Souvenirs: Es un flash

From Unamuno's Del Sentimiento Trágico de la Vida: "It is not our ideas that make us pessimists or optimists, but rather our optimism or pessimism, possibly of a physiological or pathological origin, that form our ideas." Both proceed the interpretive process. The energetics of optimism. That can be transferred, intensified, dampened, directed, redirected, or converted into particles of light. Too many pregnant women in Argentina. One in four, I'd say. They show their bellies here. Parrillas. Red wine. Malbec: from Argentina, smoother. I prefer Shiraz. Bloodier. The walk home from Tierra Santa. Around Jorge Newberry airport. That taxista ripped us off. Or did he? Guess we'll never know. Underground Jazz club. Omar. What do we toast to? Unidad. Unidad! Felicidad. Felicidad! Soledad. Y Soledad... Soledad? No, soledad es malo. Sliding down a flagpole to escape. Thank you, Ashley, Rose, and Claudia.

What do stray animals tell us about human happiness and human relationships? Strays dogs everywhere smiling, unless they have growths or limps. Then they look noticeably concerned. I would be too. A Nigerian club. Coca leaves. Put them in your gums. The taste is very much like leaves. Stencils rather than graffitti. Mirrors my sensibilities. Form and purpose snugly together; very Hegelian. A stenciled drumset. Lifesize. Stenciled garden gnomes, Indian calvaries, skulls, "feliz crisis." Nevertheless, handpainted commercial signs are better.

Met Patrizio. He has an exhibition, with large paintings depicting the history of Pan-Am airlines. He is fascinated with a holographic sticker I have from JFK. Quien lo puso? Becomes a gift for Patrizio. Later, watching the best television channel ever. Ciudad Abierta. We see Patrizio on television Unmistakeable. Los sensibles pragmaticos. He collects train passes as well. Obsession-- that is disproportionate desire--- is key, critical to the social whole. Especially, like I said, charismatic obsession. A happy division of labor. Who else would paint the history of Pan-Am? Bikers but few skaters. The streets are all piedradas. Cartońeros separate the cardboard and plastic form the trash for recycling. Job creation. It is not contracted. It is fully independent. Cartońeros roam the sidewalks by night. Pushing large baskets. A moonlit vocation. Often propped up on trashbags, drinking mate, napping. Taking shifts. I want to help. Write an ode later on. Even the peasants here are beautiful. Psi-trance party. Glowing polyhedra. Met April.


Two days on our feet. Aimless and cranky. Huddled around a computer at the locutorio. All snippy. Cannot locate an apartment. Every land-owning Argentine is away on vacation. Fuck them. I want to close out the sunlight. Have not slept. No vacancies in hostels. Went to one, waited in the stairwell, rang the buzzer. Nothing other than coughs and rustles. Rich leaned on the door and it opened. Concierge was alseep behind the desk. We snuck upstairs to the common room. Couldn´t sleep. Swedes playing ping-pong at eight in the morning. Sky starting falling. Heavy rain. It´s raining canes, they say down here.


Rent a hotel room from a magical being. The Dungeon Master. Bathed. Washed underwear in the sink. Bidet fresh. Awoke with Jonny over my bed, looking out the window. Ivanna is in Cordoba. We are invited. Retiro, Bus station. Back to Southamerica proper. Where are the pickpockets? La Veloz. Semicama but more luxurious than anywhere I've ever lived. Meals served. Cold but unbelievably moist. Like sleeping in a ziploc bag. The loveliest couple beside us. Mother and child huddled. Father and child huddled. Maybe procreation is not always a state of falleness. I need to shower more. Not just dip in the pelopincho.

Cordoba. Relax. Then train. We are marines. We are here to do push-ups and bronze our forms. Keops; a pyramid-shaped, pyramid-themed club. We have orange vip bracelets. Must be a mistake. Miami drug cartel aesthetic. Pleasant I suppose. The algebra of exclusivity. The dance floor is still empty in the main room. Large, seated Osiris or Thoth. We become monsters of shameless dance. Hundreds around the perimeter, watching, charlando, drinking Quilmes. An amphitheatre. Icecold reception. Sweating. Need more sugar, to rehydrate. Maté gourds. What is maté? What spirit does it evoke? Cemitery. Skulls. Open mausoleums, open caskets. Helado. Piratas. Como se llaman? Los Gauchos Gay.


Carlos Paz and Tanti. Staying in a spacepod. Ivanna's grandmother's concrete igloo. White, bright, on the hillside. Anarchitecture. The principle of non-repetition both in architectural style and method. A community of dogs with their own language. Cuantas fichas? Air hockey... of course. Foozball. Before every game, we have to flip the table over to retrieve all seven balls. Northamerican efficiency has cost us the textural adventure of everyday life. The tyranny of public safety must go. Ecuador is the model. A refreshing, occasionally mind-expanding, disregard for public safety. A boy applauds my Pac-Man score. Ramsey and Jonny are playing a galactic game of air hockey. We only understand the under-10 set here, as elsewhere. And they us. Cheap fake masks: clown skeleton, bruja, Boca. Cheapness everywhere. A new field of study. The ever-pressing discovery of lower and lower quality. Vin Up; the only drink blended especially for alcoholics. Rich pegged it: headache-flavored. Fruitty cereal. What was it? Fruti barbaro maybe. 30 cents a bag. Quite literally packing peanuts with spray-on sugar. Pure cornstarch. Shrank in your mouth. Sublime insult rather than customer service. What an honest and pure and thoroughly mercantile relationship. Playing limbo with your expectations. India would be better. "This man has never take a bath. He is very holy man." The river by night. Huge, electrical storms whiten the sky. Superpanchos. Cibercafe. The true internationalism. Nerdcult. Southamerica would be a ideal place to die in a knifefight. Jonny bought knives. Rich, the ideal maté pseudogourd.

Mundo Fantastico. A giant rotating cube in ther sky. The Crystal Labyrinth.The Sea Lion show. Monkeys. Parrots. Animals that straddle the human and animal world. Undecidables. The intelligent labyrinth (as opposed to the crystal labyrinth). The Giant Tunnel requires a full-bodied suit with helmet. Total darkness. More relaxing than anything. Funhouses with skullfaced facades. Gallos. Espuma wars for carneval. Spray foam wars. One hundred ten-year-olds and us. Supreme homo ludens. Whatever happens in college, stays in college. I like to eat you so much. Pure Stoke. Nothing can replace the mythos of antiquation. Sunfade. Free snacks. Thank you Ivanna!



A new residence.