Bennie once asked: What is Love?

And somebody answered: What a beautiful question!
:)

What would be your answer?

Just a Game of Chess!

Hey gals & lads! Sorry for being such a lousy blogger. Time to catch up. It seems that life at one point gets so complicated, but at the same time it can be so easy. And well, I believe that life sometimes feels like a game of chess. You know, you start the game with such audacity and security, until you lose a piece or two (and I don't refer to pawns). With time (you have to be a fast learner) you have to adapt and protect yourself as best as possible. There is one thing though that we always protect besides ourselves (the king representing us): the queen (your partner, wife/hubby, gf/bf). It's funny how we get all upset one our queen gets taken. Nevertheless, she is not the most important piece in the game. I recently remembered that without the support of the towers, horses or bishops (these could represent your friends or family, colleagues at work, et. all) you can lose the game even if you your queen.

I am sure that many persons have already compared chess to our lives and the different situations we can find ourselves, so I am not really going to get into that right now anymore.

The support of your secondary pieces (tower, horse and bishop) is not only the only factor that plays a roll in the game. You also need to have (or gain, yes, it is a matter of practice) a long term vision of the game (i.e., to be able to play the game 3 or more steps ahead of you in your head) in order to see through your opponents strategy. But hey, this is only a game. And remember, you can always use your pawns (if they survive) to recover your lost queen!

You know, the best part about playing chess is the part of seeing how your opponent (which is usually a friend or somebody from your family) thinks, acts and reacts to your moves. Sometimes they get upset, sometimes they see victory at hand, sometimes they feel delight for getting the upper hand, and sometimes they lose all hope when they thinks that all is lost.

Seeing how my friends think is what makes me love this game. It gives you more insight into their person than whatever can be said with words or actions.

I hope I get to play chess against you too! Until now I have played recently against four people: Nina Jaretzke (she's beginning to understand the game and what she has to do in order to win), Natalia (a good friend from Russia; she almost kicked my ass at the game...damn, that was close!), Bennie (B. Schmid; my good old buddy from the mba who just lost a 3rd time), and Gerd Kloos (who kicked my ass at the Freibad!! Nice! I need a rematch for that one).
There is one person I would love to play with again is my cousin Min (Fermín Santillán). I taught him how to play many years ago and I am sure we have not played in like 7 years now. He has been the only person to beat me on like 50% of our games. Playing with him will have to wait for a little while.

Cheers to you all wherever you might be! I'm up for the challenge of playing anytime you want (as long as I'm free).

Check mate!

Héctor S.

PS: This is one of my favorite pics: Playing chess with Nina at the Main river

Hello Reutlingen!!!

What has happened since the end of February / beginning of March???? Well, what more can I say? Nick came along (March 11th or so) and moved into our floor (room 216).

Ever since then things have changed a lot. Most of you (especially Wurmhaus people) know that he's as crazy as a goat and a my best friend (in these Schwabenlands). So, I would really like to tell you all what we have been up to, but that would just take too much time and text!!!

March 11th: Irish Pub & SIB get together

March 13th: First 2nd floor dinner & clubbing @ Färberei

March 17th: Saint Patrick's Day @ the Irish Pub

March 21st: Second 2nd floor dinner and clubbing @ P&K

March 23rd - 25th: Trip to München with Tara and Amanda

March 26th: Lunch @ Belencita's place

March 28th: Another dancing night at Färberei

March 29th: Dinner @ Daniel's place

March 30th: Little visit to Frankfurt

March 31st to April 1st: BERLIN!!! BERLIN!!! BERLIN!!! Wir fahren nach BERLIN!

April 3rd: Dinner (again) at Daniel's and then Färberei (again)

April 25th: A normal day in Reutlingen

April 27th: Dinner @ Erika's!!!

April 28th: Frühlingsfest at Bad Canstatt, Stutgart

April 30th: Swedish night May 1st: THE FREIBAD! :)

May 4th: Crazy Friday May 7th: OUR STOCKWERK DINNER (2nd FLOOR)

May 9th: Costumes for Friday

May 11th: 60's & 70's 2nd FLOOR STOCKWERK PARTY

May 12th: The Bodensee Adventure!!!!

May 14th: Nick's & Erika's Bday!

May 16th: Another dinner party at Erika's

May 23rd: At the TDAW

Truly, there is no other way of telling you all how all this time has been. The pics will speak for themselves.

And now I must leave you.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving to Belgium (2 days), Holland (2 days), France (2 days) and Luxembourg (1 day). Nick and I are going with our friends Mihaela and Mariuca and we will have a blast and take lots and lots of pics (I guess there was no doubt about that). After that, on June 1st Nick, Belén and I will be going to ROCK AM RING!!!!!

In the meantime people, take care and see you back on June 4th!

Peace,

Héctor S.

PS: Let God sort them out
PS2: BELEN, no se te olvide ver lo de la renta de auto!