This post is part of a longer project, Distant Diary — Spain. All entries are gathered on this page, along with an explanation and some background.
Woke early. Packed, grab a frittata on the way to the train.
Rode 328KM south to Valencia.
Train ride mostly uneventful. Sat next to an American stand-up comic with a sad sack story about losing all his money on his European tour. Didn't laugh once.
Another AirBnB, this one more "factory."
Walked just under 10K. Museums. Basilicas. Much porcelain. Grotesques and gargoyles abound. Delicious Charcuterie and the worst Martini I've ever had. Unimaginably bad.
I am older than the Font Del Túria, but it has me beat in beauty, poise, and bird shit.
I think Valencia is the most beautiful city I've ever seen.
This post is part of a longer project, Distant Diary — Spain. All entries are gathered on this page, along with an explanation and some background.
DAY 2
Hit a few bookstores and am impressed with the Spanish editions. Wonderful paper, slick covers, great design. Once again wonder why British editions are so dreadful compared to other countries'.
Taifa Llibres is particularly wonderful, as is Libreria LA Central. Toronto just doesn't have stores like these. Killed by greedy landlords, Heather Reisman, etc. I consider picking up something I know cover-to-cover thinking it'll help learn the language. Jesus' Son? Silly idea. Brain is absolutely useless for learning new things right now.
Walk the streets towards Park Güell, see some great graffiti.
Spend most of the day in the Park and Gaudi's house. Am rather fond of his bedroom.
Head to Elephanta. Meet Anabel Caravaca and am charmed. Write a bad poem, which she takes. Stay way too long, but not long enough, unfortunately. Have to catch a train to Valencia in the morning. Will catch up with her online.
Head home to get some sleep. 11.3KM covered. Lightweight.
I'd tell you I paid good money for the boy, but that's not entirely true because the child wasn't expensive and the money wasn't earned by honest work. I killed a man for it and the cost didn't even eat up what remained after seven months of party and drink.
My wife had always wanted a child and I had always wanted a son so the purchase quelled both our longings. But things change when you swap money for blood. Your life gets harder. Your luck turns. Things fall apart.
For my wife, punishment came as a cancer. For my daughter, it came as a curse, though she wouldn't call it that. "Clarity of identity," she'd say. Something I can never claim for myself. As for me, punishment's still coming, a vision on the horizon I fear is not a mirage.
Unlike my kid, I've never felt I had an identity. I don't know who "I" am or what "me" means. So unaware of what I did not know, I didn't even know I didn't know it. She made me aware of what I lacked, Siobhan. It's an Irish name. Chose it herself. We'd named her Steven, April and I.
1130PM — Head down to the street.
Youth chill in the evening air:
Youth in Barcelona
Midnight — arrive back at Mariano's. Total distance walked, 17.8KM.
Ashley Suszczynski is an award-winning travel photographer based in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, focused on capturing ancient traditions in the modern day. She aims to tell the story of how lesser known cultures, relics, rites, and rituals have withstood time and evolved in our ever-changing world. Through visual storytelling, she hopes to share knowledge and understanding of these age-old customs in order to continue their preservation and social approval.
I have a bit of a fascination with "time-tracking" devices that do not tell you the time. These days, I wear an Apple Watch Ultra 2 for health reasons. For many years, I wore a DURR.
What's a DURR? You wear it on your wrist, like a watch, and every 5 minutes, it touches you. Yes, really.
Here's how the designer pitched it:
It's an interesting thing to have something silently tell you that five minutes have passed since the last time it told you five minutes had passed. And yes, it does nothing else and the five minute interval is fixed.
My DURR looks like this:
The chassis and buckle are milled, sandblasted anodized aluminium. The strap is vegetanned leather. It takes a standard CR2032 watch battery. Mine's been kickin' for 10+ years, though I did have a few panicked days when I thought it was on the fritz. Turns out CR2032s have a high rate of failure.
When not using it to make me hyperaware of time itself, I used it as a navigation tool. I walk a lot and know how fast I do it. So, morning-wake-up, I'd look at a map to see where I wanted to end up. Then, I'd memorize a pattern of turns based on five minute intervals. Like this: 3 Left, 2 right, 1 left, 5, look for the tunnel, 2 right... This meant I would walk for 3 vibrations (15 minutes) and then turn left, walk for 2 vibrations (10 minutes) and turn right, etc. Obviously, this was not an exact science as I'd get waylaid by friendly dogs, people, buildings I wanted to photograph, not-friendly dogs, talkative prostitutes, curious locals, etc.
I'd usually arrive at my destination without again checking a map, though I never got there in the estimated time and rarely spoke the local language enough to understand road signs. The clumsiness of my method resulted in many adventures and many fantastic misadventures. I walked thousands and thousands of miles this way. In LA, in Spain, in Vanuatu, Cuba, the Dominican, and Toronto.
Only 700 DURR exist — 1000 were made, 300 of which didn't function. I regret not buying one or two more when I had the chance. They were made by industrial designer-artist duo, Skrekkogle, and if I remember correctly were about $150. The partnership has dissolved and the two men behind it have vowed to never make more. When I thought mine had died, I pleaded with one of them to let me know if he had any kicking around that he would part with... he didn't respond.
For a few years I tried to get industrial designers I knew to develop one with me on Kickstarter. They all thought I was nuts. Last year, someone else did exactly that and sold about a $150,000 worth. I initially funded the project but backed out, not liking the proprietary band (it's the only thing I don't like about my DURR); I wanted it to take a standard watch band.
If you're still confused how the DURR can actually be useful, here's some press on the Alpha version from The Verge. Mine was the Beta release. And here's a physician talking for a couple minutes about his own Beta release:
In the next Products I Love post, I'll write about the keyboard in my DURR photo: the WayTools Textblade, a truly remarkable device that never saw the light of day.
Back home I dream of the water beyond the break and wake older angry at borders that keep me foreign and dry.
Did my wretched ancestors who walked inward abandoning shorelines and settling centered fear the power tides gift me?
And will my absence pull from both coasts to my landlocked city salt water so deep as to drown their evil guiding star?
— July, 2017, Toronto
Lake Ontario, 2024
Your Call Pulses Through Me With A Glorious Dynamism
I've felt this wave before, in Havana and Piles, too. You were with me, then, and the water senses your absence. I lay back and conspire with the tide. The sunlit Santa Monica sky turns black and star-pricked. I drift, whispering your name, until I feel your faint but unmistakable touch.
— December, 2017, Santa Monica
Sunset over Deb's pool. Paradise Cove, Vanuatu, 2019
Maybe I'm way behind the curve on this one as it's been a few years since I've been able to travel, but today I learned about Global eSims. Companies that offer eSims to hundreds of countries or regions around the world. You download an app, purchase a plan, and have data / minutes / texts in your travel destination without the hassle of visiting a local TelCo and trying to navigate their plan options.
The two big companies seem to be Airalo and Saily. I'll definitely use one the next time I'm taking a trip.
One Minute Park allows you to visit parks around the world... for one minute. Counter in the top right corner switches to a new park after 60 seconds. Browse button in the bottom left. Hit the question mark to submit your own video.
Berlin, GermanyBarcelona, SpainRosengarten, GermanyBrooklyn, New York
