Tango

Well, yeah, I have a new addiction. The thing is that I always liked to watch people dancing tango and found it a very sensual dance.

Browsing through the net I found this tango school in London about a month and a half ago. It is not really the first time I try this; two years ago I had a lesson, but that was far from didactic. The experience was nice, but not because of the dancing (we'll leave that story for some other time), it turned to be hard to follow and I soon forgot all what I learned.

The system at this school is much better; you start by knowing where to put your weight when you dance, how to keep your posture and, more importantly, that you have to establish a connection and "communication without words" with your partner. As a "follower", you have to learn how to feel the lead and this can be very complex as the movements are subtle.

During the first few lessons, it looked a lot like weird waltzing. Now, after my 7th lesson it is starting to look like tango and I manage to go around the dancefloor for a full song doing more than front-back-sideways... I have passed the stage of the open embrace (a bit like "dirty-dancing-this-is-my-space-that-is-yours" kind of thing) and went into the close one (very much like hugging your partner) and now I cannot wait to learn how to do fancy stuff with my feet!.

Great stuff this dance!. By the way, if you browse for "tango" in "youtube" it sends you to some really nice routines by experienced dancers.

Guess how was this image drawn!.

Right, I think I am allowed to be a little geeky sometimes.

This nice image of a beach in fluorescent colours is not drawn with some of those japanese markers: it is actually bacteria growing on a Petri dish. How come they fluoresce, and in different colours?. Well, it is because they are genetically modified.

The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a protein found in a bioluminescent jellyfish that, as the name says, produces green light when stimulated. GFP is not a very fuzzy protein, so you can isolate its gene (DNA sequence) from the jellyfish, put it into another organism (under suitable regulation) and make the organism fluoresce.

In that way, scientist have generated not only fluorescent bacteria, but also fluorescent mice, rats, pigs and even monkeys.

If you make some changes in the structure of the protein, you can generate variants that produce blue, yellow, cyan or red light.

Then, if you have bacteria expressing all these varieties in your lab and you happen to be bored waiting during an incubation period, you can create images such as the one shown here.

(Taken from Wikipedia, artwork by Nathan Shaner and photography by Paul Steinbach).

Somewhere over the rainbow.

This is such a positive song!; yet, the majority of people that hear it are left with a bitter-sweet taste... what do you think?.

Somewhere over the rainbow (What a wonderful world)

Israel Kamakawiwo Ole'

Somewhere over the rainbow

Way up high

And the dreams that you dreamed of

Once in a lullaby ii ii iii

Somewhere over the rainbow

Blue birds fly

And the dreams that you dreamed of

Dreams really do come true ooh ooooh

Someday I'll wish upon a star

Wake up where the clouds are far behind me ee ee eeh

Where trouble melts like lemon drops

High above the chimney tops thats where you'll find me oh

Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly

And the dream that you dare to,why, oh why can't I? i iiii

Well I see trees of green and

Red roses too,

I'll watch them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

Well I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white

And the brightness of day

I like the dark and I think to myself

What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people passing by

I see friends shaking hands

Saying, "How do you do?"

They're really saying, I...I love you

I hear babies cry and I watch them grow,

They'll learn much more

Than we'll know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world (w)oohoorld

Someday I'll wish upon a star,

Wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where trouble melts like lemon drops

High above the chimney top that's where you'll find me

Oh, Somewhere over the rainbow way up high

And the dream that you dare to, why, oh why can't I? I hiii ?

For the the song (and a video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2Jt4WOxN8

Mi poesía

Hace un momento fui a buscar un cuaderno para hacer unas notas (tengo una entrevista de trabajo pronto), y me encontré con algunos "poemas" que escribí hace tiempo.
Después de todo, creo que no escribo tan mal...

1

Hoy me guardo para mí,

me deshago en preguntas,

le doy un trago largo a la soledad.

De momento soy parte de los muebles

me cubre el polvo del silencio

comparto con ellos el dejo de abandono.

Hoy me siento de madera suave,

observo a los niños ir al colegio

no es extraño ser observado

por una silla o una cómoda a través de la ventana.

Me he escondido del mundo;

retraigo los pseudópodos-brazos-ansias

me escondo,

duermo la siesta del bronce pulido

del candelabro de cristal

del botellón de agua.

Encuentro un poco de felicidad en un mundo

sin sonoras palabras.

2

Tú...

otra vez tú...

súbita, misteriosa, incorpóreamente

vuelves:

por corto tiempo respiré, sentí en el aire

una millonésima de molécula que pasó antes por ti.

Viento del sur, anti-partícula que absorbiste y dejaste ir para que yo la sintiera.

Familiar.

Me sorprende, me avergüenza esta obsesión sin sentido.

Trato de entenderla.

Hay cosas que jamás dejarán de ser un misterio...

quizá es mejor así

hice otra vez contacto, sin respuesta

quizá es mejor así...

incorpóreo,

en el aire, más

invisible...

Un poco de poesía...

Me siento un poco melancólica. Cuando me pongo así me da por leer poesía, así que desempolvé un poco a Sabines...

X V

Bajo mis manos crece, dulce, todas las noches. Tu vientre manso, suave, infinito. Bajo mis manos que pasan y repasan midiéndolo, besándolo; bajo mis ojos que lo quedan viendo toda la noche.

