On Farewells

 How are we supposed to react when someone who has been around us, all of a sudden, goes off the map, for good?
What could be called "appropriate behavior" for when someone passes away?

 A few days ago, a friend found herself in the right place, just at the right time, but not for the best.
How is it that circumstances conspire with one another, planning ahead, and getting all together for a marked instant, in which fate is decided, and things change completely?

 If I'm absolutely honest, I wouldn't say that I had a deep bond with this particular person. But she was a classmate of mine, and I'd like to think, that, even if the time we spent together was short, we became friends.
 It's an out-worldly feeling, the one you get when you arrive to a place to keep up with the routine, and then, you find out that a person you took for granted won't be there, anymore. At least, that's how it is in my case, there's a sort of chain reaction inside me, born from the fact that reality was forever changed in just a few decisive instants.

 This kind of events plunge me into deep thinking, and it takes a while to get back in touch with the real-world everyday routine; such an unfortunate string of overlapping variables, fulfilled one over another, could happen to anyone of us. Being hit like a tidal wave by the realization that anything or anyone we take for granted could just vanish in seconds, has the power to shake you and make re-evaluate a couple of things in your life, to say the least.

Blinded at first by feelings, it seems so unfair that such a young soul, cheerful, lively would have all of her remaining time here by the whimsical desires of destiny, but such is life and we have to keep on moving.

  A while ago I was just reflecting on how ceremonies and mourning are for us, the ones left behind, and constitute a symbol through which we can give some logical shape to our feelings about the matter, and the changes in our reality, though if one really thinks about it, it wouldn't really have any meaning to the person herself as he/she is already gone.
Or would it? Because memories and history are also a thing, part of our everyday lives and the fuel for many of the choices we take...

All in all, I hope she finds herself in a better place now, and we'll remember the happy bits, which I think is the best way to go forward and the best we can offer to her.

Out of town

One is beset by the weirdest --most varied-- thoughts when on a road trip. 

First of all, that this kind of thing is not for everyone; you're not suited for it if:

1. You have no patience 

2. Your body is not able to be in the same seating position for a long time 

  Even if you're the most road-ready person in this world, this two aforementioned things will take you down --after an 8-10 hours roadie, you tell me--, promise. 

  If by any chance you happen to travel in a public transport -a.k.a you're not driving- there's not much you can really do, except for reading a good book, or draining on your iPod's battery for as long as you can. 

But it is this specific thing --hopeless, forced inactivity--, that works like a charm when, just sitting there, the only thing left is thinking. 

  The thoughts, those that only have several milliseconds of your full attention when in town, take a step into the show light. Full-front and feeling self-important they take up your whole mind for a long time each.

You have the chance to develop them further than when in the busy environment of urban life, and, let me tell you, they keep you company well.

(This goes on in Ecuador's roads)

  Looking out of the window, several dragons made of concrete extend throughout the country. 

Gigantic, monstrous things, so alien to humans, so useful to them. Lush forests, high mountains covered in solid and unendurable milky white clouds. 

The country gives birth to many stories. It doesn't reveal itself, it wants you to unravel it, to discover what it hides on its insides. 

  What lives on those hills? What creatures, what demons, what magic exist there? 

Who controls it? Who is master? Who is victim? Who is reaper?... I discovered that I still haven't lost the ability to surprise myself and rejoice in simple things; my last road trips were really boring to say the least, and I thought I'd lost some kind of inner spark, but this one has been different.

I'm really happy of still being able of turning the most simple things --a fire in the woods, a lonely plain, an empty silo-- into something full of wonder and magic inside of my mind. 

  I've finally decided to finish writing and publish my first novel. I can't say much, except for the title, which will be "On the new gods and expectancy". Nevertheless, I want to finish writing and publish a few other things first, mainly short stories; in the process of revising some, I've read them again and I think I will have to rewrite them... again. Hopefully, I'll be able to do so, soon. 

Ok, now off to sleep, and I'll hit the road again tomorrow night.