For the past 2 days the internet connection in my area
has been down, the company report is that they are working to get it back on
line in 72 hours (not counting the 48 hours from the past 2 days…). So that’s
how things are done in my country, bad system, problems everywhere and no
customer support (I must say that when you call the internet provider no one
answers, they have a recording message), but the worst thing is that you can’t
even complain because the largest company that provides internet in my country
is an state company, so no complains allowed.
This post is me trying to blow some steam and also
apologizing to my readers and clients. I am sending this post from a cyber,
I’ll try to come to this cyber until the problem is solved and I really hope
this problem doesn’t take too long.
I want to share with
you my personal likes and dislikes about music. I know is a tender spot, but I will
do my best not to be too harsh when talking about dislikes.
My first musical
revelation came 16 years ago with Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park, it shocked me
so hard I practically forgot everything that I had heard before (note: my
musical repertoire was very limited at that time). With this amazing musical
proposal Linkin Park open my eyes to a whole new world, songs like In the End,
Crawling, Paper Cut or One Step Closer marked me. I have to admit that until
this day Hybrid Theory is at the very top of my favorite albums of all time.
Then 3 years later
they came up with Meteora, another hit, this album had songs like Somewhere I
Belong, Numb, Breaking the Habit among others that had the power to lift you up
and transport you to another place. But then it happen something I could not
have imagined, they released Minutes to Midnight; to be honest it felt like
betrayal, they changed so much that I couldn’t recognized them, I stopped following
them like before. Although, I will be forever grateful for Hybrid Theory and
Meteora.
Right after my eyes
opened to the wonders of music I started listening to everything I could, from
country to extreme power metal, passing through hip hop, R&B, heavy metal
and many other styles. This journey took me to great bands and artists that
gave shape to my personal musical preferences. Bands like Nirvana, Green Day
(before American Idiot), Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, Metallica, Pearl
Jam and many others walked me through my teenage stage and basically gave me
the musical taste that I am so proud of.
Then out of nowhere a
friend sent me a link of a song he just heard and liked it; he did not knew
that he was introducing me to my second musical revelation, Tu Ausencia from
the album ¿Dónde está la luz? by WarCry, an Spaniard heavy metal band, it sound
was like a new beginning, like I could have a new personal favorite band. So as
soon as the song ended I started looking for everything I could find about them
and discovered that they already had 4 recorded albums and ¿Dónde está la luz?
was their 3rd. Gladly listen to every song they had and been
listening to every released material up until now.
WarCry guided me
through university; their music really helped me with big problems at that
time. They also introduced me to a lot of bands from all over the world, like, Saratoga,
Dream Theater, Apocalyptica, Sonata Arctica, Rata Blanca and so many more.
Until now my musical
repertoire has increased a lot and I hope that it keeps getting bigger and
better, music is one of my passions, it transports me to places that I’ve never
been, it relaxes me and gives me peace of mind when I need it.
I am making a list of
some of my personal favorite bands and artist, share if you find some of your
favorites among them:
Linkin Park, Nirvana,
WarCry, Sonata Arctica, Papa Roach, Metallica, Dream Theater, Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Rata Blanca, Velvet Revolver, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Eric
Clapton, Ozzy Osbourne, Blink 182, Jake Shimabukuro, Mr. Big, The Verve,
Mumford & Sons, Oasis, No Doubt, Tracy Chapman, Foo Fighters, Mägo de Oz, Matchbox
20, Janis Joplin, Soda Stereo, 311, Audioslave, Black Label Society, Cream,
Elton John, Limp Bizkit, Korn, 3 Doors Down, Dio, Disturbed, Sound Garden and The
Offspring.
This is all I could
think off right now, I hope we have some affinities. Don’t forget to leave a
comment.
I started to do this kind of training almost a year
ago and it has made me very happy, because of the fast results and the improvement
of your body. You will find yourself doing medium and advance exercises in no
time if you put enough effort into it.
