Report # 958

It is cold here !!!! The last two nights I’ve slept in two pairs of socks, pants, and a long sleeved shirt, well with my jacket last night. The high the last couple of days was 6 C (42 F) and at night it was about 5 C (40 F). When a person is outside with a jacket and gloves and walking it’s really not all that cold, but when the house has no heat it’s absolutely freezing. From what I’ve seen the next couple of days will be slightly warmer, but nothing a lot warmer until next week.

I will survive, but it’s definitely chilly ! On New Year’s Day I headed out and saw that a lot of the stores were closed. I went to the Las Galerias mall and there were some stores and restaurants open. I ended up eating at a buffet place called Sirloin Stockade. I thought the place was pretty amazing as it had almost everything. There was soups, some Mexican food, sushi, pizza, pasta, salads, fish, meat, ice creams, cakes.. almost everything.

I had two plates of food and tons of desserts and I didn’t even get to try everything I wanted. Of course I was super stuffed after, but it was a great meal to start off the year. I went to Cinépolis on Wednesday and I saw Here Comes the Boom. While it wasn’t such a realistic movie, it was super funny and entertaining so that was the main thing. As well it sent an inspiring message, so overall it was a great movie.

After my run yesterday I just came home and had a shower and walked up to Super Salads and that was pretty much it for the day. About the only heat I felt was from the hot shower that I dad.I have done my 10 km each day so far this year, but I believe that I’ll be taking today off. Not only is it super cool like the previous days, but it’s very wet outside, and it just wouldn’t be too much of an enjoyable run. I’ll definitely be going tomorrow though.

Seeing as we’ve just started off a new year and I haven’t talked exactly how I’ve been feeling lately for a while I thought today would be a pretty good day to do that. My days have been kind of boring. I’ve been staying up way too late at night and not getting up until after 11:00 am…… the odd day not until after 12:00 pm. I know this is not good and I really should not be in bed past 10:00 am. It’s just seeing as I haven’t had any real reason or motivation to get up early, so I haven’t.

Whereas last month I was almost always out of bed by 10:00 am, so I need to get back to that. Staying up past 2:00 am until 3:00, 4:00, or even one night past 5:00 is not only ridiculous it can’t be that great for me. Last month I was spending more time going to places and taking pictures, though now it’s gotten to the point where there isn’t so many more places that I can go and do that. I know there are a lot of museums that I haven’t checked out before, so I really should do some of that.

Some days I hang out with people, but I need to be doing more of that as I’ve spent a few too many days alone, and that isn’t good for me either. I believe on Sunday I’ll be heading out with someone, so at least I have something planned. Ultimately it comes down to the fact that I’ve had basically five months of holidays. The saying too much of a good thing is definitely true here, as after awhile it just becomes boring. I will be calling the lady from Teleperformance on Monday, and I seriously hope that by then they will have handed in my documents to the migration place.

That’s all they have to do and once they have done that then it just comes down to waiting, but the longer they take holding on to my paperwork and not getting it submitted, the longer I’ll have to wait, and I’ve already had too much time off. So until I talk to the lady from the company and find out more about this, there will still be a lot of things I don’t know, and well probably after I talk to her there will still be things I don’t know, but just knowing that it’s done will make me happy !

I planned on coming to for two years now and I have put everything I could into this plan, so to not have things work out would be devastating. While most people will never understand why I even want to to do what I’m doing, I’ve always felt it was the best thing for me right now and that is why I’ve been doing it. Once I know that things are progressing and have a better idea of what is happening I think I’ll feel better about the whole thing.

It will be great to head back to Canada for a while and see my family and of course pay multiple visits to Tim Hortons. So right now instead of worrying about the future and thinking about potential negative things that might never happen, I just have to stay patient and positive. And I can make my own days better here. I realize that most people are working or going to school, so I won’t be able to spend everyday with someone, but I can certainly get myself to bed at a much more decent hour and getting up earlier and doing a bit more to make my days more exciting.

The weather will warm up and the sun will come out again and there are certainly some great museums and a few other parts of the city that I can head out and enjoy. I will not just continue to allow myself to sleep these ridiculous hours and get myself depressed over stupid things. So I will make a pledge that tonight I will be in bed before 2:00 am and up tomorrow morning by 10:00 am. And starting next week when the places are open I will check out a couple of museums and take some more pictures, just getting back to enjoying things.

I will definitely call that lady from Teleperformance on Monday and I will bug her until I know my stuff has been submitted. And once that is over with then it will just be a matter of waiting and making my appointment with the Mexican consulate in Vancouver when I’m able to. I’m still healthier emotionally than I was a few years ago, so that is why it’s extra important for me to take these steps and avoid allowing myself slip back to where I once was and get all depressed and miserable. I know what I have to do, so the power is in my hands to stop this from happening.

Physically I think I’m in the best shape of my life. Today will only be the third day since December 19 that I haven’t run my 10 kilometers in Fundidora Park. It would be great to have an opportunity at doing the Vancouver Sun Run this year, as I’m super confident I would shatter my record from the previous two years. I would certainly like to be more flexible and do a little weights, but that’s ok, I can’t take care of everything at once.

I need more fruit that’s for sure One of these days I’ll walk up to the market and buy some strawberries or something, because in terms of eating fresh fruit since I’ve arrived in Mexico, I’d have to give myself an F. And eating healthy is something that’s super important in terms of fighting depression, so it’s something I need to work on ASAP. Thinking about the past I know I’m doing much better these days. It’s been two years since I’ve taken anti depressant pills, and in that time I’ve truly embraced running, and it’s really become a part of my life.

Of course there are always more things that I can do to help myself, if I keep on the track that I’ve been going on, and get past my bad habits of the last few weeks, while making a few small adjustments, I think I can really be doing great. Ultimately the power to make changes that can benefit our lives, lie within ourselves, so we just have to have the power to do them. I’ve always thought that anti depressants do help a person, but if a person is doing nothing for themselves aside from taking the pills, they really won’t see a lot of improvement.

And to anyone who is truly going through rough times, there are always friends and family members who can be trusted to talk with, and if needed, counselors are wonderful as well, as they have certain skills to help people that your friends and family members might not have if it gets to a more serious point. I just want to encourage everyone who is struggling to hang in there and do something for yourself. Do something that will make you happy, and don’t let yourself get into bad habits that will only make you less happy.

So let us all make 2013 a year that we can avoid doing the things that harm us and doing what we can to live healthier and happier lives, emotionally and physically. Obviously some days will be tougher than others, but if the effort is being put in, a positive attitude is shown, and you are surrounded by good people in your lives, the sky will be the limit, and that’s how it should be ! For the next question:

How are you feeling about your life right now ? What are some positive changes you can make to improve it ?

I will leave you all with some pictures from Chipinque Park here outside of Monterrey in the mountains of the city of San Pedro. This concludes all of the pictures I have taken in Mexico, so unless I get taking more soon I’ll finally have some entries without posting any. At the very least I’ll have one, which will be a nice break for me. I wish everyone all of the best with everything. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Monday, bye for now.

Report # 957

Happy New Year everyone ! It was a pretty uneventful New Year for me as I didn’t really do anything. This is nothing new as I don’t think I’ve really done much of anything for any of the previous years either. I did go to Fundidora Park at 7:00 pm and met a friend and we walked around for a while. We didn’t stay for the celebrations though, and I was home a little after 9:00 pm

Seeing as I’ve been staying up super late all these nights, passing 12:00 am was no problem, though this time I had gone to bed around 1:00 am. I got up at 11:00 am, so I kind of overslept, but I got myself a little closer to a better sleeping schedule as tomorrow I will try and get up at 10:00 am. I got up just before 11:00 am yesterday to do a skype call with my aunt and grandmother, though after I went back to bed, and while I didn’t really sleep, I was in bed until 1:30 pm.

