minimalism

Forever. If things go the way I hope they do I hope to never see the United States again, except on vacation. Do I love my home country? Yes, but it has consistently let me down.Our government has made it nearly impossible for the "American Dream" to come true for anyone anymore. If you are born into wealth you can become more rich with careful investment, but if you live week to week, as most people do, you will probably never be able to achieve anything but the status you are currently situated in. That is a reality few have grasped, but it is an absolute truth. Dream all you want, you'll most likely never get there. The land of the free is far from it. It's a lie and a joke. Our freedoms and liberties are so restricted now that the only way to experience true freedom is to travel to other countries where it still actually exists.

The government there isn't perfect either, in fact it's probably even more corrupt than the US government. But there is one major difference. It is much closer to being a socialist government than our capitalist system, which works solely to keep the rich rich and the poor struggling. I agree with socialism. Here, in the states it is a dirty word. We acknowledge that we have a police and fire department in every town, we have Departments of Public Works that salt and plow our streets when it snows, pave over potholes, maintain our beautiful parks, and we have the most powerful military on the planet, but we somehow forget that it's paid for by our tax dollars. Why can't we add healthcare to the pie? We have social security and medicaid, which the Republicans want to dissolve. We have Planned Parenthood which Republicans want to destroy. Why? These are social programs that work very well for the general populace. They prevent unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. They support our senior citizens on fixed incomes while inflation makes a simple basic standard of living nearly impossible.

Argentina has;
national healthcare (Because it simply makes sense to have it.),
the metric system (Like 90% of the world),
a 24 hour clock,
strong labor unions,
prostitution is legal (Tell me, seriously, who is the world's oldest profession really hurting?),
homosexual marriage is legal (This in no way effects me, but I support it whole heartedly),
and they have legalized the use of marijuana (I've never smoked pot in my entire life and even I support this. It's ridiculous not to support it.).

One downside that I completely disagree with is that abortion is illegal. But I can live with one thing I disagree with if most of the other things I believe in are accepted.

The United States is over run by lawyers suing everyone over the smallest and silliest allegations. If you trip on my broken sidewalk it was your fault for not watching where you were going not mine for not getting to repair it while I'm already living on a shoestring budget. You broke your arm, you deal with it.

This is the simplest rule of personal responsibility. Did you get off a moving train just because you were in a hurry and the doors were open? Then you fucked up when you tripped and fell. It's not the carrier's fault for leaving the door open to keep you cool when the ac wasn't working. Getting off a moving train is a bad idea to anyone with common sense, no?

Lawyers have ruined the United States. Tell me one day you have turned on the TV in the states and haven't seen a lawyer willing to take on an injury case and they don't even have to be paid unless you win. Of course you're willing to sue someone over the scratch you got at their house when they invited you over to dinner. It's not going to cost you anything even if you lose. Fucking pathetic. Work for yours you lazy fuck

And while we are at it, tell me one day you've watched TV and didn't see an ad for some pill allegedly designed to make your life easier and more fulfilled. There's a drug for everything in the US now. Are you over weight? Here eat this. Are you sad? Take these. Sure, you might end up more even more depressed and hang yourself, but as long as we mention the possible side effects in the ad you can't sue us.

Most people in Argentina speak two languages while people in the US think the rest of the world needs to learn English or else they can fuck off.

We are arrogant and stupid in the United States and it will eventually be the death of our society.

Please read that last sentence twice. Let it sink in. It is a truth you will have to deal with sooner or later, and when it happens I will feel very comfortable laughing at you from the other end of the word saying "I told you so."

Mas o menos. I'm fortunate enough that nearly everyone I am friends with in Argentina has a good grasp of English and I have been using that as a crutch when I visit. But that will only get me so far. I have been teaching myself Spanish for the better part of three years now. I'm still a bit confused on a few things and it sucks not having a teacher to sort me out, but I'll get there. And nothing is better at forcing someone to learn a new language than total immersion into a new culture and society. It won't be long before I feel much more comfortable with it. I am not concerned about that at all.

In 2006 I was working on a CD of my tunes. I had mostly given up on becoming a successful techno producer, but I wanted to have at least one complete long player CD that I made to show my grand kids someday. I reached out to a friend and played him some of my songs and asked him to suggest a direction I might follow while writing the next couple of tracks. He said, "You have a very Latin American sound and it's working for you. Check out the South American techno labels for influences."

Almost immediately I found a bunch or artists that blew my mind. Jorge Savoretti, Franco Cinelli, Qik, Barem and many others. All of them from Argentina. It made me wonder what the hell was going on there. They were doing tracks analogous to mine, except much better. I took to them right away. And at the same time I was contacted by someone from Buenos Aires on myspace. He was going to be visiting NY and was looking for places to play. We struck up a great conversation and in the end I was able to help him get a gig in NYC while he was here.

At the same time I met and became friends with a bunch of Argentine girls here on SG and eventually developed a crush on one of the girls. I asked her to help me with some samples for one of my songs and from there I can't really explain what happened next. I simply became obsessed with learning everything I could about their culture, their food, and learning Spanish.

Yes, in a way, and also no. I most certainly have a crush on one specific girl, but as amazing as she is if it doesn't work out I will be able to get over it. There's a phrase they say in Argentina. It's sort of similar to when we say, "There's plenty of fish in the sea.".
"No te preocupes, en 100 metros mas que se van a enamorar de nuevo."
Translated it reads, "Don't worry, in 100 meters you will fall in love again."
And nothing could be more true.

Some say Brazil has the most beautiful girls in the world. And while I have never been there and I can only speak from my own experiences, I have never in my life seen so many girls in one place that far exceed what I find attractive. I will marry an Argentine girl someday.

Cook. I've spent a good part of my life in restaurants already. More than 15 years working in the food industry in one way or another. Yes, currently I'm a railroader, but I'm well rounded and not defined by my current employment. I plan on finding a job in a hotel that caters to people from the States. It may seem odd at first, but knowing how to make a simple American breakfast is a huge asset in a country that has a coffee and a croissant in the morning and is satisfied. Normal things we are used to like fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy are a delicacy. I hope that it's as easy as it seems to impress them with our basic comfort food. If so, I might eventually be able to make a killing running a "puerta cerrada". A closed door restaurant out of my own house.

How it works is you run an add in craigslist or something similar and invite people to come and have dinner that you cook for them. They pay restaurant prices for a three course meal and I believe it's possible to make a pretty good profit since the overhead will be relatively low and the food waste will be minimal, unlike in a proper sit down establishment. And one great side effect is that you eat with and get to know your customers. A great and fast way to make contacts in an unfamiliar country.

I also will be continuing to pursue my DJing career. During my first trip down I made some pretty good contacts with people who seem to have their finger on the pulse of what's going on musically. I even met my biggest musical influence, Jorge Savoretti. An amazing man who is super nice and simply a genius when it comes to producing electronic music. I hope to find a way to work more closely with them on their projects and them with mine.