Global Warming

The first time, that I remember, that I became aware of global warming was between the 7^th and 8^th grades, like at 13 years old. By then, I had seen a map on National Geographic that illustrated how the polar caps had melted through the years thanks to this phenomenon. I remembered I was impressed, though not so worried. I saw another image in a book that showed how high the sea level would be had all the ice on Earth melted…it would cover the Statue of Liberty, something like that. Later, the film “The Day After Tomorrow” became suuuuuper popular, coming out around that time. It talked about the proximity of the next Ice Age. Man, so Hollywood. I remember seeing wolves running through New York City…RANDOM event for a movie like that. Please. A professional who came to my school to talk about the 2006 tsunami in Indonesia mentioned that the film’s theories were pure fiction, super exaggerated. After that, I don’t recall any other global warming highlight in my life. I thought either the issue is not as serious as before, or people got tired of worrying over it. Anyhow, though I frankly don’t have environmental issues on my priority list, I DO recognize that it is not right to abuse of nature in any way. We will pay for it if we do. By harming nature, we harm ourselves, since we depend on it; thus, it makes no sense to do so. For now, I cooperate trying to use just the necessary amount from nature’s resources. 

A Stone Statue...

Hey, yo. I really didn't get so inspired for a short story about the realismo mágico theme, which is very strange, because I've always aspired to write stories with a taste of that genre, so mysterious. So I ended up writing about a surreal moment of my life, one that kind of reminds me of realismo mágico, cuz I didn't want to fall behind the weekly pace of the blog. I'm sure that inspiration for this theme will come in its due time, so I really didn't mind not having any for this week. A small experience that I'd like to share:          
        
              In my neighborhood, there’s this house near the police-entrance-gate-thing that’s very modern, and it has a stone statue of the Buddha on the front steps. It’s been a year since that statue has sat there. I’ve always had the following theories regarding the owners of that house: 1) they’re Buddhists, 2) they’re not Buddhists, but they like exotic things and thus have that statue on their front yard. Whatever the reasons, I thought that it’s quite interesting to have such a piece in the neighborhood, so uncommon in Puerto Rico, an island where any reference to eastern culture is pretty rare (not counting the presence of Otakus*). The thing is, I took a walk one morning last summer, and I came across this Buddha, and I see that it has MONEY in his hands. Like, pennies, nickels, and dimes. That very precise moment suddenly became so surreal for me…I almost felt as though the statue…was REAL, or alive. How can I explain it…in my head, I thought, if these people are leaving coins in its hands, then either they really are Buddhists or they’re just superstitious, like people who throw pennies into fountains to make a wish (though most of them do it just for fun, not necessarily for superstition). Both explanations sort of gave life to the statue, since the people are leaving money because they really think that it will help them or something. I savored the moment, for I love finding any situation that’s as close as possible to magical--especially when Asian culture is involved! Now, every time I pass by that house, I check if there’s still money in those hands. There always is. I wonder if gardeners, cleaning maids or anyone else snatch some of that money once in a while, perhaps to complement their pocket money for train and bus rides.

*anime fans or geeks

........have there been any moments in your life that seemed surreal?

Help for realismo mágico post...from Wikipedia :D

This is just so you can have some idea...it doesn't have to be perfect, anyways.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism

PLUS check out the images for inspiration :) a picture is worth a thousand words, right? What better way to be inspired than by looking at images....especially for the mood of a writing.
Tip: you don't have to write a short story, si no te sale, you can also write about any experience in your life that seemed surreal, or wierd...you can even write about a random dream of yours! Widen your horizons...
https://www.google.com.pr/search?q=realismo+magico&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=I9YkU5G0Nufx0gHax4HwBA&sqi=2&ved=0CE4QsAQ&biw=1517&bih=741&dpr=0.9#imgdii=_

Torn Apart

* 1) Please excuse the roughness of the images, it's the first time I get my drawings scanned and uploaded, hehe. I will make use of this first experience to improve my future illustration posts. 

2) The story is meant to be read as a slideshow, which can be done by clicking on the first image and clicking on it again to see the next slide. Enjoy!

Something Foul

…There was a strange feeling about the hotel, Jared thought. The guy at the lobby had been very friendly, and now it struck him that the other clients he had met seemed a little too happy.  He’d noticed, when he entered the room, that there wasn’t a TV set nor a telephone…he needed one to call his friend to pick him up the next day, since his car had broken down. Right now, with the sun gone down, everything was dim, for the lightning was very poor. There was dead silence everywhere.

He left his room to explore the place…he could feel it in the air, something foul was about. That was when he stumbled on something—he looked down. It was a dead goat, its side tattered with blood, eyes bulging wildly and mouth open revealing teeth, resembling a demonic grin.

“I killed it right now”, said a voice. Jared jumped. He hadn’t seen a young man crouching nearby, in the shadows. “It’s for the Hotel’s proprietor.”

“Huh?” said Jared. “Wha—I don’t get this. Why in the world would he want that?”

“You don’t realize it, do you?” said the young man, “you made a great mistake in choosing this place for the night. We are all prisoners here, ever since the moment we stepped onto the lobby.  We’re doomed to be under the tyranny of the proprietor…he demands we sacrifice goats and leave them in the corridors for him to feed on when he walks by at midnight. And, on every new moon, we have to shed some of our own blood into a flask and leave it in his pent house. Such is life in this hotel.”

Jared felt chills run down his spine as he heard these words. “….who IS this proprietor?....What IS he?”

The young man looked at him steadily. “We once tried face him…put an end to all this and become free, but there was no way our weapons could wound him….” He paused. “There is only one explanation…he’s not human.”

The next minute, Jared was running down the stairs, going to the lobby to run out the door….he halted abruptly. The door through which he had entered earlier was gone, just a solid wall with a painting hanging in its place. He looked left and right. The lobby guy was still there, looking at him with no sign of surprise at all, smiling.

“Trying to get out?” he said, his eyes widening strangely, “My friend, in this hotel, we gladly accept anybody’s coming…” the eyes were beginning to bulge, similar to the dead goat’s, and his smile widened, too, “… But we don’t let anyone leave .”◙


...if you have the time, I'd like you readers to listen to this song: