About Couchsurfing 3

Traveling using couchsurfing is like living a different life every day.

Today you're part of a group of students, staying at the student dormitory, playing diablo 3, partying all night, eating instant noodles and living the life if a student.
 

Tomorrow suddenly you are part of a nuclear family, with children, pets and everything, you have family dinners, you talk about how your day was and then you sit on the couch to watch tv with the family.

After a few days with the family, you decide to leave the idiosyncrasies of the big city, just to find yourself staying at a farm, and helping around, picking vegetables and harvesting the land, waking up at 5 and going to bed at 9pm, getting in touch with nature, wildlife and your environment.

Next, you have decided to do some volunteer work at your local school, helping the students and the management run the school. After school you go swimming and playing sports with the students, and in the evening you enjoy an outdoor bbq or ice cream in the park.
 

The week after, you have have found a couch on a boat! so you can go sailing, and enjoy the sunset on the horizon.

And after that you go spend a few days at the temple, helping around in the kitchen, with the cleaning and taking your time to learn from the monks, to live in the present, to enjoy and be aware of every minute spent, meditate to get in touch and understand yourself a bit more.

All those experiences in just a few weeks, without spending any money, making friends for life and all thanks to one website, one website that brings people together, breaking the barriers of language and culture, helping us see that we are all connected, we are all here to help and learn from each other each other.

We are all here to understand each other.

About KL

I always think of KL as this post-apocalyptic city, a place where life ended a while ago, and even though it's full of people everywhere I see it as a devastated, desolated, ruined place.

Last year I thought it was the shades, but still can't explain why it happens only in KL.

Yesterday my friend took me for volunteer work at the Zoo Negara, and it was such a great experience, all this years living in the city I had forgotten how much I love working for the animals, feeding them, cleaning, and looking after them.

And all those months living in Korea and eating spicy kimchi, rice and noodles I had forgotten how food tastes like.

In SE asia food has so many different flavors from different cultures and so many spices and all those smells mixing together on the street, here I always think, this is how food should taste like.

I'll update soon :)

Whatever 10

Bruno: I'm sick and tired of this. Enough is enough, this system is corrupted, I don't want anything to do with it anymore.


Friend: Oh boy, here we go.



Bruno: Seriously,  I'm not gonna worship money, I'm tired of everything and I don't want to live on this planet anymore. 


Friend: That's great, because I don't want you to live on this planet anymore.


Bruno: How can you say that? I'm like all you have.


Friend: Yeah whatever, what happened now?


Bruno: I lost everything.


Friend: Like what? You have nothing.


Bruno: I have some stuff.


Friend: Like what?


Bruno: Just stuff.


Friend: Pokemon trading cards?


Bruno: No, some other stuff.


Friend: What stuff?


Bruno: Stuff you don't know about.



Friend: Either way, it sounds like good news to me, if you lost everything now you are free to do anything! 


Bruno: What do you mean?


Friend: It's like pressing the reset button. Now you have nothing to loose anymore so just start over.


Bruno: And do what?


Friend: Do what you've always wanted of course, become a shepherd in Mongolia.


Bruno: What? No, I don't want to go to Mongolia.


Friend: Why not, what's wrong with mongolia?


Bruno: No fruits there for me to eat, no job prospects, landlocked, flight is expensive, visa is expensive, hard to get and for a very short time.


Friend: All the government's fault, right?


Bruno: Exactly, why do I have to go to the embassy of Mongolia and being treated like a criminal , give them lots of money and lots of papers. It's idiotic, I was born on this planet, it should be my right to visit it and come and go as I please.


Friend: Who do you think you are? You have no rights, you little punk..


Bruno: I'm an earthling, I was born here, I deserve it.


Friend: No rights for you young man.


Bruno: Why not?


Friend: You know why not.


Bruno: Because fuck me?


Friend: Exactly.


Bruno: Whatever then.


Friend: Hahaha, poor loser! Take that you little son of a...


Bruno: Ouch, why was that for?


Friend: For wanting to go to Mongolia. I don't know who do you think you are.


Bruno: Actually, it was you who said I should go to Mongolia on the first place.


