A glimpse to the news

"Nicotine is a class A carcinogen, meaning that there is NO safe level of exposure. Nicotine is also more addictive than cocaine and heroin.
In addition to nicotine, cigarettes contain such savory ingredients such as tar, ammonia, acetone, and nail polish remover." (Thought Bubbles)

Makes you wonder why marijuana is illegal...

Things that matter.

In year 2004, the entire world spent 5 more times in breast implants and Viagra than in research to cure Alzheimer disease.

Given this, its inevitable than in 10 years, the planet will be full of people with big tits and huge erections, but... incapable of remembering why on earth they use them for.

She is growing!!!

KINDER1
Originally uploaded by beatrizgb.

My baby started kindergarten 3 weeks ago.

She is 1 year 8 months old.
She is the most amazing thing on earth, she impresses me everyday
and watching her grow, learn, feel independence and excitement
is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

But what rewards me the most, is to know that she is a happy girl,
she has the certainty that everyone around her loves her, even being a single mom,
she has enough male figures that can give her the balance she needs to fit in a family.

So, she started kindergarten the turtous life (or not) of a student.
She's not a baby anymore, she is my girl.

Mom, where's the hurricane?

No, it was not my daughter, it was a 5 year old boy asking his mother while looking through the window from the apartment building where Manuel (my boyfriend) lives.

The hurricane was supposed to hit ground yesterday at 3pm.

1:00 pm They evacuated us from the office at 1:00pm. Electricity was gone at the apartment, some random incident, not related to the situation. Food... is anything open? McDonalds and my favorite rest. "Diva's" were the only ones open. A fine California salmon wrap and we were ready to subsist for the next 12 hours of hurricane fury.
Enough water, enough canned food, candles, diapers and gerbers, oh! and a deck of cards.

3:00 pm. It's raining outside, nothing to worry still, its cold, around 17C, not too much wind. Well the hurricane is supposed to be in the coast by now.
---"Hurricane Adrian seems to be gaining strength in the Pacific, it has increased its size, and winds are of around 130Miles per hour right now... its expected to hit groun at 6 pm" ---
"It only entered salvadorean coastline and its already grabbed its culture of being late", says another friend of Manuel while laughing.

4:00 pm. Let's bake a chocolate cake, it doesn't need refrigeration and we can eat it anyway.

5:00 pm. Ana Paola is desperate... let's take her with her friend, Emilio, across the street... and let's bring some chocolate cake for his parents.

6:00 pm. ---"Hurricane Adrian has renewed its movement towards the coastline, expecting to hit it within the next 2 hours" ---

7:30 pm. Ana Paola falls asleep, we have dinner with my family... its raining outside and its colder, you can feel the winde blow through the plastic covers we have put through the terrace.. "now it's coming" says my step brother.

9:00 pm. It should be by the coast already, all flights were canceled at 6 pm, its raining and its cold. The hurricane will hit by night, this is not good. Poor people out there. We are playing cards, I am losing. Ana Paola wakes up because of the noise of the wind and rain, or because she wanted her diaper to be changed. I put her back to sleep.

10:00 pm. ---"Hurricane Adrian has dissapeared, 5 minutes after touching salvadorean ground, the eye of the hurricane dissolved, the winds ceased from 130miles per hour to 40 miles per hour, its now officially a tropical storm"---

11:00 pm. ---"Tropical Storm Adrian has slowed down, clouds difused and the National Hurricane center has downgraded it to tropical depression"---

"Mom, where's the hurricane?" - despite the emotion and anxiety caused by something new that never comes... the entire country believes our name is not in vain "El Salvador" ("The Saviour") still looks after his children.
No deaths, 4 million tons of food waiting in shelters to be distributed to families that were evacuated (and that will be distributed), some floods near rivers due to constant rain and no further damages to count.

It's 8 am and I am back in the office. Bummer!!

Hurricane Adrian

Chaos.
No one in this country has any idea what that is like.
We have seen documentaries of Huricane Andrew back in 1992 and you could just see palm
trees flying, building getting ripped of their bases, cars, floods, people...

No light, no water, canned food, shelters... the recipe for disaster. Sounds like the
perfect movie. Watching it from 400 miles away. You would get some minor rains,
and you would feel the solidarity with those in the Caribbean or Miami.

Now its our turn... in the last 120 years (which I think is a made up number, cause I don't think people kept track of this 120 years ago in here) the first hurricane ever.

