A.B. Almassora

My last post will be about my basketball team. I play in the Almassora basketball team. I have been playing there since I was 13, unless one year that I played in the Castelló basketball team. The philosophy of the Almassora’s club is to take some players from lower categories for the matches, so they learn faster. For example: in the junior team there are some cadets; in the senior there are some juniors. This helps us to get used to the level of each category before we arrive to it.
This year I am 18, so it was my first year of senior, although I have been playing in this category for 2 years. I played in the senior B, but I trained with the senior A and went to some matches with them. This year the senor B has been a total disaster. We began 16 players at the beginning of the competition, but the maximum of players per team is 12. Our trainer chose 10 of us and left two places for juniors. I don’t know what has happened, but we have finished the competition with 4 o 5 seniors and we had to fill the rest with juniors. Some got injured, others didn’t have time, and others couldn’t pay. Anyway, I think we haven’t done such a bad competition as we though. We were surely the youngest teams, but we were fighting every match till the end.
But I should talk about the first team, the senior A. This year they have made the best competition of the history of the club. They have finished the seconds in the autonomic category. They first of each competition are automatically promoted, and the second has to play against the seconds of other regions. In the autonomic category there are three competitions: Castelló, València and Alacant. So they had to play against the second of València and Alacant. The first match was against Ontinyent, and they won 97-94 in the first extra time. It was the best basketball match I’ve ever seen! The second match was yesterday, and they played against El Pilar. It was a really difficult match. At the beginning of the 4th period they were losing by 14, but eventually they won 65-67! It was really exciting being with them celebrating it. So next year we will see A.B. Almassora in the National Category!! (398)

East in Xodos

This East I spent some days in Xodos. I went there on Tuesday and I came back on Sunday. At first I had to come back on Monday, but I had lots of things to do and it’s impossible for me to do homework there. I have tried many times, but I can’t concentrate. It should have to be the opposite because there it’s all very quiet and calm, but it’s that calm what decentralize me. Here it’s impossible to be in silence, so I feel that I have to exploit it as long as I am there. Also, villages are places to be with your friends: go to the bar, make excursions, watch the TV together… When I am with them I am unable to say: “Now I’m going to study one or two hours”. Even if we study together, 30 or 45 minutes later I’m doing all sort of things (eating, playing with my pencil, watching the views we have there…) except studying.
Anyway, I enjoyed that weekend very much. One of my friends has a house in the middle of the mountains (what we call here “mas”). We went for some wood and made a fire. When it was ready we put the meet on it, while we set up the table outside. There was many food, but we ate it all. It was really pleasant to eat there, with the fresh air and the fantastic views we had there. When we finished eating, we lied on the grass. It makes you forget all the stress and problems that you can have in your life. It’s like another life, as if you were in the paradise. I almost fell asleep. Then we played poker (and I won =) ). When we finished the game, we returned to Xodos before it got dark.
Saturday was the best day. I invited five of my friends to Xodos because at night there was a party. They came after lunch. When they arrived we tried to organize their things and prepared all the beds. We talked and played cards while we were drinking beer. Maybe this doesn’t sound very funny or spectacular, but I really enjoy that moments: being alone with your friends in a village’s house, talking about our things. Then we went to the bar to see the match of FC Barcelona. After that we had dinner at my house and began de party. I put on the music, and we had games to play with alcohol. Before we realized we were talking about silly things and we were always laughing. At 00.30 more or less we went to the concert. There weren’t many people and the orchestra was a trio, but we had lot of fun. I didn’t care if there weren’t many people, because I knew them all and it’s like being with your family. And the trio… I don’t remember if they were good, but I neither did care about that.
I don’t know when the orchestra finished, but when we were going to my house we saw that the bar was already open, so we got in. We ate a sandwich for each one. That is another of the best things of the world. When you go home after a great night of dancing and you can eat a big sandwich of sausages… I can’t describe it.
As I said, the next day I had to come to Castelló. Back again to the real life: life of stress, of exams of problems. It was a great weekend, but probably I won’t go out again until I finish the exams, so I had to exploit these days as much as possible. (615)

FRIENDS...