I just walked to Subway and had a pretty relaxing day. On the 30th I met a friend in the park and we walked downtown and met up with two of her friends. We ended up having dinner at a restaurant called Trece Lunas (Thirteen Moons) My friend told me it was a hippy type place, but wow it had to have been the most interesting restaurant I had ever eaten at in my life. It was in an old building and had different rooms, and the restaurant was covered in writing all over the walls, the ceiling, the tables, and the couches.

Seeing as there was writing absolutely everything, people’s names, dates, inspirational quotes, and a bit of everything, I was pretty sure the restaurant staff not only allowed it, but encouraged it. I ordered some spanish tortilla and a roll, and while it was ok, I really didn’t eat much of it. Afterwards we headed out to take the metro home, but for some reason the metro had closed super early that day so I had to take a taxi home.

I had run at Fundidora on the 29th and the 30th, though I took yesterday off. I definitely plan to run today though. It’s been kind of cold here the last couple of nights, and it’s not as if the nights have been freezing cold, but seeing as none of the houses here have heat, it definitely feels chilly. It says right now it’s 18 C outside (64 F) and here inside I’m cold ! I suppose that’s a good thing if I’m here in the summer, because this place seems to stay really cool.

On Friday I went to the Las Galerias mall and watched a Mexican movie called 180 Grados. (180 degrees) It was ok, but definitely not one of my favourite ones. I picked up a pizza and a spaghetti afterwards and walked home and that was pretty much it for my day. I tried ordering a pizza at 9:30 pm yesterday to at least have something to celebrate the new year, but all of the places here close super early on these special days, so I was out of luck.

Anyways, that’s about all of the news I have for today. For the next question:

What were you doing to bring in 2013 ?

I will leave you all with some pictures I took at night at Fundidora a few weeks ago of the Christmas displays and along the Santa Lucía Riverwalk and some downtown ones as well. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

Report # 956

Wow it’s exactly 12:00 pm and I just woke up five minutes ago because Dora called me. I really have to get to bed earlier and be getting up earlier. It’s ridiculous to be waking up any later than 10:00 am ! I went for my run at Fundidora Park for the 8th day in a row on Wednesday afternoon and afterwards I came home and had a shower and walked to Super Salads to pick up something to eat.

After a super hot Christmas Day the temperature had dropped considerably, and it was only around 15 C (60 F) for a couple of days. Yesterday was more or so around 22 C (70 F) but today and tomorrow will be cooler days again for here. It’s a great mix of weather and I will have to enjoy it especially knowing that in the summer it will be scorching hot everyday. I walked to Las Galerias on Thursday afternoon and I saw Cloud Atlas. It was a good movie, but very, very, very weird !

Afterwards I ordered an individual pizza from pizza hut, but it was sooooo small that I ended up going to Subway after. There is another pizza place in that mall and for the same price they give basically a huge pizza, so it’s a much better deal than Pizza Hut. Wednesday was the first day in a while that I didn’t run as I had woke up late and I wanted to go to the movies. And realistically I know since my runs are so long I really don’t need to be doing than every single day.

I did run again yesterday afternoon and afterwards I went to a restaurant that I think might be out of business as it was still closed. I headed back to Fundidora Park and walked down one side of the riverwalk all the way downtown and I ended up eating at VIPS while reading the newspaper. Reading is something I definitely need to do more of as not only I learn knew vocabulary, but I keep up with the news, and that is something I enjoy. I should really get into books one of these days too !

After lunch I walked to El Globo and picked up a frappuichino and some donuts. El Globo is like a Mexican pastry store that has been around for over 100 years, and the other day I noticed in the Las Galerias mall they had closed a location of El Globo and it’s getting replaced by Krispy Kreme… talk about culture loss ! I like the Krispy Kreme donuts as much as the next person, but these kind of changes are always a bit sad to see.

I got home around 5:00 pm and just had a relaxing evening. One of these days I’ll have to make it somewhere and take some more pictures, though I don’t know if I’ll get that done before the end of the year. This will be my final entry until January 1, so I am basically saying goodbye to 2012 here on my Xanga. The changing of the year isn’t so exciting for me anymore as it’s just signifying I’m getting older, and we’ve already passed the most exciting change of my lifetime. (1999 to 2000)

I’ve always kind of felt there are two changes to the year, as the start of September always feels like the start of something new as well. Maybe not so much now, but it was always the start of the new school year pretty much, and it felt like starting a new year in it’s own way. It’s always interesting knowing that people will be making resolutions, many of them that they’ll never keep…. or even start, but at least they are thinking about it !

Personally I just think if someone realizes there are positive changes they need to implement in their lives, they should do so whenever, no one has to wait until the start of the year. And much more important than resolutions are goals, and dreams, if people really don’t have those, their life is truly missing something. I always remember on teacher in my first year of business school saying that some study was done and the people who had written their goals up on a piece of paper and kept it, were much more likely to realize them than the people who had no written goals.

Sadly I haven’t written any yet all these years later, and maybe that’s why I haven’t had much success with anything, but it’s never to late, so I should really sit down and do that before the start of 2013. Not to be new year’s resolutions, but to have important goals. A goal should be something that can be realistically obtained, but it shouldn’t be super easy either… a person should have to work for it. Whereas as resolution can be just about anything, so there is a big difference.

Anyways I just wanted to say to everyone that I hope you all have a wonderful end to 2012 and a great start to 2013…………. HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the next question:

Do you have goals or dreams in your life, what are they ? Do you have any resolutions for 2013 ?

I will leave you all with some more pictures from Monterrey. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.

Report # 955

Hey everyone, I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. Like usual it’s passed by super fast and now a whole other year is about to begin…. though I’m sure 2013 will zoom by rapidly as well. After going for my run in Fundidora Park on Sunday morning I came home and had a shower and walked up to the Las Galerias mall. Like I imagined it was incredibly busy and there were no seats anywhere. It’s just amazing how many people truly do wait until almost the last possible minute to buy their gifts.

I walked across the street and there was a plaza with another sort of mall which I had never actually been to, Plaza Real. There was a movie theatre there as well though they were playing all of the same movies so I didn’t bother checking anything out. There was an Applebees in the plaza and I had wanted to go there for some time so I did go. It certainly wasn’t as good as I remembered.

It was a pretty expensive place for here, and the fries were like fish and chip fries. I don’t think I’ll be returning ! I actually walked to Helado Sultana after which is an ice cream place and ordered a double scoop waffle cone. I knew that it would be huge as I had been there before, but it was a lot larger than I remembered. Only a lunatic would order the three scoop size. I eat ice cream very rarely as many times I don’t feel so great after having it, but this time I ended up being ok.

On the 24th I once again ran at Fundidora park and headed home and had a shower and went to Las Galerias. My days are soooo simular I really need something new to do. I’d like to find some more places to take pictures but there aren’t too many more that would be super easy for me to get to. I wanted to go to another university here, but it would even be harder to go and take pictures as they have lots of security and they are worried about people coming and kidnapping university students or something,  so it’s really not worth the bother !

I had lunch at an Asian restaurant called Wok. I think this place is run by Mexicans, but the food is actually very good. They never put enough wontons into the wonton soup, but it has a nice flavour. Afterwards I walked around the mall for a while and saw there was a music/dvd store. I went in and bought the Simpsons season 15 dvd. Since I have all the other ones that they released I had to buy it. The episodes are fun to watch when I don’t have much else to do and much better than on the TV without all the commercials.

