Paseando por el inglés

Dado que hay seres espléndidos (como Jane, de New Mexico) que se ha decidido a echarme una mano con mis redacciones en inglés, me ha parecido útil ponerlas en el blog para que también puedan serles de utilidad a otros seres humanos deseosos de aprender inglés. Cualquier ayuda es bienvenida, of course.

That Irish people like beer is not new. That the smaller beer in a shop is half a litter liter volume could surprise you. But to find out that a pint of beer in a pub charges costs 5 euros, that’s simply fucked up. That’s way it’s thankful Dicey’s Pub initiative of charging only 2 euros over any kind of beverage on Tuesdays. So the promotion in Dicey’s Pub of charging only 2 euros for any kind of beverage on Tuesdays is something to be thankful for.

But since you must be in before 7pm so that you don’t pay entrance fee a cover charge and moreover since we had a lot of homework, Inés and I decided to have a go to at the experience of doing our homework in the pub while having a Guinnes and a Smidicks, and eating a bag of sunflower seeds which Inés had found in an Arab shop, what which made some people stare at us with curiosity. The quality of the photos is awful, it’s true, my mobile camera did it’s its best, but anyway there it is the proof.

Apart from homework, it was pretty interesting to see how what the pub was like and to see all the curious fauna who that was packing the pub by the minute. The pub was absolutely posh. In fact, I thought we couldn’t get into in there because of the sign outside asking people for a proper dress. But the heavy bouncers at the door only wanted to find out Inés age. Mine wasn’t asked, mmmh… Once inside the pub I could check see once more that most of the Irish pubs are light years away from ahead of the Spanish ones. They are pretty, huge and they are ready for any kind of anti-tobacco law. You can smoke outside but being in while you’re under sort of ceiling cover and there are heaters all around to keep you warm. And about the fauna, Simon (Inés’ Irish boyfriend who came over later), assured us that no one inside the pub was a Dub, including waiters and service. Inés is a lucky girl, not only because Simon is a nice guy (the same as she is, of course) but also because, as she likes to say, she gets every night into bed gets into bed every night with the dictionary… Later on the band who that had been setting up the stage for a long hour, started to play and they made a kind of quick survey asking people for their nationality. Then we could realize that there were neither a Dub nor a single Irish person over there… You know, is there any honourable Dub going out for a drink in on an ordinary Tuesday even though the beer is cheap, when you think of the awkward crisis that it’s happening now?

And among that the not non-autochthonous fauna at all, the predominant specimens were Spaniards. And Spaniards female Spanish females too, because of which the good old Francesco (the one with the clown make up in one of the Halloween photos) was totally overset upset with his problem with Spanish girls, because he has an uncontrollable attraction to them (unhealthy, pointed out Filippo, another class mate), and in this pub the poor guy was shocked because there were so many beautiful Spaniards that he couldn’t decide which prey to throw himself over…

And then, there was the moment when some of us thought it was time to go back home, it was enough for an ordinary Tuesday, while others thought that the best was yet to come that night. This is like the bear hunter joke: there are people in Dublin who didn’t come here to learn English…

______________

El inglés y yo

After the first month here, maybe it’s time for a quick evaluation. It’s easy: I’m in crisis. Crisis with English.
A few Few days after getting in into Dublin I started to feel my self very confident very self-confident. I could understand people better than I expected and I was able to communicate with ease. Arena school lessons were good enough, Lauren fulfilled all my prospects expectations as a teacher, and my hope to improve with this evasive illusive language (slim hope in the beginning) was rising day after day. But there was came the moment when my confidence started to show some fissure fissures and everything began to plunge into the void when last week I attended a meet up where everyone were natives native speakers. Since that moment I’ve been feeling blocked and now I’m almost unable to speak to natives native speakers without having a permanent fear to fail of failure. Total crisis.

Now I’ve understood what the good Olga felt some time ago. She’s a Spanish teacher who I really appreciate and admire for many reasons, among others for being the person I know with more ability, clarity and cleverness expressing herself in Spanish language. The poor Poor Olga was totally blocked when she had to talk in working meetings carrying them out in English. She couldn’t chat with her usual fluency everything that her brain was trying to express. And that’s what is happening to me now. When I’m with natives native speakers, my ideas flow faster than my skill ability to speak and I start to babble, to stammer, and I kept my self staring at no point keep staring nowhere in particular, open-mouthed as a silly guy waiting for those words that refuse to come and I end up feeling that I look like much more stupid than usually I’m… Even I’m afraid of going shopping to places where I have to speak to the dependants workers because I don’t want to make a fool of myself. Awful feeling.

