My future job

I don’t really know what I’m going to do in the future because 10 years seem really far away right now, but I guess I’ll be working (I hope I’ll be working) at some NGO related to environmental care issues, health or human rights causes, those are some of the subjects I like the most. In case I don’t succeed in any of these possible jobs there’s always a city hall in the south of the country that needs help I guess and I’m very helpful.

I guess I’ll be working at this NGO for several years (or maybe a lifetime), it depends in how things evolve, you never know. But if everything goes wrong and I have to start at something new, it must be something I’ve always dream of or wanted to do.

So since I suck at playing guitar, being a rock star it’s not a viable option so one of the jobs I would like to have would be writing songs. Whenever I feel inspired I write and I think there might be others who could also feel inspired by some thoughts I’d share (they must be really wise words since I’d be working in the job full time). And since those thoughts would make very wise lyrics and songs I wish I’d be working in some worldwide discography writing for worldwide-known singers that I admire and have the chance to make those lyrics get to people all around the globe.

I guess we’ll see.

How green am I?

I do have a lot of conscience when it comes to plastic bags. Whenever I go shopping I do one of two things either I use a paper bags or biodegradable ones or I don’t use bags at all (just in case it is really necessary). Green point for me I guess.

If it’s water the sbuject we are talking about I have to say I used to have long showers and now they’re only half as long as they used to last (another green point for me), although they still lasts more than 5 minutes but I’m working on it.

Since I live really close to college (only two streets away) I walk to school every day and don’t have the need to use a bus or car, obviously. I also walk a lot, whenever I meet a friend, need to go to a place or have some procedure to do I get there walking. Just in case that I need to move longer distances I use public transport specially metro or bus so I don’t spend a lot of money moving around the city. I’m saving money to buy a bike so I can go to more places, faster and greener.

I’m not as green as I wish I were, but it’s a start.

A movie that I like and a movie that I hate

I really like movies so I have many that can make it to my top 3 but number one will always be "Boyhood".

Boyhood is a movie from last year (2014), it was directed by Richard Linklater and with starring performances of Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater. It took Linklater 12 years to film this movie, at first there wasn’t a script they just started filming a 6 years old boy and his family. 

The film doesn’t show any more than life itself, it’s about growing up from a little kid to an adolescent and everything that he experiences on the road, like first kiss, first love, family issues, making friends, going out of high school, getting into college, etc.

The thing I loved the most is that the cast grew up during the filming, you can literally see the way the characters and the cast get old during the story and through the camera and that’s never been done before. It’s a very nostalgic movie with a very good soundtrack especially the song "Hero" by Family of the Year.

A movie that I really hate must be Gravity. I know it took home a lot of awards and stuff, including the Oscar for Best Director but I just couldn’t like it I found it boring: the only idea of watching 2 people floating around Earth for an hour and a half makes me wonder how could I get those 90 minutes back? 

A day I will always remember

So, first of all I must say I have really bad memory so my oldest memories are not as old as I wish they were. That been said the day I’m going to talk about happened this year, a month ago actually.

I know I’ve mentioned it maybe a couple times before. It was October 29^th, the day Damien Rice came back to Chile to play in a gig at the Universidad de Chile Theater, the first in about 6 years since his last one. I wasn’t just excited, I was really nervous actually. Not many people know his music so I decided to go alone anyway.

The show was supposed to be starting at 8:30 so I got there just in time. I watched the show from the first row of the second floor, so my view was great (though the pictures I took don’t show the exact same nearness).

The crowd was speechless during the whole show and though he played for almost 2 hours I expected more songs. Anyhow I was just amazed after the show and refused to leave just like hundreds of people more, so we waited outside the theater for Damien to go out and play more songs. AND HE DID! I was less than 4 meters away from him. He played 2 more songs and said goodbye.

I still remember every bit of that day. It was one of the best days I’ve ever had in my life and I think I will always remember (because I recorded almost half of the show hahaha). So whenever I feel like it I press play and relive it again.

The perfect song

So, today I will talk about “The Blower’s Daughter” written and recorded by Damien Rice, who is my favourite Singer of all times. It’s a song that talks about love, like most of the songs. The lyrics tell a story about a guy who falls deeply in love with a girl, who is always on his mind and he can’t stop thinking about her. For some reason it seems like it’s a forbidden love and relationship so they can’t be together.

