WTF?

I admire anyone with an e-reader right now. Cause there are a lot of WTF?? after canoodeling around the internets looking into restrictions and prices. At Amazon, trad pub romances as eBooks are MORE EXPENSIVE that the paperback. They have no storage need, no distribution system, no printing, no un-sold books coming back, no paper, no ink. And yet they charge more. For something I assume would only be mine for a limited period of time. No way.

Also I find it weird that amazon.uk sent me to amazon.com. They can sell me ebooks from the us but not from the uk?

I looked through recomended self pub places. The number of established romance authors doing this is very small. Also, those that chose pub it! (B&N) have eliminated from their reader pool any person living outside the US.

So, what I have learned is this: if one wants to read romance in english as eBooks, one has to be one of the following: a)very rich and guillable, b) having no ethical qualms about piracy, c) living in the US, d)tech-savy knowing how to fake/hide the ips-thingy or whatever it is called, e)write them yourself.

As far as I could tell, the combined virtual bookstore was, compared to print books, disapointingly small. I really believed it was not as bad as I found it to be.

Well, hopefully, by the time I have saved enough centimos to by an eReader, there will be better options out there.

Sorry

Spelling, spelling! I am so sorry about all the mistakes I make. They are like nails on the blackboard of my pedantic soul. But somehow I don't see them when writing in blogger. Maybe I should start doing it first in word..

I do not see them before they are published, and I shudder and close my eyes.

I closed the door before the goat had been let loose

Max temp today is supposed to be 24 ºC. I am so happy to be living in Zaragoza. I have to add that 24º here is not pool-temperature. Not ever short sleeves temp. People here go "Oh, spring, I can open up the zipper of my jacket.." I am more like "It's SUMMERTIME!" In their defense it is (surprise) windy and el cierco is def not 24ºC. In my defense it is not even April and more than 20ºC.

I think I hit my well-bottom on monday. Hopefully.

I had a coffe with the ex yesterday, thinking he had something to tell me, but we just chattered and time went quick and I am sort of not angry anymore, unless I sit down and think about all that has happened. So I won't.

Going home in one week. Please no snow? I can deal with lots of things but please no snow.

I am thinking of getting a piggy-bank and start saving money for an e-reader, but I have to look up all those geografic-restrictions things. There is no point having one if the only way I will be able to read the books I want is to get all teck-savy and piaraty and having to learn about dm-whatevers. Also I have no delusion about being entitled to free books, I think an author should get paid. One of the reasons for this is that one of my favourite romance authors is going to publish books on her own as ebooks. Eagerly awaited secuels to All through the night and As you Desire. (Yes. For you none-romance-reading-readers: The titles are cheesy, but no more so than The omega conpiracy and Dragon-saver. It is genre fiction, people.) But she is an US based author, and I need to figure out if this is going to be a problem or not. I sort of think that if she does it all on her own there will be no problem, it is only through the big trad publishers that such things as geo-restrictions come in play, but I am not sure, so I'll have to snoop about.

Freya says hi! Or, she says miau, but really it is "I am bored out of my mind! Look at me!"

Why backstroke?

I am getting through this Spring-depression! It is by far the lightest one I have had in years, and pretty cool, since I sort of thought that spring+breakup would mean total meltdown and days without showering...

On Thursday (suddenly that word looked weird. Like I was writing it wrong. Possibly because I read through my blogposts since the beginning, (possible to do, since there are not that many of them) vincing every now and then from horrible spelling. But I can't be bothered to do spell checks, as I tend to start editing myself.)
Anyways, on Thursday I will quite possibly get an Amazon parcel! Most of the stuff are gifts for my dad and for friends, but for my self there is Going Postal DVD, Cecilia Bartoli CD, (hello french people who google her and come here. I love Stats.) and my romance-crack: Elizabeth Boyle's latest book. Hellu reality-escape!

I went swimming this weekend, 45 minutes, not tired at all, so next time I'll start intoducing more crawl as it ups my heartrate. I went later than I normaly do, on the plus side: no getting up at dawn, no morning chill going there, no sad old men swimming in my lane and "accidentally" touching.. and the minus-side: The pool is stuffed to the roof with females, who does backstoke. Slowly. ??? Why backstroke? I assume there is some diet-slim-arms reason for this?
It is ok when we are three in one lane, it is for the most part easy to swim past, but when we are 4 or 5 it starts to become difficult and I get trapped behind stamping, irritated, feeling my pulse slowing down.
Maybe I should suggest to the staff to put up a lane for backstroke swimmers, and there they can putter about without blocking the pool for the rest of us. Next time I'll rather deal with the human-contact-starved old men. At least I get to excercice that way.

What I really need is a pool all for myself.

Die Hard OD

I have watched all four in a row, and the last one twice since last evening. I love them. Alan Rickman is hot even with that silly beard. It is his voice.
And that guy doing kung-fu or something in the buff, in front of a mirror. Observing himself. Talk about setting up the bad guy as yuck. It is just such a glorious turn-off! And McClaine (or however it is spelled) gets to crash/blow up just bigger and bigger stuff, ending with the military monster jet..

