Attack Plan

One of my problems (because it is definitely NOT a solution) is the lack of method and routine in my life. When we're at school or in college, or when we work at an office, routine ends up being inevitable. I obviously don't fit any of the three categories.

And so my everyday life is chaotic and I mess up with hours, and I end up not accomplishing even 20% of what I could (and should), because I get distracted with one thousand zillion things and lose focus. Total laziness, especially during winter. I am almost coming to the conclusion that routine fills, or at least when I look from the outside it seems to fill the days, gives them meaning, so-to-say-ly.

As I am terrible at designing long-term strategies and sticking to them (laziness), I've then decided to create a very short-term strategy, on a one-day-at-a-time basis [have you heard they've abolished most hyphens in Brazil? stupid. But I digress...]. No pressure over cappuccino, no mandatory terms, just an idea I can change here and there. After all I am not trying to create myself a strait-jacket, but a system that helps me in the People That Make It group [sidenote here: many years ago a Brazilian bank launched an ad campaign with the motto "Brazil is made of people that make it" (O Brasil se faz com gente que faz), or something like that, focusing on entrepreneurs from all classes. That became famous and is still used in the most diverse media, and by practically every person I know. Another motto that has become widely used here is "I am Brazilian, and Brazilians never give up", but I digress again...].

It would be something like a weekly timetable, with specific hours for EACH AND EVERY ACTIVITY, from getting up and having breakfast, to reading a book or watching a TV show, taking care of housework, Benji, work. If, for example, I go out at night during the week and get back home late, I can get up a little later or take a nap after lunch, under the penalty of staying up as long as it takes to finish the day's chores, as every good Brazilian worker does.

I will make it. #helpmegod #yeswecan

Today I feel like...

... burning some rock 'n' roll and country music CDs, getting in my car with my laptop, my dog, and my camera, and driving. Just driving. A good highway, no specific destination. For weeks.

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

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.

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

Life plan

- Quit smoking (I’ve heard Chantix does wonders, or almost gets there);
- Work out;
- Have breakfast (preferably made by him and brought to me in bed) every day;
- Get up early (that is, between 8 and 8:30) every day – except for Sundays – and walk Benji;
- Be more productive, both work- and life-wise;
- Read more;
- Write more;
- Sunbathe more frequently (after all this is a tropical country, people!);
- Care a bit more for my looks (this category includes regular mani-pedi and waxing rituals, in addition to wearing some makeup – eyeliner and lipstick –, and using moisturizers every day, as well as resuming L'Oréal’s facial treatment);
- Save some money, so as to spend it all later, obviously;
- Learn more new things.

Amen.

(this post is open to updates)

Warming up the tamborins

And so it happened that time passed. During all this time, almost every single day i would tell myself I should go back to writing. That I needed to. But the spark lacked, I even believed nothing was going on worth of a post. But hey, I was looking for it the wrong way, in the wrong place. Seems I have found the thread again.

During all this time:

- I moved to another house, another town. Went far away. I enjoyed every moment, I learned what it is to have a house to take care of, and alone (with mother-Dirce giving me a hand, of course!).
- I felt huge saudades. Of so many things! Of mom, brother, grandma, grandma’s cooking, of grandma’s house’s scent. But then I found out my house has my scent and only mine, and now if I spend more than one day away from my house, I miss it too. I also missed the nestle, but I learned how to make my own, on my own. I missed all my friends, all of them so far away.
- I gained Benji-mommy’s-cute-thingy:





















- I bought my car, Clovis.
- Replaced my desktop for a laptop, Harold (who’s recently made a new best friend, XPTO, a wireless access point).
- I’ve worked a lot.
- I lived a breathtaking, thought-hindering e-love, but it is over, like a can of doce de leite, which you will eat it all, knowing you’ll get fat, but you won’t regret a single moment.
- I’ve engaged in a new love, still far away, but it seems to be going somewhere.
- I came back to Itap City, São Paulo. Once again close to mom, but in my little house, a dollhouse as my uncle says.
- I started a new job, left it three months later.
- I started believing in Oficina do Texto once again.
- Met old friends, made new ones.
- Learned many, infinite new things. Especially about me. I’m great!

And there might be a bunch of things I’m forgetting right now.

It’s a mental avalanche now that I’m writing again. Be patient, forgive the nonsense here and there, enjoy this regress with me! There is a lot more to come ;-)