Why I ditched veganism

A short essay about why I ditched veganism:

I was vegan from 2005 till 2014, then I ditched it and these are the 5 reasons why.

1st reason: Stress: Yes, stress is the silent killer and people are awesome at giving stress or causing some problems and inconveniences to others. No, it’s not hard to find protein, what’s hard is to find the patience to deal with the million assholes who ask you where do you find protein. The difficult part of being vegan is not finding vegan food, is having to defend yourself from all the people who attack you for being vegan, or get defensive whenever they hear the word vegan, and they feel they have to defend their food choices, while actually I never actually gave a damn about what other people ate, I was vegan because I wanted to, because I had chosen to, and never cared what others ate. But still, people felt the need to attack me because I ate something different than them.

And yes, I was healthy, I didn’t feel sick not even once in 9 years, and I never needed to go to the doctor because of being vegan, I had to go to the doctor because I was living a reckless life and having heaps of accidents but not because of being vegan.

And people are insecure and they need validation, they need you  to validate their life choices and food choices, they won’t accept the fact that you have chosen to eat something different than them, they will want to talk about it, A LOT, and ask you  many questions and judge you and attack you for no good reason besides the fact that you have chosen to eat something different than them.

2nd reason: Freeganism: Yes, veganism is the solution to all the world’s problems, except that no, it totally isn’t, freeganism is! Because even if we were all vegan, our society is still structured so that, for whatever reason, we will waste 50% of the food that is produced, be it vegan or not vegan, that food will still be thrown away if it reaches its expiration date, if the packaging gets damaged during its transport, because someone didn’t finish their meal or whatever other crazy reason. 

Freeganism means eating or using whatever has already been discarded by society and that’s the real solution to all our problems. Because vegan food that is made especially for you to eat, takes heaps of resources to produce, pack and transport and that would all be saved if you ate whatever had already been discarded by society, whether it was an animal product or not. You won’t be raising the demand by eating from the bin, because it had been already thrown away anyway, so no one would be able to buy it anyway.

3rd reason: Star Trek: This is one is a strange reason, but one I feel deeply identified with. By understanding and acknowledging the fact that other animals also feel pain when they are killed, you actually belong to the 1% of people who are empathetic enough to understand that there are other sentient beings on this planet, besides themselves and that animals are not a commodity, but they are sentient beings who are scared and want to live, and don’t want to be chopped into little pieces and sold just for your pleasure.

So, the fact that I was able to understand that, it actually made me feel as if I were beyond my time, as a Star Trek character, following their prime directive:

As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Starfleet personnel may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes introducing superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Starfleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation.

And it made me adopt their prime directive as a philosophy for life. A philosophy to avoid getting crazy dealing with all the people who want to judge you for having chosen something different than them or for being way ahead of your time from at least an ethical point of view. And yes, I know society is like this and we shouldn’t question it, and yes I know, traditions, customs, politics, religions, economy, everyone says you should eat meat because they have their own agendas and they all benefit from you eating meat. You will get cancer and get sick more often so the doctors or insurance companies will make more money. A single hamburger is the equivalent water consumption to leaving the shower running for 2 months, so some water company will benefit from you eating meat and all the grains that are fed to cows are enough to feed the entire African continent, and I am sure many rich people benefit from poor people dying or staying poor. And I’m sure many poor people benefit from other poor people dying because they save themselves the hassle of having to think for themselves or having to questions the system. Being obedient is easy, while going against the stream means you need to face those who have chosen to be obedient to avoid having to think. Because thinking means having to accept the fact that we are going to die a meaningless life and that we are no more than insignificant specs of dust in the vast cosmic ocean. So doing, thinking, saying and eating what is socially accepted will relieve me of the pain and stress of having to confront and be confronted by every single obedient sheep everytime I go to a freakign restaurant or get invited for dinner somewhere. 

Reason 4: Other vegans. If you are vegan you not only have to be against the meat eaters but also against other vegans, who are always trying to make you feel bad.

Meat eaters try to make you feel bad for not eating meat and vegans will try to make you feel bad for not being as vegan as they are. And they are snobby and usually well off, and I’m poor and usually homeless, and they don’t understand that when you don’t have money to buy special vegan food you need to eat whatever people give you or you can forage. But still they will try to make you feel guilty for agreeing with them only 99% instead of 100% and that all ads up until one day you find that you have ran out of patience to defend your life choices in front of both meat and non-meat eaters.

And it doesn’t stop there, some vegans will also attack you if you don’t read books from vegan authors, you don’t watch vegan movies or documentaries, or stupid things like that, and they won understand I found this pair of leather boots were a gift from someone who didn’t use them anymore, and didn’t pay for them so I’m not increasing the demand for it, the rabbit was already dead by the side of the road and I didn’t contribute in any way to it’s suffering or dead.

Reason 5: Powerlessness, I truly don’t believe the actions of a single individual can make a change in the big picture. And I believe life is too short for having to spend time arguing with people, and the universe is too big for any of our arguments or choices to matter. 

I know I will die soon, that’s why I chose to spend my last years on this planet doing only the things I like, which are: reading, writing and exercising. And they certainly don’t include having to defend myself at every meal. 

And yes, I do eat meat sometimes, especially when invited to eat at someone’s place, I just don’t buy it or pay for it, and yes it stills grosses me out, and I still think it’s disgusting, and I would never eat it if there was another choice.

And yes, I do eat cheese or ice cream sometimes, and yes I think it’s disgusting and I imagine the pain the cows have to go through while being impregnated and having their babies taken away and killed in front of them but I still do it because I know I’m a terrible human being.

And yes, I do eat the road kill sometimes because I don’t want it to go to waste, I skin it and take the guts out and cook it, and I do eat the meat from the bin that the supermarkets have thrown away, and yes, I do eat the leftovers from the restaurants’ tables and I do whatever I can to avoid the need of having something produced only for me to eat it or use it.

And no, I don’t have all the answers, and no, I don’t know if I do the right thing, and no, I don’t know anything better so far. And no, I’m not a politician or a billionaire and my life choices will have no effect whatsoever in the big picture, and no I don’t feel guilty for being morally superior and not doing anything about with it.

And yes, I still don’t get sick and haven’t been to a doctor in 15 years and I still can run a full 42k marathon without breaking a sweat and no, it doesn’t have anything to do with my diet, it’s because I run and train everyday, and yes I can still do 50 pushups in a row, that’s 49 more pull-ups then everyone else I know, and no it’s not because I favor soy burgers over beef burgers, it’s because I train hard every day.

And yes, I do still care for the animals and the environment, just not as much as I cared about it in my 20’s when I felt I could be the change I wanted to see in the world and I felt that my choices could make a difference.

My 5 dark thoughts

 

Thought number 1 and also my unpopular opinion is that it’s not fair that football players earn millions while there are people starving on the street right now. It’s something sad, not something to be celebrated. Is something to be angry about. I understand the government needs to distract people somehow so that they don’t complain about the fact that the society is being poorly managed and the resources poorly administrated, I also understand that football is a way to support capitalism and everything that it represents, as it moves billions and helps maintan the status quo, I understand we need to be entertained and distracted, because we are stupid and gullible, but still I can’t wrap my head around the fact that our society idolizes football players with all their violent behaviour, theatrical diving, faking, exaggerating and always trying to get an unfair advantage over the other players, while the real heroes like the teachers, doctors, scientist and people who actually contribute in some way to society are underpaid, overworked and overlooked. And even though I grew up in Argentina, I am probably the only Argentinian person who thinks there is something very wrong with Mr. Messi earning 3 million Euros a month while people in Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba, Salta, Jujuy, Misiones, and many parts of Argentina are living in the street and have no food to eat.