Friend: You liar, piece of sh...

Bruno: I don't know why I hang out with you. 

Friend: Whatever, move along. 

Someone that I've never known

The other day, I was talking to a friend while we were waiting to shoot some scenes and the subject of western-asian relationships popped up.


She's originally from north america, but has been living in Korea for a number of years now, and had the chance to date a bunch of korean guys, so we started talking about the differences between dating koreans vs dating western guys. 


For me as a guy, always find it amusing to hear the female point of view of the asian dating scene. because you see white guys with asian girls all the time everywhere, but white girl with asian guys, that's still a pretty rare sight.


After talking about it for a while, she told me how she hated the way korean guys "broke up" with her and the lack of straightforwardness in pretty much all of her relationships.


You know how in the west usually, after someone says "we need to talk" you sit and talk about it, then someone says "it's not you, it's me" or "this isn't working", then you blame each other, scream, cry, slam the door or whatever and never see each other again.


Well, in korea, you just skip the whole process straight to the never see each other again part. The guys will just stop calling her and wont pick up her calls from one day to the other for no apparent reason.


But in the west we usually need that close up, in order to move on with our life, instead she would be wondering for a few weeks, what's really going on, are we over, are we still together, did I do something wrong, did he do something wrong.


I had noticed that before, and had some relationships in korea and japan, that after a few years I'm actually still wondering, what the hell happened there? One day we were like big time in loved and the next one she wouldn't take my calls anymore and had vanished from my life completely. 


Instead of somebody that I used to know, she would become somebody I have never known. 




In Japan for example, divorce usually works something like this:




1- Husband comes home and find that his partners belongings have disappeared.


2- He finds the divorce papers on the table or are delivered by someone the same day. 


3- He signs the papers or gives them to his lawyer.


4- He forever wonders what the hell happened.




How's that for some loose ends? ;)




And as for my experience it's not just like that for dating, but for friendships and work relationships as well. One day best friends, next day total strangers, one day best employee, next day fired for no reason.





We know of course, that this comes from a need to avoid awkward situations, which is totally understandable, but as westerners who of course, still highly value honesty and straightforwardness in our daily relationships, it comes as a bit of a pain, to never really know what's going on with the other person. 


Because they will treat you exactly the same way either they love you or they hate you.


On the positive side though, that's why people usually decide to move to a different country, to experience all those little differences and nuisances in every day life.


And hopefully, hopefully learn something from them as well.

The meaning of life

me: how have you been?

Ale: good, and you?
 
me: not bad
any news?



Ale: not really
 
me: did you find the meaning of life?



Ale: yes



me: 42?



Ale: nop
it has the meaning each one of us wants to give it
if you want to suffer, no matter what happens, you will feel suffering
if you want to learn, no matter what happens, you are going to learn
if you want to enjoy, no matter what happens, you are going to enjoy
that is it!



me: tell me more



Ale: there is always a way out of this life at least
that is death
what happens there, I have an idea
without the body, everything is an experience
neither good nor bad
when we have a body then we start qualifying



me: i dont get it



Ale: you qualify an experience
as good or bad
but things happen
they are not good or bad
something good, with the perspective of time might not be as good as you thought
and vice versa
 
Ale: and then, depending on the person you are now, you will tend to judge or see or focus on the "bad stuff" or the "good stuff"
there is plenty of both
but you decide if you want to focus on the bad stuff, you will likely suffer
suffer yourself, suffer on behalf of other, nature, society
whatever you choose
and this is for the people who are more or less aware
the rest of the people are simple
like ants



me: they are just there



Ale: yes
eating, shitting, working, having sex
whatever
they would not even begin to question
Then you question
and you find all the bad stuff first
(that is the normal way, I would say)
(normal = common)



me: got it



Ale: then you get fed up with the crap...and might change lens to look at the world

me: makes sense



me: so, now that you found the meaning of life, what's left to do?
live it and enjoy it?
 
Ale: that is what I chose
and learn



me: learn what?



Ale: everything I can
or feel like

 me: cool, talk to you later then

About food

Girl: So.. what's your favorite food?

