I once was a writer...

I couldn't sleep a couple of nights ago. I must have eaten too much. But that happens more often than not. I try to finally "go to bed" (as in, go to sleep) when I can no longer keep my eyes open. But that takes a while. I have been known to surf all the things  on imgur on my iPhone until the battery runs out, which really bothers Honey. He says that we should sleep together, at the same time. I try not to think, I try to free my mind. But that doesn't always work. And, like I said, I really couldn't sleep the other night. I "went to bed" at 10 pm, but I was really, really tired. I could hardly keep my eyes open, I could not focus on anything, I could not stop yawning. So I figured it was about time. Of course, as my friend Murphy would have it, it was only when I turned off all the lights, hit the mute switch on all the phones, turned off the TV and the laptop, found the perfect pillow position and sighed what I expected to be the last sigh of the ...

(This Pre-Christmas Post replaces the Monday post for December 26. Back to the normal Monday schedule on January 2, 2012) As you may already know (oh, come on, I'm sure you know), we have very large, illegal, guerrilla leftist movements in Colombia. We have tried to combat and defeat them for over 60 years, and we are slowly winning the war against them.. but we still have a long way to go. Before I go on, please allow me a little of your time to get on my soapbox and explain a couple of things. Listen, dude, we (Colombians) are not against leftist movements, like people (such as Chávez and his dictatorial regime, for instance) want to make you believe. We welcome the left, because we are well aware that without a left there can be no right, but rather meaningless unilateralism . Our nation was founded in 1810 based on leftist ideals. We, all of us, all of us Colombians, used to be leftist rebels who stood up against the Spanish monarchy. And we won. We understand and celebrat...

I am somewhat of a world citizen. I have lived in four continents, I have learned new languages and new cultures; I have seen and done things that most people would only dream of doing. I have ridden exotic animals, I have prayed in thousand-year-old churches and temples, I have had water (or, let's be honest, Coca-Cola) in 80 cities, I have gotten wet with rain in 15 countries, I have gone swimming in three different seas... You might say that I have seen and done so much, that I am difficult to amaze. But you'd be wrong. I am amazed by snow . You need to understand why, though: as much as I have traveled, and as old as I am (I have been informed that my new hair cut makes me look my real age...), I still grew up and spent more than half of my life in Barranquilla , on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where the average temperature is 35ºC and the daily weather report shows a bright, shiny, beautiful sun. We have rain, of course; but somehow the sun manages to shine throu...

Disposable Grill, with grilling materials and stuf f: 2.99 € Stuff to be grilled: 10.15 € Sophisticated glasses to wear during a (cold) sunny day: 10.95 € Enjoying a sunny (and windy) Sunday afternoon with Honey in our front yard,  in picnic-style grilling,  with (not all the way cooked, but anyway) good food...  ...priceless!

I guess one particular answer is that many couples were getting frisky during the summer months, and thus we have so many births this time of year. Seriously, only in my family: my mom, my sister, my uncle, two aunts, three cousins. But aside from the celebration of births, I also "celebrate" deaths, yet not as a happy thing. Just as a day to remind me how much I miss the people who are no longer with me. But then there are also the catholic holidays--gotta love us catholics--with our celebrations for a million saints. One in particular, whom we celebrate by drinking. Binge drinking. Extreme binge drinking. No wonder my sister has not spend a birthday sober for the past 5 years, since she and St. Patrick have their date in common. And then, since when did we start celebrating Carnival in March and not in February? Since when is Ash Wednesday in March and not in February? What is this overwhelming over-use of March? Also, March is supposed to be the beginning of Spring. Where ...