sunsets and boxes

Unfortunately, cannot get to see a sunset inside a box, but I can surely leave a box to see a sunset!!!



just a few other sets that I've had the pleasure to see since I have been back..... enjoy!!!

moving again - the story of my Life

okay, I know I've been AWoL frome here but you wouldn't believe my life these past few weeks.

It seems I was infected by a virus some months ago but it sat quiet. My sister let me buy a new faster motherboard, CPU and memory.... when that arrived I installed everything, then loaded my old hard drives from the old box into my new faster setup! After testing and revalidating my windows (wot a pain), I finally got it working - and it was fast but still not as fast as my laptop.... something seemed wrong. I ran tests and it was during the testing phase of the new system that I discovered I was infected by the bug Trojan.vundo. It finally reared its ugly head and made my life miserable for three whole weeks before I decided to wipe it and my hard drives clean. I didn't want to do that but now that I look back, it seems logical. I just didn't want to reinstall everything but ended up doing it anyway... I could have saved myself three weeks of hell and misery: sleeping maybe three hours a night, testing, scanning and finding those critters.

Fortunately they affected only system files.....

So, now my system is up and running (again) and the tests are good, being the fast system it's supposed to be, much faster than my older system I picked up while in Oregon and lightspeed faster than my old dinosaur in my apartment in Spain... hopefully within a week I'll be able to box this desktop up and take it on the plane in April when I return and start my waiting game for a cargo plane to Spain.... not looking forward to that at all!!

So, for the last seven months I've been packing up slowly, and now even more than before. My biggest job was to box up my folding bicycle and now that I know how to FOLD it (so simple yet so difficult for dumb non-bike owners like me), that is finally done and out of the way. This will be flying with me on my initial British Airways flight to Spain as excess baggage and I'll be paying for that to go with me. I have never carried so much on a plane before!! I'm already dreading it when I have to take this up into my apartment on the second floor, but at least there I have an elevator!

So, my life continues: I'm living in boxes yet again, and am hoping this will be the very last time till my death. During the day while sis is at her 7am to 5pm job, I pack and clean and during the afternoons/nights, I am on this desktop trying to move everything off onto my ext hard drives (eHDs) so I can access it later through my laptop.

I do not expect to have home net access for many months when I return to Spain. So often a person who has moved gets ISP service to later discover it's not what they want. This is due to not knowing what is available, what is better than others, and just wanting something quick. I hope to resolve that possible situation by NOT contracting net service until I am truly ready and not the reliability and quality of the service I'll be paying for! There's a lot of cybercafes in Rota, plus I hear there's a free wifi spot now downtown!

In the meanwhile I continue to search for my lost boxes from Spain and Oregon (two remain hidden ~ where I have no idea), and separating stuff into three groups: take with me, take in April with me, and shipped to friends' in VA and I won't take to Spain with me until later this winter.
So, if you don't hear from me, you know what I am doing: packing and I've probably packed my brains by accident!

Less than a month togooooo before I fly out!!!

On the weekends I've been gone on small foto trips to destress from all of my hectic schedule and activities..... pray for me I don't pack my eyes too!!!

views from Pinnacle National Monument

thoughts and more

I've been driving around a lot, trying to see as much as I can before I leave to live in my spanish apartment next year. In the past weeks I've driven to Big Sur, wound my way to gorgeous Fremont Peak State Park, and have a lot of weekend trips planned for the months to come. I can now even say I went to the Gilroy Garlic Festival and though it seems more like a commercial convention that just happened to have garlic stuff on grassy dusty fields, it was enjoyable up to a point. I've seen a lot, more than I ever have of my home state, but I want to see even more before I depart.... Yet another long week in Eugene next month gets me some more funds to add to my "get Tony to Spain" pot, and have extended the trip a few days so I can see some places in the Northwest that I never was able to see while living there. These little trips are memorable aside from the images I am capturing, and something I will remember long after my SF experience is forgotten.

The departure dates next year aren't set in stone yet but it can be as early as early spring or as late as mid-September. It all depends if I am able to sell my car and how long I need to wait till it's sold. Though I'll have a LOT of work in my apt, at least I'll be home finally and no more trips.

My Spain return will be so strange since first having a car in the late 70s, to be planning to be somewhere ~ anywhere ~ without a car! I've decided from my San Francisco experience to just rent cars when needed since I walk a lot and take the bus - public transportation is so much reasonable and reliable in Europe than it can ever be here. Plus the transport companies don't insult and yell at you as they do here.

While I am happy to get back to my own place, it leaves a lot of projects unfinished. Living with my sister has helped me - and I hope she feels I have helped her also - but it has left me with a giant repair bill in my spanish apt. I'll be busy for months! At least my apt will finally get finished to how I wanted it from when I first moved in, plus I have a few ideas and personal projects I'll begin in the hopes of moving air around in my apt, to prevent the huge heat problem I have during the summers. This year my little town has been hitting 90s and 100s on a regular basis for some weeks, something that has never happened while I was there 15 years till the very last two years prior to departing ~ I guess the sad reality of global warming is striking home.

My departure plans have also changed; I originally planned to bus to the East Coast and stay with friends before I fly out but as a traveler of the very mean and dangerous Greyhound buses (crazee drivers and corporate Greyhound doesn't care), plus the pleasure of being within ghetto bus stations in this grand country, I've decided not to subject myself to that demeaning dangerous and last ugly look at America - I want my last weeks to be nice and positive.... thanks Greyhound for opening my eyes to your careless drivers and sloppy operations, though if not for those dirty windows, I would've never seen a section of americana that I only see and hear about on CNNi and the evening news.

I am now hoping to fly out of California on a "comfortable" cargo plane to the East Coast, then make my way somehow across that big pond to Spain. It won't be an easy nor reliable journey, but I've done it before and one last roller-coaster ride (hopefully) won't hurt!I need an out, an escape from this unreal virtual world... I'm dying each traffic jam at a time, and it's draining everything out of me. I'm only happy when I am on the road, but being on the road isn't so wonderful any longer. I need to fly... escape out of this mess... and live my own life alone. No more false lies about happiness in the future, no more dreams of being happy anywhere with anyone.

The faces that turn to grab you and lie are everywhere... I just want something static, alive, real and one way: unchanging. I need to just GO!!

the golden gate.....

