Puzzle finalmente ha encontrado un hogar / Puzzle has finally found a home

Después de mucho tiempo y múltiples gestiones el puzzle "Life" de 24.000 piezas ha encontrado un lugar permanente donde podrá ser apreciado por mucha gente, especialmente niños, ya que está ubicado en el subterráneo del Hospital de Niños Dr. Calvo Mackenna, aquí en Santiago. No pudo ser en el primer piso ya que no había un lugar apropiado. La dirección es Avenida Antonio Varas 245, Providencia. Desde ya, gracias a todas las personas del hospital que hicieron posible que se concretara esta idea. Hace mucho tiempo que quería encontrar un lugar donde poder exponer el puzzle en forma permanente y esto se ha hecho realidad finalmente. Lo cierto es que pude haberlo puesto en una muralla de mi hogar, pero pensé que eso sería muy fome ya que lo vería sólo yo y las personas que acudieran a mi casa, que no son muchas. Y bueno, que más puedo decir, simplemente que estoy contento por finalmente haber concretado este proyecto. En la foto, una de las personas que trabaja en el hospital y que posó para la foto para que se pueda apreciar mejor la magnitud del puzzle. 

The puzzle has finally found a home! I have donated it to a Children's Hospital here in Chile (Dr. Calvo Mackenna) and is on permanent display in the basement. It wasn't possible to put it on the first floor because all the walls were already "taken".  Lots of children walk down the hall there, so I'm really happy it's there for their viewing pleasure. I could have glued the puzzle onto one of the walls of my house, but what fun would that have been? I mean, it would have been there only for me and for the few people who sometimes visit me. I think this is better, at least for me. In one of the pictures there's someone from the hospital staff who kindly posed for a shot so you can get an idea of the size of this monster puzzle. Thanks to everyone that made this project a reality.      

Finally on the wall

The puzzle is finally glued together and divided in only two giant pieces.

Exhibiting the puzzle - Exhibiendo el rompecabezas

First pictures of complete puzzle - Primeras fotos del puzzle completo

Sábado 4 de Enero de 2014 - Primera vez que contemplo el puzzle armado en su totalidad. El lugar elegido par mostrar el puzzle fue en el primer piso del edificio donde vivo justo a la salida de los ascensores.    

Saturday January 4th, 2014.  Fisrt time I contemplate puzzle completed in its totality. The place I chose to show the puzzle was the first floor of the building where I live, right in front of the elevators.  

Tomorrow is the day - Mañana es el día

Ok, so, I have finally decided to exhibit the puzzle. It's gonna be tomorrow, Saturday 4th. A year and a day after I started with the Life puzzle. 24000 pieces later it's all done, just laying there doing nothing and separated un 24 segments of 1000 pieces each. It's time to put it all together and contemplate it's magnificence, and take some pictures of course.

Y bueno, finalmente he decidido exponer el puzzle. Será mañana 4 de Enero. Un año y un día después de empezar con él. 24000 piezas después ya está todo listo y el puzzle está allí en el suelo haciendo nada y separado en 24 fragmentos de 1000 piezas cada uno. Es hora de armar todo el asunto y contemplar su magnificencia, y por supuesto tomar algunas fotos.      

Now what? - ¿Y ahora qué?

These are strange days indeed. For the last 10 months my life revolved around the puzzle like the Earth revolved around the Sun and now that I'm done with it I don't know what to do with myself! I come home after work and there are no jigsaw puzzles to fit, no giant puzzle to assemble and I suddenly realize that I have so much more space now. It's weird indeed. 

Looking back it surprises me that I had the patience and the will to pull such a stunt. At first I freaked out, wondering as I sorted the first 6000 pieces of section one where I had left my sanity. But I nailed that one, and then sections 2, 3 and 4. Ok, so I didn't mix the bags. Big deal. I didn't have the space to do it like that anyway and I'm perfectly at ease with my "one section at a time undertaking". It takes away not a whit of joy or feeling of accomplishment having done it by sections. It was crazy enough that way. Anyway, the question that has been bugging me ever since I finished is: "Well, what do I do now?" I mean, the puzzle is just sitting there, well, not exactly sitting, because puzzles can´t sit (This is supposed to be a joke and you can laugh now) doing nothing separated in 24 parts piled in sets of 4 containing each one a section divided in six. What? By looking at the pictures you'll get the idea. I gotta frame the thing. Well, how exactly do you frame a gargantuan puzzle such as this one? I have no idea. You see, I'm good at doing crazy things such as assembling a giant puzzle but I am quite incompetent when it comes to working with your hands and building stuff, unless it's a lego. I am not good with tools and I'm definitely not a handyman. I can change a light bulb, put a nail to a wall and hang a picture and that's it. And my scrambled eggs and spaghetti are incredible I've been told. But that's where my talents in the house and the kitchen end. So I'm seeking help, asking here and there if there are people out there with the knowledge I lack. You know, what kind of materials to use, how to glue it, etc, etc. I haven't figured these things out yet. And once I figure them out I gotta solve the ultimate problem: What will I do it with it in the end when it is framed? Will I keep it to myself, will I donate it to an organization such a hospital or an educational center. Will they rename a room of a building if I do so? Will some eccentric millionare who wants the puzzle in his living room get in touch with me so we can discuss business? If I sell it, how much would I sell it for? Could I sell it? I mean, come on, you can understand that one can get emotionally attached to things and this puzzle is my baby. I'm not kidding.    

So you see, it's not over yet. The good thing is that the puzzle is complete and my worries deal now with operational problems. I hate operational problems. I think I need a manager. Someone who would take care of all these things. Just lika a musician who worries only about writing songs and has a manager who books him gigs and worries about the airplane tickets for a show scheduled in Sri Lanka.  

A crazy idea that I got while writing this was to get in touch with the people at Google Earth and tell them that I'm gonna be assembling the puzzle on the top of the building I live and ask them to take a picture of it from outer space or wherever it is that satellites fly within. Then people could see the puzzle using Google Earth and someone could create a video titled "Weird stuff picked up by Google Earth" and create an overnight sensation. Maybe. 

I will call these 2 pictures "Giant puzzle divided sitting there doing nothing under a piece of furniture that works both as a sofa and a bed".

                 

Why? - ¿Por qué?

I did it because it was crazy, not because it wasn´t. It was a challenge, a way of pushing myself to the limits of my patience and capacity. I did it to test myself, see if I could accomplish the self imposed goal. It was not easy. That was the point. And I had a hell of a good time doing it and got to learn a lot about myself and my character. And now I can say: "yeah, I can do it". But there is no pride nor any feeling of self importance in my words. No, I'm not that way. I'm pretty sure anyone could do this if they set themselves to do it and if you like this sort of thing. One thing is for sure, the feeling of self-realization is incredible. Some people will understand me, others won't, but that's life.  

Lo hice porque era una locura, no porque no lo era. Fue un desafío, una manera de exigirme a mi mismo hasta los límites de mi paciencia y capacidad. Lo hice para probarme a mi mismo, para ver si podía lograr la meta impuesta. No era fácil. Ese era el punto. Y lo pasé muy bien haciendo el puzzle y aprendí mucho acerca de mi mismo y de mi personalidad. Y ahora puedo decir: "Sí, lo hice". Pero no hay ni orgullo ni ningún sentimiento de auto importancia en mis palabras. No, yo no soy así. Estoy bastante seguro de que cualquiera puede hacer esto si se lo propone y le gustan este tipo de hobbies. Una cosa es cierta, la sensación de auto realización es increíble. Algunas personas me entenderán, otras no, pero así es la vida.