Busy mind
Look at the time. I shouldn't be here. I should be sleeping. Or flying to Texas, recovering from a drinking binge, driving a Harley across the Freeway 6. Anything but typing away at 7.23 am on a Monday morning.

The mind has its own ways. I've been beside myself for a while now. But lately things are just getting worse. Let's face it, there is too much for me to deal with. Friends, family, work. I have worries in every department. Enough to keep me up at night. Enough to have me vacantly staring at the walls.

Just look at the time. I'm not being fair to myself. My body shouldn't pay for my mind's excesses.

P.S.: Beautiful Lucia is one year old today!!!!

Lies in a jar
Kurt says you're not to wear any anti-wrinkle treatment til you reach 35. I guess my mum shares his opinion. This means my cosmetic gurus wouldn't approve my buying the creams i believe i need. They're probably right. I don't need any of that crap. Because it's nothing more than lies in a jar.

Still, there is something about those adds, the little glass containers, the gold lines and the NASA-looking list of ingredients that makes me long for the nearest beauty store... sad, right?

My friend Morgana is even more of a junkie. She will actually go out and buy the stuff.

When we lived together she used to add new bottles and jars every week or so. Normal-to-dry skin, silky hair, longer looking legs. You name it, we had a sample in our bathroom.

Not that i didn't have my own products. One day i bought something supposed to discourage your bikini-line hair from growing.

Our friend Silvia thought it was gel and she styled her hair with it. That's what you get when you mess around other people's cabinets.

On her way
She's on her way. She'll be 29 years and a month when she finally lands here, all wisdom and new perspectives in her life.

Perhaps she would have liked a bigger u-turn in her career, but destiny has its funny twists and makes a lot of small decisions for you, so this city will unfold its many roads to her as of the early days of May.

Don't worry, LovelyV, we all know change is hard and thrilling, and that's what draws us towards it anyway. So we will all stand by you on your adaptation period: your friends and the army of strangers that wait on the new road ahead.

Here's to you and the horizon you're bringing. Here's to you and us two.

Is it question day yet?

1. What was your most memorable moment from the last week?
Spending all night up at work with Trix, watching the Oscars. Earlier that evening, we had dinner with F. and then went to a late show of 'Chicago'. Those were the best moments of last week.

2. What one person touched your life this week?
Interesting question. I guess that would be Antonio Vega, who played two metres from me on Tuesday night.

3. How have you helped someone this week?
By getting out of his way.

4. What one thing do you need to get done by this time next week?
I should celebrate my friend Montse's birthday one way or the other. Also, pay my phone bill and put some money aside to start giving my masterplan a financial backup.

5. What one thing will you do over the next seven days to make your world a better place?
Get my hair dyed. That should make the world a more beautiful place.

Happy fact

This is the best movie script written this past year in Hollywood and beyond. According to the Academy, that is. One happy and accurate fact.

Weather affair
I've tried reasoning, but it's no use. No matter how many times i tell my calendar that spring began on friday, he looks the other way. I suspect he is having a steamy romance with this year's winter and it's hard for him to say goodbye.

They won't get back together in months, so on these last days he holds on to the rain, hiding behind miserable temperatures and pushing the sun deep behind the shadows.

I won't blame him, but someone has to convince my calendar that spring can be as good a companion as any given season, and she is willing to blossom in this city, making everyone a little nervous, eager for the sunshine and sneezy. Spring's ways of catching your eye.

My calendar sighs and whispers christmas carrols when he thinks i'm not aware, while his winter dances under the wind, spinning madly and laughing at those silly new born flowers.

A food pro
Have i ever told you that Tom is an extremely good cook? Have i mentioned that he is one happy soul when he's in the kitchen? A couple of weeks ago it was his birthday and i agreed with our friends that we'd do a theme for presents: food. So he got a magnificent wok, a brilliant cookbook, three exquisite bottles of wine and a complete uniform. I've got a pro at home!

And we might have someone following his steps in the family...

Anyway, Tom's cooking for some friends today. The first hint i got this morning was him sitting at the kitchen, staring at a recipe book. I'll keep you posted on the menu.

A-listing with the Five

1. If you had the chance to meet someone you've never met, from the past or present, who would it be?
It should be a party that gathered John Cusack, Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie and probably Jude Law, if Nicole isn't in sight.

2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be?
How about a cortesan in the Moulin Rouge? Without the uncomfortable diseases and the ugly costumers, please.

3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be?
New York City, Quebec or some long forgotten island inhabited by dead rock stars.

4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be?
I'd be a human-sized Tinkerbell!

5. If you had to live with someone else's face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be?
Gisele's face would do, methinks.

The genocide has begun
I cried this morning when i read the news. As much as i knew war was only hours away, the sense of helplessness and disgust came rushing down my spine. Of course, marching on the streets won't stop the attacks, but i think unity in peace is more important than ever.

Here's what you can do in Spain and in the rest of the world.

Serene
Complaining is so easy it sometimes works like a drug, or a mantra you say to yourself, you discuss in public and you take on holidays with you. Since i'm already considering quitting smoking and controlling my temper, i might as well try to stop complaining. Enough about not having the perfect life, being miserable at work and feeling empty two thirds of my day.

I'll let you into a little secret. There is one word that has been missing from my vocabulary for at least four years. Serenity. The concept is too priceless to give up on, so i've decided i'm going to work my way to regain it.

Life's a bitch and then you die, they say. Think positive, they might add. I've already tried a million strategies but i've finally learned that, given the state of my ordinary life, there is only one way of getting things back in track. Cool down, breathe in, find your long lost serenity and expect very little.

