, the ones I’ve spent most of my life at and the ones most of my friends are at right now, don’t really care about SOPA, or copyright laws because they have enough problems already struggling to pay for rent, food or just make ends meet.

Our rules used to be, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t kill, and now we have thousands of laws that we can’t even keep track of.

And not even the lawyers can know all the laws because there are just too many, so you will always be breaking some of them without even noticing it. Especially when traveling, most countries have their own idiotic laws that you’ve probably never even heard of and you are breaking right now.

And with this SOPA thing, same as with pretty much everything, in the end, it all comes down to a left vs right debate. Conservative people will say yes to SOPA and progressive people will say no, as usual. But we know progressive liberal freethinkers are usually not the ones in power.

If I’m an artist, I make art because I like it and I want to share it with the world. I don’t do it to make money. I do it because I want to make other people happy, thus making myself happy.

I’m not saying all the musicians should play for free and the painters should paint for free, but these laws only protect the big record labels and Hollywood studios, which have billions already and don’t need to keep leeching from us.

So yeah, copyright whatever, the point I wanted to make in this post was this: shouldn’t we take care of the basic needs of our fellow humans instead of worrying about copyright laws?

Shouldn’t we make sure the basic needs of food, shelter, health, and education are covered for all the people on this planet before worrying about who’s copying some silly song or movie?

Of course, it’s terrible that our freedom gets raped by our governments once again. But we should set up some priorities.

I probably wouldn’t mind that they censor the ways of entertainment, communicating and expressing ourselves if they make sure everyone has food, water, health and happiness on this planet.

Ok, I lie, probably I would mind, just not as much as I do now.

 

about this blog

I’m actually very surprised to see that some days there are like 50 people reading this blog in just one day (mostly Russians for some reason).

I was writing this as a way of letting some things out, things that were inside me and needed to get out somehow, but I never actually thought somebody would read it.

And now people are reacting to it, and sometimes they email me they thoughts and comments, on one hand, its great, it helps me grow, but on the other, I feel so much pressure, because I think “oh, so many people read it so I should try to make some sense”.

I wanted to let things go, so if things are already written here, then there’s more space in my mind for new things to come up.

But I can’t. I really can’t. I can’t inspire anyone, I can’t lead anyone, I can barely take care of myself.

So don’t expect much and you won’t be disappointing.

I got some nice drafts, but most times I don’t know what I’m doing. I want to try to write every day, even if it’s just a bit because I figured if I write every day I’ll eventually get good at it, but sometimes the internet is down, and sometimes I’m not at home.

I’m also confused, insecure and have many doubts, same as everyone.

Sometimes I think I’ve figured out some things but then I forget them.

And I’m actually surprised that there are so many Russians reading this. I want to go to Russia so badly, and I think that will be my next destination for the sole fact that I’ve never been there and I’m curious as to how things are over there.

Russia is the mysterious land for me, especially after I read about the Dylatov pass incident, I still dont know what to make of it.

If for some reason you feel like you want to get to know me more, just keep reading, but don’t expect much because the coming posts may not make much sense to anyone but me.

Don’t take everything too seriously though, sometimes I make things up, some things need to be adapted into a story or a dialogue for them to be easier to read and understand.

and yes, thanks for reading~

Ready to die

I”m ready to die.

It’s hard to say that! Well not really, not for me, but it’s hard to imagine the reaction other people will have when they read those words.

For most people I know, death is still something super taboo. Nobody wants to talk about it.

And the reaction they have in western culture is still quite retarded.

Instead of seeing it as a part of life they see it as a devastating catastrophe and a reason to cry and get depressed about.

In my case, I was already ready to die when I stooped having medical insurance (or resources to pay for medical treatment) back in 2007. And (in my mind) I became a person with nothing to lose.

A person that can take on the world without worrying about its own safety.

And while getting rid of the 2 most popular fears among people (fear of dying or getting sick and fear of having no money or having to live on the streets), I got not much left to worry about.

I’ve already lived with no money, slept in the streets and found my food in the garbage, I’ve already felt cold, rejected and lonely.

And on the other hand, I felt so many nice things sometimes also, I felt loved, felt free, felt happy and in harmony with the universe and with myself.

and I achieved a state of consciousness in the one I can value my life, appreciate it and try to enjoy every day while at the same time,  willing to die or to accept my faith as it is.

I went to all the places I wanted to go and did everything I wanted to do.

So what’s left? either relaxing and enjoying the rest or sacrificing for a cause I consider fair.

It’s illegal for foreigners to engage in any kind of political activity in Korea, so when I was going to the protest most times I knew I could die or get thrown into jail and tortured for life as a political prisoner or something.

But I thought wtf, this is the right thing to do, so bring on the water cannon!

If they kill me, well, they kill a person, but they can’t kill an idea, they cant kill an idea whose time has come 🙂

I was lucky that nothing serious ever happened to me so I can be writing this now.

But I should warn my family and friends that things are about to get serious: global crisis, revolution and maybe even some paranormal stuff.

And I’m not just going to sit at home and ignore it. so you have to be prepared to accept that I’m not gonna be around forever and that the current global issues may require for some of us to make some sacrifices.

Futbol

Today someone asked me if I liked Football and I remember as a youngster when people used to ask me that every day.

As most of you may know already, I happened to have grown up in one one of the countries more obsessed with football: Argentina.

But I’ve always hated it!

I’m a social person though so I wouldn’t say no to a friendly match among good friends, but I despise the commercial aspect of sports.

I despise the fact that some football players from Brazil,  Argentina, etc, make millions of dollars while at the same time, in those same countries people are unemployed and die of starvation every day.

And what I despised even more, is that everyone seems to think that’s ok, because that’s just the way it is. And people, especially poor people, keep supporting those sports, give the few pesos they have to buy a ticket or a t-shirt, so the football clubs can get even more billions that what they already have and poor people sometimes even give their lives to support that sport.

Unless you’ve lived in Latin America, you can’t imagine how much violence sports generate, and again, everyone thinks that’s ok, that’s just how it is. and I always seem to be the only one who’s off for not supporting it.

And again, unless you had grown up in Latin America, you can’t imagine how much peer pressure there is for you to join a local club, cheer for them, fight for them and support them financially.

In my hometown (Rosario) there were 2 local clubs Rosario central and newells old boys.

They are both the same of course, lots of guys running around with a football, the only difference was that their t-shirts were of different colours. One of them was red and the other one was yellow.

And that tiny difference was the only excuse people needed to start a fist fight or draw their guns or knives against the people who for some reason had decided to follow the team that had a different color t-shirt. Even though a player plays one year for a country and the next year for their rival.

And my dad wanted me to follow newells old boys and my mother wanted me to follow Rosario central, and all my friends wanted me to follow their teams, and I was like WTF!?

Everyone will ask (always) “de que cuadro sos?” (what team do you belong to?) and there’s no right answer to that question, well if they are wearing the shirt of that team is easy, you just say you belong to that team.

But if they weren’t wearing anything that gives them away you had to pray you get it right, because if you happen to belong to the opposite team you in for a fight.

And If I say I dont like football, they will say “what, are you gay?” which means you’re also in for a fight because football fans are not usually famous for their progressive sexual ideas.

What is with all this Football business?

 

After 8 PM

Jenny said something very important to me once, she said: “everyone’s nicer to each other after 8 PM”.

If you want to ask someone for a favor or have a serious conversation it’s always better to do it after 8 PM.

But on the other hand, we’re also more emotional and vulnerable, so definitely not a good time for breaking bad news.

And if it’s after 8 PM and if it’s raining even better.

Rain starts: Switch to deep thoughts mode.

So it’s a good time to start asking yourself: What’s the meaning of life? Why do I exist? Are we alone in the universe?

If anyone is ever to find the answer to any of those questions you can be sure it will be on a cold rainy day, sometime after 8 PM.

8 PM: Walking on the beach. Nothing to worry about. Just you, the starts, the moon, the wind, and the sea.

That’s it. No need to worry about the meaning of life. This is it, this is the meaning of life.

Look around. Lay on the sand. Gaze at the stars. Feel the breeze. Swim in the ocean. Take a deep breath. Feel in harmony. Connect with the universe. Feel alive.

