Monday, June 30, 2014

.:musicography - part 1:.

sometimes being a grown-up sucks hard time, so I am publishing a kind of musical biography...
just because... ;)

Sunday, June 29, 2014

.:camaleão:.

Atualização rápida em portugues... Amanha é o início às aulas, e eu percebi q preciso (aka. Quero me dar de presente) de muitos mais lapis aquarelaveis coloridos pra ficar feliz com o resultado da minha produção artistica... Pq todos sabem q o problema em acertar as cores é do material e nao do artista, certo? ;)

Em outras noticias os hematomas da bicicleta ja passaram por virtualmente todas as cores do arco-iris: roxo, verde, amarelo, estando atualmente no vermelho... O q é simpatico, ate agora a melhor coloração de pele das experimentadas... Pq se parar bem pra pensar: roxo (azulado) lembra hipotermia, nada saudável... Verde(pálido) se relaciona a náusea, amarelo hepatite... O q nos leva ao vermelho q remete a rubor, sunkissed, logo saudavel... Yeah, I'll take red for now...

Indo colocar a senhorita pra dormir... E me preparando pro drama q acredito q vá ser trazer ela pra casa amanha saindo de um lugar cheio de crianças... Ela esta a um mes dizendo q vai brincar com as crinaças... Oh, well... Let's see how it goes...

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

.:life on the fast lane:.

one more time... I've been away from here, but as the title says we've been living life on the fast lane... our little lady starts school (ok, technically it is summer camp, but she will be out and I will have mornings for myself, so yeah, let's say it is school, mmk?) next monday and sure as the sun rising in the east, I found a way to get myself into a thousand one projects related to school... what's life without a little mad rush of adrenaline, right?

school calendar made specially for the sweet little pea
I am happy to report that the little lady is doing well with her first dead line... we had a month to get rid off the nappies, and overall she's done it... I'll spare you the details, let's just say she is an overachiever for half the process, the half that is more frequently met with...
happy to report that no toys were harmed on the making of this post

also, she is all overexcited about going back to the school routine... everyday she asks when she is going to meet the children... she is a rare specimen that one... couldn't love her more...
school uniform, what's not to love?

I'll sure miss her happy bantering around the house in the mornings, but she loves new discoveries, and who am I to hinder her progress... just, they grow up so fast... snif, snif...
multitasking... guess she got it somewhere...




Saturday, June 14, 2014

.:football time:.

hey there again, everybody!

let's say I like football... I like F1 races... I'm currently not following one or the other... I guess for the first time in my life I watched a match of Brazil not having watched any previous games of 10 out of 11 players in field... soooo, I am not that well informed about the whole on goings of this competition, still, I like watching a good game...

but what I saw yesterday playing for Brazil was a group of scared post teens, panicking about losing the match and igniting the spark that started over a year ago... not fair... not fair on them... not fair on those who like watching games... they should be able to do their thing without having to worry about the effects it would have on the outside crowd waiting for a good excuse to wrack havoc... not fair that the people outside the stadiums couldn't express their dissatisfaction without being hurt by the ones supposed to be defending them... not fair that the same people who wouldn't volunteer to help with the games now don't own up to it and blame the organizers for a most off-putting opening that depended on volunteers to work out all right... 

that out of the way, let's talk game... I had planed a lesson to be held at the time of the game... (yeah, I know, stones over here! I'll see if I can collect enough to build a fire pit... ;) amazingly enough, the student contacted me (*kind of desperately, if I may say so... hihihihi) at the break of dawn in Brazil to tell me we had forgotten about the game when settling the schedule... Erm, sorry, but no, I hadn't forgotten... but if it is that important for you we can postpone the lesson... *and I could hear the unsaid "teacher, I love you to bits and pieces, you've just saved my green and yellow beating heart" hanging in the air... 

