On shopping and models

It is just so easy to make a woman happy. Just say: "hon, go spend some money".


And that was it. Thing is no one called me hon; I went shopping on my own account and at my own risk. But then ONE pair of shoes is not enough, no: ya gotta buy three of them. And at the same shop they sell clothes: a dress, a pair of jeans, two shirts. Ho ho ho. Love it.


***


Abruptly changing topics, there's nothing like gorgeous models:

I really like this :D

Fuck.

(c) FreeFoto.com 

Sometimes I wish I were one of those people who wake up at 6 a.m. without an alarm clock banging on their head. But it's just sometimes and this desire just fades away as quickly as it comes.

Practice makes perfect

tsk!

Ya gotta practice more, young Padawan...

Mooooo...

Back to my senses. Ho Ho

Rainy day

Because there are rainy days when your PMS gets worse^10, making your hormones rebel against you and your head and heart shrink.

(c) FreeFoto.com

Today on iTunes

The latest downloads for my playlist (the links are the respective torrents):

- Eurythmics - Greatest Hits

- The Allman Brothers Band - Best of

- The Pretenders - Greatest Hits

On departures

In less than two months I've been to the international airport three times, for three different reasons. One arrival and two departures.

The arrival was shrouded by mists of expectation of the unknown, of surprise, of the weirdness of the first-time encounter. The first departure, a vacuum. A gap in which time stopped when I wanted it to go faster, once dreams and plans had been undone. In both situations I did not have the opportunity to observe people.

Last night, once again, I was there for a departure. This time someone very close to me went away. And at that very moment I realized how things change in very short time frames, how life yaws, and we usually don't realize it until that very thousandth of a second when we open our eyes and the new world is right there standing in front of us.

Once I went with this flow. In one month, I made a decision, set things up, packed, and went away. Just like that. It took me well a week to perceive the new world I was in. And when I did, I was scared. Fear came and left in a matter of hours, and then I started living that new life.

But I went to a world which was 3 hours away, where people speak my language, and are not strangers to me (even though they can be strange). What if you go to a world where you cannot come back except by plane? A new world full of promises, but whose inhabitants speak another language, wear different clothes, have different habits? A world which you don't know what exactly to expect of, a world of dreams. What then?

This could be read in her face, during those two hours of waiting, including the check-in line, the luggage protection line, the exchange line. Tension, anxiety, expectation, in an almost cruel blend, and even those who are outside of the situation feel their hearts tearing apart. Family stays behind. Small things gathered in a lifetime, even for a young person, stay behind. With you, nothing but what fits in a bag and in your heart.

Those who stay make a group: the group of those on this side of the line, those who can only watch the line and wait for that special person to pass by for the last time before they board. Most of the this-side ones cry. Not always because of sadness. Several times because missing that person comes even before they go away. Right there the lightbulb comes on: at that very moment there's no going back.

***

It was there that I, in the group of those on this side, realized that I am gonna miss you, even though we have never been so close as we might have liked. Even though our differences have made our lives go different ways. And I didn't have time, and the words didn't come for me to say this while I hugged you and said goodbye. So I say it here:

I hope this new world is extremely friendly with you and welcomes you with arms wide open. I hope you find your dreams, all your dreams, there. That each of the moments you live there are worthy of staying forever in your mind and heart. That you find your way, whatever way that is. That you make many friends, and that you have at least one you can count on. That you have a lot of fun and learn plenty of new things. And when you feel homesick, be strong -- let this feeling stay, but for no longer than ten minutes.

Be happy, truly happy! I am very proud of you. And I will be here always. I love you.

The housewife translator and Excel

I gotta tell you guys why I have been away from this blog for so long.

First I went on vacation for ten days (YAY!) back in May, photos to come on another post, soon, I promise.

And then when I came back home, I decided to make my company grow, become a real corporation, and not a one-Dekka company anymore. THIS has consumed my head and my time.