And be nice to everyone, because it’s 8 PM already.

 

Poligamy

I met a girl once. And was really really into her, thought of her all the time, tried to see her often, wrote her every day, brought her a gift every time i met her and tried to make every moment we spent together a special one.

Would have done anything for her.

She made me want to be a better person, she inspired me. And every time I was with her I couldn’t help but smile and being nice to everyone.

She made me feel so confident about myself and about what we had, that I told her I didn’t want a relationship based on possessiveness or jealousy, so if she wanted to see other guys I was cool with it.

And that I was with her because I wanted to be with her, without any conditions and without expecting anything from her, In my mind that was the theory for a successful relationship. Being with someone despite the world, accepting them how they are. Instead of being with someone only if… they have sex just with you, only if… they care about you or if… they do this and do that and they are exactly the way you want them to be.

But actually (i realized so very late that) when I said that to her I was unconsciously expecting her to say something like “I don’t need anyone else, I’m happy with you” but of course she didn’t say that she started seeing someone else on the side instead.

And then she told me and said “you said you wouldn’t mind” and I was like f***k, she’s right! I was the one who said it was ok in the first place. But I only said it because I thought she wouldn’t do it and I wanted to look so open minded and self-confident. She wasn’t cheating or doing anything wrong and I had absolutely no reason to get mad at her.

But still, I reacted like I was in a Kevin Smith’s movie, dumped her and never saw her again.

The days after that were just hell, crying, insomnia and my stomach was sick, like that song from The Killers. I’m sure most of you’ve been there before and know that feeling.

So that was when I realized I wasn’t ready for an open relationship yet, I thought I was but wasn’t mature enough yet, not even close.

And I thought f***k, I spend so much time trying to be in control of my emotions, so much time trying to get rid of all the negative feelings, like greed, hatred, anger, jealousy. So much time trying to think and act in the most logical and rational way possible.

This shouldn’t be happening to me, not to me (I thought) I’m stronger than this, I’m better than this.

Polygamy makes sense! for a number of reasons, I know that in theory, so I thought I could handle the practice. Because it was the logical thing to do.

She hadn’t done anything wrong, she only did something that made her feel good, having sex with someone else, getting pleasure, being happy. Sex makes us happy. Affection makes us happy. To all of us. No one can deny that.

So I should have been happy that she was happy and she was doing something that was good for her and should have kept enjoying the good times we were having together, that was the logical thing to do.

But I couldn’t and I had a dilemma, I’d been betrayed by my own beliefs and wasn’t able to walk the talk.

And well… In the end, that girl taught me I was actually much weaker than I thought and not so liberal and open-minded as I wish I was.

I usually act cold, like I don’t need anything or anyone like I don’t care about anything.

But actually, I do.

I do care, I just haven’t learned how to show it yet.

Dinosaurs

Every time look at the horizon on the deserts of Australia, or when I see the vast tropical jungles in SE Asia. I can’t help but see all the dinosaurs roaming around freely like they were still here.

Diplodocus eating from those huge palm trees, plesiosaurus swimming in the sea, the pterosaurs surveying the skies and how our planet was, 160.000.000 years ago.

160.000.000 it’s such a large number that I still can’t really feel comfortable thinking about it.

I can imagine the Aztecs, Egyptians, or Sumerians 2.000 or 10.000 years ago and making a huuuge effort i could imagine the neanderthal, man of java or even the Australopithecus 3.000.000 years ago.

I will live maybe 60 more years, so most times I can’t really wrap my head around the concept that some creatures existed in this same place I’m standing right now but 160.000.000 years ago. It’s just too long ago!

But some other times, I can see them, as if they were still here with us at the same time.

Maybe the only reason why I still see them roaming wildly is because they are not here anymore, so I miss them.

Probably if they were still around I wouldn’t pay much attention to them.

I know it’s the cycle of life and they had to die, but I wish they hadn’t, and I wish they were still here with me now…

Talking to strangers

I wish I had a camera or one of those new phones that can take pictures so I could put pictures or videos on the posts here.

Last time I had a camera it was in 2005, I remember because it was very big! I think Mike gave it to me as a present and I was so very excited about it!!
For like 3 weeks.

But if I had one of those smartphones I would probably be like this people:

I always seem to be the only one who thinks there’s something wrong with those pictures.

We have lost our humanity!!!

I don’t reject technology at all, it makes our lives easier most of the times, but in Korea and Japan, it’s just too much! We have become slaves of the machines we built. But seriously:

Y U NO TALK TO EACH OTHER???

There was a campaign last year in OZ to encourage individuals to be friendly to each other on the trains, it said to start with a simple “how was your day?” and it explained how you could make someone’s day by just showing a bit of interest in their life.

and nononono, I’m not homesick at all, I love Korea, I really do, that’s why I live here, but I do miss a bit the chance of striking conversations on public transport in the UK or Australia without people thinking I’m a creep or I have some ulterior motives.

I think it’s very helpful talking or getting advice from strangers because they don’t know you so well, so they can be more objective than your close friends.

I’ll always remember once I was on a bus on the Scotish countryside, and there was this old man, in his 80’s sitting next to me, so we started chatting, he asked me where are you from, how long have you been here, the usual, and then he asked me: “what do you think of scotish people?” I said “they are so nice to me, I almost can’t believe it” and he asked, “do you know why they’re nice?” I said No.
“Because you’re nice” he replied.

Non-Coffee Shop Friends

In the few months I’ve been in Korea, only managed to make 2 non-coffee shop friends, but today one of them left, Maxi went traveling for a few months, so now only Okkeun’s left. And he will also go traveling next month :((((

A non-coffee shop friend is a friend I can meet outside the coffee shop. Meaning there is no need to meet at a loud and crowded location, like a coffee shop, bar, restaurant.

Non-coffee shop friends are the ones that can come over to my place or I can go to theirs, we can cook together, watch a movie, have a cup of tea, play some games or just talk.

With the coffee shop friends, you always need to spend money, because they don’t hang out at free places, like parks or libraries or each other’s places. So I usually try to avoid them. Not because I’m cheap or anything, but because the less money I spend, the more time I get to live without working and doing things I like, if I go to the coffee shop or dine out every day I’ll probably go bankrupt in a few weeks.
And I don’t even like coffee, why do I have to pay 5 or 7 dollars for something I can get for free at home?

In Europe, Australia and South America 95% of my friends were non-coffee shop friends (maybe not 95%, I just really really like statistics) but in Asia, that percentage drops down to less than 5% of my friends. For example in Japan, I was there for almost 6 months and managed to make only 1 non-coffee shop friend, only one! (referring to the locals, western friends are usually non-coffee shop)

But.. Joint consumption doesn’t bring intimacy… joint creativity does!!

I hate living in the past, but actually I really really miss Argentina, where my friends would come over at least few times a week for a game of Tekken and they’d bring pizza and we would stay up playing until 5 in the morning and then go to sleep all together in some joint mattresses on the floor, maybe 10 people in 3 mattresses, those were good times!

Or in Germany where Patryk or Jurgen would drop by for a cup of tea every time they were around and then went play frisbee in the park, and then cooking everyone together and playing UNO and for a bike ride. Those were awesome times!

In Korea or Japan, is just meeting at the entrance of the subway, walking 10mts and sitting at the coffee shop.. for 2 hours…

 

 

About Couchsurfing 2

One more thing I learned thanks to Couchsurfing was to feel good about giving and receiving.

As I mentioned in a previous post, most people I know are on Couchsurfing, so are most of my best friends.

It didn’t happen from one day to the other, took many years and this is how it started:

Before I joined CS, I always felt ashamed of receiving without giving something in exchange, and I thought the pay it forward concept was not realistic in the materialistic society I was living in.

But while living in Germany, I had the chance to learn how to give, by hosting so many Couchsurfers at my place, I wasn’t getting anything in exchange, and that’s what made me feel good.

When I had to work to get money it felt wrong, like when I used money to buy stuff, I killed the intimacy and the connection between people. If you have money to pay rent, to buy food and buy stuff, you don’t really need anybody or at least that’s how I felt sometimes, because I could just buy anything and had no need for people’s gifts.

