The-Life-Pilgrim

This is the first entry of this blog, and I want to present an overview of the main ideas that I want to share here. First of all, I want to be clear that this blog is inspired by the many experiences I have had in my life and, therefore, any opinion and perspective is limited to my own world and is biased by my own life experiences. I also want to mention that I will use this blog as a training/learning tool for one of the most widespread languages, English. English is not my mother tongue, so I will eventually make some grammatical errors.

Saying this, the main topics of this blog will be inspired by some of my favorite hobbies. I am lucky to have the opportunity to approach new experiences in music, photography, motorcycling, drawing, and many other things.

Music

Music has been a very important factor in my life. Since I was very young, the creativity in those mechanical waves gave a chance to move your emotions to several places. Music styles were a trending topic in my youth, even a fact of discrimination — at least I had that impression. The music genre was a very important thing during conversations, and it worked — or not — as a trick for flirting. I was a fan of Megadeth, Ramones, Queen, and many others. Bands and singers who, most of them, have already died. These preferences for the classics have been a topic throughout my life. The guitar solos and the drum performances were key during the song. The patterns of the music were not always a sign of perfection and, mixed with the hyped thoughts of a teenager, they were like mathematics. But our perspective on things changes and becomes normalized over the years. Incursions into other music genres make it easier to deal with different people and to understand the meaning of party, joy, and sadness from others. In other words, a person can listen to many genres and enjoy each of them. This can say many things about the person, creating an emotional frame for others, like a psychological meter.

During my youth I never even tasted a drug; I was lucky, but others not so much. Nevertheless, as humans, we are gregarious animals and, as with many things, we gather together with other people just because of music; music brought many good friends into my life. My luck comes with music — it was one of the things that gave me the necessary dopamine to be happy, and if I was surrounded by my friends, that became the time of my life. Music was an escape from reality and is the best hobby that a teenager can have. At that age, you can dream, you can practice, and you can fail. It develops your discipline. I was living in a normal capital city, nothing fancy, but I used to like it. The guitar creates a perfect environment to mask and deal with adolescent “dramas.” I used to have my idols, and they paved the way for me to keep practicing guitar technique. I really enjoyed that part of my youth, and I actually miss it.

Photography

he used to make fantastic charcoal drawings. The elegance of the lines wakes you up and encourages you to desire that talent. She later became a Graphic Designer. This period of her life was full of dreams, elegance, drama, creativity, and, of course, a lot of coffee. I can even define it as something bordering on the bohemian life of an artist, which I consider essential for someone like her. Creativity also came with a passion for photography, and it is here where I consider that she infected me with that curiosity.
Photography has some rules, and that brings peace to my structured mind, even though rules are made to be broken. I started with my Fujifilm FinePix T200. For this camera, I can only say that it is not very good, but for normal travels it is fine. To be honest, I have fewer than 10 good-quality photos with this camera. The main problem is that the AutoFocus (AF) never worked well.

Because of the disappointment with the Fujifilm, my next camera was a Sony Alpha 5100 (in 2018). I really enjoyed that camera. I used it many times until I learned the basics and got used to changing lenses. I usually buy cheap vintage lenses, which oblige you to shoot in manual. Nevertheless, they are good for developing muscle memory when taking photos. The kit lens of this camera was a huge jump in quality, despite what many professional photographers may say. It was fast enough in AF, and for travel it is perfect. The only problem comes from the display, which has very low brightness,

After some years of practice during my PhD, I decided to sell the Alpha 5100 and buy an Alpha 7II. I was attracted by the full-frame sensor. The model is from 2014, and the reviews were very pessimistic about this camera; they claimed that the AF is slow for video shooting. Nevertheless, I only want photography, so AF is not always necessary. This camera brings another jump in quality, of course. The vintage lenses, with the proper adapter, work very well.

Another fascinating aspect of my way of living photography is vintage lenses. When you buy one, you are very worried about the condition of the lens. They are usually fine but with a very thick layer of dust or fungus. We can deal with dust, but fungus is very hard to remove. Nevertheless, this is actually the fun part. I simply bought some tools from the internet and got what I needed to fix and clean them. I really encourage you to try it: buy a very, very cheap lens in bad condition and you can have hours of fun. You can learn how they are assembled, see which parts are

Motocycling

When everything is noise—synchronized noise—it might calm you. The adrenaline possesses you. The first time you are afraid, you wonder if you made a good choice. Your mind (for some people) will fall into thoughts like: “I will regret it if I have any accident,” “my family will be constantly worried,” and many others. That kind of thought eventually turns you into a biological calculator. The wind, the friction with the ground, the inclination, the vibrations — you are sitting over an engine — counterintuitive physics, the environment/weather, the cold wind when surpassing 80 km/h, the hidden fear. You can add an intercom with a playlist, and when you feel totally disconnected from the problems of your day-to-day life, you start to be in a movie with a soundtrack made for you.

You created that feeling; you use your money to feel better. In a way, you desired it since you were a child. Putting cardboard or a plastic bottle in the rear wheel of your bicycle, you drifted on your childhood street just to mimic the noise of a motorcycle. Those dreams/games are now true. In your childhood you were reckless, but the sense of living is not a dream. I don’t want to fall into the cliché of the word freedom, because I really think it is not a simple word that can define so many sensations. Some evidence of this can be found in the article Modulation of attention and stress with arousal: The mental and physical effects of riding a motorcycle. Apparently, it is an open-access article, and mixed with any AI as a consultant, you can learn something. Try to read it.

The Royal Enfield Classic 350 is my first motorcycle. I use it to learn, and in a stylish way. It has already given me 2 years of happiness. Literally, I just ride 30 minutes on the highway when I am stressed. I would like to take my bike everywhere. The Basque Country, in the very north of Spain, is a very nice place to be in autumn, spring, and summer, despite the rain.

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In general, this blog will cover these topics. I will try to keep it simple, but to be honest, I would also like to include some useful things.

Than you to read this first entrance, a hug from Catalonia – Spain.

The pilgrim