Self-complaining Self-pity apart, life in Arena school is pretty interesting. It allows me to pay attention to something I wasn’t used to from my teacher point of view: to be in a classroom where all the students have the will to learn. And it’s also curious to talk with the classmates about the lesson, the teacher, the level, and so on. And that shows me how their wish to learn leads some of them to complain a bit wishing for more than they are getting. They illusory mistakenly think that in another classroom, with other another teacher, there it would have been better… There is the selfish need to have a person there over the platform that fulfils the whole variety of prospects expectations from everyone at the classroom. It’s a good wish, an okay, maybe, but I’m afraid to think that is really difficult to get it that it is really difficult to fulfill that wish… In any case, I’d rather (as a teacher) that situation to the current and bitter one of dealing with students whom would prefer even not being who would prefer not even being there and then you don’t really know what the hell to do to awake on in them the wish desire to learn.

I’m glad happy with Lauren’s work; she’s a really good teacher. She leads the lessons with ease and knows how to manage with the little tricks which that allow everything flows to flow. She makes mistakes; it’s normal. I also know that not always the lessons content the lesson content is not always going to give me what I could put down in a list of priorities; it makes sense. But I like how she still keeps her wish for doing desire to do her best, pushing us to learn, trying to arouse our wish desire even more than we have it we already have. That’s maybe the point where appeared all my problems all of my problems appeared: I’ve got I got excited too quickly and now I want to run the Marathon after realizing that I can finish the 10K easily and then I’m so naive to don’t not realize that big achievements need time, usually a lot of time. So then, I’ll be patience patient.

____________

COMO LES SUENA LA INFORMÁTICA A LOS INGLESES

This language, which is a big headache for me, it’s is also able to make me smile once in a while, as when I think of those peculiar anglophones with their computing terminology. Here we go with this drivel writing I’ve written to mess about.

HOW COMPUTING SOUNDS TO ENGLISH PEOPLE LIKE

My laptop works with Windows. Some time ago I thought of buying an Apple, but it was too expensive. Now things have changed, they’re a a little cheaper and you can install Windows on the new Apple so that you can choose Apple or Windows when the laptop starts.

Some doubts came up tough though as I was thinking of working with the laptop, as for instance, laptop.  For instance, will I use the famous Microsoft Word in order to write texts or should I choose Open Office Writer, which is free? And other Another doubt came up as I was thinking of creating a web page. You yourself can make by yourself your own web page with ease. First I knew Microsoft Front Page but someone recommended to me Dreamweaver and I took it at the first glance. Dreamweaver has a lot of templates and you can make a web page in a short while.

Where there are no doubts for me is when I’m surfing the Intenet, the World Wide Web. Almost everyone uses Microsoft Explorer but since I knew Firefox there’s no doubt, no explorer can catch her. Firefox has a lot of plugins to surf much better than with Explorer.

Anyway, I will quit for now, I have to check my Facebook wall and then I have to upload a video to Youtube. And I’m also thinking of signing up in on Twitter, since it seems to be very popular…

_____________

Fecking snow…

The snow can be charming, moreover especially/particularly when you are not used to it. My flat mate Rafa (the Brazilian guy from Sao Paulo) is excited about that. He’s been playing the whole week with his Brazilian school mates doing making snowmen, fighting in continuous wars, and rolling over the snow with happiness… Rafa had never seen the snow and now he’s giving free rein to that piled old wish from his childhood.

As far as I’m concerned, I’m sick of the fecking snow.