I am always miserable when I see a sunset that is so beautiful that my bones hurt. It happened again when few days ago when I saw from my bedroom window the clouds start to turn pink...... .....sometimes I think I am back inside my apartment in southern Spain since from my balcony windows I can see the beginnings of the sunsets, and have just ten minutes to walk quickly to the beach with camera in hand....

I love watching the sunrises and sunsets... if you know me on Facebook you'll know I try to describe the sunrises I briefly see and often cannot record. I can see a bit of both from the windows of my cell. I can see just a bit of the East Bay and just a bit more of the North Bay and Richmond across the bay.... as I type this I can see the calm light blue waters of the San Francisco Bay and it looks so peaceful and lovely... sighSo, the other day I missed a gorgeous sunset.... I hate it when I am inside organizing my files. I spend so many hours doing this... it seems all of my work to be done involves a keyboard and a monitor.... it seems to me it's inhuman to be indoors when the sun sets when I should be outside enjoying that final splash of color upon the hills, seeing all the windows brighten as they reflect the lowering sun... last night's set was no less than a flaming glow that burned the clouds, put the bay afire, and had everyone out to watch this glorious colorful day's finale.Why would anyone, me included, sit in front of a computer or even worse: a television set when the real drama that is Life sits beyond our imprisonment of confining walls. I wonder if this generation will remember where the air is free and filled with laughter and sadness, hearing the noisy sounds of the day and muted sounds of each night... and recall easily a time and place when kids and adults mingle in that non-virtual reality show that does not come to us through emissions or cables.... sigh

On the other hand, I have been shooting black and white more... I love BLACK AND WHITE!! I love the softness of the grays upon skin, and the shadow details when there is texture... and there is LOTs of texture in this world we call Life!I remember a time past when, for over 30 years I loaded film for my hungry camera into those tiny black film cassettes, and processed film within a small dark room. After I started living in Spain, I built my own dedicated darkroom, then would shoot during the day, then process and print during the night..... and I intend to return to that life within a few more years.... :-) I don't want to live in front of a monitor, looking at digital images, wondering how long my virtual negatives will exist on CDs, DVDs or on some hard drive.

I want to touch my negatives..... want to see the magic of photography as the images appear before my eyes in the dark....

From last night, I share with you these images from my mind and my eyes.... if you see beauty, then thank Nature and Life. I am just a traveler in this world, passing through ever so slightly and softly... never to return nor to look back.... eyes always ahead to the future.... that isn't virtual but a Life of real dreams, real people, with its disadvantages of fears, its cries of pain and tears, but also of happy moments and love, laughter and words....

Always One Step ahead of the Other

Went to see the sunset again tonight, but I went to a location I've never been since living in the City.... I arrived late and lots of people about, mostly tourists - locals never watch the sunset as they are too busy - but I was there....

It's amazing how something so simple as seeing a sun disappear, can make one so sad. One would think it'd be a pleasure to watch, but it's been a long time since I "watched" a sunset. These days I observe it to determine my best position to record it... then I start looking around for a better vantage point (there's always a place better than where you're standing). I try to see where the sun will disappear from my sight, and how it might appear in my camera.... you get the drift: it's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of watching and enjoying a sunset....

sigh.....

This sunset ~ and many others ~ make me reflect on Life... I won't look back. My thoughts are on my future and how to arrive to that point of time in my future when I can stop dreaming about it and it becomes a reality finally. I am "counting down" to my return to my own apartment and small as it might be, it's mine. It's clean, it's bearable and perhaps not the nicest but it's mine. It's my home and I miss being in my apartment. I know where everything is and everything belongs to ME. I clean up after myself and when I get bored, I take a siesta....

The hardest thing I have had to adjust to and to attempt understanding while living here, is why some people analyze the smallest simple thing and how it is blown all out of proportion... from something so harmless it could be put off till doomsday, but in their mind, it's a life and death situation and it has to be done right this instant!

I can see why this culture has such sickness and phobias, some real and others imagined. Why can't things just be better and simple, as it should be?

Oh yea: that greed thang is very annoying too....

I have so many sunsets remaining... I can't see them all but that doesn't worry me. In my corner of Spain, the sunsets are gorgeous and I'll see them when I can, and if I miss one - there's always manana....

I am impatient to leave and I'll miss the great things I've seen, but I'll be happy... I'll be looking forward, thinking of my future joys and never to look to what was and only to what will be. Why dwell on something that has happened and you can't change anything? In fact, why even stress over things that are beyond your control, that you cannot change? Time for a siesta!

On the other hand, I am always interested in, and looking for new things to do in my passion of photography. I've just "spoken" with a friend, model and photographer Naomi Strange who lives in the East Bay, and we are now tentatively planning a virtual exhibit with another photographer of a very interesting concept: how two different photographers SEE and capture one subject - stay tuned for details. I've photographed her as a model (she has gorgeous skin and eyes), and she has a very nice eye in the things she photographs.... it'll be an unique personal project to see how a male and a female photographer sees one subject and creates their two separate and individual imagery! If we are lucky enough to find a locale for hanging prints, perhaps we will have an exhibit that will be both a physical and virtual display of the photographs! Surely the idea has already been done, but it'll be different for us as we work alone.

Stay tuned to this space for updates on this concept!

unfriendly skies of IBERiA

The aircraft shown below belongs to the spanish airline company Iberia. This airline is KNOWN to be the subject of strikes usually scheduled during the busiest times of tourist travel during the summer. Already into 2009, the Iberia pilots struck again in January of this year and for a day disrupted travel plans of many travelers .... This is how this company's pilots strike to get the attention of their country and of their company in order to demand more money for their individual salaries, no matter what the cost. I remember in 2006 how the Iberia airport workers had their strike, and simply walked onto the runway of the Barcelona runways and basically closed down the airport operations. They did not care then nor now how all of the canceled flights affected thousands of travelers and to have their lives disrupted, the amount of money lost when your flights are missed, hotels costs, etc.... all they care is to cause enough chaos so that they can get a higher salary. This is all supported by the spanish government who refuses to charge any of those who participated in that 2006 strike (huelga) and to not declare any such strike illegal only encourages more future strikes as those strike participants now know they will never be punished.

This is irresponsible behavior by the goverment, by the pilots, and by Iberia, and as I was just in Spain recently, noticed the new Iberia television commericals now advertising new LOW - very low fares throughout Europe and even to the USA. Of course, this is all a ploy to get new and old clients to fly their airlines but would you fly such a reckless and irresponsible airline that wrecks havoc on your and other travelers' lives, at any cost?

