Well, after the bunch of complaints and bitchings I've posted lately in this blog, finally it comes something that really made my day.

Seems that what I posted in the blog entry "Travel Writer... the rebirth of my art career?" somewhat started to reap good results. 4 days ago, against all odds including the hectic schedule I'm still having, the lack of inspiration and a bit of sloth by my side, I finally delivered the final parts of the article related to my trip to JiangXi province, took me hours to be intensively dedicated into it until very late in the morning (had classes the day after) and also taking in count that I don't have Microsoft Office on this PC and I had to type everything in WordPad, then I had first to go to a friend's house then the last time to a netbar, to arrange everything and add the images in a .doc file extension, which was the one the agency required as a requisite. Anyways, I delivered everything (even overpassing the minimum of 4000 words into an average of 7000 words, fuck it, I was inspired) and got rid of a heavy load I had in my conscience.

So, after these days, today I got a message from the representative of Asia Travel, the agency I'm working with, and... well, I'd better quote it directly:

The chief editor yesterday prnted out your work and showed it to the local bureau (of JiangXi tourism), they are dazzled by your writing and treasured your talent and professionalism. Only you out of the whole group of writers was praised which it's a pride for Asia Travel too. Although we haven't entered into engagement with the South Korean local bureau, we'd like to provide you flight tickets to visit Seoul, and of course, also included the fee from your writing.

Of course, reading that message made my day completely! Meants that it was worth all the efforts and missing classes I had to fulfill this mission. This reward will encourage me to deliver even better works and with a superior quality. Really, this was a very delightful satisfaction.

So... yeah, Seoul, Korea, wait for me, dearies, 'cuz Don Vecta is going there! :D

Thank you for reading. Luv y'all! <3

Quoting House:

"...but as the philosopher Jagger once said 'You can't always get what you want' "

This might be exactly the prime word it'd come to my mind when I arrived home this early morning at 8 am from ShenZhen still with the symptoms of my old cat allergy taking over my body. Even though most of the events that happened the night before were completely random and with no plan whatsoever.

As you might remember my last blog entry, I was bitching about my stressed status and how it's consuming my own personal life. Well, also, you might remember that one month ago I had to go to Hong Kong to renew my visa, a visa that, a difference of the former years living in here, the longest one I could get was a 3 month visa and with only double entry... but what makes less sense in this new policy is that we must get out each and every entry every month. I mean, what's the purpose of this? Waste of time and money if you ask me! Why get out and in of China in the same fucking minute, I wonder?
I'm lucky enough to live nearby a border. and I feel sorry for the ex-pats who live inside China and have to comply with this stupid shit.

Anyways, I took it as a chance to break up with my already hectic schedule of classes and social compromises. At least a chance to breath a different air from GZ in a brief period of time.
I said "brief period of time" as my primary plan was just to take a train to SZ, cross the damn border back and forth and then come back to GZ, afterwards sit my fatass in the Starbucks next to the train station and draw or write something new the rest fo the evening. Hell, i even left my PC on downloading some torrent games for my PSP (I rarely leave my PC on for so long). But seems that things could be changed suddenly with a slight plan.

So, arrived to SZ around 6 pm, did the tramit to leave the country, took the KCR for the next station (we cannot switch to the other side of the exit in the Lo Wu station, which makes absolute no sense to me, if you ask me) then went back to the border. Checked in again and finally complied with this absurd tramit.

Well, I was just outside Luo Hu station... and had the idea to ring my old pal Dary who now lives in that city. probly a dinner with him wouldn't be bad after all these years of not hanging around.
He answered and agreed to meet. Guided me to reach the place next to his workplace.
We met and ate some nice food in the local Yoshinoya, then we went to his workplace, introduced me some co-workers and asked me if I would like to join his "conversation" class (he's teacher just like me). Noticed I quoted the word "conversation" again because his class is most like a stand-up comedy show rather than a conversation class itself. Oh well, I joined and we had a quite entertaining time elading up the class.

