Gran Turismo 3

Note: if you get through the boring personal story, you'll get a special surprise at the end !

About 5 years ago, a family friend brought us a present for Christmas that would change our lives forever. In a small packet all wrapped in green and red, he brought this weird box that looked like a huge DVD player, and a smaller box that looked like a DVD. My father was all excited, and kept saying it was the newest game console on the market. They took a while to install the "Play Station II" and they put the movie (I saw the cover and thought it was a movie about a race. After all, it had the picture of a car). It turned out to be a video game (not a movie) called Gran Turismo 3. From the moment I saw it I fell in love with the game (actually it is a race simulator). It was so real and so awesome! We spent the whole night playing the game, racing each other, starting the championship, buying tune up for the cars we started winning. Ok, it took longer than a night to get cars. It actually took us a month at least to get some decent car that could win the various races. And to think we were only on the beginner's league. Still, it was so great, and so exciting to play it. To tell the truth, I suck at video games, especially those where you have to drive. I always crash, spin or run off in curves (Fortunately in the game nothing happens to you or the car. I think the cars I drive have to be thankful for that). I actually enjoy seeing my sisters race. They are so great at racing, and it's so exciting to see them fight for the gold cup. I think I could deserve at least 1% of the merit, because not only do I suffer every second of the race with them, I actually help them with all the stuff they can't see at once. I'm almost like their navigator or copilot (in real life, I am my big sister's copilot when we race in Tocancipa in the Regularity Championship). I would like to get better at driving one day and actually get a victory myself.

This is the introduction of the Japanese version, which I think it is even better than the European or the American version.

The FS-PRO Record Breaker Kneeskin

Last weekend, my four sisters and I attended the first swimming competition of the year. "Torneo de Apertura 2010". I had a lot of fun, and was quite pleased with my results, especially because I didn't mess up my times after the National, which happened in December and is basically the most important event of the year. What made this competition so special was the fact that I was using my FS-PRO Record Breaker Kneeskin swimsuit. M y father bought it for me for the National, and I did great with it both on the National and last weekend.

God is it a wonderful creation of technology! Never had engineering and physics had been combined to conceive such a brilliant and extraordinarily perfect piece of art. I can personally say I had never been so pleased and impressed with something I bought, especially a swimsuit. It's just so stunning when you first get into the water and suddenly feel you are no longer trying to fight against the water. Instead, the water is almost taking you, and advancing becomes such an easy and thoughtless action. With it, I was able to finally make 40 seconds in 50m breast stroke, and 1.28min in 100m breast stroke. I was so happy with it, and I realized swimming with this new swimsuit and the one I previously used for competition was hugely different.

Unfortunately, all good things have their down side. Putting them on is every swimmer's nightmare.The first time I put mine on, it took about 15 minutes of wrestling and pulling in an impossible attempt to get myself into the tiny swimsuit. The thing is, they have to be very tight to stop water from getting inside, and the fabric is very tough, so it won't give in as easily. In the end, with help from my three sisters and my mom, I made it in (And to think my sister and I would have to do the same thing every single time a big competition happened. Fortunately we got better at it). After you get it on, it's not that bad, but after swimming, it is necessary to take it off as soon as possible. I think it's me, but every time I get out of the pool and the swimsuit starts to dry, it starts shrinking! On Friday my race was early, but I had to wait until my twin swam her race which was a lot later than mine. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take the swimsuit off because I had nothing else to wear. I didn't think much about it until the swimsuit started shrinking. There was a point in which it was so tight I felt I had put on a corset, and my whole body was all held tight. I had never looked so skinny in front of a mirror (oh, I should put it on one day when a dress doesn't fit). Still, I feel so special for having the best legal competition swimsuit there is. Yes, starting form January 2010, all women swimsuits cannot go longer than the knee, and men have to go no higher than the waist. That is so sad. In Cali (National), all the guys had their long swimsuits, the LZR's and even the Jaked swimsuit. They all looked so professional and ready to win. Almost all the records were broken in that competition, and everybody was swimming faster than ever. Last weekend it all changed. The same swim pros I had seen no less than two months ago looked now like amateurs that came from river trip (In Colombia, many people from the rural areas like to go have lunch by a river). Guys had very small swimsuits that looked pathetic against the LZR's, and girls had either regular swimsuits or the one I had (Lucky for me it is still legal). I felt a little depressed. The whole essence of serious swimming competition was in the swimsuit image, and now that they are gone, no one is going to feel the same again. How I miss those days of unbanned swimsuits.

