Tuesday, January 21st, 2014

Last night I signed up for the 30-day free trial at www.ChessMagnetSchool.com.  I really like the interactivity of the site and how it progresses from the most basic chess moves to the more advanced.  But I had to start over from the beginning and I’m back to being a Baron; btw, there are 23 different levels.

I went to bed at 11pm, got up twice during the night and woke/got up at 7:10.  I hope I can sleep as well as I did last night for the next 5 nights.

This morning I saw the old man from across the street taking out the garbage so I guess I’ll start seeing him hanging out the window smoking his cigarettes again.

I was at LM just after 8am waiting for Bunuelo Express to open to have breakfast.  As I sat down I was surprised (should I have been?) to see their sign has changed.  The name of the place is now Pasabocas Krocantes where the “c” is very big and stylized exactly like the old “pacman” figure.  If the “K” was instead a “C” it would translate to “crunchy snacks”.

At 8:16 I got a text message from Beatriz that I can come get my clothes.  I texted her back asking her “where?”.  I tried to send her another text but apparently I ran out of minutes. 

By 8:30 PK hadn’t opened so I walked back to the corner store, added 5mil to my cell phone and sent Beatriz a text that I was there.  I walked across the street to the Tinto store and ordered a cup of coffee.  Beatriz showed up a few minutes later with my bedding and towels and I gave her the customary 20mil. After finishing my coffee and taking my laundry back to the apartment I headed for LM again.  

This time PK was open and I ordered my usual breakfast for 5,400 pesos.  Wilson stopped by and we talked a little and I learned he has an apartment in Envigado.  About noon I noticed a man I had seen before sitting behind me.  I remembered his name is William and he is a doctor.  (See the August 31, 2013 post for when I first met him.)  He told me he still has a 1-bedroom apartment across the street for rent – for 900mil – but I told him I need 2-bedrooms.

Lunch was the pasta of the day (spaghetti with chicken and tomato) and a Coke for 9,900 at Alfredo’s in Viva mall.

On the way back to my apartment I ran into Augusto and we made plans to play chess tomorrow morning.  I also saw a Chivas party bus parked on my street.

Chivas party bus

It’s a relatively cool day so I changed into one of my thicker t-shirts, grabbed my umbrella, left the apartment at 3:30 and caught a Simon Bolivar bus to Unicentro CC.  I was there by 3:50, walked to the back of the mall (by exit #3) and up 2 levels to the theatre.  I bought a general admission ticket for 8,500 ($4.47), walked around the area for a few minutes then went inside and bought a medium popcorn and large Pepsi for 13,500 ($7.11).  Did I mention they have ushers (or sometimes usherettes) to show you to your seat?   

First they showed the same short film about an old Colombian woman in a small town that pays a small amount of money hoping to win a raffle.  I think she thought they were raffling off a chicken but she ends up winning an inexpensive camera although it “spits out” pictures like the old Polariod cameras used to do.  It’s cute and I always hear the ladies in the audience go “aw” at one point or another.

I saw coming attractions for The Book Thief (7.7) and Keanu Reeves in 47 Ronin (6.6).  I’d like to see the former but not so much the latter.

The main feature, Ender’s Game (7.2), was a pretty good action movie with a twist at the end.  Although, due to my enlarged prostate and all the soda I drank, I had to make 2 trips to the restroom during the movie.  At least I didn’t miss anything important thanks to RunPee.com.  lol.  I think in the future a small popcorn and medium soda might be enough.

When the movie was over I went out Exit #3 which, if I calculated right, was on the opposite side of the theatre from where I went in.  A Simon Bolivar bus was just leaving but another was just turning the corner.  I knew I had to be careful here because if I took the bus going the wrong direction I’d be heading downtown instead of towards my apartment.  But the corner it turned from I was pretty sure was heading the way I wanted to go and sure enough “I chose wisely”.

Traffic was very heavy and it took 25 minutes to get back to the apartment.  I could probably have walked it in about the same time but it’s worth the $1 to just be able to sit and relax.  The bus wasn’t crowded and it wasn’t feeling stuffy.