Test Week

This week is test week, which means there are no classes. I only have two tests so it is not a big deal for me. Certainly not enough to cramp my style. I had my AI test yesterday. The test was a pain but I think I did well enough. It's hard to say. Three problems and three hours to do them never bodes well. My next test is for software engineering, on Friday.

The past week or so has been really shitty weather. It even fucking snowed on Sunday night. Barely any accumulation and all melted by Monday afternoon, but I had hoped to go the whole year without seeing any of that crap. I might have gotten away with it if I had gone to bed earlier and also skipped my morning exam. Probably not worth it.

It was warm and sunny for change this afternoon so I went for a long walk. I should have brought my camera. I saw some neat/interesting/pretty things. Among them were lots of people. I like that about the rare nice days in winter here; the streets are full of humans taking advantage of the weather.

Besides the usual gawking at cute girls and strangely dressed people, I watched a large group of old men in the park playing their old men games. Most of them involve the under-handed throwing of objects at other things. And screaming "Yeah! That's how I like it, the bitch that gave birth to you, paisano!" at eachother when the objects collide. I especially liked watching the "throw the metal tube at the stick" game. I really should have brought my camera.

Something made me think when I started writing this post that it would be a lot more interesting than it's turning out. What if I said I went to the library, too? I'm reading Kafka. I dislike the idea of reading something translated from English to Spanish. I figure, if I can read the original, why the fuck would I read the translation instead? But I can't read German. So that's why I'm reading Kafka.

Okay, so that's not very exciting. I still expect validation in form of comments.

E-Diary

Yeah, I haven't felt like posting anything lately. Not that nothing's been going on. I think I've told pretty much everyone who reads this thing, but I've been dating a girl for a little over a week now. Her name is Isa. She's 24 years old, has a degree in some sort of film-related thing and works as a telephone operator while trying to find work as a script writer. I dont think I'm going to be saying a lot about her on this thing. It feels really awkward for some reason.

Also I've been studying. Exams are next week. AI is pretty neat. I hate everything else.

So yeah, things are good.

Xmas Photos

Here're a few pictures from my xmas break. There are lots more and these were selected almost randomly. Most (all?) of these were taken by my dad.


Mami and cousins Vicente, Dani, and Pablo outside my uncle Antonio's house.


In Toledo.


Luis and Blanca listening to heated discussion.


It's almost 2006! EAT THE GRAPES FAST!


My aunt Carmen making a crazy face.


There was a parade for three king's day. Not a single photo came out right.


My cousins Manolo and Alex.


The meter of beer!


My family and Toledo. A few minutes later a busload of Japanese tourists poured out and started taking the same picture. Except with Japanese families.

I'm Back

This is really just a token post to say that I'm back in Madrid. I had a very good time, it was great to see my parents and sisters not to mention cousins that I haven't seen since last year despite the fact that I've been here the whole time.

I was surprised at how great it was to SPEAK English. Sure, I read and write it all I want, probably more than I should. I also sometimes speak English with exchange students that don't understand Spanish (though I avoid them as much as possible). But language is more than just grammatical rules, phonetics and vocabulary. What I speak with the weird Ukrainian girl is "English" but it sure doesn't feel like the same language that I speak with my sister.

Anyway, I'll update later with proper post including pictures and a summary of our holiday breaktime. I hope everyone had a good time and is ready for the upcoming semester.