A Week's Worth of Change and Thought

Well, it has been a damn good week. One thing to be stated outright, is that grading--the monotonous motion of correcting papers--has definitely been horribly avoided. I have to make that change, but not tonight.

Let's see...well at some point this week I found myself in the park at night. I first ran into Muriel and talked for a bit. Then I ran into Marta, more on her later. Then I ran into Julia. In between Marta and Julia, I roamed the park in the fading light. I tried out the happy little night setting on my camera. I got some good shots. That white blur is Chops frolicking about.

I played more music with Ray. Ray is a badass on the guitar, and I am learning a lot. Once a week, for the next four months will do nothing but to help the process.

On Friday night, I met Siri Berman, Stefan, and Izzo at the Torre Latino Americana--formerly the tallest building in the Americas. I hopped a ride up to the 41st floor, and enjoyed cheap beers ($2.00) and a great view. Izzo is a teacher from NYC, and she was apart of the Teach For America Program. She had war stories about her time in the public sector. Teaching is a hell of a job.

Then we headed out to Arena Mexico for an ultimate bout of Lucha Libre (I would have pics, but they didn't allow cameras inside). INCREDIBLE! Now the crowd wasn't huge, but it was big enough--I mean the big show is in the States, which consequently I now have a desire to witness in person. In any event, the acrobatics and the machismo overflowed. The audience engages in a screaming match of epic proportions. One group, wearing matching purples shirts, and chanting in unison, were utilizing three truck air-horns, tubed up to bike pumps. Hilariously loud. One interesting twist, which I do believe you would not see in the States, is the homosexual wrestler. Misterio, is the designated queer luchador. When an oponant throws him into a head lock, he mimicks a humping motion, and the homophobic opponant backs off, as Misterio smirks and giggles at the audience. He throws in little dance moves, and the crowd loves it--THEY CHEER FOR HIM! From a social standpoint, it was a great acknowledgement of "the other" and an embracing of it within the popular fabric. Less profound but equally as intriguing, was Strong Man. He was the only gringo in the event, and he was so large and frighteningly muscular, that it was absolutely otherworldly. The back of his neck looked like a pack of hotdogs, his back muscles had their own cleavage, his skin was a rusty pipe orangish-brown, and as far as I could tell, he had the tell tale acne and hair loss, associated with steroid use. Disgusting, but lovely; I went home and watched The Wrestler, and I read Mickey Rourke's Wiki file.

Saturday, I met Marta in the park. Marta is looking for a new place to live. She had plans to move to Coyoacan, but they fell through. I had hoped to snag her apartment in Condesa, but that went out the window. What did happen was the idea to combine efforts and look for a place. I had some numbers from my prior searching, and she made some phone calls. We looked at an apartment literally in between my two favorite places: the dog park and Don Keso--which is a great little cafe/pub, which I will take you too if you come visit. In any event, Marta told them we had two dogs, that they were small, and well behaved: aside from the well behaved part, well that may even be wrong, but the rest is defintiely a lie. The place was sweet though. It was on the top floor, and it had great light. It is tiny, but splitting the place would be about $4000 pesos (or $330) a month. For now though, since I have not paid rent for the month of Feb at my current place, and since I know I ain't getting that deposit back, I am going to exit my crib on the 1st. For now, since nothing is sured up, I am going to move into Marta's current place, while we search. Marta is good peoples, as far as I can tell. I do not know her very well, but as Jamie would say, which originates from the mouth of Shauna: "More "yes's" than "no's"." So I say YES! I think it shall be an adventure, fortunately, her dog and my dogs get along well. Her little skidrow terrier is named Samba. She found him under some stairs in Chiapas when he was a wee one. She named him Samba, because, well I assume, it is because she lived in Brasil, and has an affinity for the dance style. Marta is Italian, and she lived in Brasil for two years, and has been here in Mexico for two years. She speaks Spanish, but apparently with a thick Italian accent. She doesn't speak much English, so we have had quite a few moments lost in translation. I am excited to live with her because:

• Far more opportunities to organically practice my Spanish
• Cheaper Rent
• She can walk the dogs in the Morning
• Able to move to Condesa
• New Friends
• New Ideas
• I hopefully will be accountable for my mess

If nothing else, it is a continued step towards adventure.

Also, if you are a gmail person, perhaps you have noticed Buzz. Well, half-heartedly I have been checking it, and I was absolutely intrigued by a post from my friend Atom. He posted a link to A Low Impact Woodland Home. It has made me consider the future, and how this could be my generations way to actually own a home of our own--BUILD IT! There are many sites that are championing the process of learning how to build eco friendly housing. Cob Cottage Housing and House of Straw are two great examples. My dream, and I even did a little searching on the net, is to by a piece of property in LA (Topanga or North Valley--Chatsworth, Calabasas) and build one of these houses myself with the help of friends. Because the US is finally "Going Green", the posibility of utilizing natural materials, and meeting code, is becoming far more possible.

Well, enjoy life.