Thought number 2 comes due to the fact that I will cross the Ecuador/Colombian border tomorrow and the fear of the unknown creeps in. Because going to a new country for the first time is always scary, especially in South America where many people have guns and are crazy. And I know I’m also crazy and I grew up in the murder capital of Argentina (Rosario). I always get the feeling everyone around me is not living in the moment but they act out of habit. And whenever I think of the unknown I ask myself, what is life? why are we living? is life worth living? am I different or the same as everyone else? Fear leads me to question myself and my life, and that’s scary.

Thought number 3 comes from seeing the people wait in line for 8 to 10 hours to get a stamp when they cross the Colombian border into Ecuador or vice-versa, with babies, and lots of bags. I can’t help but think that the whole process should be automated with machines on the border or it should be done online in 5 minutes, but of course, it’s also my unpopular opinion to think we should use technology to make people’s life easier and not otherwise.

Thought number 4 appears everytime someone asks me for money, especially on the street or when we are having a meal at a restaurant. At least every day someone will ask me for money here in Colombia and they look at you deep in the eyes and you say no 10 times and they keep pushing and pushing, they don’t give up easily, and I try to be polite and say I don’t have, but the truth is that I hate them for making me feel that way, because the only reason they ask me is because I am a foreigner and they think foreigners have money but the truth is I have like 500 dollars in my bank account and then that’s it. Everyone else around me has way more money than me, they have cars, houses, savings, families who support them, etc. I have met thousands of people during my trips but no one as poor as me. And I know I shouldn’t hate them for judging a book by its cover, but it’s not only that, I hate them for asking other people for money, because I think the government is the one who should be looking after people and I don’t think people should be ok with the fact that the government is not providing them with food and shelter and health care and education, I think they should be angry and start a revolution. There are hundreds of people living in the streets of Bogota and none of them are mad at the government for it, they are robbing and killing civilians instead. They think it’s better to rob and kill other poor people instead of taking it with the ones who are responsible for their misery, they will get on the busses with guns and knives and rob the passengers of the bus who are also poor people who are just going to work, going to work for pennies, because people here earn 1usd an hour and still they have to deal with the homeless coming into the bus with knives to kill them, and all because the government is not doing their job properly, and instead of complaining people will watch football or some silly thing and I’m very mad about it.

Thought number 5 is a compilation of the previous thoughts plus the fact that our life is no different than that of an animal of a plant in the sense that our lives are short and we are doing the best we can to thrive in our environment. So it probably doesn’t matter if people are smart or stupid, if they watch football or read a book, if they are rich or poor, if they kill or get killed, that’s life, that’s nature. It’s all the same in the end because we will all die a meaningless death. And that leads me to think it’s also ok for the government not to do their job properly, it’s ok that they pollute the air and the oceans, it’s ok that they torture, abuse and slaughter 56 billion farm animals every year for food when they know we could all be much happier and healthier eating vegetarian food, and I think it’s ok that in the US alone there are 5 empty houses for every homeless person, so every homeless could have 5 houses. People are exploited and abused everywhere I look because life is no more than a collection of systems designed to exploit one group of people or another. And even though they had the intellect and the means and resources to solve all the problems of the world a while ago, they probably also know that they will die in the end no matter what they do. If they are homeless living in the street or if they are the ones responsible for the misfortune of others, in the end, it won’t matter, so there’s no point doing anything or worrying about anything. And that’s what keeps me going, the fact that my existence is meaningless and that there’s nothing I could do change anything.

 

 

 

Whatever 19

 

What do you think about China?

Well that depends

Depends on what?

On the motive behind the question, if you’re just being polite and making small talk I should follow suit and reply that it’s a really nice place, great food, great people. But if you really want to know what I think about China, I actually have a list of all the things that are wrong and how to fix each and one of them.

I like the second options better, and I would definitely like to give it a read, and then I could maybe translate it to Chinese and post it in some forums, it could catch someones attention before being taken down and we may get the ball rolling for improving things all over the country.

You know, I just me someone who thinks he can help me improve the situation in this country

And ignoring the prime directive?

Can’t be remembering all those rules.

But it’s the only rule you should be remembering.

I thought there were like 30 something.

But it’s the most important one: “As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no cute puppies may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes introducing superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Cute puppies may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation.”

I will do what I have to do.

People who say that are usually the first ones to die.

 

What about this?

General Order 20

Cute puppies may employ whatever means necessary to prevent the possession, transportation, sale, or commercial exchange of sentient beings being held against their wishes within the boundaries of Federation space.

Well, what about this?

General Order 14

Cute puppies may intervene in local planetary affairs to restore general order and to secure the lives and property of Federation citizens only upon receiving a direct order to do so from a civilian official with the title of governor or higher.

But no one asked you to interfere…

But no one asked me not to interfere.

But the rules say you shouldn’t interfere, there’s nothing to think about here, you just mind your own business and let the other humans destroy themselves, destroy all the other life forms in this planet, and then destroy the planet itself.

But this planet has been here for billions of years, how could they destroy it, I mean even if they wanted to, there’s no way they could.

Whatever.

 

News from China

Are you usually overworked there?

It depends some weeks are worse than others, this week we have summer camp at our school, so we have lessons from 9 to 1 then we have to go to some outing, and then few more lessons in the evening.

Do you have some assistants to help you?

I have a few and they are the good ones.

What do you mean by “the good ones”?

Well you know after few years of teaching I’ve had many kinds of assistants, so:

The good ones are the ones that don’t make your job more difficult, they help you control the student and prepare some activities or materials for them.

The bad assistants come in different shapes actually, some they get very low pay so they don’t care about the students or the classes. Some they think they are the teachers, so instead of helping you they want to teach the classes for you, some resent the foreign teacher for some reasons, they think they steal their jobs or they get higher salaries than them or are not qualified enough, or they don’t know the students language or culture, so it can be hard working with them.

Sounds a bit like the doctors/nurses relationship, they should be working together but end up inconveniencing each other.

I guess you could say that.

And I want to ask, why aren’t you vegan anymore?

I don’t know actually. Even though it’s been a few years since I abandoned it, I still have ambiguous feelings, or… how to say it? How to explain? Ambivalent ideas? Conflicting opinions.

It’s hard to put an idea into words while knowing that your decision and your actions could either save or condemn billions of animal lives plus human ones because of the ramifications of either decision.

The basic idea behind my decision to abandon veganism was that freeganism would save way more animal lives in the long run.

Veganism is a well-known word nowadays; it refers to people who are against animal cruelty or exploitation so they try not to contribute to it.

Freegans, on the other hand, eat, wear and use things they find for free, mostly because they have been discarded by other people. So living from the scraps of society means a massive reduction of your impact on the environment and the animal suffering of course.

Vegan products are usually more expensive and hard to come by, but ultimately it may have been the extremist zeal vegans usually display, judging you if you only agree with them 99 instead of 100%.

So yeah, I would wear leather boots or jackets that had been thrown away or given to me by someone who doesn’t need them anymore because it’s just the right thing to do and I would eat the road kill or meat I found on the bin because it has been already discarded.

And what do you think about superfoods?

