Daisy Miller

I actually liked this book a lot, Daisy reminds me of that girl who is hard to get because she can easily be into you and into the other guy and into the other guy, etc. I've met my share of girls who behave like this in life... it sucks.

I'm going to focus on the nonverbal communication of the book, specially in two scenes which shook me up a lot, the first scene is Winterbourne's first conversation with Lucy. This starts out pretty much like any other 19th century man and woman conversation, we're even led to believe Daisy is as uptight as every girl at that time. The real conversation happened with their bodies, she was acting all shy because he was treating her as he would treat every other girl from that period, at one point she didn't even dare to look him in the eye, which came to me as being chauvinistic. I believe he stopped being so shy because of what he saw in her eyes when she finally glanced upon him, "bright, sweet, superficial..." were the words that came to Winterbourne's mind. He knew from the get-go Daisy was no ordinary girl, he fell for her literally just by looking into her eyes... nonverbal communication at it's fullest. I really would like to believe this love was two-sided but I think of Daisy of that girl that can flirt with you all night but when you're going to kiss her, you realize she was just sport-flirting.

This scene captivated me a lot because at that time in History girls were supposed to be a certain way around gentlemen because reputation was something that mattered to most more than anything else, It is uncertain if Daisy wants to jump up in social classes or keep up flirting with the likes of Giovanelli. Now, Giovanelli is a character I loved, he played this extremely appropriate gentleman who was blown away by Daisy, he was blown away by her because no woman en Europe would behave like she did, which brings me to the other scene in which body language tells a lot about the character.

The scene in which Daisy has Winterbourne on one hand and in the other she has Giovanelli, just by looking at her people froze to talk about the american girl who was a flirt and how she had no class and no decency. If you could picture the three of them there are three points of view, as they walk Winterbourne clearly represents society and how they thought or saw things, he was in the line between embarrassed and upset, Daisy had no clue of what she was doing because she didn't see any wrong in it, she thought no wrong of it, and Giovanelli was fascinated by Daisy so he couldn't figure out what was wrong in the picture. 

I was fascinated with this book because it's the first book i've read in which what's not said plays a lot more of a role that actual conversation. It would make one awesome play.

English Department's Conference

For me this was a very cool experience not only because I found it awesome to see my classmates different point of view on how the whole traveler v. tourist dilemma can be approached. Also a professor pointed out how the Taoism says that an inner journey can be more important than an outer journey. I'm a firm believer in this because I think that if you're not in terms with yourself then you can't enjoy anything the world has to offer. I believe that the mind is the single most powerful and beautiful thing a human being possesses, if your mind is strong you can perform great things, things other people can consider impossible, impossible is nothing... ... if you can truly control your mind. This is why an inner journey is always more important than actually traveling, if you're depressed in Puerto Rico it's going to be the same elsewhere, you just need to become an inside traveler and look for the real problem. I'm actually shocked I didn't use this approach when working on Holy Cow since I've always been the first one to support the inner journey before the outer journey. Some people take trips so they can heal, I find this a little stupid, of course you're going to heal if your context and surroundings are changed, when you return to the real world you hit rock bottom and figure you're really not alright and you were just lying to yourself. When that professor pointed that out I actually got pumped to see someone shares my point of view. 

P.S. The guys were awesome, I just was a little shocked they didn't make it personal and just left it at the Traveler v. Tourist POV or at the cultural context.

May the force be with you all.

First 10 Min. Free Writing Excercise

So today I have my organic chemistry exam, it's the first one and im' so nervous. Chemistry and I don't really get along, my first semester at Chem 3001 I was very happy, It was all so easy. I got A & B's so I felt like king of the world, like college was going to be a cruise :). Then I got to Chem 3002 (ABANDON SHIIIIP!) I'm a real slow learner and my professor went all Speedy Gonzalez on my ass on all the power points, not cool dude. So I got a C on the first exam because The Flash went so damn fast maybe I could have a chance at killing that exam. That's how my hate for chemistry started, now I have Orgo, which is awesome but still makes me very very nervous. I've studied a lot for this so I really think I'm ready. I'm always like this when I have something important coming up I get very very nervous. Today I had my second Chem Lab, not awesome it was a theoretic lab and I think I flunked the pre lab quiz. My mind is do occupied with this I don't even know what to write. I'm thinking about listening to Eye Of The Tiger I really don't know what to do. Whatever that exams holds for me i'm gonna try to pass it, anyways I'm hungry, I always get hungry when I'm nervous I have been known to eat while doing an exam, I think it calms me down. 