I'm sad. There's just no other way to put it.

The worst part there's nothing I can do about it except.......

just accept that sometimes people who are more miserable then you make it their life goal to take everything good and make it bad. Even if that means making someone else look like the most horrible person ever.

It's happen to me a time or two in my life recently actually. Good friends suddenly get all pissed off and talk tons of shit and then...

Jeez! You have become the devil.

I'm not a horrible person. I'm not perfect either. I don't ask for much and I expect even less. I take people for who they are and do my damnedest not to judge. That's about the only thing I do expect from others....to take me for who I am. And if you can't accept me for that, then don't ever try to pretend to.

I'm the type of person who will speak their mind no matter what. I don't believe in sugar coating. There's no point. I call things as I see them and if I'm wrong then so what. At least I can admit to it. If I have an opinion, I will share it. If it goes against what a friend thinks, well, I'm sorry but I'm entitled to think what I want. In more cases than not I'm typically going to go my way and not the way of a group. I'm neither a leader or a follower but I'm not the loaner type either.

The words of other people have ruined what friendships I've had in the past just because that one person supposedly knew me. Funny how that works. One person spreading rumors and lies about someone else because of an opinion. One person talking a bunch of shit just because YOUR opinion was different than theirs.

People getting pissed off because they were unhappy with the way you handled something at a single moment in your life. Pissed off because you didn't handle it they way they thought it should be handled.

It's no wonder there are so many insecure people in this world. You can't even think your own thoughts without people hating. Can't even hold your own opinions without risking the loss of a friend or friends.

I'm sad because even though the ones I've loss were obviously not very good friends to begin with, I still miss them. I guess perhaps that's not fair to say they weren't good friends because some of them really were.....for that time. And some of them still might be today had things not gone the way it went.

Will I let them ruin my everyday ... NOPE. Will I still be sad? ... Probably.
Will I beg and plead until they understand that I am who I am to be friends with them again? ...NOPE. Will I give them a chance if they came to me asking to be friends again? ... Perhaps.

I will never apologize for being who I am, nor will I apologize for any opinions I have. I will never apologize for speaking my mind. I WILL apologize if I hurt your feelings but I will never take back how I feel.

Accept it or not this simple little fact: I will never change myself to suit the rest of the world. I am who I am, I think what I want, I say what I think, and if you don't like it, that's your problem......not mine.(588)

No more smoking

So, a few months ago, I decided that enough was enough. I have got to quit smoking. I remember how easy it was the last time. And you want to know what? It was even easier this time. Here's how I did it:
1. Make up your mind in advance. I've done it approx 2 months in advance. That way you have time to ruminate on it. Plan for it: Smoke your heart out (hahaha, pun intended).
2. Set a date and stick to it. I chose 2/5/11.
3. Smoke every cigarette you have the night before or throw them away when you go to bed.
4. On the day you quit, for me anyway, it helps to not leave the house.
5. Distract yourself. Don't think about it. Don't dwell on it. Do something else (but don't make that something be snacking or eating).
6. Avoid temptation. Not forever, but at least for a few weeks.
7. If you must snack (it's an oral fixation after all), stock up on carrots and celery. I know, they suck but are still better than smoking or eating cookies.
Interestingly enough the last time I did it, I did go through all the withdrawals - the grumps, extreme irritableness, boredom and restlessness were the most severe symptoms. And when I say severe, I really mean it - I was bored out of my mind with nothing to do because I to fill this time smoking. And I was irritable!
This time, I was irritable and bored, but it seemed to be much less severe and it lasted a shorter amount of time (like a week vs. a month last time!) Again - distraction works miracles.
Anyway, I want to make a list of the great things about not smoking. This is mostly a reminder to myself, you know, in case I'm tempted to start smoking again!!
Here are all the great things about NOT smoking:
• So much more time! Think of all the time I've wasted going downstairs to have a smoke, smoking, coming back upstairs (at work).
• Saving money! It's been 13 days and I've already saved 60€!
• I don't stink anymore!!!
• Within 2-3 days of quitting - I no longer have to clear my throat or cough all the time. It's awesome!!!
• When I was playing basketball I felt like I was about to drown. Now I feel stronger!
• With the new law, I had to go outside of every public place to smoke. It was quite annoying, but now I can stay with my friends and see a complete football match (I have missed more than one goal for going outside to smoke).
• I do feel better (455)