But now I know I need the gifts, not because I’m poor but because they make me happy.

One year after that when I started traveling and staying at people’s places I learned how to receive, and yes, at the beginning it felt awkward that they let me stay for free and decided to spend their time with me.

But then I thought, that I also let many people stay with me before and will keep doing it in the future, and I thought how good I felt for doing so.

I understood, that being a guest was also a way to make the host happy.

Because it feels good to give, so in turn, i learned to feel good when receiving also, not because I was getting something for free, but because I was giving someone the chance to feel good and do something nice for me.

Now it’s not awkward anymore and the more I receive, the better I feel, and the more I want to give also.

If I have the chance to pick up the tab I can *finally!* feel happy about it and if I have the chance of helping someone I can do it without giving a rat’s ass about what they could do for me or how could they pay me back.

It also helped me feel at home wherever I am. That way you will never feel homesick because you are at home already.

I realized that this is home, right here, this is real and this is the place to be.

There’s nowhere else than here and now, gotta enjoy it, or at least try to, which is already a lot!

 

personality traits

Have you noticed how, if you speak more than 2 languages, your personality is quite different depending on the language you are using?

And you can find yourself playing a handful of different characters during the day depending on the language.

In my case, my personality will change something like this:

Spanish: even though it’s my native language I found it utterly difficult to express myself in Spanish. So my personality is usually very shy and quiet around other Spanish speakers. I think everything twice before speaking and I’m often misunderstood.
I’ve probably been neglecting it for some reason and usually feels weird, probably thanks to the awkward experiences I had in Spain where I could never fit in anywhere.

Italian: It feels comfortable, Italians feel like family, so the language makes me feel warm and I can easily open up to anyone in Italian, even just 5 minutes after meeting them. While in Spanish it would take me months to open up to someone.
That’s why Italians will usually perceive me as friendly and approachable while Spanish speakers would think I’m shy and reserved.

English: I’ve somehow managed to ignore all the political issues that being an English speaker brings forth and accepted it as the universal language for international communication.
My head and ideas are in English, I think, dream, and can express my ideas clearly without worrying about being misunderstood, that gives me confidence!
So if you met me as an English speaker (and if you’re reading this chances are you had) then you’ve met the real me.

Japanese: Always shy and respectful, listening more than I talk and being careful not to brag and keep modesty and respect as a priority to communicate with anyone in this language.
Can’t challenge anyone’s ideas, can’t open up to anyone, I just listen and agree with everything the other person says.

German: Feels good also, feels familiar, probably also thanks to the legendary times spent in Germany.

Korean: I don’t really speak much of it, and usually don’t understand what people say, but when they talk to me, I think “oh, this sounds so cute” so I’m sure they’re saying something nice to me and that makes me feel good!

Gone traveling

Bruno: I’m going on a trip, would you like to come with me?

You: Where are you going?

Bruno: It’s a trip to a new place, somewhere only I know. But I could show it to you.

You: But I don’t have money, and I need to work.

Bruno: You don’t need money, not much time either, only a few hours.

You: What kind of trip?

Bruno: It’s a trip of self-discovery, a trip of the mind.

You: oh, so it’s not a real trip…

Bruno: Yes it is, it’s a real trip of the imagination.

You: Fake trip.

Bruno: Not fake and not real either, it is what it is.

You: No, I don’t want to go.

Bruno:  Ok, so no trip.

You: Ok, I go.

Bruno: Ok, first things first, find an empty, dark and quiet room to relax your mind, turn off the lights, phone, fire alarm and…

You: Fire alarm? Why do I need to turn off the fire alarm?

Bruno: So we won’t get disturbed in case of a fire or a drill.

You: I’m not gonna turn it off, what are the chances of that happening?

Bruno: Not many, but we can’t take any chances.

You: Oh, it’s like inception

Bruno: Exactly, great movie, right?

You: It was alright..

Living like a boss (At Incheon airport)

In this post, Bruno recalls a dialogue that may or may have not taken place at Incheon Airport in Seoul somewhere around 2.45am.

Bruno: So, what’s up with that security guard?

Old weedy guy: Which security guard?

Bruno: Oh, come on! you live at the airport too, right?

Old weedy guy: No way, what makes you think that?

Bruno: I saw you washing your underwear on the toilet sink this morning.

Old weedy guy: That one wasn’t me.

Bruno: Yes, it was you, and I saw you scavenging leftovers from the fast food restaurants.

Old weedy guy: That one wasn’t me either.

Bruno: Yeah it was, and just now the security guard went crazy because you were molesting the airport staff.

Old weedy guy: Not molesting, just talking and that wasn’t me either.

Bruno: So, you’re in denial.

Old weedy guy: Ok, you got me, I’m going through some rough times and I temporarily happen to be living at the airport, so what? It can happen to anyone.

Bruno: Yeah, it’s actually pretty cool, isn’t it? you get free food, no need to pay rent or spend any money, there’s TV, music, internet, clan toilets, and it’s not cold like outside.

Old weedy guy: I used to have a real job you know, but somewhere along the way I realized i wasn’t meant to follow orders.

Bruno: you mean orders from your boss?

Old weedy guy: Exactly. Why do I have to follow orders? I don’t understand. I don’t want to do that… So I woke up one morning, turned off the alarm and said: “fuck it, I’m moving to Incheon International Airport”. I’m my own boss here, don’t need to take orders from anyone and can do whatever I want.

Bruno: How about that security guard? just now he told you to go away and you left.

Old weedy guy: Yeah, he’s just having a bad day today.

Bruno: “Fuck it, I’m moving to the airport”. You know I really like that phrase, it has a nice ring to it!

Old weedy guy: It does actually.

 

The bus is late

I took a bus from Penang to KL today, and when I bought the ticket I asked “what time will it arrive in KL, they said, “maybe 7 pm”.
 

Then I thought “why, why did I ask that?” It was the force of habit because it’s not like I have anything else to do today. So there’s actually no substantial difference if it arrives at 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 PM instead. the fact that I had no problems or deadlines was enough for me to look for something to worry about, like what time will the bus arrive.

I’ve been in Asia long enough to know that 7pm can either mean 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, and so on, depending on the country.

And actually, I’m grateful to know that’s the way things work around here, people teach me patience every day, they are my teachers every day. 

They teach me to relax, to let things flow, understand that I don’t have control and things just happen the way they happen. 

Especially in India. Where you can sometimes be up to a few days waiting for a train that’s delayed and people just relax, eat, sleep and play cards at the station waiting for the train that may or may not come, someday.

They don’t riot, they don’t fill out a complaint or ask to talk to the manager, they just wait.

 Some years ago when I arrived in Asia for the first time and didn’t yet understand how things work so I would get stressed, get pissed and complain that the bus or train was late.

But I’m a totally different person now, mostly thanks to the experiences in India and SE Asia. If the bus is late or doesn’t come I would think “whatever, there must be another one, in one hour, or tomorrow, or next week, it doesn’t really make any difference” 

I can be more like the Indians laughing and sharing food while waiting, they understood It’s about the trip, not about the destination, and now, so do I.

 

Saying Thank You

It’s hard to describe with words what I felt this morning at the clinic when one of my patients after I finished patching him up, stood up, put his hand on my shoulder, looked at me in the eyes and said: “thanks for looking after me, and the other patients out there, you guys are doing a great job”.

He said that even though, I knew he was in pain and had been bleeding out in the waiting room for almost 3 hours while waiting for his turn.
He knew we were doing the best we can, I saw it in his eyes and I appreciate that.

Got the same feeling, sometimes while teaching, after the class some students will say “thank you for your lesson, it was great”, they knew I had spent long hours preparing it and I looked up the material I knew it would be interesting to them.

Or in Australia, while driving the bus, it actually meant a lot to me that the passengers went that extra mile (not literally), before getting off, and said “thank you driver”, it made me feel proud of being their driver.

And while I’m cooking at the stall, once a customer said to me “that was a great meal, thanks a lot for that”
he was just being polite, but for me, it meant a lot more than that.

A sincere gratefulness can go a long way into making someone’s day a joyful one.

