Sylvia, who are you?

I was just now going on and on about the Italian spirit and how you have to admire their way of life, every time i go to Italy i feel super inspired, and someone said: "Oh darling it's La Dolce Vita" !

And it is true, that scene with Anita Ekberg in the fountain is so remarkable and gorgeous, it is breath taking, one of the most outstanding images ever created by the movie industry and also a really good idea of what the Italian spirit is to me!

Viva Frederico Fellini !

See the video of the scene here!

I have recently been to Haiti on a mission: to get to know the country and their people in order to help their children with the non-profit organization Lakay Pam. Upon my return, Modelinia.com asked me to write an essay about my experience there, and I wanna share it HERE with you.

Enjoy!

A Kick from Mother Nature

While the world has kept Haiti on their minds and in their hearts ever since the tragic experience, only a select few individuals have had the opportunity to visit the country and see the tragedy while lending a helping hand. Elite agent Gabriel Ruas shared his experience in Haiti with Modelina, just in time for the Lakay Pam event, hosted by Coco Rocha tonight - to which you’re all invited!

I have been working with NGO Lakay Pam (”My House” in Creole) for a little over three years. The organization, started by one of the models I manage, Carolina Bittencourt, has touched me from the beginning. Carolina, who traveled the world through her modeling career had always felt the need to help, but never believed that simply giving money away was the right way to do it. It was only when she met Haitian entrepreneur Cedrick Roche that she finally came accross her mission. With Cedrick by her side she set off to Haiti to learn all about this tiny country in the Caribbean, so close from the modern world but so far from everyone’s memories.

Carolina and Cedrick set sights in one particular orphanage and the goal was to help the children of Haiti, many abandoned by their parents, many unable to afford education, many without even a grain of rice to eat at the end of the day. Today, Lakay Pam helps to provide shelter, education, health care and food for over 700 children in Haiti, but the number of the ones in need is much bigger and it grows on a daily basis.

After the earthquake in January of this year, I decided I would finally make my way to the emerald shores of Haiti and put my hands to work. Through the invitation of Lakay Pam and their local supporters I ended up in Port Au Prince, and I couldn’t be more excited and panicked at the same time; the thought of what I was going to run into was unclear and blurry in my head. After the easy and comfortable 3 hour flight from New York, arriving at the airport was simple, but the effects of the destruction were already visible; military helicopters and airplanes parked in the partially destroyed airport and very minor organization on the way in were nothing more than the expected.

After I settled in and reorganized myself, I hopped in the car and went to downtown Port Au Prince. Everywhere I looked around me, I found destruction, from small houses to tall buildings, most of the city crashed down to the ground, 6 floors of construction layered on top of each other, like a sandwich of death. As the car got closer to the core of the city it got worse, and some of the buildings that are still standing show signs of instability, keeping their residents outside, living in improvised tents.

The tents are an entirely new chapter. Tents are spread all over the city where there used to be beautiful squares and monuments, in the hills that border the town, everywhere you look you can see them, alongside tons of debris and trash. It’s heart breaking and disappointing to see that in the modern age we still are subject to such cruelty.

But not all is lost, and every single Haitian citizen and visitor, like myself, will tell you that. The people in that island share something very special, that is their will to survive and their positivity. Haitians have been ruled by brutal, corrupt and selfish presidents; disrespectful and near useless police force, and they have always managed to keep on living, why shouldn’t they now?

The art is spread all over the country, their local artisans show their skills in mosaics, stone sculptures and unimaginable things made of straw. And all that work is done without ever attending a class to teach them the things that many design students from the developed world would take a life time to figure out.

The help that is coming from all sides is being allocated to their respective places, but at this point the damage is so extensive and so lost in the middle of the politics that it has become easier to do as we are doing, going down there and assessing what you can do for yourself. If it’s cribs, x-ray machines, mattresses, bricks or cement that they need, let’s buy it, let’s do what we can. In a country where the vast majority of people have no running water or electricity, even one hundred dollars can go a long way.

But let me tell you now, what you can do, that would be even easier and surprisingly pleasant: next time you have to take a vacation, instead of going to every other packed destination in the Caribbean, go to Haiti. Yes dear reader, that’s what I said, go to Haiti. With some of the most astonishing beaches in the world, Haiti was once the top destination for vacation, even Elizabeth Taylor had a house there! Well, Haiti’s beaches are still the same and nature has never looked better! Places like Ile à Vache, Port Salut and Cap Haitian have outstanding resorts surrounded by culture and history, not to mention a much different scenario than the one you will run into at Port au Prince. I’ll also tell you a little secret: If you ever went on a cruise through the Caribbean, you have probably already bathed in Haitian waters and walked in one of their beaches; the reason why you don’t know about it is because they won’t tell you, simply because of the bad reputation the country had for many years.

