Month: April 2020

Day 30 – Grateful

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I can’t believe I made it to Day 30 of daily writing and posting. Time went by so fast, it seemed like an eternity when it all began on April 1st with the word Joke.

I am grateful for the month of April – for being the month where I got back to writing – for both my hands and fingers, which are the ones that allow me to type and text.

I am grateful for my laptop and the desk below it. The lamp and my eyes that give me light and allow me to see and decipher what I am writing.

Grateful for having a roof over my head, with working heater for when it’s cold and A/C for when it’s hot, and the electricity to make them work.

Grateful for having access to the Internet and to be able to stay in touch with loved ones.

Grateful for having a job and to be able to pay my bills.

Last, but not least,

Grateful to be healthy, to be alive, and to be able to feel things. To feel love, sad, depressed, anxious, hungry… Those are reminders that we are still alive.

I guess there is a reason why I did not make this list yesterday. It had to be saved for today.

And with April gone, May comes the fun. With longer days, and trees in bloom. 

We are yet, still at home… 

 

 

Day 29 – List

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Here is a list of my TOP 10 favorite beers. They are not in any specific order, I’m just writing as they come to mind.

beer

  1. Paulaner (German)
  2. Erdinger (German)
  3. Polar Negra (Venezuela)
  4. Cerveza Zulia (Venezuela)
  5. Barking Squirrel (Canadian)
  6. Guinness – Blonde (American)
  7. Stella Artois (Belgian)
  8. Creemore (Canadian)
  9. Spaten – Munchen (German)
  10. Efes (Turkish)

 

You are welcome!

 

Day 28 – Focus

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I felt really focused when going on my run this afternoon.

I was concentrated on finishing my run without stopping that I was pacing myself in a way that I didn’t want to stop, even at the traffic lights.

For me, especially, I get really focused when I am exercising or doing some type of work out. It is really hard for me to focus when I am doing something else, even writing. Right now,  I am writing and have the TV on in the background, and answering my phone when I get notifications.

I wonder why that is? When I’m working out I select playlists that I don’t know, because I don’t want to be singing along or trying to understand lyrics while I’m on the treadmill or even doing squats. It might be because I want to do it properly? In running, for example, you have to keep a consistent pace in order to complete the set time. If you run too fast or too slow, you either won’t get to your destination on time, or you might be get too tired too quickly. It really does take a lot of focus and concentration.

Any runners here?

I could be wrong, but that’s how I felt this afternoon, and the first thing I thought of when I saw the word Focus.

 

Day 27 – Team

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I was struggling to come up with something to write today.

I kept thinking about sports, but the only one that I like and follow is Tennis. There are no teams in Tennis. I then started looking through my photos to see if I could find a picture that represented the word Team.

I couldn’t find anything, but while I was scrolling through my camera roll, I started thinking about work and how the word Team is applied in my daily life. While thinking about my job and daily routine, I remembered a project I worked on a couple of months ago.

For a couple of months, I was part of the Newsletter team at work. Everyone in the team was assigned a different task in order to complete the volume for the specific month. We had to write the pieces, get the pictures and the interviews, as well as work on the design of the Newsletter. Once everything was put together, it was ready to be distributed.

Looking back and thinking about all the work that was put into every volume, I don’t think we could have been successful if it wasn’t because of the hard work that every individual put into it. It was true teamwork. And even though sometimes there were extra hours of work put into it, it was definitely an experience that taught me the real meaning of teamwork.

 

Day 25 – Magic

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Describe a day in your life that felt thoroughly magical. When was it? Where and with whom were you? What made it feel that way?

Somehow the word magic or magical always takes my mind to the Harry Potter Saga because it is one of my favorite films ever!

So, there are only many places where the word magical can take me. A moment with my family over Christmas break, December ’15 (I think), Orlando, FL, Universal Studios.

harrypotter
Please, ignore my face. That is what magic looks like! This picture was taken on April, 2019.

I had never been to Universal before then, though all I knew was that I was going there just to go and see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I remember waiting in line for over an hour just to get into the ride, but I didn’t care. Hearing Hedwig’s Theme on replay was definitely priceless. There were tears of joy forming in my eyes. Such a magical moment.

After getting off the ride, we walked around browsing for wands and capes, while discussing moments from the movies and casting air spells with my brother. If magic really exists, then that is the place to go and experience it. 

That moment was truly magical because I was with my parents and brother, who are my life and we were making memories in one of the places I have been living in since I can remember- Diagon Alley and Hogwarts.