I ended up going to see the Odd Life of Timothy Green. I hadn’t thought much about seeing it, but there was nothing much else on. It was an interesting movie though very odd. About some kid who basically comes out of the garden and eventually disappears again. Very weird, but it’s a movie, so I guess it doesn’t really have to make sense. I picked up a frappuichino after from Santa Clara and headed back home.

I thought I would be spending the Christmas Eve night alone, but a friend invited me to go with her family to one of her aunt’s places to spend the evening. I had a shower and got ready quickly and took the Metro to a station where they picked me up. It was definitely a much different Christmas dinner than I was used to, but it was very good. I had roasted chicken and spaghetti with a soup, and afterwards I was very full.

Everyone was singing Karaoke, and while I didn’t know any of the songs, I did pick out a few that I had heard and tried to sing them. It’s definitely hard work to be a singer and wow it hurts the voice so easily after so little. It didn’t help that I had no clue what I was doing, but it was fun. There was one guy who was there who had a few too many beers and he was joking around a lot.

Every time a fire cracker went off he pretended like he was shot and he was joking that I lived really close to Santa Claus. Though I suppose if Santa Claus was really real he would live much, much, much more north in the North Pole ! We went to the house of another one of my friend’s aunts after and stayed there a while and we finally headed home after 3:00 am. I stayed the night at her house and slept until almost 11:00 am. In the early afternoon they were going to their grandfather’s house, so I took a taxi to the metro and headed home.

Overall it was a fun night and I was very happy to be invited. It was great to spend a Christmas with some people and enjoy good food and company. Here in Mexico most people have the big Christmas dinner late on the 24th into the early hours of the 25th, and then the rest of the day there isn’t really anymore big dinners. I decided to continue with my running so I headed to Fundidora Park around 3:00 pm and I did my normal run.

It must have been the hottest Christmas that I had experienced in my life as they said it got up to 32 C (90 F). There was a great breeze though so it didn’t feel too hot when I was running. Seeing as there wasn’t many places open to eat I just stopped in at Carl’s Jr. before heading home and having a relaxing evening. I won’t find anything about my work visa documents until after January 3, so basically I have over a week to not worry about that I really should look up some places and figure out some more things to do in this time !

Yesterday I was reading one of the newspapers from here and one of the columnists was writing about how she wanted to see The Life of Pi in theatres here in Mexico. She went to one of the theatres and she asked for a ticket to that movie with the literal Spanish Translation “La Vida de Pi” and the person had a weird look on their face. The theatre employee thought the person was asking about VIP, which is a place in the theatres here where a person can pay more money and sit in a theatre with comfortable seats and much more room.

After trying to say the title again, the movie theatre employee said that movie was not playing. Finally the columnist said the name of the movie as it’s called in Spanish “Una Aventura Extraordinaria” and then she was understood. This just got me thinking about misunderstandings and how silly they can be sometimes. I remember a few years I went to Dairy Queen and ordered a Blizzard, but for some reason the girl thought I had ordered four. After explaining to her that I only ordered one she appeared angry with me saying I said four. She was kind of pulled away and another girl just gave me one and I drove off.

When I was 10 years old I was walking on the beach in Hawaii and some guys, who were probably in their 20′s asked me where I was from. I said Surrey, which is my city, and they responded “oh Missouri, so far away.” or something to that effect. The same sort of thing happened when I was in California attending a 4th of July party at Cal State University in Los Angeles. Someone asked me where I was from and I said B.C., which are the initials for British Columbia… and the guy heard me as D.C. as in Washington D.C.

Sometimes these small misunderstandings really don’t signify anything and don’t create any problems, but when it comes to people dealing with buying things, a person needs to be clear or they could end up pretty unhappy. For the next question:

Have you ever been misunderstood before or had any silly things happen to you from based on something you’ve said or requested before ?

Today I’ll leave you all with some pictures from Parque Niños Heroes. I actually don’t have too many more pictures to upload on here. While I do want to get out and take more pictures, I wouldn’t mind having at least a few entries without having to post them, as it does take a while. I wish everyone all of the best with everything. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Saturday, bye for now.

Report # 954

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a fantastic weekend. I’ve been doing incredibly well with my running lately as I’ve run the last four days, each for about what has to be around 10 kilometers. I don’t really need to be going every single day, but seeing as I don’t really have too much else to do, I might as well be running. After my run on Thursday I went to Super Salads in Interplaza and just had a sandwich and some tortilla soup.

At around 9:00 pm I walked up to the Las Galerias mall and headed to Cinépolis to see The Life of Pi. It was a movie based on a novel about a boy and his family who get on a boat from India to go to Canada, though the boat sinks at sea, and the boy is basically the only survivor on a small life boat with animals. He ends up sailing across the ocean and having a huge adventure with a giant Bengal Tiger. Not only was it an excellent movie, but just amazing to watch in 3D.

On Friday I ran again and then came home and cleaned up for a bit before walking to a Mexican restaurant called El Mecate. I had some Queso Fundido (melted cheese) with Tacos al trompo, which are the tacos here that I really like. I hadn’t ate much Mexican food since I arrived here in Monterrey so it was definitely time. Afterwards I walked up to Starbucks and had a frappuichino and a fruit bowl seeing as I’ve had very little fruit since arriving as well.

I finally got in contact with the lady from Teleperformance and she told me the form I had given them was missing some data that the company needed to add and that now the migration place is closed until after New Year’s, so basically my documents won’t get delivered at least until sometime during the first week of January. I just can’t comprehend this because everything was ready December 14 and they had so much time to figure this out.

This is beyond frustrating, because at the rate this is going I’m estimating I wouldn’t be able to start working until at the very least March. Everyone says I just have to be patient but it gets a little bit harder. At the very least I know I won’t have to bother calling the company for almost two weeks. It’s just unfortunate that because of all this I wasn’t able to make any plans for Christmas, but I’ll figure out something.

After running at the park again yesterday I headed home and had a shower ant then headed to Las Galerias mall. I had a small lunch at Wok, a Japanese place, and then I went to Cinépolis to see Seven Psychopaths. It was a good movie but very, very, very weird. I had a frappuichino after and walked home and didn’t do too much the rest of the day. I walked up to Subway at night time, but the lady there told me they didn’t have anymore sandwiches only salads.

I headed outside and a guy working at the gas station was talking to me and told me about a Chinese food place.  I shouldn’t have bothered, but I went there and the food didn’t even look all that appealing before I ordered it. It was covered in soooo much sauce and kind of spicy, and after eating some of it I can honestly say it was among the worst Chinese food I ever had. The order they made me was kind of heavy, so I’m so thankful I didn’t eat all of it.

In fact I just ate about 1/4 of the food and through the rest in the garbage. There are lots of Chinese places here, so I really can’t imagine that place staying in business too long if that’s the kind of trash they are serving. I had Chinese food from a place in Lázaro Cárdenas that was prepared by Mexicans and it was so much better. The people in the restaurant I went to yesterday obviously need to return to China and take many classes to learn how to cook their own food properly !

From what I’ve seen the next three days will be warm and sunny and then there will be a cool day, but not until after Christmas. I don’t know what my plans will be exactly for these days, but I’m here so I just have to make the best of the situation, and as long as things work out in the end I’ll be happy, even if they are taking forever. I want to encourage everyone to do something great for someone else sometime over the next few days. It doesn’t have to be anything huge, but just something to brighten someone’s day !

