I lost my phone and I don't care

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Last night I lost my mobile phone on the city bus and was pissed for all of one minute. I shrugged it off. What bothered me, really, was that no one called my attention as I got up (assuming, that is, if any one spotted my phone as I left the seat). It was cheap used 'handy', as they say in Germany, and I was glad to be rid of it. Even more glad I didn't add minutes to it earlier in the week like I had intended to do. Now to have put money on it and then lost the doggone thing: THAT would have pissed me off.

C'est la vie.

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Inception (movie)

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I paid 10.50€ to see Inception and loved it. The movie, that is, not the price. At ten euros I don't plan to be going to the movies too often or anytime soon again. My oh my that's some money! 

The whole time travel/dream reality crux of the movie is engrossing and, thankfully, high-minded; and the texture of the film -- exxxcellent -- is like a throw-back to old cinema when players dressed in suits and ties and gowns and even the furniture stood out as touchable, and settings meant something besides two actors in front of the camera. I guess 'details' is another way of putting it. When detail is paid to even the window curtains you can feel them rustle without a pointed camera shot.

Some aspects of the story are debatable but all good time travel stories are thought provoking in as much as they are entertaining.

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Immigrant workers in Spain

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Looking back on it, every time I felt slighted by the customer service in Spain the worker was an Indian-looking girl. Typical of her primitive caste, she probably felt it beneath her to have to wait on me. But get this: that's what waitresses do...they wait on customers, including black customers. Somebody needs to bring those bitches up to speed on the job description. Not that the Spanish people are racist-free sans the Indian-looking waitresses.

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Made it to the Barcelonan beach

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On Monday I made it to the beach -- again -- and this time I made my self stay. Apparently I (or my bathing suit) cut quite the figure because everyone wasn't hiding the fact that they were looking at me. Does discretion count for nothing these days! The water was colder than I remembered from three years ago. But that was three years ago and we do tend to re-color our memories. Many people were selling things on the beach but they weren't as bothersome as what I'm familiar in Mexico. Not an irritant at all, actually. Go figure! Anywho, I bought a mojito from this kid who started making them for sell next to my beach towel. Wasn't the best mojito but, hey, it was 3€ and the kid was just making a hustle. Gotta admire that.

Before the beach, though, I took in a back massage at noon and learned that the months of stress were solidifying in my shoulders. I sort of knew that much already but a masseur can only do so much in one session so...I've got to stop thinking of massages as "luxuries" and more as necessities. Because, man, I don't go through Life inactively and maintenance is never a thing to put on the back burner.

On Tuesday I made up my mind to travel to Madrid. I made it up too late and was only able to book a seat on the 4:30 bus. Thing is, it takes about eight hours to get from Barcelona to Madrid via bus. The ride was pretty boring and the landscape is as well. The one cool thing was seeing the bull silhouettes during various points of the trip.

I arrived just past midnight. I was surprised by the lack of facilities on the bus. Why in the hell would you use a bus without a bathroom on an eight-hour treck?! Quite inconsiderate of the company (ALAS), I think. From the bus station I quickly rang two hostels and lucked out with a bed in one. Whew!

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Went to see the bulls but the bulls were full of it (Barcelona)

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So nice to be in Barcelona with its sunny Barcelona weather! The day before I arrived it rained all afternoon long in Berlin and my connecting flight in Prague also saw grey clouds and rain; but as soon as we reached Catalonia skies it has been nothing but blue skies onward.

I was anxious to get down to the beach today but that eagerness dampened upon seeing all the other people already crowded on the sand. Like a hard-on zapped at the mere sight of Ellen DeGeneres, my interest in an afternoon at the beach went limp. Oh well maybe mañana.

A McDonald's ice cream cone brightened my mood as I walked back to my room to get ready for an evening at the bullfights. Olé! But it wasn't to be. 


When I get to El Monumental, the last active ring in Barcelona, the people at the gate won't let anyone through without a ticket and all the ticket windows are closed. Time was 7 o'clock and the fights started at 6:30. Why would they close the box offices this early? Seems stupid to me. Even more so when it's a known fact the stadium is never even half full -- and after next month will be zero full owing to the ban on bullfights. There was quite a handful of disappointed tourists. Oh well. That's more money in my pockets.  

I hate spending money; so I need only the slightest provocation to keep it in the pocket

One thing I've learned being black is never to beg anyone to take your money. If the store clerk is too busy or surly to greet me or wait on me, then fine. My money spends just as well at the next business. As it is, I hate spending money; so I need only the slightest provocation to keep it in the pocket. Would've loved to have watched the dying sport in the famed El Monumental but I can think of something else to do with my 75€. You can believe that. Business MUST be good if they can turn it away. Olé! olé! 

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Moved into the new place

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Today I moved into the new place. Whew! The area is "far" from everything and starkly residential, almost 'backwoodsy' to the metropolitan Berlin am used to, but it was the only room-for-let that let me in. And, hey, as the saying goes, you get in where you fit in. Once I learn the mass transit schedule and a few of the nearby stores and hang-outs, though, I'll be all right. At least the place is a quiet one; I think quietude is a tremendously undervalued quality.  

you get in where you fit in

At any rate, I have Internet, washing machine, bath tub plus bed and furniture so...I dare not complain.

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