Blogs and Other Things

Tuesday, February 18, 2025 –

And we’re back.

This will be a shorter one, for all of you who hate reading as much as I do.

I took it easy this week, and that was on purpose; the next few are going to be a wild ride.

So I’ll try to make them just as wild for you.

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It was a beautiful day today; the sun shone, birds chirped, and Canada beat Finland to make the finals of the 4 Nations Face-Off.

(The first two didn’t really matter)

But speaking of birds, I found some cool green ones the other day that I’d never seen before. Thankfully, a friend of mine is a birder so I’ll let him diagnose whether they were real or a figment of my imagination.

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(They’re there, I swear)

Anywho.

This week was more chill than last.

Sort of.

On Thursday, I had a nice dinner conversation with my host parents where I learned a lot about them, which I will now share with all of you (whoops).

For one, when they were 28, they went to 15 weddings in one year.

Fifteen.

I burn out out working 4 days a week.

(Only joking! Please hire me!)

For another, they went to dinner with the king of Spain a few months ago (with photo proof), which was a piece of information I felt they dropped a little too casually.

On top of that, my host father met Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldinho when he visited his law firm a few years back while they were representing him.

So basically I’m living with royalty.

Just thought you should know.

Friday was Valentine’s Day, which was awesome. I went on hundreds of dates with hundreds of girls. It was pretty cool.

Saturday, it was my host mom’s birthday, so we celebrated in Catalonian style, which included grilling these grassy vegetable things (forget the name) along with an excessive amount of meat (a great decision). The grassy things were interesting; you had to pull the edible part out of the charred exterior once it was barbecued.

And you can see why.

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I had also thought about hiking a mountain that day (partly to be a human, partly so I’d have something interesting to write about), but I made the executive decision not to.

Instead, I got off the couch to feed the turtles (yes they have turtles) and that felt like enough exercise for one day.

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Cute eh.

Anyway.

If you follow my Letterboxd (@somefilmguy, shameless plug), it wouldn’t take you long to figure out how I spent most of my time Saturday (or the week on the whole).

But if you don’t, I’ll just leave this here.

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(It was the kids, I swear)

All jokes aside, I’ve seen Grown Ups over 100 times, so I’m in no place to judge.

But Despicable Me 4?

Seeing it once was probably more than enough.

I digress.

The kids and I occasionally took breaks from the movies to have dance parties and play fun games like “throw the ball at Eric’s private parts and he’s not allowed to defend himself,” so that was pretty fun.

(It actually was)

And on Sunday, more Despicable Me!

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And that brings us to today.

Monday.

What better time for some philosophical nonsense?

I kid, but I do have something to say.

I think it’s interesting how you can feel simultaneously homesick and grateful for being away. I had a moment during the mom’s birthday dinner where I dissociated for a moment, which was probably my body’s way of just taking it all in. After all, I’m in a foreign country, with people I met a mere month ago, celebrating one of their birthdays in Catalonian style like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

And for them, it is a normal thing; while this may give you a sense of comfort in the moment, it can also lead you to start to forget where you are.

Even when you’re in fricking Spain.

So I’m trying to keep a level head.

In the end, I think the ultimate upside is that I get to experience it in the first place, and I’d be a fool to stop chasing that perspective.

Because the grass is always greener.

Until it isn’t.

And I imagine in a couple months, I’ll be homesick once again.

Only then, it won’t be for the home I’ve known my whole life.

It’ll be this one.