Posted by Raul on May 31, 2011
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I was standing at the bus stop, waiting for my wife who was coming from I don’t remember where.
The old woman came to me. She was short and clearly overweight; wearing plenty of make-up and a short dress that attempted to make her look sexy, yet the intention wasn’t achieved.
“Do you want some action?” She said to me, and it took me a couple of seconds to realize what the proposal was.
“I’m waiting for my wife”
“But in the meantime…we can go there” She pointed to an old house around the corner. There were several women like her, some in a window, others standing in the street, waving hands to males passing by.
“She is pregnant; I have to be here to help her”
“How long is she pregnant?”
“Six months”
“So you have been without a woman for a while”
“I’ll wait for her” I tried to give her my best smile.
She looked at me for a moment without saying another word. There was strangeness in her eyes, and I believe some sadness in her face.
She looked at me for a while without saying another word, then, with sad eyes and a very low voice tone she said: “Don’t go there, they might rob you” pointing to the other women; and without another word she turned around and left, walking in a slow pace in the direction of the old house.
Sadness came to me at that moment, feeling for maybe loneliness in that old woman, working the days for some money. I have never been able to forget those sad eyes and the tired walk of a woman that seemed to find herself in the wrong place of life.
Raul
Posted by Raul on May 26, 2011
Lately it has been a struggle for me to come up with the time to write for this blog, and to do it in a positive tone of mind. Many things have been happening around here, together with several physical others breaking down and in need to be fixed, robbing up time originally planned for writing activities. So the thinking, writing and visiting friends around the net activities have suffered from a forced lack of attention.
Double reason to be surprised when a note from Sara at A Sharing Connection arrived with the news of Alien Ghost being selected to receive The Versatile Blogger Award!
By Sara’s explanation, it was a drawing rather than a straight selection, due to the many blogs in Sara’s preferences that meet the requirements. Still, an honor for me since in order to be selected by drawing, this humble blog’s name had to be in the “bag” of names from which to draw from.
Thank you Sara for the distinction, and my apologies for the fried brain cells while reading some of the posts, although your post-challenges have also fried some of mine in the process of trying not to fail to the test 
One of the requirements of this award is to mention seven things about one for readers to know more about the writer behind the blog, so in that sense, and trying to go more personal, I decided to share with you my:
1-Social Security Number
2-Driver’s License Number
3-Email address
4-Street address
5-Phone number
6-Checking account number
7-Savings account number
Just kidding!
1- According to my mother’s records, I was born by the tenth’s months of pregnancy; purple and overgrown. The first seven years of life I spent about almost nine months in bed and three on my feet due to fever attacks that gave me hallucinations. There were sequences of ninety injections in three months periods, so I played with the little bottles and crazy thoughts since I was mostly too tired to move. By the age of seven the extraction of the tonsils fixed all the problems (Don’t ask me, I have no clue).
2- When I was about six months old an uncle used to call me “Stuffed Potato”…I don’t know why!
3- Because of my father’s job we used to move a lot when I was growing up, so the twelve years of school I did them in fourteen of them. That’s 1.17 schools per school calendar year! Although I didn’t like to change schools because it was always living as a ghost (it usually took me about six months to befriend someone) I really loved seeing new places and experiencing new weathers and geographies. All in all, a wonderful part of my childhood!
4- Trying to find a job, together with some inertia left from the first years, I had around 47 different jobs between the ages of 18 and 29. I did many things like: car mechanic; apartment interior repairs; work clothes manufacturing; jewelry artisan (silver casting and rock polishing); radio program recorder; events organizing (theater and music shows); apprentice miner; shoe manufacturing tools fabrication; brochure publication; taxi driver; bus driver; agro machinery mechanic; road repair work; decorative lamps manufacturing; fruits and vegetables seller (farmer market type); among many others.
Apprentice of miner. I'm the one at the right.
5- I hold certifications as Automotive and Diesel Mechanic; Industrial Electric Technician; Airframe and Powerplant Technician and Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanic, but I love writing! (I’m still trying to figure that out!).