So don’t forget to do your best at being polite and giving your best compliment to those that take care of you or make your life easier.

Also to those ones who don’t, especially to those ones who don’t, so you can learn forgiveness and understanding also.
so, thank you so much for reading this and let’s practice being grateful to everyone today!

 

A place to call home

Friend 1: Don’t you ever miss home?

Bruno: I don’t know, define home.

Friend 1: Well, the place you grew up, or where your parents are.

Bruno: But the place I grew up or where my parents are never really felt like home, so why should I call it home?

Friend 1: Well, because that’s what most people call home.

Bruno: But that would be living in the past, and I have the theory that the past doesn’t really exist, its fake, just an illusion we create with our imagination and it exists only in our minds, same as the future.
There’s just here and now instead, so home is this place I’m staying at now, why would I miss it if I’m already here?

Friend 1: But most people feel like they need to belong somewhere and have somewhere to come back to, don’t you feel like that sometimes? Don’t you need a place to reminisce?

Bruno: That doesn’t make much sense, why would I want to belong somewhere if I can belong everywhere instead.

Friend 1: If you belong everywhere, the place you grew up won’t feel special anymore.

Bruno: True, but you can make every place feel special, it’s up to us what we consider special or not.

Friend 1: But most people need a place to call home.

Bruno: So, if most people eat horse dung, I should eat it as well, just because everyone else does?

Friend 1: Well, yeah, that’s why we usually do stuff, because everyone else does it, and that’s how we’ve been doing it for centuries.

Bruno: I can understand that, customs, rituals, traditions, do we really need that?

Friend 1: Yes

Bruno: What for?

Friend 1: To have a sense of identity, a sense of belonging to a place and to a culture.

Bruno: But the outcome of having a sense of belonging to a place and a culture will be that you will not be allowed to see other people who belong to different cultures than yours as equal to you.
Countries, religions, ethnicities, social status and position will only prevent you from seeing that actually, we are all the same everywhere.
And will make you justify acts of violence against people of the “different culture” such as terrorism, exploitation, racism, just because they are “different”.

Friend 1: Ok, I see where you’re getting at, is this another government conspiracy to keep us on a tight leash and justify whatever acts of violence they decide to engage on?

Bruno: Not really, before we made up the nation states, like 200 years ago, we always swore loyalty to some king, god or emperor. Basically any excuse we can come up with to kill one another and take over our land and resources because we didn’t know anything better, now we do.

Friend 1: Yes, what is that? Some utopian future where we all love each other and are kind to each other?

Bruno: Yes.

Friend 1: Cool.

Kind of people I would like to hang out with

 

 

Would accept: Someone who is not texting, calling or checking their cellphones every 5 minutes.

Ideally: someone who doesn’t have a cellphone.

 

Would accept: someone who doesn’t smoke in front of me or in public spaces.

Ideally: someone who doesn’t smoke at all.

 

Would accept: someone who doesn’t get easily offended by delicate subjects or differences of opinions.

Ideally: someone who never gets offended by anything.

Would accept: someone who prefers cheap places to hang out. (street food stalls, video game arcades,)

 

Ideally: someone who prefers free places to hang out. (library, park, someone’s place)

Would accept: someone who’s not in a rush, have no curfew and can spare a few days to hang out.

 

Ideally: someone who has no deadline whatsoever and can spare a few months to hang out.

Note: even though I really like being by myself, I must admit that the best times I’ve had were hanging out with the same people non-stop for a few weeks or months.

 

Would accept: someone who I can play board games or video games with.

 

Ideally: someone I can play RPG’s with.

Would accept: someone who doesn’t watch TV.

 

Ideally: someone who doesn’t own a TV.

Would accept: Someone who I can talk to about science and politics.

 

Ideally: someone who will listen to me for hours mumbles about science or ranting on politics.

Would accept: Someone quiet, who’s comfortable with silence.

Ideally: someone that will understand me without using words.

 

 

Would accept: Someone that says what they think and not what other people expect them to say.
Ideally: someone who can criticize me without being afraid of hurting my feelings or offending me.

saying thank you (before editing)

Its hard to describe with words what i felt this morning at the clinic when one of my patients, after i finished patching him up, stood up, put his hand on my shoulder, looked at me in the eyes and said:
“thanks for looking after me, and the other patients out there, you guys are doing a great job”

he said that even though, i knew, he was in pain, and had been bleeding out at the waiting room for almost 3 hours while waiting for his turn.
He knew we were doing the best we can, I saw it in his eyes and I appreciate that.

Got the same feeling, sometimes while teaching, after the class some students will say “thank you for your lesson, it was great”
they knew I had spend a long hours preparing it and I looked up the material I knew it would be interesting to them.

or in australia, while driving the bus, it actually meant a lot for me that the passengers went that extra mile (not literally), before getting off, and said “thank you driver”, it made me feel proud of being their driver.

and while I’m cooking at the stall, once a customer said to me “that was a great meal, thanks a lot for that”
he was just being polite, but for me it meant a lot more than that.

a sincere  greatfullness can go a long way into making someone’s day a joyfull one.

so don’t forget to do your best at being polite and giving your best compliment to those that take care of you or make your life easier.

also to those one’s who don’t, specially to those ones who dont, so you can learn forgivness and understanding also.

and while we are at it why not going to indonesia to thank all the sweat factory workers who work
for 2 dolars a day so you can have your nike or branded goods that you dont need, or how about going to africa and thank all the children that work as
slaves to bring you the chocolate or to visit the chinese slaves that ensemble your iphone and all those gadgets.

you are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

you have 2 options

option 1: stop spending money on things you don’t need, stop supporting governemts and corporations in their exploitative agendas and join the local movements agains income inequality

http://www.occupytogether.org/

or.. option 2: close this tab, pretend you didn’t read this and move along with your daily routine.

either way, it’s up to you.

 

About Couchsurfing 1

Life before Couchsurfing, for me, was totally different that it is now.

Like for most people, it took everything to a totally different level, changed my perspective and opened up doors I didn’t even know were there.

 

What is Couchsurfing? couchsurfing.com is a website for cultural and hospitality exchange in the one you can meet people and stay at their places for free.

 

 

But people who’ve used it before know it’s not about saving money, especially in countries where a hotel is like one dollar, it’s about the people you meet, what you learn from them and the experiences you have.

 

 

And an idea, the brilliant idea that lets us escape the monetary system and consumerism most of us are caught up into.

 

 

Best things in life are for free and we can help people out without expecting anything in exchange.

 

 

Same happens when you’re hitchhiking, the idea is also there, the Idea that someone will let you into their cars and give you a ride, just to help you out.

 

And on my particular experience, I was brave enough to leave my comfort zone, thanks to the people I met in Germany in 2007, especially thanks to my guests.

 

 

Thanks to them I learned among many things that:

 

 

–    * It’s ok just to receive sometimes and I don’t need to feel guilty for not giving anything in exchange.

 

 

–    * You don’t need money to travel, money is just an excuse we use for not doing what we want, same as saying: it’s too cold, too hot, I’m too young, too old, and so on and
there are 1001 ways to make money without working, or in case you don’t  like money (makes your hands dirty?) there are 1001 ways to live without it.

 

* Everyone’s kind everywhere, you just need to give them a chance to prove it.

 

 

* The concept of private property is as counterproductive as it is outdated, and the childish idea that “this is mine and this is yours” just holds us back from the true human nature that it’s to be kind and compassionate to each other and share everything we have, if there’s no private property we all own everything and we are all rich.

 

 

* The world is smaller than you think and everyone knows someone who knows someone everywhere.

Relaxation

I usually have problems relaxing, same as most people. I think we all have problems and if we don’t, we just make some up.

Most people’s problems revolve around their jobs, careers, school, studies, money, friends, family, house, the future and the past.

Mines are a bit different, I worry about things that are happening at this same moment in a different place that I consider unfair. I worry about what to do in the future, the meaning of life and my existence. I get puzzled by the universe, global problems, the animals, the environment, overpopulation, lack of food, water and energy, my health, politics, the revolution and much other stuff, I, for some reason, feel like I have to take care of.

