Absoluta felicidad es...

Haber visto a Soda Stereo en vivo, el 15 de Noviembre, acompanada de 50,000 personas y mi Mamor, en el Foro del Sol, Mexico D.F.


Increible. Fantastico. Alucinante. Cerati, eres un genio.


Interesante - se me hizo raro el aceptar ver a Cerati, Charly Alberti, y Zeta Bosio como tres seres humanos de menos de dos metros ahi tocando su musica en un escenario, cuando para mi esos hombres son grandes como gigantes y en el fondo me imaginaba que serian asi tamano de Gargantua.


Y bueno, la verdad es que fue la noche perfecta. El mamor y yo en el D.F. junto a Rene, Ana Paula, y otros amigos. La noche se acabo a las 4:30 am luego de comer unas fenomenales tacos al pastor y un par de vodkas en las rocas. Incluso tuvimos nuestro primer encuentro con la corrupcion policiaca Mexicana - un par de polis nos paro en la calle por la nada, nomas para pedir unos pesos. En fin, fue un dia de encanto, de esos que uno no se olvidara en ninun tiempo cercano.

Magusita.net se va de vacaciones

A donde?

Pos a Meeeeeexico, cabroneeeeesss!!!!



Viva el tequila, la sopa de tortilla, y los tacos al pastor.


Detalles a nuestro regreso. :)

It's official.

I have an announcement to make. On January 2008, we are moving to India.


yay!

Un pedacito de casa...

Un pedacito de casa..., originally uploaded by magusita.

Chocolates, galletas, chifles, caramelos, bombones, dulces clasicos, entre muchas otras cosas que nos trajo mi Papi en su visita. :)

Faltan en la foto:
- Media docena de quimbolitos
- Dos pasteles traidos directamente de Cyrano (incluyendo un pastel de avellana - mi favorito!!!!)
- Un paquete enorme de tostado
- Un paquete gigante de chochos frescos (yuuuummmm!!!)
- Una tremenda funda de habas tostadas
- Varias funditas de habas dulces
- Caca de Perro (para los ignorantes, los ecuatorianos nos referimos con 'caca de perro' al mani enconfitado)

Yum, yum, yum ... todo muy rico :D

Questions about life

These are my answers to the questions that James Lipton invariable asks his guests in the "Inside the Actors Studio" show.

This won't be the last time I answer to this question. I plan on coming back and answer to them again some time in the future, just to see how life changes me and how it doesn't.

--------------------------------

What's your favorite word?
M: Crescendo

What is your least favorite word?
M: Axila

What turns you on (creatively, spiritually or emotionally)?
M: Having the strength to chose what I want

What turns you off?
M: Fear

What is your favorite curse word?
M: Joder/Fuck <--- I actually use both of them quite often ;)

What sound or noise do you love?
M: The sound of rivers running

What sound or noise do you hate?
M: People's angry yelling; babies crying.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
M: Professional Photographer

What profession would you not like to do?
M: Being a nun.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
M: Come on in! You've just made it in time for supper! :)

People I'd like to meet

1) Jude Law - Because he's so fucking handsome
2) Ira Glass - Because I like the way he thinks and talks
3) David Sedaris - Because he's one of my favorite writers
4) Jerry Seinfeld - Because I've had a crush on him forever
5) Madeleine Albright - Because she's a strong woman
6) Ellen Degeneres - Because she's funny and smart
7) My great-grandmother - Because I've heard she was amazing
8) Annie Liebovitz - Because I love her art
9) Isabel Allende - Because during my teenage years she was my personal icon
10) My boyfriend's grandfather - Because I think we would have understood each other well

Talking about craftiness...

Guaguas de Pan (Bread Children).

This was an experiment we worked on for Eastern. I followed a recipe found online and the rest was pure imagination. Please note that my bread children do not look at all like the traditional ones - the bread children made by the experts have clover for eyes and are not as colorful as these ones. Still I believe it was a very good try and although it took me about 3 hours to make just two of these, it was worth the hard work as they were very soft and tasty.

Sugar Cookies.
We love baking cookies on the weekends. There's something special about getting together with my boys, preparing the dough, and then cutting the cookies and decorating them in different colors and shapes (my brother and I usually do this together, and we just let our imagination fly when it comes to the decoration).
In this photo you can see a couple of cyclops, a vampire, and a teddy bear, but this is not all - in our repertoire we've seen reproductions of the Hulk, a few cylons, murdered teddies (with blood running from the foreheads), hungry dinosaurs, little men post-surgery, and the likes.


Crochet Totoros
I believe you've seen these ones before. These are my Totoros which I made thanks to a wonderful pattern by
Heaven's Hellcat. I've been hooked to the art of crocheting since I started working on these creatures, and I believe these won't be the last you'll see posted in this blog.