Closing TV3

Today I will talk about one of the most important issues today’s. At least it is for me, but it seems that the rest of Spain doesn’t care about it. I mean the closing of TV3 here, at the Comunitat Valenciana. It is a direct attack to the Catalan language. But it was predictable from a long time ago. Before closing it, they cut all the football matches and F1 races and obligated us to watch them on Canal 9. I don’t understand how people let them do this. I will have to search on the dictionary the definition of “democracy”, because maybe it doesn’t mean what I thought. Rather it seems a dictatorship, we are going back to Franco’s era.
I consider tv3 as a very competent channel, at least much better than Canal 9. You only have to hear the commentators (it doesn’t matter the sport) to realize how bad it can be. It embarrasses me. I only watch Canal 9 when they relay a match that other channels don’t (or they do but someone has cut it…), but I can’t stand the commentators, they get me on my nerves. It’s amazing how stupid and imcompetent they are. It just take off the volume and watch the match. It has been demonstrated that the audience of tv3 in la Comunitat Valenciana was much better than the audience of Canal 9, but they dind’t care. They either cared about all the manifestations that people all over la Comunitat Valenciana did (I have only seen more people in a manifestation here when we protested against the war). But they keep doing what they want, because with the crisis Spain is passing one of the worst moment of its history, and the population accuses PSOE and Zapatero of it, so all the votes goes to the PP.
The people who has done this it’s the same who talk Spanish to their sons, and try desperately to separate Catalonia from the Comunitat Valenciana. Instead of trying to unify the language, they are killing it. I feel very sad when I see the direction that is taking this. Our language is disappearing and I can do nothing to stop it. I am surrounded by people who think like me. When I am with them I feel better, it’s like we could do it, save the language. But when we go to concentrations and manifestations I realize that we are only a minority. I think that the tenacity that the Catalonia people have had to defense their language is only comparable with the Euskera, and maybe because of that the rest of Spain now hate them and doesn’t care if their languages disappear. They don’t realize that every language is culture, part of the history of our world, and if we lose them we are killing part of our history.
But we only have to see the people who represent us. In Castelló we have Carlos Fabra and Francisco Camps, and in Valencia Rita Barberá. No comments. How can we still have hope with these characters at the power? Even after all the accusations against them, they still have the support of the working class. Some TV programs have come to Castelló to interview Fabra and people from here. Of course, they couldn’t speak with Fabra, but they could interview some people, and the conversations were always similar to this:
-What do you think about Carlos Fabra?
-oh! He is a great person and I will always give him my support, as my family has done.
-Do you know he has been imputed by many charges?
-That is all a lie! He has done lots of things for us!
- Like what?
-Now I can think about anyone, but lots!
After watching this on TV I can’t help hiding my face between my hands. How can I say to anyone that I am from Castelló after the rest of Spain has sawn the program? Everybody is laughing at us and we continue doing the same.
Just after closing TV3, Francisco Camps has already devised another brilliant plan against Catalan. He wants to remove Catalan from the possible languages when you choose a career. I can’t say anything that I haven’t said before. I just feel so impotent. Seeing how the politics laugh just in front of our faces I can’t do anything to stop them. And I say literally “laughing”, you just have to see the video where F. Camps is inaugurating the “Raval” theater and some people went to protest. He told the photographer to take a picture of him laughing and pointing at all the people. Acting like children is the only thing they can do. I just beg people to wake up and do something to end this. It’s all I have to say about this. I didn’t know what to talk about, so I chose this issue because it is important for me, but now I am pissed off. (829)

Exams are near!

As the time goes by, the exams get closer and closer, and all the stress comes to me. I can notice that everybody feels like me, in class and outside too. Every time I meet someone and stop to talk with him, he remembers me the exams and tell me how much he is studying, what makes me feel even more nervous. In class, my colleagues I and get up at the library when we have free time to do homework and study (thing that we haven’t done in the whole curs).