Showjumping Weekend

This weekend was the first showjumping competition of the year. It is a really important one because the horses had been on vacations for at least two months, and after getting them in shape the last month, you wonder if you are actually ready to start competing again.
I was really nervous this time, because I didn't do too well the final tournaments of last year. In October, my loyal companion Luna, had an accident with a guy (he usually helps my teacher ride the horses when their owners don't come) who passes her on higher courses in some competitions. My teacher says he lost his mind. In a set of jumps, instead of letting her do the three strides as they were supposed to, he pushed her into a ridiculous two stride. Luna tried to jump, but the oxer was too wide and she was too far away, and she crashed into the jump, sending the rider flying into a third jump ahead. He broke his neck bone, and was disabled for two months. Luna hurt herself in the chest, and she got a huge ball of liquid that faded away after a week or so. Luckily she didn't break her neck, which is what usually happens in those situations, according to her vet. After that, she was very scared of jumping, but I was able to ride her and she eventually got her confidence back. That is, after a lot of terrible days in which she sometimes refused to jump. The last time she did, I fell and unfortunately, it was precisely in the last competition of the year. I was eliminated, and lost the chance to enter the finals of the National Amateur 0.80-0.90m Competition. That was so sad, but either way, that's what showjumping's all about. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose, sometimes you fall.
This experience had my nerves bubbling the whole week before the competition. I kept wondering if I could actually finish the course without making the mistakes that so often make Luna refuse to jump. Still, I was so determined to get over myself and do a good job on the course. My determination seems to work, because I managed to come clean the two courses of the competition. I was so happy, because on the last day, my whole family from my mom's side was there, so I had a lot of pressure. I was hoping I wasn't going to fall in front of my 94 year old grandfather. That would be very inconvenient, because they never come to see me, and that would mess up my honor. However, I did great, and not only did I come out as the best horse back rider in the world for my aunts and grandparents (which obviously don't know anything about this sport) but I was able to convince myself I could do a good job if I put my mind to it. Still, I have to do my best while I'm still in Amateur 0.80-0.90m. I certainly don't think it's going to be that easy when Googies puts me up for Amateur 1.00m. Those are much higher courses, and silly mistakes like those I frequently do are not allowed there. I certainly hope I can manage the height.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3laGKn7b520  
Thanks to Roberto Santamaria for the video!

A Couple of Poems for Golfo de Morrosquillo

Last year, our school trip was visiting Golfo de Morrosquillo. It was a truly beautiful place and it inspired my to write about it. I am quite clumsy with rhyming, but I felt nothing but poetry could describe the beauty I saw in that magical paradise.

Doorway to Infinity

I look ahead into the sea
The doorway to infinity
There is so much I cannot see
Of this wide ocean’s beauty

Pushing forth and pulling back
The tide goes on and on
Of all the times I’m loosing track
From daybreak to sundown

So immense, too large to know
So big and so profound
It's secrets hiding very low

Just swimming all around

A Sunset

Flaming on the blood streaked sky
The sun prepares to go
Shooting light from up so high
A hazy yellow glow

Scarlet, orange, crimson, gold
Extending all around
And in its midst pure shine it holds
Compare is hardly found

A tinge of color paints the sea
Reflected on the water
As it receives the final plea
To not go any farther

But sadly it leaves us behind
Leaving our small and sad world blind

Life on Other Planets

In Science class we are studying the universe. Unlike any other class I've taken before, this is not a repetition of past classes where the same information is repeated over and over again. I think I can even save my notes from one year and use them in next year's science class, and everything would be the same. This class on the other side, is a completely new view of learning. The teacher is not teaching us the same old diagram of the solar system, and giving us the definition of black holes, and telling us we are the only planet with any life that will ever exist. No. In fact, the whole point of this unit is trying to discover if there can be life on other planets!! As we go through the class, I wonder if there could possibly exist life on other planets, and if we will ever discover it during my lifetime. I remeber when I was in Elementary School, I used to think about little green people that would attack Earth one day, but I came to think it was impossible that there could be life on other planets. After all, the universe outside our atmosphere seems so hostile and barren, and its scary to think there could be other creatures living out there. Anyhow, this thought, which is common in many other people, has to disappear if we are going to look into the future and find things that could blow us off with impression. After all, technology has taken a huge leap in the past fifteen years. So many missions are going to space and discovering fascinating things, like water in Europa, and elements of life in Titan. With all of these innovations, it would be sad to think that in 30 years they don't make a breakthrough. It is a little arrogant to think we are the only living planet across this massive universe that is millions of light years wide. I just hope they hurry up and find the question that has bugged humanity for most of its history.
This page has alot of interesting information on the Cassini mission to Saturn's moons, and other interesting information on space exploration. Who knows, maybe they'll find something interesting
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