I should have found a homeless person to give that Chinese food yesterday….. though honestly any homeless person deserves much better food than that garbage. I’m not even sure what I’ll do exactly, but I’ll think of something. Christmas is the time of giving and thinking of others so what better time of the year to do something for someone. I hope that everyone has an amazing Christmas and enjoys such wonderful food and time with their family and friends, and of course the odd gift as well.

Some of us will have snow, some of us not, but that’s ok, snow only makes Christmas more Christmas, it doesn’t ruin a Christmas if there is none. I’m certainly not used to white Christmas’s anyways. I think in the last 15 years I’ve only seen two ! And I definitely won’t be seeing one this year ! So Merry Christmas to everyone know matter where you are, and I say so in a general way because I think Christmas has shown itself as a day that can be celebrated by anyone regardless of religious affiliation. For the next question:

What will you be doing for Christmas this year ?

I’ll leave you all with some pictures taken around the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. Merry Christmas and I’ll talk to you all on Wednesday, bye for now.

Report # 953

Another three days have gone by and I still don’t know if my work documents have been handed into the migration institute or not. I called the company on Tuesday afternoon and I was told the lady who has to sign the papers and go in was out of town on Monday and Tuesday but that she would go on Wednesday. I didn’t call yesterday but I thought I’d just give them the few days and call tomorrow. I can’t imagine what excuse they’ll have if they haven’t done it by tomorrow afternoon seeing as that would have given them another three full days !

So it’s very obvious that I’ll be spending Christmas and New Year’s here in Mexico, though I still have no idea what I’ll be doing on those dates exactly… I’ll definitely be doing something. The best I can seem to hope for now is that the company gets my papers handed in this week and that I receive the authorization sometime before the end of January. I can only stay here in Mexico up until February 15, so either way I’d be going home by then.

I really don’t need to be in the country to receive the authorization, but it is something I’d like to have before going home. So like the last few weeks all I can really do is wait and be patient, though I’ll definitely be calling the lady tomorrow afternoon and if she gives me some other excuse I’ll be extremely, extremely disappointed. I felt a lot better on Tuesday though I didn’t want to rush myself so I decided not to go for a run. I ended up just having lunch at Subway and walking just around the streets for over an hour.

I stopped in a small neighbourhood park that I’d never been to before and just sat on the bench and relaxed in the sun for almost two hours. Before heading home I walked up to Starbucks and just had a piece of cake and a frappuichino. Yesterday morning I went to Fundidora and did my 10 km run and then I just relaxed by the duck pond for a while, soaking up some sun and cooling off. Aferwards I just walked to Chilis and had something to eat before heading home.

The last few days have been super hot, around 30 C (86 F) though the next few days here will be around 17 C (64 F) I love the climate here in the winter how it’s a mixture of nice hot summer days, and cooler fall days. Though the temperature never seems to go up or down gradually, some days feel super hot, and then it cools right down for a few days than gets hot again… its a fascinating climate. I definitely have to enjoy it now though because there will become a point in the year where there is no more cool days, and nothing but heat !

Arturo messaged me on Facebook asking if I wanted to go to the same club as last week but I told him I had something to do this morning as I really didn’t want to spend another mid-week night awake all night doing practically nothing. I just did a quick search through my site to find out the last time I put together an accumulated list of thoughts into one entry, and I found # 14 in February, so if I did the search correctly this will be number 15.

                                                 My Thoughts on Life: Volume 15

I wasn’t going to say anything about the shooting tragedy at the elementary school in Connecticut, as tragic as it was, I’ve talked about various school shootings before and had said in the past that tragically they would occur again, and unless some important changes are made to the way the American society views guns, these tragedies will continue to happen more often than they should.

After reading all the talk about guns, people defending them, people speaking out against them, I really felt I had to weight in at least a little. Some people have said the gun laws are stricter now than they’ve ever been, yet these horriffic shootings seem to be occurring more and more often. Just in the past few months in the US, there was the movie theatre shooting, the Sikh temple shooting, the Connecticut elementary school shooting, and a shooting at a mall in Oregon.

And while it’s obvious it’s not the guns themselves that are responsible for these crimes, but the severely evil, sick, and twisted people of this world, clearly it’s still too easy for certain people to obtain guns. I don’t care what anyone says, but anyone who thinks they have a right to carry a gun with them at all times, whether they go to church, the grocery store, a restaurant or work….. they people are extremists with their views on the weapons.

While obviously this isn’t to say that they’d be responsible for shootings, I think it is important to point out many people in this world have a shoot first think later mentality, and that poses a danger to the safety of many. I’ve said before if people want to hunt they should be in registered hunting clubs where they have to have the guns registered, and the weapons should only be allowed to be carried along the way to the trip.

Living in a world where almost anyone could just carry a gun with them would be ridiculous and it’s obvious that it would lead to at least some unnecessary shootings. So one of the main problems is the stores who sell guns, they clearly care a lot more about profits than they do about public safety. I’m not a psychological scientist here, but selling a highly powered weapon to a guy with Nazi symbols or tattoos symbolic of Satan on his body really sounds like it would be a horrendously bad idea.

It’s obvious the people selling guns don’t care about safety too much as long as they are making money. Someone has been selling tons of high powered weapons to people belonging to Mexican drug cartels, and then they wonder why the violence near their cities along the border is so dangerous. Now obviously there are gun owners who are extremely responsible and normal people who would never in a million years do anything bad, but how many more deaths do these people need to see before realizing that something needs to change.

If by creating stricter gun laws even just a few lives are saved, even just a few shootings are averted…. it would be worthwhile. Some people will shout and scream that this isn’t fair. Well what is not fair is just so many children just died in a senseless and sickening act of violence. What isn’t fair is people died just sitting and watching a movie. What isn’t fair is that people in their place of worship were massacred just for what they looked like. These things are not fair, and in fact they are plain out disgusting.

So anyone in the pro gun crowd who is complaining that strengthening gun laws isn’t fair really needs to put their ideas into perspective. The types of guns sold and available are also a problem. There are people who have weapons that it’s painfully obvious would not be used for hunting. Why are these type of weapons sold to private citizens in the first place ? That needs to change !

Fixing these gun laws and making it even harder to keep these weapons out of the hands of the wrong people is only part of the problem though. The whole process of being able to obtain a gun needs to change. There needs to be a thorough background check done on any individual, and anyone with previous criminal convictions, psychological disorders, or that shows any troubling warning signs needs to not only be denied the right to receive a gun, but to be given the help they need immediately.

Not only would this process save lives, it would truly work in keeping weapons out people in this world who really have no business ever owning a fire arm, and possibly getting them much needed help. Now people will tell me that the really bad people will always find ways to obtain guns, and I agree with that. Despite all of the improvements made, there will be some people who still find a way to obtain a firearm, however, it would be a lot harder, and I don’t think anyone would argue that some lives would be saved and some tragedies would be avoided, and that is a great start.

And in a lot of these shootings, a background check on the individuals with the guns would have revealed these are people who are extremely sick in the head with horrific psychological issues, and thus with the background checks they would have been denied had the stores selling guns operated under stricter rules. So unfortunately there is no solution that can save every single life and stop every single tragedy, but that doesn’t mean that nothing should be done.

The point I keep driving home, if some lives can be saved, and some tragedies can be avoided, than it’s certainly worth creating a society with stricter gun laws, a society that does all of the background checks possible on a person, and most importantly, a society where people stop having their love of carrying weapons with them at all times. I know people have their believes, but after seeing all of these tragic shootings and deaths take place, just in the last six months alone, I would think most people would understand it’s time to really have a meaningful debate on the gun issue.