Bruno: I like cheap food.

Girl: Haha, why is that?

Bruno: Because it tastes like freedom.

Girl: What do you mean?

Bruno: It tastes good, it tastes like freedom.

Girl: And how does freedom tastes like?

Bruno: I'll explain, if food is cheap that means I can buy or get more of it, we transform the food into energy, so cheap food means means I get more energy, which means I get to stay alive a bit longer and can maybe use that energy to do something I like. If the food is pricey I will get less of it, less energy means less time to live.

Girl: Like that movie "In time".

Bruno: Exactly, except that instead of buying time we need to buy food. Therefore, free food = free energy = free time.

Girl: Makes sense, but cheap food doesn't taste as good as the pricey one.

Bruno: Why not?

Girl: Because it's cheap.

Bruno: How can the price influence the taste?

Girl: I don't know maybe they use more ingredients or something.

Bruno: Maybe it's the same food, and the only difference is the price.

Girl: So why does it taste better for me?

Bruno: For the same reason the cheap food tastes better for me.

Girl: Because of what it represents for us.

Bruno: Exactly.

Girl: So for you, cheap food represents freedom, for me expensive food represents that I am now somehow financially successful in life and can afford things I couldn't before.

Bruno: Exactly, so actually, for you it represents freedom as well, because now you are free to choose whatever you want to eat, without having to worry about the price.

Girl: Funny.

Bruno: So actually, you and me are more similar then we think.

Girl: We have to learn to appreciate those similarities and learn from our differences.

Bruno: Well said, I'll think of that from now on.

Girl: Me too.

Bruno: I'm still in the friendzone, right?

Girl: Yep.

About Jurgen

This is from Jurgen's CS profile:

"At every moment, at every fork of the road there's always something you should do, and something you want to do.....

...go for the second option! Always go for the second option!" 

I met Jurgen back in 2007, and it inspired me a little bit. Of course I'd met many people saying the same things before him, but he was the only one who lived like he wanted to and did what he wanted to, when the rest of us didn't dare to.

Before meeting him and traveling with him, I didn't know living like that could be possible. He was completely free, kind of, well.. no, not really, not completely free, he just happened to had more freedom than everyone else around him.

I don't mean financial freedom, or the "not having to work" kind of freedom, he had freedom of mind, he was able to control his thoughts better than the rest of us and tried to think only happy thoughts always and alter his reality to see the positive side in most things without feeling sad or depressed.

I know many will argue that there can't be happiness without sadness and sadness gives meaning to happiness, so we can experience happiness only if we had been sad before. It's a valid argument of course, but I'm not gonna get into that now.

Jurgen never meant to teach me anything, but just by hanging out with him I learned that:

- It's ok to not know everything.

- It's ok to not have a plan.

- It's ok to be late.

- I shouldn't worry about anything.

- It's ok not having a cellphone and not knowing what time/date is it.

- If I don't do stuff, someone else will do them, maybe.

- If I don't do something today it doesn't mean I have to do it tomorrow, it can stay undone.

- It's ok to just drop by for no reason.

- It's ok not having a place to sleep tonight.

- It's ok to just play games all day.

- It's ok to live without money.

- It's ok to wear the same clothes every day.

- It's ok to smile to strangers.

- I should give my money and food to the homeless.

- It's ok to be by myself.

- It's ok to live in a small house with many people and sleep all next to each other on the living room's floor.

- It doesn't matter if i'm not good at anything.

- It's ok not to shower.

- It's ok to dance very badly.

- It's ok to eat things I find on the street, it's ok to take food from the dumpster and we don't need to wash the fruits before eating them.

- It's ok to leave and never come back.

- You can't please everyone always.

- It's ok to do whatever you want.

Also, he would always contradict me, so i get to challenge myself and open my mind.

If I say I don't want to work, he would tell me about how fun work can be, and then start painting the walls or something.

If I say I don't want to go out he would remind me of all the nice people that want to see me today.

If I don't want to meet new people he would remind me that there are still many people out there that haven't met me yet and are waiting for a chance to get to know me.