So, in between the talk, he suggested if I would like to stay at his place and chill out the rest of the night. As fortunately I had no class early morning the day after (say it today) and seems to be a perfect opportunity to stress myself out, then I couldn't refuse the offer.
So we agreed to go me, him and his new girlfriend to have some R&R in a massage parlor, just perfect for me. But first we needed to go to his crib so they can change their clothes and I could leave my backpack.
And I found a couple of cute cats that were living with them. Nice. Lovely... would be perfect if I didn't start to feel a strange itch in my chin (bad signal for me).

Oh well, we left for the massage parlor and I asked a wonderful Thai massage. To make it short, the girl in turn went all Commando Sambo right over my ass! Snapped any bone, muscle and joint in my body in such a perfect blend of pain and pleasure. My body was in tiptop shape afterwards.

Afterwards, we decided to have a roam in the nightlife of ShenZhen, which, surprisingly, it's quite activ even for a Thursday. We arrived to a club, packed with people and the dancing and chilling was just right there. After some relaxed fun, we left back to his place. Was 5 am and raining dog and cats, nevertheless, as the club was close to his house, we walked under the rain. Refreshing after the sweating in the club.

The coach was ready for me when we arrived, but again the itch in my chin started to tickle me... followed by some uncomfortable feeling in my right eye... and a strange shortage of breath. Oh fuck... I thought my old allergy to cat hair was long due. I was so wrong.

In the first 15 minutes I tried to sleep. But I was feeling extremelly uncomfy already to get any sleep. Woke up and went to toilet, when I checked the mirror in front of me I saw my eye completelly swollen and narrowly closed. The itch in my goatee was also nasty.

One thign was for sure, if I stayed long in his place, I'd be in a hospital by that morning... just like what happened 18 years ago in my aunt's place where she had 3 cats that left me in the verge of death (I ain't exagerating). So, at 6 am, I dressed up, packed up and left a message to Dary thanking him for the hospitality and the awesome time... but it was imperative for me to leave his place at once or else the things would become real ugly.

I left his place and went to the train station. The train of 6: 30 to GZ was already waiting for me so I took it my way back home. I felt myself as ugly as Quasimodo with my eye red, swollen and red... I selpt during the trayect of the trip.

Arrived home and drank the two bottles of milk and a couple of anti-inflamatories and again, the image of House saying "You can't always get what you want" came to my mind. As much I wanted to be completely recovered from my stress, I had to trade it off with the symptoms of the cat allergy.

Oh well... but at least now I feel much better and less stressed. Hope I can keep up with the rest of July. This gonna be a long long month.

Thanx for reading. Love you all. <3

I apologize in advance for the title of this blog entry.

But I want to assure you, with all my heart, that it is NOT personal.

It is just that my life now it's a fucking load of obligations and duties that I have to fulfill... Laboral obligations, fraternal obligations, familiar obligations. I have to take care of everything and everyone. Keep everyone happy. Showing them I'm competent enough to deal with all their bullshit and that I'm capable enough to have a smile in their face.

But really, who the fuck does anything for me? Who could listen my shit when I feel like that without feeling the burden or obligation of it?
Only few ones... and those are counted with the fingers of one hand... and still have fingers left!

To begin with, I got an overload of work now. The stupid company I'm working (yes, FUCK YOU ALL, CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL!!) decided it was cool to keep on working in a regular basis during the summer, which means, they wanted to suppress our holidays. Of course, parents and teachers alike were unsatisfied with this new regulation, so we complained.
As result, the company replied: "Oh, so you want your vacations badly, right? Okay, you'll have them in August... but then, all the classes you were supposed to be taken in august will be stacked up during the month of July, so here you go! From 23 hours a week that my contract has, now has be risen to 40! Of course, these "extra effort" won't be unrewarded, they say. They'd pay me back those extra hours with extra vacation time in August (in the contract, I'm only allowed to have 4 paid days of vacations in the summer, the rest of the days are just null until the beginning of the new term in September). In the meantime, the fucking overload of classes is mining up my free time! Put in this way: I have no day off for a fucking whole month and the first week of August.