And those issues prevent me from relaxing and enjoying the moment.

So, there’s an exercise I like to practice sometimes, it consists of laying in bed for like an hour or more, stretching like a cat, tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling and remind myself that:

– I don’t need to take care of that stuff and if I don’t someone else will.

– I’m still young, handsome, smart and healthy.

– No one really cares much about me, If I just lay in bed the whole day no one would even notice or if I lay in bed the whole year probably no one would care either.

– If I die today it will take at least a few weeks before someone finds out (that’s how important I am).

– I’m still free, to choose the life I want, free to think, say and do whatever I want, go wherever, whenever, or just using that freedom to stay in bed stretching like the cat.

– I don’t need to account myself for anything I do. I don’t need to go to work tomorrow, nor next week nor next year and I don’t need to accomplish or achieve anything anymore.

– I’m not Jack Bauer and there are no terrorist attacks to prevent. Just stretching is ok.

– I’ve done enough already so now it’s time for me to relax!

 

Issues with big groups

Damn! why is it so hard for me to fit in a group?

The only times I ever had a group of friends that I can remember, it was in Argentina, 2 other guys and me, yeah, that’s a group. Because its more than 2 people, and we seldom talked, we just played video games.

After that I made a few good friends but never had a group to hang out with, I really tried though.

I’ve been to many countries and in most of them, I tried to fit in with countless different groups of people, including punks, squatters, heavy metal fans, RPG groups, vegans, vegetarians, hardcore fans, sXe’s, surfers, hippies, Buddhists, are khrisnas, skeptics, office workers, homeless, English teachers, rock climbers, students, scientists, backpackers, engineers, and sometimes even unemployed bums like myself.

And failed miserably every single time, never got to hang out with the same group for more than a few weeks.

It seems my personality re-shapes itself to become the opposite of what the group is. In a pointless act of rebellion.

So the reason why I couldn’t fit in any group is that every time I am on one, I become everything the group hates.

Even though I totally agree with the group ideas, I would somehow find a way to challenge them in an obnoxious arrogant way that makes me an asshole in front of the group, for some reason.

Why I do that? I have no idea!!!

I do have a few theories though. One of them is that I like being the center of attention and if I think the same as everyone else in the group I would go unnoticed.

Another theory is that I can’t keep up with social pressure, and most groups of friends expect you to act on a certain way, dress, think, talk on a certain way, go to places and keep in touch. And for me is just too much pressure the idea of “having” to do something because its the norm and everyone else does it.

Another theory is that maybe I just don’t like groups, and I feel more confortable by myself or with just one person by my side. Usually, someone weak, that I can control and influence and will never outsmart me or put me down, so I keep being the brightest star and feeding my selfish ego.

That’s how manipulative I am. Or maybe not. Maybe I haven’t yet found a group of friends that’s adequate for me.

I don’t actually quite understand why I do that, yet keep pushing people away from me. And when they try to keep in touch I’d just ignore them or act coldly.

I was hanging out with backpackers a few days ago and they were using words like “chillaxed” and “explore” and carrying a big backpack on their back and a smaller one on their chest, lonely planet guide books, cameras, and stopping to take pictures every 5 minutes. For some reason that made me uneasy and made me feel like I didnt belong with them, because they were very different from me.

But actually they are just nice and positive guys, trying to have a good time, same as me, I have no rational reason whatsoever to dislike them. and they are usually kind to me.

I tend to focus on the differences I have with others instead of the similarities, but even if they had been clones of me, and think exactly like me. I would have surely found a reason to dislike them.

So, that’s one more thing for me to work on, trying to appreciate the similarities i have with people, try to join a big group, and stay on it.

 

Ideas 3: Energy

Free, clean, renewable, unlimited energy should our main objective right now, not just for the environment, for our health and for the economy, but for our inner peace and relaxation also.

Imagine how silent our cities will be, with all the cars hovering smoothly.

Imagine all the sounds we are missing, from the birds and animals we haven’t exterminated yet. From the wind and trees, the rain and the rivers.

Imagine silence.

Last time I had total peace and silence it was more than 15 months ago. How is that possible?

How can we focus and relax with all that noise drilling around all day and night?

We can’t, that’s the idea. It’s in the best interest of the people who make money from the fossil fuel industry to keep us from thinking for ourselves so we don’t question the reasons why we are still using such a noisy way of energy.

Or maybe is not, maybe it’s just a coincidence that fossil fuel makes transport and production processes very loud and annoying.

Either way, in most cities you can see 60 cars transporting one person each, instead of one big car transporting 60 people. Why is that? Why do we do that? Are we just plain selfish and we don’t care about anything else that our own short-term comfort? Or we are victims of a system that led us to believe that’s the right thing to do and everyone else does it, so it’s ok.

 

Ideas 2: Justice

 

Some months ago, I set up as a top priority in my life to learn to be objective and always consider the big picture,  instead of my personal choices or preferences.

The bigger picture being, the long-term conservation, survival and well being of every person on this planet, the planet itself and other living beings on it.

And for that, I had some choices to make, decisions to take.

1: understanding: myself, other people, their motives, and objectives.

2: detachment, let go of things and people that weight me down or put obstacles in my way. Especially those people who say “no, that won’t happen/can’t be done”

Sacrifices I needed to make, needed to sacrifice my customs, traditions, beliefs, and stop focusing on my own short-term benefit and (try to) start caring about others as well, or at least being conscious when I don’t and thinking why.

JUSTICE

I often state that there are no bad people in this world, we are all good-natured and the reason why some people kill, rape, steal and are corrupted is because of the environment around them and the ideas that have been forced into them. (this automatically takes all the guilt away from the individual and places it in an abstract environment, thus making it harder to find someone to blame for and making it easier to find a solution to those problems) [1]

Adding that the penal and legal system are obsolete, and the eye for an eye concept of revenge or justice are outdated. The only reason why we keep supporting them is that some people profit from them.

Why do I state that? Because crimes keep happening.

And I am of the idea that when there’s a problem, the solution is fixing the problem so it doesn’t happen again, and not just patching it up and seeing how long it can last.

And punishing a single individual or group of individuals is patching up the system and perpetuating the problem, instead of solving it.

So by not providing the people with the basic needs (food, housing, health) and providing them instead with factors that deters their mental and physical well being  (stress, drugs, pressure, competition) the government has forced them to commit crimes, and then found a way of forcing them into the most violent environment possible (prisons) to make sure the stay violent and commit crimes again when they get out, while at the same time making sure that other people keep committing the same crimes after them.

So when I talk about “justice” and laws with some people, the usually propose this scenario to me:

“what if someone tortures you, rapes and kills your family and friends and people you care about, wouldn’t you want some kind of revenge, justice, compensation, or them to be punished by the law?”

My quick answer is always: “of course not, because that wouldn’t solve anything, nor make me feel better, yes It may inflate my ego for a few days but I can do that in other ways (kissing the mirror, adding some cute hearts on my pictures, writing a blog), what’s done is done, now we have to make sure it doesn’t happen again!”

I don’t mean the same person doesn’t commit any more crimes, but that no other person commits any crimes.

More than 90% of crimes are related to property, solve the scarcity and inequality problems, take private property out of the equation, give people what they need and what they want and they won’t have to steal it. Then we get the violent crimes (rape, murder) which can be easily solved as well. We weren’t born yesterday, we have a history of thousands of years to learn from and we’ve spent centuries studying society and human behavior, we have thousands of sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists and we have the resources needed to change things.

And then I need to make sure I actually believe what I say.

On the pro side: the system is not working, because crimes keep happening, so we gotta do something for them not to happen again.

On the con side: I was also raised to believe in “justice” that if someone does something bad they have to be punished. So if you want to swim against the current, you’re gonna have to learn to swim faster or better than the other fishes, otherwise, you’ll just get dragged along by the current.

How to swim a bit faster and get the advantage?

By proposing something better, no one likes when someone comes along saying “this is wrong, this is not working” while at the same time not offering any solution.

By matching data and evidence and always providing evidence of what you are saying.

By trying to see the bigger picture and understanding that what’s good for you now may not be good for the majority in the long run.

