omar eduardo’s blog

This past few weeks have been more eventful than my entire life, and I’m not talking about the Olympics anymore. I’ll start with some good highlights. 

- I moved to a friend’s place temporarily until I finally move to my new apartment.  
- I found someone to take care of my cat for this period of time.
- I got my taekwondo promotion to black stripe, which is the assistant instructor rank in our club.
- I’ve been sleeping on a futon mattress on amazing tatami mats. That is simply amazing. 
- I got some of my furniture for my new apartment. Look at the pretty things I got [all at Ikea]:

The last two things (bed frame and bedside table) are things I’m planning on getting next time, actually. Have not yet been purchased. 

 

Of course, there are some not so great things that have happened this summer:

- I have to go to Ikea to change one of the things I got, cause the box I picked up was for the wrong color of the product I wanted. 
- My cat’s food got infested with ants at my friend’s place, which is just sad. I got some ant bait and raid which is solving the problem.
- And the thing that really really infuriates me, AT&T is charging me $704.20 for a month in which I was supposed to be charged $93.03 including activation fee. They are retarded to some extent and can’t simply understand that my account was transferred from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico, and they were supposed to cancel the first account immediately and prorate the charges on both accounts. They’re also doing the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen, they are charging me for an unlimited data plan, the one I asked for, but are still charging me for data use as PAY-PER-USE. They are doing the same thing for the text messages…

But nonetheless, I’ve been in contact with the AT&T people and they are ‘working’ on solving the problem. Apparently it takes forever to do so. 

Just to ease my soul I decided to meditate and write a report I have to turn in this Friday with respect to my summer progress in lab. Hopefully after taking a nap soon I’ll get an e-mail from AT&T’s customer service saying:

“Dear Mr. Fernández,
We realize we were just being stupid, so here, your account has been credited $611.17 and an extra $100M we give you for the stress we caused you. This stress probably took a few years out of your lifespan. We really appreciate your business here at AT&T and hope you have an excellent day!
Sincerely,
Person working for the retarded company” 

We’ll see how that goes,

-Omar

Although I can only sit to watch TV for a limited amount of time (unless it’s something completely amazing, or a movie), I must say that I’m infatuated by the Olympics. The opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was simply breathtaking, a surreal spectacle that I watched twice and still couldn’t believe it. The entire thing was a masterpiece. Of course, it would have been better to watch it without NBC’s English commentaries, which actually made things worst, or with the couple of times in which they decided to focus on Bush rather than the actual event. But ignoring those instances, the event was just majestic. The fireworks, the tai chi demonstration, the huge screen projecting beautiful imagery, the art, the performances, the costumes, and, of course, Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan’s “You and Me” performance… everything was spectacular. Each part was so well executed and planned that I had to remind myself that no, it wasn’t a movie, and yes, this happened on Earth. I felt like a kid again, and a very excited one. 

Now I’m looking forward to the Taekwondo events. The Puerto Rico team has 2 taekwondoists in their team of 22, so I definitely wouldn’t want to miss those matches. I’m also packing everything and cleaning up to move to my friend’s place for two weeks, and then to my new apartment! It’s an eventful end of the summer.

-Omar

It’s 64 degrees outside, a few days ago it was in the 80s. The result of this temperature drop, I got a cold during the summer. Exciting, huh?  So today I’m in my room trying to get over it. It feels like I’m way too familiar with this routine. Get a cold, drink some meds, stay in all day, try not to die. With the frequency this happened to me last term, I may soon be recognized as an expert (or at least in the ‘advanced level’) at getting colds for no reason. My body doesn’t get used to non-tropical weather. 

The good thing is that I get to rest and play with my new toys. I got my bose headset this week and I also borrowed some photography equipment yesterday. I’m in my room using all of these things and trying to ignore the fact that I feel like I was beaten up in the north pole. It’s kind of cold up there (or so I’ve heard). 

The good news are that I’m almost done with one of my jobs this summer, and I’m moving in to my new apartment next month. Also, my birthday is coming up, which is really nothing exciting since there’s no point in turning 19, but it’s still kind of exciting. Who knows, maybe in the real world Hogwarts accepts their students once they turn 19 instead of 11 and I can just transfer there next week. If you stop seeing me in the fall, you can safely assume I’m hanging out with wizards.

Actually, I need to confess that I’m pretty sure my mom is not a muggle. Not with the skills she has shown. She’s been able to disappear money, thousands of dollars, by swiping a card with a magnetic stripe. She also guesses exactly what I’m thinking and what I’m about to do, and I even witnessed how she made her hair, and my aunts and grandma’s hair, look straight a few times. That, my friends, is magic. Also, since I was about 3-4 years old my mom started telling me and my brother stories about witches that she had seen as a young girl while living at my grandma’s. Apparently, she even saw two witches fight at night during a thunderstorm, each one of them was at the top of a different hill casting spells against each other. The one dressed in white, the good one, always won over the one dressed in black. 

I still look outside every time there’s a thunderstorm and I’m around hills.

So, I’m in my room getting over my cold while pondering the idea of moving to Hogwarts instead of East Cambridge, MA in the fall. Meanwhile, just in case things don’t work out too well, I’m trying to decide what colors I want to paint the walls of my new room and I’m also trying to get to Ikea soon to buy furniture. I might get tatami mats for the floor and no bed (just a futon mattress). 

Exciting times ahead. 

-Omar

Bella, photo taken an hour ago