12 January 2007

Bitchy people

Twisted theory

Today I had to go do some paperwork at a government agency near home that took forever, but I finally managed to get over that bureaucratic shit. When I got out the sun was shining like it was about to explode in flames. I was sweating and my feet were burning because of the heated pavement so I decided to take a cab. I put into practice a really good technique taught to me by a friend which consists of taking a look at the cab before stopping it to see if the cab driver has his arm hanging out of the window or not. This is great if you wanna get a nice air-conditioned cab. So I waited for an AC cab and got in. The cab smelled good, like spring at the woods, the seat was comfortable and the dark windows kept the annoying midday light away from my soaring eyes. Basically, the cab was a fucking paradise where everything seemed to be perfectly fine and happy, something kinda like a McDonald’s commercial.

I told the cab driver where to go to and he answered with a moan. That’s when paradise turned into earthy reality again with the sound of a scratch. His face looked like he’s been in hell for a long time and he couldn’t die again to get out of there.

That’s when he began… He lectured me about how being a cab driver sucked. “I can’t stand this weather”, “this city sucks”, “traffic’s making me lose my mind”, “freaking walking people!” and all that kind of stuff. He told me he was really tired of being hot in summer and cold in winter, he was tired of smelling smog and trash at night, he’s sick of people who talked to much to him (like he was talking to me…) and many other things.

First I thought: “Damn! He’s in freaking paradise and he’s complaining!” I couldn’t understand what could be possibly wrong about being in a nice, new, good smelling, sun-protected, air conditioned cab.

He was complaining about the heat and he was in a car with AC, he was complaining about people who talked too much and he was a walking radio station, he was complaining about the smell of trash and smog and his cab was perfectly scented…

I started to think about this. I started thinking about how a lot of people complain about everything no matter what. I realized I did the same thing, actually I realized almost every single person I knew did it. And yet, we’re happy (or at least we try). I supposed it was some kind of “cultural feature” that we, porteños have (for those who don’t know porteños is the name for the people from Buenos Aires).

I came to the conclusion that people love to complain about something, especially porteños. It seems that complaining about something when everything’s prefect reminds us that there’s always something else, there’s always something missing, perfection in not reachable and there’s no way anything can be perfect. It’s our way of feeling alive and in motion. It’s our own twisted way to live the “it can always get better than this” theory.

And this is not because we’re actually unsatisfied, or because nothing is ever “good enough”, we do realize things are good (when they are) but we also know that they’re not perfect, they can be improved.

Now, the funny thing is that most of the people complain about things and do nothing about it. So, what’s the point of having this “it can always get better than this” theory if we’re not doing anything to change it?

This is where my theory broke into pieces, but I’ll leave the conclusion for you to make it. I’ll go deeper into this and get back with an improved theory about bitchy people.

Be good!



Y en español:



Teoria Retorcida
Hoy tuve ke ir a la AFIP cerca de ksa para hacer el tramite del monotributo ke me tomo horas... Cuando sali el sol estaba brillando como si estuviese a punto de reventar en llamas. Me estaba calcinando, mi higado estaba por convertirse en pate, mi sangre en morcilla y los pies me kemaban por lo caliente ke estaba el piso. Asi ke antes de convertirme en una parrillada para 4 me tome un taxi. Puse en practica una tecnica ke me enseño una amiga ke consiste en fijarse si el tachero tiene el brazo colgando fuera de la ventana o no. Esto nos indica si el taxi tiene aire acondicionado o no. Asi ke espere un taxi con aire y me subi. El taxi estaba inundado de un aroma espectacular, olia a primavera en un boske, el asiento era perfectamente comodo y las ventanas polarizadas alejaban la molesta luz del sol de mis ojos ya irritados. Basicamente el taxi era un paraiso terrenal donde todo parecia hermoso perfecto y feliz, casi casi como una propaganda de McDonald's.
Le digo al taxista donde ir y me contesta con un gruñido. Ahi fue donde al compas de un scratch de DJ baje a la triste realidad terrenal. El tachero tenia cara de ke habia pasado unas largas vacaciones en el infierno y no podia morirse de nuevo para salir de ahi.
Y ahi empezo... Me empezo a contar de como ser un taxista te arruina la vida, "No soporto este clima", "Esta ciudad es una mierda", "El trafico me esta volviendo loco", "esta gente ke no sabe cruzar la calle" y cosas por el estilo. Me dijo ke estaba cansado de pasar calor en verano y frio en invierno, estaba cansado del humo de los autos ke era insalubre y olia a mierda, ke estaba cansado de los pasajeros ke no lo paraban de hablar (igualito a como el no paraba de hablarme a mi) y muchos boludeces mas.
Al principio pense: "mierda, esta en el paraiso y encima se keja!". No me entraba en la cabeza ke podia tener de malo estar en un taxi con aire acondicionado, vidrios polarizados y hasta perfumito"
Empece a pensar en esto. Empece a pensar en como la gente se keja de absolutamente todo. Me di cuenta ke yo tambien lo hacia y ke casi toda la gente ke conozco tambien lo hace. Y sin embargo somos felices (o al menos eso intentamos). Supuse ke era algo asi como una cuestion cultural ke tenemos los porteños (para los ke no saben, los porteños son las personas ke viven en Buenos Aires).
Llegue a la conclusion de ke a la gente le encanta kejarse de todo, especialmente a los porteños. Parece ser ke kejarnos de todo cuando las cosas estan bien nos recuerda ke siempre se puede mejorar, ke siempre falta un pokitos mas, ke la perfeccion no es alcanzable y ke nada puede ser perfecto. Creo ke es nuestra manera de hacernos sentir vivos y en movimiento... es nuestra manera de vivir el "simpre se puede estar un pokito mejor".
Y no creo ke esto sea porke "no hay poronga ke nos venga bien" o porke nunca nada es lo suficientemente bueno para nosotros. Sabemos ke las cosas son buenas cuando realmente lo son, pero tambien sabemos ke incluso siendo buenas pueden ser mejores.
Ahora, lo gracioso de todo esto es ke la mayoria de la gente se keja de todo pero no hace anda al respecto, Entonces, ke sentido tiene kejarse de algo si no hacemos nada para cambiarlo?
Aca es donde la teoria se me cayo a la mierda, pero dejo ke la conclusion la saken ustedes. Voy a investigar mas en este asunto y mejorare mi teoria hasta ke se perfeta =P

Ke esten bien!
o mejor ke bien...

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