words, words, words

Not house-sitting, but squatting.

I have an idea for a business here in Spain, dealing with the “last mile” of internet connections in Spain. There are only a few things that all Spanish agree on, one of which is a general dislike for the former government telphone company, and still current monopoloy, Telefonica. That is all I am going to say without fluent and numerous NDAs running like the soup I have been making in my trousers.

It is hot.

There is a reason why 1/2 of Madrid is on holiday in August. They have done this before.

The birthday went swimmingly. Absolutely fantastic. Thank you all for your kind wishes.

S & M are not going to the states, which means I am going to be traveling, not house-sitting. It looks like there might be surf this weekend in Northern Spain and France. So if all goes well and I can avoid having to give any classes, I am going to try to go.

God Is In The Details.

I have been trying to pay attention to little things. For example, the way a nervous cop nervously plucks at the cuticles of his fingernails. And the beautiful things, too. Which are a bit harder to spot, but I´m working on it. This seems to be were the action is.

I have been saying for a while that if there is something really special that happens to me in Madrid, I would stay. I have a feeling that this is happening. But I will need to be patient to see. Pacience is not my forte, by any means. Details will follow.

I have been running around town like a mad man for the past few days. Mostly going to parties and meeting friends, so I´m not complaining by any means.

I haven´t really seen S & M in a few days, and am going to stay home tonight so they know I´m alive. But I have been having fun! At least I´m not sitting on the couch bemoaning my fate or the conflict in the Middle East. Instead I am shuttling from place to place on the Metro making appearances, shaking babies and kissing hands. I have been talking with a company in Jakarta about teaching English there and this might be the one I take. I think it would be easy to make money there, too. Plus it is more island-y, less industrial.

Pools in Madrid and “Plastics”

There is only one cure for the heat right now bearing down on Madrid like the flashlight of an angry God. Swimming pools. I spent the day at one today and was surprised at the difference between the air temperature and the water temperature. You could fry an egg on the pool deck, but then when you jump in the water and have to look for digits that froze off. Quite a dichotomy. If I don´t get a job soon, my transformation into Benjamin from The Graduate. All I need is an Alpha Romeo and a raft to float around on.

I just got a job offer to teach English in Indonesia, which would be more interesting, if not better paid than Taiwan. Of course, there is surf there, too. It is also a bit more of an island culture than Asian. Which means maybe I wouldn´t work like a crazy person and could see a bit of the country.

Wow, look at the time.

I went to a Cuban bar with some friends and salsa-ed for about 5 hours.

It was a blast! Of course it made me miss South America a bit. But what fun!

Qúe mas? It was a bit of a slow day. I didn´t do too much.

The night was more fun. Now I have about half an hour to wait until the Metro opens and I can go to sleep. Or try to sleep.

I almost went to the Basque country to go surfing but it was too small. So the guy I was going to go with and I decided to wait until there was a more consistent swell. I am starting to reconsider the whole Taiwan thing and might go straight to Indonesia. I miss surfing. Or maybe the Philippines. The teaching thing is a bit of a pain.

The stock market is scaring the bee-jeeezus out of me. I´m not sure what to do, watching the dollar tank along with my portfolio. At least I´m not alone.

I just went and taught an English class at ya.com. The guy was really nice, and my age, and a director in the company. I was trying to hint that I needed work, but I don´t think it is going to happen. I think the subtlety and nuance was lost, I´ll take my time and prove I know what Í am doing and then ask, if he doesn´t offer. This teaching English thing is hard, I´d rather just talk to people in Spanish. Especially since I do most of my daily thinking in Spanish anyway. Sin embargo, the TEFL course is almost half over, so I am almost certified. They I can work anywhere.

Ya.com was interesting, though. They are actually one of the only dot.coms in the world that is expanding, they just moved to bigger offices. I´d buy the stock but it is private.

Marina was showing me pictures of Morocco yesterday, it looks fascinating. I´d like to go to the Sahara before I leave this part of the world.

“In order for us to have the security we all want, America must get rid of the hangover that we now have as a result of the binge, the economic binge, we just went through,” Bush said in a speech at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

What a clown.

I saw a bumper sticker in DC when I was back there briefly that said (and I am paraphrasing): “I have not used cocaine in 7 years.” — George W. Bush

If you look at his quotes from the stuff he said, it seems like he had been doing some drinking around January of this year. I hope he can stay on the wagon long enough to keep his finger off the button, and hopefully will not get re-elected. IMHO, I think we may remember him as the worst president we have ever had, from buying the election in Florida, to his rather nebulous foreign policy, especially with Cuba.

The rest of the world thinks that this guy is a joke, and I agree.

But I digress…

The fine art of whining in Madrid has been polished to perfection. Mostly it is the Gypises, but everytime you get on the Metro somebody gives a speech, starting with “Senores y Senoras, discúlpame …” and goes from there. I am just going to travel the Metro singing “Cry Me A River”. I have had it stuck in my head for two days so it isn´t a big step. “… said that love was too plebian… ” Who uses words like “plebian” in songs today? Plus that way I could make some money, instead of watching my savings dwindle. A little income would be a good thing.

Not too much has been happening in Madrid. I was just walking with an Korean friend today who commented on the number of Asians in Madrid. I don´t think there are any more now than there were before, but all the Spanish have fled the oppressive heat of Madrid for the beach. It seems like the only people in town are Americans in shorts and people (like those with Asian work ethics) who take their work very very seriously.

I am pining to go to the beach next weekend to do some surfing in San Sebastian.

The TEFL course is going well. Soon I should be able to make a little money. I just need to figure out where I want to go next.