Knitting
I got into knitting thanks to my girlfriends in London who were very skilled knitters and patient teachers and took it on their hands to teach me how to work on the basics of this art. Since then I've made innumerable scarves (which are mostly worn my boyfriend, my brother, and myself) and a green hat that came very handy in the cold mornings during last winter.
The scarf in the photo is an experiment which turned out very nice. I found the instructions online on how knit cables and since then most of my patterns have had one or many of them.

Photography
Although is not the art that I'm the best at -and I'm still in diapers when it comes to it- photography is probably the artistic hobby that I enjoy the most. I still need to get a decent SLR of my own and keep experimenting until I get to produce decent photos, but I guess it's all a matter of perseverance.
As I said before, I'm in diapers when it comes to taking photos, so please be kind with your criticism - which is always welcome, by the way ;)

Tomate de Arbol

Te extrano mi guambra. En serio te extrano monton.
Sera que te asomas?

Regresa a mi vida, ve. Me haces falta.




Magush

Son 3!

Ah! Me olvide otra vez!

Este blog cumplió 3 años el 19 de Julio.

Lo abrí a causa de una locura del momento, simplemente por que quería escribir algo, o decir algo, y no tenia otro receptor que el Internet así que ahí fueron las palabras y todo empezó.

Recuerdo que estaba en Quito, en la casa en la que crecí, en el cuarto de estudio (el mismo cuarto de estudio en el que me quedaba dormida de chiquita, debajo de la mesa de trabajo de mi papa, en donde era calentito y cómodo).

Fui de vacaciones de verano, y a pesar de que prometí regresar el siguiente año, sencillamente no paso. Desde ese verano, no he regresado a Ecuador.

De todas maneras, y a pesar de la distancia que mantengo con el que fue mi hogar por tanto tiempo, estos tres años han sido increíbles. He vivido mucho, he aprendido varias lecciones, y he crecido (aunque aun me falta tanto…).

Supongo que lo mejor de estos tres años ha sido la realización diaria de lo feliz que soy y de lo afortunada que me siento al tener a una persona a quien adoro y que me adora y con quien compartir mi vida es un deleite.

Feliz cumple, blog! :)

Update

Cuanto silencio por aqui!

Pero tengo una buena excusa – o varias, de hecho.

Las cosas han estado bien por aquí. La llegada del verano nos tiene llenos de energia y lo que mas queremos hacer es estar fuera de casa, en el campo/calle/parque/rio, disfrutando del sol y el rico clima, a lo que parece anios luz del invierno, la nieve, y las chompas gigantes.

Ademas de eso desde hace tres meses estoy practicando Krav Maga, asi que 3 o 4 noches por semana N. y yo nos vamos a entrenar y sacarnos la madre con patadas y punetes bien dados que nos dejan amoreteados y felices, jajaja! Viva el masoquismo!

No no, a decir verdad, nunca nos hemos lastimado –excepto esa vez que N. al hacerme un agarre con la mano izquierda me estiro el hombro de una manera tan rara que mi brazo se cayo a un lado sin movimiento por un ratito hasta que de repente los nervios se volvieron a unir (o algo asi) y tuve sensación en el brazo otra vez. Cague de risa fue.

Otra cosa que me mantiene ocupada es el tercer libro de Harry Potter que esta muy emocionante y ya mismo lo termino. No voy a decir nada al respecto para no arruinarle la historia al lector.

En fin. Es medio tarde y creo que me voy a dormir por que por el momento se me han acabado las ideas.

Volvere.

Peepee Baby

Here it is!

Totoro, originally uploaded by magusita.

I said I was working on a crochet project, and I promised pictures - so here!

This is my newest baby, Totoro, made out of a pattern I found at Heaven's Hellcat's place.

I am definitely very happy with how it turned out, and although I know it's not perfect (one ear and one arm are larger than the other), it's my first crochet project so I am very proud of it! :)

Oh... by the way... Totoro is a magical creature that is the main character on a fabulous movie by Hayao Miyazaki called "My neighbor Totoro". It's definitely worth seeing so go check it out if you get the chance.

I'm not dead....

... I've only been knitting, crocheting, reading, working, watching TV and over at Toronto.

I'll be back soon with things to tell and photos to show.

:)

Absolute happiness is...

Two tickets to this:



I'm happy, happy, happy. :)

Homesick

Magu and Mom, originally uploaded by magusita.

I lose some sales
and my boss won't be happy
but I can't stop listening to the sound
of two soft voices blended in perfection
from the reels of this record that I found

every day there's a boy in the mirror
asking me
what are you doing here
finding all my previous motives
growing increasingly unclear

I travelled far and I burned all the bridges
I believed as soon as I hit land
all the other
options held before me
will wither in the light of my plan

so I lose some sales
and my boss won't be happy
but there's only one thing on my mind
searching boxes underneath the counter
on a chance that on a tape I'd find

a song for
someone who needs somewhere
to long for

homesick
cause I no longer know
where home is

("Homesick", by The Kings of Convenience)

Miniature Figurines

Miniature Figurines, originally uploaded by magusita.