If politicians and people sit back and change absolutely nothing all I can say is the blood will be on all of their hands the next time something like this happens, and adding to whatever future tragedy could unfold would be the knowledge that had something been done, it could have possibly been avoided… I don’t believe anyone wants to imagine anything like that. On a lighter topic I just want to go into people who say they will do things but don’t do them.

A few times in the past few weeks I had made plans with someone. I called one person on a Friday night and I was told that they couldn’t talk to me at that time because they were busy, but we’d talk on Saturday. Well I called on Saturday, never received a call back, even though we had planned something for Saturday. Then on Sunday I had plans, and never heard from the person all day though at night time gave me some excuse of sustaining some sort of injury at the gym and having to go to the hospital.

Who knows if that happened or not, but even still I think they could have found a way to let me know. I don’t have much patience for these types of people though so usually after they are this way with me once I just toss them out of my life and move on. I think in terms of the company trying to help me with my visa paperwork, while they always seem to have excuses, they just haven’t been all that prepared and organized. And I know it’s not everyday they are hiring a foreigner to work with them so as frustrating as it is I do have some sympathy.

I’m more disappointed with the people at the migration institute who don’t even know their own rules about hiring a foreigner. They work there and they are the organization that changed the rules, so I would think the people who work there should know very well the process, the truth is they really don’t ! So all I can say with this is people who work for a company, especially a government run organization really should know their own rules and policies well if they are to work there and deal with helping the public.

I’m sick of reading about all these divisions of the world. Dividing the world into North/South/West, East/  White people, latinos, Asians, Arabs. At the end of the day it’s one world and to come up with all these names for different types of people is ridiculous. For example when people in the Arab World refer to “The West” what are they referring to exactly ? They consider even Europe part of the west I believe even though they are probably trying to mostly refer to North America.

What about Australia and New Zealand ? They are more east than those Arab countries, yet they’d probably consider them West too because of the people who live there. I will agree with the people who live in those countries that there is too much ignorance towards them and most of the rest of the world, myself included, really doesn’t know as much as we should about those countries and the culture.

I have talked to some Arab people from countries such as Morocco, Algeria, and Qatar, and a lot of times they are very friendly, though I can definitely tell their views are different from mine. And I can’t fault them for that…. they have grown up in an entirely different world. For example a girl from Qatar told me that people who aren’t religious have no morals. I couldn’t have disagreed more. There are many great people in this world who don’t choose to follow any particular religion, and there are many religions people in this world I’m sure can be classified as not the best people.

Now obviously many religious people are super people, and many people who aren’t religious aren’t such great people, but my point is a person can’t make such a blanket statement that is not only speaking for everyone, but is completely 100 % untrue. I’d like to think the relationships with people between different cultures are possible, but there is no question within a number of religious rules it can be very tricky at times for the more religious people.

I’m sure there are situations where couples from very different religious and ethnic backgrounds have made it work, but unless they both have great understanding of one another, an openness for religious knowledge, diversity, and understanding families it could be very challenging. I’m all for those types of relationships breaking the norms and surpassing all of the doubters and obstacles along the way. I believe a world with more interracial relationships that mix religions and cultures together would be a much better place. More of those success stories would go along way towards diversifying the world and creating a place with much more equality.

Finally I like to joke about the word Gringo. A Mexican guy once told me that during a war the Mexican troops heard the English speaking soldiers says “Green Go” and that is how they came up with Gringo. Mexicans seem to think of Gringos as Americans, while in Central and South America a Gringo is pretty much any white looking person from North America, or other parts of the world as well. Personally I think the word is just silly and there is no need for people to use it.

I can say for a fact if anyone ever calls me a Gringo I would point out that there are more latinos living in the United States than the population of Canada. And if people truly believe those are gringo countries, than in my opinion the people who choose to reside there would be Gringos too ! Either way though the word is stupid and people really should avoid using it. There are many other words that have been created to describe people from different places, and I’m just not for these types of words usually, as anything that makes divisions in this world is not needed.

Anyways I’ve wrote a novel today so I’m done. For the next question:

What are your thoughts on “My Thoughts on Life” ???

I will leave you all with some more pictures from Monterrey. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Sunday, bye for now.

Report # 952

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all had a wonderful weekend and a great start to the week. On Friday morning I went to the migration place and I met the lady from Teleperformance there and showed her a from that I needed signed. She told me she wasn’t the legal representative for the company, so she was unable to sign my forms. However I gave her the forms and my job offer letter as it is the job of the company to hand all of that stuff in.

I really hope that the stuff was passed on to the other lady and that it was signed and delivered today. I will definitely be calling tomorrow to find out if this was all done. I then will have to try and find out how long the authorization process will take, but seeing as it’s already the 17th, I think it would be pretty unlikely to receive the authorization before Christmas, so I’m thinking that I’ll probably be spending Christmas in Mexico. It’s a bit frustrating so slow the whole process has been going, and while each day I was making a little progress, never as much progress was made as I thought could have been made.

Afterwards I took a bus over to the San Agustin mall and I had something to eat at IHOP. I then walked around the mall for a while and waited for the movie theatre to open to see The Hobbit. Now I’m not a geek when it comes to these types of movies, but I enjoy them. I did see some people who totally fit the image of Lord of the Rings fanatics though… a guy with a ponytail and his girlfriend wearing combat boots ! I enjoyed the movie though it was super long.

I got into the cinema after 1:00 pm and I didn’t leave until after 4:00 pm, so it was definitely one of the longest movies that I had seen before. I guess it’s just going to be like Lord of the Rings with another two movies coming up so looks like everyone will have to wait to find out the real ending. Afterwards I purchased a frappuichino from the movie theatre, but it was made so poorly that it was basically chocolate milk. I should have complained, but I didn’t bother and just headed out and took the bus home.

I went for a run on Saturday morning at Fundidora Park. After finishing I saw so many people getting ready for a race. I would definitely like to register for some more races in the future, and I’m sure Fundidora Park has a lot throughout the year. I headed home and had a shower after and then I walked up to the mall and had a frappuichino from Starbucks, and picked up a pizza and some spaghetti. I headed home and ate and relaxed the rest of the day until I made the very stupid decision to go to 7 Eleven a little after 9:00 pm.

This decision ended up costing me big time, though I didn’t know just how much at the time. I had a hot dog and a chocolate milkshake type drink and while I didn’t feel so bad after eating that, I woke up throughout the night and I was throwing up. I threw up a couple of more times in the morning and the last time at just after 12:00 pm on Sunday afternoon. I think I finally paid the price for eating so much garbage. It didn’t help that I chose to eat kind of late, but the truth is that this had been coming to me for a while.

I had to meet a friend at Fundidora Park on Friday at 12:00 pm, though I really didn’t feel good. I threw up the last time just shortly before she and her sister arrived and then I was well enough to walk through the park and along the Santa Lucía Riverwalk. It was definitely one of the hotter days this month as it got up to around 29 C (84 F) I did my best to act like I was feeling fine, as I had a mango smoothie.

We talked through the downtown part of the city and stoppd at a cafeteria, though I just had a bottle of water from there as I really didn’t have any desire to eat anything. After stopping at the cafeteria we all got into a taxi and I got out by the metro station closest to my house and headed home and then lied down and slept for about two hours from 3:30 pm until 5:30 pm. I didn’t feel too much better after, and in the evening I went through periods of feeling super cold and then super hot.

