Opinion paragraph: Abortion

So, after thinking a lot, and as I read some comments on the internet, I decided to give my opinion about abortion, because this subject is pissing me off: "I really don't think abortion is a good excuse for the lack of care that someone had. Except in cases of rape. But aside from that, there are some many ways to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Why does a little soul must be punished for the lack of oversight of its generators? If you don't want the baby, there's adoption, I think it causes far less suffering than abort, because there are people who really are willing to love this new being".
First off, you can be using three forms of protection, and still have an unplanned pregnancy. Birth control is not flawless. It helps, of course, but no matter how responsible someone is being, they can find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. "Well if you choose to have sex you have to be responsible for and accept the possibility you might get pregnant and have a baby. You shouldn't have sex if you don't want a child!". Children are not a punishment for sex!! We don't deny smokers cancer treatment because they accepted the risk by smoking, we don't deny people who got in car accidents medical attention because they took the risk by driving, hell, we don't even deny criminals who shoot others, and OD on drugs medical attention, so we sure as hell can't deny a pregnant person medical attention because they took the risk by having sex.
Pro-lifers seem to forget that pregnancy and childbirth itself, even if adoption follows, can ruin a person's life, and is extremely transformative, be it in a positive or negative way. You are never going to be the same once going through that. It changes your body, your hormones, your emotions. Many people experience crippling sickness and complications, causing them to lose their job, lose their home, have to drop out school, etc. Prenatal care is not cheap. Mothers who fall pregnant may struggle to feed their already living breathing feeling children and lower their quality of life if forced to carry a fetus the don't have the means to provide for or deal with. And it all comes down to the fact that people cannot and should not be made to sacrifice their bodies for a pregnancy they do not want, for whatever reason they do not want or can not have it. We have an awesome thing called bodily autonomy. Meaning nobody can use our bodies without our consent. Even when we are DEAD. If you and I got in a car crash, and I died, and you desperately needed one of my organs to survive, you STILL couldn’t take that organ, even though it is of no use to me, to save your own life, unless I had consented when I was alive to be an organ donor. Therefore, claiming that a fetus has a right to use a pregnant person’s body for 9-10 months, has the right to take over all the pregnant person’s organs and body chemistry, has the right to change their body forever, not only does it give a fetus more rights than anyone else in the world, it also gives the pregnant person less rights than a dead body.
There is also a major flaw in that first argument, which is “Except in cases of rape,” because in that statement, they're proving that it really isn’t about the fetus. If they truly believed that fetuses had rights, were sentient souls deserving of a chance at being born, it wouldn’t matter whether they were conceived through rape or not, would it? Fetuses that result from rape and fetuses that result from loving relationships are biologically the same, so why does one deserve rights and the other not? Perhaps they have internalized misogyny which causes them to believe that females deserve to be punished with unwanted pregnancies because they had sex.
I am pro-choice because I am pro-pregnant person. I am on the side of the living, breathing, loving, crying, feeling, struggling people who find themselves carrying a pregnancy when it is not convenient, and I am pro-giving them the option to protect themselves, their jobs, their goals, their bodies, and their pre-existing families, by supporting their access to a safe and legal abortion with no judgement.

Body language

I will always be amazed by the stuff that you can find on the internet so casually. Scrolling through twitter, I found a link of a video that caught my attention. It was a TED talk about body language, a subject that I always found very interesting since I was little. According to the video, body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success. You can watch it here:

To be honest, this speech left me a warm feeling in my chest and a great confidence, like I could achieve anything I wanted. Because it's true. I have experienced this myself sometimes, and I know some facts about body language related to some of my acquaintances' experiences.

First of all, the "Wonder Woman pose":

I learned this from my mother. She does look like a powerful, confident woman, unlike me, because I usually just stay hunched most of the time — as I said in an earlier entry, I'm very pessimistic so this posture is the normal thing for me. So when sometimes I'm feeling down or not very confident, she always says to me "honey, straighten up, put your hands on your hips and smile!". And it does work! I strongly believe that changing our posture can change our moods, make us more or less confident and more or less perceptive. And I can prove it with some anecdotes.

For example, in high school we had a new ICT teacher who was very, very, very intimidating. All of my classmates were afraid of him, and he liked to treat us like "fools" because "we didn't know the most simple things about technology". And of course when we had to give our homework, he loved to pick someone to be in front of the whole class and ask them, so he culd get them to say something wrong and embarrass them. So one day he called a girl, he got in a "Mr. Burns posture" and said: "You know? When I see you with your legs crossed, your notebook hiding your face and your nervous laughter... It's like you're at my mercy. I feel powerful! Mwahahahahah!"