If I say I feel lonely he would tell me to deal with it by myself.

If I say I don't want to get up, he would open the windows and play music so I get up.

If I ask him why is he learning german, he would say that is a nice language.

If I ask him why the cars don't stop for us he would say it's because I'm ugly and don't smile to them.

If I ask him why did he stop walking he would say it's time for a picnic.

If i tell him he looks ridiculous carrying that big backpack he would say he doesn't care.

If I ask him how can he eat at Mc Donalds he would say it tastes good.

If I say I don't know what to do with my life he would tell me I don't need to do anything.

That's when we knew we were alive

There were those nights, warm summer nights, when we were out in the open, and we felt the wind on our faces, that's when we knew, that's when we knew we were alive.


When we were sitting by the lake, drawing circles in the sand, and just gazing at the stars, then the wind will blow our hair, that's when we knew we were alive.


And while waiting for a ride, by the side of the autobahn, you dropped your beer, I started to laugh, then the wind would blow again and we knew we were alive.


On that beach so late at night, taking the dog for a walk, we were swimming in the sea, then a giant wave would come, that's when we knew we were alive.


And even though it sounds lame, i know we will meet again, you'll choose the country, I'll pick the date,  and then we can laugh again :)

Make Love to the Backpacker

NOOOOOOOOO!!! 

That's what I always hear in my mind when someone asks me "are you traveling?" or they say "oh, you don't work, so you are traveling here".

I started disliking the word traveling, because I feel that if I travel i can't live. Don't want to be a traveler, can't live up to that.  
 

So I spend too much time trying not to look like this:

And avoiding words like: exploring, traveling, backpacking, vagabond, around the world, world trip.

Because I can't live up to that, it's too much pressure, too much responsibility, I don't want to be a world traveler, I just want to be myself, i want to be modest, I want to be at the same level as everyone else and overall don't want anyone to look up to me.

I don't want to carry a big backpack with me, it looks ridiculous, I feel silly, feel stupid, feel vulnerable, my back hurts, everyone would look at me. 

I want to blend in with the locals just want to be one of them.

I don't want them to see me as this person who comes from a distant land, this person who has lots of money to come here and brings all his expensive gear and gadgets in his massive backpack.

And how come I need so many things anyway? What should I do with them? And why should I carry them around? It doesn't make sense. 

I always try too hard not to be like someone else that I forget to be myself.

I always tell myself, backpacks are stupid, just a trend, you don't need one, you should be different, you can improvise and use things you find around, you don't need to carry many things with you. 

You should be like mc gyver or bear grills, i tell myself, you should eat insects and survive in the wild without a backpack, because you've been spoiled for too long, because you are better than them, you gotta prove them, gotta prove yourself that you don't need anything or anyone. gotta challenge yourself, gotta do something that hasn't been done before, gotta be hardcore.

I wish I could be myself without criticizing others though, and without caring about them carrying a big bag or doing silly things.

I should be myself despite the world, despite what others may think or what I would think of them.

I should be myself despite what I think of myself. Ok, that doesn't make any sense, but maybe I should get a huge backpack and carry it around so I learn to be more tolerant with the people around me and can understand them more, so I stop being such a prick and believing I'm better than them for not having a big bag and not needing as many things as they.

From now on I will embrace 

the backpacker and his friends

I'll come running from afar  

just to to give them cereal bar.

I'll help them with their bags

give them water and supplies 

cook for them when they feel sad

or at least will get take out.

I will make sure they are feeling fine

with no worries on their minds

and make sure they get to find

themselves in madagascar.

I make sure they'll get good price

and don't get the body lice. 

I don't want them to get thrashed

nor I want them to feel sad.

