El desencuentro (Published in Spanish on November 24th 2012)./ Where are ya?.

After so much time of loneliness, between one thought and another, while solving a puzzle after the other, whilst searching relevant phrases that make sense in my head, I heard news from a girl friend of almost thirty years old relationship. It is always refreshing chatting to old good friends specially those that you met when a teenager to catch up and remember past times. The idea was to have a small reunion that day. Since that person does not live in the country anymore, a very common fact these days in Venezuela, we wanted to greet before she went back to her new place of residence. This until time gathers us again in the future. Unfortunately, her plans suddenly changed as you would expect from a person that travels home for a short period of time. Thereby our party became into parting. However, during the next couple of days, before hours becomes hours, and seconds becomes seconds, as a consequence of the obliged passing of time, I hope that our get together comes true before her visit for our birth land utterly finishes it.

I´m going for a nap. (Published in Spanish on November 25th 2012).

These were the last words she said before she went to sleep until the next day. It was three o´clock in the afternoon when she laid her head on the pillow, and almost in the same position, she woke up the next morning at about seven. It was a warm day and the sun shined inside the house. She opened her beautiful eyes and stayed still for a minute or two. She looked disoriented before blinking. I wondered whether she thought it was the same day or the one after. I went closer before kissing her on the chin and saying good morning my dear. I handed over the newspaper and an espresso coffee. She thanked me letting me know that she had not slept that well in seven long years. She looked younger, happier, trying to move on. When she finished with her cup of coffee, stand up from the bed and walked to the oak window. It is important breathing fresh air she said. The cold morning breeze ran through the corridor making some sheets located on the table to fall to the floor. When I tried to pick them up she did not let me, I´ll do it she continued. After breakfast we got ready and went out to the market to buy some groceries. I also felt quite relaxed and optimistic. Blame the nap, I thought. After all, resting your flesh also heals your soul.

Star tread (Published in Spanish on November 11th 2012).

As in the best science fiction thriller it seems incredible to believe that we (the human race) will be able to reach another planet where to move to. However, new developments and new studies within the inner solar system let us know or at least hints us in the possibility of finding a new home in the future. For obvious reason really, survival!. As pointed out by scientists the solar system will experiment remarkable changes in millions of years to come. The sun will grow becoming a red giant and its size will reach up to the orbit of Venus (five thousands millions year, more or less). This will dramatically affect our atmosphere, most likely in much less time than that. Probably living by a distance of pluto will be more convenient by the time. Then, the sun will shrink to compress its mass millions of time until becoming a white dwarf. Although it looks like an extremely high amount of time we also need to take into consideration that the closest star to us, or better say, the nearest galaxy where we might find another planet it´s at a colossal distance. With the current technology it is not possible to even think about reaching the speed of light. Therefore, gigantic efforts, developments and discoveries in science are needed to face this challenge… plenty of time hence… Another point to be considered is that, “the move” it does not need to be at once. Different colonies might have to be created along the way before reaching the desired planet to make it more efficient. Some of the jupiter or saturn moons could be used as focal points before making it into a bigger size move. Or perhaps we could just start from a closer neighbor, with similar characteristics of our, i.e. mars, after creating a new atmosphere. The good thing is that we can plan ahead thoroughly before time runs out. Hopefully, they will hire at least a Venezuelan project manager to help with the approval of flying and drinking issue, and also free arepas for breakfast… no rush, it´s a long way through…

Do you like cooking?. Published in spanish on October 1st 2012.

When in the middle of the afternoon, on a saturday, home alone, and you realise suddenly that you are hungry. The best option: let´s go and cook something to eat. Not just for eating, but for enjoying the moment of cooking… Thinking in that last nice meal on a restaurant, maybe?... but not this necessarily, you want to prepare a nice homemade dish… luckily there is plenty help on tv (for instance) to check the last recipe and get new ideas at the moment of cooking. Get a drink for yourself to warm up, pick your favorite cooking channel, get the ingredients, learn the preparation method, and get the pan to work searching for the special flavor. If not successful at once, get another drink, and start again for the next meal. Better late than never, when hungry… best warming... and get the dishwasher machine ready.