Me doy cuenta de que tus pechos crecen también, llenos de ti, redondos y cayendo. Tú tienes algo. Ríes, miras distinto, lejos.

Mi hijo te está haciendo más dulce, te hace frágil. Suenas como la pata de la paloma al quebrarse.

Guardadora, te amparo contra todos los fantasmas; te abrazo para que madures en paz.

de Adán y Eva, 1952.

TE QUIERO A LAS DIEZ DE LA MAÑANA, y a las once, y a las doce del día. Te quiero con toda mi alma y con todo mi cuerpo, a veces, en las tardes de lluvia. Pero a las dos de la tarde, o a las tres, cuando me pongo a pensar en nosotros dos, y tú piensas en la comida o en el trabajo diario, o en las diversiones que no tienes, me pongo a odiarte sordamente, con la mitad del odio que guardo para mí.

Luego vuelvo a quererte, cuando nos acostamos y siento que estás hecha para mí, que de algún modo me lo dicen tu rodilla y tu vientre, que mis manos me convencen de ello, y que no hay otro lugar en donde yo me venga, a donde yo vaya, mejor que tu cuerpo. Tú vienes toda entera a mi encuentro, y los dos desaparecemos un instante, nos metemos en la boca de Dios, hasta que yo te digo que tengo hambre o sueño.

Todos los días te quiero y te odio irremediablemente. Y hay días también, y hay horas, en que no te conozco, en que me eres ajena como la mujer de otro. Me preocupan los hombres, me preocupo yo, me distraen mis penas. Es probable que no piense en ti durante mucho tiempo. Ya ves. ¿Quién podría quererte menos que yo, amor mío?.

de Diario semanario y poemas en prosa, 1961.

HE AQUÍ QUE TÚ ESTÁS SOLA y que estoy solo.

Haces tus cosas diariamente y piensas

y yo pienso y recuerdo y estoy solo.

A la misma hora nos recordamos algo

y nos sufrimos. Como una droga mía y tuya

somos, y una locura celular nos recorre

y una sangre rebelde y sin cansancio.

Se me va a hacer llagas este cuerpo solo,

se me caerá la carne trozo a trozo.

Esto es lejía y muerte.

El corrosivo estar, el malestar

muriendo es nuestra muerte.

Yo no sé dónde estás. Yo ya he olvidado

quién eres, dónde estás, cómo te llamas.

Yo soy sólo una parte, sólo un brazo,

una mitad apenas, sólo un brazo.

Te recuerdo en mi boca y en mis manos.

Con mi lengua y mis ojos y mis manos

te sé, sabes a amor, a dulce amor, a carne,

a siembra, a flor, hueles a amor, y a mí.

En mis labios te sé, te reconozco,

y giras y eres y miras incansable

y toda tú me suenas

dentro del corazón como mi sangre.

Te digo que estoy solo y que me faltas.

Nos faltamos, amor, y nos morimos

y nada haremos ya sino morirnos.

Esto lo sé, amor, esto sabemos.

Hoy y mañana, así, y cuando estemos

en nuestros brazos simples y cansados,

me faltarás, amor, nos faltaremos.

de Poemas sueltos, 1951-1961.

¡Ay, p... Sabines, cómo sabes!...

A dream...

Last night I had a dream with my first love. I fell in love with this person when I was thirteen years-old, and the last time we spoke was about a year before I moved to London, more than five years ago.
In my dream, I went back to the place where we met and I saw him just the way he looked like when I was 13. The funny thing is that I dreamt myself they way I am now, being a 29 year-old.
What an odd feeling. I am certain I am not in love with him anymore, but I was glad, like when you see a friend you have not seen for a long time. Still, what I felt is not the same you feel for your friends, even the best ones.
I had the same sort of dream with the second person I fell in love with, about a month ago. This happened when I was 21, when I was at University. Yet again, I am certain I am not in love with him, but at the same time I know that I regard him differently than my other friends.

This morning, after that dream, I stayed in bed for a little while (partly dozing, partly waiting for the shower to be free...) concentrating in sending good vibes to my first love... wishing he has a happy, happy life.

I remembered my mum said something like this: when you really have loved someone, this someone always has a place in you. Of course the feelings change, and probably, just as it has happened with my first two loves, you lose touch... and you don't know anymore what happens in each other lives, if that person is happy, if he has found love again... but somewhere in the whirlwind of time, there are still the nice memories.

I fell in love a third time... it is such the way it goes!... and I am alone once more. But if it all what I have just said is true, then he will always have a special place in my heart, and somewhere in the whirlwind of time the memories of the moments together will still be... he will live in my dreams and I will wake up the morning after, sending good vibes for him to have a happy, happy life.

I am enjoying the sweet and sour taste of that thought...

Photos!!!!

Well, I enjoy taking photographs and thought you might be interested in having a look at them. I have started a Flickr account and included the link in my list (the column on your right hand side). There are just a few photos in there, from my last trip to Spain. I have a few of the snow in London and of the celebrations for my birthday and my PhD (two weeks on and I am still partying!!!), hopefully I will include those in the following days.

Enjoy!!!.