By educating yourself, read, learn, experiment, test things out, and make sure you know what you’re talking about and more importantly, that you know how to explain it in a simple way that everyone can understand and relate to.

By being concise and placing yourself at the same level or even lower than the people you talk to/write to (I’m haven’t mastered that one yet) make them see you are same as them in the sense that you want to best possible outcome with the fewer negative consequences as possible.

By being a skeptic, always asking *why* and demanding proof of what is being said or proposed.

By working together. Competition doesn’t bring prosperity, cooperation does.

By being kind and compassionate, compassion is the key, the key to understanding each other and to succeed in finding common ground.

I myself fail on many of those points often, and I’m not nearly compassionate enough, but I do sincerely want to make things better and believe we can all reach a consensus on the one to stand together.

 

[1] http://www.thisiszen.com/2010/07/09/parable-of-the-poisoned-arrow/

understanding the old lady

I went to watch a documentary, the name was: ” My heart is not broken yet”. It was about an old Korean lady who was a comfort woman, a sex slave for the Japanese army during the war.

She spent the last 10 years, and lots of money, filling and following a lawsuit against the Japanese government, asking them to issue an official apology to her, because she knows Japanese don’t like to apologize or admit they made mistakes.

That’s right, she didn’t want monetary compensation, she didn’t want the Japanese or any other country to just get rid of their armies, stop the wars and live in peace, she didn’t want to make sure what happened to her won’t happen again to anyone else in the future.

She just wanted an apology.

And she didn’t want an apology from the soldiers or military officials that served during the war, but from the actual Japanese government that little had to do with what happened 60 years ago.

Yet the Japanese keep denying everything, whitewashing the textbooks and censoring the history regarding Nanjing, Korea, and SE Asia.

And the Japanese people believe it, because, you know that’s what the government says…
same as the chinese believe that the tibetans are hostiles and whatever story the teach them about chairman Mao, the North Koreans believe their dictator is a hero or a god or whatever.
Same as the Israelis with the Palestinians, the Russians with the Georgians, the Americans with the Middle Easterns, they will always believe the official story (whatever b.s. the government says) just because they say it. Yeah, that’s all the proof we need right now to believe something. We need the government to say it, that’s it. Same as before we needed the church to say it and that was it. Whatever they say we will believe and whatever they want us to do, we will do, because we are stupid and it’s easier just to follow orders than to think for ourselves or stand up for what’s right.

In my case, growing up in Argentina, in Latinamerica, when I was there I’ve been conditioned to believe that the reason why I was poor and had no food it was because the Americans owned all the big companies and controlled the economy there. and because the British stole some island, and because the Chinese, Koreans, and other Latin Americans came and take the jobs from us, and yeah, you know, the economy, the inflation, the corruption, the debt, the crisis,  WTF!

We are always blaming other people (or the circumstances) for our misery instead of taking responsibility for our actions.

And the Korean woman just wants an official apology…

Let’s say the japanese government will admit everything, apology and give money to everyone like the germans did. What would that change?

I think we should learn from our mistakes and make sure it doesn’t happen again. what’s the point of worrying about the past and regretting things we did or other people did to us?

And all the people who went to watch that documentary were all happy with the documentary and admiring the old lady.

This kind of things happen to me every day and make me feel like I’m all alone and no one understands me.

Maybe im taking the wrong approach, and  I should try to understand them, instead of asking other people to understand me.

That’s difficult, and I would have to accept he fact that I dont have the ultimate truth and other people have their own truths also.

Maybe the apology would help and change things by making them understand that they made a mistake and they shouldn’t kill, torture and rape people again.

And other countries will see what that the Japanese took responsibility and won’t make the same mistake.

Well, probably not, but I should still try to understand others, instead of always thinking I am the only one who’s right and I know everything.

I will try today, and maybe in a few years if I ever read this again it will remind me that I should try harder to understand everyone (including this old lady)

conspiracy

I read this today:

“We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years. ” George Carlin

and then among the comments there was one that got me thinking, here it goes:

“clever but part of me thinks it was written by the bankers to calm the masses from a revolution and the likes of the occupy wall st protesters into putting up with higher taxes and lower wages, just my 2 cents”

so 2 thoughts came to mind after I read that, first, how some people think everything’s a conspiracy and everyone’s always out to get you. 

and the second thought was, what if it were true?

 

Emma and Carl Sagan

 

Some time ago, I had a life-changing experience while in Japan, in this case, it was not about an event, but about a person.

Sometimes I meet some people and they mention that they learned many things from or I inspired them somehow, well this time it was my turn to get inspired.

Her name was Emma Crawford, and little did she know, how much she would shape my ideas and influence the processes required to interpret the upcoming events in my life.

 

• 

 

 

She was a zoologist and somehow we ended up talking about evolution, and I mentioned how sometimes I felt like it was just too much coincidence, the way humans evolved. Especially the complexity of our brains and our DNA, I felt like it happened just too fast, 200.000 years wasn’t enough for such a complexity, and the chances of being at the exact distance from the sun for liquid water to exist and life to have evolved and billion coincidences after that led me to become part of the only species that can analyze themselves like I’m doing now. It’s just too mind-boggling.

Evolution is a fact, not really something you can deny, it just happens, like gravity, but many times I felt like I wasn’t getting all the answers I needed from evolutionary biology and there was a missing piece somewhere

And the concept of a god was just too farfetched, couldn’t subscribe to that one either.

So if you don’t buy the answers from the religions nor the ones from science, what’s left?

New age, aliens and metaphysics, and I did fall into that for a while, but there was still something missing.

 

In my ignorance, I was just trying to give my empty life some meaning so I wouldn’t feel so miserable and insignificant knowing I was just part of a natural process instead of a greater plan.

And little did I know that my anthropocentrically self-centered ideas were just some normal consequences of being able to process information at such a high levels.

Back to Emma now, she explained things in the easiest way possible, and she was always confident because she knew that things were that way for a reason and I didn’t have any way to prove my point that there were just too many coincidences out there.

 

Nop, not a valid proof

 

 So she showed me a documentary that would shape my understanding of life and the way I approached things from that moment. It was the episode 2 of the Cosmos series, about artificial selection, by Carl Sagan.[1]

Sagan was able to communicate things the way I wanted to and his objectiveness and neutrality were the ones I wanted to have for my own, but I didn’t know how to acquire them.

Even though I want to believe there’s something out there, something magical or mysterious:

I had to force myself to understand how my mind works and why I believed those things, understanding that my mind is fragile, susceptible and very very prompt to hallucinating, and how I used to believe crazy stuff makes me understand why other people also believe crazy stuff, because their minds work same way as mine, so we are all the same in the end, and I am not entitled to judge anyone but myself.

I still can’t really vouch for the scientific community as a whole, because they usually work under funds of universities and governments, which act on the interests of corporations which care only about remaining profitable in order to maintain or increase the cash flow by blocking groundbreaking discoveries that would not bring them a long-term profit.

 

But I do vouch for the scientific method as the best decision-making tool and a way of finding a common ground where we all can act for the same cause and reach a consensus on which course of action to take in every circumstance. and will hopefully brings us closer together in the end.

 

• 

 

 

Meditation

Last Australian winter I found myself walking around in Canberra with Jenny Puisto when we stumbled upon a history museum, walked in and got into a projection room.

There were playing a short movie about the hippie movement in the 60’s or 70’s and Woodstock so there were some young people there and they were talking about love and peace, and the fair distribution of our planet wealth and resources.

So Jenny started laughing and said “look these people were fighting for the exact same things we are fighting now, and this was like 40 years ago, have they achieved anything? No, we have now even much more inequality, 1 % of the population owns 40% of the planet’s wealth, 34,000 children die every single day from poverty and preventable diseases, 50% of the world’s population lives on less than 2 dollars a day[1], so what’s the point of keeping the fight, if things are just getting worse”*

That got me thinking, are we wasting our time here? Is the occupy movement doomed to fail just because previous movements have failed before them? Should we just give up like our parents did? Is there any better thing to do?

And then it came to me, I thought to myself, what do the world peace movements, the hippies, the vegetarians, the Buddhist monks, the new age, the occupy movement all have in common?

