Time flies

It’s been more than week since my last entry and this is something that hasn’t happened for a while. It’s not like if there was nothing to write about; quite the opposite, actually. First, on Tuesday, an old and very dear friend came for professional reasons (what else?!) to Brussels and stayed at my place, which means that we were able to spend some time together and talk about many different issues. It is funny and weird at the same time to see how reassuring it is to talk with old friends. Maybe it’s because they know you well or simply because you don’t even question their loyalty towards you, or something else. The fact is that it is deeply reassuring and makes you feel much better. I hope that he and others will keep coming regularly. Then, she came too. Not so much for professional reasons, but rather because of me. Even though I had to work during part of her stay, it was really nice. We haven’t met for quite a while and we missed each other. And, therefore, it was nice to spend these days together. On the top of everything, and I don’t know if this is just a coincidence, the sun shone during most of her stay. And we celebrated the other Easter, and cooked together, and ate together and met friends, and walked and watched movies, and it was really nice. Now that she left, and that the rain and the grey skies came back to Brussels, it is difficult to think of something else other than when we will meet again. And it seems too far away… Over the last few days I didn’t read much, but tonight I will finish the autobiography of J. G. Ballard, because tomorrow, for my return to Barcelona, I want to start with “La ciudad de los prodigios”. I think it makes sense.

Surprise

As planned, on Saturday I went to Spain. More precisely to Valencia. Vicente turned 40-years-old and Eva organised a surprise party for him, managing to gather tens of friends coming from many different places in Spain and even from abroad. The party started already without Vicente, because even though his birthday provided the excuse, the truth is that many people had not meet for a long time and appreciated the gathering. You know how it works: big smiles, life updates, old stories remembered and many people praising Vicente and Eva's idea. In the evening, when we were all already gathered in the place where Eva was supposed to bring Vicente, the real surprise came: Vicente was not coming. He was sick, needed to go to the emergencies and, even though he was going to be well, he could not leave home... Nobody knew what to say and everyone was amazed at how the surprise had been turned on us... But, as we were sure that this was exactly what Vicente would have wanted, we partied anyway. And the catering was perfect, the venue nice and the company great. Then, at the end of the evening, and as my return flight was early in the morning, Eva invited me to come over and see Vicente. So I did. At first, he didn't even recognise me, due to a mix of short vision, lots of drugs and the huge surprise. Then, he realised and gave me that smile that only Vicente can give. That honest, sincere, almost childish smile that conquered us all, and made so many of us travel from far away to spend his 40th birthday with him. We spent a couple of hours updating each other on the latest developments of our lives, and laughing a lot. That's what we do when we spend time together. Vicente is one of those friends that no matter for how long we don't see each other, we only need one look and one hug to make it like if we have never been apart. We used to call each other « brother », and that's exactly how I see him: like a elder brother. In the meantime, a new week has started. I finished Inspector Chen's mystery and started another book linked to Shanghai: the already mentioned autobiography of J.G. Ballard. It's beautiful! Very well written as it was to be expected, and surprisingly close to the way my own childhood memories come to me when I think of it. And seeing such important events as the end of the British Empire, the World War II or the Chinese Revolution, through the eyes of a teenage boy is, to say the least, different and interesting. At times, it's even difficult to believe that the book has actually been written by a 77-years-old man... That's why I love books!

Friday evening

Friday evening. One more week gone, one more « chinese food+movie » evening about to start. I just came back from my run and, even though I feel tired, I am happy: who would say, three weeks ago, that I could run for 30 minutes? I certainly wouldn't! Tomorrow I will go to Spain again. It will be nice, but I can't tell much about it yet. It's a surprise! I will be back on Sunday. Next week will be a busy one. Difficult too. But it will still be a good one: I will have an important guest coming to visit me, someone I miss a lot and whose presence will make me very happy. I hope the Spring will finally come to Brussels too; it's about time! As a friend said earlier today, we could all use a bit of vitamin D... In the meantime, my mind will keep traveling back to Shanghai. Chief Inspector Chen, while solving another mystery, will introduce me to its places and its people, its smells and its tastes. I really need holidays! Real holidays!