so, what was supposed to be a low-key friendly meeting to watch the opening, drink some beer, and bide our farewells turned into a pizza/beer/ice-cream filled night of chatting and cheering and singing and laughing... from a group of 5 the only lady was not the least informed about the rules and whatsoever of football matches... yes, the one man who asked the typical female questions like: "but Brazil is the one in red, right?" was properly abused on... with my help... ;)

not really into talking about all this, but couldn't ignore the urge having just talked about it during the lesson.. I know, great opportunity to work on vocab and reinforce sequencers... I'll try to get out of the hot topic on the next post... 


ps.: really, I feel like telling my garden: "who's your daddy?" 
ha, take that suicide greenery that finds my house and decides it is a good place to come die in... HA! look, I've got plants and they are alive!!! those pots have remained buried in the garage for an entire year after having endured autumn and winter with no water (and the following spring as well), no seeds, no fertilizer and no care... 
and look what I've got!!! (onze horas!) I know, I know, I'm the queen of the plants who makes everything bloom... only that this was practically the only vase I wasn't trying to keep alive... still, it sprout a blossom, and I'm incredible at making things grow (on their own with no supervision whatsoever... ) ^^

Monday, June 09, 2014

.:the one when summer begins:.

hello there!
right now there are three posts written in my notebook (and no, this isn't a brazilian mistake... it is a REAL notebook, actually a notes pad I started carrying around because I was getting bored waiting for papers to allow me to continue living my life in peace) that I'm still deciding whether or not to post... I'm also getting tired of facebook inconveniences, though I get some quick-witted amusement from it so it kind of balances things out, right?

life is moving on... as soon as I get any news on the work front you'll be able to hear/read about it...

summer has hit town! really, you know it is summer when:
- you're more than happy to live off of salad;
- walking with no shoes at home makes you smile instead of cringe;
- you feel happy when there is air conditioning and couldn't care less about fireplaces;
- a wicker hat goes better than whool;
- even I can replace coffee with ice-cream without complaining;
- the amounts of water consumed at dinner puts the wine rates to shame;
- your daughter doesn't complain when she spills water all over herself;
- You can line dry your clothes in half an hour;
- grilling meat outside doesn't sound like that good an idea anymore;
- crickets will sing you to sleep;
- carnival fairs are all over town;
- it is still light outside even as late as ) in the evening;
- I could go on and on forever...

oh, the beauty of changing seasons... ^^


Thursday, June 05, 2014

.:June 4th:.

WARNING: the longest post ever without photos - written on a trip to Milan

There I go again, two weeks worth of useless wonderings fighting burocracy relentlessly as part of my routine... Another train, another trip to Milan, but hopefully, not another disappointment...

While watching the trees and rivers and crops fly by my window I caught sight of my seat neighbour... He had an ipad... I swept my eyes down the aisle and noticed that everybody but me was caught up in a range of techy devices... I was practically the only one gazing out of the window, even though I wasn't gadget free: my phone was enough distraction as I waited for the train to arrive, trying hard to listen to my first voice mail ever over the morning buzz of the busy station... Adding to that, my ipad laid forgotten inside the bag, just in case, because it held both the confirmation of my appointment in the office and my train ticket bought on line the night before...

The only difference between me and the rest of the passengers is that I was momentarily absorbed by other distractions... I'm pretty sure that were I to take this trip daily I would seek out other forms of entertainment, just like this mass of people surrounding me... But in the hope of this being my last imposed trip to Milan in a close future, the wonders of the trip were not lost upon me yet...

Out of curiosity (because you guys know I'm not curious to the brink of nosy, right?) I focused my attention on my neighbour... He was reading something, but just like the books I'm currently reading this one was imprisoned in the boundaries of a more practical asset, his tablet... It was difficult to observe his reading habits without the revealing properties of an open book (yeah, that is when the expression hit home... there should be a reason for it to exist, right? just like raining cats and dogs...) a paperback, not an electronic one...