And how will vacationing in Haiti help the country? Well, the more people go there, more money will be injected into the country and more the hotels will be busy and with that more jobs will be generated and more the economy will get back into place. It’s not a rare and unknown formula, it has happened in many cities of Africa, South America, and Asia, which now solely depend on tourism. It may seem like a long shot, but at least you are trying and will have an amazing experience while doing so!

I would even take the chance to say that if you got to the end of this long writing, than you already are on the right track! Help in any way you can, but help no matter what, don’t let this destruction go unresolved don’t let this disaster be forgotten, don’t let Haiti go once again into that dusty place that lives in your end every bodies brains. Only together we can help this nation struck by some bad luck and a lot of bad political decisions.

A Song to say Goodbye

Would it be happy or sad? If you had to use a song to say goodbye, would it be a sad goodbye or a happy farewell? Would it be filled with melancholy or with hopes for a happy re-encounter? i never thought about it in fact, i kept on listening to this specific song that repeated the phrase on and on like a scratched record and it was only now that i realized that the phrase is actually quite interesting.

On its own, detached from any other words, signs or phrases, that one specific sentence can really put your brain to work. Of course there are sad songs, happy songs, violent songs, songs of all sorts, but what does a song to say goodbye sound like? Should it be mellow? why would anyone use a song to say goodbye anyway? Goodbyes are moments dreaded by most of everyone; when have you ever heard anyone saying that they "loved goodbyes"? I would not raise my hand for that one, and i am pretty sure that pretty much everyone's answer to that question would be: never.

it is simple as that, if a goodbye turns into a moment, than it is most likely not a happy one. Even if the goodbye is happening because of a really cool occasion, like a promotion to a branch in a grater city or a scholarship in that cool foreign country, the goodbye on its own, the act of saying goodbye at that moment is not necessarily so filled with joy.

So, at the end, i guess that a song to say goodbye could turn out to be a pretty cool thing. Imagine; you are at the airport, dreading that awkward moment when you hug-kiss-cry-all at once moment, and everyone else around you can tell whats going on, and then, all of sudden you lover, or child, or parent starts singing you a little song, and that song will probably stick to your brain, better yet, to your heart, and will help both to go on and give both something to cling to whenever missing that special one can't even be translated into words.

Songs are meant to lift you up, songs are meant to generate emotions, to make your heart beat faster, songs can lift moods, carry movies, change the course of a play and make or ruin your day. Songs keep you company and never ever let you go, not even when you don't have anywhere or anything to play a song on, not even if your mute and can't even humm, you will always have your songs stuck within the walls of your brain.

So, yes, a song to say goodbye probably would be something very cool and generous, a true act of love!

Order and Progress

Times have changed, and they still change constantly and much faster than they used to. you get around nowadays and talk to people from whatever part of the world, and the level of education and knowledge is maybe 10% of what it used to be fifty years ago. The perception of the world have changed; yes, it's easier to get around and access information, but how much of the knowledge are we really absorbing?

There was a time when people would get great education at their countries, learn the history of the world and be open to know the stories of the past. Those who had some level of money and power would send their children to schools abroad, to learn different languages and get higher level of education and broader cultural knowledge.

Nowadays the furthest you will go is with an exchange student program for six months, and even then, the level of education is not guaranteed to excel. Yes you have experiences that are valuable for your life, but what is your money really paying for? Maybe some different scenery views, movie sessions and frat house parties?

Let's talk about day to day politeness too. Back in the day, families ate together, talked about issues of the world. People asked to be excused, said they were sorry when wrong and complimented their friends even at the smallest accomplishment. Hello's, goodbye's and pleases were exchanged at all social levels and ages, and the grammar was respected in both in the writing or in a conversation. Letters helped too, it made the reader use its imagination, it encouraged writers to practice their writing and had a certain romance to it too.

Today is today only, and maybe there's room to discuss tomorrow, but today is never yesterday. The past has been shot dead by a bazooka and with the years passing it's getting deeper and deeper under ground, buried under a pile of stupid useless knowledge. Who now has the time to think about the formation of the great lakes, or who made the first airplane, or how some of the countries that are now living in poverty used to be the safest, most educated and more sought after in the world?! Not many people; not many are interested in what makes the world spin, in the mechanisms that could change the course of history. The short attention span is one of the causes of the decline of the modern civilization, people are interested on what's hot now, but five minutes from now something else will be hot and that's when the world starts cracking and why it is now falling apart.