TIME!

First 5 Min. Free Writing Exercise (23/1/13)

Free writing, to write continuously for 5 minutes. The idea is not to stop the pen for moving, and i'm actually thinking about food -_- , today I had my first O. Chem. Lab, pretty scary stuff. The T. A. was cool and all, but he kinda looks like a 40 year old virgin. I really hope this 5 minutes thing doesn't become a habit (haha silly me at that point, imagine my face when I found out it got moved to 10 minutes) because I have no clue what to write, i mean, how in the blue hell am I not to think what to write, this feels like a conversation with myself, I feel like I am Sam. Which actually is a good movie and quite touching actually, Dakota Fanning was very young but she's always been a doll. Is she going to read this? How is she going to grade this? We're like 30 and she's not going to read 30 journals, is she? I just looked at what I'm writing and it technically is stream of consciousness because it is what's going through my conscience.

TIME.

The transition of my free writing

At first I didn't know what free writing was, I had heard of it but never had done it per se. I have to admit it was not easy tapping into my stream of consciousness at first, but then I started to let go and it started feeling pretty natural to me. I really liked it and it made me feel free, it was kind of awkward seeing my mind written so neatly in paper. First I wrote what I thought I should write, the I started writing whatever was on my mind, usually it was music, poetry or food since I'm a big fan of all 3. Rarely about bodybuilding, which is my favorite sport. And sometimes about movies, which is my favorite thing to do when I’m not at the gym or eating. If you look at it you will see a lot of non-sense but it's actually what's on my mind, every elaborate thought was once a little bit of non-sense.

My view of a journey changed drastically since I had no remote idea of what was the difference between a traveler and a tourist, I thought they were the same thing. Anyway, I learned that an inner journey is more important than an external journey, because the cities can change day & night, but you're always with yourself and if you don't feel good with yourself you won't be good with the outside. Nothing will feel as good if you're not cool with yourself. 

March 18 Journal Entry (bad, bad, bad mood day)

So today I really don't feel like writing, im sore all over, that's what it takes to be a bodybuilder, so no pain no gain. Today at work some dude asked me to spot him while he deadlifted... who in the bluest of blue hells does that? I mean, if yo can deadlift 300 pounds then do it, if you cant then don't. So here I am Squatting like a bitch trying to get this guy to deadlift about 350 pounds, which he couldn't do, so I recimmended him to low the weight down a bit so he could do it more effectively, he didn't... So I'm here squatting like a bitch doing most of the force myself since mama's boy couldn't lift a peanut even if he wanted to and this guy starts preaching to me about a diet he's doing, he eats carbs right before and right after the gym whcih is pretty awesome, the thing is he is on his cutting phase supposedly and he told me he took EFA's three times a day which is pretty stupid if you're not bulking, so he comes and talks to me about how he distributes his proteins, which he doesn't do very effectively, fuck it, this guy is not going to hit the stage big time even if God himself spotted him.

So I keep doing my routinely lap around the gym to see if any hot head is throwing the weights to hard or whatever and this Nacho Libre kinda looking guy is throwing the weights down on the floor real hard like he's a mean body builder, uh - uh! Not in my house! you don't throw the weights here beeyotch! So I come up to him and ask him nicely if he could put the 40 lbs dumbbells on the floor a little more nicely, I mean that's baby weight, my infant godson can lift 40 lbs. for chest, it's stupid. So he tells me to fuck off, seems he didn't see the big TRAINER on my shirt so I told him his membership was going to be canceled if he continued behaving like that, the dude didn't give a fuck, thought he was tough so I cancelled his membership like a boss, that's how you do it brah!