Miracles of Life

Francisco fell and broke three teeth last Friday. The news arrived like this, cold and straight forward. I was in a plane, about to take off, and didn’t have time for more than sending a short written message, acknowledging receipt of the information and sending one word of support and another of solidarity. It must be difficult to be there when your own son falls and breaks three teeth… Anyway, after landing there was more time for the details and to feel proud of the four-years-old son who didn’t even cry while in the hospital, and to be amazed by his optimism: as the doctor said that the teeth would grow again, Francisco assumed that it would happen fast, maybe within one or two days! I couldn’t help smile… but I was also worried about his reaction when he found that it wouldn’t be that fast. Today, when I asked him how his teeth were, he replied, simply: almost well! Francisco isn’t only the cutest little boy in the whole world; he’s also the greatest!

This morning, when I woke-up, the sky was rather grey and, during the day, it rained. While I slowly got ready for another working day, I didn’t think, not even for a single moment, that the late afternoon would be full of sunshine over a completely blue sky… Instead, I started the day in a bad mood, complaining of the Brussels’ weather… While running around the park nearby, under the sun, I couldn’t help thinking of Francisco and his innocent optimism, and wondering what is wrong with growing-up… I mean, what is the purpose of accumulating experiences and knowledge over the years if, in the process, we lose the ability of hoping for the best and expecting everything to be alright? Would it harm us if we did it? I don’t think so! And, yet, that’s what we do; that’s what I do… Being rational has a downside, and I have the impression that we would be happier if we recuperated a bit of plain, irrational, unexplainable faith…

These last months, I have been investing a lot in old habits that I realised I was missing: losing weight, reading, running, spending quality time with good friends, just to mention some examples. Lately, I have been reading a lot and that makes me happy. And, as it makes me happy, I have bought more books; now, I have quite a lot of books in my waiting list, and I plan to read them all quite fast. One of the next will be “Miracles of Life”, the autobiography of the writer J. G. Ballard. Maybe because I like so much to read, I always found writers to be very special people, capable of very special things. When I saw that his autobiography was called “Miracles of Life”, I couldn’t resist. I am convinced that we could all use miracles in our lives… or maybe, more simply, to be able to recognise the miracles in our lives. Francisco - and children in general - do it very well!

Ahoj!

After two more busy days at the office, on Thursday evening I went to Prague, where I attended, once more, the opening session of the General Assembly of the European Youth Parliament. I already wrote in this blog about how much I like the city. I visited it for the first time in 1992 and, for a long time, it remained one of my Top 3 favourite cities, which was strengthened by the readings of Milan Kundera and Bruce Chatwin. Then, the long period of absence from Prague, combined with the discovery of many other cities, sent the city into a kind of imaginary limbo, and it remained there for a long period of time, until I went back in June 2006. At that time, I wrote that things had changed and that the city didn’t live up to the idealisation I had made of it. Well, yesterday Prague re-conquered my heart and its well-deserved place on the top of my list. Prague is a near-mythical city and it exerts a kind of a siren pull on me… As my meeting finished at lunch-time and the search for a good price forced me to book a flight that left in the evening only, I had the opportunity to roam through the maze of the Old Town, discovering its back-street secrets, getting to know each stone saint on the Charles Bridge and enjoying the nice weather and the breath-taking views over both sides of the river. I can’t help thinking that I should have stayed for the weekend! And that I should go back as soon as possible!

Corporate Social Responsibility

"America's immigration system is outdated, unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border." - President George Bush, State of the Union Address, February 5, 2005

At American Apparel, we agreed with the President's call for immigration reform, so why has nothing been done for the last three years?

It's time to give a voice to the voiceless. Businesses are afraid to speak to the media about immigration, frightened of reprisals by government agencies. But we cannot just sit in the shadows and watch the government and politicians exploit and misrepresent this matter to advance their careers.

Over 12 million human beings have become integral to our society, economy and culture here in the USA, yet they do so in legal purgatory. While no serious political voice calls to send them back to their previous home countries, very few have the courage to admit that the only realistic option is some form of legal integration, coupled with legitimate, forward-thinking immigration policy.