I swear to god I will never forget that teacher

Also, my father loves to tell me some stories of "the old times", and he once told me one referring to body language. He worked as a seller and he had to read a book about body language for his formation in that job. Surprisingly, the knowledge of the body can have a great effect in business and negotiations, as he discovered soon. He had to sell some books to a customer who wasn't very convinced about them, and they had a reunion. My dad noticed that the customer had his arms crossed: that meant that he wasn't being perceptive. Then, he pretended to drop his pen so the customer would pick it up and have his arms open. After that, it was easier for my father to convince the customer, and he finally sold those books.

On the other hand, I studied body language and self-defense at P.E. when I was in high school too, so I learned a lot about hand movements and stuff (have you seen "The Mentalist? Jane usually catches the criminal because of body language). Also, I learned that this subject is an important factor in self-defense, as we can see in the basic posture: 

"You have to try not to transmit hostility but quite the opposite, so you won't keep a threatening or defensive posture. This facilitates the element of surprise in the response. Standing with both hands raised to the height of our face and showing the palms of the hands is a basic position for the start, because it protects our head and let our hands be near the opponent, accelerating our response time."

Actually, our P.E. teacher told us that he used that once, when a guy with a knife wanted to rob him. The thief thought he had all under control, because he was threatening an unarmed man in the middle of the night. But the poor guy ended up on the floor crying of pain with a broken elbow. Yes, appearances can be deceiving.

This is why I think it's very important to learn the control of your own body. It can be the difference between success and failure, and it can have a great influence in your confidence. So while we practice our writing skills, I highly recommend you to look for some interesting body language facts, too, because they can help a lot when giving a speech or something similar. And I'm sure that this fascinating subject will be the key to reach our dreams, as shown in the video.

Describing a person: Clara

Although my friend Clara is very absent-minded and clumsy, she's someone I can completely trust because of her kindness and strength. She behaves like a 4 year old, specially when she's talking, because she's half-German and she doesn't fully master Spanish nor German. Despite her German family, she doesn't seem like a stranger at all: she has dark, blonde hair (almost brown) and brown eyes. She doesn't have the typical pale skin either, so you can normally think that she's just Spanish. She's very happy and cheery, and you can know that by looking at her bright smile that she's always wearing. She's very gentle and kind, and also strong, and I think it is because she spends a great amount of time in the hills: she loves nature.She can have fun with the most simple things, and that's why I love spending time with her: I always laugh when I'm with her. She also helps me a lot, and that is something that I'm grateful for. So although sometimes I find her childish behaviour annoying, I think it is one of the charms of why she became one of my best friends.

Gorka's birthday

Yesterday, October 13th, was my brother's birthday. I've been thinking on writing about this because of two reasons: first, I thought how much he has changed and I realised that it is because maybe time is passing faster everyday for me? I don't know, that thought is scaring me. And second, I'm very angry and I think God or whoever is up there is playing with me or maybe the Universe hates me.
But, well, let's explain this thing from the start. My parents are divorced: I live with my mum here in Murcia and my brother lives with my dad in Granada. As this last weekend was my grandma's saint, and also on Monday it was my brother's birthday, we made a family lunch on Saturday to celebrate it and we told my brother Gorka to go. So he came on Friday to stay the weekend, and he could go back on Monday because in Andalucia there was a holiday, so he didn't lose any classes. Let's take a look at my brother when he was little and how he is now:

Gorka (4 years) and me (5 years)

Gorka (17 years)

I have to say that when I saw him in the bus station I started laughing and said "Holy fuck, you have a beard!" (yeah, we don't see each other very much). But apart from that detail, he's still the same, right?

So, as I was saying, on his birthday we woke up very early to go to Murcia. I heard my mother walk into Gorka's room, switch on the lights, and say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!". I got up and I could hear all the smooches my mother was giving to him as I thought "poor boy" and walked into his room to congratulate him. Then, my mum asked him that typical, stupid question that I never understood: "How do you feel with 17 years?". He looked at her with a horrible face and said "sleepy". Well, what else could he had answered?

He got a lot of money from our family members, and I gave him a League of Legends hoodie (he's a videogame freak and he absolutely loves that game). Then we went to Murcia and said goodbye to him, and I went to class as usual. 

Until then, everything was fine. Afterwards I went to my flat and while I was having dinner, he sent me a whatsapp saying "look at what dad gave me for my birthday haha", with these pictures:

Kitties...? ARE YOU SERIOUS DAD? COULDN'T YOU THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE FOR A BIRTHDAY PRESENT?? WHY KITTIES??? WHY???? *frustrated screeching*

I swear to god, I want to kill someone. This is so unfair. I've been without a pet since... well, since my parents got divorced. My first and only pet I've ever had was my dog Beltxa, and my brother has another dog named Txuri, too. In the divorce my dad decided to take the dogs with him and take care of them. So I didn't see my dog too much, and it was kind of weird. We've been with our dogs since we were 8 more or less...

Beltxa as a puppy

Txuri as a puppy

Recent picture

"But you can still visit him whenever you want, duh!". The thing is... my dog passed away last Easter. And they told me that two months later, when I went there to visit them. I miss him a lot, and I think of how lucky is my brother to still have his beloved Txuri, that I love a lot too, but it's not the same. And now, he also has two cats.