Traveler POV Assignment

Reality, it's so close to us it can blind us. When we see the same thing over and over we grow a feeling that it's "normal"and that one object is supposed to be there. I saw a lost San Juan with lots of useful spaces abandoned, prosperity right next to poverty. Ciudadela is an expensive condominium in Santurce and it's right next to some very very poor places, it actually creates a bubble for people to live in. 

This is what the "every day" does to us, it numbs us to the point we believe that what's there is normal. For me it's kind of hard to see this space because of the fact that i've lived here all my life and it's all pretty normal to me. But the feeling of being an outsider in one's own home and discover things. The key in not to lose the "tourist" set of mind and remember that nothing is supposed to be.

Puerto Rico/Traveler v. Tourist Oral Group Report

I chose this image because Puerto Rico is a country that is really famous because of our people, because of tradition. When you put Puerto Rico on google search about half of the images presented are of El Morro and of some beaches, yes, this is part of the experience, but another part of this experience is that you meet our people and get to know us better as a culture. Sadly, Puerto Rico is known is "La Isla del Espanto" thanks to the escalating amount of criminality in Puerto Rico, this image represents who we really are, we are people based on tradition and that tradition includes, among other things, hospitality, when we invite someone into our home we can be the most hospitable people in the whole world, that also applies to our country.

Traveler v. Tourist
For me a tourist is someone who can go to a certain place and enjoy what that particular place has to offer, this can be either enjoying a museum or enjoying hotel amenities. A traveler is someone who goes somewhere with a certain purpose, this purpose can be traveling to get certain education or traveling to get a new job. A tourist is the kind of person that simply is in a place, a traveler is the person that needs the place to gain something in return from that particular place. 

My Journal

Hi world!

So, today i'm going to show you some of the pictures i used to cover my journal (we each had to keep a journal in class) and also I'm going to explain why I chose them.

Before you read, I want to tell you up front that my journal is covered with what makes my internal journey complete, it's not some fancy location or restaurant, they're mostly people who have taught me a lot with their way to live and see life. Hope you guys enjoy..

1. BodyBuilding 

The reason I have bodybuilding pictures on my cover is simple, it's the way I live my life, it's what I love. Bodybuilding is more than simply a sport, it's a lifestyle, this lifestyle is one with many sacrifices but nothing feels as good as being a beast, period. When I go to the gym, lift and feel that pump I know that if I had to die at that particular moment I would be a happy goner. This sport has taught me discipline, passion, courage, pride and most importantly, faith. You see, from my point of view we all need to exceed a threshold in order to create change; fear is what got me started and faith is what keeps me going. When you're a bodybuilder and you really love the sport you can see how many doors that discipline and love can open, when you have discipline in you're life you're going to take all challenges thrown at you, when you love getting those challenges thrown at you and the fear of losing equals the wanting it as bad as you want to breathe then, just then you excel at EVERYTHING. That's why when people ask me what do I do for X hours at the gym I answer training, when they ask me what am I training for I tell them for life. Because out in the real world we don't have second chances, we can't back down and expect a second chance, that's how I train, making every set, every rep count. 

2. KISS

AAAAAAALLLLL RIGHT (insert place name here)

YOU WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST,

THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD...

...

...

KISS!!!

After that usually all hell breaks loose and what are basically rock gods treat us to some good fucking music. By the way we, the KISS army, are celebrating this year, KISS got together in '73, if you can subtract you'll see that we are 40 years strong!!!!!!!!!! Take that pop music... let's get back to the blog...

KISS are my favorite band in the whole wide world, as you can see, the reason I put them in my journal cover is that they literally represent that being different isn't bad at all as long as it's who you truly are, for years I struggled to fit in the different groups of society and changed sometimes who I was just to get accepted. When I first saw this guys I was blown away, they taught me so much, but one guy got my attention, Gene Simmons (he's the bass player who sticks his tongue out and has slept with thousands of women). Gene taught me that it's never bad to be the lone wolf as long as that's who you are. He's a jewish kid who came with his mother from Israel when he was a little lad and conquered the world with his music. They're in my journey because they helped define who I am and helped me accept it too. 

Thanks Gene, Paul, Ace, Peter, Tommy, Eric Carr, Eric Singer, Vinnie, Mark, Bruce & Bob Kulick for 40 years of kick ass rock n' roll. 