The definition we find in Wikipedia is, “The word
calisthenics comes from the ancient Greek words kálos (κάλλος), which means
"beauty", and sthénos (σθένος), meaning "strength". It is
the art of using one's body weight and qualities of inertia as a means to
develop one's physique.”
It is amazing, so one can say from its definition that
is the beauty of the strength, basically is bodyweight training but you can add
additional weight if you feel strong enough or if you want to get to a
particular point in your training.
The basic exercises are really simple and well known
by everyone that has gone at least once to a gym, but, in calisthenics it is
not just about doing an exercise, it is about taking it to the next level by
doing it with the right formula for your body, so you can train specific muscle
groups to do even more types of exercises and take advantage of every movement
you make.
The basic movements are pull ups, chin ups, pushups, squats,
sit ups, crunches and dips, by doing this sets of exercises with the right
formula for your body, you will be able to gain strength, agility, definition
and the ability to do more types of exercises.
From my experience I’ve came from being 65kg (143.3
pounds) and 169cm tall (66, 5 inches) to being a 65kg and 169cm tall guy, yes,
no changes in my weight or height, but it’s amazing how you can reorganize your
body weight by doing the right workout. At first I couldn’t do a single pull
up, now I can do 4 sets of 10 reps, without losing so much breath and not just
that, I am doing some exercise progressions so in a few moths I will be able to
do a full planche, front lever and back lever, which are exercises out of this world.
I almost forgot the most astonishing part, is free! You
can do it any time, anywhere, no excuses; you only need your body
and the will to workout, just like that, very simple.
I’ll leave you a few links so you can see for yourself
what I am talking about:
Ten days
ago I started this journey; working as a Freelancer, is a new term that
describes people who work from their houses or from anywhere but a regular office
inside a company through the internet. It’s been fun and encouraging, but also
very frustrating. It’s not easy to wait for a reply or to custom a cover letter
for each potential client, although it prepares you to face every possible outcome.
In this ten
days I have subscribe into at least 10 different freelancing websites, I’ve
sent approximately 100 job proposals, create like 15 different gigs and just
been able to get 1 job as a translator from German to Spanish for a finance
company in Austria. It is not as easy as it seems, trust me, if anyone tells
you that in a week you will be making thousands of dollars, just walk the other
way, it takes time and effort, but since I am not an easy quitter, I will keep
sending job proposals, creating gigs and improving my skills and profile to get
more jobs.
I hope that
in a few weeks I’ll be able to write about my success as a Freelancer and give
some tips of how to get a job, but until then this is the end for this entry.
I will leave
a few websites in case you want to give it a try:
This is my
first blog entry, honestly is just to see how it’s going to look and test the
options of the site (I know that blogging is not so new, but it is for me), but
also I’m going to take advantage of the moment to introduce myself; so my name
is Luis Colmenares, father of two beautiful children (Sabrina and Rafael), husband
of a gorgeous and amazing woman (don’t let her know I said it) and currently
working as a freelancer (starting, but you get the idea).
I’m from
Venezuela, an amazing country, full of wonders, opportunities and most of all,
future. You’ll ask “future, how?” and I’ll tell you, yes, future, cause besides
the difficulties we are facing right now and all the problems that hunt us
every day, we are determined to pass beyond all of this hell that has fell upon
us so we can build a better future.
There is a
theory that talks about certain conditions which some civilizations, cultures, countries
have to go through to evolve. This theory mentions a so called “Spirit”, force
or how the ancient Greeks call it πνεύμα (neuma), falls upon these places to
make them change into something better. We can see some examples in countries
like Japan, Germany, France, Italy or even Greece; they were once places very
poor or close minded, then by some internal or external circumstances,
sometimes even both, people began to change, some started thinking deeply, some
became inventors, designers, artists, writers, in some cases a single person
did everything I mentioned and even more.
Wow, it
seems I extended too long this start up test, in future entries I will talk
more about the theory and much more.