­

I actually discovered them this year, well I knew they existed, but never had the chance to try them out. Because I had no money or didn’t know how to find them, but at Chinese local markets and Taobao I was able to find goji berries, maca, azai berries, bee pollen, royal jelly, spirulina, basil seeds, and many others. So this year I’ve been trying them and have been working alright for me.

Are you still counting calories and such?

I do actually, just don’t know exactly why, either because of OCD or because of trying to apply the results of every scientific study I read about. I have to consume an exact amount of fats, proteins, and carbs according to the necessities of that day. An exact amount of BCAA before and after exercise, and to the mg accurate quantities of vitamins and minerals, no less than what I need and no more than what my body can absorb to avoid wasting some.

Isn’t that too much? What happens if you miss some or you consume more or less of something?

Probably nothing, just me getting paranoid.

But what’s the point? Most people just eat whatever they want and stay healthy anyway.

But you know I’m not most people, I do what I want and I try to want what is good for me. If I can choose, then why not choosing something that’s good?

How about alcohol?

A few glasses of wine or beer once or twice a week has been proven to be much better than no alcohol at all.

Have you played any good games lately?

Toradora portable for the last few months, can’t seem to get over it somehow.

Watched any good movies or shows?

Oh! Computer broke early this year, and somehow it felt like I would be wasting a lot of time on it if I decided to get another one, so I just left it at that.

Read any good books?

Just 2 on the last few months, les misserables and the 3 musketeers, both amazing, last week I started reading david copperfield but didn’t quite get into it yet.

And how about that motorbike trip.

Yes, maybe next time we can talk more about it.

I heard you have a dog now.

That’s right.

Cute?

As cute as it gets, it’s been an amazing experience seeing her growing up from a puppy, we go for a run around the lake and she waits for me while I exercise.

Is it a nice lake?

Well, it’s nice for Chinese standards, but that’s not saying much really.

Why do you hate China so much?

Just the smokers, it’s too much.

People smoke a lot?

Well official statistics say 75% of Chinese man smoke, but for people living in china we know it’s closer to 92%, they smoke always and everywhere, every single eatery, or café, supermarket, internet bar, hospitals, busses, taxis, cinemas, elevators, even at the school I work at people smoke all the time, of course it’s not my first time to work or live in a hostile environment and I know it’s part of Chinese culture, and I understand it’s not peoples fault, I know government promotes and often enforces the smoking of processed tobacco in public places particularly when children are around and especially government run institutions, like schools hospitals, and police officers. I know doctors, teachers and policemen’s can’t choose not to smoke because they will get fired, I know 20% of Chinese government income comes from tobacco, so I understand all the social and economic ramifications of smoking in China, but it’s really just too much. For them, it’s normal because they don’t know better, but for us it’s still hard to put up with, no matter how long have you been in China, you never quite get used to it.

It seems like you know a lot about smoking in China.

Yes, I also know there are like 4000 chemicals released into the air every time they light out one of those things they smoke, and few hundred of those are carcinogenic and some are even radioactive and I have to breathe them every day because “it’s Chinese culture”.

Well, it’s their country, they can do as they please, you are an intruder, can’t complain.

But I’m a guest here, I should be treated with the respect I deserve.

What makes you think you deserve any kind of respect from anyone?

I don’t know, maybe you are right, I don’t deserve anything good from them. If the current Chinese government killed 45 million for no apparent reason during the great leap forward I should actually be thankful they haven’t killed me yet.

Are you trying to deviate from the subject to make a point? Straw man argument?

I have failed in my crusade to find allies to join me against the smokers and the Chinese government, so my last hope is going off topic or self-pity.

That’s pathetic, why so much negativity? What’s the point of it? There must be a bright side to it all, I know you can find it, and I know you know how to be happy, you know how to be in control of your emotions, you can turn them all around with your love, with your smile, your passion and your rational and critical mind, but you are just using this media as an escape route to let some steam off and write down things you can’t tell anyone because you can’t use Facebook anymore and you are the only foreigner in your city, so you feel lonely. And even though isolating and alienating yourself is actually one of your specialties, some of your readers don’t want to hear your rants, they just want to see Bruce’s “dere” side.

Did you just call me Bruce?

Yeah, that’s your name while in China right?

Oh, right, but I got so used to it that I may use it in other countries as well.

Haha, alright, Bruce! So when do we get to see it?

See what?

Your “dere”side”?

Dere as in…

Oh, you know, as in that tsundere thing.

Tsundere? but you are not in Japan anymore, how come you remember that otaku word.

Maybe some things just stay with us.

Hmmm, but otakus… :s

It’s just a word man! Don’t read too much into it.

Man??? Now you are trying to sound cool to make it up for your hikikomori ways?

Yeah man! Sup man, hos it goin dude!?

닥쳐!

Haha

Read you again soon?

Yes 🙂

 

Can write again

You can write here again?

 

I’m not sure actually…

What do you mean?

Well, blogger is still blocked in China, same as google, gmail, facebook, youtube, etc, but when I went to HK I set up the posting preferences from this blog so I can post by email now, so came back to China, opened a Chinese email account and now maybe I can post again by sending an email to a specific blogger address.

But you can’t check if they get published or not.

Right, and I cant use my gmail account until I leave this… country…

And how is your Chinese email account.

cutepuppy4u@163.com 

Sup with you and puppies?

They are just cute so I want them in my email.

Or is it that think YOU are cute?

Well, I may be or may not be a narcissist, and we may possibly debate that some other time, what’s important now is that I don’t know if this post will get published or not, so I feel like I’m a castaway on an island and throw this message on a bottle, for someone to find it on the future, it may get lost, it may drift away or it may be picked up by a famous journalist who will publish it for the world to read it.

Thus making your narcissist ass famous at last.

That’s unimportant, once again, as I will never get to hear about that fame because of being stranded.

You must have many stories to tell.

Some.

If I remember right this is not your first year in China, so how come this didn’t affect you before?

The first year I was in China it was 2009, and it was a different world back then, we had a lot of VPNs and proxy websites, secure tunnel, hidemyass, it was slow but still possible to get on facebook and such, now they have blocked them all, even proxy and VPN mobile app.  Also before there was not much control over the foreigners living here, we could get long-term stay visas easily and pretty much do anything we wanted to, during the years I’ve been away there have been several witch hunts that led to foreigners being prosecuted and hunted like mutants.

And how does that affects your daily life?

Well I reckon is not as bad as North Korea or Somalia yet, but soldiers stop us if we take a bus to another city, they will target only foreigners and do routine inspections on them, they usually let us go eventually, and the visas have become a procedure so complicated that makes Russian visa look like an underdog on a troublesome to get visa contest.

Sounds like everything’s back to normal then, you hate the government and the government hates you. Except that now instead of living in a democratic country where you have freedom of speech, of movement and expression like Korea, Taiwan, Australia, etc, you live in a tyrannic totalitarian dictatorship where government is actually doing way worse things than what you accuse them to, thus giving you a fair reason to complain without people accusing you of being a conspiracy theorist.

I’m actually at the heart of the conspiracy now.

Last time you wrote about your adventures was while you were in new Zealand, what happened after that?

Too many things and I wish I could write a book just about the adventures in New Zealand, but then there was Australia once again and motorbike trip from Malaysia to China, and now, once again in China with a stable life and a stable job.

Why China? Why again?

Because despite China being a shithole, oh sorry, despite China being not such a nice place to live due to the current political, environmental and social circumstances. It’s still a place where foreigners can just show up and find a decent paid job from one day to the other, there are hundreds of cities and they all have hundreds of jobs. So one can always come to China to save money for a few months and then using that money to live a relaxed comfortable life in a peaceful nearby country (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc).

