Just like it happened a year ago in the US, the shadow of re-election looms again, this time in my home country. As news services around the world report the sad news that Uribe could run a second term, the possibility of further violence and death due to an enraged guerrilla and an encouraged right wing extremist, not to mention friend of Bush, looms too.

This is just another battle won for Uribe, a difficult one to win, in fact, but won, nonetheless. The legislation must still set some conditions and elections will have to be held. In my opinion, however unfortunate it seems, the reality of another term for him is impending.

I’m terribly disappointed with Pavarotti’s performance. Transposed songs, singing from a stool, talking, and wearing a flashy scarf were not exactly what I had expected to encounter. Not only did he sing from a stool, but he did it behind the piano, where he also had a glass of some unknown liquid from which he was sipping every so often, and he never ever stood up.

I had seen him before in 1995 in Colombia, long after his prime was gone, but when he was still mobile and his performance was moving.

Don’t take my word for it. Thomas Tillmann, from the Online Music Magazine, considered his performance unworthy.

I will pretend I was never there and rejoice on his best recordings and perfomances, long before the three tenors, long before he and his friends…

Today, two years ago, in 2003, I arrived to what would become my home for a still undeterminate length of time, perhaps several years, perhaps till the end.

Today, almost two years after my wedding, and almost half a year since the other wedding, the prospect of children is more and more certain. Perhaps one day they will read these postings and wonder even more who their father is, or was, or will be.

The longer I spend here, the longer I realize that, finally, I found home, that a long life of nomadism has finally ended. I have never spent more than seven years in the same place. If five more years go by and I’m still here, the record will have been broken. We shall see.

On this same date already two years ago, I left my country and came to live in Germany. Within this period, I have visited more countries than I had ever before. I’ve already been to Slovenia, Russia, Italy, and drove through Austria. My brother should arrive in the following weeks to Europe and he’ll be living in Holland, so I might wind up there soon.

Before coming to Germany, I had already lived in the US and the Dominican Republic, but had briefly landed in Panama, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.

The gist is where my roots are. I’ve never lived in the same place for over seven years, and that was only twice (Bogota and Barranquilla in Colombia). For years, I geared everything towards a married, family life. And I have finally succeeded, to some extent.

A few years ago, while in the DR, shortly after I had met my wife, I was riding in a colleague’s car and the tape player was booming Jenn August’s “Home.” That’s when I realized it didn’t matter where I lived, ’cause I had found my home…

The Claws are dead. Autumn is back. It’s Rottweiler time.

The last few weeks have been quite tense in Germany, facing the prospect of uncertainty in terms of who would succeed Schröder as Bundeskanzler, or if he would retain the seat.

The SPD and the CDU have finally come to an agreement in which Schröder steps down, presumably to retire from politics, and Merkel steps in as new Chancellor. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the majority of the Parliament will be SPD, as well as most of the Cabinet.

What remains is to wonder what will be of Agenda 2010, and what will become of atomic power plants, foreigners, and Germany’s participation in international conflicts herded by George Bush, which are major issues of Merkel and the CDU’s platform for this term.