Work tasks ← Since the first line of text appears at the title of the tab and I have co-workers peeking over my shoulder, I've started writing office friendly phrases at the first line and then deleting it before publishing. I'll keep it for today.
Yesterday it was the office party. I met a couple of people I hadn't seen in years, I was kinda surprised at the affection and surprise with which I was met, and how much they remembered about me. I usually remember people very well and will remark on some things which I remember about them. This time it was symmetrical, I told a guy "last time we met was about six years ago, in a rooftop party, but I don't remember the occasion" and he said "yeah it was my company's anniversary celebration", oh cool you were with your friend.. Carlos... and he completed the name for me.
This guy told me 100rabbits had been Chinchón 50Km from Madrid the last weekend for an intimate all-day meetup, and I was saddened not having known about it. I see this pattern play out time and time again: I often only know about interesting events once they've passed. In the near future I'm sure I'll have an army of agents swarming the intarwebz for things that could interest me, taking into account distance, price and interest. I wish to have an agent I could trust with all my personal data, so it would know not to tempt me to attend an expensive event when I can't afford it. One can dream.
Yesterday the girlfriend of one of my co-workers came with her twin sister. Twins always tickle my curiosity, it's like one of those picture games where you ought to find the 5 differences. One thing they had in common was that they were quite tall and their shoulders hunched, which did a disservice to their beauty. I'm sure their posture has a genetic propensity but it was (and still is) not a genetic fate, I'm sure they would counteract it by strengthening their backs and learning to roll their shoulders back. The mad scientist in me wants to enroll one twin in a compulsory daily yoga practice for a year and keep the other one as a control to gauge the effects.
People sometimes ask me how I remind myself to keep good posture, what's interesting to me is that it only begun happening recently, it's definitely not a life-long thing. I answer that I find it natural now, but if I tried to keep this posture five years ago it would be very taxing. Your muscles are tight one side and you can only undo some time by contracting the opposing side, but it takes effort. You ought to lengthen and relax the muscles and strengthen the opposing side if you want to keep good posture.
This evening I'm going to Govi's wedding. They feel uneasy calling it a "wedding" because they are becoming a "pareja de hecho" (common law marriage?). They rented a bar and will provide refreshments. In Spain it's customary to gift cash to newlyweds, usually what you estimate is the price per person and a bit more. In this case it would have been laughable (about 20 euros?), I decided to gift as if they were throwing a standard wedding.
She doesn't take generosity kindly, I've seen on several occasions. She texted me "No way, that's too much, this is not a pompous wedding". I answered: "Look, you're not making me buy a suit, travelling, or staying at a hotel on top of the gift, so we all win here". Perhaps I ought to have said the truth, which is... "I consider you very good friends and it's what hurts just a little for me to feel generous at this time, and I'm grateful because at other time my gift would have been ten times less. A cash gift is evidently given without spending constraints, but if I am to imagine it materializing it would be on your honeymoon trip to Japan. Enjoy!"