3. Australia

Australia, I never have had the slightest idea why I love this country so much, I've just always been so seduced by this island/ country/ continent so much over the years. My love affair with this Island began when I was little watching Discovery Channel's Croc Hunter. Steve Irwin (rest in peace) was always one of my favorite persons to watch on TV on the whole wide world, I could literally spend hours and hours watching him do crazy stuff with some of the most dangerous animals on the face of this earth. The biodiversity is so much I started looking up info on my Windows 1998 powered computer and fell in love with it's beauty :). Australia is one of the first places I will visit when I graduate from college, I might even spend 2 or 3 years there just to get to experiment it at it's fullest. Crikey!

4. Quotes 

I put some quotes that have helped me get motivated when I feel down, here are a few:

May the force be with you all.

Holy Literature Assignment Batman!

All right Blogger.com!!

You wanted the best, and you got the best, the hottest blog in the world...

... http://gabrielrosabodybuilding.blogspot.com/ !!!!!

Hey guys, good morning, today we're going to be talking about Batman!!!

Yes, Batman, don't panic (readers) and don't flunk me (professor). 

Let me explain, I got an assignment to watch a movie of my choice that had a Journey in it, I chose The Dark Knight Rises because it has one of the best inner journeys I have ever seen. 

First I would like to give you a quick plot synopsis, but considering this is the last part of a trilogy i'm going to post the wikipedia links to the first two movies for the sake of those non-bat followers.

The first movie, Batman Begins:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_begins

As a matter of fact, that movie has one of the best quotes i've ever heard, and it's probably going to end up tattooed on me on day.

"If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely."

"Which is?"

"A legend, Mr. Wayne."

BOOOOM! I know, I know... MINDS BLOWN

The second movie, The Dark Knight:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_(film)

That movie probably the best Batman movie ever and it actually is one of the best movies made. It was the last movie (I think) Heath Ledger made, he committed suicide supposedly after becoming so obsessed with The Joker character, it was one of the best performances ever.

That brings us to the third installment, The Dark Knight rises:

This masterpiece takes place 8 years after the last confirmed sighting of The Batman, the night he supposedly killed Harvey Dent, Gotham City is now pretty much a peaceful place. It's based on Batman's return when a criminal known as Bane attacks the city and literally breaks Batman (he broke his back), Bane is not just physically superior to Batman he can actually match him intellectually. The fact that Bane is back for revenge and that he knows Batman's identity from the get-go is actually one of the best things in this movie. Batman is sent to a little hell hole where he has to visit some of the most dark places in himself to be able to rise from darkness and beat Bane. When he returns to Gotham City he must start a revolution to destroy Bane, stop an A-Bomb, and save the day.

That's Bane telling Batman to "come at me bro"... Batman got his ass handed to him in that scene :(.

The reason I chose this movie is because I always have been fascinated by the whole Batman character, he is just another human being who dresses up in the day as Bruce Wayne and goes out as himself as Batman in the night (you read right). You see, this is an orphaned boy who decided he wanted to make a difference in the world, he has a very dark personality which is reflected on the suit but he also has a family name to live up to so he made up the Bruce Wayne billionaire-playboy persona, just plain awesome. He has no superpowers whatsoever, just an amazing willpower to get through the toughest obstacles life can throw at him, that's how I like to live life.

The Journey in this movie in which i'm very interested in is the one that starts immediately when Batman is thrown in the dark prison and has to recur to fear to get out. Fear, that's something I love, I love it because sometimes fear can be so much powerful than anything else, fear can move people, fear can change people, fear can do many wonderful things to us, that's why I welcome it. I have two big fears in life, the fear of failure and the fear of death, I love my fears. Mr. Wayne had to get over the fear of falling to get out of that prison and save Gotham from it's impending doom. You may think I'm crazy when I say I welcome fear, but you welcome fear too, every day actually. Why do people go to college? Fear of not getting ahead in life. Why do people go to church? Fear of burning in hell for eternity. Why don't people take risks? Fear.