So you will start posting here again now? I’ve got like… so many questions for you…

When I’m not overworked yes, and there’s still that Chinese email address you can write me to.

The puppy one?

That’s right.

I shall be hearing from you soon then.

Soon enough

Good luck.

 

About veterans

???????: That’s pretty rude, my father was a veteran you know.

Bruno: Yeah soldiers are the worst shit.

Veteran’s son: They sacrifice their lives for you, for your freedom and you say they are shit?

Bruno: Worse shit ever, they don’t sacrifice anything for anyone, they go to wars and kill people. They think they are the good guys, but guess what, so do their so-called “enemies”. Your father was a piece of shit and so are you for supporting the army in any way.

Common friend: Wars are a problem, and soldiers are a part of it.

Bruno: No, they are not part of the problem, they are the problem, paid assassins, mercenaries who kill people for money like your father.

Veteran’s son: My father was a hero, the piece of shit is you.

Bruno: Yeah? Why? Because I don’t kill people? 

Veteran’s son:  Wars happen, but my father fought for peace.

Common friend: You know what they say…

Bruno: Yeah, fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity, and wars don’t just happen, they happen for a reason, and you know what’s that reason? Your father is that reason. The reason there are still wars is not the oil or the politicians, or the economic interests, or the borders or the religion. There are wars because soldiers go to war. People go to war, you know the politicians or presidents wouldn’t go to war themselves, wouldn’t risk getting killed.

Veteran’s son: You are pissing me off, I’m gonna break your neck.  


Bruno: Alright good man, come on punch me. You’re just gonna prove how retarded you are. Can’t have a serious discussion, can’t win an argument so have to resort to violence.That’s very mature.

Veteran’s son: I’m gonna kill you.

Bruno: Go ahead. You are no better than those soldiers. You kill because you lose an argument. So come on go ahead and prove everyone how intellectually inferior you are. Show me your big muscles, big boy. Grrrrr. Guess what, your father was a piece of shit and so are you for thinking violence solves anything.

Veteran’s son: …

 

What’s your visa?

I met some North American friends the other day that are still quite new to Taiwan, and they couldn’t stop laughing when I told them Taiwanese people always ask me about my visa status.
Young and old people alike they are like really interested to know what visa foreigners have.

At the beginning, I didn’t understand why they were laughing, because after some years in Asia I just got used to people asking about that, in Japan, Korea and Taiwan people for some reason really need to know what your visa status is.

In south-east Asia they don’t seem to care about that though.

Maybe people here need to make sure you’re legally staying in the country or they want to see if you will stay a long time, or maybe it’s to check your social status, so they can judge you by how much money you have, as people without the working visa can’t work here, so they are automatically assigned a lower social status, either by being poor or by being forced by the system to work “illegally”. Because sadly we live in a country where is illegal for a human being to work. And even more sad is the fact that people here think that’s right, because the government says so, and everything the government says is right.

People with a student visa are somehow under the wing of a recognized government institution in the country, making them decent citizens, as they are part of the system that helps maintain the status quo. Unless they got the visa attending a language school or private institute, instead of an university. In that case, they are assigned the same social status as someone on a tourist visa.

People on a tourist visa, unless they are tourists, get placed in this underdog category, not yet a criminal but not someone they would like to hang out with either.

To conclude, in the eyes of Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese people they use the visa question with this simple formula to judge the foreigners:

Working visa = Good people
Student visa = Good people (unless it’s from a language school)
Tourist visa = Bad people

Coming back to the laughs though, first I didn’t get it, but then I saw how ridiculous it sounded because they sound like police when they ask you that. And because as a foreigner myself, if somebody comes to the country I live, It would never even cross my mind to ask them about their visa, but maybe also times have changed now and I’ve been a foreigner for too long, got used to that and started seeing it as normal, or just the way it is.

But when we meet someone from another culture they help us see things from a different perspective, and sometimes no words are needed, but a rapid honest laugh can make us understand how flawed our position really is.

Christmas message

Please help me spread an anti-consumerist, anti-capitalist message on this Christmas.

Don’t buy anything.

Recycle gifts.

We all have stuff at home we don’t need.

Give them away as presents on Christmas.

Bake a cake.

Write a letter.

Write a song.

Make your own gifts.

Your friends will appreciate them more because they were made by you instead of a 12 years old Phillipino.

The reason why there are still poor people in the world is that you guys buy lots of stuff you don’t need.

And you never seem to have enough, you always want more and more.

Thus contributing to the capitalist monetary system which fuels income inequality.

And makes sure the rich stay rich, the poor stay poor.

And the ones in the middle, like most people reading this, stay in the middle.

Being slaves of the system and working together with the rich to make sure the poor stay poor.

But, If for whatever reason you need to buy something.

Buy organic so you won’t get sick.

Buy locally, from the small family shop instead than the shopping mall or supermarket.

Buying locally produced products also reduces the carbon footprint caused by shipment.

It’s also a great time to becoming vegan or vegetarian, in order to spare some pain to your fellow animal creatures as well.

And to the environment.


If we all stop using money the system will just collapse by itself.

Making way to something better.

Hopefully.

New year’s resolutions

• Becoming the spokesman of an anti-tobacco campaign in Taiwan.
• 30 pull-ups in a row (I’m at 15 now).
• Bench press my own weight plus 30kg.
• Do some volunteer work for at least half of the year.
• Get down to 10% body fat. 
• Embracing dubstep, or maybe not.
• Moving to Russia and earning a living there by doing something illegal.
• Becoming more self-aware.
• Not teaching English.
• Keep practicing yoga every day.
• Reducing the use of public transport to the very minimum, relying on bicycles, hitchhiking, walking and any other non-polluting ways of transport.
• Keeping the consumption of resources to a very minimum by trying not to spend any money on goods or services.
• Becoming less secretive and sharing my thought and my life with others (like I’m doing now).
• Shaping my thoughts into something easy to understand and assimilate by the average person.
• Play fewer video games, if at all.
• Work less for money, if at all.
• Care less about money and trying to live without it.
• Drink more wine, have more sex.
• Write fewer emails, talk to people more.
• Spend more time outdoors, less time indoors.
• Ditch technology and get back in touch with nature.
• Help to fight for a world without money, crime, religions or poverty.
• Understanding Russian people.
• Learning more useful skills.
• Breaking all the unfair laws.
• Start using the Japanese keyboard instead of always typing romanji.
• Learning more chinese characters and stop relying on pinyin.
• Typing in Korean at least once a week.
• Getting back in touch with some old friends in Germany and Argentina.
• Being less logical, more imaginative, less rational, more creative, less scientific, more artistic.
• Keeping things in balance, a bit of this and a bit of that
• Instead of worrying about why is the world so messed up, doing my part to change it.
• Stop saying “the” world, “the” planet, finding a better way.
• Kissing a guy at an anti-gay parade.
• Burning a flag at a politician’s speech, government event or national holiday.
• Opposing the establishment, disobeying, questioning authority always and breaking as many laws as possible, without hurting anyone in the process of course.  
• Taking the stairs instead of the escalator, always.
• Acquiring regular sleep patterns.
• Organizing and taking part in some peaceful protests and demonstrations.
• Remaining peaceful, embracing non-violence always, even when violence is used against us.
• Becoming famous and using my fame to overthrow Putin’s government.