I'll make sure they're not in pain

and they eat their Special K

make sure they don't get in trouble

and can always find their way

Lets meet up next month in Laos

says backpacker at the bar

why not going to Macau

the casinos are not far  

I think I'll kiss a backpacker 

and take care of him or her

I may even write a poem 

a poem for my new friend

I really like the backpacker

from the backpacker hotel

they are super cool and awesome

not like a rodent

I will have a beer with them

at their backpacker hotel 

then we'll talk about their travels 

(they've been here and they've been there)

I'll borrow their lonely planet

and take a picture with them

we'll stay up all night together

and watch the amanecer

We'll sing "hotel california"

or maybe they know "hey jude"

it's not like I have a phobia 

and it's not like I'm a prude

Then I'll think that in some way, 

I'm pretty much the same as them 

so I'll make love to backpacker

at the backpacker hotel.

I'm a believer!

This story starts in the fall of 2005, I had just moved from Rosario, to Buenos Aires and had to start supporting myself for the very first time. Thought it would be easy. It wasn't. Of course.


A month down the road, I had somehow managed to find a job, but had miscalculated the remaining time before getting my first salary, so I didn't have enough money to buy some food until I get paid and was just too proud to ask my family for help. Would have gladly starved myself to dead  before admitting I could use some help to get started. 


It was a rainy afternoon, maybe wednesday, probably not. I was on my way to work, it was a 20 minute walk from my dorm. It was raining and I didn't have an umbrella of course, had to cover myself with an empty plastic bag and felt like everyone was staring at me. 


While walking, I thought to myself  "WTF, how come I don't have money for food? So stupid, where did I fail? What did I do wrong? How did I put myself in this situation? I almost made it, was so close, just few weeks and I would get paid, few more weeks to get peace of mind. I need to do something and I need to do it now. If I only had 100 pesos (100 dollars at the time) I could make it and no one would ever know this ever happened. "


"Maybe if I imagine it and project it in my mind the 100 pesos will come, maybe If I focus on it hard enough the universe will hear me, maybe it will work." (if you read the title of the post, you know where this is going.)


Those 20 minutes on the way to work were spent visualizing the situation, the 100 pesos would be hidden, somewhere under the street, somewhere I could only see them, somewhere I would only find them.


They were there just for me. I visualized the sensations, the way I would feel when I find them, I imagined having them already,  how relieved I would feel, the food I would buy with it. I visualized my smile, my laugh and the peace of mind that was like the calm after the storm, when nothing else matters. 


One block away from work, I looked down a water filter and there it was, full of mud and dirt because of the heavy rain, it was the same 100 pesos bill I had been thinking of for the last 20 minutes. So I lifted the filter, picked it up carefully and ran euphoric towards the entrance of the shopping mall I had to work at.


Didn't dare to look back, just in case someone were looking for them. I was sure I needed them more than anyone else at that time. Went into the washroom, and after washing and drying my precious as carefully as I could, bough myself a delicious sandwich just before start working. 


Note that was the only time in my life that I found the higher denomination bill for some currency just like that on the street, note that it was probably the moment in my life where I needed it the most and note that in Argentina people don't just loose 100 pesos, it's not Europe or north america.


That event turned me into a "believer", not a believer in a god, because of the political, ethical and social ramifications that would bring. But a believer that in some way I was somehow in charge of my own reality, I was not a puppet anymore, I could create my reality, a believer that there was something else out there, there was more to it than I knew.


It was just too much coincidence. Things like that don't just happen in the real world.


I had watched all the seasons of X-Files, so I had to find a supernatural explanation to my apparently unexplainable good luck. Right? I had to! because it's interesting and my life is boring, I need it!


Everything was coming together and the universe was showing me proof that there's something else out there. Some magic of some kind. Alleluia, I was blessed by the cosmos!




Till this day, I wonder how accurate is my memory of that event and I find myself wondering if it was really a coincidence. Probably yes, but I'll never know for sure, I just need to think it was a coincidence in order to keep my sanity at a level that allows me to keep moving forward with my life. 


In the same way that I needed to believe, when i was in Buenos Aires, that I had somehow been blessed by the spirits of nature who were looking after me and they had rewarded me with 100 argentinian pesos. I just needed to believe that. 







Anyway, coming back to the present time, here in Korea, some weeks ago, I lost some money,  got cheated, and my belongings got stolen by someone I used to trust.


Made some mistakes, trusted the wrong people, lost some stuff, not big deal right? shit happens, learn from your mistakes and move on with your life.


