How is life for this
Italian emigré, these first days of the millenium ? I am far away from
Italy. But let us tackle the
quarterbacks of life one by one, in an orderly fashion instead of the usual smelly
confused mess.
Job
... I am still on vacation. My contract has been confirmed until the end of January. Part of me would like the Respectable Institution to just fire me, so that I could quietly leave the country and retreat into the cocoon of the family.
The Italian family has this amazing property: you can always go back. Which makes one feel quite safe and much less lonely than the average gringo. Of course, this also means that our parents retain the right to opine about our personal affairs as long as we live... one more analogy between Italian and Jews.
Anyway, I am looking for a job. See my boring resume at http://resumes.dice.com/baffo, and remember that it does not mention my three chief virtues: being a genius, modesty, and being a very skilled liar.
Some guys in Italy started a project I might be interested in, but things will start really happening in October. In the meanwhile, I have to entertain and even *feed* myself somehow.
Love
The breakup process that began in the previous writeup has completed. We are not a couple anymore, and it hurts, but not that bad because after all it was me that wanted out.
We will keep loving each other, but as a couple it is over. I am moving to a temporary accomodation on Friday, and if it sounds as a quick end to a five year relationship, well, it does feel quick.
We have spent the last two weeks saying goodbye: we even went to Oaxaca, the first place I visited in Mexico. This "taking leave" process certainly feels long and painful, and it goes against my tastes. Nonetheless, she feels that she needs it, and I owe it to her.
Media
... we carefully separated the books, into mine and hers. We added little notes to the ones that were given as presents, so that we would remember. The same we did with the CDs. I still remember how I cried when she gave me, four years ago, her Silvio Rodriguez CDs.
I have re-read John Varley's Steel Beach. I am reading Val the Stick by illegal means (do not ask). Last night I read a bit of the Black Book of Perl, and if you ignore the irritating pseudo-socratic style there is *actually* information in it.
I am reading Under the Volcano, but it is not as entertaining as I hoped.
Outside
The
Popocatepétl is quiet,
for now. No giant earthquake has torn down the
city,
yet. The air sucks, it is grey and it stinks.
In
Yucatan, the local Congress is ignoring a
ruling of the
Tribunal del Poder Electoral de la Federación, which is a bit as if the Ohio Congress said "U 5UCK d00D !" to the
Supreme Court.
In the state of
Tabasco, the ex-
governor from
PRI,
Roberto Madrazo Pintado (once seen as a possible presidential candidate) fled to
Miami and tried to impose his own candidate as the next temporary governor (a temporary governor is necessary, because the local elections were declared void by federal authority due to various scandals). There were very ugly scenes in the local Congress, with fistfights and destruction of documents. Of course, there is an alternative
PRD-supported governor.
The president
Vicente Fox Quesada is pointedly staying the hell out of the Tabasco situation.
On the other hand, these petty scandals utterly pale in comparison with the sheer ugliness of the US presidential elections. And now dubya is dusting off the Star Wars project, which remains a stupid idea for reasons that remained very good over the years (and will probably remain good for many more years, since they have to do with human nature and the difficulty of software engineering).
E2
Today I noticed a raging debate on censorship and editors and gods. I carefully stayed out of it. My years as wizard in a MOO have taught me many things, and one is the great value of silence, in certain situtations.
Got a nice msg from BJuarez, whom I hereby place under the obligation of writing a very good WU about Benito Juarez.
I found some unexpected dead in the Node Heaven. Toughen up and node. Never contribute to GTKY node. Only bitterness lies that way.
I noded Oaxaca and tlayuda. Factual, very factual.
This was written while listening to Propaganda's Wishful Thinking
Formerly, the citizen claimed that ... -*- In the future we will all have wings