This is why I'm mad. This is why I want to scream and cry, why I'm completely sure that the Universe hates me. Because I am being left behind, and I'm feeling so lonely it hurts. 

Never underestimate the love of a pet. It can have a great effect in your heart.

Descriptive paragraph: My favourite place in the world

I've been thinking about this subject quite a lot, until I decided I wanted to describe a place that has always been special for me: Marchamalo's salt works. This place isn't in use anymore: in fact, it is considered a protected area for the birds that come there to stay in summer. It is located right behind my house, so I can get magnificent views from my bedroom, like these ones:

Pretty great, right? Can you tell that I love my window? But apart from the fantastic views that it offers, there are more motives to consider this place unique. It is enjoyable to walk through the salt works, which are huge, even though some people say it is banned... But no one listens to them, so whatever, it's not like we're doing something wrong - except for the people who don't live in La Manga, who throw all the trash there in summer. Ugh, I hate them. In the uncountable times that I've been there, specially with my dogs and my brother, it always felt like we were on an adventure: discovering new places, watching a group of flamingos right next to us, etc. Feeling the crusty ground under your feet in summer, burying your feet in the mud in winter (usually in the middle of the rain, which feels great), smelling the salt, the humidity, hearing the seagulls... You can truly feel free at the salt works. It's a very peaceful place to go, and I have wonderful memories of that place. I remember those times when I was sad and I went there to walk my dog under the rain: sadness always left as I walked there. Also, how to forget those amazing summer afternoons with my friends, where we rode our bikes around the salt works and we spent the time watching the birds and chit-chatting. Because of all this, Marchamalo's salt works will always be considered my most precious place in the entire world.

Developing a paragraph

In a paragraph you can find three types of sentences:
- Topic sentence: It's usually the first one and it express the main idea of the paragraph.
- Supporting sentences: They are used to expand the main idea and the paragraph, and with them, you explain the idea, give an example, etc.
- Concluding sentence: It's the last sentence of the paragraph and it basically tells the idea of the topic sentence, but it's expressed with different words.

_________

Here is the paragraph I developed in class:

My mother always said that she had a bit of everything when she talked about her children: my brother and I. She said that because, although we're physically alike, our personalities are completely different. While my brother is very extrovert and socializes a lot, I'm very shy and introvert. People say that I'm hardworking, I love reading and I hate sports. My brother, on the other hand, has always been lazy, and instead of reading, he prefers going out or playing some sports. He's very loud, noisy, and blabbers a lot. I, on the contrary, am very quiet and I don't talk too much. My brother is a person who, unlike me, always tells the truth, no matter what could happen. He's also very optimistic and passionate, and he gets angry very easily, while I'm very pessimistic and I have more patience than him. Seeing all these differences that are between us, you can understand our mother when she says she has the day and the night.

Fear

Fear of not being good enough.
Fear of losing my friends.
Fear of not recognizing my brother.
Fear of disappointing my mother.
Fear of heights.
Fear of not seeing the real world.
Fear of not having enough.
Fear of having too much.
Fear of feeling.
Fear of being hurt.
Fear of time passing through.
Fear of living more than others.
Fear of being left alone.
Fear of the future.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear of not being happy.
Fear of being too happy.
Fear of being misunderstood.
Fear of losing.
Fear of change.
Fear of myself.

God bless WiFi

Here I am again, writing another post. But this one is special because... I'm writing it in my flat! Yay!
Well, maybe you don't see it like a big deal, but being without Internet for more than 2 weeks... It has been horrible for me and my flatmates. So imagine our faces today when we received a package that contained this magnificent router:

After cheering and jumping with my flatmates for like, 10 minutes, this made me think... How did we become so dependent on the Internet? Is it simply because of how is our generation? I swear, one of my flatmates has been grumpy since we came here because of the lack of Internet and today, when she saw the router, she almost cried of happiness. But I don't blame her, it's been the same for me. And I don't think it is because we are "greedy kids that don't go out because they're all day on the Internet or playing videogames", as our parents say. We are conditioned by society.

Nowadays, everyone works better with computers, tablets, or even mobile phones, and it is easier to obtain information through Internet. Without going any further, I obtain almost all the University material through its webpage, and I have to say that it really was a nuisance. I had to bring my laptop everyday to University so I could download stuff and make this blog. Anyway, now that I have WiFi, I have to say that it is absolutely great to be at home and work comfortably on your desk.

But it's scary, isn't it? Knowing the fact that we can't work without technology anymore... And don't say we can, because I have proof! My mother worked at an hotel a while ago, and one day, all the computers in the hotel crashed. The chaos took over them: they weren't able to distinguish the rooms that were occupied or the ones that were cleaned, because all that information was in the computers!

Now imagine: the Internet, that marvelous, wonderful place where most of the world's data is saved... What would happen if one day it suddenly crashed too?