Life in Venezuela
January Sambumbia
New year, new life, same old country. Venezuela tried its best to celebrate Christmas, while it wasn’t filled to the brim in holiday cheer and joy, the ambient sure was more festive than 2018—even if Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The Next Decade
And thus here I stand, at the end of a decade and waiting on the impending start of another. inb4 “ackshully, it starts in 2021”. The past ten years certainly were most atypical and chaotic. Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
MMXIX
Finally, 2019 is about to be over, time to exhale, at last. This was a very volatile year overall. 2019 started simple, optimistic, and straightforward, but it rapidly escalated into something most unstable and haywire—until Read more…
Video Games
A decade of vidya
The MOBA fad, survival zombie crafting early access, battle royale, games as a service, lootboxes, season passes, excessive use of FOMO, locking content ransom behind a preorder, selling to the Chinese, needing a chart to Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Recoloring Christmas
It’s (barely) the most wonderful time of the year Last year’s Christmas was certainly a monochromatic one in Venezuela; a very bleak holiday season that lacked much of the joy and cheerfulness that comes with Read more…
Life in Venezuela
With Righteous Apathy
Towards the end of 2019 I’ve found it hard to write up my thoughts about Venezuela’s current situation in a new, fresh manner because quite frankly, nothing has changed. The past months have been a Read more…
Video Games
FFXIV: Eden’s Gate (Savage) wrap-up
Welcome to part three of my ongoing Final Fantasy XIV adventures as a WoW Refugee™. In this one, I’ll ramble and give my own thoughts on my first foray in FFXIV’s Savage Raiding. With FFXIV receiving Read more…
Sword of the Nation
The Nightingale Series
Hello and welcome to the sixth Lore preview for Sword of the Nation. This time, I would like to showcase a bit of information regarding the chromatic protagonists of this tale: The Nightingale Series of Read more…
Sword of the Nation
The Absolute Doctrine
Hello and welcome to another Lore preview for Sword of the Nation. This time, I would like to share with you a few tidbits of information about a term—or rather, a concept that you will Read more…
Life in Venezuela
The withering routine
Alright, September of 2019 is thankfully over, another monthly spin of the cycle in whatever is left of this country. Since I had to dedicate most of my time to certain real life nuances and Read more…
Sword of the Nation
Heirs of Sin: The Nasivern
Welcome to another Sword of the Nation preview, this one is a little different, a lore preview rather than a character one, focused on the Nasivern. While the Nasivern’s tale is of peripheral importance to Read more…
Sword of the Nation
Sword of the Nation Preview: The Ashen Reckoning & Dogma
Welcome to Sword of the Nation’s third preview. In this one, I’ll be presenting you with a brief look at the villains of the story: The Ashen Reckoning, and their leader, Dogma. Once again, I Read more…
Sword of the Nation
Sword of the Nation Character Preview: The Royal House of Starsong
Hello, and welcome to the second of a series of Sword of the Nation previews. This one is focused on another set of characters: The Royal House of Starsong. Before we start, I would like Read more…
Sword of the Nation
Sword of the Nation Character Preview: Gestalt
Greetings and welcome to Sword of the Nation’s first character preview. This, the first of several planned previews will give you an initial glimpse of the heroes of the tale: The Gestalt team. Please be Read more…
Sword of the Nation
Weapons, Doctrines, and Suits: The road ahead
Hello, it’s been a while since I last wrote anything about my novel series, and for that I apologize, it’s been a most chaotic year. I finished the first draft of Sword of the Nation Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Sovereign Bolivar: a requiem
Numerous are the wonders that this Bolivarian Socialism of the XXI Century has graced us with. Endless blackouts and water shortages that I’m sure some will say they help preserve the environment, shortages that help Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
Alive A life
We’re now in the month of August of 2019, the eighth of this year’s twelve months; sixteen months since our mother passed away, and more than halfway through my 31st year of life. Time, or Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Blackout: Encore
Allow me to go back to Monday, the 22th of July. It started as your regular run of the mill Monday; nothing extraordinary despite having a rather exhausting morning and sparse raining. I walked around Read more…
Video Games
FFXIV: Shadowbringers — the Kaleb review
There has been many cases of failures throughout the video game industry; some of a higher profile than others—especially in the MMO market and its desire to replicate World of Warcraft’s original success. However, there’s Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Peace through stagnation
The seventh month of 2019 is upon us, a whole six months after the start of Venezuela’s latest political crisis. Time certainly flies, 2019 is halfway done and it has been quite the exhausting journey Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
Tempus Fugit
I don’t have a good relationship with time; the ability to manage it, along with proper rest, and a working circadian rhythm are some of my biggest personal shortcomings. I recently sat down on my Read more…
Life in Venezuela
The Caracas Mirage
Hyperinflation, institutionalized blackouts, endless gasoline queues, cash shortages, an accentuated collapse of utilities and public infrastructure—these are all but some of the problems that have plagued Venezuela for around a decade now, none of them Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Queue Culture
