May 29 2006

.:dies cruoris, dies illa

Tag: americanlife, chronicletuka @ 7:03 pm

Avevo letto da qualche parte che davano il Requiem di Fauré, e non l’avevo mai sentito, e un po’ di sana musica francese di fine ottocento in una assolata domenica da spiaggia… che volete di più? Ma poi l’ho perso, il giorno e l’ora, e al suo posto mi son trovato in una chiesa a El Cerrito, dieci miglia da dove abito, ad ascoltare il Requiem di Mozart. Morto per morto, che vuoi che cambi.

Forse qualcuno ricorda di quando parlavo con un certo entusiasmo della sorpresa con cui ascoltavo la San Diego Symphony alla Copley Symphony Hall in Febbraio, o forse no. Ecco, le aspettative in questo caso stavano tanto più in basso. Ma di certo non così in basso da sfiorare l’imbarazzo. In questo coro sbilanciato con le voci maschili in pensione e le voci femminili a pestarsi i piedi a vicenda, l’orchestra anarchica e il direttore, nel disperato tentativo di accorciare la pena - mors tua, vita mea - a tirare tempi rossiniani, tanto mozart o rossini che differenza farà, alla simpatica signora in pigiama rosa e scarpe da tennis?

Si, la perfetta utente del concerto. Trasfigurata dal pigiama rosa, meglio della tuta, fresca e calda dal letto - come il pane migliore - alle tre del pomeriggio, e le tennis per stare più comodi. Mica l’unica. Famiglie intere. Padre e madre. Figlio. Figlia. Nonno. Nonna (if available). Nella fila davanti probabilmente fratello con altra famiglia e progenie: venite piccini in coro ad ascoltare non il bigino del Requiem! E state attenti alla nonna, che non si lasci trasportare troppo in là! Al - di - là!

Detto fatto! Alla pausa la simpatica ultra-tri-centenaria scelta a casa tra i presenti comincia a sanguinare nel bel mezzo della chiesa… miracolo! Frotte di fedeli con fazzolettini di carta e bottigliette di acqua a trattenere ciò che la natura richiama prepotentemente a sè. Non andare, sanguinario fossile! Resta con noi, mesozoico, la sera!

E io a pensare: portatela in Italia! Noi le cose antiche e lacrimanti sappiamo come trattarle! Macché! Niente tragedia, niente trapasso, niente replica del viennese per cause di forza maggiore. Il tutto si risolve col lieto fine: 200 miglia da Hollywood vorrà pur dire qualcosa, no?

E per celebrare la resurrezione, allora, che cosa meglio di una collezione di brani da Gilbert & Sullivan? Ecco il direttore del drammatico inno vestire i panni del capitano, ecco un’olandesina spuntare fuori dal coro, con le trecce bionde all’aura sparse! Il mescolamento, l’arte in cui l’America eccelle, è qui in tutte le salse. Così che mi sembrerà di andare a due concerti, o a mezzo; a seconda.

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May 18 2006

.:should I stay or should I go?

Tag: americanlife, chronicletuka @ 8:45 pm

Let’s forget the Lovelife (it’s not hard) and concentrate for a second on the present. On destiny, again: in the last three weeks so many things happened.

Last week I was in Virginia, then DC: lovely city, but there’s nothing to mention. I’ll just post pictures in the next few days.

Before leaving, I got the job at the UCSD Libraries. If there are no issues with my
visa status (life of regular immigrants is awful here) I’m gonna be hired. But when? No precise answer to this question, which makes harder for me to make plans for the future.

Which again tells me that making plans for the future is just a bad way to spend our spare time, because future is mostly unpredictable.

To add another level of confusion, today I got accepted to the Summer Class at the Stanford School of Business I applied a while ago. I’m struggling on a decision: should I stay or should I go?

Pros:

  • It’s just one month
  • It’s Stanford
  • It’s something different from Computer Science
  • Palo Alto should be a lot of fun
  • If America is based on Social Networking, that’s one of the places to be

Cons:

  • It’s expensive
  • Can I keep the job that I just got? Can I take one month off? When will I be officially hired?
  • Will I be able to use in the future what I’d learn there?

Suggestions & ideas from casual and less casual readers are welcome.

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May 17 2006

.:A., as in Alex

Tag: lost in translation, boozetuka @ 6:00 pm

Non andare via/ma se proprio devi andare

Sai come si dice/va’, e sii felice

Mina Anna Mazzini

I smell of smoke. I take my t-shirt between my thumb and second finger and I pull it to my nose. It smells. I have to go two years in the past to smell the same. When I was in Bologna.

Tonite I saw A. In the same place we were last time, for his birthday. The last time we met. What happened after that is simple to describe: silence. Take a piece of blank paper and look at it: it’s as void as that.

There’s no point in being secretive. A is Alex, and the place is Flicks, a gay bar in Hillcrest, a neighborhood of San Diego. To be even more honest, A. is first Alex, then Anthony, two disasters in a row. And today - by accident - I talked to both. But what follows is about the first.

I was at Flicks with a couple of friends: Francisco and Justin. There was good conversation, good times and one dollar drinks. After two hours I was talking about my impressions on Washington DC and Justin leaves.

It’s only me and Francisco, ready for the third drink, laughing and chilling. And suddenly - like a vision - A. is here. A equals Alex. And I’m not dreaming, damn me. Couldn’t I just be in bed, sleeping, concentrating of a ideal perfect WIWIWIG life where What I Want Is What I Get?

Walking towards the patio, where he is standing, is not really helpful. But I wanted to say hi so much, I felt like hammers were beating my back to move that way. And I’m there. And he’s there. And I look at him. And he smiles at me.

It’s bizarre. I say: how you doing? Careful that I’m tipsy and he starts telling me that he has recently been caught drunk driving, or DUI (Driving Under influence). And I start thinking about destiny, and jokes.

Do you know, silly, that that night, that last night the police pulled me over, and gave me a fine, while I was driving towards your house to bring you a present - while you weren’t there - for which I never had a thank you in response? They tried with all their strength to accuse me of drunk driving, but they failed.

So the only answer to his sentence was: I have a funny story about being caught drunk driving, but I won’t tell you. Have you any idea, crazy little boy, that I’ve been paying $148 that night just for bringing you a present that you were even unable to read the dedication? And I did that for nothing, which is what I got in return? You crazy wonderful person with the sensitivity of a broken chair? Sigh.

I’ll keep the story for me. I’ll just smile and be nice to him. And I’ll just tell Francisco, to get some empathy. And I’ll tell you, affectionate or casual readers, that I frankly don’t know what to expect from people. At least here in California. What does keep me here?

I have no answer and I just dream about a surreal, impalpable, invisible connection that the poet Ugo Foscolo called the “corrispondenza d’amorosi sensi” (mutual exchange of love sensations) between me and a perfect counterpart. Damn idealism!

But at the very very end what I hate most is the awful sensation of being mocked by the destiny. It’s unnecessary. And for somebody that, when I leave, is ready to hug me and kiss my neck and leave me in that unknown limbo where good and bad melt together.

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May 09 2006

.:mission accomplished!

Tag: americanlife, linestuka @ 1:19 am
discount.jpg

After months, requests to the embassy, requests to different insurance companies, I finally got the California’s Good Driver Discount! And they are gonna pay me back the surplus they charged me in the past months!