Ergo, I'm usually moody and grumpy in class. The god damn Chinese staff (assistants, headmistress, etc.) are just fucking annoying: "Mac, write the lesson plan!" "Mac, where are you? You are late!" "It's time for class!" "Mac, please, can you test this new student?" (they do it precisely in my narrow break time or in between classes, that's it's roughly 10 to 15 minutes) "Mac, you have to fulfill the whole book! You can't skip this lesson!" (FYI, the books I'm working with have to heads or tails, it's full of meaningless fillers and whatnot. In the first years in this school, my head teacher taught me how to teach those books by skipping those unnecessary fillers and teach with a pattern that makes sense, but now they are like "your head teacher is gone, now you MUST teach it all! IT'S YOUR DUTY AS A TEACHER!!")

FUCK YOU!!!

They are making my profession, the one I loved so much, into something that now I hate!

But that's not all.

You know everyone has problems. In a lesser or higher degree everyone does. Specially the life of an ex-pat could be harsh sometimes so the friends you make here are heavily bonded by these struggles.
Therefore, it is impossible for you to ignore their problems.
You, as a friend who gives a fuck about their lives, want to help them. Want to make them have a smile on their face or hooking them up to make their problems easier. Sometimes you wish you could solve as easy as it gets.
But I ain't God to do so...
So, what happens when the burdens, trials and tribulations of the people you cherish a lot to the point that they are like the only family here are also giving you a headache? Or taking you away from enjoying the narrow spare time you have? You know, I'm dying to have a marathon of GTA4 or my recently bought Metal Gear Solid 4 on PS3 without having to answer my fucking phone or worrying about the time. I want to go to a coffee shop, sit there, ask my Latte with honey and write my book or draw my characters at will without worrying about anyone. I wanna be a selfish bastard without feeling guilty about it!

I WANT MY FUCKING LIFE BACK!!!

I don't wanna be teacher, I don't wanna be friend, I don't wanna be writer (travel writer, that's it), I don't wanna be boyfriend, I don't wanna be anyone but MYSELF!

I'M STRESSED TO THE CORE!!!

This morning, the closest thing I had as day off (only had one class this afternoon), I wanted to sleep and relax, but I got a barrage of messages and phone calls from friends, acquaintances, co-workers and whatnot, almost everyone in a row! really, I do appreciate the care and concern of everyone, I really do, they wanna hang around with me, have quality time, or need a favor or just maybe say hi (except co-workers who only wanted to remind me of the stupid class in the afternoon)... but really, I just turned off my cellphone, disconnected my phone from my house and thought FUCK YOU ALL! LEAVE ME ALONE FOR ONCE!

If any of you are one of those who called me or sent SMS this morning, I do wholeheartedly apologize from what I said just above. I still love you guys sincerely and my sense of friendship didn't decreased a single inch, but I just hope you could understand how I'm currently feeling now... and it's far from being okay.

Love you, guys, Peace. <3

Sometimes I wonder if this could be a reality...

Many of you, my friends, know that all my life has been inspired in one way or another by arts: call it graphic arts, call it literature, call it acting, call it production, etc. However, the survival in a complete foreign land for these more than four years have left my scopes of the art field a bit yielded in a corner of my life. It's hard to create something solid without a strong inspiration source, without people who can appreciate it... and without patronage for it.

Not knowing anyone in the field leaves me in the darkness I tend to recreate constantly in my works.

Usually, the opportunities in this existence come in real unexpected ways. Sometimes a chat over a cup of coffee would trigger a myriad of events that can change the destiny of a person. I like that. That's how stories are made up of. String of words and actions, perhaps in that moment meaningless or trivial, could unleash situations that would put you up in a complete change of your lifestyle. Those subtle moves were the ones that brought me to Asia in first place. Same moves that took me to my nefarious journey to Japan.