I hope everyone will boycott this stupid company and I hope they go out of business - SOON! All you need to do is to experience the airport experience during any one of their strikes, to lose your ticket value, to miss your future flight connections, to have days and days sleeping on uncomfortable airport floors and/or those very uncomfortable spanish airport benches.... and in addition to have your baggage lost for months as in the big strike of 2006, and you wil feel as I do!

DO NOT FLY IBERIA

at any cost!!! Do not use IBERIA for any of your flights anywhere on this planet! Tell your friends to boycott Iberia also, a company that allows these pilots to do this which encourages such irresponsible behavior by trained "professional" airline pilots... greedy individuals who think only of themselves and nobody else.

Also while I was in Spain, I read just days before I departed that tourism through spanish airports dropped to an all-time low.... don't they realize that as long as they encourage this type of behavior and those airline strikes, that tourists previously thinking of a trip to Spain will abandon that dream and go elsewhere? They seem to not think these strikes affect anyone.... one doesn't have to be an university graduate nor a rocket-scientist to realize this....

I think the spanish tourism board and the government as a whole is going to wake up to a very rude awakening in the tourism trade very soon, if these strikes continue and nobody is charged with disruption of traveler's travels and monetary losses.

Let them travel during a strike and lose all of their hard-earned money and waste their vacations sleeping on floors of a flithy spanish airport, and see how THEY like it.... they would feel as these poor innocent travelers would, but they don't and like any country's officials... they have lost sight of how it feels to be a normal common citizen at the pity of those strikes.

back in the City from Spain

... and what a heck of a looong flight it was ~ slept very little on the journey which for me started in Rota early Wednesday morning by cleaning up everything a final time. I love seeing my apartment so clean and "empty" and I will return one day though not soon enough. Arriving at the Sevilla airport just before 8am, I had enough time to check in and relax, if that is possible in an airport that is filthy, dirty and so old the bench leather coverings are crusted and wrinkled, and the gate waiting areas have floor spill drops so old and so visible, I would be embarrassed to say I worked there. I thought about a complaint but know it would get the standardized form-letter complaint reply and nothing would be done. I've suggested and complained on previous occasions about poor service, airport workers allowing people to smoke within the airport and not saying anything, etc., but the spanish are accustomed to their lifestyle, and complaints or suggestions do not last long in the system.

Aboard the Sevilla to Barcelona flight, I was distressed after we took off and I didn't have my camera out and at the ready; the raindrops as it again poured as we took off were so beautiful upon the tiny cabin windows that I wished I could have recorded its slow movement across my window.... by time I did get out the camera, the raindrops were gone being high above the clouds and in Barcelona it wasn't even raining any longer. There my next segment was delayed due to heavy fog at Munich, which was a change from the usual Frankfurt. I dreaded returning to Germany as a passenger due to their double security checkpoints but was later pleasantly surprised when after finally arriving and moving fast to the next gate - which of course seemed to be miles and miles away - I didn't have to pass through any security checkpoints at all! Even as we were still taxiing to the Munich terminal, the PA system in the aircraft warned all travelers to hurry to their connecting flights as the airport security can be very slow and time-consuming.

Seen in the men's restrooms in the Munich airport, a great airport when compared with the old and filthy Sevilla airport. Seems that the urinal designers thought ahead in an attempt to inprove the aim of those using these facilities. I've seen this before but was never able to get a picture and this time I was prepared! A few others saw me snapping pictures of the urinals and thought I was crazy till I pointed out to them it wasn't the urinal but the fly I was interested in... then the response was laughter.... and in an airport, who can't use a bit of laughter?

As soon as I arrived at the gate, I was boarded and after four others behind me followed, the cabin doors were closed and we took off inside a recently-delivered new A340-600 plane that was beautiful to relax and enjoy this 11-hour flight back to San Francisco!! Not only first- and business-class areas look nice but even the economy class area was a delight! Each and every seat in the aircraft had its own LED touch-screen media center that allowed passengers to view music videos, see a wide selection of movies, listen to over 10 styles of radio-system music, or even learn about the airline company! As a result, I watched a total of four on-demand movies throughout the long-journey, interrupted frequently by my getting the camera to snap away at the gorgeous sunset that lasted half of the long-haul flight and amazingly enough turned even more flaming red just as I thought the sunset would finally end after four hours! It turned out it was to end but as the flight route took us from Germany to the Americas on a northwestern curve taking us over the Norwegian Sea, Iceland, Greenland, then just north of Hudson Bay then toward Vancouver Island, BC..... it seems when the plane finally took its downward curve just as I saw the sunset colors fading; remembering in San Francisco a month ago, the bearing angle of the sunset then was about 240-degrees, so when we turned southwesternly, according to the visual map of our route, we turned toward the sun and that accounted for it glowing once again to finally end later after six hours!!!
Amazingly enough, the last two hours were the most colorful as the horizon burned with an intense flaming-red color. I believe this is the very first time I have seen such a sunset lasting more than three-hours, plus no sunrise! In fact, I saw two sunsets on this flight!!

The movies I saw were Eagle Eye which I've wanted to see but hate SF theaters, Ghost Town which I thought was stupid but cried during the last 15mins of the movie, Vicky Christina Barcelona, and Nights In Rodanthe - an excellent movie which I am glad I watched after seeing it starred Richard Gere and Diane Lane. I also cried during the last 10mins of Nights In Rodanthe for the sad ending though it ended on a happier note....

It seems strange to be back in the City, and in a place where I have a car as I had to walk during my month in Spain which I don't mind at all if I were wearing the proper shoes for that type of activity. Even with the high amount of walking, unfortunately I gained weight instead of losing ~ I blame all that great olive oil in the spanish food eaten out in town, and cooking at home ~ the first time ever I've gained instead of lost weight in my trips to Spain. Perhaps all I really need to do is stop eating enough for four or five persons at a sitting!! hahahahaaaa

sigh.....

gas prices in Spain and more

....while in the passenger seat of a friend's car - unusual place for me to be - we stopped to buy gas and I decided to snap a pix of the gas prices in this part of Andalucia. While this might even look cheap after the exchange rate is considered, remember this is the price per liter! when I lived in Spain, the prices were much different and I was paying up to 60€ per liter to fill my tank. Also remember that here the diesel (gasoleo A) is cheaper than unleaded and what everyone is buying these days. My old car while i lived here was also a diesel..... but it had great tubro power and I really loved passing sedans up steep hills/mountains even when my car was loaded down with heavy furniture in the back!!
I joked with friends upon my arrival in Spain about how green everything looked. Again on the bus I noticed how unnatural Andalucia appeared in such vivid colors ~ I told my spanish friends that while on the bus it looked so unreal that I thought I had hopped on the wrong bus and was headed north to Galicia instead of Andalucia. Galicia - in the NW region of Spain - is similar to our northwest in that it rains.... and rains, and rains even more. As a result, everything there is very green!!

