Sunday, May 19, 2013

忘了吧所有的疯狂

It's official, I'm a nervous wreck down.

I've had the longest night ever. It's 7:30 am and the night's not over yet. Literally. (Curtains are drawn and I don't want a single ray of light to invade my lunacy.)

Emailed my teacher...

I am so blogging it for two reasons: 1) I NEED to keep reading it over and over again until I find a goddamn mistake... 2) No one will understand it so my privacy will remain... well, private.


X老师您好,

最近还好吗
我这边还在准备回中国,已经等不及了。

我想问一下您有没有在百忙之中腾出一些时间帮我写推荐信吗

我刚才发现了您可能有这么多的学生,未必记得住我本人的情况,我为此道歉。
因此请让我进行自我介绍,希望这样我能让您省去很多麻烦。
我来自墨西哥城,母语是西班牙语。我是2007年在XX大学开始学习中文的。学了3年之后才从本科的第三学年开始读本科,2012年毕业了。
我也上了您教的汉英翻译和中国现当代文学的选修课,我在您的辅导下学到了鲁迅、郭沫若、冰心等伟大的作家,而且由于我们学过的《狂人日记》,我非常欣赏的一篇小说,所以我决定了以鲁迅为毕业论文的题目。
成为一名专业翻译家是我一辈子最大的梦想。到中国之前我已经学过了几年的英语、法语和日语。 没想到我一开始学习中文的时候,它就会成为我真正的职业。

如您所知,我正在报名参加X大学的硕士学位,所以您愿意帮我写一封推荐信,这件事情对我真是意义重大。虽然申请时间已经到期了,但是老师们准予我把推荐信发给他们的时间延长了几天。
如果您能尽早发给我,我将永远感激您。

非常感谢老师,我肯定会保持联系告诉您申请的进展。

此致
敬礼

Pretty signature. 

The hell... it's good. 
I mean it's... really good. 
I surprised myself. 
Of course, I've been writing that goddamn thing for 4 hours now... 
I still think I gotta read it another 1000 times before I'm ready to send it. 

I am SO sucking up right there, it's there, just right there for everyone to see (but not understand) ahhhh I feel powerful speaking Chinese... 
Whatever. 

Please, please Professor X, please hear my prayers and write that goddamn letter... 

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Elephant skin. Not snake skin, as I would have liked to think. My face is covered in elephant skin.
And it itches like fuck.

My eyes still can't stretch farther than slight blinking.
And now I've got TWO pimples.

Gross.

There's no upside to it. Except, well... when it comes to my face, elephant skin is a lot of work. But fortunately for me, I'm a workaholic. Skin-wise. 

And you will heal, bitch. You will heal. 

Who says LEMONS are for LEMONADE?


God bless water.



Wednesday, May 15, 2013

She did make pancakes.

And I got a reply from the university. Nothing much, just enough to ease my nightmares for a couple days. Said they can wait a little bit for that letter. Also, they need my academic transcript... my goddamn grades.
Called my previous university in order to get that damn thing, (woke up at 4 am Qatar time, 10 am Shanghai time) and turns out they're all gone for a school trip. Gotta call back on Monday.
Which means... everything stops until Monday.
Nothing to do but wait.
That teacher better have my letter ready by then.
Cross fingers.
I seriously can't take any more bad dreams.
My face literally can't handle the stress of it anymore.
Can't open my fucking eyes because the skin around my eyelids is dried stiff.
And now I have a pimple.
I never have pimples.
Life sucks. 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Apocalypse NOW

It's May 15th, 1:27 am.

No news from professor X, no news from the university.

NOTHING.

I went to the pharmacy today to ask for some special facial cream. They gave me something to ease the itching... not enough to ease the itching.

 I'm going to sleep tonight really, really not wanting to know in which state I will wake up tomorrow.

Unless my sister makes pancakes.

Monday, May 13, 2013

I shot the teacher.

I am utterly distressed.

