Bye April

April is practically over and I don't know where I've been these weeks that for me were hours. This month has passed so fast that I feel I've been transported to the near future.

I guess I feel this way because not much has happened in April either. I'm still waiting for my carte électronique which means I'm still trapped in Belgium - at least now there's nice weather! Then, not much boy's action, but to be fair I haven't been out partying a lot this month. I think I've only been out twice or three times and with lots of friends so there was little room for meeting new people and the new people I've met these past weeks have been either girls or straight boys, so there.

On the other hand, my friend Romina and her boyfriend came to visit me from Paris, they stayed last weekend and it was really nice to see some familiar faces in Bruxelles and show them around, eat some Belgian food and have fun with people I know from more than 8 months.

In a way I'm glad May starts tomorrow, it's my birthday month and my mother and sister will come visit me, that'll be fun to show them my new city - just like I did in Mexico City when they went to see me. It's never the same to tell your parents and siblings how everything goes than showing them first hand.

In other news, Bruxelles' Pride Week starts next Friday, May 6th. I'm going to be one of the official photographers for the event on Friday and Saturday, if everything goes well, I just may continue taking photos for the rest of the week - so wish me luck! And also, one of my housemates got interviewed for a Catalan newspaper called Vanguardia and it was me who took his photo, so in the following 2 weeks my name will appear on the article as the photographer.

See you all at Pride Week!

Cambios [ visuales ] veinte y uno

21. The Sequence, wooden installation by Arne Quinze, Brussels, Belgium

Photography by Miguel Ángel Ramírez

J'aime bien cette version [ Sexy Boy ]

FALLEN ANGELS, Sexy Boy

I do not own this video

Un poco más de turco [ Sezen Aksu ]

SEZEN AKSU, Kutlama

I do not own this video

Cuando menos lo esperas sale el sol

El título no tiene ninguna relación con Shakira, que quede claro.

Yo creo que ya hacía falta un post en español. Además que siempre me sentiré más a gusto escribiendo en mi lengua materna, y me encanta.

Pues bien, comenzaré diciendo que hace unas semanas terminé de leer el último libro de Jaime Bayly, El escritor sale a matar. Es la primera entrega de una trilogía llamada Morirás mañana. Al principio tuve muchas reservas acerca de la historia y cómo se iba desarrollando pero desde la segunda mitad me mantuvo cautivo, muy al estilo de Bayly. La trama gira alrededor de Javier Garcés, un escritor limeño que aunque sólo ha escrito 3 libros en su carrera literaria logró el éxito internacional. Con muchos enemigos, algunos más que otros pero al final gente que no lo soporta; Javier decide vengarse de ellos luego de enterarse que sólo le quedan 6 meses de vida por culpa de un tumor en el cerebro. Si aprecian las no sutilezas, deben leerlo, yo creo que les gustará.

Otro libro de un escritor peruano que leí hace poco es Por favor, no empujen de Fernando González Nohra. Ésta es su primera novela y realmente me gustó mucho, es muy limeña, el lenguaje, las imágenes y aunque me recordó mucho a Bayly también, el estilo de F. González es claramente más joven y no tan sutil y sutil al mismo tiempo, me encantó. Lo recomiendo mucho.

Luego, compré lentillas, la primera vez que las uso y hasta ahora va bien. Ya no me demoro más de 10 minutos por cada ojo al ponérmelas y después de años he vuelto a usar lentes de sol - que para mi es una experiencia completamente nueva.

Y para finalizar, mi capacidad intelectual parece que está muriendo poco a poco creo, qué horror...

Auf wiedersehen!

Fast forward

These last few weeks have been a little bit crazy, good and bad crazy.

As you all know I've been struggling with getting back my self-confidence, at least the way I was before; it's going good actually but it's baby steps. I knew what my problem was and I guess I just let it consume me instead of changing things. Sometimes it's really easy to avoid the problem and try to go around it.

So, I took the bull by the horns and said to myself: Stop being an idiot and start reacting and behaving like your old-self, there's no excuse for you being this shy now!

Then, after my breakthrough, Andreas comes visit me; Andreas and I met in Mexico City almost 2 years ago, we had somewhat of a curious story you may say. Last time we met was exactly a year ago here in Bruxelles, and just now he had some free time to come see me. It was really nice to see him this time and show him around knowing where to go and what to do, because last time we were both lost in this city and did not know exactly what to do. It was all going smooth and out of a sudden he asks me what I think about a long term relationship. I froze right there and started saying nonsense; I did not expect it at all. Had he asked me that a year ago I would have said ok, let's go for it but now I have a lot going on in my head and I don't think it would be a good idea.

After that I had a lot to tell him, we talked for hours via skype when he was back in Marseille. There was a lot more I had to come clean about and fourtunately he took it all well. I'm really lucky to have him as a friend.

Oh right, after the Andreas' situation, I finally got an answer from René to my last email. I must say I am so grateful to having met these two guys, I really love them both, it's not everyday that you find people like them.

René has been really kind and I know everytime I tell him something his answer is sincere and caring. I cannot wait to see him again and let him ponder on how I really am at the moment; I know that even if I write him telling him how everything is going it's different when you see things by yourself and to a point I think I may have contradicted myself in my emails but the reason is that everything changes fast and I slapped myself to wake up already and start living again. How dramatic but true.

Well guys, that's pretty much it. Sorry about my lazy English today, I'll compensate next time, pinky promise.

I always love some cake

CAKE, I will survive

I do not own this video. Property of Capricorn Music Group.

Un mezzo e un boudoir

Friday night was interesting.

First I met Cynthia - David's Peruvian house-mate - and some of her friends from Peru who are visiting her. Typical Peruvian macho guys, they reminded me a little why I'm out of there; they were nice anyway, I'm not saying they are total homophobe ignorant people but from now and then they make some awkward remarks and not so nice phrases came out of their mouths. Luckily David was there with me and I didn't feel like the gay-outcast.

After the brief meeting, all the Peruvian crew - me included of course - met with the Italian crew: Gianmaria, Sara, Alessandro, Luca, and a couple of Italian girls I hadn't met before. I had a good time in Mezzo with them, I could practice some Italian as well, gave a quick kiss in the lips to Gianmaria - we just love this guy! The only thing that got me thinking afterwards was that there was a handsome well-built bloke dancing behind me, and I noticed he was gay but I just didn't make a move because I started thinking about some German guy and I just couldn't go on.

By the end of the night, David and I went to Boy's Boudoir, of course! There we ran into a lot of guys we see practically every weekend in these places - I wasn't too excited about that. Though there was one that I liked and again, we made eye-contact and started dancing right next to each other but I stopped myself; even David asked me why I was being so stupid and not going for it, he had noticed the guy in Mezzo as well and didn't understand why I hadn't made the move when it was obvious these guys found me attractive. I'm just a mess lately, really!

But oh well, it was an interesting and hectic evening so my Saturday was calm and chill, I stayed home, made dinner and had a nice chat and game-night with Gaël, so I can't complain.

A la próxima.