I’ll upload some pictures into Facebook to document the snow issue, but I’m posting here this video taken the other day when the worst was yet to come. At the present moment, the city is paralyzed, buses are off not running, most flights are canceled (by for the second day) and the streets are only a way to find troubles as run into trouble like falling or as like finding arsehole guys as like the ones that who bumped into me last night when I was coming back home by on foot (it took me an hour) since buses weren’t riding running. There were 8 or 9 teenagers that who seemed to be playing with a man in a house. Tough Though they weren’t actually playing, they were bugging him, having making fun at of him, throwing snowballs to at the house in a very nasty way. When they realized that I was passing by and I was looking at them, they looked at me in a threatening way and my “happy” idea was to say something rough some nonsense in Spanish that I can’t remember which triggered them to start a mercilessly snowball war against me… I threw them back a couple of balls but it wasn’t a smart idea; the ring-bell ringleader came towards me following my steps two meters far behind whilst while we both kept staring at each other holding the snowballs in our hands… He threw me his ball at me, it didn’t hit me, but I didn’t throw mine back; then he threw me another one at me missing it again and I kept calm grabbing holding mine in my hand… Then he got tired and went back with his fellows. It was a good thing I didn’t throw my snowball, that would have been my ruin, for sure. When I told my story to my landlady, she let me know how dangerous is that neighborhood, since there are living over there too many riffraff (“riffraff” es una palabra curiosa, una que no sugiere peligro…..en este caso yo usaría algo como “hoodlums.”).

I insist: I’m pissed off of at the snow.

_____________

Controladores

Has anyone ever seen an air traffic controller? I’ve never seen them. One. I know teachers, physicians, caretakers, nurses, bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, shop assistants, waiters, etc, etc, etc, (from of both sexes, of course) and I even know a petrologist, despite of the fact that it’s a very rare specimen species (so odd that even the spellchecker shows it up as an error). Anyway, I don’t know any air traffic controllers, none. They There must be very few. Few but with a big great power, as they have put the country in alarm situation state of alarm and the government has sent the military to put things in “order” and they are have even threatened them even with prison.

Well, our government position is something to be admired; they are facing dealing firmly and toughly (teoréticamente, “toughly” es adjetivo, pero suena raro) the rough harsh movements maneuvers of this privileged group who that is pissing off to thousands of people dreaming of enjoying a nice holiday time (among all of them it’s including me and my friend who was going to meet me to spend some nice days together). It seems that our government won’t skimp on all any kind of tough measures to put these cocky guys back to in the yard. What were these workers are thinking about!

So… what has been made done by our government when a really small group of super-privileged bankers and financial speculators (besides other despicable riffraff) has pissed off screwed up the life to lives of the millions of Spaniards from the above paragraph? Has the government sent to them the military after them or threatened them putting them into prison? No, they haven’t. What they have done it’s to is throw themselves at their “defenceless” feet and they have miserably looked down on the millions of Spanish people, selling themselves to those mean and stingy ass-hole thieves so that the “system” keeps going on “right”.

Anyway, there is no solution, this small group of gentleman-thieves bandits has won  the match and we are terrified by them. We’ll hate the air traffic controllers because they’ve ruined our weekend, and we’ll give our government a round of applause if they hire them or put them into prison, but we’ll keep putting our ass up facing the sun whilst while we leave let the government to sodomize us day after day with no word of complaint about leaving from our mouths until no trace of dignity reminds remains in our memory.

I know that I’m not the right person to talk about all this stuff since I’m still one of the more privileged people in this social disaster, but what it seems to me more hideous abhorrent/loathsome is that it is to be considered a workers “privilege” to have the chances I can enjoy. To take an unpaid leave when you need it, or to be awarded with a grant to improve your working skills, or to enjoy the proper holidays… all of that hadn’t shouldn’t have to be a privilege but a common right to any worker. That tiny group of mafia gangsters is setting up a slavery slave society with the unconditional support of power. “Power”? Who has the power?
Yes, I know it; my words are just snowing over snow (it fits better these days than the rain expression), but I did fancy (no entiendo “fancy writing”) writing, you know. As here in Ireland this issue is the order of the day, then it flows is natural to speak about it.

To be honest, I don’t even care that if the conservative party gets to into the power on in the next elections. It seems to me healthier facing the enemy in front of me rather than having there some “so-called friends” who are vilely sticking a knife in your my back again and again.