MEDITATION

We’ve seen the meditation tents at different occupy movements, that’s what brings us all together!

When you practice meditation you feel happier, in peace and harmony with the universe.

So why don’t we all practice meditation? there are hundreds of benefits and no side effects. [2]

Because we are being kept distracted, so we don’t see things clearly.

We know people think the way they do because of the environment they are in, so if we could start teaching meditation from early ages we would be shaping the new generations into being the change and not just asking for someone else to change things like we are doing.

Unfortunately, the education has also been compromised, and as a way of social control, we are taught what it needs to be learned in order to keep the machine running and to keep the inequality building up, instead of being taught what is good for us and makes us happy and healthy.

And in some countries, even people are being forced by the system to take loans, to pay for this education that will brainwash them for several years and turn them into compliant pieces of a system designed to perpetuate the inequality system.

So what to do, what’s the solution?

Get out of it, stop supporting the system. When enough people stop supporting it, it will collapse by itself.

And maybe try to be a bit kinder to people around you, and give without expecting to receive something back. that usually makes us happy.

But we always forget, I always forget.

so, I’m gonna go out and do it today. will try to be kinder to everyone around me.

 

[1] Note: she didn’t actually quote statistics, I added that to make her sound smart
[2] http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/05/100-benefits-of-meditation/

Traveling: part 2

So my students ask how much does it costs to travel abroad and visit many countries, but there’s not really an objective answer to that question.
Any country you go to you can spend a million dollars or spend no money at all, it’s up to you.

And it was interesting to learn how each new generation has different goals than the previous ones. and this generation’s dream seems to be to travel around.

Why is that?  Maybe it’s because traveling raises your awareness level somehow, and that makes you happier, to put it very vaguely.

An aesthetic experience, that forces you to be aware of every minute that passes, of every sensation, and gives you the chance of meeting people and seeing different places every day.

Instead of the usual anesthetic experience of our daily routines, where we turn on the autopilot in order to not being aware of what’s going on around us or inside us, not having any new sensation, not having the chance of meeting new people nor seeing different places every day.

I’ve met people who have only 7 to 14 days holidays a year and they spend the other 351 to 359 days thinking or preparing for those holidays.

So, it seems evident that in the society we live on, our freedoms have been taken away, including the freedom to travel, they’ve done that by limiting the resources we have access to, based on the amount of money we have. We are limited to where we can travel throughout the world based on a number of restrictions, borders, immigration laws and the policy of passports. And last but not least, we are limited on the time we have as we’ve been forced to compete for good and services. And trying to make enough money to cover our costs of living + traveling. Which kind of eats up all our time.

And yet, most people think that’s ok and that’s just the way it is, and we shouldn’t do anything about it, because yeah, that’s how it is, you know.

And yet, most people think they are free while struggling to get as much travel time as possible.

So what to do?

Option 1: stay in the system while making the most of it and try to be happy in it. Learn to love what you do instead of doing what you love, train yourself to enjoy every moment a bit more, maybe do something new every day and try to enjoy it and live it as if you were on a lifetime holiday.

Option 2: Find a way out of the system and play by your own rules, you can use phrases like “I’m between jobs” or “I’m taking a gap year.”

Option 3: create a new system that renders the previous one obsolete, for that you gotta make sure you understand what was flawed in the old one to make sure of not making the same mistakes again!

NEET

Been a good boy lately, did some exercise, inspired a few people, seeded most of my torrents most of the times, but still don’t feel like I’m making any difference.

I learned the words “chigeopi eopseoyo” something like “I’m unemployed” in Korean, to answer people’s questions. And I remember when I was in Japan and learned the acronym NEET (neeto) which stands for “Not in Employment, Education or Training” so I could accurately explain what my status in the society is.


And I got many laughs, because Japanese and Korean always see foreigners as wealthy and successful, or at least brave enough to leave their countries and make a living abroad. So when they hear some foreigner is unemployed and living abroad they think it’s funny! And most times they say “cool, same as me” and we can laugh together about it or just blame the economy.

I found out it works something like this: when you are in your home country, or where you grew up you have all this pressure, from family, friends, governments and the Illuminati, to make a living, be successful or at least do something, when you’re abroad is the opposite. You are expected to be relaxed because you don’t really know what’s going on, you don’t understand the news or the politics and usually can barely manage to get around.

You can do whatever you want and it’s cool because you’re “traveling” and no one really cares much about what you do or don’t do.

Unemployed in your home country = loser
Unemployed abroad = funny!

And yes, sure, you don’t feel like you contribute much to the society, you don’t pay taxes to support all the corrupt politicians, their armies, and nuclear weapons.
You don’t contribute much to the waste of resources for the production of useless goods we don’t need and the destruction of our planet.
You don’t get stressed and give away your life, your time and your health, so that other people above you can get even richer than they are.


But it’s still cool, you get to hang out with other unemployed people, usually at odd times of the day in odd places, you get to read lots of fanfics and you get to write stuff like this so that in 10 years from now you can read it and say: “Bruno, what a waste of talent! What were you thinking? You were so smart, you should have been inventing a time machine or something!!!”

ajumas and the bibimbap

Some months ago I stumbled upon the works of Dr. Bass, and the natural hygiene diet, and I found it quite interesting, especially the part about sequential eating: http://drbass.com/sequential.html

So I read it, it made sense. I tested it, It worked, and have been trying to practice it, basically it says that different food is digested differently, the order in the one we eat is important,  and it’s better to eat the more watery food first, that is digested faster to conserve energy.

So when I go get bibimbap (which is one of the few vegetarian dishes at local restaurants) instead of mixing it, which is how you are supposed to eat it according to ancient Korean traditions, I’ll eat first the veggies and then the rice.

But this practice seems to upset the local old ladies (who, I suspect, haven’t had the chance to read the works of Dr. Bass) and they always mix it for me, when they see I eat it separately.

Explaining in Korean can be challenging, and even my English speaking friends would have problems understanding how the stomach or digestive system works. So I found some ways to trick them. Either sitting where they can’t see my plate or pretending I mix things up but actually only mixing the rice.

Sometimes I have to play with the lights and mirrors to make the illusion of mixing, which has made eating out a bit more challenging than it already was.

Anyway,  I love the 2900 won bibimbap across the street from my place and the ajumas who just want to teach me and make it more tasty for me.

And it’s open 24 hours, so it gives me the chance to find out who goes for bibimbap on a Tuesday at 4 am.

If you’re ever around Sincheon I’ll show it to you!

Traveling: part 1

When I thought about writing a blog, I had no idea what to write about, but knew what I didn’t want to write about. It shouldn’t be me complaining about something I don’t like and it shouldn’t be about trying to convince people to think like me.

It should be fun and make people think at the same time. Easy to read, and to understand. Not so long and not so smartassly-written

Sex, religion, politics? Still, a bit taboo and chances are, if you’re reading this, you know me and you know my views already.

My daily life? Ok, here we go: I woke up at noon, ate some rice, went for a walk. done.

Love? not sure what it is or how it works, I know how oxytocin works, but that doesn’t sound very romantic.

Peace and happiness? Yeah, that sounds good. That’s what people need at the end of the day, no matter where you’re from, where you are or what you think; we all just want to be happy. So that’s something that brings us all together. We all want to love and be loved, we want affection and kindness.

That could work.

Some years ago, while in China, I found myself in front of a class, lecturing on business for some reason. Sometimes more than 50 university students per class. My lectures were usually about business related topics, such as marketing, negotiations, customer service, product development, etc.

I always prepared thoroughly and tried to make it fun, but I found out that it didn’t really matter what I said in the lecture, when I ask them if they had any questions, either during or after the lecture; the questions will NEVER be about business.

Questions would be something like: *Can you tell us something about your travels?* *Have you ever been to Africa?* *Have you been to other countries in Asia?* *How many countries have you been to?* *What’s your favorite country? *Where are you going after China?* *How can I make money to travel?* *How much do you spend while you travel?*

Of course there was always some odd ones too, like: *Do you have a girlfriend?* *How many girlfriends have you had?* *Do you like Chinese girls? *Can you sing a song for us?*  *Why are you not wearing trousers?*

But usually, most of the questions were about traveling. My students were not interested in business at all. They just took business English because they thought would help them get a “good job” and that way they could save up some money to travel.