There is a reason for every little thing that happens on earth, the explanation for it all is available, be it in a text book, a biography, Google or in a Discovery documentary; but the information is there none the less. What is really scary is the fact that even though the information is more abundant and accessible than ever, people still choose to live blindly, and even the ones who choose to see, don't feel empowered enough to affect changes into the system.

The truth for these times is that it takes a couple of bold people to affect change, and even the smallest change is a big push to our world. Our planet is going down, and the way of the future has to be made by the combination of knowledge, action, hope and urgency, because if order is not urgent for the progress of our planet now, than I don't know what is.

The Greatest

This morning I was in a bus on my way back home from the beach after a weekend of fun, and after a good hour of sleep I woke up to realize we were almost arriving at the bus station, and as I looked out the window the greatness of the city hit me. The skyscrapers, the bridges, the tunnels, even the bus station, everything here is greater and grander than any other place in the world, but not in a show off kind of way, this is a city that wasn't designed to be that way, it just happened.

But the city's greatness is not limited to the city itself, the city is only this great because of the people in it, because the people here always worked harder than anywhere else, the people here were the people from everywhere else, people who arrived here with no money and the will to survive, the will to start fresh and rebuild their lives, because talent here is appreciated and recognized, because from the start, years and years ago the city was built by great people, and they set the bar really high, and that was it.

Location was important too, whoever had the idea to come here was really smart, this piece of land is nestled in the heart of the universe. Whoever got here first also set a precedent for the prices we deal with now; the prices we deal with now, however, only seem to matter in the beginning, when you first start paying rent, because after a while you feel like what you pay is quite all right for such a great place to live in.

What other city in the world is as great as this one? Culturally there's nothing like it. The theaters are always packed, filled with energy and great productions, everyone wants to perform here and the audience loves it. The Broadway shows are filled with charm and again, greatness. The museums are innovative and always open to new ideas, filling their hallways with old and new blood side by side making for a great experience. The streets are also part of the culture, there is street art, street dancing, street music, street performances and pop art, everywhere. Even the way some of the billboards are made are still very old-school, someone is paid to go all the way up there next to a tall building wall and paint the adds that you will be looking at for the next two weeks and feel like they were printed by machines on paper to be glued on that very wall. But they weren't.

If you want to travel in the summer, there are endless options of beaches to get to within a 6 hour drive, it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are or how long you're willing to travel, you can get there easily, by train, bus or car! In the winter you can also go up to the mountains for snowboarding and that's not a big stretch either. You can even cross the border and go to another country if you want to. You can get to Boston or D.C. if you're in the mood for a different capital. All within those six hours. You could go to a different place every weekend if you wanted, and never get too tired.

Here you can also hop in an airplane and within 8 hours you can be in any major European city, or in the middle of the Amazon, or enjoying tango in Argentina. You can also opt to stay in American territory and visit your friends all the way in the west coast or maybe try your luck in Vegas, or even see the greatness of the grand canyon and the glaciers of Alaska.

Here is the city that truly never sleeps, here you can get a slice of pizza at any given time, you can also go shopping at 3am if you feel like it, or you can go dancing to jazz, salsa, dance or samba music at the endless night clubs available. If you're up for a more quiet and natural experience you can go bird watching at the Central Park, said to be one of the richest natural environments for wildlife in a big city. You can go ice skating, you can go to times square to look at the signs that are so bright that they fill the sky with light and erase the stars, you can cross the bridge into the next door neighborhood and see the postcard skyline live and filled with energy, like no picture or movie on earth could reproduce.

Here is where everyone wants to be, and also where everyone is welcome to be. Here there are no boundaries for you to be whoever you want to be, you can be black, white, yellow or red, you can be Christian, Buddhist, Muslim or Jewish, you can be gay or straight, married or divorced, fat or skinny, you name it, you can be it, there is a place for you out here.

This is New York, the greatest city on earth, the city that made me feel like part of the world, because this city as problematic and complex as it may be, as any other large city is, still manages to be in peace, still manages to show the world what the world could be like, a peaceful piece of land, where its citizens care for the environment and each other, where people live together in unison, where its narrow streets make you feel like you belong and its large avenues can show you the beauty of a sunny day, be it summer or winter, the sun always manages to come out to bathe us in joy. In New York there is no room for mediocrity, here is the land of the great, and as Frank would say, if you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere.

This is New York, the Big Apple, so come on in and take a big bite at it.