Yeah, that's how it looks now, but at the time it happened, it was a sad, depressing moment, like my world was falling appart, like I didn't want to live anymore, and just then when I needed it the most, something magical happened, similar to the money found in Buenos Aires, and things started to come together again. 


I met some great people and they invited me to play in a movie.
I had had a few scenes in a few tv shows and dramas here and there, but this was a blockbuster, being on a movie was just huge for me!


And that experience made me confuse again coincidence with faith. Because it was just so perfectly well timed, the good news came right after the bad one, right when i needed it the most, and it made me feel like someone was watching over me. 


If it had happened in a different time, it wouldn't had felt so special and my imagination wouldn't have had the chance to play silly tricks on me.


Our brain plays tricks on us all the time actually, and this memories I have, are not memories of the real event that happened back then, they are more like a reconstruction of the memories I put together last time I tried to remembered it.


Every time we remember something, there are always some little details that we change while trying to fill in the gaps with the missing pieces we don't really remember. Or sometimes we don't want to remember because they would compromise our integrity or the way we see ourselves somehow.


And probably next time, when we remember that again, we will just automatically accept those changes as a part of the original picture. As if they had been there all along.


So after 10 or 20 years, we try to remember something and we have a totally distorted idea of what really happened back then, but we are totally convinced it's the real one, the only one and we remember it perfectly.


I remember a scene, around 10 years ago at a petrol station, having a coffee with my mother which I haven't seen in a long time because we were not on speaking terms.


We started arguing about the past and talking about things that happened during my childhood that I, as teenagers usually do, would blame her for.


I noticed when talking about it, that she had for some reason, changed the whole story in her mind and would tell it confidently as if had really happened that way.


So I asked her "why do you lie? You know that's not how it happened, and you're making this up so you don't need to admit you made some mistakes, right?".


And I got really angry at that time, because if I make a mistake I would at least admit it and apologize, or try to make up for it somehow, instead of just denying it boldly.


But 10 years later, after putting some effort in understanding memory and the cognitive functions of our brains, after seeing the same thing happening to countless old people and after starting to get deceived by MY own memory more than once.


I can see that she actually believed what she was saying was true, she didn't lie because she hated me or anything like that. 

Most times this little changes we gradually make to our memories during the years, are conveniently arranged so that WE get to be the good guys of the story, so if we did something bad we will either erase the memory completely, change it so it doesn't look so bad or make it look like it was someone else's fault.


We don't do it on purpose, it's survival, it's what our brain requires in order to keep an adequately balanced level of sanity as we grow older. To be more or less in peace with ourselves, it's like emptying the trash bin in our computer, only that instead of being full with filthy filthy gay midget porn is filled up remorse.


Remorse, same as midget porn, is something we don't really need in our life, we can usually just get rid of it so we don't have to go around getting depressed or haunted by the ghost of christmas past.






Example:




Memory: Brunoooooooo!!!! You made a mistake back in 1997, remember? It's time to feel bad about it.


Bruno: Fuck that shit, it was my second cousin's friend's fault, I didn't do anything wrong.


Memory: Ok.

Whatever 9

Girl: I don't know what to do with my life.


Bruno: Me neither.


Girl: What can we do?


Bruno: Nothing.


Girl: We have to do something.


Bruno: No, we don't.


Girl: I feel like we have to do something.


Bruno: How about no?


Girl: Yes, let's do something


Bruno: Nah.


Girl: We should do something.


Bruno: How about we don't?


Girl: Oh, you are such a boring person.


Bruno: That's relative.


Girl: Everything's relative.


Bruno: Everything depends on everything else.


Girl: Let's go to a party.


Bruno: Meh.


Girl: Let's go to the movies.


Bruno: But we have internet.


Girl: C'mon don't be so cheap.


Bruno: The reason why I pay for internet is so that we don't need to go to the movies.


Girl: I really don't know why i hang out with you. 


Bruno: I know why.


Girl: Why is that?


Bruno: Because I'm handsome, so feel pretty next to me.


Girl: No, you're not that handsome.