Day 24 – Elixir

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My Elixirs are coffee and wine. In case you hadn’t notice by my posts. I probably have many more, but these two are the winners.
I am eating some Middle Eastern food, while I’m typing this and drinking some red wine. This is the kind of stories I share on my Instagram account.
I think that’s about it. Most of them represent each stage of my life.
Coffee-Venezuela
Wine – Spain
Middle Eastern food – Middle East (y’all know who you are)
Writing – Canada
and that concludes who I am.. For those of you who don’t know me.

 

Day 23 – Note

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Dear diary,

I feel like today has been a very long but productive day. I went for a run for the first time in like a month. It was a really cold morning and I felt like coming back to my warm bed. However, I completed a 30 min run and felt amazing after. I was feeling energetic and ready for my workday.

Work, on the other hand, was disastrous. There were so many things happening at the same time and I didn’t know where to start. Instant messages and emails kept coming in almost simultaneously, I thought I was going to go crazy!!!  Aside from that, my calendar was full of back to back meetings, which, fortunately, a couple of them were canceled.

On a good note though, I did finish what I was set up to do today work-wise, had a delicious lunch accompanied by a shot of rum, only to get back to more work emails. I have to admit I was feeling a bit stressed this afternoon, which is something I don’t really suffer from. It could be because different things were being thrown at me from different sources, which is not unusual. Not sure what was different today, to be honest.

Anyways, work was done and I played video games for a while. That helped me relax a little bit and made me forget about work. I cooked dinner and after that, I watched a couple of episodes of RuPaul Drag’s Race on Netflix because, why not? And now, well .. Here I am, writing whatever is popping into my mind.

And even though my day is far from over, I am glad of the ups and downs of today. Those feelings brought to me a sense of normal, which at the end of the day is what we all want, life to get back to normal … unless, of course, this is the new normal. #Quarantinemood

 

Day 22 – Tempo

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This word caught me a little bit off guard.. It doesn’t tell me anything or inspires me to write, really.

I was going through my camera roll on my phone to see if I could find a picture or video that I could use, but I didn’t find anything. All I found were pictures of food, morning coffee, and random memes or recipes I found online. And then it hit me…

Waking up every day and following your morning routine of brushing your teeth, having coffee, and breakfast is something that we all do at our own pace. So, I am substituting the word tempo for pace. It works, right? Whether you take your time to get ready or do everything in a hurry, that is what works for you. Everyone lives their life at a different pace or tempo.

Amid COVID-19 and having to be quarantined at home, the tempo of my routine changed drastically. I would only come home in the evening to have dinner and head straight to bed. Days went by really fast back then and sometimes I didn’t even have time to look myself in the mirror.

Now, I wake up without needing an alarm in the morning. I take my time to go to the bathroom while I ask Google to play the news. I take the time to select which type of coffee I will be drinking, and head to the balcony to spend a good 15-20 minutes under the sun, sipping on my coffee and listening to nature’s morning sounds. I then think about what my breakfast is going to be, which let’s be honest, I have eggs every day, but is nice to actually have the time to think about it.

By the time I’m done eating, I’m ready to start a stress-free day..

Which one do you prefer? Do you enjoy a fast-paced life? or like having the opportunity to take your time in the morning?

 

Day 21 – Instrument

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Am I having a dream or did I write about this yesterday?

If you read yesterday’s post, you would know by now that my instrument of choice is the guitar. Even though I have played other instruments, the guitar for me has been what has challenged me the most.

I’ve been with my Ibanez for a little bit over 10 years. This guitar has traveled the world with me, and not because I played in different countries, but because I have moved around quite a bit. With this guitar, I learned chord transitions and my very first song. I also learned and practiced the pentatonic scales until my fingers could not handle it anymore. How could I forget those? If anyone here plays the guitar, they know what I’m talking about. IMG_8370

If I check the case of my guitar, the pockets are full of music notes, songs I learned how to play and that I probably couldn’t play at the moment. I remember playing and singing at the same time at some point, which is a skill not everyone can master. I also used to have a lot of guitar picks too and I don’t know where they are anymore.

Unfortunately, I stopped playing a while back. There really shouldn’t be any excuses for this, but let’s just say adulthood got in the way.

Fortunately, I have decided to get back into it. Ibanez has a broken string and I have ordered a new set of strings for her. I’m just waiting for them to arrive in the mail. Also, I purchased a new electric guitar that arrived last week (picture on yesterday’s post) and that I have been playing since day one. Aside from the new set of strings, I am also waiting for an electric tuner and about 100 guitar picks that I’m planning to leave all around my house as an incentive for me to get back to my musical days.