The pictures above are both taken with my cell camera - I've just posted my last pictures if you care to see them.

I'm back on the road again as I start my travels to return to San Francisco. I can't believe how quickly this month lasted, or didn't last. It all went by so quickly!! The last three days were spent cleaning, packing and re-boxing stuff, almost all at the same time, and the apartment was so clean as I left this morning. Though it rained throughout my stay, I enjoy the rain and the cool pleasure it brings to me. I love seeing storm clouds over the Bay of Cadiz also, and there were certainly a lot of those. Tomorrow morning I get my final ride to the Sevilla airport and start those flights back to the states......

last night's storms

Last night it actually hailed in Rota... it was already past the sunset - there was no color at all - and the hail struck my balcony windows with such a force I actually thought someone was throwing pebbles against the glass. Accompanied by thunder and lightning, it made me wish I had brought my tripod but of course where would I set up to shoot? hahahahaa

the day after the storms, gorgeous clouds (cell cam pix)

More cleaning and packing, moving things from one box that was packed more than two and a half years ago, into other boxes to make more space. Finding things I haven't seen since... well, since I initially left Rota over two years ago.

One thing you should remember if you own property in this part of Spain and are using an agency to rent out your place: I've discovered one cannot trust the lousy Rota real estate agency I used when I left - these people don't even need to be licensed here - were the only ones who had keys to my place, along with a friend. When I told him I was returning for three weeks in January of 2008, he mentioned he would setup my bed as it was dismantled. I said sure and thanks so much!! A few weeks later he asked if I had allowed someone to come into my apartment. I didn't and told him that; it appears someone was in my apartment and used the bed! Once I got to Rota, I could see what my friend had seen and I thought the same thing: the real estate agency as they were the only others with a key. Though I complained and demanded an explanation, they didn't claim any responsibility for it. I've mentioned this to many spanish and american friends living in Spain and am told this happens quite often. Some worker in that agency knows that the owner is gone, the place is empty and just takes the keys and uses it at their convenience to have a party of two or of ten, and leave a mess. At least I didn't have a lot they could do in my apartment, as I had hardly anything but lots of boxes, but I have heard some horror stories in Sevilla and other places. So, be very careful and always have friends with an extra key to call and ask to have them check your place.

I cannot believe it's only three more days I have three remaining days in Spain and by the end of this new week I'll be back in the big City. YUCK! Now to figure out how to get my stuff to Rota!!!

Carnaval, water water water everywhere, and MotoGP

Thursday, 29 January: Time passes so fast when you don't want it to, and so sloooow when you want it to be fast. grrrrr Cannot believe that I'm on my last days in Rota. The last few days have been very cloudy, so much that I've skipped watching sunsets and will wait till next week before I'll pass by the beach again. Yuppy, you read that correctly: I am on strike till next Monday!!!

I've spoken here a few times about the spanish Carnaval.... If you haven't seen or heard the Cadiz Carnaval, you're in for a grand, though pleasant surprise. The streets are filled with small performances, and these are spread to the small town and cities around Cadiz; Rota is no exception. It consists of a group chorus, or a smaller quartet, or small groups which fling satire on anything and everything; nobody and nothing is spared. It can be political, the weather, global warming, some silly incident that earned national news coverage, or just the whim of the musician who writes the lyrics. The melody is always the same but the costumes and lyrics are unique and judging of the best is based on costume, lyrics, background, and more. It always amazes me how so many people participating can memorize so many lyrics and sing in harmony all at once! The accompanying images were taken with the cell camera again to capture actual live performance off the television screen, to show you just a bit through the Cadiz local channel: OndaCadiz.es. The music and lyrics flies very fast, and when you get the people/groups of Cadiz then a lot of spanish slang is used... your spanish should be in excellent form or close to it, or you'll miss the bulk of it. But it's all in jest, fun and the audience love it. One can even watch it just to marvel at the performance, the costumes and the comedy of it all.... people come from all over Spain for the final performance when only the best fight to earn the biggest and final prize. There is nothing like it in the world that I have seen or heard. I've been in Cadiz very few times during Carnaval as the streets are so crowded and the bars/restaurants even more so. So, if you're ever in southwestern Spain about the end of January and through the end of February, then you're in for a special treat as carnaval throughout Spain, if celebrated at all, is not the same. In the Cadiz province carnaval takes on a special emotion and it's all for a good {great} time! Another site to read and see carnaval is diariodecadiz.es please remember these above two links are spanish links, therefore, your knowledge of the spanish language should be very functional.

Read today in the newspaper how the Hurones water reservoir had its storm gates opened last night for the first time since 2001. This reservoir supplies water to most of the Cadiz province in cluding Rota. Due to a somewhat "normal" winter start and especially the last few weeks of rain, it's at its highest capacity in years at 91% and when the storm gates were opened to allow the waters to flow... but not to waste, as it will be flowing downstream to a smaller body of water to fill that.

Interested in the european style of motorcycle racing? Like the MotoGP and planning to buy tickets online to watch the Gran Premio de Jerez in early May? Well, many others are also but beware: the Jerez de la Frontera racetrack officials have released information today that illegal FAKE tickets are being sold online. This weekend events draws thousands to the Cadiz province - my province! each year and they are warning those interested in attending to be sure they buy only from authorized vendors. Never seen MotoGP? Please pass by my friend's flickr site to see some past images captured during previous MotoGP races.

Sunday, 25 January: It's yet another cloudy day in Rota. The north of Spain suffered through the night with high winds, reaching over 190kph in some areas. I had my bed comforter hanging on the clothes-lines and when I awoke in the morning, it was gone. I looked below and it was in my downstairs neighbor terrace. I was trying to figure out how to explain to him I wanted the comforter back when I saw his big dog sniff at the comforter a few times, circled it then curled into a ball and rested his head on my comforter. Well, at least he could use it because as I am allergic to dog, cats and women, I won't claim it now. At the next gypsy market this coming Wednesday, I'll pick up a new one... or at I have so few days remaining, maybe I won't!

