Author Archives: beykex

Like sailings of old

When I think of my love for you, I am reminded of the same intensity Mediterranean sailors from 1000BC would look at the stars at night. To feel awed, guided, and inspired. I wake up every morning longing for that same feeling of exploration they might have had, of wondering if they would ever be able to reach them, see them with their own eyes, explore their arrays of universes, and ultimately sit next to them and glance back at the Earth, at that same sea where another sailor might be looking in their direction. I feel that same thing, whenever I wake up and find you next to me, your laying calmly as a temple of ages lost, covered in vines and layers of memories untold, bathed by the purple dawn light that veils the morning sky. I feel the urge for an answer, will I explore those universes that your eyes promise, that I notice in your stance whenever I look at you and see you focused on your day to day little things? Will I see those treasures and jewels announced by your smiles, with my own eyes? Will I do it next to you, and finally sit the two of us together, above and beyond all the stars and universes and stories yet to be told and lived by those that will come after us, and glance back at everybody that will look at the sky and remember us as constellations, as the gods we become in our loving?

I want the answers to these questions and I want them now. Because I cannot wait to live the rest of our eternities together, as inseparable as the sea and the stars have appeared to every sailor that crossed our dearest most beloved waters.

I remember Barcelona: a playlist of four years of my life

It is no news that I lived in Barcelona and that time proved life-changing in all the aspects from personal to professional. This blog itself was mostly abandoned during that time save for some personal notes here and there and the twist of content is palpable. It is no news either that, as with most people with life-changing experiences, there is music associated to it. As I grew up during those years, so did my knowledge and taste in music. My moving out of that city was somewhat abrupt and, as has been noted to me, it was followed by a thing called pandemic that prevented a full processing and closure of all the memories and experiences during that time. Thus I had been ruminating the idea of making a playlist of those four years of my life for a while. And earlier this week I said, what the hell have I been waiting for?

Thus, ‘I remember Barcelona’ was born.

 

Continue reading

Comentarios sobre Metroid en 2021

[ES]

Finalmente he jugado a Metroid Dread. No voy a entrar a hablar de lo que todos sabemos ya sobre la buena acogida en ventas y críticas que ha tenido. En resumen, es un gusto poder disfrutar de una nueva entrega que, con sus más y sus menos en world-building (¿Qué pasó con el backlash de la Federación tras Metroid Fusion?) y ética de trabajo (¿Por qué hay testimonios de personal no acreditado y por qué MercurySteam perpetra precariedad?), mantiene bien la fórmula que gusta al tiempo que añade novedades que la refrescan.

Sin mucha intención, me apetece recoger algunos detalles que no veo tan comentados en otros análisis, reviews o vídeos, acerca de cómo ha cambiado Metroid y dónde se encuentra en la actualidad respecto a otros juegos del género, a sus premisas anteriores, y a lo que ofrece para los jugadores.

Continue reading

How to postdoc grant and not die in the process

The scientific career seems to follow a pattern of slight variations, from the feeling of senseless wandering (at first overwhelmed by a sea of knowledge as an undergrad or phd student, but later as skepticism and solipsism based on first-hand experience), to the uncertainty of what comes after our current stage (postdoc? Young PI? Faculty?). As many say, it doesn’t get easier -but it can get better and more rewarding. And to spark a bit of hope in the steps following the completion of the PhD, today I am drawing from my experience of applying to five postdoctoral fellowships in the past few months of 2021, to summarise what I have learned, what can be improved, and whatever might be of help.

Continue reading