I Am Love

And so it is, you feel human once again. Not very often though, it's not something constant, but every now and then something pushes you towards your hopes, fears, emotions, thoughts and even your own soul. We are inclined nowadays, by accident as I like to believe, to just live, get through this or that issue, say big words like love or happiness without being sure of what it is we're saying, but we keep saying it, because that's what we're supposed to do, that's what we know.

Once in a blue moon though, something happens, what you thought you knew as angst shifts and shows you the real meaning of the word, and makes you wonder: do I really know what it is that I'm doing around here? Am I serving my purpose? Do I even have one? The minute life throws you a curve ball is the minute you come face to face with your life. How will you deal with what really matters? How will you deal with your feelings?

What I believe in, is that we put a mask in our feelings without knowing it, because it makes it easier to go on living, or perhaps because it's not something that we really know how to handle. We don't learn anything about it in school, our parents don't sit us down for a talk about it, apparently the use of a condom is a bigger priority, and our friends, well, they are just as lost as we are; but perhaps, we should also consider the fact that many go on living blinded by facts, numbers and rules.

The breath of fresh air and the shade of hope in life comes as it always has, through inspiration, through ideas, through the universe that conspires for us, not against us. Painters and sculptors had muses and their art inspired millions, and so it is, to this day, we are constantly being pushed and inspired by outside factors that surround us. A song, a goodbye kiss at the gate in the airport, the laughter of a child, a great book, someone's life story or a movie; these are some of the things that can wake us up, depending of course of where we are in life. Or where we aren't.

I am love. A simple phrase, but a phrase that makes you think, that sends your neurons spinning and that also is the name of a movie. I am love was for me a source of inspiration and fuel for thought. This is not just a movie, this is one of those things that puts life in check, it speaks to everyone, maybe not entirely, but there will be something that will catch your soul. I am love makes you feel it all at once and than it crashes you only to lift you up all over again.

Every aspect of this masterpiece is engaging and mind blowing, the soundtrack may be simple but comes into perfect coordination with the cinematography, that highlights the arts, the architecture, the actors and their brilliance; the elements are put together in a way that you are also there, feeling every breath of every character and hearing their thoughts even if they are not thinking, because you feel their life coming through the screen, because the screen is merely a way to communicate to you what someone had the skill to write, direct and produce, with love, with feeling, with brilliance. That's why the title, as simple as it is, screams for your attention, read it again: I am love. Io sono amore. Je suis l'amour. eu sou amor. Yo soy amor.

The phrase resonates, makes you wonder, drives you crazy; this single phrase, as simple as it is, pushes you, sends you off the edge. This phrase makes you feel. Well, how can anyone actually be love? How can anyone love that much to actually be love? Or how can one assume that he or she is that important to deserve such a feeling? How does one even know what is love? How do I know what is love?

Well, here is my point exactly: I don't know, and nor do you. We don't really know what any of those feelings mean until they run into us and we assume that's what it feels like. What we feel is very particular, very intimate, but this is, when it happens, the opportunity to have a dialogue with ourselves and decide where we're headed and reflect on where we came from, to figure out what our core is. My life is here now but it may not in the next ten minutes, so, what do I do? I grab on to these little moments of inspiration and enjoy them as if i was a drug addict having that lat hit, because i don't know when something will inspire me that much, i don't know when will the next muse come around the corner, so i choose to feel it all, and keep feeling everything to exhaustion.

Pay it Forward

That the world is filled with nasty scumbags we all are very much aware, in all shapes and sizes, from minor to major scumbags, it's easy for the most of us to identify them on a daily basis, sometimes even without them having to say a single word. Well, most of us even know the little scum bag that hides inside us, it comes out every now and than, it can be pretty spooky, but hopefully it won't affect anyone else but ourselves.

But you know what's hard to see around? The cool guys and girls, the people who thrive on paying forward the good things they get, people who are always willing to extend a helping hand or just putting in a good word for a friend or even a total stranger. As I was watching Amelie for the 25th time it suddenly hit me that one of the main reasons I love this movie is not only the amazing cinematography and direction, but that within that genius script you find loads of generosity and inspiration.

Amelie is the ultimate good girl, she has flaws, just like you and me, she has her life to deal with, as do we, but even then she always finds the time to keep good and positive things moving forward, creating what I like to call human generated serendipity. I know, I know, it probably couldn't technically be called serendipity, but hey, it's all about being groundbreaking, maybe this is my turn!