Another weather low is blowing through in a few more days, though luckily the southern region - as usual - is starting to warm up again with sol.... Across the bay in Cadiz, the spanish Carnaval has begun and it's again a great time. While I lived here, I'd watch the try-outs in the Theater Manuel de Fallas on the television, and listen to it at night on the radio. While in the states, I'd listen to it by internet radio, happily enjoying the satire and lyrics. Over 300 groups have signed up to compete in this year's edition and it's going to be another great Carnaval. The Obama theme has already appeared in the first day of the festivities and performances and am sure the name will reappear. In fact, the other day I read in the newspaper how a service vessel in Cadiz has been renamed Obama..... it seems more than 6 million spaniards tuned in to watch the swearing-in ceremonies on the small screen, which is a lot of spainish eyes. It's almost as if Spain were watching a European Cup Soccer finals playoff; that's how many people were watching! The streets would be deserted, and the shopping activity would be very mininal except for lost tourists.

My eyes are steadily improving. With the high winds of recent days I've been using my eye drops even more than back in SF, and though there have been instances of street junk blowing into my eyes, I've been fortunate to not have any real damage. I am surprised how so few people have even noticed that I am not wearing glasses. Of the many people I know and have greeted since my return, I can count on one hand the few who noted right off that I am without glasses.... sigh.

Not always running with good luck nor fortune, I've been often thrown a curve ball, and seems I have been dealt yet another. Luckily, my decision to return soon to live in Spain won't be too far in the future and I'll easily forget the few good times had in the states, the beautiful scenery seen while traveling to and experienced, and the very few friends I knew will soon forget me. I always wonder why I am alone and though I know there's a reason for it, I wish someone would tell me why because it's a miserable feeling. sigh.....

Last night was a gray sunset, and am glad I didn't go out thinking there might be some color, because right now my Life looks so empty and gray. But, nobody knows and even if someone knew, who would care? We already know nobody reads this blog..... except for two persons outside the USA. Lucky them!!

Looks like the only bright points in my life now is getting back to SF so I can start packing my stuff to somehow figure out how to get my stuff back to Rota, plus a possible artnudes exhibit in a small downtown Rota bar soon after I return ~ at least I will be back in a place where I can "afford" framing. Last trip to Rota I brought with me five 8"x12" images with me of SF scenes to be framed. I had them framed at a friend's frame shop, but ran out of money and so left them there.... a year later, I might have money to finally pick them up. All five framed pictures won't even cost me 90€ {though recomputed at 2009 costs}, so I am so happy at that end result that he didn't sell them to someone else thinking I wasn't returning......

Seems like all my life I am packing or unpacking, or living out of boxes. If only I could pack myself into a small box and send myself to Mars. Sure it'd be a long journey and I'd probably die, but that actually isn't a bad idea. Perhaps I'll get lucky and will get my life snuffed out in a flash of flames enroute SF.... but I know I would never be that lucky!! sigh....

It would make everything so much nicer and easier.... if one did not exist.

NOTE: I cannot believe I am at a public wifi terminal with my laptop and for the past 30minutes it has been pouring down rain with even thunder!! grrrrr

Thursday, 22 Jan: Another overcast day but I like the overcast and cloudy moreso than the hot clear skies that is usually so typical of this area, even in winter. Last January 2008 when I was here I could've worn tee-shirts all day, but this year the winter has been very normal for the season. Southern Spain needs the rain and when I bussed from Sevilla over a week ago, that's the first thing I noticed: the very green fields and the very moist ground - it's strange to see this part of Andalucia - or any area of Andalucia for that matter - so moist and growing, instead of a dying brown. Unlike California, there are NO fires here to pamper with the weather but the past few days when the sunset was able to be seen, it's been flaming, just downright gorGeous red and orange!! I couldn't believe how beautiful it was, and as usual, people were on the boardwalk, not looking... just talking and walking, their eyes blind to the sights that Nature offers us each and everyday, if we chose to see and to enjoy it. sigh....

I finally departed the beach and rushed home to see the pictures.... seeing them on a small screen is nothing like seeing the brush strokes of colors splashed in front of your face for 220-degrees, but I managed to survive again the glorious sight of the sunset but this time through the miracle of digital images.

During my few days in Rota, I've been bumping into faces and people (more people than faces) and getting the same reactions: Where have you been? Haven't seen you in so long... the few americans I know here have been warm except for a few (too) businesslike persons who put on an expression like they were even bothered to lift their hand to shake mine, and instantly I had the sensation that I shouldn't have entered their place. I have been trying to return to all of my spanish and american friends' place of business to have a drink, a tapa or a meal. This person... well... I should have stayed away. He was cold before and even colder now. It'll be a cold day again before I stop to greet this typical american. It's funny how some things change, but other things and attitudes never change....

I've decided not to buy the furniture and other big money items for my apartment as with the new presidency in motion, the dollar is already gaining strength,and am hoping that in a year's time when I return to live here, the dollar will be strengthened enough where I can safely buy the items and services required and not lose so much in the conversion between dollar and the euro. The other day I deposited a goodly amount of american greenbacks in my spanish bank, and instantly lost money, and then they levied a commission for that conversion of another $75 for a total loss of $900USD. In my two years in the USA, I have been frantically searching for a bank that would offer me a refinance or a personal loan so I can pay off my meager remaining amount and kiss this stupid Banco de Santander (they have NO concept of client relations and are very RUDE, plus in the past even with complaining clients they would smoke in their opened-door offices), and I contact them on a regular basis to inform them that their services and tact are lacking. The first opportunity I get to drop them, I will do so happily even though a pre-payment fee of 3% is imposed. These stupid bankers at Santander are the worst business people I have ever dealt with.

Only thirteen days till I reboard another plane to head west. ..... just so many sunsets, clouds , tapas and squid, and cafe con leches that I have to take before leaving again.