___________________

En el aeropuerto

January 11, T1 Madrid airport. I’m already used to move moving through its corridors with ease, and I even greet some of the security staff… Right now I should be sleeping in the New Orleans’ hostel, but the flight was canceled yesterday and here we are yet still. To be honest, I reckon that I would have to say that the behavior from of everyone every one of the passengers was impressive. Or maybe it could be that people feel so bad about our social situation that to stay piss about in the airport it’s is not reason enough to loose lose control. Or maybe my friend Sergio’s philosophic philosophical statement “There is never enough calm” has spread among all of us.

We boarded yesterday with one hour delay due to a supposed mechanical issue (bad feelings to begin), and even though the commandant pilot (¿querías decir piloto?)seemed very optimistic saying that they were dealing trying to get an alternative route so that we could make up for lost time, actually the time was going by and nothing happened… In the end, he said that there was a missing paper that had to be signed by the. mechanical checking the fixing mechanic. And the paper didn’t come up. And the commandant saying not to pilot said that we could not take off without the paper. And it didn’t arrive. And two hour later, the commandant said that even getting now the paper, it was late, no chance to fly due to the rules about flying hours. And the flight was actually cancelled.

The rest of the day was underlined characterized by the treatment we suffered from United Airlines. First of all, the luggage didn’t appear until two hours later, and then there was the long line of about 300 people waiting to reach the United Airlines window where only two workers were doing all this job, trying to change the ticket to of each passenger. The timing for each passenger was around 10 to 20 minutes. Then, the one knowing maths math can calculate the figures… All this business with no food and no water unless you were looking after yourself. We were told that there was a hotel where we could to sleep, that was for sure, but I’m not sure at all that everyone went to sleep to at the hotel. I was lucky because I called to the agency where I bought the ticket (I’m not telling the name so that Baku doesn’t get angry, hehe) and they made all the arrangements to change the flight for next day. What a nice people! Anyway, when I got to the hotel it was more than past 6pm.

Well, I’ve I have to admit that the hotel was worth mentioning. The Auditorium, 4 stars. Amazing place, to tell truth, I was scared. The corridor to get to my room was about 80m long. The room was about 35 square meters, and the bed, king size. I’ve never slept in such a place. I was really worry worried about the possibility to get of getting a rash…

Now I’m in the line to board, and it seems we’ll board in a short while, they say that the plane is brand new… let’s see how is it going now.

 

———–

Los “meetup” otra vez

In order to keep continue the habit I started in Dublin about meetups, I’ve joined three of them since I came here. That is: a humanist-freethinkers one (a bunch of atheists, so to say speak) , another one of vegetarian people (most of them are vegan, that’s why we have already had some differences) and another one of people joining to speak Spanish. This last meetup, though we could think of it not to be the most suitable one for my linguistic purpose, not the most suitable for my linguistic purposes, it’s the one I enjoy the most, as it’s a gathering a group of really interesting people and it’s also good to for me in order to give some fresh air to my brain. Moreover, it’s also worth it a relief to speak English when the group are is overwhelmed of by speaking Spanish and they also need some fresh air for their brains… Among these people, there is an USA-Argentinian man, Wilfred, who is very talkative (as it happens with Argentinian people) and works as a freelance architect, who likes to take some (a few…..demasiadas “some”s) days off to visit go to places where to help people. Then, he He was helping in Haiti and he is now about to leave for some several days to in Brasil, where the floods happened. There is also George Blow, who was an accomplished actor and TV anchorman, and now he has become a writer. I have to read a book from his one of his books, so I’ll tell about it. And well, there are other interesting people who help to think that make meeting them every Tuesday at 7pm can be a really joyful enjoyable activity.

The atheist group (to shorten the group name) is the one who that I used to meet during the last visit to this city, and even not having many meetings, their brain activity is overwhelming. I left the Sunday’s brunch totally exhausted due to my effort to keep up with everything they were talking about.