Paipa: A Precious Piece of My Childhood

I am a very active traveler, and I love trips; the farther, the better. That is why it´s so weird I would like so much our occasional trips to Paipa, a little town in Boyaca, close to Tunja. There is nothing too exciting in Paipa. It´s just very close to thermal water sources, but I´m not really into hot pools (they say that if you stay too long, you could have a stroke). So why do I like it so much? The reason is, they always come with some type of unexpected adventure. They usually come unexpectedly, with no warning and usually last only one night there. My dad takes us when my mother is gone on one of her various trips around the world. He always makes trips a lot funner, because my mother is always fussing about prices, and where we are going to stay, etc. Dad only cares about whether we have fun together. Besides, he has a special knack to make them very exciting. For example, he once took us when our Alfa Romeo had just gotten out of the mechanic with a brand new engine. He thought it would be a good idea to ride it around "La Savanna de Bogotá" to get it running well. Turns out we got to Tunja faster than we expected, and decided to go to Paipa to my grandmother´s birthday. She was so impressed that we had arrived so soon, and she was so happy. Later, we went back to Bogotá, (The trip to Paipa takes like 3 hours, we did it in 2 1/2). Another time, we were planning to meet a person in Villa de Leyva (a friend of my mother´s). We never found him, and later got a message he had some type of appointment and had to cancel our meeting. That was not too bad. We spent the afternoon in the town, but riding the stone paved streets of the "Historical Patrimony of Humanity" we messed up the muffler. Dad was so furious, and we were all worried. It was a Saturday afternoon, and no mechanic shops were open that day. We managed to arrive to Tunja, and miraculously, we found a little shop open. The owner was a mechanic who worked is his home garage. He fixed everything in five minutes, and Dad was so happy he decided to go to Paipa to celebrate!

Still, the best part of going to Paipa is the never skipped horse-back riding. The hotel horses already know us, and the one in charge always has a new path to take us around. The best route we have ever taken was when we went up the mountain to see the "Pantano de Vargas" from the tallest point. We had to go fast to make the whole trip, and it turned out the little hotel horses were much stronger and faster than we expected. It was a very exhilarating ride, ignoring the fact that the fog blocked the "Pantano de Vargas" view. At the top of the mountain, the sun started coming up, and the dew covered every single flower and spiderweb around. It was very magical, and I will never forget how beautiful the scene turned in just a few seconds.

Those trips to Paipa are a small piece of childhood I will keep with me forever, because they are moments in which I can honestly say I am truly happy.

Math Project Frenzy

Today was a relatively calm day. I spent the afternoon on my horse-back riding lesson and my swimming practice. I came home a little tired and ready to go to sleep, but I decided to check the computer to see if there was anything new. That day I had finished part of a math project, which I sent to my friend so she would check it. I didn't think about it much, since I had seen a note that the project was due on the 6th of March. Suddenly, when I look at my mail, I see an emergency mail form her . I went on my messenger account and found my friend had left a message. The rough draft was due for tomorrow!! Every part of the project was due for the next day so she could tell us what to fix. I don{t have a procrastinating nature. I usually have papers, homework and projects ready with some time before the due date. The problem this time was that nobody warned us! The teacher had been sick for at least three days, and she hadn't written anything on the announcement page until about two hours ago. The worst was that she actually expects us to have everything ready, even without any warning. Maybe she thinks we are psychic or something. Anyway, there was no time to whine about it now (Maybe later). We had to get everything done and fast! Fortunately, we were all ready and connected by a blessed program called messenger, we were able to communicate and get everything together. I am quite impressed on our work. In a matter of hours (1 or 2) we were able to get everything done. Internet technology baffles me more each time. Without the MSN or web mail, it would have been impossible to get anything done at all (Without Internet, we wouldn't have found out the project was due). All I'm glad for is we actually got the necessary parts done, even if it is not entirely correct. It is a rough draft after all, and she wants it to correct our mistakes anyway. It seems she will have a lot of fun with our project (I hope she doesn't fail us!)

Introducing Simple Stuff

My most esteemed reader,
I hereby present to you my very own Blog, "Simple Stuff". As the name could infere, this blog could be about very usual and probably boring stuff. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way if you like. It is about my life, my anecdotes, and just about anything I feel like writing. Whether it's boring or not depends on your personal opinion. I honestly don't search for your approval, or anything like that. I will write what I feel like sharing, or what I feel like commenting about. That's why it's my blog, right?
But if you feel like reading some posts, skimming through the blog, and maybe commenting about them , feel free. It is your right as a reader to have an opinion on what you read, and I would naturally value every single thing you have to say.
Whether you are commenting on how awesome my work is, or what a piece of junk I have written, I just hope you have fun doing so!
And so I present to you,"Simple Stuff"