There was no cover to indicate the mood of the story, to show me the name of the author or the title of the book itself... There wasn't the sturdiness nor the volume of the stacked pages to hint me about the type of reading, was it a long reading or a light one? How far into the plot had this particular reader been immersed? I could not know without staring most intently, bordering on  indiscretion, into the screen in front of him... (then again, guess that is one of the reasons why people wear sunglasses, isn't it? the staring bit without being spotted... )

Then I ached... I ached for the average town girl who would sit next to him after I left... I ached because he was kind of good-looking and seemed friendly enough... I ached because how was the girl supposed to engage into conversation using the book as an excuse? She could only work with wild  guesses, she had not even the name of the story... The makeshift pages on the screen gave in nothing... Which question to use? This book looks kind of interesting, is it any good? That is a good author, is it his first book for you? Oh, I love this series. How do you like it so far? Everything was a moot point...

All through the second half of my trip, entranced by the mystery of the secret book, I tried to spot something, anything that would shed some light on this puzzle (yeah, I know... curious through and through... it is kind of a bug, or a condition... whatever)... After minutes of intense concentration being as stealthy as I managed to (it must have been pretty stealthy because he didn't tell me off for spying on his book, so yay for the detective in me!) I finally saw a name on the page, almost like an old friend: "Ned"... then, ohhh, realization shot through me as I remembered the teenage talk I heard on the bus weeks ago as they shouted excitedly about the broadcasting of the first season of GOT in the open channel... It was supposed to be aired in June...

My neighbour had but started reading, I was long past that point in the story, so I knew enough to be able to place this passage in the whole of the book... Just a coincidence to be reading the same book, something his next neighbour (you know, the girl who would want to talk to him but would be stomped by his difficult-to-imply-from electronic book) would most likely not share... Or maybe it was kind of a trend with adolescents right now, so who knows? The point is, had I not read the book myself I wouldn't have been able to recognize it, and all my chances to started a conversation about it would have been lost...

Getting off the train I felt like I missed something... I missed the simplicity of personal interaction like I had in the same trip yesterday... A two-hours long ride was enough time to get to know someone a little bit, or deepen the bond a smidge more... The day before my husband and I spent the trip in the bar car, looking out of the window, talking about the scenery, sharing stories, memories, impressions, amusing ourselves with small talk and making each other laugh at our antics...

I took another look at my neighbour and though that he surely had this in his life, people open enough, close enough to have a heart to heart or just be silly with without having to worry... but at that precise frozen moment I felt sad... sorry for him and all the others on this bland state of life, sorry for the girl who would strike up a chat with him and maybe make their day a little bit brighter... I left hoping against hope, that the new generation won't loose the wonders of eye to eye conversation, friendly warm hugs, hand in hand walks, cheek to cheek dances and hair strokes... I hoped my daughter would get all of it, the best parts of our hastly changing world...

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

.:snooze party:.

linking to the bower power blog

the slp sleeping returning from the grandparents'... can you say she was tired?

.:the fun side of it:.

Just a bit of married life chattering...

Old pictures, all of them







Take 1 - going to the beach at 7 am.

Him - guess the tempetrature now.
Me - 27º C
Him - heartily laugh
Me - you'd better tell me something aroung 30 if we are going to the beach.
Him - 16º
Me - do you italians even understand the concept of sunbathing?

Take 2 - walking in the underground station just out of the embassy.
Me - have men in Milan completely lost the skill of talking eye to eye?
Him - why?
Me - they were mostly likely looking for something in my cleavage. Is it that revealing?
Him - no, but that is the point, isn't it? They don't see enough so they have to take a better look and imagine what it is like.
Me - seriously, men are pig. And you are ok with that?
Him - why not? I get to see them.

Take 3 - watching the cartoon channel with our daughter.
(Ad on tv) "celebrate with us peppa is 10"
Me - now, you'd think with ten years worth of cartoons they would show different episodes.
Him - yeah, but maybe the one who created it died... (Pause) you know what? I'm positive he was killed, they just couldn't take peppa anymore and shot him dead.