The veggie group are is a world apart. Their current main activity is to set up the “III Nola Veggie Fest” taking part on in May, which and it will only hold offer the vegan option. To tell the truth, I found some positions, let’s say, quite a bit extreme, which made me give them my opinion about that, arguing that to pursue a 100% coherent position it’s is not the best thought. This opinion didn’t like please them very much… Then, I found myself being the odd one at the vegetarian meeting… We had a potluck on Sunday evening where every dish was vegan, of course, and it the incident with one of the dishes turned out pretty curious the incident with one of the dishes: the dish was a delicious good-looking squash made by a non-vegan guy, who made the big mistake to put of putting in butter in… The squash was eliminated from the table straight away. I came around to the poor guy trying to give him support and I asked him to if I could try out his squash out, and then we went in a corner of the room keeping an eye around out and we ate a bit of the delicious (ya has usado “delicious”….sería major si usaras una palabra como “beautiful” o “exquisite”) squash…

To be honest, since I came here I don’t find the real meaning to of the words “normal” and “odd” when it comes to talking about people…

_______________________________

The 7th ward. Episode 8

I can affirm that 1358 Saint Anthony is enjoying the steadiest (posiblemente “most stable” sería major) period since I came here. This could change in (at) any moment, though. In fact, Tuckers’ (Tucker’s) current situation (he is living his unsteady (unstable) period since I came here) could trigger a home adversity sooner than later. At least, I hope to have time enough to finish this post before something wrong happens… Anyway, Tucker will be the main character on the next episode. Don’t miss it!

Eventually, Rachel didn’t show up, so there was no home pink re-painting. I have no idea why she didn’t come, but I reckon it’s been better for us. Robyn took her place. He is a 19 y.o. baby whose resume shows him (says/indicates that he is a ) as Camera Operator/Editor, Production Assistant and Filmmaker. Born in Maryland, he studied at Orlando University when he turned 17 and graduated a 4-year major in 2 years, thanks to the intensive program offered by the University: 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. And now he has just moved to Nola because this is the new Hollywood in the US. It turns out to be the cheapest place to produce a movie, and it’s well known that money counts everywhere… He told me about a movie where all the scenes are supposed to belong (take place in) to LA although it was totally filmed here… movie world is an illusion, of course. Well, if someone is interested on (in) him, here is the link where to watch one of his short-movies: http://www.vimeo.com/9562846

In any case, his coming turned out interesting. He got home with his car towing a small U-Haul trailer top filled with his stuff. In less than two hours his room astonishingly came to live (life). He brought his own bed, a leather desk chair, an individual armchair which “invited” one to lay down on it for hours, a bed site bedside lamp, a state-of-the-art desk lamp, a dreadfully ugly Chinese paper hanging lamp, several curtains, a hideous porcelain vase (not my cup of tea, I mean), a number of dubious taste ornaments (well, maybe it’s my fault, I’m becoming older and I’m always criticizing), some relatives’ family pictures, one poster from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, and the most impressive, one huge carpet covering almost all the room, one of those typical carpets sold by the Arabs in the streets. Oh, he also brought two office-sized printers, one TV, a $1-shop-look jembe, a Spanish guitar, two 30-pound dumbbells (30 pounds each one, damn, too heavy…), and two big boxes, one plenty of books and the other one plenty of Whey jars. He told me that proteins are extremely important for our bodies.

However, the most interesting thing about his coming was how he couldn’t help the scare showed hide the worry in his face for a couple of days. He had paid more than $1000 in advance not knowing where he was going to live. And all of the sudden he found himself in a house located in a, say, “peculiar” neighborhood, meeting a not less peculiar landlord (we know that Tucker must be treated as a special case; and Robyn was aware of that right away), meeting also a roommate (James) difficult to get it (the guy who spent the winter in Alaska), and meeting that grey-haired elderly roommate saying with his strange accent that he had come from the distant Europe only to study English… On the second day, since I noticed from his languid look that he was feeling something like “oh, where the hell am I?… Mum, mum, where are you?”, then I talked to him and tried to do some kind of therapy. I talked about the passionate temper of Tucker and how it’s necessary to be patient and astute to deal with him and his eccentricities… I also talked about the neighborhood pointing out that it’s totally safe. And finally, I tried to prove to him that the house was a nice place to live and I promised him not to play my sax after 10pm… Later on he told me that my approach to him that day, despite my weird accent, was reassuring and he felt much better. Now, two weeks after his coming, he’s relaxed and he even has started some fights with Tucker. Well, he is 19 and it’s normal he shows that rebellious character against Tucker’s eccentricities. Then I take the tribe-ancient role (anyway, maybe it’s not a role but a real fact, I’m the oldest here…) and I try to give a “zen” vision of the situation in order to calm the atmosphere and suggesting that it is better to ignore Tucker. I tell Robyn that the important thing is not what Tucker does (Tucker is like that and nobody is going to change it) but the attitude to face that situation (you know what, getting so many self-help power points in the mail, teaches you a lot, hehe).