6- Memory it’s always been a problem with me (a gift from the fever attacks?); I always struggle to remember how old I am, and after many years of memorizing my age and then having another birthday, I decided to memorize just the year I was born; from then I just make a quick calculation after asking “What year is it?” (I’m not kidding!)
7- When I was 26, and stuck trying to write, I decide to take an opportunity that presented and tried marijuana to see what happens and see if it’ll help me in creative writing. Wow! So many ideas passed through my mind at an ever increasing speed, that I wasn’t able to write them down fast enough. The room started spinning and I had an amazing trip, but completely lost control of my thoughts. I never tried again by the fear of becoming addicted.
So there you have seven things about me
Another of the requirements of this award is to pass it on to someone the recipient consider a Versatile Blogger, and in that aspect there’s no doubt in my mind to name Nacho at Zerebria for the variety in his posts ranging from self improvement, common every day situations we all experience at one time or another, to hard analysis of the human mind and behavior, but all written in a “accessible” way for the common reader, without loosing the professionalism of a psychologist. Congratulations Nacho! I hope you accept, and so we all can also learn more about you.
Raul
Posted by Raul on April 26, 2011
1958 Messerschmitt KR200
Are microcars making a comeback?
From the 40’s, and during the 50’s and 60’s there was a full line of manufactures creating all sort of very small, cheap cars. The intention was to reach a market of people who didn’t have the money to buy a “normal” car and to pay for the highly priced fuel in Europe.
These so named microcars were part of the scene in cities and roads of the European world, and some of them even made it to the US. But while fuel prices here were low, and roads long, microcars didn’t stand a chance against the big, luxury local vehicles of the time, so those little examples of basic transportation became simply curious toys, if not the target of all kind of jokes.
"Yes officer, it IS a car!"
Now we are faced with increasing fuel prices and crowded cities, so many people look at European models that might have something to offer for the local roads. So far the VW Beatle made a comeback, together with the Mini (under a different manufacturer), the Smart Car, and now it seems the Fiat 500 will be roaming American roads by 2012.
These are not the same as they used to be of course. These are updated models that meet all the requirements for new cars to be legal in this country, so what once was a small, simple, affordable transport vehicle, has become a luxury; highly technological device that reflects modern’s times.
My 1957 BMW Isetta 300
I’ve always been fascinated by small cars, to the point that I own a little Isetta 300, so when I heard of the Fiat 500 comeback, I had to go and see it with my own eyes.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that little car among the other “monsters” at the showroom. Retaining the simple lines inside and out; small but roomy enough, and even with some luxuries included such as electric sunroof and power windows.
I was ecstatic for the availability of the vehicle in a short time, and even the crazy thought of eventually buying one in the future did cross my mind…until I saw a picture of both; the old and the new Fiat 500 standing side by side.
Fiat 500 "New vs Old"
What happened to the little car concept?!
If you take a look at the picture of both cars, you’ll see that there’s nothing small about the new one, well, in all fairness, the original one was classified as a “microcar” so I guess the new one could still be considered a “small” car. But for someone like me, that like the original concept of the microcar (think of a scooter with a body for rainy days), the excitement of a brand new microcar available for purchase in the present, dissolved like the colors of the picture under a heavy rain, and floating down the street drain it disappeared once more.
I guess is still about restoring the little one to make it shine once again in the presence of others; those who remain in the race of incorporating more and more elements, size and weight, as the way of natural growth nowadays.
So no…microcars are not coming back… 
Raul
(Sigh!)
Posted by Nacho on April 7, 2011
Today, my good friend Ignacio Jordi is visiting this blog, bringing with him his very interesting thoughts that always makes us think and gives us an opportunity to know more about ourselves. If you haven’t visited Nacho at his blog Zerebria, please take some time and stop by to read his timeless and very educative posts.