 

Your government is bad and you should feel bad

Today I was sitting in the park enjoying a relaxing day when a guy comes and starts smoking his cigarette near me while blowing the smoke in my direction of course.

It’s not the first time, and it’s not because I’m in Asia. Of course in Asia, everything gets intensified because there are more people, but I’ve been having that problem pretty much all my life everywhere.

Same happens when I ride my bicycle every day, you get all the motorbikes and cars in front of you blowing you their toxic fumes, and even though I try to be health conscious and live a healthy life, I have to breathe waste, because yeah, people have to drive cars, right? And people have to smoke in the park, right?

So, I leave the park, start walking, and again thinking who’s fault is it that I have to breath toxic gases every day. Is it the guy who smokes or drives the car? No, because they don’t think for themselves, they are a no more than a product of their environment.

The guy would have probably been smoking a grasshopper, it had been properly advertised and introduced into his environment, as for the guy who was driving a fossil fuel powered car, he would be definitely driving a solar or electric car if it was readily and conveniently available to him.

Is it the people who had educated them or lead them to think that making the air dirty and causing cancer to others and to themselves was the right thing to do? Was the person who sold them the car or tobacco? Was the one who produced it and allowed for its promotion and distribution? Yes of course they were but only to some degree, as for most of them, they are, same as the final consumer, just a product of poorly designed, poorly managed system.

A system where if I feed the poor it’s good, but if I ask why the poor have no food and how can we change that, they will call me a communist, or an anarchist, or n extremist, or tell me I’m against the government, well, of course, I’m against the government and so should you.

So should you if you care about any other person besides yourself, or if you care about the animals or the environment. because your government knows it’s idiotic that the world still runs on fossil fuel while we have so many other clean energy sources, It’s not like we have one or two, we have more than 10, hydrogen, solar, tidal, wave, nuclear fusion, hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, radiant energy, biomass, etc. and your government knows it, yet they don’t implement them.

I remember once while hitchhiking in Finland some 5 years ago, got picked up by a driver who was driving a water powered car, he had been working on it for 20 years and showed me the whole mechanism and how it worked.

It was very strange for me as I had never seen anything like that, so I asked him, of course, why doesn’t he share it with the world, so he told me the story about how they took his friend that had helped him develop it, and how all the people who develop renewable energy powered cars seem to just mysteriously vanish from the face of the earth. He told me stories of some famous Russians and North Americans who had been taken together with their inventions.

Of course, I didn’t believe him, so when I got home I googled everything and it seemed he was right, everyone who tried to share it had disappeared.

Back to the park though, I keep walking and what do I see? The same thing i see every day, lots of office buildings, and construction sites (where they are always building new office buildings), the area is called Nangang. The city, Taipei.

Have you ever wanted to sit in an office for 10 hours a day? No? Me neither, but that seems to be the Taiwanese dream right now, a business related job. If you have that job you are considered to be a successful person here.

Basically, most of the times, sitting in front of a computer, sending a few emails, making a few phone calls and doing some paperwork, and that is, in fact, the idea that Taiwanese have of a successful person.

It’s just a trend of course, and it changes every decade, before it was engineering, before that it was medicine and in 10 years it will be something different.

These people say they like money and they do it for the money, yet most of the times they barely make enough to survive. They don’t really have much money but in their mind is all money money money.

Of course I tried to tell these people to ride a bicycle instead of car, to stop smoking, that money doesn’t make people happy and that success is measured by how we interact and thrive within our environment,  instead of being measured by how we trash things up or by how much time we spend in an office causing  some trouble to others.

And what do I get for that? They look at me like I’m a lunatic and belong in a mental asylum or like I come from mars and speak the tongue of my people. Others will say “you just don’t understand the real world” or “that’s how the world works”.

“That’s just how the world works” it is, after all, just a phrase assholes use to justify doing awful things,  but what to say to these people who think they live in the “real world”? Well, it’s my world too, I also live in the real world and I’m tired of you and your government polluting the air I breathe, the water I drink and poisoning the food I eat.

Air and water are like the very basic thing you should be trying to protect, if not for you at least for your descendants. Instead of that, you are a thrashing machine. As soon as you wake up you make sure during the day you can cause as much pain and trouble to me and to your environment as possible.

First in your car when you go to work making my air dirty, then at work creating some sort of bureaucracy or paperwork to make my life more difficult while making sure you contribute to the waste of resources and the destruction of my planet in as many ways as you can.

Well, you know what people from Nangang? I’m sick and tired of you, and your office buildings and your cars,  and your construction workers building more offices and your factories building more cars.

And even though nobody living in Nangang is reading this right now, and that person smoking in the park was probably not even aware he was polluting my air, this post will remain here, on the internet, as a silent protest from a person who always feels like he has no voice in this profoundly sick community.

One that, for the record, I feel very ashamed of belonging to.

About taiwan

Friend: Hey! How’s life in Taiwan?

Bruno: Not bad, not bad at all, you know actually the main reason why I’ve always wanted to come here was that some of the best people I’ve met in my life were originally from here.

Friend: So people are nice there?

Bruno: As nice as they come

Friend: How about the weather?

Bruno: It’s extremely hot of course, but I can adapt.

Friend: I thought you hated the heat.

Bruno: Well, it’s just for a few months, I can manage.

Friend: You know I think I don’t even know where Taiwan is.

Bruno: It’s a tiny island south-east of China.

Friend: Is it part of China?

Bruno: Yes, of course, well..  no, not really, well, yes it is part of China, except that it isn’t.

Friend: What do you mean?

Bruno: It is part of China, except because they have their own language, their own culture, their own currency, their own government, chinese can’t come here without a visa.

Friend: It sounds like it’s not really part of China.

Bruno: Well, you know how politics work (they don’t) so if you ask a Chinese they will say Taiwan is part of China, if you ask a Taiwanese they will say it’s not, it’s a different country, and technically they are both right.

Friend: How is that possible?

Bruno: They made it in a way that it’s part of China and it’s also not part of China.

Friend: I’m getting confused now.

Bruno: Some countries accept it as a country some don’t, so it just depends on who you ask, add some corruption, a few government conspiracies there and you got Taiwan.

Friend: Fair enough, good to hear you like it there though.

Bruno: Yeah, it’s nice to be here.

 

Living in the loopwholes

Friend: I don’t understand why you dislike the Christians so much?

Bruno: Because for me being Christian means taking the side of the oppressor.

Friend: You mean the side of the government?

Bruno: Yes, because the governments usually take side with the Christians/Catholics.

Friend: Yes, during the dark ages, now its different, kind of.

Bruno: How come it’s different?

Friend: Let’s just leave it there, so you just don’t like anyone who takes sides or works for the government?

Bruno: I like some, I like the librarians, the ones who clean the parks, the ones who build the bridges and highway, some teachers, some social workers, few other people.

Friend: So why you always complain about the government?

Bruno: Because they make my life just too difficult with all their rules and regulations.

Friend: So you just don’t like rules? If machines were making the rules instead of governments you’ll probably complain about the machines.

Bruno: Probably.

Friend: What rule do you hate the most?

Bruno: Well, every day is different, today is the one that hinders my stay in Taiwan. Because I want to stay in Taiwan and live here, but the Taiwanese government, same as most governments doesn’t want me to live here. And it’s not like if I were in Singapore and I can just take a bus to Malaysia for 20 dolars and get the new visa, a visa run from Taiwan is serious business.

Friend: So why do you live in Taiwan, go back to Europe, no one will kick you out, no visa, no passports, no borders.