Huricane Adrian, scale 1, in whatever scale you measure hurricanes, is hitting directly El Salvador's territory from the Pacific Ocean. Everything is National Emergency Code Red
mainly, because nobody knows what to expect.

We have advantages and disadvantages over those countries with normal hurricane season.

For example in urban areas, around 90% of the houses are made of brick, not wood.
Covers, shelters, garages are made of metal... not wood.
However, we have more poverty and people who don't even have decent place to live except that made of cardboard and plastic... and they will even be more affected.
It's not good, and uncertainty is filling everyone's heart.

We know perfectly what to do in case of an earthquake, we feel them at least once every month. We know what to do in case of war, we lived it for 12 years, although we have forgotten how terrible it was. And now, for the first time we have a warning of something that is coming... but what is that? how terrible it is? how will it affect us? is it the wind? is it the rain?

Let God take care of us, as He has always had and let's hope the damage is not as bad as we see it in documentaries... and if it is... let humanity have mercy for us and help us reconstruct what is left of it.
They are evacuating us from the office right now. I am going home.

Watch some pictures

Seems like a challenge

ernst
Originally uploaded by beatrizgb.

My good friend Ernst from Germany/Austria replied directly to my previous posting just by sending me this picture...

Are you trying to tell me something? ;)

Weird personalities

I'll be dead in March 2055 at age 73 most probable cause: cancer.
But look on the bright side... I am 74% nerd pure.
I will die a long painful death... but at least I will be cool!

I used to enjoy doing this on my spare time while in high school. Normally you would find them in magazines like "Cosmopolitan" or "Seventeen" and you would think they may be true and whenever asked during interviews I could practically recite my personality description based on this tests.

As I grew older, I realized I was not the "Hot chic guy magnet" or the "Subtle teaser"... not even the "best friend, everybody trusts you" kind of gal... I think at this point, not even the IQ test I once made was accurate... (if I spent time reading all those test craps, there is no way my IQ was higher than my weight).

So, now... just for the fun of it... I decided to make public my weird personality and how I score in the path of life.

I am 74% nerd pure (I only have a 26% nerd in me). My weirdness factor is 28%. (Nerd Test)
My alignment is neutral: I do what I think seems to be a good idea. (Alignment test)
I am politically aligned 67% green party, 50% Libertarian Party, 50% Reform party (Political Matchmaker)
While in a room, and based on my selection for decoration, I can be described as someone that has direction but still is an inveteret wanderer. A loner, but positive. My lover, off beat syncopation but with a certain sophistication. Manifest my feeling towards family and friends in a cool, detached manner. Not stressed by problems almost a guru in handling them. My future? flower power! (The Room).
I would have been Emperor Palpatine if I lived in the Star Wars world (Star Wars test)
I am a 70% freak... I need to be VERY unique and express my mind freely (Freak test)

Funny thing... life... probably I am not any of this... probably its just me reflecting my own minds identity without that determining my own way of actually living or acting.

At the end... who cares? just me.

Changing lifestyles

The problem of earning money is deciding what to do with it.

If there are no responsibilities involved, then do with it whatever you want... drink it up if that will make you happy. If there are, then you have to choose.
If you earn money enough, then you can act responsibly while living up what's remaining.

This is my case. I have my full responsibilities in place. Need to pay for my daughter's needs.
That is my only responsibility. Not a cheap one, but I can live with it. What to do with the remaining money?

One year ago, I decided I would invest it. How? real state.
I bought an apartment. Nice, little, very well ubicated apartment.
Now, I year later, I have to pay for it...

Did I made a good choice? my friends would say: "Bea, there is nothing like having your own stuff, you are so lucky you can go and finally live by yourself without depending on your parents"
Yes, that is very true, but not depending on your parents means to start paying for your own cable and internet service... leave alone water, electricity, phone and the huge loan I am stuck with for the rest of my working life... hahahaha now... with all this taking into account, there is no remaining money... actually there is even a ~$500 deficit if I wanted to move into it...

Should I have made another choice and just go and travel my way around life... go to countries, meet friends, take my daughter into a cultural endeavour...

I said I never wanted to be a normal person, actually for my culture... I am not normal. (No one in their correct state of mind buys an apartment at age 23 and thinks of leaving home to be independent without being married).
Compared to nomads... I am way too normal.

Where does the balance lie? Still confused. In the mean time, need $200 to get electricity connected to my new house. It only has water running.