As for James, no important news to mention. He’s still that odd human being who sleeps with the light on and goes back and forth across the house so silent that is impossible to notice whether he is in or he is not. Nevertheless, we get along well so far. His girlfriend is hanging around sometimes with her daughter, but I haven’t seen his two children yet. I don’t know where they are living. And I don’t know if he visits them sometimes, either. Well, he might have told me, but since I don’t understand him, I know very little about his life. His accent is impossible to me. It’s like an American who is going to study Spanish in Spain and his roommate turns out to be from Cadiz…

So, with Tucker living out of the house (which doesn’t stop him to come from coming in whenever he wants) there is a calm atmosphere in the house. Anyway, this is my last month here. The decision it’s already taken has already been made (and Tucker knows that) and next I’ll be out from this house. During the first week of May I’ll try to stay in a place in the city, and the rest of the month I’ll be traveling due to since my classes will be over. I do need to know other accents, I do need to practice the language with many other people… my linguistic training needs that challenge, there is nothing I can do about that but traveling… Anyway, all this these issues are yet to come. And this month is coming becoming pretty interesting.

———————————————

The 7th ward. Episode 9

Tucker has moved to a trailer (mobile-home). It’s located near by our neighbourhood, some blocks away. It’s far enough to keep life quiet at 1358 Saint Anthony, but close enough to meet Tucker on the daily basis when he comes to have a shower, to use the restroom, or to do the washing. During the last month, his life has become a nightmare thanks to his high-blood-pressured passion. But, committing his suicide (no entiendo muy bien qué quiere decir) , he has blown away his landlord (the store’s owner), as if it were sort of a new Katrina. And that store was the place where he was about to open his thrift business.

But before to tell telling this story, let’s get to know a bit better to this character. Tucker’s childhood wasn’t easy. A number of familial problems and some sordid episode being as a child shaped a rough personality. He usually is on the defensive and thinks that a good attack is the best self-defence (es como se escribe en Inglaterra/Irlanda, pero en este país, escribomos “defense”). I find found that all these issues made it quite difficult to live next to him; you must learn as soon as possible where his boundaries are because you don’t want to see him drawing his claws (muy bien). Still, he was working for almost 20 years on TV, down in Miami. He started really young and lived different times in that intricate world until he became a well-known TV presenter at a popular night show. Live Life went smoothly and he soon won his first million dollars. As it usually happens, he won the money as easily as he squandered (muy bien) it. You don’t want to walk around Miami streets with a casual outfit dressed too casually; there are some “decorum” rules to take into account if you don’t want to be pointed out, in particular when you are a famous TV presenter. That’s why Tucker weighed up (no entiendo “weighed up”) to own a large closet, the kind of closet which a Hollywood Star should own, as well as a huge glasses sunglasses collection: he had more than one hundred where none of them were worth less than $300. Tucker’s life was like an Almodovar early movie, pure passion. I hardly know a bunch of his life anecdotes, but I truly believe that HBO producers would have enough stories for a number of seasons…

And then he thought it was time to move on. He left his job in TV, put everything he owned in a trailer (I’m not talking about a regular trailer but a huge-5-axis axle one), and headed to his birthplace, New Orleans. That happened the last week of august August 2005. To someone who is not from New Orleans it may not be clear when that hurricane called Katrina came over the city. But none of the New Orlinians will ever forget that August, 28^th 2005 and the terrible days that followed. Tucker is among them.

The trailer didn’t make it. It disappeared with the storm. Tucker, whose intention it was to sell everything in the trailer so that getting he had enough money to start over, headed back to Miami with no money and no personal goods. Confused and with no horizon, Tucker found a job as a bartender in a restaurant. He changed his look in order to go unnoticed. Though, there were people who still recognized him; that’s what happens when you have been a TV star. Nevertheless, he pulled himself together and tried to give a good service to get a good tip… He got deeply depressed, neglected himself, and got gained 65 extra pounds. His life ran downhill with like a roller-skate and no brakes (excerpt from the Spaniard Bebe’s lyrics). One day, he was watching looked at a picture took taken by his friends and he couldn’t recognize himself. One of his mates told him, “hey, of course you’re in the picture, this is you!” This was such a tough sharp-pain that he woke up from his deep coma and had enough clarity to be aware of his situation, and he realized that he had to stand on his ashes (no entiendo esta frase) or he would be over.

