Not asexual!

I am not used to post raw material like this, but I think it is time…

It is funny; many people that I have had the pleasure to meet and with whom I have been very open about my sexual orientation seem to accept it very easily.
It seems the world has been changing...

It seems it is cool to have a gay friend, even like fashion.

"Oh! Yes,
I do have a gay friend, and he is so cool!..."

So the person becomes part of the next generation, the one that is progressive and open-minded, the one that believes the world is moving ahead into a more open space to live, together, no matter the differences.
Actually embracing those differences because that is what make us rich.

However there is this part that still intrigues me. When we open the conversation to the level when my sexual orientation actually has a sexual part on it, the mood seems to change and everything goes blocked, like into darkness.

Like if we – gay boys – are just the sensitive ones, with taste for wine food and cloths. The ones who can listen the boy and help him out to get the girl he wants or to understand the weird reactions of the specie called ‘women’; or the ones that can listen to the girl and understand her frustration in her relationships with the insensitive kind called ‘men’.

We are definitely more than the nice attach to the CV of friends in the struggle to be citizens of a new world.

We love, we kiss, we work hard, we fall in love with the wrong guys (the straight ones - always happens - and the gay ones that does not worth the effort), we have sex, loads of it, and even so, we are not all promiscuous…

But yes, we do have a sexual life and we are proud of it, it make part of who we are, part of our ‘sexual’ orientation, as it has been labeled the box in which we have been put.

If you have a gay friend, allow him to express himself to the point of listening to details of what his life is, and then if you can follow through the whole conversation without feeling disgusted, my friend you can start to consider that you may have some possibility of being open-minded!

Thousands of other challenges will follow, but please do take this one, people like me need that from you.

Thanks.

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Take my hand!

This is my favorite song from Dido...

I used to have amazing nights with this song back in venezuela with my good friends and with my lovers... As I moved on, the song moved on with me and my weird relationships... Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Netherlands and now Portugal...

I just had a reflective weekend and reconnected with the song and the journey we have had together...

Enjoy!

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The last lecture! >>> What a lecture!

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium.

In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

"Journeys" are special University Lectures in which Carnegie Mellon faculty members share their reflections on their journeys - the everyday actions, decisions, challenges and joys that make a life.



Find more here.
Watch the complete last lecture here.

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Not the only green freak for sure!!!

To read more about Gary Vaynerchuk, visit his site here.
Check the COLORWAR2008, a complete color paranoia that has hit the web!

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Arigato Japan...

Well I am back home...

My trip to Japan has been astonishing! I have so much refreshed my soul in that couple of weeks that is hard not to "tear - tear" all around as one beautiful individual taught me at the conference in Tokyo.

I want to thank AIESEC, AP GN and the CC for an extraordinary experience.

UNIQUE!

I would love also to make explicit my desire to see again each one of the people in the faci team...
You guys are amazing!!!

You have with you the light of the determination, the lightness of youth and the enlightment of the wise...
God bless you all and each one of you.

I love you.

Thank you for give me the space to be and believe I am a good person :)

Few times in life you meet for such short time with such intensity.

Let life give us more times like the ones we lived together in Japan.
Let ourselves be courageous enough to strech our limits more often.
Let it be.

Dey

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Tokyo, Japan - 68 Countries!!!

10 years ago I wouldn't dare to dream that I will visit 68 countries in my life.
I do remember stating several times to many of my friends in Venezuela:

"By the age of 30 I will have visited 30 countries already..."

They use to laugh at me and my dreams.

Now, here I am; next Friday I will be leaving to Tokyo.
Japan will be the country number 68 that I visit.

The only thing that comes to my mind is that stuff that I said in Egypt and that was published on the newspapers:

“The dust of the days starts to cover your dreams but they are still there. Dreams never get lost.”

Dreams never get lost...

never...
_______________

My excitements is growing by the moment. I have had some chats with Shirley and things seems to be alright for the conference.
I know we will all have a blast of a time there.

In the meanwhile I am closing my deals here in Lisbon. I am putting together my report on the 4 months I have working for the Responsible Tourism venture and I must admit I am impressed by the quatity and quality of the work done.

I must confess as well that the environment in my office do support a lot the creativity and enthusiasm.
Maybe the fact that I am surrounded by AIESEC alumni influences that a lot, don't you think?

I just cannot wait longer to get to Japan and start sharing my energy, my enthsiasm and my wild spirit with the AIESECers from AP. Believe it or not , this is the first time I will truly embrace the AP culture after so many years in AIESEC.

The truth is that from outside AIESEC, things look simpler, easier, but then you realize that you must shut up. That is the path of learning that we all must go through when we are still 'part' of the organization. I must be carefull not to cross the line.

Getting back to business; these next two weeks away from job will help me breathe as well and get some new ideas, refreshed ones. I have been very much inside the box for the last four months. This trip is coming in the right time.

When I get back the hard part of the job will start! Putting together a global venture is a very challenging task to do. Even more when you have high expectations of yourself and when your shareholders have even bigger expectations.
But that will come as its time.

For the moment I just want to enjoy the number...
68!

Numbers matter! That is what I know for certain when I revisit everything that is behind that number: the people I met, the experiences I had, jail, malaria, laugh, tears, visas, love, food, dances, beer, sex, challenges, achievements, dissapointment... but most of all, a growing sense of what I am capable of.