The thing is I am a translator, not an executive. My head thinks and processes words and languages, and sentences, and ideas, not numbers and balance sheets and bank statements, even though I am pretty good with math, and logical thinking. But going from one to the other is a huge step. It involves learning, a lot of learning too, new things and concepts. But I do have a partner now, which makes things easier. Two people thinking together.

So suddenly I find myself struggling with Excel spreadsheets, contacting designers to make our website, dealing with notaries and bank accounts and managers, getting new phone lines and faster internet, all of that while translating and coordinating translator teams. Woosh.

The upside is that my dream will now come true, and Oficina do Texto will no longer be a one-Dekka company.

The downside is that Excel is dumb, and it won't understand what I need, and it complicates my life a bit. But ok, life with no complications would be too boring.

So sit tight. Soon you'll have good news on Oficina do Texto.

You have some sugar?

Two nights ago, the doorbell rang. I open the door and I find this:



Yes, ladies. THIS. ALL OF IT.

He asks me something silly, like if I have sugar. He goes on to tell me he lives upstairs, and he gives me a very inviting note with his apartment number, and some nice words.

Now ladies. Would you say no? Would you NOT run upstairs the next day with some silly excuse to get in? :P Exactly. I did.

And of course I woke up. Of course it was a dream, ladies. But I got up feeling brand new, my skin looking awesome and bright, my heart racing. Sigh.

**
P.S: I told him he could visit any time. Don't be silly, you'd have said the same.

The Unknown

I've always had a thing with the Unknown. The Unknown attracts me, pulls me, makes me wanna check what it's all about. But I guess that magic happens only when the Unknown is there, and I'm here...

Now the Unknown is getting closer. Even though this adrenalin of seeing it coming is thrilling, it is also driving me crazy, and it is scaring me to death. If only I could find that button I just push and turn my head off, so I don't think, because I think too much. Oh, but if I did turn it off, I wouldnt see it coming. I wouldn't feel this adrenalin consuming me, and adrenalin is the fuel of Aries people.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to jump in, but then for days I'd live of emotions only. No work, no mundane life. No.

Guess all I can do then is wait. And welcome the Unknown when it knocks on my door, and serve it coffee.

Geeky girl's dream come true

YAY!

The challenge now is waiting for 36 days to get it...

Countdown has started :D

Laptops ain't Tamagotchis

So I'm telling Ock-Tock that I'm wanting to buy a MacBook Pro as my next laptop, as I've killed Harold with a glass of Coke. I went on to tell him I even managed to make Harold work again, but then it started having issues, like USB ports dying and all.

That's what he tells me. So wise, this Ock:

"Laptops ain't Tamagotchis. When they die, they die."

ROFL

Two

Everything was two. He contemplated the world with his espresso in his hand. That world where no matter what the figures were they all added up to two. The strong scent of coffee, sweet in its peculiar way, involved him and perfectly matched the mild notes of the red roses and delicate words and gestures and smiles and knowing looks which were part of that day.

At a table next to him, two exchanged unspeakable words in whispers, while on the sidewalk to his left several other twos walked hither and thither at a slow pace, intimacy flowing between them. The sunlight of that pleasant morning reflected on the white hair of another two sitting on a bench right across the street — the two speak in silence, a gift from time only for fortunate twos who get so far and no longer need to say words.

He looks at his watch; opens his laptop on the table, hesitates.

***

The office was a whirlwind. Not only was it hot as hell, but it was also Friday. That end of the day seemed to drag on for endless hours, phones were ringing in absolutely all desks. Her cubicle neighbor was on the phone with someone who was making her smile. In the aisle to her right, one of the IT guys had approached a girl who blushed, timidly, most probably because of the content of the conversation.

Right in front of her, spreadsheets propagated on her monitor, all of them unsolved. The phone rang, but she did not answer. Her eyes were now staring outside the panoramic window on the other side of the room; someone had had the idea of opening the blinds and so she could see the horizon up from the thirtieth floor. The longer she remained in that horizon the closer it got to her, and little by little she stopped hearing the world buzzing around her. Silence at last. There was nothing else between her and that line far away but that strong scent of coffee. She closes her eyes for a moment.

