Give yourself

Today i’m going to write about christmas gifts. Personally I love christmas, not because of the presents (well, not ONLY because of the presents…) but because I spend a really good time with my family on that day… I guess the real present for us is to enjoy each other’s company. We pass our entire day cooking and preparing everything for the night, my mother is the one more excited about christmas every year... she has that familiar spirit, she loves to see us all together, laughing and eating yummy stuff :P

Well, about the gifts… i remember when i got a bicycle from my parents, when i was like 7 years old and I didn’t know how to ride one, it was a bit hard to learn (between hurting falls) but when i achieved the mastery of bicycling i couldn’t stop riding trough the passage i lived back then.

The thing i love to do about gifts on christmas or other special days, like birthdays, anniversaries , etc. Is to do the gifts myself, with my own hands. I like to give drawings, things I write to them, or little scultures (most of them with animal forms)  as presents to people. (The escultures I create are not this beautiful, but is good to dream sometimes).

My favorite presents are the ones that i’m not expecting, and the creative ones. I would actually like to recieve freak gifts as antiques from all over the world, a wig (I forgot that a good friend of mine gave me a wig already, but it wouldn’t be bad to recieve another one, of another colour), a costume, weird posters from bands, movies, and oh! There’s something i’ve wanted since a long time… and i still can’t get it L.. a tricycle, like the ones that “cartoneros” use or something similar, because i want it to pick up my friends at their houses and lead them through a city tour, expecting  everyone to take turns to pedal, of course.

Surviving

How green am i? Let’s say i’m light blue, because i like that color most and it has to do with the enviroment too… like, the sky.. the air.

I think people learn about enviroment friendly practices mainly at home, whit their familys. Your parents are the one responsibles for your knowledges about taking care of the planet with simple or, sometimes, not so simple attitudes or activities you can do to help. The rest you learn is learnes by conviction and self consciousness.

I do recycle the things i can, I like giving objects that are no longer in use a new meaning, by using them to other activity, but i don’t know where the recycling centers are here in Chile. I would like to know it, though. Now I feel irresponsible…

The thing I do is trying to reduce the volume of the garbage I produce, crushing all the bottles and boxes I throw to the dump, and thowing the kitchen oil I use inside a bottle, to avoid contaminating the potable water.  

 

I like walking a lot! Besides helping the planet, it is healthy and is a wonderful way to know the vity you live in (And due to the fact that i’m not from here, it is great J), everytime i can walk, i walk, except when i’m late…

I’ve never been in a eco-organisation, because i haven’t made myself the time to join one. And i’ve never met someone who’s in it, so i’m not sure how to do it, but i would like to participate in the creation and expansion of renovable energys around the world.

To reduce my carbon footprint, i try to be responsible with the electricity i use, turning off the lights i’m not using, keeping the refrigerator open the less time possible, not having a car, buiyng clothes when i need it (most of the time), trying to take short showers, etc.

I think that regarding to this issue, the people need to get responsible for their acts, need to be informed about the damage that we are doing to the earth and how it will have terrible consecuences for everyone on this planet, not only humans, if we don’t change our ways now. I believe that if we’re not capable to change, and get conscious about this matter, then maybe we’ll deserve the devastation that will come, but i’m not really sure if our sons or grandchildren deserve it.

The guardian News :)

 Hi!
The new i choose is "Mother killed in South African university stampede" which is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/10/mother-killed-south-african-university-stampede for you to read it ! :)

This new is about a mother who was killed in a stampede at the entry of the University of Johannesburg,  located in Southafrica , while students tried to force their way to register at that institution, on 10 of January of the present year.

Some of students who wanted to get a slot and their families with them, had camped out for 24 hours, specting to be the firsts to enter.

Ihron Rensburg, the university vice-chancellor, said: “When we opened the gates this morning, we had this unfortunate, this very sad situation, where there was simply an unbearable crush on the front entrance, or front gate." 

The mother who was killed accompanied her son to the campus, while he was inside the registration tent, so he didn’t had a clue of what was happening at the moment of the incident.

Besides that woman, three other people were critically injured and nearly 20 others hurt in the stampede. Witnesses said it was a traumatising scene to see the women screaming and people continuing to push.