I have so many things to do that I don’t know where to begin. By the moment I’m getting on with the blog and reading the book. I feel that I won’t have enough time to finish all what I have to do, and still I can’t put my ass on the chair, take out my books and spend a day studying hard. I feel too lazy, and that gets me on my nerves, because each day I waste it’s like I’m sentencing myself to July. I still have the intention to approve all the exams in May, but for that I will have to study hard every day from now on. And that’s definitely what I’m going to do!! :)(213)

Magdalena festa plena!

The first thing I write in my blog has to be about Magdalena, one of the best weeks of the year (only comparable with Xodos in August). This year Magdalena began later than usually (from 26th March to 3rd April).
Most people in Castelló rent a place with their friends and stay there all the week. They buy much drink and keep it in their colla. In my opinion that is wasting the Magdalena. We have a week of local fiestas and they spend it enclosed always in the same place. They can’t see the ambience that surrounds all the city, and at night they often go back to their colla because they have their drinking there and they don’t want to spend more money. Also, there are always people who want to ruin the parties, and they enter in other collas demanding drinking, and if the people in the colla don’t obey they hit them. But that’s another issue, and I don’t want to speak ill of Magdalena. Anyway, I have never had a colla, and I don’t regret it. My friends rented a colla once and they haven’t done it again.
When you are in Magdalena you wish that the party finishes because you are tired, but deep inside you know that that isn’t true, because you are having so much fun that you wouldn’t mind if Magdalena lasted a year, even if you were more than exhausted. The most special thing in Magdalena is the people and the ambience you find at the streets: for one week, all the people in Castelló seem to be friends; everywhere you go you can hear the typical “xarangas” from here (they can make you dance even if you are depressed; at night you don’t have to go to discos because there is music almost in every street of the city… It seems like an obligation to go out every night, because you fear that if you don’t go out maybe you will lose something funny. The only bad thing about Magdalena is that at weekdays the party at the streets ends too soon, but you can continue the party if you know where to look for.
My best day in Magdalena was Wednesday. It was really, really funny. Me and my friends organized a “xaranga” and went around the city. I played the drum and three of my friends played the “dolçaina” (typical flute from here). We began playing at the “Muralla” square. All the people there danced with us and then applauded, it was very funny and comforting. Then the bar owner invited us to beer. After that, we went to the “Mesón de la tapa” without stop playing, and some people invited us too. When we arrived to the “meson” we realized that many people were following us, singing and dancing. They invited us to many beers to, and we played for hours, but it was so funny that we didn’t feel tired. After that we went back to “la muralla”. There was the DJ of ettro, and at 2, when they had to close, they gave headsets to everyone. That way you could listen to music and dance without upsetting the neighbors. It was very strange, because you were dancing normally, with your music, and if you put off your headsets you saw all the people dancing in silence, maybe you could only hear a person who was singing a song you couldn’t hear. And then you put your headsets again and the party continued.
Another good thing of this Magdalena was, like always, the second weekend, it is always when there are more people and they organize the best concerts. On Saturday I went to a “Rototom” festival. After that, some of my friends that have made a group performed at the same place. They are really good, and you have even more fun if you know the members of the group (you can make jokes and make them laugh while they are playing). And then played two more groups. It’s a little difficult to find places where you can dance reggae and ska. Actually it seems that when you go out you can only hear dance or house music or something similar.
Friday was also very good. At night they organized two concerts that I liked very much. I didn’t know to which go, but fortunately they were at the same street, so I could go from one to the other. The concerts were: on the one hand acted “Tom Bombadil”; and on the other hand I saw “Tirant lo Roc”, “Pepet I Marieta” and “Orxata Sound System”. I especially enjoyed the last one. Their music is a bit strange, but they make a lot of party.
I could tell lots of things about this Magdalena, because probably in this week happen to me more thing that in the whole year. But I don’t want anyone to get bored, so let`s go to the next issue. (831)