Esta tarde en lugar de trabajar y trabajar, decidi tomarme unas horas para pasar con mi hermano e irnos de compras.

Una de nuestras paradas fue una jugueteria en Main St., en Williamsville.

Lo fantastico de este sitio? Tienen una variedad enorme de juguetitos y figuritas miniatura - todo desde muebles hasta comida. Hermoso!

Desde enana me encantan las figuritas chiquititas y las casitas y todas esas vainas super de nena - y bueno, para complementar mis fantasias, siempre imaginaba tener personitas miniatura que vivirian dentro de las casitas y una vez que me cansara de jugar con ellas las pondria en un frasquito hasta la proxima vez. (Obviamente no seria una mala madre, asi que el frasquito tendria huequitos para que puedan respirar).


Que dice eso de mi estado mental? no se.... algo creepy creo.

ja!

Sobre la semana santa....

Easter Eggs, originally uploaded by magusita.

La fotito es de unos huevos de madera de venta en el Broadway Market, en el centro de Buffalo.
Estos huevitos los vendian como por $9 cada uno - caritos. Pero estaban lindos asi que a cambio de comprarlos, les tome la picchur.

Aqui en gringolandia no hay fanesca lastimosamente, asi que a cambio hicimos locro de papas y fuimos a dar vueltas al mercado.

Tambien hicimos un esfuerzo por comer la mayor cantidad de carne posible para probar que no nos iba a caer un rayo en la cabezota, y adivinen que? las monjas del colegio estaban mal - seguimos aqui bien vivitos y bien comidos. Hemos probado una vez mas que las ensenanzas religiosas valen un pito.

Por cierto, que demonios tiene que ver un conejo que pone huevos con un Cristo al que le salieron alas para ir al cielo? Alguien me explica? por que no entiendo ..... Probablemente mi hermano tiene la respuesta :)

Ira Glass

Thursday night. Any Thursday night.

I'm sitting on my sofa, a big bowl of warm pop corn in my lap, and my Tivo's remote in one hand.

I excitedly click on the main button and go to the programs list to find the next episode of Gray's Anatomy.

While I watch the show, laugh at their jokes, and get teary eyed when so and so died/broke up/argued, etc. a thin line of insecurity enters my mind and immediately I think of how pathetic it is that I am wasting my Thursday night in watching this stupid American TV series that sometime in the first season had an interesting plot and has grown to be as predictable and commercial as any other show of its kind.

This thin line of insecurity soon becomes a thick mass of regret when I think about all the people who are actually doing something worth it - changing the world, moving up, growing beyond their human limitations – while I am sitting on my big fat ass watching a show that in no way is making me grow as a woman, a professional, a human being.

Ok. So that's the negative part of this essay, now let's go to the part when I show I am a groupie.

About 5 years ago, driving around with N on a Friday night and constantly switching radio stations, we were caught by this nasal, yet attractive, voice and a story plot that I no longer remember but must have been very interesting as it kept us for about an hour sitting in our car, unable to turn off the radio, because we needed –I mean NEEDED- to keep on listening until the end. This is the effect that most This American Life's stories have on us.

For those of you who don't know, This American Life is a show on NPR that runs every Friday night at 7 pm. The show is split in 3 or 4 acts, each one of them tells a different story about a specific topic for the week; for instance, "houses of ill repute" was a program where 3 people: a college drop out, a retired man in Brooklyn, and a journalist assigned to the White House, talked about the things their houses/apartment ones of "ill repute".

The show's host is this guy called Ira Glass. I have to admit that from the moment I first heard him, I've had a little crush for him. I had never seen his picture until he was promoting a series of talks about his show, so it wasn't that I was attracted to him physically (and actually, up to the night of his talk I believed he was gay), but my attraction to Ira Glass was more of an intellectual kind – his voice, his questions, the insight he gives us on every person's life through a short 10 minutes story is deeper than any message I've received through TV – ever.

As I always do when there's some person that I find extra fascinating, I created this Ira Glass persona for myself. I trendy guy, tall and skinny, wearing nice glasses, with a cigarette in one hand and a pencil in the other one, writing notes about the next show, and questions for his next interview, sitting in a minimalist office with a nice view of Chicago. This Ira Glass, MY Ira Glass, would watch the Discovery and the History channels, know all about the classics, listen jazz and indie rock, and spend his afternoons doing Yoga or meeting with friends of sushi.

Little did I know, and again, this is something I learned on the night of his show, that Ira Glass actually spend his weekday nights watching TV with his wife (yes, a WIFE – contrary to my illusions, he is not gay), and that's not all – actually, one of his favorite shows is, are you ready for this?, is The OC.