The other day was reading in the provincial spanish newspaper how one immigrant from south Africa has jumped to his death in a sad story of suicide. There's not even enough jobs here for the spanish let alone the illegal immigrants that come from the other side of the straits... this is just one more sad story of life gone bad. The investigating police didn't even thought it important enough to warrant a news release; the newspaper devoted a whole half page to this story of misery. sigh

Wednesday, 21 Jan: I avoided watching the swearing in... it was all over the newspapers and spanish television. How could anyone avoid it? I went out earlier to search for a wifi-equipped cafe/bar in my little town and eventually even found one... just one in the downtown area. In fact, the owner is someone who, in my final months before moving to the states, asked me repeatedly if I would show some of my fotos in his bar. I couldn't as I didn't have any funds to print the pictures, plus no time with all the packing, cleaning, etc. When I saw him, he repeated the question and I replied to reserve me a date for a show of my newest artnudes created in oregon and SF about a year and a half from now... hahahahaaaa

The spanish news has been crazy about covering the american Obama craze, down to all the possible combinations of Obama souvenirs one can purchase. I photographed the sunset, then slowly walked back to my apartment, but not before I stopped by the cafe/bar to see the interior and to talk a bit with him. It's ben two years since my last time inside and I wanted to see how many photos I could hang, etc. The cold streets were almost empty of people, I imagined everyone was watching the tele for that insight into the historic american moment, and how everyone was hoping for his success, as his success was to create more hope for the world... wow, what responsibility!

I watched the bits and seconds on the late evening spanish news, then was amazed that they were to show also the George Bush movie by Oliver Stone: "W". I hadn't seen it yet so decided to stay up to watch it at 10pm. Of course it was dubbed into spanish so once again, everyone on the tiny screen spoke better spanish than I. At the end, I could imagine this to be a more dramatic version of his life, and how it shapen his life and presidency... it sure does describe and explain his behavior though.

The weather here has been cold and northern Spain has been beaten by high winds and surf, and rain, plus snow all the way down to the 400meter elevations. In Rota, the wind has been a very cold, biting hug at the sleeves, and my ears and wrists are falling off frozen when I am out snapping the clouds and sunsets.

Here's it's Sunday the 18th already and again am at a public terminal typing this. It's been a slow relaxing first week and more in Rota.... been meeting friends and it's good being back in the "swing" of things but saddening at the same time, to think I need to close up my apartment once again and leave this place. Rota might not be the best place in the world, but to me it's the greatest and living in San Francisco is nice, but there is no comparsion whatsoever.

The other night I was at the beach shooting the glorious sunset - as usual - and as I am shooting, there are people on the boardwalk behind me. I hear a voice in spanish: "Nobody would be out on the beach without a camera unless it was Tony...." and I turned around to see a friend and his lovely wife. We chatted for a few minutes, me turning around all the while to watch the sun, then they excused themselves politely seeing my attention was elsewhere, so I could continue to capture the golden spanish sol....

Another night I was in the tiny hole-in-a-wall bar where a friend makes the greatest chocos a la plancha (grilled squid). I went early this evening intentionally so I could read the spanish newspaper.... an older man comes in - about in his 50s but looking in shape. He looks at me while talking to my friend, taking a seat a good distance away from me. He talks then switches to the "old days " and continuing - this is all in spanish - then starts to relate of how he knew this one man about so many decades ago who walked into his office.... intently looking at me with a smile.... he adds: . . . and I remember this young man to this very day... and then he says MY name! What a surprise and what a pleasant memory! This happens often while in Rota, and I think it will continue long after I leave or return to live again. All of my memories in this location are good, unless it deals with the photo studios.

And this is why I am here, why I love this place and though there are several fake "photographers" here who continuously steal my image ideas and TRY hard to copy my style - always failing miserably, I still want to stay here. This is as close to paradise as I will ever get. . . and I will not allow it to escape or let some other stupid people ruin my idea of this splendid place. Now, if only I can find someone who will accompany me back to this place I call "home", who can watch the sunsets and travel with me? sigh.....

I have the long-awaited ceiling fan and a good Jerez friend is kind enough to loan me his ladder and drill. I should be installing it now but the spanish lifestyle is already taking over, and I feel like I should finish mounting both today.... but heck..... I'm on "vacation" and it can well wait. My soccer team Real madrid plays tonight and I'll watch them win again tonight as they did last week.

While I have been walking a LOT and thought I was losing some of that SF weight gained in the last few months, I've been starting to cook again, and eating a LOT and now am even heavier than when I was back in the Bay Area!! grrrrrrrrr I will just have to stop cooking so much and eating at one sitting enough portions to feed four hungry soldiers. hahahahaaaa

Friday, 16 January: Overcast day in Rota but still a great day for me. Though I love Spain and my little town of Rota, this brings back a lot of sad memories of being alone here. It now looks like within a year at the earliest, I will be returning for a final time. I'll be buying a one-way ticket back home.... I really need to care for my apartment, and closed up or rented, maintenance needs to be done and it hasn't been done. I'm thankful for the few great people who have trusted me enough to stay at my apartment, but it'll be closed nup till I return sometime in 2010. Now the only problem is trying to get all of my stuff back to Spain.....

Tuesday, Jan 13rd. 12:50pm: I'm at a public library typing this and it's funny how some thing seem so ironic... when I first moved to Spain and the internet was still a rare and strange "thing", I used to walk for about 20 minutes to a site offering free internet access. Sometimes in the winter it would rain down as I walked, and I would be completely soaked to the skin on one side only - the wind blew hard. At this location, I would sit at the computer for my allotted time and dry - somewhat - and the rain would stop. But sure enough when it was MY time to depart, the rain would start back up again, raining even harder than before, and I'd be walking in that rain again and get completely soaked again, this time the other side as I was now walking with the wind. sigh I'm waiting for a ceiling fan that I ordered at my corner electronics store though even when I do get it, I won't be able to do much as I haven't got a ladder any longer. I gave it away when I departed Spain two years ago... the person I gave it to stated I could use it though I haven't heard from them again and they haven't called me. I'll probably end up buying a new one soon. While at my friend's place in Sevilla, I walked all over the downtown area for several hours for two days and getting on the bus to get to the coast last Friday, I was really feeling the exercise I was getting now... boy, my legs ached! I haven't walked this much since I lived in Rota before!! I used to walk everywhere but being in the big City, I am always in the car driving my sister there and here, and the little walking I do isn't sufficient to keep me in shape. Even my spanish friends have noticed I put on a few pounds.... YUCK As it's still pouring rain, I think when I get home I'll go through my stored boxes and see what I can get rid of. I surely don not need to horde anything any longer. I saw three hours of CSI in spanish last night!! Dammmmm, everyone speaks better spanish than I do!! hahahaha Apparently they call the CSI: NY series a different name! hahahahaaa I did see one espisode that I haven't seen in the USA or here so I really lucked out! Plus my team Real Madrid won last Sunday night so the first game I see was a good one!! I've put up some pictures at the foto site if you'd like to see.... of gorgeous historic Sevilla and the golden Rota sunsets I captured over the weekend.

