How I met Retinitis Pigmentosa

It's 1995. I'm still in primary school, hanging around with a friend called Facundo.

Note: He was a hipster.

It was the time when we were all watching The X-Files and wanting to be FBI agents.

Note: We thought FBI agents were heroes, for some reason.

So Facundo and me decided to start our own private detective agency.

Note: We were 10 years old.

We called it FBI of course, but in this case it meant Facundo and Bruno Investigators.

Note: I came up with the name.

So we made some business cards and started going around asking people if they had any paranormal activity to report or if they had something that needed to be investigated.

Note: We would actually ask people on the streets if they had seen any ghost or UFOs

Even though Business was quite slow, that wasn't going to stop us, we knew the truth was out there and we wanted to believe, so we decided to go out and investigate on our own, find our own unsolved mysteries.

Note: We never found anything.

At first we started sneaking into abandoned buildings, empty lots, basements, sewers, after that we moved on to rooftops, we got to know most secret passages to every building's rooftop and after a while we got to navigate our neighborhood from above, climbing, jumping and swinging, it was almost like Assassin's Creed.

Note: It was nothing like Assassin's Creed.

And then one sunday afternoon, while we were exploring the lightless cellar of an abandoned building by the river, I met her for the first time.

Facundo was navigating the dark alleys and underground passageways as if it was daylight, stealthy as a cat, while I stumbled upon every single obstacle on the way. Hitting my head and my legs with everything on the way and then pretending it didn't hurt and trying to look tough.

Note: It did hurt, a lot.

So while being constantly left behind and trying to catch up to him, le 10 year old me started to wonder why he could see in the dark and I couldn't. Then, suddenly, she decided to show herself in front of me.

10 years old me: Who are you?

???????: My name is Retinitis Pigmentosa.

10 years old me: What are you? Are you an alien?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: No, I'm an eye disease.

10 years old me: From alien origin?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: No.

10 years old me: And what are you doing here?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: I came to keep you company, I'll be staying with you for a while.

10 years old me: And what are you going to do to me?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: I'm going to make your life very very difficult and in 30 years from now I'm going to take your eyesight for good.

10 years old me: Why in 30 years, why not now?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: You see, instead of doing it fast and painlessly from one day to the other, I will do it gradually, so each year you will see a bit less than the previous one, and you will remember what's waiting for you. That way you'll suffer more.

10 years old me: That's like so cruel!

Retinitis Pigmentosa: What can I say? I didn't say it would be nice.

10 years old me: Why me?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: Because f**k you Bruno, that's why.

10 years old me: What's that language? I don't like that kind of language.

Retinitis Pigmentosa: You are going to be blind.

10 years old me: Just me?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: No, I give it to 1 in 4.000 people.

10 years old me: So, why did you choose me?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: You asked that already.

10 years old me: Take Facundo's

Retinitis Pigmentosa: I can't, he needs his.

10 years old me: And I need mine too.

Retinitis Pigmentosa: Well, it is what it is.

10 years old me: What does that mean?

Retinitis Pigmentosa: You will understand when you grow up.

10 years old me: "It is what it is".

Retinitis Pigmentosa: Problem?

10 years old me: No, I don't care.

Retinitis Pigmentosa: Watch your head!

Le 10 years old me: Ouch!

Retinitis Pigmentosa:  

Le 10 years old me: 

17 years and more than 17 scars later I learned to live with her. Learned to respect her and to respect her authority. When she says no, it means no.

When she says "you have 2 hours left of sunlight, better start heading back" I'll head back.

When she says "don't go there, it's too dark, you will die" I wont go there.

When she says "you have 13 years left of eyesight, you better enjoy them" I'll enjoy them.

And sometimes, not so often but sometimes, when people ask me why do I always wear a cap, or sunglasses indoors, or why I choose  to stay at home after dusk, I may tell them this story you just read, or I may not.

Music

Come to think about it, most memories i have are associated to some music.


My first recollection of music was when i was 12 or 13 years old, some bands that played on some radio somewhere, nek, el simbolo, los autenticos decadentes, aqua, fey, toy box and that was it.


