no soy meteoro

mexican co-worker wears his yellow meteoro shirt. once he told me i look like meteoro. then he gestures his hands creating an invisible helmet then steers a metaphysical wheel while flashing his big hagrid-like smile. he speaks limited english so most parts of our conversation are composed of hand gestures and a number of facial expressions. he told me i resemble meteoro more whenever i wear my large and dark sunglasses. i allowed him to continue for a few more minutes before i was able to pop my question, “who the hell is meteoro?”

“meteoro! don’t you know meteoro?” he said. “no, i’m sorry”. he motions his hands steering an imaginary wheel. “fast!” was all he can say afterwards.

to solve the early morning puzzle, i consulted google and found out that meteoro is speedracer in spanish. oooh. interesting. yes, it’s the anime speedracer later turned into a movie of psychedelic colors with lots of cg sequences. in the film adaptation, meteoro was played by emile hirsch, the guy who played the character of christopher mccandless aka "alexander supertramp" in the movie into the wild.

i find a similarity between me and meteoro the racer- we are both driven by the will to do what’s best for our loved ones while inevitably attracting trouble. but that is all into it. i don’t know how my large and dark sunglasses makes me look like a racer, but it somehow makes me look like an anime though.

years back, i always wanted my life to happen quick, like speed racer quick. you know, i wanted to grow up fast, experience this and that fast, do this and that fast, finish this and that first, until at a certain point i felt tired and suddenly realized that i should slow down. experiencing life in a speed racer racing kind of speed gives you a psychedelic view of the world at speed around you- you don’t get to appreciate the details and the smallest of things that could have made you happy.

as of now, i think i am more like the into the wild guy, alexander supertramp who took things real slow while pondering and experiencing life till one day he met his demise in alaska, alone. i am no meteoro. i enjoy speed but i don’t want to race with life right now. in a race, there’s a high probability that when you crash, you die, instantly. i don’t want a quick death without appreciating the tiniest beauty of the world around me.