The second time around 4.0 I paid attention to the lines. You know, the stuff they do between carchases, and boy it is soooo lame. And I could not care less. The actors do their best and I really liked that hacker-guy, probably because he had the only decent lines, him and Kevin Smith. ;)

So yeah. Jippi-ka-yey, motherfucker!

Another movie I watched for the billionth time was Where Eagles Dare with Clint Eastwood, Richard Burton and Clints hair-do. I love the book, together with many others of Alistair MacLean, such as the Guns of Navarone, Circus, The way to dusty death and the Breakheart Pass. But boy is there a lot of sloppy stuffin the movie: Climbing metal steps, at supposedly freezing temperatures WITH NO GLOVES. How the time of day and weather changes from scene to scene. Specially in that first part. Okay, snow makes it lighter, but not that light. We go from blue sky to snowstorm in seconds..

One part I like about it is that the only german guy who is portrayed as Evil Super Bastard is the Gestapo man. The rest of the men are just that. Military men doing their job. Listening to music, hanging aaround waiting for something to do. Many could benefit from shooting lessions, and some more intelligence but they are not EVIL. Maybe it was one of the conditions for being allowed to film it on location in germany or austria or wherever.

So that was my weekend, white vine, Brie and movie marathon. Best weekend in a long time! It was needed. Now I have the cravings for some Jason Borne and Starwars 4,5&6. May the force be with you!

vino

Tonight I have a date with this beauty. It is Gewurztraminer from Viñas del Vero Collection and it is soo good. The last time I opened a bottle to have a glass, I ended up tipsy and happy, chatting the head of the people who happened to call that evening...

The plan is to have two glasses max, and save the rest for tomorrow...but I cannot even write that and keep a straight face. ;)

This image is from the webpage http://www.santacecilia.es/vinas_del_vero_gewurztraminer_2010. This whole copyright thing drives me nuts. I tried to find an image on Viñas del Vero homepage (vinasdelvero.es) but there was none. Since I have no camara, I have to borrow on the net...If the people from santacecilia objects to this usage, I'll take the image away. Promise.

How Now, Brown Cow

Where on earth did I hear those words? It must have been in some movie. I know, I should google it. Ah! I got it! It is in "Singing in the Rain" where the actress with the nasal voice is having elocution lessons..How now, brown cow.

And how long does grief over ended relationship last? I am a novice in this, and starting to get fed up with it all. It Sucks. Big hairy camel balls.

Ah well. This too will pass. Patience!

This weekend I will have the luxury of being ALONE! I seriously need to win the lottery before autumn comes, so that I can afford a small studio for my self. Sight. There will be plenty of rants in october no doubt, about room-mates frying sardines and having the tv on at every meal... Or the worst of the worst: Spanish radio on full blast while preparing breakfast. WITHOUT ACTUALLY LISTENING TO IT!!!

It is one of the great mysteries of the spanish society: The craving for noice at all times.

Seriousness and navel-gazing all at once

I remember in december 2004, sitting in a hotelroom in Jordan, not being able to leave the tv, watching the wave, the complete lack of information, how the moment comunicationlines and roads block, people are on their own.

And now I read (have stopped see telly) about Japan. It is heartbraking. Earthquake, tsunami, and now nuclear contamination..All in the space of a week and in the middle of winter, when spending the night outside is not a very good idea, and no heating can and probably will have it's own deathtoll.

And here I sit and can do nothing. As I can do nothing with other people in need in other places either. (Other than donating money.)

It is really frustrating.

And how do one go back to navel-gazing from this?

It is easy. We humans are all navel-gazers. So I think what would one need to live for a week without any governmet help after a disaster? Water. Small calorie-stuffed items to eat. A small camping cooker. Bicycle for being able to move. Rugsack for holding calories and water. Blanket. Plastic sheet to use as roof in case of rain. Paper and pencils to write. Swiss army knife. And the book "How to catch pigeons and other city dwelling animals with swiss army knife devices" so that I have something to cook over the gas.

The guy in Man vs. Wild should have a program for how to survive in these realistic settings: tsunami, earthquake, storms, in a city enviroment. Far more probable than accidentally getting lost in the amazonas or finding yourself alone on the plains of Iceland with nothing more than some matches and a knife. If you set out into the wilderness of Iceland with so little stuff, quite frankly: You brought your problems on yourself. Idiot!

Rain

I passed the exam.

I have not held a ritual burning of the notes on the roof, but I have put la carpeta in the very back of the bookshelf.

It is such a relief!

And now for the next thing, as I am sliding down into spring-depression, monitoring myself and pushing what needs to be pushed and letting go what is not important. I hope this works, it is the first time I meet it head on with the mindset of just living through it and hopefully that will mean it does not last so long, or have me lying in bed for days, just too something to cope.