Bruno: But the food in Taiwan is just so good. Best food ever.

Friend: So enjoy the food and try to get around the government somehow, there are always so many loopholes everywhere, you know that very well.

Bruno: Fuck that, I’m tired of always having to hide in the loopholes, I would like to get medical insurance, to rent an apartment, to get a job, to go to school, to get an ID.

Friend: Why would you want that?

Bruno: Just to do something different for a change.

Friend: So you always want what you can’t have, when you had all those papers and stuff in Europe you grew sick and tired of them, remember?

Bruno: You know what, you’re right, I’m better off in the loopholes.

Friend: There you go, see, problem solved.

Bruno: That was fast.

Nice day for a revolution

Today is a nice day


nice day for a change 


for a change of course


in the train of thought


that has made a mess


in this place of ours.


It’s a nice day for something new


a change of environment


a change of structure


a change of mind


a change of heart.


It’s time to take out the trash


and work together for a cause


work together for the future


and try to learn from our past.

It’s a nice day for a revolution


nice day for you and me

to make a picnic in the park 


eat some walnuts and discuss


the future of humankind.

Society fail

Am I the only who’s tired of his clothes?


Well, there are 7.000.000.000 people on this planet, what am I saying? Of course, I’m not the only one.

The estimated time it takes me to get bored of my clothes is 2 to 3 months, so after that, I either stop wearing them or keep wearing them without feeling special anymore. I stop looking handsome and start looking dull on them. So then its easier to let them go.

In an ideal society, and by ideal I mean one that works for everyone and not for a few, instead of having thousands of clothing factories producing tons of new clothes we don’t need, so that they get accumulated at home after we get bored of them, the clothing market would work same as a library works now.

You know how you go to the library, take a book, read it, and give it back, well the same we should do with clothes.

Because it’s pointless to accumulate at home hundreds of books we have already read instead of passing them on to someone who could read them. SO why would we accumulate so many clothes we have already gotten bored of, or they don’t fit us or we don’t like them anymore?

Imagine you could just go and swap them for some you like more and change your wardrobe every second week.

Imagine you can dress as a furry today, as businessman tomorrow and show off some 60’s hippie style the day after.

Dress as Cloud Strife on the weekend, as a Teletubbie on Monday, and be a hipster on Tuesday, wouldn’t that be fun?

The reason we don’t do that is not that no one had thought about it, but because there are people who benefit from me getting bored of my wardrobe after few months.

So the reason we don’t make a library for clothing is the same one we don’t have one for tools, accessories, vehicles, magic the gathering cards and every single material thing we usually need.

It’s so that people need to keep buying stuff, the money changes hands, hence keeping the monetary economy running. That way we can keep living in a failed and decaying society.

Because a society where there are millions of homeless people in the street while we have millions of empty houses no one uses, it’s a failed society.

A society where some people don’t have food, and the rest throw away tons of food every day it’s a failed society.

A society where some people have private swimming pools while others don’t have drinking water is a failed society.

An individualistic society, that doesn’t ensure that it’s members work together for a common goal it’s a failed society.

And a society that doesn’t teach its members to take care of one another it is indeed a failed society.

 

About the homeless

Lately, I’ve been comparing my ideas to the ones I had 10 years ago and understanding why did I have them back then and why have they changed over the years.

More specifically, I was thinking about the homeless: while growing up, I was taught to dislike if not hate the homeless, because they were not working.

What? That’s it? Just because they were not working?

They hadn’t done anything wrong to me or to anyone else, and most times they were just laying there being all homeless and stuff.

But society and my family said that working gives us dignity, for some reason, and hard-working people were regarded as honorable or successful, hence the homeless were regarded as dishonest and lazy at best, criminals and drug addicts at worse.

Pretty much, until my early 20’s everyone around me said the homeless chose to beg and live on the streets, and I believed them of course, because why, why would they lie to me?

No one ever bothered to challenge that statement or somehow lead me to think there may be something else to it.

They taught me what to think, instead of teaching me how to think.

To be fair, there is a minority of people who choose to be homeless in Japan because they get fed up with the stress of the 9 to 5 life, but for most homeless, everywhere else in the world, it wasn’t really a choice of them to make, they just ended up there.

They were either born in the streets and didn’t know anything better, lost their jobs/homes on some unfortunate chain of events titled anywhere from recession, to corruption, to financial crisis or got caught up in some destructive or addictive substance or behavior made, very conveniently, readily available as a legal way of coping with some of that stress.

But they didn’t choose to be homeless, they ended up being homeless, because at some point in their lives they realized, that it was just too much for them, that they couldn’t keep up, they had stayed behind, and they had lost the rat race.


Some others just realized, that they were left behind, because they failed to adapt, to a profoundly sick society.

save my friend

People who read this blog may have noticed an anti-government rage the writer of it often expresses.

That’s because he often times forgets that politicians and armed forces are also human beings, the fact that they torture and kill people doesn’t mean they are monsters.

And he fails to see that governments ARE the people.

Governments have no power whatsoever without an army or some mercenaries to enforce their decisions.

Armies consist of normal people who enlisted in order to help their governments enforce their policies, no questions asked.

Both in their country and abroad.

But today, reading about Korean history, about Park Chung hee and Chun Doo Hwan, some dictator that killed many people in 1980, his dictatorship was, of course, same as most dictatorships in latin america and the middle east, sponsored by the United States and reading a bit more about the massacre of Gwangju, I remembered all the other massacres from other countries. Times when the governments suddenly decide to just kill everyone.

Few weeks ago we went to a protest near the chinese embassy, it was a big one, called “save my friend” to save the north koreans refugees that china was about to send back to north korea so they can get tortured and killed for escaping. from north korea.

And journalists who were covering the event, knowing that foreigners sell more news, were happy to interview me, so they asked me “why are you protesting here?” I said “because governments kill people”  after that there was a pause,

I think he was expecting me to say something else

but i didn’t

and he didn’t

so there was a pause

but they kept the camera on

so i started feeling awkward.

and then they left.

Japan 2

From all the countries I’ve been to, Japan was, for some reason, the one that made me wish I could live there forever. I don’t know if it was the kinky porn, the children’s cartoons or the depressingly suicidal business people. I’m not sure, but there was just something there that made me want to stay.



And while in Osaka I tried as hard as I could to find a way to stay there permanently, and the only way I could find of doing that, considering I wasn’t ready for an arranged marriage yet, it was by trying to find a job, and committing myself to a life of paid slavery, which I was, by the way, totally cool with.


And I still am, I still think that I’d rather wait tables somewhere I like than make millions somewhere I hate.


So, coming back to Osaka I came across what at the moment seemed to be my dream job, easy, no stress, in the city I liked, with the people I liked, flexible hours, high pay, everything was perfect, and when I applied for it, my employer said the same most employers had told me while in Japan, he said: “No, because you don’t have a working visa”.


That phrase brought along several phases with it, ranging from several hours to several days long.




1 – Denial – I would think: “Maybe the employer was just having a bad day, it happens to everyone, I’ll just give him a call again tomorrow and if he says no I’ll just try somewhere else, it can’t be me, I’m just perfect just the way I am”.


2 – Self pity – I would think: “Actually it is me, it’s all my fault, why didn’t I didn’t pay attention in high school, why I didn’t dress better, they only asked you for a valid working visa, university degree, transcripts, cover letter, police background check, letter of recommendation, doctor’s health certificate, alien registration card, insurance card, tax payer card, drivers license, etc, and you couldn’t provide it, you are worthless, useless Bruno, it’s all your fault.