When she gets back to the computer screen, that little orange window beams on the taskbar. Time stops.

Happy Googletine's!

How lovely!

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day!

We should invest more in bird education

The life of the housewife-translator

What time of the day are you?

"You are 3:15 p.m.
You are the moment when the last bell rings and school lets out for the day. You are resistant to schedules and obligations, so you love feeling like you're in control of your life again. You are the very moment when the second hand hits the 12, and the halls fill with noise and motion. Even if your after-school time is packed with activities, lessons, or a job, somehow, you just feel freer in the late afternoon than you do earlier in the day. Maybe it's all that blue sky and afternoon sunshine? Nah -- even on rainy days, 3:15 is always a beautiful time."

Let's just say that at this time of the day I'm usually sleeping my beauty nap. Got it?
HO HO HO

Benji's preschool

So yesterday Benji spent the afternoon at his likely future preschool.

Yes, dear readers, children grow up fast. When we realize it, it's time to find a school, buy materials, uniform.

I'm a devoted mother. I had stopped taking him to pet stores because all of them, with no exception, are adept to cages. Imagine you getting to a beauty salon for a complete session including manicure, pedicure, hair, Brazilian wax, and then you have to wait because their schedule is late. But you won't wait sitting on a chair, no. It will be in a cage. Got it? Impracticable for me, impracticable for my dogson.

But didn't I find, the other day while browsing the net, this neat place?

And so off to the new place he went yesterday. Proud grandma drove her doggrandson there. She said the little creature just completely forgot about her, and started playing with other dogs, and did not cry, and did not give her that sad-puppy-dog-eyes-rescue-me look. Grandma then went back home, and Ms. Jaqueline said she would drive Benji back home.

I must say one thing: The first time your baby is away from home without a family member around is painful for the mother. Several times during the afternoon I was on the brink of having a heart attack, until 8pm, when they finally arrived with my little sweet-patoody-pookey-wookey.

Ms. Jaqueline even showed me how he sits like a grownup with only a hand gesture and a doggy treat. Fantastic.

There was even a photo session!





Sigh...

It is time to pay enrollment fees, buy educational material, uniforms... And prepare my heart and soul and mind to stay without him a whole day once a week, until he is trained on the basics so we can start to practice Agility.

A mother's life is not easy.

*****

The question I've been asking myself since yesterday is whether the trick Ms. Jaqueline uses, that one of the doggy treat and hand gesture, works on people too. It would be soooo nice to make, for instance, your boyfriend hand you the remote control with a simple hand gesture and a boyfriendy treat, wouldn't it? HO HO HO

How I killed the Grasshopper

So last night it arrived. It just got in, and started flying around. Benji was sleeping on the couch with mom, and I was praying he wouldn't wake up and start hunting the poor green thing. Well, he didn't, the little green thing was safe for the night.

It was a beautiful little green creature, too. Looked like a leaf, a very bright shade of green, something like this:




Anyways.

This afternoon, I found it on my living room's window, sitting there just looking outside. I even think I heard it saying how unhappy it was being inside and not outside where it belonged.

What would you do, Reader? Exactly. I took it very carefully, and threw it outside the window. It flew away so happily! Then it landed on the grass, where I kinda lost it, since it was the exact same color of the grass.

It took two seconds. TWO. The green thing landed on the grass, one, two, the bird arrived. I thought, no, it's not gonna happen. In fact the bird just stood there for a while, and I thought, hmm, it's tired from flying around, it's resting.

But no, the bird grabbed the grasshopper with absolutely no ceremony, and just flew away.

***

Moral of the story: A being outside its natural world is not necessarily lost, it might well be just hiding from the monsters.

Moral of the story 2: Do not interfere with other beings' lives, or in other words, mind your own damn business.

Moral of the story 3: If a fairy flies into your house, offer her a glass of wine, something to eat, and make her stay. You wouldn't want to kill a fairy.