It's all my fault and I know it. It's this fucking trait of irresponsibility that I've had my entire damn life, and once again, it's rearing its ugly head threatening to thwart my plans and destroy my life.

I am applying for a Master's Degree at X University and even though I've been in touch with one of the professors and I've sent all my paperwork, I still failed miserably at providing my letters of recommendation. Miserably. (Seriously, am I that unrecommendable?) 

With ten days left before deadline, I had no choice but to contact the only teacher at the University where I got my degree whose email I had.


This man was my teacher for a little over three years. By the end he still thought I was Russian. He actually lost my final exam and failed me. By the time I received my grades and noticed the horrible red script that said I had to take the course again, I went and confronted him. He actually had the audacity to tell me that he hadn't lost anything, and if he didn't have the exam that must mean I didn't take it. 

With no solid evidence that I had actually taken the test, except for a vague memory of the questions, I not only had to take the exam once more, but I actually had to sit through the entire course throughout the following semester. The exact same course, same book, same methods, same questions, same answers. I relished in the fact that every question I answered were his textbook replies. I made pretty damn sure by the end of the course that he damn well knew my name, nationality and the fact that I was the best damn translation student he ever had. I got full marks on that exam. Mas punto y estrella. 

Then he became my thesis director. Why? Because I chose a literary subject, and he majored in literature, or something along those lines. 

My director-approved thesis failed to impress the panel of judges and I was asked to start over. As I recall, they mentioned something about lack of direction. 

Took me about a whole year to get over that one, emotionally I mean. 

And now here I am once more, waiting for a reply from this man, the only one who I could contact in such short notice. Two days away from deadline. And I am hence, utterly distressed. He said he'd help me with the letter. He said he'd write it. Alright, those weren't his exact words. 

When I first emailed him, secretly I was hoping that if he didn't remember my name, he would surely remember the title of my failed thesis. He chose it after all. 

After that emotionally draining email I sent him where I humbly asked for his help on this one (surely he must at least feel a tiny bit guilty, I thought), I received his reply not two days after. I quote: "Ok." 

I poured out my desperate soul on email and came quite close to begging him for his help and the answer I got was "Ok." 

The worst part is... I believed him. I took his words seriously and I sincerely expected him to send me back that letter any moment. Any day now... Must be today. Maybe tomorrow. Check email. Fifteen minutes later, check again. Pace. Check again. Eat. Pace. Check again. I wasted one week waiting for him.

Last night I dreamt I was stalking him in the supermarket with his wife and kids, desperately seeking the opportunity to walk up to him with a knife hidden under my sleeve and ask him "Hey, professor. How's my letter of recommendation going?"

Today I woke up with a rash. 

I think I'm about to rupture a blood vessel. A big one. In my eye. 

Two days left. TWO. I already started on plan B. 
What is plan B you ask me, O brothers? 
Plan B, otherwise known as "Plan Begging" implies contacting the woman in charge of admissions at X University and Beg. With a B.  

Beg to still be considered. Beg to be admitted. Beg to be given the chance to turn in the recommendation letters a little later. 

That email is sent. 

I already asked my sister to check my inbox in the morning for the reply that will most certainly be there. If the response is affirmative, she will be allowed to wake me up and we'll go on with our lives. If the response is negative, she is forbidden to make a sound until my eyesight has been restored and my whole body rash is gone. Then I'll eat myself to death. That's the plan. 

Oh, and I gotta contact my friend in Benin and get me some Voodoo manuals. 

Tonight, no amount of Vegeta will help me. 

But I'll give that a try nonetheless. 

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Turkish WAR MASK

Pretty cool piece of armour at Doha's Museum of Islamic Art. 
Turkish war mask. 
Or how I like to call it, Turkish 'V' for Vendetta. 


Kinda well thought out, one of these bad motherfuckers comes close to me in battle and I'd probably just drop dead from heart failure.
Either that or I'd mistake him for a Saint Seiya warrior and fall in love.