Some people say the lyrics are about Damien Rice himself falling for a younger girl who is also the daughter of his clarinet teacher.
Some others say the lyrics are about a Celtic myth (Damien is irish, so that could make sense as well). The myth tells a story about the Wind’s daughter who falls in love with the Seas’ God. The Winds’ God finds out so he punishes his daughter forcing her to live on Earth like any other mortal. There was a way so they could both live together eternally under the sea, she had to learn to breathe underwater, but the Seas’ God was forbidden to tell his lover the reason she had to learn. She thought it was imposible to do so she never learned. 

When they both became elderly, the Seas’ God takes his lover to the water where she dies slowly. Then he returns to his kingdom to live eternally alone.

So the reasons of why it is my favourite song are mainly those: my top Singer wrote it and recorded it, the lyrics are just blowminding and the melody is just perfect. At the end of October I had the chance to see Damien Rice performing live in Santiago. He sang this song and it was one the best times of my life I recorded it so I could always watch it again and share.

The best holidays I’ve had

Back to 2011, in my senior year at high school my classmates and I went to Brazil for a “study trip”, though we didn’t take a book while we were there.

We traveled by bus so it was very uncomfortable at first, but once we got there we forgot the hundreds of hours stuck on the bus seats hahaha (at least until we returned).

The first stop of our trip was Foz do Iguaçu where we enjoyed the view at the Iguaçu falls. While we were there we crossed the border over the Parana River to Ciudad del Este. I didn’t like the city but there were really cheap stuff to buy, especially phones (that we’d be realizing later were nothing but useless devices).

After two days we were back on the road again and got to Camboriu. We spent time knowing places like Blumenau, Florianopolis and almost every beach we saw. At night we used to go out to the bars that were next to the beach and tried a lot of Caipirinhas among other drinks before we had to return.

I’d say it was a really special trip because it was the last time all of my classmates and I were together before going separate ways. It was a good way to end that part of our lives besides I turned 18 while we were at Camboriu so I really enjoyed that day (I can’t give you much details, but I celebrated according to the occasion). That one is a trip is something I’ll always remember.

A country I would like to visit

Hey! Well I've always wanted to visit the UK, but mainly England.

I don’t know the exact reason but maybe it has to do with a lot of things like, for example: music. Many of my favorite artists and singers come from the UK, for example Coldplay, Radiohead, Oasis and The Beatles just to mention a few, though there are many more. Plus it’s next to Ireland (Damien Rice my number 1 is an Irish). I’d really like to see any of them performing live. I know I can’t revive John Lennon or George Harrison, or fix things between the Gallagher brothers but at least I hope I get my own Abbey Road picture with some of my best friends in it or attend to a show at Wembley.

Another reason may be the weather. Some people say the weather is cold and don’t like rain but rain is one of my favorite things; it makes everything so full of life and green. The UK geography is full of green, I would definitely love to travel across the country by train.

Plus there are a lot of ancient places to visit, very old cities and old buildings. I like taking pictures so I know I’d take tons of them.

A friend of mine is living in Oxford this year as an exchange student. She’s been travelling the UK and Ireland and got the chance to travel to other cities of different countries in Europe due to the nearness. She’s been to Paris, Brussels, Bruges, and Venice among others. The idea to know all of these places is another reason to travel to the UK.

I’m very optimistic about travelling there in a few years and get to know all these places and maybe more. I hope.

My Autobiography

Hey everyone, my name is Manuel Cabrera. I'm 22 years old and currently I’m a freshman student of Public Administration at University of Chile.
I live in Santiago (as if I’m the only one who does) with my brother but I’m from Santa Cruz, a city located in the heart of the Colchagua Valley just 3 hours by car going south from Santiago.
I’m a person who really enjoys good music and I’m good at saving money so I go to a lot of concerts, actually it’s the only thing I spend my money on besides food. They are worth it.
I consider myself a simple person because I don’t need much for living, a good talk, some good friends around, my family, and nature. Next time maybe I’ll tell you more about me.