Some years latter, got my hands on an old walkman, and 3 cassettes: hayashibara megumi, ska-p and blink 182, this was back in rosario, I was maybe 16 years old. listened to them all day long.


Still back there most memories are still linked to songs or music.


At wilson's place there was usually hamazaki ayumi, masami okui or too mix playing on the background, utada if we were lucky.


While hitting the highway on alejo's car there was always some dance music, eiffel 65, sasha, or music from DDR.


At rodrigo's place there was cumbia, at sebastian's there was always either 70's disco, like earth wind and fire or some ballads, like luis miguel or alex ubago.


At belkis or my friends from missericordia there was always AFI or alejandro sanz.


If I hang out with the guys from normal 2 there was usually nightwish, cradle of filth, rhapsody or stratovarious.



There were some strange people who always listened to bjork and there were this two sisters who played nobou uematsu. and ariel always wanted to make listen to boom boom kid and fun people.


come to think about it, all my friends in argentina had very different music taste, so i got to know lots of new music from them.


After that the mp3 came in, I skipped the cds stage. One day there were some cassettes in my life and then suddenly the computers came along, which brought the mp3, rendering audio files instantly obsolete.


I remember having bought only one CD in my life, but it was probably the most important one: "terra" by larc n ciel.


By the time I was 18 years old, the mp3 brought along many good bands for me, daft punk, smash mouth, the offspring, green day, sum 41, aerosmith, bryan adams, BoA, leo garcia, el otro yo, guns and roses, bon jovi, nirvana, the beatlles, the corrs, savage garden, ricardo arjona, the doors, dire straits, estopa, u2, mozart, tchaikovsky and all the classical delights.


After that, my time in spain is remembered through lots of strange music I dont think i can describe, and while riding the bus on the way to work, there was m2m, marit larsen and hilary duff playing on my mp3 player. What was I thinking, i dont know.


When I think of my time in germany the first band that comes to mind is kings of covenience. Always playing in my room, specially on those cold winter afternoons, snow outside, opening the windows to let some fresh air come in, stretching in bed. 


I'm actually still very much in loved with Berlin, with my apartment in friedrischain, with all those worn out buildings, falling apart windows, midnight bicycle rides, flash mobs, volkskuche, the umsonsladden, kopi, kreuzberg, neukoln, patryk, jurgen, julie, mia, morris, caspar and the others, treptower park, those reggae bars with fake sand by the river, the lakes, grunau, the camps, sleeping by the shore of the lakes, snow, couchsurfing guests, hitchhiking trips, the abandoned houses, the art galleries, maoz, the 1 euro falafel, the nights playing werewolf, the morning playing firsbee, football, turkish sweets, sunday brunches, the 1 euro glass wines, graffiti walls, the boat parties, the berlin wall, alexander platz, the trams, long walks, never knowing what's going on, and always kings of convenience playing, sometimes cafe del mar, norah jones, maybe regina spektor. 


In india I stopped listening to music, maybe it interrupted my thoughts, but I could connect with the soudns of the ocean, of the birds, of the trees, the wind, the animals.


In china I got really into korean music for some reason, I think it was just because I didnt like chinese music so much, so was looking for an alternative.


In japan, mostly thanks to the music i got to understand why i love japan, and why i hate it also. funkey monkey babies, mr children, sakamoto maya, perfume, ringo shiina, x japan,yoko kano,  ketsumeishi, those isakaya nights, those sunday afternoon concerts at osaka jo, those walks by the river, those camping nights, tempura, those small rooms, the smell of tatami beds, hot summer nights,
I always thought no one understood me like the girls from bennie k and no music would reach me as "the brillant green" did.


The most important memories i have are all linked to some emotion, which are in turn brought back to me, by listening to this bands, once again.


I'd be interested in knowing what are the bands that marked the important moments in your life, and what emotions they trigger when you listen to them some years latter.


If you are feeling inspired drop me a line: cutepuppybruno@googlemail.com or just post it as a comment so everyone can read it.


cheers :)

Bruno

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