3 – Appreciation – I would think: “F**k this s**t, I’m European, I don’t need this s**t from anyone. I don’t need that job, and I don’t even need to be here anyway. The only reason why I’m here, is because I knew it would be a challenge, this is what I wanted, and actually I’m just a spoiled brat who had such an easy life in Europe that he decided to get out there to live it rough for a while, so he can appreciate what he had back home and actually I’m much better off unemployed, I can sleep late tonight, meet my friends and go cycling along the river tomorrow, that’s what life’s about”


4 – Objectivity – I would think (and I would know) that actually… if I was my employer I would probably be making the same decisions as he, because if he hires someone who’s not legally allowed to work here, he could face steep fines, closure of his business and maybe even jail time. So, of course, he doesn’t want to take the risk, no one would. He’s actually a pawn just like me, standing in the frontline, defending someone else’s interest, fighting someone else’s war.


I knew my employer quite well actually, he was far from being the ruthless corporate rich bastard we always associate our bosses with, he was a normal guy, just like me, he also had to feed his children, pay rent, deal with a million people complaining about everything, he also had problems, fears, and insecurities and he was just trying to make a living and get by in life as safely as possible. Same as me, same as everyone else.


And he was actually quite a smart guy, he had been in Japan for 10 years and seemed to understand the system quite well, and he explained to me that the Japanese system, same as most systems it’s actually a loop: to find a job you need to have a working visa, to have a working visa you need to first get a job, which of course you can’t get because you don’t have a working visa.


But I’m sure it’s the same in your country, most jobs ask you to have work experience, which of course you can’t get because they won’t give you a job because you don’t have work experience.


I knew it wasn’t this particular employer who didn’t want me to get a job, it was the government.


But the government, is chosen by the people, right? Japan is still a democratic country, right? Wrong.


Try this, go out on the street and ask random passersby for the solution to a technical problem, they will now know it of course, that’s how democracy works, ask 100 million people with not technical knowledge whatsoever for the answer to a technical problem and they will either don’t know it, don’t care about it or get deceived into following someone who tells them he has the answer (so they don’t need to look for it themselves).


This is especially true in Japan, where most people have conveniently decided to either shut down their brains and just follow the herd or plugging it into a computer and living in an alternate universe. Am I generalizing? Probably, but I think I’m allowed to generalize about a country I studied for a few years, worked and lived, I bothered to learn the language and kind of understand the culture. It is still generalizing, but if there was going to be a revolution in every country, I can be quite sure that Japan would be the last one. Because in Japan complaining is not an option. You just look down and do as you’re told. 


Every loop has a loophole though. Good people disobey bad laws and the younger generations are growing more and more aware of the problems we are facing. Some of them are even aware of the solutions. 


I met some of them, and it was quite a refreshing feeling, like a breeze of fresh air.


If you meet 100 people and they have all the same idea, but then someone comes with a totally new idea which is completely opposite, it can be like a ray of sunlight, in an otherwise extremely cloudy day.


These people proved me that there’s still hope for Japan, there’s still hope for the human race, there’s still hope for me and for you, and I really wish that next time I go to Japan, I’m wont be needing a working visa anymore, nor a passport, nor money. 


Just a smile, just a smile and a little flower.

A new president

Familiar face 1: Have you heard anything from Bruno?


Familiar face 2: Haven’t heard anything for a few weeks actually, I wonder what he’s up to.


Familiar face 1: Do you think he’s alright?


Familiar face 2:  Yeah, you know how he is, sometimes goes dark for no reason, or maybe just hasn’t had internet access.


Familiar face 1: I’m a bit worried though, he always logs into Couchsurfing at least once a month, it’s been 3 months now.


Familiar face 2: I’m sure he’s just going through one of his phases, maybe now is the “not signing into Couchsurfing phase”.


Familiar face 1: What if he needs our help?


Familiar face 2: He would ask for it.


Familiar face 1: Would he?


Familiar face 2: Probably not, but he knows how to take care of himself. He’ll be fine, I tell ya.


Familiar face 1: He doesn’t know how to take care of himself, he’s just a child!


Familiar face 2: Children are reckless.


Familiar face 3: Sup?


Familiar face 2: Hey!


Familiar face 1: We were just talking about you.


Familiar face 3: Really?


Familiar face 1: No.


Familiar face 2: We were talking about Bruno.


Familiar face 3: Oh, I saw him yesterday.


Familiar face 2: On irc?


Familiar face 3: No, met for d&d.


Familiar face 1: Any news?


Familiar face 3: He said he was working as an extra at some Korean drama, hanging out with some celebrities, taking some Korean lessons 4 times a week, and the rest of the time stays at home studying.


Familiar face 2: So he must be fluent by now.


Familiar face 1: Korean is useless, he should be studying Chinese. Chinese is the future.


Familiar face 2: I thought he spoke Chinese already.


Familiar face 1: Really? I thought he spoke Japanese.


Familiar face 3: He said he wants to learn Korean because it sounds cute.


Familiar face 2: And why on earth would he want to sound cute?


Familiar face 1: For no good reason, you know how he is.


Familiar face 2: Stubborn.


Familiar face 3: He’s alright.


Familiar face 4: Morning!


Familiar face 3: It’s 8 PM.


Familiar face 4: Same.


Familiar face 2: You brought pizza!!!


Familiar face 4: Yep.


Familiar face 1: Awesome!


Familiar face 3: We were starving.


Familiar face 4: I know.


Familiar face 2: Thank you sooo much.


Familiar face 4: My pleasure.


Familiar face 3: Hey, how was the interview?


Familiar face 4: I got it, you’re looking at the new president of the united states.

Familiar face 2: That’s it? no polls, speeches, elections?


Familiar face 4: Well, there’s still some bureaucracy here and there, campaign adds, interviews, “elections”, but I got the job, that’s what matters.


Familiar face 3: President? What are you talking about? I thought you applied for a job at the supermarket.


Familiar face 4: Yeah, just kidding, anyway… I got it, from Monday on, I’ll be stocking the shelves at the supermarket, yeah!


Familiar face 1: And why do we need a new president anyway? What’s wrong with the current one?


Familiar face 4: No comments.

Familiar face 3: Oh, the irony..


Familiar face 1: What irony?


Familiar face 3: No, nothing.

Familiar face 1: Whatever…

Whatever 6

 

Friend: Why do you want to end world poverty and income inequality? Some people are rich, some are poor, that’s just the way it is.

 

Bruno: I want? No, this is not about what I want or I don’t want, it’s about doing the right thing. It’s about what has to be done.

 

Friend: But I like having more than the rest, that way I have no stress, don’t need to work, can live a comfortable life, and all that thanks to my country’s government who promote and enforce this income inequality you don’t like.

 

Bruno: It’s not about what I like or don’t like, it’s just the right thing to do!!!

Friend: And who are you to say what’s right or wrong?

 

Bruno: I’m just a man, with all my flaws and all my goodness, just a man. Who doesn’t accept that billions suffer because of the greed of hundreds.

 

Friend: We live in complex times, things are not just black and white.

 

Bruno: It’s easy to say that with a full stomach and a roof over your head.

 

Friend: Well, you’re on your own on this, what are you gonna do?

 

Bruno: I’m not on my own, and everything’s done already, half of it at least, the guys from  the venus project found all the solutions to all the problems, war, poverty, crimes, hunger, everything’s solved in theory.