7 January: The trip was long and tiring but to be expected. The non-stop flight from SFO to Frankfurt, Germany offered three movies not seen before, plus a sunset seen but missed with my camera. I was however ready with the camera for the sunrise, which we chased for almost an hour, offering me enough time to bother the other passengers and snap away to get a great view from above those cotton clouds below.

A few hours of harrassment of two high-security checkpoints that I protested but being from a non-EC country, I had to tolerate it along with the long lines of others passing through to get to their connecting flights as I was.... This is making me rethink my next travel plans, and will bypass Germany and the UK, which I hear also has regulations requiring double security checkpoint for non-EU citizens even though we may just be TRYing to get to our next flight leg.

Then to Barcelona where I saw lots of snow-removal trucks working overtime removing snow off the taxi- and runways. I saw the gorgeous sunset just before boarding the flight to Sevilla.... had to dig myself into a corner behind some fake plants but I did get it! This wasn't the case in Sevilla as the weather was nicer, though the temperature wasn't too much different. I stayed in Sevilla two days as a friend was staying in my apartment. I walked all over downtown Sevilla, depressed to see so many stores empty and closed, but still Sevilla was beautiful in the sunlight.

Finally arriving Friday early evening by bus from Sevilla, I'm finally back and though I am happy to be here, the conditions of my place is pretty depressing. I have a lot of work to do but have decided to not start most of it. I don't have internet access here, and am using a friend's net access at a store he works at... it's nice to have friends. ;-)

un cafe por favor!!!!!

Well, I've spent my first full 24 hours in Spain and am enjoying it, the love/hate relationship with the place I enjoy and love so much ~ but at the same time hating it.... flashback to the journey....

Started early and drove my sister to work as normal and when I got home, finished moving the stuff into my carry-on, which I decided my usual small camera bag was too small as I stuff it with camera, lens, accessories of both camera and laptop, and CLOTHES! It was simply too much this time and decided my slightly bigger wheeled bag would be better, and it was, though I left a lens and tripod at home, plus a few other things. Then I discovered I hadn't packed any clothes at all, so had to last-minute pack enough to last me a month in my spanish apartment.

That done, went down to wait for my transport to the airport with my two bursting at the seams suitcases.... I had so much in hand that I decided to also leave at home the hanging chair I picked up at a street fair, to hang in my balcony so I can enjoy the warm bright sol.... Once at the airport, I discovered I waited 32,8 minutes at the wrong place, and had to move all my stuff about 100 feet to the proper place. The line wasn't too bad and it took only about 20minutes to get to finally check in, something I wasn't allowed to do online to make my airport experience a bit better. Once rid of my two big suitcases which I paid a few bucks to encase in plastic - and glad I did - I sat and waited for the flight to leave a few hours later... I've always showed up hours earlier than necessary for my flights and even in recent times as much as over eight hours!! The plane was a 747 and was to be the second time I've flown on a 747... it wasn't the smoothest ride but certainly wasn't the worst. I hoped to see my City from above but the fog and cloud-covered Bay Area prevented that.....

The flight went well though I intentionally did so that I can sleep well after reaching bed-time in Sevilla. I was very happy to be able to watch three films I've never seen previously and actually enjoyed these movies!!! An adorable little baby boy sat with his single mother in the seat in front of me and I spent most of my time entertaining... then we landed at Frankfurt, Germany and now this is a different chapter!

I've flown many times into Frankfurt but this was the worst experience yet! Now they have regulations that require NON-EU travelers to pass through TWO separate and very strict security checkpoints though they may just be connecting with other flights.... I normally wouldn't mind this as it ensures WE are safe while traveling, but the sensitivity of the metal-detectors was so high that even my credit cards were hit by the metal detectors. A security man then hand-wanded me and the credit cards sounded again; he looked at my credit cards, felt them then returned them to me. Personally I wondered if he was memorizing my numbers!! Really... to configure detectors so high as to even ping on credit cards is stupid, making unnecessary work for the security personnel and to build a very huge inconvenience for already weary travelers. As result, I will now be booking my flights to someplace other than Germany and the UK, which I was told today has the same strict rules.

From Germany to Barcelona (BCN) was okay save for slight rough weather, and BCN is not a bad place but it's a very boring and commercial airport, so I don't enjoy being there. Of course the signs in catalan, english and spanish aren't too kind either..... grrrrrr

Take-off from BCN was during a most golden and cloudy sunset, and managed to get a snapshot from inside the terminal as the flight departed typically 12mins late from the catalan airport. As we finally climbed to the cruise attitude, the sunset grew in color from orange-red to blood-red and lasted a veeeery long time. I snapped away even as my camera battery flashed steadily since I forgot to charge it a final time before departure from SFO, being too busy with other things. When I arrived at the Sevilla airport, I already noticed changes in that small airport. In the past, it has always taken them 20mins or more to start loading the bags to the claim baggage area; this time it took them 15mins. I was impressed!! Plus the ramp leading to the baggage claim area was more direct and thus quicker. Again I was glad to be in Spain as the airport baggage push carts are free to use, unlike in the states. After picking up my still-wrapped in plastic suitcases, I trudged out to the sidewalk to await my friends but not till I had helped a few people getting to Sevilla to find their stuff and get to the taxis or the bus. I was shocked at how the departure pickup area was so changed, and more confusing to me as a traveler than a driver who has to pick up someone... I was glad to have seen these changes so in the chance one of my family or friends visit me and I had to drive to Sevilla to get them, at least I am familiar with the airport renovations.

At my friend's house later, I got busy getting my stuff in order so when I bus to Rota on Friday, things would be organized. I also wanted to let friend's and family know I was finally arrived and back so that they could finally celebration my absence - hahahahahaaaaaa I was tired from the long trip and my eyes were blinking like falling stars upon my weary body, but finally after 2am Wednesday night did I finally get to sleep. I must've been very tired because they have a grandfather clock and I didn't hear it at all all that time I slept... till after 11am later that day. After showering I took the bus to Sevilla, then walked downtown from the plaza de Armas bus station to see the sights, see what changes had happened since my departure from Spain, and to look for a few things for friends.