Monday, June 02, 2014

.:about maternity and such:.

I decided to take a moment to write about mothers a bit, some thoughts, even if they come out of order or sense, even if it is difficult to linger on thoughts about it... let's get on with this and exorcise some ghosts...

I've always known what I most wanted to do with my life: educate others... I would look up to my mother, always patient, always so centered, sometimes with harsh words but those would come along with a warm smile, and the assurance that everything would turn out fine... She acted like she wasn't doing anything at all, but she was doing the best thing she could, not for her, but for all the other people around her... she encouraged whoever she met to be a better person, to think before making harsh decisions, to stop a little before condemning and try to see things through the other person's eyes... she had a gift, always have... and sometimes I would look at her and think "wow, if only I could be half this amazing"...

a daughter's view of a mum... then I grew up and we balanced each other, she was the all encompassing, the forgiving one... I was the analytical, over critical bugger... she used to see the best in people, I used to see the worst they could do to her... I started to get over-protective... not rarely I would engage in discussions with family members, just for the sake of giving this precious person some peace of mind...

then life changed, we got divided... she was ecstatic, always wanting the best for everybody, it wouldn't be different with her daughter... when we were apart I got stronger with time, she got more fragile... too good to linger much...

she had marked deep somehow... when I was young I knew I wanted to have children, just not on a regular family... I used to daydream about adopting five children from different nationalities, I didn't want to get married, never have... I considered myself too much of a difficult person to be inflicted on others (yep, still think that, but I can make it up to my husband, thank you very much... ) then I started to understand how the adoption system worked... uhum... not very promising... so I switched for the next best thing: teaching! At about twelve I was positive I wanted to be a teacher, it was only a matter of what to teach...

the thing is addicting, though... teaching, I mean... you get sucked into the never ending spiral of exchange and learning and teaching and interacting and you never seem to have the will or the strength to give it up... or, if you are a perfectionist like I used to be, find time to dedicate yourself to anything much other than teaching... and I got trapped in this limbo for long enough... until I woke up... I was twenty something, had gotten as far up as my current age would allow me to go at work, had a fair number of certificates, a good salary (nothing to cry about) and then?... was this what I really wanted from my life? that is when I remembered, and decided to do differently, to live differently...

Time passed by and I still wanted children, but surprisingly enough there was somebody else along for the adventure... someone who also wanted to adopt, and so we looked and fell... the process was long enough (and that would be ok because I would have time to adjust to the idea and prepare myself), and the amount of money and energy to be spent were smashing... were we really willing to throw away a whole lot of money that could be used to raise a child just to "buy" one? the answer was no... and we suffered for the child that wouldn't get adopted, but it was not the right approach for us...

Finally it was only a matter of logistics, when is the best time? and for me there wouldn't be a right time... how could I live up to being a good mother? how would I be that person who had everything together? I wouldn't, I most certainly was the best example of what not to expect from a mother (that is what I used to think)... And wait we did... until I had a most forceable push... a wake up call, I'd say... It hit home, told me life doesn't wait... and I wasn't getting any younger, neither was my husband... so try we did...

tomorrow it will be three years since we found out she was on our way... let's just say that taking the pregnancy test exactly before going out on a tour around the canteens in northern italy wasn't my smartest choice ever, but we had fun celebrating anyway...

yesterday we went to the beach to celebrate my birthday, and I most certainly was reminiscing about that day not long ago that has changed our lives for ever... so don't get alarmed if I tell you that for my birthday the news of her coming were a great part of why I was toasting... a toast to changes, to growth, to life! may its cycle keep going on... always...

ps.: if you are perceptive enough to notice a change in the mood of the post thumbs up for you... it started out as a shout out, got stuck in the publishing line for almost a month and then I decided to wrap it up and hit the publishing button... ;)