My parents forgot to get on skype to talk at 8:00 pm, though they did come on after 9:30 pm. For some reason the connection was working so bad and they couldn’t hear me very well, so we will have another skype call on Wednesday evening. I forgot I was supposed to have a skype call with my aunt and grandmother this morning, though I will sent her an email and try to schedule one for Wednesday morning. I still haven’t felt great today, but I’m definitely feeling a lot better than yesterday.

I met another friend at Fundidora Park and we walked through the park and the central part of the city and then we took a bus to a part of the city where she lives that I hadn’t explored too much. We had lunch at Super Salads and after we went to Cinépolis to watch The Hobbit. I really believe this was the first time in my life that I had seen the same movie two times in the theatre. I didn’t mind as it’s a good movie, though I definitely don’t want to see it a third time !

I took the bus home in the evening and now here I am typing this up. I think that’s about all I have for today, so for the next question:

Have you ever gone to see the same movie twice in theatres before ? Which one(s) ?

I will leave you all with some pictures from a very cool and cloudy day walking through San Pedro. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

Report # 951

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a wonderful week. I went to the migration institute again on Wednesday morning, and I talked with a guy at the counter and he was able to figure out why the number I was putting in on the form wasn’t working. He also told me that I can’t do this stuff by myself and that I would have to go in with someone from the company. I headed home and then decided since it was such a nice December day that I would head to Chipinque, which is a beautiful park in the mountains in San Pedro.

I had to take the metro train, and then take another bus, and then take a taxi, but I did make it. Unfortunately with the cost of entering the park by car and paying the taxi driver, it cost me 235 pesos. (18 dollars) I started walking around and taking tons of pictures. I had been to this park once before two years ago, but I really didn’t see much as I just went with my ex and some friends and we just walked around very little. This time I went on a long trail and walked up hills and through many different terrains, so I took so many pictures.

I saw a very interesting bird that was mainly blue and white that I hadn’t see before, as well as an animal known as a Coati, which comes from the raccoon family. There was also lots of squirrels as well. It was a super sunny and cool day in Monterrey, and because Chipinque is so high up, it’s even cooler. I have no idea what the temperature was, but in some places I could see my breath. As I walked and continued to climb up the mountain I got to a part on the other side where the sun was coming through, and it actually felt a lot warmer.

At around 3:30 pm I decided I should head back as I had been walking for two hours and I didn’t want to be caught some place far away in the dark, so I started making my long trip back. I was able to get some cellphone signal at some points, and I was finally able to talk with the lady from Teleperformance and I explained to her that I just had to print off my forms and then I would have to go to the migration institute with someone from the company.

She told me if she called me back later that day we’d be able to go and Thursday and if not than probably not until Monday. So once again it was the same old story, I was making progress but very little, and very slowly. I got back to the point where the taxi driver dropped me off and seeing as I didn’t want to pay another 18 dollars just to get down I started walking. I knew it would be a long walk, but it was only 5:00 pm, so I had time to get down.

I was able to answer a call from Arturo as I had signal again and he told me that there was a girl that wanted to meet me and that we would go to a club in the evening. Even though I was way up in the mountain and I still had to make my way down and get home and have a shower and get ready, we weren’t going until 10:30 pm, so I told him I would go.

I think I was down to the bottom of the mountain a little after 6:00 pm, and after getting through the park, it was still going to be a super long walk to get back to where I would need to take the bus to get home, so I just took a taxi to San Agustin mall. Seeing as I hadn’t really eaten anything all day and I had walked for five hours I was super hungry, so I stopped at Focaccia in the mall and had a lasagna. I picked up a couple of donuts after and caught the bus and then the train and I headed home.

I had a shower and talked to my parents for about half an hour. I really hope that I will have some news to tell them when I talk with them on Sunday. I headed back to the metro and caught the train for a few stops and met up with Arturo. He didn’t tell me, but he didn’t have his car this time, so we had to take the bus to head into San Pedro. And then he told me the girls couldn’t make it tonight, so we were just going alone….. those adventures with Arturo never really work out !

Arturo told me they probably wouldn’t let me in the club with my jacket, so we had to leave it in a restaurant. I remember when the jacket was bought it was an expensive jacket, but it’s a sports jacket, meant for outdoor activities, not for going to fancy clubs. It was a chilly night, but at least inside the club it wasn’t so cold. All of these clubs are the same though, the music is super loud, and they all smell like smoke. All of those club people really don’t realize how much they are screwing their health !

We spent a few hours in there, and while I didn’t really talk to anyone, Arturo did get a number for one girl, so he was happy with that. I’m just not the kind of person who goes into clubs and starts talking with random people. We stayed for a few hours, and Arturo felt pretty bad, but it was obvious to know why…. two bottles of vodka would probably do that to anyone. I ordered a plate of tacos seeing as the restaurant held my jacket for a few hours, and then we had to wait around until 4:30 am to catch the first bus.

It was such a cool night and even with my jacket I was cold. I saw a weather sign and it said it was 11 C (52 F), but to me it felt more like 7 C. (45 F) After taking the bus I got off and said good-bye to Arturo and then I had to take two metro trains to return home. The city streets were so dead and I was the only person on the train I think. I arrived home and got into bed a little after 5:00 am and slept until a text message from the cellphone company woke me up after 12:30 pm.

I took the metro to Fundidora Park and did my 10 km run that I’ve done a lot lately. I think today will be a much easier day with the exercise. I ran 10 km yesterday and on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I walked for five hours. My body is actually a little sore, though I’m sure I’ll run again on the weekend. After my run I took the metro to Interplaza to head to the internet cafe and print off my visa request forms. Thankfully they printed off without any problems. I even printed three copies just in case I make a mistake with the signature on one of them !

I picked up something to eat from Super Salads and then I took the metro back home and had a shower. I called the lady from Telepeformance and I told her that I’ve done everything that I can do myself and that she’ll have to accompany to the migration institute. At first she was saying on Monday, but she then told me we could go at 10:30 am today.

That would be so much better because if everything goes well, I will have all this stuff done by tomorrow and then it will just be a matter of sitting and waiting until I hear about getting the authorization so I’d be able to make my appointment at the Mexican consulate in Vancouver. I just really hope she will be there tomorrow and that there won’t be any problems. I just want to get all of this stuff out of the way so it gets to the point where I’ve done everything that I can do and just having to sit and wait to hear what the institute says.

Arturo was telling me that these clubs that we’ve been to in San Pedro can be racist and at times they won’t let in certain people. I don’t know if this is true, though I’m sure they are denying people on a regular basis for all sorts of reasons. San Pedro is a wealthy suburb of Monterrey, and in fact I have read that it is the wealthiest city in all of Latin America. There are a number of reasons for this, one of them being that Monterrey has a high concentration of big companies, so I can imagine a lot of presidents and vice presidents and corporate executives of these companies are living in San Pedro.

And while I’d never say it too loudly, I’m sure there are at least a few drug traffickers who live in San Pedro as well. After all they make tons of money, and San Pedro is a very safe city with high security, so they have it pretty good living where they do. If the city was really interested in figuring out who those people are and doing something about it they probably could, but I think they have mostly chosen to ignore it and deciding that by just letting people live in peace there will be less problems.

I can definitely tell the difference between the people I see in the clubs in San Pedro and the people I see on the Metro and walking the streets of Monterrey. Now I am not saying this for any other reason other than the reason which is the reason… its obvious, but the people who go to the clubs in San Pedro are usually more light skinned Mexicans. There seems to be some sort of ridiculous conception going on about status that light skinned people have some European pedigree and are considered more beautiful, but all I can say is that is utterly ridiculous and flat out wrong.

