The Walking City

Today was one of those very special and rare days in which you see life through a lens that brightens and warms up everything.

After a pretty boring and ordinary trip into Boston last night, I woke up to a beautiful day: blue skies, warm temperature, a little breeze... A lazy morning sitting in the back porch was followed by a simple but delicious lunch: sandwiches filled with chicken-curry-apple-nuts-raisins salad. After that we headed out to the North Shore (for my first look at the ocean since Galveston last year, and totally missing the Caribbean).

Even though the fall colors are not yet at their height and still have not spread everywhere, the drive was colorful and pleasant. We arrived to the little town of Rockport and walked it's streets down to Bearskin Neck. We stopped at art galleries, crafts shops and eventually made our way to the Strudel place.

Stomachs filled with yummy treats, we went towards the ocean and took in the view. Picture perfect. It was surprising to picture images similar to the "Perfect Storm" anywhere near this place!

Having seen enough of that we drove to Halibut Point State Park. We hiked to the quarry, where you can see the quarry pool and just beyond, the Atlantic. If you gaze into the horizon on a clear day like today you even get to see Maine. Just a little down the street, we stopped at the Lobster Pool for an early dinner. New England Clam Chowder, Shrimp, Lobster... a meal that could not have been overlooked when you visit Cape Ann.

So, up until now the day has been amazing; out of a dream, but it is not over. We have tickets to see Kooza, the Cirque du Soleil show. As usual, a breathtaking show. The lights, colors, music and talent of the artists were unparalleled. Excellency, nothing less.

Tonight, I am going to bed -smile on my lips- looking forward to waking up for another day of exploring and fun in the Walking City.

Comatose Confusions

For some weird reason, I love the movie "While You Were Sleeping". It probably has to do with memories of the first time I saw it. Happy times.

Anyways, there's a scene there that has been flashing in my mind very frequently lately: Lucy, Sandra Bullock, has saved Peter and is at the hospital with him at night. They are alone and it seems to be very late. She has been talking "to him" for quite a while and then she says: "Have you ever been so alone you spend the night confusing a man in a coma?"

And the thing is that it's actually very common. Well, not really talking to men in commas, but feeling that kind of loneliness.

It's surprising how many people suffer from this condition. So many call the psychic hot lines or the television shopping lines because they are alone and need to hear someone's voice. Others get involved in cyber-dating, or even settle for less-than-acceptable relationships just to run away from it. Jack Diamond (here I go again) commented last week on the several times during his career when he's gotten calls during his show from lonely suicidal people who have no one to talk to but the radio show guy.

Lonely people do bizarre things, like reach out to strangers. Besides our innate need for social interaction, we just don't really know how to handle being alone. We are born alone, we will die alone. How come we are not taught how to handle it? Why does society have to make us believe that being alone is bad? Because we have, indeed, been raised to believe that being alone is a sign of failure and rejection. Too many times we wrongly tie our self image and self value to someone else's opinion. People who are alone are flawed, or so their isolation leads them to conclude. We need to feel that we "belong" somewhere, in Lucy's case in Peter's and the Callahans' life. We are just "not good enough". Being alone makes us feel so rejected, hurt, alienated that we start feeling lonely. We feel defeated. Thus the despair.

Why the stigma? Can't we make a difference between solitude and loneliness? Can't we be alone without feeling lonely? Anyone that has ever felt loneliness can confirm that a million people can't make you feel it less. Nothing worse for lonely people than a crowd.

Solitude on the other hand is many a times positive. It can make us feel independent and empowered. It can make you recycle your energy and reconnect with your inner self. Nothing better to reconnect with others than to know yourself, truly, completely.

Maybe if we could teach our children the difference between solitude and loneliness there'd be less desperate people. Maybe we would not feel as lost when we are alone. We might even embrace our times of solitude, cherish them.

I guess my point is, after all the rambling, in a world that has been moving in a direction that isolates us more and more replacing physical interaction with instant telecommunication technologies, wouldn't it be beneficial to distinguish being alone from being lonely?

There will always be people that feel lonely, unfortunately, but tying loneliness and solitude together in one package creates more intense and frequent situations that sometimes end up calling for desperate measures, like comatose confusions.

Gracias Totales

Hoy simplemente quiero dar las gracias al (selecto) grupo de quienes a través de sus blogs han pasado a formar parte me mis mañanas (junto con las noticias y el café), de las interminables horas de trabajo, y de las silenciosas noches en los "suburbs".

Thanks for the inspiration, for making me think, ponder, laugh, cry and remember...

Bernard Pivot's

Following in the footsteps of the Mad Hatter and Miss A, I found my own questionnaire to answer and maybe start posting again...
So here it is: the famous questionnaire from Inside the Actor's Studio. These 10 questions originally came from a French series, "Bouillon de Culture" hosted by Bernard Pivot.

1. What is your favorite word?
   procrastination, enlightening, serendipity
   
   
2. What is your least favorite word?
   imposed, rejection, inability
   
   
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
   uniqueness, nature
   
   
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
   ignorance, crowds, hypocrisy, unfairness, cigarettes
   
   
5. What is your favorite curse word?
   shit
   
   
6. What sound or noise do you love?
   ocean waves and wind
   
   
7. What sound or noise do you hate?
   amplifier's feedback, sirens, constant humming of machines
   
   
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
   Food/Restaurant critic
   
   
9. What profession would you not like to do?
   Anything health related
   
   
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
    "I've been waiting for you. You've certainly earned your share of paradise"

Every Breath

Every morning driving to work I listen to the Jack Diamond Morning Show (a falta de Cesar Miguel y sus silencios elocuentes). Most days they just make me laugh, but every so often a comment made by Jack - isolated from all the nonesense his co-hosts say - strikes a cord and makes me think about some deep issue. Today the issue was, of course, 9/11. It was a date that changed the world, but only living here have a begun to understand the deep hurt this country feels. They are having a memorial at the Pentagon today, and that's how the conversation started.

But Jack's message, even though derived from this day in our past, was more related to our present and our future. He talked about how precious and unpredictable life is. This is something we all know but we'd arther forget and not ponder. It scares us way too much. "Living" is a great miracle. We take for granted every breath we take; every breath others take, and in the blink of and eye it could all be over.

Imagine how many people look upon that day with regrets! Some left their homes in a hurry that morning, not having kissed their spouse and children goodbye; Some had gotten in an argument the day before and didn't get a chance to say they were sorry; some hadn't called someone they loved in a while, and they never got around it.

So much left unsaid and undone...

How often do we put off important details like these because we think we don't have time now? We tell ourselves we'll do them tomorrow.

Tomorrow may never come.

Today could be our last chance.

Pictures of the memorial at Washingtonpost.com