Bruno: So you can practice your english and learn many languages from me?


Girl: No, your english is not so good, can't be that either.


Bruno: Is it because I'm a genious, always gives you good advices and get you out of trouble?


Girl: Nah, you can't even spell genius.




Bruno: Is it because you know I will become a rich and famous actor and you want a share of my stash?


Girl: What are you talking about? You're a terrible actor, I wouldn't count on that if I were you.


Bruno: Is it because I can read you like a book and always know what you are thinking and what you need?


Girl: Yeah, could be that, I'm not sure. What else do you have?


Bruno: Ok, I know, because I represent the part of you that has been suppressed for many years, the part that wants break free. When you are with me you feel free, like you can do anything you want, like there's no limit to what you can do, no limit to where you can go, like time doesn't matter, you have all the time in the universe, there's no pressure for you to be someone you don't want or do something you don't want and you feel peaceful, like no matter what happens, everything's gonna be ok.


Girl: Is that what you think?


Bruno: No, I just made it up.


Girl: Maybe you are right.


Bruno: Maybe I am.


Girl: Or maybe not.


Bruno: Probably not.


Girl: You know, I think you're right.


Bruno: Am I?


Girl: I think.


Bruno: Lucky guess.


Girl: Oh, don't be so modest, you're always one step ahead of me and you know me better than I know myself.


Bruno: Do I?


Girl: Oh, come on.


Bruno: Alright, alright, let's go for a walk.


Girl: I thought you said you wanted to do nothing today.


Bruno: Well I changed my mind, let's go and maybe we can hold hands.


Girl: I don't think so.


Bruno: Why not?


Girl: Because we're friends.


Bruno: Right.


Girl: You're a good guy.


Bruno: So?


Girl: Good guys have to stay in the friendzone, remember?


Bruno: There's no way out?


Girl: Not for you, not. Unless you change your attitude, girls like bad guys, stop paying so much attention to me, act cool, act like you don't care, pretend you don't need me, don't call me so often, act mysterious, ignore me, be more arrogant, make fun of me, stop being so nice and then maybe, just maybe you can get out of the friendzone.


Bruno: Meh, so much effort!


Girl: I know it doesn't make sense, but that's girl's logic, seduction is a game and you should learn how to play it.


Bruno: It's just too much work and I'm just so lazy.


Girl: You'll die alone then.


Bruno: And you too.


Girl: Whatever.


Bruno: :)

About Apolo

I just got an audio file from my friend Apolo, from Rosario, that we recorded in 2004/5 (I think).


On it, we were going into some stores and asking if they had boomerangs and if they would come back when we throw them, then asking if we could try them out in the store, or going to a clothes shop and ask if we could try some women's dress or silly things like that.


During the last years of highschool I was always trolling and making silly jokes, but my classmates didn't enjoy it as much as I did and most of them started ignoring me.


I will always remember something my best friend Daniel said once, he said " Bruno, you are always joking, you don't take anything seriously, i can't talk about anything with you anymore."


Daniel was like a brother to me, so It hurt me he felt like that, i always thought everyone around me enjoyed my cynicism, sarcasm and black humor, that's what gave personality, but apparently they didn't, so I thought, maybe I should stop making fun of everything and start taking life more seriously.


But then Apolo came, he was the ultimate troll, a guy with no sense of responsibility whatsoever, so when we got together we couldn't stop laughing and making jokes, later the jokes became pranks and before we noticed it we had lost most of our friends.


Sometimes we would try on women's clothes just for fun and when we met some macho alpha male kind of boys we would pretend we were gay just to piss them off.


Then I left Argentina and never met him again, but I still remember all the laughs we had together, before we became adults.


Humor was that one thing keeping us afloat, because our lives were pretty messed up themselves.


Now I became much more serious, but sometimes I wish I were still that boy who didn't care what anyone would think and would just make fun of everything.


Things were more fun back then, we believed in ghosts, we sang every day, we stayed up all night, we had a band, we met new friends on the street, we didn't need to worry about working or studying or paying rent, this were quite fun in argentina actually, and we could just make fun of everything, it was great!