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!!

Tourist vs. Traveler

"All knowledge ultimately means self knowledge"

                                                            - Bruce Lee

"India is like Hotel California, you can check out but you can never leave". This is what 21-year old Sarah told us when she went to India the first time, maybe it's because she was traumatized with how everything worked in India or maybe it's because she went with a tourist set of mind instead of opening herself to a traveler state of mind. For me, that is the only part of the book in which Sarah directly talks with a "tourist tone", the other being when she was in her apartment and she is questioned on why she doesn't treat her servants like servants and why didn't she lived like what she was, filthy rich, and lived like the queen she could live like, using all her servants without being so nice, just like the majority of tourists do. For the rest of the book Sarah is traveling, she travels a lot phisically but she travels even more spiritually, we can see her inner Journey, from that foolish, uptight girl who quits her dream job in the aussie ABC to move to India for love.

I really don't know if I believe in God because of how religions put him as being an almighty being with "all-forgiving patience" and "all-knowing knowledge", since I was little I've never liked that definition and never will, if you were really almighty you would be having a good cup of wine and loads of great sex. The fact that I don't belive in a God per se doesn't mean I don't believe in human spirituality and the journeys the soul sometimes needs or takes. Sarah was a self called atheist who was brought up in atheist family and when she went to India she discovered a whole lot of religion and religion driven life, she tries to soak up all the knowledge she can soak up by studying diverse religions. That is very, very cool, for me she did it to gain knowledge and to gain self-knowledge by doing so, she could see how she related to every single religion, for example she admired how in Kashmir the Muslims could sacrifice so much for faith, which is very similar to what she did of moving and sacrificing her carreer for the love of Jonathan.

By being the kind of journey in which you can better know yourself and how you think and react to certain situations the journey will ultimately lead you to inner peace which is what she really wanted, to find her inner Holy Cow, to find that place within her that she could just stop doing whatever it is she is doing and just "be". She doesn't necessarily have to believe in a God, like me, she just needs to believe in herself and know what to take and make of every experience or encounter life will throw at her. Her Holy Cow was found in India, where she experienced and lived Hinduism, Judaism, Buddism, and took what she needed to little by little get to know herself and make peace with herself, it is as if she needed to get through hell to get to heaven's gates. India made Sarah an internal traveler, which made her be a complete person, it made her find her Holy Cow.

May the force be with you all.

Elvis has left the building!!

My Holy Cow

        Life, we all have one, we all exist, we all breathe, we all dream, but not all of us live our life. Those of us who decide to not merely exist tend to find out that life is very tough; sometimes it can be so hard on us that it can make us ask ourselves who are we, what do we want and why do we want it. With that said, I will make an approach on how bodybuilding changed an continues to change me using Sarah MacDonald's Holy Cow, Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place, and of course, my own body and life building journey. Bodybuilding has taught me a lot, I honestly say it has made me a better person, it has taught me humility, dedication, patience, courage, gratitude, perseverance, but above all, faith. Faith in myself is what has kept me going when I've sacrificed relationships and grades for my dream, and when I constantly sacrifice who and what I am for who and what I will become.

            As Kincaid mentions, "That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native in this place there is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere." It actually feels good when you're at the gym and you see this guy that's got no clue what he's doing there but acts like he's Lou Ferrigno, the bad part is that this happens at a humongous scale, these guys are more than those of us who are willing to go and work hard for 2 or 3 hours a day. I don't mind them being in the gym, just like the natives do about the tourists in Antigua, but I know they're there not knowing the implications and consequences of being there, just like in Antigua. My point being that one does not have to travel to be a tourist, one can be a tourist in the mall or at the supermarket; just like being a traveler doesn't mean going to another country or state, one can be a traveler at the gym if you're willing to take bodybuilding as a personal mind-constructing journey.

            Bodybuilding is a sport; an art and a lifestyle, in order to succeed you must let it become a part of you just as MacDonald made India a part of herself, she mentions that "India is Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” the only way to become successful in this industry is if you let the sport change you. MacDonald explored India and it changed her, in analogy, bodybuilding changed me too. I used to be a very insecure person when it came to making any decision, training and eating right I feel like I'm unstoppable every time I have an intimate yet public encounter with the iron. The gym also is like Hotel California because one does not really leave it, right after you check out you have a 30-minute anabolic window to consume carbohydrates so that glycogen levels can be optimum for muscle growth, one has do eat every 2.5 hours and get 8 to 10 hours of sleep. That's just the beginning and it gets worst from there, the requirements can be quite exhausting sometimes but if you can outlast the pain, at the other side success will be waiting for you.

            Sometimes in life we need a north, something that gets us up even when we feel like sending everything to hell. I still remember when I looked at that myself in the mirror and decided it was time for a change, I was 15 and weighted around 235 pounds, and at that time my goal was to get to 130 pounds, which I did. Once I got down to 130 and looked like the Grim Reaper's brother I discovered it, bodybuilding. I was browsing motivational videos on YouTube and there it was, Pumping Iron, I saw that movie and was blown away; I wanted to become a bodybuilder, one of the best. In that movie you see a young Arnold Schwarzenegger battling a young Lou Ferrigno for the 1975 Mr. Olympia title, that's a very big deal, the Olympia is the single most important championship a bodybuilder can win, Arnold won it 7 times. This made me look up information about Arnold, when I saw "For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer" that quote simply blew my mind away. I understood a lot of things about myself and about why I decided to be a bodybuilder that night I met Arnold, apart from faith I had to have courage to overcome anything life threw at me.

            Now everyday I get up and go to the gym, train, get my meals and sleep, when I'm not in the gym I'm thinking about the gym and everything that applies to the gym, for example, the diet, the routines, etc. Some people have told me that I'm obsessed; I say that I'm dedicated, after all, as Shahir Zag, an accomplished ad maker, says "A tiger doesn't lose sleep over the opinion of a sheep.” which means I will go where no man has ever even remotely dreamed of going. I'm willing to sacrifice everything because I know the success will be substantially bigger than the hard work I put in, I've lost all my friends, my girlfriend, everybody because of this ambition, because I prefer going to the gym and getting my protein shake in instead of going to the beach and downing a beer. My ambition of being a bodybuilder, going to law school and medical school is a very big commitment, nobody has done this, I will. What's the way to get to my north? Succeeding in the gym, my success there means my success everywhere else.

            We were all meant to shine and conquer since the day we were born, we just lose touch with our essence, with our purpose just because people like to stick fingers on our face, fuck people. I will continue sacrificing anything and everything in order to be a successful professional bodybuilder and get my International Federation of Bodybuilding pro card. MacDonald says, "The only thing that can stop a bus is the king of the road, the lord of the jungle and the top dog. The holy cow." my holy cow is that moment when I’m under the weights, the world stops for me, no UPR, no worries, no nothing, just me lifting for my future. 

The Sexy Bald Blogger has returned my peeps.
Zeus bless you.
May the force be with you all.