Jaja, if you actually get that title and how it correlates with things, you're awesome.
Firstly, let me say "Merry Christmas Eve, Eve" to everyone.
To fill in anyone not "in the know" I've been gone for... well, almost a year. A quick breeze through my last installments would pretty much allude to any questions as to why. In short I was regretful of the direction this site was going. I've made no qualms about letting that be known.It was my impression that they wanted people to leave. However, someone gifted me a renewed subscription. No shit, thanks. Out of gratitude, I'm giving the site another whirl. I logged in to find that I had over 60 messages and about 210 alerts... thank you to all who didn't forget about me. It took about six hours to get through it all, but nice nonetheless.
Some things I've noticed, is that no lie, 90% of people I'm seeing in the groups or comments, are completely new (After I left) which is heartbreaking. Namely as if I don't know these people, then 90% f the people on the site don't know me. So... now I have to go through all of that again. Fun stuff. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to find that nobody is reading this. Also, I've noticed that the groups or any semblance of a community or almost nil. I find it considerably hard to spend an hour on here, let alone two or more like I used to... but apparently a quick look on SEM Rush and SG's traffic is almost as high as it's ever been. Go figure. I do find it interesting that a SHIT load of those new people have purple markers (Hopefuls) I just wasn't expecting that.
Something I've been trying to do in my photography, is challenge myself to "shooting with film" again. Well, in a digital format, but as though I were shooting with film. More so in the sense that I stopped using the Live View function on my camera, in addition to trying to be more choosy on what I actually shoot, to compose and take better shots, not just bang out a shit ton and edit them down from there. Some shots I've taken recently:
Speaking of which, years ago, my goal was to be a staff photographer here on SG. Trying for years to make it happen. It's not that I "quit" trying per se... it's more like being a freshman and for four years, being after the prom queen, with the best of intentions... then at a party, walking in on her being tag teamed. Whatever you felt for her, that's sure to leave a bad taste in your mouth and change your willingness to approach what you once wanted. In any case, if a girl asks me to do a set for her, I'll probably do it and if enough make it to FP, I may apply, but it's not something I'm going to pursue in an active capacity. It's just not worth that much attention. Specifically, on account that my sets won't look like Alissa's... which her work is great and that's fine, but that's her style, not mine. Secondly, if a set DOES somehow go FP, like I want to wait almost two years to get paid? It just doesn't seem practical. That's what, six to nine months for the set to be queued, another six to nine months in MR (Realistically speaking) and then four to six months before I get the check... for $300?
Shiiiiit, there's so much this last year to catch up on, I had so much to say. So many things to catch up on. However, with the glaring certainty that hardly anyone is going to read this, combined with the fact that there's just too much stuff, I'll just go with ten things I've learned here since being gone:
1. The toilets have this thing where you flush them and they go higher than in the US. Needless to say, that caused quite a panic for the first few months. A little back story, when I was in highschool, I was at a party, drinking the night away, as Chumbawumba once suggested, only to end up in the bathroom. I didn't do anything that all people don't do when they're drunk, just "number one" but when I flushed it, the damn thing clogged up... up and over the bowl. Against all prayers that it wouldn't. Scarred me for life. So now whenever it looks as though it's passing the perceived water level of normalcy, I go into Panic Mode.
2. Colombians are generally speaking, pretty cool people. They will however, cut in front of you without a second thought. Most of the time, there's not even lines, just people crowding into somewhere BECAUSE so many people are trying to cut. Even when they DO have lines, there's people trying to wedge in at the front. So... watch out for that.
3. It is of my personal experience, that most Americans that come here and start businesses... are pieces of shit to the highest degree. They want to come down here, they play at it like they're Pablo Escobar or Tony Montana. Bragging about how much money they make... but does it count if a good amount of it is of ill gotten means, stealing it from your own employees? They also like to act a though them fucking you in the ass is doing you a favor. Which may pass for a young guy in this city who's just grateful to be earning more than the average, but the problem is, that if you've seen it before, these guys don't even try to hide it. One guy even went four days past the payment date, citing "Oh, I just forgot." Really, not even trying to hide what a douchebag you are?" Yea, I'm sure my landlord will totally understand that he forgot to pay me. Pretty sure he remembered to go out drinking that weekend.
4. Taxes here fucking blow. I mean the taxes on goods. Last year, I sent a package, labeling the valued contents as "Gifts" and they STILL taxed 33% on it. So needless to say, photographic stuff is being WAY higher sold. A battery for my camera, which costs anywhere from $20-40 in the US, costs $90+ here. There's this really cool truck here by Toyota, called a Hilux... which I'm guessing is pretty much like a Tundra, but a 2005 Hilux is the equivalent to $35,000... I don't think a brand NEW Tundra costs that much. I could understand if it was a ploy to get Colombians to buy Colombian brands to boost their own economy, but the problem is, there aren't any Colombian alternatives. Hell, I'd totally buy some if there were. It also hurts when I order equipment from outside the country, only for it to be sent twice and never receive it. Even a couple SG books... same thing. Booooo...!