If the 68 makes me capable, what will do for me the 70?
I am planning to get there before I get 34...
Always trying to reach more that the double :)

Dey

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A gift for my AI0607 team!!

Hey beautiful individuals...

You can choose the version you prefer the most...

Good memories I hope :)

Miss you guys.

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Revisiting my plan, and my life by default

Today I have revisited my plan as Project Manager for the responsible tourism venture I am working in. It was an interesting process, seeing and measuring my achievements so far I become aware of the added value that I have brought to the start up and I cannot stop thinking of all the things that AIESEC offered me and taught me during the years of dedication and enjoyment, it definitely worth it to be an AIESECer...

Today I have also submitted an application for a competition of new start ups in Portugal. In the process of doing so I needed to translate and update my CV and Bio from English to Portuguese. Going through my CV and Bio it was like revisiting my Project Manager plan. After all I am the project manager of my life.

Using a similar approach, I evaluated my achievements in life, my current state of soul and mind and my dreams for the future...

What will that CV and that Bio will look like by November this year when I an
supposed to finish the whole process of making this start up
profitable?

What will be my new personal additions to those files?
How will they look like visually?

How those changes in those two
papers will reflect the changes that have been happening within me in the last
months since I left AIESEC? Are those changes happening now or they have
happened in the last years - slowly - but I was too much inside the blue box of
AIESEC to notice them?

One thing is for certain. I feel successful, and that is priceless.
I hope the years to come will host as much warmth and surprises as the ones that have passed.
I definitely commit myself to see each year as a new beginning to a more exciting and enriching life, but most importantly, I commit myself to a very enjoyable present,
everyday!

From the corner of my reflections and living today fully,

Achiever Dey.

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With the dog in da way...

Today I have been looking online for a dog to adopt. The dog is on his way...
Potentially a Cocker Spaniel, gold!
Still haven't made a desicion, but soon I will have to, important thing is the dog is becoming a reality as well.

Things are falling into place. I got a huge bed from a colleague at work, bought the refrigerator, got a desk and drawers, cortins, but there are so many more thing I need at home...

Today, I have also asked for a credit in my bank to buy the rest of the stuff... I traveled 45 minutes during lunch time to go to my bank agency and back, however I didn't feel the pressure of the ride, I am calmed.

I see my old writings, in my diaries, in my old blog, and it seems to me that it is so complicated, it is a weird sensation. Maybe this is my time for a break, for 'surfing the wave' instead of 'creating it' [metaphor stolen from two amazing individuals that deserve all my respect]

Let's surf then for a while...

The dog is on da way...

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If I Had Six Weeks...

Searching online I found the column of a friend of mine.

Satu was also member of AIESEC International years back and when I was Director of Africa in the team when Brodie was the President, Satu and her husband Peter came to Rotterdam for two days training that was awesome!

Here is the posting I love from Satu's column:

I was recently told of a scene from the movie Fight Club. I'd seen the movie ages ago, but had forgotten this particular bit. Brad Pitt's character walks into a restaurant and holds a gun to the dishwasher's head. The dishwasher begs for his life.

The dishwasher says:
‘I'll do anything, just don't kill me'.
Pitt's character asks him: ‘Is this what you want to do with your life? Is this what you dreamt of as a kid?'
The dishwasher says:
‘No, I wanted to be a vet when I was a kid.'
Pitt's character says:
‘You have six weeks to do whatever it takes to start becoming a vet and start living the life you want. If in six weeks you haven't done this, then I'll kill you.'

A pretty dramatic scene, but most people I was with when I heard this story agreed that it wouldn't hurt to be given such an ultimatum once in a while. We often lead our lives as if they were eternal, as if we had all the time in the world to start living our dreams. We take on jobs that don't inspire us or fulfill our potential. We stay in relationships that we know are wrong for us but we keep at because we're afraid we'll end up alone. We dream about things that we'll do ‘when...'

Well, unfortunately for us, life isn't infinte. Our lives are very finite, and what's more, we can never be sure when our end is around the corner. And yet we spend time like there was loads of it. Do you ever wonder looking back what you actually did with all the time you've had? So with that in mind - what is it that you are putting off ‘for when you are more sorted/better off/in a better space/etc'.

If you were given six weeks time to stop putting things off and start living the life you want to lead - what would change? What would you start doing? Would you start researching those careers you've dreamt about or actually finally go talk to those people who's number you got ages ago. Would you start figuring out how you could make things happen that seem impossible but somehow other people around you have made possible for themselves? Would you relook at your relationships and decide what you are going to put up with, and what you are not going to put up with?

Wanna read more of Satu's postings?
Go here >>> Satu Kreula

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My new flat!!

Last weekend I finally moved to my new flat...
New huge bed and some kitchen appliances are all I have for the moment, but it is ok.
This week I will receive the refrigerator and some more stuff...
It is so cool to feel I have a home that is mine!

New house, new home...
I already slept there Saturday and Sunday and the feeling was awesome.
I have had this experience before in Venezuela, when i had my new flat there, but now it is deeper, I feel mature and ready to settle down. I feel secure about the deision i have made.
I feel I want home to be that, home!

Here you have some pics...

The living room...

















Two views of the kitchen. I love the window in the kitchen, soon full of flowers!


















The toilet. Full of color!

















And obviously, my room in GREEN!

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