April 1, 2011

I will have my tranny eval at Hospital Clinic at 10:30 AM.   If I understood correctly, I am also getting a blood test.  I am so nervous and excited.  It's so close and yet so far!

It is so bizarre that other people need to evaluate you so you can be who you are. BTW, Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" video comes out today.  Fitting.

Lucy's Top Cock 30th

Saturday night was Lucy's 30th birthday bash.  We gathered at Bar Bodega Quimet, one of my favorite places in the Gracia neighborhood of Barcelona.  It has all the lovely authenticity and charm of a traditional, Spanish manolo, but it is inhabited by a younger, hip crowd.  The wine, vermouth, and tapas are decent and inexpensive.  We were there for several hours livin' it up with an international party (South Africa, UK, Australia, Romania, Poland, and the list goes on).  We were unfortunately seated next to the bathroom, so accompanying smells were definitely part of the backdrop.  After Quimet, we moved the party to Heliotrope (I think that is what it's called).  The DJ was playing the most amazing selection of music...including songs from Disney's the Jungle Book and the Rolling Stones.  I was totally into it.  After Heliotrope, we made one last stop for churros and xocolata calenta.  I was so thirsty by that point that I kept trying to gulp molten chocolate, which was of course followed by me scalding myself and becoming even more dehydrated.  We all made it home on one piece and are now paying the price for a magnificent night.  Worth it.

Olives, vermouth, and cava

Old-timey seltzer bottle to accompany the vermouth

Dharma getting close with Frank the Kangaroo

Me and the birthday girl at Heliotrope

Almost weekly brunch activity - TORTILLAS!

I'm always in dire need of some Mexican food. This Saturday, Dharma and I were tortilla-making machines. We made tortillas and enchiladas all from scratch! They were fabulous. High on success and chile peppers, we decided that we will attempt a secret cafe here in Barcelona. We could both use the extra cash and we are a great team in the kitchen. Plus...she's a real live Mexican, so the food is legit ;)

Inauguració del Carrer Joaquim Costa

There has been construction in my neighborhood for months now and the street they were working on is FINALLY finished.  The streets have been crawling with construction workers lately so I didn't even realize they were close to being done.  Yesterday everything was still torn up.  Of course, they throw a fiesta for it.

This is how I woke up this morning...

I really wasn't expecting a New Orleans style jazz band :)

Pork and bread on a stick

Hi Dad!

Skype conversation with my sister:

[18:48:58] Angela Pineda: i bookmarked the blog
[18:49:34] JP Pineda: you never comment on it
[18:49:41] JP Pineda: dad emails me everytime i opst
[18:49:42] JP Pineda: post
[18:49:43] JP Pineda: hahahah!
[18:49:55] JP Pineda: he's my only faithful reader
[18:50:40] Angela Pineda: he thinks it's a personal email written to him. not a blog. he doesn't understand blogging LOL
[18:50:47] JP Pineda: I KNO1
[18:50:49] JP Pineda: W
[18:50:52] JP Pineda: that's why it's so funny
[18:51:17] Angela Pineda: haha he always asks "did you get jamee's email?" im like, yess... "did you write her back?" nooo...

FINALLY

This is a video from Tres Reis in Girona.  It took me forever to figure out how to post videos from Blogger.  

Carnaval - COMIING SOON

This weekend is the beginning of Carnaval in Sitges :)

Hopefully there will be more blog-worthy stories to post soon.

I have a human Spotify

His name is Hugo and he's my French roommate that speaks Argentine Spanish.  He sings and plays the guitar and he takes requests.  There is a giant hole between our rooms so it's almost like sharing a college dorm.  The space is cramped, the roomies all keep different hours, and shit in the flat is always falling apart.  We share a haze of smoke, incense, dog smells, and butter (because he's French and that's what he eats).  I'm getting a little envious of all the musical tinkering happening around me.  I never quite learned how to play my guitar and had to sell it before coming to Barcelona.  I have also lived without a piano for 7ish years - which was my best coping mechanism throughout childhood.  I am adding "keyboard" to my wish list.  Maybe during next Christmas I can beat it out of a poop log.  I need more portable hobbies!

Brunched!

Yesterday was another successful brunch at Dharma's flat.  It's difficult to get anyone to come to events when there is daylight out so it was only a part of five (including Duke).  Our spread included chiliquiles, tostones, platanos maduros, fruit, home fries, mimosas/champagne, banana bread, and hummos.  It was rad.

I really needed that feast because this last week was rough socially and at work.  On Wednesday, I got trapped inside the metro for almost an hour and missed one of my classes.  I'm not really sure what was happening.  All I know is that there were loads of cops everywhere and we weren't moving.  This last week I also got angry at the dating scene and deleted my accounts on OKC and GayDar.  I'm having a grass is greener on the other side moment and really missing Oly's fat chunk of the rainbow.  Believe it or not, it was massively easier for me to date in that little queer town.  Bah humbug.

On a different note, I started Catalan classes which is pretty exciting :)  The instructor is good and there are some nice people in class.  It's a bit of a challenge for me because all the other students like to speak in Spanish...my study buddy gets confused sometimes and speaks to me in Italian/French/English/Spanish.  :D

Insomnia - 2 AM. February 14.

I just realized it's Valentine's day when I typed the title of this blog.

I was going to whine about being an insomniac and missing burritos, but now I'm actually grumpy.  Lately I think I have been regressing to 16 year old Spam.  All I need are some ripped fishnets, black eyeliner, and   a buzz cut.

Re: Tomorrow

Again, my trip to the doctor's lasted 10 minutes.  Barcelona can be surprisingly efficient sometimes.  Basically, the general physician referred me to an endocrinologist.  Today the endocrinologist referred me to a specialty team at Hospital Clinic to do a psych evaluation.  So, unfortunately, I didn't get to bypass that part of the process.  At this point I am waiting for a call from those set of doctor's to schedule an appointment.

The actual visit with the endocrinologist was a bit distracting because she had the back door open the whole time and people kept popping in and out to visit.  That was a bit awkward since I'm used to having a certain amount of medical privacy.  Oh Spain!

...And someone promised to send me some furikake in the mail :)

 

TOMORROW...

Classes are slowly trickling in, which is good.  Tomorrow is my appointment with the endocrinologist.  I'm a little nervous and a lottle excited.  Hopefully if I just look wide-eyed and confused the whole time, the whole process will be expedited.  Considering I hardly speak any Spanish, I won't be able to help looking wide-eyed and confused.  I'm assuming that they'll have to do some blood work first.

In other news, thanks to my Dad, I'll be making a trip out to SoCal for Angela's graduation. Stay tuned for more details....

This is from my last visit to SoCal February 2010

Angela at some school thing I had to go to.  There was a giant painting of dentist Jesus.