5. I've discussed this one at length with someone on here, but here, it's like Tattooists, don't want your money. Or perhaps MY money, who knows. On separate occasions, I'd walked into a shop and each time, been there for no less than a half hour... yet not a single word was uttered to me. I even walked in once with Thanatoz, as she knew the guy and he STILL didn't say anything to me. I even tried a greeting to him, like "Que Tal" but nothing. Well, his shop's closed now, so I guess the joke's on him.
6. It's funny to me that the cleanest water in the world is here, but most places don't have hot water anywhere but the shower. Moving into a new pace within the next few days... this has kind of come to the forefront of my mind.
7. Cologne is a moot point. It's just too hot and wet to bother. Admittedly, very (VERY) few people know this, but I can't smell. I do however get sensations in my nose. It's what I imagine it to not be able to hear, but still feel whether someone's yelling in your ear, or doing a lover's whisper. So, some colognes feel like silk going up my nose, other smells feel like sandpaper... and anywhere in between. So a lot of the time, I can recognize something just by the way it feels. Kind of like if you run a cloth through your hand and feel like three frays in it, knowing what it is, eventually, if you do that, you'll know what it is already. So I actually slip up out of habit of saying that something "smells" but what I mean is that the scent "feels" like such and such.
8. One of the things I rather like here, is that everywhere is outside. Few places are locked up airtight, with an abundance of intentionally missing walls or parts of the wall. It really adds a certain... acknowledgement with one's environment.
9. Brian Griffin was a coked up D-bag of the highest calibre, but he was right: The key to losing weight IS "Put down the fork!!!" The people here eat in such a way, that they usually have a decent breakfast, a pretty large lunch, at about 2-5PM and then something small for dinner. I went from this on my first day here:
Fuck, I cringe every time I see this photo. Like... super bad cringe. Anyhow, about less than two months later, there was THIS:
I weighed myself like a month ago and somehow came out with 88kg, or roughly about 176lbs. 176lbs??? I haven't weighed that since I was like 15. Colombians also seem to have this thing about macadamia nuts... which I'm definitely getting on board with. So that probably hurts things.
10. Racism is alive and well here. I have people thinking that I have lots of money on account of being American, thus trying to take advantage of it, to which the cops seem pretty good about that... but I've also been denied things like cab rides. Now, I don't mean that in the whole "It could be anything, but I'm going to blame it on my race/nationality" thing... I've actually had cabs pull over, let me open the door, get a better look at me when I get in the back and proudly exclaim "No Americanos!" while pushing me to get out of their taxi. That shit definitely sucks when it's raining like crazy and they were the first to stop in a half hour.
So I saw my third set since the turnover. There's a girl on SG's Instagram that caught my eye, @Linzz. I went to see her set with baited anticipation and wouldn't you know it, she has surgically augmented breasts. I could literally hear the glass shatter. I'm not saying that she's ugly, or that she's a bad person for having them... (90% of the women I've personally encountered with them, are NOT a pleasure to be around... but I'll give her benefit of the doubt) but it boils down to this, some guys like blondes, some like brunettes... some guys like Latin girls, that's just their preference. Mine is just natural breasts, that's all.
So I just got back this morning, from a trip to Cali. That's "Cah-li" not "Caa-li" which has garnered a LOT of confusion with family and friends back in the US. Cali is a city in west Colombia. I was in the Granada area and even got some shooting done there as well.
Something you don't see in Medellin:
Some graffiti, Cali style:
Apparently, there's kids that dress up like demons and goblins, then go around beating drums, asking for money:
Me in random phases of eating:
Pretty sure I've picked up the aforementioned lost weight while in Cali.
Some cool December stuff:
At midnight, going into December first, the city lights up with fireworks. I actually took some footage of it from high up on the hill. It was really cool seeing all these bursts going off, all around the city.
There's a holiday here in early December on the seventh and eighth called Dia De Las Velitas, or Day of the Candles which is a pretty big family holiday. In which they get together and light candles to put out on the street as a vigil for the virgin of Immaculate Conception. That's how I understood it.
Admittedly, I haven't been out to see much of the lights so much at this point, but there is this really cool nativity scene over by where I live:
In which they replicate the journey of not only Mary and Joseph, but the Magi as well.
Honestly, I feel as though I'm forgetting a lot of stuff, but I should probably cut this off here, before it becomes a "Too Long; Didn't Read" scenario... so if you've made it this far, I applaud you, thanks. I've noticed that people don't really write these anymore, they just post photos like it's Instagram. I don't know, call me nostalgic but that was one of the things I liked about this site from former years, was that you could actually gain insight as to who someone was by reading them. Now it's just a bunch of photo blast posts and it's hard to care after awhile. To close this out, my usual tradition of offering a photo or such of advice:
Something to think about, yea?