If there are clubs not only in San Pedro, but anywhere in the world who are denying people based on their personal appearance, I really think the city should be putting a stop to that because it’s complete discrimination. The girls are definitely a lot taller in these clubs, some of them were even taller than I was without even using heels, and the guys well some of them dressed like some sort of preppy farm boy, and others well just all out preppy period !

It’s just unfortunate there are such stupid divisions between people over such stupid things. I’ve said lots of times before that there is not one group of people that is more attractive than another group of people, and there are beautiful people from all over the place. Clearly some places have no understood this point yet and that’s just very sad. Yet in Mexico there still seems to be a struggle among these issues…. one just needs to watch some of the Mexican Telenovelas (soap operas) to truly understand.

Basically these soap operas are showing the 10 % group of Mexican people as if they are the majority, and when there is someone who truly represents the majority of Mexicans, they are a very poor person who cleans houses. The TV channels here should be ashamed of themselves that they have allowed this to go on for so many years and have chosen to falsely portray their own people and show them in such a poor light.

It would be nice to know that one day some people will really step up and take on these forms of discrimination and extremely poor portrayals of the people that are shown on the TV, but until someone decides enough is enough nothing will change. We should all respect and appreciate diversity and understand that beauty comes from all colours and backgrounds. And while it seems the world has come along way to understanding this, there still is a long ways to go.

For the next question:

Do you think that some clubs discriminate based on how a person looks ? What can be done to put an end to this discrimination and the false portrayals of certain people on the television ?

Today I will leave you all with some pictures from Allende at night and Monterrey during a cool, cloudy day. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Monday, bye for now.

Report # 950

Well day by day I seem to be getting a step closer with this whole visa process, though the frustrating part is that it seems I’m making progress at such a slow pace, and I can’t understand why I can’t get things done any faster. Today I went to Teleperformance in the morning at 10:00 am to see the lady about getting a new job offer letter and another document, but after waiting for 10 minutes the security guard told me she was busy and to come back at 12:00 pm.

I walked over to the mall and had some pancakes and eggs and than spent a little bit of time on the computer in the internet cafe and I walked back to the place….. once again having to wait. After about 20 minutes I was told I could go in, and I saw another lady, who I had heard of before but never met. She got me to clarify the errors on the letter and she printed me off a new one, and after checking it, I know this time it’s 100 % accurate.

The lady told me I could go to the institute of national migration tomorrow and that I would be able to start the process. I then headed to the internet cafe to try and fill out the application form, and I found out that I needed a number code, something called RFC (Registro Federal de Constribuyentes) which is basically a federal tax number. Seeing as I didn’t have that I was not able to complete the form. I tried multiple times calling either lady that I could talk to, but neither of them answered.

I headed home and tried calling them again, but once again no answer. I decided to go for an afternoon run at Fundidora Park and after finishing the 10 kilometers I called again and this time I got an answer and the lady gave me the number I needed. I then headed to another internet cafe which was at a metro station on the way home and I tried to plug in the number, but I got a message saying it wasn’t correct.

I called the lady back and she verifited it with me again and I had the right number. She told me that’s the number that the national migration institute gave the company, so I will have to check with them tomorrow. I just hope I’ll be able to get everything sent in and get this process of getting authorized moving, though it’s an extremely slow and frustrating process. At least I know little by little that I’m finally starting to make some progress.

I got a call today from a human  resources company, and the lady was telling me about a job helping Microsoft clients, but I told her I was in the process with a company now to get hired. And I went back to that place way back at the end of October with another human resource company, so I still don’t know what happened with that. Now I’m just focused on the job offer I got and it is the one I am going to go through with.

I was actually kind of cold as I headed home as I just had shorts and a -shirt on after my run and it was only about 14 C (58 F). Tomorrow will be another cool day and then I believe it will warm up again. Monterrey is such an interesting city with their weather how all year there is hot weather, and then suddenly it can drop and get cool, or even cold for just a few days, and then get right back up to being hot again. I stopped at Church’s Chicken on the way home and then I had a shower and now just will be relaxing and getting up kind of early tomorrow to go to the migration place.

Yesterday I met a friend at Fundidora Park and she had baked me some delicious sugar cookies. I had four of them yesterday, and after typing this up I’m sure I’ll have a few more…… they are amazing. I will have to get her something before I go back to Vancouver, though I still have no idea when that will be ! We walked through the park and along the Santa Lucía Riverwalk, and through some streets downtown before deciding to head to Paseo San Pedro, which is another mall there.

We talked through a huge luxury store called Palacio de Hierro (Iron Palace) and it’s a big department store filled with small stores of almost any luxury brand that you can think of. (Christian Dior, Gucci, Chanel, Coach, Prada, Armani… and many more) There were so many ladies handing out perfume and cologne scents for people to try. My friend was unable to smell anything as she had been sick and her nose was out of order. Today I was sneezing a lot so I hope that I didn’t catch anything !

I found out that Palacio de Hierro sells frappuichinos so of course I had to try one… and it was very good. Afterwards we walked around the walk for a lot more time and eventually had lunch at the Sierra Madre Brewing Company. We walked around a bit more afterwards, and than took a fairly long walk from the mall all the way to the front of San Agustin as that is where I had to catch my bus to head home. I said good-bye to my friend who took a taxi, and I waited to board a bus.

It was a fairly long wait as there was just sooooooooooo many people. The bus I had to get on starts off at a university so by the time it arrived at where I was waiting, it was pretty full, and then here there were so many people too so it did take a while. I finally got myself crammed onto a bus and then got myself home. My weekend ended up being pretty boring. I had plans with two people, but both of them ended up flaking out….. I really am not a fan of those types of people.

On Saturday I just walked to the Las Galerias mall (which was jam packed as always) and ordered the super cheap pizza and spaghetti dish I like from the food court, and picked up a frappuichino and a donut while I was waiting. I walked home and that was pretty much it for a very uneventful day, though I did go for a long run in the morning. On Sunday I was heading to the theater to see Premium Rush and I made a stop at Subway before I headed to the theatre.

It was soooo busy and they only had one guy there, well a teenager around 17 probably, and I really felt bad for him. He was all alone and there was a line-up full of people, and of course as each person wants their sandwich done specially and a little different, it’s not an easy job. I can’t understand why the management only would have scheduled one person to work there on a busy Sunday afternoon seeing as it’s the holiday season. I waited for about 20 minutes and then made my way to the theater.

The movie was about some people who work for a bike courier company and they have to make a delivery, a ticket worth a lot of money, and they are chased by a corrupt cop who is into dealing with the gangs, and it was a pretty good movie….. lot’s of action and biking stunts ! I noticed I got a message posted on Facebook from the mother of my ex. This was the second time in the last few months that she had left me a message, and both times they were not very good.

The first one didn’t bother me too much, and I thought it was just a reminder or something that I should be thankful for all that she did for me, but the 2nd message was just plain nasty. She basically wrote that other people shouldn’t be so stupid and follow my plans as I’m basically an opportunist and she used some not very nice words. I tried to send her a message explaining things as she really didn’t know what she was talking about, but she responded back with something else, and it still didn’t accept what I had told her, so I removed her from my friends list on Facebook.