Migration and economic experts generally agree that the productivity and hard work of immigrants improves the economy, makes goods more affordable and available to US citizens, and creates more jobs for US workers. Immigrants not only increase the wealth of the nation, they have contributed significantly to major scientific, medical and industrial advancements, as well as to the arts. Many of them have become great entrepreneurs too.

At what point are we going to recognize that the status quo amounts to an apartheid system? At what point will America stop living in a state of denial?

At American Apparel we support our workers. We support our community. We support Los Angeles. We support the pride of America and the American Dream.

Enough is enough.

It's time to Legalize LA, and Legalize the USA.

La ciudad de los prodigios

As I said, the beginning of last week was busy and difficult. And its end wasn’t easier… But, whereas the difficulties of the beginning were strictly professional, the ones at the end were more personal and intimate. And, therefore, I decided to refrain from writing for the last few days. There are some limits to what I am willing to share with my readers. But, then again, some signs of hope were given, and my friends did the rest. And they made me feel better. On Friday we took another step on what is becoming a tradition of “Chinese food + movie” evening; and on Saturday I finally went and meet Raphaël. He is indeed a very cute baby, and it was great to see the happiness expressed by his parents’ eyes. It makes me happy to see my friends happy! And the truth is that being there and sharing their intimacy brought many nice memories back. Memories of when I too was blessed by the birth of my son and everything that came with it. Every time I think of it, I can’t help smiling. Then, I went for a short trip to Catalonia, and apart from the more professional part of it – which included 400km on the road to go to Deltebre and back to Barcelona – I had a great time with a very good friend and colleague: beautiful views, charming atmospheres, tasty food, and even a visit to Camp Nou, for a Spanish League football match. Barcelona is indeed a great place to be! The only downside was that my flight back to Brussels left today at 7am, which means that I had to wake-up at 5 and therefore am quite sleepy and tired. Courtesy of Khaled Hosseini, as “A Thousand Splendid Suns” finale kept me awake for the whole duration of my early morning flight. And I think this is the best compliment I have ever made to a book and its author! Don’t miss it; it is an absolute must read!

3 short points

1 - The content of the previous entry, despite the date, is true.
2 - I did it! I went running today! My legs hurt, but I feel fine!
3 - Radiohead's "OK Computer" is the best music album ever.

The Desert

The first two days of this week have really been busy… actually, more difficult than busy… It’s not like if I had been running from meeting to meeting, or flying from country to country ; it’s more like having thousands of small things to do and having the impression that more small tasks are added faster than I can get them done… I hate it! And, I know, on days like these, I become irascible and totally unable to enjoy the good things and focus, instead, on making sure that everyone else around me gets a bit of my own frustration… I also hate that! And, most of all, I hate myself for not being able to control this and simply act differently… I guess I should recuperate my long-time lost jogging habits! I remember that I used to feel good after twenty minutes of fast running, heavy sweating and totally empty mind. And, even more so, after one long, hot shower. I should definitely try it again. The good thing of jogging is that you can’t really excuse yourself for not doing it just because you’re not in town; you can actually do it everywhere. And it might even be a good way to explore new points of view on the places I visit. So, what’s the downside? Being lazy, I guess… The same reason why I ended up not going to the movies over the weekend (even though I watched one movie that I strongly recommend: The Darjeeling Limited) and I spent it at home instead… The movie made me think again about this train trip through Turkey (did you notice that the last five words all start with a T?) I want to do… and the one through India… both of which I probably won’t ever do because of the same laziness… On the other hand, I read quite a lot. I started the newest Khaled Hosseini’s book, “A Thousand Splendid Suns”, and I am enjoying it as much as I did “The Kite Runner”. Really good writing, but what I like the most is exactly this insight it gives on Afghanistan, its culture and its history, that makes you want to know more and go there and engage with its people; that makes you dream of travelling! So, at the end of the day, it all gets down to the same: I need to go. Need to go and learn, about places, about people and, most importantly, about myself. As I have found out in Morocco, more or less three years ago, there are some things about ourselves that we only learn when in the desert…

PS – Speaking of Morocco: Luiza and Razvan have become the proud parents of the second cutest little boy in the whole world: Raphael. Paul Hymans sends its warmest wishes to the parents and welcomes Raphael to this wild, yet beautiful world.