So, human generated serendipity, or if you'd like to call it HGS, is what happens when we work on helping others in ways that most of the times they don't even know, by doing even the smallest things that could cause this amazing catharsis of great happenings. HGS should be more present on the day to day life, I believe it actually is happening more than ever, but even more so I would like to believe that other people can feel as inspired to do good as I do when I see Amelie, or Pay it Forward, or Mic Macs or simply by watching the news and filtering all the positive things into their souls instead of the negative. What could be more inspiring than seeing human beings helping other human beings? Or even human beings helping nature, actually, doing anything that's good!?

See, the thing with me is that whenever i have the opportunity to do something good for someone else i will, whether i know them really well or not, i want to be able to see everyone around me being happy and successful, sometimes it's not easy, but i will still try harder and make sure i get things done. I had this friend of a friend that wanted to make a career in the fashion industry, she came to me with a simple question and i saw a lot of talent in her work. What started as a simple conversation turned into job recommendations and eventually actual jobs started happening and every time i talk to her now she thanks me for that simple conversation we had two years ago. That is one of the things i did that inspired me to do more, all the time, I've done it as i was growing up, I've done it last week, by bringing a guy i had just met through friends to meet a girlfriend of mine, neither of them knew my intentions, but it worked beautifully and they are now in this "thing", still not a relationship, but i can tell it's really helping and inspiring for them both, and even if it doesn't turn into anything more than a friendship, it will still have been very positive for their lives, i mean we can always use a good friend can't we?

I believe that by doing good we are also fueling our own life and spirit with all that energy, we are fueling ourselves towards greater things, we become more patient, more peaceful and focused, our tolerance level goes higher and we can manage to put up with the worst of days with the calm of a Buddhist.

The point here is, that we should all try harder to keep the wheel of good moving, we should in fact push people around us to do so! It's easy to see negativity, but we should not be blinded by it, never, we must keep digging until we find what really matters, because with positivity we can extinct all that's bad.

Life as an Adult

There's an aspect about the adult life that no one told you about, it's a detail that was overlooked during those days and nights when you longed for independence and becoming a "grown up", and that is having responsibilities. What most of us seem to forget while we're teenagers is that there are in fact responsibilities in life, and eventually one will catch up with the other, and in the beginning responsibility usually comes to bite you in the ass.

It starts with getting a job, even a part time, than maybe you will have to start thinking about paying a couple of bills and still have some money left for having fun with your friends, but eventually you won't have any, and will have to stay at home watching the re-run of pretty woman and eating last night's pop corn. Being an adult is fun, but only sometimes, there is a lot of pain, some of the people you've known your whole life will start leaving you, they age too and time is ruthless, you will also have failed careers, some people will get abortions, other will have to come into realization of their addictions and will have to face them in order to save their lives, but some won't realize that on time, and will stop living at the beginning.

Being an adult is not comfortable, you have to constantly battle the world, save your position at work, fight for that item on sale at KMart, fight for the apartment you need to rent, but not the one you wish you could rent, and even though it's a dump, it's good for now, at least you have a roof over your head right? With being fully grown up you also have people who will start relying on you, and depending on your judgment for some big decisions in their lives, and that is totally uncomfortable.

As an adult you will also find that there is no getting away from certain things, no matter how painful or boring they are, and with time you will start being a more patient and resilient person. As an adult you will find true love and also true heart break, and that sucks... Big time! It is what it is, life has its ways of sneaking things upon us, and the next thing you'll know is that you're going to find yourself sitting in the subway going to work wishing you could now be going to school or summer camp, in those days when you were innocent and thought life was hard.

This is a note to self, it's a note to remember how life is complex and rich, how even with all the downsides of becoming an adult there are still so many great things about it that you will simply forget the bad times, growing up and living one day after the other, learning one thing on top of the other, that is the true richness in life, but understanding these things is the true richness about being an adult.

Grow From Love

In the process of growth you go through adolescence, think you have it all figured out, go through what seems to be love, but it's nothing more than infatuation, than you grow up, or what represents the beginning of being an actual grown up, and it finally hits you: you are in love.

No one prepares you for romantic love, it's the one thing that no one can explain or understand, it's the kind of experience that will fill your heart with joy and than crush you down into a million pieces, over and over again. The reality of being in love and what no one seems to accept, is that disappointment is included in the package deal, you get the looks, the personality, the companionship, the nights of winter by the fire, and the summer days sitting in the front porch watching the waves crash against the sand, but you also get the tiny little downsides too, and your partner gets the same, after all honey, we are all human beings subject to flaws. Sometimes there are so many little annoying things in there, adding up to a mountain of error, that it makes you wanna scream, it drives you mad, it gets you to say things that should remain unsaid, and sometimes gets you to do things that should never be done, because they will cause so much pain that you feel like your heart is being torn apart by a dinosaur.