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Casiotone nostalgia, or the way we learn
Hello everybody, and thank you once again Raul for letting me show up at your wonderful blog; I’m honored of being a guest here in Alien Ghost, for sure one of the friendliest aliens on this side of the galaxy! My article today is about learning. I hope you find it enjoyable.
Some of you may remember it; in my country it got to be sort of a symbol of the 80′s, one of those many objects from that decade which have become a dear memory. The Casiotone PT-1 was not longer than a laptop screen, its keys were so tiny that they were almost square, and it had a very recognizable rhythm that was sort of its anthem (too-kee-too-kee-too-kee-too-too-too-kee-too-kee-too-kee…)
That cute and comic electric keyboard was my first one, the instrument that introduced me, and many people in my generation, to the delights of playing music.
But the Casiotone PT-1 had one more feature, the one I want to focus on: it was monochannelled. In other words, it only allowed you to play one note at a time; no sound appeared when you pressed a second key unless you released the former first.
Now you might say it was a limitation rather than a feature, but try and see it through the eyes of a kid who is approaching for the first time the world of music, of making music. Fascinated, I practiced every catchy tune I could think of, in the mood of someone who disassembles a toy to see what’s inside.
Obviously, you need no more than one hand to play a single note, so I could help myself with the other hand when I had to play something that was fast or tricky, and the result was always gratifying. I used to practice over and over until the notes came perfect. The only variation factor I was allowed was the four different instrument sounds to play with.
I did not know it at the time, but it turned out to be a perfectly natural introduction to music. A succession of single notes, one at a time, is what in musical theory is called a melody. And melody is the skeleton of any musical education, the first thing that humans tried out when they intended to make pretty sounds.
So the limitation imposed by the instrument kindly forced me to train myself in the basics of music; all my attention was focused on the melody, and the quality of sound. There was nothing else to care for.
That way, when, later on, I moved to a new, more potent keyboard, which allowed simultaneous channels (I think they were four), I was ready for the new challenge ahead: simultaneity of notes. Harmony. My next step, then, was fleshing out the melodies I had learned; to my surprise, I discovered that any song allowed a lot of possible ‘dressings’, the choice was not limited to finding a single ‘right one’. My research took me to new stages, to more complex ‘toys’, as I started to try out different chords and series…
Learning is the process of practicing an ability under controlled circumstances. The first surfing lesson is taken on land. The skilled spokesman records himself at home, with no people round, to see how he looks and sounds. The child gets familiar with the bike using small supporting wheels before heading for the challenge of balance on only two…Sometimes I wonder if I would have learned music the way I did if my first keyboard had been one of those high-tech monsters around in our days. I’m no specialist, maybe there are still monochanelled beauties out there, but the mainstream seems to be dominated by keyboards with zillions of instruments and virtually no channel limitation, where pressing the demo button bursts into a Sting song or a Wagner, loud as hell.
Maybe I would have learned just the same, but I would have had to figure out the ‘chunks’, the limitations by myself. So my conclusions are: 1) learning is one of those fields in which less is more, and 2) when trying to help someone learn, removing options is not imposing a handicap; it is being considerate.
Can you think of other examples of learning under controlled circumstances? Do you impose yourself limitations to help you learn something? Ever had a Casiotone PT-1?
Nacho Jordi is a psychologist and translator who lives in Madrid (Spain). He is the author of the Zerebria blog, where he offers tips and hints for personal development and conscious living, besides all kind of contemporary musings.
Posted by Raul on March 31, 2011
They used to be all around, flying aimlessly, close to each other, silently existing for no reason at all. They were there, creating that strange feeling that seems to be proper of just once in a lifetime.
Sounds of a voice, a gesture, maybe a silly look of stranger eyes that were to be known little by little as time went by; they were born out of those and remained there for a short lived life.
So colorful! So vibrant! So alive! Butterflies that changed the elements around, the organization of things, the perception of life; just to leave behind spider webs as a memorial reminder of what used to be, and that now concentrate in catching the dust of time.
Their brief life reminding us all of the fragility of a moment in time: Dead Butterflies!
Raul
(Projections)