Can you believe this unedited and uncropped picture was created with a cell camera?

I was personally shocked at the number of businesses that I had seen that were now closed. On one busy main street in the center of town typically termed the street of the bridesmaids, due to the many businesses catering to that..... I found the street almost barren and empty so many businesses were now gone. It was sad to see this..... It is amazing how much the economy in one region of the world can interfere and affect so many others. Don't people realize how everything and anything is internationally, as well as locally inter-related?

Though the sol shone warmly in an otherwise-chilly clear sky over Sevilla, there were people abound, but just not buying. I saw lots of empty stores with a lone salesperson within. The cigarette smoke from the many smokers left a smell in the air where I walked, and I aimed for the clear spot around them. I walked into many stores to get an idea of current prices per product since I'd been gone so long, and it wasn't encouraging though I was glad to see prices hadn't skyrocketed as I thought would happen. My camera battery was dead so it stayed in the house being charged so I charged my cell phone just enough so I could use it as my camera in the streets of downtown Sevilla!
In Sevilla some cafe bars still use chalk to record a customer's tally on the metal/wood counters. These days this isn't seen too often but always a flash to the past when I see it done...

In bright sunlight it gives quite good results and I am always happy with the pictures it allows me to capture when big heavy camera isn't available. With a SIM card within that I had purchased at the BCN airport,
I now have a spanish cell phone number! My nephew back in the City told me about it when I mentioned that I could unlock my cell as the store I had wanted to take it to be unlocked was closed.... that as I had a ATT SIM inside, they would give me a "unlock" code functional only with an international SIM inside. In my case it was complicated as I was using my cell from Oregon with a grandfathered San Franciscan SIM inside... but both were ATT and eventually, was told the unlock code which worked this morning!!!

One of the first things I did was to buy my bus ticket for Friday to get to Rota, and now scouting around, seeing the sights in beautiful historic Sevilla, then back "home" to wait for tomorrow, when I return to Sevilla again but then stay downtown to meet my friends and get my bags to finish this final portion of a very long and tiring journey.

I'll be "home" in my apartment at about 7pm, then to figure out HOW to ferry two big heavy suitcases from the bus station to my apt, just three blocks away, still carrying my camera and other small but too heavy bag also.a store display included hidden fans which blew the skirts up, a la Marilyn-style... how "creative"! Another cell picture!!

busy busy busy as a lost film can...

...on a bumpy and windy road. The last few days I've been running all over the place. Had a foto shoot-out in Fremont and drove there in the pouring rain with my bad night vision.... the rain was so pouring-down hard that I couldn't see a thang but apparently better than other drivers who kept drifting between lanes with invisible land-markers in the wet mess, or whose cars just simply straddled two lanes. I just would find a car with very bright taillights and stay a safe distance behind them. The drive over the bay bridge and continuiing to Fremont is over an hour - I must confess it was the first time I've ever driven on the bay bridge and seen the cars driving less than 50mph!!

Upon arriving, my GPS unit didnt have the street number, so I hunted around in a very dark industrial area till I saw someone outside the side of one building, then saw the number sought as I turned into the parking lot. There I stayed with other photographers for over three hours. Three models were in attendance and most of us just took turns shooting; the big shadow-box to the right of a solid-white background created the studio effect which I don't like. Eventually, I started shooting without the benefit of a flash nor the synched studio-lights there... which startled quite a few.
It poured when we departed and this time drove south to the San Mateo bridge, and through the rain made my way back up to the City. It was a longer trip but faster I thought not having to pass over the Bay Bridge and the bottleneck that is created by going through Oakland.... of course it was pouring-down buckets of rain again!

The next week I had a photography club meeting close to the Ferry Building at the Crossroads cafe. It's my third time meeting with the various photographers and others interested in the magic of imagery.... I enjoy discussing photography with others but rarely get the chance... this is a great way to meet others. Many brought their cameras, others brought their prints and/or portfolios, and there were quite a few very impressive images!

The next day I drove for my latest follow-up in San Jose with my eye clinic. The drive was pleasant enough and even this journey was a test for my eyes as each time I've done this hour and ten minutes drive, my eyes has changed. Easily remembering the first loooong drive, made even longer by the simple fact that I couldn't see a thang on the highway!! To top it off I wore some cheapo glasses ~ so cheapo that it actually lessened my vision - or, what I could see! I later threw those away. My last checkup in September rated my vision at 20/40. This day it had increased to an approving 20/25 and with time I am hoping it'll be even better than that! I hated driving during the late hours as my vision is noticeably worse in dim lighting; for the past few weeks I've been driving at night with better vision, and I know that will improve also. The halo effect everyone talks about for me is minimal and as my eyes are moistened, it's even less apparent. My next follow-up will be in January just before I leave for a long-awaited month in Europe and at least 20 days in Rota where my apartment has been sitting empty for the last few months. I am also planning to spend at least 10 days in France to shoot with a model there.

I've only had my plane tickets for over five months! :-)

Returning from the clinic, I stopped by the Baylands Preserve in Palo Alto hoping to get some great shots of masses of migrating birds flying or feeding.
I did get some birds but not en masse as I had hoped for.... the mass must have departed on a train to a restaurant to dine out.

I then went straight to a wine bar in the downtown area of San Francisco - only over an hour early - as I arrived back in the City during the peak of a early rush-hour. Not wanting to get into the mess of traffic again, I just stayed there waiting first in my car, then going inside to wait till my group eventually showed up on time, but not before I had time to discover the rustic brown interior and even grab some shots!
It was very pricey with a white house wine priced at $12 {wow} but hey, this is San Francisco! In my little place in southern Spain, for that price for just one glass, I could've purchased in a local market four to six bottles of reds or white, of better or similar taste and body.

my wine glasses and plate of fried squid
yummmmy!

I was shocked at the amount of people who were there drinking and eating!! The least expensive glass of wine was priced at $9 - perhaps I'm in the wrong business!

While in San Jose I went to a big chain-store electronics store to buy a PCI card for my newest external hard drive which has SATA capability but unfortunately the card is crashing my system. So right now am copying files over from the older external drive to the newer at a slower rate ~ only 1gig per second ~ but at least it's moving faster than a few megabytes as previous!

Fast is so relative!!

So, here I have been for the past 20 hours again, copying image files..... my life is a circle!!!