How you overcome or balance those little problems in order to maintain a healthy relationship is the key, dialogue, item that's in lack of these days, is the key, right next to a lot of patience, understanding and tolerance. If you are able to see problems ahead of you and deal with them, and also realize that your lover is also putting up with many little things and being very understanding, than you're off to a keeper.

The beginning though, is the key, because in the beginning there is only so much you can do with the very little information you have about this other person. You don`t know if this is someone who likes text messages during the day, or if maybe it's someone that prefers to talk on the phone for hours, or maybe someone that will tell you to go out with your friends and they can join you too, as it would be great to meet the people who surround you in order to get to know you better, it's complicated, these things you can only figure out with time, and these days, time seems to be the problem.

More and more i feel like people don't give enough time for the relationships to mature into something consistent, people just jump off the boat at the first sign it's rocking; and the problem is that like boats need stability in order to stop rocking, so do the relationships. If a person is late or takes what seems to be forever to answer your missed phone call, what does it mean? Well, probably nothing, but it's simply the fact that everyone responds differently or that everyone is different and lead extremely different lives; so, being suspicious or anxious will not help, it makes what should be a joyful period become a nerve wracking process, actually, it turns a natural relationship curve into a process, almost mechanical, and it shouldn't be.

The little ups and downs of the beginning are defining and essential, they will tell which direction the relationship will take, they will show how compatible the couple is, how in tune they are with each other, and they will be the base of a solid and long term relationship. How you handle your problems in the beginning of the relationship is probably the same way you'll do it throughout the whole experience, and not only that, but those moments of discovery will show the real personality and interaction of the couple.

So, the reality is that sometimes you need to mature, not only the relationship, but yourself, after all, you may be 25, 45 or 65, but you will always have something new to learn and add up into your life. As long as you're open to experiment with yourself before anything else, you should be able to enjoy the ride and grow alongside your relationship... Try it, it should be fun.

The Logic in Flying

So, here i am again, in one of the many airports of the world, luggage in hand, everything in place, ready for yet another journey. To me, the process of going through a trip is very logical and organized, like many things in my life, but this is by far the epitome of all logical processes.

It starts with booking the ticket, i know what's good and not in each different kind of airplane, i know that aisle seats are always more comfortable for my long legs and desire to have extra room to move around, i also know that depending on where i am flying to, the time of the flight is crucial, especially if i am traveling for work. Booking the last flight of the day is usually the stupidest thing to do, and booking flights with connections in famous tourist spots is also the worst nightmare you can ever have.

Once the ticket is done comes the logistics of the ride to the airport, depending where you'll be or the time of the departure it makes a huge difference to take a private car, a taxi or the subway. The process of the trip for me begins on the morning of the departure, after my bags are packed, because i may have to go to work and from there to the airport, or not, it's all craziness, even when I'm packing the bag there needs to be some logic, and to me it's so logic now, that it never takes me more than fifteen minutes to get it done.

So, here i am, outside the airport, probably already checked in via the internet, because i know that it'll save me time, since I'll be able to skip all those first time travelers or families with their children and 20 bags spread out all over the place and taking the time of five different airline representatives to be able to check in. So, i skip all that, i print my luggage tag, drop the bag into what i like to call the black hole - because even though i never had any lost luggage, you never know when it could be your first time, and it's quite amusing to me how a bag can get lost in a direct flight between New York and Miami, i can never wrap my head around it, how is it possible to loose someone`s luggage on such an easy direct flight? Anyways, as long as it`s not mine or of any of my travel companions it's none of my business. - After i`m done with the black hole thing, it`s time to cut to the chase.

After all my travelings i realized that it's always better to simply get to the airport in advance, and get to the gate as early as possible, not only you know you definitely are boarding your flight, but you're also there to seize any sort of opportunity that might appear, to either get upgraded, or move seats, or if you're on vacation, get your hands on that exquisite credit voucher and board the next flight in first class! So, passport and ticket out in hands opened on the correct page and ready for inspection. While waiting for security check, since it's an unavoidable pain, i observe the x-ray lines, searching for the one with the usual businessman, the occasional student or the ones that are packing lighter, as these are always faster and ready for the process. I mean, what`s so difficult about the x-ray? All you have to do is take your shoes off, jacket, belt if any, and get that laptop out of it`s casing and into a separate tray. The process is extremely basic and all over the posters, all over the airport, a five year old could do it in a heart beat, but apparently some people can`t seem to understand that you need to leave your metals in the tray and they keep trying, once, twice, even four times... well, God apparently wasn't fair with everyone when it comes to brains! I, personally, have my system: shoes that are easy to take in and out, never wearing any belt or metals, and all my electronics are in my jacket`s pockets, therefore, once i take the jacket off and place it in the tray, i don`t have to think about anything else, and that will leave me with two trays, one for the laptop and the other one for my shoes and jacket, and of course my bags; three items that will be easily reorganized after they go through the eyes of security.