That made me realize I had much more in common with my students that I thought. We all just wanted to be free, travel, and be happy. And the reason why they were taking that class, was the same reason why I was teaching it in the first place!
I also couldn’t care less about bussiness, but if I got into the rat race for a few months I would be rewarded with some freedom tokens that could be later exchanged for leisure time.

I was lucky that I seldom got a curriculum and was usually told to do whatever I wanted as long as the students were happy, THEY didn’t care about business, and I didn’t care about business, so we usually ended up talking about travels or silly stuff for the rest of the week.

to be continued

 

Ideas 1: no-violence

Due to the recent events in the US, protests, police brutality, arrests, pepper spray, etc. I found myself forced to re-analyze my own thoughts, as systematically, and objectively as I’m able to right now to see if I can understand them better.

STEP 1:  Where do I stand now?

As for today, I’m 27 years of age and in my mind*, I can’t just justify engaging in any kind of violence, not physical nor verbal. Can’t justify it under any pretext either (like as a sport/entertainment, on self-defense, punishment, retaliation, etc).

* yeah, I know, there’s no mind (not yet at least), there is the brain, and we sometimes call mind to some functions the brain performs.

STEP 2: Why?

Makes sense, if no one is violent there’s no reason to fight or hate each other and we can just be happy.

STEP 3: Where did I learn about the idea?

Gandhi, Dalai Lama??

STEP 4: How long does it take for an idea (once proved effective) to get implemented in our daily actions and thoughts?

Ok here’s the tricky part, we all know the theory for many good ideas like this one, we know it makes sense and we should implement it. but yet we don’t.

In theory, we know we shouldn’t smoke, drink, gamble, get stressed, be violent, etc, but yet we keep doing it.

We know we should be nice to people, eat healthily, exercise, but we don’t. So what’s wrong with us?

It seems it takes a long time for our brain to assimilate something we haven’t learned in our childhood or contradicts something we have learned as children.

Some ideas can’t be incorporated unless some other idea is already learned. something like updating a software.

in my head at least, this non-violence idea can’t run unless I had previously learned or seen the disasters that violence caused, recognizing the violent patterns in our society (understanding why was I violent) and know or at least imagine that there’s another option, and then make the change. This slow process took me something like 6 years.

STEP 5: How is this related to the violence on the occupy movement?

Well, now traveling back in time and paying a visit to the 15 old me. I would justify and engage in violent actions literally every day.
I would think the penal system. army and police forces are a good thing, and punishment is the only option to “solve crimes”.

And going back a bit further to when I was 12 and younger, I remember fighting with toy guns, army men, playing violent video games and watching violent movies, getting beaten up and bullied at school, at home and living in a stressful, violent city where I had to watch my back constantly.

Had I chosen a different path along the road, I would be the one holding the baton or the pepper spray right now.

We are who we are now not just because of our upbringing, but because of a billion different variables.

I think I got caught up in my own thoughts and couldn’t make the point here, the point was learning to incorporate ideas into our lives and the difficult process of it. I’ll follow up soon.

Winter is here

 

Some time ago I realized if I wanted to keep having this lifestyle I would have to make some sacrifices and clothes was one of them.

Long distance walking/cycling/hitchhiking, trespassing, dumpster diving, squatting, treasure hunting, outdoor sleeping, and changing CS hosts every week for a year or more couldn’t be done with a 10 kg backpack or luggage.

For optimum flexibility, it had to be reduced to 4 kg or less. And it had to be a day pack, so I don’t look like a tourist and can blend in places like libraries, shopping malls, restaurants, parks, or anywhere you can find free food, bathroom, internet and a place to crash, which is usually everything you need.

 

But the laptop is already 1kg, and if I didn’t have it I wouldn’t be able to send couch requests, that means I would have to sleep outside. I usually also need water which is like half a kilo, that leaves 2.5 for 3 pairs of underwear, 2 pairs of socks, a spare shirt and some mortal combat action figures.

FINISH HIM!!!

 

In winter I would have to wear everything I have and in summer I would have to get rid of the winter stuff.

Small price to pay for the flexibility of going anywhere, anytime, sleeping everywhere and not damaging my spine. Sounds Smart, logical, practical, and the most important thing is that it fits my lifestyle.

When this winter came in Korea, I had to find some winter clothes, right? But I couldn’t buy them new, because that would be adding more pain to the planet, because of the massive waste of resources it is required to produce and transport all those new stuff, while most people have many jackets and things they don’t need and don’t use. Everyone has a spare jacket or jumper and are usually happy when I ask them because it means I trust them. Is not that I’m broke or anything, just trying to save the planet you know.

In the downside, being flexible means you have to wear anything you can get your hands on, either you like the color, or not, it’s too big or too small or infested with fleas. This year was good though, I asked my friend Taekyung which I had known for a while so I knew would be happy to help me and was quite clean, so hopefully no body lice this year.

 

See you guys next year!

So she showed up with a jacket and a pullover, I tried them on and was like “how are YOU doing? 😉 ”

People started to notice me more, especially female people, on the street and on the train girls were looking at me, and when I noticed it they would look away or look down shyly. I knew what that meant because that’s what I’d do when there’s very cute girl, and if they were in groups they would look at me and giggle.
It was the jacket! it had to be the jacket, right?

I think it was the fact that it was quite fluffy so it did a good job in hiding my skinny arms, so when I looked in the mirrors of the subway station I thought “so handsome!!” and then I came back to myself and realized how shameless I was. Always preaching about spirituality and self-development, saying I want to be more modest and humble and beauty is on the inside and then admiring myself in the mirrors, so hypocritical!

but now I’m feeling myself again, kinda, or maybe I think too much.

 

Intro

You: Hey Bruno, how are you?  How is Korea?

Me: Hey! Yeah, not bad. korea’s awesome!

You: so… what’s up with this, you decided to write a blog? How come?

Me: well, It often happens that I meet someone new and after we talk for a while, they ask me if I have a blog or I write about travels or about me, a diary or something, and usually my answer would go something like:

  -“not interested, have no time”

 -“my life is quite boring actually, I just play video games all day”

-“can’t read, I’m illiterate” (then ask for some spare change)

-“I’m not good at writing, wouldn’t know what to write about”

-“who would care about my life” and then they say -“I would care, that’s why I’m asking you, duh!”

And they have a point of course, but I think I wouldn’t read about someone like me, so why would they?

Lately, though many people who read my comments in forums or groups said I had a gift for writing and I should work on it, so I decided to give it a try.

You: cool! And what do expect to get out of it?

Me: Maybe something like a therapy– to let things out, you know, so new things can come in–try to take an objective look at my life–self-criticism (hopefully)—maybe learn to laugh at myself a bit more—kill some time—improve writing/editing skills—avoid responsibilities (like I needed an excuse for that!) and maybe even get to know myself a bit better.

You: What is a morphing jar?

Me: a card in yu-gi-oh

You: What is yu-gi-oh?

Me:  an anime, trading card game, video game

You: what’s an “anime”???

Me: Japanese cartoon, like Pokemon.

You: oh, you’re a bit of a geek aren’t you?

Me: well… a bit.

 

You: are you gonna write about Pokemon on your blog?

 

Me: probably yes, sometimes, but not just about Pokemon.

You: are you gonna write about your sex life?

Me: probably not.

You: why not? Are you gay?

Me: what??? No, what makes you think that?

You: well, every time I see you, you are wearing pink, giggling, talking and acting like a girl. You don’t like sports, you hang out with girls, wear accessories, you like pop music and I think last week you were wearing makeup.

Me:  Makeup? No way!

You: ok, I made the last one up, but the other ones are true.

Me: I get that a lot actually, but maybe I’m confident enough about my sexuality that I don’t need to play by society standards or stereotypes and I can just do whatever I want.

You: ..or maybe you’re gay.

Me: maybe.

Note: Morphing Jar was the name chosen when I decided to write, but then I changed it for Bruno’s public diary, anyone knows why?