So, here's what I think about The OC: a bunch of over-privileged teenage brats, lost in a world of consumerism, empty lives, untrusting relationships, and idiotic parents, all living together in a nice little county with an spectacular view and nice weather every day of the year. The OC is to this era what Beverly Hills 90210 was to the nineties: pure nothingness. To me, The OC is even worse than Grays Anatomy simply because it's about teenagers, and teenagers are evil.

With this as a background you can imagine the shock, the disturbance, the commotion caused on my little world of "Ira and I" when my perfect image of Ira Glass was being shattered by the notes of a song about California (the OC's theme song by Phantom Planet). He, the man I've crushed on for years, watches the OC.

Ok. I'm no stupid, so obviously I overcame this very easily and actually I've used it for my advantage. Here's how: If Ira Glass watches the OC, sings to its theme song, and is not ashamed of confessing that he even got a bit teary eyed when the OC ended, then probably watching vain Tv shows is not as bad as it seemed – after all, if he, my idol in radio programming, watches the OC, what is the problem is spending a nice, relaxed little night of the week watching Gray's Anatomy, or Battlestar Galactica, or Lost, or Heroes, or America's Next Top Model? I, like any other hard working human being deserve to allow my brain to rest and absorb all the nothingness of these TV shows. What would happen with me if all I read, see, listen to, is only culture, learning, philosophy, politics, and all that crap? I would probably be killing people up and down, and eventually would drown myself in some old lady's pool. But that is not the case, of course.

So thank you, Ira Glass, for admitting that you too watch worthless shows and waste your time like many of us do. I have learned to accept me and my TV habits so much better just because of your words.

Weather

Today I can gladly announce that the temperature outside is 58F and that this evening, for first time in 4 months, I will go out without a jacket.

I’ve been long waiting for this moment as I am to my eyeballs of the stupid cold weather and the fact that temperatures outside have been so low that it was impossible to go out and walk around at my will.

I am absolutely tired of driving and all I want to do is walk. Fortunately my desperate pleads have been heard and we had a bit of sunshine at noon –so I took my ipod and walked placidly amidst the mud (melt snow and soil produce mud everywhere) towards the bank for about 40 minutes and then went back to sit in my chair and work for another 6 hours.

Today is a joyous day, everybody. The sun is out, it’s 7:09 pm and I already had dinner, and I am about to change and go out just to hang around the area. Tonight I plan to delight myself with the pleasure of going to bed early and see if my body finally accepts the fact that daylight time savings are here and that we are working an hour ahead now.

Best regards,

M.

My husband will call me tomorrow, by Becky Herz.

As the header in this blog says, this is just a place to keep everyday happenings in my life, and NPR is something that is constant in my life.

Here's another essay from the 'I Believe' series at the National Public Radio. This one made me teary-eyed. Hope you enjoy it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Husband Will Call Me Tomorrow

by Becky Herz

I believe that my husband will call me tomorrow.

Tonight I'll say, "Have a great day," and "I love you" to my husband, who is 11 time zones away in Iraq. Then I'll hang up the phone. I'll fall asleep as I did last night, next to our baby daughter. We'll sleep in the guest bedroom downstairs — it's less lonely to sleep there for now.

First, I'll pet and talk to our dogs. I weaned them from sleeping with me a few months ago, but they still seem a bit disappointed when I go off to bed without them. I'll promise them a long walk tomorrow, and I'll make good.

In bed, I'll lay my hand on our daughter's chest several times before I fall asleep, just to make sure that she is breathing. I'll curl up in two blankets: one from Guatemala, one from Peru. I'll allow these souvenirs of past travels to warm the empty space in the bed. I'll get up three times during the night to feed our baby. Each of those times I'll tell her that she has a beautiful life to look forward to. I can say this because I believe that my husband will call me tomorrow.

In the morning after my cup of coffee, I'll change diapers and move around loads of laundry. I'll pour dog food, eat cereal, get dressed, and do the dishes — all with one hand, holding our baby in the other. I'll do the shopping, pay the bills, and stop in at work to see how my employees are getting by. Every three hours I'll stop what I'm doing to feed, change and play with our daughter. I'll make good on the promised walk with our baby strapped to my chest and a dog-leash in each hand. When people say, "Looks like you have your hands full," I'll smile and acknowledge that it's true, but I make the best of it because I believe that my husband will call me tomorrow.

If there is a letter addressed to me from the military, I'll open it because I believe that my husband will call me tomorrow. If there is a knock at the door, I'll answer it, because I believe that my husband will call me tomorrow.

And when he does, I'll talk to him and tell him again that I love him. I'll be able to hang up the phone, keeping my fear at bay, because I believe — I must believe — that my husband will call me tomorrow.