From than on, it's all a piece of cake until you're boarded, because nobody deserves to be stuck in an airplane's aisle while Mr. 75 year old fisherman decides clumsily how he's going to fit his large sized materials and bags in such limited space, or even those truly selfish ones that see 50 people behind them holding heavy bags waiting to find their seats while this person decides what to do with the insanely over sized "carry-on" bags, that shouldn't even have been allowed on board to begin with. The flight attendants though, will only rush for assistance once the first passenger waiting in line speaks up, than it`s like the gates of hell are open, everyone has an opinion, even the ones that are sitting down with their luggage properly accommodated. There is a logic to these things, and it is so deeply obvious, that`s why these sizing rules were made, so that everyone could have enough room for their bags, so that everyone can simply walk into the airplane, throw their luggage in the overhead bins and sit down to watch a movie.

Isn't it a delight when one can simply get things done like that? When you can simply sit and observe the craziness of the illogical people? To me it`s unnerving, i sometimes just want to get up, grab one of those illogical by the arm and shake them up to see if i can put their brains back in order - "lady! what part of placing your roller bag wheels out don`t you understand? Wheels out is not sideways, it's WHEELS OUT, which means the frigging wheels are going to be facing you, so that the other passenger has enough room to place his bag next to yours, get it??!!?". And that`s not the only thing; everyone knows, that until you depart it`s so much easier and faster for the crew if you keep your seat-belt fastened, your seat in the upright position and your electronic devices turned off, because that will speed things up, and you know for a fact that you do not have enough time to watch a movie or calmly listen to some music and take a nap anyways - The flight attendant will wake you up for departure if your seat is reclined sir, isn't that obvious? don't you know it's the most ancient requirement for departures and landings?? And why haven't you still turned your ipod and blackberry off? Why do you have to wait until the flight attendant screams at you to turn it off otherwise you're going to crash down the airplane??? If you wanna die why don't you just jump off the Empire State Building? It`s easier, faster, cheaper and if you kill someone else it won`t be more than one person, as opposed to an entire airplane... cool? - i mean, i wish the flight attendants could be more rude or sarcastic sometimes, I'm pretty sure that that kind of people really need to get a clue, not a flight!
Anyways, there's logic pretty much in everything we do in our day to day lives, of course i don't really pay attention to it most of the times, but if there is one thing that needs to follow a very logical process, that one thing is traveling, after all, you just want to get from point A to B as fast and painless as possible and be able to enjoy every minute of it.
So, once i start my airline you will surely be able to sit back and fly safe, and if anyone is annoying you, they are sure to get their piece of clue coming their way!

A Sea of Love

How good would it be to feel like you actually are in a sea of love? Not the infatuation kind of sea of love, an actual sea of love, where families stick together, lovers hardly ever fight, and when they do it's silly and usually ends in more love. In the sea of love we lso love all that surrounds us, the birds, and the trees, and we don't really need to fight, because in the sea of love there's room for everyone, for everything, for all colors, religions and political beliefs, in the sea of love there's an understanding that love equals respect and acceptance.

Our world is too fast paced, we don't allow ourselves to love anymore, many have even forgotten to love themselves, which to me is a shame. Who will be able to give you as much love, support and attention as yourself? Really, the lack of self-love and respect has reached crazy heights. We now have anti-depressants, all sorts of drugs, virtual sex, sugar and fat (lots of sugar) and alcoohol; all of those are now replacement for self-love, because people forget that in order to find love in someone else you must first accept and love yourself.

Isn't that basic? Why does anyone need affirmation from others? I don't know and it scares me to think that someday even i may fall on that trap. I've been pretty good for most of my life, but what do i know, i've only been around for twenty five years or so, so it is as they say: never say never... right?

Enough with negativities, lets go back to the sea of love, after all, love attracts love. What i want to say here is very basic: love as much as you can, love everything around you, even the bad things that come your way, because those are the things that are teaching you and making you grow stronger, i am proof of that theory, it is NOT bullshit or words out of a self-help book - they could be but i wouldn't know because i never read any - it's the most intelligent thing anyone can do; love, love, love!

