Do you want comfort or happiness?

It might sound counterintuitive but you cannot have both. Once you are too comfy you loose the sense of risk and adventure, and you slowly vegetate into a lesser being, whatever that means. One of my favorite sayings "life begins at the end of your comfort zone" sums this up pretty neatly. On the other hand, "you have to eventually settle down" you whisper to yourself, and it becomes more of an ordeal with every trip and discovery until a week in one place becomes some kind of a phobia.

It is much easier to find comfort in happiness than happiness in comfort but I, along with other lazy and clairvoyant beings, have been more interested in the latter, be it for its assured long-term stability or for the challenges implied.

In parallel to my commitment to arts and sciences, I am trying to master, Greek, the 8th language as a challenge of neophiliac stability.

Languages are like people and countries that we revisit to remember and perpetuate great moments, especially those involving communication, putatively with other beings. When I am speaking a language I am nostalgic for the other ones I am not speaking (and ones I am not speaking to) just like being in a place and not in a myriad of other possible places. 

How traveling can ruin our lives!

I feel terrible but I am inclined to share a great article on how traveling can ruin your lives and I am not quoting any of it so that you read it all!

I would add another point analogous to the nomad's feeling of not belonging to any place. It is that of finding it hard to commit to a person or a relationship. We become very truthful to ourselves and to others about what we like and dislike that we cannot be reckless with our hearts or other people's. I have previously compared people to places and the more I travel and meet people, the more this metaphor makes sense.

Amor, ordem e progresso

A couple of days ago it was summer and I was in love with everything that caught my eye. I thought it was impossible to be awestruck as an adult but I was proven wrong. The magnificent nature breaths unimaginable exotic fruits and aromatic coffees with its tropical ecological diversity. This richness has invited immigrants from every corner of the world creating the most hospitable and generous men and the most beautiful and diversified of women that dance nonstop to any tune hinting to samba music from an audible distance. My good friend Deivison and I had witnessed and framed (see ALAgrApHY for daily pics) fabulous sunsets and beautiful people between Ipanema (with Marjory Lulu Julia ...) Copa Cabana Itacoatiara Saquarema São Pedro da Aldeia Arraial do Cabo Cabo Frio and finally in Búzios where we met Alfredo's family in a paradise that is in a paradise... There is much more and many more people to thank for making this trip memorable but much is owed to traveling with an open mind and a huge heart that Deivison and I had from the very beginning -- perhaps Portuguese is a must. We have found bliss even in the poorest of neighborhoods, in the most chaotic of places Lapa where some carnival rehearsals took place, in a scientific conversation and a future collaboration in data mining on the ipanema beach, in the sinful yet indulging self-service buffets....I am home sick where home is Brazil. I am a Carioca citizen of the world where Carioca is a state of mind.

Agora fico com muita saudade do que vi e do que nem tive tempo para descobrir, e para matar esta saudade, gente, se ter uma festinha de samba, uma capirinha com o 51, um acai o um suco da manga com laranja o maracuja, gente em paris, por favor, tou cheio de saudade! 

 — in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Happy Love Day Every Day

Being loved is one hell of a rich experience that no money, status or power can buy, no Chinese market can imitate or trade and no future or artificial intelligence can fake. I have been extremely lucky to have grown up in a loving environment of family and friends, with unconditional love and patience. In turn, this has made me a victim of excessive and overwhelming free love that has inexorably fueled my expressive artistic projects and quixotic search for like-minded people to love and support in their meaningful journeys and dreams.

Coming from a scientific background in a highly-on-demand and focused field of study, people question my decision of not having pursued a well-established 6-to-7-figure career (that I have been offered on a couple of occasions) and my answer follows: If I were to regret anything in my 50's or 60's, it would be that of not having loved or been loved profoundly, that is including all the bells and whistles of exploring the world with others and disputing with lovers. And I bet you agree with me, also considering the alternative of disputing with your own dying self for not having done what you really wanted. So why let fear yuck your yum and kill your time? Why not turn your cant's into cans and your dreams into plans?

I am having a fabulous day, today, and I am grateful to all the wonderful people sharing their vibes and love. They know who they are and how much they mean to me.

For the occasion, I am sharing this old experimental photograph, entitled with a literal sense "love is in the air" and painted with a remote control and an infrared filter with an SLR camera. This picture has been viewed 13000 times, downloaded 8800 times, and liked 860 times on deviantART.com while listed in at least 26 blogs and sites since Nov 2010. On the other hand, my most popular scientific article has been accessed 4500 times and cited 28 times since Sep 2008. I am grateful and fulfilled to have known both communities of artists and scientists and even contributed to both. Therefore, I am taking this leap of faith, that many have silenced with a big NO NO, to pursue an interdisciplinary career in arts and science, even if I will have to be the first.

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves -- V. Hugo

Much love to all,
Al  



Love is in the Air by alahay on deviantART
pic url: http://alahay.deviantart.com/art/Love-is-in-the-Air-187377870

txt url: http://28-ish.blogspot.fr/2014/02/happy-love-day-every-day.html

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves -- V. Hugo