The lines lines lines. You love those lines, you shove them straight—straight to my face. The societal and cultural damage that Venezuela has suffered through the past twenty years is almost irreparable. With every new Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
Crimson Dream
Bear with me here, publicly talking about myself is still somewhat difficult for me, just trying to get some much-needed catharsis. For the past fourteen months, I’ve been driven by a promise and all my Read more…
Video Games
From WoW to FFXIV: An overview
It finally happened, didn’t it? You finally quit WoW — you are finally free. It’s no secret that Battle for Azeroth has been an unmitigated disaster from day one and that its shortcomings are numerous: Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Venezuela in greenbacks
The taboo of the ‘almighty’ Dollar is one of the byproducts spawned out of 20 years of Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela; heck, just the mere mention of the word can cause quite the array of Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Venezuela Beyond Thunderdome
The Venezuelan blackout saga is far from over, it’s going to be one of those long story arcs from the looks of it. Most of the country is now suffering through a very strict “Load Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The first year
Today marks the first year anniversary of our mother’s passing. I’m still trying to grasp my head around the fact that a whole year has come and gone; our lives haven’t been the same without Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Beyond the blackout
And thus here we stand, two weeks after Venezuela went through the worst blackout in its history. We still do not have an official and formal explanation of what happened; Maduro’s regime has adhered to Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Pitch Black
There really isn’t a dull moment in Venezuela; in my previous post I mentioned an unsustainable “Snapshotted reality” and how everything seemed to be stuck and unable to move forward. I’ve also mentioned in the Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Stuck in a moment
Note: This post was meant to go online before the two long blackouts that took place in Venezuela, so with that in mind I suppose that it didn’t aged well lmao. March of 2019 is Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The trick is to keep breathing
Venezuela has been going through a bizarre and excruciatingly long “calm before the storm” period all throughout February. All of the actors (be it internal or external) have continued to move their pieces in the Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Veiled in Uncertainty and Optimism
This is a follow-up to my previous post, Antipyretic. The past weeks have been quite interesting in Venezuela, a new game is now being played and the ultimate prize is the country itself. There’s an Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Antipyretic
The past couple of days have been quite tumultuous around these lands. Usually, Venezuela doesn’t wake up from its Christmas slumber until the 15th of January—but man, we really went into overdrive this time around. Read more…
Life in Venezuela
2019, the year of—what?
Aw yeah boys and girls, 2019 is the year were the Venezuelan government turns the tide. This is going to be the year of our definitive economic recovery! Our Worker-President, Driver of Victories, and Son Read more…
Sword of the Nation
A Sign of Zeta: Sword of the Nation
Here we go, we’re now in 2019 and let me tell ya—I feel fine. I’m actually confident that this will be a bright year. Sure, this country’s ongoing disaster is showing no signs of slowing Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
2018: The longest year
And thus 2018 comes to an end. Without a doubt, this was the longest and most complex year of my life. I lost my mother and my life was turned upside down, everything just fell Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Christmas in Monochrome
Here we are, December at last! Deck the halls with boughs of holly, t’is the season to be jolly; I wish I could say that without sarcasm. I really wish from the bottom of my Read more…
Life in Venezuela
On Passports and Apostilles
“If you truly wish to make someone suffer then put them through the torture of obtaining any document at a Venezuelan public office.” —An acquaintance. Imagine for a moment that you’re the Revolutionary, Bolivarian, Anti-imperialist, Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Panem et Circenses MMXVIII
Music for the Masses Oh yeah! It’s that time of the year again! The office of the Mayor of Caracas has covered all corners of the Libertador Bolivarian Municipality in joyous celebration. Get your dance Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Hyperinflation: Year One
Venezuela might as well be a synonym of inflation and/or disaster. Inflation has been a long-standing problem that predates my birth. However, officially speaking, this October marked our first official year of hyperinflation—and boy let Read more…
Life in Venezuela
The state of Venezuela’s Internet
It’s no secret that every aspect of Venezuela’s infrastructure is in a dire state. Our Internet network is no exception. In fact, it is a perfect reflection of the state of this country: held together Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
The Sixth month
Six months. It has been six whole months since the worst day of our lives took place, the tragic day when we lost the most precious and pure thing in our lives—our mom. It only Read more…
Memoirs of a Venezuelan Pariah
Vidya and me
Ah, video games, an ever-stable plateau in my otherwise turbulent and unstable life. It was through them that I was able to learn the majority of the broken English that I wield today (along with Read more…
Life in Venezuela
Venezuela™ Now with five fewer zeroes!
Boy oh boy! I’m not kidding when I say that there is never a dull moment in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. These past couple weeks have been quite the nonstop wild ride: A new Read more…