So instead of going all mushy and thinking: "oh, he probably got lucky on a date or something and got carried away"; think twice: i have always believed in it, and never been shy to voice it out, through songs, my writings or silly movies i watch over and over; love is in fact the sweetest thing, love is king, love is all we need; so come with me, into the sea, the sea of love, because i wanna tell you how much i love you too !

PS.: Thanks Cat Power for the inspiration through one of the most gorgeous songs ever recorded.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Dinah Washington once sang "What a difference a day Made", probably her most popular recording ever, but those little words, squeezed in a few blissfully melodic minutes meant a lot, and to this day, those words still have the same impact and maybe even more meaning.

As i was walking back home during a lazy morning i realized how life goes by so quickly that we hardly ever stop to pay attention to the little things that could make a big difference in our days, our perspectives and ultimately in our lives. As i was walking through the noisy streets of chinatown, trying to find some sense in the path i was taking, i realized that maybe i shouldn't even have a path to take, after all, this was a lazy day, a day i had off, during the week, something so rare and that could be so valuable, something that we all long for almost everyday while we're sitting inside an office, something that at that moment i had, for one day, i had that kind of freedom. If i wanted to i could choose not to go home, i could wander around, not take a shower, not make any sense at all, for that one particular day, i could do whatever i wanted, i could even not answer the phone at all, pretend i had vanished into a black hole, and no one would ever know my whereabouts.

To me, that day was a beautiful revelation, to me, that particular day changed many things. For the first time in a long time i realized how i could take advantage of a day, how i could do my favorite things, walk around, observe, pay attention to the little happenings that take place in life all the time, all around us. At first i felt like i had to suck it all in, i stood there, in the corner of Hester and Canal, took a deep breath, listened to the children running behind their moms, the old ladies pulling their carts, watched as the florists arranged the window for a new day that was about to begin, paid attention to the hectic movement of the people that were actually busy going to work and staring at me as if i was a crazy person standing there with nothing to do. I watched the cab drivers shouting out to the air their useless complaints about how bad the traffic was - as if it would change anything - and also saw at the same time, accross the street, way past the crazy noises, an EMO couple saying their goodbyes, parting ways and staring back at each other as they walked away, in the most romantic and passionate gesture that only exists between true lovers. The birds were all aligned outside the buildings, going on in their conversations about probably where to fly to for their next meal or on who to take that nasty dump that will really send that person off the edge and will probably be really funny for them to watch. I wondered what could be going through the head of the guy that just threw some paper in the already disgusting pavement instead of just disposing of it in the trash can that stood a step away from him; i wondered if maybe he felt that his act was some sort of help for the sanitation worker's to keep their jobs in a time of crisis, but than, three miliseconds later i decided that it was a crappy theory and discarded it in that very trash can that the passer by disregarded.

As i decided to make my way up Elizabeth Street, i brushed against a chinese lady who cursed at me in something that could only be chinese but wouldn't really make a difference as she kept on going without ever even looking back, after all, to her i was only another person blocking her way, and it seemed like she had lots of errands to run with her little cart - off she went! I smiled and turned away only to realize that a kid across the street was staring at me, and as i was looking straight into her eyes, we connected for a second, acknowledged each other, giggled and kept on going. Those little connections are to me the most priceless things in a day, what took that particular person to share that fraction of a moment with me, that moment that didn't really mean anything, but filled my heart with joy.

As my day went by and i sat in every square that was once overlooked, walked into every shop that once caught my eye as i was on my hurried way to work or somewhere else, talked to every single human being i could and even some canine and feline subjects too, observed and listened to everyone around me and fell in love with every little aspect of life all over again, i realized that this is what it's all about, this is the true experience of life, feeling and being open to everything is a true blessing and i was blessed to have that day.

As the day progressed, so did i, i made notes, i had thoughts, i felt like i was filled with life, i realized that taking an hour off to wander around during luch time could now be a new and refreshing project, i realized that being with yourself can be the best quality time available, being with yourself will probably always be the most revealing experience you will ever have, an epiphany from the neuro gods that live within you.

So, my advice here - not that you care - is pretty obvious: enjoy your life in the rythm of a caterpillar, move slowly and patiently, not only it will bring you enlightenment but it will also give you an extra boost of energy.

As the song said, a day truly made a huge difference, twenty four little hours come a long way when you allow yourself to be truly alive, when you allow yourself to live the unexpected experiences, when you share a random conversation while standing in line at the bank or riding in the subway, when you get lost and you discover a new empire of possibilities that never even crossed your mind, or even when you're there, just standing in the corner, minding your own business and you're hit by that nasty and unexpected bird poop, it is as the saying says: shit happens!