Since today is my birthday, I am going to introduce myself and talk a little about me.
My name is Antoni Maroto (Toni) and I was born on July 2nd, 1983. I live in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, Catalonia – still a stateless nation.
Languages, music, reading, and writing are among my biggest passions in life. I am very grateful for being able to communicate, create and learn.
I live in three languages: English, Catalan, and Spanish. In addition, I have diverse levels of knowledge of French, German, Galician, Russian and Hebrew. This love for languages led me to complete a licentiate degree in Translation and Interpretation.
I consider myself an avid, creative and dynamic translator. I would love to get a full-time position as a digital & social media agent in the areas of content, communication and/or customer experience.
Currently, I have been working as a home banking agent for the past six years. There, I cover several channels on a 24/7 service: telephone, email, chat, and social networks. Indeed, social networks and digital media have been the areas in which I have excelled at.
I believe that my best quality is that I am highly decisive. I also execute my tasks quickly and handle them with great quality.
Music is part of my everyday life. I love listening to several different artists: Antònia Font, Bauhaus, Björk, Chelsea Wolfe, Cocteau Twins, The Cramps, The Cure, Curve, David Bowie, Dead Can Dance, Depeche Mode, Diamanda Galas, Einstürzende Neubauten, Faith & The Muse, Garbage, Gitane Demone, J.G. Thirlwell, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Katie Jane Garside, Kelli Ali, La Lupe, Lush, Lydia Lunch, Mephisto Walz, Miranda Sex Garden, My Bloody Valentine, Nick Cave, Ofra Haza, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Portishead, Praga Khan & Jade 4U, Prince, Rasputina, Shadow Project, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Slowdive, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Sopa de Cabra, Swans, Switchblade Symphony, Tahures Zurdos, Tairrie B, Theatre of Tragedy, Tori Amos, and many more.
I have been creating music since my early teens. Moreover, I fronted four bands: Horror Dementia, Conde Orlok, Go Ape, and LSD Ravens. I have done some spoken word stuff under the moniker Vertigen.
I have never been signed to a record label, nor distributed my music beyond sharing and streaming some demos on the Internet. I was never a big fan of recording because it becomes repetitive and tiring. However, I love performing live and I have had the chance of doing it several times.
I can sing and play guitar, but what I love the most is writing.
In fact, for the love of writing, I have this blog. As you might have seen already, I reflect on life and share my work here. I mostly write about the following topics:
I have also chosen to publish some of my writings (poems, short stories, soliloquies, songs) under the tag called "Work." There is as well a section called "Opinion," in which I have judged certain matters straight.
Although it is not the main aim on this blog, sometimes I include personal details. For example, I have already written about being proudly a vegetarian and an ex-smoker.
On the other hand, writing always walks hand in hand with reading.
Nowadays, my main source to be informed is Twitter. There, I can read several media, such as English-speaking: Mojo Magazine, Tablet Magazine, Jewish Daily Forward, and The Jerusalem Post; and Catalan-speaking: VilaWeb, TV3.Cat, Diari Ara, and Time Out Barcelona.
I follow several people who are considered to be influential, through whom I learn about a big variety of topics: Pilar Rahola, Mònica Oltra, Empar Moliner, Modernet de Merda, Germà Bel, Matthew Tree, Liz Castro, Hugo Gómez, Pere Cardús, Marta Rojals, Reuven Rivlin, Àngel Colom, Mikel Fernández, Àlex Naranjo, Emma Giné, Ferran Pallàs, Maya Busqué, and Eduard Escoffet.
Besides following my favorite musicians, directors, actors and actresses, brands, shows, and stuff regarding languages, I follow accounts like the WTA Tour, since I love tennis. I also follow Col·lectiu Emma, who seeks to help the world's public opinion to get a balanced picture of Catalonia's reality.
Two of the accounts from which I usually retweet content are Jewish Comedians and Yiddish Proverbs.
Even though I currently live in Catalonia, I like to know what is happening in the United States of America. The official account of the U.S. Consulate in Barcelona helps me to accomplish that.
Since I am a person who is in a constant search of self-improvement, I find very useful to read the following accounts, which deal with mindfulness, breathing, meditation, personal development, and positive thinking: Louise Hay, Simon Boylan, Judith Orloff, Eric Barker, Learning Mind, and Fractal Enlightenment*.
You might think that I am an all-digital person, but I still prefer paper; nonetheless, I have to admit that the digital format has the advantage that it takes much less space. Some of the books I have at home and that I would like to highlight are:
- Albert Pont - "Delenda est Hispania"
- Charles Baudelaire - "Les Fleurs du Mal"
- Dennis Cooper - "Closer"
- E.M. Cioran - "Aveux et Anathèmes"
- Emili Teixidor - "Pa negre"
- Emilia Pardo Bazán - "Los Pazos de Ulloa"
- Empar Moliner - "T'estimo si he begut"
- Francesc Viadel - "No mos fareu catalans"
- Giles Tremlett - "Ghosts of Spain"
- Joan Fuster - "Nosaltres els valencians"
- John William Polidori - "The Vampyre"
- Lucia Etxebarria - "La Eva Futura"
- Lydia Lunch - "Paradoxia"
- Michael Ende - "The Neverending Story"
- Mick Mercer - "Music To Die For"
- Oscar Wilde - "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
- Stella Castelluci & Edgar Amaya - "Diving Deep for Sea Shells"
- Vicent Flor - "Noves glòries a Espanya"
Lastly, I would like to uncover something: I am starting a new blog! It will be the Catalan version of this one: "Toni Mira El Món."
Thank you very much for reading me. I hope you have liked this entry. Please, feel free to comment anytime.
Sincerely yours,
Antoni
PS: Did you know that July 2nd is the midpoint of the year? There are exactly 182 days before and 182 days after it in common years. I also love to share my birthday with one of my favorite actors/writers/comedians: Larry David.
*UPDATE (07/16/2015):
I have crossed out Fractal Enlightenment, because they have disappointed me recently. You can read more about it here.
*UPDATE (07/16/2015):
I have crossed out Fractal Enlightenment, because they have disappointed me recently. You can read more about it here.
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