That brings me to my first fear, failure. I'm going to be honest, my father and mother have gave me everything in this life, for that I'm eternally grateful. That also went to my 4 older brothers and sisters, they all ended up as failures in life. Why am I afraid of failure? Because I have everything to lose, when you have nothing to lose, you have nothing to be afraid from; when you have everything to lose, you fear of screwing up even the smallest most insignificant thing. That's why, I believe, I try to be very meticulous in all aspects of life. If it wasn't for fear I wouldn't have taken the risk to make myself better by applying to the best university in Puerto Rico and I probably wouldn't be spending 3 hours daily in a gym covered in sweat trying to reach for the grandaddy of all bodybuilding championships in the world, the Mr. Olympia, some calle it impossible because of that fear of failing, I call it just a matter of time.

Fear has become something so important to me that I feel if i'm not afraid I'm not motivated enough, you have got to want things in life so bad that fear of not getting them will become your daily fuel for going out and achieving, conquering and winning. People tell me I can't live in fear, I tell them they don't understand fear, that they are afraid of fear, let me explain myself, when I go out my door every day the fear of wasting 24 useful hours is bigger than anything and everything else. My other fear is like any other person's fear, the fear of dying. The fear of dying goes hand to hand with another big fear of mine, the fear of being just another person walking this earth, I want to be different, I want to turn heads, to stop cars, to be like the great Achilles, inmortal. We all die the same death, but it is our life that can make the difference. While this fear is not the center of this blog I want to quote Homer in the Iliad just for personal satisfaction:

And they die an equal death - the idler and the man of mighty deeds.

In conclusion, superheroes are not just a comic-strip thing, they can be very real to you as any other thing you want to in life. You just have to find that particular characteristic that character has and reflect yourself in it. I did it, and Batman has been my favorite superhero since I was a little kid thanks to that.

It's Daniel Day-Lewis!

Hi World!
So I got to see the movie "A room with a view" for my Journey In Literature Class (every time I think about this class' name i think of Steve Perry with a book on his hand, i'm crazy).

The movie started as a very boring and torturous film until... Sweet baby Jesus! It's Daniel Day-Lewis, don't get me wrong, this is one of my favorite actors in the whole wide world.

Let me give you a quick overview on the film ...
...
...
...
...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Room_with_a_View_(film)
(yeah, i'm feeling like a smart-ass today)

MOVING ON THEN!

So traveler vs. tourist is a very interesting match-up. Why? Because they both have to move to a same place but never because of the same reasons, a tourist will go to a place and try to learn about the place (sometimes) while enjoying the best that particular place has to offer, a traveler is there just because he needs to be somewhere else and is either resting there or passing through there. Lucy is an upper class free thinking girl who just wants to see the world (it was not uncommon for upper class young girls who were about to reach maturity to go and see Europe so they could "absorb"), her free thinking was overshadowed constantly by her "oh so proper" cousin Charlotte, who was hiking along as a Chaperone for Lucy. Basically the first part of the movie is Lucy's free thinking clashing with Charlotte's, who kinda looks like Rose's mom in the Titanic.

I didn't appreciate the tourist point of view in this movie since I was dealing with the fact that young girls were treated like a bag, they woud go to Europe and the world to fill up that bag so they could become proper adult women. Cecil sees his future children with Lucy like that he mentions that he was going to let them go to place A so they could absorb this particular characteristic of the place, then to place B and on and on. I really do get that traveler's sense of life and what he was trying to accomplish but the reason I did not agree with him and the reason I disliked the movie so much is that people are not chickens, they don't get to have a seasoning of multiple spices. People should decide what they want to be for themselves, IF they want to travel the world let them, if they want to stay at home and read, let them. In this movie's particular case I believe that a traveler is somewhat of a tourist/traveler hybrid (Professor, don't have a micro heart-attack when you read this, let me explain myself). A tourist is a person that goes to a place just to enjoy some of the particular offerings of that place, if we add the fact that Cecil said he wanted his children to go around Europe to absorb some particular knowledge or attribute from different cities he have a pretty awesome tourist/traveler hybrid. As stupid as it may sound it's still a very strong possibility, after all it IS just my humble and soon to be graded opinion :).







May the force be with you all.
Elvis has left the building!!