 

Friend: Theory won’t feed people.

 

Bruno: It’s a start.

 

Friend: How about the practice?

 

Bruno: We are working on that.

 

Friend: How? by standing on the street with a sing or signing online petitions.

 

Bruno: No, when we run out of resources everyone will understand that there’s something wrong and the system is not working if enough people stop supporting it, will collapse by itself and then we can build something better, something that actually works for everyone and not for a few. Then we can implement the ideas of the venus project

 

Friend: People already ran out of resources in many countries a while ago, did anything change? did they stop supporting the system?

 

Bruno: Not yet but they will.

 

Friend: You know what they did in Africa to justify the genocides, plagues, and famine, they build churches and told people the reason why they die and are poor is because of God’s plan so they won’t complain or look for a solution.

 

Bruno: I couldn’t say, I’ve never been the Africa, but what I do know is that when people have no education they are easy to manipulate, control the educational system or better yet, get rid of it and you can mold and control people’s minds. Control education and you will have slaves for life, who will never dare to question the system or your decisions. They will say “that’s God’s plan” or “that’s just the way it is”.

 

Friend: Thanks for the tip.

 

Bruno: My pleasure.

 

Friend: Things are never gonna change.

 

Bruno: Not with that attitude for sure.

 

Friend: There can’t be good without evil, can’t be light without darkness. Darkness gives meaning to light.

 

Bruno: That could be true in the case that we didn’t know what light was and we only knew darkness, but in our case, we know both already so we can choose one.

 

Friend: I don’t want to choose.

 

Bruno: By not choosing one you are already choosing.

 

Friend: I’m not, this is not my problem.

 

Bruno: Ok, so when they can’t farm the land, breathe the air and drink the water anymore, you will be the one to explain to future generations that it was good for the economy. And that you chose not to choose.

 

Friend: Whatever.

 

Bruno: Yeah, “whatever”.

 

 

Muslims, you’re doing it right :)

I started Korean and taekwondo lessons went on many outings this last few weeks and met some new friends.

Enjoyed a freedom few people can enjoy. Not freedom like spending all night showing your private parts in chatroulette,  but the freedom of being able to do anything you want or doing nothing at all. Without having to fulfill other people’s expectations, without worrying about the future and without feeling guilty about being “unproductive”.

It happens to me (and to most people I think) that when we procrastinate for a long time, a year or more, we start feeling guilty about not generating any source of income.

In our materialistic society we’ve been taught that time is money and money is time, we spend time doing things we don’t like and in exchange we get money. Any time spent not making money or learning something that we think in the future will be useful to make money is wasted time.

And even myself that I have been unemployed for many years now, still have to deal with those values that were unfairly imposed and inculcated on my subconscious mind when I was most vulnerable. During my childhood.

And now while enjoying this freedom, I get reminded that the Korean government has arranged things for me not to be able to find work and for me to have to leave the country every 3 months because they only give me 3-month visas.

And I wish 2 things:

1~ For me to be able to enjoy freedom for the rest of my life, freedom of movement, living and traveling anywhere I want, unrestricted by visas, borders, or lack of money. Without the need of a passport or wealth.

2~ For everyone else on this planet to enjoy this freedom. Because we deserve it, it’s our right, should be undeniable, like breathing,

But wishing is not gonna take me anywhere, I have to do something about it.

I know what to do, but I don’t  know how to.

I need to learn how to share everything I have, and then I need to find a way to teach it to people.

My friends from rich countries, Scandinavian countries, Japan, Australia laugh at me when I tell them we should just open all the borders, let everyone get in and out as they please and share the wealth of the rich nations with the poor ones. or better yet, organizing things for the poor one not to be poor anymore. They say I’m crazy.

And on the other hand, my friends from poor countries, S.E asia, Latin America, think it makes perfect sense to share everything we have so people don’t need to suffer anymore.

I don’t know how can I learn to share everything, but I know where can I learn it.

Muslim countries.

I was very lucky to spend some months in Muslim countries and staying with many muslim people and something that struck me was how detached they were and ready to share everything even when they didn’t have much.

For me, the first time I went to a Muslim country was in 2008. Was shocked and never thought people could be that hospitable, altruistic and kind. Just going for a walk, cars will stop and ask “hey, do you need a ride?” that made me smile and I was like “YES! Faith in humanity restored!”

Of course, after many years of hitchhiking, Couchsurfing and just wandering around I’ve also stayed with Christians, Buddhists and atheists hundreds of times, slept at many branches of the Christian churches and at are-khrisna, Indian and Buddhist temples. But no one was nearly as kind as the Muslims.

When everyone else asked me how long am I staying or let me stay just a few days, the Muslims won’t let me go, and if I say i’m staying just for one week, they always ask me if It’s possible for me to stay longer with them.

Same with food, or with their time, they are generous with everything and don’t expect anything in return.

So I think If I move there for a while and live with them I could learn it from them.

I’m an atheist myself, don’t believe in the paranormal, will never agree with the way they treat women and I know sometimes they are not so nice to each other, but when talking about generosity and kindness towards foreigners visiting their countries I will humbly take off my hat and say: Muslims, you’re doing it right!

Where are you from?

Friend 2: So.. where are YOU from? 

Bruno: I belong to no country.

Friend 2: How come?

Bruno: I’m not really into countries.

Friend 2: So you’re a global citizen.

Bruno: Exactly.

Friend 2: You’re living the dream, I wish I could be a global citizen as well.

Bruno: You can.

Friend 2: How?

Bruno: Live everywhere, be everywhere. Don’t vote, don’t associate or identify yourself with any country or government.

Friend 2: That’s it?

Bruno: Sure, it’s up to you.


Friend 2: My family and friends will be disappointed though.

Bruno: And you have dark hair.

Friend 2: What?

Bruno: No, I thought we were stating facts that were irrelevant.

Friend 2: It’s not irrelevant, I still care what people think about me.

Bruno: Why would you?

Friend 2: Because I’m not confident enough, I need reassurance and I need to be accepted. 

Bruno: Why wouldn’t they accept you?

Friend 2: Because they love their country very much, so if I tell them I don’t like it, they’ll think I’m not one of them anymore.

Bruno: But you realize, the only reason why they like their countries is that they’ve been told that’s what they should do, and nationalism is just another tool for social control, like religion or advertisement. Since childhood, they will make them sing the national anthem, make them swear loyalty to it, and teach them the history of their country making it look like they are the heroes and everyone else is an enemy. During the world cup or sports events, they have to “support the team” same goes during the wars. People don’t like to think for themselves so they just accept and do anything they are told, so they can fit in.

Friend 2: I want to fit in too.

Bruno: Why would you?

Friend 2: So I don’t need to defend my ideas and I can relax more.

Bruno: Good point.

Friend 2: If you disagree with everyone always, you are always standing in a defensive position. 

Bruno: True.

Friend 2: And you don’t have the ultimate truth. It’s also possible for a person to be compassionate and still feel like they belong to a country, like Dalai Lama, he is the most compassionate person and still feels proud to be Tibetan, while at the same time embracing all the people of the world as his equals.

Bruno: True. So it really doesn’t matter if you have a country or not, what matters is that we are compassionate towards each other. Right?

Friend 2: Right, I’d still like to live everywhere and be a world citizen though.

Bruno: But you don’t need to.

Friend 2: I don’t need to.

Bruno: I need to.

Friend 2: You don’t need to.

Bruno: I don’t need to.

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.

 

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?

 

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.