The living room/office is finally taking shape, the spirit of the beige-loving lady who lived here before slowly exorcized, and it feels more like home.

But it increasingly looks like the speakers that I got years ago and spent three months choosing no longer have any room in this apartment, and will probably have to go.

That kind of sucks, but it is a compromise of making the small space work, and shifting priorities, I suppose. I never really come home and simply listen to music anymore – so I don’t really need the stereo that will faithfully reproduce every tiny detail, and the alarm-clock speaker will have to do.
I connected the ancient headless Mac Mini to it, and it can be controlled with the Remote app, so that will be good enough.

A story about being in the gutter, but looking at the stars.

yungcosmonauts:

i-am-satan-666:

First of all, excuse my English, I learned it by myself and it isn’t very good.

Here’s the thing: My name is Ana Miranda, and I’m a 21-year-old writer from a little country in Latin America, Paraguay. You can find my book here, in Spanish: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014G8OS54?linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_yTTQwb09V2Y9A&tag=kpembed-20

THE THING IS I’m unhappy. Utterly unhappy..

I love Literature, and writing. I also love languages (Latin, English, Japanese, German and SPANISH OF COURSE <3). I have a career in Literature (in Spanish): I’m about to be finished with my degree, and I have excellent grades (4.92/5, so far). Everyone around here says I’m a prodigy, and what-not, and “keep writing Ana” and blah blah blah (no, I’m not, I just do everything with love).

However, the things I really, really love, are stars. Stars and physics to explain all that is there to know about them. Here we don’t have “Astronomy” as a degree. Even if we did, I couldn’t afford it (I’m always working and writing to pay bills). My dad could pay the whole career for me, in Argentina or another country but

but

he won’t. He just won’t.

And that’s ok (I mean, it isn’t, but I cried enough already).

I despise this country. It is awful, and it has tied me down to it. I’ve always have despised it, and since I was little, I’ve wanted to leave it. There are no kind words to say about this place. It has drained me, it keeps doing it every single day.

But I’m tired of dwelling on self-pity.

I was always good with Math, Physics and Chemistry, back when I was at school. I’m really good at comprehending and grasping abstract concepts just by reading the books, or watching them at work.

It’s not much, but it will have to suffice. So, I have a plan now! 😀

I’m studying German, and with my grades, I hope I can obtain a scholarship to go to Germany to study Linguistics (I want a fine education, for once). And then, I can find myself a job there and stay.

Once I’m done with Linguistics, I plan to study Astrophysics. Because it is for me, I was made for it, I can tell, I can feel it and I just can’t stand looking at the night sky without crying because I’m living in the gutter (like Wilde said) but I want more, so much more, and I’m always looking at the stars.

I don’t want fame nor fortune. I want to learn about stars (and yes, of course, the whole, magnificent universe), I want to help discover more about them, I want to understand everything I can (part of my unhappiness comes from how little time I have to learn so many interesting things in this life!), and if I were to ever come back here, I want to teach people about them.

It’s a crazy plan, but it could work. I have a plan b, c, and even d to reach my goal, but I hope this one works. I’ve made so many crazy things work already…

Of course, I don’t expect to switch that easily to this complicated (but quite lovely <3) field of study: I’m studying hard everyday now. I’m with finals at uni, but I only need to study one hour for each test. So I try to focus on science now, so I won’t get left behind. I’m re-learning and learning things by myself, and I feel more confident everyday. First the basics, then the most advanced parts. What I don’t understand, I will ask my friends (I still haven’t come to that, though).

There’s a saying in latin: “Astra inclinant, sed non obligant”, which means “Stars incline us, but they do not bind us”.

I don’t really know if I was born or not to decipher those mysteries of stars. (Hell, I don’t even know if I’m not bound to die here, in this place that makes me feel miserable every day I’m alive.)

But I want to be one of those who did, who do, who will do.

I wasn’t born under a lucky star, but I was definitely born a fighter. I know I’m naïve, but I’m still a naïve fighter.

So please, please, please help me. Please buy my book (I have bills to pay, or else I won’t be able to ever leave). If you’re an astrophysicist, you can also help me by linking me to some useful resources to learn by myself.

I just want to know more.

I don’t think I’m defying some natural order by doing so.

Please, help me.

And I promise I will help those in need when the time comes.

I know I have some Spanish-speakers among you all, peep that book!

Best of luck to you 🙂

Do I have any Spanish-reading followers? Her kindle book is only US$4, and she deserves all the help she can get.

In spite of the flood of disturbing reports coming from both the Antarctic and the Arctic—just a few days ago, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that the extent of the Arctic ice cap in winter had hit a record low for the second year in a row—the issue of climate change has rarely come up during the Presidential primary campaign.

Elizabeth Kolbert, “Climate Catastrophe, Coming Even Sooner?” (via newyorker)

at this point, we should just let the denialists save faces, and just say, regardless of what is causing this climate change, we should throw everything we have at dealing with the consequences and figure out a program of how we’re going to adapt (and stop contributing to CO2 levels ourselves, whatever that contribution is, and stop subsidizing building of housing and infrastructure in places that will inevitably get flooded)

that Panama papers leak is going to be huge!

Actually ran into the old landlady in the street. She was happy to see me, and to meet L and I was glad to see her going strong.
She said about a lot of housing turnover on her block, and how they are thinking of moving, too. They lived there their entire lives.
I asked her how she liked the new park that was being protested at the time when I lived there. She said that it was okay, but that she didn’t enjoy how someone would have a meal on their stoop and leave all the garbage for them to clean up in the morning.

For today’s walk with L, took the train to the neighborhood I once considered home.
It’s been a while, and it’s pretty as ever.
It’s funny to see the big red posters in every multimillion-dollar house, right above the blue Bernie-2016 stickers. “Save our neighborhood”, they plead. “No towers!”, they demand.
It’s funny how once I would have supported them, but now, living in exactly the no-frills box of a tower they are protesting, I can’t help it but feel schadenfreude.
They will likely get to keep their places tower-free, tasteful, wholesome and pretty, occasionally grumbling about tourists from other parts of the town who come and visit.