And he headed back again to New Orleans to start a new life time from scratch (muy bien). Now, he knows how to cruise with no helm and with the main sail down (muy muy bien), just letting himself drifting away by the hesitant flow of Mississippi Bayous. I just reminded him some days ago what he told me about the mess in the house, stating that it was only a 2-or-3-days-transition (estás aprendiendo muy bien el uso de los guiones, algo que la mayoría de los angloparlantes nuuuuuuunca hace correctamente…..pero en este caso lo correcto sería 2- or 3-day transition period) period… Then he thoughtfully smiled and said, “Yes, I’ve been living in a transition period for 5 years now.”

And his temperament has added excitement to this transition. The thrift business it was suffering a delay due to certain jobs (electricity, plumbing, painting…) which were not well addressed (muy bien) by the workers hired by the owner. There are the kinds of works which jobs that are usually done by Latinos what which means that they leave their stamp there, “mañana, mañana… (tomorrow, tomorrow…)”, and it becomes a rule. This pissed off Tucker. But also his landlord was pissed off since Tucker had all the lights and the AC on all the day long, even with him out. To say the truth, I’ve never noticed any trace of conservationist feelings from Tucker. Then, the landlord made a big mistake: he asked Tucker to pay the electricity bill as well as the month rental (he has not been paying so far due to the works repair work in the store). The landlord wasn’t aware what rough terrain(muy bien) he was stepping in. He had just triggered a war which he had lost it beforehand: Tucker may die on the battlefield, but he will go down fighting and killing the other.

I was eagerly (and puzzled) attending to awaiting the daily news from Tucker. Either he stopped by to give me the last piece of news or did texted me. And when the news was more important he phoned me. Anyway, I’ll go on. After a number of tough arguments between them which made things even worse, the landlord cut off the electricity one day. Tucker, experienced enough with this kind of stuff, broke the electricity box, turned on the electricity, and destroyed the lock so that the landlord can’t do it again. Then the next day, the landlord went into the store trying to take with him the AC (a really big unit, by the way) but he couldn’t make it and went out empty hands empty handed. But Tucker has a video recorder always on and got the landlord images. The landlord threatened Tucker on with calling the police but it was Tucker who did it. He accused him of burglary and illegal power cut off… Eventually, the authorities showed up at the store and this was what triggered (muy bien) the final coming events. The inspectors found several serious problems such as a hazardous foundation, walls with a lot of breaks cracks, illegal electrical installation and a number of other defects which leaded Tucker and the landlord to an upcoming meeting at the tribunals.

Apparently, tribunals here work fast and Tucker and the landlord faced the court in less than a week. The sentence: Tucker had 5 days to leave the store and once he was out, the store would be closed waiting for a possible demolition… Besides, the landlord will have to pay a $25,000 fine.

Some days before the judgment, as Tucker suspected that something like that could happen, he got a trailer doing some strange business. He hadn’t the money (in fact, he asked me for some money in advance from of my next month rental in order to make ends meet) (muy bien), so I can’t figure out how he managed to get the trailer. Anyway, I’ll try to find it out one of these days. The thing is that since last Monday Tucker is living a bit tighter than he used to. And so we are are we, since all his stuff is back into the house. Pictures will tell what I mean.

I have no idea whether Tucker has learnt something from all this issue. I’m afraid he has not. He doesn’t look happy these days, this is true, but I neither heard any regret. The landlord sent him a text message asking him if he found all of this issue had been worth the result. However, Tucker kept saying that the power cut off action and asking for the rental was unforgivable… Anyway, it may happen that some day Tucker reminds remembers his therapist’s advice “temper your passion”, but I don’t find he has already internalized the message. As for me, I’ve learnt to keep at a safety gap safe distance and I find myself to be a privileged member of the audience in this show. I only wish to be far enough away so that his business doesn’t hassle me too much.