This acccident, according to the author of the article “is an stark symptom of how the country is struggling to meet demand for edication among the poor.”, and its a signal of crisis in the educational system of Southafrica, that, in order to leave the discrimination of the apartheid behind, had been lowering the academics requirements for the black people in the country, wich leads to another type of discrimination, the one that treat black people like they were less capable of getting the same results than the others. And in the way, ruins the quality of southafrican's education. 

This is the sound of my soul

Music means a lot to me. I changes me, it kills me and brings me back to life again, it conforts me when it’s cold outside, and it destroys me when i’m sad. I guess there’s no explanation enough to reason why do we listen to sad music when we already are sad, to be even more sad. Paradoxes of life.

Any way, I think nobody’s life should be lived without music, all human race deserves the harmony of listening to classical compositions, or the energy you get when listening to rock. I even respect the ones who like pop, because… somehow it stills being music.

I don’t remember the first time i listened to music, i guess I was a baby back then. My family is very related to music in all kinds of ways, my dad plays guitar and sings very good, my older brother plays the drums, and i play a bit of guitar and like singing a lot (I hope i’m not too bad a it) . me and my dad often go out with my mother to karaokes and sing thogether, and  we often win when there’s a contest, wich is fun, because we win drinks on the way.

My favorite band is Rammstein, they are german and play industrial metal. I love them because they not only sing about love, but also about death, paraphilias, war, and a lot more.

Here I leave this Rammstein song, wich I like very much… take a break to listen to it! It may sound a bit hard but it stills has melody and feelings on it.

Read my mind

I do like books, even though I’m not really a huge fan of reading, because it opens your mind and heart, giving you habilitys to live… like creativity, good ortography, new ideas to practise, new things to do, new ways of representing the world, new ways of expression, etc.

I have a few favorite books, like sevenxseven, the ship of the lunatics by Cristina peri Rossi, Demian by Herman Hesse and Werther by Goethe… and oh! Crime and punishment by Dostoievsky…  and of course, some latinamerican authors like García Márquez.

The first book i ever read was called “A dad for Paula”, when I was six years old. I had to read it for school, but still i liked a lot, because it was sweet and had really nice draws.

I don’t really have a favorite author, because i think  there is a lot of people who are really good when it comes to the art of writing… that includes even friends of mine. J

Another thing about books I have to say is that I hate the self-help kind. Five years ago, i started reading one of those, read two pages and it made me wanna throw up. It was boring and superficial. So I never finished it.  I like the ones that play with your mind, destroying the estructures you had about some things before you read it. I think a book is a great way of learning… so i think i’m gonna try to read some more!

The beginning

I would like to go to Japan, especifically to the island of Okinawa, located in the pacific ocean, because is the place where the creator of my school of karate was born, because of the ancient history that must remain there, and also because i like the oriental way of living.

I know that is an island that initialy wasn’t part of Japan itself. Even today the cityzens of Okinawa make an efort to difference themselves from japanese people, because the’ve always been more occidental in their habits than the japanese, like for example, they use occidental tables to eat, they do not seat on the ground.

I would like to learn deeeply about their culture, meet people, learn the language, visit ancient places there like temples and stuff and posibly practice some martial arts in there.

I would like to study there, because currently Japan is a real huge intelectual source, of technology and to me, of phpilosophy, like zen.

Sociologysts of the future, unite!

I expect this new term to be fun and interesting, specially on subjects, because they are quite different from what we had in the last term, for example, now we have estadistics 1, wich is the first mathematical subject of the career, so it's kind of scary. I'm also taking Social history of latinamerica, the teacher is very passionate in his field and speaks very quick, so it's hard to follow him while you take notes. I'm taking Social science philosofy, Social Phsicology, Social investigation metodology and of course, english 4 too. I also hope to get to know my classmates better in this new term, and be a good friend to them.

Studying in summer is really weird. I think my  mind associates summer with pool, beach and procastination, not with books, and calculators, and staying up till the morning (actually, I thought about not sleeping early, but not exactly with a book on hand) because I have exam.
Fortunately, I will spend christmas in my home, the lovely city of Rancagua. (Not really that lovely, actually, but getting out of Santiago for a while is a breath of fresh air)

That's all for today :P