Interesting perspective

Too shallow for comments

"Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious"

I don't know where I got this quote from. It is some of those random comments that cross your mind in a book or through the internet.

I have been reading so many weblogs lately and I have started to feel like a shallow person, despite all my logical dreams of world peace and love for humanity, I found myself reading blog articles from friends that seem just too serious to be taken seriously by me.

I was reading Oliveira's blog yesterday and all these remarks about politics, daily news and business economics were too much for my head to understand, and yes I am an economics major. The I turned to Venky's weblog to find out a deep discussion about AIDS in India.

Its amazing to look at the incredible worries the world have and try to state an opinion around them... but I guess I am just having enough by dealing with my own life and matters to start worrying about something beyond my reach at this point in time.

As Brenda said in her blog, "In the past year I have come to understand that what gives meaning is not so much what I do – but who I be in the midst of all the doing."

Yes, probably I don't express publicly my opinions on the social and economical trends affecting my era... I can have a 3 hour long conversation and stay in the same path, defend my ideas, and probably make up and improvise 50% of what I say, based on what I read on a magazine or that day in the newspaper....

But who cares? or do we really care?

AIESEC Controversy

"For the past six years I have used that incredibly uncomfortable phrase “I am semi-retired” to describe my status. I have split my time between play (sailing to Maine, Bermuda, etc.) and working with non-profit organizations. I have spent more time with AIESEC International than any other.
AIESEC is a great organization, formed after WWII to promote international understanding. It is entirely student run. That statement requires some reflection. This organization of about thirty thousand students in 87 different countries has survived for more than fifty years without any professional, adult, management.
Each year the local chapters on university campuses elect a leadership team, then a national leadership team is elected, and there is a once a year international conference at which they elect a new global President and leadership team. So, every year, a new group of young men and woman, in their early twenties, move to Rotterdam and provide coordination and leadership to this global organization.
For the past five years I have been their “change management” consultant as they have redefined “The AIESEC Experience” as a life-long learning process and designed all the necessary processes, structures, systems, etc.
Every organization is unique and presents its own challenges. Needless to say, AIESEC was challenging, unique, and a lot of fun to work with. "

Interesting quote. This man caused controversy in AIESEC, the "big ones" criticized him and his influence in the organization... the "little ones" were astonished by his opinions and intense debates and discussions.

Yes, I am talking about Larry Miller, and this was a quote I found in his personal weblog. AIESEC for me was so important, that I had goosebumps while I read it, because it came from someone you could consider external, and he was actually writing about AIESEC, from his own will.

Yes, controversial figure... but a really important one in many ways. I was glad to come across his blog... for no specific reason at all.

Bits and bites of sarcasm

Courtesy of: www.toothpastefordinner.com

Picture of the month

Rafa Guillen

Rafa Guillen
Originally uploaded by beatrizgb.

His career seems to be on its way to the top.

One of his songs is currently #5 in the salvadorean ratings.

He has been invited to Venezuela at the end of this month to a concert tour with other international singers in a couple of cities in the Venezuela territory.

He is incursioning in modeling/acting for TV commercials for some central american chains.

He just came back from Mexico, where he filmed his first music video with a major TV production (TV Azteca)... entering MTV soon hopefully ;)

I am proud of you little brother!!! you said you could do it, and against all odds... you are doing it!!

Peabrains, excercise, hammering sessions, chinese wine, burned sausage...

Bacilos
Originally uploaded by beatrizgb.

"Mientras siga viendo tu cara
en la cara de la luna,
mientras siga escuchando tu voz
entre las olas, entre la espuma.
Mientras tenga que cambiar
la radio de estacion
porque cada cancion me hable de ti
de ti, de tiiiii...."

Some of you may ask the relationship between the subject, the picture and the content of this blog.

I am sure out there, 5 people will understand what I am talking about.

On friday, I went to the concert of this famous latin group called Bacilos.

Among their songs, was this one "Caraluna" it was the official ALDS facis songs in 2003.

I sang out loud, until my throat hurt... I couldn't speak on saturday... I had such a great time, and I remembered my great friends: Caro, Gerardo, Teia, Pedro and Rafael.

Caro is starting her masters back in Costa Rica, Gerardo it seems, he has finally decided to leave AIESEC, Teia is working in Amsterdam, Pedro is finishing uni in Portugal, Rafa works for DHL is now married and has a beautiful daughter.

Miss you guys!!! "Mientras siga viendo tu cara...."