I too must apologize for the late reply, things have been quite crazy as well!

I definitely should thank you for your praise, I suppose I’m not exactly sure what keeps me driven in so many different directions and makes me have my hand in so many different cookie jars. Certainly the term, “Jack of All Trades” comes to mind, but I’m not sure if that term overestimates…?!

Have no fear, I did not take offense to your comments and thoughts. Your response is exactly what I have been trying to do with rioloRAMA. I want the website/forum/blog to just be an open atmosphere where my friends and family can feel free to reply and respond to any and all of our thoughts and stories. The website is meant to be enjoyed, shared, and pondered. Within the website, I’ve tried to include everything from photos, to videos, to my random rants & raves, just to stimulate my audience. So I couldn’t have been more happy when you replied to my posting, because it definitely served its intended purpose – It made me and the other readers think of a topic in a different light and perspective.

So by all means, in the future, feel free to comment on anything and everything!

Hope all is well, we’ll be in touch!

-carlo

So sorry. Last week was absolutely insane after all and I never had a chance to let you know that I really appreciate how big your heart is and how you took the time to make it all better. It means a lot to me after realizing how you interpreted my response that you would fully explain yourself to avoid a scar in our friendship
You are one of the most brilliant people I have met, not only while in school but by everything I see you accomplish on a daily basis. I wouldn’t have read your blog if I didn’t expect it to be just as brilliant and have some depth of thought. I may have made it sound worse than I felt however. The word creepy just made me realize I have a completely different angle on life than many others that haven’t gone through similar life changes. I really meant it when I said I wasn’t upset about it. I was only hoping if you continue to give this some thought, that this new information may give you a different perspective. You didn’t make me feel like a looser, but it just sounded like that was the direction you were taking as I read it.
I hate that e-mail is open for a lot of emotional misinterpretation and I didn’t have enough time to convey my thoughts differently. Please, don’t read into my replies that way in the future unless you see bold text, series of exclamation points or underlining…maybe even some cursing in spanish lol. At the end of the day, I did just want to share my insight with you just as you did with me.

Love ya Carlo!
Claudia

Thank you very much for your response! It is interesting to see what emotions my posting had elicited..! And I know you’re not upset or mad at me or anything, but I do regret that my posting evoked emotions in you that I had not intended.

The purpose of my initial posting was to discuss how we are all constantly in transitional periods in our lives, and not that just changing a job or seeking employment is the only change that occurs. I felt that people our age seem to believe that we are the only people in transition from one life to another, but the fact of the matter is, we as humans have always been changing since we were very young, and will be when we get very old.

From that thought, I did take a bit of a leap over to focusing primarily on pictures and memorabilia. Granted, I did end up talking about that more than I had originally intended, but I suppose I touched on a few topics that had underlying meaning. I suppose I was trying to elicit the thought in people of what they define as the experience? Is it the ability to see pictures and relive the moments through them? Or is just knowing that they were there, then, enough to satiate the sensation of memory?

It was actually your pictures on facebook that really made me think about those few questions. And I am actually eternally grateful that you WERE so diligent about taking pictures in college. In fact, you were probably my only friend that did take pictures, and I feel that is nothing to be ashamed of. Nor is it shameful that you do take pictures to chronologically document your life. It was in seeing your pictures that reminded me, it IS very important for us to take pictures because ultimately that IS how we relive those moments. In our constantly transitioning lives, it is easy to forget how things were, who we knew, or what we had done with our lives to get us to the places we are today.

I am actually remorseful that I do not have more pictures from vet school, there are only a few, and I am happy that you had more!

I fully and wholeheartedly endorse that you are such a photographer. And I certainly know there is a very long story to your life that brought you to where you are today, although, granted, I do not know every detail. I respect that you maintain such diligence in your life documentary, and think nothing but the best of you. If my letter made you feel like a loser, then its purpose had failed.

As I had noted in my posting, I think that it is not only important for us to document our lives, take photos, and create videos.. But it is also very important for us to share our stories, because that is how we can relive those times and share our lives. That is why I think the multiple photo websites and social networking sties (ie. Facebook), are such a unique and useful tool to our time. Never in history has there been access to technology, nor the ability for us to share those memories with hundreds of people with just a single CLICK. It is through sharing our memories that we truly substantiate our lives. Believe me, if I did not believe that, do you think I would have dedicated a website to the sole purpose of documenting our family’s life?

Thank you again Claudia for your response, I think you’re a wonderful woman and I am glad to have you as a part of my life

-carlo

You know Carlo, some people have to leave an entirely different life behind and can never experience it again, ever. They may be too young to remember it and in the panic of having that happen again, they end up documenting their life steadily. I didn’t chose to leave Cuba. I couldn’t explain it to you if I tried, how much you can’t forget that some day a decision may be made about your life unexpectedly of which you have no control and all you have to show for that is a few pictures. What you call creepy, I call life’s harsh lessons on survival.

What makes people happy and how people enjoy their lives is completely relative. People who like photography live for those moments in which they may capture and later provide a loved one with a great souvenir from their happiest and unknowingly life altering moment. Taking the pictures puts you more in the moment than you think.

Don’t get me wrong, I know your essay was not in any way directed at me but I have a feeling all the pictures I posted on facebook might have had something to do with your reflections. Sadly, when I read things like what you wrote, I can’t help but think those who think the way you do, have not had to lose a defining part of their lives. That’s great for you but not so kind on the ones being compared to losers basically. Don’t worry, I am just sharing my thoughts as you did but I don’t hate you, not upset, just reliving not being able to ever go back to my country.

I would have to agree, there is certainly a sense of possession when it comes to relics of old family members or old family history. I actually heard that cassette when I was very young… I only kinda remember hearing your voice on the tape when you were a very young child too. Aside from that, no real idea what else was on it. But think about that technology for the time period. At no point in time before then, was there the ability to record the voice and share it with generations to come. In a sense, that was the type of comparison I was trying to make to today. In this circumstance, there is ONE recording of your grand mothers voice. But today? Hell, I alone have probably 30 videos online, not to mention about 10 hour of unedited footage from the weddings and bachelor parties a few years ago. Surely times are changing, and I wonder what will be said in years to come..

That is another very insightful thought. In fact, no I really do not know where the graves of most of our family lie, and for that matter, none of any real ancestor. Also, I dont think any of us have a real understanding of our own family tree. Of which, each is lost with the next generation. But I always find family trees humorous because it seems they always start off with two people, at the top of the tree. But what about the tree that lead to that couple? and the one before that? Surely that knowledge is lost, but it is thanks to our abilities to document things now, and the technology available that we can maintain such memories with relative ease.

I would also have to agree, it is a rather tortuous mind battle on whether or not to create a autobiography. While it may be self indulgent. It is also one way to create that story, to go along with the pictures. Not in a literal sense, that youd be writing a novel for each picture. But just that if people see pictures, and then have something to read about you which may be related or unrelated, it may give a bit more of an insight in years to come. But on the other side of that coin, I know of a girl that has been writing in a journal/diary every single day for the past 15 years. So again, this would appear to be the balance between excessive and inadequacy.

But, I do feel that this balance is different for every person. It is their life events that shaped them into establishing where they fall within the spectra of too much or too little.

Stating that “youll be remembered differently by all” is the nature of our species. We are adaptive creatures, and will always be changing or have changed to fulfill different needs. Some times we act differently within the same time period, depending on jobs, family, etc. But other times we just gradually change as the years go on, and our needs as humans change – both physical and emotional needs. But I fully agree with your statement!

Thanks for replying dad!

-carlo

im just surprised you read the whole thing to know i was whining! haha