No appetite, heavy head, muscle aches, tired, thoughts go negative...March sucks.

I woke up early this morning to the sound of rain. It was lovely: just lying half asleep, with the patter of heavy rain, so rare here in Zaragoza. :)

Other nice stuff:
- The tap dancing class looks like it might happen, although they still wait to see if more people sign up.
- A new book! Reading "Disquiet, please!"
- My best friend poking me on Facebook. I know it is so last decade, but it is just so nice to see the notice, to be thought of.
- my new guilty purchase: lovely highheeled grey shoes. They were on sale! I needed something like that! That is my excuses and I'll stick to them.
- I will quite possibly get a photo camara for my birthday in summer. Then I can take photos of my shoes. Lucky you!

Contemporary dance and other stuff

I went to see "Hombres, Mujeres y otros animales", (contemporary dance) yesterday. Alone. It is kind of liberating and sucks at the same time.

I am not a social butterfly, and when living with someone I get a huge part of my social-cup filled by just having to deal with someone at home. Add to that a splash of timid and a dollop of only being with his friends, and the end result is Hvitveis having a very small social circle. All my own fault I freely admit. So now I am doing things about it. But it takes time.

And so I do not have a huge list of people that a) have no other plans for a saturday night and b) want to go see contemp dancing..

And so I say to myself: Hvitveis, I say, do you want to go to the ball? I want to go, so I will jolly well go on my own. Witch is really cool! Except for the 15 minutes before the show starts and it turns out I have entered into a small world where all the other spectators know eachother, the dancers on the stage and the people that works in the theatre. I had my neighbour kissing the person sitting across behind me, (spanish people give two kisses in greeting. I am fed up with it. Depending on the number of persons it can take forever.) OVER MY HEAD. If I was lesbian/a man I would have been in tit-heaven. Sadly I am not and only had my Personal Space Intrusion Alarm going off.

Witch brings me over to the dancing. It consisted of three solos. First: The male solo, staring with him standing naked in the back of the stage. Lights turn off and he puts on clothes; the title is in english "Men, Women and other animals" At one point he takes off a trouser and a skirt like he is shedding, sometimes I think to recognize the stance of a flamingo..

It is really hard to describe dancing.

The second solo, female, starts with the dancer coming on the stage holding a bowl of water, and for a while she does not move, and I have a vision of us sitting there for 20 minutes looking at a woman holding a bowl of water... but she starts to dance, takes of her top, and the guy sitting beside me has to widen his legs....for a while I had some inner discussion about the use of nudity and tits and why did not the male dancer do some movement in the buff, is it really necesary as a choreographic tool? Especially since her movements vere very sensual, think strip tease dancing. But then her movements, doing much the same, transformed into some sort of insect/gekko thing stopping between each movement and the sensuality dissapeared. Is overt female sensuality uncomfortable to me? Or do I feel like it is a much overused and cheap tool in "modern" dance, art? I cannot say I have seen much of modern anything, so it might just be my prejudice speaking. But I liked the way her body was sensual or not depending on how she did the movements.

The third solo, also female, was with grain on the stage, serpent like movements and some whiplash, hair tossing stuff. The sound when she rolled through the grain, or passed a foot, spreading the grain out, reminded of the desert. But a bit repetetive and with more frenetic energy. For some reason she changed dress near the end, no idea why and it stopped the continuity of the piece.

So that was my saturday night: tits and well hung male dancer. ;) And thoughts of female sexuality and how small the contemporary dance milleu in Zaragoza must be.

Classical 20th century music

So I went to a concert last tuesday, free-gratis, and it was with works of 20-century composers. Errrr...

Parts of it I really liked. The last piece was In-Schrift by Wolfgang Rihm and they had percussion bigtime, with five musicians lining up in the back clinging and clonging and giving a good whollop at the Gongs. And lots and lots of Brass, tuba, trombones.. And more Double Basses than I have ever seen in one place ever. And a thingy I have never seen before that not only looked pretty but gave off some serious deep tones. Contrabasson! (thank you wikipedia!) All together! I was in instrument heaven. And a Harp! The piece was modern and difficult at times, but I liked it overall. I did mention the Harp, and the contrabasson?

I am seriously impressed by the musicians, all students at the conservatory. And they must have had lots of nightmares about these pieces. The first piece was by Alannis Xenakis "A l'ile de Goree" and is about entrophy..For me it sounded like noise. Harpiscord and strings and clarinetts all playing their own tune at their own rythm and sometimes no tune, no rythm, only sounds. Supposedly there were sections inspired by wind and slavery in Africa and..eh? How on earth do they start practicing for something like that? The first times playing together must be horrible.

Then the middle piece was Eight Lines by Steve Reich. It was based on to pianos playing a tune each one at the same time, over and over and over, and strings doing some other tune over and over. At a quick rythm. With a piccolo also doing its tune, over and over. Really loud. It is supposed to be almost meditative, but quite frankly: it ended up annoying.

But it was worth it. I got to hear and see a Contrabasson.