I really don’t know what her problem is with me. I told her soooo many times in the past that I was so thankful for allowing me to come and stay in her house for a few weeks two years ago, as well as for all of the things she showed me and did for me. She saw the photos I posted with my friend’s family in Sonora, and I think she got the idea that after my relationship with her daughter ended that I was just looking for some other Mexican family to go and stay with or something like that, but those would all be ridiculous assumptions on her part, and she never once tried to talk to me about anything that she had been thinking.

I had planned on coming to Mexico for almost two years to try and live and work, and I was working in Canada 40 hours a week and saving money for a year and a half. I have been renting my own places for the majority of the time that I’ve been here, and I’ve never asked for anything from anyone. The only reason I ever went and stayed with anyone is because they invited me……. I didn’t go out of my way and ask anyone.

I did stay with my friend Arturo for a week while I was getting settled here, but his family was very nice to me and I really do appreciate it so much. Maybe my ex has talked to her mom and said things that aren’t true and if not, her mom has just created false ideas in her head, and clearly she believes what she thinks and to her I’m not a great person now. Well that’s ok. It’s unfortunate that she has thought what she has thought, especially after we got along so well in the past, but as the saying goes, you can’t please everyone.

I just can’t believe the things she said, and how she decided to do them. She commented on my pictures albums in Facebook, and she basically expressed herself like a Mexican teenager would. This lady is 50 years old too ! I’m not going to dwell on this too much. I haven’t talked with my ex in months, even though I did say Happy Birthday to her in October. So this stuff is just in the past and I can’t be dealing with any of this stupid gossip stuff now, as I have much more important priorities.

It’s just disappointing that people that you get along with so well in the past end up turning so nasty for no reason. Maybe she saw her daughter upset and thought that I did something bad, or maybe she saw me with the pictures of my friend, thinking that I was dating her and I was just trying to be with another Mexican girl and spend time with the family.

It was my ex that ended our relationship, and I respected her decision so I don’t know what her mom expects. Obviously she would prefer I stayed home and didn’t do anything with anybody, but I can’t live my life to please other people. Facebook should be used as a way to share pictures with friends and family and communicate with friends and family who live far away, not as a site to post hateful messages and spread gossip.

Unfortunately Facebook has brought out the worst in many people, and a lot of people have gotten in trouble or ruined friendships or relationships over what has been posted. We should all just try and be a little bit nicer, and if we have a problem with someone or any concerns, we should talk with them personally to find out what is going on instead of just jumping to conclusions and posting nasty messages…. it would save a lot of anger and frustration in so many situations.

For the next question:

Do you ever delete people from Facebook, why ? What sort of issues have you had on that website ?

I will leave you all with my first set of pictures from Monterrey. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

Report # 949

Well I’m 100 % certain that I’ll have to return to Vancouver if I want to ever get my work visa. There was a time I thought the hardest thing to do would be to get the job offer in the first place, and while that was difficult, it’s all of the stuff that has to be done afterwards that’s even harder. In my opinion the whole process makes no sense, but as the saying goes, rules are rules and I just have to follow them.

I talked to the lady from Teleperformance yesterday and explained her everything, and now she too was aware that I would have to return to Vancouver. Unfortunately it’s not just as easy as hopping on a plane and going back right away and there are still things that I have to take care of here. From what I read from the Mexican embassy website, a work visa can only be given if it’s been authorized by the national institute of migration, so I have to get the authorization before flying back.

It would just be a huge waste of money if I fly back without being 100 % certain that I’ve done everything here that needs to be done. So on Monday morning I’ll go back to the national institute of migration for a third time, with documents showing the people what I need, and if it gets to a point where it’s just too complicated for me I’ll have to get some visa expert from a law office to help me out. I didn’t come all this way to fail so I will do everything I can to succeed, despite all of these inconveniences and ridiculous rules.

So depending on how things go this coming week, I would like to be able to fly out very soon. At the very least I should definitely be able to make it home well before Christmas. I told the guy who I rent from here that I would pay him another 2,000 pesos (160 dollars) to keep the place rented for January, as I really can’t be bothered to have to come back here and look for another place.

Ultimately the decision of whether I would get the visa to work here lies within the hands of the people who work at the national institute of migration, but the company I’m applying for is posting jobs online every single day and they always need people, to speak English and Spanish. So it definitely would not be like I’m snatching  up a postion where no one else could apply, so if I do everything the right way they should accept me….. at least I’d hope !

So the last few days haven’t been very enjoyable as I’ve just been stressing about all of this stuff all week. At least for today and tomorrow I can relax a little as everything is closed and I can’t do anything anyways. I just want everything to work out. I’ve worked too hard for this to have a failure, and for once in my life to have success where I want it would be a huge booster for me.

I’ve seen two movies over the past few days; Trouble with the Curve, a Clint Eastwood movie about an old baseball scout and the relationship he has with his daughter, and Espíritu de Triunfo (The Spirit of Triumph) which was a Mexican movie about a soccer team and how a few different people were connected to the team. It was a good movie, but I’m sure the fans of the team, Santos Laguna, would have appreciated it a lot more.

I think I can say I’m kind of tired of going to the movie theatre. I never though I would say that, but after going so many times that I’ve lost count over the last 3.5 months…. sometimes multiple times per week, I guess it’s gotten rather old. Of course I enjoy watching movies, but after going again and again and eating the same large popcorn and the same coke, I have kind of lost interest. So the simple solution would to be to take a couple of weeks off from the cinema… whether or not I do that is another story though !

On Friday evening I went to Fundidora Park and walked around and took some pictures and waited for it to get all dark to take pictures of all of the Christmas displays. There was a lot of Christmas stuff, a concert with some singers and performers, and even fake snow getting blown around…. though I have determined it appears to have been soap. I walked the whole Paseo Santa Lucía route and I arrived in front of the government palace and they actually had set up an outdoor ice rink.

I always wondered how they did this in Vancouver seeing as Vancouver is hardly ever below freezing temperature, but here it was like 20 C (68 F) and they still managed to do that….. I was very impressed. After walking around for a few hours I returned home and just had a relaxing evening. I returned to Fundidora this morning and did my super long run that I definitely needed as I hadn’t ran since last Sunday. I will probably go there again tomorrow. It’s such a great park and I love taking advantage of it.

Two times now people have asked me for directions how to get somewhere, and surprisingly both times I knew the answer. It’s kind of cool that I’m not even from here but I already know how to get to some places. Though I’m a little surprised people are asking me in the first place…. I never thought I’d look like someone who would know the answers to those questions, but I’m glad that I do.

In the movie theatre the other day I saw a trailer for a movie about the Tsunami that struck Asia at the end of 2004. All I can say is I’m really not a fan of these types of movies. Whether its about a Tsunami that killed thousands of people, September 11, hunting Bin Laden, or any sort of natural disaster, I really don’t think it’s a good thing that people are stuffing their pockets with cash by recreating such tragic events.

I’m sure some people will disagree with me, but I just can’t stomach the fact that people are getting rich off of showing the world these disasters once again in the movies. Many people lived through these horrors, and they don’t need to relive them again on film. Of course as the saying goes if someone doesn’t want to watch a movie they really don’t have to, but I just don’t think it’s all that respectful for directors, and studio heads, and actors to be fattening their wallets by portraying real life people from heart breaking tragedies.

As long as there are people lining up to watch these movies, there will be more of them, so I don’t expect anything to change. I just don’t understand the point of making these types of movies aside from the money, and while they may be profitable films, I don’t think they speak very highly of all of the people involved. For the next question:

Do you think movies based on real life tragedies and natural disasters should be made, why or why not ? Do you agree or disagrees with my arguments ?

I will leave you all with my final set of pictures from Guadalajara. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.