Would this new incoming travel the trigger of what I was looking for as an artist, as a writer and as a man?

"Whoa whoa, hold on a second", you might say... "WHAT travel are you talking about?"

I got the opportunity to have a small job working as a journey writer. A traveler dedicated to explore the hidden corners of China and express what my eyes can see, my ears can listen, my skin can feel, my nose can smell and my tongue can taste in paper. A dreamy job, you can say. Indeed.

I might put in risk my already solid career as English Teacher by having escapades to these unknown lands (at least for me) and feats (or ruin) the eyes of the readers with my journal notes and my pictures. I might have a lesser salary perhaps due of the missing hours I'd be taking... but is it worth it?

Damn fucking straight it is!

Not only because this might reinforce my vision as a professional writer and enrich my personal experiences, but also could become the unlocking of more opportunities that I've longing for. Leaving the amateur novelist insight and go in full power? You bet. More encouragement to finish my current book? Fuck yes! For what I could know, these people know the ins and outs of the editorial lifestyle in China, so... yes, it's opportunity. An opportunity that I simply can't let go.

This might require a lot of effort, though. It's not only writing far and few in between but this time I'd have to be dedicated to the pen. Finally there will be an audience for my work, call it graphic arts or even novels. This might be beginning of something real good!

Excited? Very.

As for now, I'm scheduled to visit the JiangXi province this Saturday night and have a full 2 days journey in the city of Nanchang, dig in the city's history, cultural background, customs, social aspects, lifestyles and demographics. Then Lu Mountain would be waiting for me, afterwards the town of Jing De Zhen and finally Long Hu mountain. I'll be a hell of an hectic trip as it was originally scheduled for 10 days but due of my current working compromises, I have to condense the itinerary for only 2 days... so I expect a quite busy time.

Then... Hong Kong. Visa. More troubles. More missing hours at school... oh well, I can endure it. Not that I'm going to be fired or starve to death, right?

Let us hope this could be the beginning of a new era for me. Day-dreaming has its benefits, aye?

Wanna come over and play?

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m0IN1QRmmo

In a foggy, dark night like this there's no better environment to watch a movie that takes you beyond the lines where the living and the restless could be together. What are the messages that the lost ones leave to the ones who still breathe? Are we willing to decipher them? Do we have the bravery to play a treasure hunt game that might lead you to an unknown place and time that probably you wouldn't be able to return?

Guillermo Del Toro, one of the most successful Mexican directors, wants us to explore those deep stories behind the curtains of time and forgetfulness producing El Orfanato, a story placed in an unknown rocky beach in Spain, where an old house, once an orphanage 30 years ago, becomes the home of Laura (Belén Rueda), a former member of the aforementioned orphanage, along with her, her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and their adopted son, Simón (Roger Príncep). It's common that sometimes children create imaginary friends... but Simón have met new friends in this house, friends that want to play Treasure Hunt with him, and they say that if you win, you can ask a wish.

Laura, after losing the most treasured thing for her decides to play Treasure Hunt as well, in a trail that makes her confront the hidden secrets and horrors that the orphanage had just after she left. Will she able to solve the mystery that the fogs of oblivion are covering? Can she fight the fear and the sorrow that could take her sanity or even her own life to reach the end of the game?

The direction of this film was in charge of Juan Antonio Bayona, a Spanish young director with a masterful vision. Screenplay was in charge of Sergio Sanchez and the astonishing and frightening photography was performed by Oscar Faura.

This is a film that has 26 wins and 26 nominations, masterfully performed, thrilling, like one of those ghost stories you used to hear when you were a kid. Horror film enthusiast (like yours truly) would find it very satisfying.

There's no better environment like the one I'm right now to watch it... and not even better moment to review it. Dense fog, peaceful darkness and music of Silent Hill on my headphones... a feeling that would make you welcome death in its most peaceful respite.

Became a classic in my favorite films of all the times. Highly rated and recommendable.

THE CLUBS IN GUANGZHOU ARE STILL SHIT!