My new masterplan is about taking a minimum of six months off work, freelance for a while to cover expenses, write my book and then go back to the paper wearing a new me. It's either that or going back to the complaining phase. I guess sometimes you just have to start walking.

Fame in the game
I haven't played my Sims in a long time.

Maybe i lost interest after the endless days of ruining their lives, spending their money on love bath-tubs and taking their children to the social workers. Or perhaps i virtually have no free time anymore, and the luxury of having these little people keep me up all night has become too much of a luxury.

Other alternatives include that i've finally grown up and i'm not into playing games anymore, though this is highly unlikely. Anyway, i thought this was a sign of my time and maybe i could explore other (video) worlds out there.

But then Electronic Arts comes up with this.

Rap date
I've got some hip-hop on next week's agenda. Considering my recent enthusiasm for Eminem i might have to consider where my musical taste is really going. The thing is i'm going to a concert next saturday, with Tom and Kurt, that i hope is going to be a true original experience.

Mala Rodríguez is a twentyish rapper girl from Sevilla. She used to scrub floors and hang out with the tough guys in the neighbourhood before she recorded her one and only album that caused an airwave revolution. Then a fashionable film director put one of her singles in his latest movie and hell broke lose.

I bought the cd two years ago and it still makes me go wild with every single song. She mixes her powerful lyrics with pure hip-hop base and sensual sounds, all wrapped up in her sexy broken voice. Apparently, she still has a lot to learn on stage presence, where she acts with shyness and sometimes rather aggressively. I don't know, i haven't seen her yet. But i can't wait.

Any hints on what i should wear to blend in with the crowd...;-) ?

The right words
Music was one of my new year resolutions in december. I wanted to write lyrics and i was trying to imagine the way i'd trick my friends into performing them, finding the right rythm and maybe even sticking everything together on a home cd. Anyway, that was in december and now, in the middle of march, i know none of this is bound to happen next week.

I've already written a few songs. Most of them are a minimum of six or seven years old, but every time i re-read them i get that december urge. I'm the kind of girl who can't help but listen to the lyrics before the music kicks into my system. I'm weird like that. I listen to the new bands on the radio and i shiver. Some of them are making huge money with words so silly it makes me want to laugh.

I love well written songs. They're as effective to me as a brilliant film, a nice cocktail at the end of a beautiful day or a gorgeous stranger smiling at you when you're feeling terribly single.

These are a few samples that spring to mind:

I watched you suffer a dull aching pain,
Now you've decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or offstage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind
(U2, 'Wild horses' from 'Achtung baby')

"It's been a long December
and there's reason to beleive
maybe this year will be
better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself
to hold on to these moments as they pass".
(Counting Crows, 'A long December' from 'Recovering the satellites')

"From Marilyn to Madonna
I always loved your smile
Now we're headed for the big divorce
California-style".
(Neil Young, 'From Hank to Hendrix' from 'Harvest Moon')

"I saw you out there yesterday
what did you want to say
a perfect piece of dna
caught in a flashing ray".
(Red Hot Chili Peppers, 'This is the place' from 'By the way')

Look it up
You people crack me up with searches like these.
I mean, really.

The colours of the city

I can't think of a better way to celebrate Tom's 27th birthday (happy year, love) than strolling around this neighbourhood on a sunny afternoon.

I can be this person
Today was my second day off after getting up before dawn all weekend and driving myself to that beautiful job i have. The adjective was there just in case my boss is reading ;-). Anyway, i woke up to a sunny sky and decided to go downtown, maybe do some shopping, walk around.

But then i got a call from my mother, asking if i wanted to go skiing with my sister. The first thought that crossed my mind was 'does the pope wear a funny hat'. I got a few things in my backpack and ran off. One hour later i was going down those slopes like there was no tomorrow, enjoying the weather, the turn on my skis, the magnificent trees and the fact that i was finally skiing after such a long time.

As i was going up on the chair lift i was completely aware of how lucky i was. Being able to wear skis on a weekday afternoon, the energetic sun shining so bright it was almost blinding, and relaxing every little dark corner of my mind... I wish i could be this Tuesday person forever.

Music for the (connected) masses
Feel like browsing? I've been looking around some interesting official web sites of bands and singers that catch my attention every once in a while.

Since it may be a dull Sunday moment for some of you, i thought i'd share my musical links. There you go. You're welcome. I'm bored too.

Moby
Great journal, updated almost daily

Garbage
I'd buy myself the cherry t-shirts if i were you

Eminem
It comes with Eminem windows keys and everything... (?)

Springsteen
Nice lyric search

JLo
I'm no fan, but the souvenirs section cracks me up

Pearl Jam
Beautiful site, incredible timeline navigation

U2
Not that beautiful, but i recommend the exclusive videos

Summer in February
Meet the heat in the street, the endless Miami nights at the trendiest spots and the drinks at the dirtiest holes, while Delores welcomes you to her guesthouse, the president becomes a dolly and a tiger-cat gives you the eye.

The pictures of the fastest trip in my life are up and about to run.

No one can stop him now
The people tried telling him. Other politicians openly said to him he was wrong. But it didn't matter.

He is a man with a mission and his mission is quite clear. No plea is going to stop him from getting his bloody oil. Not even when Iraq starts destroying what they've them asked to hand over. I wonder what Bush's next excuse will be to keep on the war path.

Peace demonstration at Strasbourg.
Photo by Reuters